by AC Cobble
“T-That isn’t the…” stuttered Ben. He was cut short when another wave of normal-sized demons began racing their way.
The soldiers in the square were starting to break with the arrival of the arch-demons. Ben saw several men turn to flee. Their captains exhorted them to stay in the lines, but a pack of creatures standing twice the height of a man was enough to turn anyone’s spine to jelly.
Ben left Towaal’s side to join the soldiers and Rhys. He saw one of the arch-demons scoop up a wagon and launch it high into the air. It crashed into a squad of solders, sending them flying like lawn bowling pins.
“Shit,” muttered the captain under his breath. The men behind him weren’t quite as polite about it.
Ben met Rhys’ eyes.
Towaal called up to them, her voice barely audible above the screams and fighting in the square. “I will not be able to assist with these.”
“Whatever you did with that blade before, it’s time to do it again,” said Rhys. His longsword was steadily glowing brighter and brighter. It might have been Ben’s imagination, but silver smoke appeared to drift off and away from the blade. In the dark of the night, it would have been impossible to see without the glowing runes lighting the faint tendrils.
The soldiers took a step back from Rhys. The rogue ignored them. He was focused on the swarming demons in front of them and the larger arch-demons who were quickly catching up. They were all headed directly toward the library.
“I don’t know how I did that,” admitted Ben.
“You used your instinct,” responded Rhys. “Remember, anything in this world is possible if you have the will to do it.”
Slowly, Ben followed his instinct and took a tentative step forward.
“There we go,” encouraged Rhys, taking a step to match Ben.
Ben felt himself sliding into the sense of calm he’d felt earlier in the fight near the gates. There was no time to turn, no time to run. Fighting the evil creatures charging across the square was the only choice. It was simple.
He took another step then broke into a jog. Delay was pointless. The sound of the wind filled his head again.
It wasn’t the soft, subtle breeze that stirred the leaves on a sunny spring day. This was the sound of a storm howling through the bare branches of winter’s trees, a screaming gale blasting down the mountainous ravines and valleys that surrounded Farview. It was the sound of home, the sound of a place that had no ruler but its own, it was the sound of defiance.
Rhys followed in Ben’s wake. Behind them, Ben heard the clatter of armor as the company protecting the library fell in. Despite themselves, Ben suspected. But they also had to know that there was only one way to live through this battle. Kill or die. The demons would give no quarter.
Towaal yelled something, but Ben did not hear. He was entirely focused on the closing wave of demons. Squat, muscular shapes that reached the height of his shoulder were leaping and bounding forward. They were closing quickly, only fifty paces away.
At twenty-five paces, the two sides were rushing forward at full speed, eager to engage and finish it.
Ben drew his hand back. Still running, he violently swept it across his body, pushing with all of his might at the air in front of him.
A blast of thunderous wind raced ahead of the charging men and blew into the line of demons like an avalanche. Bodies twisted wildly as they were picked up and scattered backward. They fell on their backs and sides and slid across the cobblestones, pushed by the powerful wind.
Men surged into the wake of the gale and fell on the fallen and stunned demons. Scores of demons were slaughtered where they lay, too confused to understand what happened to them.
The arch-demons were the first to recover. They hadn’t been thrown as violently as their smaller fellows, and they quickly rose. They bellowed challenges that shook the foundations of the buildings ringing the square.
Berserk madness filled Ben’s veins. He ran right at them, his mage-wrought blade drawn back for the first swing.
Beside him, Rhys ran as well, his longsword now clearly trailing a brilliant streamer of silver smoke.
Briefly, Ben thought the towering creatures cringed at the sight of the two men. It could have been his imagination. Before he could be sure, he was amongst them.
He slashed neatly into the first demon’s thigh and kept moving to avoid its sweeping claws. Another spun, trying to catch him, missing with its grasping hands, but fouling his path with extended wings.
Ben cut at the leathery appendage then jumped to the side, barely avoiding a huge taloned foot, which slammed down where he had been headed.
Between the legs and wings, he saw Rhys spinning and cutting like a mad dervish. His blazing glyph-covered blade passed through the flesh and bone of the demons with the ease of slicing through cold air.
Howls and confusion filled the square. Within heartbeats, the massive creatures were stumbling away from Rhys. All of their attention was on the rogue. He and his blade were a blur.
Ben took advantage and plunged his sword into the spine of an easy target. Twisting, he yanked the weapon free and endeavored to make contact with the crowd around him. The things were so tall it was near impossible to get a killing blow, but the mage-wrought steel cut clean and deep.
Ducking and spinning, he wasn’t able to avoid the back of one clawed hand whipping down, trying to catch him. It struck him squarely in the face, just above his right eye. The force of the blow sent him flying.
He ricocheted off the leg of another demon and fell to the ground, stunned. Blood poured into his right eye. Blinking furiously, he scrambled to his feet. Out of his one good eye, he could see a third of the monsters had been felled. One by him and the rest by Rhys. The others surrounded him.
Abandoning his attack, Ben jumped away from one huge beast. He was engulfed from behind by another’s wing. The leathery skin tumbled him forward and he was rolling across the cobblestones. Animal instinct took over. He twisted away as a massive foot stomped down a hand’s length away from him.
Ben was on his back, staring up at a demon twice his height. It was directly over him, legs spread on either side. Its huge head was tilted down and he looked into its soulless eyes. A human would have sneered at him. The demon just raised its foot, ready to crush out his life.
A spear punched into its abdomen and the creature howled.
Ben shoved himself back, pushing with his heels and elbows.
Armored men swarmed around him, thrusting polearms into the arch-demon then getting clobbered by its heavy arm. Half a dozen of the men were swept away like crumbs brushed off a table. More men surged forward behind them. Through the blood staining his vision, Ben recognized the captain. He’d finally gotten into the fight.
Ben lurched to his feet and stumbled away from the fighting. His vision was swirling and brilliant flashes of color pulsated in front of him. He tried to wipe the blood out of his eye and ignore the ringing bell that filled his head.
Originating from where the demon had struck his skull, waves of nausea roiled his body. He hung his head and dropped to one knee.
As he was going down, a sharp and painful tug caught the back of his tunic and spun him around. He crashed onto his back in time to see a squat, muscular demon leaping forward to land on him. It wasn’t one of the massive arch-demons, but it was big enough.
A heavy foot slammed onto his sword arm. Ben quickly realized struggling to free the arm was useless. The demon weighed twice what he did, and from his back, he had no leverage.
The creature opened its maw wide and descended to tear out Ben’s throat. He could feel its awful breath on face.
With his left hand, he yanked out his hunting knife and whipped it up into the demon’s jaw. He shoved as hard as he could to punch through the tough flesh.
A hand’s length from his face, he saw his steel slide through the bottom to the top of the demon’s open mouth, ending with three fingers of the knife buried in its brain.
A shower o
f foul, purple blood dripped down onto his face. The heavy creature’s body collapsed on him.
Struggling weakly, Ben tried to wiggle out from under the weight. He was trapped. His sword arm was now free, but the other hand was pinned underneath the demon, still gripping his hunting knife. He managed to push its head off to one side so its blood was no longer drenching his face, but he couldn’t get out from under it.
His breath was coming short and fast, his ribcage unable to expand with the weight on top of him.
Ben felt a thump through the cobblestones and turned to look. One of the arch-demons was walking toward him. Broken spearheads and wounds from the soldier’s swords marred its body, but none of those soldiers were in Ben’s field of vision now. The demon had an unobstructed route to him, and he couldn’t move. Pinned beneath the creature on top of him, he had no way to defend himself. He panicked, knowing that death was just moments away.
With a reserve of strength he didn’t know existed, he made a final, determined effort to pull loose. Bit by bit, he exerted everything he had and was able to pull his left hand free. With both hands in the open, he shoved down on the dead creature and slid himself out from under it.
He scrambled across the cobblestones, searching for his sword. The approaching arch-demon was just a long stride away when Ben turned to face it. He saw his longsword now, behind the approaching monster, too far to reach. His knife was still buried in the dead demon at his feet.
The wind he felt earlier wasn’t in his head. He realized it was tied to the sword. Without the weapon in his hand, he couldn’t pull the same trick.
Scrambling backward, he looked for anything he could try to defend himself with, but he knew it was too late. The massive demon roared, and Ben cringed, imagining the pain when those arm-length teeth ripped his body apart.
Suddenly, a spear of silver light burst through the front of the demon’s chest then drew back. Surprised, the creature dropped to its knees, right in front of Ben.
Ben jumped away, knowing that if he got trapped under that one there was no way he could get out from under it.
Slowly, the demon toppled forward.
Ben smiled when he saw Rhys standing behind it, blazing silver longsword held shakily in front of him.
“You look like shit,” muttered Rhys, sinking down to his knees, clearly exhausted.
Around them, a score of the remaining soldiers all watched silently. A dozen arch-demons, each twice the height of a man, were dead. Limbs the thickness of Ben’s torso lay neatly severed next to bodies that had razor clean stab wounds and lacerations. Thin tendrils of silver smoke curled away from many of the brutal injuries.
The fighting continued in the square around them, but in the immediate area, it was clear. The smaller demons were either scared of the arch-demons or scared of Rhys. The other soldiers made for easier targets.
“Did you do all of that?” panted Ben, glancing at the carnage.
Rhys, shoulders and body slumped, shivers running violently through him, didn’t answer.
Ben sat down, the sting of his injuries nearly overwhelming him. He could feel blood leaking from his body. His head, shoulder, back, and arms all had open, freely bleeding wounds. Without medical care, he knew he wouldn’t make it very long.
Sitting on the ground, he looked up. The cobblestones were still shuddering with the stomp of heavy feet. In the square, nothing seemed to have changed. Men and demons fought, but the biggest of the creatures were lying dead, felled by Rhys.
Soon, the remaining soldiers around him noticed the thumps as well and turned. Swords and spears were raised in preparation. For what, Ben couldn’t see.
Then he did.
Above the heads of the nearby soldiers, he saw a massive monster of a demon enter the square. It towered above the buildings around it, standing at least five or six stories tall. When it entered the square, it spread its wings. In the darkness of the night, Ben couldn’t tell where they ended.
He sat calmly, watching it. His head may reach the top of its foot, he thought. The soldiers had two reactions. Half of them stood staring, too frightened to move. The other half turned and fled. Ben didn’t blame them. There was nothing they could do to face this opponent. Swords and spears would be useless against a monster like that.
Towaal, though, she was ready.
An arc of brilliant white lightning shot across the square and impacted the demon’s chest, four stories above Ben’s head.
The creature roared with fury. Ben felt his hair stir with the force of the sound. He winced, covering his ears with blood-sticky hands.
Flexing, the creature seemed to pull into itself. Then it burst outward, the lightning blasting back and leaping uncontrolled across the square. Men and demon alike burst into flame as it danced among them. Almost as soon as it started, the lightning flickered out. It left a colorful afterimage burned into Ben’s eyes.
The demon strode forward and casually scooped up a squad of men in two powerful hands. It tore off their heads and sucked in their life-blood as easily as Ben would bite an apple.
From the firelight in the square, Ben could see a smoking wound the size of a large man’s shield burned into its chest. If the injury bothered the demon, it didn’t show a sign of it.
Next, one of the huge braziers placed in the square blazed higher and higher. The flames whipped up into the sky. The burning brands within the brazier flared with an unnatural intensity. From over one hundred paces away, the heat of the fire was uncomfortably close to singeing Ben’s skin. He raised an arm, trying to block the heat radiating toward him.
The towering inferno soared higher and higher until it collapsed, a wave of fire crashing down onto the arch-demon. The creature howled and drew its wings around itself, crouching under the blistering heat. The red and orange flames obscured it for several heartbeats until they vanished in a puff of hot air.
The stench of burning flesh filled the square, but Ben was dismayed to see the demon rise from its crouch, stretching to its full height and flapping its wings.
Undeterred by the fire, it started forward.
Silver smoke, just like what Ben saw coming off of Rhys’ sword, swirled across the ground. It raced at knee-height, like a flood coming down a mountainside. Narrow slices split off and cracked upward at the demon, lashing at it like whips. From all directions, over and over again, the silvery tails struck upward. The demon stumbled back, unsure of where the sudden pain was coming from.
Men and demons fled away from the smoke. It drifted around where Ben sat, but he felt nothing from it. The whips were causing damage to the huge demon, though. Thin lines of purple blood bloomed along its arms, legs, and sides.
The big demon’s wings folded around it again, but the constant whipping from the silver smoke continued. The demon roared and Ben felt like his eardrums may burst. The sound was like metal tearing, amplified one hundred fold.
Ben looked back toward the library. He couldn’t see Towaal. A curtain of the silver smoke and more mundane black smoke from fires throughout the city blocked his view. He knew she was back there somewhere, directing the smoke whips to strike.
The demon stomped its foot and the ground shuddered. The silver smoke fell back then rushed forward again, lashing the creature faster and faster, but as Ben watched, he saw the strikes were getting weaker and falling lower on the demon’s body.
One whip stiffened, thickening until it was a good two paces across. It thrust upward, racing toward the demon’s heart, but the huge creature waved a massive hand and scattered the lance of smoke. It dissipated in the night air, falling down into the smoke swirling around below.
In heartbeats, the attack stopped, and the demon cautiously shook its tattered wings. It was visibly injured, but as it started to stride forward again, Ben saw none of the slashes had cut deep enough to be fatal. Superficial wounds wouldn’t be enough to stop the monster. He hoped Towaal had more up her sleeve than that.
The demon scanned the square, looking
for the source of the attacks. It stopped halfway across. It was staring toward the library, where Ben knew Towaal would be standing.
He struggled to his feet to get a better look. He saw the diminutive woman standing proudly, facing the demon while the rest of the square looked on or fled.
She held a broken wooden rod in her hand. She wasn’t doing anything.
The arch-demon snarled, drawing Ben’s attention.
It strode forward, the ground shaking with each powerful step. In heartbeats, it would be on Towaal.
Ben rushed to his sword, unsure what he could do to help. Raising the weapon, he knew the huge demon was moving far faster on its long legs than he could. The blasts of wind he’d used earlier wouldn’t reach that far.
Then, behind Towaal, a frenzy of sparkling lights exploded out of the library and rushed toward the demon. They looked like fireflies, or sparks from fireworks, but they moved faster than a crossbow bolt.
Wave after wave of the things flew out from the library door and slammed into the demon. It paused, darting to the side, trying to avoid the stream of lights. They followed right after it. The creature waved a massive hand and sent the cloud flying away. The lights turned and came back. Each light sunk into the demon like a tiny pinprick. There were thousands of them, and they kept coming. Prick after prick.
The demon staggered backward, snarling in rage. Smaller demons rushed forward, swarming around its feet, but the lights ignored them. They kept lancing into the arch-demon. It fell another staggering step backward. A cheer went up from the men in the square.
A flight of arrows flashed into the sky. Ben turned to see a company of archers on a rooftop at the edge of the square. They were firing down on the arch-demon demon and the swarm around it. Arrow after arrow. The cascade of tiny, stabbing lights from the library continued unabated.
Emboldened, the men who had been fighting a losing battle against the rest of the demons felt the tide turn. They fell on the creatures near them. The spell of the battle between the huge arch-demon and the mage was broken. Fighting intensified everywhere.
The big arch-demon didn’t participate. It couldn’t. The lights hit it again and again, still blasting out of the library door like sparks out of a blacksmith’s forge. The creature was covering its eyes and staggering backward. It was now almost to the edge of the square. The lights showed no sign of stopping.