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The morning of the Great Rite was a curiously quiet one. When we stepped outside of Tsarra’s house, all you could hear was the sound of the breeze and the occasional bird call. The place was like a ghost town.

Because it kinda was. We’d gotten the word around, going from house to house once night fell.

Sometimes the Volken had people patrolling the ramparts of the wall around Leifgart, but this time, there were none.

When the gates closed, it was as if every single one of them drew back tightly behind the walls.

We’d told everyone what was happening, that they needed to make a run for it if they wanted the chance to survive, that now was their best opportunity to leave, because the intended slaughter would make it difficult to ascertain who had escaped and who hadn’t.

Some listened, some didn’t. Aaron had been concerned about them reporting on us, but with the main gate firmly shut, how would they get access to the Volken?

Which left us with a problem—how did we get in to get our people out?

“How’s it going? What’s the ETA?” Aaron whispered.

We were all crouched down by a small side gate Volken would obviously use if they needed to get out of the city quickly.

“When it's done!” Jack hissed back. “Haven't exactly got the best equipment here!”

We’d searched the outer limits for pieces of metal we could use as lock picks, but as the Volken didn’t have a heavy industry sector, it was few and far between. Jack used the bit of wire and a broken knife as best he could, but…

“We need to get in and out before the vigil ends,” Finn said. “It’s the only way we’re getting out of here unscathed.”

“If only spectacular logic like that worked on inanimate objects,” Jack said between gritted teeth. Something groaned inside the lock, sounding like it was starting to move.

“Here.”

We all jumped ten feet to see Tsarra standing beside us with a large rusted key in her hand.

“Mother, I asked you to run,” Sylvan hissed.

“There is no running from this.” She placed the key on his palm and then turned and shuffled back down the hill to her home, I assumed.

I didn’t get Tsarra. I didn’t know what she did, she just seemed to haunt her house like some kind of ghost, but then I thought of the girls who were raped repeatedly in the banquet hall.

Is that where Sylvan came from? I thought of them, and of Kerin and of Lian’s unnamed daughter, who had killed her children.

This was a city full of brutalised mothers and motherless children.

I looked up at the dull grey sky, clouds forming a uniformly gloomy backdrop for what was undoubtedly going to be a shithouse day.

“D’ya reckon zombie mum could have given us this before I wore my fingers ragged?” Jack asked, inserting the key and turning it. It took a bit of a wiggle, but the door ended up swinging open.

“Shut up, Jack,” Sylvan said.

“Ooh, now the seer’s telling me to shut up,” Jack said with a grin. “Life goals achieved. Can we fuck off back to the portal now and go home to a life of luxury and debauchery?”

“We’re doing this,” Hawk said grimly.

Jack looked at him, lips pursed, then over at me. He took both our hands and shook his head. “Self-sacrifice and impending doom it is, then.”

We paused to look over the houses closest to us, the doors hanging open, goods scattered everywhere.

And silence—overwhelming, suffocating silence.

Aaron signalled for us to follow him down one of the narrow alleyways that ran along the big retaining wall.

We’d worked out it would make us the least visible, in case any Volken had been left to roam around.

The ground rumbled under our feet as we did so, resulting in the lot of us freezing until it passed.

When everything stilled again, Aaron waved everyone forward.

“I’ll find you, if they take us down,” Jack whispered as we walked, carefully, softly. Aaron had padded our shoes last night with strips of cloth to muffle our footsteps and leave fewer tracks.

“What?” Hawk said.

“Some say we come back after we die, that our Tirian carries us through death and into life again. If we do, I’ll find you two again. I’ll always look for you two.”

I paused for a second, looking at Hawk, and he nodded. We both leaned up and placed a gentle kiss on each of his cheeks.

“Shut up, Jack,” I said gently, and he did.

Our caution was understandable, but not needed. The streets were completely empty, even when we slipped inside the side door to the kitchen.

“They go down to Lonan’s cavern for a vigil at the start of the Great Rite,” Sylvan said.

“It’s a mark of respect and trust, to step into the cave and prostrate themselves before the Great Wolf.

To walk out uneaten is seen to be an endorsement of what the Volken do.

The crystals are brought down to Lonan directly and play two parts.

One, they strengthen the links between the Great Wolf and the Volken.

That interlocking mesh of red light you described from the banquet, that happens.

It recharges the crystals, but it also acts as a direct link to Lonan.

As they rampage, everything they destroy fuels Lonan, who funnels some of that excess power to the Volken.

They will spread out throughout the surrounding areas and drag back the next lot of people, subjugate them, and then rebuild the city.

Though apparently, they have to go farther now, since the nearer settlements have been abandoned. ”

“And the women?” Aaron said.

Arelia turned to look at the children around the table.

“Girls, go in the schoolroom and play. We’ll be there soon.

” The women shifted in their seats as her voice grew flatter and more precise, but the children got to their feet and did as they were told, a few taking Kerin’s daughter in hand to get her to move.

When she saw they had closed the door, she turned to face the lot of us.

“I survived the last Rite by my mother shoving me in a cupboard.” Her finger rolled a stray crumb around on the tablecloth.

“ We’re their possessions, bred to make more of them.

Sometimes we’re part of the destruction.

” She said the words without flinching, which somehow made it worse.

“We’re locked down here, and the keys are apparently easy to access.

Our father would never step in, and we can’t get away.

We’re easy pickings. It’s why there’s no older women here. ”

Silence settled over the room.

“So, it's agreed, the vigil is the only vulnerable period,” Aaron said, finally. “It goes for several hours?”

“From my recollection. We’ll start hiding the children from dawn.”

“Alright, we get in early, get the men out, arm Aaron’s guys, and help any who need healing, then come for the women and children,” Finn said. “We’ll get all but the ones in heat out, then double back to release them.”

“Are we likely to encounter any problems with the other women?” Slade said.

Kerin shrugged. “We never see them.”

“I wouldn’t think so,” Arelia said. “They know what staying here will bring.”

“They’ll have the choice,” Hawk said. “That’s what matters.”

The kitchen was eerily quiet when we walked in.

The great suffocating wall of heat was missing, the fires gone to ashes in the fireplaces, the benches all neatly wiped down, and all food and supplies put away, except for a series of baskets with the prisoners’ and the women’s meals tucked up under plaid dishtowels.

I peeled one piece of fabric back, looking at the food below. It was of considerably better quality than it was before, although still shoved into slop buckets.

“Why am I getting a ‘bite the apple, my pretty’ vibe from this?” I said.

The guys walked over and sniffed at the meals, poking through them.

“We need supplies. We lost everything when the Uldariel took the cars,” Aaron said.

“But not these. There’s carrots and other vegetables in the plots in the farms. Let’s go,” Sylvan said.

The guys looked at me, then him as he strode over to the steps that led down to the cells.

I took Finn’s hand as we descended. Not many people would have seen it, but despite the fact that his back was ramrod straight—or perhaps because it was—I could see the tension that was there.

We strode into the cells, pausing for a second to check the staff had indeed gone down for the vigil.

They had, as the place was empty but for the prisoners.

We handed out keys so we could get everyone out as quickly as possible, but when Finn reached for a pair, I took them from him.

“I’ll open it, you stay with your dads.”

“But what if?—”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “We’re getting out of this fucking place, getting as far away as we can, and we’re taking our people back. We’ll go to Sanctuary and develop a plan, but right now, you need some time with your dads.”

He blinked, his head dropping down for a moment before he gave me a short nod. I watched him walk down the row, then tossed keys to everyone.

“Moonie!” Johnno said, fighting to keep upright as his hands wrapped around the cell bars.

Along with the shoulder injury he’d gotten from the stampede was a long gash down his leg.

Smithy, one of the other soldiers, moved in to help him stay upright.

“We’re getting out now, right? Tell me we’re getting out. ”