*Eliza’s POV*

I jogged after Andy, not entirely sure why we were checking on the Soul when the Gates were under direct assault. I was hardly an expert in warfare, especially when it came to defending such massive fortifications, but it felt like it might be more useful if we all chucked stones down on the arseholes using the battering ram.

Whatever I had been thinking was completely forgotten the moment we got close enough to the shrine of the Soul. Something was terribly wrong; there was no one outside. Andy broke into a sprint, and I did my best to keep up with him.

We found the door shut, so we both threw our weight into it. It caved, only to reveal that it had been held in place by the weight of a dead Watchman! Andy was inside in a flash, but I had to force the door a little wider to get through.

What I saw was bad, very bad. There were kobolds everywhere, literally climbing up the windows. There were only three heavily bleeding Watchmen surrounding the Soul, and they looked haggard. I screamed as fiercely as I could and brought my axe down on the head of the nearest kobold, clearly surprising it and hopefully drawing a lot of attention to myself.

They were covering the entire floor, pulling on my legs, hacking with little knives, shit! The stench of blood, guts, and the spent bowels of the dead filled my nose. I’d hack one down, and two more would take its place.

I heard Andy calling, ‘Get to the Soul!” But I could scarcely move. I felt a small blade slice into my calf and I turned on the little scrote that had done it. I kicked it over, and crushed it beneath my foot with a sickening crunch. I saw Andy flying around like a crazed monkey, blood flying everywhere, but one of the things had started climbing up my legs!

---

*Andrew’s POV*

The smell hit my nose as soon as the door was open, and I knew I had to get inside immediately. I squeezed through the door and did a fast scan of the scene before me.

Some twenty Watchmen dead, several were down but still moving. I saw Vas’s bright, scarlet hair on what appeared to be one of the unmoving corpses. There were three quickly weakening Watchmen barricading themselves around the Soul as they faced a miniature horde of kobolds. Fuck.

In a blink I was sending Dennis through the back of the nearest kobold, then managed to pluck it out and fully decapitate another before I lost the benefit of surprise. I had to get to the Soul. They couldn’t set a finger on the Soul. I had to get to it and get it out of here, where there were more Watchmen.

I cut and kicked my way towards the Soul’s podium; the Watchmen there were too engrossed in fighting, clearly on their last legs, to even notice me. I had no time to check on Eliza, but I heard the telltale crunching sound of metal rending flesh behind me. I called out to her, “Get to the Soul,” as I kicked back one kobold and swung at another.

As I fought, I calculated. There were far too many, even the best swordsman in the world couldn’t stave off these many alone. I had to get the Soul out of here. I had to.

My heart leapt into my throat as I saw Simon go down by the Soul, covered in kobolds and his blonde hair stained a bright red. I pushed forward even harder against the solid mass of kobolds, feeling their tiny fingers pulling on my feet and legs, their fists banging, a knife glance off my boot.

Bret the Day Watchman paused for one, key moment, when he noticed my approach. A smile was forming on his face as a kobold clawed its way up his side. I pointed and wordlessly screamed, but I was too late. The kobold wrangled on top of the pedestal where the Soul rested and wrapped it arms around it.

One moment, I was fending off kobolds, pushing towards the Soul. The next, all of the kobolds had disappeared, and the Soul along with them.

Notes

oh dear, that's not good!