‘Erienne?’ asked Hirad.
‘I’ll try.’ Erienne’s voice was weak with the exertion of the run.
‘You can do it.’
The Raven formed up one more time in front of her. The demons watched them, moving closer by degrees but convinced they were no threat. More and more were crowding in. The Unknown came to Hirad’s side, Thraun the other. Behind him, Eilaan and Denser prepared once more and encasing Erienne were Auum’s Tai.
Hirad felt a presence in his mind. ‘We are weakening,’ pulsed Sha-Kaan. ‘Our fires are spent. The reavers are many and strong. You must be quick.’
‘One moment,’ said Hirad to his friends. And he pulsed out the message he had to. ‘Go home, Sha-Kaan. You have done all you can. It’s up to us now.’
Warmth flooded him. ‘Skies keep you, my old friend. You will prevail. I can feel it.’ Then a pause. ‘Expect my touch one more time. I will not abandon you here.’ And he was gone. Hirad smiled. There was always hope. But first, there was a job to be done. Preservation could come later.
‘Erienne, over to you.’
She began to cast. The demons screamed and attacked.
Reavers flew over the gap. Karron ran for the bridges, albinos in their wake.
‘Brace!’ called The Unknown. ‘Remember the ship. Let’s do honour to Darrick!’
There were fewer of them than had organised the mock defence on board ship but the principle was the same. The reavers came at them quite low, dictated by the height of the carved stone ceiling. Each man stood his ground, half crouched.
‘Now!’
Maces flew low to high. Hirad connected with a reaver groin, beating the creature back over the shimmering light. Beside him, The Unknown had battered his target high. It collided with the roof, only just steadying itself. They had all the space they needed.
‘Down!’
They dropped to their haunches on Denser’s command. IceWind howled away. Reavers froze in flight. Wing struts shattered, membrane frosted and bodies were whipped away into the shimmer to fall into the Balaian night.
Again they rose to punch hard with maces. Hirad ducked a flailing tail spike and crashed his mace into the reaver’s side. It slewed away and came again, this time slicing down with its arms. Hirad brushed aside one but felt the other rake into his right arm. He felt the ice gather there and grunted in pain.
‘Down.’
Eilaan this time and a ForceCone drove the reavers away.
‘It’s a good idea,’ said The Unknown. ‘Denser. ForceCone. Keep the reavers off the both of you. We have other problems.’
Eilaan and Denser backed away to the dais, ForceCones playing out over the heads of the Raven warriors. Ul-karron came on, pincers snipping at the air, writhing in front of the weapon limbs, searching for purchase.
‘Two to a bridge. One sword, one mace,’ ordered The Unknown.
It made perfect sense. Hirad flung his mace at the nearest karron and dragged out his sword, running right with Thraun. Only able to come across one at a time, the karron were severely hampered. Hirad grinned fiercely, feeling the aches grow in his tiring body.
‘Let’s send these bastards on a journey, Thraun.’
Thraun howled like a wolf from his human mouth and the two joined battle, the ex-Protector duo mirroring them four yards away.
Behind the fight at the bridges, Rebraal watched the reavers and strike-strain trying to evade the two ForceCones. Beside him, Auum and Evunn stood in silence, waiting for the inevitable. Kneeling by them, Erienne tried to form the casting that would break the light cycle and close the gap.
But she seemed to be struggling. He heard her gasp and curse, berate herself and slap the ground.
‘Easy, Erienne. Plenty of time. We are with you.’
‘Shut up, Rebraal.’
Ahead, Hirad shouted in triumph as a blow from Thraun’s mace sent a karron tumbling into the pit. But simultaneously, two sets of reavers worked out the flaw in the Raven defence. Left and right they came, under the ForceCones, and there was nothing either mage could do to stop them without striking their own people.
‘Eilaan, Denser, disperse and defend, it’s your only chance.’
Rebraal could only hope they had heard him. The reavers were amongst them.
‘Blades,’ muttered Auum.
He blurred. A reaver died. Short blade in his right hand, Rebraal dragged at a reaver’s legs as it dropped towards Erienne, pulling it across his body and onto the ground. The creature lashed out with its claws, ripping into his thigh. He gasped and dropped hard onto its chest. It choked and spat, lashed in again. This time he rocked backwards, ducked under its claw and drove his blade high up under its arm.
He turned as he rose. More were coming at them, targeting Erienne. Auum and Evunn stood either side of her, hands and feet moving in harmony, knocking enemies from above her head, dragging their blades through wing membrane, hurling strike-strain towards the pit to be swallowed to Balaia. But even they would not be enough.
‘Raven,’ called Rebraal. ‘We need you here!’
He saw Hirad turn his head and mouth a curse at what he saw. Ten, twenty, fifty reavers circling and darting in, each needing only one strike to disrupt her concentration. Hirad dropped, swept the feet from under a karron that plunged left. He called to The Unknown and ran into the maelstrom.
Erienne screamed in frustration.
‘You can do it!’ shouted Denser.
He and Eilaan joined the fray. Both mages held FlamePalms. Denser leapt at a reaver pacing along the floor, bearing it to the ground. He took a claw across the face but buried his palm in its mouth. The mage fire took hold quickly, bursting from its eye sockets. He stood and turned, the next creature punched him from his feet.
All sense of cohesion had gone now. The room was full of wings and screams. Blades flashed in the shimmering light. Rebraal saw Hirad grappling with a reaver, plunging his sword into its side and ripping it clear only to see the creature come back at him and backhand him across the floor. The Unknown and Ark had one by the arms. Ark savaged his mace across its face. The Unknown stabbed it through the chest and up into its nerve ganglion and they threw it aside.
Rebraal ducked a tail, stood and straight-punched his assailant in the gut. It doubled up and dropped to the ground. Eilaan’s hand clamped around its neck and charred the veins in its head. At his feet, Erienne’s arms moved in slow motion. A strike-strain appeared in front of her but Auum’s hand was faster and it bounced from the wall right and spun into the gap.
Evunn was bleeding from a cut on his neck. The reaver in front of him ducked his blow and landed its tail on the side of his head, knocking him off balance. It reared to strike Erienne but Hirad’s body flashed across Rebraal’s vision and the scream of frustration was all he needed to hear.
He turned towards Evunn. The TaiGethen was scrambling to his feet, Auum guarding him, his hands and feet doing the work for both of them. Reavers still flew in. Ark and The Unknown had moved closer to Erienne now and The Raven had formed a circle around her. She was still casting, her movements fluid now, but still she had not released.
Rebraal lashed out at a strike-strain pair, catching them both and beating them aside. One disappeared back over the gap, the other struck something far more solid.
‘Karron!’ he yelled.
They had stormed across the bridges and were running hard at The Raven. Hirad had killed the reaver he had dived on and stood in time to block the first hammer strike. The Unknown and Thraun flanked him, sword and mace thudding home, sending the creature stumbling back.
Auum drop-kicked another in the chest while Evunn fenced away pincer limbs as best he could, blood running from his neck and temple. Above them, reavers gathered for one more attack.
‘Now would be a good time, love,’ said Denser, staggering back into the circle, a bruise the size of an egg coming up under one eye. He held his sword at ready but the reaver coming at him wasn’t going to worry about it. The demon lunged with its pincers but had failed to notice either Eilaan or Ark. The former Protector chopped down hard on the searching limbs and Eilaan drove FlamePalm into its chest.