Michael dodged backward as the silver winged creature threw another dive-propelled javelin at him. It was female, that was the only conclusion he could make given its state of undress, and roughly one and a half times his size. She had long blue hair that was woven into thick braids and her ebon skin was marked with tattoos the same silver as her wings. Michael found her beautiful even as she dove toward him with her talons extended towards his face.

  He raised his shield and placed several barriers in front of it to slow her momentum. The move succeeded and as she broke through two of his summoned barriers he smashed at her leg with his mace, managing to connect. There was a loud crack as Ruin connected and she shrieked as she attempted to regain altitude and get some distance from him. Unfortunately for her, Ser Lound was already thundering in their direction with his lance extended and he impaled her through her side with it before releasing the lance and directing his horse to trample over one of the lizardmen that was making a run for it.

  With her gone Michael ran toward the rift. It was hanging about ten feet in the air and another of the harpies emerged from it even as he got close enough to begin wrapping his will around it. As he clutched it, the harpy turned her attention to him, but before she could even prepare to dive a bolt of lightning hit her, courtesy of Ollie.

  Surprisingly, she didn’t fall from it, but instead her tattoos briefly lit and began glowing, then dissipated. Luckily, she was incapacitated while her tattoos did whatever it was that they were doing which gave Ser Blake time to leap up and grab her by the talon. She was far heavier in her full armor than the harpy was and so was able to slam her onto the hard ground below with enough force to shatter a number of her bones before she finished her off with a powerful stab of her spear.

  Ollie had somehow found himself in an aerial battle with two of the harpies at the same time. He narrowly dodged the claws of one by releasing his levitation spell for a moment to put himself into freefall. The other harpy threw her spear at him and he quickly summoned a portal in front of himself making the spear instead fly back at the harpy and impale her through the chest, causing her to fall to the ground. The other howled with rage and dove for him, but he created a portal underneath himself and wound up behind the harpy where he used the force of his fall to slam his metal staff into her back.

  Michael clenched his fist and finished sealing the rift. It wasn’t the angry red of the horned men, but he’d gotten the distinct impression that the harpies were their allies, and the lizardfolk that had been with them made the guess a bit more educated. With the rift closed he moved to help the militia, squires, and knights with the cleanup.

  He started by creating a number of barrier steps to surprise one of the remaining harpies with a lunge and run her through with a blade coated in holy fire. He landed heavily on the ground and rolled to bring himself to his feet before ripping a spear from the side of a militiaman and healing him before throwing the spear at a nearby lizardfolk as he let off a small firebolt that hit the ground as he was launched backward. There were only a few left after that, and since they had the momentum it was a simple matter to finish it.

  When the last harpy was dead, Michael approached the knights and squires where they were standing.

  “Well I’ll be fucked,” said Blake. “Four rifts in two days, only one casualty.”

  Michael frowned at that. The poor man had taken a javelin through his head suddenly, and unfortunately there was nothing he could do. Still he moved over to the body and tore the javelin free before closing the man’s remaining eye and saying a prayer for him.

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  “We’re ahead of the rifts for the first time since…” Lounds paused. “For the first time ever, actually. At least since we came here.”

  Laird nodded. “This is what I’m talking about. We ease the burden of all the villages and towns up to the Knight Captain. Give everyone a breather, time to fortify and prepare more before we attack the forces gathered outside Lataxia. Then we can focus on larger problems.” he paused. “King and Captain permitting of course.”

  Blake nodded and looked at Michael. “That holy fire thing,” She shook her head. “Fuck me, I think the gods really are on your side.”

  “They’re on all our sides… they just like me a bit better is all.”

  She laughed at that, looking at Hu and Laird. “I want to come with you.”

  Laird shook his head. “The rifts will keep coming. We need either you or Lounds to head down to the other village while we’re gone.”

  “No. That village was assigned to you two. That means one of you should man it. Re-allocation of resources is the responsibility of the Knight Captain. Right Laird?”

  Laird frowned, gritting his teeth a bit. “You are right. It would be more in the spirit of our orders if I remained.” He clearly wasn’t enthused by the idea.

  Hu shook his head. “No brother. You go to the Captain.”

  Laird shook his head. “I am the senior knight. It is my responsibility to-”

  “Come on. I know you’d never shirk your duty, but I also know you want to fight your way to your wife in Lataxia. Besides, this is all your idea. Go. Just leave both squires with me to act as support. I’ll make sure Clyde doesn’t sleep through morning training.”

  “But who will keep you from sleeping through it?” asked Laird seriously.

  “Bawn, obviously.”

  Laird paused for a moment, his face straining a bit before he nodded. “Agreed. Thank you Hu.”

  Hu nodded.

  Blake seemed unconcerned with the brief struggle she’d just caused and began turning to the militia members to bark orders and start moving everyone back toward Creekbend.

  Michael was feeling in high spirits. With the additional knights and their mounts these rifts had been easier to close than the previous ones. He felt like he’d barely exerted himself at all, and with all of his new titles and deeds active, even unexpected rift creatures had become much easier to kill.

  They arrived back at Creekbend after only a few hours of travel and they were greeted with cheers and smiles by the people there. Much like the other village though, the actual celebrations were private, with most of them opting to spend time in the warm intimacy of their own homes rather than share in a party or feast as Michael had grown used to in Stent and Swandia. The people of Old Hume seemed to have old souls in that way. He rather liked it. He’d always preferred private celebrations. When he had a birthday, and he’d had quite a few before he’d died, he favored a day off of work, a good steak dinner with Sara and the kids, and a cake with raspberry filling. Though he had enjoyed a party or two when he was younger and hadn’t minded the more public celebrations since he’d been in this new world. Perhaps it had been more of an age thing than anything.

  Michael retired to the infirmary to be alone, opting to rest even though Ollie and the knights and their squires asked him to share a drink with them. He was feeling off, thinking too much about his old life to be good company. He pulled out the sketches Davi had done of his family and stared at them for some time. He channeled healing into his hand in order to feel the warmth of his wife’s hand for a moment. How was Sara? Was she playing at that moment with the new grandbaby? Was Vick being the father Michael knew he could be? Was Laura doing alright on her own? He imagined what they all might be doing at that moment. It had been more than two years now since he’d arrived. So much could happen in that time. He wanted to pray for them, but he doubted his new gods could do anything for them a world away.

  Instead he just kept that warm glow on his hand and thought of them. Remembered the good times he’d had with them, their smiles, their joy. He hoped their lives were full and happy.

  He heard, for a moment, a bit of laughter in his ear. Just enough that he recognized it. The laughter of his home when it was full. He even heard Gabe’s laugh mixed in.

  He smiled. “Thank you, Nykas.”

  He heard the god’s laughter for a moment mixed into his family's and he fell asleep peacefully that night.