Hal and Ginger each carried a large box, which was presumably laden with food and other goods, and Hal even had a sword in one hand! At least they might be better prepared to defend themselves in the event the vandals came back. They had one small axe, which Janice held now in her hand, but that was their only weapon until now. The axe had been Janice’s husband’s before he died.
Alex had been much older than Janice, who had only seen twenty summers, but he had cared for her tenderly. When he died, Janice was left with the house but no means to support herself, and so she had resorted to desperate measures that sometimes made her feel ashamed of herself. Alex had been the only man who’d ever made her feel good about herself… well, he and one other.
At last, Hal and Ginger reached Janice’s house, and she hurried them inside and quickly shut the door behind them without slamming it.
“We’ve got some great stuff,” Hal said in an excited whisper. A muted glow light nearby cast shadows on his face that made him seem slightly older, but the boyish smile on his face dispelled the illusion.
“Good,” Janice replied, smiling as she ruffled his hair. “Let’s get it below and wake up Anne so we can all go through it. She’s due to be up now anyway.”
The door to the basement was hidden behind a cheap, but fancy-looking rug Janice had hanging on the wall. It was hand-woven by denarae from some village to the north of Nocka, and her husband had brought it back after opening a new trading route in that area. Alex had been a merchant of only moderate success, but always he was able to give Janice anything she truly wanted, except for a child.
Janice shook off the painful thoughts and led her neighbors downstairs. She heard a stirring below and thought perhaps Anne had already woken up.
“Anne, dear?” Janice called. “Hal and Ginger are back. They’ve brought us some supp…”
Janice’s voice choked off as she reached the last step and peered into the small cavern of her basement. Clearly illuminated by several glow lights, Anne was still lying on the couch, but her neck was twisted backward at an impossible angle, and she was clearly dead. Her face was frozen in a mask of pain, and there were bloody marks as if a clawed hand had been clamped across her mouth.
Standing over her was a four-armed shape straight out of Janice’s worst nightmares. The demon was surrounded by a dozen leather-skinned creatures that might have once been human, but now they were warped and twisted by the cruelest of imaginations and nightmares. There was a large hole burrowed in one of the basement walls that hadn’t been there before.
“Anne…” Janice whimpered.
Hal dropped his box of supplies and leapt forward with his new sword in hand, and he actually managed to prick one of the smaller beasts before the rest of them swarmed over him and tore the small boy to pieces. Without thinking, Ginger rushed forward in an effort to reach her screaming son. Two of the creatures quickly turned on her and ripped her throat out.
Janice backed slowly up the stairs, but the larger demon snarled something in a horrible language and two of the small creatures broke off to stalk her. Abandoning subtlety, Janice turned and fled up the stairs, the two monsters fast on her heels. They bounded up the steps and closed the distance all too quickly.
Fire erupted in a long line down the back of Janice’s calf as one of the creatures clawed at her leg, and she screamed in pain as she spun and chopped down desperately with her axe. Her first strike lopped a clawed hand off at the wrist, and Janice just kept swinging away with the weapon, blinded by fear and desperation. Her axe bit into the monstrous face and the creature went limp on top of her legs.
Then the second beast was there, leaping and snarling over the body of the first. Janice threw up her hands to cover her face, and the beast bowled into her and knocked her flat against the stairs. She flailed uselessly with her hands, and only after a moment did she realize the creature wasn’t moving. Janice shifted it aside and saw that in its leap, the creature had impaled itself on the axe, nearly cutting off its own head.
Hurriedly, Janice scrambled to her feet and ran from her house as fast as her wounded leg would let her. Her only world of safety had just been shattered, and now there was nowhere she knew where she could be safe.
Unless…
With tears streaming down her face, Janice lurched down the streets in search of a new haven.
Chapter 36
A man lost in the desert does not beg for money or women.
- Denarae Proverb
- 1 -
Soldiers screamed through the night all along the wall of the Barrier as the three remaining abominations swept their massive fists across the battlements and either crushed men or sent them spinning to the ground far below. One of the giant creatures lay on the plains, half a dozen ballista bolts protruding from its chest and one from its left eye. It was not dead yet, or else it would have vanished in a cloud of smoke in the manner of slain demons, but with several bolts marked with the holy symbol stuck in it, the demon within was paralyzed and struggling just to stave off destruction.
Garnet stood on the back wall of the Barrier, watching the assault of the abominations with a critical eye. Other demons and waves of damned souls were pouring over the top of the Barrier in any place where the abominations didn’t threaten them as well, and the defenders were being quickly overrun. Small catapults in each courtyard hurled weighty projectiles high over the heads of the gigantic demons, but the towering monstrosities paid them no mind, and if the missiles struck anything on the plain beyond the Barrier, they were obviously not doing enough to slow the crushing onslaught.
Paladins on dakkan-back circled overhead, but they were wary of assaulting the abominations head-on. Two paladins and their mounts had already been pulled from the skies and killed in the attempt, and another holy warrior had barely escaped with his life while the abomination crushed the life from his beloved dakkan.
The Shadow Company commander observed the battle with frustration. He could see no way of getting the denarae to the fore so they could confront the swarm of damned souls, and even if he could get them to attack the abominations, they would do little good, because they were not paladins. Garnet and the other paladins in the group might help, but they couldn’t get close enough to do any good.
With a grimace, Garnet turned away from the battle. As he did so, his eyes passed over the torch-lit courtyard below him, then suddenly he stopped.
“Shadow Company!” he shouted in his thoughts. “Assemble on me.”
He leapt from the wall and glided to the streets below, where the denarae and their human commanders were already assembling. Trebor had returned with the buggy and word that Alicia was safe and Danner had gone to help his uncle. Garnet had seen their miraculous return and Danner’s fall, and had immediately sent Trebor to investigate. When he came back with word Danner was injured but recovering, Garnet ordered Trebor to stay with the company rather than return to their friend.
Garnet looked around and saw that everyone was assembled, and he received mental confirmation from Trebor, Guilian - who had taken over Garnet’s platoon - and a designated denarae from each of the other platoons. Caret was temporarily in command of Danner’s platoon, and Jak was standing in for Marc.
“Those things are demonic in nature, and it’s going to take a paladin and the holy Tricrus to bring them down,” Garnet thought to them. His relays in Flasch’s and Michael’s platoons were repeating his message to their human commanders.
“You’re suggesting that we do something about that,” Trebor kythed in reply.
“Exactly. We can’t get close to them as is, the press is too thick. I want to load Flasch, Michael, and myself into these smaller catapults to get us aloft,” Garnet thought, and could practically feel the objections building up, “then we can glide down and hit them from behind. It’s dark and we’ll be hard to spot, and they won’t be expecting this type of attack from someone not flying in on a dakkan. Land on their necks, if possible, to avoid the press of creatures on the
ground, but carve the holy symbol anywhere you can.”
Despite the objections he’d expected, there was no immediate response from any of them. Finally Trebor kythed, “You really shouldn’t go, Garnet. What if something happens? We can’t lose two commanders in a row like this.”
“Who else can do it?” Garnet asked. “Other paladins have tried to get close, but they aren’t making any headway. This is a job for Shadow Company, and I really hate to point it out, but there’s only three of us here who are paladins. I’m sorry, Treb. Three demons, three paladins. We really don’t have much choice, and I’m not about to rely on someone who’s not a part of this company, paladin or not.”
Garnet felt approval seep into his thoughts from several of the denarae, and Trebor’s objections fell silent. Denarae reported that Flasch and Michael were ready, but Garnet looked at each in turn to be sure. Michael seemed calm as he nodded, but Flasch actually looked excited at the prospect.
There were several of the smaller catapults inside each courtyard, but since the monstrous demons were spaced out on the length of the Barrier, they would have to use separate courtyards. Garnet divided them up, two platoons per catapult, and took the center-most of the demons for himself. Trebor left him with the parting thought, “I think Danner’s a bad influence on you.”
The denarae of Shadow Company appropriated one of the catapults, shoving aside any of the crew who were unwilling to yield the siege engine. When the throwing arm was properly set, Garnet climbed inside the cradle, curled into a fetal position, and put one hand on his sheathed sword to make sure it didn’t fall out in transit.
He received word that the others were also in place, and with a silent prayer, Garnet gave the word.
Before he could stop to second-guess his decision, he was pinned against the back of the cradle for a long heartbeat, then flung forward with bone-jarring force. Air roared past his ears as he shot through the air like… well, like a rock, arcing high over the top of the Barrier. In only a few seconds, Garnet was past the huge demons, and he uncurled his body. He used his cloak to slow his suicidal speed, then turned and glided back down toward the battle. He saw Michael as a muted yellow speck on his left and Flasch as a violet dot on his right, barely discernible in the muted light of Sin overhead. They had been successfully launched and were turning in their descents as well. A handful of airborne paladins had seen the Shadow Company officers aloft and were angling closer to protect them from flying demons and mutated souls.
“Brican,” Garnet thought forcefully, knowing Trebor’s cousin would have enough range to hear his thoughts even at this distance. “Relay to Trebor that all’s well. Make sure the company is ready at the gates in case we need an evac and have paladins on dakkans standing by,” he thought, reiterating his earlier orders.
“Yes, sir.” Brican’s mental voice sounded as though he was yelling from a long ways away.
Garnet looked down and saw the demon’s broad shoulders looming ever larger in his vision. The melted faces of a dozen damned souls looked up from their place of torment, and Garnet was repulsed to see that they still had some semblance of life in them. They screamed and writhed whatever parts of their bodies were not melded to the rest of the demonic mass.
His face grim, Garnet drew his sword and closed the distance to the monstrosity below him.
- 2 -
Marc hurried through the hallways of the Prism’s headquarters, the last scream of the Red paladin still echoing in his mind. If a demon had reached this far into the city, did that mean the Barrier had somehow fallen already? He pushed thoughts of concern for his friends from his mind, concentrating on the task at hand.
Silvery moonlight trickled into the hallway, slipping through the narrow windows like an assassin’s dagger into a victim’s bosom. Marc shuddered at the thought and found himself avoiding the blades of light whenever possible, and hurrying through them when there was no other option.
At last he reached the courtyard where the paladin had been slain, and only silence greeted him as he stepped out into the open air. Marc held up a hand to block the fading light of the torch as he half-ran over to the dismembered body.
He kicked the torch down into the hole and peered down, his sword at the ready, but there was nothing below but a smooth tunnel in the rock. The rock was rough around the top of the hole, with several claw marks that left little doubt in Marc’s mind what had erupted to kill the paladin. It was one of the drolkuls, the tunneling demons they’d faced when Gerard had been killed. Marc’s hand tightened on the hilt of his sword at the memory. Had it only been yesterday?
On the ground, he noticed what he couldn’t see from the window above. There was a thin trail of blood leading away from the Red paladin’s mangled corpse. With nothing else to go on, Marc followed the crimson path across the courtyard and into one of the other wings of the complex. Inside, he found half of the missing leg with most of the flesh chewed off. There was a spray of blood on the floor, but the trail of red fluid ended there.
Marc stepped over the grisly scene and continued down the corridor. He pictured a map of the complex in his head and realized he was headed toward the main hall of the Prismatic Council. Despite the hour, it was likely they were in session and discussing the progress of the war. At least, Marc hoped they were all together. They would stand a better chance that way, just in case there was more than one demon stalking the complex, which Marc had to assume there were.
Then he heard a scream from down the hallway and his hopes were cast aside as he broke into a run. Marc threw open the door to the meeting hall and forced down a heave from his stomach.
The floor was awash in a sea of blood, flowing over chunks of torn flesh strewn about the room. A crimson stream cascaded down from the main table where half a dozen bodies lay torn open, their inner organs exposed or ripped out. The stench nearly broke past Marc’s control of his stomach, and he tasted bile in his throat. It was only after the horror of the scene had embedded itself in his mind that he saw there were still paladins standing and fighting.
Seven paladins stood in a semi-circle against the far wall with a large group of demons around them, snarling and howling for mortal blood. There was a Blue paladin in their midst, and Marc noticed with shock that the Blue wasn’t attacking the demons, he was helping them!
Marc stood in the doorway, overcome with indecision and shock. He didn’t know whether to run for more help or rush in and do what he could himself. He didn’t have time to run back and call for Jorgins and the others, but maybe there was someone else nearby. Or maybe…
Another paladin fell screaming under the demons’ claws, then another to the sword of the Blue paladin. Then, casting aside his thoughts, Marc ran across the room as swiftly as he could without slipping or tripping. Without bothering to cry out, Marc cut savagely with his sword and sent two demons spinning to the ground. Marc had never been the best of swordsmen, but his desperation gave him a skill he’d never before possessed.
He killed five demons before the rest became aware of the threat behind them, and when some of them turned to deal with him, the paladins within the deadly ring cut them down from behind. The traitor Blue paladin saw Marc closing on him and his eyes widened, then he turned and ran away.
“Chase him, brother!” one of the beset paladins called. “We can deal with these others now!”
Marc cut down one more demon, then nodded and took off in pursuit of the Blue.
- 3 -
Alicia paced the room nervously, stopping every few minutes to practice a few swings with the sword she had borrowed from Maki. She had never been more grateful for the sword lessons Danner had given her, limited though they’d been. The vague feeling of competence she felt gave her a cushion of security to fall back on whenever her anxiety got the better of her.
This time she was not helpless. This time, she could defend herself… she would defend herself.
Her brother was out there somewhere, creeping about the compound with who knew
how many… somethings. Whatever it was out there, and however many there were, they had killed a paladin with apparent ease. Ripped him apart, in fact. Alicia shivered, then practiced a few more lunges to steady herself.
Something scratched at the door, and she whirled about in alarm. Jorgins and the others were already on their feet and moving to stand protectively in front of her. They heard a muffled sniffing noise, like some animal testing the air, and the scratching changed to a knock, and then a steady pounding. Something snarled in a vicious language on the far side of the door, and the sword shook in Alicia’s hand. Then the wood blew apart and a nightmare entered the room.
Four arms and a demonic maw were all she saw at first, and they were more than enough for her. As the demon glanced about the room, the paladin trainees rushed forward, crying out in their boyish voices, “For God!”
- 4 -
Danner awoke with a dull ache in his shoulder and a feeling of dread in his heart. He’d been dreaming that Alicia was in danger and crying out to him in terror, but he was unable to reach her or help her in any way. As he raised himself to a sitting position, Danner withheld a shudder.
“Careful, Danner,” a voice said, and Danner turned to see Jon de’Serrika crouched at his side. “You’ve had a nasty shock there.”
“What happened, Jon?” he asked.
“You were shot with a crossbow bolt marked with the Cthonis,” Jon said, pointing to a bolt laying half-wrapped in a cloth on the ground. “That’s the unholy symbol, antithesis to the Tricrus, if you didn’t yet learn that from your training. Don’t touch it,” he warned as Danner reached for the weapon. “It burns everybody but your uncle, and who knows what it would feel like to you.”
“Is my uncle safe?” Danner asked in concern.
The Devil's Deuce (The Barrier War) Page 51