The horde seethed beneath them, the creatures shambling forward, utterly silent save for their feet on the surface. They were gathered around the gate, hacking at it with swords, thus far doing little more than scratching the surface, but their weight was starting to tell. Behind them, thicker clouds of darkness had been summoned, wizards stepping out to assess the situation before ducking back into cover.

Janaxia stepped out from her new room (which she had been excessively smug about, apparently choosing to ignore the fact that they put her closer to the fighting. Although the bed she was in did look far more comfortable than the straw mattress Stathis had to use), fiddling with her hair. Stathis gestured her over.

‘Can you see what’s in the darkness?’

‘What darkness?’ Janaxia was trying something different with her hair, going for a slightly more swept-back look, with more wraps of gold about her horns, the dangling bits now tied down.

‘Just past that ruin, they’ve thrown up some domes of darkness. Can you tell me what’s going on inside?’

Janaxia shaded her eyes from the sunlight. ‘It appears that they are performing a ritual. They are slightly outside of my range, I am afraid.’

‘That’s fine. Have they got anything to protect them? Shields, defensive walls?’

‘No, although they have moved one of the wagons up.’

‘OK, can you point where they’re doing it?’

Janaxia looked somewhere between bemused and irritated, but obeyed, pointing in one of the domes of thick shadow.

‘They do look very clumsy. It seems rather peculiar to do such a thing when you cannot properly see in whatever darkness they have raised.’

‘That’s fine.’ Stathis shouted at the nearest soldiers. ‘Archers! Form up!’ They stopped firing down into the mass of undead below, readying to fire in unison. ‘Aim where Janaxia points! FIRE!’

The bowstrings thrummed in unison, arrow arching high, vanishing into the darkness. ‘Keep firing!’ Stathis turned back to Janaxia. ‘Did they hit anyone?’

‘It certainly seems to have disrupted their spell, and they appear a touch discomfited. A few minor injuries, but nothing serious.’

The sounds from the undead, straining against the wall below, lessened in intensity. Stathis clapped Janaxia on the back, forgetting how weak she was and knocking her forward against the walls. ‘Good job! That should keep them away for a bit.’

‘While I appreciate the enthusiasm, I would prefer it to be shown in a rather less roughly physical fashion.’ She shifted, still uncomfortable in her chainmail. ‘It is pleasant to be praised though. Now, do you have any other need of my talents?’

Stathis pointed downwards, where the mass was still present, scrabbling at the walls and gate. Janaxia sighed and started blasting away at them, her bolts powerful enough to blast straight through their bodies, collapsing them to the floor. Janaxia continued to speak, tone light and conversational. ‘I was expecting matters to be somewhat more frenetic, I must say. This seems rather pedestrian, almost dull.’

‘See what you think of it after several weeks, without proper sleep or food.’

Janaxia frowned. ‘Hmm. I can certainly see why it would start to pall after such a time. Oh, it looks as though they’re about to try something else, it appears likely to be potent. It would probably be best if everyone were to duck or otherwise prepare themselves.’

‘GET DOWN!’ Stathis dragged Janaxia and another of the soldiers down, hitting the ground, ignoring the nasty look Janaxia gave her. A moment little, orange powdery dust filled the air, bitingly dry, making Stathis’ eyes swell and weep. One of the other soldiers, slower to move, took a deep breath, immediately starting to cough and splutter, choking up blood. Stathis crawled over to him as he fell to the ground, picking him up, and weighing how far the drop to the courtyard was. She slipped over the edge, feeling the impact slap through her knees, trying to get him out of the area of effect, as more people choked and spluttered around her.

One of the wizards emerged, energy swirling around their hands before a gust of wind started, making little headway at blowing back the dust. Stathis turned her face, trying not breath in any more of it, feeling it burning her lungs, desiccating her from the inside out. She put him down outside of the effect, then turned and ran back inside, picking up the first downed person she found, carrying them outside as well, hoping they weren’t dead already.

Semari ran past, streaking up the walls, Vrintar close behind, both dragging out bodies. Stathis helped them, trying to keep them breathing, pouring water down their throats, trying to heal the worst-afflicted, keep them from dying. Janaxia staggered out from the dust, hacking and coughing, eyes red and puffy.

Other soldiers rushed to the gate, trying to reinforce it from the inside, buttressing it with more wood while it heaved and groaned. Jamara ran out, checking the first she came to, shaking her head, then starting to triage the rest.

‘What was it?’

‘Orange dust, sucked the water out of them. Looks pretty bad.’

Janaxia swilled some water around her cheeks before spitting, her voice dry and rasping. ‘The dust of horrid wilting. It drains all liquid from those it afflicts. A most unpleasant fate.’

‘Can they do it again?’

‘It takes certain herbs from the city of Abi-Dalzimir, guarded by the legions of the Empress of the Last Blood, scarcely easy to come by. I imagine if they had the capacity to repeat the spell, then we would have suffered it already.’

‘OK. You need to try and remember everything you know about the effects of that spell and let Herith know.’ Stathis helped raise a spluttering, coughing victim to leaning up, raising a cup to their lips. Blood stained their chin, trickling down to their armour as they hacked up more, body visibly wilted. They spluttered and coughed, fighting to stay alive until Stathis healed them, using the slightest trace of energy to keep them from death’s door. Jamara noticed the glow, looking at Stathis strangely but not saying anything.

It was a frantic mess of healing and triage, checking who was the most heavily affected, trying to get them to drink, flooding the dust before it withered them alive. Some were too far gone, entirely unconscious and needing care from Jamara. She barked orders at other soldiers, harsh enough to jerk even the wounded into movement, getting them to hold their colleagues down then jamming a tube down their throats and pouring water down, a desperate attempt to revive them.

It seemed hours later when the immediate panic was over but was probably only minutes – the infirmary was beyond full, the injured laying in the hallway, a nearby barracks requisitioned. Jamara moved between them, checking them regularly, Stathis doing what she could to help. She was utterly spent, doing what she could to help, leaving Jamara to deal with the most injured.

The alarm rang again, Stathis dragging her armour back on, running out onto the walls. There was another horde approaching, this one dragging along another battering ram. Their own forces were thinned out, the arrows raining down noticeably less than before, barely making an impact on the attackers.

‘Semari, can you get down there and slow them down? Shit, we’re running low.’

Herith was rallying the defenders, trying to make them focus-fire, picking off the ones carrying the ram. She shouted over. ‘Semari, get down there!’ Stathis nodded, Semari leaping over the side, immediately punching and kicking the closest targets. ‘Archers, keep her clear! She’s the only one that can make it back up. Specialists, make sure that ram doesn’t reach the gate!’

Darts and blasts of energy sparked out as Semari plunged into the mob. Stathis grabbed a bow, shooting a few arrows herself. The ram continued forward, even as Semari smashed and mangled through the bodies. There was so many, the ones Semari destroyed getting replaced by more, an endless crush of bodies welling up around her. She’d managed to get on top of the ram, using it to get some distance from attacks, but the undead kept coming, trying to grab at her, drag her down and tear her apart.

Stathis moved to the edge, judging the drop – she could probably make it down, but getting back up again might be a problem. ‘Janaxia, drop some darkness on her, she needs some space!’ Darkness blossomed from nothingness, the ram slowing as everything around it was destroyed. ‘Keep that up for as long as possible!’

Hopefully Semari was OK inside the darkness, now she wasn’t being attacked. ‘Janaxia, keep an eye on Semari and make sure that she’s OK in there. I need to deal with the ram.’ It was specially made of heavy, dark wood, probably enchanted to judge by the gleam on the metal point. ‘Get some rope or something, I’m going to need hauling up afterwards!’ She moved to jump off the edge, Vrintar moving faster, throwing herself to the ground. Where Semari had been a strike of lightning, streaking between targets, Vrintar was a brutal cloud of violence, cleaving and smashing herself a path, heading for the darkness.

Stathis followed, feeling the impact as she dropped, legs slamming into the ground. Down here, the attacking forces looked even worse, a countless horde blocking her vision. She followed Vrintar, charging towards the ram, ploughing into the darkness. The freezing acid hurt, but it was easy to find the bulk of the ram despite not being able to see it.

‘Semari, Vrintar! We need to break this thing.’ There was the loud impact of metal on wood, Stathis trying to stay a safe distance away, not wanting to get caught by Vrintar’s axes. ‘Is there a weak point to target?’

‘Can’t we get out of here? This is, like, cold and dark and shitty.’

‘We smash the ram and then get out.’ There was a loud smash from nearby, as Stathis attacked the ram as well. There was a metal band, her blade turning as it encountered the unexpected hardness. As she smashed at the thing, the cold and the acid burnt at her skin, although at least it kept the horde at bay. Louder sounds came from next to her, as probably-Vrintar attacked as well.

As the frost and acid seared and froze into her skin, Stathis took a moment to heal herself, before feeling the wood crack and break under the continued attack. ‘Out! Back to the walls!’

She retreated herself, hoping she was heading in the right direction, glad to finally be outside of the freezing, burning darkness. The wall was in front of her, although they were blocked by undead that had been directed around the darkness. Sunlight burnt along her blade as she charged, Vrintar’s axes crunching and hacking close by, bone and preserved meat splintering into the air, Semari simply leaping between them, using them as springboards before launching herself upwards. She landed on the wall, somehow finding handholds, scrabbling up to the top.

Stathis and Vrintar both reached the wall then spun around, standing back-to-back, ready to defend themselves. The horde surrounded them – she slashed out, sunlight-tinged blade easily cleaving through bone and meat. A dark mist swelled up, stitching the thing’s form back together, empty skull-eyes suddenly burning red, the cheap metal sword swelling with dark energy.

The blade swung forward, Stathis parrying, feeling the eyes drilling into her, trying to drain her will. A cold, silent scream tried to sear her mind, easy to shrug off, Vrintar equally unmoved. The light from her sword dimmed for a moment before she attacked again, cleaving through the darkness, peeling away the deep black to reveal the plain metal beneath. Vrintar’s axes swung and flashed, intense heat prickling Stathis through her armour, cutting away shadow before it reformed.

The light shall drown in shadow. The thing didn’t speak, but a cold sensation seethed in her mind, intrusive and sharp, harsher than Janaxia’s telepathy. Stathis swung again, her light burning through the shadow forming around an arm, crunching through the bone beneath. Shadows flared out, trying to pull the limb back, before Vrintar’s blades whirled, smashing the limb beyond recovery.

The horde pressed forward, blades slow and poorly armed but still a danger, the sheer number of them a threat. Vrintar took several strikes, blood trickling down her body, Stathis’ armour protecting her from the worst of it.

‘Grab the rope!’ Something struck Stathis on the head, a rope tossed from above. She swung and cleaved, great wide strikes to make some space, grabbing hold with her off-hand, still swinging to keep the things back. The rope started to pull upwards, Vrintar leaping upwards and climbing past her.

The thing grabbed her foot with the single arm it had left, biting cold chilling her armour until she managed to kick it off, the rope getting hauled upwards. She banged against the wall as she moved upwards, before being able to grab the parapet and pull herself over the edge, hands reaching out to help her up. She glanced down, those red eyes burning back at her before blinking out, the remnants of the body fading and collapsing, a dark mist retreating out of sight.

The horde began to pull away, a few more falling as arrows struck home, before dark mist seeped over the fragments, starting to pull them back towards the necromancers. The dome of darkness vanished, revealing the smashed apart elements of the ram, broken into three. Stathis saw Janaxia through the crowd, her armour so black it gleamed, woven through with swirling loops of gold, the pattern slowly moving, and gestured her over. Her hair was gleaming, ebony black, lash the red of fresh-spilled blood.

‘Thanks for that. You know anything about body-hopping undead? A mist came over one of the bodies, stopped it being destroyed. Red glowing eyes.’

Janaxia nodded. ‘Oh yes, a revenant, I would guess. They can possess other bodies as their own, bolstering and reinforcing whatever they claim. Not a living body, of course, but they can leap between bodies. There were several at home. Wretched things, forever giving unwarranted and outdated advice!’

‘How do you get rid of them?’

‘Firmly establish social boundaries and make it very clear that whatever was acceptable in their day, might not be so anymore. And if that fails, then make it clear that their spirit-gem may be dropped down a well if they persist in their entirely unasked-for advice. Or holy water, should one have access to such.’

Stathis ignored the first half. ‘They’ve got a magic crystal or something that’s actually them? OK, can you track that, or do they look distinctive?’

‘Typically gemstones, set into a metal mount, engraved with runes. It would likely be cold to the touch.’

‘OK. I’ll have Herith put the word out, if anyone finds anything like that, it gets smashed, not looted.’ There was a ragged cheer as the horde moved out of bowshot, the darkness moving back as well. ‘Are they doing anything in there?’

‘They appear to be doing what they can to repair and bolster their forces.’

‘Anything you can do to stop them?’

‘From here, no. And I would rather not get close.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘Preserving fluid and dried flesh is scarcely a pleasing scent.’

‘You should probably be more worried about their spells or getting torn apart by them! Anyway, go rest, we’ll need you during the night. Thanks though, good job!’ She slapped Janaxia on the back, the force sending her staggering, almost falling off the edge. ‘Shit, sorry. Forget you’re so light.’

She shifted, rearranging her armour. ‘Yes, I do lack the martial attributes of these folk. Nevertheless, I shall take the gesture as it was intended.’

‘You look like you’re enjoying this.’

Janaxia smiled, her green eyes bright, eerily catlike. ‘It seems strangely enervating, I must say. Far more stimulating than I expected. Although I daresay it shall pall soon enough, but for now, it seems quite entertaining.’

Stathis raised her sword high, making sure it caught the light, shouting loudly to make sure everyone heard her, holding the pose until everyone was looking at her. ‘We hold! While the sun has light, while stone stands, while words have strength, the Iristari hold, against fire, against darkness, against death!’ Other swords pointed towards the sky, steel bright as they answered back.

‘Against fire, against darkness, against death! We do not break! For the winged sword of the Iristari!’

The sound echoed around the valley, contrasting with the utter silence of their opponents. Stathis shook her sword, shouting even more loudly now. ‘We hold back the dark! In the storm, in the night, in the great darkness!’

‘WE HOLD BACK THE DARK!’ Swords rang and shook in the air, flashing as they reflected the sunlight.

She could see Herith on top of central the tower, raising her own spear in salute. Stathis turned to the highest-ranking soldier she could find. ‘I’m going to talk to the Major. You have command.’

She set a brisk pace, glad to see soldiers resting, at least as much as they could. She saw Herith coming the other way, gesturing at the door to the briefing room. She shut the door tightly behind herself, then took a deep breath.

‘We’re at about half-strength already. That dust took out a lot of people – we lost twenty-eight, another forty-two are resting up, various degrees of walking wounded. Specialist Jamara says about half of them might be fit to hold a weapon given some rest, maybe archery work, but nothing harder than that. And it’s taken pretty much all of the healing potions and supplies to get them there.’

‘Janaxia thinks that spell took some rare components, so I’m hoping it can’t be repeated.’

‘You and me both! That she can see in the dark is invaluable at night.’ She slammed the haft of her spear against the ground in irritation. ‘I need Semari and Parth tonight. If we let those necromancers rest, they’re going to have refreshed all their spells and powers. Those two can sneak around, set some things on fire, make a lot of noise, and they’re fast enough to get out again.’

Stathis nodded. ‘Good plan. Tired people make stupid decisions as well. Give them something to start fires with, that should cause some panic.’

‘There’s still that damn giant to deal with though. I’ve had the mages prepare single-target spells, see if we can take the thing’s legs out.’

‘That’ll work. Also, there’s at least one body-hopping spirit. Janaxia says that it has a spirit-crystal, and holy water probably blocks it.’

‘I’ll have some distributed to the troops. I still don’t trust her, by the way. I don’t know where she got that armour from, but the pattern on it keeps moving.’

‘Yeah, she’s got a tattoo that does the same, you get used to it after a while. I don’t think she’ll be actively malign, she’ll just complain if you try to get her to do things. And the armour’s normal armour, she just uses magic to make it look good - if she gets hit with something that dispels magic, it’ll go back to normal. So we’re down to, what, ninety troops?’

‘Yup. They get through the walls, we fall back into the keep, and desperately try and get a message out. Face-to-face, we die, and fast. Unless you’ve got any special “Iristari heir” magic you can use? Thanks for the cheer though, that helped morale a lot.’

‘I wish, If I could blast them all away, I could. But this is what we’ve got. You want to tell Semari and Parth, or should I?’

‘It’ll sound better coming from you. Could you ask Vrintar as well? Any idea why she’s here?’

Stathis shook her head. ‘She doesn’t speak. I don’t know why. She’s a local, from her marks, I’d guess the necromancers attacked her family or something? She seems happy to help at least, and we need everything we can get.’

‘I will admit, she’s good at smashing through the enemy, even if she never speaks. Now, go and rest. They’re going to try something again soon.’

‘Yes, Major Colobra.’

‘And lay off the formality, especially when we’re alone. We both know you could take command here if you wanted to. We spent too much time beating each other up on the practice fields for that for formality.’

‘Thanks. I’ll go find Semari and get her ready and see if Vrintar is willing to help.’

‘Very good.’ Herith sighed. ‘Gods, I hope this is over soon.’

Stathis nodded. ‘So do I, but it won’t be easy!’