The reavers were strong. Hirad took a punch across his face that knocked him half away. He felt hands scrabbling to get purchase under his chin and over his heart, searching for his soul. He blocked a clawed hand and jabbed his fingers into the eyes of the demon struggling to rise from beneath him. The creature howled. Hirad's
next thrust took the creature under the arm. It spasmed and was still. Another pushed him away. Thraun ran by.
'Keep going!' shouted Hirad.
A hand clamped around the top of his head and jerked him backwards. He fell onto his back, fists flailing out to either side. His vision was full of demon flesh. There was a flash of steel. One of his assailants was flung aside. He turned onto his stomach and pushed himself to his haunches. Ark stood above him, The Unknown on one arm, his mace in his other hand.
'Down,' he said. Hirad ducked his head and the mace swept by again. There was a squeal. 'Go.'
Hirad came back to The Unknown's side. 'Not without him. Come on.'
They set off again, Darrick taking up station ahead of them and Denser, a ForceCone directed ahead, clearing a path. Al-Arynaar had surrounded Thraun and were shepherding him back down the train. Demons were flying in all along The Thread now, attacking those within the still-functioning shell. Behind, the fighting was intense. Elves falling back in control. But the way ahead was blocked. The two ruined carts and tons of stone were strewn across the way. Just back inside the shell, Hirad took the time to look hard. He dragged strike-strain from his back as he did so, crushing their bodies in his fists or underfoot.
The two surviving Xeteskians ran past him. He could still make out Auum, leading the Al-Arynaar. There was a huge density of the squat karron in between the TaiGethen and the remainder of the train. He would survive, he always did. And the train had troubles of its own, Under heavy attack from above, there were still efforts to turn it around but in the tight space and with frightened horses it was proving almost impossible.
Thraun, with Erienne crushed close to him, was heading towards the nearest wagon. Denser was by his side. Darrick had run further down the train to oversee the turning of the wagons. The Unknown, coming to his senses, pushed Hirad away.
'I'm all right.'
'You're as bad a judge as me.'
'What's the situation?' asked the big man.
'Auum's cut off but he's all right so far. Darrick's back there. We
have to turn this train around, get out of the east end of the playhouse square. The rest of us are here but Kas has gone. I haven't seen Eilaan or Rebraal. We're in trouble.'
'Very astute,' said The Unknown, smiling through the blood slicking his face.
They paused. Al-Arynaar ran around them. Reavers were beaten back while The Raven headed for relative safety. And Hirad heard a voice that gladdened him. Strong, authoritative, elven.
'Let's get those wagons turned!' shouted Rebraal. 'Move, Al-Arynaar. Yniss protects us.'
Wagons began to move with more purpose, elves and humans goading terrified horses into action. Hirad could see Darrick directing those turning the rear wagons. The General's mouth was moving but he couldn't hear him over the din around them. But whatever he was saying it was generating instant organisation. He smiled and grabbed Denser's arm.
'Look at Darrick. Can't really stop being a commander, can he? I—'
At the back of the line, buildings were burst from the inside left and right. Rubble flew in a storm, tattering the rear wagons, destroying them both and collapsing the rear ColdRoom. Demons poured into the street and from above, driving their advantage home while the Al-Arynaar struggled to regroup. The sound of the collapse slapped into their faces, drained their spirits.
Hirad stared, mouth hanging open, his sentence never to be finished. Darrick was gone, buried under die deluge of rock. Gone. For an instant he thought he saw the General through the dust, struggling to rise, but it could only have been the demons storming into the attack, a trick to torment him.
'Darrick. NO!'
Hirad started to run but Denser got in front of him.
'Hirad, stop.'
'Out of my way, Denser. Darrick's down there.'
'He's gone, Hirad, you know what you saw.'
T saw the building fall, I saw die demons come out. Get out of rny way.'
'Hirad, he's dead. And if we don't do something very quickly, We'll be joining him. Please.'
Hirad looked into Denser's eyes, saw the tears forming there, the desperation for Hirad to understand, to accept. Biting back his anger, he nodded his head.
Around them demons shrieked their delight. Karron roared and pressed their attacks harder. He could hear Rebraal bawling orders. Elves and the few surviving men outside of The Raven fell back towards the centre of the train from both sides. Strike-strain rained in on the closing space. He looked to The Unknown who was wiping blood from his face and looking left and right, disbelief in his eyes.
Darrick was dead. The wagon train was stopped for good. They were trapped.
Chapter 35
Seeing the broken bodies of Al-Arynaar, Xeteskians and the Protector Kas, Auum had time for a whispered prayer while he led his Tai into the fight against the karron.
'Tai, as one.'
Al-Arynaar were streaming in, arranging themselves around the flanks of the TaiGethen cell. The karron were being hampered by the rubble they had created. The TaiGethen, born to the treacherous surfaces and obstacles of the rainforest, had no such problems.
Auum hurdled a block of stone, ducked a support strut and launched himself into his first enemy. He landed both feet on the creature's chest, driving it onto its back and into the massed ranks behind it.
His balance sure, Auum stepped right, pivoted and lashed a roundhouse luck into the next, knocking it sideways and buying him all the space he needed. Evunn followed up his attack, sliding into the arm of the first downed karron, dragging it away from its body. Duele, sweat beading on his brow, dealt the killing blow. Neither elf stopped moving, coming fluidly to their feet and pouncing on their next victim. Auum didn't need to look to know they were with him. He heard the touch of their feet and the power of their strikes. And he heard the cursyrd die.
He rose in front of a karron, breathing hard, feeling the exertion and seeing the tide of enemy still before them. The creature grunted and swung both arms inwards. Auum blocked right and left, feeling the shudder through his body. He locked eyes with the lesser cursyrd and saw its incomprehension of his strength. He butted its eyes. It squealed, arms rising. Duele's knife snapped in.
Auum stepped left and glanced right. He flat-palmed a karron in the chest, pushing the creature out of his way. His Tai ran around
his flanks, knives catching the morning sunlight. The karron was stretched and killed.
But while the Tai fought going forwards, the Al-Arynaar were being forced back. More karron were pouring into the line, hammers and spikes whirling. The squat creatures had no care for their own and no coordinated attack pattern. Each called its own guttural squawk while it bludgeoned its way forwards, desperate to feel elven flesh under its weapons. Auum saw a press forming behind.
'Break!'
His Tai danced back into the space they had created. Behind them, Al-Arynaar mages had deployed ForceCones to keep the winged cursyrd busy.
The karron surged out of the shattered grain store. Auum saw creatures batter each other in their haste. Deep-coloured blood sprayed into the air. To the right, the elves hadn't retreated quickly enough. The wave of karron beat into them. A spiked arm drove left, catching a warrior in the side of the head. The karron squawked its pleasure. The elven body was tossed aside. Hammers fell fast and dense. Auum poised to strike back, identifying targets.