Citadel of Demons

by William King

  “What is?”

  Their spirits become food for the Lord of Skulls, their flesh for us.

  Balthazar looked at her. Did she mean the sandfolk were cannibals? If so how did they eat? Would he be expected to participate? That might prove interesting. “Food?”

  Our bodies can only recycle our wastes so often. We need to find other nutrients some time.

  “Good to know. How far can you broadcast your thoughts?” Balthazar asked. Knowing this would be useful if he had to fight or flee. Nexali smiled as if, once again, she understood what he was thinking. How deeply could she read his unwarded mind?

  It depends on the strength of the sender and his symb. Some can send for a thousand strides. Some can barely cover a hundred. You are a powerful sorcerer so you should be able to send far. Usually strength in one correlates with strength in the other.

  “Can you broadcast a message across the desert?”

  It is possible to set up a relay of scouts but usually we send sandray riders. They can move swiftly.

  Balthazar considered this for a moment. It was a good thing to know. The sand demons were far more organised than anyone gave them credit for. There was an adapted society out here in the barrens. In some ways, it was better organised than his own people were. He wondered what would be said if he made that knowledge public.

  “Are all the camps as large as this one?”

  Some are larger.

  “There must be thousands of your people out here in the desert.”

  There are more than that.

  “Why have you not formed an army to sweep away the outlanders?”

  Because we are divided up into many warring clans. Not all of them worship Xothak. Many still cleave to the memory of Xayal and the things he taught.

  The woman seemed to be so open; he wondered where the deception lay. She was telling him all the strengths and weaknesses of her people and he could not help but wonder why. What deceit was going on here?

  “You have enemies among these clans?”

  You should know how it is. People like us always have enemies.

  “When I have completed my mission, you will have the power to deal with them.”

  That is one reason why we aid you. Xothak has spoken of you in my dreams. The day is coming when you will be like unto a god. We want to stand well in your gaze when that happens.

  Balthazar liked the sound of that, but once again, he found himself wondering how much of it was flattery intended to get him to lower his guard. Perhaps none of it was. Perhaps these people were exactly as they seemed and they believed in his destiny. If that was the case, Xothak had placed a powerful weapon within his hands. Fragments of his dream returned to him. This was all part of the Lord of Skulls plan.

  “Rest assured that if you aid me well now, I will aid you in the future. Whatever is within my power to do for you, will be done.”

  We expect no less of you. Once again Balthazar sensed mockery behind her thoughts. If he achieved his goal, he would be very useful to Nexali as a puppet. It was a fate he must do his best to avoid. When the great day came, they would see who bent the knee to whom.

  Balthazar sensed movement behind him. He made to swing his head. His point of view swivelled until he was looking behind him. He saw that a sand person had entered the chamber and stood waiting. The sensation was vertigo-inducing. It took him a moment to stop his head from spinning and for the dizziness to recede.

  What is it? The mental voice was Nexali’s.

  Mistress, our scouts have sighted a party of outlanders traversing the barrens from the direction of their Helgard settlement. There are at least threescore of them. They have passed beyond the Beacon and into the lands of our people. Our scouts wish to know what we should do.

  Balthazar said, “That will be the accursed Guardian. He intends to hound me to my death.”

  Then we shall have to kill him first. Send a message to the scouts. We will assemble in force and wipe these outlanders from the face of the desert. Until then, keep them under surveillance.

  As you say, mistress. He hesitated for a moment.

  What is it? Spit it out! Nexali said.

  The outlanders are also being stalked by the Emerald Swarm, mistress. A few of their scouts trail the wagons too.

  We shall just have to beat them to the prey then. We shall have the outlanders’ blood and flesh, not our enemies.

  This seemed to please the Blighted One. As you say, mistress.

  The newcomer vanished to take word to his companions.

  Balthazar sensed the babbling pulse of thoughts around him as the sandfolk communicated. It was too swift and intense for him to follow and he began to sense the accumulated emotion behind it. The sandfolk were eager and angry.

  Nexali made a chopping gesture with her hand and broadcast a powerful thought. The babble ended. Only her mental voice remained.

  They shall soon have blood and flesh to give to their symb and make them stronger.

  “I hope so,” said Balthazar.

  You shall have one of my sandrays. We shall ride out and destroy your enemy.

  Balthazar thought about what she had said about the numbers of the sand people, and about their strength and their poisons. If he was pursued, the Blighted Ones would soon put an end to his foes. He wanted to be there to witness that.

  * * *

  As the early morning sun lit the sky, Balthazar dismounted from the sandray. The thing had carried him through the night in the wake of the raiders. Riding it had been a strange sensation. When he grabbed the eyestalks, he could sense the creature, give it directions, and command its movements. It became almost an extension of his body. As he had surmised, there was a link between the sand people and their beasts.

  Now he stood high atop the mesa. He found it difficult to hunker down. The symb made bending from the waist harder. He saw the caravan of Sunlanders organise for travel below them. The distance was great but there were ways to compensate for it. He increased the range of his vision, like a man adjusting the focus of a telescope. The symbs were useful for many things.

  He saw a familiar tall figure astride a horse. Zamara, the Admiral from Siderea. He rode beside a wagon on which sat the Guardian Kormak and the pirate woman, Rhiana. Not even the sight of the bandage wrapped round the Aquilean’s head gave Balthazar any satisfaction. Despite all his self-control, fear surged in Balthazar’s gut. They had come after him. They were not going to give up.

  Those are your enemies? Nexali asked.

  “They most certainly are.”

  Once enough of my people have gathered, they will trouble you no longer.

  “That cannot happen soon enough for my liking.”

  You fear them so much?

  “I fear one of them so much.”

  Any man can be killed when attacked in sufficient numbers.

  “I thought the same in the past and yet still he pursues me.”

  He will not leave this desert alive.

  “He has the luck of a devil.”

  Everyone’s luck has to run out sometime.

  “How long till your warriors arrive.”

  I have summoned all who are loyal to me. I would have preferred to attack at night, but since you fear this man so much, I will take no chances of him escaping. As soon as the People are here in overwhelming numbers, we will attack.

  Was she mocking him, Balthazar wondered? Worse, was she right to? He thought about ordering the attack now. Then he considered his previous encounters with the Guardian. Best take no chances.

  “Do as you wish, but kill them,” Balthazar said.

  They are beginning to move off. We must follow! Our warriors will find the trail and catch us up.

  Chapter Eight

  Kormak narrowed his eyes. The wind was picking up, driving grit into them. Buzzards soared overhead. At other times, he saw things that made him think of manta rays. These flew much lower, skimming just above ground. At times, he felt certain there were humanoid figures crouch
ed on their backs. All the soldiers glanced around nervously. The sight of the strange monsters left them uneasy.

  The expedition moved along a narrow defile. It seemed to once have been a riverbed although it must have been a very long time since water flowed here. The sides were sloped and narrow but the surface underfoot was a smoother track for the wagons to pass along.

  “You sure you remember this?” Kormak asked Anders.

  The mercenary nodded. “This is the way we came. We passed a rock in which Gregor scratched a rune. I saw it. Don’t worry. We’ll get to where we’re going.”

  “I am glad you are so confident.”

  “Believe me, this was not a journey I could ever forget.”

  Rhiana looked at him with some sympathy. “You lost a lot of people out here, didn’t you?”

  Anders gave a soft laugh. “The company contained pretty much everybody I had known for the past twenty years. They were more than my friends, they were my family.”

  He paused for a moment and looked down at his feet. “We were happy when we came along here the first time. It sounds strange. We weren’t scared. We didn’t know what was waiting for us. We thought we were going to be rich.”

  “You did get rich,” Kormak said.

  “Yeah and everybody else got dead. If I could swap the gold the governor gave us to get them back, I would. I would even throw in the little bit I had saved before that.”

  Kormak was surprised to hear Anders admit as much. The mercenary seemed so hard-bitten. Still you could never tell with soldiers. He had heard it said that they did not fight for king and country. They fought for each other. The bonds of having shed blood together were woven very tight.

  “You think we’ll get rich this time?” Rhiana said. She wanted to find a silver lining in all of this.

  “You never know. We never really had time to explore much of the city before we were attacked. It was an awesome place. Who knows what treasures we might find there?”

  “I am more concerned by what might attack us,” Kormak said. “Tell us again about these monsters.”

  “They were different from the demons we fought in the desert. They were like walking statues of moulded brass, things of moving metal, like suits of armour and glass granted a life of their own.”

  “You are sure there were not men inside? It might just have been magical armour.”

  “I smashed the head off one. There was nothing inside the helmet except crystals and runes and wires. The thing was a construct animated by dark magic.”

  “That sounds most likely,” Kormak said.

  “Most people shudder when I tell them that.”

  Rhiana held up a hand. “Wait!”

  “What is it?” Kormak asked.

  She frowned. “There’s something out there. A lot of somethings.”

  “Sand demons still?” Anders said. “They’ve been following us. They have some connection with those sandrays we keep seeing.”

  “These are definitely not friendly. There’s a lot of angry creatures out there, and they are coming closer.”

  Kormak glanced around. The dry riverbed was a great spot for an ambush. They could be caught from either side with the enemy above them. The exit was perhaps five hundred strides ahead where an island of boulders rose above the desert.

  “How close?” Kormak asked.

  “Very and getting closer.”

  “Admiral Zamara,” Kormak shouted. “We need to get out of here now.”

  He vaulted onto the seat beside Rhiana, offered Anders a hand up and said, “Go now. Fast as you can. Get out of here!”

  “What if it’s nothing,” Anders asked.

  “I’d rather look like an idiot than be dead,” Kormak said. “How about you?”

  “Well, when you put it that way…”

  The wagon rumbled forward, bouncing a little as it picked up speed. The oxen trotted nervously, nostrils flaring as if they scented something. More than ever Kormak was convinced that Rhiana was right. Something was out there and it meant them harm.

  The carts behind them picked up speed, raising dust as they went. The soldiers began to run.

  “Oi!” Sergeant Terves shouted. “Keep together. Those of you who can get on the carts, do so. The rest of you bloody well keep up!”

  Zamara rode up beside them. “What in the name of the Light is going on, Sir Kormak?”

  He looked red-faced from the sun but his eyes were alert. His gaze swept out as if he was trying to locate what everybody else had seen and he had missed.

  “There’s something out there,” Kormak said. “Rhiana sensed it and I can feel it too.”

  Zamara nodded. He had known Rhiana long enough to trust in her powers. “I do wish you had informed me first, Sir Kormak. It looks like the men might panic.”

  “There is no time,” Kormak said. “Whatever it is, it’s getting closer fast. We need to reach those rocks and dig in.”

  Zamara looked over Kormak’s shoulder and pointed. Kormak twisted to see what it was. A figure had emerged on the gulley side. It was vaguely humanoid in outline but armoured all over. Spines emerged from its limbs. It pointed its arm at Kormak and one of them flashed through the air like a javelin.

  Kormak ducked. The missile thudded into the wood of the wagon and stood there quivering. Looking down, he saw that the tip was poisoned. From all around came screeches of fear as the soldiers noticed their attackers. There were scores of the desert dwellers, monstrous and malformed and tainted by blight. They showed claws and hooves and horns and all manner of mutations on their strange stony carapaces.

  Rhiana cracked the reins and the wagon picked up speed. It rumbled along the dried-out riverbed, juddering and bouncing. Zamara rode beside them, glancing from side to side. From both sides now the poison spines were flying thick and fast.

  They had been lucky. Seeing their prey fleeing, the ambushers had launched their attack too early. The wagons burst out of the jaws of the trap and rumbled across the desert towards the jumble of boulders that promised refuge. In all that flying dust Kormak could not tell exactly how many attackers there were but he feared that Zamara’s force was outnumbered.

  Some of the marines raised their crossbows and returned fire but the back of a wagon was not the best of platforms. Their missiles whizzed through the air and missed their targets.

  “Cease fire,” Sergeant Terves shouted. “Save your bolts for when they will make a difference. They cost good money. We can’t afford to waste them.”

  His calm voice did a lot to restore order among the marines. The sergeant had managed to preserve a sense of humour in the face of the attack and that went a long way towards reassuring the soldiers.

  Ahead of them, the boulders rose out of the desert. Rhiana pulled the brake lever and dragged on the reins, pulling the oxen to stop. Kormak vaulted down from the back of the wagon and scrambled towards the rocks. It must have looked as if he was trying to run away but he needed to get above the melee and get some sense of the battle. Zamara had obviously come to the same conclusion. He jumped down from the back of his horse and scrambled up alongside Kormak, breathing heavily.

  “It once again it comes to this,” Zamara said. “I always end up climbing up rocks or running away from some monster whenever I’m in your company, Sir Kormak. Why is that?”

  Kormak glanced behind him, he could see that most of the wagons had made it out and a bunch of marines were sprinting along in their wake. Their attackers they were not exactly fast on their feet. Kormak supposed it was their inflexible armoured forms. It did not make running easy.

  “We can talk about it later,” Kormak said. “At the moment, I’m thinking we’d be better off concentrating on survival.”

  “As you wish,” Zamara said.

  Kormak reached the top of the pile boulders. The dust was settling. He saw perhaps forty or fifty of the monstrous figures shambling towards them. Each one was different. Some had claws attached to their armour like the pincers of crabs. Some had as ma
ny spines as a porcupine. Some had great horns emerging from their heads. All of them looked much broader and heavier than a normal mortal.

  Anders pulled himself up beside them along with Rhiana. “Sand demons,” Anders said. “Though these ones look different, twisted, even stranger than the ones I saw.”

  “They been tainted by blight,” Kormak said.

  “You think they been hanging out in the cursed zones that we saw last night,” Anders asked. Kormak shrugged. It did not really make any difference now.

  “Damn,” Zamara said. He was shielding his eyes with one broad hand. He pointed into the distance. “There’s more of them, a lot more.”

  “That’s not good,” Anders said. He raised a crossbow and began cranking the string tight. He slipped the bolt into place. Kormak wondered whether it would penetrate the armour of their attackers.

  One way or another they were going to find out.

  * * *

  Balthazar followed Nexali’s sandray up the side of the ridge. He dismounted from the flying beast and studied the lay of the land below him. Nexali had chosen a good position to observe the attack from.

  He had a clear view of the sere landscape, the dried-upriver beds and the clusters of rock. He could make out the clouds of dust rising behind the fast-driven wagons. He was glad they were not any closer. He did not want to risk being too close to the battle. You could never tell what might go wrong. All it took was one stray crossbow bolt or one enemy getting behind you, and you could lose your life even in the moment of victory.

  He watched with satisfaction as the army of Blighted Ones closed with the Sunlanders’ position. Soon it would all be over. His greatest enemy would be dead, and he could proceed in triumph to unearth the secrets of Xanadar. This was going to be a glorious day. Ever more sand people flooded onto the field. Kormak and his companions were going to be swamped by sheer weight of numbers. Balthazar’s victory was inevitable.

  * * *

  “Form up you men,” Sergeant Terves shouted. “Get those crossbows loaded. Shoot as soon as those monsters are close enough. And make sure your swords are ready. We’re going to give them what for.”