by AC Cobble
With a determined scowl, Ben drew his knife. He may fall, but he wouldn’t make it easy for them.
Then an arrow bloomed in the head of the demon and two more sprouted right behind it.
Flight after flight of arrows rained down on the swarm of demons. They flinched back momentarily, giving Ben time to kick at the demon body in front of him, turning it enough he could pull his sword free.
A battle cry broke out. Ben saw the soldiers who had been blocked by the huge demon crawling over it. They were jumping down into the street to join the fight. Pushing past Ben and Rhys, they charged forward with a wall of polearms and spears leading the way. Stabbing and pinning demons, the next wave rushed in with swords and axes.
Above them, arrow after arrow continued to fall into the flailing swarm.
Ben looked up and saw Corinne’s brilliant red hair framed in the light of fires that were now burning throughout the city.
She had a team of archers with her. She met Ben’s eyes before waving to her crew and directing them to move down to another rooftop and rain death on another swarm of demons. The soldiers were mopping up what was left of this one.
Panting, Ben turned to Rhys, who was gingerly touching a bloody gash across his stomach.
“You okay?” asked Ben.
“I’ll live,” grumbled Rhys. He looked at Ben’s injured shoulder. “You?”
Ben glanced down at his blood-covered left arm. Seeing it, he felt the sharp sting of pain. He clenched his teeth. “I’ll live.”
“Good,” replied his friend. “We’re not done yet.”
The captain of the men in the street was shouting orders and organizing his company. They had cleared the street and were falling back to behind the huge, dead demon. Men were instructed to collapse materials that had been left for that purpose to re-block the wall. Two squads were holding the street with a bristling wall of weaponry. As demons peeled off the main thoroughfare and came their way, men pounced on them, pinning them with polearms then finishing them with swords.
Seeing the effectiveness of the organization, Ben’s heart rose. Maybe they would make it through this.
Rhys though, was visibly growing worried.
“They’re being driven,” he growled.
“What do you mean?” asked Ben
“Look. Hardly any of the demons are coming this way,” said the rogue. “Something is directing them elsewhere.”
Ben frowned. Rhys was right. Two blocks down the street, they could see a constant stream of demons pouring in through the gates. Some of the demons turned toward them, but the majority kept going straight. In his experience, a normal demon wasn’t strategic enough to focus on another objective when a source of life-blood was near it.
“Where are they going?” wondered Ben.
“Let’s find out,” answered Rhys. Setting off at a limping run, he turned to the back streets and deeper into the city.
Ben followed, his longsword bobbing in front of him. He hefted the blade and thought about that powerful wind which saved his life.
Dodging through the nearly empty cobblestone streets of Northport, Ben and Rhys made their way toward the center of the city.
The people they saw were mostly women and children. The occasional man scurried by also, drawing a disparaging glare from Rhys. Those people were trying to figure a way out. Ben didn’t know if there was one, but uniformly, they were heading away from the main gates. Maybe the city wasn’t surrounded and they could escape out the back. Seeing some of the frightened children clutching their mother’s hands with tears pouring down their faces, he hoped they did find their way to safety.
Travelling roughly parallel to the main thoroughfare, they hoped to get ahead of the massive swarm of demons that had breached the gates.
They could track the progress of the swarm by the sounds of battle. It was becoming clearer each block. The demons were headed toward the keep. Ben knew there were barriers, traps, and diversions set up along the way, but with the speed the demons were moving, he didn’t think they’d be slowed long.
Huffing and puffing after his limping friend, Ben called, “What’s the plan? Get to the square in front of the keep and make a stand?”
“The two of us against a thousand demons?” responded Rhys. One bloodstained hand was holding the wound on his stomach, the other was carrying his longsword. “That’s a death sentence, for sure. I, at least, am not ready to die.”
“What do you think we should do? Run?” challenged Ben.
“I’m not ready to give up yet, either,” replied Rhys. “It’s your call. I was serious about it when I said I was ready to follow you, but if you want my advice, we get ahead of these things and see where they are going. Maybe we’ll see an opportunity that doesn’t involve getting eaten.”
Ben nodded and kept jogging. His shoulder was throbbing now, each step sending a jolt of fresh pain down his arm and into his body. He wasn’t used to the deference from Rhys, and he wasn’t entirely convinced the rogue meant what he said, but for now, his friend was right. They could get ahead of the swarm and see what their objective was. The two of them standing in front of an unstoppable army of darkness didn’t have any appeal, but maybe there was something they could do.
The sounds of fighting faded behind them. They’d gotten ahead of the creatures but not by a lot. Cutting over from the back streets to the main ones, they made quick time and before long came into the open square.
Ragged companies of men were arrayed in formations, prepared for the advancing demon horde. They were arrayed around a solid core of serious looking hunters. Those men and women had faced demons and knew what it meant that thousands were currently headed their way.
Rhys looked them over and declared, “Mostly stragglers and the injured. It looks like they’re pulling men from the back walls too. They’ll be fresh at least. The generals must have adjusted the plans and are funneling the demons into the square. I’m not sure they realize that is what the demons want.”
“Should we say something?” asked Ben.
Rhys shook his head. “Rhymer knows he has to make a stand. If they fight street by street, the people are going to get slaughtered. The demons got inside too quickly.”
Ben grimaced. The men standing in front of them didn’t seem sufficient to stop what he saw coming through the gates.
As they approached, a tall man draped in light chainmail and carrying a heavy broad sword walked toward them. It was Franklin.
“She’s back there,” the seneschal said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder.
“Who?” asked Rhys.
“Lady Towaal,” responded Franklin. “Didn’t you come to help her?”
“Why not?” Rhys shrugged.
The seneschal looked over the two of them, eyeing their injuries. “Looks like you got some action.”
“We were near the gate,” replied Ben. “We saw your daughter.”
The man’s face paled. “Corinne was supposed to stay here with me.”
“She was well when we saw her,” assured Ben. “She was on the rooftops and had a squad of men with her. She’s going to have a lot of new notches to make in that bow of hers.”
Franklin nodded proudly. “Good. Now, you better get to Lady Towaal and see what she wants. She took a company of my men and won’t tell me a damn thing. Hopefully she’s got a plan. I’ve got preparations to do here. We lost contact with both of our generals.”
The man stomped off toward the arrayed soldiers, muttering under his breath.
Ben and Rhys rushed toward the library to find Lady Towaal standing imperiously in front of it. She was surrounded by a company of heavily armed soldiers. The men looked fresh and ready.
Without saying anything, Rhys raised an eyebrow when they approached.
“Good. You’re here,” she stated.
“Do you have a plan?” asked the rogue.
“Of a sort,” replied Towaal sharply. “I believe the demons will come here.” She gestured back to the library
. “When they do, we shall try to stop them.”
“How will we do that?” challenged Rhys. “From what we saw at the gate, there are well over a thousand of them in the city, maybe two thousand.”
Ben saw the blood drain from the faces of several soldiers near them. The men turned to their companions and started whispering furiously. Their captain quickly tamped it down. He instructed them to focus ahead then turned to glare at Rhys and Towaal.
“With this,” answered the mage. She drew a polished wooden rod her behind her belt. It was covered in tiny, intricate carvings and was the length of three hands. “It is a repository that contains a rather large amount of power.”
“You’ve had this the entire time?” griped Rhys.
“No,” answered Towaal, shaking her head. “I found it in the library. There was a cache of rather unique items and documents. That is why I believe the demons are coming here. They have no thought of human strategic warfare. They couldn’t care less about taking the keep itself. To them, the valuable thing about Northport is the life-blood in our bodies, but if the documents are correct, they will also want what is inside of here.”
“What is inside there?” asked Ben, looking at the non-descript building.
“The answer to the Rift and the organization meant to police it. The Purple,” answered Towaal. “That group has been around a long time, and I believe we will soon find they aren’t quite as dead as we thought. I’m counting on it, actually.”
The guards were shifting nervously. Screams, demonic howls, and the sounds of combat were drawing closer.
Ben looked to where the street emptied into the square. Nothing was there yet.
“And…” prodded Rhys. “We don’t have much time.”
“The Rift was a door to another realm, as we suspected, but more importantly, that door has two keys.” Towaal paused briefly. “One of the keys was here in the library, and one is stored somewhere in the Coalition city of Irrefort. With the keys, enough knowledge about how the doorway between the realms works, and with sufficient will, another Rift could be opened.”
Ben frowned in confusion.
“Seeing the observation room in the Wilds got me thinking,” said Towaal. “What if, instead of watching the Rift, they were watching the demons? Studying them, learning from them? The documents I found in the library support that. In fact, it seems they were focusing on one particular demon, a demon so powerful they abandoned their outpost in the Wilds and retreated to Northport. They were worried this supreme arch-demon was beginning to sense the rift key.”
“What are you saying?” growled Rhys. He was nervously holding his longsword and kept his focus on the street where any minute a horde of demons could appear.
Towaal answered, “There is a demon coming down that street that can sense the rift key. It may have the knowledge and the power to utilize it and open another Rift, a Rift uncontrolled by man but by demon.”
Rhys grunted like he had been punched in the stomach.
Towaal added, “An incredibly powerful demon that has been feeding on the power of the Rift for millennia. Think about how strong a demon can be after months of feeding. Multiply that by a thousand.”
“That thing is coming here?” exclaimed the captain of the soldiers. He had drawn close to overhear the conversation.
“I believe so,” answered Towaal flatly.
“And what? W-We’re supposed to fight it?” sputtered the captain nervously. Ben hoped the captain’s men weren’t paying attention to him.
“I will take care of it,” said Towaal, rubbing a hand over the wooden rod she held. “With a little help, I hope. Just keep its minions away from me.”
Rhys nodded brusquely. “We can do that.”
“Captain!” called one of the men, pointing across the square.
Several thin-bodied and long-limbed demons streaked into the open space and were met with a hail of arrows. They quickly fell under the onslaught. Ben knew more would be right behind them. He gripped the hilt of his longsword and waited.
Soon, another wave of demons burst out of the street and raced across the open square. Flight after flight of arrows soared into the sky and came crashing down into the demons with deadly effect. The stream of darkness did not stop or even slow. More and more of the creatures poured into the open.
A line of soldiers advanced with pikes and spears lowered. They crouched on one knee and set their weapons like they were meeting a wave of heavy horse.
Ben winced as the sound of the impact rolled across the square. He could see the silver-grey armor of the men disappear under a crush of demons. A company of men wielding swords and axes rushed to defend their companions. From two hundred paces away, the details were obscured, but the screams and death cries told them all they needed to know.
Behind Ben, a man was getting noisily sick while his squad sergeant admonished him to get back in line.
“Should we…” the captain asked Towaal.
“No,” she replied calmly. “This is just the beginning. We wait.”
Ben shifted nervously. He hated seeing the soldiers fight while he stayed back. With his training and mage-wrought blade, he could make a difference. He knew it.
Rhys placed an assuring hand on his arm. “It’s just as important knowing when to fight as how to fight.”
“They’re getting slaughtered,” Ben groaned.
“Look,” said Rhys. “I believe Franklin has a plan.”
More companies of soldiers were pouring into the square directly opposite of Ben and his companions, flanking the demons. A brilliant tactical move, if they had been facing a human opponent.
Another wave of shouts and crunching armor sounded. Ben looked to see the guard pouring out of the keep. Atop, Lord Rhymer was sheathed in heavy plate mail and was observing his household troops rush out to join the fight.
“The keep is unprotected,” remarked Ben.
“Rhymer means to finish the fight in the square. After how easily the demons got through the main gate, I don’t blame him for not wanting to hide behind that one. Besides, if Towaal is right, that’s not where the demons want to go,” answered Rhys. “They want to go here.”
The ferocity of the fight intensified as more soldiers charged into the battle and demons continued to storm out of the streets leading to the square.
The men around them began to get antsy. Their friends and neighbors were fighting and they just sat back and watched.
They didn’t have to just watch for long. On one side of the battle, the line of men bulged and a swarm of twenty demons broke free. They headed straight for the library.
“Here we go,” called Rhys.
Ben looked to Towaal, but she was still staring intently toward the street where the demons poured from. Whatever she was waiting on, this wasn’t it.
Ben, Rhys, and the company of soldiers stepped forward to deal with the charging demons. Ben and Rhys took the lead. The soldiers, noticing the mage-wrought blades, fell in behind them. No one else volunteered to be in the front, facing a demon swarm.
Charging forward, the two friends cleaved through the first wave of demons in a swirl of flashing steel. Purple blood and the bodies of demons spilled in their wake.
The soldiers pounced on what was left, swords rising and falling as they took out their frustration on the remaining creatures.
A few men went tumbling backward, clutching ugly wounds, but the fight was short and brutal. Twenty dead demons lay scattered on the cobblestones.
“You’re getting good at this,” remarked Rhys. “Another year or two, and you could add a blademaster sigil to that scabbard.”
“I don’t think so,” said Ben, ruefully shaking his head. “I’m just learning how to fight these things.”
“Learning how to fight is learning how to fight,” replied Rhys sardonically.
“Demons are different,” said Ben, wiping purple demon blood from his blade. “They have no cunning, no strategy. A good human opponent will think abou
t your weaknesses and try to exploit them. A demon just comes right at you. That’s the only thing they know how to do. There is no fear, no caution. Once you understand that, it gets rather easy.”
“Recognizing that and incorporating it into how you fight is a skill,” responded Rhys. “And anytime you think fighting a demon is easy, you have skill. What you’re talking about, that is you thinking through their weakness and altering your attack to take advantage, just like a good opponent should.”
Ben shrugged, wincing as his injured shoulder moved. He supposed Rhys was right.
“Behind us!” yelled one of the soldiers.
They all spun in time to see several winged demons dropping off the roof of the library and landing in their midst. The demons were right next to Towaal.
The mage crouched in alarm. Ben and Rhys rushed to defend her.
Two soldiers went down, landing near her feet. She staggered backward. Then Ben and Rhys arrived, chopping down a demon from behind. The soldiers took care of the rest of them, but several human bodies joined the fallen demons on the ground.
Rhys barked out orders to the men to circle up and keep eyes in all directions. The captain of the soldiers stood by, stunned. A tenth of his command was already dead and his sword was still spotless. The pace of the battle was too much for the man.
“Why didn’t you,” Ben waved a hand in front of Towaal, “Do something?”
She winced. “I’m still weak from the Wilds. I have to conserve everything I have to face what is coming.”
He frowned. It had been weeks since she fell unconscious in the Wilds. Certainly she had recovered by now.
A new roar drew his attention away from Towaal. Ben turned to see a dozen arch-demons enter the square. They stood twice Ben’s height. Even from a distance, he could see the claws extending from powerful hands. They had thick muscle-covered chests and shoulders which spanned the width of a wagon. They looked bigger and stronger than anything they’d faced in the Wilds.
“Get ready,” murmured Towaal. “The leader will be close behind these.”