Page 102 of Dark Elves of Ardani

“Yes…”

Vaara paused, then put a hand on his shoulder, a wordless gesture of solidarity.

The others were all right. They had to believe that. What other option did they have?

Abruptly, there was a massive boom from outside the inn, so loud that the floor shook. Both of them jumped. There was a second of silence, and then a chorus of shouts outside.

“What was that?” Nero said. There were no windows, and no cracks in the walls to peer through. They had no way of knowing. Both of them stood very still, listening. The shouting continued.

A minute later, there was a sound from the hallway. Light appeared in the crack beneath the door. Vaara hurried to take up a position by the door, raising his spike of wood high. Nero crouched on the other side of the door.

There were muffled whispers. Someone fumbled with a ring of keys. A key slid into the lock. The door inched open.

A group of apprehensive-looking humans stood in the hallway. Nero recognized them as civilians from the village, not Paladins. As Vaara began to bring his spike down, Nero caught his arm.

“Wait.”

Vaara shot him an angry look over his shoulder.

The humans quickly backed away. “Don’t kill us!” said the man in front. “Basira sent us. She sent us to get you out.”

Vaara glared at them, suspicious. “Why?”

The humans exchanged uncertain glances, as if they had been wondering the same thing. “To help fight Theron and the others.”

Vaara looked back at Nero, raising an eyebrow.

“What was that noise we heard a minute ago?” Nero asked.

The human shrugged. Vaara lowered his spike and brushed past them impatiently. The humans pressed against the wall in their eagerness to stay out of the way. Nero paused as he passed, looking at them skeptically. Zara would have wanted him to try to make a good impression.

“Thank you,” he said.

The man nodded mutely. He still looked terrified. Nero kept the humans in his line of sight as he moved away, but they made no move to follow.

The inn was empty. Nero began to follow Vaara to the door, then took a detour to a bedroom. He found the innkeeper’s metal rod still tucked beneath her bed.

Vaara gave him a look when he saw it. “Where did you get that?”

“Jealous?” Nero asked, smirking.

“Obviously.”

Nero cracked open the front door and peered outside.

It was dark out, but an orange glow was emanating from somewhere in the woods behind the inn. The village was full of movement, with people running this way and that. Paladins were converging on the inn—but they weren’t looking toward the door. They were headed toward that orange glow in the back. Unnoticed, Nero and Vaara slipped out into the night.

The source of the orange glow soon became clear. Zara’s shed was ablaze. It was already blackened and collapsing, more a bonfire now than a building. There was a circle of clear ground around it where the heat had melted the dusting of snow. The air was filled with the smell of heat and smoke.

The Paladins gathered around the shed, searching the nearby woods with torches and lanterns to try to see who had caused it. None of them tried to put the fire out, he noticed. They didn’t care about that. They only cared about elves.

And suddenly, one of the Paladins went down, his throat cut. A shadowy figure had leapt from the trees to attack. On the other side of the shed, another shadow appeared, and another Paladin went down.

The shed had been a distraction, a ploy to gather the Paladins in one place. A mage must have done it, which meant Naika was here. If Basira and Naika and the other Varai were here, was Zara, too?

Their advantage from the surprise attack lasted shorter than Nero would have expected. The Paladins were seasoned fighters. Even in the darkness, they quickly regrouped, putting their backs to each other and fighting off the shadows that jabbed at them. Elsewhere around the village, more fights broke out as the Varai attacked.

There were more Paladins than just Theron’s original group, Nero realized. He had received reinforcements at some point, and now their numbers were double what Nero had expected.

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