The commander of the Black ran right up the foot and calf of the kneeling creature and leapt through the air. At the arc of his jump, he spun and slashed out, first with his short sword and then with his long sword in the same exact spot.
At the back of the giant’s thigh on the other leg.
The goliath howled and fell backward, its hamstring cut. It tumbled and tried to roll to its feet, crushing dozens of demons and a few of the Red in the process. Unable to do more than get to its knees, it swiped at everything around it, upsetting its balance once more. It tottered at the edge of the plateau and then went over, falling a thousand feet to the rocky terrain below.
As the creature tumbled, Achard turned a graceful flip in the air, landed on his feet with his weight shifted forward, and rolled to dissipate the force of his landing. He ended in a run, facing toward a group of grunt demons that had been isolated by the other Black. He used up the last of his momentum by slashing at the demons as he passed through their midst. By the time he stopped, five demons lay dead in his path and the others had turned to run.
It was the first time Kate had ever seen the captain fight. She whistled softly.
Movement near the top of the stair caught Kate’s attention, and she swung her head to see the relief Reds finally entering the plateau. They smoothly moved into position, shoring up the shield wall, as the Blues dragged the wounded back from the front line.
Once the Reds were in place, Phileas and his recruits—their number reduced slightly, but not as much as Kate would have expected—moved off the field. The sergeant himself saluted and addressed one of the officers on the platforms. The lieutenant returned the salute and pointed toward the fortress. Phileas barked a few commands at his recruits and sent them to the top of the stairs to wait, then came over to Kate’s platform.
When he got there, he saluted her.
“Oh, stop that,” she said. “I’m no officer. And you, my friend, make a habit of being in time to save the day much too often. I hope you continue to do so.”
“Damn worthless, wart-faced wannabe recruits. They seem to get lazier and lazier. Figured I’d take ’em on a walk and for some exercise. Figured joining the battle’d do ’em some good. I appreciate the opportunity.”
“You are a wonderfully irritating man, Phileas Darknoll.”
“I aim to be,” he said, letting loose a guffaw. “We’ll talk later. I need to get these no good, sorry excuses for soldiers into some proper red uniforms. The captain over there is going to give them field promotions to full Red, effective immediately. Can you imagine that?”
“I can. Thank you, Phileas. Yes, we’ll talk later.”
He raised his arm to salute again, but then aborted the action halfway to his head. Instead, he winked and walked off toward his troops.
“That man is something else, isn’t he?” another voice, a familiar one, said.
“Captain!” Kate cried, leaping from the platform to wrap him in a hug. Realizing what she had done, she cleared her throat and stepped back. “Oh, sorry. I’m happy to see you.”
“And I am happy to see you, Kate. But I am neither a captain nor a lieutenant. I’ve been discharged. I’m just a normal, law-abiding civilian.”
“Not likely,” she said. “And we’re going to do something about your rank and being a civilian. I have acquired some friends in high places. Will you please take command from me?”
“No.”
“Captain?”
“It may be as you say, Kate, but those things have not happened yet. By your leave, I would fight with my brothers. We can sort all this rank nonsense out later. More important right now is to finish this battle.”
Kate nodded sadly, both at what had been done to this man and that he wouldn’t take the position that was rightfully his. “Will you advise me?” she asked. “In between going out and helping to kill demons, that is.”
“It would be my pleasure to do both.” He saluted her, but did it at the same time she did. In her mind, she had saluted him, and he simply returned it. They shared a smile.
The other Black returned from the battlefield. Aurel was limping and Koren had several gashes in his clothes, but they looked as if they could continue fighting.
“We lost Haider and Rory,” Koren said. “One was struck full force by the goliath and knocked off the plateau, and the other was crushed underfoot by the massive bastard.”
Kate nodded and dipped her head. Two more. This battle was proving not only to be the largest ever recorded, but it would be the costliest in Black lives. She immediately regretted the thought. The lives of the Black were not worth more than those of the Reds, or of the Blues for that matter. Still, it was hard to lose those she had been working so closely with.
The others greeted Achard with clasped forearms, but Kate was already scanning the battlefield again. It had gone back to the normal situation, the shield wall striving to maintain its wholeness and the demons trying to destroy it. When would it end?
Another two hours of battle, and the sky lightened with the new day. Would the demons give up now that the day of the glory of darkness was over? It didn’t seem likely.
Conversations and shouts drew Kate’s attention. Many of the Reds and Blues who were not involved directly with the battle were looking back toward the fortress and pointing. Kate checked the battlefield once more, making sure she didn’t miss anything, and then swung her gaze to Gateskeep.
The narrow gate from the fortress leading down to the Great Stair was flooded with people. With soldiers. They were not Order soldiers, though. They wore green uniforms and had strange, bell-shaped helmets on their heads.
Those were the uniforms of the kingdom of Cebet. Kate recognized them from the sketches she had seen in her father’s books.
“Bernar?” she called down to the hero of the Black.
“I will go and meet with them,” he said. His eyes darted nervously and his lips twisted into a look of displeasure.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I…do not know. I told you of the report I gave to Phrixus, that Cebet was gathering troops. I have an uneasy feeling about this.”
“Take the Black with you,” she said. There were fifteen of them stationed below her platform. A second group had just come up to relieve those already on the field. “Leave three in case something happens here.”
Bernar nodded and spoke to the other Black nearby. He left three with her: Achard, Koren, and Peiros.
“What’s all that about?” Koren asked.
“The army of Cebet down there.” Kate gestured with her hand. “We’re not sure why they’re here, and Bernar seemed…hesitant.”
“Why would they—” Koren started but was interrupted by what sounded like cheering from the demon army. “What the…”
Several groups of demons had gathered in front of the gate. The large forms of demon commanders stood at the fore, with figures behind, some as tall as the weapon-wielding commanders. Three of them held staves.
“Oh, shit,” Kate said, drawing raised eyebrows from the other three Black. She wasn’t sure where she had picked up the language she seemed to be using more frequently, but some situations just required cursing.
Kate cast her eyes back to the stair. Bernar was gesturing wildly at the representative of the Cebetian army. With a violent thrust of the representative’s hand, the army rushed forward to attack.
Luckily, the other Black were with him. They had their weapons out in a blink, and they spread themselves across the width of the stair. Without hesitation, the two forces clashed.
The Cebetian army was bottle-necked at the stair. In fact, that was the purpose of its design to begin with. Only five or six could stand across the width and still fight. That put the advantage on the Black. Considering that the Cebetians were trying to gain the steps uphill was another boon. Still, how long could ten hold out against an entire army?
Kate’s attention turned to the gate. The mass of demons had reformed into five groups that
were moving quickly toward the shield wall. Three of them consisted of two demon commanders and a mage, while the other two had three of the large demons guarding what looked like demon lords, of a size with the commanders but sleeker and glowing with power in the sight of her peeps.
“This is it,” Kate said. “This is what they’ve been waiting for.”
39
“Wilfred,” she yelled. “Tell the command platform there will be no one manning this one. We’re all needed in battle.”
The Blue took off running toward the main platform holding the higher officers. Kate adjusted the mask on her face and sprinted toward the lines with the three Black who were still with her.
“Split up or go at it together?” she asked as they ran.
“Two and two?” Achard answered with a question.
“Yes. Peiros, you’re with me.”
Kate and Peiros headed to the left as Achard and Koren continued straight ahead. It seemed logical to take out the easier targets first, so she gestured to the farthest left group, one with two demon commanders and a mage.
Kate sped up ahead of Peiros, dodging through the loose formation of Reds behind the shield wall. “Open a path,” she shouted as she got close to the front. The Reds parted just enough for her and Peiros to pass through and then closed ranks again.
Already, the mage they were heading for was casting, motioning with one hand and aiming a staff with the other. The commanders were hunkered down in front of the mage, a tall female demon with robes like the ones Arkith had worn.
A loud boom sounded behind Kate, and she twisted to see half a dozen Reds blast outward as if struck by a catapult boulder. The mage ahead of her slumped slightly, then began motioning again, this time pointing her staff at Kate.
Kate pushed herself to her limit. She couldn’t let that spell catch her. At this range, she’d be killed in the blast.
When she got close, Kate bounded as if she was going to jump high through the two commanders, but then she let her legs collapse and, on her knees, she slid past them, under their upraised arms. She stopped sliding right in front of the demon mage, whose eyes widened as she frantically tried to complete her spell.
“Too late,” Kate said, and slashed at the mage’s arm with her shield. The demon screamed, and the spell broke apart. Kate leapt back to her feet, spun, and slashed at the demon’s other arm, but the mage pulled it away in time.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kate saw Peiros dancing among the two commanders, twisting and gyrating to avoid their strikes, drawing the two into each other’s way. He darted in and slashed with his crescents, but Kate knew he was just holding their attention so that she could finish the mage and join him.
She narrowly avoided a staff strike because of her divided attention. She ducked out of the way and rolled, coming to her feet with her shield above her to catch the second strike with the staff. The head of the weapon was glowing, and Kate remembered all too well the feeling of mage fire through her shield. She wanted no part of it. Slashing at the mage’s leg, she moved alongside the much taller creature.
At the last moment, Kate charged the demon, deflecting the arm holding the staff so that the bolt of energy zipped past her and struck one of the demon commanders in the next group. It swayed on its feet, nearly toppling.
It seemed to Kate that the magic was not as powerful and fast as it had been when she fought Arkith in Hell. Maybe the firestones weakened them, or maybe Arkith ’s magic was simply stronger. She cast the thought from her mind. She needed to focus.
She struck at the mage three times with her sword, and each was blocked or parried by the staff. Kate recognized a pattern and with the next strike, she put her shield in position. As the mage twisted her arms to block with the staff, Kate rotated at the hips and slashed the sharpened edge of her shield across one of the mage’s hands. Three fingers dropped to the ground, causing the demon to shriek and loosen the grip on her staff.
Kate kicked at the shaft while chopping downward with her sword to score the mage’s forearm, and the weapon clattered away. A strong shield slam to the jaw stunned the mage, and the sword following the attack punched through the robed torso and out the other side.
She spun, widening the area of the wound, kicked the mage’s body away from her, and joined Peiros in finishing off the demon commanders.
One down, she thought. Can we get them all?
Another boom shook the battlefield. Another group of Reds were thrown in the air as the others had been. What, did they teach the same spell to every student at the demon mage school?
Peiros pointed one of his khruk toward the closest group of demon elite. Coincidentally, another group like the one they had just battled: two demon commanders and a mage, this one male. Kate nodded and they charged.
The way the commanders guarded their mage, Kate didn’t think she would be able to trick these as she had the last two.
“The one on the left,” Kate said. She went straight for the demon while Peiros went wide, as if he was trying to get around to strike at the mage. The commander, this one wielding a huge battle axe, swung its weapon at Peiros, but the Salornumese was not so easily struck. He twisted out of the way, slashing at the demon’s hand as it passed him. The cut didn’t do much damage, but it distracted the monster while Kate zipped in and slashed at its shoulder unopposed.
She struck just below its pauldron, ripping a long gash in its flesh with her shield. It howled and brought the axe around to attack Kate, but Peiros cut at it again from the other side, opening up a piece of its torso.
The other commander charged in to fend off the humans, just as Kate expected. When it came at her with its two-handed sword, she deflected the blow with her blade and charged past toward the mage.
The mage was ready for her. He had been casting a spell, and as Kate ran toward him, he finished it and released it at her.
A ball of fire streaked toward her, tracking her movement when she dodged to the side. With nothing left to do, she put her shield up and kept running at the caster. A loud clanging reverberated around her, and Kate found herself sliding on her back toward Peiros. Heat from her shield warmed her arm, but it wasn’t quite hot enough to burn her. Yet.
Kate rolled and regained her feet. She had to close her eyes for a moment until the dizziness passed, but then she locked eyes with the mage.
“You,” she said as she skirted the demon commander that was halfway to Peiros. “Will.” She ran for all she was worth, straight at the demon with the staff. “Be sorry.” Putting her sword in her shield hand, she drew a dagger from her boot sheath. “You did that,” she finished as she threw the dagger and took her sword in her right hand again, not missing a step.
The demon swung its staff at the knife but wasn’t able to deflect it. It struck him high on the right side of his chest. That was the least of his worries, though, because by the time he looked up at the human he had tried to kill with his fireball, she was directly in front of him.
Kate slashed down with her sword, cutting into the demon’s left shoulder. Without stopping, she circled the sword in a figure eight pattern and cut downward from her left to right, lopping off a good portion of the flesh on its right arm. It tried to raise the staff to block, but it grimaced in pain and moved too slowly to be effective. Kate knocked the weapon aside, spun to her left, and extended her sword in a horizontal slash as she turned. The demon mage’s ugly head left its body, and its equally ugly body followed it to the ground.
Kate stood over it, gritting her teeth and breathing hard for a moment. She hated being hit by fire spells.
She regained her senses a few seconds later, realizing she had gotten carried away. She turned and charged the demon commander that had gone after Peiros. His crescents had taken care of the first one, and he was whittling the second down to size when Kate arrived. Her presence distracted the demon commander enough that Peiros got his weapon through the creature’s guard and ripped its throat out.
“Do you want the
mage on this next group?” she asked Peiros as they targeted another group of the demons.
“No,” he said. “I would not survive a fireball with no shield. Besides, we have only the demon lord left.”
Kate realized as he said it that the cluster they were going toward had three demon commanders and a demon lord. A group of Reds were harrying a final commander from one of the other groups, and the fifth was nowhere to be seen, no doubt also slain already by the captain and Koren.
Kate was not looking forward to fighting another demon lord. If this one was like Thozrixith, not only could it cast spells, but its staff could shoot more of those fireballs without having to take a long time to cast. There was nothing for it, though. She lowered her shield and ran at them alongside Peiros.
As Kate drew within ten paces of the demon commanders, the demon lord slumped and fell to the ground. Koren stood behind it, sword rammed halfway through its torso, Achard right next to him with his own sword jammed downward into its lower back.
“That’ll teach you to pay attention,” Koren said as he kicked at the body to free his blade.
Breathing a sigh of relief that she didn’t have to deal with burning flesh on her arm again, Kate launched herself at her chosen demon commander, another horrid brute that stood taller than the other two and wielded two massive swords.
“I’ll take the one in the middle,” she said and began to test out her opponent’s skills.
Peiros took the demon commander to their left, and the other two Black made short work of the third. Between the four of them, the three huge demons didn’t last more than a minute.
As soon as the last of the larger demons fell, the Reds closed up the line again while the Blue dragged away those too injured to leave the battlefield themselves. The four Black walked back to their station simply because, if they felt as Kate did, they couldn’t manage more than a walk.
When she stepped up to her platform, it came back to her. “The Cebetians!”
She looked down on the Great Stair and paled. The steps around the Black were littered with bodies dressed in green. She could only see eight figures in black and wondered if the others had been killed.
Order of the Fire Box Set Page 73
