The three men sheltered behind the building again, listening. They heard nothing nearby. The devils appeared to be elsewhere on the grounds, burning and destroying.
“We move now,” Vasen said. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Orsin and Gerak said in unison.
They dashed out from behind the shed and made for the courtyard. Through the smoke and darkness, the large arch leading into the courtyard looked like a screaming mouth. The moment they broached it and set foot on the flagstones, Vasen saw the two men they sought.
They stood near the north-facing double doors. The smaller of the men held a thin rod in his hand with which he traced glowing runes in the air. He made a gesture of finality with the wand, and the jambs around the abbey’s double doors flared white as the protective wards winked out.
Gerak drew an arrow and Vasen whirled his blade over his head. Anger and faith combined, flowed into his blade, and ribbons of rose-colored light trailed the weapon’s arc.
“Get away from that door,” Vasen called.
The men turned to face him. Behind and above them Vasen saw a light glowing in the upper window of the Saint’s Shrine, the only light in the entire abbey.
If the Oracle was still in the Abbey, that’s where he would be.
The man who bore sword and shield was the largest human Vasen had ever seen. A battle-scarred breastplate covered his barrel chest. Shaggy hair and a thick beard obscured all of his features but his eyes, which looked as lifeless as coins.
The other man, also tall but thin as a willow reed, looked like a walking corpse. Parchment-colored skin was drawn tight over sunken cheeks and deep-set eyes. His thin lips parted in a snarl to reveal snaggle teeth.
“Kill them, Sayeed!” the thin man said to the large one. “I’ll get what we need from the Oracle.”
Before either man could move, Vasen swung his blade in a wide, final arc and flung the ribbons of light across the courtyard. The energy slammed into the thin man like a hammer blow, knocking him from his feet and leaving him stunned on the ground.
“You’ll never set foot in the abbey,” Vasen said.
The large man roared and rushed them. Gerak fired twice in rapid succession, but the large man blocked his shots contemptuously with his huge shield, never slowing his advance.
Two devils, perhaps hearing the shouts, bounded into the courtyard from the far side. When they saw Vasen, Gerak, and Orsin, they coiled, arched their backs, and a dozen flaming spines hissed across the courtyard.
Vasen jumped before Gerak-the man was unarmored-and protected both of them with his shield. Orsin leaped high into the air, and the remaining spines slammed into the stone wall behind them and fell to the ground, flaming.
Gerak drew, fired, and an arrow slammed into one of the devils. Meanwhile, Orsin leaped skyward on a column of shadow, the arc of his leap carrying him over the huge man, who halted in his charge to watch him sail overhead. Orsin landed in a crouch a few paces from the thin man, and a disc of shadow exploded a short distance outward in all directions from his feet. The wave of dark energy slammed into the thin man and sent him careening into the doors. Orsin clenched his fists, dark energy surrounding them, and advanced on him.
Vasen charged Sayeed, blade and shield readied and blazing with light. Sayeed whirled, his mouth a twisted snarl, sword and shield ready. They collided with a shout, a clamor of metal and flesh. The impact made Vasen’s teeth ache, but he managed to slam his glowing shield into Sayeed’s blade and loose an overhand strike at the man’s skull. Sayeed parried with his shield, pushed Vasen back, and unleashed a vicious overhead strike that Vasen sidestepped.
When Sayeed’s missed strike put the tip of his blade in the earth, Vasen stomped on it even as he slammed the edge of his shield into Sayeed’s cheek. The combination should have snapped Sayeed’s sword and skull, but the man barely flinched and the steel of his blade resisted Vasen’s stomp.
Sayeed levered his blade up, knocking Vasen off balance, then swung his shield hard into Vasen’s side. The blow sent Vasen stumbling sidelong.
Sayeed bounded after, stabbing for Vasen’s ribs. Vasen managed an awkward parry with his shield, spun, and slashed downward with his blade, catching Sayeed’s calf behind the protective plate of his armor. Blood spilled, and Sayeed grunted with pain but didn’t fall. Instead, he stabbed at Vasen’s chest, his blade slipping past Vasen’s shield and scraping armor. Horrifyingly, the blade vibrated like a living thing, as if burrowing for Vasen’s flesh. But the force of the blow knocked Vasen backward and the blade did not penetrate his armor. Sayeed advanced, blade held high for a killing stroke.
A hiss, thunk, and grunt of pain accompanied one of Gerak’s arrows slamming into Sayeed’s back. The big warrior roared, turned, and tore the arrow from his back. Vasen backed away and regathered his wits.
He glanced around, just in time to see a column of flame explode from the thin man’s hands, slam into Orsin’s chest, and send the deva careening backward across the length of the courtyard, where he crashed into a wall and sagged to the ground. His chest smoked as he struggled to rise. Another spined devil sprinted into the courtyard and charged him.
“Orsin!” Gerak and Vasen called as one.
Gerak’s hands were a blur, firing again and again, as he backed toward the wall His bow and one of the devils charging him fell in a tumble, but the second shot went wide and he fumbled his sword free as the devil closed and slashed with tooth and claw.
Behind Vasen, the thin man opened the double doors of the abbey. Vasen cursed, torn between aiding his friend and pursuing. Before he could decide, the huge warrior loomed before him, roaring, and unleashed a flurry of blows that drove Vasen backward and prevented him from doing anything other than keeping sharp metal away from his flesh.
“Shoot him, Gerak!” Vasen called. “The other one! Shoot him!”
But Gerak was pressed against the wall, stabbing and slashing with his blade at two devils.
Anger flared in Vasen. Shadows whirled around his flesh. He channeled all the power he could into both blade and shield, causing both to glow, and lunged at Sayeed, loosing his own flurry of strikes, stabs, and slashes. The ferocity of the attack drove the larger man backward, toward the double doors, and the power infusing Vasen’s weapons gave his strikes the force needed to knock Sayeed’s shield and blade out wide, exposing his chest. Vasen put a straight kick into the larger man’s torso, staggering him, then drove the glowing line of his blade to its hilt in Sayeed’s chest.
He went nose to nose with Sayeed, whose mouth was filling with blood.
“We just want the Oracle,” Sayeed gasped. “We need the son of Erevis Cale.”
Shadows swirled around Vasen, around Sayeed.
“You’ve found him,” Vasen said. “Know that as you die.”
Sayeed’s dead eyes widened with surprise and his mouth split in a bloody smile. He laughed, spraying Vasen with blood, and fell to his knees. He closed his hands around the hilt of Vasen’s sword.
A pained shout pulled Vasen around. He tried to jerk his blade free as he turned, but Sayeed held it in a death grip.
A spined devil had Gerak pinned up against the wall. The devil lunged at him, but Gerak sidestepped the attack and slashed down with his blade. The weapon bit and sent several spines flying. The devil squealed, more with anger than pain, and not before catching Gerak’s side with a claw that came away bloody. Gerak backed off, wide-eyed, his breath coming hard.
Orsin had regained his feet, and clouds of shadow clung to his fists and the ends of his staff as he battled with a spined devil. His weapon hummed, trailing a line of shadows.