Book Lover

The Twin Spires are filled to capacity. Aside from your fellow knights of the Bastion, there are legions of soldiers from warmer parts of Land’s End, sitting around the fires and huddling together for warmth. (The damn cowards of the Royal Aegis are, of course, away in the castle protecting the King should the Spires fall.) You feel your stomach twist in disgust when you see the Sinners with their metal collars, shackled to the posts away from the decent folk, their chains clanking continuously as they shiver in the cold. No doubt they’ve been brought out to serve as canon fodder, giving the executioners a break from having to do the job themselves. However, they’re not going to fulfill that role if they freeze to death before the battle even begins. Then there are the sorcerers of the Coven with their staves and silly hats, although they look somewhat different compared to the two mages who’d distributed the elixir. They give you a wide berth and you do the same, hoping they’ll be more of a help than a hindrance when the Blighted arrive. Your son would watch the sorcerers who passed through town in rapt fascination, but you’d never let him go anywhere near them. In the center of it all is the White Priestess of the Fount herself, a speck of pure white amidst a sea of black as she is surrounded by guardians of the White Parish at all sides. You don’t get the opportunity to speak to her; you’re not sure what you’d even say, but your daughter would be cross with you if she learned that you had a chance to meet the White Priestess in person but didn’t. The last preparations of the defenders are just wrapping up when the first wave of Blighted pours down the mountainside, changing toward the keep at full speed. Quickly grabbing your sword, you head up to the high wall just as the first volley of arrows rains down upon the approaching fiends. The Battle of the Bastion begins.