Val cast a similar spell along the ceiling, drawing on her Shadow magic to make the gloom tangible to such a degree that it could writhe and snap at the Horde fodder with inky black tendrils. The Wretches were pinned down completely, while the child-sized Ilklings were forcibly torn apart by the tentacles. A few of the monsters were even thrown clear to fall on the larger Hordebeasts below.
Weylin and Salima each took one wall to themselves and fired their enhanced whirlwind arrows. Their shots weren’t as explosive as the ballista rounds which my own bow could fire, but they were still powerful enough to punch through multiple armored Wretches on their own. With their Air magic adding a disc of whirling sharp air around each bolt, the effect was almost as good as a fireball or lightning bolt, and unlike our spells, the two archers could fire quickly and repeatedly. With each impact, the diminutive crawlers exploded off the walls in gory chunks.
Karim and Breena added their Lightning magic to help, while the rest of us directed our firepower against the main body of armored monsters. I let loose both of my stored lightning bolts, which passed through the augmentations of my Saga magics, empowered and multiplied by them. I chose to cast them because I figured they would punch through the Horde shield wall more easily than my fireballs would, and by the time I remembered that non-magical shields were unlikely to survive the explosion from Practitioner Ideals anyway, it was too late to change my attack.
But then previously hidden sigils on the Miscreants’ shields flared briefly into view before shattering apart. The pointy-eared monsters behind them screamed, burned, and died as the bolts passed through them, and I was torn between celebrating my subconsciously prescient decision, and cursing over just how infuriatingly thorough this group of Horde had been in preparing to fight me and my people.
At any rate, with the enemy’s shieldwall temporarily disrupted, Petal and Breyn hurled their fireballs into the fray, burning scores of Hordebeasts into crisps with fairy and woad fire. I added my own enchanted blaze into the mix, noticing a hint of draconic power superheating my otherwise normal flames.
Taking advantage of the opening created by the fiery onslaught, Gabin and Karim used the mindlink to coordinate two sheets of burning blue Script symbols, catching the Hordebeasts on the ceiling and floor. Breena continued cycling through her Air, Lightning, and Fairy magic to incinerate the still-moving forms attempting to scamper along the two walls, thankfully clearing most of the lesser beasts moving to threaten our flanks.
In our previous battles, such an explosive defense would have been enough to throw an army of charging Horde into a total panic. If they didn’t rout completely, the front line at the very least would collapse and collide with the still-charging mass of bodies behind it as the panicked vanguard sought to scamper away.
But this time, even that didn’t happen. Not with the Horde on the ground.
The monsters uttered guttural cries of encouragement to each other and forced their way through the storm of magic and death.
I tried to take a quick count of their numbers as the smoke and crackling energy cleared. We had been firing all manner of explosive energies down into an unbroken hallway. It should have been the perfect kill box. It had been the perfect kill box, in the past. I had slaughtered hundreds of monsters in the exact same conditions before even leaving Avalon, well before I had even figured out how to enhance my Ideal magics with my Saga magics.
Yet we had killed less than half of the densely packed Hordebeasts charging in our direction, even after trapping them in knee-deep mud, firing off all of our signature spells, and transforming the floor into blue fire with Script magic. Most of the casualties had been the shield-bearing Miscreants, whose job was to take oncoming fire anyway.
That was unfortunate, but there was nothing to do about it except to start casting magic the old-fashioned way, complete with the hand gestures and everything, and see how many of the stupid things we could kill before they tried to overwhelm us with sheer numbers.
We got two more volleys off before the remnants closed the distance to us. Both of those detonations killed far fewer Hordebeasts than our opening salvo had, despite the fact that my Saga magics were still augmenting our blasts.
Even with their armor and strange wards, we should have burnt through most of them. But now they were close enough that I could see oily plumes emitting from their bodies as our magics burned into them. The greasy tendrils lingered until a fireball or some other magical effect passed through them, then vanished.
And they evidently took part of that spell’s power with them as they dissipated, unless I missed my guess.
That was all kinds of bad news, but there was no time to dwell further on the oddity, because the ugly creatures were now within the range of blades and spears.
Our magic wall helped greatly. The thin sheet of Script wards covering the rock flared with arcane fire as the remaining Miscreants impacted it, searing them and sending up more oily, billowing smoke. That was an uncomfortable, irritating distraction, but it was still better than having thousands upon thousands of pounds’ worth of bodies slam directly into us.
Unfortunately, the wall was only waist-high, so our shield wall still had to deflect the weapons of the survivors. We shrugged off the much-reduced force, adjusted our shields, and began hacking into every part of our enemies that reached over the shield wall.
I used Toirneach comfortably in the space, since it was a high-impact weapon that I could easily swing over my head without interfering with Breyn or Eadric. The Woadland axe hacked right through a Miscreant’s mail-clad arm, and as the enemy dropped, I swung again and crunched through a Mongrel’s helmet.
Every now and then, when my Lightning magic activated through my weapon, a small plume of that same strange, oily smoke would drift out of the monster’s wound before dissipating quickly.
A third Mongrel, one bigger than the rest, pushed his way toward me and swung his cleaver in a two-handed overhead swing. My shield caught it, and then the monster tried to push his full weight into me and knock me out of position.
I grunted, let the monster slide me back a single inch, then coiled as much power into my legs as possible and shoved back. My own push sent the massive ape man staggering back three steps, where he collided into two Miscreants. The three monsters tumbled down in a pile that broke the ranks of the remaining onslaught. Gabin exploited that opening by stabbing his spear over the wall and into the scrabbling monsters closest to us, clearing the last of our immediate attackers.
We had a moment to breathe without being attacked, and I realized that the balance of power in the fight had finally turned. The Hordebeasts were still committed, despite their horrible casualties, but by now, there were so many bodies on the floor that they were having trouble picking their way through the mounds of bloody flesh to reach us.
I heard shifting behind me as Salima and Weylin maneuvered to fire their arrows into the stragglers picking their way toward us. As they fell, Breena, Petal, and Karim gained the room they needed to fire their Lightning and Fire magics again, illuminating the dim passage once more.
A guttural cry sounded from the depths of the hallway. Between the flashes of fire and lightning, I could see glimpses of Horde forms falling back.
But it wasn’t a panicked run. It was an orderly retreat. They were careful not to collide with each other, and about half of the survivors were able to turn the corner and escape from our line of fire. I tried to figure out just how many that had been.
Thirty, Val sent over the mindlink. Thirty got away. Twenty Miscreants, ten of those ape-men things.
I turned to look at her in surprise, and found her staring off into the distance, tilting her head as if she could see through the walls and around the corner.
Another new Shadow spell, she explained, sounding a little embarrassed. It lets me track creatures through their shadows. I kind of tested it in the middle of combat. Because after that one other spell I cast, there was like nothing else for me to do that en
tire fight.
Huh, I thought quietly to myself, that’s right.
The wall had worked well to keep us from being overwhelmed, but Val was still the shortest non-fairy in the group—shorter than even Breena in my familiar’s tallest form. She couldn’t really reach around us with any of her blades, and unlike Salima or Weylin, she didn’t really have the angle or skill to fire over our heads to impact the general melee.
I hate being short, she complained in the mindlink as she kept turning her head to scry our fleeing enemies.
Gosh, me too! Petal spoke up as she bobbed in the air.
I know! Breena chimed in. Sometimes it’s just the worst!
Yeah, well, you two can also fly, Val grumbled. At any rate, they’re falling back to some place deep within the tunnels… if I concentrate, I can make out a little of the shadows around them…
She squinted, and her pupils expanded to an eerie size.
It’s hazy, but I think they’ve retreated to the Pit itself… to trap us? No, she corrected herself, her realization leaking through the mindlink. More shadows are emerging from the Pit… bigger ones… they’re not just hunkering down… they’re reinforcing… and quickly, she added, and her pupils shrunk to normal size. She blinked repeatedly and shook her head. Sorry… it’s hard to manage for more than a minute or so… which probably makes it a really bad tracking spell… but I think the Pit just threw a bunch of fodder at us so that it could get the time it needed to bring more powerful tools into play.
I had no idea if that was the case, but it was theoretically possible, and I could tell that the Horde-fighting veterans in my team all felt the same.
It was a bad sign, however, since it meant that whatever was coming was worse than a small army’s worth of basic Horde. In fact, the force we had just dealt with would probably have been enough to occupy Mejem all on its own, if the Malus Members had been able to neutralize any local champions. Heck, we almost were unable to oppose it, a group of heroes all with Practitioner rankings in our skills and roughly thirty Rises to each of our names. If it hadn’t been for the quick coordination we had performed through the mindlink, they might have overwhelmed us.
But if Val was right, then that force had been thrown at us as a sacrifice so that a more powerful tool could be brought to bear.
And if they had fallen back to fortify the tool, then maybe they were still trying to buy the Pit more time to bring yet another tool into play, which meant that every second we spent resting and recovering mana wasn’t worth it.
Through the mindlink, I felt Karim, Eadric, and Gabin work through the same thought process that I had, prepare to advise me, and then realize that I had come to the same conclusion.
We don’t have time to rest, I announced, wincing as I did so. I had made this same exact decision in the past, and regretted it, but right now, it felt like the right call—to myself and to several others. We need to get closer, at the very least, and see if they are still growing stronger.
They probably were, given the tendency of the Pits to suddenly summon more Horde when I was around, and the degree to which they apparently feared me now.
In fact… a small worry popped into my mind, one that I didn’t voice, and one that Teeth actually tried to shush with superstitious intensity, it was so horrifying. It was unfounded, anyway.
We moved onward. Val and the fairies took point, but no further traps awaited us. As we ran, I wondered to myself just how the Pits worked. Were they able to treat their environments like magical dungeons, and make changes on the fly? Did they have a finite amount of power? Why was this one so much stronger than the others I had faced?
I couldn’t give myself any answers as we wound our way through the last of the tunnels, speeding past all the side rooms containing Horde storage. We would return to examine them more thoroughly after the Pit was destroyed, but our passing scans indicated that they were surprisingly bare, given the number of Horde we had already encountered. I’d have to get to the bottom of that as well, but at present, all of our enemies were still congregated in the last room.
The final hallway leading into the Pit chamber was massive, larger than any of the ones we had destroyed before, sealed by two great black iron doors that were probably barred on the other side. It didn’t make sense for a Pit this size to be attached to a normal, slightly under-run city in the region.
Yes, it does, Teeth countered uncomfortably in my mind.
What do you mean? I demanded. This is way bigger than the Pits near the Woadlands or the ones inside the Horde war ships. And how would you know, anyway?
Aegrim’s blood, remember? my inner dragon snapped at me. I’m not proud of it, but I’ve got a handful of memories from him that awaken every now and then, and one of them involves the output of a Horde Pit. This one is well in line with what would be generated by the resources from a population center this size. The ones we encountered on Avalon and the Woadlands weren’t nearly this big, because those worlds had much, much smaller population clusters. The only thing that seems low here is the number of Hordebeasts, but that’s because they didn’t immediately feed everyone in the city to it. But for the record? The only reason we haven’t been seeing ten times the number of Hordebeasts is because they’ve had to share the conquered populations with all the other assholes they’re working with.
That was terrifying news. I shuddered as I stared at the massive double doors barring our way, while trying to figure out the best way to open them and face the monsters on the other side.
You don’t know the half of it, Teeth continued. I know we’ve made the Horde seem like an infestation of disgusting, putrid chumps, and, well, they are. But there’s a reason Stell’s people have learned to fear them so much over the years. I’m honestly surprised that they’ve submitted so thoroughly to the Malus Members, and curbed so many of their urges around them. Maybe it’s because they fear Cavus…or maybe something else is going on…
I stopped myself from sighing. I was experiencing far too many uncomfortable thoughts at a moment when far more urgent problems required my concentration.
Like getting this damned door opened in a way that wouldn’t expose us to an immediate kill box of fireball-throwing Spawn.
Hey, Val spoke up again, I went and did the rogue thing, where I check the door for traps and see if it’s locked? Well, the answer is yes, and yes. Karim said he spotted some kind of sigil trap, and Eadric helped me find the trigger that had been Shaped into it. I was able to disarm both, and now I know how to do that in the future. This is way more fun than huddling in a tunnel behind all you guys, by the way, she added, then ducked her head when she saw how serious everyone still was. Sorry. Back on track. The door can’t, uh, kill anyone now, but it’s still locked, or more specifically, barred with a metal pole on the other side. Since I don’t know how to fix that yet, I stopped there and figured I should just check with you on what you want me to do next.
Okay, I said, good job on clearing the traps. Is there a way you can use your shadow sight and look beyond the door, so we can see what the enemy is doing? Like you sort of did before?
Um, yeah, the short Asian girl said as she blinked in surprise. I should have thought of that. Sorry, first door job.
You’re doing great, actually, I assured my adopted sister as I turned my attention to the rest of my retinue. Karim was muttering a Script spell that appeared as though it would lend him the ability to read the active energies on the other side of the door. A moment later, it activated, and I saw his pupils roam across a rectangular blue screen in front of his face.
Got it, Val sent to me, and I turned my attention back to her. She wore an expression similar to Karim’s, in that she was staring intently, though her pupils had once again expanded to unnatural proportions. Whole bunch of figures standing around… about five that are Spawn-sized… and over a dozen that are shorter than Spawn, but taller than the Mongrels… I think those are Howlers… wait, more figures are coming. Another dozen Howlers just emerged
from the center of the room. Two of the Spawn are facing the door, but the rest are just surrounding the center of the room. They look like they’re channeling something.
They are, Karim confirmed as the small screen in front of his face disappeared. They are enacting some kind of summoning ritual. The Pit is not merely creating more Hordebeasts on the spot. It is actively allowing them to summon more Horde from somewhere else… and possibly something more.
Damn it, I thought, remembering the earlier worry I had smashed out of my skull.
This was definitely something more than just an influx of Hordebeasts. Even taking the Spawn and Howlers into account, the force in the next room shouldn’t be any stronger than the creatures we had just slaughtered our way through. I didn’t know what it could possibly be, though, and there was no time to keep speculating.
Knives in the Night Page 18
