The sledge hammer struck the beam for the final time. Jacob was sweating hard. As one of the few men skilled in this kind of labor, Jacob volunteered to help with the bridge. He had no idea it was going to be so hot though. It was the third post he had struck into the river floor. He was not eve making good time, as almost everyone else working had sent many more into the river floor.

Jacob flopped over onto what was currently the bridge. He was exhausted by the heat. He was still tired from all that had happened the night before. Chelsea came up to him with some bread. She tore it in half, and handed one half to Jacob. Jacob took it eagerly and bit into it.
“I was thinking about something.” Chelsea said.
“Some people would say that thinking is dangerous.” Jacob said.
“That actually was what I was thinking of.” Chelsea said. She nibbled on the bread.
“Do we have any jam?” Jacob asked.
“Yeah, want me to go get some?” She said.
“Yeah, but tell me what you were thinking first.” Jacob said.
“Well, Devioun has always had a larger army, and he has been alive for many many ages, but he has not had a great deal of success.” Chelsea said quietly. The sound on hammers striking wood were almost drowning her out.
“Yes, your point?” Jacob asked, and took another bite out of the somewhat stale bread.
“The Melendians think, and I do not just mean about war, but everything. We are creative, and we learn from mistakes, but Devioun has lived forever and does not learn from mistakes, because he has no one to learn from, he is the smartest man there. He has made it to where Sulfirians can not think.” She continued on.
“Huh.” Jacob uttered. He blinked for a moment, and looked off at one of the food wagons.
“You do not see it do you?” She said.
“No not really. I think Melendians just have better generals, can you get the jam now?”
Chelsea glared at him, but sighed and got up. Jacob looked out into the quiet river. It was the kind of day that Jacob liked. Sunny and warm, and birds could be heard singing. Had it not been for the work that had to be done, Jacob would be thoroughly enjoying it.
Chelsea returned with the Jam. It was kept in a large glass jar, and the jam had a slightly salty taste, probably to help preserve it, but it never tasted as good as fresh jam. It helped with the stale bread nonetheless.

The men that were not working on the frame for the bridge were working on the cutting down of trees. Not one man did not have a large task ahead of him. No man would be comfortable that day. Chelsea finished her bread, and put the lid back on the jar. Jacob finished his bread as well, and got back up. Chelsea started taking bread to various men. She had been wanting to help with the bridge construction that day, but her father would not allow it. Jacob picked back up the hammer. It felt even heavier than when he had set it down. His muscles screamed in pain, but he ignored them as he wen to drive in his forth post.

James was walking around instructing people. The doctor was furious with him, but James continued on anyway. Jacob had not seen much of his father. His father had not been in exactly the most talkative of moods. He was always absent minded, like he was not really there. Jacob struck the beam down. Two other men were holding it in place. Finally Jacob broke down into the earth, and the post started holding itself in place. Jacob continued to hit it with all of his might.

Suddenly he heard another bird. He was startled by the deep call of what sounded like a large bird. A raptor of some sort he thought. He looked into the trees, but did not see anything immediately. James was suddenly looking around. Jacob knew he heard it. Jacob suddenly smashed the post down harder, and then tossed aside the hammer.
“Someone take over, I am going to go take a break.” He said, and headed for James. A larger man picked up the sledge hammer, and took over where he left off.

Jacob approached James, who was looking off into the trees.
“What do you see?” Jacob asked.
“An emberling.” James replied.
“Wow an emberling?” Jacob asked, now excited. He looked up into the tree and saw a large gray bird, it looked down at the soldiers with fierce eyes. Jacob looked at it for a few minutes as it chattered. It looked like it was hunting something. Just as Jacob expected, it was, and swooped down in a flash. It pulled up and flew away with what appeared to be a mouse in its talons.

Emberlings were a gray bird that made their nests in old burned out locations, such as a burned away house or tree. It was considered to be wrong to remove ashes that an emberling had taken. It was also due to their strange hiding spots that they were so hard to spot. One could not easily find them among the ashes, and one did not normally find a burned out area.

The silence was chilling. It seemed like everyone had stopped at once. Everyone was looking at one another. A man could have sneezed, and everyone would have known it. It was not just the men who were silent, it was every animal, even the river seemed quiet. Jacob looked into the forest, and then at the river. Nothing appeared to be wrong, and yet everything felt wrong.

Then it all became clear. Jacob tapped James' shoulder. “Get your weapons.” Jacob muttered, and ran for his tent.






Kevin heard the horn blast. Within seconds he saw men rushing down upon him, they were dressed in green. Kevin leaped up, and reached for his knife. The first man charged him with a mace, and Kevin ducked his first blow. The man then took another swing at Kevin, and this time Kevin stepped out, then lunged in with his knife, and dispatched the man quickly.
The next man leaped at him, so Kevin threw the knife into his chest. The man collapsed upon the ground, dead in an instant. Kevin plucked his knife back out of the man
“They just do not make evil barbaric henchmen like they used to, do they?” He asked the dead man, and then ran towards James who was dealing with a few dozen soldiers.

He took out a man from behind. Two men looked at him. They pulled out swords.
“Now look men, let us work out our differences, and may I persuade you to join us?” Kevin laughed nervously. The men ran after him, so Kevin fled in the opposite direction. He hoped to catch them in the traffic.
Suddenly one of them dropped to the earth, and another followed quickly. Kevin saw it was Chelsea shooting them. Kevin ran towards her.
“Glad to see you darling!” He shouted, and cut the throat of a man approaching her from behind. She nodded at him.
“Call me darling, and you will be joining these men.” She said grimly, and shot down two men with one draw. Kevin raised his eyebrows, and then went back to the fight.





James kicked over two men, and stabbed another two. This impressed Jacob greatly, who so far had only taken down a half dozen drones himself.
“These men are terrible fighters, no more than peasants with swords!” James yelled. Jacob shouted “Yes” in agreement, and ran another man through. Despite being untrained, unorganized thugs, the men were relentless, and in very large numbers. Jacob moved closer to James, and took at two more quickly.
“For the dragon!” A man behind him shouted, Jacob had no time to turn around, and so only flipping his blade around, and felt the man land on his sword, the man turned to ash within seconds, and so Jacob swung it around to deal with another assailant.

The new oncoming drones ran clear of the two of them, it appeared to be clear to these men that Jacob and James were too much for them to take. Jacob was dearly missing his armor. He was vulnerable without his armor, and so he was having to be far more careful than he would otherwise be. Suddenly a recognizable figure stepped out of the forest. It was the youthful Herald. He was glaring straight at Jacob. In one hand was a sword, in the other was a staff. The staff was pure black, and so was the sword. The Sword was also recognizable. It looked like the plant blades that Lady Rune had wielded.

Jacob was unsure of his willingness to go and face this man in combat. Jacob was defenseless, and James was not armored either.
“Is the bridge crossable yet?” Jacob yelled at him.
“Not quite! Too rough!, only the wagons could get over the gaps!” James yelled while dealing with one stray soldier.
“We can not hold this location!.” Jacob yelled.
“The ford can be crossed!” James yelled.
It was too late Herald was getting closer with each Melendian he slayed. They did not explode in splintered plants like Lady rune's blades did though, and So Jacob decided they were not the same.
“Jacob, Your days are numbered!” Herald shouted as he saw the space between himself and Jacob was not filled. Jacob got into a fighting stance, and prepared for the worst.
“No Jacob, not here, pull him in!” James shouted, Jacob nodded, and ran after James up into the opposite forest.






Kevin realized they were outnumbered greatly. He shook his head, and looked at a nearby wagon. It had oil in it. Kevin grinned, and ran for it. He saw explosives and oils, and they were exactly what he needed. He grabbed a small barrel of fire powder, and and a bottle of oil. He ran back for Chelsea who was having a hard time keeping the men off of her long enough to breath.
“I found something that will help us.” Kevin said. “What are your gloves made of?
“Leather!” She yelled.
“That is great!” Kevin said, and snatched them out of her pocket.
“Hey!” Chelsea yelled, but dare not stray from the fight.
“I hope you know where to buy more, because these will be no good.” He said. He started pouring oil all around himself.
“Give them back, those are expensive!” She roared.
“More expensive than your life?” He yelled, and put them on, they squeezed his hands tightly. He hoped they would not tear on him. The pain of wearing them was enough, but what he was about to do was going to make that seem like a joke.

He opened his canteen, and poured the water out on his gloves till they were soaked. He them turned to face the oncoming army. It was going to be difficult,but his plan was almost complete.
“Go away infidels, flee from this land, and do not come here again, for I am death, and I have come to take you!” He yelled. A lot of men stared at him, some became uneasy, but most charged him.
“Of great, now we are gonna die for sure!” Chelsea said.
“Nope.” Kevin grinned, and tossed a lit lighter upon the oils.
“I call upon the fires to aid me!, I shall end your miserable, sinful lives!” Kevin yelled, and the flames explodes in a circle around him and Chelsea. She shrieked, and glared at him. He was already pouring oil on his gloves. He covered the barrel in the oil, and rolled it through the flames. The few skeptics that were starting to encroach upon him. The barrel exploded, and the rocks upon the ground flew into the air. Men were falling down around him, and many men started screaming in terror and running away. Kevin took a deep breath and vaulted over the flames, and reached his arms down into the flames to ignite the gloves. He hands screamed in pain, and he punched several still standing men with the gloves, at the sight of his burning hands the rest of the men took off screaming. He had driven them back. He ran out into the open, and all the men were yelling things like “Devil, and a cursed spirit. “ He ripped off the gloves as he saw the men in full retreat.






Jacob knew they were in more defensible position, but he also knew something was wrong. Men were shouting and screaming, but the clanging of weapons had died down greatly. Jacob listened, but did not hear anyone coming.
“What happened?” Jacob asked.
“I have no idea.” James replied, and looked down below. No one could be seen. Herald was not hunting them, and the attacking army was no longer attacking.

Suddenly he heard shouting from another direction. He suddenly he was now on the wrong side of the valley.
“Run.” Jacob said, and started sprinting down the hill. James suddenly put a hand in front of him, but only a moment before herald leaped out wielding his sword. James countered Herald, but Jacob was surprised that he had nearly been tricked into his own death.

With a scream he realized he was not out of trouble, upon the hill were three monsters, two rock covered men, and a gombrah. The gombrah knocked over a a tree, and plowed its way down the hill. The rock monsters weaved their way towards Jacob. James glanced at Jacob.
“Run for the camp, and lead them from here!” James yelled.
“Not without you!” Jacob yelled back and turned to strike Herald.
Herald countered his blow, and then kicked James feet out form under him. Jacob thought James was about to die, when suddenly Herald toppled over and let out a cry of pain. Jacob looked at him and saw an arrow was embedded in his shoulder. Jacob started to kill him, but stopped and turned to face the monsters.
“Never fear! The guy with burned hands, and not prepared to fight is here!” The familiarly annoying voice of Kevin echoed out.
“Kevin distract the gombrah!” the voice of Chelsea screamed. She sounded frantic. The two rock monsters got even closer to Jacob. Jacob ducked as one leaped at him, and then tried to stab the second one.
“I do not like being the bait, can someone else please be this ugly's dinner!?” Kevin yelled while waving a stick at the irritated but rather stupid gombrah. Jacob saw a huge chunk of rock flew of the second rock monster. The monster turned around and punched at him, but instead struck the tree, and cracked, and splintered it.
James was still laying on the ground. Jacob realized he was unconscious, but it did not stop Jacob from fighting.
A blow to the head however left him blacked out.






Kevin watched as Jacob fell in a heap. The rock monsters were not as dumb as the Gombrah he was fighting. They were more organized, and were less distractable. He scowled, and broke from the gombrah. The first rock monster stomped on Jacob's back. Kevin worried he was now too late, but he lunged ahead at the rock monster. His weight toppled over the beast. He quickly got off just as the gombrah reached him. The gombrah leaped upon the rock monster, and they all toppled over. Kevin ran over to Jacob, and propped him against a tree, and then tried to refocus on luring the beasts away.
Arrows were whizzing around him at the gombrah. It seemed to not be too bothered by the projectiles.

The second rock beast chased after him. He ducked as it repeatedly pounded its fist at him. He fell to the earth, and tried to scramble away. He reach for a fallen blade just as the monster got close. With in a flash he lunged the blade into the beast's eye slit, and the suddenly it seemed like the monster exploded in flames, and he was knocked away.

The beast was gone, and so was the sword, but he didn't care, he picked up his knife and went after the other two. However all he saw was a dead pile of rocks, and the gombrah was going after Chelsea.
He ran at the beast and jabbed it with his knife, and Chelsea kept shooting it.

“Ok ugly you are going to have to die.” Kevin said. “It is unfortunate, because I think we were really starting to bond.” He pulled out his knife, and stabbed it in the leg. It shrieked, and tried to hit him, but he ducked.
“Quit flirting with the stupid thing!” Chelsea yelled.
“Darling, I do believe that you are struggling with this gentleman as well.” Kevin shouted at her. He ducked as an arrow whizzed by his head.
“You were lucky that time you bone head!” Chelsea shrieked.
“Yes my dear!” Kevin said, and with one last stab he knew he severed something important; the gombrah shrieked, and fell to the earth in a heap.

“Herald got away.” Chelsea said.
“How? I thought you agreed to keep him down!” Kevin said.
“I did not have the heart to shoot him while he was in retreat.” Chelsea said. Kevin glared at her.
“This is why women are not welcome in war.” Kevin said.
“Because I showed mercy?” Chelsea asked.
“Because you were weak.” Kevin replied angrily. “Do you have anymore water?” He asked as the pain in his hands were returning.
“Yes, here.” Chelsea said, and pulled out her canteen. She unscrewed the lid, and poured cool water over his burning blistered hands. The water was like a small relief as the pain returned. He thought to himself that this was not really any better than being dead, because he still was in pain, and he could still die, in some battle in the future.
“Your burns are extensive. You may have damaged deep into your hand.” Chelsea sighed. “We need to get this wrapped up.”
“Lets get them back to camp.” Kevin said.
“Yes.” Chelsea smiled.