by James Wisher
Jen enhanced her sight. “It’s the eastern army. Heaven’s mercy. If they didn’t bring extra sorcerers with them it’ll be a slaughter.”
“They did,” Kat said.
Jen cranked her neck up. Flying above the army were fifty sorcerers led by the archmage herself. Some of the tension drained out of Jen. Maybe they’d live through this after all.
Chapter 35
For a moment Lidia stared at the huge demons circling the fortress, at a loss for words. She’d fought demons before of course, but never so many powerful ones all at once. She was starting to wish she’d brought every sorcerer in the kingdom and damn the consequences. Even with fifty of them it would be a close fight. She conjured a viewing construct to get a better look at the blue things surrounding the fortress. Lidia had never seen anything like them.
They were certainly demonic, she could sense their corruption from here, but they were also inorganic, some sort of animated crystal. Where in the world had Connor found such things?
“What are those?” Zahara had flown up beside Lidia and was looking through her construct.
“I have no idea. I’ve never seen anything even remotely similar. Best warn the warlords not to bother with edged weapons. I can’t imagine hitting one of those things would do a sword blade any good.”
“Right. Can we beat them?”
“Of course we can.” Zahara gave her a doubting look. “We have no other choice. Talk to the general then join us. We have to attack before the demons decide to bring the fight to us.”
Zahara descended to talk to General Gauge. The grizzled warrior hadn’t been thrilled when Lidia told him the bulk of his forces needed to stay out of the fight, but when she explained the nature of the enemy, he’d deferred to her judgment and agreed to keep the regular fighters a safe distance from the pass and form a containing line. He promised not to let a single enemy get past.
While Lidia appreciated the sentiment, she doubted the whole army could stop even a handful of those crystal constructs. If they got past the warlords the rest of the army was doomed. And if Lidia and her sorcerers couldn’t stop the flying demons the warlords wouldn’t stand a chance.
“All right everyone, it’s time to show what we’re made of. Fight smart and watch each other’s backs. Let’s get them.”
“What do you want me to do?” John asked. “I’d only be a hindrance in a fight with demons.”
“Go to the fortress and make sure Jennifer and the others are okay. They may have need of your talents.”
John nodded. “Will do.”
Lidia strengthened her shield and flew toward the gathered demons. All around her she felt the others doing the same. How many of them would survive this? She feared the answer to that question was not many, but she couldn’t let it stop her. If they failed a lot more people would die, beginning with the eastern army.
The demons turned from the fortress and raced toward the sorcerers. It always amazed Lidia how ugly the things were. Only once in her career had she seen a beautiful demon and that one had been the toughest fight of her life.
She dove under a blast of hellfire and countered, burning a hole through the wing of a crocodile-looking brute nearly as wide as it was tall. It spiraled halfway to the ground before the wound healed and it flew into the fray once more. That was why Lidia hated demons: they attacked like sorcerers, but healed like warlords. It wasn’t fair.
An insect-headed demon grabbed a fair-haired young sorcerer in its taloned hands. Lidia fired a blast at its face, but her attack struck an invisible shield and fizzled.
The demon ripped the young woman’s head off and dropped to the ground. Lidia snarled and powered toward it. She’d kill this one herself, whatever it took.
The monster looked content to oblige her. Black wings lashed and it rushed toward her like an avalanche. Hellfire swirled around its outstretched talons.
Lidia conjured a gold dragon and sent it at the demon. If she could bind it maybe she could land a solid hit. The demon slashed its claws through the air and a wave of hellfire burned her construct to nothing. It flew through the flickering remnants of soul force and plunged toward her.
Lidia’s eagle dove and it passed over her, missing her head by a good foot. She spun in her chair and sent a blast at its back which was deflected by its shield. Another of her sorcerers’ soul forces vanished from the battlefield. That was the fourth one so far and she still sensed all the demons. They were losing and losing badly.
Her opponent made a long swooping run before turning back towards her. A gray-haired sorcerer sent a golden sword at it, but the demon obliterated it with a single swipe of its clawed hands.
Lidia gathered a ball of energy between her hands, compressing it for maximum damage, and hurled it toward the approaching demon. It tried to dodge. She adjusted the orb’s trajectory and struck the demon square in the chest.
The orb detonated and sent the demon tumbling. Her tight-lipped smile vanished when the smoke cleared, revealing the unharmed demon. Its soul force had diminished, but there wasn’t even a crack in its carapace.
A giant fist dropped down on its head, driving the demon towards the ground. Zahara flew up beside her. “How about we tag team this monster? I’ll hold it and you hit it with everything you’ve got.”
“Good plan.” Lidia compressed more power, draining half her core. If this didn’t kill it they were in worse trouble than she thought.
The golden fist opened and snatched the demon out of the air. One leg stuck out between the first and second fingers and its head poked out around the thumb. Zahara winced. “Hurry. I can’t hold it for long.”
Lidia hurled her compressed energy blast at the demon’s exposed head. It screamed through the sky and struck. With impeccable timing Zahara detonated her construct at the instant of impact. The combined attack sent shockwaves rippling through the battlefield, sending demons and sorcerers alike tumbling like leaves. The mixing of light and dark energy created mist like clouds that obscured the demon’s location.
“Did we get it?” Zahara asked.
“No.” Lidia couldn’t believe it, but the monster had survived. Its soul force was greatly diminished, but she still sensed it. “How much power do you have left?”
“A little over half. You?”
“Nowhere near as much as I’d like.”
A gust of wind dispersed the mist revealing the demon, its black armor cracked and one arm hanging limp by its side.
“Impressive—”
Lidia blasted it in the head. “Keep attacking. We can’t give it a chance to recover.”
Zahara sent whirling blades of soul force at it. The constructs hacked at the demon’s good arm. Lidia blasted it again and again. She didn’t use a great deal of power with any of them, just enough to keep the demon from concentrating on healing. They had to wear it down. The demon was too strong to take down with a single blow.
One of the lesser demons, an especially ugly brute that looked like it had possessed a warthog, slammed into Zahara and bore her off into the melee.
The insectoid demon conjured a dark sphere around its body. Lidia kept attacking, but to no effect, the barrier deflected every blast.
Desperate now, Lidia surrounded its barrier with a bubble of her own. If she could time it right.
The black sphere vanished and Lidia detonated her bubble. The demon flew out of the explosion, its black carapace gleaming and injured arm moving freely. Only its vastly weakened soul force gave Lidia a glimmer of hope.
The demon grabbed one of its allies that resembled a toad and rammed its claws into the creature. Soul force flowed from the toad demon into its captor. In less than a minute the toad demon vanished and the other had mostly restored its core.
“Shall we go again, mortal?”
Chapter 36
John flew around the edge of the battle, an invisibility screen the only thing between him and a quick death at the hands of the most horrible group of demons imaginable. The battle was
like something out of his worst nightmares. There were times in John’s life when he wished he was stronger, strong enough to take his place on the front lines of a great battle and hold his own. This was not one of those times.
A demon that resembled a winged ape grabbed a cute brunette by the arms and tore them off before crushing her skull in its massive jaws. He winced and looked away. From the little he’d seen it didn’t look good for his side. He should have more faith. The archmage and a high sorcerer were both out there fighting. Surely they could turn things around.
John paused when a dwarf demon with tentacles in place of arms flew a little close for comfort. It hovered ten feet from him and appeared to be sniffing the air. He held his breath and silently wished for it to move along.
A giant gold dragon snatched the demon out of the air and carried it off. John glanced around, trying to figure out who had come to his unknowing rescue, but couldn’t determine which sorcerer had conjured the dragon. Whoever it was he was grateful.
John waited another second just to be sure. When no other threats presented themselves he flew on towards the fortress. The skies around the fortress were clear of demons, but he didn't let down his invisibility just yet. He flew around peeking into the arrow slits. When he reached the third one he found Jen looking back out at him.
“Jen?” He let his invisibility fade.
“John? What are you doing here?” she asked.
“The archmage sent me to check on you guys. Is anyone hurt?”
“Amanda was knocked out and hasn't woken up yet, but the rest of us are fine.”
John looked all around. “How do I get in?”
A nice-looking blond moved over beside Jen. “The only way in is the main gate.”
John flew around to the front of the fortress. The main gate was surrounded by blue crystal monsters battling a force of warlords. He couldn’t get in that way.
He went back to the arrow slit. “There's a huge battle going on out front. They’ll kill me if I go that way.”
The blond shrugged. “It’s still the only way in.”
“What's happening out there?” Jen asked.
“The eastern army’s warlords are battling whatever those blue crystal things are.”
“How are we doing?”
“I didn’t look that close. What do you want me to do?” John asked.
Jen turned to the other woman. “We need to get out there and help. Will the wards hold if you’re not inside the fortress?”
“Of course,” Marie-Bell said. “They’ll reactivate as soon as I close the gate.”
“I can slip in when you guys go out. I’ll check on Amanda and make sure she’s okay. Where’s Kat?”
“I’m here,” a rough voice said from further up the hall. “Doesn’t look like our sorcerers are doing very well.”
“No. It didn’t look too good when I flew by.”
Kat blew out a sigh. “Guess I’d better go out and lend a hand. Amanda’s on the first floor, second right then a left.”
“Got it. Meet you guys out front. I’m sorry about Damien.”
“Thanks,” Jen said. “But I’m not giving up on him until someone shows me a body.”
John wrapped himself in invisibility and flew back to the front of the keep. The warlords pounded the crystal constructs with great enthusiasm and speed. The noise was horrendous and the damage negligible. There wasn’t a single broken statue in the yard. There were a handful of dead warlords littering the dirt.
John landed beside the door and a few seconds later it swung open. Kat flew out followed by Jen and the blond.
He brushed by Jen and whispered, “Good luck.”
He slipped through the door and it shut a moment later. The interior of the keep was dim so he conjured a small light globe. The main hall was stark in its lack of decoration. Not that John should have been surprised. An order of warrior priests naturally wouldn’t go in for ostentation.
He followed Kat’s direction to a bedroom that was also part armory. Amanda lay on the bed, her red hair spread over the pillow, not moving, barely even breathing.
John sat beside her on the edge of the bed and passed his hand over her. Physically she was fine, but her core was empty and the flow of her soul force was disrupted. It reminded him a bit of the time Damien used every drop of his power to blast that dragon. He felt certain she’d make a full recovery in time, but maybe he could hasten things along.
He nudged her streams of soul force so they ran into her core like they were supposed to. Her core began to fill a fraction at a time. A couple minutes later her eyelids twitched then opened.
Amanda groaned then noticed him. “I must be dreaming. Or dead. But if I’m dead then you must be dead too. You’re not dead, are you, sweetie-pie?”
“I am not your sweetie-pie.”
Amanda smiled. “I guess I’m not dreaming or dead after all.”
“No.”
“Too bad. If I was dreaming you’d be ripping my clothes off now.”
“You’re definitely not dreaming. But if things don’t improve soon we might all end up dead. Our side isn’t doing well.”
“What happened? How long was I out?”
“Kat didn’t say how long ago you fell unconscious.” John brought her up to date on their situation. “So there you go. Lots of demons everywhere and we’re trapped in here. All we can do now is hope for the best.”
“Let’s go to the arrow slit.” Amanda sat up. “The least we can do is cheer them on.”
“Sure, why not?” Not only was it the least they could do, it was all they could do.
Chapter 37
Lidia glared at the restored demon. It hovered in the air facing her, not even pretending it needed its massive bat wings to fly. While she expected neither honor nor fairness from a demon, Lidia didn’t know her enemy could simply drain one of its own kind like a vampire to regain its strength. That fact put a whole new twist on the current battle. Why were things always so complicated?
A pencil-thin beam of golden energy lanced out from thin air. The attack shattered on the demon’s shield. It didn’t even bother to move. Arrogant thing.
Streams of hellfire burst through the air all around Lidia. She flew at full speed, weaving and dodging, trying to stay alive. One of the blasts burned the eagle construct out from under her. She kept going without it. Flying on her own made her a smaller target anyway.
Lidia hurled a pair of disks made of compressed soul force at the demon. One struck low from behind and the other high in front. The attacks hit the demon’s shield, but instead of exploding they spun, grinding away at the shadowy shield.
She sent more power to the blades while avoiding unending streams of hellfire. If she could just cut through, there was enough power in those blades to at least crack its shell again. Even a single dent would give her a place to focus her attacks.
A wave of corrupt energy obliterated her disks and sent Lidia tumbling out of control. She sensed the attack a moment before it arrived and dropped like a stone. The demon’s claws swiped through the air where she’d been an instant before. The proximity of the creature sickened her for a moment then she was clear.
Lidia sped away, her opponent right on her heels. A wall of hellfire appeared in her path.
She pulled up, spun and sped straight at her pursuer. Darts of soul force streaked from her fingertips and bounced off its carapace. Its shield was down.
The demon shrieked and swiped at her as she flew by. Lidia ignored it and fired lances of compressed soul force. Without its shield she might get in a lucky shot.
All but one lance bounced off its shell. The last found a chink at its elbow and pierced through.
Lidia detonated the energy in the lance, blowing the demon’s right arm off at the elbow. It roared.
A pillar of hellfire fell toward Lidia. She darted away and strengthened her shield at the same time.
The skin of the arm and side closest to the flames blistered and blackened even th
rough the barrier. She clenched her jaw against the pain, then she was past.
Lidia spun, ready to resume the battle. A black talon shot out and grabbed her by the throat.
How had it closed the distance without her noticing? She shifted all her power to the shield around her neck.
“I’m going to pop your head off, witch.”
The shield weakened as the demon sent corrupt energy through its talons. This was it. Lidia hadn’t imagined dying in the grasp of a demon, but then who does?
Her shield cracked and shuddered.
A few seconds more. Lidia wished she had strength enough to counterattack, but if she drew even a drop of soul force from the shield she’d die in an instant.
A blade of dense soul force appeared out of nowhere and sliced the demon’s arm off at the wrist. The pressure on her throat vanished.
Lidia blasted the stunned demon with everything she could muster. It was nowhere near as much as she would have liked, but the demon’s black shell cracked in four places.
A powerful blast struck the cracked shell, blowing it open and exposing its gut sack. A stream of golden blades sliced into the creature’s innards. Its shriek almost deafened Lidia. She still had a little power left. Golden flames rushed from her outstretched hands and into the demon’s shell. Power surged into a stream of flames then more yet.
Flames burst from the demon’s eyes and mouth. They didn’t let up until it had been reduced to ash.
Strong hands grasped Lidia’s shoulders and a platform appeared under her feet. Just as well as she doubted her ability to remain in the air on her own.
“Apologies for the delay, Archmage,” Zahara said. “It took me a while to escape that thing that grabbed me.”
Kat joined them. “I got here as quick as I could. Are you okay, Archmage?”
“Thanks to you two.” Lidia winced when Zahara brushed her burns. “How fares the battle?”
They swung her around so she could take a look. Sorcerers and demons chased each other through the sky. Gold and black flames clashed. Lidia tried to count the survivors, but so much movement made it difficult. She decided thirteen demons and thirty-five sorcerers remained. Not especially good odds.
