Murder the Heroes

Chapter Five; Section Three

Coil only just managed to keep his footing. The recoil on this gauntlet was something else! He braced himself before he fired again. A second beam of pure white light shot out from the gem set in his palm. It slammed into a Krull's wards. The thing managed to hold out a little longer than the first one, then the line of pure power carved arm from rump. An inhuman scream escaped the thing, even as Mage Killers jumped forward to finish the job.

Cold-metal Swords rose and fell.

"Shields!" screamed the captain. Coil dropped to a knee as the Mage Killers formed up around them and interlinked their shields. Magic washed over them. Coil tried to overlap his own wards with the shield wall. Unfortunately the magic nullifying effects didn't mesh well with his magical protection. Here and there the assault still found chinks in their combined defence. Several men screamed as their flesh froze.

The moment the onslaught stopped the shields dropped and Coil fired again. White light streaked from the heart of the All Searing Eye right at the attack's origin. Defences buckled but didn't immediately shatter. Even now they were already adapting, changing their defences from yielding weaves – which worked best again smaller strikes – to hard deflecting shields, more suited to directionally overwhelming power like the Eye. It was unavoidable, though he'd secretly hoped he'd have a little more time.

No matter, this wasn't the only weapon they had left. He nodded to the Captain. "Overwhelm!" barked the man. The men sprinted towards the Krull full tilt in small clumps of men. The warlocks were well aware of the danger these men posed up close and lashed out with all they had. Many Mage Killers fell or were frozen solid, their magic nullifying fields overpowered.

But not all.

And once the Mage Killers were up close, it was they who had the advantage. Cold metal sliced through wards and wasted flesh. Tortured souls were separated from atrophied bodies. The Krull screeched as they went down. It was a primal sound, something that raged against the Gods themselves.

Coil grinned. It faltered as he heard a battle cry erupt from a thousand throats. A wave of men was charging towards them. The Aberfellian army come to rescue their mages. They might not be in time to save many, but that wouldn't do the Mage Killers much good, for by then they would be spread out and be overwhelmed.

"Quick, order the men to regroup!"

The captain ignored him. "Kill them all!" he roared, in his first display of emotion. The men responded, pushing even harder to catch the last few Krull and in the process spreading themselves even thinner. The Krull weren't stupid, however. Even now they were fleeing the battle field – magically or otherwise. Not all were quick enough, however. As he watched he saw Sheila reach one of the last remaining ones and savagely strike head from body. "Form up!" The Captain bellowed, even though it was clear that many were too far away for that. Then, to Coil, "We need to get you to safety!"

Coil set his jaw, "No way I'm not leaving you all out here to die!"

"This is our duty!"

"Well, let's make certain you can fulfil that duty again!" He braced himself, raised the All Searing Eye and again let fly. The lance shot forth, but this time there was no wards to stop it. Metal turned to slag and men to corpses as the beam punched straight through the oncoming soldiers. Had it just gone far enough to hit their own men behind the enemy? He really needed to learn to use this weapon better. He fired again, but this time he swept the beam from left to right. Men crumpled. Agonized wails heralded their arrival in the afterlife.

But the charging line of men was getting closer and the Mage Killers were still far too spread out. They would die. The gauntlet was almost unbearably hot now. The artificer had said that he shouldn't let that happen, that he should let the thing cool down first, as the gauntlet – used wisely – was worth ten armies. Fuck that, Coil thought, as he hit the oncoming wave again, the gauntlet whining in complaint. Though many died, it wasn't enough. The rest was almost upon them now.

"Brace for impact!" The Captain ordered. Shields came together as the Mage Killers formed up in small clumps and gritted their teeth. That was when the floor before them was torn open by massive clawed hands. Many enemy soldiers were running too fast to avoid the sudden holes. Others couldn't avoid the claws of the daemons and were pulled underground. Those behind fell into crumpled heaps as they tripped over each in their desperation to get out of the way of the new threat, as the massive creatures climbed onto the battlefield, pitchforks in hand.

Only very few soldiers got through. The captain surveyed the chaos in the enemy's ranks and reached a decision. "Charge!" He yelled, "Break the enemy's back!" His men obeyed, starting forward once again. None of them complained, despite this being the third all out charge since they'd got out here. Coil was with them. With a sword in one hand and artefact on the other, he fell upon the disorganized enemy. He ducked a swing and plunged his sword into a man's armpit even as his metal-encased fist broke another man's nose. Beside him the Captain crushed a man's ribs with a blow of his shield's edge.

A cry made him turn. There a man with raised sword fell with a crossbow bolt through his neck. Coil swallowed and waved his thanks to the nameless sniper. The enemy had recovered some from the daemons and more were finding their way past them, coming at the Mage Killers and offering stiff resistance.

"We need to break them!" The Captain said, worry in his voice, as he watched his men and their desperate struggle.

"Why haven't they broken yet? How could those daemons not be enough?" They certainly looked fearsome enough, towering as tall as two men and strong enough to knock men flying with a single swipe of their arms.

"They're veterans of many campaigns! They've seen too much. Hell, the armies of Bridgeton had creatures even bigger than these and yet Aberfell vanquished them." The Captain answered, "But they're close! Just one more push!"

As if that had been the signal that Esquire had somehow been waiting for, magic suddenly poured from the sky. His mages, formerly only on the defensive, suddenly switched to the attack and though they might not be as powerful as the Krull, they were a lot more passionate and a lot more creative. The earth turned against the Aberfell army, illusionary beasts screeched above and death reigned down in the form of fire, ice, heat, death, disease and more. Comets struck like a giant's fists. Chain lightning lanced from man to man. In short moments Esquire's mages threw everything they had at the enemy. There wouldn't be any reserves left, Coil was certain. It would have to be enough.

It was.

Coil could see it happen. One moment he was dealing with a man intent on his death, the next with one only intent on his own survival. He could see it in the eyes – an expression transformed.

The captain saw it too. "Form up, let them run right past." The Mage Killers obeyed. Gratefully the enemy dove for the holes. Those that came too close weren't given any quarters, but the Mage Killers were too tired to do much more. Nor was it necessary. The thunder of hooves announced the cavalry's arrival. The horsemen raced across the battlefield, plunged in among the infantry and ruthlessly speared them in the back. Despite being from Aberfell Esquire wasn't giving these soldiers any quarter.

A ragged cheer went up amongst the Mage Killers. It was answered by victorious shouts from the main forces, several hundred yards away. Coil didn't join in. Instead he surveyed the dead and dying – listened to their screams for life or death. It wasn't hard to see the damage he'd personally done. It wasn't hard to find the lines of men he'd carved down with the All Searing Eye. More souls to haunt his sleep.

No matter whether he won or lost, he hated battlefields.