The doors began to creak and moan as the entire tower shook from the blow. The thunderous noise of the battering ram slamming into the tower was completely overshadowed by the soft sound of something cracking. A long fracture spread across one side of the doors. They would not hold for much longer.
I could hear the angry snarls of the Demonkin beyond. Explosions of fire and lightning rained down from above in a desperate attempt to stop the coming tide.
Inside the tower, everyone was perfectly still. Nobody even dared to breathe as they all watched the doors intently. Any moment now, the Demonkin would rush in here like a flood, and it was their duty to push them back.
General Arthur stood among the crowd, his voice echoing over the cacophony outside. “Keep steady men. Everythin’ depends on us now. This will be a tough battle, but we will show them who is tougher. We just need to hold out a few more hours, and victory will be ours. Humanity will never fall to the Demons!”
The soldiers cheered as the tower shook again. The crack spread further as the door began to bend inwards. The door had withstood all it could. They had lasted over a full day of assault and broken two different battering rams before finally starting to give way. The doors had stood stronger than anyone had expected. They bought us time.
Time my dad could use to complete the enormous rune beneath the tower. Time for arrows and glyphs to kill more than a thousand more Demonkin. Time that would save countless lives.
Another crack spread across the door, joining the first. A small piece of the door started to crumble, revealing the sight of the horde beyond. Thousands of hideous monsters, snarling as they held the battering ram aloft. Their red eyes glowed as they stared hungrily at the soldiers inside.
A single arrow shot through the crack, pierce a Demonkin’s eye. The creature howled in pain, forgetting its task as it tore at the crack trying to get inside. Its unnaturally long arms squeezed through the hole, frantically trying to claw at one of the soldiers.
A sword sliced at the arm, hacking at it six times before it fell to the floor limply. The Demonkin beyond roared furiously. The crack began to widen as the crudely made battering ram slammed into the doors again. More arrows flew and a glyph flew through the hole into the injured Demonkin outside. After a bit more desperate struggling, and more arrows and glyphs, the creature finally fell still, only to immediately be replaced by another creature trying to force its way through the ever-widening crack.
Finally, the battering ram slammed into the doors one final time. A massive section of one door crumbled, leaving a large hole big enough for the Demonkin to climb through.
The first of the Demonkin forced its way inside. It was a creature that almost looked like a spider. Each of its eight legs was decorated with long hair-like blades that sliced through armor as if it were made of paper. Within seconds, nearly a dozen soldiers were sliced to ribbons as the Demonkin’s legs moved in a blur.
The soldiers shouted as they stabbed and cut the Demonkin with their weapons hundreds of times until it stopped moving. Before they had any time to catch their breath, another hulking creature forced its way inside. It reminded me of the very first Demonkin I saw back at the Novus capital. The Demonkin struggled to get its massive body through the hole, giving the soldiers time to attack before it could retaliate. Most of the weapons bounced off the creature’s thick hide, barely leaving a scratch.
I saw General Arthur stride forward, his sword glowing with a familiar silver light. More importantly, I could see his blade was decorated with a familiar purple crystal. I could not help but stare. Aurielle would not be happy when she learned other people also had Corvus Empire weapons.
With a single blow, General Arthur beheaded the Demonkin that the other soldiers had so much trouble even injuring. He then left its massive body to block the other Demonkin trying to force their way in.
The creatures did not even hesitate to tear the unmoving body of their comrade apart in their frenzied attempt to claw their way into the tower. Now that a hole had been opened up, most of the Demonkin had abandoned the giant battering ram and charged forwards like the beasts they were.
I could not help but think that a true army would have widened the hole further and completely busted down the doors before trying to charge inside. I could practically hear Aurielle criticizing the sloppy and undisciplined nature that a more experienced Demon would not have allowed.
I watched as more and more Demonkin forced their way inside. All of them were cut down but at a cost. Every time a Demonkin charged into the tower, at least three soldiers died to kill it. Even with General Arthur standing at the front, cutting through most of them with ease, many soldiers still died. Blood coated the floor. One after another, they were bitten, smashed, and sliced by the Demonkin. I could only pray they could hold the line long enough for everything to be ready.
I nearly jumped as a hand rested on my shoulder. I looked over to see my mom standing beside me with a grim expression. “Come along Wren. This is not our fight.”
“Shouldn’t you be helping the general?” I asked curiously.
She shook her head. “My talent is of no use in such cramped quarters. My time will come during our counterattack. Until then, I should save my strength.”
I nodded and my mom led me down into the catacombs. The fighting grew distant and quiet. It was hard to believe that just above me so many people were fighting and dying, but down here it was as peaceful as ever.
I could see my dad still hard at work drawing the giant glyph. Dark bags were under his bloodshot eyes. He had been working on this glyph for over a day and a half without any rest or breaks. I wanted to make him stop, even for just a little while, and get some sleep, but I knew every second he did not work more people would die.
Charly was down here as well. His eyes closed as he leaned against a nearby pillar. He had long finished doing what little he could for the massive glyph and had spent most of the last day at the top of the tower. His crossbow alone probably killed more Demonkin than the rest of the army's glyphs combined, and even managed to significantly damage the first battering ram. He had fired continuously until he passed out. If not for him, I had no doubt the Demonkin would have broken through the doors much sooner.
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My mom helped Charly up, practically carrying him as he stumbled just trying to stand. Then she looked at my dad. “The Demonkin have broken through. I am going to join the General’s counterattack. How much longer do you need?”
My dad grimaced as he looked down at the runes. “Two hours, I will have it done by then.”
My mom nodded silently. She led me and Charly through the catacombs while my dad stayed behind. I hoped he would join us soon. If everything went according to plan those catacombs would become nothing more than a tomb.
We left the catacombs through a different place than the grave we first entered. This exit was deep in the tree line east of the tower. Here, more than twenty thousand soldiers stood impatiently. This was General Arthur’s true plan. The tower was nothing more than a diversion to lower the number of Demonkin and keep them where he wanted them. He knew he would not be able to defend it forever. Instead, he sent the vast majority of his army here to prepare for the true battle to come.
Peering through the trees, I could see the tower getting assaulted by thousands of Demonkin. Arrows and glyphs bombarded the Demonkin from the top windows and broken top of the tower, but it hardly made a dent in the seemingly endless horde of creatures. Even from here, I could hear their roars of pain and rage as all the Demonkin tried to force their way inside the tower.
More importantly, I could see the figure of a woman standing at the back of the Demonkin horde. Our twenty thousand troops had purposefully chosen our location as close as possible to the Demon’s location. When my father’s glyph went off, all these soldiers were to focus on the Demon above all else. If we could kill her, the Demonkin would return to being nothing more than mindless beasts. No matter what the casualties were, she had to die.
“Wren, do not stand too close to the tree line. If one of them spots you, all our plans will be ruined.”
I tore my eyes away from the back of the Demon and hurried to my mom’s side. I saw Donte nearby as well as Orias. The man was looking worse than ever. He was pale, and I could see the dark veins spreading across his skin. His arm was still injured from his fight with the giant snake, and he looked like he could barely stand let alone fight. Despite it all, he insisted on joining the counterattack.
Orias sat against a nearby tree with his eyes closed, but they snapped open the moment I approached. “Kid, you really like getting me in trouble, don’t you?”
“Why did you not leave with the rest of your soldiers escorting the civilians? They should be halfway to the edge of the mist by now.”
Orias chuckled but was interrupted by a hacking cough. “Kid, you do not know much about soldiers, do you?”
“I know plenty.”
“Then you should understand, all soldiers have a duty. A duty not just to their fellow comrades on the battlefield, but also to themselves. For a soldier, the worst possible death is the one where you die a coward. To run away from a battle only to die anyway, nothing can be worse than that.” Orias was interrupted by another fit of coughing before he could continue. “I am dying. I know I will not make it out of the mist. Even if I left with the others, all it would accomplish is me turning into one of those monsters, or getting killed by my fellow soldiers. That is no way for a man to die. If I am going to die, I will die on the battlefield, and I am going to take a few of those creatures with me!”
I looked over at my mom. She was purposefully avoiding looking in Orias’s direction, but I knew from her expression she had clearly heard him.
“Is there really no other way?” I whispered.
Orias shook his head. “Even if we found everything we needed for a cure, I would not use it. There are too many others who deserve it more than me.” Orias stopped as he was overcome with another fit of coughing. Once he was finally able to breathe regularly again, he looked towards my mom and smiled softly. “Tia… Thank you for being my friend.”
My mom bit her lip as she turned toward Orias with tears in her eyes. “You stupid oaf, why do you always have to be like this?”
“It is who I am. That will not change now… Tia… When the battle starts, I intend to be at the front very front. This may be the last time we ever get to talk to each other.” Orias laughed softly as he spoke, “I remember when you first joined the Novus army as a squire. You were so full of fire and angry at the world. You reminded me so much of the sister I lost so long ago. If only things had ended differently between us. All those years I missed. You have grown up so much since then. I am proud of the woman you have become.”
Tears flowed freely down my mom’s face now as she spoke, “When I ran away from home, I had no one and nothing. I was all alone, but you were there for me. You may not have been my brother from birth, but you were every bit just as important... You became my brother, and that will never change.”
Orias forced himself to his feet placing a hand on my mom’s shoulder. She hugged him tightly. The two of them stayed like that in silence for a long time before Orias was finally able to pull himself free. He spoke a few final words before marching to the front of the waiting army.
“Stay strong Tia. Never lose that fire.”