With one of their number down, Sir William cut his way through the melee in an effort to take the pressure off Valennia, Solas Aingeal seeming to be particularly effective against their opponents as it sliced through armour and flesh alike. With Aiden guarding his flank, the old knight dropped a cultist with a series of slashing strikes.
Aiden managed to get a close look at the men he was fighting, but all he could see was a metal mask of a helmet worn beneath the deep hood. The countenance of these masked assailants was terrifying enough, but it was the shape of the mask itself that paralysed Aiden in the middle of the fight, for he had seen it before in his nightmare of the Battle of Fort Highmarch. He didn’t know why, but these men were part of the same cult that had been involved in that very battle.
He cried out as he was stabbed in his arm during this moment of realisation, and he silently cursed himself for losing his focus in the middle of a fight. Staggering backwards, he struggled to keep his defences up as the cultists struck at him again and again, drawing blood each time. Aiden found himself standing relatively clear of the main skirmish and in direct line of sight to their leader, a towering figure holding a blackened scythe standing at the far end of the room
With his arms raised at Aiden, black lightning crackled out from his fingertips, striking his body and sapping his strength. The assault continued for several seconds, dropping Aiden to his knees and causing him to gasp in silent pain until a blast of icy shards engulfed the cult leader and his two closest brethren, breaking off the attack.
“Maggie, you’re a godsend,” he croaked as the raelani druid whispered a prayer to begin healing the worst of his injuries. The distinctive sound of crossbow bolts flying through the air was heard as Nellise, freed from trying to counter the cultist’s dark magic, sent bolt after bolt into their enemies, piercing the chest of the closest target and ending his life.
As Maggie worked, Aiden reached around to his scroll case and frantically pulled out what he had remaining. There were only two incantations left - one that would summon darkness, much like the cultists had used, and the other was a very complicated arrangement, involving some sort of rapid, limited travel that Aiden had only read about very briefly in his years of study. His headache was slowly clearing, and given the situation, he felt there was little to lose should it go awry.
His wounds had been staunched somewhat, and Aiden could feel his flesh slowly regenerating even as he crouched there. Whatever their leader had hit him with was devastating and he needed to be stopped before someone like Valennia or Sir William were hit by it, for without them their defence would surely fail.
Strength surged through Aiden, countering the effects of that strange black lightning and empowering him beyond his normal limits. Looking at Maggie with astonishment, she gave him a brief wink before hurrying back into the fight.
His confidence returning, Aiden unfurled the scroll and began to invoke the runes inscribed upon it. It took a supreme effort of concentration to read out the complex language, and he nearly mispronounced more than one rune.
When the parchment disintegrated in his hands, he had expected to feel different somehow, but there didn’t seem to be any noticeable effect. From what he had read of this sort of incantation, the caster had to exercise his will to achieve the desired result, so, raising his sword, he looked across the chamber to the raging battle and pictured himself stepping behind one of the preoccupied enemies.
Upon taking one step forward, Aiden felt a wave of energy pass over him, and suddenly he was exactly where he had pictured himself, standing right behind a robed warrior who was trying to break through Valennia’s defences. Aiden stabbed the preoccupied cultist with one swift strike from his sword that pierced between his armoured plates. It was enough of a distraction for Valennia to take advantage and bring her axe down upon his head, cleaving metal and bone and instantly ending his life in a spray of blood.
As the other cultists turned to deal with Aiden, he concentrated and instantly appeared on the other side of the closest enemy, slashing at his less-protected leg and drawing blood. A flash of movement out of the corner of his eye prompted Aiden to twist around in time to see a scythe descending toward him.
It cut through his leathers, but was somewhat deflected by the metal plates sewn underneath. Aiden stumbled to one side as the weapon was swung back and forth, keeping him purely on the defensive until a mithral axe flew through the air and lodged itself into the head of his assailant, cleaving straight through the metal of his helm.
Turning to see an assassin bearing down on her, Sayana gestured with one hand and the axe lifted out of the dead cultist and flew through the air, chopping the newcomer in the chest and shattering his ribs.
Sayana was suddenly struck by a wave of black lightning crackling around her body. She cried out in shock and fell to one knee as Aiden turned to fix his gaze upon the lead cultist. A heartbeat later he was standing beside the vile man, bringing his sword down in an overhead swing. It struck a barrier of spectral armour that prevented his blade from penetrating, but it provided enough of a distraction to break off the assault.
Aiden wasn’t alone in this fight, for enough of the cultists had been defeated for Sir William to break through, the old knight bearing several wounds but with enough strength to continue the fight. Aiden tried to slash at the leader again but his blade was simply unable to cut through his defences. The scythe flashed through the air in a predictable fashion, with Aiden as its target.
With a moment’s concentration he reappeared on the other side of the cultist leader, leaving his weapon to hit only the ground where Aiden had been standing but a heartbeat earlier. Aiden swung his blade as the towering cultist brought up his hand and with a gesture, threw him against the wall several yards away with sheer force of will.
Momentarily stunned, Aiden gasped from the pain echoing through his body and slumped against the floor. Sir William bellowed a challenge and rushed the final distance to the priest of death, Solas Aingeal bathing them both in a white light.
Their weapons clashed and as the old knight used all of his experience and cunning to assail the man. His holy weapon cut through the cultist’s defences with ease. The priest unleashed more of the black lightning against Sir William, surrounding him in darkness, but the light from his sword grew brighter.
He redoubled his attacks, putting the priest of death on the defensive for the first time in the battle, though Sir William’s face was bright red, and his breath came in short gasps from the effort.
Maggie, almost forgotten in the fight, darted across the floor towards Aiden. A large gash along her forehead indicated she had not been completely ignored during the battle, and once more she touched Aiden on the forearm and whispered a quick prayer.
“Ronan’s going to be okay,” she whispered, trying to catch her breath. “He’s still out cold but should be back on -”
Before she could finish, however, four more dark-robed figures burst onto the scene through the windows just above them. Aiden shook his head, trying to snap himself out of his dazed state but wasn’t quick enough to help Maggie. The nearest of these reinforcements slammed his weapon into her side and whirled the scythe around to sever her right arm at the shoulder.
She screamed in shock as the cultist raised one hand and launched her through the air in the same manner as their leader had done to Aiden, sending the wounded raelani druid crashing through a window and out of the building. Too enraged to be shocked by the small arm twitching on the ground before him, Aiden finally snapped out of his stupor and stabbed his blade into the foot of the assassin, plunging right through to the carpet beneath.
The cultist roared in pain and hesitated a moment before driving his scythe down towards Aiden’s body. Expecting the counterattack, Aiden imagined himself above the cultist and found himself almost directly above the man, just as his scythe stabbed into the carpet where Aiden had been sitting. As he fell, Aiden brought his sword down in a devastating stroke that cleaved th
rough armour and bone, dropping the assassin almost instantly.
While trying to regain his footing, Aiden heard a cry for aid from Sir William, who was now surrounded by three of their enemy’s reinforcements. The bodies of fallen royal guards surrounded them, having fallen to the surprise assault of the cultist’s. Recognising the danger posed by his holy blade, they moved quickly to eliminate him, cutting into him from all sides.
Aiden staggered over to assist by engaging the closest of the enemy, drawing his attention with a few timely strokes from his sword, but it wasn’t enough. The knight smashed his shield against one enemy and slashed his sword at another, unable to break free from the enclosing ring of steel.
It was a masterful defence that could have gone on for several minutes, but in the end, Sir William was let down by his aging body which simply couldn’t keep up. His shield arm buckled altogether under the assault of his opponents.
The knight’s reactions slowed until he finally fell to the ground. Aiden roared with rage, slashing away at his enemy in frustration as one by one his friends were struck down.
One of the assassins suddenly stiffened and dropped his weapon, then fell to the ground, revealing Pacian standing behind him with bloodied daggers. Two of the cultists slashed at him, only to find that Pacian had ducked out of the way with both men in close pursuit. A crossbow bolt struck one of them, quickly followed by another as Nellise sent another series of bolts through the air.
Across the room, Valennia faced off against three cultists by herself, blood flowing from wounds in her arms and legs. With her visor down, the Akoran warrior-maiden was a fearsome sight as she parried attacks from the combined force of her opponents, manoeuvring to take hits on her armour where possible and chopping and cutting away at anyone standing before her.
A glancing blow to her helmet seemed to rattle Valennia for a moment, and two of her opponents leaped on top of her, attempting to pin her down with sheer force of numbers. She staggered under the weight of the cultists for a long moment until, with a mighty surge of strength, Valennia threw both of them at the wall. The assassins crashed to the floor, but Valennia didn’t give them time to recover, hefting her axe and cutting them into pieces in a berserk rage.
Aiden had kept his nearest enemy preoccupied while Nellise had lined up a shot, sending one bolt straight into the back of the cultist, allowing Aiden to finish him off with a precise strike. Struggling to catch his breath, Aiden staggered over toward Sayana, who was still trying to regain her footing after the priest’s assault.
“Get yourself over to Criosa, you’re done here,” Aiden advised, wiping blood from his mouth and steeling himself to head back into the fray. Only four of their enemies remained standing, but that was more than enough to eliminate the terrified senators who watched the fight from behind the overturned table.
Aiden could spare no time worrying about the sorceress, for when he turned back to the battle, he saw the priest of death approaching him once more. Aiden pictured himself on the other side of the room, and took a step forward but found that he had not moved. The incantation was spent, and he closed his eyes as he waited for the terrible black lightning to crackle forth again.
Aiden heard the distinctive sound in the air around him, but he felt no pain. Instead, there was the sensation of a warm breeze washing over him, and opening his eyes he saw that he was bathed in a warm light. Behind him, Nellise had discarded her crossbow and held aloft her crystal and the symbol of Kylaris, the cleric veritably glowing as she looked upon the cultist with a strange mixture of emotions on her face.
The darkness and the light surged and crackled around them as they fought for supremacy, with Aiden standing amidst the tempest of energies, too scared to move. The light flickered briefly, and he heard a deep chuckle from the robed priest as Nellise struggled to maintain her aura.
“You have strayed far from the light,” she said to him in a voice tense with strain, but no longer afraid. “Feel God’s embrace burn away the darkness within and face the judgement of your long lost conscience.”
“I have embraced the one truth of the universe, little lamb,” the priest replied in a voice made hollow by his metal helmet. “I will show it to all of you before this night is through.” Looking at Nellise’s face, Aiden could see the doubt within. It was a test of pure faith, and the conflicted young cleric whispered her prayers fiercely, holding on to the words passing her lips as if they were life itself.
Across the room Pacian and Valennia fought the last of the other cultists, but Pace was clearly past the point of exhaustion and his reflexes were beginning to slow. He caught a glancing blow from the cultist’s weapon shaft and fell to the ground, slightly dazed.
Without pausing, the assassin brought his weapon up above his head in preparation for a killing strike. Aiden cried out in warning, hoping his friend could still move. Pacian responded not by moving aside, but by raising his fist and speaking the command word for his ring.
The ephemeral shape of a fist appeared in the air before him and struck the cultist point-blank, slamming him into the wall behind with such force that it cracked the stone. Blood ran from his broken body as he slumped lifelessly to the ground, leaving Pacian to catch his breath, sprawled upon the ruined carpet.
The battle between Nellise and the dark priest had been raging around Aiden this entire time, and the light from Nellise was slowly diminishing as the lightning began to reach closer and closer to them. Aiden was considering making a break for it when the battle ended abruptly as Valennia, having stunned her opponent with a crushing blow to the head, sent a throwing axe hurtling through the air at the priest of death, striking him soundly in the head with enough force to break through his spectral armour and end the assault.
Aiden, free at last, gathered up his courage and with a burst of adrenaline charged at the priest, catching him off guard and slamming his shoulder into the man. Both of them bore serious wounds from the fight, but neither was willing to concede defeat as Aiden focused all of his strength and wailed away at the priest like a man possessed.
As Aiden raised his force shield to block an incoming strike, it shattered into a hail of blue sparks when the scythe hit it and continued through to cut deeply into his arm, almost severing it in the process.
Staggering backward and trying not to pass out from the blinding pain, Aiden managed to keep his sword arm high as the cultist moved in, slashing back and forth with the weapon until it suddenly hit the shaft of Valennia’s great axe. The akoran warrior, covered in blood and limping, had retrieved her weapon and re-joined the fight.
Valennia and the guardsman scored several telling blows on the priest, who appeared to be about to topple over when he brought his scythe down upon Valennia in a devastating sweep, sundering the haft of her weapon and cleaving her breastplate. She dropped to the floor, bloodied and bruised.
In retaliation, the guardsman cut into the priests’ leg with a vicious attack, but left himself wide open in the process. The scythe plunged into his chest, cutting through armour and striking the poor man through the heart. The cultist kicked him off the end of his weapon, now covered in blood and staggered to one side, his wounded leg unable to support him.
“You’re finished,” Aiden croaked, noticing that Pacian had stabbed one of their enemies to death, leaving only one of the fanatical killers still fighting. “Drop your weapon and give up, and you will be granted leniency at your trial.”
The priest of death leaned on his scythe, barely moving for a long moment. Aiden figured he was considering the offer when he noticed that the man’s wounds, visible through the tears in his robe, were healing over. More than that, the slain cultists around him were beginning to stir, bringing back terrible memories of the crypts beneath the church. One of them, with several of Pacian’s knives sticking out of his body actually stood up.
“Oh no,” Aiden groaned with dread as more of the priests began to stir. The senators screamed in terror and started clambering towards the block
ed doorway in a panic. Valennia started frantically pulling herself away from the risen priests as they stood up, and Nellise gasped at the sight and then started pulling Sir William’s unconscious form back toward the table in the centre of the room. They could not hold off another assault from these strange men, alive or dead, and that left Aiden with one remaining tactic.
“Sy, you’ve got to do something,” he whispered.
“What exactly?” she breathed. “I can barely manage to invoke a torch at the moment.”
“Remember how you energized yourself at assassin’s hideout?” he prompted her, trying not to show fear at the growing number of enemies getting to their feet.
“If I knew how to do that, don’t you think I would have by now?” she hissed in exasperation.
“Don’t think about doing it, just do it,” Aiden implored her as the undead cultists awkwardly bent down as one to retrieve their weapons.
Sayana looked up at Aiden curiously, the tiredness and strain visible in her eyes. For a long moment nothing happened, and then the dim light around her began to darken. Just like she had back in the assassins’ hideout, she was pulling in energy from her surroundings, including Aiden.
He could have backed away, but if taking his energy was the only way to end this, then he gladly gave what he had. He clasped her hand tightly and allowed her to pull energy directly from him, until he fell to the floor, barely conscious. Sayana was able to stand now, the shimmering coming from the markings on her body growing brighter by the moment.
A strange smile appeared on her face, right before she pointed towards the small army of undead assassins and sent a massive ball of fire hurtling towards them. The detonation was like nothing else Aiden had ever felt and far greater than anything she had produced before.
In Defence of the Crown (The Aielund Saga Book 2) Page 36