As the dark night grew darker and colder, the sentry caught sight of several more nightmare figures piling on and dragging his partner to the stone and wood walkway beside him.
Then the darkness took him.
*****
A slow, long wail rose from the distance, catching Simone’s attention as they finished the late meal of the day.
“What is that sound?” Elan asked, looking up herself.
Simone frowned. “Wall alarm.” Elan and Caleb tensed, but she waved them down. “Don’t worry. It’s likely just a trader who didn’t make it in before nightfall.” She got to her feet, walking over to the open door, and glanced out. Absently, Simone looked over her shoulder. “Prepare yourself for sleep.”
“But…” Caleb objected.
“Now.”
Even not knowing the woman well, Elan knew that tone. It was the one her mother used when her father was stepping over the line and she would brook no more foolishness. It was the same tone that caused her father, the biggest man in the world, to back down every single time. Elan didn’t bother objecting, she just started clearing the table as Simone stepped outside.
Caleb continued to look rebellious, but Elan had no intentions of walking dead on into that trap. She’d learned from her mistakes, and even then she’d rather face the squad of demons again than Simone just then.
“Peace, Caleb,” Elan said softly.
“But she can’t—”
“Peace.”
Elan didn’t know it, but her own tone was a remarkable reflection of both her mother’s and Simone’s just then, and the second dose seemed enough to get through the thick teenager’s head. Caleb drew back a bit, then threw another glance in Simone’s direction, then he gave up and started gathering the remaining utensils and cookware from the table.
Glowering at the floor and muttering under his breath, Caleb followed her into the cooking area of the home as she started clearing the ware and preparing to clean.
*****
Simone stepped out into the night air, feeling the heat rising up from the earth rather than it beating down from the sky. She walked to the edge of her property and looked toward the outer wall of the city.
While what she told the teens was possible, it was highly unlikely that a trader…or even a sizeable group of traders would have been enough to frighten the guards into signaling the alarm. Possibly a new wall guard had gotten jumpy but…
She shook her head and turned back to the house, striding inside.
“Caleb! Elan! Get your weapons, come with me,” Simone ordered tersely. If it were something, she had to look into it, but in that case, leaving the pair alone seemed like a bad idea.
Caleb jumped to that order, of course. Simone rolled her eyes at his eagerness, but her attention was more focused on Elan, whom she knew a good deal less. The girl was more cautious, which didn’t surprise Simone in the least. She’d seen a real fight and knew she was lucky to have survived.
“What is happening?” Elan asked as she retrieved the sword her father had given her, gripping it tightly by the wrapped blade as her piercing blue eyes stared into Simone’s own brown ones.
“I don’t know,” Simone told her honestly, “but take the staves as well.”
Elan looked annoyed, but nodded and fetched the long stave she’d been training with, as well as Caleb’s, from the corner. She tossed him his, and then the pair of them looked to Simone as she nodded her head to the door.
“Stay behind me,” she ordered. “If there’s anything actually going on, you’re to do exactly as I tell you. Understood?”
“Yes, Simone,” Caleb said by rote, sounding a little too bored for her liking.
She turned on him. “Caleb, if you ignore me and you get someone else hurt because you’re being a foolish child, I will see to it that you personally beat that sword into a plow and join the field workers every morning for a year. Am I clear?”
He gulped and nodded fearfully enough that she was satisfied that he believed her. Only then did she turn to Elan and glare at the girl.
“I expect the same of you. If I tell you to do something, you will do it.”
Elan just nodded curtly, but Simone easily read the quiet determination in the girl’s eyes and sighed. Elan would do exactly what she was told, right up until she determined it was stupid, then she would do her own thing.
Sadly, at this point, Simone figured that was the best she would get from her. She hadn’t had the girl around long enough to achieve any level of real trust, so it was this or leave her here at the house. Unfortunately, she was certain doing that would qualify as “stupid” to the girl.
So be it.
“Alright, let’s go.”
*****
“Shamans, to the front. I want the walls brought down,” the general ordered as he and his entourage watched over the battle as it began to be properly joined.
The human reaction time was better than he had calculated but, galling as it was, was almost perfectly within the predicted times the traitor had provided.
The fact that a human knew humans better than him was, perhaps, no great surprise nor any reason for shame, but the general still chafed at the fact.
It would matter little to the outcome of the battle, however, so for the moment the Fifth Circle demon shelved the annoying thought and refocused on the present. His orders had brought up the shaman team from where they had been waiting, well out of range of any of the enemy weapons, and the seven Sixth Circle demons set about their business.
Preparing the circle was an involved process, but with the humans well and truly distracted, there was little that could get in their way for the immediate future. Once it was complete, the battle was essentially over.
Of course, in effect, the battle was essentially over already.
Humans used to be tough warriors and they held off the inevitable for a long time, but the dregs that were left had not even a sliver of the greatness their forebears had drawn upon. If that greatness hadn’t been enough to save them, the current survivors were mere filth to be exterminated.
*****
It became distinctly clear as they approached the outer walls that something was indeed happening, as much as Simone wanted to deny it. Panicked yelling was almost overshadowing the more disciplined barking of orders. Of the two, it was the latter that worried her most. She was intimately familiar with the fugue state a good warrior could get into when faced with something that would…should…break lesser men, and she heard it then in those orders.
Whatever was happening, it was not good.
With the two youths at her back, Simone drew her blade and headed for the closest stairwell that lead up to the top of the wall, already wondering where most of the guards were. The walls were incredibly light from what she could see, even discounting the obvious situation they were facing. She needed to lay eyes on it for herself, however, before she could make any decisions.
“Stay close!” she ordered over her shoulder as she ran up the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time.
The two youths were too busy running to respond, but they were close enough so she kept her own focus on what was ahead of them. The top of the wall was a study in chaos, but the confusion didn’t seem violent at first glance. Others, like her, had rushed in to find out what was happening, and no one seemed to have any answers.
“Keep your weapons sheathed,” she ordered over her shoulder, eyes focused front as she looked through the confusion, trying to determine what was going on.