Lidia flew behind a demon that resembled a melted candle with eight flailing tentacles and a single central eye and blasted it before it could reel in a captured sorcerer. The bound woman flew away and Lidia got clear before a bout of hellfire blazed through the space she just vacated. The wound on the demon’s back healed in a second before it flew off to find new prey.

She was down five more sorcerers, three injured, one totally drained of soul force, and one dead. The enemy hadn’t lost an individual since Lidia killed the bug-headed leader. It wasn’t looking good and she couldn’t think of anything to do about it. Her first thought was to simply fly away and collect reinforcements, but that would take a day at least, and by the time they returned the eastern army would be nothing but corpses. The demons that crossed over from the haunted lands had proved to be far stronger than she’d ever imagined. Even the weakest one was easily a match for any four of her sorcerers.

“Archmage.” Zahara paused beside her. Blood dripped from a shallow wound on the outside of her left thigh. “It’s not looking good.”

Lidia sealed Zahara’s wound with a little burst of soul force. It wasn’t proper healing, but at least the bleeding had stopped.

“No, it isn’t. I’m open to suggestions.”

Zahara stared at her. That had obviously not been what she expected to hear. At this point Lidia would have listened to a good idea from one of the demons; unfortunately none of the remaining creatures appeared interested in conversation.

“What about the fortress? Can we fall back there and make a stand?” Zahara asked.

“That’s not a terrible idea. Watch my back while I check on the warlords.”

Lidia spun toward the pass and conjured a viewing construct. The moment it appeared she winced. The warlords had been pushed back to the western wall and were barely holding against the crystal creatures. There was no safe harbor to be found there.

A scream rang out as a young woman was blackened by hellfire. There was no safe harbor here either. Maybe if they pooled their resources with the surviving warlords, destroy as many demons as they could before they were all killed.

Her face twisted in a bitter grimace. That wasn’t the most optimistic line of thought. Her eyes widened. Maybe there was another way.

“Zahara, contact everyone and have them join up with the warlords on the wall. Have all but five put up a defensive barrier overhead. Have the others wipe out the crystal monsters as fast as they can. You lead the attackers.”

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Zahara sent a blade of soul force scything into the ribs of a twisted goblin demon. “What are you going to do?”

“Keep an eye out for surprises. Go!”

Zahara set about conjuring small message orbs. Lidia watched for demons, but most of them seemed to have realized her and Zahara were the strongest and they kept their distance. That was both a blessing and a curse. It gave her a moment to replenish her soul force, but it subjected her weaker subordinates to more attackers.

The orbs went out to their intended recipients and in twos and threes everyone started flying backwards toward the western wall. They all gathered together and pooled their power to conjure a dense shield. Hellfire splashed off it and several of the madder demons bounced clear when they charged bodily into it.

Below them warlords fought a desperate battle to prevent the crystal demons from either climbing up the wall or charging up one of the two staircases to reach the battlements. Lidia frowned. They were too spread out. She blasted the northern staircase, sending a handful of demons crashing to the ground. There, that would slow them a bit on that side.

Should she blast the southern staircase as well? No, maybe the enemy commander would funnel the bulk of her forces that way, making them easier targets. That was probably wishful thinking, but they could use a bit of good luck, heaven knew they’d had enough bad.

Lidia and Zahara landed on the battlements. When the others reached the wall the shield shifted, forming a bubble that wrapped around the top of the wall to protect the warlords and surviving sorcerers from airborne attacks. So far so good. Up above the demons blasted away at the shield, but without concentrating their hellfire in a single spot it would take them a long time to burn through. Thank heaven for the demons’ inability to work together. That weakness might just save all their lives.

Explosions sounded down on the ground as Zahara and her team turned their attacks on the crystal demons. Most of the energy blasts were turned aside by the demons’ crystal skin. While the rain of destruction continued Lidia scanned the area for Jennifer. She hadn’t seen Damien’s sister since they landed. Hopefully nothing had happened to the young woman. With Damien gone and Fredric dead she felt oddly protective of his sister.

She felt holy energy from the area of the gatehouse. When Lidia traced it to its source she spotted a single paladin fighting with eight warlords, one of which was Jennifer. Thank heaven, she was still alive. Alive and hard pressed. A force of demons was attempting to smash their way past the warlords and out the gate. Only the narrowness of the gate kept them from being totally overwhelmed. And even with that advantage they couldn’t hold out long.

Lidia drew deep from her near-empty core and hurled a sphere of destructive energy at the massed demons. It exploded and sent them flying. The warlords seized the moment and rushed out, bashing the fallen constructs at a blinding pace. One after another they exploded.

A warlord went down with his leg severed at the knee. The paladin dragged him back into the gatehouse. The rest paid no attention and kept pounding. Lidia flew down to lend a hand.