Grace saw the Captain move up beside her as she hit the first of the beasts with the blade. The impact jarred her hands and shoulders, and she fought to hold on to the hilt. But the creature was still snapping at her, and she had to swing again twice until it was still. The leathery skin of the creature had been harder to slice at than it had been to pierce. No wonder the guards had fallen so quickly, with swords which had been magicked to let them swing at attackers.

She saw Afi, ahead of her, driving his knife into a throat and then a chest, swiftly extracting them and then swinging again. His body seemed to move in a fluid, unstopping rhythm. If she hadn't seen the bright droplets of blood spraying through the air, he might have been dancing.

She stopped watching again when a snarling beast jumped at her. She lifted the sword, using its point this time, and staggered backwards as the weight of it fell on the blade. Her arms were aching already and there were still dozens of the things left. She had to do as Afi had done and drive at them before they had a chance to get close, or she would be left exhausted and defenceless.

Her blade came clear as she tugged, and as she turned towards the mass of snapping creatures she saw one hunkering down behind the Captain, ready to jump. She took two quick steps and drove the blade hard into the side of its neck.

The Captain turned as a warm spray of blood hit the back of his leg, but to Grace's relief didn't pause to thank her. Instead he waded further into the seething horde and jabbed at them with his spear. She had a moment to see the way the sparking blue snaked out onto one of them and became a throttling circle of energy around its neck. And then she charged at another beast, and another, her breath quick and gasping now and her right arm shaking.

The fight began to remind her of a winter hockey game at school, when her tiredness and the cold brought an air of unreality. She wasn't sure it was really her arm that swung at one of the creatures close to Afi, and landed a blow between its ribs.

They were winning, she saw at last. There were only four of them left, and they were circling warily, snapping at Afi and the Captain. Grace caught one of them whilst its attention was on Afi, driving her red-stained blade into its side. Before she could draw it out, the Captain had lunged at a second and brought it down.

Afi's hair and face were sheened with sweat, but he seemed only a little out of breath. With a smile, he leapt towards the remaining pair of creatures and drove a knife into each throat. He landed in a crouch, and then rose with all the grace of a ballet dancer, before turning the brilliant smile on Grace.

"Something new to fight," he said, triumphantly.

Grace grinned back, breathing in deep and satisfying breaths.

And then she saw, past him, a shadow appear on the wall of the one of the houses a little way down the side street. Afi had turned before she had time to say anything, and the three of them watched dumbly as a creature the same shape as all the others but of a different magnitude came prowling round the corner.

"Oh no," Grace said quietly. Its dark, leathery head was as high as the second floor of the houses, and its fists were bigger than the three of them put together.

"There's always a bigger dog," Afi muttered, and drew his bow from his back.

Grace found herself stepping backwards, leaving them to face this thing in spite of every thought of bravery she might have had. She was exhausted, and it was too big. How could she do anything against it?

The Captain glanced back at her, and gave her a small smile. It was infinitely forgiving, and Grace wanted to crawl inside her own shame and cower.

As  he turned away, the creature bellowed a half-simian roar, its mouth gaping wide. She didn't hear the sound of Afi's arrow loosing, but she saw the effect. The beast shook its head, and then gave a gagging, gasping sound. One of the huge fists came up as it tried to claw at its throat, and then it swung around, crashing into one of the houses.

Grace winced as she saw the massive shoulder drive a hole in the wall of it, showering stone as the creature moved away again. If it hit any of them, they would be crushed.

We need to run, she thought.

Almost as if she'd heard him, Afi broke into a loping stride, but rather than fleeing, he was attacking. Grace wanted to scream at him to stop, but she didn't dare distract him as he came close to it.

The huge head was shaking from side to side, still enraged by the arrow in its throat. But it wasn't slowing down at all.

The hunter loosed another arrow as he ran, towards its mouth again, but Grace couldn't see whether it hit home, and Afi didn't wait to find out. Throwing his bow down to skitter across the cobbles, he drew his knives out again and jumped, lunging at its chest from below.

The Captain was running now too, and Grace knew she should help them. But she felt like she was rooted where she was. For a moment, she glanced over at the remaining soldiers and saw in their faces a fear the mirror of her own.

And then she heard another bellowing roar, and looked back in time to see one of those huge fists swipe at Afi.

It was like seeing a piece of confetti thrown carelessly. He was flung up and away from the beast, to strike the wall of one of the buildings and fall, limp and unmoving.

"Afi!" she shouted, and then realised that it was useless. She should have run forwards too. She might have protected him.

Her eyes were filling with tears as she ran towards him, but part of her saw that there were stairs close to him. As her gaze followed them upwards, a fractured and crazy version of them making its way through the salt water, she realised that they zigzagged all the way up to the roof.

The Captain was backing away from the beast again, his spear ready, waiting for his opportunity to strike. The creature wasn't looking at her.

She wanted to run to Afi's still form, to lift him up and curl up over him, but she knew what she needed to do. She ran close to him and then turned up the stone stairs.

She was gasping by the time she reached the roof, and she realised how much higher it was than it had looked. And how much further the distance between her and the beast.

But it was flat, and the bricks were well-layed and easy under her feet. She walked away from the edge, knowing she'd never do it if she looked down. Ten paces away, she turned, and sighted on the huge shoulder that was closest. She waited until it swung its other hand at the Captain, and then she ran.

It was terrifying how close she came to backing out at the last minute. The instinct to stop and back away was enormous, but then she would be leaving them to it, and she knew that the creature could tear Afi apart or crush him.

She drove off the edge of the roof, hard, and felt a sickening fear as she flew forwards and began to drop. She was falling too quickly. She must be.

But then her feet hit the leather-like shoulder, and before she could fall, she drove the sword into the huge brown and white eye that was in front of her.

The anger Afi had caused was nothing compared to this. It screeched, and pawed at its eye, the huge shoulder heaving, so that she could only hang onto the blade to keep from falling, but then was struck again and again by its scrabbling fingers as it tried to pull the blade out.

She closed her eyes and hung on, her nose suddenly full of a strong, horse-like smell, the odour of the small dog-things she had fought magnified a hundred times. It made her gag, but still she hung on.

There was a lurching, falling sensation and then a shuddering impact which loosed her fingers from the sword. With a cry, she fell, and landed only a second later. The shock ran through her feet and something gave in her ankle. She felt her knees hit the cobbles, and then her arm and shoulder. Only then did she think to open her eyes.

The creature was above her, jerking and twitching in a crumpled heap on the stone. It had taken the edge off the nearest building, and there was stone piled up around her. She had no idea how she had escaped being hit by any of it.

She looked past the leathery skin at the sky, stunned and sure there was something she needed to do. But she felt a strong grip fasten itself on her upper arms and she was being dragged away from the creature's dying remains. Craning her head, she saw that it was the Captain, his bearded face half-covered with blood.

The view joggled and jerked as she bumped over the cobbles, and she put a hand up to stop him.

"Stop. Stop!"

He paused and looked down at her. She struggled to sit upright, and cast around for Afi.

"Where is he?"

"There."

He pointed behind her, and she looked around to see Afi standing between two of the scarlet-robed men. He looked gray and a little haggard, but was unmistakeably alive.

"Help me up," she told the Captain.

He heaved her to her feet, looking back beyond the beast up the side-street.

Grace tried to put a little weight on her right foot, and felt fire run up her leg. She hissed between her teeth, and let the Captain loop his arm under her shoulder.

"I'll get the healer to see to it," he told her. "It will be better in minutes. But I'll have to leave you with my men."

"Are you expecting more?" Grace asked, as he handed her over to one of the guards standing beside Afi.

"Wouldn't you strike now?" the Captain asked, "when you'd made your opponent vulnerable?"

Grace nodded, and glanced at Afi.

"I guess you'll be coming to the healer too, hey?"

"I suppose so," he replied, and then reached out and squeezed her hand. "That was an impressive thing you did there."

Grace flushed, largely out of shame. "Only after I backed off and let you get hurt."

"It's all right," he told her, with a wry grin. "I didn't need any help with getting myself hurt. My work entirely."

He glanced at the Captain. "Does this kind of thing happen often now?"

 "Oh, we can talk about that later, after you've both been healed," he said, with a strange little smile. "There are lots of things I'd like to ask you two."

Grace felt like she was falling off that house all over again. Standing up to the formalities of getting into the palace was one thing; pretending to be a noblewoman from one of the cities under interrogation was another one. However brave and selfless this man was, he was one of the Queen's men.

Afi just smiled back at him, and nodded, and the Captain walked away. The man supporting Grace turned them towards the gate, which she saw now had a small open door within it. Hobbling, she followed Afi through it and into the grounds of the Palace. There was a hissing sound after she stepped through the door, and as she glanced back she saw that it had closed behind them, leaving a blindingly reflective sheet of smooth and unbroken silver.

Grace tried not to panic, but there was a large part of her that thought she might never walk back out of there again.