Regent

by Brian Rathbone

  * * *

  Monsters approached. With a scream of primal fury, Chase charged to Martik's side. "Fall back!"

  "Help me!" Martik shouted as he cut at the massive sap- and tar-soaked ropes that bound the stair to anchors in the stone of the mountain itself.

  "There's no time!" Chase shouted. Grabbing Martik by the shoulder, he pulled the engineer back away from the approaching hoard. What rushed toward them went beyond the natural order and had been somehow perverted, twisted, and manipulated. Slavering beasts climbed with no concern for their own safety, as if all sense of self-preservation had been stripped from them. Chase could see it in their eyes: no fear, only hatred and death. This was not an enemy that could be reasoned with. It was a river of gibbering madness intent on their destruction.

  Morif and a handful of guards stood before the onslaught, about to be engulfed.

  "Retreat!" Chase shouted, but either none heard or none obeyed.

  Beneath a shield made of bound tree trunks came the giants, and the demons crowded around them, protecting the giants with their lives, throwing themselves in front of any attack intended to bring down the lumbering monstrosities. Still, some attacks pierced the defenses. One giant opened its mouth to issue a gargling bellow, revealing its haphazardly arranged teeth stained brown and furrowed by deep ridges. The giant next to it responded by shrugging off the tree shield, sending it crashing down the rock face, where it struck the lower stair, crushing dozens of demons and cutting off the rest of those waiting in the valley below.

  This seemed a small victory as the giants slowly picked up speed, roaring as they came, striking fear into all who heard their terrifying calls. Chase watched in horror as Morif charged to meet them, somehow fighting through the attacks of encroaching demons as though they were nothing, though Chase knew some of those attacks had landed squarely. The old veteran somehow kept his legs under himself. One giant raised its boulderlike fist into the air and sent it crashing down toward Morif's head. With more speed than Chase knew he possessed, Morif leaped aside and narrowly avoided a blow that severed massive timbers and sent splinters of wood into the air.

  Men gathered behind Chase, waiting for his command, but his mind went blank. All the years he'd trained could not have prepared him for anything like this. Only the claws of a swooping dragon drove him back to action. After diving out of the winged monster's path, Chase made up his mind: he would not let Morif and his men die alone. "Ready your weapons! Form up in ranks!"

  Those around him moved without question. Martik leaped at the command too, though Chase could practically hear the wheels turning in the engineer's head. He now realized the flaw in his failsafe release mechanism: in order to be strong enough to hold the stair, he had made it too difficult to release. His mighty trigger more resembled a lock.

  "To Morif!" Chase shouted, and those at his back raised a chilling cry that split the air.

  Even the giants took notice as the small fighting force poured onto the now swaying stair. A strangled scream rang out, and Chase watched one of his men tumble over the railing. Another went down under a dark blade, but the demons took losses as well, and with those below forced to climb the sheer rock face, it seemed the battle might be one they could win. That was until Chase looked back up to the ridgeline, where hundreds more demons poured over the crest, half running, half falling toward them. Giant claws snatched the man closest to Chase, and before anyone could do anything, the beast tucked its wings and veered away. Before it moved out of Chase's vision, he saw the dragon turn and close its jaws on the flailing guard.

  The dark tide washed over them, and Chase knew that he and Morif had both made a mistake. There was no way they could win this battle, and the loss of them would only weaken those within the hold. He could almost hear Catrin scolding him for letting his battle lust overwhelm his good sense. A cold feeling of guilt washed over him and filled him with the greatest need. Catrin was counting on him, and he couldn't let her down. Since the death of their mothers, that had been his role, and beyond anything else, that drove him to remain alive.

  As he struck one demon down, another climbed atop the first and leaped directly into Chase's chest, driving him backward into the railing, which struck him in the low back. Pinned between the rough bark and the leathery skin of the demon, Chase struggled with every bit of energy he possessed. The cords in his neck stood taught, and sweat blinded him, leaving only a reddish haze, but the bright flashes made him avert his eyes. The demon was suddenly ripped from atop him, and Chase wiped a torn sleeve over his eyes to clear his vision. On the stair stood Prios, alternating between casting lightning into those that assaulted Morif and the few guards still surrounding him and using fire to incinerate the demons advancing on Chase and his dwindling force. For a brief instant, the distance between them was clear, and Chase let out a hoarse battle cry.

  Morif, covered in blood, returned the cry, and the two groups became one, slowly fighting their way back into the hold. All thoughts of victory had long since fled, and those left alive now concentrated on staying that way. As the last guard, a woman who had fought as valiantly as any of the men around her, got her boots on solid stone, Prios unleashed his fury on the ropes that Martik had failed to cut. For a time the ropes continued to hold. Demons and a single giant forced their way inside Dragonhold. The stairs looked surreal as the landing moved away from the mountain, gaining momentum. Creaks and groans gave way to snaps and screams, and much of the wooden stairs crashed into the valley below.

  "Retreat to the God's Eye!" Chase cried out, his voice now high pitched and strained.

  "The way is blocked, sir."

  "Fall back to the forge!"

  "The forge is blocked as well, sir!"

  Nearly howling in frustration, Chase knew they were in trouble. The great hall was filled with refugees unprepared to defend themselves, and the guards who still lived were barely hanging on. Prios was their only hope, and as a mass of black bodies sought to surround the man who now looked as if his entire body were afire, Chase used the last of his strength to raise his sword and charge.