by James Wisher
A small, slender figure rose up from the camp and flew out to meet them. High Sorcerer Zahara was the youngest of the four high sorcerers at only thirty-nine. Her long, dark hair swirled around her heart-shaped face as she flew up to greet them.
Lidia didn’t let the delicate appearance of the high sorcerer fool her. Zahara was strong and fierce. There was no one, well almost no one, Lidia would have rather had on her side in a battle.
Zahara hovered a few feet from the approaching sorcerers. “Lidia, we got your message. General Gauge is eager to speak with you as am I. I’m sorry about your apprentice.”
“Thank you, but I haven’t given up on the boy yet.” Lidia turned to address the sorcerers that had accompanied her. “Get some food and rest. I expect we’ll be heading out early.”
The sorcerers flew down to beg a meal off the camp cooks. When they’d gone Zahara asked, “Were all the paladins truly wiped out?”
“According to Kat there’s a single survivor. Hardly enough to make much difference. I’ll explain everything when we join the general.”
“I assume you’ll be assuming command of the sorcerers.” Zahara didn’t sound any happier about it than Lidia had expected her to.
“We’ll probably end up fighting in the air against strong opponents. I doubt there will be any time for complex orders. Each sorcerer will simply have to fight the best way he or she can. Any commands either of us give won’t matter five seconds after we engage.”
“I’ve never fought demons,” Zahara said, her earlier anger now tinged with fear.
Lidia had little in the way of advice. Every demon was different and all of them were horrible. All you could do was fight hard and try to stay alive. Usually survival as much as victory was the goal when fighting demons. This time simple survival wasn’t enough. They had to win or risk losing everything.
“Let’s go talk to the general.”
Chapter 31
Jen battered the last statue of the most recent wave off the wall and paused for a few seconds’ rest before the next line reached the top of the wall. She and Marie-Bell had been fighting nonstop since the pale warlock was driven off the day before, almost twenty-four hours of continuous running and smashing. Kat helped as she could, but the sorcerer couldn’t increase her stamina with internal soul force so she was forced to rest every three or four hours or risk collapsing. Even with her prodigious strength, Jen was approaching her breaking point. A nice long nap would do wonders, but there was no way she could leave the wall for that long.
Beside her Marie-Bell looked as bad as Jen felt, her pale skin making the dark circles under her eyes stand out even more. Swinging that heavy hammer and wearing mail, even with enhanced strength, had to have turned her arms into limp noodles.
“You okay?” Jen asked.
Marie-Bell nodded. “No sweat. I could do this all week.”
Jen grinned.
A shining blue head popped up over the wall and Jen hit it three times in a heartbeat, sending it crashing to the ground before she moved on to knock the next one off. You’d think falling sixty feet to the rock below would at least damage them a little, but as far as she could tell, aside from a little dust, the crystal demons were in perfect condition. Marie-Bell hadn’t dared use enough power in a single strike to destroy one again for fear of not being able to continue the defense.
They finished clearing yet another wave and Marie-Bell said, “She’s up to something.”
Jen looked where the paladin pointed. The warlock stood at the rear of the pass, a large black sphere on the ground beside her. What was that supposed to be?
“Kat!” Jen shouted.
The sorcerer flew up from where she’d been napping at the foot of the wall. “What?”
Jen nodded out toward the warlock. “What’s she doing?”
“Can’t tell. The sphere isn’t dense enough for an attack.”
If Kat had more to say Jen couldn’t listen. The next wave reached the top of the wall and she set about knocking them off. Halfway through the battle Kat sent a blast streaking up into the sky. Jen risked a glance, nearly getting gutted for her trouble. The black sphere sailed over the wall, untroubled by Kat’s attack.
Jen bashed the construct that tried to tear her open off the wall.
“It’s full of ghouls,” Kat said. “A dozen at least.”
A blast shook the air, but Jen didn’t dare turn. “Go help Kat.”
Marie-Bell’s hammer sent a demon to the ground. “Are you sure? It might take a while to hunt them down.”
“Less talking more hunting. I’ll handle the wall.” Jen accelerated, further draining her depleted soul force. She cleared the wave in five seconds.
More explosions mingled with the crash of Marie-Bell’s hammer. Jen had never fought ghouls, but she assumed a sorcerer and a paladin could handle them. If they couldn’t the three of them were in trouble as there was no way Jen could go help, not unless they were willing to sacrifice the outer wall.
Chapter 32
Marie-Bell’s hammer crashed into a demon and sent it flying. During a brief respite she glanced at Jen. Could she really leave her friend to defend the whole wall on her own? “Are you sure?”
“Less talking more hunting.” Jen’s silhouette blurred as she sped up and battered the whole wave off the wall.
Marie-Bell nodded once, uncertain if Jen even noticed, and leapt down. The ghouls gave off a distinct flavor of corruption, different in intensity from that produced by either the demons or warlocks. Marie-Bell had no trouble tracking them. Not that it mattered, they were stuck between the two walls with nothing but a hundred yards of bare earth and stone in which to hide.
Kat flew above them and tried to blast the darting figures. She managed to hit one about every fourth shot. Two of the undead lay in rotting chunks, a testament to her effectiveness when she managed to make a strike. Dealing with them that way would take too long. She had to get back to Jen as quickly as possible.
“Can you round them up so I can hit them all in one go?” Marie-Bell shouted the question at Kat so she could hear over the snarling of the ghouls and explosions of her blasts.
“Too many and too fast.” Kat blasted the leg off another one and Marie-Bell darted in to crush its head with her hammer.
A pair of ghouls ran toward the second wall. They must have sensed Amanda back in the fortress. If they made it that far the girl wouldn’t stand a chance. Kat must have noticed them as well.
Golden bubbles formed around the undead and hurled them away from the second wall. Marie-Bell rushed into their path. When the bubbles vanished she charged her hammer with holy energy and swung. The ghouls exploded like overripe grapes.
“Keep doing that,” Marie-Bell said. “We’ll have them cleaned up in no time.”
No time turned out to be five minutes. When the last ghoul burst Marie-Bell spun and raced back to the wall. An overwhelming wave of corruption stopped her in her tracks. Heaven’s mercy, what now?
She ran up the steps to the battlements. Jen stood with her hands on her hips staring out over the wall. Her core was almost fully depleted, but not a single demon had made it over the wall. The rush of constructs had stopped and combined with the arrival of the new power source, Marie-Bell had a bad feeling. Out beyond the wall eighteen massive winged demons stood in the pass surrounding the warlock. Each of them was immensely strong, but one, an insect-headed monstrosity as big as an ogre was easily the strongest she’d ever sensed.
Kat landed beside Jen and clasped her hand to her mouth. “Where did they come from?”
“The haunted lands,” Jen said. “The lot of them landed a minute ago. As soon as they did the attacks stopped. I can’t say I’m thrilled to see reinforcements on the enemy’s side, but the rest is welcome.”
Jen appeared far too calm considering what they now faced. Perhaps because she couldn’t sense just how powerful the new enemies were. More likely she was just putting on a brave face.
Jen looked over
at Kat. “How do we stop them?”
Kat’s laugh held a hysterical edge. “Stop them? I couldn’t stop one, much less eighteen. And unless the good paladin has some hidden depths she hasn’t shown yet I doubt she can either.”
Jen turned to Marie-Bell who shook her head. She hated crushing Jen’s hopeful look, but Kat had the right of it. This battle was over. They had to run.
“If we fall back to the fortress we can hold out for a while,” Marie-Bell said. “But out here they’ll simply overwhelm us. We need to go.”
Down below powerful wings flapped as the demons took to the air.
“We need to go, now.”
Chapter 33
Morana couldn’t believe what she was watching. Somehow the warlord was holding off her entire force of crystal soldiers by herself. She’d been certain hurling the ghouls over the wall would distract them enough to allow her forces to get a foothold on the first wall and maybe even force them to fall back to the second wall. But no, that infuriating woman raced around so fast Morana could barely follow her movements and sent every demon tumbling to the ground. It wasn’t human.
What was she going to do now? Morana should have had the fortress secured already. She knew she wasn’t a great leader, but with the forces available to her three defenders should have been nothing.
As yet another rank of soldiers went tumbling down Morana stiffened. She recognized the approaching power. A mental command stopped the futile assault and recalled the soldiers. No way would she face the insectoid demon and its minions without her forces by her side. She ran a hand over the urn and debated taking it out before deciding against it. Having the weapon in hand seemed like too much of a show of weakness. If the demon sensed her fear it would put her at a serious disadvantage. Morana didn’t think it would attack her since she was the only one that could command the crystal soldiers, but then demons weren’t known for their logical thinking.
An approaching black cloud resolved itself into eighteen distinct shapes. So it had only managed to find one new recruit. That minor failure was something she could use if it started pushing her too much. This was going to be tricky. She didn’t want to antagonize the powerful demon, but she couldn’t let it run over her either. For a moment she wished Connor or even Mikhail were here with her. The black knight had been too stupid to fear demons.
The massive creature landed a few feet from her. Morana steeled herself. Neither of them were here; she’d have to manage on her own, just like always.
“Why are you still in the pass and not in the fortress?” the demon asked.
“The wall combined with a small, but skilled, group of defenders has proven to be a greater challenge than I expected.”
The demon looked up at the wall then back at her. “There are three humans up there. Are you saying three humans have held you up for a day and a half?”
“There were four to begin with. I eliminated one.”
Its high-pitched laugh pained her ears. “You killed one human in a day and a half. That is your great accomplishment? Pathetic.”
Morana didn’t rise to the taunt. Neither did she point out that she hadn’t killed the girl, only rendered her unconscious. She hated to admit it, but her results were kind of pathetic. Connor was right, she’d been far too confident in the power he’d given her.
“Now that you’re here we can defeat them together,” Morana said.
It laughed again. “We do not require your help to deal with three humans. We will rend them limb from limb then open the door to the fortress for you. Can you at least manage to lead your toy soldiers up there on your own?”
“I’ll manage.” Morana clamped her jaw tight to keep from saying something that might get her killed.
“Now watch how you go about killing humans.”
The demon lashed its wings and leapt into the air. Arrogant monster. She hoped the paladin split its ugly skull in half. She’d turn it into a lamp and put it on her nightstand back in Port Valcane.
Chapter 34
Jen sprang onto the disk Kat had conjured and they flew away just ahead of a blast of hellfire that would have turned them to cinders. She hated retreating, hated giving ground to the enemy without making them bleed for it. But as Kat and Marie-Bell said, there was no way they could fight flying enemies in such numbers. Not if they wanted to survive.
A stream of hellfire narrowly missed them as they passed over the second wall and zoomed toward the third. Marie-Bell raised a holy shield just in time to protect them from a pair of converging blasts. The black flames splashed over the shield, causing it to tremble.
Kat put on a burst of speed, but the demons kept up easily. It was lucky they had a head start, otherwise they would have been caught by now. The third wall came and went. The fortress was in sight now. Once they got inside it would be close-quarters fighting: dirty, ugly, close-up killing. She doubted the three of them would last long in that sort of battle against demons. This bunch looked designed for close combat.
More hellfire streaked by, some Kat dodged and some splashed against Marie-Bell’s shield. Jen felt useless in a fight like this. It wasn’t like she could throw her sword at the demons and even if she did she only had one. She had to count on her companions to keep them safe for a few more seconds then run like hell for the fortress gate. How long a wooden door would last against eighteen demons Jen couldn’t say, but she’d feel better to have it between them for however many seconds it lasted.
Kat landed ten feet from the door and the instant she did Jen sprinted for it at warlord speed. She yanked it open and held it for the others. A burst of hellfire blackened the stone over her head. Jen wasn’t certain if the demons were poor shots or if they were toying with her. If it was the latter she’d do her best to make them regret their arrogance.
Kat went through first followed by Marie-Bell. Jen slipped inside and slammed the heavy door shut. While Jen hunted for a bar Marie-Bell placed her hands on the door. White light filtered through her fingers and glowing runes appeared on the door. It swelled in place, seeming to become part of the frame.
When Marie-Bell stepped back Jen asked, “What did you do?”
“When this place was built the founders wove holy wards into the stone as well as all the openings. While no one believed a force could make it past the walls, the first paladins were nothing if not thorough. They knew if catastrophe should strike and they had to fall back to the keep it would be the worst possible scenario so they reserved the most power for the protection of the fortress itself. Our enemies will find it no easy feat to gain entrance.”
“So we’re stuck buying time again,” Jen said. “I guess it could be worse.”
“Sure.” Kat slumped against the wall. “We could be dead.”
Jen walked past the exhausted sorcerer and patted her shoulder. “That’s the spirit. How’s your apprentice?”
Kat closed her eyes and her brow furrowed. “Alive, but still unconscious. The urn really messed her up. Still, she doesn’t have any physical damage so in time she’ll recover.”
Kat didn’t add “hopefully,” but Jen heard it in her tone. Despite their disagreements, she clearly cared about the younger woman. Jen hoped they lived long enough to see Amanda wake up.
An explosion rocked the fortress. That hadn’t taken long. “Is there somewhere we can watch what they’re doing?” Jen asked.
“We can peek out one of the second-floor arrow slits.” Marie-Bell led the way to the nearby stairs. Kat heaved herself up and followed along behind Jen.
“Where did you leave Amanda?” Jen asked.
“I put her in the first bed I found on the first floor. It was a good-sized room, lots of weapons on the wall.”
“That’s Commander Kendy’s room,” Marie-Bell said. “I polished those weapons once a week for five years before I was chosen.”
“Any of them enchanted?” If the paladins kept holy weapons in the fortress they’d give Jen a better chance if any demons made it inside.
&nbs
p; “They’re just plain steel, sorry. The commander carried our last holy sword. Before that we had a suit of armor and a great sword, but long ago a hero of the Order took them and marched alone into the haunted lands. She never returned. Every so often one of the new paladins quests to recover the relics, but none have ever been seen again.”
They reached the first arrow slit and gathered around to look out. Massive winged demons soared past. They shot bursts of hellfire seemingly at random. A demon that resembled a humanoid toad must have noticed them. It spat hellfire at the arrow slit. Jen flinched back. The black flames splashed against an invisible barrier and dissipated.
“Can I attack through that?” Kat asked.
Marie-Bell nodded. “The barrier only blocks corrupt energy.”
“Good.”
Kat raised her hand and sent a golden blast streaking at the toad demon. The attack struck it square in the chest and sent it tumbling through the sky. A snap of its wings brought the demon back under control. It flew off, seeming none the worse for wear.
“Damn it!” Kat lowered her hand. “What’s it take to kill one of those things? How’d your brother do it?”
Jen shrugged. She had no idea how Damien did half the things he did. “He wrapped it up in a giant golden serpent then made it explode. When he finished there was nothing left.”
“Look!” Marie-Bell pointed out beyond the kingdom-side wall.