"Well, we'll do our best to be nothing but trouble after the battle's over, just for you, Camara," Shiika smiled.
Camara Tal didn't look very amused, but she did nod vaguely. "If that information you gave us is accurate, your Majesty, they're the ones we're going to have to watch. They have their general with them, and generals often don't get into a fight unless they're rather certain that they're going to win. Sorry, Kang."
"You should never apologize for the truth, Camara Tal," Kang told her easily. "Generals usually don't get directly involved in fighting unless we're going to win. It makes us look more courageous, you know. We generals like to impress one another with stories of how brave we are."
"He's impossible," Shiika laughed. "But he's the best general I could find."
"Sometimes you have to put a light face on very dark things, your Majesty," Kang told her. "It makes it easier to bear."
Kang may have been a bit irreverent, but with that statement, Tarrin realized how wise the man was. This was more than just a good military man. This was a man of true intelligence.
Camara Tal moved her reserves up to the north side of the grounds, to counter any direct attempt on that side of the fence, though they all doubted it. The magic of the fence was still in effect, and it would stop any attempt to climb over it by holding fast anyone that touched it. But Camara Tal and Kang were too wizened to not take that possibility into account. With that Demon out there, just about anything was possible.
Shiika announced that they were moving, and Camara Tal ordered her troops to be ready to move in a hurry if it was necessary. They all waited in tense silence, watching Shiika, who was in telepathic communion with her daughter, who was in the air observing. "They're charging now," Shiika related. "About six blocks from the fence." There was a pause. "Three blocks, and they're still coming," she said, and Tarrin found himself getting anxious. Would they turn at the great street that ran the outside circumferrence of the fence? Would they not turn and assault the fence itself, confident in some plan or device that would defeat the fence's magical protection? Tarrin found the suspence to be almost unbearable, and they all stared at Shiika in intense anticipation.
"They're splitting up!" Shiika shouted. "Some are throwing themselves on the fence, and half just turned towards the breach!" Tarrin was surprised at that. They divided their forces? "The archers in the reserves just opened up on the ones at the fence. By the pit, the soldiers are climbing up the backs of the ones trapped on the fence! They're going to get over it!"
"Dispatch three divisions to reinforce the northern quadrant!" Kang snapped in a loud, crisp voice, a voice of command. "Sevren, if you would, send a Sorcerer or two over there!"
"That Demon is staying with the northern group," Shiika said. "She's attacking the defending forces with magic!"
"Then I'm going over there," Tarrin said, drawing out his sword from the elsewhere. "If the Demon is over there, then that's where the main part of their plan is giong to take place."
"Hold on, take Thalia with you!" Shiika called. "Thalia, go with Tarrin and help him take on that marilith!
"Yes, Mother," the night-haired Alu said aloud with a nod. "Come, Were-cat, we have an enemy to kill!"
"Camara Tal, go with them and take command of the northern divisions," Kang ordered. "I'll command our forces here. Don't hesitate to call for reserves if you need them."
"Aye, Kang," Camara Tal said as a large group of the defenders began to pull out of the breastwork fortifications, going to reinforce the northern section of the fence. Tarrin and the night-haired Alu ran ahead of the others, as Camara Tal shouted at them to get their butts moving and get over there.
It took them only moments to cover the distance, a distance that made Tarrin a little tired, given how exhausted he already was, but it was apparent they were needed. The breastworks behind the ditch were on fire, and Knights and Vendari alike were furiously retreating from the conflagration as Sulasian archers tried to fire over the flames, but they were shooting blindly and doing very little damage to the enemy. More and more black-uniformed humans got over the fence, a fence that had at least a hundred men magically pinned to it on both sides of it, men who had sacrificed their mobility to provide the rest of their army the chance to get past the obstacle safely. Already over the fence, on the edge of the ditch, was the six-armed Demoness, her snake body writhing as she wove her arms before her in some kind of sinuous dance. She was chanting in a loud, strange voice, and he realized that she was using magic. Not the innate magical powers of the Demons, but Wizard magic! This one was a Wizard as well as a Demon! A black mass formed over her head, then it streaked forward and expanded, blooming out into a cone of inky magical power, and it flowed over a section of the retreating forces. When it winked away, everyone who had been caught in its area of effect was laying limply on the ground, and the human Knights were ashen-skinned. He realized that they were dead.
This one was dangerous! Drawing himself up, Tarrin reached into the Weave and strangled the strands in the local area, choking them off and leaving them incapable of conducting Wizard magic through them. The Demoness blinked and started, and then her dark eyes seemed to focus on Tarrin as he rushed up from the south. But Tarrin saw that the damage had been done, for the black-uniformed men whom the Demoness commanded were rushing forward with great shouts, running through the ditch as the fire burning the logs in the breastwork died away, almost as if by some kind of cue. The ki'zadun were rushing towards the hole left behind by the spell of the marilith, seeking to gain a foothold on the inside of the fortifications and split the defenders in half. Knights and Vendari reversed their retreat the instant the fire died away, and the first of the enemy forces to jump over the charred logs found not a hole, but a thin line of Knights and Vendari seeking to prevent the enemy from penetrating any further. The twenty or so Knights and Vendari fought with furious desperation as the others in the line charged to support them, but their noble stance ended in death for all the Knights and many of the Vendari, swarmed over by superior numbers. But the ki'zadun found that for every Knight or Vendari they killed, another would rush up to take his place, preventing them from advancing more than a step for every enemy they cut down. But those steps quickly began to add up, as the lines of the defense bulged dangerously around the breach the Demoness had formed in their defense.
Then the Demoness appeared at the forefront of her forces. Each of her six arms held a sword, and she crashed into the Knights and Vendari like a whirlwind of death. Their weapons bounced off of her scaly snake body and her soft flesh upper torso harmlessly, but she killed a defender with each wave of one of those six swords. The ki'zadun formed up behind her, making her the point of a wedge, and they began to overwhelm the defenders in short order.
Tarrin sprinted forward, literally knocking defenders out of his way as he circled around to where the Demoness would come face to face with him. He watched her even as he moved, saw how competent and deadly she was with those six swords. He realized that trying to fight her one on one was suicide, even for him. He had one weapon, and no amount of weaving and dodging would keep him out of the reach of those six weapons for very long. But yet, what choice did he have? By blocking her Wizard and Demonic powers, he prevented himself from using Sorcery; it would be too strenuous to try, given how tired he was. He had to confront her physically.
He couldn't use Sorcery.
Tarrin stopped, reaching within, through the Cat, and touched the eternal, endless energy of the All. He remembered clearly some of the spells that Sathon taught him, and one of them would work perfectly in this situation. He formed his intent and image, though the image was little more than his own body, and then pushed his will into the All. It read his intent and responded to his request, and he felt magical power surge into him, through him, infusing his body with its power.