“Come on!” Wayra urged. Another fifty yards and they’d reach the base of the wall. The sound of trumpets generated a cheer from the defenders above. She needed to see what was happening.

“Look out!” Thyra called.

Two dozen makrasha came rushing around a corner of the wall toward Wayra and her company. Even using their hengaruk for extra purchase, the beasts slid as much as ran down the steep hill toward them.

The monsters’ roars of bloodlust turned into howls of pain as the air in front of them hardened into invisible blades that tore through their ranks, reducing them to bloody carcasses in seconds.

We are ready, Wayra thought with a satisfied smile as her team approached the wall. Nothing would stop them.

# # #

Rhisart staggered to the window and stared out. Below, the battle raged anew, and despite the attacking force being reduced by more than half, there were still too many of them. The defenders barely held back the tide rising against the wall.

He struggled to force aside the wracking pain in his shoulder. He’d have to stop the bleeding soon, or it would weaken him until he was of no help to anyone.

Later. I just need to hold on a few more minutes.

He focused the power of the keep. Ten thousand fiery darts rained upon the makrasha that were clambering upward. The darts tore through faces and limbs, slicing deep and leaving the beasts not killed outright writhing from the searing pain. The entire front line of attackers disintegrated. Makrasha tumbled into heaps at the base of the wall.

The defenders cheered, many shouting Rhisart’s name, their flagging spirits bolstered by the reprieve.

A clatter below caught Rhisart’s attention. He looked down and cursed. The bloodied halimaw was clawing its way up the roof toward the tower, dislodging slate tiles as it went. Its amber gaze locked on him and it snarled as their eyes met.

It would not stop.

One of them had to die.

Rhisart raised his good hand and focused his will. All the recently dislodged tiles whipped into the air and battered the halimaw, slicing into its thick hide and beating against its skull. The monster howled and swiped ineffectually at the objects whirling around it.

Then it met his gaze again and roared louder, its fanged maw wide. It leaped thirty feet, vaulting the cluster of whipping tiles. Even as Rhisart redirected the tiles, it leaped again, clawing at the tower and climbing with amazing speed.

Rhisart’s mouth went dry as he fought to unseat the beast. Tiles slashed at it from all sides, but it ignored them and pulled itself higher.

I need something stronger.

He cast his eyes out across the devastation littering the interior of the keep. A pile of metal poles in one corner of the courtyard caught his eye. He grabbed one with fingers of power and yanked it up toward the tower. Glancing toward the halimaw again to direct the new missile, he cried out in fear.

The monster clung from the ledge just below him.

It’s so fast, he thought as a clawed hand grabbed his robe and yanked him out the window.

It opened its huge maw to rip his head off.

Rhisart drove the metal pole into the halimaw’s back. The beast shuddered under the impact and lost its grip on the wall.

The two fell together and, for a terrifying heartbeat, hung weightless in the air. The screams of battle, clanging of steel, and heavy breathing of the monster seemed to hold them aloft. Its foul, heavy stench nearly gagged Rhisart.

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They slammed onto the roof, and it shuddered under the impact. That entire section of tiled roofing broke loose.

The halimaw landed on its head, the impact temporarily stunning it. Its huge torso cushioned the fall a little for Rhisart, and he popped out of its grasp.

As they tumbled around each other, he managed to kick off against the roof and climb onto the monster’s back. The two slid fast toward the edge on the wave of loosened tile.

The halimaw growled as it recovered from the shock. It clawed at Rhisart, but its bulging muscles worked against it, preventing it from reaching around its back. It struggled to turn over, thrashing in an attempt to gain purchase on the loose tiles.

It was like riding a bucking stallion, one with claws and fangs to rip him to pieces if he fell off.

As they shot toward the edge of the roof and the forty foot drop to the cobblestones below, Rhisart could do nothing but fight to keep the beast from grasping him with those terrible claws.

# # #

We made it.

Wayra placed one hand against the eastern wall. The rest of the kestrels were only a few paces behind.

A deep growl whipped her around. Not ten paces away, a halimaw crouched. Although covered with blond fur, the monster looked feminine. Wayra stared into its amber eyes and, with a terrible shock, recognized the vestiges of a once lovely face.

“Rhea!”

The halimaw roared, its fanged jaws wide, and leaped.

Wayra cried out in alarm and scoured the ground with magic, seeking a weapon to hold the beast off. Finding nothing, she froze in fear, watching helplessly as the halimaw that had once been Rhea plummeted toward her, claws reaching to rend her to pieces.

Out of nowhere, a boulder slammed into the halimaw’s shoulder, knocking the monster aside. It tumbled twenty yards down the slope, deeply gouging the hardened earth with its claws in an effort to stop.

Thyra stepped up beside her. “You’re welcome.”

The blond-furred halimaw arrested its slide and clambered back up the hill toward them, grunting with the effort, but closing the distance fast. Wayra and the other kestrels rained stones and dirt down upon it. They were trained to kill the monsters, but there was nothing on that barren slope heavy enough to do the job.

“Up!” Wayra shouted, pointing toward the wall. “We’ll fight it there.”

The kestrels raced for the wall. Wayra formed a pillar of air beneath her feet that whisked her up the vertical stone surface in a matter of seconds. As she stepped over the parapet, a nearby man with a pitchfork shouted in surprise and raised his weapon.

She snatched it from him with her good hand. “Can’t you tell an ally from one of those monsters?” She waved him aside. “Go do something useful. You’re in the way.”

Not waiting for a reply, she turned back to peer over the wall. Two other kestrels arrived over the parapet, but a terrified scream rang from below. It ended in a wet gurgle.

The halimaw had caught the last kestrel and ripped him apart.

Even as Wayra looked down, the monster leaped again, landing in the middle of the remaining kestrels preparing to lift themselves up the wall. It grabbed two men and crushed their heads even as they tried to hit it with stones. It leaped upon a third and buried its snout in the man’s belly, ripping him open and showering the hillside with entrails and gore.

The other kestrels lifted simultaneously from the ground. The halimaw leaped after them, catching a woman with red-gold hair. She screamed in terror and beat at the monster with her fists as the two plummeted toward the slope. When they struck the ground, the halimaw raked its claws down the victim's torso, ripping until all that remained of the once-lovely woman was a shredded mass of dripping flesh.

The halimaw raised its bloody maw toward where the remainder of the party stood, then leaped, grasping with its gore-covered claws.

Wayra hurled the pitchfork, propelling it down with all her actinic strength. It met the ascending halimaw and the tines buried deep in its chest.

The monster missed the top of the wall by scant inches and tumbled back to the ground. It staggered to its feet, wavered, and ripped the pitchfork out of its chest.

# # #

Rhisart and the halimaw shot off the edge of the roof in a graceful arc toward the cobblestones below. The beast managed to grab one of his legs and it dug its claws in deep, trying to pull him around so it could kill him. Rhisart held on with all the strength left in his good arm, shouting a wordless scream of defiance as the ground rose to meet them.

A dozen spears whisked across the courtyard, stopping directly under them, standing on end with their blades pointing up to meet them. The monster fell onto the weapons with a meaty splat. Its legs shredded and several spears punched deep into its torso. It bellowed with pain, then slowly toppled to the ground.

The impact knocked Rhisart free of the monster’s grasp and tumbled him across the courtyard. He came to a painful stop, gasping for breath, trying to hold onto consciousness.

His body shuddered with pain. One of his legs stuck out at an odd angle, and breathing was agony, as if he'd broken many ribs. Blood trickled into his eyes, and he couldn’t gather his thoughts sufficient to call upon his magic.

The halimaw clawed at the stones, its eyes shining with desperate hunger as it tried to pull itself toward him. A heavy boulder floated into the air above its head, paused, then crashed down.

The monster shuddered one more time, then lay still.

Rhisart managed a weak smile, staring up at the scattered clouds. His ears didn’t seem to be working, and peaceful silence encircled him in its gentle embrace as he drifted toward sweet insensibility.