What the hell, they said Aodhan was dead!, she thought after a huge shock had nearly knocked her off her feet.

  She had just managed to calm the horses down when a bang that could only have been a huge explosion and the subsequent shock wave that felt like a short but powerful earthquake made her stumble.

  She had barely managed to hold on to one of the wooden support pillars .

  It took a few moments before the ringing in her ears subsided, but she could already guess what had happened before she started to hear the screams.

  The acrid smell of smoke that rose to her nose was unmistakable. She had quickly run outside to see what had happened, only to run into a wall of smoke and heat the moment she opened the door.

  Instinctively she lifted her shirt to cover her mouth and nose, knowing that it was hardly enough protection but better than nothing as she looked at the burning remains of the Schluchts North Gate.

  Where it once stood there was now simply a large gap in the palisade. Looking around she saw several of the burning remains of the former gate scattered everywhere.

  Whatever had happened must have literally blown the palisade to pieces, she thought, shuddering at the possible meaning of this.

  The areas of the palisade adjacent to the gate were also ablaze, from where it had already begun to spread to the rest of the wall.

  Buildings that had been immediately adjacent to the gate were also ablaze or had exploded along with the palisade, their burning remains being flung to houses further into the city.

  There were only small fires on the roofs as of yet, but she knew that would soon change.

  After all, most of the buildings in Schlucht were made of wood, and of course there was no one on hand to put out the fires.

  The roar of the fire, combined with the crackling of burning wood, sounded to her like the chewing of a beast feasting on the bones of its prey.

  This sound was only interrupted by the screams of pain and fear of Schluchts residents, who were either running away in panic from the growing flames, or worse, lying motionless among the rubble.

  Her first instinct was to rush to the figures on the ground to see if she could help, but she couldn't bring herself to take a single step when the seriousness of their situation finally dawned on her.

  Why bother? Most of them will already be dead, or at least so badly injured that I can't do anything. Besides, it's far too dangerous for me to run around here now. Almost the whole damn place is already on fire and now that the gate is gone, the dragon's men are surely on their way here too , she thought to herself, staring at the picture before her with a feeling of numbing powerlessness.

  I've always wanted to see a dragon in action, but that wasn't what I had in mind , she thought as she searched the sky for Aodhan.

  The night was no longer as clear as it had been in the evening and the smoke did the rest, but she still thought she should be able to recognize an angry dragon in the sky attacking her village.

  However, a few clouds and rising plumes of smoke were all she could see.

  Aodhan is nowhere to be seen, so is he dead after all? If so, where did this fire come from? Suddenly they say Miriam is coming to negotiate and a few moments later everything is on fire, what the hell happened here? she tried unsuccessfully to understand the situation around her.

  Whatever it was, it must have been pretty intense to just let the gate rain down on the city like that. Oh damn! , she thought worriedly, before another thought flashed through her mind.

  She turned around abruptly and saw that the roof of the stable, which she had turned into a makeshift hospital, had also caught fire.

  She could see why, as a burning piece of the palisade was sticking out of the roof, grinning at her like an evil devil.

  It wasn't a big fire yet, but she knew that this would change in time and that the smoke alone would be dangerous enough.

  Shit, shit, shit, I have to get the injured out of there somehow. Damn, I have to take care of the horses somehow too, how in the name of all Nephilim asses, am I supposed to manage this on my own without soon looking like a human-sized Torch myself, it flashed through her mind in panic.

  She tried desperately to calm her breathing so as not to inhale any more of the deadly smoke that was already scratching at her lungs.

  While her thoughts were racing and she was considering what she should do, she didn't even notice that someone had approached her until they pulled on her arm.

  Startled, she looked around and saw the sweaty, slightly sooty face of Ivar, who was looking at her with wide eyes in shock.

  "Theodora! I really need your help. Albert lost consciousness after we jumped off the palisade, you must take a look at him!" he explained to her breathlessly and practically dragged her after him.

  Still completely overwhelmed by the situation, she stumbled after him.

  "What happened here?" she heard herself ask somehow even more confused than before.

  "Miriam blew herself up and took the palisade with her," Ivar explained breathlessly, without stopping or turning around.

  How did she blew herself up? she wondered. However, she decided that this was not important right now and left it at a brief "Aha".

  Finally, they stopped and Ivar looked confused when Albert was nowhere to be seen.

  "I don't see any Albert here," she spelled out the obvious.

  "No no, he was lying right here when I left, he must have woken up and is probably staggering around somewhere, we have to find him!" Ivar shouted in panic.

  " Not so fast!" she thought to herself and yanked her arm out of his grip before he could drag her with him again.

  "Now wait a moment. I understand that you are worried about Albert, but if he is still able to move on his own, he is definitely better off than all the injured people in the stable. You must help me get them to safety somewhere before everything there goes up in flames," she explained to him seriously as he turned to her in surprise.

  She could literally see the concern for his friend wrestling with the rational sense of duty in Ivar's face.

  Finally he took a deep breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead with one hand and nodded silently at her.

  "Very good," she sighed with relief and immediately made her way back to the stable, hearing Ivar's footsteps behind her.

  "We have to get them out of the stable and take them someplace safe. Unfortunately, there is no safe places left anywhere now and it looks like we will have to carry them through the fire somehow to even get out of here - any ideas?" she explained the situation to him.

  "The stable has a small side entrance that leads to the alley behind it. Because it can't be closed properly anymore, sometimes a few children use it to secretly feed the horses. We can carry them out of there and then see if we can put them in one of the surrounding houses. Most of them should be open; if necessary, I'll just kick a door down," he answered after some thought.

  Huh? Maybe we can actually pull this off, she thought in surprise before another unpleasant thought went through her head.

  "Sounds good, but we have to hurry before the dragon's men invade here," she replied warningly.

  "Yes, I know," she heard Ivar mutter behind her, gritting his teeth. They quickly covered the rest of the way to the stable.

  When they arrived, they unfortunately discovered that the fire had already spread, as expected.

  They had heard the panicked neighing of the horses quite a while before. When they saw the burning roof and immediately rushed into the stable.

  It's doable, the injured are stable enough, we just have to hurry, get in and out quickly, we can do it, she repeated in her mind over and over as she entered the burning building.

  The heat had already become significantly stronger in the short time she had been away, along with the smoke, and she felt her skin feeling hotter almost every second and she was getting a little less oxygen with every breath.

  After just a short time, sweat was pouring out of every pore of her body and she had to keep wiping it from her eyes and forehead, just so she could keep seeing the inferno around her.

  "Six people, right?" Ivar asked her as he ran, having also pulled his shirt over his mouth and nose.

  "Five, all stable, but they will have difficulty walking, some are still dazed because of the painkillers," she answered as they approached the back wall of the stable.

  "Where is this side entrance?" she asked impatiently, searching the wall with her eyes.

  "Uh, wait somewhere here," murmured Ivar, running his hand along the wall.

  For a few agonizing moments she could do nothing but watch as Ivar ran his hands frantically along the wall. The cruel thought that he might have made a mistake was already rearing its ugly head in her mind when he finally found what he was looking for.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "Here!" he exclaimed excitedly, and indeed, with some effort she could see how a small door with its handle standing out slightly from the rest of the wall.

  With some effort he opened the door and stepped through, while she quickly followed him.

  She was immediately greeted by a rush of relatively clear and cool air, which she greedily sucked into her lungs.

  They found themselves in an alley, one of the dozens in Schlucht, with the path lined with houses and small shops, many of which also served as apartments.

  Most importantly, however, there were no burning debris lying around anywhere. It was almost surreal to her how normal and peaceful the street seemed here, considering that she was standing in a burning building a few steps further back.

  The two pulled their shirts off their faces and breathed in the fresh air. When a hint of smoke finally mixed with the fresh night air, they turned back to the stable.

  From here, the fire on the roof could only be partially seen, as it had so far been burning mostly in the front area.

  However, the columns of smoke rising into the sky from and behind the stable spoke for themselves.

  "Let's find somewhere to stay," she said, and Ivar nodded in agreement.

  They split up on either side of the street and went through the house’s door by door.

  Closed, closed, closed, damn it, with so many closed doors at night. I might as well have stayed in the capital, she cursed mentally as she rushed from door to door.

  Finally, one of the handles could be pulled down and the door opened. Finally! she thought with relief.

  "It's open here!" she called excitedly and waited until Ivar rushed over to her.

  "Those are the Brenners, they wouldn't mind putting up a few injured people here if they're still alive," Ivar said eagerly.

  Together they hurried back to the stable, pulling their shirts back over their faces before going in.

  “I’m going to get Sascha, she's got hit with an arrow to her knee, so I'm supporting her, you take care of Bastian, he fell from the palisade and broke both his legs and injured his back,” she said hastily and pointed to the corresponding stable rooms.

  Theodora quickly opened the door to Sascha's room and saw the young woman standing there, swaying but upright with one hand against the wall.

  Her leg with the thick bandage was shaking badly, however.

  “Theodora, what's going on here, I was sleeping and suddenly there was a huge bang and the floor shook. Now it feels so hot and stuffy here, is that because of the medication,” she mumbled, although Theodora could already hear the growing fear in her voice.

  “Unfortunately, not, the roof is on fire, come on, we have to get you out of here,” she said quickly, put one of Sascha's arms around her shoulder and helped her out of the room.

  “On fire? Shit, they said Aodhan was finished," said Sascha with wide eyes as she came out of her room.

  "That wasn't Aodhan, Miriam blew herself up with the gate and set part of the city on fire," she explained shortly.

  "Um?" Sascha only managed to say, confused.

  "It doesn't matter, just pull your shirt over your nose and mouth," she answered quickly and hobbled on with her.

  A little ahead of her she saw Ivar transporting Bastian in a wheelbarrow that was probably usually used for hay.

  " Did I fell on my head earlier and have hallucinations right now?" Bastian wondered out loud, his legs sticking out of the front of the cart.

  "Believe me, I wish it were like that, that would make things a lot easier," she heard Ivar sigh.

  When they reached the Brenners' house, she took the time to take a look inside.

  The entrance room basically consisted of just a kitchen and a dining table with four chairs. A little further into the room was a staircase that probably led up to the bedroom.

  They each sat their injured on one of the chairs. Just as Ivar was about to leave again something else occurred to her as she thought about the next injured person.

  "Wait," she called out quickly and left a slightly confused Ivar behind her as she ran up the stairs and entered the Brenners' bedroom.

  There she picked up everything that looked soft and carefully carried it back down the stairs.

  Back downstairs she began to carefully spread out the blankets and pillows to create a few improvised resting places and carefully helped Sacha and Bastian to lie down there.

  After she quickly examined their bandages, she followed Ivar back to the stable.

  "Hennes was shot in the stomach and Julia also fell off the palisade after she got hit on the head with a slingshot or something. You get Hennes out carefully with the cart, I'll take care of Julia. She can walk, I just hope she still lucid enough to get out of the stable," she explained to Ivar, who nodded silently and set off.

  Fortunately, the explosion of the fireball had already somewhat driven Julia out of the delirium she was in because of both her injury and the painkillers. In fact, she almost stumbled into her arms when she opened the door to her room.

  "What is..." she began, looking wide-eyed at Theodora with the one eye that wasn't covered by the bandage, before she was interrupted by her.

  "I'll explain later, come on," she said shortly and helped her to the Brenners' house.

  There she laid the injured woman on the floor, making sure to carefully put a pillow under her head.

  A little later Ivar arrived with a pale Hennes, who was groaning in pain, and the two of them carefully laid him on another blanket.

  "Now just Sophie, they hit her on the shoulder, you take care of her, Hennes's bandage has slipped a bit, I have to take a look at it," she said quickly and leaned over the injured man.

  She carefully adjusted the bandage and looked for fresh blood, but to her relief only found dried one.

  A little later Ivar returned with a pale Sophia, whom they also set down on one of the chairs, a slight painful moan escaping from her.

  "We're done, aren't we?" Ivar asked uncertainly, wiping the sweat from his face.

  "Yes, that's as good as it gets now, we just need to let the horses out," she said after some hesitation and set off.

  "Do you think the horses will survive out there?" Ivar asked uncertainly, while he was going after her.

  She thought for a moment before she answered.

  "I don't know, maybe. They'll definitely die if they stay inside and maybe they'll gallop over a few of our attackers," she finally answered, shrugging her shoulders.

  "Good point," Ivar agreed, and the two entered the stable again.

  Meanwhile, an ever-growing part of the interior was also on fire. Set on fire by the fiery debris falling from the roof. The hay lying around did the rest.

  The stable itself had now become an obstacle course from hell, where they had to run in zigzags to avoid the individual columns of flame.

  More than once it was just a quick step forward and a fair amount of luck that saved her from the rain of burning rubble.

  If she had previously found it difficult to breathe, now every breath felt like she had a thousand blades in her throat as she stumbled through the stable, wrapped in a cocoon of sweat.

  "Wait a moment, Albert said earlier that there are six injured people and there's still someone lying in here," Ivar called to her and went to Gustav's open room.

  "Oh shit,“ it quickly flashed through her mind.

  "That's Gustav, he's dead, we can't help him anymore, come on Ivar," she called to stop him, but was too late.

  "Shit!," Ivar exclaimed breathlessly as he stumbled out of the room.

  "What the hell is..." he began to ask in horror but was interrupted by her.

  "The horses Ivar, think of the horses," she said in a determined tone.

  Ivar nodded, his eyes still wide in shock, and joined her again.

  They quickly walked through the stable and pushed the entrance gate open as wide as possible. Then they ran from room to room and let the panicked horses out, which immediately stormed outside and, after some time of panicked prancing, galloped towards the largest available exit.

  After they had almost been ridden over a few times, they quickly ran out of the back entrance of the stable.

  Behind them they heard the creaking and crackling sound of the roof collapsing further and further.

  After they gained some distance from the burning stable, they finally stopped panting on the street and greedily sucked the fresh air in.

  We did it, we really managed to get everyone out, she thought in disbelief as she looked at the burning ruin that had once been the stable.

  “Now we really have to find Albert before…” Ivar began, before he was interrupted by a familiar voice that seemed to thunder through the whole City.

  “Listen to me, we have to fall back from the gate, they are definitely on their way here already, I know you are scared, I am too, but it is no use! Look around! We can't run away, all of this is out of control, if we ever had it under control. They will not just take their “tribute” now and then leave. They will burn the whole town down! Sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, they will… They cannot hold back, everyone you have ever loved, everyone you might one day love, will die if we do not fight now and think of what happened outside our gates, we can win! Many of them are either lying dead outside our town or crouched at the edge of the forest, too injured to fight now. That is why I am begging you! For your friends, your families and yourselves, don't run away, grab anything that can be used as a weapon, help the injured you can and meet everyone at Gustav's Shoe Shop. It's far enough from the fire, but still close enough to the gate that they have to get past us and can't just scatter through the side streets of the city, I'll be waiting for you there" After Albert's voice had died down, they stood together in silence for a while, each processing the words they had just heard.

  I should have just stayed in the capital. Sure, there are good and nice people here, but seriously, no one can expect me to risk my life. I've lived here for less than five years. Yes, actually, you'd think I've already done more than enough, so it's time for me, for me to... Oh shit! To do what exactly? Trying to escape this madness alone with nothing on hand, trying to somehow make my way to the capital on foot? Horses are no longer an option. Leaving behind all the injured who are my responsibility? I have sworn to something exactly once in my life and have kept it as best as I can. That probably makes me the most trusting person ever born in the capital, should I throw that away now? Should I just leave behind all the people who have welcomed me here so warmly? Well, none of that means I owe the people here anything, so... no! This isn't about debt, so pull yourself together! You're a healer, nobody expects you to start throwing yourself at the next bandit with a scalpel or something. Just do what you've learned, take care of the injured and don't think about anything else. It's not like you're going to change anything if you get a panic attack now, she debated with herself.

  While she was making her decision, she had briefly forgotten the presence of Ivar, who was standing next to her, silent and probably lost in thought like her.

  She knew that he wasn't from here either and wondered if he was having the same inner conflict.

  "Well, I'm going to take care of my patients now, I guess you know where Albert is now," she finally broke the silence, pulling Ivar back to reality.

  "Yes, that was pretty clear. It's only a matter of time before the dragon's men storm in here, are you sure you can manage here on your own?" he asked hesitantly, which made her involuntarily smile.

  Today, all of us are behaving far too heroically, this is not going to end well, she thought to herself and had to shake her head slightly.

  "Well, I don't plan on painting a hospital sign on the Brenners' house. And I don't think that when they run into the village their first thought will be, oh let's go through this burning stable ruin and look for injured people in the houses on the side street. No, Albert may be an old geezer but he's not senile, he knows why he is where he is. And besides, do you really think you could help much if a group of them finds us?" she finished her explanation with a question that made her chuckle slightly.

  "No, no, not really. I just thought it would be polite to ask. I'll go and see Albert. He's sure to have a plan, the man really thrives under stress. That or he hit his head when he fell. Well, probably both, but either way he's right. Good luck Theodora," Ivar replied after a while with a grin and set off.

  “Yes, good luck to you too and say hello to Albert from me and… Well, I hope we see each other again,” she called after him.

  The knowledge that it was quite possible that neither of them would survive the night hung over them like an invisible sword.

  “I have the feeling that even if I survive, I will spend enough time with you that you will see my face in your nightmares. I must warn you, I am an extremely difficult patient,” Ivar called back.

  That’s right, when he had the food poisoning, he begged me to kill him, she remembered with a smile as she made her way to the Brenners' house.

  But he's right, if I survive, I'll be having nightmares for quite a while either way , her mood visibly darkened as she tried to imagine what would happen in the next few moments.