'Let's get those wagons turned!' shouted Rebraal. 'Move, Al-Arynaar. Yniss protects us.'
Wagons began to move with more purpose, elves and humans goading terrified horses into action. Hirad could see Darrick directing those turning the rear wagons. The General's mouth was moving but he couldn't hear him over the din around them. But whatever he was saying it was generating instant organisation. He smiled and grabbed Denser's arm.
'Look at Darrick. Can't really stop being a commander, can he? I-'
At the back of the line, buildings were burst from the inside left and right. Rubble flew in a storm, tattering the rear wagons, destroying them both and collapsing the rear ColdRoom. Demons poured into the street and from above, driving their advantage home while the Al-Arynaar struggled to regroup. The sound of the collapse slapped into their faces, drained their spirits.
Hirad stared, mouth hanging open, his sentence never to be finished. Darrick was gone, buried under die deluge of rock. Gone. For an instant he thought he saw the General through the dust, struggling to rise, but it could only have been the demons storming into the attack, a trick to torment him.
'Darrick. NO!'
Hirad started to run but Denser got in front of him.
'Hirad, stop.'
'Out of my way, Denser. Darrick's down there.'
'He's gone, Hirad, you know what you saw.'
T saw the building fall, I saw die demons come out. Get out of rny way.'
'Hirad, he's dead. And if we don't do something very quickly, We'll be joining him. Please.'
Hirad looked into Denser's eyes, saw the tears forming there, the desperation for Hirad to understand, to accept. Biting back his anger, he nodded his head.
Around them demons shrieked their delight. Karron roared and pressed their attacks harder. He could hear Rebraal bawling orders. Elves and the few surviving men outside of The Raven fell back towards the centre of the train from both sides. Strike-strain rained in on the closing space. He looked to The Unknown who was wiping blood from his face and looking left and right, disbelief in his eyes.
Darrick was dead. The wagon train was stopped for good. They were trapped.
Chapter 35
Seeing the broken bodies of Al-Arynaar, Xeteskians and the Protector Kas, Auum had time for a whispered prayer while he led his Tai into the fight against the karron.
'Tai, as one.'
Al-Arynaar were streaming in, arranging themselves around the flanks of the TaiGethen cell. The karron were being hampered by the rubble they had created. The TaiGethen, born to the treacherous surfaces and obstacles of the rainforest, had no such problems.
Auum hurdled a block of stone, ducked a support strut and launched himself into his first enemy. He landed both feet on the creature's chest, driving it onto its back and into the massed ranks behind it.
His balance sure, Auum stepped right, pivoted and lashed a roundhouse luck into the next, knocking it sideways and buying him all the space he needed. Evunn followed up his attack, sliding into the arm of the first downed karron, dragging it away from its body. Duele, sweat beading on his brow, dealt the killing blow. Neither elf stopped moving, coming fluidly to their feet and pouncing on their next victim. Auum didn't need to look to know they were with him. He heard the touch of their feet and the power of their strikes. And he heard the cursyrd die.
He rose in front of a karron, breathing hard, feeling the exertion and seeing the tide of enemy still before them. The creature grunted and swung both arms inwards. Auum blocked right and left, feeling the shudder through his body. He locked eyes with the lesser cursyrd and saw its incomprehension of his strength. He butted its eyes. It squealed, arms rising. Duele's knife snapped in.
Auum stepped left and glanced right. He flat-palmed a karron in the chest, pushing the creature out of his way. His Tai ran around
his flanks, knives catching the morning sunlight. The karron was stretched and killed.
But while the Tai fought going forwards, the Al-Arynaar were being forced back. More karron were pouring into the line, hammers and spikes whirling. The squat creatures had no care for their own and no coordinated attack pattern. Each called its own guttural squawk while it bludgeoned its way forwards, desperate to feel elven flesh under its weapons. Auum saw a press forming behind.
'Break!'
His Tai danced back into the space they had created. Behind them, Al-Arynaar mages had deployed ForceCones to keep the winged cursyrd busy.
The karron surged out of the shattered grain store. Auum saw creatures batter each other in their haste. Deep-coloured blood sprayed into the air. To the right, the elves hadn't retreated quickly enough. The wave of karron beat into them. A spiked arm drove left, catching a warrior in the side of the head. The karron squawked its pleasure. The elven body was tossed aside. Hammers fell fast and dense. Auum poised to strike back, identifying targets.
'Hold!' he called. 'Let Tual guide your hands.'
But down the train, the winged cursyrd were flooding the street. There was precious little movement from the remaining wagons. Auum had to buy more time but the karron were strong and determined. Not enough mages could be brought to bear to break the line without allowing the reavers to attack their rear. The warriors had no choice but to stand.
The right side of the elven line fractured. Karron trampled elves underfoot, crushing skulls and bodies with hammer limbs, splitting flesh with spikes. The Al-Arynaar responded and closed the line but seven karron were through, threatening the thinly guarded mage defence.
'Tai, we move.'
Auum slammed the heel of his palm into the chest of an advancing karron and turned to run at the loose enemy. He didn't take a single pace towards them. In the line beside them, an elf missed his strike. The spiked arm of a karron swung, splintering his skull. The dead elf was flung back and sideways, colliding with Duele. The TaiGethen half fended the body away but stumbled to his knees on slick
cobbles. The karron stepped through and struck its hammer limb into the elf s chest.
'No!' Auum saw Duele flung across the street and was already on the move to his side. Evunn swept the karron's legs from under it and delivered a blistering attack to the creature's body. Its squawk of triumph clotting in its throat, Evunn's short blade buried in its armpit.
Auum reached Duele just as the Al-Arynaar line collapsed. To the right, mages were attacked, ForceCones dispersing. Winged cursyrd stormed into the space, cutting them off from the wagon train. He had no time to care. He scooped his Tai into his arms. Blood ran from Duele's mouth but he was still breathing.
'Yniss protect you, my friend,' he whispered, his limbs shaking. He raised his head and voice. 'Break. Run for the college.'
And with the pounding of the karron vibrating cobbles underfoot and the shrieks of winged cursyrd loud in his ears, Auum led his people in a desperate run for sanctuary.
There was a single explosion to mark Darrick's death, a Xeteskian ward triggered way too late to stop the carnage. A handful of karron were caught in its blast and tongues of flame brought demons down from the sky but it didn't stop their advance.
Karron smashed the shattered wagons and allied bodies aside, driving up The Thread towards the one remaining ColdRoom casting. The sky darkened with strike-strain and reavers, their cluttering and taunting reverberating from the blank faces of the buildings. Al-Arynaar rushed to form a fighting line within the ColdRoom but the tide was going to sweep them away.
'We've got to get to cover,' roared The Unknown into the tumult. 'Denser, I need an option.'
Denser was ahead of him. He indicated a narrow alley ahead and right. 'The playhouse. It's our only chance for this many people.'