Aurelia grabbed his shoulder and leaned against him. He’d always seen her as strong, often stronger than him, so he was surprised by her sudden shiver.
“I know,” she said softly. “But why must it be us?”
Harruq kissed the top of her head.
“Because we’re the only ones who can,” he whispered.
She shed a pair of tears, which fell upon the shoulder of his leather armor. “This burden will break us,” she whispered.
“Maybe someday, but not tonight. Tonight, we make those murderers pay.”
The group of soldiers had stood awkwardly at the spot where the portal vanished, waiting for their decision. Harruq sniffled as he pulled back from his wife, and he wiped at his eyes to banish evidence of his lingering doubt.
“Two of you stay here with them,” he told the soldiers, who were still waiting awkwardly by the spot where the portal had vanished. “Keep out of sight until we return. And if we don’t...”
“If we don’t, flee north, toward the Castle of the Yellow Rose,” Aurelia said. “Find Ahaesarus. He’s the only other ally I know you can trust.”
The two oldest of the six stepped aside, and they bowed.
“We’ll protect them with our lives,” one of the soldiers said.
“You’d better,” Harruq said. “The rest of you, you’re coming with us. We have some psycho angels to kill.”
Aurelia began casting another portal, which tore open with a hiss.
“Where are you taking us?” Harruq asked.
“To the castle steps,” she said. “If we’re to push through the city, we’ll need every soldier we can find. I figure we start from there and work our way south to the gates.”
Harruq glanced back at Aubrienna, and the soldier standing protectively over her. He couldn’t shake the fear that he might never see her again.
“Sounds like a plan,” he said, and forced himself through the portal before his second thoughts betrayed him. He reappeared at the top of the castle steps, stumbling across wet, unsteady footing. Blood, he realized. He stood in a pool of blood. The other four soldiers cheered and saluted, for Sir Wess had organized a defense at the castle doors. He and his twenty men appeared to have killed four of the angels. Their bodies lay crumpled at the bottom of the steps, their blood trickling across the stone.
“Glad to see you’re alive,” Sir Wess said. His sword, his armor, even his gray mustache were spotted with blood. “And better yet, armed. We’ll need your swords and magic if we’re to live through the night.”
“Let’s not celebrate until we see the sun rising,” Harruq said. “We need to get away from the castle. If you’ll follow me, I’ll lead.”
“Away from the castle?” one of the soldiers asked. “But we can fortify our positions here.”
Harruq grabbed the man by the top of his breastplate and pulled him close, trying to still his anger given how frightened the soldier surely was.
“You see those windows?” Harruq said, pointing to the enormous openings near the rooftops on either side of the grand throne room further inside. “Think of how many just like those are on every floor of the castle, and then tell me again how do you plan on defending this stone tomb. We’ve got Gregory safely out of Mordeina, so if you want to join him, you need to keep your sword ready and follow me, all right?”
The man swallowed and bobbed his head. “I will.”
“Good man.” Harruq patted him on the shoulder, then turned to Sir Wess. “They’re strong and furious, which means there’s no point staying defensive. Use their recklessness against them. If any come rushing at us, you rush them right back and hope for a lucky hit to the heart or throat.”
“We’ll do our best,” said Sir Wess. “Lead on, Steward.”
Harruq grinned. “I’d rather you call me something far more intimidating prior to going into battle.”
“Very well,” Sir Wess said with a grin of his own. “Lead on, Godslayer.”
“Much better. Aurry, you ready?”
Aurelia twirled her staff, lightning crackling from both ends.
“I am,” she said.
“We make no turns, no delays,” Harruq told the soldiers as he drew his swords. “Just a straight shot from here to the city gates. I don’t know how many people will join us, but consider that an after-thought. The important thing is that we draw the attention of as many of those winged monsters as we can. Each one we bring down is one less that can kill an innocent elsewhere in this city. We don’t stop for anyone, we don’t hesitate, and we don’t run away. You follow my lead. Me and Aurry will take the brunt of the hits, so focus on keeping the rest of the people safe.”
Two pairs of circling black wings suddenly straightened out, the angels diving toward their group. Damn…not even off the steps yet. Harruq slammed his swords together multiple times, the ancient weapons showering sparks. Let the soldiers see the power he wielded. Let them believe, for even a moment, that he and Aurelia might save an entire city.
“Be glad you’re not one of them,” Harruq shouted to the soldiers. “Because their shitty night’s about to get a whole lot worse.”
Aurelia lifted her staff, and three bolts of lightning shot into the air. The two angels twisted and twirled, avoiding the first two. The third scored a solid hit, plunging head to feet through an angel’s body. He fell limp to the city street, landing with the sickening crunch of breaking bones. The other angel barely slowed as he swung an enormous two-handed sword. Harruq countered with Condemnation and Salvation, grunting in satisfaction as the angel’s blade rang loudly before bouncing off. The angel could not kill all his momentum despite his spread wings, and he continued forward, right into Harruq’s waiting swords. The angel impaled himself up to the hilt, gasping as blood spewed out his mouth.
Harruq kicked the body off so it might join the others at the bottom of the steps.
Two down, he thought. Couple thousand more to go.
Except there wouldn’t be as many as there should. When Harruq stood upon the wall, watching the black wings fly out from Devlimar, he’d seen hundreds flying toward Mordeina...and thousands more scattering in all other directions. They’d scour the entire countryside that night. How many miles might they cover? How many villages would they burn? Would they ever even stop?
Harruq shook his head. It’d do no good to dwell on such things, and even less if his fear became infectious. Time to be the blood-soaked hero, he told himself. Time to flee yet another city as innocent life is devoured by the darkness.
“Let’s move,” he told the soldiers.
They marched ahead, all of them keeping one eye on the sky. Harruq began to feel a little bit better, as each step toward the distant city gate seemed like progress. They passed by homes, the soldiers calling out to them repeatedly, the same offer each time.
“Come with us to flee the city!”
Shadows moved behind windows, and many doors creaked open, but remarkably few joined them at first. Harruq wondered how many were praying they would be one of the lucky ones that escaped the angel’s wrath. Probably a depressing amount, he decided, and pushed it out of his mind. A home on his left had its door broken inward, and two soldiers rushed toward it as a fallen angel emerged from within, holding a bloody blade in his left hand and the corpse of a young child in the right. The soldiers swung their swords while shouting curses. The angel blocked one, batting the sword away as if it were nothing, and then flung the corpse at the other. The soldier stumbled backward, and the angel leapt after, bloody blade plunging for his neck.
Harruq flung Condemnation in the way before it could find purchase. His glowing red sword clanged against the angel’s steel, easily able to withstand the blow. Pressing the advantage of surprise, Harruq leapt into the angel with complete abandon, thrusting with Salvation while punching with Condemnation’s hilt. The two blades collided amid the scream of the angel, Salvation piercing flesh. Harruq pumped his legs, pushing them to the front of the house. The angel slammed against the w
all, the contact knocking the weapon from his hand as his head cracked against the wood. Harruq ripped Salvation free with a sudden gush of blood, looped both blades about, and cut off the angel’s head.
“Thanks,” said the soldier whose life he’d saved.
“Still not enough,” Harruq said. He glanced inside the home, saw the bodies of a man and woman lying side by side near the door, and shook his head.
They continued down the street, weaving back toward the group of soldiers. A single angel dove from the sky, black wings curled behind his back like a hunting hawk. Two died when he crashed into their ranks, but then the angel was overwhelmed by a vicious rush of swinging swords. Another angel burst out of a ransacked home, only to be bathed in fire from Aurelia’s fingertips. He dropped dead a blackened, smoking husk.
“Come on,” Harruq shouted, growing frustrated by how few had joined them. Right now they had a mere seven, five of which were one family. Harruq saw plenty of wings circling, but so far their group had gone mostly unnoticed. Not quite the plan.
“Aurry,” Harruq asked. “Think you can get their attention?”
Aurelia spun her staff once, then lifted it above her head, tip pointed toward the distant angels. “I believe so.”
Lightning streaked across the sky, the accompanying thunder loud enough to rattle Harruq’s teeth. The bolt struck two different angels, dropping them dead instantly. Harruq blinked against the after-image burned into his eyes.
“Yeah,” he said, twirling his swords in his hands. “That’ll do it.”
The group continued moving, a scattering of people coming from either side of the road to join them. Three sisters ran screaming from an alley, an angel flying overhead in chase. Harruq pointed and shouted, but he had no need. Aurelia sent a barrage of ice lances, forcing the angel to dodge. Two found purchase, neither penetrating his armor deep enough to kill. Looping around from one side of the street to the other, the angel readied his spear and charged. Harruq stepped in front of the soldiers. His red blades were a blur as they struck the spear from beneath, whacking it harmlessly upward. Momentum carried the angel past Harruq and into the soldiers, where it tumbled to the ground. Sir Wess himself cut the angel’s throat with a single smooth stroke.
“Keep moving,” the knight shouted. “More are coming by the minute!”
As were the people of Mordeina, Harruq was happy to see, and not all of them civilians. Soldiers, some in armor, some in civilian clothes, joined their ranks, Sir Wess quickly positioning them where they were needed most. The number they protected had grown from seven to over fifty. The soldiers formed a protective ring around them. Harruq patrolled the front, shouting and hollering like an idiot at the angels in an attempt to goad them his way.
“Harruq!” Aurelia shouted. Harruq gutted the single angel he fought, then stepped back so three soldiers with him could finish him off. He turned, felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of four angels approaching quickly from the rear. Fire and ice leapt from Aurelia’s hands in an alternating barrage, but the angels were prepared, weaving left and right, avoiding the attacks. Harruq took off at a sprint, looking on helplessly as three soldiers leapt to her defense, shields up. Aurelia finally scored a direct hit with a bolt of flame when the angels were too close to dodge, and a burning corpse crashed into the soldiers like a living battering ram. Aurelia danced, her staff a whirling blur as it batted aside several slashes from two angels. The soldiers tried to recover, but they were quickly cut down, leaving Aurelia isolated.
“Over here, you bastards!” Harruq roared. Two ignored him, but one turned his way, lifting his enormous two-handed sword. Harruq charged straight at him, unafraid of the lengthy weapon. With such momentum, he merely had to put his swords in the way as the angel’s attack swooped around, hoping to cleave him in half. Salvation and Condemnation flared, the angel’s sword rebounded, and then Harruq was barreling into him. The angel was knocked to the ground, the bones in one of his wings snapping loud enough Harruq could hear. The angel screamed, and Harruq silenced him with a stab to the throat.
Twisting the sword free, he turned to Aurelia, who had built a wall of ice around herself. She unleashed a torrent of flame at the angels as they hovered ten feet in the air. Fire filled the sky above her, pushing both angels back. Harruq pumped his legs, then jumped. His red blades cut through the angel’s knees, and he screamed as blood showered the street along with a pair of useless legs. Harruq landed poorly, dropped to a roll, and stopped only when he struck the side of a home.
Groaning, Harruq pushed himself back to his feet and staggered toward his wife. His aid, though, didn’t seem necessarily. The ice wall shattered as the angel smashed into it repeatedly with his sword, only to be met by a beam of raw magical force. It struck the angel in the chest, caved in his breastplate, and then flung his broken body a dozen feet backward.
Aurelia dropped to her knees, holding her head. Harruq skidded to a stop beside her, but she pushed him away.
“Them,” she said, gesturing to the crowd of survivors they’d collected. “Help them.”
Five angels looped around them in circles, weaving in to slash at the soldiers before rising again. That they’d be so careful compared to the recklessness of the previous assaults worried Harruq to no end. The angels were superior combatants in every way. If they actually showed patience, and surrounded their group before they could escape the city...
“Am I not good enough for you?” Harruq shouted, trying to draw their attention. “Too scared to take on an out-of-shape half-orc?”
Two banked away from the soldiers toward him, and Harruq braced himself. Each angel held a long sword bathed in blood. Harruq pushed off just before they arrived, stealing the offensive. He ducked beneath the first’s slash, then brought both weapons to bear on the other. His glowing blades rattled against the angel’s sword but failed to find purchase. The other flanked him, forcing Harruq to split his attention. Feet spinning beneath him, he bounced between them, Salvation focused on one target, Condemnation the other.
“Try harder!” Harruq shouted. He could see the rage in the angels’ eyes, held back by the flimsiest of control. “I’m not even breathing heavy,” he said with a sneer.
The angel on his left lost control, using his wings to give him a burst of speed as he thrust with all his strength. Harruq sidestepped, slipping Salvation just underneath his chin and slitting his throat. He thrust Condemnation at the chest of the other angel, who had tried to follow. Before the angel could rip his sword free, Harruq was already spinning. One blade struck his neck, the other his waist. Blood and innards poured free.
Haern would be proud, thought Harruq as he stood over the two dead bodies.
A boom of thunder turned his attention back to their growing caravan. Aurelia had struck another dead from the sky, but it was like swatting a hornet’s nest: it only seemed to make more appear, and angrier than ever. We wanted their attention, now we have it. All throughout the city, people would find themselves a reprieve, and if they were smart, Harruq hoped they’d make a break for the open city gates.
“By my side,” Harruq shouted to his wife. Keeping the people safe would be impossible with how many angels now dove toward them, but if he and Aurelia remained standing, they’d inevitably draw their attention off the civilians. Though clearly exhausted, Aurelia continued to fling elements toward the angels, each lance of ice or ball of flame smaller than the last. An angel rushed at Harruq like a mad dog, on his feet instead of his black, oily wings. He threw his spear with incredible strength before chasing after with arms swinging. Harruq flung himself into Aurelia with his back, knocking them both out of the way as the spear sailed over them. Harruq rolled, bounced to his feet, and chopped with both swords. The angel died trying to dive on Aurelia, Salvation and Condemnation punching twin holes in his chest.
Harruq pulled Aurelia to her feet and there they stood, back to back. Up above, two fallen angels dove simultaneously. Harruq trusted Aurelia to hold her side, and he
braced for impact from the other. His angel wielded a gigantic mace, and he pulled back at the last minute to swing with frightening strength. Harruq lashed out with his swords struck the mace. The jolt traveled all the way up his arms, seemed to make every bone in his body ache, but he kept the flanged head from crushing him like a bug.
The angel pulled the mace back for another swing, but Harruq was faster. A single hop forward closed the distance, his left arm extended to its limits so Salvation might thrust beneath the lower lip of the angel’s chestplate. The blade pierced his abdomen, and when he reflexively doubled over in pain, Harruq looped Condemnation about, cutting off his head. The angel’s mace hit the ground with a loud clang, the body fell with a dull thud. Harruq turned, relieved to see Aurelia had killed the other by ripping a chunk of the road up as a wall just before impact and letting the angel collide with it. The dead angel’s spine was crushed, his eyes vacant.
“Keep going,” Harruq said, taking Aurelia’s hand. “All of you, keep going!”
Over a hundred had joined them, but Harruq saw hundreds more rushing ahead, taking advantage of their distraction. Good. If those people escaped the angels’ wrath, then they’d done their jobs.
Not completely, he thought. He still had to get him and Aurelia back to Aubrienna safely, and given the constant harassment, he wasn’t sure they’d ever get the chance.
Glowing red arrows shot into the air from Aurelia’s palm as Harruq rushed toward the formation of soldiers. To his surprise, Sir Wess was already making his way to him. Harruq shouted to be heard over the chaos.
“It might be time to break and run.”
“Not quite,” Sir Wess said, gesturing down the road. “The men on the wall weren’t so quick to fall as I feared.”
Peering over the people, Harruq saw that a group of nearly fifty soldiers marched toward them, fighting off the occasional angel on their path. Harruq laughed, and he smacked the older knight in the chest.
“Seems you’ve trained them well,” he said, grinning.
The King of the Vile Page 30
