"So much for a vantage point," Sonic said morosely. She grabbed Rusty, who was little more than a vague shadow in the haze. "C'mon, Rooster. Let's go find el general, and you darn well stick to me like glue, comprendes?"

Rusty was coughing. "Can't... breathe..." he said. He was tugging at the collar of his wetsuit to try and mask his mouth, but the wetsuit wasn't budging.

"This sucks, huh," Sonic said, and tucked herself under Rusty's shoulder to carry him. Fortunately, she was shorter than he was, so this was easy to do. She hauled him up the side of the snow crater, and began to clamber toward the road leading to the Common. The dust cloud would settle, she knew, but for now, they needed cover, and fast.

From behind her: "Where did the outsiders go? They were just here!" The Hepsguard were waving their lances around, dust hissing as it burned in the fiery tips.

"I will seek the General, Hepsguard," Sonic called out, "but I must protect my outsider friend first! Beware the oncoming Gol'ur-Klem, and use the ice to your advantage, for the sake of the Highest!" For the sake of the Highest? The heck? The phrase had come quite naturally to her.

Strangely, the dust cloud was not settling as she moved together with Rusty away from the wall. Instead, it was thickening, the air getting darker around them. The boy was still spluttering and heaving, and Sonic could see that his face was almost solidly brown, his blonde hair clumped and matted with gunk. She lowered him onto the dirt-ice ground, put her Slammer down, and patted her hands against the snow. Then she used her wet hands to wipe Rusty's face. "C'mon, amigo, spit it out. You'll be fine."

Rusty continued to cough large slivers of brown sputum, the gobs splashing wetly onto the ice. "Urgh... that's... eugh..." he said between choked breaths.

"Yep, that's pretty gross," Sonic said, still wiping his face gently. "Still, you aren't dead, mi amigo. I wonder how the guards are breathing with this crap in the air?"

Rusty sputtered a few more times. The haze was definitely getting worse, the snow turning an unpretty, sooty color. There were grunts, cries coming from within the opaque and dirty fog by the wall, and the sound of clashing weapons: heavy, solid knocking of wood against stone, timber against steel. Then, curses, and the thick haze flashed and flickered with blue light. Sonic could see large – no, make that enormous – shadows being cast as the fiery lances were swung by the defending Hepsguard.

The Gol'ur-Klem had arrived.

"Oh Dios mio, okay, we move!" Sonic said, helping Rusty to his feet. They staggered together like a drunken couple down the ice-covered road, the air ahead of them marginally clearer, for now. Sonic hoped the Threadsmith was not that far ahead. To her relief, she saw a Hepsguard contingent, a dozen or so, marching toward them. The lead guard waved his sword menacingly as they approached, and behind him, several crossbow-wielding guards raised their weapons.

"Halt!" the guard called out.

"We are friends, Hepsguard," Sonic replied. "Don't shoot. We seek an audience with General Weylin."

The sword-bearing Hepsguard lowered his weapon. "You are the outsiders."

"That is correct. The General seeks us."

"Are the beasts through?"

"They are," Sonic replied, "so prepare yourselves!"

The guard turned to his soldiers. "At the ready, Hepsguard!"

There was a low muttering among the contingent, an audible chanting of some form. Then, much to Sonic's amazement, the entire group, except for their leader, vanished from view.

"Wow, you see that?" Sonic said to Rusty, but the boy was still wiping muck from his closed eyes. He hadn't seen how the Hepsguard unit had turned itself invisible on command.

"The General is behind us," the still-visible lead guard said, "but be warned, an elite regiment guards the way. They will kill you if you do not approach with care."

Not likely, Sonic thought. "Our appointment is with the General," she said, "so if your elite regiment tries anything, it will be on their heads."

"I proffer a warning only, outsider," the guard said. He raised his sword into the air. "Forward, guardsmen! And may the Highest protect us all!"

The invisible guards behind their leader roared, and they continued their march past Sonic and Rusty into the encroaching haze, the cobblestone lighting up in a train of invisible boots. But Sonic noted their invisibility was to be of little use. The dust was settling onto the forms of the soldiers, making them appear as sooty ghosts in the dirty air.

"So much for the fancy trick," she said. "Still, it's pretty cool, you think?"

But Rusty didn't respond.

He staggered weakly, his head lolling forward.

"Ah, darn it," Sonic said, and lowered the collapsing, exhausted boy onto the cobblestone.

"Far... out..." Rusty said.

Sonic dropped down next to him, putting the Slammer onto the ground. "You okay, amigo? Need a pick-me-up?" She desperately wanted to inject the boy with analyzers and healer-bots, but wasn't sure what the consequences were likely to be.

"No, I'm just tired," Rusty said, and rolled over onto his side. He pushed down on the road, and got to his knees. "But I can do this. Magic chicken give me strength!"

Sonic looked at him, puzzled. Then she laughed. Rusty was referring to his 'lunch' in the castle.

"Idiota," she said, but not unkindly. She tucked herself under his arm once more, grabbed her weapon with her free hand, and lifted him to his feet.

A crash and a thump from behind them.

Sonic turned, dragging Rusty along with her. The haze behind them darkened with the silhouette of a Gol'ur-Klem brute, swinging its enormous club from side to side, connecting with the ghostly forms of the Hepsguard and sending them into the air. A solitary crossbowman hurtled toward them, becoming fully visible as he skidded along the cobblestones, and crashed into a building nearby.

"Ooo-kay, get behind me," Sonic said, and stepped out from under Rusty's shoulder. The boy, still unsteady, stumbled backward into a small pile-up of ice. He had not, however, taken his eyes away from the shadow of the beast that was growing larger as it strode toward them.

The Gol'ur-Klem emerged from the mist like a nightmare made real. The creature was easily eight-feet tall even though it was hunched over (how tall is it when it stands up? Sonic thought crazily), and its strong forearms – one carrying what appeared to be half a tree – swung in front of it as it walked. The head of the brute was as ugly as Sonic had seen in Queen Rylenia's mind: completely bald, covered in mottled skin, jaw jutting out with an underbite that was inches in length. This one had curved tusks, one of which was so long the creature would likely poke itself in the eye if it bit down too hard.

But its eyes were good. It saw the crossbowman, who was still getting to his feet, then Sonic, then Rusty, and registered an obvious interest.

The half-tree swung up.

BRRACKK!

The Slammer vaporized the brute's club. The creature swung down with almost nothing in its hands. "Graah?" it asked, looking at the space where the club once was. "Graah-ah."

Sonic, her gun aimed at the brute, filtered the creature's grunts for what they were: a spoken language. This second word meant 'my club is gone'. The first 'graah' the brute spoke meant 'huh?', and Sonic almost felt pity for how brainless the creature was. But it was under orders, and Sonic did not want to do what she had to do next.

She didn't have to. The creature, unaware of how close it was to death, turned around of its own accord, and wandered back into the thickening haze toward the breach in the wall. Sonic caught its thoughts as it walked away: 'retreat'.

"You do just that, buddy!" Sonic called after it. "And tell your friends to do the same!"

There was a thunk nearby, followed by a sharp hiss. The crossbow-wielding Hepsguard was standing now, and had fired at the retreating half-giant. But the bolt merely bounced off the large stone plate on the brute's back. The creature didn't even register the hit, and continued to walk away, becoming indistinct in the gloom. The guard, meanwhile, loaded another bolt into his weapon.

"Save your arrows, Hepsguard!" Sonic said to the guard. "If you intend to kill it, aim for exposed parts, not armor!"

The guard looked at her. "How about we swap weapons, outsider?" he asked, his tone none-too-friendly. "Your staff made that thing's club disappear. Why didn't you shoot the brute itself?"

"I don't kill if I don't need to," Sonic said sharply. She didn't care for where this conversation was heading. "You do what you must, and I do what I will! There are hundreds more where it came from, so aim wisely!"

"And when it comes back?" the guard said angrily. "With another weapon? With its friends? What then?"

"I'll disarm both it and its friends," Sonic replied. Her voice was ice, and she raised a finger at the Hepsguard. "And mind yourself, soldier. You fight as you are ordered, but you do not tell me what to do! Are we clear?"

The guard, still fumbling with his crossbow, lowered his eyes and muttered something unintelligible.

"Thought so," Sonic said.

"Guard!" a voice came from the haze. A dirt-encrusted Hespguard became visible, marching firmly toward the crossbow-carrier. "This is no time to dawdle!"

The soldier gave Sonic another contemptful glare as he departed, then turned back momentarily. "Help us, outsider," he said.

"I will," Sonic replied. "For now, we seek the General, so leave us be!" She went back to Rusty, whose face was white as a ghost.

"What... what..." he stammered.

"Relax, I'll take care of them," Sonic said, and took the boy by his arm. She got him to his feet, noting that he was steadier now than before. Magic chicken, she thought, and chuckled.

"That thing was flipping huge!" Rusty said. "And it was going to... it was going to..."

"Yep. Mincemeat, you and I both," Sonic said, but she wondered if that was true. "You okay to keep moving?"

"Yeah, I... I guess. Holy hector. It's just – " Rusty paused.

"Just what?"

"They didn't look so big from a distance, yeah? Like, I thought they were, like, I dunno, normal-sized?"

Sonic thought about this for a moment. "Nah, no spatial distortion here," she said, mostly to herself. She tucked herself under Rusty's arm again and began carrying him down the road, boots crunching on the ice. "Same thing happens back home, just an illusion. You ever seen pictures of Antarctica? Where there're no trees in the pic, so a boulder in the distance looks eeny-weeny, but it's actually huge? Same thing here, amigo."

"Right," Rusty said, amazed at how casually the girl was discussing this. It had been – and still was – a totally weird experience. The tumble he took down the stone wall earlier was fun, though. Luckily he'd landed in a patch of snow, otherwise it would have been lights-out. And the ease with which Sonic had just thrown him into the air?

He gripped Sonic's shoulder firmly. "Please don't ever leave me!" he implored, and it was a genuine plea. He did not want to be left alone, or be abandoned by the powerful girl that carried him now, a girl that he, being honest with himself, was beginning to fall for.

"Don't," Sonic said abruptly.

"Huh?" Rusty said.

"I'm never gonna be your girlfriend, amigo."

Rusty turned bright red. "I, uh... what?"

"I'll be your amigo, but not your moza amiga, comprendes?"

"But... I never..."

"Mind-reader, remember. No 'I never' as far as I'm concerned," she said, and smiled. "And reeelax, will you? It's much better this way, trust me."

She carried him forward. Behind them, the cacophony of fighting seemed to be getting louder, weapon strikes, clashes, and grunts, both human and otherwise, gaining in frequency. Sonic wondered if the entry into the Hep had widened, and was answered by yet another thundering crunch in the distance.

She dropped her carrying-hand to Rusty's waist, lifted him up, and redoubled her pace. Rusty's body flopped around like a rag-doll, but he managed to keep his head up. There was less ice around them now, the destruction wrought by the cascade petering out as they moved. The buildings they passed as they approached a fork in the road were far enough from the wall to have been spared the explosive hailstorm.

Then she saw the 'Threadsmith'. The building was some distance ahead. She stopped to lean Rusty gently against a wall, allowing him to rest. The boy steadied himself, then slowly sank to the ground.

"Okay, hombre, we gotta go past that place," she said, pointing, "which means we're almost there."

"Where's 'there'?"

"Remember the golden general-dude from earlier?"

"No."

"Right. Well, we're going to see him."

"Okay," Rusty said. He raised one weary hand, and pointed behind Sonic. "Look at that."

She turned. The haze was lighter here, so she could see the dust cloud behind them growing in height, billowing slowly into the Hep, turning the sky dark and ominous. There were flashes within the dust, like lightning in a gathering storm, and Sonic was reminded of what she'd seen when the Custodian summoned the wall. This time, however, the scale was considerably greater, the sight more than a little terrifying. As she watched the dust cloud grow, a giant fire arrow burst through, arcing its way over their heads and trailing smoke.

Sonic raised the Slammer, tracked the arrow, and depressed the trigger once.

BRACK! The arrow exploded mid-flight in a starshell of shrapnel.

"Good shot," Rusty said.

"Thanks," she said, lowering the gun "But I don't have a proper line-of-sight here, amigo. Probably other arrows getting through and setting fire to this place."

"Right," Rusty said, and looked at the gun. "You should use your machine gun on the... bad guys."

Sonic shook her head. "Not yet," she said. "I'm here for you only, Rusty. I'll help these folks, but only when I get you someplace safe."

"Yeah? And where's that?"

She pointed toward the fork they were approaching. "Past there, I hope."

"Okay," Rusty said. He put his hands on the ground, tried to lift himself up, and failed.

"You are tired, huh?"

"Yes," he said, his now dirt-free eyes wide with exhaustion. "I am totally and completely bushwhacked."

Sonic held her hand out. "C'mon buddy. As you say, 'let's do this'."

Rusty grabbed her by the forearm. "Magic chicken."

"Magic chicken." Sonic grinned widely, hauling him up. "You're – "

BANG!

She vanished.

Rusty staggered back against the wall, mouth open in shock. In Sonic's place, standing upright for the moment, was Rusty's surfboard.

Suffice to say, no-one was more surprised than he to see it.

The surfboard keeled over and clattered onto the cobblestones.

"Sonic?" Rusty asked weakly. He went to his knees and ran his hands over the surface of the board, then knocked on it like a door. "Sonic!" he cried. "Sonic! Sonic!"

In his panic, he was heedless to what was happening at the fork down the road, to his left. Several Gol'ur-Klem brutes, oversized clubs at the ready, rounded the intersection, completing their flanking maneuver of the contingent that passed Rusty and Sonic only moments earlier. Their directive was to strike at the rear of the Hepsguard, and they had executed this instruction perfectly.

They came up the road toward Rusty, four of them in total, the ground vibrating and thudding with their approach. Rusty paid them no heed. He continued to bang and scratch at the surfboard, digging into the wax coating. He turned it over, barely noticing that the fins were still intact or that the underside was totally unscathed. "Sonic!" he shouted, his panic giving way to terror.

A shadow fell over him.

"Graa-aah-er." The deep growl came from his left.

Rusty got to his feet slowly, holding the surfboard up as he did. The brutes stood over him, brandishing their huge clubs. The closest half-giant raised its weapon, and said: "Ger-haar."

"It's my surfboard," Rusty said absurdly, as color drained from his face. He held it up in front of him. "Did you want it?"

The Gol'ur-Klem brute brought the full force of his club down onto Rusty, and everything went dark.