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finally, they stopped moving. Justice had been
served.
    Erec stood
there, atop the fort, breathing hard, his men beside him, and took stock in the
silence. The battle was over. Down below, it took a minute for the dazed
villagers to process what had happened, but soon enough they did.
    One at a time,
they began to cheer, and a great cheer rose up in the sky, louder and louder,
as their faces filled with pure joy. It was a cheer of freedom. This, Erec
knew, made it all worth it. This, he knew, was what valor meant.

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
    Godfrey sat on
the stone floor in the underground chamber of Silis’ palace, Akorth, Fulton,
Ario, and Merek beside him, Dray at his feet, and Silis and her men across from
them. They all sat gloomily, heads lowered, hands across their knees, all
knowing they were on a death watch. The chamber trembled with the thumping of
war up above, of the invasion of Volusia, the sound of their city being sacked
reverberating in their ears. They all sat there, waiting, as the Knights of the
Seven tore Volusia to pieces above their heads.
    Godfrey took
another long drink from his sack of wine, the last sack left in the city,
trying to numb the pain, the certainty of his looming death at the hands of the
Empire. He stared at his feet, wondering how it all could have come to this.
Moons ago, he was safe and secure inside the Ring, drinking his life away, with
no other worries but what tavern and what brothel to visit on any given night.
Now here he was, across the sea, in the Empire, trapped underground in a city
under ruin, having walled himself into his own coffin.
    His head buzzed,
and he tried to clear his mind, to focus. He sensed what his friends were
thinking, could feel it in the contempt of their glares: they never should have
listened to him; they should have all escaped when they’d had the chance. If
they had not come back for Silis, they could have reached the harbor, boarded a
ship, and now been far from Volusia.
    Godfrey tried to
take solace in the fact that he had, at least, repaid a favor and had saved
this woman’s life. If he had not reached her in time to warn her to descend,
she would certainly be up above and dead by now. That had to be worth
something, even if it was unlike him.
    “And now?”
Akorth asked.
    Godfrey turned
and saw him looking back at him with an accusatory look, voicing the question
that was clearly burning in all of their minds.
    Godfrey looked
around and scanned the small, dim chamber, torches flickering, nearly out.
Their measly provisions and a sack of ale were all they had, sitting in one
corner. It was a death vigil. He could still hear the sound of the war up
above, even through these thick walls, and he wondered how long they could ride
out this invasion. Hours? Days? How long would it be until the Knights of the
Seven conquered Volusia? Would they go away?
    “It’s not us
they’re after,” Godfrey observed. “It’s Empire fighting Empire. They have a
vendetta against Volusia. They have no issue with us.”
    Silis shook her
head.
    “They will
occupy this place,” she said somberly, her strong voice cutting through the
silence. “The Knights of the Seven never retreat.”
    They all fell
silent.
    “Then how long
can we live down here?” Merek asked.
    Silis shook her
head as she glanced at their provisions.
    “A week,
perhaps,” she replied.
    There suddenly
came a tremendous rumble up above, and Godfrey flinched as he felt the ground
shaking beneath him.
    Silis jumped to
her feet, agitated, pacing, studying the ceiling as dust began to filter down,
showering over all of them. It sounded like an avalanche of stone above them,
and she examined it as a concerned homeowner.
    “They have
breached my castle,” she said, more to herself than to them.
    Godfrey saw a
pained look in her face, and he recognized it as the look of someone losing
everything she had.
    She turned and
looked at Godfrey gratefully.
    “I would be up
there now if it weren’t for