Illiana awakened when the little red blinking light signaled that the first perimeter line had been breached.  It was three hours after midnight and the village gates had long since been locked and the security grid activated.  Curfew kept the villagers inside their homes and even rambunctious children knew better than to sneak out after dark.  The dangers had increased steadily over the last few years and Illiana herself was now the only one left who had the skill to defend the village from intrusion.  Even now, she could hear naught but crickets and the occasional braying of livestock from the barn beside her home.<br/><br/>A small beep reported the second perimeter line had been crossed and Illiana could now see two blips on the ancient, barely functioning radar display -- they were both making a beeline for the village gates, one following the other.  The equipment by her bed allowed her to monitor all activity within a half mile of the gates -- an extremely convenient set-up that she'd inherited from the village's last defender, and one that he scarcely needed after being torn apart and devoured by a pack of Hectocotylus Hounds.  It had proven very helpful since she'd taken up her duties and she'd grown accustomed to rousing herself even at the first blink.  Most of the time, it was simply some roaming creature that was passing by one of the sensors, but if something was truly approaching, she wanted to know as soon as possible and from the looks of it, now was apparently one of those times.<br/><br/>Illiana's semi-rusted plasma rifle was double-checked and loaded every night before bed, but no gun made her feel as secure and capable as the sword that her mentor, Tarion, had given to her.  He never really explained what it was to her and she knew too little about technology to understand its properties.  Stranger than its complex construction, however, were the odd runes that adorned the blade.  Tarion had never spoken of what gods he believed in, if any, but he did sometimes say that there were mysteries in this world that man would never be able to explain -- that blade being one of them.<br/><br/>A monitor flickered to life and displayed a fuzzy black-and-white image of the hills outside the village.  Once anything crossed halfway into the outer security area, Illiana would want to know what it was that she would likely be up against, and so the cameras were activated once the third perimeter line had been tripped.  She expected to see Howler Apes as they had been rather bold in recent months -- likely because it was spring now.  However, instead of the loping feral primates she'd expected, Illiana saw a frantic and half-naked young woman dashing through the tall grass as fast as she could move despite how very fatigued and injured she appeared to be.  A moment later, the static-ridden image from the monitor showed the unmistakable shape of a Plains Lizard in hot pursuit and from the way it was swaying, Illiana could tell that the large beast likely wasn't looking at the girl as food.<br/><br/>At the speed she was moving, the girl would likely reach the gates in five minutes.  Judging from the Plains Lizard's speed, however, it seemed clear that it would reach her in four.