by A. C. Cobble
He could hear the clatter of armor as men arrested their flight and started to form up behind them.
The demon bellowed a deep cry, which shook Ben’s bones, and then started forward. He could feel the heavy steps through the stone street.
Rhys charged ahead, running straight at the demon. Ben cringed. The creature had to be three times as tall and five times as wide as a man.
Ben groaned and followed Rhys, unwilling to let his friend do this alone.
The beast rose to its full height, roaring at the men filling the street in front of it. Rhys kept going, heading directly beneath the creature and scampering between its legs. Ben hoped the chaos around them was as distracting to the demons as it was to him.
The demon leaned down to catch them, but they were faster.
Rhys veered to the right, so Ben lurched left. Both of them swung hard with their mage-wrought blades and cut deeply into the demon’s legs. Ben felt his weapon connect with the tough tendon at the back of the leg. He yanked violently to clear the blade.
With a satisfying twang, the tendon snapped. Above him, the creature howled in shock and pain. Slow, like a tree falling in the forest, it toppled forward.
In the rapidly closing space between its legs, Ben could see the soldiers. They were scrambling backward so the giant wouldn’t fall on them.
Wasting no time, Rhys spun and leapt onto its back. The demon rolled on the ground, trying to dislodge the man, but he was too quick. He flung himself up toward its neck and, with both hands, raised his longsword above his head. The silver glyphs sparkled along the length of his blade. He plunged it deep into the beast’s neck, shoving the sharp steel until the hilt met flesh.
A muffled squeal crept from the creature, hampered by the sword sticking through its neck. On the other side of it, Ben could hear the frantic cheers of the soldiers.
Ben smiled, amazed at his friend’s bravery and skill.
The moment was over quickly when Rhys drew his longsword from the demon. He looked to Ben. Grim-faced, the rogue pointed over Ben’s shoulder.
A chill tingled down Ben’s spine.
He turned to see a swarm of upward of forty demons starting toward him. They had been prepared to follow the large one when it cleared the breach in the wall. Now that its body was blocking the narrow street behind him, Ben was the only human in the street.
He set his feet and brought up his sword. Calm washed over him. The waiting, the mad rush along the wall, the unseen demons swooping in from the night…that was over. Now the threat was clear, the solution obvious. Kill as many demons as he could. If he didn’t kill enough, he would be dead. That didn’t matter. There was only one path to take.
The demons arrived in a tangled wave of teeth and claws. If they worked together, there would be no way for Ben to defend against them, but they didn’t work together. Pushing and shoving, they struggled to get to their target.
He sidestepped the first claw, which slashed toward his head. He neatly severed the arm. A second demon, clambering over the back of the injured first one, caught the point of Ben’s blade in its right eye. A third lost its head when he yanked his sword free and continued the motion, swiping through muscle and bone.
The sound of a powerful wind grew in the back of Ben’s head but he ignored it, focused on the howls and bellowed challenges in front of him.
He danced around the first three demons, using their bodies to keep the bulk of the attack away from him.
Dropping to one knee, he eviscerated another that drew too close and felt a painful tug and tear on his left shoulder as one clawed hand got to him.
Hot blood spilled down his arm. The demon paid for it when Ben spun, pulled by the momentum of the claw on his shoulder, and slammed his longsword deep into the demon’s chest.
He turned with his blade still in the demon’s body, attempting to use it as a shield to block another pack before they swarmed over him. The creatures surged into the back of the dead demon.
The force knocked Ben back to the ground. He barely kept a hand on his weapon, pulling it free and rolling to his feet in one motion.
Spinning, he slashed in a circle around him, separating hands and clawed fingers from their owners. The spin took just a heartbeat, but he knew the end of the fight was near. He was surrounded by the creatures. There was no way he could defend all sides.
Suddenly, Rhys dropped from above, jumping off the body of the huge demon he’d killed, to land at Ben’s side. Grinning maniacally, the rogue lashed out with a blazingly fast attack, cutting and hacking a clear space in front of him.
Ben tried to mirror his friend’s movements. He stood back-to-back with Rhys. They were surrounded by a growing number of snarling demons. More and more of the creatures turned down the street as they poured in from the busted city gates.
“Keep them back!” shouted Rhys between heavy breaths. “If they get close enough to foul your blade, we’re done.”
Ben didn’t have the concentration or breath to spare a response. He was furiously slashing through meat and bone. His mage-wrought sword cut better than any traditionally forged steel, but the effort was draining. The gnashing teeth just beyond his reach pressed closer and closer. The demons coming in now were pushing the ones in front of them, ambivalent to the fact they were shoving their fellows into the path of Ben’s razor sharp blade.
Demons were pushed into his reach, and he killed them, but he couldn’t reach the live ones that were doing the pushing. They were getting closer, a flailing, purple blood soaked pile of teeth, claws, and hunger.
He had to push them back.
Without thinking, he acted on instinct. He pulled back his left hand and swept it in front of him, like he was swatting a fly out of the air.
An enormously powerful wind gusted forward, blasting the demons in front of him and blowing them down the street. Tumbling demons scattered in front of him like leaves in a storm.
Ben stumbled forward into the suddenly clear area, and Rhys fell back, barely keeping his feet without Ben’s support behind him. Rhys spared a quick, startled look over his shoulder. His eyes fell down to Ben’s mage-wrought sword. Then he turned to face the creatures in front of him. None of them had been blown away.
Spinning, Ben took his friend’s side. The two of them furiously defended against the surging tide of demons.
There was no thought of defeating the howling mass attacking them. It was only defense and survival.
Behind them, howls of rage alerted Ben that the creatures blown away by the wind were coming back. Within heartbeats, they’d be on him.
Distracted by the threat behind him, Ben shoved his sword into the stomach of a squat, thickly muscled attacker and was pulled to his knees when it twisted, falling to the ground. The demon’s heavy body lay on the hilt of his sword. He couldn’t get an angle to pull it free.
His left hand dropped to the hunting knife Serrot had given him. After all of this time, it was still hanging off his belt. Ben knew the knife wasn’t sufficient for this task.
A thin winged demon appeared over the back of the dead one Ben’s sword was trapped in. Ben glanced to Rhys, but the man was being pushed back, swinging frantically to keep three of them away from him.
With a determined scowl, Ben drew his knife. He may fall, but he wouldn’t make it easy for them.
Then an arrow bloomed in the head of the demon and two more sprouted right behind it.
Flight after flight of arrows rained down on the swarm of demons. They flinched back momentarily, giving Ben time to kick at the demon body in front of him, turning it enough he could pull his sword free.
A battle cry broke out. Ben saw the soldiers who had been blocked by the huge demon crawling over it. They were jumping down into the street to join the fight. Pushing past Ben and Rhys, they charged forward with a wall of polearms and spears leading the way. Stabbing and pinning demons, the next wave rushed in with swords and axes.
Above them, arrow after arrow continued to fall in
to the flailing swarm.
Ben looked up and saw Corinne’s brilliant red hair framed in the light of fires that were now burning throughout the city.
She had a team of archers with her. She met Ben’s eyes before waving to her crew and directing them to move down to another rooftop and rain death on another swarm of demons. The soldiers were mopping up what was left of this one.
Panting, Ben turned to Rhys, who was gingerly touching a bloody gash across his stomach.
“You okay?” asked Ben.
“I’ll live,” grumbled Rhys. He looked at Ben’s injured shoulder. “You?”
Ben glanced down at his blood-covered left arm. Seeing it, he felt the sharp sting of pain. He clenched his teeth. “I’ll live.”
“Good,” replied his friend. “We’re not done yet.”
The captain of the men in the street was shouting orders and organizing his company. They had cleared the street and were falling back to behind the huge, dead demon. Men were instructed to collapse materials that had been left for that purpose to re-block the wall. Two squads were holding the street with a bristling wall of weaponry. As demons peeled off the main thoroughfare and came their way, men pounced on them, pinning them with polearms then finishing them with swords.
Seeing the effectiveness of the organization, Ben’s heart rose. Maybe they would make it through this.
Rhys though, was visibly growing worried.
“They’re being driven,” he growled.
“What do you mean?” asked Ben
“Look. Hardly any of the demons are coming this way,” said the rogue. “Something is directing them elsewhere.”
Ben frowned. Rhys was right. Two blocks down the street, they could see a constant stream of demons pouring in through the gates. Some of the demons turned toward them, but the majority kept going straight. In his experience, a normal demon wasn’t strategic enough to focus on another objective when a source of life-blood was near it.
“Where are they going?” wondered Ben.
“Let’s find out,” answered Rhys. Setting off at a limping run, he turned to the back streets and deeper into the city.
Ben followed, his longsword bobbing in front of him. He hefted the blade and thought about that powerful wind which saved his life.
Dodging through the nearly empty cobblestone streets of Northport, Ben and Rhys made their way toward the center of the city.
The people they saw were mostly women and children. The occasional man scurried by also, drawing a disparaging glare from Rhys. Those people were trying to figure a way out. Ben didn’t know if there was one, but uniformly, they were heading away from the main gates. Maybe the city wasn’t surrounded and they could escape out the back. Seeing some of the frightened children clutching their mother’s hands with tears pouring down their faces, he hoped they did find their way to safety.
Travelling roughly parallel to the main thoroughfare, they hoped to get ahead of the massive swarm of demons that had breached the gates.
They could track the progress of the swarm by the sounds of battle. It was becoming clearer each block. The demons were headed toward the keep. Ben knew there were barriers, traps, and diversions set up along the way, but with the speed the demons were moving, he didn’t think they’d be slowed long.
Huffing and puffing after his limping friend, Ben called, “What’s the plan? Get to the square in front of the keep and make a stand?”
“The two of us against a thousand demons?” responded Rhys. One bloodstained hand was holding the wound on his stomach, the other was carrying his longsword. “That’s a death sentence, for sure. I, at least, am not ready to die.”
“What do you think we should do? Run?” challenged Ben.
“I’m not ready to give up yet, either,” replied Rhys. “It’s your call. I was serious about it when I said I was ready to follow you, but if you want my advice, we get ahead of these things and see where they are going. Maybe we’ll see an opportunity that doesn’t involve getting eaten.”
Ben nodded and kept jogging. His shoulder was throbbing now, each step sending a jolt of fresh pain down his arm and into his body. He wasn’t used to the deference from Rhys, and he wasn’t entirely convinced the rogue meant what he said, but for now, his friend was right. They could get ahead of the swarm and see what their objective was. The two of them standing in front of an unstoppable army of darkness didn’t have any appeal, but maybe there was something they could do.
The sounds of fighting faded behind them. They’d gotten ahead of the creatures but not by a lot. Cutting over from the back streets to the main ones, they made quick time and before long came into the open square.
Ragged companies of men were arrayed in formations, prepared for the advancing demon horde. They were arrayed around a solid core of serious looking hunters. Those men and women had faced demons and knew what it meant that thousands were currently headed their way.
Rhys looked them over and declared, “Mostly stragglers and the injured. It looks like they’re pulling men from the back walls too. They’ll be fresh at least. The generals must have adjusted the plans and are funneling the demons into the square. I’m not sure they realize that is what the demons want.”
“Should we say something?” asked Ben.
Rhys shook his head. “Rhymer knows he has to make a stand. If they fight street by street, the people are going to get slaughtered. The demons got inside too quickly.”
Ben grimaced. The men standing in front of them didn’t seem sufficient to stop what he saw coming through the gates.
As they approached, a tall man draped in light chainmail and carrying a heavy broad sword walked toward them. It was Franklin.
“She’s back there,” the seneschal said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder.
“Who?” asked Rhys.
“Lady Towaal,” responded Franklin. “Didn’t you come to help her?”
“Why not?” Rhys shrugged.
The seneschal looked over the two of them, eyeing their injuries. “Looks like you got some action.”
“We were near the gate,” replied Ben. “We saw your daughter.”
The man’s face paled. “Corinne was supposed to stay here with me.”
“She was well when we saw her,” assured Ben. “She was on the rooftops and had a squad of men with her. She’s going to have a lot of new notches to make in that bow of hers.”
Franklin nodded proudly. “Good. Now, you better get to Lady Towaal and see what she wants. She took a company of my men and won’t tell me a damn thing. Hopefully she’s got a plan. I’ve got preparations to do here. We lost contact with both of our generals.”
The man stomped off toward the arrayed soldiers, muttering under his breath.
Ben and Rhys rushed toward the library to find Lady Towaal standing imperiously in front of it. She was surrounded by a company of heavily armed soldiers. The men looked fresh and ready.
Without saying anything, Rhys raised an eyebrow when they approached.
“Good. You’re here,” she stated.
“Do you have a plan?” asked the rogue.
“Of a sort,” replied Towaal sharply. “I believe the demons will come here.” She gestured back to the library. “When they do, we shall try to stop them.”
“How will we do that?” challenged Rhys. “From what we saw at the gate, there are well over a thousand of them in the city, maybe two thousand.”
Ben saw the blood drain from the faces of several soldiers near them. The men turned to their companions and started whispering furiously. Their captain quickly tamped it down. He instructed them to focus ahead then turned to glare at Rhys and Towaal.
“With this,” answered the mage. She drew a polished wooden rod her behind her belt. It was covered in tiny, intricate carvings and was the length of three hands. “It is a repository that contains a rather large amount of power.”
“You’ve had this the entire time?” griped Rhys.
“No,” answered Towaal, shaki
ng her head. “I found it in the library. There was a cache of rather unique items and documents. That is why I believe the demons are coming here. They have no thought of human strategic warfare. They couldn’t care less about taking the keep itself. To them, the valuable thing about Northport is the life-blood in our bodies, but if the documents are correct, they will also want what is inside of here.”
“What is inside there?” asked Ben, looking at the non-descript building.
“The answer to the Rift and the organization meant to police it. The Purple,” answered Towaal. “That group has been around a long time, and I believe we will soon find they aren’t quite as dead as we thought. I’m counting on it, actually.”
The guards were shifting nervously. Screams, demonic howls, and the sounds of combat were drawing closer.
Ben looked to where the street emptied into the square. Nothing was there yet.
“And…” prodded Rhys. “We don’t have much time.”
“The Rift was a door to another realm, as we suspected, but more importantly, that door has two keys.” Towaal paused briefly. “One of the keys was here in the library, and one is stored somewhere in the Coalition city of Irrefort. With the keys, enough knowledge about how the doorway between the realms works, and with sufficient will, another Rift could be opened.”
Ben frowned in confusion.
“Seeing the observation room in the Wilds got me thinking,” said Towaal. “What if, instead of watching the Rift, they were watching the demons? Studying them, learning from them? The documents I found in the library support that. In fact, it seems they were focusing on one particular demon, a demon so powerful they abandoned their outpost in the Wilds and retreated to Northport. They were worried this supreme arch-demon was beginning to sense the rift key.”
“What are you saying?” growled Rhys. He was nervously holding his longsword and kept his focus on the street where any minute a horde of demons could appear.
Towaal answered, “There is a demon coming down that street that can sense the rift key. It may have the knowledge and the power to utilize it and open another Rift, a Rift uncontrolled by man but by demon.”
