Before we could ask what was wrong, we heard a sharp clang from the other side of the door. It was followed almost immediately by a series of harder poundings and I was impressed that the door was able to hold. But it looked like a sturdy bunker, solid metal partially embedded in the ground, with the door as its weakest point. And whoever was outside was clearly focusing their attack there.

Clang! Bong! Clang!

There were occasional pauses between the bouts of scrapings and collisions, but then they’d come back stronger.

“What the hell is going on?” I was surprised to hear Sara ask such a direct question.

The older woman approached us, finally relaxed. Some of her people huddled together and worked on starting a large fire deeper in the bunker, while the rest crowded in around her.

“What do you mean? The Sun will rise soon. We’ve hidden away just in time to hold off their attack. But it was nowhere near as close as the Second Age Massacre. Blood and fire everywhere, believe me.”

“Sorry ma’am, but we’re from…very far away. Who is attacking?” Rachel asked, probably judging that telling these people wouldn’t know what to think if we said we’d just walked through a magical dimension doorway and fallen into their desert.

“I saw them walk out of the desert, Gran,” said a girl peeking out from the old woman’s side.

“No one comes from the desert, honey.”

“It’s true,” I said. “We’re from beyond the desert.”

The old woman searched our faces, and seemed shocked to find no lie.

“That may be true. So you know nothing of the war.”

“It’s gone on for fifty years now,” chimed in one of the larger men. “As the moon fades and sunlight approaches, the men come from out of the forest and lay siege on us every day. You found us at just the right time. We’ll be safe here in our bunkers.”

“Now they’ll set up their defensive lines and wait out the rest of the day,” said one of his smaller countrymen. “Granny Po here was around when the war started. She remembers the feeling of the sun.”

I was starting to realize how pale these people were. It was hard to notice since we’d only seen them by the light of a bonfire, but they were quite pale with bright, slightly larger than human eyes.

“Makin’ me sound so old,” said Granny Po. “Don’t worry youngins, you won’t be here the next fifty years. Our plan to end the war is almost ready, and you can help us fight back against these evil invaders.”