'Let's keep these bastards going our way!' shouted Hirad.
He dragged his sword clear, grinned at Auum and ran to join The Unknown Warrior. Auum cleared his throat and stepped in to aid his Tai. He breathed deep and achieved the pure state. The karron could not move fast enough to threaten him. He looked into their small eyes, buried deep under heavy brows, and watched the movement of the mat of hair. The limbs followed the sensing of its targets but it could not hope to lay a blow on the TaiGethen.
Auum needed quick kills. He rolled under the arms of his target and hammered his blades into its chest. He stepped right, jumping high and thudding both feet into the face of the next, landing on its stomach as it crashed onto its back. He tore out its throat with a double slash. A club fist whistled towards him. Still too slow. He jumped over it, turned in the air and straight-kicked the assailant. He dropped low, swept its legs from beneath it and jammed his blades high under its left arm. It spasmed and lay still.
He rose to his feet. Duele and Evunn were next to him. The Al-Arynaar and The Raven were deep in the fighting, driving a wedge for the wagons that trundled along behind. Auum felt a burning inside him and realised it was pure pleasure. It was not an emotion
he associated with consigning his enemies to Shorth but he was prepared to enjoy it.
He smiled.
'Tai,' he said. 'As one. We move.'
You could only stand and admire. It all but cost Hirad his life. He had dragged his sword through the ribs of one of the ugly haired demons and watched the creature bleed to death at his feet when he felt a moment of space. It was then he had seen Auum's Tai go to work and had known that for all that he had learned in their company back on Calaius, he would never come close to their ability.
He almost felt sorry for the demons they faced. After all, he couldn't follow every move they made himself. And they were so much in concert that it left no room for inroads into their attack or defence despite the fact that reavers had joined the fight against them.
Auum led them in a ferocious assault dead ahead of the wagons' path. His swords glittered in the early morning sun. Each strike left a trail of blood in its wake. The clumsy karron tried to batter at him but he drove on relentlessly, his blades biting into neck, chest and under the arms where he could deal the fastest death blow. And his accuracy was matched by the mesmeric moves of his Tai in his defence.
Each elf carried a single short sword at his outer flank which he used to slice into karron flesh at every opportunity. But the main focus was inside and up. Every strike by a karron was parried or countered. Every dive by a reaver met with a kick or a fist, sweeping high over Auum's head. Demons shrieked in frustration or spun away half-senseless. The Tai's focus never wavered. Their understanding of each other was total. It was what The Raven had striven for all their years of fighting. They thought they had achieved it. They weren't even close.
It was a dance that the Tai wove and those who didn't know the steps had no chance of survival.
Hirad staggered under the force of a blow to his stomach. He looked down to see a severed hammer limb strike the ground.
'Gods' sake Hirad, watch yourself The Unknown backhanded
his blade into the face of the same karron and limped a pace to his next target. 'Fight or leave.'
Hirad broke his reverie. The Raven were fighting close to the Tai. The karron were quick but not quick enough. Denser, blade in hand, was watching their backs from attacks by reavers. The Unknown and Darrick ploughed a furrow straight ahead. Furious with himself, Hirad dived back into the action. A club fist came at him. He blocked it away with his blade, feeling the strength of the strike. Quickly, he switched his blade to his left hand and lashed out at the creature's head, bursting one of the eyes on the side of its skull.' It howled and fell back. Hirad pounced after it, slicing through the tendons at the back of its legs. It collapsed and he finished it through the chest.
'That's more like it,' said The Unknown.
'You know it,' said Hirad.
He stretched to deflect a blow aimed at the big man and felt the stitching on his hip give way and blood flow. The pain pounded through him and he swayed. The karron's next strike battered into The Unknown's defence, knocking him into Darrick who stumbled sideways, just avoiding the arm of another enemy.
Hirad dragged himself forward and punctured the karron's side. Grey splashed onto his armour.
'Don't even think about it.'
The Unknown had recovered and unleashed a huge strike left to right, decapitating the karron. The line was almost broken. Reavers flew down to bolster it but the strike-strain were flitting away. Hirad felt a new energy and ran forwards, trying to ignore the tear on his hip.
A shout from behind slowed him and he looked back. The wagons were with them now. The Al-Arynaar flanking the cart horses moved with purpose, using their numbers as a battering ram, and the Julatsan wagon train burst through the demon line and aimed for the sundered north gate of Xetesk.
Chapter 34
The demons had come back in force and they'd brought some new friends with them. His teams falling back into the sanctuary of the college had reported the karron disappearing into all quarters of the city. It was too late to tell the Julatsans but they, it seemed, were making good headway.
Dystran stood on the balcony of his tower as he had so often during the past two years and experienced another new hope. That both Wesmen and Julatsans would be flooding his courtyard before noon. Gods, how alien it was but how natural it felt to wish it.
Looking north, he could see the cloud of dust that signalled the Julatsan approach to the city. South, another showed the Wesmen advance. The latter's was under minimal pressure. The demons clearly didn't consider them a threat. Dystran prayed fervently that Tessaya would demonstrate to them otherwise.
Everything was set in the college. Every man, woman and child knew their task when the order was given. Dystran couldn't cloak the excitement he felt. Something had run through the college when it was sure that the Julatsans were coming this way. It gave them all new life and new hope for whatever spurious reasons. This didn't feel like resistance; more like rebellion.
Where would it go wrong, that was the question. He couldn't fault the ward grid. It was something of which Septern himself would have been proud. All it needed was activation and it was he that would take that task. Chandyr's strike and fall-back plans were sound, he knew that. The commander was a skilful tactician and had studied General Darrick for many years.
But he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that the demons were still a step ahead. What was it they had missed? There had to be something. There was always something.
Hirad's wound had been rebound but he had conceded he should travel on the kicking plate of Erienne's wagon, driven once more by Darrick. Thraun still rode inside. The rest of The Raven were out front and just behind the Al-Arynaar line, keeping the path clear.
The success of Darrick's tactic seemed to have confused and demoralised the demons. Half-hearted regroupings of karron had been battered mercilessly aside by the TaiGethen-led elven force. The lumbering demons appeared badly hampered fighting inside the ColdRoom shell.
It had been left to the reavers and strike-strain to continue their sniping attacks. And while they scored small victories, they couldn't slow the advancing wagon train which was crossing the old battlefields in front of the north gate. It was a curious atmosphere dominating the demon forces. Hirad likened it to defeat and he told Darrick so.
'Don't believe it. They'll look to pin us down in some narrow street in the city,' said Darrick.
'Well, we have surprises for them in there too, don't we?' said Hirad.
'And it's all main street,' said Denser, hauling himself up to the bench. 'We can drive two abreast all the way to the college.'
'Simple enough,' said Hirad.
The General shook his head. T doubt that very much.'
It was less than a mile to the college from the north gate. Hirad had travelled in Xetesk enough to know that even the widest of its streets felt tight. Tall and ancient buildings loomed over the equally aged cobbles and stone pathways, blotting out half the sky. Every street in Xetesk had the potential for ambush. The recently arrived Xeteskians needed to be right about their ward work.
They had seen flights of demons heading back towards Xetesk, giving credence to Darrick's observation. The General's initial delight at the outcome of his snap tactic had quickly given way to introspection and now he wore a troubled expression.
'Come on, Darrick,' said Hirad. 'We've broken them. What's the problem?'
'You know it was too easy, don't you?' he replied.
T know we gave them a good hiding.'
Darrick shook his head a second time. 'They were inept in the extreme and I don't buy it. They planned to fail.'
'Hardly. From where I stand they didn't expect us to drop the ColdRoom and we took them down.'