With the gates breached, the mourning city of Thanantholl roared to life in a burning rage.

The emotions of a fae are volatile at best, and the chaotic highs and lows of the last few weeks have wrecked the Autumn fae into a frenzy of bloodlust and sorrow, now fully directed at the horrid creatures in the shadows of the broken gates.

The enemy's unnerving silence as it surged forward met with the raging fire of the Autumn fae in a violent clash. Thain in the front of it all.

My heart leaped into my throat as I watched the force of impact. The enemy had no magic in their lifeless bodies, but they had an unbridled strength to make up for it. Claws and fangs and blades met dead flesh, scattering blood over both sides.

'Push back at the gate!' Schula's thoughts ripped through my head from our open link via Spaulder.

It was enough to snap me out of my horror and back into the fray.

The next stretch of time was filled with chaos and magic. Schula and I each reached out with our magic to fight off the masses pressing forward toward the gate, effectively funneling a more manageable number for Thain and Eberon to cut down.

Blood and bone shattered under our wrath, but our energies were not endless. My heart sputtered every time a horrid new foe lunged for Thain. He took the brunt of the attacks on the ground level while Eberon fought as well as gave orders.

'They just keep coming,' Schula said, exasperated.

'Spaulder, what else can you see from up there?' I asked.

Taking my eyes off the battle just long enough to look up, I watched as Spaulder changed his lazy circle to a wider path around Thanantholl. His sharp golden eyes now scanning more of the city's edge before looping back.

'One wall has been breeched,' was his answer.

'What?' Schula cried. 'Where?'

And then, a vision popped into my head. It wasn't a thought I had of my own accord, but it was a place I had seen before. A lower hanging wall near the grotto at the back of the city. Somehow, without thinking about it myself, the image of the rock wall being sundered was as clear as day in my mind.

'You can do that?' Schula asked.

'Is this what you're seeing?' I added my own question.

'Patience, curious ones,' Spaulder said. 'It is difficult to concentrate with both of your emotions so high. It is as I saw it only a moment ago. The fae creatures of Thanantholl were taken by surprise, but have since risen against the enemy.'

'Can you see far past the city?' Schula asked. 'Can you sense DuVarick?'

'Or Bara Khalja?' I added.

Spaulder swooped always, his great wings beating down the cool air above over us as he went.

As I waited impatiently for his answer, I turned my attentions back to the battle at the front gate. Taking a moment away from my magic did wonders, and my fingers itches with an abundance of power to throw fire down on the enemies below.

Slashing. Biting. Fire. Ice. Smoke. Claws. Blades. Arrows.

The massacre below seemed to be turning the tide to our favor, but there were still more coming. If we couldn't do something about this battle soon, they would wear out our warriors and push through from just the force of their numbers alone.

'The necromancer is not far. His tainted magic seeps into the forest around him. I cannot sense the mad king.' Spaulder answered, flying back down into his lazy circle above Schula and me.

'We can't keep this up as we are,' Schula said.

'I agree.' It was Eberon in our minds again. Spaulder has looped him in once more.

'What do we do then?' I asked.

'If any of us break from the gates down here I fear they will fall. I will not allow that to happen,' Eberon said.

'Then one of us needs to go,' Schula said. 'We have to help where we can!'

'We do not abandon the gate!' Eberon hissed.

'Hold, fae! Spaulder said, his firm voice inserted into our minds. 'I want to know what the witch thinks.'

That took me by surprise as I was in the middle of firing another attack below. Sweat streaked my brow, mixing with the ash in the air and probably making me quite a sight as I wiped it off my skin with the back of my hand. 

What the witch thinks?

My eyes darted around. There was little for Schula and I to do here, despite the orders to post us by the gate. Spaulder's eyes were more useful than anything else we had managed to do on our own. 

I watched Thain rip apart another enemy before turning effortlessly to the next. This gate would not fall. He would not allow it. 

'I think we need to fight magic with magic,' I said slowly. 'I have a spell back at the house. I want to try something.'

'So be it.' Spaulder did not wait for further discussion before practically landing on the tower where I stood. He roared, shaking the ground under me as he still hung half off of the platform.

I scrambled to him, climbing onto his back. I wasn't even settled yet as he took off for the skies again. 

"Caw!" Puko greeted me from his very firm seat atop one of Spaulder's black horns. 

"So that's where you went," I muttered, but he couldn't hear me over the rushing wind that swept over Spaulder as he tore through the city.

'Where is your book, little witch?' Spaulder asked, and somehow I knew it was just me and him speaking.

'Thain's house,' I said. 'That large yellow maple with the birch in the back yard. Do you see it on the other side of that branch of the river?'

Spaulder's answer came in the form of a faster flight. He rushed us to the part of the city I was directing him to, and in no time at all he was landing in the empty street before Thain's house. 

I slid off of him and ran inside. Up the stairs, into my room, and grabbing my bag of books and spell components. I tore back out of the house, not bothering to pull the book I was looking for from the pile and simply bringing everything. 

Outside, I clamored up Spaulder's black scales once more and once I was seated and the pack was secured on me, I pulled out my spell book.

'Where do you wish to go, Wren?' Spaulder asked.

'Take me...' I scanned the city around us. The gates were holding, though the fight still ranged on. The part of the wall that had been compromised was now under heavy attack. A familiar old fae was moving the very rock of the cliff around, pushing back the enemy while the others around him fought. 

'Take me to Nassir, please,' I said, and Spaulder turned in the new direction. 

'What do you have planned, little one?' he asked.

'Hopefully, a way to deal with the magic that controls the... bodies. If magic controls them, I think I can drain it.' I answered while flipping through my book.

'Very well, little witch. Let us all hope that this works.'

Spaulder landed easily, letting me down a street away from the commotion. Puko came with me, flying along side me as I sprinted for Nassir. 

My finger flew down the page as I found what I was looking for, paying just enough attention to the street ahead so as not to run into an attack as I scanned the fine handwriting. 

"Cure for boils... cure for magical tooth rot..." I murmured as I slowed my steps, finally reaching the passage I wanted. "Yes! A release for magical buildup. Sometimes when a witch has prolonged periods of overuse of the Mother's magic and then ceases to use it for a time, she will develop an ailment known most commonly as magical buildup."

I looked up from my book, seeing the settling battle ahead. Nassir was still pushing bodies away, building the cliffside back up along with another stone shaper who looked to be a sprite of some kind. I looked around for someone else to talk to who wasn't needing to concentrate as much as Nassir was just then. 

And then I found a figure in shining armor, the fae I had seen perform beautiful music and yet was introduced to me as a warrior.

"Cynder!" I called out, getting her attention as I approached. She looked to be supervising the efforts to rebuild the cliff and keep it free of more battle.

"Wren, what has happened at the gates?" Concern was heavy in her already tired voice.

"The gates have been broken, but they hold," I answered swiftly. "Thain and Eberon are there, as is Schula. I'm here about the enemy."

She tipped her head to the side. "Yes?"

"I need to reach one of the risen dead," I said. "I need to get within touching distance."

She balked at that. "Why in the Wyldes would you want that?"

"I need to test something. I think I can drain their magic, the stuff that makes them move." I showed her the page of my spell book. "It's technically a spell from my healing teacher, but it should work."

"It would be so much easier to kill them at a distance than try to disrupt their magic up close," Cynder said. "And you're not sure it will even work."

I shook my head. "I have to try. It won't be a viable technique for the average fighters but some of the very big and dangerous ones... this could turn the tide of a battle."

"And you want to test it now?" Cynder sighed. "Alright. What do you need from us?"

"I need Nassir to let one through, and then I need someone to watch my back while I try this out. Just... don't let it take off my head or anything."

Cynder nodded. "Alright. Nassir!"

"I heard everything," he answered. He wasn't far away, but I had thought he was too preoccupied. 

"Come, Wren," he called, and I went to his side.

Nassir stood in front of a crumbled wall of the cliff. Where we stood was once a pleasant park with a view of the water and a collection of sculptures. What remained now was either broken to rubble or buried under mounds of fallen earth. 

Up the wall of the cliff was an unending stream of climbing limbs as the enemy continued to try to scale into Thanantholl. How they were able to reach those lofty heights from the other side I didn't know. But as they continued to climb in, Nassir and the sprite nearby continued to spill them back over to the other side again. And so the cycle repeated.

"Let one down," Cynder said. "I'll watch the Wylde Witch's side."

Nassir nodded, sweat on his brow as he moved his hands and a crevice spread by one of the enemy soldiers high above. 

I readied myself, scanning over the passage in my book once more before tucking it back into my pack and freeing my hands. Puko cawed and circled us overhead as the body was nearly to the ground now, fighting hard against the current of earth that Nassir used to keep it in place.

"Ready yourselves... now!" Nassir called as he released the body.

It's face looked up into mine, or so it would appear apart from the dead, lifeless gaze. As it moved forward to attack me, I swallowed hard and reached out my hands.

Fingers brushed cold flesh. I shuddered, then closed my eyes.

Everything happened in a flash. I felt around for the magic in the enemy, and there it was. A thick, sickening trickle. Just enough to force life, or some horrid twist of it, back into the bones. It was so singular in its motives. Its thoughts only on destruction and pain. Nothing of its own wellbeing, only the death of the living.

I grabbed ahold of that ugly, terrible magic and pulled. I yanked it inward, seeping into my own magic and consuming it. I heard movement around me, felt a clash as someone used force on the body I was touching, but I was already done.

I opened my eyes to the enemy going limp. The force that made it move was now gone, and there was nothing left before us but a corpse. 

And then, my stomach rolled.

"Urgh..." I wobbled as I stepped away. 

"Wren, what happened?" Nassir asked. 

I couldn't speak yet, I moved to the side and threw up.

"Are you alright?" Cynder asked.

 I nodded, not quite having my words back yet as she helped me to my feet. 

"I... urgh." I paused, taking a slow breath as Cynder handed me her waterskin. I took it appreciatively and drank from it, washing my mouth out and spitting before taking a deeper drink. 

"I can do it. I can take away their magic but it's tainted. It makes me sick," I said.

Nassir nodded gravely. "A last resort then."

"If I get my hands on Bara Khalja, I'm draining him dry," I growled.

If it doesn't kill me in the process.

Alarms sounded from a distant part of the city. My head shot up and I looked around with wide eyes.

"The Eastern wall," Cynder said. 

'We will see what has happened,' Spaulder said. 'Come back to me, little one. We must hurry.'

"I'll see if I can help," I said, and ran back to Spaulder. Cynder didn't have enough time to argue as she turned to give more instructions to the warriors of Thanantholl around her. Nassir was already back at building the cliff wall. 

I reached Spaulder with Puko flying behind me. Climbing on his back, Spaulder wasted no time in taking to the skies. 

I saw the battle before we drew near. Another cliff wall had been breached.

But it wasn't until we grew closer that I noticed the force mixed in with the enemy.

"Living fae," I said out loud. "There are living fae down there!"

Shaking off my excitement and hope, I reined myself in and took a breath. 

'Spaulder, there are living fae down there behind the enemy. Can you get us closer?'

'Of course, little witch,' he answered, and we swooped down low over the army.

The hope that I held for the survivors of the battle in the valley fell away as I saw the creatures now fighting the army of risen dead from both sides. From the city side was of course the Autumn court.

But on the heels of the enemy as they tried to push into our city, was the Summer fae.

Lead by Aithne.