Hida Kaoru ran up the steps to the top of the Wall, struggling to keep up with the rest of her unit. She had done this thousands of time in drill, but now it was for real and her heart pounded like a hammer in a Kaiu smithy. The veteran warriors around her ran with no show of difficulty, a few of them loping up the steps two at a time. The unit reached the top and paused, waiting for further orders on where to deploy. Kaoru concentrated on sucking in as much air as possible without making gasping noises. The setting sun painted the massive stonework a dull red, and she caught the mingled smells of sweat and lump oil as the Wall prepared itself for the battle to come.

The unit ahead began to sprint down to the left, and the one Kaoru was with moved to the front of the landing. Her heart had not slowed down, and now a hollow coldness was settling into the pit of her stomach. She had been in the Shadowlands before, but those times she had been only a student, and her errors could harm only herself. Now she was a Hida samurai serving on the Wall, and her mistakes could kill thousands.

She thought of all the time she had spent in the dojo's library, reading and rereading the histories and commentaries it contained, of the hours she had spent in weapons drills. She wondered if her preparations were enough. Was anything enough when battling the Horde? The coldness grew, sending tentacles of fear into her arms and legs.

"Kaoru!" barked her commander.

Kaoru straightened up and shifted her grip on her tetsubo. "Hai, gunso-sama!" she said, trying to sound confident.

"Don't be stupid," he said. "The oni don't care about your dojo rank and neither do we." As if to punctuate the point the evening breeze brought a loud, honking roar to them. "And don't bother to prove to us how brave you are: you are on the Wall and that's all the proof we need. Your sensei says you're good, but until you are good and battle-hardened you are one step above a pony. If you live to see sunrise you will be two steps above. Understand?"

Kaoru nodded. She had heard speeches like this before from her teachers, but the sounds of battle in the background here gave the words an unnatural clarity. "I will not fail you," she said, and realized that she meant it. The cold in her bones began to recede a little.

Whatever reply her commander was going to make was lost in a shrill whistle. "Signal!" he shouted, "Deploy right!"'Before they could move there was a crash against the tower behind them and wooden planks and goblins rained down. Kaoru moved on instinct and swung her tetsubo up and around, connecting with a falling goblin with a wet thud. She continued the swing in a smooth arc, translating vertical motion to horizontal, and took out two more as they climbed to their feet. Then all sense of order disintegrated into a wild melee of weapons, claws and shouts. When it was over Kaoru looked around to discover that she was alive. Two of her comrades were sprawled among the goblin bodies, one with his throat ripped out, and another leaned against the wall, cradling a bloody arm.

"Deploy right!" the gunso shouted again, and Kaoru took off with the rest of her unit. The wounded and dead would be dealt with by the next group up, and in the meantime her unit had its orders. She ran easily, matching her pace with the others and keeping an eye out for more goblins. Far ahead she could see something large and green-gray trying to pull itself up over the top of the Wall, and she smiled grimly. She was here, and that was enough.