Battle Mage

by Peter Flannery

  ‘You must go,’ said Nathalie in a cold disturbing tone. ‘It is here.’

  ‘Look at the grass on the hillside,’ said Alex. ‘It’s turning black.’

  Sure enough there was a patch of scorched earth that seemed to be extending towards them and now they could all feel the unmistakable presence of a demon, that soul clenching fear that made even the bravest man feel like a lost and terrified child.

  ‘We killed one demon,’ said Quirren. ‘We can kill another.’

  ‘No,’ said Nathalie. ‘This one is beyond us.’

  ‘Surely together...’ began the emissary but she cut him off.

  ‘I cannot defeat it, Chevalier,’ she said and the certainty in her voice chilled the emissary to the bone. ‘But I will try to hold it as long as I can.’

  For a moment the emissary could not move. The thought of leaving her alone to face the demon was unthinkable, but he could see from her eyes that he had no choice. If Nathalie and Ciel could not defeat this demon then his only choice was to get his troops as far away from the danger as he could.

  ‘Back to the camp,’ he said. ‘All of you, quickly!’

  He began to physically push them back towards the army.

  ‘We cannot leave them,’ said Falco.

  ‘But we cannot help them either,’ said the emissary. ‘Now come. You must shield the army while we make our escape.’

  With great reluctance they began to stumble back towards the camp, each of them looking back as the area of blackened heath spread towards them as if driven on by a swift and burning wind.

  As they retreated so Nathalie went out to meet the approaching darkness, Ciel walking calmly at her side.

  Reaching the camp, Falco looked back at her, a small figure going out to meet her doom. Close by the emissary was calling out orders.

  ‘Up! Up!’ he cried. ‘Get these men up and ready to move.’

  The men looked at him as if he was mad but they could tell by the urgency in his voice that he was serious. They could also feel the resurgent fear of the approaching demon. Men driven to the limits of their endurance were now forced to rouse themselves once more.

  The emissary saw a signalman and called him over.

  ‘Sound the call to rally and retreat. Double time!’ he snapped when the man paused in confusion.

  Had they not just won the battle?

  But he paused for only a moment before lifting the horn to his lips and the call sounded across the valley like a cruel and ill-timed joke.

  The emissary looked around as the wounded soldiers in the field hospital struggled to respond. They were helped onto horses and carts or hauled across the shoulders of more able men, but at least they were starting to move.

  The sounds of activity echoed in Falco’s ears. Around him the army was rousing itself in a collective state of fear and confusion, all moving away from the small figure who stood with her dragon as the darkness surged towards them. Beside him his friends were mounting horses and two orderlies were helping Malaki onto Fidelis. Quirren handed Falco his helmet and the reins of his horse before climbing into the saddle of his own injured mount. Bryna too had mounted a horse and Alex had left to rejoin the Exiles, while across the battlefield Jarek Snidesson had lost the ability to act. The fear that he had thought banished was now swelling in his mind once more, hotter and blacker than ever.

  ‘Not again!’ he thought. ‘Heaven help us, not again!’

  The veteran hussars drew their young commander away as they joined the retreat, the entire army now making its way up the northern slopes of the valley. And still Falco did not move. He sat on his horse while his friends moved away.

  ‘Falco!’ called the emissary. ‘We need you.’

  But Falco could not turn away from the figures of Nathalie and Ciel. Beyond them the blackened earth was now splitting apart as something unholy emerged into the fading light of day.

  The Slayer had arrived.

  The soldiers of the Fourth Army began to retreat in earnest as the demon appeared and ripples of panic spread throughout their ranks. Falco could feel their fear and he tried to protect them but he was unable to concentrate. He could not shake off the sense that he was abandoning Nathalie and Ciel.

  ‘Falco, come on!’ cried Bryna and without any prompting Falco’s horse turned to follow the others.

  Almost in a dream Falco was borne away while behind him a shower of cindered earth fell from the demon’s armoured form. The Slayer stepped up into the world and settled its gaze on the Defiant and the wyrm who stood before it. They had tried to escape and they had failed, but even now they showed no fear and the Slayer felt a thrill of ecstasy in anticipation of their deaths.

  *

  Nathalie watched as the Slayer rose up from the earth. She looked into the eyes of death and for a moment she was almost overcome with despair. Somehow she had known they could not escape, and now she had led the demon here, to the emissary and the soldiers of the Fourth. She knew the guilt could consume her, but she also knew she did not have very long to live and so she levelled her sword and raised her shield.

  Beside her she felt Ciel tense as the dragon also prepared to fight.

  *

  Falco felt as if he were moving through a thick unyielding fog. Sounds and sensations seemed distant and indistinct. They were moving away from the threat and the fear, but somehow it felt wrong. As the army continued to retreat Falco drew on the reins and brought his horse to a halt. He turned and looked back once more as the dragon and the battle mage were suddenly engulfed by fire.

  *

  Nathalie had not been expecting this assassin to use Baëlfire, but still she managed to conjure a wall of protection before the hellish flames could devour her flesh. Ciel reacted too, lunging to one side as the Slayer unleashed the ferocious storm of dark fire.

  The moment the flames subsided Nathalie struck back with an attack of her own. A lance of white light speared towards the Slayer but was deflected by the armour of the Enlightened. At the same time Ciel sent a torrent of flame at the demon and as it faded Nathalie struck at the demon with her sword. Her blade swept beneath the Slayer’s guard and scored a shallow wound in the exposed flesh of the demon’s hip.

  The Slayer retreated as Ciel joined the fight raking her steel hard talons across the demon’s armoured helm. For a moment they tried to press their advantage but then the Slayer struck back and Ciel was required to twist violently to avoid a blow that almost severed her neck. At the same time the Slayer levelled a blow that would have broken Nathalie’s shield arm had she not fortified her body to absorb the attack. Even so she was thrown off balance, spinning quickly so as not to offer her back to the Slayer’s lethal blades.

  The Slayer now attacked in earnest and only their skill and speed prevented Nathalie and Ciel from being cut down. But they could not resist such ferocity for long and when the Slayer hammered a sword pommel into the side of Nathalie’s helm it seemed the end had come. Her legs buckled and she slumped insensible to the ground.

  Nathalie would surely have died had Ciel not launched herself at the demon. The amber dragon leapt onto the Slayer’s armoured shoulders trying to grapple its powerful arms. For a moment it seemed the Slayer might lose its footing but then it stabbed one of its blades over its shoulder, cutting deep into the upper part of Ciel’s left foreleg. The dragon lost her grip and tumbled backwards, growling in pain as she rolled over on her injured wing. However, despite the pain she came quickly to her feet and moved to stand over the inert figure of Nathalie as the Slayer turned to face her.

  The demon looked as strong as ever and there was murder in its eyes as it bowed its head and flexed its muscular arms. The moment of victory had arrived and even the mighty wyrm seemed to know that the end had come as it stood like a pathetically loyal hound over the unconscious body of its master.

  So much for the great souls of this the charnel world.

  The sharp sword points lifted as the Slayer gripped its blades and came on. But hardly
had it taken a step when a dark shape came surging towards it. A horse with a rider, charging from nowhere, and the Slayer frowned as it recognised the distinctive glare of another Defiant’s soul. With a flash of its searing gaze it stopped the horse in its tracks and the beast went down in a mass of fear and flailing hooves but the rider had already begun to dismount.

  Pushing up onto the saddle he leapt from the horse, and the Slayer reeled as this new Defiant kicked it full in the face of its high ridged helm. Surprised by the force of this attack the Slayer turned to face this new opponent and as it did so it almost smiled. This new Defiant was young and untried and devoid of any power that could harm it. With an air of utter contempt the Slayer moved to end its life.

  *

  Even as the army scrambled up the side of the valley Falco watched as Nathalie and Ciel did battle with the Slayer. At one point he thought they might win but then he saw Nathalie collapse, felled by a massive blow to the side of her helm.

  With no conscious thought Falco dug his heels into his horse’s flanks and charged down the valley towards them. As if from a great distance he watched Ciel wrestle with the demon before it stabbed back over its shoulder and Ciel lost her grip and tumbled backwards. The Slayer started towards Nathalie but Ciel recovered quickly and moved to stand over Nathalie’s prone and lifeless form.

  The wind was rushing in Falco’s ears as he drove his horse at full gallop towards them. He had no thought as to what he would do when he reached them, only that he could not allow them to stand alone. He was almost upon them when the demon sensed his presence and turned towards him. The focussed will of the Slayer slammed into them and Falco’s horse simply collapsed in terror but Falco had already been preparing to dismount, just as he had practised so many times in the Crucible. Even as his horse fell, Falco leapt through the air, kicking the demon in the face before hitting the ground and rolling to his feet.

  Sword drawn and shield raised he turned to face the Slayer.

  The demon paused for just a moment and Falco felt the force if its contempt but then it surged forward. It attacked with dismissive savagery as if it intended to kill him with two swift cuts but Falco dodged the first attack and deflected the second with his shield. He even managed to slash at the back of the Slayer’s wrist, but it felt like he had struck a statue of solid bronze and his sword made no impression at all.

  The Slayer’s eyes flared as Falco avoided its first two attacks. Bringing more focus to bear it launched a more sustained assault but still Falco managed to dodge, block or parry each attack. Realising that it had underestimated this new opponent the Slayer tensed in readiness for all-out fury but at that moment Ciel attacked from the rear.

  The dragon caught the Slayer’s right arm in her jaws and tried to pull it backwards but the Slayer turned quickly and struck out with the sword in its left hand. Ciel was forced to let go before the blade bit into her chest. Arching back she avoided the blow but when she tried to attack, her left foreleg gave way. Her head dropped low and the Slayer delivered a savage kick that caught her squarely on the side of the head stunning the great dragon who collapsed to the ground close to the body of the still unconscious Nathalie. The Slayer turned back to Falco and it was clear that this time there would be no holding back.

  Still Falco held his ground. He might not have the offensive ability to harm the Slayer but his defence was strong. He would be a rock on which the Slayer’s violence could break. So let it come. If this was to be a battle of wills then let it come. Let it test the limits of its unholy might against the strength of this Defiant’s faith.

  Somehow the Slayer sensed Falco’s challenge and its eyes glowed with satisfaction. As it started forward Falco tensed his mind and a great surge of tingling energy swept through his body. For a moment he felt transformed by its power but then the demon hit him. With terrifying force it unleashed blows from sword and fist and crushing hooves. The brutality was like nothing Falco had imagined and he knew that for all his defensive strength he could not hold out for long.

  He took a kick in the thigh that would have broken the leg of a cart horse. He ducked beneath a great scything attack and fortified his shield arm to absorb the impact from a blow that shook his body like a sledgehammer. His arm was undamaged but the Slayer’s curved blade cut a deep gash into the metal of his shield.

  Already drained by the day’s exertions it was all Falco could do to resist the Slayer’s attacks, much less launch any of his own. He blocked and parried and twisted out of harm’s way, and when he could not avoid a blow he blocked it with the fortification of his mind. But the Slayer’s violence seemed inexhaustible and Falco’s strength began to fail.

  A heavy downward strike cut away half of his shield and Falco felt blood running down his arm. A dizzying strike glanced off his helm and another sent a numbing pain through his shoulder but still Falco eluded that lethal blow and the Slayer was becoming increasingly frustrated.

  Realising the end was near Falco made one last great effort and ducking beneath an attack he struck at the Slayer with all his remaining strength. His sword found an area of exposed skin but this blade had not come from the forge of Master Missaglias, it was not a battle mage’s sword and the steel shattered as it struck the demon’s unyielding flesh. Falco was left with just a few inches of glowing steel so when he turned to block the next attack he had no sword to meet it. The Slayer’s curved blade caught him in the side of the head, knocking off his helm and filling his vision with stars. Falco fell to his knees and struggled to remain conscious but then he spat out a mouthful of blood and raised his face to look at the demon standing over him.

  The Slayer looked down at him, its great chest heaving with exertion. This young Defiant was beaten despite the fire that continued to burn in his bright green eyes.

  Knowing he was about to pass out Falco looked into the small hot eyes of the Slayer and hell-be-damned but if he did not smile. It was not a smile of mirth. It was a smile of disdain, the smile of a man who was not afraid to meet his end. And for all its murderous strength it gave the Slayer pause. This was no ordinary Defiant that knelt before it. This was a soul of dark and dangerous strength and it could not be allowed to live.

  Falco lifted his chin as the Slayer raised his sword to kill, but even as the curved blade came down a bolt of blue energy punched into the demon’s fist and its strike went wide. The demon’s eyes blazed with fury as it turned to see where this latest attack had come from and then it roared with pain as Nathalie sent a tight ball of fire into the base of its neck. The fireball was no bigger than a fist but it burned with a furious heat and rather than exploding it bored into the Slayer’s flesh.

  Emerging from unconsciousness Nathalie had been horrified to see Falco battling the demon. He was being pounded and beaten and hammered and yet somehow he remained alive. Nathalie’s body burned with pain and fatigue but she could not bear to see Falco die and so, determined to protect him, she staggered forward, her helmet gone, her face begrimed and bloody. In her right hand she trailed her sword across the ground while her left hand was thrust forward as she struggled to drive the fireball deeper into the Slayer’s body.

  The Slayer tried to claw the writhing ball of flame from its flesh but it could not. Roaring with pain it realised that the only way to stop it was to kill the female Defiant once and for all. It surged forward but hardly managed a step before it was engulfed by dragon fire. Taken by surprise once more it hunkered down then reeled as Ciel struck it a mighty blow with the talons of her undamaged right paw. The Slayer’s helm took most of the damage but one of the dragon’s claws scored a deep cut beneath the demon’s left eye. Dark silvery blood welled up and the Slayer blinked and staggered back as it struggled to clear its vision and still the small fireball burned at the base of its neck. It managed to block a sword strike from Nathalie but now Ciel was closing again, limping and wounded but still dangerous.

  The Slayer began to back away and although it looked like Nathalie might collapse at any mo
ment she continued to push forward. Finally she relinquished her grip on the fireball and swung her sword to send a glowing arc of light scything towards the retreating demon. The Slayer tried to block it with its enchanted blades but a small piece got past its defences and cut a deep gash in its side, finally a grievous wound to threaten the hellish fiend.

  With a sense of furious disbelief the Slayer realised it had lost the initiative and was now in very real danger of being defeated by this bitch Defiant and her wyrm. Both would surely have died had it not been for the untested Defiant. But the Slayer had underestimated the youngling and now the tables had turned. If it were going to survive it needed to withdraw.

  With a roar of frustration the Slayer drew up a wall of Baëlfire, and as its opponents shied from the terrible heat, the demon tore a rift in the fabric of reality and stepped down into the underworld where it could sear its wounds and regain its strength. The Slayer would suffer terribly for its defeat, but it would endure its penance until it was stronger and more powerful than ever. And then it would return for vengeance.

  Nathalie gave a cry of frustration as she saw the Slayer escaping. They had failed to kill it and she knew, with dreadful certainty, that it would return. But such horror was for another day. Today they had prevailed and for that they must be grateful.

  Feeling utterly spent she turned to see Ciel approaching the hunched figure of Falco. Nathalie could scarcely believe that he was alive at all. Struggling over to him she laid a gentle hand on Falco’s blood matted hair and at first she feared that he was lost, but then slowly he straightened up to look at her. Even now his green eyes held a distant and dangerous light and Nathalie wondered if he had given too much in opposing the Slayer, but slowly his gaze came into focus and he returned to them. He seemed confused and surprised to see her alive. A tear ran down his face and Nathalie wiped it away with the armoured thumb of her gauntlet.