by Liara Woo
They came to a tall pillar beside the southern wall that rose higher than the roof of Bloodthorne's mansion. There was a tall, spherical spire at the top. "This is a watchtower," Halthren said. "It is positioned to be able to see three miles out to the south, which is where an attack from Kratchene would come." He unbolted a door in the side of the pillar, which opened into a dark stairwell. Katie could see the Light brackets lining the wall. She glanced at Halthren, who was unhappily eyeing the brackets. His shoulders slumped. Absently he raised one hand to where the gash over his heart lay hidden and winced.
"Should we go up?" Katie asked.
Halthren looked up the steep staircase and a flash of fear raced across his face. "Uh…up? Er…yes, of course," he murmured.
They hurried up the long stairwell, jumping up the steep stairs. For once Katie had no trouble keeping up with an elf, although that was probably because this particular elf was a good deal more fragile than the others.
At the top of the stairs there was a large circular room with a trapdoor in the ceiling, presumably leading to an attic of sorts. Halthren pulled open the trapdoor, dragging down a ladder with it. He climbed up, into the cone-shaped attic at the top of the tower, and helped Katie up after him, and then he pushed open a segment of the side of the conical spire. Grayish-pink light flowed in as the sinking sun shone through the clouds and entered the tower's attic.
Halthren took a deep breath and pulled himself out through the hole and onto the roof. He reached down to help Katie up, and then he saw how far up he was from the ground. His stomach lurched nauseatingly and his vision whirled. He pressed himself against the spire and shut his eyes tightly, breathing deeply. So high up…so high…
"Are you alright?" Katie asked, pulling herself onto the spire beside him.
"I'm fine," he said quickly—a bit too quickly.
Katie shrugged and looked at the view before her. The city of Velana was spread out beneath her like a map; the thatched roofs, the stone wall surrounding the city, the mansion, the little town squares with wells on the northern and southern sides. Katie sidled over the spire until she faced the southern half of the city, and for the first time she saw the oncoming ocean of demons. In front of the wall, there were about two thousand elves in shining white armor, but the demons outnumbered them the way leaves in a forest outnumbered the trees living therein.
"May Light guide your path," Halthren said with a tremor in his voice, dipping his head. "I'll see you later."
I hope so, Katie thought nervously as he went back through the hole in the spire.
"Wait for three horn blasts before attacking," he told her, and then the hole slid shut and she was alone.
So now I wait. Katie climbed higher on the spire, holding onto it with one hand and leaving her other hand free. In the south of Velana there was a vast plain stretching onwards for at least five miles, but instead of the pale grass Katie could only see the demons covering it, swarming. They all blended together into one black mass, punctured here and there by fiery orange torches. Katie counted ten trebuchets. She swallowed nervously, her mouth dry. Worries crowded her mind.
Halthren didn't have metal armor and his sword was small and short—more like a dagger. He didn't carry a shield. And he's still so thin and weak…what was Joran thinking, sending him out to battle? I can't believe it!
And Joran…going out to face a group of those smelly vicious fiends with only two others on my behalf. An unwanted image of Joran lying motionless on a charred battlefield came to her mind, and Katie shuddered. No. He won't die. He can't die!
The demon horde was coming closer. Katie could hear them now…the rumbling of their footsteps and their hideous roars and shrieks. She saw giant green bulldog monsters pulling the trebuchets; they were living versions of the beast she'd seen dead in Vernisgard's arena.
A sick, nauseating feeling entered her stomach—the feeling of worms wriggling and squirming within her. Can I do it? Can I actually… kill?
Three high, clear notes were blown on a horn somewhere, loud and defiant and brave. That's the signal, Katie thought. The last rays of light faded on the western horizon. Katie raised her free hand high and pointed at the demons. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart. She thought of how evil the demons were, how cruel and heartless, how they enjoyed inflicting pain without mercy.
"Celed," she whispered. "Celed…Celed Vorello!"
A weak, thin lightning bolt shot down from her fingertips and struck right in the middle of the horde, setting one of the trebuchets on fire. But it hadn't done much damage to the demons themselves; the bolt hadn't been strong enough. I have to do better than that, Katie scolded herself. She took a deep breath.
"Celed Vorello!" she shouted. A large group of demons was knocked unconscious. "Celed Vorello! Celed Vorello! CELED VORELLO!"
A massive, jagged bolt plunged from fingers and struck the earth for a good two seconds, flashing brightly. For two whole seconds the field was as light as it was in midday. Fifty demons were dead and five separate fires had started.
But the massive bolt had taken an incredible amount of energy. Katie slumped against the spire, gasping for breath, feeling even worse. I killed them. I killed them. And twenty demons were barely a dent in the massive army.
The dark silhouetted of Loriina flew over the horde, and suddenly another shot of flame illuminated the night, burning demons left and right until Loriina ran out of breath. The dragon inhaled deeply and torched another group of demons, roaring ferociously as she did so.
The elves were right in the thick of battle in front of the wall. Already ten were dead, but they had each killed twenty demons before falling. Many more elves had been wounded, but they fought on, undeterred. Elves standing at the top of the wall shot arrow after arrow after arrow at the monsters, and each shot was fired with deadly precision.
Katie tried a second massive bolt, standing tall and shouting as loud as she could. This bolt was as large as the first one, but it took even more energy from her, and she threw up over the side of the tower, disgusted with herself. I won't be able help very much this far away, she thought. Maybe that's a good thing. I won't be able to kill anymore.
Suddenly there was a sound like thunder and a familiar voice from behind her: "Fly with me."
Katie spun around and saw Loriina standing on a roof beside the tower, her eyes glowing like two strange green flames. She flapped her wings once, sending a thunderclap through the air.
"From here you could accidentally strike the elves," she continued. "Come with me."
"I will," Katie said anxiously, a note of excitement entering her voice and briefly hiding the guilt of the deaths she'd caused. Her heart beat even faster. She was about to fly on a dragon for reals. Sitting in Loriina's paw didn't really count as an exhilarating ride, but this…this would count. Loriina lowered her head and opened her mouth, revealing long, jagged white teeth. Ever so gently she lifted Katie in her jaws and set her down on her back, behind one of the spikes.
"Hold on," Loriina growled. With a roar she leaped off of the roof and spread her wings wide, catching a draft of wind beneath them and soaring higher and higher and higher, until the seven fires on the battlefield were mere specks. Then she folded her wings to her side and dived, dropping from the sky and flying over the demons in the back of the army.
"Celed Vorello!" Katie shouted, and so close to the ground the otherwise average bolt of lightning was much stronger, killing all who were struck. She winced and closed her eyes as Loriina sent a fireball into their midst, destroying at least ten. She roared and whipped her tail back and forth in strange patterns and out of the ground burst massive beasts of dirt and stone that instantly began crushing the demons underfoot.
"That took a lot of strength," Loriina panted. "I won't be able to do that again. And those dirt beasts will only last for five minutes. Can you get this rainstorm started? And make it more powerful?"
"Of course," Katie said. "But wouldn't that make i
t harder for the elves?"
"In some ways, yes," Loriina growled, beating her wings and flying high above the battlefield again. "But picture this: One of the dirt beasts, only made out of raindrops, winds, and lightning."
"Sounds good," Katie approved. "CELED SERELBETH BIRTHONIEL!"
Thunder shook the air, accompanied by a simultaneous bolt of lightning. The wind picked up, and Loriina had to fight to stay on course. Thunder boomed a second time, and torrents of raindrops fell from the clouds. Katie was drenched after only a few seconds, but she didn't feel the cold.
Loriina roared—a long, shrill sound. She twisted and danced and swooped and spiraled with the wind, and soon it began to form a creature. Raindrops swirled together, forming a massive humanoid creature out of water, with lightning flashing within its belly. Loriina groaned and dropped several feet in the air, her head hanging low.
"Hang on!" Katie shouted over the roar of the wind, her insides tightening with concern for her friend.
The storm beast collapsed after thirty seconds, but the destruction it wrought was enough to take down a hundred demons. Slowly the odds were increasing in the elves' favor.
The two dirt beasts soon fell, but they collapsed on top of demons, burying and crushing them. Katie called down another major lightning bolt, noting with surprise that it was easier the third time. Wonderful, she thought sarcastically. It's getting easier to kill.
Suddenly a heavy rock hit Loriina in the side. She cried out in pain and dropped another several feet.
"What happened?" Katie asked in a high-pitched voice, her heart racing. The drops in height were more than alarming.
"Trebuchet," Loriina panted. "Could you take care of those?"
Katie didn't bother to answer. "Celed Vorello!" Lightning struck the nearest catapult. Then a second boulder hit Loriina's left wing, and she yelled and rolled in the air from the impact. Katie screamed as she was flipped upside down five times before Loriina managed to right herself twenty feet above the ground. This battle was turning out to be just like a terrifying roller coaster, one where death was more than likely.
Flying unevenly, Loriina sent a fireball into the demon horde, and that was when a third boulder struck her in the head. She groaned, her eyelids drooping, and began to fall from the sky.
She's unconscious! Katie realized. Her heart skipped several beats. I'm going to die!
Loriina was much heavier than she was. She fell faster, and Katie found herself tumbling alone down to the ground, screaming for her life. "SOMEONE HELP!" she cried. Then, suddenly, there was an abrupt, painful impact, and then nothing.
* * *
Halthren sat tall on Rennav's broad back, gripping the horse's sides with his knees and wielding his short sword with both hands, carving through the demons all around him. Rennav knocked the monsters aside and trampled over them, biting with his sharp teeth. The two of them fought as if they'd been doing it together for their entire lives; no demon could withstand them for more than a few moments.
Then the rain began. It poured out of the sky like water from a full bucket, instantly drenching everything beneath it. Halthren shivered violently on Rennav's back, and in his mind he cursed their foul luck. Rennav was an incredible animal, but his one weakness was mud.
And here on the field, without many stones and with the grass trampled and torn beneath thousands of feet, mud was everywhere.
Halthren dismounted and looked into his horse's eyes. "Go back to the city," he commanded. Then he twisted and deflected a blow from behind.
"But I want to stay here, with you," Rennav protested, kicking his hind legs at a demon and snapping his teeth at another.
Halthren shook his head. "Another day we will fight together. A day without rain. Then you will be able to unleash your full strength upon these foul beasts. Today I will only burden you and make you more liable to slip and hurt yourself. And if you twist an ankle or break something now, then when the day comes that you are meant to fight, you will be unable." He beheaded a demon who'd been trying to kill a wounded elf near him.
Rennav bowed his head. "You make perfect sense," he sighed. "But my heart wishes something different would be my fate tonight."
Halthren quickly embraced Rennav's thick, muscular neck. "Don't fear for my life, Rennav. I can feel in my bones that this is not the day I die. Go."
Rennav gave him a sad look. Then he turned and galloped away through the muddy battle.
Halthren looked back towards the demons before him and took in a deep, shuddering breath. He raced further into a horde, cutting a path to the trebuchets. When he reached one, the demons manning it laughed and charged him all at once.
"Hold back! Let me handle this."
Halthren tensed. He knew that voice. Blacknack's voice. The massive demon captain pushed his way through his forces and drew a long, wicked looking blade from a sheath across his back. Halthren looked down at his own small sword and grimaced. Blacknack laughed.
"You're fast," he commented. "So fast that you're farther ahead than any of the other elves. They're all behind you. They won't be able to help you. They won't hear your screams as I rip you apart, limb from limb."
Halthren yelled in anger and lunged at the demon. What remained of his soul was burning with fury, and his eyes nearly glowed with vehemence. Blacknack only grinned and with a flick of his sword parried Halthren's blow and sent him reeling to the muddy ground. Undeterred, Halthren leapt to his feet and lunged again, ducking a blow that would have beheaded him and landing a glancing blow to Blacknack's forearm. He rolled under the demon and jumped to his feet as he spun around and stabbed the demon's shoulder. His small blade somehow managed to get between two small chinks in Blacknack's armor, drawing blood.
The demon whirled and punched Halthren in the face, so hard that he fell back into the mud. Halthren rolled over in time to dodge Blacknack's sword, which instead of hitting him sank into the ground. Blacknack wrenched it free as Halthren stumbled to his feet, slipping slightly on the wet ground. He jumped backwards to dodge another of Blacknack's blows, but he slipped again and fell backwards, hitting his head hard. Stars danced before his eyes, and before he knew it Blacknack had one massive foot pressing down on his chest.
"It's over, elfling," the demon captain spat.
"Not yet," Halthren snarled. He writhed and squirmed beneath Blacknack's foot, and the motion coupled with the slippery ground caused the demon to lose his balance and topple over. Halthren aimed his sword at the base of Blacknack's chin.
Then from somewhere ahead of him he heard a woman's scream. He looked up and saw Loriina falling lifelessly to the ground, and on her back…
Katie.
Halthren gasped. He sheathed his sword and raced away from Blacknack, dodging the hands and weapons that reached out to stop him, earning a few shallow wounds but nothing serious as he forced his way towards where the dragon had fallen. Katie is in trouble. Katie is in trouble. The thought repeated itself in his mind, burning fiercely in his heart. She is the reason that I am alive. I must get to her.
"Coward!" he heard Blacknack yell behind him. "We will finish this another day!"
Halthren clenched his teeth as he fought and ran. And when that day comes, I will show you mercy that you don't deserve. I will kill you swiftly, so that the world may no longer be plagued with your evil. He jumped and front-flipped over a demon coming towards him and quickly decapitated it before hurrying onwards, feeling every sense on alert as he fought for his own life and the lives of those he cared about. Though Darkness far outnumbered him, he refused to give in to fatigue and illness and fought with his remaining Light against it.
* * *
"I think them's alive," a rugged voice growled. Katie struggled to clear the fog from her head. Her entire body felt like one massive bruise.
"Of course they is, ya idiot," another voice snarled. "See the chests risin' and fallin'? That means they's breathing, and if they's breathing then they's alive. And what's all this with saying 'the
m's'? That's not grammatically correct, it isn't. You ought to say 'they's.' 'They's' is the correct way."
"You're an idiot, too, Garbage," a third demon spoke. "You're supposed to say they're. That's grammatically correct, ya know. They're breathing, they're alive, and they're probably gonna be wakin' up soon."
"Aw, shut yourself up, Murder-ninny," Garbage sneered.
"You know my name's not Murder-ninny! It's Murder, for the last time. And that's a good name for a demon!"
"You said good! Good is a bad word! Don't let them commanders hear you sayin' that!" Garbage roared.
"I meant a bad name, you fool!" Murder corrected himself. "You foolish foolhardy fool of fools!"
"Hey, what's the longest word you know?"