He turned, his heart pumping painfully in his chest. His breath came in huge gasps and he felt like dropping to his knees. But instead, he dragged himself around to face the hordes coming after them. Desultory fire played outside the edifice, lighting the demons within in harsh relief. Reavers, too many of them, floating in and joined by more every heartbeat. Ul-karron paced up to the bridges, albinos scampering around them.
'Kill those fuckers behind us,' said Hirad. He brought his mace to the ready.
Denser's spell was quick and sure. A focused Orb lashed out, plunging into one of the demon conduits. There was a flare, then nothing. The reaver advance stopped. The karron ceased their pacing. Denser cast a second Orb. Eilaan followed with IceWind. No effect.
'What is happening?' demanded Hirad.
'We can't harm them,' said Denser. 'Magic won't do it.'
'Magic has to,' said Hirad. 'It's the only way.'
'It must be the One,' said Auum. 'The Al-Drechar saw it.'
'Erienne?' asked Hirad.
'I'll try.' Erienne's voice was weak with the exertion of the run.
'You can do it.'
The Raven formed up one more time in front of her. The demons watched them, moving closer by degrees but convinced they were no threat. More and more were crowding in. The Unknown came to Hirad's side, Thraun the other. Behind him, Eilaan and Denser prepared once more and encasing Erienne were Auum's Tai.
Hirad felt a presence in his mind. 'We are weakening,' pulsed Sha-Kaan. 'Our fires are spent. The reavers are many and strong. You must be quick.'
'One moment,' said Hirad to his friends. And he pulsed out the message he had to. 'Go home, Sha-Kaan. You have done all you can. It's up to us now.'
Warmth flooded him. 'Skies keep you, my old friend. You will prevail. I can feel it.' Then a pause. 'Expect my touch one more time. I will not abandon you here.' And he was gone. Hirad smiled. There was always hope. But first, there was a job to be done. Preservation could come later.
'Erienne, over to you.'
She began to cast. The demons screamed and attacked.
Reavers flew over the gap. Karron ran for the bridges, albinos in their wake.
'Brace!' called The Unknown. 'Remember the ship. Let's do honour to Darrick!'
There were fewer of them than had organised the mock defence on board ship but the principle was the same. The reavers came at them quite low, dictated by the height of the carved stone ceiling. Each man stood his ground, half crouched.
'Now!'
Maces flew low to high. Hirad connected with a reaver groin, beating the creature back over the shimmering light. Beside him, The Unknown had battered his target high. It collided with the roof, only just steadying itself. They had all the space they needed.
'Down!'
They dropped to their haunches on Denser's command. IceWind howled away. Reavers froze in flight. Wing struts shattered, membrane frosted and bodies were whipped away into the shimmer to fall into the Balaian night.
Again they rose to punch hard with maces. Hirad ducked a flailing tail spike and crashed his mace into the reaver's side. It slewed away and came again, this time slicing down with its arms. Hirad brushed aside one but felt the other rake into his right arm. He felt the ice gather there and grunted in pain.
'Down.'
Eilaan this time and a ForceCone drove the reavers away.
'It's a good idea,' said The Unknown. 'Denser. ForceCone. Keep the reavers off the both of you. We have other problems.'
Eilaan and Denser backed away to the dais, ForceCones playing out over the heads of the Raven warriors. Ul-karron came on, pincers snipping at the air, writhing in front of the weapon limbs, searching for purchase.
'Two to a bridge. One sword, one mace,' ordered The Unknown.
It made perfect sense. Hirad flung his mace at the nearest karron and dragged out his sword, running right with Thraun. Only able to come across one at a time, the karron were severely hampered. Hirad grinned fiercely, feeling the aches grow in his tiring body.
'Let's send these bastards on a journey, Thraun.'
Thraun howled like a wolf from his human mouth and the two joined battle, the ex-Protector duo mirroring them four yards away.
Behind the fight at the bridges, Rebraal watched the reavers and strike-strain trying to evade the two ForceCones. Beside him, Auum and Evunn stood in silence, waiting for the inevitable. Kneeling by them, Erienne tried to form the casting that would break the light cycle and close the gap.
But she seemed to be struggling. He heard her gasp and curse, berate herself and slap the ground.
'Easy, Erienne. Plenty of time. We are with you.'
'Shut up, Rebraal.'
Ahead, Hirad shouted in triumph as a blow from Thraun's mace sent a karron tumbling into the pit. But simultaneously, two sets of reavers worked out the flaw in the Raven defence. Left and right they came, under the ForceCones, and there was nothing either mage could do to stop them without striking their own people.
'Eilaan, Denser, disperse and defend, it's your only chance.'
Rebraal could only hope they had heard him. The reavers were amongst them.
'Blades,' muttered Auum.
He blurred. A reaver died. Short blade in his right hand, Rebraal dragged at a reaver's legs as it dropped towards Erienne, pulling it across his body and onto the ground. The creature lashed out with its claws, ripping into his thigh. He gasped and dropped hard onto its chest. It choked and spat, lashed in again. This time he rocked backwards, ducked under its claw and drove his blade high up under its arm.
He turned as he rose. More were coming at them, targeting Erienne. Auum and Evunn stood either side of her, hands and feet moving in harmony, knocking enemies from above her head, dragging their blades through wing membrane, hurling strike-strain towards the pit to be swallowed to Balaia. But even they would not be enough.
'Raven,' called Rebraal. 'We need you here!'
He saw Hirad turn his head and mouth a curse at what he saw. Ten, twenty, fifty reavers circling and darting in, each needing only one strike to disrupt her concentration. Hirad dropped, swept the feet from under a karron that plunged left. He called to The Unknown and ran into the maelstrom.
Erienne screamed in frustration.
'You can do it!' shouted Denser.
He and Eilaan joined the fray. Both mages held FlamePalms. Denser leapt at a reaver pacing along the floor, bearing it to the ground. He took a claw across the face but buried his palm in its mouth. The mage fire took hold quickly, bursting from its eye sockets. He stood and turned, the next creature punched him from his feet.
All sense of cohesion had gone now. The room was full of wings and screams. Blades flashed in the shimmering light. Rebraal saw Hirad grappling with a reaver, plunging his sword into its side and ripping it clear only to see the creature come back at him and backhand him across the floor. The Unknown and Ark had one by the arms. Ark savaged his mace across its face. The Unknown stabbed it through the chest and up into its nerve ganglion and they threw it aside.
Rebraal ducked a tail, stood and straight-punched his assailant in the gut. It doubled up and dropped to the ground. Eilaan's hand clamped around its neck and charred the veins in its head. At his feet, Erienne's arms moved in slow motion. A strike-strain appeared in front of her but Auum's hand was faster and it bounced from the wall right and spun into the gap.
Evunn was bleeding from a cut on his neck. The reaver in front of him ducked his blow and landed its tail on the side of his head, knocking him off balance. It reared to strike Erienne but Hirad's body flashed across Rebraal's vision and the scream of frustration was all he needed to hear.
He turned towards Evunn. The TaiGethen was scrambling to his feet, Auum guarding him, his hands and feet doing the work for both of them. Reavers still flew in. Ark and The Unknown had moved closer to Erienne now and The Raven had formed a circle around her. She was still casting, her movements fluid now, but still she had not released.
Rebraal lashed out at a strike-strain pair, catching them both and beating them aside. One disappeared back over the gap, the other struck something far more solid.
'Karron!' he yelled.
They had stormed across the bridges and were running hard at The Raven. Hirad had killed the reaver he had dived on and stood in time to block the first hammer strike. The Unknown and Thraun flanked him, sword and mace thudding home, sending the creature stumbling back.
Auum drop-kicked another in the chest while Evunn fenced away pincer limbs as best he could, blood running from his neck and temple. Above them, reavers gathered for one more attack.
'Now would be a good time, love,' said Denser, staggering back into the circle, a bruise the size of an egg coming up under one eye. He held his sword at ready but the reaver coming at him wasn't going to worry about it. The demon lunged with its pincers but had failed to notice either Eilaan or Ark. The former Protector chopped down hard on the searching limbs and Eilaan drove FlamePalm into its chest.
Ul-karron by the dozen were streaming into the attack. The Raven backed away, the circle around Erienne tightening ever further. With blood running into his eyes, Evunn missed a strike and took a glancing hammer blow in his thigh. He went down. Auum stepped across him. His hand whipped out and grabbed a pincer, his foot speared low into its abdomen and his blade sliced into its spike.
'Keep it steady, Raven!' called Hirad, but his voice was weary. 'Just a little more time.'
But they had no more time. The reavers screeched and dove, the karron charged. A reaver claw connected with the back of Erienne's head but with a scream of pure release, she cast.
Green luminescence fountained from her hands, face and chest, boiling into the space around her. It coalesced into multiple spears that shot away, each targeting a demon heart. Reavers and karron were impaled, their bodies sloughing flesh while the spears dissolved inside them. Rebraal saw one pass straight through him and sink deep into an ul-karron forehead. The creature fixed him with a stare of incomprehension as its mouth collapsed and its face fell like slime over its chest.
More of the light pulsed from Erienne. Stronger and stronger it came, each pulse jolting her body and drawing shuddering cries from her throat.
'Erienne, stop,' shouted Denser but she couldn't hear him.
The spears still rattled away across the gap, seeking their targets, but around Erienne a coil formed. It gained in intensity at frightening speed. Rebraal shielded his eyes from the glare but was captivated by what he saw. Where they stood, the demon conduits started to moan and shiver. Their bodies bucked and twisted as if they were trying to break shackles far too strong for them. All too human faces stared out of the light, eyes imploring mercy.
The coil around Erienne tightened and flew away. It struck the nearer demon, travelled up its body, across the arc and into the second in less than a heartbeat. It bled into the canopy of light and down into the gap. The conduits struggled, suffocating as the coils pulled tighter and tighter. Eyes bulged from sockets and breath was forced from tortured lungs. They pleaded for the pain to stop and stop it did.
Erienne opened her eyes, closed both fists and uttered a single word.
The world went black and the wind began to howl.
The karron were coming. Blackthorne could hear them pounding on the doors that led down to the kitchens. It hadn't been two days. Ferouc had beaten them. Too many demons, too few defenders and no respite. Incessant and draining, the karron had attacked. He had lost men in the grand hall, in the cloisters by his council chamber and in the banqueting hall. He had fought the enemy all the way down the stairs to the armoury and around the corner to the quartermaster's stores. He had held them at the servants' chambers and driven them back briefly but the result had never been in any doubt.
And now he and the thirteen that were left with him were holed up with no place left to run. Blackthorne was tired beyond belief. His left arm was broken and bound to his side so he could still strap on a shield and his left leg bore deep cuts raked by a karron spike.
But still he stood in the middle of the line, waiting for them. Still the ColdRoom was in operation and he could take some of them with him. He heard timbers splinter and the sound of karron feet tramping down the stairs. He knew Ferouc would be behind them, far enough to avoid harm himself.
The first hammer on the kitchen door sprang a hinge but the second barely made an indent. The third was more a gentle knock and there was no fourth. He heard squawks and shrieks echo about his castle. And then he heard nothing at all.
He took a pace towards the door and stopped, wondering how long it would be before he dared believe that they had won.
Hirad found that there was light. It came in from the fires surrounding the entrance to the edifice and from those that still burned around the mouths of the dead Kaan dragons. He opened his eyes against the gale. The conduit demons were screaming in terror that had no end. Their bodies were being stretched into the arc that joined them. Little by little, they were picked apart. Their heads distended, their legs split and their bodies twisted and elongated. How they still lived he didn't care but that sound they made cut him right to the bone and he prayed for it to stop.
From the gap he heard a sucking sound. Above, the darkened canopy bowed inwards, its centre drew closer and closer to the gap. It touched and shattered and for a moment the room was filled with a dazzling light. The conduit demons wailed their last and were sucked into the arc which fed at dizzying speed into the canopy which in turn was snapped up by the gap. The howling of the wind reached a crescendo, then with a bass thud that slammed through Hirad's skull the gap closed.
He lay where he was for a moment, listening to the sound of his heart and feeling the energy drain from his body. He had no more to give but then, there was no more he had to give. And yet he felt no joy, no victory. Instead he felt cheated. They had closed the path to Balaia and cut off the demons' power. The mana would dissipate through the Balaian dimension and the demons would not be able to sustain themselves for long. The Raven had saved their world and yet for them there was nothing. Sha-Kaan was silent.
It wasn't right.
Hirad dragged himself to a sitting position and let his eyes become accustomed to the darkness. There was movement around him and the sound of sobbing near him. He pushed himself to his feet and found The Unknown helping him up. He swayed. Blood was running from his face, his hands, his left shoulder and his right leg. The big man was in little better condition. He limped heavily and reaver claws had left his right ear flapping and pumping blood.
But it was as nothing to Erienne. She lay sprawled at the scene of her triumph. Denser was sitting at her bloodied head, stroking her face, and the shake in his shoulders told him everything. He knew he should move to comfort the Xeteskian but he couldn't bring himself to break into his grief. Perhaps it was better that way.
'We won, then,' he said to The Unknown.
The big man shook his head. 'No, Hirad, we lost. Balaia won. We have nothing. And Denser has lost everything.'
Around them, people were forcing themselves to their feet. Auum supported Evunn who was clearly barely conscious. Thraun was staring at Erienne, his head shaking, his lips moving in denial and his feet taking him gradually closer to grim truth. Ark was wobbling on his feet but found Rebraal's shoulder on which to lean. All of them gravitated slowly to Erienne and Denser.
Hirad could see her stillness. Her eyes closed and her chest unmoving. She lay on her back, her arms thrown above her head.
'I'm so sorry, Denser,' he said.
Denser didn't move. 'Not you as well,' he whispered. 'Not you as well.'
They all spun at a sudden infuriated din from outside. Hirad's heart pounded anew. The noise grew and grew, the voices screaming revenge, promising purgatory.
'Not again,' said Thraun.
'What did we expect?' said The Unknown.
Karron, albino, reaver and master walked, flew or floated into the edifice. Strike-strain buzzed around them. The mass grew and grew. They advanced across a floor wide and unblemished. They took their time. After all, The Raven had nowhere to run.
'We have to keep fighting,' Hirad said. 'Sha-Kaan might still be able to save us. If he can make it back to Beshara he can open the portal to me. We can make it.'
But those that faced him plainly did not believe him. They couldn't conceive of hope, they just wanted rest. And even as he uttered the words he didn't really believe them himself. Demons were crowding the space and Sha-Kaan was going to be too late.
He glanced over his shoulder. 'Sleep well, Erienne. Best you didn't live to see this.'
Chapter 46.
Tessaya shuddered under the blow from the hammer limb, pushing it aside with the flat of his axe. He was running with sweat despite the frost of late evening. He drew in another exhausted breath and worked his axe back, fending off the spike from the same karron. The creature writhed its pincers, looking for a hold. A blade flashed across in front of him, severing the sinuous limb. The strike continued up, connecting with a reaver diving overhead.
Tessaya pulled his axe back across his body and buried it in the ul-karron neck. He glanced sideways and nodded his thanks to Suarav. The old soldier still stood though he had no right to. A spike had torn a gash in his left shoulder and reaver claws had dragged the armour from his back, missing his soul by a hair. He had refused to leave the line and rest. Tessaya could see his point. The end was upon them. Better to die in defence than be taken in your sleep.
More karron, backed by reavers and a cloud of strike-strain, were heading through the main wall breach. They crowded behind those already pressing against his faltering warriors. The ul-karron had wreaked dreadful havoc, weakening even their traditionally indomitable spirit. Tessaya opened his mouth and began to sing again.
He battered his axe through the next karron attack, taking off both pincer and spike limb. His song was taken up by throats all around the college. It was a song of defiance that spoke of endurance and the glory of death. It didn't allow for fear.
Tessaya raised his blade to strike again. A flaming body fell screeching from the sky, landing among the karron just ahead of him. Even through the curtain of fire, he recognised Drenoul. For a moment, the attack faltered. The demon master's squeals upset their rhythm, disrupting the flow of calls from the reavers.
Tessaya didn't care why Drenoul had died. He saw opportunity. Yelling a forward order he ploughed into the confused enemy. The karron, dull of mind, had stalled completely.