XLVI. Fight ‘Til Death

The smoke burned his eyes, making it difficult for Aichlan to see. He coughed, spitting the mud from his mouth as he propped himself up on his sword. The lizard man seemingly came out of nowhere, hissing and spitting as it charged, its broad serrated blade covered in blood, a hatchet still embedded in its left eye. Aichlan raised his sword to parry, only for the beast to be reduced to a pile of ash and cinder by a massive bolt of lightning. Lightning struck again to his left and right, similarly ending the threats posed by two more reptilian warriors as Alice stepped over the unrecognizable remains of his horse. Aichlan nodded his thanks and raised his sword, wondering why she was on the front and where her own horse had gone, but having neither the wherewithal or breath to ask. He cut through a shambling skeleton in rusted mail, decapitating a recently reanimated Aes Sidhean knight on the backswing.

Aichlan pulled back the mail hood that had become intolerably hot and occluded his field of view as he stumbled into his next engagement. A six-armed bipedal abomination stepped forth armed with a different type of sword, from the Rhodarcian flamberge to the Lyresian katana, in each hand. It was clad in a spiked black, carapace like armor; its helm had been lost or destroyed, revealing a writhing mass of slimy green tendrils and too many yellow eyes, blinking independently, haphazardly arranged for three-hundred-and-sixty-degree field of view. Aichlan took up the long-point stance, right foot forward, sword held front with the targe covering the sword hand. It was a basic, versatile stance, and the only thing he could think of when confronted by the six-armed monster. An elf charged the creature from the right, and it effortlessly cut him down with an Agrardyan saber, plunging an Elysian gladius into his throat to finish the poor elf off.

Aichlan retreated a step, raising his sword to parry a cheap shot thrown by a reptile, finishing it off with a shield strike and swift chop to the clavicle. When Aichlan looked up again, the six-armed warrior was nearly within striking distance. Startled and panicked, Aichlan lunged forward to engage, his initial strike easily swatted away. Aichlan struck again, nearly over extending himself in his haste, and was knocked back with a counter that fortunately failed to pierce his armor. He clutched his ribs, unbroken but sore nonetheless, as he slowly circled the monster to catch his breath.

A gale of cutting wind and ice shards billowed past him, freezing a charging centaur solid midstep. Aichlan held out his arm to halt Alice as she joined him, but she swatted it away and weaved a lightning glyph in her hands. The black clad abomination lurched forward with impossible swiftness, striking at Aichlan and Alice in quick succession. Aichlan just barely dove out of the way, and Alice leapt back with a startled scream, loosing a half formed lightning spell to no effect. Aichlan lashed out as he rose to his feet, engaging the creature directly. Each attempt at a bind was easily broken by one of the five other swords it wielded with unnatural fluidity. Alice launched a flurry of fireballs, briefly staggering the monster. Aichlan committed to a horizontal strike, but was easily repelled, his blade locked between three. He raised his targe overhead to block a crushing blow and pulled his sword back and out of the bind. Aichlan ducked to the side, allowing the enemy sword crash into the dirt as he backpedaled for distance. A gnashing undead soldier bit down on his shoulder, which Aichlan pummeled several times with his shield before it fell off. Another undead rushed him from the side, and Aichlan caved its face in with the pommel of his sword, only to be pressed upon once more by the six-armed monster.

Alice launched two ice spears into the creature in rapid succession, only for them to shatter impotently upon its black carapace. The creature locked three of its blades with Aichlan’s and had two more blocked by his shield. A third hit Aichlan solidly in the side, and with a pained yet determined grunt, he shifted his guard enough to trap the blade under his arm. Aichlan kicked at what was ostensibly the monster's gut and stomped its knees to no effect. It slipped another of its blades free and brought it down on Aichlan’s clavicle, causing him to buckle under the strength of the strike, though his armor continued to hold.

Alice formed another spear of ice, wrapping it in ice and water runes as she weaved a multi-layered glyph in her hand. The point was hardened by the coldest depths of the furthest, blackest voids, its needle-like point sparkling, glistening like stars as the air literally froze around it. Aichlan dropped to one knee as the monster broke its bind and locked blades again, striking him hard on his shield arm as Alice rapidly spat out the incantation in its entirety. Her spell complete, the ice missile flew faster than a crossbows bolt, breaking through its armor and piercing what passed for flesh beneath. Black sludge oozed from the wound as a vertical slit lined with rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth opened to utter an ear-piercing scream.

Aichlan screamed as he dropped his blade to cover his ears, the shriek of the demon flooding his senses, causing him to lose track of time and place as he was trapped in an eternity filled with the dying wails of the abomination. The siren abruptly ended as the beast was crushed under a cavalcade of lightning, fire, and ice spells. Aichlan stumbled back, trying to blink away the sudden darkness and confusion that had fallen upon him as Alice shoved his weapon back into his hands. She shouted something which he neither heard nor understood and promptly fired a bolt of lightning from her palm into the chest of a reptilian warrior.

Alice led him by the hand through the fray, stopping short periodically to blast a beast with a bolt of lightning. As his senses slowly returned, Aichlan pulled Alice back to narrowly avoid being trampled by a giant cyclops, and he was barely able to sidestep a sword haphazardly swung by a desiccated corpse.

A lizard pounced at them with two blood stained blades, and Alice ably blasted him out of the air with a fistful of lightning. Aichlan chopped down two undead that attempted to attack her from behind, and Alice popped off four bolts from both hands at three different targets. Aichlan pulled Alice back and plunged his sword into the gut of a faceless wraith, shoving the monstrosity from his blade with his foot as Alice muttered an incantation, releasing an arc of lightning before her that tore through the enemy ranks; the current leaping from one foe to the next through their metal weapons and armor.

Alice shouted something again and pulled Aichlan by the arm, making a short lived mad dash through the break in enemy ranks. Aichlan briefly engaged two reptiles, taking a solid cut to the thigh as he killed the first, relying on Alice for the assist on the second. The undead came at them in unending waves, as more faceless and blemmy swarmed in like sharks to chum. They were cut off and surrounded.

* * *

Most of the wounded men before Clarissa would not be able to rejoin the fight. Too many had severed limbs, too many were on the verge of drowning in their own blood. The best she and the handful of clerics on hand could do was ease their suffering. The only thing standing between the horde and her pitiful attempts at triage was a shield wall of maybe a thousand Aes Sidhean halberdiers and knights that had lost their mounts, and a smattering of elves to hopefully cut down anything that broke through. A few mages found their way to the relative safety of the circle, but not enough to turn the tides, mostly just traumatized and catatonic children.

A wyvern cried out overhead as a few dozen arrows ripped through its leather wings and stuck in its iron hide; it belched forth a stream of fire and circled around for its third pass. They were separated from the last of the archers by a gulf of undead, cyclops’, and tenacious lizards that had already gorged themselves on quite a few of her clerics. Backed up against a proverbial and literal wall of gnarled roots, they had reached the end of their campaign, with nowhere left to run and their forces steadily dwindling. Three failed pushes had left them in their current state, and they were gearing up for a fourth.

A fat pig-faced demon, something she heard a mage call an Orc, smashed through the rank of Aes Sidheans and charged towards her position. Eth, ever at her side, disemboweled the fat demon with a single swing of his flame wreathed blade, leaving the stink of hot feces and bacon in the already cloying air. Clarissa offered him a feeble nod as she brushed her lank, pink tresses from her face and resumed her healing. The man would die, she could see it in his glazed over expression and general unresponsiveness. The wound on his throat had been sealed, though there were likely innumerable internal injuries to address, she slowly stood to her feet and made her way to the next patient.

A nun, on the verge of being consumed by the light, struggled to fix a collapsed lung as the soldier writhed and gurgled in agony. Clarissa relieved the exhausted sister and laid her hands upon the soldier’s chest, in minutes, his breathing was eased, and he fell out of consciousness due to pure enervation. Clarissa flagged down a Aes Sidhean knight and moved onto the next. The soldier would be allowed a few precious moments of rest before being hustled back onto the front lines.

Clarissa spotted Donough leaning upon his sword, clutching his ribs and sporting a bloody gash upon his head. She threw caution to the wind and scurried to his side, embracing the light as she lay her hands upon him. After a few moments, he took a deep breath and gently pushed her back, breaking the connection.

“But your ‘ead,” Clarissa placed her hands on him again, confused by his sudden rebuke, “you still require healing, non?”

“I’m fine,” He said gruffly, promptly reconsidering his tone upon catching her hurt expression. “I can fight again, thank ye.”

“But—” She protested, still not understanding.

“Look, there’s plenty left still tae take me place, but only one o’ ye, understand?”

Eth gently pulled her aside and handed her a canteen. “Here, take a breather.”

Clarissa gratefully downed the half empty canteen and shoved it into his chest. “Not you too, I’ve work to do.”

Eth sighed as the canteen fell to the mud and She turned on her heels toward the next patient. She paused to mend the broken arm of a young mage, but as she embraced the light, saw the tell-tale marks of a silencing hex upon his lips. She offered enough of the Dawn to ease his pain and moved on, there was little to nothing she could do about curses and other magical ailments.

“Yer runnin’ yerself ragged lass.” Eth growled under his breath as she continued, ignoring him entirely. “Clarissa, yer going tae burn yerself oot!”

Clarissa spun around to retort and nearly collapsed from the sudden dizziness. Eth dropped his sword and caught her in his arms, ripping off a layer of the bulky vestments to mop the sweat from her forehead. Her skin was paler than usual and beaded in sweat, she felt like the sun was burning inside of her breast.

“Damnit lassie, Ay told ye tae rest, did’n Ay?” Eth accosted a passing soldier returning to the front and took his canteen. “Drink this, if ye die then we’re all fucked.”

Clarissa smiled wanly and took the offered water. It was warm and mostly unsatisfying, but she felt it slowly but surely quench the fire in her chest. She rolled her head against Eths strong arms as he gently lowered her onto a vacant bed of bloodied cloaks and made a pillow of the fabric torn from her cassock. Before she closed her eyes to sleep, she saw a gleaming line of silver and red circling the lip of the massive crater behind them.