"Watch out!"
Harry turned and saw a soldier charging at him, his face twisted with rage.
A soldier beside Harry instinctively drew his sword and thrust. The standard-issue Imperial longsword slipped easily beneath the frenzied soldier's arm and into his body.
"What happened?!" Harry stared in disbelief. "You killed him...?"
"No... it wasn't me. He... he was trying to kill you..." The soldier who had struck back retreated in a daze, pulling out his sword. The sight of his fallen comrade sent a violent shudder through him. He looked at Harry in despair. "Tell my mother I'm sorry..."
"Don't—"
Harry had barely realized what he meant to do when the soldier drew the sword across his own throat.
Blood sprayed several meters. The soldier staggered a few steps, then collapsed.
In barely a dozen seconds, two soldiers had fallen. Grief surged over Harry like a tide, and he clutched at his heart.
Why had everything changed so suddenly? It hurt... It hurt so much... Why was he so sad...?
No, wait. Overwhelming emotions... killing each other... Subspace!
Harry suddenly remembered the three rules. He looked up and roared at the bearded man, "Warn the sentries! Subspace—"
A scream drowned out his shout. Firelight flickered across the man's contorted face.
Ahead, the bearded man had become a human torch. Flames poured from every pore, as though a furnace burned inside him.
"Get down! Get down!"
Harry wanted to rush over and help, but the bearded man ran wildly in his agony, straight into Meteorite Town.
Damn it...
Harry was certain a damned Subspace passage had opened!
With nothing but Subspace on his mind, Harry left his men behind and ran toward the edge of the basin without looking back.
*If he could just reach the camp and tell his comrades the