“Smash!” The Grobendiss picked up the tree-sized log it used as a weapon and then pressed it against the door.

The peasants on the other side began pounding against it almost instantly, but the Grobendiss-supported door refused to give way.

Rowland rushed over and picked up Dennings, almost instantly babying her once more. He even used his heal spell on her twice despite her not having suffered so much as a single scratch.

“What now?” one of the guards asked.

“Patch yourselves up. We need to prepare for the second wave,” Lucas said, noticing that the guard numbers had dropped from 20 to eight.

They didn’t look happy about it, but they silently followed orders and moved back into formation. Lucas was expecting the door to break at any moment, but for some reason, the sound of the enemy struggling to break it open stopped. It was as if the peasants had left, and the quiet left behind was eerie.

“Is there another entrance to this room?” Lucas asked, thinking that perhaps they were going to try to circumvent this path and find another.

“Yeah, there’s the back route, but no one uses it,” the guard closest to Lucas said.

“Would anyone know about it?” Lucas asked.

“Maybe? Not sure who . . .”

“Crap,” Lucas grumbled. “They’re probably going for that. Change of plans,” he said, looking over at Dennings. “Are you ready to spin again?”

“No!” Rowland shouted. “She can’t! She’s too fragile! I can’t bear to watch her get attacked again. Those tiny arms of hers need to rest!”

“Tiny arms?! They’re not tiny!” Dennings cried. “They’re big and muscular, and they’ll crush you like a grape if you treat me like some dainty flower!”

“I . . . I would never treat you like a flower! What flower could ever smell as sweet as you, look as pretty as you under—”

“Shut up!” Lucas barked, cutting short the impromptu ode to Lady Dennings. He had to restrain his hand so he wouldn’t slap Rowland right where he stood. “We’re going. We need to press in now. If they’re circling around, we should be able to hit them in the tail, and if they’ve split up, then we’ll only have to fight the half that remained. This is good on either count.” He then signaled for Smash to lower his log and open the door.

Lucas wasn’t greeted by a conniving pack of peasants trying to slip around, but by the sound of battle near the entrance of the keep instead. Staff in hand, he rushed toward the sounds of metal hitting metal, bones snapping in two, and explosions. When he rounded the corner and saw what was happening, he was stunned. Nick was there, blocking the gateway to the keep so that no one could escape. His black armor was glowing dark purple and emitting shadowy tendrils that grabbed at anything near him. Katie was shooting one arrow after the other, dropping enemy after enemy, and Bonnie was like a burst of destruction as she cut through their foes, her lithe figure nearly invisible aside from the streaks of blood her victims spurt across her cloak.