Immortal Swordslinger 3

by Dante King

  The other guard had panicked when he found himself sinking in the mud. The more he flailed around, the more trapped he became. I stalked around the entrapment to get close to him. Seeing me coming, he reached behind him with the one hand that was clear of the mud. He drew a knife and pulled it back, ready to throw at me, but I was quicker on the draw. I blasted him in the face with a small Untamed Torch that only used a little Vigor, and he slumped fully into the ooze, mud coating the blackened and smoking remains of his head.

  The Pathless advanced slowly but steadily up the street, their war drums beating. At their head was Ganyir, clearing the way for his followers. Each time a fresh wave of guards came, he stooped and punched the street with his gauntleted fist, launching a Ground Strike. The earth rippled in front of him, and a wave of power shot forth, knocking the enemies over and crushing some against the walls of nearby buildings. Afterward, the Pathless advanced, finishing off the most vulnerable enemies and forcing the others to retreat.

  To my other side, the fighting was more chaotic and even more destructive. My companions and the initiates each fought with their own distinct style, sometimes individually and sometimes in groups. They tackled bands of guards who came running from the walls and others that tried to outflank us through side streets. Magic flew, and weapons flashed.

  Through it all, Tahlis kept appearing and disappearing amid Sandstorms. He popped out of the ground in a cloud of sand, stabbed and sliced at enemies with his spear, then vanished before they could retaliate, only to reappear in a different part of the battlefield. Enemy guards looked around for him with growing terror, opening themselves up to other attacks. So far, the battle was going our way.

  Following the lead set by Ganyir and the golem, we advanced down the main street from the gate to the square in the heart of the city. We didn’t wait to finish off the guards that came at us from the sides or behind, just fended them off and kept advancing. As Ganyir had said, we needed to focus on chopping the head off this brutal beast.

  At last, we reached the square. Here, we could spread out and make the most of our individual skills. But the space would also make it easier for Saruqin to bring his numbers to bear. We had to keep pressing on before he could rally and outnumber us. There was a patch of dried earth about a hundred yards across that connected the square to the temple steps. It would prove useful if I needed to use Hidden Burrow.

  As we reached the center of the square, there was a crash. All around us, doors burst open and soldiers streamed out, dressed in full clan regalia, weapons in their hands. The guards stepped back and disengaged from fighting with us, looks of relief on their faces.

  I turned to face the approaching ambush. These were the sorts of numbers we had feared, coming at us from every direction. More than that, they were disciplined in a way the guards weren’t. They gathered around us in strictly regimented formation, imposing lines of warriors in polished armor and matching uniforms.

  A soldier in a plumed helmet shouted, and they came to a halt. They raised their weapons.

  I braced myself, ready for the attack.

  The leader shouted again. The soldiers clicked their feet together and then, as one, they sank to their knees and held their weapons out in front of them.

  “My Lord Ganyir,” the officer said, his plume drooping past his bowed head, his warhammer held out in both hands. “We come to pledge our allegiance to you once more. When we learned that Mahrai had joined your side, we understood that Saruqin was not all-powerful. Still, we failed you and now, we stand ready to receive whatever punishment you see fit. But first, let us help you make this right.”

  Around the square, the expressions on the faces of Saruqin’s guards turned from triumph to dismay. They backed away, weapons clutched tight, conceding the square to us.

  Ganyir laid a hand on the head of the leading soldier. “You need fear no punishment, Rendar. You did what you thought was right for the city, for the province, and for their people. Yes, you made a mistake, but as you say, you now have a chance to put that right.”

  Ganyir stepped back, and Rendar rose to his feet. The others followed his lead, standing up and readying their weapons.

  “Today is a glorious day,” Ganyir bellowed so that they could all hear. “Today, we take back our destinies from those who would corrupt them. We cleanse our city of the ungodly heathens who have populated it for so long. In their place, we restore the Wandering Path. We accept that life is not easy, that we must sometimes accept hardship and delays, but that the result is a kinder, better world. One in which we help each other up, lift our land up, and rise together to a brighter future.

  “For Gonki!”

  “For Gonki!” the soldiers cried out and slammed their fists against their chests.

  While Ganyir was speaking, I had worked my way around the outside of the crowd. I now stood in front of the palace, looking up the steps to its imposing iron gates and towering central building. Unlike the city’s other stone buildings, it wasn’t built from local rock. Instead, it had been made from slabs of marble, imported at the height of Gonki’s grandeur. Patterns of dark and light stone spiraled up its sides, smooth and mottled. Further up, wide windows and soaring balconies looked out across the world.

  There were no signs of enemy guards or the demons that had swarmed over the city the night before. In front of the palace, a barricade had been erected. It crossed the entire width of the square, a mass of carts, furniture, and even chunks of buildings. Though haphazardly heaped, it was still sturdy and high enough that it would prove an obstacle to our attack.

  I noticed movement beneath the barricade, and saw guards hiding behind an upturned cart, covered in the blood of their comrades. They must have been the final survivors of those who’d been stationed at the gates and the outer streets of the city. They watched me nervously, unsure whether I’d spotted them. They had retreated this far, but crossing the barricade would be too powerfully symbolic an act, or perhaps it would draw them to Saruqin’s attention, and so here they were making their stand.

  “You could surrender,” I said after I’d walked to the upturned cart. “Return to service under Lord Ganyir and to the Wandering Path.”

  “The Straight Path is the only path,” one snarled.

  “Death to Ganyir,” said another, hidden from view.

  “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  I charged at them, the Sundered Heart Sword in my hand. I jumped onto the cart and then propelled myself behind it. The first guard raised his mace to block my blow. As I came down, I sliced clean through the shaft of the weapon and into his body. As he dropped, another two moved around, trying to get at me from both sides. I focused my Vigor through my feet and jumped, slamming both boots down like I’d seen the earth Augmenters do. This time, a Ground Strike rippled from both my feet in the direction my toes were pointing, right at the two guards. I’d only used a little Vigor, so the technique wasn’t very stong, but it did enough to make them stumble.

  The one on my right was the first to steady himself, and he brought a curved, two-handed sword up in a smart parry as I swung the Sundered Heart. The weapons hit each other, producing a sonorous ring. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that the entirety of Ganyir’s army was watching me deal with the final city guardsmen. The soldier in front of me snarled, and I quickly dispatched him with a swift stab.

  The last of the guards charged at me, screaming his defiance. I spun around, activated a Flame Shield the size of a buckler over my left hand, and caught the blow. I stepped aside, and his momentum carried him past. I dragged my sword across his stomach, and his innards spilled out while his feet continued to carry him forward. The gruesome trail he left behind almost reached the gathered army.

  When I was done, the army stood watching me.

  “This is the Swordslinger,” Ganyir said. “He carries two spirit weapons and wields many elements. With him on our side, Saruqin and the Unswerving Shadows are destined to fall.”

  “They have d
emons, my lord,” Rendar said.

  “And we will send them back to the hells they came from,” Ganyir countered, far more confident than I’d ever seen him.

  A sound emerged from the palace. An unearthly shriek like a beast dying in the night. It came from one throat at first but then grew to dozens, even hundreds. Their chorus resounded from the windows of the palace and out across the city.

  The palace doors swung open with an almighty clang. A horde of demons swarmed out, their bodies black and red, covered in patches of fur and scales. Horns rose from their foreheads, and their eyes glowed with a terrible red light. Some held weapons, spiked and vicious things, tarnished and rusted from centuries of abuse. Others were bare-handed but far from defenseless, their claws long and sharp, their exposed teeth jagged. They came swarming down the palace steps.

  I stepped back toward the rest of the army. The demons kept coming, howling and screeching as they hit the barricade and flowed across it with wild leaps.

  “Hold your ground!” Ganyir bellowed. “Get ready!”

  The demons reached the foremost wing of our army, where some of the newly acquired soldiers stood. The hideous beasts charged straight at them, indifferent to their weapons. One ran onto a spear and kept moving, dragging itself down the shaft until it could reach the soldier and massacre his face with its talons. Another laughed maniacally as a sword sliced across its arm, then sprung onto its attacker and tore his throat open with its bare teeth.

  A wave of panic rippled through the soldiers. Some backed slowly away, trying to fend of the indestructible demons, while others turned and fled. The demons leaped onto the backs of the terrified soldiers and ripped them limb from limb.

  As suddenly as it had appeared, our new army began to collapse.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The demons ripped into the soldiers. Blood flew as they tore through the ranks, gouging flesh and tearing off limbs. Some attacked with their ancient and rust-encrusted weapons, but most attacked with a bare-handed ferocity, using claws and teeth to destroy living bodies.

  The soldiers tried to fight back. Maces, clubs, and spears swung through the air to batter at the demons. But while they could sometimes hold the beasts back, the soldiers could do them no real harm. Weapons bounced uselessly off the creatures’ hides. When they did penetrate, the wounds healed almost immediately, black blood crusting over, then vanishing from sight.

  If the soldiers couldn’t hurt the demons, then I had to find some way to get them clear. We needed a technique to force the enemies back or somehow move them away. And fortunately, the past week had given me the power I needed.

  “Steadfast Horn!” I shouted. “To me!”

  Drek, Elorinelle, and Onvar came running. They lined up beside me, facing the demons.

  “We gonna smash them?” Drek slapped his club against the palm of his hand.

  “Not like that,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over the savage shrieks. “We’re going to use Augmenting.”

  I quickly explained my plan, then joined the initiates in a line facing the horned throng. We each sank to one knee and raised a fist.

  “Ready?” I asked.

  “Ready,” the initiates replied.

  “Now!”

  We slammed our fists into the ground and unleashed our Vigor. Four Ground Strikes launched as one, an undulating wave that tore through the cobbles and paving stones of the market square. The ripple of earth power hit the lesser demons like a stone tsunami. Some were hurled into the air, flung against the walls of buildings or back across the barricade. A few were flattened when two Ground Strikes met in the middle. The rest were knocked from their feet and in a massed tangle of limbs.

  A few of the soldiers were caught in the magical attack and knocked back into their own ranks. The others helped them to their feet and pulled back, away from the recovering demons.

  Except that some of the demons weren’t recovering. They lay twitching and broken, limbs twisted at terrible angles, parts of their bodies crushed between Vigor-infused rocks.

  I fired a small Burning Wheel into their masses, and it tore through them. It didn’t do a lot of damage, but I’d only used a little Vigor, mostly to test my theory.

  Steel hadn’t hurt the demons, but apparently Augmenting could.

  I grinned and turned to my allies. “Augmenters, quick! Focus all your efforts on martial techniques.”

  Vesma and Kegohr ran over, hands raised and fire forming between them. As the first of the demons got back to their feet, my fellow fire Augmenters launched a pair of Untamed Torches. The blasts of flame blazed through the air and rippled through the demons. But when the spells were gone, the enemies were still standing, unburned and unbroken.

  “Is it only earth that works?” Vesma glared at the lack of destruction.

  “Maybe it’s about magnitude,” I said. “Try again, and I’ll give it an extra twist.”

  Vesma and Kegohr summoned the Untamed Torch again. As the fire flashed from their hands, I added Flame Empowerment, increasing the size and intensity of the blazes.

  This time, the demons shrieked as the flames hit them. Those caught directly by the flames melted and collapsed, the remains of their bodies dissolving as fire crept along them. Others backed away from the sight, hissing and snarling.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Kegohr said. “Let’s get these as hot as we can.”

  He summoned fire again, this time focusing it down into something more intense. I still wanted to save my Vigor for Saruqin and his cultists, so I put my efforts into Flame Empowerment since it didn’t consume as much resources to enhance someone else’s techniques.

  At the barricade, more demons were streaming over, howling and cackling like they’d just been freed from a mental asylum. Mahrai sent her golem out to meet them, and the stone giant waded into the sea of wild creatures, swinging its arms and stamping its feet. The stone colossus battered them and threw them back across the barricade, but none of the creatures seemed to be harmed by its attacks.

  Physical weapons might not be able to hurt the creatures, but I had a way of making my blows into something more. I drew both the Sundered Heart Sword and the Depthless Dream Trident. Wielding one weapon in each hand, I closed my eyes and let the power flow through me—fire into the sword and water into the trident. It only look a little Vigor to imbue the weapons with elemental energy, but it was all I’d need.

  When I opened my eyes, my arms were surrounded by circles of red and blue energy as the Vigor manifested around my body. Flames danced along the Sundered Heart, and ice crackled on the prongs of the Depthless Dream.

  While the initiates kept using Ground Strikes to counter one flank of the demon attack, I turned to face another. With magic flowing through both weapons and Yono and Nydarth cheering inside my mind, I leaped into the midst of the demons.

  As the first of the demons appeared in my path, I swung the Sundered Heart. The sword sliced through the creature’s neck, and its head went flying to land far away amid its foul brethren. The body remained upright for a long moment, then toppled and fell to the ground, oozing black blood.

  Two demons turned to face me, both carrying curved and rusted swords. When one of them swung, I caught the blow with my sword, and sparks flew. With a flick of the wrist, I knocked the demon’s blade aside, then stabbed it in the chest with the trident. It laughed as the prongs hit; then its eyes went wide as blood seeped from the wounds and ice spread out across its body.

  The second demon swung its weapon at me. I pivoted on the spot, used the trident to drag the wounded monster around, and put it in the way of the blow. The rusty sword buried itself in red flesh covered with patches of fur and scales. The fire died in the wounded demon’s eyes, and it fell to the ground, taking its comrade’s sword with it. I yanked the trident free, then stabbed the remaining demon with both weapons. Fire flashed across one side of its body and ice across the other before it collapsed in a charred and dampened mess.

  My success drew the
attention of the other demons. They charged at me from every direction as I strode deeper into their midst, lashing out to right and left with my weapons. Bodies dropped as the monsters, which a moment ago had thought themselves immune, were shocked to discover that human weapons could work on them—if they were the right human weapons. I considered using an Acid Cloud but refrained; an area of effect skill like that would require far too much Vigor.

  A demon landed on my back, wrapped its legs about my waist, and dug into my shoulders with its barbed claws. I thrust the Sundered Heart over my right shoulder, trying to stab it in the head. It swung left, so I jabbed over that shoulder with the trident and got lucky. Ice-cold steel sank into demon flesh, the pressure around my waist vanished, and it fell to the ground.

  Pain flared in my shoulder where the demon had dug in. If I was going to be able to fight the cultists, I couldn’t be walking around with a massive gash. The sun was high in the sky, and I used its energy to power sap magic. A patch of Sunlight Ichor appeared, a healing amber balm that settled on my skin and soaked up the sunshine, turning it into healing power. The pain began to ease, and with it the red marks on my flesh.

  That had been too close. If the demon had been armed, I could have ended up with a sword thrust through my shoulder. I was using too much Vigor already, but I needed better protection if I was going to keep wading into these horrors.

  I dug deeper into my reserves and called forth Frozen Armor. Water seeped out through my flesh and across my skin, where it crackled and froze into place, forming armor plates all across my body, from jointed feet to sturdy pauldrons on my shoulders. Aside from my head, I was completely encased in armor so perfectly fitting that movements were as smooth as they had ever been.

  Another demon lunged at me, grabbed my arm, and bit down hard. Teeth shattered against the armor, and the creature shrieked with fury. I sliced its head off with a clean blow from my flaming sword.