The Bridge to the Square of Heroes was easily made. Aea, once again able to provide sounds and odors as well as the texture of the stones and a feeling of open space, described it in exacting detail, and her words produced a vivid, lucid image of the location in Rath’s mind.

The Square of Heroes was, oddly, oval shaped, expansive and generally level, though a small slice at the northern end had suffered uplift of almost a meter. Around the Square, not a single building was standing, but the space of the Square itself was completely free of rubble. The rains of the previous day had blown off and the sky was clear when Rath led his much expanded group — twenty-five not counting himself — from the Bridge onto the cracked flagstones.

Gyre and a dozen medtech volunteers had shown up at ten minutes of Rath’s planned departure time, giving every indication that their participation had been arranged in advance. Not seconds behind them came Sergeants Zhym, Khyrm, Corporal Eyr, and Blade Dhal, bringing with them an additional four extremely large men, another Blade and three Shields. If anything, the four new additions were taller, stronger, and more fierce than Rath’s original four bodyguards.

Rath had had to ask, “Why just big men?”

“More meat and bone stops arrows and swords better.”

This matter-of-fact statement did not please Rath at all, but he made no protest as he had no time for ineffective protests or unjustifiable pride.

Exarch Ehlren was well-prepared and waiting beneath a pole-mounted awning with his senior officers.

The retired Shield officer had collected and queued more than four thousand civilians in mostly straight lines for the evacuation as well as adding five hundred and thirteen able-bodied Shields to his command.

Without delay, Rath created the Bridge at the north end of the Square, and the long lines of people began to trudge forwards onto it. Scores vanished at a time and Exarch Ehlren’s deployed Shields kept the lines that fed into the ten-wide final queue moving as fast as possible.

From what Banneret Fhreyhor had told him, the Last Bastion’s established plan called for three other Bridges: one at the Parade Ground of the Training Center where he had left the Banneret, one at the Veteran’s Plaza in the south, and one at the Wooded Reserve in the west. Since he had no knowledge of the latter two, his initial plan was to fly alone at high speed across the city to locate those assembly districts in the west and south, make contact with the Last Bastion at each district, make their Bridges, then return by a narrow Bridge to the Square. Once back, he would Bridge from there to the Parade Ground, taking the emissaries and the rest of his group to discover what Banneret Fhreyhor had managed to accomplish.

For now, though, with mild satisfaction he took a few moments to watch the steady movement of the queue, resisting an impulse to try to count the people as they vanished to the safety of The Wall. From his perspective, they were at The Wall almost as soon as they vanished, though somehow all of them would have experienced the trek across the Bridge, which had to be something of an hour. That quirk of disjointed experienced time troubled him for reasons he could not articulate.

Accompanied by several Shield officers, Gyre and his medtechs had moved off to attend the injured people in the lines, but Sergeant Zhym and the other bodyguards had formed a loose cordon around Rath as he conferred with Exarch Ehlren. Aea and the three emissaries stood off to the side, patiently waiting.

As he stood watching the process under a red sky being brightened by the rising of the Two Suns, Rath thought to ask Exarch Ehlren, “How many of your Shields are Last Bastion?”

“Thirty-seven, Magister.”

This took Rath aback. He had expected more. “How many of the rest can you spare for The Wall? Vice-Exarch Llylm needs more Shields to secure Sixth Section.”

“All of them, Magister. We who are sworn are the only ones that should stay to prepare the next Round of evacuations.”

The retired Shield officer must have seen something of Rath’s inner reaction in his expression. “It is our duty to remain, Magister. We are sworn to it.”

Rath had no choice but to accept that; it was absolutely necessary. “The Bridges will stay up until dusk. Send everyone through that you can.”

“Aye, Magister, it will be done. Have you chosen your destination for tomorrow?”

Rath blinked. “I haven’t thought of that at all. Where should I go?”

“All members of Last Bastion have chosen a single village, town, or city to be accountable for. All of us can describe an assembly point in that location in exhaustive detail.”

“Why just one?”

“There are more than two thousand hamlets, villages, towns, and cities in the inhabited lands of the Monitor Nation, Magister. We do not have two thousand days until the end of the world. I have always thought of it as a lottery.”

“So I must choose.”

“Only who you ask, Magister. Each member of the Last Bastion has already made the hard choice.”

Rath pressed his lips together. “What place did you choose, Elder?”

“High Wells, in the mountains to the west, Magister. It is a city of some one hundred and twenty-nine thousand.”

“Can I ask why you chose that place?”

“I willingly die for my Nation, Magister, but I still have sons and daughters and grandchildren.”

Rath nodded. “Tell me of that place.”

He had Exarch Ehlren repeat his memorized description, which also included sounds, odors, and the particular taste of the air, thrice. To seal the description in his mind, Rath made a fleeting and tiny Bridge to the location.

Conscious of the brightening day and of the steady drain that Fhaeyr’s Bridge and this new wide Bridge made on his Spirit, something that he was learning to correlate with the increase in the rate of his fatigue, Rath informed Sergeant Zhym that he should be gone less than an hour, desired Wfythurgthyr and went off in search of the western and southern assembly districts.

The Wooded Reserve was easily found as it was a tree-bordered park with a flattened, trimmed-grass-covered knoll at its center. The knoll was no more than two meters above the surrounding terrain and its once well-tended grass had been trampled down to mud in some spots. A good number of the trees on the periphery had toppled, with roots exposed and branches smashed in their fall, all of the paved walkways were cracked and askew, and a prominent three-meter bronze statue of a heroic woman had been tilted at better than thirty degrees, but the open center of the Reserve was largely undamaged.

The open area was at least as large as that of the Square of Heroes and was well able to accommodate thousands of refugees as well, but the number of those milling about, uncertain and hesitant, was by his estimate less than three hundred.

When Rath descended, he caused a stir amongst the refugees, but all of them just moved away from the high point of the knoll where he came down and stood staring and whispering. They all had the same dusty, bedraggled, tired look as all the other survivors that Rath had seen thus far and more than a few were reclining on improvised litters.

As he landed, without forewarning a strong tremor rolled the knoll, casting many of those waiting from their feet. Rath took immediately to the air again and could only watch helplessly as the shaking continued for at seventeen minutes by his watch, making this one of the longest minor tremors so far. Distant rumblings of further building collapse signaled that the entire city would soon be flattened. There were scattered yells and curses from the assembled survivors, and some of the smaller children began crying, but the majority just hunkered down close to the ground to ride out the tremor.

When the tremor subsided, Rath landed again and was almost immediately approached by several Elders, none in out-of-date Shield uniforms. One of the Elders, a woman, had two legs broken below the knee, was clearly in significant pain, and had to be carried by two young men in a wooden dining room chair.

All the Elders, save for the one borne in the chair, knelt before Rath and proclaimed their allegiance with the same words as had Exarch Ehlren and Banneret Fhreyhor.

Rath listened with a fixed expression, disturbed that these newly identified members of the Last Bastion were all civilians, rather than Shields as he had — admittedly without cause — presumed that they all would be. A Shield, even a retired one, had sworn themselves to the service of their people. They had already chosen duty to their nation above self, and it was easier for him to accept that some of them must sacrifice themselves to ensure that as many people as possible could be saved.

Rath spoke to them briefly, giving basic instructions for what to expect during the crossing, then made a Bridge that was only wide enough to accommodate five abreast. With this small number, there was no need for a wider one. He placed the head at the highest point of the area, more of less in the center of the open ground.

After a slow start as his instructions were relayed through the exhausted and haggard assembly, the waiting refugees began moving to the Bridge and vanishing.

Within little more than a quarter of an hour, the field was empty save for Rath and the five pitiful and forlorn Last Bastion. Even the young men that had been helping the crippled Elder had been ordered away. Rath’s suggestion that the injured Elder go along to The Wall to receive treatment and then return when she was able was immediately rejected by her.

This was another added to a growing multitude of things that he had to simply accept, as his incredibly dwindling time gave him no other option.

Angry, but pushing it deep down, he looked all around the area.

There was no one else in sight and no indication that anyone was trying to make their way to the spot.

He turned to the Elder who he took to be senior amongst the five. “How many more do you expect to assemble here for evacuation?”

The man was bald, spindly, but moved quickly and efficiently. “We have not seen anyone for several hours, Magister. We sent out a patrol to sweep the immediate area an hour before you arrived, but they returned empty handed.” The Elder paused briefly. “At the time of the major tremor that brought most of the walls down, a great many people of our district were within their houses having a celebratory meal for the retirement of our local Ancient Law Judge who had served for seventy-five years. The celebrations were planned for weeks.”

Rath interpreted that immediately: most of the inhabitants of the area were under the rubble.

He looked at the faces of the five and made a point of focusing on the Elder with the broken legs. She seemed to be going in and out of consciousness.

“All of you will come with me to the Square of Heroes to join Exarch Ehlren’s group.” That was an order, not a request. “We must use our resources in the most efficient manner and Exarch Ehlren should have more help.”

He made a bridge at once, with the head under his own feet. As intended, the Bridge swept the five along with him. The Elders reacted with surprise, but Rath put on a stony expression to discourage conversation.

The crossing was only a moment or two. The inexorable flow of the Bridge brought the injured Elder and her chair along. The other four clustered near her, looking around with unconcealed awe at the bizarre mauve glow, the distorted and indistinct background, and the streaks of blue light that surrounded the Bridge in its passage outside of normal space. Several of them gagged and retched before they learned that it was better not to stare in one direction for very long.

Rath had made the foot of the Bridge not far from where he had left Exarch Ehlren last and the retired Shield officer advanced to meet them without delay. Rath threw a fast look around. A few small groups and individuals were being escorted across the Square towards the Bridge. Refugees were still being found.

“I have brought you some reinforcements,” he told Ehlren brusquely, gesturing at the five Elders, then immediately desired Wfythurgthyr and launched himself into the air.

Another thing that he did not have time for was discussion.

As he raced toward the south, he held a short internal debate about the unattended Bridge that he had left open at the crown of the knoll in the Wooded Reserve. That Bridge continued to place a constant drain on his Spirit, and he had no reason to believe that it would be used again.

But he also had no reason to believe that some survivors could not make their way there before dusk.

With that in mind, he diverted again to the west and made a single orbit around the broad swath of ruins about the Wooded Reserve, proclaiming with Elhn Syhn that the Bridge would remain in place at the crown of the knoll and that all survivors should make their way to it to make the crossing to The Wall.

He did not have time to make a search, but he saw no one as he flew.

Then, growing anxious that there might also be thousands waiting for evacuation at the third assembly district, he rushed to the south to find the Veteran’s Plaza.

He had thought that he had already seen the worst that the tremors could do, but when he began to fly over the southern part of the city, he was stunned by the sheer magnitude of the destruction.

For whatever reason, this area had suffered far worse than the sections of the city that he had seen thus far. The very ground had rent itself apart, and great chasms now sliced through the blocks and streets. These had swallowed many buildings whole and consumed long stretches of the intervening streets. Every street, avenue, promenade, and walkway was cutoff by impassable gaps in the earth, some dozens of meters deep.

He saw a few people, individuals, pairs, and small groups, scattered about and stranded, unable to travel far in any direction. Most of them appeared to be just huddling together, with no purpose or objective.

At what he took to be the Veteran’s Plaza based on the remaining scraps of pavement, two vast chasms had intersected and most of the place was now but a jumble of rubble ten meters down.

A tremor started, sending dust shooting into the air and generating more landslides that carried large slabs the ruins down into the chasms.

Not stopping to think, Rath made a small Bridge under the nearest survivor, sending her to The Wall. He dismissed that Bridge after just the few seconds needed to be sure that she had arrived at The Wall — at least from his perspective — and then made another under a trio of a man, a woman, and a child.

He continued, flying about, whisking people away as fast as he could.

There would be no organized evacuation here. If any Last Bastion survived, they were powerless.

Only those that Rath could glean from those that he could see would be saved.

The first tremor was followed after only moments by a second, and then, not much later, by a third.

He grew steadily physically weaker as the magic drained his Spirit, but persisted. His muscles began to ache and his hands and arms trembled. His flight became erratic.

At first he tried to keep count — a dozen became a hundred — but then he realized no count mattered as long as there was one still to be sent.

After perhaps an hour, he was exhausted and nowhere that he could see was there a living person.

A few times he swooped low to make sure of that and did not look to closely at the bodies.

He had even sent a few wandering dogs and cats.

Knowing that there were still likely people alive down below him, but also knowing that he could not continue, he made a Bridge that brought him back to Heroes Square.

Aea and his Blades put him in a chair and gave him water and food. He did not know what he ate or really care what it was.

When he could stand without wobbling, he summoned his original group, with only a trio of the volunteer medtechs detatched to wait with Exarch Ehlren’s Last Bastion. When the emissaries, Blades, and Shields were gathered around him, he straightaway made a Bridge to the mound near the Training Complex parade ground.

He was not sure what he had expected to encounter — perhaps confrontation with Bear Lineage or even open conflict — but he certainly had never imagined what he saw when they stepped from the Bridge.

The parade ground, except for a scattering of trash blowing in the wind, was empty.

All the people, tents, and Shields that he had seen the day before were gone.