A Quick Sun Rises by Thomas Rath

growing stronger in his tone.
    “Just shut up and listen,” he said, shaking him. “You need to gather all the men you can from your company and get out of Calandra as quickly as possible. Move them southwest toward Bedler’s Keep and we’ll catch up to you there when we can.”
    Wess seemed to sober some as he stared at Jack in obvious confusion. “Bedler’s Keep, why in Seless’ name for?”
    “You know those trolls the king is convinced have gone for good?”
    Wess nodded his head slowly.
    “Well, they’re about to come knocking on Calandra’s gate with a host larger than you or I could ever have imagined existed. Haykon has already fallen to them and now they march on us here.”
    Wess’ eyes opened wide despite the pain it caused. “Are you certain?”
    Jack spat. “Barely got out of Haykon alive myself as they overran the city. They’re coming, and Calandra will fall within hours.”
    Wess staggered back from his grip and then fought to maintain his balance. Lifting his hand he saluted, clearly struggling to keep from collapsing back into the street. “I’ll gather everyone that I can, Jack, I promise.”
    “Just do it quickly. Try not to spread alarm but get as many people as you can to start leaving the city. We’re on our way now to see if we can’t convince the king to get everyone out, but our hope is faint that he’ll listen”
    “And what of my men in the dungeons?”
    “We’ll take care of that,” Ranse said, eliciting a strange look from Wess who clearly had no idea in whose presence he found himself.
    “Don’t fail me on this, Wess,” Jack said. “Get yourself something to eat and then get your men, and anyone else who’ll listen to reason, and get out.”
    Wess nodded, staggering as he did so but able to keep from completely falling over.
    Jack glared at him for one last moment and then turned and started walking up the street, followed by the others. No one spoke but Thane couldn’t help but notice the smile playing across Jne’s lips. He wanted to ask her what she found so amusing but decided it best to just keep his mouth shut and follow the others in silence.
    “We should have just left him here to his fate,” Dor hissed, just loud enough for Tam and Thane’s ears. Tam looked at him quizzically, the hatred glaring and hot in his eyes.
    “What is the matter?” she asked him, but he just shook her off, not offering a reply, and pressed ahead catching up to Jack and whispering something into the old man’s ear.
    Tam stopped for a moment and stared after him in confusion before picking up her pace to catch Thane and Jne. “What is wrong with him?” she huffed at Thane.
    Thane sighed, wondering how much he should reveal about Dor’s capture by the HuMans. It was not something he wanted to burden her with, especially since they were right in the middle of the HuMan’s seat of power.
    “After he had escaped from the trolls, Dor was captured by the HuMans and held in a cell. He would have been brought here when Wess and his men left Hell’s End Station, but we were able to get him free.”
    Tam was shocked. She’d never known that Thane and Dor had found one another before, always figuring that they had all been reunited at the same time when Thane found her and saved her life. She opened her mouth as if to say something else but then shut it, apparently thinking better of it.
    They continued up the road in silence until all caught sight of another wall and gate. This wall was made of white brick and was approximately the same height as the outer rock wall. True to the other wall, this one’s thickness was no more than two feet and again was not designed to repel an attack. The gate seemed a bit sturdier though still made of wood planks and left open on rusty hinges that appeared to never have been used to close the gate. Again, two guards were posted but as before neither challenged the visitors or stopped them to ask their business.
    As before, as they passed