Chapter 088. Vol 3 - Six Weeping Eyes:

Slowly the steam dissipated as the entire fortress watched on in complete and total silence. All Anton could hear was the clinking of metal armour from the stunned soldiers, slowly retreating towards the breach. The Goblins, irrespective of colour or wounds, continued to stare slack-jawed at the groups of six red eyes. Glowing orange forked tongues licked at the weeping liquid emanating from the eyes while also licking the air, like a snake searching for prey.

“What the fuck?” Verona said quietly, gripping ever tighter on his hand. Kal did the same.

“I didn’t think it would happen so soon.” Anton stammered. “They told us that we had more time before they arrived here. And…” He violently shook his head. “We need to be ready for anything. If they are what I think they are.”

“That makes things simple.” Verona glowed red as blood swirled around her.

One set of red eyes looked towards them and constricted ever so slightly. If they were Demons they knew of magic and exactly where to look. The steam had cleared enough for a vague outline of a gigantic black body extending over a meter above the eyes, well over six meters tall. Anton dreaded to think what they would look like in the clear. However, he did not actually know if these were the Demons or not. His gods had not shown him what they actually looked like. So far these creatures had not done anything hostile, other than their portal making a mess of the Goblins, which would make them friendly, for the moment.

“Don’t attack just yet.” Anton gently patted Verona’s free hand. “So far-”

“Greka!” A voice from below shrieked out.

As Anton took a step forward the shriek grew in volume. He stopped himself from taking another step as he saw all the Goblins all screaming in unison. Slowly their slack-jawed faces scrunched up in anger and their eyes hardened. Every Goblin looked towards the steam shrouded black figures and howled even louder, screaming the same thing over and over again until the amorphous noise hurt his ears. The soldiers below were struggling as well, as was everyone with him.

The Demons growled back and advanced, a massive clawed front leg emerged and effortlessly dug through the hard ground with claws as dark as obsidian. The flesh around it…was not flesh as Anton recognised it. Layers of hardened black carapace bulged unnaturally around the root of the claw, as if it had been forced into the carapace. A thin weak yellow liquid leaked around the claw and from many of the joints of the front leg, the same colour that leaked from its eyes.

The screeching stopped suddenly, like a switch had been shut off. The human soldiers below quickly recovered and reformed their lines as best they could. Without warning the Goblins charged towards the Demons, screaming louder and waving their simple weapons in the air. It looked like the parted sea was closing upon the Demons. The Demons screamed and howled as the Goblins dived into the steam, only for hundreds of body parts to fly out with a single swipe of a Demon’s front leg. Still, the Goblins continued their attack as the steam dissipated while the Demons thrashed wildly about. With the steam nearly gone the Demons were revealed in their full horror. Each stood well over six meters tall, a large dog-like creature covered in the black crumpled carapace armour that wept thin orange liquid from most of its joints. The dog face had been elongated and pulled down to accommodate the extra sets of eyes while the mouth was full of razor-like obsidian teeth, just like its claws. Anton didn’t know what to think as he watched the creatures thrash about, blobs of green and yellow, even some orange and purple, clamber onto their backs.

The Demons grunted and rolled on the ground, throwing off many Goblins and squishing more. Their armoured hides cracked and released more orange liquid. Spray and spittle flew in every direction, a large splash landed on a group of Goblins. While it was impossible to hear anything over the chorus of screams he saw they were howling in pain. The Goblins hit by the orange liquid emitted copious amounts of smoke before collapsing onto the ground in an unmoving heap. Even without the eye enhancement he saw their skin and flesh boiling under intense heat. He looked to the Goblins thrown off by the Demons. None were moving or thrashing in the air, some emitted a thin trail of smoke, and landed dead on the ground, only to be run over by their fellows. Though it was hard to tell if such creatures had muscles, in the traditional sense, the way the carapace covered its body spoke of the strength that lay beneath. That and the effortless way they were able to crush and slash at the Goblins.

“What’s happening?” Cetina asked, utterly dumbfounded like the rest of them.

“I don’t know,” Anton replied. “Our enemies are taking out each other?”

Though it doesn’t make sense…What does here?

The far wall of the fortress, on the other side of the still bewildered soldiers, emitted a plume of dust. Rocks tumbled away as a new stream of Goblins poured of the fortress and ran towards the Demons.

“There were more of them?” Verona asked rhetorically.

Still, the human soldiers remained motionless as the Goblins continued to pounce on the Demons, now with sections of carapace hide ripped free, revealing huge sections of dripping orange flesh, though killing the Goblins in the process. The Goblins continued their suicidal attacks, only wanting to end their lives.

Nearly half a minute passed, the stream of Goblins coming from the new breach in the fort ceased, and some of the Demons were looking quite injured. Two were staggering and leaking small streams of orange fluid from their body as they desperately clawed and tried to remove the Goblins crawling over their body. Anton saw a Purple Goblin crawl underneath its leaking neck and stab repeated with a long blade. The Demon gurgled, spat out a huge mouthful of orange liquid, and staggered before collapsing to the ground. It weakly tried to stand but to no avail. After one last tiny roar, the mouth loosely hung open, the glowing forked tongue rolled out, and did not move again. The Purple Goblin that scored the killing blow was nowhere to be seen, probably consumed by the orange blood leaking from the neck wound, all the while the remaining Goblins continued their relentless attack.

Another Demon fell soon after, it too suffering a terrible wound to the neck. It crashed into the ground but was not immediately dead. While it tried to stand the remaining Goblins surged towards it, tasting a kill, and descended upon its head. It didn’t matter to them that they died with every successful strike or crushed by its orange tongue. They were possessed by something to see these creatures dead, something Anton, and judging by the stunned look of everyone around them, had never seen before.

With only four Demons remaining, and the Goblin sea nearly depleted, the Demons changed their tactics. They backed into themselves, even as the Goblins continued their self-destructive assault, and began to glow. Anton retreated far from the edge, taking a quick glance to ensure everyone followed and watched in silence. Quickly the Demons’ orange glow grew insanely bright and then howled at the Goblins. The Goblins did not stop, even as the Demon’s open mouths glowed bright. The Demon’s lower jaw jumped back and its teeth smashed against those above, throwing off hundreds of sparks. Their chests swelled before expelling copious amounts of a dark orange liquid that ignited upon touching the sparks. Four streams of flame through the Goblins. The Goblins disappeared in the flame as the Demons moved the heads from side to side, covering everything in a bright red flame. Near the edge Anton saw Goblins partially consumed by the flame. Napalm was the first thing to come to mind. Napalm covering insanity. Even as their bodies burned and flesh melted away they continued to move forward through the sticky red flame. Those quickly collapsed and were consumed by the fire.

Whatever had possessed the Goblins finally broke and they ran in every direction. They cared not if they ran towards the soldiers or straight into a wall, they simply had to get away. Those that ran towards the soldiers were cut down but the rest were allowed to go. They had bigger problems.

Well over half the courtyard had been set aflame, the Demons safe in the middle. The attack had drained their strength. The four Demons that remained had trouble standing upright. Their chests had shrunk considerably and their large legs shuffled about as their body swayed unnaturally. One howled at the dying flames as they revealed the carnage they had wrought. The scene looked even worse than Anton’s flame pillars. At least those were not clawing through the sea of burning flame, still alive.

“Anton…” Verona gripped his hand tight. “What…Do we do?”

Anton hopelessly shrugged. Kal gripped his hand hard, her claws felt through two layers of leather. Her eyes searched in his for an answer.

“I…Nothing yet.” Anton looked down at the stationary soldiers. “We haven’t done anything to hurt them…They might not even be the Demons for all we know. For now…We just wait.”

Both looked and felt a little reassured, even if Anton did not hold confidence in his words.

The Howling Demon grunted again as it moved towards the two dead Demons. They had been sprayed with the flame breath but the carapace hide showed no signs of damage, only a few flames licked the outside. The eyes contracted tight as it lay its giant paw on the dead Demon’s head. Anton was sure he heard it choke back a cry. The other three moved closer, still staggering somewhat, but did not repeat the action, though they held their heads down for a moment.

Just as the howling Demon looked at the other dead Demon its eyes widened before contracting again.

It was looking directly at the soldiers.

It barked at the three Demons as its tongue licked at the air. They formed a line facing the soldiers, their great claws churned the dirt as they howled at the soldiers. No one spoke a word, not even the captains, as the Demons enraged themselves for a fight. They reared up and smashed their front legs into the ground as their roar became deafening.

“We need to stop them,” Anton said aloud, if only to force himself to move.

As he raced to the edge of the wall something flashed in front of his eyes. It was tiny and fast, but his heart knew what it was. A Demon howled in pain and their stomping stopped. One next to the howling Demon pawed at its face while the others looked on. A crossbow bolt, now engulfed in flames, jutted out of an eye.

Anton looked to the soldiers and spied an armoured soldier shaking, with an unloaded crossbow in his hands. The soldiers next to him looked in disbelief. A howl from the Demons told them all what was coming for them.

This time they pawed at the ground once before charging at the soldiers. Their stride and speed were enormous. Anton summoned a massive lightning bolt and threw it at their feet. The bolt exploded the near-extinguished flames and brought the Demons to a halt. All four dug their feet into the burning ground and looked towards him. For a moment he felt complete and total fear but, out of his peripheries, when Verona and Kal stood beside him he felt that wash away. There was a chance to show that they were not hostile. Perhaps stop any more carnage. Even talk with these creatures.

However…

“Fire!”

Hundreds of bolts flew forth and struck the stationary Demons. They followed the queue of the panicked soldier and aimed straight for their eyes. Many missed but some found their target. The Demons howled in pain, and the Howling Demon looked directly at Anton. What thoughts lay behind those eyes he did not know, but now there was almost no stopping the inevitable.

“Stop firing!” Anton yelled, but his words fell on deaf ears.

Another volley struck the Demons. Some of the bolts were much larger and powerful, throwing off chunks of armour with every strike. Anton glanced down to see large crossbows, probably some sort of arbalest, aimed at the Demons. They fired again and plucked out all bar one eye of the furthest Demon. It screamed, a pitiful scream for a creature so large, and rushed at the soldiers.

Anton sighed internally. He did not know who ordered the first volley but it was pointless to worry about that now. He threw another massive lightning bolt at the charging Demon, striking it in the head. Dust and fragments of carapace armour blew out in all directions, shielding his view as the Demon tumbled and stopped twenty meters from the soldiers. None were brave enough to break their lines and attack.

The Demon staggered up and looked at Anton. Most of its face was missing, strangle knots and layers of an orange flesh lay underneath the carapace armour, but it looked angry. Even though the soldiers were just a few meters away it abandoned its original target and ran straight towards him.

“Run!” Citrio yelled.

He and Livia ran towards the passageway into the wall. In his heart, Anton knew that he would not be able to escape through the tunnels. The Demons would simply crush them or breathe fire along the corridors.

“Fire again!” A voice called out from below.

Anton recognised it this time. Ricimer, in his gaudy golden armour, sat upon a magnificent white horse bellowing orders. A nervous smile graced his face. The volley struck the side of the charging Demon, broke free some armour, but did not stop its charge. The other three Demons howled and charged towards the soldiers. Anton saw the blood drain from Ricimer’s face as they ran towards him.

“We can do this!” Verona cheered to them. Her red marks glowed bright as every drop of blood available swirled above her head. “We have to!”

Anton summoned four large tethered lightning bombs, draining most of his remaining mana, and threw it at the charging Demon. All four exploded at once, deafening his ears and temporarily blinding his sight. Verona solidified the blood and formed a screen in front while Kal drew a lightning arrow. Anton reached to his side pulled out a mana vial and quickly downed the cold contents. As he tossed the empty vial away he heard the clank of metal approach. Cetina had not retreated and stood by them ready to fight. Her eyes flickered between grim determination and the emotionless state when she fought. Nevertheless, he was glad to have another sword at his side.

The Demon had fallen to the ground, its head completely gone. Orange blood poured out from the stump and covered the ground. A limb twitched before it went completely limp.

The mana vial had restored some of his mana, like Terentia said, but not much, perhaps an eighth at best. He spared a brief thought to the three mages, and where they were, but could not dwell on it for long. The Howling Demon broke off the charge at the soldiers and ran towards the dead Demon while the other two continued. Kal loosed her lightning arrow. It found its mark, a strangely small eruption of lightning from the strike, blew apart a good chunk of its armour and staggered it slightly, but it continued its charge. Kal loosed a fire arrow, this one again erupted smaller than normal. The Demon was heavily wounded but carried on regardless towards the soldiers.

Soldiers armed with spears and pikes moved forward and presented a bristling defence. A hailstorm of bolts and arrows flew forth but did not stop the Demons, even though they lost more eyes and sections of armour. The pikes struck the carapace hide and skidded off. Some dug into folds and propelled the wielder back, shafts snapped sending wooden and iron shrapnel in all directions. A final volley of arrows and bolts did not stop their charge.

Then the Demons were amongst them. Eviscerated bodies and sheets of iron flew in every direction as the two Demons tore through the soldiers. Orders were barked, some shrieked, as they tried to fight them off.

Just as Anton readied to fire a lightning bolt at the wounded Demon the Howling Demon reached its dead comrade. Instead of showing respect it lifted the corpse in its mouth and held it up. Like a shield. It ran towards them without any loss in speed, the strength of the Demon was so great. They retreated from the edge of the wall as Verona formed her blood into a massive spear. She raised a hand and threw the spear the moment she was in range. It was slow to move, even with Verona gritting her teeth and shouting in rage. The spear collided with the edge of the dead Demon and punctured its flesh, ripping it from the Howling Demon’s mouth along with a few Obsidian teeth and sending it careening into the ground.

“What?” Verona meekly whimpered, fear palpable on her face.

The blood spear quivered and shattered, returning to liquid as it splashed onto the ground. She scrunched her fist together but the blood would not respond to her.

The Howling Demon reached the wall and began to climb. Its obsidian claws effortlessly guided it up the rough stone wall. Cetina pushed them back and behind her. Her hands were trembling and so too were her legs, but Anton admired her courage.

The first claw emerged on top of the wall. Kal loosed another lightning arrow, blowing a claw completely free. The Howling Demon did not stop and continued to haul itself up. The dog-like head was covered in wounds but filled with rage. Anton used his remaining mana to fire a lightning bolt directly into its chest. The bolt ripped open the chest and exposed the orange flesh underneath. The mana withdrawal sent Anton tumbling to his feet. Verona rushed forward and caught him before he crumpled. As she reached into his side Kal loosed another lightning arrow. The lightning ripped through its body and it collapsed onto the wall. Its hands were still dug into the wall and refused to let go, terrible scrapping noises came from below as its hind legs desperately tried to get a foothold.

“Knock it back!” Anton said to Kal, just as a blue vial was thrust into his lips by Verona.

Kal loosed another fire arrow into its damaged paw, another claw was lost and another injured. The Howling Demon shifted its body so its elbow could act as support. Anton drunk the two remaining mana vials and poured all his might into a lightning bolt. It arced through the air and struck the shoulder of its damaged arm, blowing it almost clean off, with only a thin strand of muscle holding it together. Orange blood poured from the wound at an alarming rate, cascading down the stones. As Anton crumpled once again he found it odd that he could not see any bone.

The spindly remains of flesh snapped and the Howling Demon screamed as it began to fall back. However, its remaining claws found purchase and held it in place. Kal readied another arrow but the Demons’ head lolled around. The paws carapace armour buckled as it hauled itself up and spun its head towards them with its mouth open. There was no glow for a fire breath but the forked tongue extended far beyond the dimensions of its face and tried to strike them.

Cetina, the only person who could move, stepped to the side and raised her shield and sword. Emotion had drained from her face as she silently readied herself. The orange tongue smashed into the shield, denting the shield but stopped the blow. Cetina’s hands shook from the impact and she had been pushed back over two feet, but she held. She cut down with her sword and severed the tongue. The Demon screamed in pain and nearly lost its footing. The severed tongue splashed orange blood everywhere.

Kal loosed the arrow at one of the Howling Demon’s remaining eyes. It struck true, lighting rippled over its face and destroyed all bar one eye. The Demon lunged up, resting its chest on the wall, and tried a final swing. However, it fell short by several meters, deep gauges were torn into the stone throwing up bricks and giant plumes of dust. It staggered back and swung its tongue again. Cetina steadied her shield but, as the Demon whipped its tongue around a tremendous crack ran through the stone beneath. The Demon began to slide away even though its remaining arm held on desperately.

“Yes!” Cetina cried, raising her sword.

The orange tongue still flicked about in the air as it fell back. Perhaps angered by Cetina’s words it tried to continue its attack, but as it fell the tongue rose into the air. Directly at her face. Anton saw the look of stun as the severed end smashed into her helmet, breaking the iron helmet in two and spraying orange liquid over her face. He had never heard a scream so painful before. Cetina dropped her sword and shield, while the Howling Demon’s head fell away, and writhed on the ground, hands desperately clutching at her face. A tremendous thump resounded below as the Howling Demon crashed onto the ground.

“Heal her!” Verona yelled to Anton and Kal.

Anton, still feeling the effects of mana withdrawal, skittered to Cetina’s side. She screamed no words, just pain. He grabbed her hands desperately trying to claw at her left eye but was unable to lift them. A faint hint of cooking pork wafted through the air. Kal raced to her side, keeping a nocked arrow in her hand, while Verona raced to the edge. Gingerly she peered over before running back.

“It’s not moving.” She said as she slid next to them.

“How’s the battle going?” Anton asked. “Have we won?”

Verona shook her head. “No…I mean yes. It’s over. One’s down and another’s torn apart. No idea how many are dead though.”

Anton nodded. Cetina had stopped screaming but she was still in tremendous pain, now grunting angrily through clenched teeth. Her armoured boots smashed onto the stone as Verona and Anton tried to hold her still.

“Cetina!” Anton yelled. “Give me your hands.”

Through the pain she weekly nodded. Anton gripped her hands tight and lifted them up. The insides of her gloves had been burned, but the left side of her face lay in ruins. Though it was only a small amount of orange blood it had horrifically burned the flesh around her left eye. The once grey and purple eye had turned opaque and continued to burn, along with the rest of her face.

Stolen novel; please report.

Anton used the edge of his cloak to wipe away all the orange blood he could see. The heat travelled through his cloak and glove. He discarded his cloak. Cetina calmed a little but the pain was still raw. She gasped for breath as her body shuddered from shock. He held her hands tight, he could barely feel his through her tremendous grip.

Kal removed a glove and lay her Beast-kin hand on Cetina’s head. Cetina did not even notice as she cried out in pain once more.

“Tethra, Goddess of Prayer, Heal her!”

Cetina gasped as Kal fell to one side, barely managing to use her hand to stop her fall. Verona steadied Kal and retrieved her glove. Kal quietly gave thanks as she looked to Cetina. She had stopped screaming, now steadily quietening to a small whimper, as the prayer worked on her flesh. The cooked flesh healed and flattened, though most of her scars disappeared, with the exception of a scar across the bridge of her nose. Her skin regained its natural lustre and her shaking stopped.

She remained stationary for some time, taking deep breaths before slamming her foot onto the ground.

“Fuck!” She cried out, the second time he had heard her swear. “Is…Is it dead?”

“Yep.” Verona smiled wildly and patted her back. “Fell back and killed itself. Well, it’s not moving.”

“That’s good. Really good. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Kal.” Kal gave a curt nod. Cetina looked down to see she was holding Anton’s hand deathly tight. She flushed and released them, the blood and feeling returned to them. “Sorry Anton. Didn’t mean to hold it so tight.” Anton chuckled as he patted a hand. “Is that orange stuff gone?”

“Yep.”

“Great…Can you get rid of whatever’s over my left eye? I can’t see anything.”

Cetina smiled. When she looked at Anton he could not help but frown, his worry transferred to her face. Her eye remained opaque despite the healing. Worry quickly transformed into panic as she tried to rise up.

“What’s happening?! Anton! Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Cetina, stay down.” Kal quietly, but forcefully, ordered Cetina. She resisted for a few moments but finally relinquished to Kal’s orders and lay back down.

“I take it that prayer used almost all your magic?” Anton asked Kal.

Kal nodded. “It took nearly all of it. I could barely keep my head up when I was done. I didn’t know healing took that much. It…It should have worked? Shouldn’t it? I mean, that’s what you did to me.”

It takes a lot but not that much for healing a wound that simple, even if Cetina has a natural resistance to magic.

Anton shuffled closer and lent down to inspect Cetina’s left eye. He touched the skin that was once burned, Cetina tried to move away but Verona and Kal held her still. Unlike the rest of her skin it felt faintly rough, even though the prayer should have restored it completely. He peered closer at her left eye. Her eyelid was still deeply burned as were a few millilitres around her eye. Kal’s prayer had not completely worked, though Anton did not know why. He did not doubt Kal’s work or ability…Thoughts started to bubble in his mind.

“Can you see anything out of this eye?” Anton waved his hand in front of her left eye.

Cetina welled with tears as she shook her head. “No. Nothing. It’s just black.”

“Okay...But everything else feels fine?” Anton held Cetina’s hand tight. She nodded as the tears began to flow. “We’re going to sort this out. I promise you that. But we need to make sure the other Demons are dead. Can you look after her Kal?”

Kal nodded and took Cetina’s hands. She sniffed and cried but tried her best to not completely break down. Anton struggled to his feet, Verona moved to his side and helped him up. Out of the four present she had the most magic left. However, she did not have any blood to manipulate. All the blood that she could manipulate within reach had already been drawn up. Anton offered his hand to Verona but she shook her head. She knew he was almost out of mana.

They moved so they could see the battlefield below.

It was over. Both Demons lay dead, and so did many more soldiers. Both Demons lay in a parted sea of soldiers, their carapace armour hacked to pieces and torn off their bodies revealing the orange flesh beneath. Limbs had been torn off and both had their heads almost completely severed. Pikemen repeated stabbed at the exposed sections, the tips of their weapons occasionally catching fire, while crossbowmen continued to pummel the dead creatures head. One began to move, the soldiers shouted in surprise, and it received a dozen pikes to the face before falling limp once again. Orange blood pooled around their corpses and had engulfed the poor dead soldiers.

Dozens upon dozens of soldiers lay dead and mangled in the courtyard. Many looked to have been crushed by the Demon’s mighty strikes and many, many more burned by spilt blood. Those wounded staggered to the breach in the wall, supported by their comrades. A wave of new people rushed forward through the breach. These were not soldiers, these wore full white clothes with a peculiar six pointed green star on their chests and backs. They raced forward and took the most injured soldiers and lead them out of the fortress, those carrying them gave thanks and returned to the other soldiers.

Looking at what Anton presumed were the medics he saw General Ricimer, still mounted on his horse and still looking utterly resplendent. Not a drop of blood or dirt tarnished his golden armour. He looked quite pleased with himself. Anton wondered how many of his soldiers had died.

“Thank the gods that’s over with.” Verona nervously chuckled. She moved so Anton placed most of his weight on her. “Now…Now what?”

“I don’t know. But we need to get to Ricimer and those mages of his. See what they know about these things and if they can heal Cetina.” Anton looked near Ricimer but couldn’t see the mages bright clothes in the sea of iron. They were still mysteriously absent from the battlefield. “Where the hell were they? They could have helped us fight those things.”

“Yeah…” Verona frowned angrily as she looked back. Cetina had stopped crying but still lay on her back, holding tight onto Kal’s hands. “We’d better head down I suppose. They won’t be coming up here for a while…”

“They will the moment they remember who took down two of the Demons. It shouldn’t take long before they recover their senses. Anyway…Where are Citrio and Livia?” Anton asked as they returned to Kal and Cetina. “I don’t think the corridors collapsed but…”

“They’ll make it out.” Verona chuckled as she knelt next to Kal. “They seem like they’re pretty good at surviving. I’m sure we’ll see them again.”

Cetina rubbed her left eye with the back of her glove and hauled herself up. Verona offered her hand but Cetina refused it. Anton retrieved her shield and Kal her sword. Cetina mumbled a silent thanks as she took back her weapons.

“Thanks…” Cetina sheathed her sword and looked at her shield. It had taken a serious beating but remained in one piece. She looked at her shattered helmet and sighed.

“We’ll get you a better one when we get back.” Anton said.

He avoided naming Porswea. They still had her father to deal with, on top of this mess. Cetina looked at him and smiled weakly. Her nearly white eye was rather distracting. It was a little harsh to say but it was distracting. Anton looked at his cloak and had an idea, one born from Kal. He reached into her belt and retrieved a blade and cut a ribbon off.

“This…This might make things a little easier for you.” Anton present the ribbon to Cetina. She understood immediately. “At least until we can fix it.”

Cetina gently took the ribbon, rested the shield against her side, and quickly fastened the ribbon around her eye. She tugged the cloth and sighed again.

“Fucking hell.” She grumbled aloud.

No one had anything to say.

“Alright. Let’s find those mages and see what they have to say. We can’t just leave here if another portal’s going to open.”

---[]---

They slowly walked down the stone stairs to the courtyard below. The Goblins’ blood covering the stairs made it quite slippery. The loose stones and dead bodies did not help either. Anton took the lead and gently helped everyone down. Verona, feeling a little vulnerable, activated her power and tried to draw up the blood. Only some responded to her command, only the fresh blood that she had freed. With her vials filled she moved with more grace and confidence. Kal remained at the back and made sure that Cetina made it down in one piece. With only one eye functioning Cetina’s depth perception had essentially disappeared. She had the occasional misstep but made it the ground in one piece. She grumbled and rubbed her eye as she nearly stumbled over a loose stone. She waved away Kal as she continued to follow.

The Howling Demon lay dead sprawled on its back with a large puddle of Orange blood grew around its corpse. The carapace armour on its back had cracked in the fall and continued to weep blood. One leg remained pinned up against the stone surface and its head had caved in on itself. The severed long orange tongue hung loosely from its open mouth. Seeing those razor sharp obsidian teeth filled Anton with worry. Everything dangerous in this world, and seemingly beyond, loved copious amounts of teeth. He spied Cetina frown at the Demon but neither said anything.

Anton found a path through the orange blood to the severed front hand.

“What are you thinking?” Verona asked.

“I want some samples…for my special project.” Anton replied. “See how effective it is against it.”

“And if it’s not you’ll be in trouble?” Kal passed her recovered blade to Anton.

Anton nodded. “Yeah. We’ll all be in trouble.” He nodded to the dead and wounded soldiers. “I think it will be but I just want to make sure. Only two managed to do that…”

Atros couldn’t survive an assault like this. Even against just six Demons. But if we had dozens of hand cannons, even proper guns, we could deal with them without such losses. Just another reason to accelerate our plans…Does this mean we skip rescuing Kal’s mother for now? No. That witch said she wasn’t ready yet. I wonder if any Beast-kin are smiths…

Anton focused himself on the task at hand. He reached out and tried to pry a piece of carapace free. A chunk came free with relative ease, though it was cold through its glove. It was very light and felt almost porous. He pocketed a few pieces and retreated before the slowly expanding orange blood. He made sure it was clear of any blood residue before handing it back to Kal.

Anton looked beyond the dead Demon but could not see the once orderly lines of soldiers bearing shields. Their cohesion had completely broken down and they simply wandered about aimless, unable to believe what had attacked them. Their captains were trying their best to rally and reform the lines, with some success, but they too were stunned by the Demons. Oddly fitted and coloured mercenaries mingled with Ricimer’s iron clad soldiers and Crispus’s hardened leather soldiers. Anton had not seen what happened to Crispus’s lighter armoured soldiers as Ricimer’s forces took the main beating. Judging by their hollow faces and the many that just stumbled about the Demons had torn through them just as bad.

Thankfully none had noticed them yet.

He stopped and gathered them in a small huddle. “The moment they realise that we’re here, after killing that thing…and that one, they’re going to swarm us and this time they won’t let us go. I doubt it’ll take them longer than a minute before someone asks who killed the other two. It doesn’t speak highly of them that they haven’t already sent someone.”

Anton realised he spoke an Earth term again, but Cetina did not show any interest in his strange phrase. He did not push it and waved them forward. This time Anton moved Kal directly behind him and pushed through the soldiers and mercenaries. Thanks to their cloaks and the presence of the other mercenaries Ricimers’ soldiers did not question their presence, though many gave them odd looks and stood well back. They pushed through and nearly reached Ricimer before his guards stopped them. At least they were doing their job. Recognition flashed over their faces before it hardened and became professional again.

None looked back to Ricimer, who was rubbing his face with a golden gauntlet.

“Ricimer!” Anton cried out.

Ricimer stopped rubbing his face but held his gauntlet still. Slowly he turned his head towards them. As he let his gauntlet drop free his face deepened into a frown.

“I have half a mind to torture you four for lying to me.” His voice broke near the end. He coughed and began to dismount his horse, a guard came to his side and assisted him. “Just a bunch of travellers?! Just hoping to make some money? A fucking boat?!” He raised a golden finger to them. “You have a lot of explaining to do. Right now!”

“We didn’t know that this was going to happen-”

“Horseshit!” With a flick of his wrist the guards allowed them passage. He grumbled until they were inside the circle. “I don’t believe you.”

He advanced on Anton but stopped when Verona and Kal moved in front of him, their weapons ready. Ricimers guards drew their swords and quickly surrounded them while Cetina kept her sword sheathed but raised her shield. Ricimer’s face drained off all colour.

“I. Don’t. Believe. You!”

“You should.” A slightly scratchy elderly voice spoke loudly from behind Ricimer. “They had nothing to do with this. Of that I am sure.”

Ricimer scowled at Anton before he turned around. All three mages; Terentia, Vistilia and Harprax, slowly walked towards them over the rocky surface. They took their time to avoid slipping on the uneven surface. They did not seem to be fast movers at the best of times.

“And by every god that seemingly infests this world!…” Ricimer took a giant breath. “Where the hell did you old bastards run off to?!”

Terentia, the iron mage, stumbled back from the volume of Ricimer’s rage. His fist had curled tight and the gold plated iron screeched as it ground against itself. Vistilia raised her red gloved hand to placate Ricimer but it was no use.

“If you old scrotums had been here I…I wouldn’t have lost so many men against those…those things!”

“How many men did you lose?” Terentia asked flatly as they cleared the rocky debris.

Ricimer threw his arms into the air. “I don’t know! Hundreds? A lot fucking more than if you three had been up here and fought. Like you Masters are supposed to do!”

All three mages kept silent and their faces blank. Slowly Ricimer began to calm, a redness receding from his neck. Currently, he was the only one screaming in the otherwise silent fortress, even if Anton completely agreed with him. Ricimer coughed loudly and pointed to the mages. His guards surrounded them with their weapons drawn. Terentia threw a quizzical brow but said nothing.

“Now.” Ricimer took another breath to calm himself. “Explain. Explain why you weren’t here before now.”

“We were performing other duties.” Terentia replied.

Ricimer nearly burst a blood vessel as his neck flushed with blood. “What?!” he shrieked back.

Vistilia waved to Anton. “After they killed the Awakened Goblins we felt a massive burst of magic erupt over the centre of the fort.”

Only Kal felt something, and that’s because she’s a Beast-kin. I don’t think you three are…

“So we worked to deal with it as soon as possible.”

Ricimer grumbled and scratched his chin. “But…But why weren’t you next to me doing that?”

Terentia hesitated for a few moments. “We could not risk ourselves against those creatures until we were sure we had completely sealed with the rift.”

“And how did you do that?” Anton asked softly, all attention quickly drawn to him. “I didn’t feel any magic.”

Ricimer frowned when he looked at the mages. Terentia simply smiled. “A follower of the Old Gods doesn’t use mana or magic in the same way we do. Our way is more delicate than the raw power you possess. You lack the…finesse, to feel such things. Especially without any training.”

I can’t say if that’s true or not. Though we all lack training.

Anton simply nodded. Ricimer ground his teeth as he stared at the mages. Finally, he threw his hands up in surrender.

“Fine. But what were those things?”

“Something beyond our world,” Terentia replied. “What they are, I do not know. And I doubt Anton and his friends know anything either. We were simply lucky they were here.”

“Only because you three fucked off,” Ricimer muttered to himself. He looked to Anton. “For your services, in doing what Masters are supposed to do, a reward is certainly expected.” He looked at the dead Demons. “Especially after killing two of those things by yourselves. What price would you accept to work for us?”

“What we really would like is a meeting with Lord Cassius,” Anton replied. “To discuss the things we brought up earlier.”

Again Ricimer frowned, remembering their request for a boat and crew, and slowly nodded. “I will write a letter to my father in law immediately. Soon he’ll be returning to Porswea and he’ll certainly want to hear about this. It’s better that he meets you this way rather than…later.”

“Um…Terentia?” Verona spoke up. Terentia smiled warmly at Verona. “How do you know more of those things aren’t going to keep popping up? It happened once here so what’s to stop more of them? Just six were a pain.”

“We cast a wide-ranging sealing magic over this area. All magics that allow transportation or opening rifts are now blocked.” Terentia seemed pretty happy with herself.

“There’s magic that can do that?”

Terentia nodded. “Yes. Though it’s very costly and difficult to perform. That’s why we were so late.”

Verona bumped his arm. “At least it can be done.” She whispered.

“What about more of these rifts then?” Anton asked. “Couldn’t they just form outside of your casting?”

Terentia nodded. “Yes. They could. But not in the foreseeable future. Casting a magic like that would have used a tremendous amount of mana. Far beyond what a hundred Masters could accomplish.”

“How do you know that?” Ricimer asked dryly.

All three mages smiled. “You must trust us on these matters,” Vistilia replied. “You must trust us.”

Even though you have answers for your actions I still don’t like them. You three were up to something…

“That’s very good to hear.” Anton smiled. “So long as these things won’t be coming back anytime soon. They weren’t fun to fight. And we only fought four. Who knows how many there are on the other side.”

All three mages smiled. Kal squeezed on his hand tight. She did not believe their smile. Still, there was little that they could do about it.

“Many of my soldiers died,” Ricimer grumbled. “So long as you can assure us-”

“So did hundreds of mine!”

A new voice cried out from the crowd. Anton saw a man pushing his way through Ricimers iron soldiers and stopped when he reached Ricimer’s guards. He wore an impressive set of leather armour with curly hair poking out from underneath a tightly fitted helmet.

“Crispus.” Kal whispered.

Crispus’s face was filled with annoyance as Ricimer’s guards refused to let him pass. “Let me through.” He looked at the guards. “Well?”

“Let him through,” Ricimer grumbled.

The guards parted and allowed him passage. Crispus threw a dirty look at the guards and brushed himself down.

“Did you have any idea that was going to happen?” Crispus was not accusatory and looked blankly at Ricimer. “If you had known when I arrived…”

Ricimer shook his head. “No. I did not know. If I had I would have let the two fight it out…How many men did you lose?”

“Several hundred. Many more injured.” Crispus’s face darkened. “I don’t know if we’re going to have enough men to clear out his hideouts after this. Father will be furious if I return without succeeding.”

“If you want you can take all the mercenaries…That are willing to go with you.” Ricimer quickly added. “Very few might be willing to join you but you would have to pay them quite a bit. After what they’ve seen they might just want to head home. I know I certainly do…”

Crispus scoffed. “We’ll see. I suppose I’ll just gather some more soldiers from garrisons on the way. Perhaps hire a few rogues too.”

Crispus turned to Anton, their group still surrounded by Ricimers guards.

“Right…So…Who are they?” Crispus nodded towards Anton. “Who’s he, the Clansmen woman, the one with the mask and the one with the shield? Why are they here?” Crispus frowned deeply. “Wait a moment, you were on that wall weren’t you?”

Ricimer clapped his gauntlets. “Well Crispus, you have your soldiers to look after, as do I. You should probably get back to them and prepare to carry on with your original mission. From what you just said it’ll be a tough one. I wish you the utmost luck.”

As Ricimer waved his guards forward Crispus’s eyes began to dart about. “So who are they? Are they the ones that took down the other two creatures? I know it wasn’t your mages.”

Ricimer said nothing and turned to the mages. Crispus managed to glare the guards down. Were they being paid by Cassius rather than Ricimer?

“What do you think you’re doing?” Crispus took a step towards the guards. “You know exactly who I am and who my father is.” Crispus glared at Ricimer. “And who do you think you are? Huh? I am Cassius’s heir. And since you came along sister doesn’t leave her room…”

Ricimer’s face froze.

“Do you think that-”

“Time for you to deal with Tullas Mad-eye and make Cassius proud.” Ricimer clapped his hands together hard. “No commemorative painting this time.”

The guards nodded and rushed forward. Crispus tried to resist but their strength was too strong.

“You damn shit! You just wait-”

Ricimer simply smiled. Cassius petulantly railed for a moment before the guards lifted him up and took him back into the swarms of soldiers. Anton heard a very loud swear, and then he was gone. He waited a few seconds and Crispus did not return.

When he looked back Ricimer desperately suppressed a smile. “Excellent. He’ll soon carry on north and leave this to us. Cassius’s orders aren’t something you can just go against. Even in circumstances like this.” He appeared to be speaking to himself.

He chuckled and looked at Anton. “It would probably be best for you to leave quickly before Crispus can get his fangs into you. It won’t take him long when he sets his mind to it.”

“We don’t have any horses.”

“We can easily loan you some.” Ricimer checked with a nodding guard. “Four warhorses should be enough to get you back to Porswea quickly.” Cetina whimpered lightly. “Some of my guards will travel with you to ensure you make it back safely. And unmolested. Thank you again for your help and good luck speaking with my father in law. Please don’t upset him, but do mention that I was the one to find you.”

Still clawing for his favour, huh?

Anton gave a quick nod. Ricimer sighed and rubbed his armour down. “I actually need to do my duty to my soldiers as well.”

He mounted his horse and retreated through the breach in the wall. A few guards left with him but most remained. One approached Anton with a roll of paper.

“Present this at the stables and they’ll give you the four horses. Some other riders will travel along with you.” The guard spoke gruffly. He did not wait for Anton to take the scroll. Thankfully he caught it before it hit the ground. The guard gave no indication that he even cared and returned to his original position.

“I guess it’s time for us to leave then?” Anton said aloud. Verona and Kal weakly shrugged while Cetina remained still.

Anton found the mages in a huddle speaking rapidly amongst themselves. They looked worried, pensive even, about something. Their initial good impression was rapidly corroding.

“Excuse me,” Anton said as he approached, gently pushing Verona and Kal along. “Can we please have your help with something before we go?”

Terentia broke from the huddle, her worried face quickly transformed into a smile. Kal bumped him again. Even without a Beast-kin’s sense of vision he could tell her smile was attempting to cover a deep inner turmoil.

“Of course. By the way, I don’t think you need to worry about leaving right away. Ricimer just doesn’t want the chance to let Crispus get the chance to talk to you. That and you might be swarmed by people. There are only meant to be three Master mages here.”

“That’s a relief. But…It’s my friend, Cetina.” Anton pushed Cetina forward. Her boots tried to dig into the ground but Anton kept pushing until she relinquished. “She injured herself quite badly against those creatures. And…She lost an eye doing so.”

Vistula nodded and moved in front of Terentia. She sighed as she held her cheeks with her red gloves. “You poor thing. Loosing such stunning eyes…” She moved forward and Cetina took a step back. “I need to see it to know what went wrong.”

“Can you fix it?” Cetina asked. “They managed to fix everything else with their magic.”

Vistula raised a brow.

“She was hit by one of their tongues and some of that orange blood.” Anton explained.

Vistula weakly nodded. “I still need to get a better look.”

Cetina nodded and walked closer to Vistula. Vistula had to stand on her toes to reach Cetina’s face comfortably. If it was not so serious it might have been funny. Vistula’s gloved hands lifted the ribbon of cloth away searched over Cetina’s face. She whimpered and tried to pull away but Vistula held her still. Vistula finally focused on Cetina’s white eye and pried it open. She frowned deeply. Vistula pulled out a small red amulet, probably a charm, and held it against her eye. It flickered red before going out. Vistula shook it, it quickly glowed red and retained its intensity, and frowned.

“Well…It appears you have Ghlyirl infesting your eye…Quite a lot of it. And it looks like it’s been severely burned too.”

“It was…” Cetina tried to look away but Vistula held her head still.

“My magic can do nothing to fix this, nor can Terentia or Harprax. Ghlyirl inhibits any magic it touches. The skin around your eye has a light discolouration as well…I suspect that was burned as well but they were able to heal that?”

Cetina nodded. “That…That did happen.”

Vistula nodded. “It certainly looks like it. Now…I’m afraid to tell you dear that there’s little that can be done to fix it.” Cetina looked to be on the edge of breaking down. “The only thing that could be done is to remove your eye entirely.”

Cetina’s body went stiff.

“And the flesh infected with Ghlyirl. Then use the same power they used before. That could work...Maybe…”

“Remove my eye?” Cetina glanced back to Anton, her face full of fear.

“Yes. But it may not work. Especially if the Ghlyirl has travelled further into your skull. Which, I think it has, judging by the reaction of this charm.”

Cetina said nothing. She looked down to her glove and scrunched it tight.

“I’m sorry.” Vistula held her scrunched fist. “But I’m afraid that nothing can be done.”

Cetina nodded and dipped her head. “I see. Thank you for telling me.”

“Simply losing your eye isn’t the end of your career as a soldier.” Vistula began, a hint of nervousness in her voice. “You will need to adjust your style but you’ll be just as strong as before. More so if your opponent underestimates you.”

Cetina said nothing, continuing to stare silently at the ground. Vistula opened her mouth to speak but slammed it shut when she received a glare from Verona and Anton. Being stuck in books and a secluded academy for years might hurt one’s social skill. Vistula winced and awkwardly picked at her gloves. The Mages gave a final nod, Terentia and Harprax a much deeper one compared to Vistula, and proceeded towards the dead Demons. Anton patted his hand against the tiny fragment he managed to collect of the Demon carapace.

Anton sighed loudly. “Time to go before anything more stupid happens.”

He pulled Kal close, she still felt a little shaky from mana withdrawal. Verona chuckled and led the way. They only took a few paces before they realised they were missing someone. Cetina had not moved, continuing to stare blankly at the ground.

“I…I can’t…” Cetina managed to mutter. The realisation that she would be disfigured for life had set in, freezing her body like stone.

Verona smiled at Anton and patted him on her way past. She reached Cetina, and without asking, grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. Cetina did not resist, pulled down her cloth ribbon, and faintly smiled as they walked out of the fortress together.