Garin dodged to his left as the glabrezu snapped a pincer at his head. He swung his mace down hard upon the bony outer casing of his foe's limb. The blow drove the arm away from him, but his mace bounced off harmlessly.
Must find a way to crack this nut, Garin thought, shaking his hand to alleviate the tingling sensation.
Archons and fiends battled around the two combatants. Two hound warriors tried to join Garin and engage the glabrezu, but after the demon sliced the head from one, Garin motioned the other way.
"Just keep those other fiends off me!" he shouted.
Garin channeled divine energy into his body and opened his mouth to drive the demon to its knees with a holy word. The glabrezu, perhaps sensing what the angel was about to do, kicked out with its taloned foot and struck a glancing blow against Garin's wounded shoulder. Stabbing pain shot through the angel and he cried out. The glabrezu followed with another pincer attack, which Garin barely swatted away with his mace. The demon motioned, and swarming, ricocheting bursts of multicolored energy inundated the angel and struck him from every angle. Where the explosions touched his body, disruptive energy made Garin's muscles convulse.
Garin arched his back in pain. The glabrezu bounded forward, its pincers snapping. The deadly claws stretched toward his neck. Garin flung himself backward and rolled across the ground, heedless of the blood and flesh beneath him. He gestured at the oncoming demon, summoning a wall of magical flying blades as a barrier between the two of them.
The demon stepped into the whirling cloud of razor-sharp weaponry before it realized what was happening. The sound of steel ringing on bone echoed from the spot as a dozen wounds opened on the fiend's tough skin. It roared in pain and jumped back out of harm's way.
The distraction gave Garin enough time to regain his footing and recover his wits. Stay focused, he admonished himself. Don't let it get that close to you.
He backed up a step or two and cast a quick glance around.
The battle seethed around them, though the fighting had retreated as archons and demons alike avoided getting too close to the whirling, slashing pair. Demons by the score lay piled on the field, interspersed with the occasional archon. The hound warriors might have been the superior fighters, but the demons balanced that in terms of sheer numbers.
Garin cast a quick glance at the edge of the clearing and saw fiends still churning out of the slash in the earth. They rushed to join their allies, clambering over one another to get to enemies.
They just won't stop coming, Garin thought with growing dismay. We won't be able to hold them back.
He returned his attention to the hulking winged demon before him. The glabrezu had retreated from the whirling cloud of blades and was performing a little dance of pain as it rubbed its injuries with the smaller hands protruding from its chest. It snarled at Garin and vanished.
Not waiting to see what the demon had had in mind, Garin launched himself skyward, taking wing over the battlefield. He felt a faint touch against his wing as he shot out of reach. Just as he had suspected and feared, the glabrezu had teleported directly behind him. He glided in a tight circle, scanning the ground below. The fiend was up in the air too, coming after him.
Garin wasted no time. He channeled the power of Torm. When the glabrezu drew close enough, the angel shouted the holy word. The rippling energy of the focused blast struck the demon squarely, knocking it back. Its wings fluttered, but it quickly regained its balance.
The demon grinned. "Your words are useless against my superior power," it rumbled. The thing vanished again, and Garin was forced into freefall to evade its powerful pincers.
This thing is tricky, Garin thought, worried. How do I kill it?
He spun in place and smashed at the onrushing demon with his mace. The weapon whisked through empty space as the glabrezu vanished yet again. Garin dived away as the demon reappeared behind him.
I must out-clever it, he decided. Anticipate its tactic and counter it.
Garin swooped around and came at the glabrezu once more. That time, when the creature vanished, Garin did not dart away. Instead, he drew on his holy might to produce a powerful, blinding aura of goodness, a tiny bit of Torm's essence. The aura burst all around the angel, and he heard the glabrezu grunt in surprise and pain.
Garin spun and struck rapidly. The demon, blinded by the divine aura, did not see the strike coming in time and took the brunt of the blow on the side of its head. Garin hit it again, hard in the chest.
A deafening boom erupted from the point of contact, and the demon was driven back by preternatural energy. It flailed in the air, stunned, and plummeted.
Garin followed the fiend down, and when the demon struck the ground and sprawled there, the angel hammered it again with his mace. The blow landed on one of the thick pincer arms, and it cracked.
He drew his mace back for another strike, but the demon vanished and his weapon thunked into the mud.
Garin spun and swung, expecting to find the fiend there, but it had not reappeared nearby.
It wants no part of me, the angel thought with no small amount of relief.
He surveyed the battle for a moment while catching his breath. The archons had inflicted unbelievable casualties upon the demons, but they were so badly outnumbered that they had begun to succumb to the overwhelming numbers of the fiends. In many places, the hound warriors had been reduced to isolated pockets of defenders surrounded by a sea of demons.
The reinforcements! Garin thought with a panic. Nilsa!
Garin turned to find his companion. He spotted her halfway to him, her forces already on their way.
Garin sighed in relief and smiled at her as she reached him.
"I couldn't wait any longer," she said apologetically as she landed beside him. "If I didn't order the charge, all would have been lost."
"I was a fool to get so caught up with that glabrezu. Keep an eye out for him. He's tricky and bound to be lurking nearby."
"Look," Nilsa said, pointing toward the open wound in the ground where the demons poured forth.
Garin turned his gaze that direction and spotted a group of figures flying out of the crevice. They did not race toward the fight before them, but instead took to the air and flew off in another direction.
Garin shook his head. "We can't do anything about that," he muttered. "The solars will have to catch them."
Then he got a better look at the lead figure. It was Kaanyr Vhok.
"Oh no," he murmured. "We have to-"
Garin's words were drowned out by Nilsa's scream. He spun to find her flailing in agony beside him, the glabrezu right behind her with a baleful grin upon its face. Blood spattered the ground and dripped from the fiend's pincer.
One of Nilsa's wings, severed at the shoulder, lay on the muddy ground at her feet.
"Look there," Aliisza said, pointing at the horizon.
Tauran and the others turned and peered that way. A cluster of dark shapes, visible in contrast to the gray, blowing clouds, hovered in the sky.
"What is that?" Kael asked.
"Whatever it is, it's coming this way," Pharaun said, rising to his feet.
Tauran saw that the black specks had become a host of small figures winging their way in the direction of the Lifespring.
"It's them," Eirwyn said. "I can feel it."
"I can, too," Aliisza said beside her.
Tauran shoved aside the worry he felt for his companions and said, "He's brought friends, as I suspected he might. He's probably going to try to use them to distract us while he attempts to get to the pool. That's what I'd do if I were in his position. So concentrate on keeping between him and the Lifespring. He's crafty, so be ready."
He took flight then, sensed his companions shoving aloft beside and behind him and, along with them, winged his way toward the horde of figures.
Already, he could see their fiendish features, from their foul, skinless black bodies to their baleful grins. There were perhaps three dozen of them, and each one carried a double-tipped spear in both hands.
Tauran aimed for Vhok, who flew near the front of the pack. He increased his speed in order to reach the cambion as far out from the Lifespring as possible. The angel gripped his mace, nervous energy coursing through him.
Today, we settle the score once and for all, Vhok. One of us dies today. By Torm's-and Tyr's-grace, may it be you.
Vhok spotted the group coming toward him and slowed. He motioned for his escort to continue onward, and Tauran heard him command them in Abyssal to slay the defenders. As the demons shot past the cambion, he slipped his sword free, and Tauran could see it crackle with that same malevolent energy that Vhok had used against Micus and Garin before.
Just before Tauran and the others reached the onrushing demons, the angel received a bit of inspiration. He cloaked himself with invisibility and altered his course. A pair of the underlings that had been targeting him faltered in midflight.
Tauran channeled Torm's divine power. The surge of energy washed over Vhok, and Tauran became visible.
The angel's hopes faded when Vhok only shuddered once and then straightened, laughing. It was only then that Tauran could see the faint, malevolent darkness enveloping the cambion.
"I thought you might try that, fool," Vhok said. "I came prepared this time. A little gift from Lord Axithar."
"It will not save you," Tauran said.
Vhok laughed.
The pair circled one another, hanging in midair, sizing one another up. In the distance, black, gaunt demons swarmed the small force defending the Lifespring, clashing in a violent cacophony of blades and shouts. Tauran delivered a couple of feints, which Vhok easily dodged. The cambion did the same, grinning the entire time.
Then the two were at each other, and Tauran had to swing his mace full force in order to parry the first real strikes of Vhok's blade.
"You should not have come back here," Tauran said, swiping repeatedly with his mace and driving Vhok back. "Turn back now and return from whence you came, or we will destroy you."
Vhok fanned his cloak hard to put some space between them. He howled with laughter. "Is that the best delivery you've got, after all this time? I really thought you'd learned to be a little more clever, after spending so much time with me." He made a show of wiping a tear of mirth from his eye. "You disappoint me, Tauran."
Tauran shrugged. "It had to be said. You know I had to offer you that chance. But I know you won't heed the warning, if for no other reason than it's coming from me. You'd stay inside a burning building just because I told you to get to safety."
Vhok lunged at Tauran. The angel gave ground until he realized what the cambion was trying to do. Tauran spun out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting cleaved in twain by one of Vhok's lackeys. He channeled divine power through the holy word and stunned the creature, then turned back to Vhok.
The cambion smirked. "I'm surprised Tyr let you come sniveling home to the nest, much less granted you your power again."
Tauran ignored the jibe and made a series of feints that forced Vhok to descend. The angel was on the verge of diving down after him when two more of the raw-fleshed demons interceded. They forced Tauran up again and Vhok took advantage of the distraction to turn and speed away, toward the edge of the pool.
Tuaran fought frantically to get through the interposed demons. "Eirwyn, stop him!" he screamed as he crushed the wing joint of the demon on his left. The other angel saw Tauran pointing and nodded, then sped toward Vhok. Tauran called on his divine might once more and brought down a torrent of blinding energy, engulfing not only the demon directly in front of him, but three others who had swarmed in close.
Having cleared the way, Tauran soared forward again, racing after Vhok.
The cambion reached the edge of the pool and was standing on the beach, battling Eirwyn, who blocked his path to the water. Tauran reached the shore on Vhok's opposite side and slammed his mace into the half-fiend's shoulder.
Vhok roared in pain and retreated out of both of the angels' reach. He drew up panting and holding his shoulder. "Bastard," he growled. "I should have killed you the moment you freed me from your accursed geas. But I've got a better idea for this time around." He fumbled something free of his tunic even as Tauran took a step toward him. Eirwyn closed in from the other side.
Both angels pressed the fight, but Vhok retrieved whatever he was seeking anyway. With his free hand, he snapped it in half, even as he continued parrying away their strokes with his weapon. Tauran sensed a great pop as something cosmic shifted, and a swirling mote of darkness burst into being between the celestials and the cambion. It grew from a point into a large hole, like a portal.
Tauran stepped back from the strange presence. A massive form exploded through the hole and shot past him. Tauran turned in time to see a great winged creature soaring out of the portal and into the open sky. It was already circling around to come back.
Micus, fused with Myshik, just as Zasian had described the abomination.
Blessings of Tyr, Tauran breathed. His heart climbed into his throat at the sight of his old friend.
Micus's bloated, disfigured face contorted with insane rage when he saw Tauran, and he leveled off his turn, coming directly toward him.
Kael felt the grace of Torm flowing through him as he struck out at one demon after another. His power and agility surged to divine heights, granting him the boon to slay anything in his way. He hardly felt the exertion as he moved one direction and then another, slicing into demons at will.
Euphoria filled him. Thank you, my lord, he thought in exhilaration, slashing a demon practically in half. A true servant could ask for nothing more than such blessings as these.
The body of the fiend tumbled away as Kael spun and hammered at another one, first shattering its blade, then taking its arm from it. The demon howled in anguish and tried to dart away, but a sudden swarm of hailstones slammed into it, pummeling it and sending it limply spiraling into the cloud bank below.
Kael turned to see his father give him a wry grin before he was forced to turn his attention to another pair of demons. They tried to flank him, using both direction and altitude to keep him confused. Kael shifted to one side as the closest of the two fiends jabbed at him with its spear. He yanked his blade down through the center of the weapon, snapping it in half. He kicked at the other, knocking its weapon completely free of the demon's grasp.
With a shout of elation, Kael whirled around, his blade whistling through the air. At the end of his rotation, both fiends bore mortal wounds and plummeted away from him.
With no more demons in the immediate vicinity, Kael sought Pharaun. He spotted the wizard surrounded by three more of the black fiends. With an urgency born of concern for his father, Kael willed his magic boots to get him close to the trio. He rushed at the nearest one while the drow twisted and dodged to avoid the creatures' attacks.
Kael took the head of the first one before the other two even realized he was there. As it fell from the sky, the knight rammed his heavy blade through a second one, which had turned to face him. Its expression went from smug glee to surprise as the sword impaled it, and it gave a plaintive cry as Kael shoved it back off the end of his weapon with his boot.
Pharaun unleashed a string of arcane missiles, very much like those Aliisza so often used. The swarm of glowing darts whistled as they homed in on the third demon, which watched them rush at it with wide-eyed fright. The tiny missiles struck the demon with a series of staccato pops and buried themselves in its bare chest, leaving smoking holes there. The demon gasped and clutched at its misshapen flesh.
Both demons plunged away into the clouds beneath them.
Kael cast a glance around, seeking more enemies to confront, but no more swooped or swarmed in the vicinity. It appeared that they had finished the wretched things off.
"You remember Ryld," Pharaun asked, "the weaponmaster I once fought alongside? Well, you handle a blade about as well as he did. I have to say, this little scrape has brought back more than a few memories. I'm downright giddy. Can you imagine if you had grown up with me in Menzoberranzan, instead of here in this detesta-Well, in this place?"
"I don't believe we would have found ourselves running in quite the same circles," Kael said, but he caught himself grinning just the same. "But thank you for the compliment."
"Oh, by the Great Spider," Pharaun muttered. "Look."
Kael turned to find what his companion had spotted. He gasped. The grotesque aberration that Zasian had described to Tauran and Kael, the fused beings of Micus and Myshik, soared through the air near the Lifespring. It made a wide turn and headed straight toward Tauran, who stood upon the beach near the water's edge, staring in horror at the thing. Eirwyn gaped beside him, her mace drooping at her side.
Vhok also stood there, one arm hanging limply at his side. Noting that the two celestials paid no attention to him, the cambion leaped over the side of the basin and flew into the mists beneath it, vanishing from sight.
"Come," Kael said. "We've got to help."
Heeding Tauran's tactics, Aliisza tried to make her way toward Kaanyr. She shifted and dodged, zipping through the swarming demons, hoping to slip through their skirmish line and reach the cambion.
It was not to be.
The disgusting creatures with their bare muscles and raw sinew recognized her efforts and moved to block her. She engaged the first one, parrying a spear thrust with her own slender long sword. A second fiend swooped in behind her and she had to lunge to the side to evade a raking claw. As she maneuvered, she cast repeated glances toward Kaanyr.
Dread at seeing him again mingled with rising anger. She was not so much worried about his enmity as she was afraid of her own reaction.
She wanted to hurt him. She wanted him to feel the pain he had dealt her, which she was feeling all over again.
Here you are, she seethed, still trying to reach the Lifespring. Your bullheaded obsession with this place has cost you everything, and you're too blind to see it. She shook her head in disgust. Why couldn't you have cared about me this much? Half this much?
She saw Tauran appear next to the cambion and felt a pang of jealousy that the angel might do in her former lover before she got the chance herself.
Then a spear thrust ripped a small hole through one of her wings, and Aliisza gasped in pain. She turned her full attention to her own fight.
"That is going to cost you," she snarled at the fiend that had wounded her. The creature leered at her. She poured all her pent-up anger and anguish into the attack, assaulting the demon with a flurry of sword thrusts and cuts.
The second demon saw her doggedness as an opportunity to get inside her defenses and maneuvered around behind her. Aliisza expected the ploy, though, and she kept orbiting around her quarry as she hammered away at his defenses. The constant motion kept the second one from closing in.
Her target tried to block the strikes, but her hatred lent strength to her efforts, and each blow that rained down on the beast rang with power and drove it backward. The demon grew desperate and began to retreat from her. Thinking quickly, Aliisza feinted another strike at the fleeing demon, then turned her rage fully onto the second one, which was still attempting to get around behind her.
Suck on steel, you pathetic vermin, she thought, twisting suddenly and lunging into a somersault. The maneuver brought her blade under the pursuing creature and it dug deep into its thigh.
The demon screamed and writhed as it yanked itself backward. Aliisza rolled over and came after it, eager for the kill. The demon spun and fled. Aliisza chased it, twisting and turning through the air as she tried to keep up with its frantic maneuvers to escape her. When it suddenly flipped over and dived into a cloud bank, she wheeled around to keep up. It was only after she lost sight of the fiend within the cottony white that her innate sense of imminent danger struck her and she hesitated.
Ambush, she thought.
Her fears were well-founded. Two more demons loomed around her, one from the side and the other from behind. They attacked. Aliisza squirmed to evade the first sword strike, but she couldn't quite parry the second and the blade cut into her hip. The wound did not feel deep and she tried to ignore the pain.
Desperate times… she thought, bringing her hand up and channeling her magic.
A burst of blue fire shot from her fingertips. The glow surrounded her, making the fog of the clouds turn azure.
The inferno drove the demon back, screaming. Aliisza doubled over in pain.
Gods and devils, that hurts!
It was worse than she ever remembered. She folded her wings and dropped like a stone to avoid being struck by another enemy. She fell through the bottom of the cloud into open sky and continued to plunge for a few more heartbeats. The pain ate away at her, like some beast dwelling in her gut and devouring her from the inside.
She desperately wished for Zasian's healing touch. Or Tauran's. Please make it stop.
The pain finally subsided enough for Aliisza to catch her breath and regain control. She fanned her wings and glided levelly.
The three demons had followed her. The one she had wounded originally and the scorched one that had tried to surprise her both lagged behind, but the uninjured one closed in fast.
She could not fight all three of them, even in open space where she could see them clearly. She also could not escape.
I don't want it to hurt!
Do it.
Acting quickly before she could stop herself, Aliisza conjured magic again. She brought forth a hollow hemisphere of stone, cobalt in color. She positioned it in just the right place so that the inverted bowl engulfed the fiend. The stone, with the demon inside and beneath it, dropped away.
Aliisza vomited and saw blood spray from her mouth. No more, she pleaded with herself. You can't take this!
Have to. Can't let Kaanyr win.
Fighting against the excruciating pain, Aliisza quickly began a third spell. Before the other two demons could draw close to her, she completed the magic, summoning a large ball of cerulean fire that burst around them.
One of the remaining two fiends went limp and fell away, but the other survived the conflagration and came on.
Aliisza hardly noticed. She curled into a fetal position, her body shaking from the excruciating pain. She plummeted from the sky, slipping from consciousness.