64.

The streets were silent. The crackle of flames and the cracking of stone and wood distant as further parts of the city still burned. The route to the Eastern Wing of the palace was clear of any of the hellspawn or the armies that had been so fiercely waging war just hours ago. The collapse of the portal had sent shockwaves through the invaders as they fled to the darkest parts of the city.

Erak knew it didn’t matter. The city was lost. The flames had been burning without cease for days and the population had suffered such catastrophic losses that they would never recover. Their best plan was to retreat and rebuild. Something told him that the demons weren’t done though.

Invasions weren’t ended because of one set back. The Conqueror himself had lost campaigns, been thrown back, had armies obliterated, fleets burned down, and still he had kept going until all the world paid obeisance to him. The Infernal Armies would be just as determined.

He didn’t say that through Pomp to the ragged group who marched swiftly with him. They were on edge, exhaustion and terror having left deep scars, but hope was beginning to shine in their expressions. Hope that they’d done it, that the threat was ended and life could continue onwards.

So they marched on in silence. Erak kept a sharp eye out for his spear, but the weapon had disappeared after blooding the guardian. His dragonbone sword was charred and his armor was so pitted, scratched, and dented that he feared for its continued survival.

His shield was in even worse condition. He had abused the piece of steel to the point that it looked more like a lump of metal rather than a kite shield. He would have to replace almost all of his gear or find someone who knew how to repair armor and weapons.

“It is strange to see the city so empty,” Sammus whispered as they turned another corner and began the ascent up the hill towards the palace. The sounds of fighting started to trickle towards them and the handful of remaining soldiers shouldered their weapons and the pace slowed.

“You spoke too soon,” Pomp whispered at the prince as he burst from Erak’s chest. With a thought Erak cast his spell to give the dragon a corporeal form, feeling the drain on his Essence. Pomp’s weight became solid on his shoulder and his tail wrapped up and around Erak’s other shoulder to help balance as Pomp perched like a cat on his pauldron.

“I have a bad habit of that. Alright, stick close, kill any demons we see. Keep them from stabbing Erak in the back as he starts his rampage,” Sammus ordered. Erak turned to look at him and the smaller prince shrugged.

“What else would you call what you do?” Erak shrugged at that and they proceeded more cautiously toward the sounds of the fighting. This close to the palace the homes were more like estates, three to four stories with long porches and gardens that were now wrecked. More than one of the gardens had new decorations of human remains planted in the lush lawns. Windows were shattered and smoke stained white columns as nothing moved.

Their wealth and power hadn’t prevented their deaths. In some cases, as Erak looked at the ostentatious but poorly defensive structures, it might have sped it up. Senators, nobles, rich merchants, it mattered not. All of them found talons and steel waiting for them.

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They found the first of the dead demons laying on the ground on the next block. Lesser-Hellspawn with dark burns up and down their bodies from caster fire. Then more and more of them until it was a carpet of corpses laying where they had crawled away.

The sizzle of flesh burning became audible, the screams of demons dying and the swearing of men holding the ramparts. White walls rose up as they turned the corner, dwarfing the Armory in their majesty. Erak felt a little shudder at the sight of the hordes throwing themselves against the defenders.

Canons were firing and detonating with bursts of heat that disintegrated clumps of demons while veritable rivers of individual caster fire came from the walls and into the sea of demons pushing against the walls. Twisted and ruined demon siege weapons dotted the battlefield and two holes had been made in the walls, flesh golems and other monsters fighting to gain a foothold.

“Well, I don’t think Erak will be running rampant through that horde,” Sammus said as they all slunk back around a corner. The prince pointed to a deserted villa and they all moved towards it, passing the disabled wrought iron gates and the line of heads that had been pressed on the spikes.

The doors of bleached wood had been shattered and fine china lay in pieces everywhere, the rich marble tile stained with black and red blood. Sammus sent some of his soldiers to check the house out in pairs while the rest of the squad reached the destroyed dining room.

A chandelier had been pulled free and lay in shattered crystal atop of the long table, chairs thrown to the ground while the remnants of a split apart animal lay on the table with a thick coating of black grubs on it.

“That’s foul,” a soldier said and that was the last anyone spoke of it.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to relieve the siege like they originally planned,” Sammus said.

“Sir, if we retreat back to the Sword and help with repairs, we could bring her about and fire down on the horde. Clear them out without a problem.”

“Maybe the sewers again?”

“Loop around to the West Wing and try to get in through there?”

The suggestions came thick and fast as Erak stood there, hearing them all but not knowing what to do himself. The horde outside the walls was monstrous, thousands of demons scrabbling to find a handhold to enter the palace. He could spend days cutting his way through their ranks and still find more waiting for him.

“I think trying to bounce around the side will be the best chance. Use the remnant of the villas to cross unseen and then get towards the Western edge of the hill and to the walls there,” Sammus said.

The squad nodded but Erak was nodding as the team broke free and started to head quickly toward the backyard and started to race across the estates back gardens, leaping fences or going through them as they ran as fast as they could. The screams of battle stayed constant for a while and then began to fade away as they got a quarter of the way around the hill.

Erak took the lead, his strength letting him bound ahead of the rest of the squad started to fall behind. He leapt over a stone wall and landed lightly as his feet hit the ground. The new garden he was in had a hole blown open in the outer wall and Erak could see the Western Wall of the palace. A figure stood at the center of the wall as beams of energy raced about her, gleaming sword in her hand as she slashed downward, a beam of energy lashing the world beneath her boots.

For the first time in days the gentle tug on his guts eased as his oaths finally relaxed.