Her jaw tightened.
They’re strong wards, but they won’t be enough if they’re here in force.
She could see them out there, lurking among the trees, slender, terrifying shadows that watched, waited.
They must know there’s wards here. They’re looking for an opening, for a weakness.
It’s only a matter of time before they strike.
Leinth took a deep breath, then another, exhaling slowly.
She crouched and pressed her hand into the melting snow near her feet.
Winter was fading, but the snow was still here. That, at least, was something.
You trade in death, nightsister. Mete it out and save those who’ve taken you in and given you shelter. It is, in fact, the least you can do.
Her eyes fluttered shut.
Something hit the line of wards ahead of her, sending green-white energy crackling through the air.
The creature that had thrown itself at the border between the outside and the inside screamed.
Leinth’s eyes snapped open and she came to her feet, hands finding the daggers she wore at her belt, the ones she hadn’t stopped wearing despite living in the relative safety of the tiny community perched on that destroyed university campus.
“Dirae,” she spat, her eyes narrowing. “Hell’s bitches waiting on her call. When are you going to realize that he’s never going to join you?”
Indeed, the creature that had thrown itself against the barrier was one of the dirae, an ugly hag, her fingers hooked into claws, dark hair hanging in ragged curls around a face that may once have been beautiful but had been mangled by her hate. Her eyes had grown so bloodshot that they looked to be red—blood red around irises that may have been blue once, or perhaps green, but were now blackened, animated only by rage and hate.
They had all suspected it would only be a matter of time before the Hecate returned to press her luck, to try again to claim what she wanted for her own.
It seemed that time had finally come.
Do we get to see Leinth kicking posterior for the good guys now?
Those claws are going to be nasty. Too bad so many of their weapons and warriors are of the hand to hand variety.
AFAIK, arrows and bullets go through the wards quite easily.
Polearms would be good too.
They should spike and pit the ground leading to the wards just to slow invaders down. It seems to me that if you can force them to trickle into the wards, the wards will hold longer (though I don’t know if that’s how wards work in your universe). Low diagonal log walls would be good too, forcing them to turn before getting to the wards would help break up a charge.