‘We are containing the threat. Barely,’ came the ghost’s reply.
“Do you have eyes on Vergil?”
‘He’s alive and fighting his way across the courtyard. Boy’s a menace.’ Anna whistled in appreciation as her attention lapsed. ‘He just took out three of my dolls in error. Didn’t even see his axe coming. Please dissect him when we’re done.’
Tallah cursed, aware Vergil was headed for Vilfor. It was fine, just as she needed, though the fight’s circumstances were changed now. With the dragon come to their aid, they had a real chance to survive the night and escape the Rock.
But that was her fancy moving too far ahead.
Even though Anna’s blood brood kept the tunnel exit blocked off, the other ingress points into the underground city were all disgorging daemons in a steady, terrifying stream. If anyone was still trapped in the city below, she could do nothing for them. No one could.
Tallah only hoped the civilians had died quickly and painlessly, though she doubted that. The channeller’s words rang in her head: “if we couldn’t get the dragon, we needed the human souls in its place”.
By all accounts, they’d gotten the souls. The gate opened in the centre of the Cauldron could mean nothing else.
Holding the Rock was impossible. Beating back the daemons both inside the walls and outside was equally daunting. It was time for drastic actions and clear thinking. She had to save the many, even at the cost of a few.
The irony was not lost on her.
For a brief time, she allowed herself to simply fall. Wind rushed by her ears, its whistle drowned in the roar of the dragon sweeping down onto the monsters outside, and the cries of the daemons being slaughtered inside. Her heart thumped heavily. Skin felt clammy. Illum flowed into her, jagged with death. It was a welcomed discomfort.
Christina was furiously drawing power, the binding on Tallah’s back burning hot as the ghost worked. Their individual pools of illum were nearly merged, given all the practice they’d had together. Their illum flow was good, nowhere near as exhausted as on the first casting of their devourer, though the strain was there.
Was that something to worry over, she wondered. Far as she knew, no channeller improved by constantly exhausting their illum store. That way lay utter burnout and irreparable damage. If she had the time, she would ponder more on why these efforts seemed to strengthen her, but for now there was a battle to survive.
The privacy of her musings lasted for at most five heartbeats before Bianca caught her. The fall gained a lateral vector and Tallah was no longer plummeting, but turning in the air to speed towards where the fighting was thickest. She ignited lances and scoured clusters of monsters.
‘I cannot assist much,’ Bianca said. ‘I’m engaged with Anna’s constructs. Our focus can’t falter.’
“Keep at it,” Tallah grunted, already weaving more fire to unleash. “Save your strength. I’ll need you and the healers for when we get out of here.”
‘There is a plan?’ Bianca sounded genuinely hopeful. ‘An actual plan?’
“One where we don’t get skinned alive, yes. Anna, I need a runner.”
‘Use a soldier,’ the ghost replied. ‘I don’t have enough focus for that. Two minds are not enough for what I’m doing.’
Tallah cursed as her lances cut through ranks of creature she couldn’t even begin understanding. Still uglier things crawled out from the city. Bianca dropped her right in the middle of a cluster of creatures trying to force their way through the outskirts of the battle. She barely registered what they were as she spun and let loose short, intense bursts of fire.
Gore misted into the air and was immediately sucked out by Anna, black blood added to her growing army. Tallah could feel the ghosts straining to maintain control of the creature they’d envisioned, already grown beyond its original scope and still expanding. As much as the blood brood consumed, there were still more daemons pushing forward.
By how they monsters screamed, Bianca and Anna were giving a good account of themselves.
If she couldn’t use a runner, then she needed Vergil.
“Eyes on the boy?” she asked, firing as she ran towards the main keep.
‘In the pit with us,’ Bianca answered. ‘He dove in moments ago. Took the strain off some of the front liners.’
Tallah skidded to a halt, slipping in the mud as she turned towards the tunnel. Hopefully, he’d delivered her message. No matter where she looked, she couldn’t lay eyes on Vilfor or Liosse. Smoke hung in the air. Rooftops were on fire. The rat-like flying creatures flew in flocks, harassing soldiers. Chaos reigned.
The whole place stank of blood, mud, death, and rot. It was turning her stomach, though she had nothing else to void after the earlier battle.
Just as she began running, she caught glimpse of Vilfor and Liosse barrelling through a mottled assortment of beastmen, goboids, and giant centipedes. They were cutting a deep swathe through the monsters, soldiers on their sides, leading a group of armed civilians. Those were carrying sacks, clearly preparing to evacuate. She spied Kor among the civilians, weaving barriers.
Scores of monsters lay dead, but more were encroaching, serpentine creatures leading the fresh assault. A shower of arrows from the main keep’s broken windows peppered the monsters to little effect.
A boom announced Sil over at the ward. Tallah turned in time to see the healer smash her mace against a floating head made of eyes, mouths, and snakes. Another boom exploded with the impact and the creature burst apart like an overripe melon. Sil glowed with power, more streaming down her arm to pool in the spiked head. She ducked inside the ward, likely to rally whichever healers still remained inside.
“Handy that,” Tallah commented as she wove a storm of fireballs.
Everywhere men were engaged against monsters, killing and dying with no respite. Even with Anna plugging the tunnel, the stream from the underground remained unrelenting.
Tallah let out a long breath and compounded several of the fireballs to increase their explosive load. She turned and aimed all her firepower towards the city’s main entrance, guts knotting with what she was about to do. The explosive orbs flew in staggered formation towards the rock wall above the entrance.
If anyone was been alive down in the city, she would carry the weight of that guilt.
For now, she had to save whoever she could. And stemming the flow was critical if she was to gain enough time to move. Whatever was happening in the Cauldron, it could be upon them at any moment. Even the dragon outside could be subdued.
Explosions rocked the stronghold. Rocks shattered under the assault, cracked and tumbled. The entire entrance collapsed with deafening roars, turning the monsters beneath the arch to paste.
She breathed out a laboured breath, and started running again towards the tunnel. One damned wound plugged, now it was time for the harder one.
A wave of blood swelled out of the tunnel’s mouth. It was made of half-formed figures floating in the stinking fluid, gripping several soldiers in various positions.
‘I figure you need these,’ Anna said as she split off a part of the wave. It coiled back and threw two flailing figures towards Tallah, depositing the others outside the battle.
Bianca caught the flying men out of midair and set them roughly down onto the mud.
Vergil was first back on his feet, slick with gore, sword and axe in hands, crouching ready to leap.
The other figure, that juvenile soldier Vergil was fond of, was slower to rise. He had lost his sword and gripped a battered shield with two hands. Fear was engraved on his face, coupled with utter exhaustion.
“What happened?” the soldier asked, voice shaky. “Weren’t… weren’t those things on our side?”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Before Vergil rushed back into the fray, Tallah caught him by a horn. It almost cost her the arm as the boy turned lightning-fast and slashed at her. Bianca’s attention saved her losing the arm again, as the ghost stopped the blade mid-swing.
Tallah held herself back from punching him, not needing a broken finger just then. “Easy, you mad git. It’s me.” She shook him by the horn. “Are the two of you still fit to stand and run?”
Vergil stared at her for a couple heartbeats, only the whites of his eyes visible through the battered helmet’s visor. He had a bevy of cuts around his arms and shoulders, and a pumping wound in his side. To the Ikosmenia, he shone like a beacon, illum washing off the helmet to wrap around him as tight as a bandage.
“I’m fine,” he snarled and yanked his head away from her. “Let me fight. There are men down there.”
“Anna’s seeing to them,” Tallah said, shaking her hand. “You, soldier—”
“His name’s Arin.” Vergil spat to the side, almost vibrating with pent-up energy. The dwarf’s possession had never manifested so aggressively before. “Our squad’s fighting in the pit. We need to head back.”
“Sit still for a moment and listen,” Tallah snapped back. “I need the two of you to run messages for me.”
She snapped her fingers and launched fireflies at encroaching goat-men. They screamed as she blasted chunks off them.
“I need to fight!” Vergil showed every sign of a berserker denied his battle, barely containing his rage.
Tallah had no patience for it and was ready to blast the helmet off his head. She didn’t need to. Vergil suddenly froze, drew in a long, deep breath, then exhaled.
“What do you need?” he asked, tone completely changed.
“You got the dwarf under control?” she asked.
Arin stared at the boy like he’d sprouted another head.
“No,” Vergil said, shaking gore off his weapon. “He’s got the thing in me under control, squeezing the illum out of it. It’s… it’s hard to think when he’s giving me power.” He gave a grin, teeth shining wet under the helmet. “What’s the plan? Are we living through the night?”
That earned him a smile from her. “We’re living. And we’re leaving. Go to Vilfor. I need all soldiers gathered outside the main gate. Form a defensive shield around whatever civilians there are. We’re going out into the Cauldron. Who’s not there, gets left behind.” She pointed at the gate she meant, to make sure they understood her.
“How are we getting out?” Arin asked. “We’ll get slaughtered out there. We saw the dragon on the wall.”
“The dragon’s with us,” Tallah said. “Vergil, I need Luna. Where is it?”
The boy stiffened at that. “I don’t know. I’ve sent it off to find Sil. I was hoping it was with her.”
“Bugger.” That put a damper on her plans, but they didn’t have the time to worry over the spider. She shooed Vergil away. “Get going. Do as instructed. I’m giving them a bell at most before I open the gates. Make sure you’re there. Don’t make me come back to find you.”
He nodded, turned and ran off. The first creature that got in his way got rammed and trodden over.
“What about me?” Arin asked. He barely looked able to stand, let alone run any messages. “I can still fight,” he said, as if reading her mind. “I can still help.”
“Get into the ward. Find Sil. Tell her exactly the same thing. Whatever allotment they have, they should use as soon as possible. If there are wounded beyond help…” She hardened her heart for the decision. Sil wouldn’t fight it if Tallah demanded it. “Whoever’s beyond immediate help gets left behind.”
To his credit, Arin nodded. Hefting his shield, he turned and took off at a dead run towards the healers’ ward. Vergil had chosen a good friend in that one, she had to admit. With both of them occupied, it was time now she got the soldiers out of the hole
“Bianca, give me estimates?” she demanded as she set out towards the tunnel. She couldn’t collapse that one, not without pouring in more resources than she was comfortable expending. “How many soldiers do we have? How many civilians?”
For now, there were no other creatures roaming that would be half as nasty as the rider she’d killed earlier. That one had been one of the worst she’d ever faced, and if another would have joined the fight she would’ve heard it. Men would’ve screamed themselves mad. Where the white-faced monsters were was a more immediate concern, but she forced it out of mind. Panic wouldn’t help just then.
‘I estimate at most three hundred remaining soldiers, with numbers thinning quickly,’ Bianca said, dry and emotionless. Her focus was with Anna. ‘Of the civilians I saw, there can’t be more than a hundred. Did not get an accurate count. The monsters are legion. I have better things to do than count them.’
That was barely a fighting force. But between her, the ghosts, Sil, Vergil, and the dragon out there… the odds were just shy of impossible. They became better if she would have decided to leap the wall and run, but that wasn’t going to happen. She squeezed down on that particular traitorous thought, crushing it under the heel of her will.
“Anna, I need you to pull back. Drag men out with you.” She prodded Bianca for an aerial view and got begrudging support. Her feet left the ground at the same speed she was walking.
‘Explain,’ Anna demanded. ‘I can’t disengage. We will get swarmed if I do. My dolls are the only things holding the tide back.’
“We’re not disengaging. We’re attacking.”
She could’ve used Christina just now, but she couldn’t separate Anna from Bianca.
Rhine watched her from the ground as she floated above the fighting. Empty eyes followed her, though she sensed acute interest there. She’d sensed it up on the wall too, but it had come and gone in a flash. If Catharina could see all this, Tallah hoped the empress would have nightmares.
Here she was, Bane of the Empire, highest traitor—an unearned title—with her face on a poster that promised any reward for her death… and she was fighting tooth and nail to save people of the same empire that wanted her head mounted on a spike.
If she had the time to appreciate the irony, she would’ve choked on her laughter.
The tunnel came into view as Bianca lifted her as high as she dared.
What happened below was slaughter, pure and undiluted. There were soldiers, yes, fighting in knee-high gore and blood, among naked, feral copies of Tallah herself. There was little difference in colouring between the live soldiers and the dolls, all of them a dirty shade of crimson.
Men and women were being picked up by the dolls and bodily passed backwards while the front rank clawed at anything moving out of the tunnel. There were bigger things emerging now, ogres and trolls barely held back by Anna. For each wound the dolls inflicted, they suffered far worse as each push from the daemons gained another foothold into what remained of the Rock.
Soon the last of the soldiers were thrown out and Tallah took control. Anna and Bianca gladly surrendered their strength to her, thankful for the brief respite.
Tallah slaved the tide of blood to her arms and began conducting the fight. She raised her hands above her head and forced apart the sea of blood. The figures dissolved into the slurry as it flowed upward on the ramp, opening the corridor to invasion. The daemons staggered slightly as their wet enemies suddenly dispersed. The way was open between them and the men above who were just drawing back their strength. They roared and charged.
Tallah landed atop the ramp and unleashed her illum.
Fireballs slammed into the ranks of daemons. Lances punched clear through them, melting flesh off bone, fusing armour to skin, killing indiscriminately. Corpses caught fire and screamed. With Bianca’s strength, she pushed back and slammed the front ranks into the back, again and again as she waled down into the mouth of the tunnel.
Scores died in that first push, with scores more crowding behind, panicking to escape the fire. She thrust the spearhead of her attack at their ranks, deeper and deeper until she stood on the threshold of the tunnel. Beyond, a sea of glittering red eyes crowded, illuminated briefly by every flash of fire and every explosion.
Legion, indeed.
Another concentrated burst cut deep into the tunnel, turning monsters to smears of burning offal.
Then she drew in Anna’s blood and thrust it into the wound she’d carved. Dolls emerged, refreshed and fully reformed, and pushed forward, screaming mutely as they cleaved into the invaders.
It would have to do, for now.
“Move,” Tallah bellowed as she turned, gesturing to the soldiers waiting above. “To the main gate. Grab your wounded. Grab weapons. Go!” She screamed herself hoarse as she fought to make herself heard over the sounds of carnage.
“Where’s that damned spider?” she groaned as she ran up, breathing heavily. Her aerum was gone and she had no other vial ready. The effort wore at her.
Realistically, she had no time to search. Anna and Bianca were combining their resources, but the moment Tallah opened the gates, they would be out of range to hold the tunnel.
She almost ran into Rhine’s wraith as she ran. The thing blocked her path, arms raised as if in warding. Tallah scowled and meant to run straight through the apparition. There was no time to waste on Catharina’s whims.
“Get out of my way,” she groaned.
“Wait! Cinder, please,” the wraith said, voice strained.
Tallah froze. She might not have still remembered Rhine’s face from before the ordeal, but she remembered her voice. This wasn’t Rhine. It also wasn’t Catharina.
“Truce, Cinder,” the wraith mumbled. Black cracks ruptured across the thing’s skin for each word it spoke. They bled a shocking shade of red. “Ria. Go. To. Ria.” It flickered as it spoke, skin flaking off and bleeding. Words got lost as it tried feverishly to relay some message.
Tallah only caught a final burst of “…am coming” before the wraith disappeared as if violently yanked away by some unseen force.
Lovely. She shook herself free of whatever this latest development was, drew an itchy breath, and ran towards the ward. Nothing had changed. She had no time for riddles.
Though part of her did wonder at who it had been that delivered the warning. Was it some other trap? Or a genuine flicker of hope? Ria sat at five day’s hard march from the Twins, the closest empire city to this horror. It would be the first the daemons would fall upon once freed of the Cauldron.
Was there warning of this happening? Could she trust it? Her plans extended only to the end of the night, to crossing the ravine out.
She shook herself and refocused on the task at hand. First survive the night. She could then worry about more. If there was help in Ria, she would gladly accept it… if they all got that far.
A blood-curdling scream filled the night. The earth shook. The red light smeared upon the clouds above doubled in intensity.
Outside, the dragon roared in defiance. Compared to the screaming, it sounded small and pitiful.
And frightened.