Sirendor and Darrick fought back to back. Darrick’s left arm hung useless at his side. He was sweating heavily and struggling to keep up his defence. But there was no doubting his courage. He jabbed and fenced, keeping enemies busy while Sirendor killed with his trademark stylish efficiency. The remaining Protectors held the line as solidly as they could but were being worn down inexorably.
Around them, the TaiGethen were a blur of ruthless murder. Every time a Garonin soldier got inside the shield, a TaiGethen was on him before he had gone five paces. Yet Ilkar could not relax. Surely the enemy were being snuffed out and indeed it did seem their numbers were thinning beyond the shield. Ilkar, though, felt the approach of something bad.
Garonin soldiers broke through on the right again. Four of them. Thraun barked a warning and leapt. White tears tracked him, searing across his flank. With a yelp, Thraun crashed to the ground and slid against the side of the edifice. His body heaved and smoked, shuddering its last.
Auum was already running, Evunn with him. The two TaiGethen rolled under streams of white tears flashing over their heads and into the backs of two helpless Protectors. Auum surged up and left the ground, going two-footed at the nearest enemy. Evunn made to do likewise, but at that moment Erienne and Hirad dropped back into the melee.
Evunn collided with the pair of them and all three tumbled and rolled. In front of them the Garonin could not believe his luck. His weapon discharged. Evunn was caught by the stream of energy and his body blew apart, spattering gore in all directions.
The Garonin hurdled his fallen body and raced towards Sol. Auum downed his man, turned and gave chase. Hirad was getting to his feet. Two other Garonin faced him. He had nowhere to run. Below him Erienne had begun to cast but would not make it.
Time slowed for Ilkar. Him again. He could stop the lone Garonin. Possibly. But the consequence was stark. Move and attack and lose the shield keeping the remaining fire from the defenders. Enough fire to wipe them all out. He heard Sol’s last words repeat in his head.
‘Now or never,’ he said. Ilkar drove to his feet and dived headlong at the onrushing Garonin. ‘Shield down! Shield down!’
White tears lashed into the open space. Protector, Raven and elf alike threw themselves to the ground. Ilkar prayed they all survived but knew they could not. His outstretched hand snagged the ankle of the Garonin. The soldier, in mid-run, sprawled to the ground. Ilkar scrambled up and dived on top of him as he tried to get back to his feet. White tears smashed all around him, ripping chunks out of the edifice but keeping well away from Sol, who held the door open, helpless to stop what came at him.
The Garonin shoved Ilkar off. Ilkar rolled and rose. The Garonin was on his feet too. Ilkar got in front of him. The Garonin raised his weapon. He fired.
‘Ilkar!’ Hirad was screaming at him. ‘No!’
The white tears flowed into Ilkar’s body. He spread his arms wide and he laughed.
‘See me, Garonin? See me? You cannot hurt me. You do not know how. I have mastered you. I understand. Raven. TaiGethen. Listen to me.’
The Garonin ceased firing and made to sweep Ilkar aside. Ilkar raised a hand and clamped it under the chin of the soldier, holding him off while his blows slid from Ilkar’s body.
‘They can only do to you what you expect them to do. What you believe they can do. They cannot hurt me. You, my enemy, cannot hurt me. But I can hurt you.’
From Ilkar’s hand the flame was the bright yellow of Julatsa and hot enough to melt metal. It scoured into the Garonin’s neck. His armour buckled beneath Ilkar’s hand. Ilkar closed it into a fist, crushing his neck like a twig, dropped the Garonin and walked into the midst of the white fire, letting it slam into his body, feeling nothing but an intense satisfaction.
‘This is us, Raven! We are spirits. We are souls. We cannot be killed because we are already dead. Let them fear us. They cannot hurt us but they know that we can hurt them. They are real. They bleed. They die. For us it is only memories.
‘Rout them! Rout them!’
Ilkar ran at the nearest Garonin. He saw the soldier flinch, take his hand off his weapon and take a pace back. Behind him, he heard Hirad roar:
‘Come on, you fuckers! Fight us now, eh?’
Raven, Protector and TaiGethen took up the cry. The Garonin were swamped. Armour could not deflect blades. Punches found their mark. Blood was spilled. Garonin blood. And though the fire still came back at them, the defenders let it slide over them, doing no more harm than would water or a puff of air.
‘Make a shield around Sol,’ ordered Darrick, his wound gone. ‘Let’s not forget what we’re here to defend.’
Hirad, standing next to Ilkar, gave the mage a shove on the shoulder. The Garonin fire battered them. The soldiers feinted to attack. Auum prowled in front of the line, daring any to come close.
‘You can still feel me push you, then,’ said the barbarian.
‘Of course. I expect you to be able to. Be bloody boring if you couldn’t. Then I couldn’t do this.’
Ilkar rubbed his knuckles hard against Hirad’s forehead.
‘I think I preferred you lacking in belief,’ he said.
‘Look.’
Sirendor was pointing out at the Garonin. They had ceased firing and were moving slowly towards the defenders. One detached himself from the group of perhaps forty and walked to within a few paces.
‘The day is yours,’ he said, melodious voice tainted with discord. ‘But your new worlds will be ours. The fight will never be over. One day we will follow an innocent soul through the doorway and your efforts will be rendered nought.’
‘Not if we close it in your fat face, you won’t,’ said Hirad.
The sound of water over pebbles.
‘How little you know, human. Your ignorance is our greatest weapon. Think on it and enjoy your rest if you can. The dead are irrelevant.’
The last echoes of the Garonin’s voice rattled against the edifice. The plain of Ulandeneth was empty.
‘What was he talking about?’ asked Hirad.
He turned and led The Raven, Protectors and TaiGethen back towards Sol, or the shimmering luminescence that represented where he was seated. He knelt by Thraun much as Auum did by what remained of Evunn.
‘Don’t worry about them. Their souls rest with me for the time being,’ said Sol.
Hirad smiled. ‘Seems like a good place. So what about this door, then?’
‘Once opened, the door can be hidden and protected but never shut. It must allow the passage of souls,’ said Sol.
‘So how do we stop them?’ asked Hirad. ‘After all this bother, I don’t want to think we just moved our people from one dead space to another.’
‘Well, we could wedge a grumpy barbarian in it, ‘said Ilkar. ‘That should keep it shut.’
‘Funny elf,’ said Hirad.
‘Ilkar is more accurate than he knows,’ said Sol. ‘Even when hidden, the doorway is vulnerable. Witness their access into our cluster of worlds.’
Ilkar and Hirad exchanged glances.
‘Are the words, “someone has to guard it” marching towards your lips, Sol?’
‘As Hirad would undoubtedly tell you, Ilkar, you are sharp of mind today.’
Hirad chuckled and nodded his head. ‘Funny how we never seem to reach the end, do we?’
‘Indeed we don’t,’ said Erienne.
‘What do you lot think. Darrick, Sirendor?’ Hirad turned to his old friends.
Sirendor shrugged. ‘Well, I didn’t have a lot else planned for the rest of the day.’
‘You mean eternity,’ said Darrick. ‘And I would be honoured to be considered a soul great enough to perform this task.’
Murmurs of agreement met his words. Hirad clapped his hands together.
‘Right, well let’s get comfortable. Ark? What say you and the Protectors?’
‘I will stay,’ said Ark. ‘My brothers will travel to their rest. Should they be needed, they can be called upon once more.’
Sol’s warmth spread out to cover them all. ‘Then come, walk into me, my brother Protectors. Find your brother souls. Know they are safe and have gone beyond me.’