Wil Ogden - The Nightstone

“The other knights?” Pantros asked.

“They understand that we won the battle,” David said. “They get to know they are dying as heroes. There’s nothing we can do to save them. Protecting that key is everything.” They passed into the city and the gates began closing behind them. Two dozen Unicorns rushed out of the city at the last moment before the gates closed.

“What are they doing?” Pantros asked.

“I don’t know,” David said. “I just hope Kehet had a plan before running out like that.”

The Portal opened without warning but Darien had been waiting for days. He sent Murdread’s High Guard through first to make sure that it wasn’t a trap and that if it were then the High Guard should be able to out-fight any ambush.

Darien then followed. Kirvel, dressed as a Vulak high priest welcomed him to Mealth. His human servant, Robirt was nowhere to be seen. “Where is that Mage?” Darien asked.

“Dead,” Kirvel said. “He let his guard down and a Sorcerer from the city killed him. She’s a potent one; I could barely hold a barrier against her wind strikes.”

More demons followed Darien through the portal. Kirvel assigned each a Vulak Tribe. Arrows started to rain down around them. Most missed, and most that hit a demon didn’t even penetrate their armor. A few were deadly even to the demons.

“Scatter among the Vulak!” Darien ordered. “Find your assigned groups. Make sure they know who is in charge.”

Over a hundred demons had passed into the mortal realm when Kirvel yelled “No!” and pointed at the top of the gateway. A man was pulling a knife from his boot.

Darien didn’t need to contemplate the inevitable. “Retrieve the stone and re-open the gate,” he yelled at Kirvel as he rushed back through the portal. He barely made it before the gate dissipated. A demon passing the other direction wasn’t as lucky, half of that demon fell to the ground in Demia. Darien wondered what would become of that demon. A demon that died in Demia respawned at the pools. A demon that died in a mortal world didn’t always make it back to the pools. His worries about the gate re-opening overcame his curiosity. He waited.

It shouldn’t have taken Kirvel long to kill one human man and reopen the gate. That the gate hadn’t reopened after an hour made Darien’s heart sink. How had one man escaped an Army of Vulak and a contingent of demons? Kirvel would pay for that failure if he didn’t recover that key soon.

If the human made it back to the city, it could take weeks to prepare a proper siege. Kirvel would be mostly on his own, though a few communications through ritual would be possible.

How would he explain this to Murdread? Could he convince his lord that everything was going as planned? If only he could think of a reason to not send the two thousand demons he’d had at the ready all at once.

Positioning? He was saving the bulk of his force for another battle and would be summoning them when they were needed to prevent having to travel with so many demons? That Abvi city was small and the Vulak army was huge. The city would fall. It was just a matter of time. There would be other, larger cities, and it was economical to save the majority of the demons for those fights.

Everything was going according to plan, even if that meant he had to change the plan.

While rallying the soldiers at the north gate, Kehet had been approached by Silon and Chelle in their human forms. The Unicorns from the Gypsies had run to the city, arriving just ahead of the Vulak armies. Silon apologized for not participating in the battle at the Gypsy camp, as did Chelle. They were pacifists, but that shouldn’t have kept them from defending their god, they said. After they’d thought about it, they felt they had to come to Melnith and make amends.

Kehet assured them that he thought no less of them for avoiding combat. It was Silon who’d suggested they leave the city walls and rally the Unicorn population. When Kehet saw Reginald engage the Vulak and began to understand the futility the Abvi faced with the scale of the armies, he knew that Silon’s suggestion had merit.

“We have to charge through the Vulak,” Kehet said. “I can see some thin area’s in their lines. I could go alone, but I wouldn’t know where to find the other Unicorns.”

“We’ll go with you,” Silon said. “We Unicorns don’t often like to admit it, but we do all serve our god.”

“I’m not very good at the fighting,” Chelle said. “I’ll do my best for you, my Prince.”

“Just stay in my wake,” Kehet said. He planned to run point first through the enemy lines and not slow down to let any Vulak swing at him.

“I should let you know, it won’t just be the three of us,” Silon said. He gestured at the people around him.

Kehet hadn’t noticed them. But there were scores of people around him, all kneeling with their heads bowed. Instinctively, Kehet knew they were all Unicorns, disguising themselves as humans and Abvi.

“Okay,” he said, “Everyone get up and get ready, we’re going now.”

“Follow me,” Kehet yelled. “Don’t stop to fight, don’t impale anything. Threaten with the horns but hit with your shoulders. Shoulders and trampling are our weapons today.”

“Don’t hit them too fast,” Silon said. “I know we can move fast, but impacts at those speed will hurt us.”

Kehet hadn’t thought of that, but it made sense. He nodded in agreement then shifted. Most of the people around him did as well. The street, which had already been crowded with the thousands of soldiers, was suddenly packed even tighter. Kehet didn’t even try to count.

He just turned and bolted out the gate. He noticed Pantros and one of Reginald’s knights come in through the gate. He didn’t know why the boy had been outside the gates, but assumed that his returning was a good thing. Whatever the reason was, it wasn’t as important as making it out of the siege.

Outside the gate, Kehet took a sharp left, away from the monument and away from where a couple of Reginald’s knights still fought. The Vulak were converging on the knights and Kehet wanted a shallow place in the battle line.

The first rank of Vulak had time to prepare. They set spears and locked shields. Just before he would hit the spear points, Kehet turned sharply to the side. He cut into the spears, allowing a few to cut his flank, but using his horn to push the hafts of the spears aside. He ran through the hafts of the spears then pushed into the Vulak force, jumping the locked shields. The Unicorns behind him did the same, though some of the larger ones just hit the shields sending the Vulak behind them sprawling only to be trampled. The Vulak behind the first line scattered. When they were clear of the initial battle line, Kehet glanced back to see not a single Unicorn had fallen though many had bloody wounds. He turned again and ran towards the next group of Vulak. All but one of those scattered. The remaining one held a crossbow level at Kehet.

Kehet increased his speed heading straight towards the crossbow, but the Vulak didn’t falter. He remained steady in his aim and released the missile when Kehet was only a few paces away. Before Kehet could react, a white form passed before him. Kehet heard the scream and Chelle fell before him. Kehet, unable to stop, leapt over her and pierced the crossbow wielding Vulak through the throat then tore his horn out. He stopped and looked back at Chelle, but could sense she was dead. There was nothing he could do for her.

He ran on, seeing no other Vulak before him, he increased his speed to one he knew Silon could keep up with. After a few minutes, he stopped and changed form. The other Unicorns did so as well as they approached him.