by A. J. Downey
Arrows continued to hit our location. With the charge, they were less inclined to loose flurries of arrows again, but aimed shots from their best archers were another matter. Raphael’s power helped in limiting the damage – and mitigating if not outright undoing some of the Hellish toxins on the arrows – but it still wasn’t replacing our losses nearly as quickly as they were making them. While I couldn’t look away from Gadreel and his opportunistic assault for long, from behind and beside me, I could hear the sounds of despair from some of the host. While Judgment Day had been on everyone’s minds, the cold war mentality had taken hold in many corners, and some of the initial enthusiastic rush to help was turning into a rout. Or it would have, had Gabriel not chosen the site well. Aside from very clearly abandoning the field with powers, which no one had done yet, there was no easy retreat. Everyone was fighting for their lives, and, in some cases, desperation will do in place of morale. It would have to serve here. Even if, technically, none of the Angels would die here, no one wanted to end up with their Grace in the hands of Hell. As I’m certain Iaoel would testify, having that in enemy hands could be worse than dying.
Gadreel lunged, trying to bind my sword with his own again, in hopes one of his allies would take advantage. He pressed in closer this time, trying to put his weight and strength into it so I couldn’t shove him away. I did one better, and smashed my forehead into his face when he leaned too close. He was too quick and too skilled to give me an opportunity to finish him off, despite catching him off guard, but he did stagger enough that I was able to kick him towards some of the hounds. Seeing him trying to pull away from the maddened pack, his technical allies, gave me an idea. Fending off one of the lesser combatants among the Fallen, and a couple of the hounds, I managed to get Gabriel’s attention.
He resumed darting in and out through the ranks, helping where he saw opportunities, blasting the horn when he didn’t, until he reached my spot. “Actually got a plan to get us out of this shit-storm, Tabby?” he shouted.
“We need to stop those arrows. Get them to follow my lead!” It seemed suicidal, and I couldn’t explain further. For Gabriel to hear at all, I had to be shouting. I didn’t expect great results in anything except getting the message out. Gabriel was good at what he did. The others, I was uncertain of. It was possible that they were desperate enough that any hint of a plan might be seen as better than waiting for an arrow with their name on it. On the other hand, I was sure I didn’t inspire a lot of trust. Since I couldn’t communicate the idea, though, I had to try it, and see who followed.
There was a short delay while I fended off three more attackers, getting one leg a bit torn up by a hound’s jaws before I was able to behead it, a few teeth ending up broken off in the wound. I hoped it would be enough time for Gabriel to pass word on. At least Adelaide heard and responded, showing up just behind me. I didn’t know if she’d seen what was to come, or if she just trusted me – but either way, she moved in right behind me, a hand on my shoulder, letting me know she was there and would remain under my protection, whatever came.
As soon as Gabriel returned to my side, I launched into action. I blocked an attack from one of the Fallen, then hit him under the jaw with my off hand, setting him staggering out of my way. Seeing Gadreel, a bit worse for wear, and angry, I charged. When he swung at me, I blocked his blade, and kept coming, burying my shoulder in his chest and driving him backwards. Keeping my blade between him and my body, I just focused on forward momentum, using the big Fallen’s body like the head of a plow, pushing him back through his own ranks, letting his back protect me from counterassault.
Gabriel got the idea quickly enough. Unsurprising, with how many times we’d fought and worked together. He disarmed one of the nearest opponents, taking his hand off at the wrist, and grabbed for his throat, sword coming up under the Fallen’s chin. Instead of killing him, he drove his enemy backwards, driving him into the packs, as I did with Gadreel. Just as I was starting to think ranks would close around me, and someone would drive a blade into my back, or possibly through Adelaide, others followed up. Swords and shields were lowered, and they crashed into the hellions ahead of them, forcing the enemy backwards into their own ranks.
The packs responded exactly as I expected. As soon as the cramped quarters got even more cramped, and bodies started backing into their midst, willingly or no, they attacked, and nothing Samyaza or the other leaders among the Grigori could say was going to stop them. As fearsome and relentless as they were, once they were allowed their bloodlust, the hellhounds weren’t easily reined in.
The tactic could only last so long. We’d gained some room, and the packs were attacking everything in reach, but that still included us, and now we were more vulnerable, further from the walls and in the midst of our enemy. Gabriel and I took to the whirling melee well. The same couldn’t be said for everyone. A couple more of the heavenly host fell, and while significantly more of the enemies dropped under our rush, they had a lot more people to lose, too.
I could hear Michael bellowing. He wasn’t far behind now, fighting his way through the enemy ranks. I had a suspicion that Gabriel didn’t even tell him there was a plan. Regardless, Michael wasn’t going to let others steal his command, or the glory of taking down the enemy leadership. It didn’t matter why he charged, only that he did. His presence also took considerable attention off the rest of us.
Gabriel moved to guard my back as we spun and whirled. Adelaide did a remarkable job staying between us. In the one or two times I dared look at her, her eyes were closed, trusting entirely in her visions in terms of which way to step, and when. Occasionally, she shouted commands, and through that guidance, between us, we managed to always avoid being flanked.
Despite making our backs more vulnerable, and allowing more enemies to get to any of us at once, the greatest benefit of the mad rush was the lack of incoming arrows. As the formerly orderly siege, with defined attackers and defenders turned into a chaotic whirl of blades, no one dared fire their arrows, holding back instead to see if we could be forced back to the wall and pinned again.
Almost no one. Uriel was undaunted, remaining where he was, guarding Raphael and the worst of the wounded – as Raphael quickly made them less wounded, sending whom he could back into the fray – and firing an arrow every few seconds. Though some came remarkably close to his allies, every shot fired found its mark, catching one enemy after another at some vulnerable moment.
Making progress, I was pulled up short when Adelaide screamed. I turned in time to cut down the hound lunging for her, and didn’t see Gabriel any longer. I pushed her back up against one of the side walls, standing in front of her, wings extended back. It pulled me away from most of the rest of the ranks, continuing to try to fight their way forward, with Michael surging up to take his rightful place in their lead, while I focused on protecting Adelaide.
The question of where Gabriel had gone was answered not long after. I found him amidst the fight, squaring off with Kasdaye. If Gadreel felt he was my natural rival, I’d known Kasdaye, “The Covered Hand,” to aim even higher in the ranks after his fall. Like Gadreel, he’d never given up the fight, but he acted as more of an assassin than a warrior, and a teacher of killers. Now, he and Gabriel darted in and out through the fray, chasing one another almost like it was a game. One would disappear, then the other, always trying to gain an advantage. For a moment, and only a moment, I was angry with him for leaving my back open like that, but then I realized that once he’d caught the Hand’s attention, if he didn’t lead him away, Kasdaye would have gone after a strike at Adelaide in order to bait Gabriel. As soon as Gabriel had left us, even with their quarry in sight, Kasdaye had pursued Gabriel instead, buying us some time.
“What the fuck do we do now?” I heard Adelaide shouting behind me, followed quickly by, “Left, left!” I stabbed to the left, driving my sword through one of the Grigori – sadly, not one of the lieutenants, but still, one less combatant, as he turned to smoke around my sword.
“We need to stop Penemue,” I called back, not sure how I could re-enter the fray without leaving her vulnerable again. Good as she was at dodging and weaving now, it would only take one hit.
“Who the fuck is that, and why? Iaoel is more worried about the Samyaza guy.”
I cut down another hound, the death backing away a couple more, with the pack willing to try to pin us and wait it out, or wait for an opening when someone else rushed us. “Michael will deal with Samyaza, he’ll always go for the head. Penemue is their best healer, their Raphael. Not much of a fighter, though. He’ll be behind their archers.” The shouting drew more attention, and three of the Grigori Fallen joined the pack, leery of the hounds, but willing to risk it to be the ones who recovered the keys. Not far away, I could see Gadreel turning one of the others of the host to smoke, finishing off that fight, and turning to come for me again.
We were in trouble, and it didn’t look like we were going to get much help. The fight was a mess – any semblance of structure was lost in the maelstrom of bodies and weapons. “So let’s go get the fucker!” I heard Adelaide respond.
“I can’t leave you.”
“I’ll keep up. Trust me.”
“Trust her,” Gadreel taunted, throwing caution to the wind and coming at me, hounds and Grigori at his heels. He’d been torn up and bloodied by being crashed back into the pack, but it seemed to make him only more eager to return the favor and throw me to the dogs in turn.
“Duck and left,” Adelaide counseled. As he came in, I ducked under his swing and lunged to my left, catching a hellhound off guard, crushing it to the floor, and then beheading its pack mate.
Gadreel tried to recover too quickly, and I was able to parry his next swing, forgoing a return attack in order to smash one of the Grigori accompanying him into the wall. I didn’t have time to run him through as well, but he did drop his weapon when he hit the wall hard enough that the concrete cracked under the impact.
“Tab, right behind you! Go high!” Adelaide yelled. I spun, swinging my blade at chest height. She ducked under it neatly, and I took off the head of the Fallen who was lunging for her, thinking her vulnerable while I dealt with the others. As his head fell away, the rest of him turned to smoke.
I wasn’t quick enough to come back around and fully defend myself from Gadreel, though. I did turn away from the attack enough to receive a wound in my side instead of a crippling blow, but it was still enough to stagger me. It got worse when two hounds followed up, coming in under my sword when I attempted – and failed – to parry Gadreel’s swing. They smashed me to the ground, one going for my throat, the other trying to savage my arm, keeping me from using my weapon. Closing my hand tight around my sword so it wouldn’t be pulled away, I struggled with the one on my arm, while fending off the other with my off-hand on its neck.
Bad as the situation was, it got worse when I saw Gadreel approaching again. “Adelaide, run!” I managed, struggling to fend off both hellhounds and still guard myself from Gadreel’s blade. He raised it high, savoring the moment with an insane glee in his eyes. It turned to a momentary cry of surprise. Adelaide had picked up a downed enemy’s blade and, with both hands and all her weight, lunged with the sword at the Grigori lieutenant.
Of course, with all her strength meant the blade, enchanted or no, had only barely pierced flesh, sticking into his side shallowly. Swords were, as she had recognized, not her strongest inclination. The surprise turned into a grin, and before she could dodge away, he spun, hand closing around her throat. He lifted Adelaide off the ground, holding her up, while she kicked and flailed.
I finally managed to free my sword arm. I couldn’t bring the blade to bear, but, closing my hand around the hilt, I smashed my fist into the side of the head of the hound going for my throat, knocking it away. I started to stab for Gadreel, but the hound that had been fighting for my blade was right back at it, teeth plunging into my arm. Gadreel was just about to stab Adelaide, when I grabbed the blade she’d attacked him with, with my off-hand, and drove it the rest of the way into his body. He dropped Adelaide and turned, looking surprised. He tried to raise his sword one more time, but I twisted the blade in the wound, and he turned to smoke. I dispatched the hound on my arm just in time to fend off the last attacker, who had apparently realized too late he should have been helping, instead of watching his lieutenant at work. “My thanks,” I managed, testing my arm.
Adelaide took advantage of our very brief respite, catching her breath and clutching at her throat. Finally, she responded, just as it looked like our time was about up, and our enemies were noticing Gadreel hadn’t killed us after all. “While he had me up there, I had another vision. I know how to get to the guy you want.”
“Penemue?”
“Yeah, that happy bastard.”
“Then tell me, and get to Raphael.”
“Fuck that! I’m coming with you.”
“There’s too many of them. I can’t protect you there.”
“Yes, you can, Tab. I don’t fucking trust Raphael, just because he smiles nice and does magical Band-Aid shit. I don’t need them. I need you. And you need me to tell you how to kill the healing douche canoe so we can go home, right?”
She needed me. It was one thing Iaoel had never said, no matter how close we got. She wanted me; she loved me; she adored me. But it was never a matter of need, at least not that she was ever willing to admit. If she had, maybe she’d have talked more about the nightmares, let me help her, before she ended up Falling. Adelaide had needed my protection before, plenty of times. But before, she was always ready for all of this to be at an end. Last night, she’d wanted me to stay with her, instead of giving her space. And now, with hope, healing, and protection close by, she was ready to run with me into the lion’s den. “Adelaide…”
“Tab, now! We have to go now! Straight into the ranks!” she pointed, and I charged. The first to engage us were two of the Fallen who’d been here from the start. They’d darted in and out of reach, baiting us and playing games. They readied for my charge, seeking to do likewise, and keep me isolated at the edge of the fight. This time, I had no time or patience for games. When the one on the right brought his sword up, I knocked it out of the way with the sword I’d killed Gadreel with, however temporarily, and ran him through with my own blade. Instead of pulling it free, I turned him about, using him as a shield when his panicked friend chopped downward. I lifted one foot, kicking the Fallen off of the sword and into his friend. They both fell in a heap – so I stabbed my sword through the both of them. One turned to smoke, and the other had the good sense to just stop moving.
“Count to three, and left,” Adelaide called, catching up and pulling herself up close in hopes she could talk without being overheard. I parried one attacker and elbowed another, creating some space, while hearing more hounds pursuing us into the melee. By the time I’d killed yet another Fallen, I hoped it was close enough. I darted left, followed closely by Adelaide. I didn’t even bother fencing with the next attacker, smashing my pommel into his face before rushing past him. As we ran, true to Adelaide’s guidance, the ranks of battle closed behind us as bodies shifted and moved, and the hounds pursuing us ended up contenting themselves with attacking others – both their own forces and our allies. Less than ideal, but I couldn’t stop to help them.
“Four more steps and slide!” Adelaide shouted. Three steps later, Yequon loomed in front of us, a giant of an Angel bearing a two-handed scimitar. He grinned as he saw me coming, readying an attack. At the fourth step, I slid, hearing Adelaide diving to the ground behind me as well. For the barest second, Yequon’s expression was confused, but the sword came up anyway, intending to cut me down before I could slide past. Then, as he took the vulnerable position, one of Uriel’s arrows plunged into his neck, and the Grigori lieutenant staggered backwards and fell, dropping his sword to clutch at the arrow instead.
Three more commands, three more brief fights. I came out of the second a bit worse for wear, l
eaving my torn shirt in the hands of one of the lesser Demons. In the other two, I fared significantly better than my opponents. Adelaide had gotten her share of cuts and bruises on the way, but she’d been right. I’d managed to protect her each time, and, in turn, she kept guiding me through the fight, closer and closer to Samyaza and the archers – and behind them, one of the very few of the healers who’d Fallen, if one of the strongest outside of Raphael.
“Hey, look behind you!” I will admit, Gabriel gave Kasdaye every sporting chance. I don’t think I really blame him for not looking, but it might have spared Kasdaye my sword in his back.
“Hey, Tabby! Great idea. It got half of our guys killed, but it could have been worse, and they’ll be back, eventually. By my count, that’s three of the six, right?”
“And Asbeel will run if it looks bad,” I agreed.
Gabriel grinned. “Yeah, that’s sort of what you get from a guy with the name ‘deserter’.”
Technically, the name meant ‘God has Forsaken,’ and Asbeel wore it proudly, as an expert in leading mortals astray, but it was true he wasn’t known for his courage or prowess. It was all the time for banter we had, as we resumed protecting Adelaide, who guided us through the ranks. There was no easy path now, and every step was a new fight, but together, we made progress.
Whirling and turning about, I could also see we were nearly the only ones who had. The situation would be far worse for us if Michael and a small honor guard hadn’t penetrated nearly as deeply into the field. They were doing a wonderful job holding Samyaza’s attention off of us. Not that it was Michael’s intent, but it worked. Most of the others had been forced back to the original defensive wall, and were reforming around Raphael and Uriel there. Were it not for some of the bodies turning to smoke when killed, the field would have looked far worse. As it was, it was enough of a mess, with wounded, dead monstrosities, and hellhounds scattered all over.
