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The air pressure shifted, coolness blanketing the world before something that felt like heat bubbled through her veins.

Magic.

A massive surge of it.

Gasps rippled through the room as each person felt it, and Edond stood abruptly, shock washing over his features, followed by joy. He started laughing; the sound unhinged and ecstatic.

“She did it,” he said. “Somehow she unlocked the well.”

Sylvaine frowned, gazing out the windows. “But how? It’s not even midnight. The witches shouldn’t be back at the temple yet.”

A noise rumbled in the distance, growing and growing with each second. Screams sounded outside the castle, echoing like a nightmare, and the soldiers shifted to high alert, drawing their weapons. Something slammed against the windows and Avenay whipped around to see. The vines from before. They crawled along the glass, hitting, probing, trying to find a way in.

She dashed to the windows on the other side, looking out into the streets. People were running as the vines followed, grasping their ankles and pulling them down, wrapping around and around them. Vines spilled over balconies and rooftops, slithering up from the streets. Beasts burst from behind the mass of vines, snapping their jaws as they chased the people fleeing for their lives.

“We have to open the doors and let them in,” Avenay said, turning to the king.

He stared at the scene with horror, silent.

“Edond, you must raise the alarm and let the people in,” she repeated.

“Keep the doors locked,” he said.

Silence followed, and the soldiers shifted uneasily on their feet. Sylvaine looked up at him in shock, taking a step back.

“Keep the doors locked!” he barked. “There’s nothing we can do. We must go to the caves and hide until dawn. They are agitated by the full moon, and that surge of magic must have knocked off the wards. They will retreat by dawn and we can reconvene with the rest of the city then.” His voice became calmer as he spoke, as if convincing himself of his own reasoning. “The witches will do what they can to protect the people.” He shifted his robes, straightening regally. “I must care for those I have in front of me right now.”

Fists banged against the doors, the pleas for help piercing through the wood to them.

“The people outside are also right before you,” Vasu spat.

Avenay strode forward, intent on letting them in, when the guard grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back. He wore a tortured expression, conflicting emotions staring back at her. She struggledagainst him. He may have been weak of spirit, but he was physically strong.

“We’ll go to the caves,” Edond said. “Ensure Avenay and Vasu aren’t harmed. I will need their language expertise to resurrect Evoleen when we retrieve her.” He walked to the side door, guards following him and yanking her and Vasu along.

She fumed with every step. He had sacrificed Enid for his evil intent, and now he would sacrifice his entire town. He didn’t care at all about the altruistic ideas he’d spouted. He only cared for himself, for his eternal life wrought by the blood of others.

Enid. Her heart ached as she pushed down a sob. She had half a mind to collapse right there, to cry and let the vines and beasts consume her.

But she didn’t have time.

The moment Edond opened the side door, a beast leapt through, lunging towards him. Edond stumbled back, grabbing Sylvaine as a shield against it.

Vasu made a noise of disgust, then, with his hands held up, muttered something in elvish and the beast fell back with a scream, blood spraying from its eyes and ears and mouth.

The soldiers attacked the other beasts that came behind the first, leaving Avenay unguarded. She looked behind her, to the chaos outside the window. She didn’t know how many of these people were in on the sacrifice, how many approved or didn’t, but she knew the guilt that would consume her if she didn’t do anything, if she didn’t try.

She ran to the door, grabbing the lock and heaving it. It was so heavy and she was so weak, but she kept pushing, grunting as she tried to get it open. Finally, it gave way, and she cried out, then turned to see Vasu and a few other soldiers helping her.

They heaved the drop bar to the side, and the soldiers opened the doors. People piled in, their clothes torn and disheveled, and a nymph fell around Avenay’s neck, weeping and delirious from her struggle. But the vines stretched around and the beasts perked up from the dead they were devouring, seeing the door open.

Avenay flung the female behind her and sent out a flare of light. The vines halted their advance and slunk towards the beam, twining around one another in an embrace, reaching and tilting toward it.

A beast ran towards them, but stopped and screamed, blood dripping from its face, making it stumble back. Another spell by Vasu. The soldiers held the front, hacking at the beasts that came forward.There were only a few at the moment, less than she would have anticipated from what they’d encountered before.

“Get inside!” the front soldier yelled,and people continued to run in.

The bells in the watchtower rang—someone must have run to raise the alarm as they opened the doors.