Panic! Adrex was surrounded by panic as men and women screamed and tried to run, falling over themselves, others and the seats, Higher ranking nobles tried to throw lessers behind them as human shields. Not Adrex, Gennel or Livia though. The three mages stood almost as one each reaching for their magic, their eyes glowing with it. Adrex summoned a push spell underneath him and launched himself out of the seat and caught himself with another as he landed in the aisle, before standing and facing the doors.
Two Blue shields had appeared in front of each holding the doors closed though something was trying to break through. Adrex turned to Doran, “Get the guests out, they’ll just get in the way.” Adrex shouted above the screaming, though that had died down when the three mages jumped into action.
Well, it had started to die down until both shields burst at the main door to the hall and three demons stepped through, black bodies white hair glowing green eyes and gaping maws filled with pointed teeth. Adrex held a hand up towards the lead demon, the symbols for the spell floated in front of him forming the pattern as the creature charged forward in a suicidal frontal attack. The bolts of lightning burst from the spell and collided with all three demons. Their bodies fell sparking and smouldering.
Adrex looked around, there were no other demons here, no one made a signal that he saw. No request to attack now. He could see Thrall slowly getting up and running away? Adrex looked again, the man looked scared. Was his plan failing and he was fleeing? Livia and Gennel created a few more shields to hold the doors, giving Adrex more time to look around. “Tiin, where are you, we could use your help here to get the others out.” Adrex called out.
“Oh, but why would I want to help these people out, these filthy humans.” He heard Tinn say from his right.
Tinn was walking down the side of the hall towards the doors, his usual bowed over stance and nervousness was gone and he strode powerfully down towards the shields on the side door. “These are impressive, beautiful skills.” He said as he approached them.
Livia looked at Adrex just as Tinn swiped his hand through the shield and they shattered. Tinn looked at his hand, inspecting it after his attack as black lines started to curl their way up from the tips and a green light formed. The doors the shields were supporting burst inwards and servants rushed in brandishing large kitchen knives or small daggers and swords. They kept their distance though from Tinn who was now walking to the other set of shields.
Adrex followed him with an outstretched hand until Tinn was clear of the guests and then let off three fireballs at the Mage. Tinn didn’t even look up as he deflected it with black shields, as he grew a foot taller and his cloak fell off him revealing the form underneath. Shorter hair than the previous three demons going down to his neck, less of a maw but his body was bigger with slightly over extended arms and legs. He swiped at the last set of shields which burst before him.
More servants burst into the room and took up a ready position standing just behind Tinn and filling up the back wall. “Do you like it, Adrex, this power? You could have had this too.” He said.
“No thanks, I chose to defend humanity over power.” Adrex said.
“Shame. Though it allowed me to deceive you so very well.” Tinn said.
“Using Thrall to hide yourself right? Who would suspect the scared little boy next to him? How did you convince Thrall to go along with it?” Adrex asked.
“Oh, I didn’t tell him until just before the wedding. When your little ward found me I told him, told him what I will do to him for the years of abuse I had to suffer.” Tinn said.
“And the ward?” Adrex asked.
“Dead, exploded him all over the place.” Tinn replied smiling.
Adrex raised his left hand and an ice spike flew from a spell straight at Tinn, who with little effort deflected it where it pierced a servant, who fell backwards, writhing in agony as their body turned black before they stopped and died. “My little demon spawns, stolen from those villages. Much like what Thrall did to me and others.”
Adrex was about to cast another spell when the doors behind the throne burst open and the King’s Guard rushed into the room, filing down the aisle until they stood with Adrex. “Oh, I expected them to take longer.” Tinn said, “Oh well.” He added snapping his fingers.
The servants surrounding them started to all writhe and scream as their bodies changed. “It’s a bit painful for them but the pain helps the spawn focus.” Tinn said, before gesturing forwards.
His demon spawn rushed forward, teeth and claws and knives and daggers baying for blood. Adrex cast a fire spell that created a wide arc of flame. The spawn just ran into it, several falling to the ground only for more to take their place. The King’s Guard formed a shield line in front of them and Livia and Gennel cast several shields on the King’s Guard as protection.
The Horde hit the shields and bounced back off the magic shields. The Guards took a step forward into the gap with swords slashing through the air, black icor streaming into the air as the King’s Guard cut down the first lines of the spawn before the horde pushed back black clawed hands and knives striking out looking for any gaps in the shield wall that was slowly being forced back under the weight of those pushing forwards. Men from both screamed, but the line was holding as best as it could. Adrex jumped onto one of the seats to his left, and saw the demons surging at the right side of the wall, he sent several ice spikes flying into the demonic ranks and halted the push.
He looked round and saw Tiin who already had a spell ready. He cast it at Adrex, a ball of green flame flew at him. Adrex didn’t have time to dodge or counter it, he ducked, closing his eyes waiting for the heat and the impact. Neither happened, he looked up to see a blue shield glowing but cracked like shattered glass, wisps of the green fire rising from it. He looked to his left and saw Livia give him a wink.
Adrex stood up again, and got off the chair. He would have to be more creative here to not make himself a target. They also had to make sure that the nobles got out, he looked towards the throne and saw the nobles had gathered back there and were starting to filter out through the doors the guardsmen had come through, a couple of the guards trying to keep things orderly. Adex turned back to the fight, the guards were still being pushed back, and gaps were forming. A scream rose from the line as a guard started to get pulled out of the formation. Demons had grabbed his shield and were pulling. Adrex cast a spell above the man’s head and a fireball shot out into the crowd. He took a step back into line, before his legs were pulled out from under him by multiple blacked clawed hands, he fell on his back with a crash of steel on stone that was not quite drowned out by the sounds of battle and the screams of the horde. The Guardsman was then dragged into the horde with a horrible scream escaping his mouth before his fellow guardsmen filled the gap he left.
Adrex then heard another shriek, this time it came from a demon who had been thrown through the air, over the wall of soldiers. He raised his hand to face the demon and shot an ice spike into the creatures in the gut and sent it flying backwards, high into the air. Adrex then closed his open hand and the spell within the ice spike exploded, sending smaller ice shards raining down into the attackers as well as ripping the demon in half.
That spell took its toll and he felt himself weaken from it. He needed to conserve his strength if they were to make it out of here alive, realising that they were not fighting to win, they were fighting a retreat. He looked behind him and saw the last of the nobles leave, he moved close to the guard line just as they started to gain a few steps forward, stepping over a pile of black bodies, to do so. “The Nobles have left. We can’t hold this position, we need to fall back.” Adrex had to shout over the sounds of battle.
“Understood Magi. You should leave and help the nobles, we can take care of this.” One of the men said, pausing his speech briefly, to ram his sword through a demon that got too close.
“Understood.” Adrex said simply before turning and running for the back door, signaling for Gennel and Livia to follow him.
It took less than a minute to reach the door, Adrex made sure Livia and Gennel made it through the door before he turned back to watch the Guardsmen starting to fall back in a straight line down the aisle. Satisfied they would not need his help, and not not knowing how to he ducked into the passageway. It was poorly lit and worked its way down a single flight of stairs into an open room with weapons lining the wall, a place for the Guardsmen to arm themselves before their duty. Adrex grabbed a sword from the wall as they walked past them then out of the door at the other end of the room and into a hallway. None of the nobles were here, they had fled quickly.
“We need to make sure the Royal family is safe, Tinn can’t hold the castle with so few so we can rally the rest of the guards and retake the castle.” Adrex said.
“That’s not possible.” Livia said from the window looking out.
Adrex crossed the hall in three steps and looked out into the courtyard, his heart felt heavy as he witnessed green fire explode and guards cut down as demons swarmed in through the main gates. A Larger demon with long white hair, a pair of horns that swept upwards and two giant black wings walked in pointing at a spot and three demons rushed to that location. A couple of men were dragged out, bows falling to the ground before each man was thrown to the ground.
Adrex turned away from the window, looking at Gennel and Livia. “Try to find the Royal Family. Then we leave. Somehow.” He said, leaning against the wall.
-
Nora turned to face the demons when the first three entered, not that she could do anything to help, her training still took over and she was ready to act when needed. She sought out Doran in the crowd and nodded to the Chamberlain both realising that Adrex was right. The screaming of the panicking nobles drowned out Tinn and Adrex’s conversation, but even without knowing what they were saying she realised that they suspected the wrong person.
Doran started to move Nobles to the back of the hall as her Father’s Guard poured in through the rear door. Nora looked up at her Mother and Father. “We need to leave.” She said, “We’ll be the targets of this attack.”
King Colman nodded solemnly and started to usher the Queen and the bridal party in front of them. “You too Princess.” Doran said, making his way over to them. “I’ll get the others out.”
“Thank you Doran.” Nora said, before she turned and ran after her father as they left through the doorway now with two Guardsmen standing either side. Nora caught up to them as they entered the Guardsmen’s armoury. “Where too?” Sophia’s Father asked, a look of absolute terror on his face.
“We’ll make for the courtyard and assemble the men for a counter attack.” The King said.
Nora walked to the window and her face went pale when she looked out. “No … No we won’t.” She said,
The others rushed over to her just in time to see a second Horde of demons outside the castle, and a giant bat winged demon standing out from the rest giving orders. The Keep's doors had been shut but they had not been able to raise the bridge, now it was crawling with demonic soldiers, green balls of fire were flying into the courtyard or impacting along the walls with men having already fallen to the magic holes burnt through them.
“We must make for the bunker then.” The Queen said.
“What bunker?” Said a new voice, it was high pitched and laced with panic.
The Royals turned to see the first of the Nobles had entered the hallway, and now they had another problem, getting them out of the castle. Especially as the High Lords who represented the remaining Kingdoms were amongst them. “There are bunkers and tunnels in the mines below that lead out of the castle. We must hurry and move quickly and quietly.” The Queen said, “Follow me.” She added picking up the hem of her dress and walking at a very brisk walk to the right from the armoury.
Nora followed her mother closely as the Queen led the Nobles down through the castle taking back routes and rarely used passages, the types one might use if they were to want to move about unseen during times of crisis or just when one wanted to be alone, the same ones that a Ward might use to sneak about. So it was no surprise when the group came across two little girls, no older than ten years old and despite their brave looking faces they were clearly scared. The Queen didn’t hesitate immediately waving the two over and grabbing both of their hands to take them with her.
Down further past the ground floor into the servant passages the Queen led them down a spiraling staircase behind a heavy wood door into a stone brick passageway with no exits. Nobles pushed further in as the Queen walked down to the far end of the corridor. “You’ve trapped us, they’ll kill us.” Someone screamed from the crowd, which was starting to panic.
The Queen however did not, she calmly reached for a statue that was at the end of the corridor, if one looked closely they could see the faded details of the first King Colman. It took a bit more force than the Queen expected but she moved the statue to the side revealing a rough hewn staircase leading down into the Mountain the castle was built upon. “There is plenty of room down there to hide, and passages that lead out into the mining sectors of the city. Help will come for us soon.” The Queen said as she stood aside.
The Nobles slowly filed down into the mountain, plenty of bowing and thank yous being offered as they past the Queen who stood still head held high holding the hands of the two wards she had found, both of whom looked terrified but were trying not to cry, not that anyone could have blamed them if they had.
-
Livia was the first to notice the markings as they ran through the castle looking for the Nobles, little blue scratches made with magic like little arrows leading them through the castle down the passageways that Adrex used to sneak through because the servants would not go these ways as it took too long or there was only guest rooms. They encountered only one demon, it was small and looked to have gotten lost. Adrex didn’t give it time to attack, distracting it with a couple of sparks from a weakened lightning spell and then descending on it with the sword he grabbed.
He had trained for a few months now but none of that training was in these attacks, it was wild and brutal and he brought the sword down on an unknowing enemy. It screamed , a high pitched wail and the sword sunk deeply into the demon's body. Then the sound cut out as Adrex shoved the sword point first into its body again. The Demon sprawled on the floor, and Adrex pushed on following the hints that had been scratched into the floors and walls. Livia and Gennel glanced at each other briefly before they ran after him.
The three of them continued through the castle down past the Ward floors and into the underground passages until they came to a large heavy wooden door that was slightly ajar. Adrex pulled it open and once Livia and Gennel had entered the stairwell Adrex closed it behind him, making sure not to fully secure it. The staircase spiraled around in a half circle as it went down and came out into a dark black stone brick corridor. There were alcoves down the side as a place to hide and at the end of the corridor was a hole in the wall, a statue that was leaning against the wall and the Royal family standing in front of the hole with Doran in front of them. Adrex felt like a weight had been lifted, they had made it out. They could gather their remaining forces, the Mages would come and they could then retake the Castle. Adrex walked forward until he bumped up against an invisible barrier, he saw the spell the Doran had cast and took a step back, he bowed there before the King and the Royal Family. “Adrex, you’re alive.” Nora said elated.
“Nora. Please.” King Colman snapped as he looked at Adrex and the other two Mages.
Nora shrunk back slightly as King Colman glared at Adrex. “What are you doing, shouldn’t you be taking care of this?” He growled.
“My Liege, your Guardsmen told us to protect you. The castle is lost, and one Magi won’t change that. Not even the Grand Meister could stop an army alone.” Adrex replied.
“Doran?” The King asked.
“He’s right, and I’ve checked they’re clean as far as I can tell.” The Chamberlain said.
“We followed your markings.” Gennel added to the Chamberlain who let out a small smile.
Doran dropped the shield in front of them, and collapsed to one knee as he did so. “I’m glad, I was at my limit.”
Adrex helped the older Magi to his feet, “We should probably leave now. The Horde will be searching for you.” He said.
“We can’t.” The Queen said.
Adrex looked up, then behind them at the passage. “Then what’s behind you?” He asked.
“A false hope, the mine tunnels collapsed years ago, the miners formed new ones but they never went under the castle again.” King Colman replied. “The Nobles down there will be caught, along with us.” He said, defeated.
“I’m not giving up, My Liege.” Adrex said angrily. “Even if I have to blast my way out.”
King Colman turned to face Nora in that instant. “Okay, I believe you.” He said, as a smile crossed Nora’s face.
“Mage, I have a task for you. Get my daughter out of here and keep her safe, at all costs.” He said, staring at Adrex.
Adrex bowed deeply. “As you wish,” he said.
He looked back at Livia and Gennel, Livia looking slightly displeased, before he took Nora’s hand. “Come on, we don’t have long. They’ll be here soon.”
He dragged Nora through the corridor to the stairs before letting go of her hand and charged up the stairs. He was glad he didn’t secure the door as he pushed it open and let the other three out before closing it and this time securing it behind him. “Livia, think you could add a few protections?” He asked.
Livia walked back towards the door and with a wry smile crouched down in front of the door, she rested her hand on it and her hand and eyes glowed blue before a shimmer appeared in front of the door, like a thin glass plane was in front of it. “It won’t hold long, but it has some kick to it.” Livia said standing and stepping back.
“Come on, I have an idea.” Gennel said taking the lead this time.
He cast two spells on his forearms as he took off down the hallways of the servants tunnels, but instead of going up the stairs that had led them down here though he stayed in the tunnels, running along them with a familiarity that could only come from years of doing this. It took Adrex and Livia a few seconds to realise. “You’re going for the kitchens.” They exclaimed in unison.
“How do you know?” Nora asked, shocked.
“We were all Wards here, we all snuck around, especially the kitchens looking for extra food.” Gennel said. “Because of that we all know that the kitchens lead directly outside near the side gate and bridge, and last we saw the Demons had a smaller presence there.”
Fennel held up his hand as he reached a set of stairs and crept up them, the door at the top was slightly ajar and he peeked inside. It was empty, either Tinn had converted all the servants or had killed the ones who resisted leaving the kitchen empty. Fennel forced open the door and slipped inside waving for the others to follow him. They quickly cut through the room, and stood against the far wall as Gennel slowly ever so slowly opened the door that led out towards the courtyard.
Adrex got a peak and was both shocked and angered. Demons sprawled out, buildings burning in green fire, the main horde however was focused on the entrance to the keep and breaking down those doors. Fennel looked at the three of them, “It’s a short run to the bridge, then we need to cross it and disappear into the village to lay low.” He said, “Don’t attack or cast anything else it is critical.” He added.
Adrex and the others nodded, before they all slid out through the door and ran for the side gate. Gennel was right it was a short run, but that was all he got right as about half way there they heard a shriek and several Demon’s started to charge at them. Still they made it to the gate first, and started to cross it, only to see their way blocked by more Demons arriving. They couldn’t turn back. Livia moved towards the castle and fennel to the city side of the bridge. They got ready to fight, then Adrex had an idea. “Everyone, off the bridge.” He yelled.
“You’re crazy.” Gennel replied.
“You want to die here. Jump.” Adrex said.
Demons were already creating spells. Adrex didn’t hesitate any further, he grabbed Livia and Nora’s hands, Nora grabbed Gennel’s hand and pulled him as Adex took a running leap into the river below. Just as balls of green fire burned over their heads.
