By the cook fire in the small area of the basement that served as a kitchen, the cook was humming to himself. He was the only other person who remained in the basement, and he seemed unnervingly calm about everything. "How can you be so relaxed amidst all this bloodshed?" she asked.

He looked at her, and smiled. "When I was a boy, all the other little boys in my town wanted to be heros, fighting for what was right and all that nonsense. But I wanted to learn to cook, and I did. And when the other little boys got tired of their games, I was there with a hot bowl of soup or cookies to warm them up for when they went out again."

"But - but this time it's not a game! This time people are really dying!" Jillia protested.

"And there's nothing I can do about it," replied the cook. "So I don't worry about it. If they come back, I'll have a warm meal waiting for them. If not, my soup is plenty hot enough to cause major burns to any Highlander who comes at me before I join my comrades."

Jillia stared in disgust at him. How could anyone become so jaded about death as that? She wouldn't ever become like that, she decided determinedly as she ran towards the stairs. The last thing she heard from the cook was "The cookies'll be ready in ten minutes!"

It wasn't as quiet upstairs, but most of the battle was taking place away from the fort itself, at least for now. But there were still a few fighters remaining, including Makoto, to guard the fort. She pushed open one of the large wooden doors to the building just enough for her to see out. The few remaining people in the fort were mostly archers, and many injured. They were still shooting, one after another, over the wall, but it was a nearly even trade of arrows going both ways. Most of the arrows didn't hit, but it was still looking bad.

Jillia knew she had to try to help somehow, but she didn't know how. She had never learned to fight, nor used any rune other than the Bright Rune, which was purely defensive... The sparkle in her eye was the only indication of the idea now planted in Jillia's mind. She stepped outside and held out her left hand, pointed towards the group of mercenaries.

Please... Please protect them... she willed, hoping that it would obey. The rune began to drain slightly on her energy, though only magical, unlike any time before. She needed to learn what exactly her rune was capable sometime, but now was not a good time for that at all. The power flowed, and she felt it going away from her. She opened her eyes and saw little flashes of light where arrows failed to fall. It was working! She would never had thought it was really possible, but it worked!

There was a sharp pain in her hand and she heard an arrow embed itself in the dirt mere feet away from her. The spell faltered and then vanished when her concentration was broken, and she dropped to her knees in pain. She ripped a strip of cloth from the bottom of her skirt and wrapped it tightly around her hand, trying to stop the bleeding. It was only a glancing blow, but it would still prevent her from trying that rune effect again. And it would have been very useful, because at that point, the wall exploded inwards.

Jillia shielded her face with her arm against the initial blast, but then stood and stared at the hole now in the wall. Anyone with that kind of power... She didn't even want to imagine what would happen if that person decided to cast that spell again. And she didn't have much chance to think about that, either, when an arrow found it's way deep into her shoulder, just inches above her heart. She let out a small scream of pain, but it was lost in the noise.