Excerpt: The Black War (placeholder)

The longboat with the white and black robed man arrived first, flanked by several others stopping at the dock. The man shouted something back at them, almost sounding like he was chanting, but the words were nonsensical; he was speaking some other language.
The elder signalled his entourage to fall back a bit and slowly backed away from the armed men scrambling from the longboats onto the docks. Then the apparent leader of the newcomers made a signal, and the men on the docks charged.
One of the bulkier men who had accompanied the group grabbed the elder, turned him about, and ran -- the others broke rank for him to get through, and then began their own tactical retreat.
Thalfon, having been prepared for this, launched his own attack, a large wave from the side of the dock, that managed to knock several of the attackers into the water, though he doubted that it did any significant damage. He gathered up as much of the water as he could control and gathered it in the air in front of him.
Immediately he had the attackers' attention. Several of them pointed and shouted a word "gharos". He figured that it must mean a mage. Their next assault was directed toward him.
Suddenly he felt weak-kneed, as though the energy had been sapped out of him. He heard his comrades shouting his name, as one of the townsfolk grabbed at him. He heard an explosion, and what must be cursing from the enemy. Had that been Rebecca?
It was; she was shouting for the group to run. They were far, far too outnumbered.
Thalfon meanwhile felt his strength returning. Was that a sort of magic? He fumbled for the stopper on his jug, and gestured his rescuer to let go of him. With the stopper out, in an act of desperation he created a quick wall of ice behind them. It was thin -- there was not that much water in it, and he'd had to run it between buildings to be effective, but if he concentrated...
They broke through in a matter of seconds, but were met with another blast of fire as they kept running. The urgency in Rebecca's attacks lacked accuracy -- houses were now on fire -- but it didn't seem to matter, as they were losing the city anyway.