He turned a corner and came face-to-face with a trio of troopers fighting a pitched battle against a huge, black hellhound and a four-armed cyclops, the hulking result of another dementia caster's efforts. The dog had clamped on to the end of one trooper's sword, while the other two jabbed at the cyclops with their spears.
"Chainer!" Fulla cried, stepping out from behind the cyclops. One of the Order soldiers struck at her, and she angrily turned and cast a snarling red-eyed rat into the man's face. He fell back screaming.
"Fulla." Chainer cracked a chain across the sword-bearing trooper's face. As the trooper recoiled, the hellhound tore out her throat. The big dog turned and barked once at Chainer, exasperated.
"Hello, Azza," he said. Chainer, Azza, Fulla, and the cyclops all closed in on the remaining trooper.
"I give," the man said instantly. He dropped his spear and held up his hands. "In the name of-"
Fulla's ugly little sword split the trooper's skull before he could utter another word. For a moment she looked annoyed, and she held the bloody sword out to Chainer.
" 'I give.' Can you believe these maggots?" She wiped the sword on the dead man's uniform.
Azza barked, and Fulla waved the cyclops away. She stepped forward and hugged Chainer, rifling his hair like an indulgent aunt. "Azza was worried. And I've been so bored. You're not going to become one of those snotty dementists now, are you?" Then she stood and asked him brightly, "So, tell me everything. How was the forest?"
Chainer smiled. "Crowded. The shikar, however, was a spectacular success."
Azza sniffed the air and growled to let her fellow Cabalists know there was something coming.
"Well, little brother," Fulla said. "Can you show me what you learned in the forest, or do I have to clear this building of toy soldiers by myself?"
"Oh, let me show you," Chainer said. He felt his feet rise off the floor, and without seeing his reflection, he knew his eyes had gone black. Fulla's smile grew wider and crueler as Chainer drew on the power he had earned.
"This had better be good," Fulla said.
Azza whined softly, but held her ground.
Chainer crossed his arms as he floated and dropped his chin down to his chest. Fulla's cry of delight overlapped Chainer's cry of release as he snapped his arms down and his head back.
Ribbons of smoke and black light radiated out from Chainer's body in every direction. Most ran straight through the arena's stone walls without resistance, but some ricocheted back and forth inside the hallway. Chainer floated there for a few long seconds then gently settled onto the floor.
"That should do it," he said. His voice and his eyes were returning to normal. He gallantly offered his arm to Fulla.
"Do what?" Fulla took his arm but stared at him in confusion.
"I've just retaken the entire arena," Chainer said proudly. He stumbled, but Fulla caught him and propped him up against the wall. She whispered something to Azza, and the huge dog ambled over to Chainer and bent low, so that he could climb on.
"Thank you." Chainer eased himself onto Azza's strong back. "Skellum always said, 'It takes more out of you than you realize.' " The sadness and anger over his mentor's death was still there, but it didn't sting quite like it did before. Completing the shikar had gone a long way toward putting Skellum to rest. Using what he'd learned during the ritual to drive the Order out felt even better.
"To the vault, please," he said to Azza. The three walked through the suddenly silent building, but only Azza and Fulla were amazed by what they saw.
There were still small squads of troopers throughout the arena, but each and every Order soldier was covered in squirming serpents. Huge, venomous, in a wide array of unnatural shapes and sizes, the snakes covered each invader like a shroud. Those that could walk or run were being cornered and killed by the Cabal's guards. As each Order soldier fell, the body and any lingering serpents disappeared into the gloom.
Fulla made a game of counting the dead, but she had to give up when they came close to the vault and there was no one left. Outside, the battle raged on, but inside the arena, it had already been won. "How did you do that all over the building?" Fulla asked. Chainer was interrupted by a thud and a clatter as a live crusat trooper stumbled out of a door further up the hallway. The terrified man held his sword out in front of him with both hands, and he still couldn't keep its point off the floor. He had a sergeant's insignia on his shoulder.
"Hello, Bunkus," Chainer's voice was low but firm. "S-stand where you are," Sgt. Baankis said feebly. His skin was pale, and his eyes were unfocused. "In the name of the Order, I-"
"I'd stop citing things in the name of the Order, if I were you." Azza growled and tried to shrug Chainer off, but he patted her neck soothingly. "No, big sister. Leave him to me."
Baankis managed to get his sword pointed in Chainer's general direction.
"In the name of the Order," the sergeant repeated, "and in the name of Major Teroh, I-"
The chain shot across the room and wrapped itself around Baankis's throat before he could utter another word. The sergeant's jaw opened and closed, but no sound came out as the chain dug deep into his windpipe.
"In the name of the Order," Chainer maintained his low, even tone, "you have broken into our home, attacked our family, and tried to steal our property. Again. I can't think of a single reason to keep listening to you. Can you?" Baankis dropped his sword with a clatter and clawed at his throat.
"Fulla?" Chainer asked. "Azza? No? Then we're all in agreement." Chainer held his position until Sgt. Baankis silently expired. As the body fell forward, it collapsed into the length of chain and disappeared up Chainer's arm. Azza growled approvingly, and Fulla rocked from one foot to the other.
"Do it again!" she cried.
Chainer didn't hear them as he stared at his hand. Before today, he had never taken a human being the way he had taken the denizens of Krosan forest. He was surprised that it didn't feel any different.
After Chainer stopped them at the arena, the Order troops aborted their mission and began a costly retreat. The First ordered every able-bodied Cabalist to harry the invaders until they were a mile outside the city walls, and the righteous crusat raid on Cabal City ended in disaster. The outnumbered Order troops desperately tried to break out of the city they had just successfully stormed, fighting the city guards at the gates and the Cabal's killers on their rear flank. If the First had ordered the main gates closed, the entire raiding force would have been slaughtered. As it was, almost half of their number never left Cabal City again. Of those who stayed, only a handful remained dead.
Chainer had watched the retreat from Azza's back near the steps of the arena. He knew that there were huge, gargadon-sized monstrosities hidden in the caverns below the manor, but the First was content to keep them in reserve. It seemed he wanted the Cabalists to beat back the raiders themselves, and he wanted some of the enemy to escape. Chainer reminded himself that the First had global concerns which he would never be privy to, and took faith in the First's wisdom.
Once the furor at the gate had died down and the fighting moved beyond the city walls, Chainer and Azza went looking for Kamahl.
The big barbarian might have joined the running battle, but Chainer expected to find him close by. Kamahl had been more interested in defending the city than the Cabal. Chainer made no such distinction, but he was glad that something had sparked his friend's fighting spirit after the shikar.
The dead, the wounded, and the unconscious were scattered around the main gates like leaves in autumn. Scavengers from the squatters' huts were already poking around, looking for valuables. Azza growled angrily, and the scavengers wisely withdrew.