A moment after seeing those men advancing, a small squad of what also seemed to be soldiers appeared. They were equipped with a light whitish armor, and underneath they wore a tunic for the cold of the same color.
"Shit!" Rowan spat, "Have you seen where Daren and Claire went?!"
I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find them. The only thing I saw was chaos and destruction. People running for their lives, fire wherever I looked, even… what looked like corpses.
I shook my head. I couldn't process what was happening.
"Follow me," he grabbed my wrist and started running to the side, taking advantage of the armed men fighting each other.
We crossed a small yard between two wooden houses. The ground was full of footprints, mud, and pieces of what had once been a fence. To our left a door stood wide open, and screams could be heard from inside.
Rowan didn't even look.
We kept running until we reached the corner of a wider road. There the fire illuminated everything with an intense orange light. The village barn was burning.
Flames climbed up the planks as if the entire building were a torch. The roof had already begun collapsing on one corner and sparks flew through the air with every gust of wind.
Rowan stopped for a second, observing. "That way," he said, pointing.
I looked at him without understanding. "Are you crazy? That thing is falling apart."
"On the other side is the other part of the main road," he replied quickly, "if we go around through there we can avoid the soldiers and reach Edric."
I didn't have time to argue.
A scream echoed nearby, followed by the clash of steel. Rowan pulled me again. "Now!"
We ran straight toward the barn. The heat became intense even before reaching the side door. The air was full of smoke and ash, and every breath scraped my throat.
He kicked the half-burned door and it gave way with a creak. We went inside.
The interior was worse than I imagined. The beams of the roof were wrapped in fire and part of the hay burned in piles that illuminated everything with a trembling light. The ground was covered in straw, scattered tools, and pieces of wood.
The smoke was so thick that I could barely see my brother a few meters ahead.
I coughed. "Rowan!"
"This way!" he replied between the crackling of the flames.
I advanced behind his silhouette while the heat struck my face. I heard a loud crack above and several embers fell near us.
I sped up. I could already see the large door on the other side of the barn, half open and letting in the gray light from outside.
Then I heard something else.
A heavy thud outside.
Rowan heard it too. He stopped for a moment.
And then a huge shadow crossed in front of the opening of the door.
The animal appeared in the frame a second later.
It was a panlagor… but not like the ones I had seen before.
Its body was covered with metal plates fastened with thick straps. Its snout was protected by some kind of iron mask, and from its back hung pieces of armor that clinked when it moved.
Its eyes locked onto us.
"Run," Rowan said.
The panlagor let out a deep roar and lunged forward.
Rowan pushed a broken cart beside him, trying to block the animal's path.
"Luke, go!"
I hesitated for a second. The panlagor slammed into the cart with its armored chest and the wood exploded into pieces.
Rowan faced it sideways with the spear, trying to divert it. "Go now!"
The flames crackled behind me.
I ran.
I crossed the barn while hearing the clash of metal and the roar of the beast behind me. I jumped over a fallen plank and pushed the large door on the other side with my shoulder.
I stepped out into the cold air.
I stumbled a couple of steps before regaining my balance.
When I turned around, I saw Rowan drop the spear and draw his sword. With all his strength he slammed it against a beam beside him and then rolled to the side.
The structure gave way with a loud crack, and a large part of the roof collapsed onto the animal, leaving it trapped under the debris wrapped in flames.
"Rowan!" I shouted desperately.
"I'm fine, I'll take another path, you keep going!" I heard his voice like a whisper among so much noise. Hearing that he was alright calmed me.
I followed his words and began to run.
I kept running without looking back.
The cold air hit my face, but the smell of smoke was still strong. The flames illuminated the village with a trembling light that made everything look unreal, as if I were walking inside a nightmare.
I turned down a narrow path between two wooden fences. The snow was trampled and mixed with dark mud. Further ahead I heard the echo of metal clashing, followed by a muffled scream.
I tightened my gripp on the hilt of my sword as I moved forward.
The path opened again into a small side street of the village. Some houses were partially burned and others had their doors ripped off. The fire illuminated the roofs with orange reflections that moved with the wind.
Then I saw something on the ground.
A body.
I stopped for a moment.
It was a man in dark armor, lying on his back in the snow. His helmet was split and the blood had frozen around his neck. A few steps away from him there was another.
And another.
The sound of someone breathing with difficulty made me lift my head. A few meters ahead, near an overturned cart, someone was kneeling on the ground.
I approached carefully.
It was Serin. She was covered in soot and blood, most of which didn't seem to be hers. She had someone in her arms.
When I took another step closer I recognized the face.
Corin.
My chest tightened.
Serin was sitting in the snow, holding her brother's body against her. Corin's head fell to one side and his tunic was soaked with dark blood that had already begun to harden in the cold.
Serin's eyes were completely open, but she didn't seem to see me.
She rocked slightly forward and backward.
"Serin…" I said carefully.
She didn't respond, so I looked around.
There were more bodies scattered all over the street. Several men with the same dark armor I had seen before lay on the ground. Some had deep wounds, others looked as if they had been crushed against the ground.
Near the cart there was also the body of an armored panlagor.
The beast was enormous even while lying down. It had several plates of armor fastened with straps and one of its legs was bent at an impossible angle. Its neck was pierced by a broken spear and the blood had spread across the snow in a dark stain.
I looked back at Serin.
"Serin…"
This time she slowly raised her head.
Her eyes were red.
"I… couldn't…"
The moment she spoke a few words the ground trembled slightly.
*Kreeee*
I looked toward the main house of the village, where the warehouse and Elias's office were located… or rather, what was left of it.
The building collapsed with a brutal crash. I crouched by instinct and covered myself as best I could while a cloud of soot and dust filled the air, falling over Serin, the corpse of her brother, and me.
When the dust began to settle…
something moved among the rubble.
A monstrous beast emerged from the ruins.
It was as big as a house. From its front legs grew gigantic wings, and its entire body was covered in black and red feathers that stretched from the tail to the head, where a massive beak rose.
Inside it… was Myriam, Leofric's mother, the woman who had once been my kind boss.
Without a doubt it was a wyvern, like the ones I had seen in books or heard mentioned in stories at the bar.
As soon as it noticed our presence, it turned its head toward us. Its jaws closed with a dry snap, splitting the body in two before throwing it aside.
Then it raised its head and let out a deep growl that made the air vibrate.