TheCorsair
Pēdicãbo ego võs et irrumäbo
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2013
“Yeah,” Ari declared wearily. “Yeah, do it. Do whatever it takes, at this point. Hell, you could even drain them, couldn’t you? That might stop some of them.”
“Drain them?” He shook his head. “Not easily. I haven’t the strength to directly oppose a God. But I can do this.”
Kissing his wife quickly, he assumed an erect stance with his and spread wide. "Tiamet," he growled out in a throat-hurting alien language. "Tiamet, the gods slew you to forge the Earth.
"Tiamet, the gods slew you to stretch out the sky.
"Tiamet, your blood flows freely now!"
Dimly, he was aware of Ari speaking to another Paladin. Something about another army, it sounded like. He didn’t know, or care. He was too busy focusing on the building magics, trying to survive the spell. So he raised his arm and threw his sword, watching it arc out and strike the ground among the attacking Moressans.
"Satyusenya!" he thundered, raising his hands aloft. "By your mother's blood, I command!
"Satyusenya, shake the Earth!
"Split the stones!
"Satyusenya, obey!"
He would have staggered and fallen as he released the last of the words, but there was no time. Another of the Moressans had reached the top of the wall, a pretty young woman with a dozen arrows transfixing her. “Sorry,” he mumbled, seizing her by the throat and pitching her from the Wall. “Nothing personal.”
Then he saw it. Spreading chaos in the ranks of the attackers, rippling out in waves from where his sword had landed. Chaos, and belching smoke, and screams as the earth collapsed into a spreading caldera if molten stone. Within moments the seige engines were aflame and the undying Moressans, the ones who hadn’t been fast or lucky enough, were howling in agony as they burned and burned in the lava that separated them from the curtain wall of the keep.
“Matthias?” The speaker was a fresh-faced ginger, with a gap-toothed grin. A lively young man who would probably only be described as “handsome” by his lovers. He was streaked and spattered with blood, some of it his.
“Yes, Alfrec?”
“The Lady-Commander wants you at the southern wall.” He swallowed. “We, we have a, uhm, situation.”
-*-
The demon army halted its advance a half mile from the Wall, their ranks as orderly as demons ever managed. As Matthias watched, two figures ride out astride fanged horse-like beasts. “Show off,” he muttered. “I made do with real horses.”
The lead demon was a broad thing with a skeletal saurian face, armored in iron scale mail and bearing a barbed lance from which fluttered a white banner. The second wore bleating plate armor of polished ruach, with a smoking mace hanging at his hip and a broad battle-blade hooked to his saddle. They halted before the Wall, at a distance that was questionable now shit even for the Paladins. “Warriors of the War-“. The saurian demon bit down on the epithet, and tried again. “Champions of Love and War!” he tried again. “Hear the words of my Lord, and tremble!”
The armored figure on the second beast leaned forward and gestured. The saurian thing shifted its grip on the lance. “I mean,” it called archly, “heat the words of his dark and terrible majesty, Vaebahl, Lord of Hate!”
Vaebahl raised a gauntleted hand and removed his helmet. Black and white hair spilled out, framing a smoothly pretty face. “Paladins!” he called in a deceptively gentle voice. “We have, it seems, a common enemy! I have come to discuss the terms of an alliance against the risen God of Destruction! Will you treat with me?”
“Drain them?” He shook his head. “Not easily. I haven’t the strength to directly oppose a God. But I can do this.”
Kissing his wife quickly, he assumed an erect stance with his and spread wide. "Tiamet," he growled out in a throat-hurting alien language. "Tiamet, the gods slew you to forge the Earth.
"Tiamet, the gods slew you to stretch out the sky.
"Tiamet, your blood flows freely now!"
Dimly, he was aware of Ari speaking to another Paladin. Something about another army, it sounded like. He didn’t know, or care. He was too busy focusing on the building magics, trying to survive the spell. So he raised his arm and threw his sword, watching it arc out and strike the ground among the attacking Moressans.
"Satyusenya!" he thundered, raising his hands aloft. "By your mother's blood, I command!
"Satyusenya, shake the Earth!
"Split the stones!
"Satyusenya, obey!"
He would have staggered and fallen as he released the last of the words, but there was no time. Another of the Moressans had reached the top of the wall, a pretty young woman with a dozen arrows transfixing her. “Sorry,” he mumbled, seizing her by the throat and pitching her from the Wall. “Nothing personal.”
Then he saw it. Spreading chaos in the ranks of the attackers, rippling out in waves from where his sword had landed. Chaos, and belching smoke, and screams as the earth collapsed into a spreading caldera if molten stone. Within moments the seige engines were aflame and the undying Moressans, the ones who hadn’t been fast or lucky enough, were howling in agony as they burned and burned in the lava that separated them from the curtain wall of the keep.
“Matthias?” The speaker was a fresh-faced ginger, with a gap-toothed grin. A lively young man who would probably only be described as “handsome” by his lovers. He was streaked and spattered with blood, some of it his.
“Yes, Alfrec?”
“The Lady-Commander wants you at the southern wall.” He swallowed. “We, we have a, uhm, situation.”
-*-
The demon army halted its advance a half mile from the Wall, their ranks as orderly as demons ever managed. As Matthias watched, two figures ride out astride fanged horse-like beasts. “Show off,” he muttered. “I made do with real horses.”
The lead demon was a broad thing with a skeletal saurian face, armored in iron scale mail and bearing a barbed lance from which fluttered a white banner. The second wore bleating plate armor of polished ruach, with a smoking mace hanging at his hip and a broad battle-blade hooked to his saddle. They halted before the Wall, at a distance that was questionable now shit even for the Paladins. “Warriors of the War-“. The saurian demon bit down on the epithet, and tried again. “Champions of Love and War!” he tried again. “Hear the words of my Lord, and tremble!”
The armored figure on the second beast leaned forward and gestured. The saurian thing shifted its grip on the lance. “I mean,” it called archly, “heat the words of his dark and terrible majesty, Vaebahl, Lord of Hate!”
Vaebahl raised a gauntleted hand and removed his helmet. Black and white hair spilled out, framing a smoothly pretty face. “Paladins!” he called in a deceptively gentle voice. “We have, it seems, a common enemy! I have come to discuss the terms of an alliance against the risen God of Destruction! Will you treat with me?”