The guards raised their weapons.


    That was the first mistake they made.


    The second was that they all pointed them at me.


    Fyga rushed the mayor, grabbing his shoulder and slipping behind him, pressing one of her Ice blades against his neck.


    Only one archer had been able to get off a shot, but that bolt missed and lodged in the gut of one of the swordsmen across from him.


    I lowered my hand as the guards tried to decide who to aim at.


    “Lower your weapons!” Fyga’s scream in the mayor’s ear made the old man wince.


    Some of the soldiers dropped their weapons, while others just lowered theirs. Only one guard with his helmet still on had his sword still pointed at me.


    “I said lower your weapons, not drop them, you buckets of fish guts!” Fyga growled. “There is a horde of Zombies gathering on the other side of that gate. Every one of you needs to be ready to fight!”


    No one moved.


    “NOW!” I clapped my hands. “You heard Master Fyga! Get your weapons!” I pointed at the injured guard that was moaning on the ground. “And someone get this man to a healer!”


    “WAIT!” Fyga glanced behind her, then turned back. “Helmets off.”


    “You can’t be serious!” The mayor winced as Fyga dug her ice weapon into his neck.


    “We can’t tell who is Human and who is Touched unless we can see their eyes, same as the rest of you.” The short woman let go of the mayor with her other hand just long enough to gesture at the guards who had helmets. “Come on! Off with um!”Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    The guards started pulling off their helmets until it was only the guard who had been slowly moving towards me who still had on his helmet. There weren’t any more people with glowing eyes, but I had a feeling there was still one more.


    I turned to face him. “Take it off.”


    His answer was to slice at me.


    I was able to back up in time for the sword to miss me. I had to dodge twice more before I was able to get my own sword out. I didn’t have to bother. A guard stepped in on either side of me and disarmed him while a third guard came up behind him and tackled him.


    All three guards wrestled the man on the ground, but it was taking all of them to hold him. I knelt down and pulled off his helmet revealing glowing blue eyes, except this wasn’t the man Fyga and I had fought on the bluff. This man had a narrow face and dark hair.


    “Who are you?” One of the guards holding him down sounded shocked. “You’re not Benson.”


    “And you’re all dead!” The Touched grunted as he strained against the other men.


    I turned to the mayor. “Do you realize you have a problem now and it’s not us?”


    The older man started to nod, but that pressed his neck against the edge of the ice, which caused a little blood to flow down the blade.


    “I think you can let him go.” I knelt down in front of the Touched. “Are you the one controlling those Zombies?” I pointed at the building where the most Zombies were.


    “Burn fast, Traitor.” The Touched tried to spit, but the gesture lost something when the side of his face was being held into the dirt.


    “I’ll make him talk.” Fyga stomped over and slammed the blade she’d been using to threaten the mayor into the ground right in front of the Touched’s eyes. “Did you know that Touched can regrow ears?”


    “Wait.” I grabbed her shoulder.


    “Lord Doswan will ascend whoever helps me!” The Touched tried to look at the other guards as he screamed his plea.


    “No one is going to take you up on that.” I had to look at the guards to make sure. There were four standing around, which still put the odds heavily against a single person trying to take him up on his offer.


    “Not even with a horde at the gate?” The way a wicked smile crossed his face sent a shiver down to my toes.


    “Byler…” Fyga didn’t have to point for me to know what was happening.


    There were more Zombies headed this way than I could count. It was feeling like a single large mass that was covering the fifty foot wide square buildings outside. Four of them had reached headache inducing quantities and two more were half full.


    The Touched started cackling as I realized just how dead we were about to be.