Sir Edward Talos stabbed another blob as it tried to eat his foot. He stepped back. They had encountered three other patrols of demons, but this one seemed to be nothing but amorphous blobs. You could kill them with a blade, but that rusted the blade after heavy use.

It was better than letting them latch on to you. That resulted in the slow destruction of whatever they had grabbed.

Talos looked at his two comrades. They had formed a triangle with him. Small fires and deflated blobs showed where they had defended themselves.

“We need to push on to the next corner, and that should be about where we left Shellbert to hide from the demons,” said Brian.

“The building will give us some cover so we can rest until we figure out our next step,” said Sir Edward. “Let's move on.”

Fires flickered in the sky. There was no way to fight them with the demons running loose. People were dying despite the closing of the gate. He pushed the frustration away. They had personally killed as many demons as they could. They had minor wounds to show for their efforts.

Sir Edward walked in the indicated direction. His eyes scanned for trouble as he moved. He recognized some of the buildings from his earlier passage with Macomber. The exorcist had cleared the path earlier with his blessing.

He closed his eyes against the image of his friend turning into a column of fire reaching upwards to the Eternal Court above.

Macomber wasn't the first comrade who had fallen fighting the forces of darkness. He wouldn't be the last as long as the knight continued to fight.

The fact that he had helped the city had to weigh in his favor when he met his god.

Talos was more worried about his own record when he met Pantalus on the moment of his death. He had done things that were vile in his youth. He had become a knight to make up for what he had done.

He expected he would have a harder time in front of the judge of the dead than any of his dead friends.

“Hold on, Ed,” said Andrea. She held up a hand as she looked around. “Something has come through here that's bigger than what we have faced so far. The taint is still in the air.”

The knight paused in the shadows. He looked around, listening to the night. They were still a few hours away from dawn. If only they had some sunlight pushing this darkness away.

“We're going to move across the street with a lookout,” said Sir Edward. “If we can reach Shellbert, that might be enough to buy us something. Don't use a ton of magic on this, Andrea, unless you have to.”

“We got it, Ed,” said Andrea. “We're not going to blow ourselves up.”

Brian nodded in his hood. He held his sword and knife at the ready. He regretted not having his bow and arrows now. Being able to shoot monsters from a distance was the way he liked to do things.

He could fight upclose as well as the next man. He just didn't like it.

Sir Edward walked forward. He used the wreckage around him for cover as he looked for more demons to appear. It was possible they had cleared this section of the city out. Other clerics and knights had to be causing problems for the demons elsewhere.

Andrea came next. It was better if the knight was attacked first. He had worked for years in combat. He could defend himself and provide a distraction for her. Her spell work would punch through anything that happened to get in their way.

Brian walked at the back of the line. He had to provide a shield from that direction long enough for Andrea to attack. If they had to do a fighting retreat, he was the rearguard.

“It looks like the house is still standing,” said Sir Edward. “Let's see what happens when we knock.”

They moved in a defensive triangle in front of where the door used to be. Andrea knocked as hard as she could on the wall next to the hole.

“Friend or foe?,” asked a male voice inside the darkened wreck.

“Sir Edward Talos of the Golden Circle,” said Sir Edward. “Is Cleric Shellbert still alive?”

“I'm here,” said Shellbert. “Come in.”

The trio stepped inside the interior of the wrecked house. A barricade had been set up to create a flimsy shield for the clerics inside. Sir Edward put his sword away at the sight of the representative of the goddess of war. The masked face seemed to smile back at him.

“Eighth,” said the harlequin. “I have been appointed as Cleric Shellbert's protector until the crisis has passed.”

Sir Edward didn't ask who had appointed the swordsman as the protector. It had obviously been an order from on high.

“Andrea Kind, and Brian Talltrees,” said Sir Edward. “They are my friends.”

“I don't see Cleric Macomber,” said Shellbert.

“He used too much power and closed the summoning circle,” said Sir Edward. “We killed the magicians responsible, but there is still an army of demons wandering out there.”

“What do you three plan to do?,” asked Eighth.

“We would like Cleric Shellbert to help us clear the remaining demons out of the city,” said Sir Edward. “She's the only cleric we know who can banish things, and she has the ability to banish a large amount of demons at the same time.”

“I don't have to hold the house any more?,” asked Shellbert.

“All of the rank and file magicians holding the summoning gate open are dead,” said Sir Edward. “Their leader entered the underworld after Pitt. This may be the only chance we get to stop defending and start attacking.”

“If we had an exact view of where the demons had congregated, we could use that to be the focus of our efforts,” said Eighth. “We could exterminate the center of their army with just the two of us. That will help any survivors if the force tries to form up against our assault.”

“We could use the exact center of town for that,” said Brian. “If the two of you can harness the power, that would force the demons to flee toward the wall.”

“We would have to fight our way to that point,” said Eighth. “I believe that the spot would be somewhere next to the Government House.”

“It would be the Temple of my god, Mogin Farn,” said Shellbert. “It sits in the center of the city.”

Sir Edward frowned as he considered the implications of what he was hearing. They were proposing wiping out a section of the demons from Mogin Farn's seat in the city with his representative asking for the use of his power.

Shellbert could go up in flames like Macomber doing something like that.

“There's a bigger risk fighting our way through the city to use that temple in particular,” he said.

“I think if we wipe the center of the city clean, it will change the balance of power as it is now,” said Shellbert. “And we don't know how many people are still alive. We have to do something to save as many of the rest that we can.”

Sir Edward rubbed his face. This was what he had signed up to do. He couldn't give up now when the going had become a little rough. They had to press on.

“Anyone want to back out of this mad plan?,” he asked. He looked at them. They seemed determined to die fighting like he was.

“All right,” the knight said. “We need to take a few minutes to rest up, then we'll go. We've been fighting all night and we need a longer break before we try this.”

“You three can take a nap if you want,” said Eighth. “We can wait thirty minutes before we start.”

“We'll take ten,” said Sir Edward. “Fighters will lead the way, Shellbert in the middle, Andrea at the back. Hopefully we'll draw most of the forces to our swords, we won't have to use magic until we're at the temple.”

“Get some rest,” said Eighth. “Ten minutes isn't long.”

The trio retreated to the back of the house. They found places to sit and close their eyes. Sir Edward concentrated on the map of the city in his mind. Various paths played along as he tried to find the shortest path to their destination.

The shortest path might not exist anymore with the way the war had played out across the city.

If they had to fight an extended battle, they might all be killed trying to get to the temple. If Shellbert called on her god too much, she might blow herself up.

He didn't like the implications of things going wrong as he considered their options.

“Time,” called Eighth.

Sir Edward shook off the fog as he got to his feet. It was time for them to go back to the fight. He pulled his sword as he walked to the wrecked front of the house. Rust ran up and down the blade. He shook his head. When this was over, he would have to have his weapon scoured down.

He didn't want to discard it for another if he could get more use out of it.

“Everyone ready?,” he asked. He slipped his sword back into its sheath.

“We're as good as we're ever going to get, Ed,” said Andrea. “I'm going to need some time when this is over.”

“I'll put in a word with the Lord General if we're still alive at the end of this,” said Sir Edward. “Eighth, if you could lead us out. Brian, take the left outlier. I'll take the right. Cleric Shellbert, stay between us, please. Andrea will keep an eye behind us and shoot any of the demons that try to break our defense.”

Eighth pulled his sword and walked out of the shelter.