Tarrin blinked, then saw a bat-like wing out of the corner of his eye. He turned in time to see one of the Cambisi, probably Anayi, swoop away with a huge scimitar-like sword in her hands, sending drops of Demonic blood falling onto the grounds below. It had been so intent on Tarrin that it had never heard the winged Alu approach, and she took it completely by surprise. For that matter, Tarrin hadn't noticed her either.
Tarrin decided that he was going to soundly kiss each and every Cambisi after all this was over. Given what happened the last time he shared a kiss with Shiika, perhaps a hug would be more in order for her. He let his breath out explosively, then regretted it as the horrific smell of the dissolving Demon reached him. He heard Miranda laugh delightedly. "I didn't expect that!" she remarked from the corner.
"It didn't either," Tarrin called in reply.
"What was that?" Jesmind asked.
"One of Shiika's daughters," he told her. "I think I'm going to give her a big kiss when this is over."
"I may give her one too," Jesmind admitted with a laugh.
There wasn't time for any more chitchat. Another Demon appeared, one of the thin tusked ones with wings, coming in through the hole the first had made. It didn't hesitate like the first, it howled in a victorious manner and rushed forward, huge clawed hands leading to rend apart the last obstacle to the goal. Tarrin put his ears back and darted forward to meet this threat. It pulled up just as Tarrin reached it and took a swipe at its midsection, managing to nick it slightly. That seemed to take the Demon out of its bloodlust, causing it to take another step back and regard the smaller foe with wary respect. It held out its hand again, and then a searing blast of fire erupted from its open palm.
That was a very bad idea. For a moment Tarrin wondered if they'd bothered to explain a few things to these Demons as he charged confidently through the blaze of fire, sword leading. It seemed genuinely surprised as the Were-cat erupted from the gout of fire, and nearly lost the taloned hand casting the spell as the Were-cat slashed at it. But it recovered from its surprise quickly, moving with a speed that belied its height and bony, ungainly appearance. It reached out and tried to grab Tarrin in its taloned hand, but the Were-cat slid underneath its grasp in a display of his own unnatural agility. He tried to stab it in the narrow belly, but it slithered aside at the last moment. He turned to face it, but the light suddenly was swallowed up by some kind of impenetrable blackness.
Tarrin didn't panic. He sensed that it was a magical effect of some kind. He heard the thing moving, and ducked underneath a broad swipe of one of those hands with their huge talons. In the single step it took to square himself, he had puzzled out how the spell worked, then willed the Weave to disrupt it. The Weave responded, choking off the flow of power that caused the spell to function, and then light suddenly reappeared, nearly as quickly as it had appeared. This startled the ugly creature, severely startled it, for it was caught trying to sneak up on him. It was easily within reach of his sword. "Fool," Tarrin chided as he skewered the monster on his weapon, driving the blade up and into its chest. The Demon gurgled incoherently, and then staggered backward off the blade and collapsed to the ground. Its body began to decompose into that horrid black sludge, smoking and sizzling on the grass and the ground, sending up fumes of toxic smoke.
But those two were just the first of them. Two more Demons were trudging towards them, and a vulture-headed third was in the air, flying just ahead of them. All three of them looked to be in rather good condition. The vulture-headed one had no visible wounds, carrying a guisarme built for its twelve span tall frame that was stained with blood. The other two were both those frog-headed Demons, smaller than the vulture one, but more solidly built and looking remarkably uninjured. What happened to the gauntlet they would have had to run to reach him? Tarrin would tangle with a single Demon, given the sword, but not even he would try to stop three uninjured Demons at the same time. He took a few frantic steps back towards the icon, his mind racing and his heart speeding up in his chest as he saw an undefeatable enemy advancing on the courtyard. Where was Shiika? He needed her help right about now!
His heels hit the edge of the fountain. He couldn't back up any further. Where was Shiika? Where were the Cambisi? Where were those damned Wizards and Priests? Sorcery and Druidic magic wouldn't affect a Demon, and he couldn't fight three by himself! His mind raced as he considered all the possibilities. He could try to blow them away with wind; they couldn't be harmed by magic, but they were still subject to the application of physical force. It could do them no harm, but it could very damn well pick them up and hurl them out of the courtyard. That would give the others time to put some wounds on these three.
Yes, that would work. It wouldn't hurt them, but it would buy him some time, maybe split them up so he could deal with them one at a time. He raised his arms out to his sides and prepared to weave together the flows to do it, but then he saw his shadow on the ground before him, a shadow cast by his body interposed between the ground and the light emanating from the icon. The light of the Goddess, his Goddess, shining her power upon him to bolster him, to reassure him, to remind him that she was with him.
Or was it?
Tarrin hesitated, realizing that he had made a fundamental, elemental blunder. He'd even thought it several times, and had never made the connection. Priest magic affected Demons. And the katzh-dashi were the Priests of Niami, the Goddess of the Weave.
Whenever you need me, I will be there. All you need do is ask, and I will give, the Goddess had told him once, long ago.
Don't experiment, my kitten. My constitution couldn't take it. The clue that had made him realize that he could use Druidic magic. He had completely forgotten the fundamental reason she said it. To not experiment with Priest magic.
And him, the fool, had even learned some of the Priest magic used by the katzh-dashi, and hadn't thought that since he wasn't technically mortal, he could go beyond that! All it required was the blessing of the Goddess!
He threw the sword down in disgust, a move that surprised the three Demons that stood against him. The Goddess hadn't been shining her light to scare the Demons, she'd been doing it to make him understand!
Alright, I'm a thick-headed fool, Mother, he thought inwardly. What must I do?
There came, of all things, a silvery laugh in reply. All it takes is faith and belief, my kitten. Ask, and I shall provide what you need. The words will come to you of their own volition.
Faith and belief. Those were no problem. He believed in his Goddess, he had faith in her power, he loved her. He stared at th three Demons and words did indeed simply come into his mind, strange words in some language long forgotten by the world. Those words definitely seemed to have meaning to the Demons, for they suddenly recoiled from him, recoiled from the glowing icon of the Goddess. He was aware of a massive surge of magical power flowing directly from the Goddess, a power unlike Sorcery yet related somehow. This did not come from the Weave, it flowed directly from the Goddess, from wherever her real being existed, which was some place beyond his imagination. This was a direct blessing of her power, akin to the power she had used to smite Val not an hour before.
He grabbed his amulet and held it before him. "In the name of Niami, Goddess of magic, I abjure ye, creatures of darkness!" he thundered at them in a voice that seemed to make the very air quiver, a voice charged by the power the Goddess poured into him. In that moment, he was a living extension of the Goddess, had been entrusted with a tiny fraction of her power, which was still enough to make the Demons before him tremble in fear. "Begone to the pits that spawned ye, or face the wrath of the Goddess!"
They stared at him in shock and horror, but then they squealed in pain when the amulet around Tarrin's neck flared with intense light, a light that seared and burned at the Demons' eyes and flesh. They turned and fled from the light of the amulet, but by then it was too late. The light flared again, and then the bodies of all three of them simply evaporated into a misty vapor, which itself disappeared from view.