Sentinel

Chapter 14 - Hunted

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Chapter 14 - Hunted

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The demons didn't wait until the shadow cycle was in full effect to launch their attack. 

Tayne heard the demons before he saw them. The hidden bodies rustled the undergrowth of the forest, letting them know they were surrounded, that they'd been hunted long before this moment finally came. 

We made the right decision to fight, thought Tayne.

It was north, directly ahead on where the old highway led and where Skye believed the portal to lay, that the first demon appeared.

A large tainted emerged that would have stood double Tayne's height easily. Horns curled down, twisting over to frame its grotesquely human facial features. Its hide was scarred from countless blows, likely fighting with other tainted, but it was the tail that held Tayne's attention. The fifth limb was as thick as the trunk of a tree, the spiked carapace around it leaving a deep rut in the dirt behind it.

Nissa had described this one. She'd known the Master's strongest tainted would be here. 

Tayne gripped his sword and kept Wing steady beneath him. 

The Hunter. 

Unlike the tainted that'd tried to take Skye previously, the Hunter didn't bother making demands. 

It pointed, and the forest exploded. 

The ground was swallowed up by the swarm of minor demons, a neverending tide coming to sweep the Silverborn away from the forest. The imps squawked and complained as they fell over eachother, each one desperate to be the first to reach the Silverborn's line. Talons met with steel. The first imps died to Silverborn blades. 

The demons didn't stop. 

Some ignored the first Silverborn, instead seeking opponents further inside the defensive circle. When they reached his section of the secondary line, Tayne was there to meet them head on. 

The first demon he battled died within seconds. It charged, aiming for Wing's leg to bring her rider down. The mare danced out of the way and Tayne ran it through. Before he could pull his sword from its body, the imp had dissolved into little more than dust. 

Wrain said it'd be fast with a portal nearby, thought Tayne, swinging his sword at the next demon. But I figured it'd take them a few minutes to dissolve into the Nether. At this rate, I could be fighting the same demon again within ten minutes and we have no way to break the cycle. 

Despite the dread the thought gave him, there was nothing he could do but hold the line. 

Tayne lost track of time as demon after demon charged him. He lost count of how many he killed. The imps weren't a problem individually. It was when they attacked in numbers that he had to focus on not losing his leg, and he could only rely on himself. Unlike their usual battles, every knight, bar those tagged out for a brief respite, was fighting for their life.

To his right, Verdrana narrowly avoided a fatal claw to the side as an imp jumped on her back and the others took the advantage. Somewhere in the centre, Wrain barked orders, and to Tayne's left, a Silverborn took over another's fight as they limped to the sidelines of the fight. 

Tayne barely heard anything. If he wanted to get through this, he'd have to rely on instinct. The lesson was drilled into him again and again as a demon landed a blow across his leg, catching the unarmoured point near his knee. It stung, but he ignored it, determined to prevent it again.