The Memphis Knights

by Phillip Drayer Duncan

  I glanced back at Uriah and saw one of the skinny ones moving in for the kill. Raising my sword, I hurled it across the distance, sinking the blade into the demon’s chest. Before it had a chance to turn to goo, I summoned my sword back to my hand and slammed it through the neck of the wolf-scorpion I’d de-tailed moments earlier.

  A spider-centipede tried to sneak up on my flank, but when I turned to face it, it skittered away.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another purple blob headed my direction and dove to the side. This one missed, which was good, because I wasn’t sure how many direct shots my shield could withstand. Maybe none.

  A second mage appeared then. He slid off the back of a skinny one and took up a position just behind the other mage. Reaching into his robes, the wizard withdrew a spell book and began flipping through the pages.

  As a general rule, when you’re in battle with a wizard and they take the time to pull out their spell book, there’s a good chance they’re about to summon something really nasty.

  He started chanting in a language I didn’t understand while waving his little black wand out in front of him. I had no idea what manner of spell he intended but I was reasonably sure I wanted to stop him. I was still surrounded by a horde of pissed off demons, though, so my options were limited. And more of the bastards were closing in on me. Apparently, they knew they needed to buy their mage friend some time, so they all charged me at once, and from every side.

  This was it. I wouldn’t have to worry about the mage’s spell because there was no way I could stop all the demons at once.

  A sharp pop filled my ears and white light blinded my eyes.

  Lightning.

  It struck the demon nearest me, jumped to the next, and on to the next, chaining from demon to demon.

  For a moment, the creatures were stunned.

  I didn’t waste the opportunity.

  I hacked through the beasts like a machete through thick brush, tearing them apart with extreme prejudice.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I saw another figure appear through the fog, and it all began to make sense.

  Axel.

  Of course it was fucking Axel.

  I charged toward the dark wizards then, still slashing at random demon parts to try and clear myself a path.

  The first mage raised his wand again, no doubt planning to fire another purple bolt in my direction. He never got the chance. Instead, he screamed, and something tore out the front of his chest, just like the woman before. Only this time it wasn’t a demon’s hand, but instead, what appeared to be a sharp icicle. The mage screamed and fell forward, revealing a woman in a black dress behind him.

  Eilidh dove back into the gray as the skinny one protecting the other mage darted after her, leaving me a clear shot at the mage who was still working out his big spell.

  I still didn’t know what he was planning to cast, but I could feel the magical energy swirling all around us now. I won’t pretend I wasn’t a little bit curious, but I was okay not knowing.

  I hurled my sword at him.

  Drynwyn’s blade slammed right through the spell book and into his chest.

  The mage went down.

  And four more summoners appeared at the edge of the fog. Three rode the backs of wolf-scorpions while the fourth the slid off the back of a skinny one.

  The one on the ground took one look at his fallen companions then back toward me. Two of the mages behind him raised their wands and pointed at the corpses of their fellows. They each hurled a purple blob of fire at their dead companions. As the flames struck, the bodies went up immediately. In moments, there was nothing left except ash.

  Then the mages turned their attention back on me.

  I summoned my sword back to my hand and prepared to face them.

  I’d been lucky against the first two but now I wasn’t alone. I didn’t know how skilled Eilidh was as a battle mage, but she seemed like she could hold her on. And Axel was somewhere behind me. For all his ridiculousness, my best friend was hell on wheels in a scrap.

  However, before we could engage, something else happened.

  Uriah’s voice boomed above the chaos. He shouted, “Knights! To me!”

  There was a bright flash of light and the gray mist began to burn away. Like a match to a fuse, it spread, disintegrating and clearing the fog around us. The demons hiding in its depths were revealed. The chaos and destruction they’d rained across the ballroom could be seen now as well. And other people. Some trying to hide. Others simply standing in the middle of floor, unsure what else to do.

  And I could see that all the remaining demons were moving around us in a wide circle. Beyond them, though, I noticed something else. A group of Knights was huddled in a circle, their backs to each other. I picked out Tooter’s form immediately, and upon hearing Uriah’s cry, they looked our direction.

  And they weren’t the only Knights in the bubble still standing. I saw two more, back to back, between some upturned tables. Three more stood in a semi-circle with an injured comrade at their feet. Another group of six stood in a protective ring around a group of civilians.

  And it wasn’t just the Knights who were revealed. There were other supernatural beings who’d been hiding their true nature during the party. They weren’t now.

  Near one wall was a pack of dogs. Three lay dead on the ground but another seven stood. Clearly, they were lycanthropes of the lesser variety. Still, they’d stood their own against the demons thus far.

  Back near the dance floor was another group I pegged as vampires. It’s hard to say why exactly, but once you’ve seen enough suck-faces, they tend to stick out. They were armed with a variety of guns and knives.

  There was another group I figured for elves. I hadn’t spent enough time around elves, but these were tall, thin, and wielding daggers. Whatever their type, they were certainly fighters.

  A few other armed groups were trapped in the dome as well, but I didn’t really have time to study them.

  The sweet sound of a battle cry roared from the Knights, and they started toward us from every direction. Each of them carried a sword like Uriah’s. Some had guns as well. They were dressed as bikers and looked like they were on their way to a bar fight at the Ren Faire, but goddammit, they were the Memphis Knights. They were demon hunters and they were really pissed.

  Chapter 26

  The dark wizards watched the Knights charging toward them, then shared a glance with one another. I couldn’t see the expressions hidden under their hoods, but I like to think they each had an ‘oh fuck’ kind of look.

  I started toward them again, grinning like a maniac. The tables had turned. Axel was here. Vittoria was with him as well, a gun in her hand. Eilidh was off to one side, her staff held before her. And the Knights were coming.

  “What’s wrong, guys?” I asked as I summoned more energy to my staff. “Not feeling so confident all of a sudden?”

  “You think clear skies will save you, Blade Mage?” the one on foot asked. The arrogance in his voice only served to fuel the flames burning in my own skull. The more he spoke, the angrier I got. “Look at the destruction and chaos we leave in our wake. Look at the dead and dying all around you. Do you not see?”

  “Oh, I see it,” I replied, and hurled my sword at him.

  As I raised my arm, Drynwyn transitioned into a perfectly balanced throwing knife. As it slammed into what I assume was his forehead, it transitioned into a longsword, like what the Knights carried. The blade rammed right through the dark mage’s skull and buried to the hilt.

  Speaking to the dead mage’s fellows, I said, “Look at the smoldering goo piles that were once your pet demons. Look at the corpses of your brethren I’ve slain. I, too, leave chaos and destruction in my wake. I’m the Blade Mage, boys and you’re all fucked.”

  Then I dove to the side as the inevitable attack came. I knew my magic shield couldn’t withstand a hit from all of them at once, but I’d managed to buy just a little more time. The Knights were closi
ng in.

  A torrent of magical energy pounded the ground around me. I rolled again and summoned my sword back to my hand. As soon as I was on my feet, I swung my blade through the face of an incoming spider-centipede.

  The demons swarmed all around me. Now I was their primary target. Despite their big talk, the dark wizards had ordered all their lapdog demons at me. I guess they were afraid. Good.

  Then Uriah appeared beside me. He swung his massive sword through the chest of a skinny one and kicked its legs out from under it.

  Tooter’s hulking form charged past Uriah and slammed into one of the centipede-spider-smooch-face demons and knocked it to the ground. Raising his sword over his head in a two-handed grip, he slammed the blade through the creature’s skull like he was chopping wood.

  The other Knights closed the gap as well and put their blessed swords to work, the very work they were made for.

  Eilidh moved alongside me. Ice formed around the tip of her staff and took the shape of a scythe, which she promptly slammed into the neck of a wolf-scorpion. The creature howled and flicked its stinger at her, but Eilidh rolled clear. When she came back up, an icicle had formed on the end of her staff like a spear. She rammed it into the creature’s rib cage. Somehow it still stood.

  I realized two things then.

  First, the demons were much tougher than I’d realized. Uriah and I had been slaying them left and right with our magic swords, however, for anyone else, they didn’t go down so easy. It was amazing anyone had managed to survive at all while they were on the prowl and hunting through the fog. If not for Drynwyn, they’d have killed me several times over.

  Second, Eilidh was a badass.

  I stepped in and slashed my sword against the demon’s haunches, forcing it to the ground. Eilidh fired an icicle from the tip of her staff and slammed it into the creature’s eye. I finished it with a quick jab between the ribs.

  The Knights surged forward, forcing the demons into a U-shape to protect the remaining three mages. Despite their success, the going was slow. Even with their magical swords, the Knights were disciplined. They weren’t half as reckless as me. Still, the three mages dismounted and allowed their wolf-scorpions to join the fray in front of them, adding another layer of protection.

  One of the mages stood back behind the other two and began swirling his wand in front of his face while chanting. He didn’t have a spell book out, but I still got the impression he was up to something nasty.

  One of the others hurled a blob of pink energy at one of shimmering Knights. It hit him near the chest and there was a shattering pop sound as the Knight’s magic shield snapped.

  The second mage hurled a cone-shaped blast of black energy that ripped right through the Knight’s chest, killing him instantly and leaving a giant hole through his torso.

  I turned to Eilidh and yelled over the chaos, “We’ve got to do something about the wizards!”

  “What, though?” she asked.

  “I haven’t worked that bit out yet,” I replied. “But it involves killing them.”

  Eiildh shrugged and turned toward the dark mages. Raising her staff, she summoned a parking cone sized icicle and hurled it at one of the two mages. It shattered against his magical shield.

  In reply, the mage fired a raw burst of energy back. It ripped right through Eilidh’s own shield, knocking her to the ground.

  Fearing they’d try to finish her off like they did the Knight, I stepped in front of her and fired a basic ball of energy at the one who’d struck her. I didn’t have a clear shot, or I would’ve thrown my sword, but there was a good chance I would’ve stuck it in one of the demons instead. I was really just trying to get the attention back on me.

  It worked.

  Two hooded faces turned my direction and both raised their wands. I braced for impact.

  A bolt of lightning struck the ground between them. The impact shimmered against their shields but didn’t harm either. However, it did get their attention.

  Then one of the Knights, a small and lithe female, slipped between the demons and charged at the dark mages. In my head, I was cheering her onward like she was a running back breaking through the middle.

  She closed the distance incredibly quick and raised her sword before either mage could react. Unfortunately, the mage in the back decided that was the moment to unleash the spell he’d been working on.

  A swirling mass of black smoke appeared between the front two mages and shot forward, growing as it went, and taking shape. Blasts of purple lightning jumped through the rotation as it continued to grow. Taking shape, the black magic tornado hit the knight head on. I lost sight of her for only a moment, then her body was flung out the other side. She flew right over the top of my head and landed with a thud some ways behind us.

  I risked a glance back and saw that she was moving, though clearly in pain. I couldn’t worry about her just yet.

  I turned back in time to see the tornado had grown bigger still. Now the size of a compact car, it was smacking both demons and Knights out of its way as it grew. Of course, the demons shrugged it off and hopped back to their feet immediately. The Knights were a bit slower on the recovery and some weren’t getting back up.

  The caster maintained perfect control and each time a Knight tried to move in, he’d push the tornado closer into their path. Their pet demons moved to either side of it and mostly began avoiding it. And still it grew larger. I couldn’t even see the mages hiding behind it anymore.

  Eilidh raised her staff and cast a blue sparkling stream of energy at the tornado. My guess was that she was trying to de-construct the magic that was holding the whole mess together.

  Axel appeared on my other side and raised his drumbsticks as well.

  Without a better plan of action, I reached out my senses toward the tornado, trying to get a read on the construction of the spell myself. It was no use. Much like the symbols before, I couldn’t get a lock on it. It was too much. Too much power moving too fast. I was out of my league. Still, I tried to push some of my own energy in the way, hoping that between the three of us maybe we could slow it down. The mage’s spell slapped my magical energy away like it was nothing. It was like pushing a pedestrian in front of a semi-truck and hoping they could stop the big rig in its tracks. Utterly pointless.

  And still it got bigger. I was pretty sure it could take out a small house at this point. It sounded like a train thrumming across the tracks. Even from a safe distance, the wind was incredibly strong. If we didn’t do something pretty quick, we were toast.

  “Can’t stop it,” Axel yelled, glancing my direction.

  “Me either,” Eilidh said from my other side. “What do we do?”

  I weighed our options. They were all shit.

  The problem was simple, really. A bit like a game of Paper, Rock, Scissors. The demons were plenty capable of killing my fellow mages. However, the Knights were trained to kill demons. Sure, most had never faced a demon, much less a horde like this, but still, they were trained demon slayers. But the dark mages could kill the Knights. Which brought it back around to us. We just needed to be scissors. Simple, right?

  That gave me an idea.

  I glanced between my wizard allies and asked, “What if you didn’t try to completely destroy the spell? What if you just tried to weaken a small portion, or move it a bit?”

  Axel and Eilidh looked at each other then back to me. Axel said, “I think I could probably weaken a small portion of it.”

  “And I could probably scoot it,” Eilidh said, shrugging. “But the dark mage will just move it back where he wants.”

  A moment wasn’t long. But a moment was all I needed. I grinned. “I’ve got a really good idea.”

  Chapter 27

  This was a really bad idea.

  I mean, it had sounded good in my head at the time, but as I sprinted straight toward the black swirling magic tornado, it occurred to me that I wasn’t nearly as clever as I liked to think. If I was a smarter man, I’m sure I wou
ld’ve thought of a better idea, but no one ever accused me of being exceptionally intelligent. I have been known to be something of a wrecking ball, though, and that was the trait I was relying on.

  I ran straight at the heart of the big churning bastard.

  Just as I was about to make contact, the whole storm shifted a couple of feet to one side. Eilidh’s part was done. Now it was down to Axel.

  Running face first into the swirling black, I couldn’t see past my own nose. Gale force winds slammed into my body, staggering me. For a moment, I thought I would go down but managed to keep my feet even as debris ripped across my face. I pushed forward.

  Pink flashes of lightning danced around me. I didn’t want to think what would happen if one struck me. I just kept moving my feet, one after the other. My life was in Axel’s hands, then.

  As always, Axel came through.

  The wind was ferocious, but he’d weakened a small section. Just enough for me to slip through without getting dragged into beast. He made me a doorway through the eye of a tornado. If I managed to survive, I knew I’d never hear the end of it.

  And then I was through.

  With the tornado between us and them, the mages had allowed their demons to spread out to the flanks. I had a clear path to them.

  I descended on them with the wrath of a vengeful god... Or at least the crotchety annoyance of a really grumpy wizard.

  Running directly at the two in the front, I raised Drynwyn and hurled it at the mage on the left. Once again it turned into a throwing knife as I threw, but transformed into a longsword right before it slammed into his chest.

  The mage on the right had a chance to kill me then, but he made the mistake so many mages make when they’re engaged in battle with another wizard. He expected me to raise my staff and attack him with magic, thus he focused on raising his shield. Instead, I lowered my shoulder and hit him like a linebacker blitzing a quarterback.

  Completely unprepared for my attack, I drove him straight back into the remaining mage behind him. They both hit the floor, but I was still on top of the one I tackled.