by Tony Donadio
Orion’s lips tightened grimly as he took stock of what he saw. The dragons had concentrated on breaking the army formations and sowing chaos. They’d largely succeeded. Earlier, a disciplined regiment had been marching resolutely toward the heart of the city. Now, it had been fractured into separate units, each fighting the spreading flames around them, desperately trying to hold against the monsters’ attacks.
It wasn’t until he saw the line of fires ahead of them, though, that Orion fully realized what was happening.
His face white, he spun to look behind. What he saw only confirmed his fears. Slowly, pass by pass, the dragons had sliced the north end of the Lower City into strips. Each strip was separated from the next by a long wall of burning streets and buildings that ran back toward the main body of the demons behind them. The lines continued ahead, cutting the army into separate groups, walling them off from each other by flame.
“Damn,” Orion said harshly. “I should have seen that earlier.”
Diana looked at him, startled. “What?” she asked.
Instead of answering, he turned abruptly and started running to the north. “This way!” he called.
He ducked into another narrow alley. It was blind, and appeared to be deserted. When he neared its end he stopped, waiting for the others to catch up. He was relieved to see that they’d all followed.
Davin cursed as the group formed up again around Orion. He’d tripped on a spot in the alley where there was a missing cobblestone and barely managed to keep from falling.
Diana came to Orion’s side and looked at him. “What?” she asked again.
“The demons’ plan,” he said. His voice gasped as he tried to catch his breath. “I didn’t see it before.”
The crowd of refugees on the lane outside the alley began to pass them by. They had seen the soldiers ahead and were running toward them, cries of hope ringing out.
Diana arched her eyebrows pointedly. “What?” she repeated, this time with emphasis. There was just a hint of impatience in her voice.
“We need to keep away from the fires and soldiers,” he said. “And get under cover. Fast.”
Davin sputtered in surprise, but all that came out was a wheezing cough.
“That’s crazy,” Jameson said. Frayed nerves made his voice come out as a harsh bark. “The soldiers are our only protection in this chaos!”
Orion shook his head.
“Our forces are being cut into groups and separated by fire. That’s why the dragons strafed the city the way they did. They left long strips of flame leading back to where the enemy forces are marching from.”
“So?” Davin demanded.
“I couldn’t see it until we reached the higher ground, but there’s a road in the center of each of those lines.”
“So they’re cutting channels of fire to march along?” Diana offered.
Jameson’s expression sobered abruptly. “Are demons resistant to fire?” he asked.
“Some of the stronger ones could certainly use them,” Orion said. “But that’s not their plan. I didn’t understand that until I saw the giants moving through the flames to flank the soldiers from the north. ”
Diana’s eyes went wide.
“Hellmen,” she breathed. “They’re all but immune to normal fires, aren’t they? Like the giants?”
Orion nodded.
“They’re probably passing us in force through the channels right now. The enemy has control of the air, so our commanders may not even see them coming.”
“What will they do?” Cooper asked.
“If I were their general?” Orion replied. “Surround the soldiers. Hellmen and giants attacking from the burning lines to the north and south. Dragons hitting them from the east and demons coming up to attack from the west.”
Diana gasped.
“That’s why you led us off the road,” she said. “That whole area ahead of us is about to become a killing zone.”
Orion nodded as another piece of the puzzle fell into place in his mind.
“Did any of you notice that the demons were trying more to terrorize the people into fleeing, than to kill them?” he asked. “That’s why. They’re deliberately driving civilians into that area.”
Cooper looked confused. “What for?”
“To compromise the soldiers’ defense,” Jameson said. A look of comprehension was dawning on his face as well.
Orion nodded. “To divide their attention. To force them not only to defend themselves, but to try to defend a horde of mostly unarmed citizens as well. To blunt the army’s attacks and firepower by using the people as human shields. To make our forces afraid to use their full strength out of fear of civilian casualties. To give themselves a tactical advantage by sowing chaos among the defense.”
Diana took a long, slow breath. “And we nearly ran right into it.”
“All right,” Jameson said. “So what do we do?”
“We hide,” Orion replied. “Keep out of sight, and let the Hellmen and the demons pass us on their way to engage the soldiers.”
Jameson frowned. “I thought we were going to help,” he said.
Diana shook her head. The tears had returned to her eyes, but she kept her voice ruthlessly calm as she spoke.
“It’s too late for that,” she said quietly. “It was too late when the dragons arrived. This isn’t about trying to win anymore. It’s about not being counted among the dead.”
“I agree,” Davin said. “The only help we can offer the soldiers is to lose our lives with them.”
“There may still be a chance later,” Orion added. “If the battle takes a turn toward our side — if reinforcements arrive from the palace, or when the Archmage makes his move. Then we can come out of hiding to help. But for now, there’s nothing we can do.”
Diana pointed back toward the road outside the alley. Fleeing and screaming civilians were still running past them along it.
“There is still something we can do,” she said. “We can warn those people that they’re running into a trap. Now that you’ve figured out their plan, that would help foil it. And it would save lives.”
Orion’s eyebrows shot up, and he smiled. “We could at that,” he said.
A look of fiery determination returned to Diana’s bright green eyes. “Let’s do it, then,” she said fiercely. “Who’s with us?”
“An excellent plan,” a voice agreed from above. “Sadly, it has an important flaw.”
They looked up in surprise at the unexpected sound. The voice had an ugly, hard-edged timbre. It was not deep, but had a disturbing reverberation to it that set the listener’s teeth shaking.
A demon sat on the edge of a roof to one side of the alley. It wasn’t one of the larger monsters — it looked to be barely seven feet in height, if that — with mottled blue skin and stunted bat-like wings.
“You may call me Nalef, humans,” it continued. Its tone was conversational and amused, but its yellow cat-eyes shone with undisguised menace. “And you have my compliments. The witless wonders commanding your defenses don’t have a clue what is coming, and here you’ve figured it all out on your own! It’s a pity I’ll have to reward such cleverness by killing the lot of you.”
Several of the group began to back away toward the street, eyes widening in terror.
“No, don’t try to run,” Nalef warned. “If you do I’ll make your death especially unpleasant, and very, very long.” It chuckled. “Can’t have you spoiling the slaughter by spooking the herd now, can we?”
Diana’s eyes were riveted on the demon. They had lost none of their fire from the moments before.
“Can we take it?” she asked softly.
Orion slowly raised his makeshift club as his knees bent into a defensive stance. “Do we have a choice?”
Jameson drew his sword and pointed it at the monster. “None whatsoever,” he said.
The demon looked down at them. It smiled a grin filled with wicked, curved teeth.
“I was hoping you’d dec
ide to make this interesting,” it said. “The invasion’s been rather dull and much too easy, so far!”
It leaped from the corner of the roof, and there was chaos.
Closing In
The demon Ashrach stood before the door of the guard tower. It stared impatiently at the scout.
“Well?” it demanded.
The scout demon crouched close to the ground. It was a small, thin monster, covered in red fur. It had a canine snout that was conspicuously large for its size, and it was snuffling noisily.
Slowly it rose to its feet and turned toward its commander.
“We have their trail,” it said confidently. “Human scents, a lot of them. And a hint of elf. Maybe a half-elf.”
“How long?”
“An hour ago. Maybe less.”
Another creature looked up along the line of bluffs next to them and nodded. It had a bird-like head with enormous eyes.
“Yes, I see it now,” it said. “A vine rope near the roof of the tower. They climbed down from the cliffs above. Probably entered a window.”
“Just as the captain suspected,” Ashrach said. “He thought they might try to re-enter the city near here. Good work, both of you.”
The little dog-like demon made a pleased whimpering sound. The other inclined its bird-like head, but said nothing. Ashrach turned to face it.
“You will report to the captain,” it said. “We will leave a trail for it to follow.” It raised a clawed hand in caution. “Fly swiftly, Keeah. Gorath will not be pleased at any delay.”
The bird-like head bobbed in acknowledgement. A pair of white and gold wings unfurled from its back. They beat hard as it rose into the sky and flew off along the cliffs to the west.
Ashrach turned back to the dog-faced scout.
“Lead us to them,” it ordered. “As quick as you can. The rest of you, with me. We have a royal to hunt!”
Fight Together
Nalef landed in the center of the group. Diana leaped wildly as it struck, its claws raking empty air where she had stood only moments before. It roared in anger and frustration as its first kill slipped from its grasp.
Orion spun. He swung his club with all his strength and hit the monster squarely in the temple. Pain shot up his arms as his weapon splintered, but the demon seemed unfazed by the blow. It flexed its wings with a contemptuous growl, spreading them around itself like a pair of leathery shields. One of them hit him in the shoulder and sent him sprawling.
Nalef stooped to finish him, but the others were already moving to attack. Jameson charged it from behind, swinging his sword with both hands. It struck the creature in the back and rang from the impact. Cooper loosed an arrow that ricocheted crazily from its chest, narrowly missing Davin in the process. Several others charged it, wielding makeshift clubs and butcher’s knives.
The attacks had little effect, leaving only shallow lacerations in the demon’s scaled hide. But they were enough to distract its attention from Orion, who crawled frantically away as the monster loomed over him. Enraged, it beat its wings again, spinning and slashing at the humans surrounding it. One of them went down, screaming in agony, chest torn open by its claws.
That proved to be too much for some of the refugees. Most of them were plain townsfolk who had no experience with or temperament for fighting. Now they were being forced to battle a demon in close quarters. Several of them dropped their weapons and ran.
Orion saw their flight as he struggled back to his feet. In horror, he noticed the shape of a dimly glowing red glyph on the ground, between them and the main road. It lay directly in their path, and they were speeding heedlessly toward it.
“Don’t try to run!” he yelled. “It’s a trap —”
His warning came too late. The glyph flared brightly as they stepped past it, and then exploded. A storm of flame bloomed around them, forming a barrier that cut off any escape from the alley. Shrieks of pain and terror were suddenly cut off as the fleeing refugees’ burning bodies disappeared into the wall of fire.
Nalef barked a guttural laugh as the others turned to watch the horrific scene. Its inhuman face transfixed by what appeared to be a demonic equivalent of glee, it slashed at another of the townsfolk with its enormous claws. A woman fell, gurgling helplessly, blood gushing from her ruined throat.
“Fight together!” Orion yelled. Panic was gripping the others, and he realized that what little cohesion they had was about to break. If it did, they would be dead; the demon would finish them, one at a time. “It’s our only chance!”
“Fight together!” Diana cried in response. She stepped in, slashing with the butcher’s knife she’d taken from the kitchen of the Smiling Nymph. It scored a long, shallow gash on the demon’s right wing. It beat at her, trying to knock her down, but she was already leaping out of its reach. Nalef roared in frustration as she once again avoided its attack.
“Together!” Cooper’s voice rang. There was a whistle as another arrow struck the demon in the side of the head. It bounced off, leaving a laceration in its temple.
Some of the others echoed the call and rallied. Kitchen knives and makeshift clubs lashed at the monster, and rocks flew. Jameson stepped forward with a thrust of his sword, hands still stinging from his earlier blow. He was rewarded with a hit on Nalef’s shoulder.
But not everyone was willing to join in the fight. There were doors and windows in the buildings around them, and several of the group ran toward them in hope of flight. Davin stumbled toward a tall fence at the back of the alley. His shoulders shook in terror as he looked for a handhold to scale it.
Orion’s gaze swept around. As he feared, he saw more of the dimly glowing glyphs arranged to cut off any escape. The demon had been thorough in casting the spells of its trap. It must have done that while the group was deliberating on what to do.
“Don’t run!” Orion cried again. “There are traps set all around us!”
Davin looked at him angrily. His eyes were wide with panic.
“Damn!” Cooper blurted. “Scholar-boy is gonna crack!”
“Shut up, Cooper!” Diana yelled. “You’re not helping!”
She dodged a blow from the demon’s tail and stepped back as two others waded in to attack. “Davin, don’t!” she called. “We need you! Help us!”
“I don’t believe you!” Davin screamed. “We can’t fight that thing! You’re just going to get us killed!”
He spun and jumped, grabbing at the slats, and tried to scale the fence. One of the other refugees reached a window at the same time and tried to smash it with a club. Orion turned away, sickened, as another roar of fire took their lives.
“Ri!” Diana called. She’d stooped to pick up the pitchfork that one of the others had dropped, and was holding it in her left hand. She tossed it to him with a quick flick of her arm. He caught the weapon and spun it in his hands, testing its weight. Then he stepped forward to face the demon with the others.
He saw with surprise that it was facing him as well. Its wings beat and its arms slashed at its attackers as though it were trying to ward off a cloud of annoying insects. Half of the remaining refugees lay dead around it, the cobblestones stained with their blood. But it was looking at him, and there was anger in its demonic visage.
Those traps were supposed to take most of us out, he realized suddenly. It must have spent most of its magic setting them. That’s why it’s not using spells to fight us now.
“You’re the ringleader,” Nalef barked. “You and that girl of yours. I’m going to kill you now.”
Orion’s eyes widened in shock. He lowered the pitchfork and braced himself for its charge.
That’s why it’s so angry with me, he thought. I rallied the others not to run, and it didn’t expect so many of us to be willing to fight. Now it’s worried it may have over-extended itself. And it thinks I’m the main threat. He nearly laughed aloud at the thought, but he managed to keep his mind on the approaching monster. Now, how can I use that …
Orion spun abru
ptly and ran. The demon’s nostrils flared angrily as it leaped after him. It was fast and powerful, and at a full sprint it needed only seconds to overtake him. Orion felt its breath on his back as it raised a clawed hand to strike.
He had been making for the missing cobblestone in the alley that Davin had tripped over only a few minutes earlier. As he ran over it he whipped the pitchfork around in his hands, planted the weapon’s butt firmly into the opening, levered the head up to point directly behind him, and slid under the swipe of the monster’s claws.
The demon’s hide could have turned an ordinary stab from the weapon. One delivered with the full strength of its own charge behind it was another matter. The wooden shaft splintered from the shock as it impaled itself on the fork, and the tines sank to their full length into its gut.
Orion desperately tried to duck under the demon as it stumbled, howling in pain and anger. Monstrous legs struck him with the force of a hammer blow as they tripped over him, throwing him to the ground.
His head hit the cobblestones as he fell. Diana’s eyes widened when she saw that he did not get up.
Princess Beset
Lieutenant Kay raised her head to look at Gerrold.
“I haven’t seen any dragons in a while,” she said. “Have they all passed?”
Gerrold pulled back from the corner of the gazebo opening to face her. He wore a troubled expression.
“I think so,” he said. “Some have gone on to the palace. The rest have turned to attack the army fortifications at the eastern end of the city.”
“How is the battle going there?” Stefan asked.
He shook his head. “Not well. They hit their defenses from behind. The barracks are aflame, and the dragons are setting fire to the city.”
“We can’t just keep waiting here,” Randia said. Her voice was thick with frustration. “If the dragons are gone, then we need to go.”
Gerrold shook his head. “There’s a patrol nearby. They’ll spot us if we try to move.”