As he had done then, so many centuries ago, Teclis called up the lightning and cast it into the leering face of damnation. Jagged bolts of crackling energy struck Ka’Bandha; hissing magics crawled across the daemon’s armour, and sparks played over the runic crown it wore. Ka’Bandha laughed gutturally, and bore down on them.
Two more treemen moved to cut the daemon off. They bounded up the dais with great, creaking leaps. Ka’Bandha cut down the first one without slowing, but the second caught the daemon a blow on the back with both of its fists, dropping the brute to one knee. Ka’Bandha roared and swung to face its attacker, ignoring the lightning that Teclis continued to hurl at it. The treeman caught the daemon’s thick wrists in vine-laced fingers.
For a long moment the two creatures stood almost motionless, straining against one another. Teclis knew that the contest would not last forever. Strong as the guardian was, the daemon was stronger. He reached out, trying to grasp the faint strands of Ghur which permeated the glade. Though the Wind of Beasts was not strong here, it could still be manipulated, if he but had the strength. Catching it, he sent it flooding into the treeman, giving the guardian new strength. He staggered, and Alarielle caught him.
Ka’Bandha roared in baffled fury as it was slowly pushed back by its opponent. The bloodthirster opened its fanged maw and vomited a torrent of deep and ruddy flame into the treeman’s face. The ancient guardian was consumed in moments, and Ka’Bandha ripped its arms free in an explosion of charred wood. The bloodthirster whirled on Teclis and Alarielle, burning spittle dripping from its jaws. ‘I will have your skulls for such effrontery, little elves,’ Ka’Bandha growled.
Teclis stared at the beast in growing horror. He had faced untold daemons over the course of his life, and he had bested them all. But this beast seemed resistant to everything he hurled at it. Is this it, then? he thought, as the creature’s shadow fell over him. Is this my debt come due at last? It seemed fitting – an elf could only taunt the gods for so long before they turned their full attentions upon him.
Ka’Bandha’s axe flashed down, and Teclis reacted on instinct, interposing his staff. The force of the blow drove him down, and pain thrummed through his arms and shoulders. His magics could protect him, but not for long. He glanced over his shoulder, intending to tell Alarielle to run.
The Everqueen ignored his panicked exclamation, and set her staff. The stuff of life itself writhed about her in a shimmering halo of all colours and none. Thorny vines burst from the cracked expanse of the dais and sought to snare Ka’Bandha, as they had the other bloodthirster. But unlike the earlier beast, Ka’Bandha easily tore itself free of the constricting plant life, heedless of the many wounds it caused itself.
The bloodthirster’s hammer slammed down towards Alarielle. Teclis threw out a hand, and a shimmering shield of magical energy coalesced between the Everqueen and the daemon-weapon. Teclis bit back a groan as his body began to quake with the strain of his sorcery. Ka’Bandha lifted its hammer for a second blow.
‘It speaks ill of the Lord of Skulls that his Huntsman is so easily distracted from his true prey,’ a voice called out. Ka’Bandha stepped back, and turned. Teclis’s eyes widened as Deathclaw landed heavily on the steps of the dais. The Emperor sat astride the griffon, and he gestured at Ka’Bandha with his runefang. ‘It is known that you once came for Magnus the Pious, but failed to claim him. Did your god punish you for that, beast?’
Ka’Bandha snarled. ‘Yes, I failed to claim the skull of one human emperor. But yours shall suffice as a replacement,’ the bloodthirster hissed, gesturing at the Emperor with its axe. Before it could do more than gesture, however, Deathclaw was already hurtling forwards like a feathered cannonball at the Emperor’s behest. The griffon crashed into the daemon and the animal’s beak tore at Ka’Bandha’s throat, even as its talons sank into the bloodthirster’s arms.
Teclis pulled Alarielle aside as the two creatures careened down the dais, roaring and snarling. The Emperor clung grimly to his saddle and stabbed down at Ka’Bandha with his sword. ‘Fool,’ Teclis muttered. ‘Without the power of Azyr, he’s no match for that creature.’
‘He is a fool, but a brave one. He is buying us time, and we must make use of it.’ Alarielle raised her staff. ‘I can feel Durthu – he is less than a league hence, and drawing near,’ she said. Teclis felt a chill. If there was any creature in Athel Loren which could match Ka’Bandha for pure hate, it was the ancient treeman known as Durthu. Powerful beyond measure, despite the old scars which covered its frame – a legacy of a long ago confrontation with the dwarfs – Durthu was the rage of the forest given form.
Alarielle continued, ‘Durthu will not be coming alone. We have three armies in this forest, and by now they will all know that something is occurring. We must simply hold out until they arrive.’
Teclis looked at her. ‘And how do you propose we do that?’
Alarielle didn’t answer. Instead, she lifted her staff over her head. Teclis flinched back as the Wind of Life churned about her, and he felt a hum deep in his bones as she once again called out to the forest. All across the glade, those treemen not currently engaged with the enemy began to move towards the centre of the clearing. Those already there sank their roots deep into the soil and locked their limbs, creating a living palisade.
Other treemen moved to join them, and along the way, they plucked up those Incarnates or their advisors who were not lucky enough to be riding a steed, or able to fly. Teclis saw a treeman scoop up the dwarf, Hammerson, and, ignoring the runesmith’s virulent cursing, carry him to the dubious safety of the growing bastion. Teclis grabbed Alarielle’s arm. ‘Come, we must go,’ he said urgently.
‘What of the human?’ she asked.
Teclis turned, seeking out the Emperor. He cursed as he saw that his worst fears were confirmed. Ka’Bandha had recovered from the griffon’s attack and had wounded the animal, driving it back and nearly spilling the Emperor from his saddle. Before he could move to help, however, a roiling cloud of shadow enveloped the bloodthirster. Each mote of darkness pierced the daemon’s flesh, eliciting a startled shriek of pain from Khorne’s Huntsman. As the bloodthirster staggered, flailing blindly at the shadows, Teclis saw Tyrion galloping towards the daemon, sword in hand. There was a flash of light, and the daemon screamed again as Tyrion swept past, his blade trailing a line of ichor.
Teclis gestured to the Emperor as the man glanced his way. Karl Franz hesitated, as if reluctant to leave the fight, but then nodded. He hauled on the reins, and forced his snarling mount to swoop away from its opponent and towards them. Deathclaw spread its talons and scooped the two elves up as it sped over the dais.
As they flew towards the living palisade of treemen, a crash of timber heralded the arrival of the last of Ka’Bandha’s forces. Teclis watched in horror as great engines of shimmering brass and impossible heat, all thumping pistons and fang-muzzled cannons, burst into the glade, belching fire and ruin. Treemen were torn apart by howling barrages, and the forest itself was set aflame. Alarielle writhed in Deathclaw’s grip, wracked by agony as she experienced Athel Loren’s pain as her own. The palisade shuddered around them as Deathclaw landed.
The Incarnates were still scattered, Teclis saw. A column of pulsing amethyst light marked where Nagash still fought alone, uncaring of the greater struggle. Vlad von Carstein struggled to free Hammerson from the twisted wreckage of the treeman which had been carrying the dwarf. The guardian had been struck from behind by a roaring bloodthirster, and the vampire fought desperately against the daemon. Lileath was nowhere to be seen.