Citadel of Demons Read online

  The sergeant sounded confident. Zamara looked at Kormak and said, “There’s not much I can add to that. So I’ll stay up here and direct the fight.”

  “Good thinking,” Kormak said. “I’ll go down there and kill a few.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Rhiana said. “I’ve stuck with you this far. I might as well go the whole way.”

  They scrambled back down the rocks again just as the dust was settling. A long line of the sand demons emerged. They raised their arms and sent a hail of poison spines towards the marines.

  The Sidereans responded with a shower of crossbow bolts that drove into the chests of the oncoming monsters. Some fell and did not get up. Many kept moving even though they had been wounded. It was an impressive display of strength. Kormak had seen grown men knocked over by a crossbow bolt strike on their shields.

  Greenish fluid oozed from the monster’s wounds. Kormak glanced around to see how many of the soldiers had gone down. Shield bearers had protected most of the crossbow men but the few wounded had all fallen. Froth bubbled from their lips. Blood came from their noses. The poison on those spines was deadly.

  “Best not get hit,” Kormak told Rhiana.

  “You’re full of good advice today, aren’t you?”

  Kormak drew his sword. He checked the runes on the blade. They did not glow. There was no sign of evil magic so far. His elder sign remained cool on his chest. Occasionally he thought he felt a small flicker, a tingling. Perhaps it was some sort of response to the sand demon’s mindspeech.

  He glanced up at the ridgeline overlooking the battle. A group of sand demons moved into position. They seemed to be observing the conflict. There was something oddly familiar about the posture of one that seemed less mutated than the rest. It stood arms on hips, watching all that transpired. It radiated a palpable sense of satisfaction. It clearly expected victory.

  The sand demons advanced. The Sidereans reloaded. The shield bearers drew their swords and prepared to meet the monsters breast to breast. Rhiana ripped her cutlass from its scabbard. A poison spine flashed through the air directly towards her. Kormak knocked it aside with his blade, sending it clattering onto the ground near her booted feet.

  The sand demons were upon them. The Sidereans had time for one last volley at point-blank range. This time, every sand demon hit went down. The rest kept coming; sand crunching beneath their feet.

  “Back up onto the rocks,” Zamara shouted. “Get the advantage of height.”

  Against normal foes, this would have been suicidal. It would have given the enemy a chance to charge but the sand demons did not seem capable of moving any faster than a slow jog.

  Kormak tried to count them. There were at least twenty still on their feet. There were many more out of his line of sight. And that did not take into account the much larger group that Zamara pointed out earlier or those on the ridge who might be getting ready to attack.

  The oxen, mules and horses were panicking. Something about the smell of the blighted wastelanders affected them strongly. One or two had kicked free of their traces and went charging towards the sand demons, desperately trying to escape, trampling two beneath their hooves.

  “I’m going to kill someone,” Kormak said. As the words escaped his mouth, a hail of spines arced towards him. He threw himself behind the wagon, Rhiana joint of an instant later. Poison missiles thunked into the wood.

  Kormak saw the shadows of the sand demons underneath the wagons. They were coming around on both sides.

  He stepped forward and swung the dwarf-forged blade. His target raised his arm to block the blow. The sword cut through it. The sand demon’s arm fell to the ground and began to wriggle away.

  Kormak caught a brief glimpse of pink flesh and white bone within then the carapace slurped shut around the amputated stump.

  He slashed again, aiming for the spot where a neck would have been on a human being. His blade cleaved through the carapace. Close up, he could see that it resembled the shell of a mollusc. It was hard as bone but it could not withstand the strike of a dwarf-forged blade. This time there was the scent of burning flesh. At least part of the sand demon carried the taint of blight.

  More enemies surrounded Kormak and Rhiana. He ducked and weaved, hacked and slashed. Their foes were large and very strong and equipped with poison but they were slow.

  One aimed a spine. Kormak threw himself to one side. The missile hit the sand demon directly behind him. Kormak chopped off the leg of a third. It tumbled even as its armour sealed over the wound.

  He drove his blade through the place where a heart would be in a human being. Wisps of oily black smoke rose.

  The creature’s armour was twisted and blotched. He had no idea whether this was natural for them. They had a barnacled look as if the material of the carapace had blistered.

  It looked as if he had distracted the majority of them. The sand demons concentrated their attack on him.

  A wave of crossbow bolts descended from the boulders above. The marines had had time to reload for a third time and discharge their weapons. More of the sand demons went down.

  Kormak stood back to back with Rhiana. He was starting to regret jumping into the midst of the melee. They were surrounded, with less and less space to dodge the poisoned spines. It was fortunate that the sand demons were no longer discharging them. He supposed that they needed time to regrow. They used them for close combat too and were reluctant to use the last as missiles.

  Some of the demons had claws that could remove a man’s head with one snip. Kormak stepped back to avoid having his neck caught in one. He lashed out taking off the pincer at the wrist. Then he smashed the pommel of his blade into the head of the sand demon. The impact sent it staggering back. It fell into a couple of its comrades. They pushed it upright and forward. Kormak impaled it on his sword.

  “We need to cut our way free,” Kormak shouted. Unleashing the full fury of his sword arm, he chopped his way through the oncoming demons and fought his way into the clear. Rhiana was right behind him.

  They stopped next to a wagon. He helped her scramble onto it and then he vaulted up himself. The pursuit gave the crossbow men time to shoot again. More of the sand demons fell. The rest started to pull at the sides of the vehicle, making it difficult to maintain balance.

  Kormak braced his feet wide and Rhiana did the same. She was used to riding the rolling deck of a sailing ship and remained upright without too much trouble.

  From his elevated position, Kormak saw hundreds more sand demons emerging from the desert. It did not matter how many the marines shot. They did not have enough crossbow bolts to end this fight. Sheer numbers would pull them down in the end.

  Well," Rhiana said. “It looks like this might be goodbye.”

  Chapter Nine

  Nexali watched in satisfaction as the Blighted Ones made ready for their final assault on the Siderean position. She seemed totally focused on the battle, as did all her people. There was something not quite sane about their intensity, Balthazar thought.

  More sand people were arriving. All of them had green carapaces, and none of them bore the stigmata of mutation. They marched differently. Balthazar reached out and touched Nexali on the shoulder to draw attention and inquire about the newcomers.

  No. Not now! She said. Her mental statement was almost a shriek. We should not have let ourselves get distracted. The Emerald Swarm is upon us.

  Balthazar wondered what she was talking about and then noticed that fighting had broken out between the Blighted Ones and the newcomers.

  * * *

  Something strange was happening. The sand demons fought among themselves. Kormak saw there were differences between them. Many of the newcomers were blighted but others had smooth carapaces of a single greenish colour. It looked as if there were two different tribes battling each other.

  “They’re probably fighting to see who gets to eat us,” Rhiana said.

  “Now who is the pessimist?”

  The sand demon
s attacking the wagon turned to face the newcomers. Kormak took the opportunity to drive his blade into the head of one. “Let’s get out of here,” he said.

  They jumped down and raced towards the boulders. Soldiers reached down to pull them into their ranks. Soon Kormak was standing beside Admiral Zamara and Sergeant Terves.

  “What in the name of Light is going on out there?” Zamara said.

  “There are two factions of sand demons,” Kormak said. “They’re fighting.”

  “Hold your fire men,” Zamara said. “We don’t want to shoot any potential allies. Save your bolts until we see if these new chaps attack us.”

  Dozens of small dust clouds rose where the sand demons joined in individual melees and fought to the death.

  Eventually, the faction that looked a consistent green gained the upper hand. They outnumbered the blighted sand demons. Once the combat had ceased, they formed a ring around the boulder island.

  “Now we’ll see,” Zamara muttered.

  A sound like a great horn bellowed out over the battlefield. It came from one of the sand demons, as if some of the spines on its flesh were huge trumpets. One huge emerald carapaced monster lumbered towards their position. It held its arms high in the universal sign of truce.

  “Nobody shoot,” Zamara said. “Let’s hear what it has to say.”

  The Sidereans waited, still as statues. As the sand demon approached, the carapace surrounding its head retracted, revealing features that belonged to a good-looking, dark-skinned man. These monstrous looking things were not demons, Kormak realised. They were garbed in the products of fleshweaving sorcery.

  He heard gasps from the soldiers around him.

  “What is that?” Zamara asked.

  “A spawn of the Old Ones,” Rhiana said. “He is mind speaking with his people.”

  “Can you hear?” Kormak asked.

  Rhiana shook her head. “I cannot follow it. I only know that he is doing it. These people are not like the others. They are not as insane.”

  “That does not mean they are our friends,” Zamara said.

  “Right you are, Admiral,” Rhiana said.

  “Greetings strangers,” the newcomer said, as he advanced. He spoke in the tongue of the Eldrim, his voice rich and booming. It had the same commanding quality as Zamara’s. This man expected obedience. “We thank you for this opportunity to kill the Blighted Ones. We have not caught so many of them in one place in many moons.”

  Zamara looked at Kormak. “What is he saying?”

  Kormak translated.

  “Tell him he is welcome,” Zamara said. “And we thank him for his aid. Tell them that we are on an urgent mission from the King of Siderea and we would appreciate any help he could give us.”

  Kormak relayed Zamara’s words. The sand demon speaker moved right up to the rocks. Kormak and Zamara jumped down to meet him. The Admiral gave a courtly bow. Kormak nodded his head without taking his eyes off the sand demon. The sand warrior made a gesture of greeting with his right hand and then said, “It is most unusual for the Blighted Ones to send so many warriors to attack outlanders. It seems that they really wished to slay you. Why would that be?”

  Kormak and Zamara exchanged looks. This did not go unnoticed by the sandfolk leader. “I am Ahexotl, chieftain of the Emerald Swarm,” he said. “I mean you no harm if you mean no harm to my people.”

  Kormak said, “The Blighted Ones are followers of Shadow, are they not?”

  Ahexotl nodded. “Long ago they turned their faces from Xayal, the true god of our folk, and embraced the darkness. It has rewarded them as you can see.”

  There was a note of contempt in his voice and a note of horror. His tone told Kormak that a long bitter rivalry existed between the two factions.

  “We are in pursuit of a powerful emissary of Shadow, a sorcerer, a demon worshipper, a summoner of dark things,” Kormak said. “It is possible that he has made alliance with them.”

  “I think that unlikely,” Ahexotl said. “The Blighted Ones kill any outsiders they come across, if they have the numbers.”

  “In this case they would be doing us a favour,” Kormak said. “The man we seek is extremely dangerous.”

  “He must be,” Ahexotl said, “if you pursue him across these lands.”

  He was fishing for information, wanting to know why they were here and what they were doing. So far, Ahexotl had done them no harm but that did not mean that he was a friend. Perhaps he too was a follower of the Shadow and was merely exterminating rivals. Just because he did not bear any external signs of blight did not mean that he was untainted.

  On the other hand, they were stuck out here in the wilderness, and they had lost half of their beasts. Several of the animals lay dead nearby, impaled by poison spines. They were going to need to carry many of their own supplies deeper into the desert. Any help would be welcome.

  “What is it you seek?” Ahexotl asked. “What is it your foe seeks?”

  Clearly, the sandfolk leader had decided that they were both in search of the same thing. Kormak considered the situation. If they offended the sandfolk, they might never leave this place. There were even more of them than there had been of the Blighted Ones and they looked both faster and more alert.

  “We believe that Balthazar, the sorcerer we hunt, seeks an ancient city somewhere within these wastelands. Imprisoned there are Old Ones who worshipped Shadow.”

  A frown marred Ahexotl’s handsome face. “This is a dark thing indeed, if it’s true.”

  “A sarcophagus containing Vorkhul, the one known as Born of Darkness, was delivered to the King-Emperor of Siderea. The people who found it, found it in this desert.”

  “And how would you know that?”

  “Because one of them is with us now.”

  “I see,” Ahexotl said. “May I speak with this man?”

  Zamara gestured for Anders to approach. Warily, the mercenary clambered down over the boulders, reluctant to put himself within striking distance of Ahexotl.

  “What do you want?” Anders said.

  Kormak translated the sandfolk leader’s questions. Ahexotl wanted to know where he had found the coffin and he asked detailed questions about the route. Anders looked at Kormak to make sure it was all right for him to give answers and then replied truthfully.

  After the conversation was over Ahexotl looked thoughtful. “You have crossed into place where my people do not go,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “Because those who go there do not return.”

  “Anders returned,” Kormak said.

  Ahexotl nodded, “Yes, but he is only one of a large and well-armed expedition. He tells a tale the like of which I have not heard.”

  “You’re telling me that your people have not gone so deep into the desert?” Kormak asked.

  Ahexotl looked at him for a long moment. He seemed to be considering his response carefully. “My people call that part of the desert the Place of Death. Whoever goes there loses the power of speech. Whoever goes in there also loses his ability to tell direction.”

  “What do you mean?” Kormak asked.

  Ahexotl shrugged. “It does not matter.”

  Kormak felt that the sandfolk leader was hiding something from him. What exactly did he mean by what he had said? Perhaps the sand people had the ability to tell direction instinctively. It would seem like a logical ability for his folk to have.

  “Is there some monster in there?” Rhiana asked. Ahexotl looked at her interestedly. His eyes lingered on the gills in her neck and her webbed fingers. He sensed the presence of another child of the Old Ones. His right hand moved through a complex and intricate gesture of greeting. Rhiana did not respond in kind. She merely looked confused.

  “Now this is a strange thing,” Ahexotl said. “I can see that most of you are worshippers of the Sun. She is a child of the Old Ones. How did this come to be?”

  “The followers of the two gods are not always enemies,” Kormak said. “In fact, it is quite pos
sible to live in peace.”

  Given the situation, it seemed sensible to stress this. Kormak did not want violence to erupt between the Sidereans and the sandfolk. That could only have one outcome. Ahexotl raised an eyebrow as if he understood what Kormak was doing.

  “The man we seek is a terrible sorcerer,” Rhiana said. “He is a follower of the Lord of Skulls. He has worked evil magic. He summoned an army of Shadowborn within the keep of these outlanders.”

  “What?” Ahexotl said.

  “He summoned demons out of Shadow,” Rhiana said. “They took possession of the bodies of many outlanders. It wreaked havoc among the army of the King of Siderea. It almost killed us.”

  Ahexotl looked genuinely shocked by this news.

  “The Blighted Ones follow Xothak,” Ahexotl said. “If what you’re seeing is true then an alliance between the sorcerer and our old enemies is definitely possible. It seems we may have an enemy in common.”

  * * *

  From the ridge, Balthazar could see the Emerald Swarm leader talking with Kormak and his companions. He cursed. The Guardian’s luck was running true to form. The Emerald Swarm had saved his damned life. It was almost enough to make a man believe in the existence of the Holy Sun. Some power certainly seemed to protect the Aquilean.

  Nexali had withdrawn the cowl of her symb. Her face was exposed. He could see that she was as appalled as he was although perhaps for different reasons.

  This is the greatest defeat my people have suffered in generation. And all from trying to aid you. He sensed the anger in her. She was trying to shift the blame for all of this to him.

  “I did not order it.”

  No. Xothak did. We have served him as we always do. It all must be part of his plan.

  Nexali stared at him, as if expecting him to say something. He studied the field of battle. It was only a matter of time before some of the Emerald Swarm noticed them and came looking for them. They’d better not be here when that happened unless they intended to join the corpses piled on the field of battle.