The Daylight War (97 page)

‘How’s that?’ she asked. Rojer masked his feelings well, but she could smell his fear.

The red-haired Jongleur shrugged and gave her a smile. ‘Either we win and show the world that the demons can’t pull us down no matter how hard they try, or we die and someone writes a song about how we stood strong to the end so a hundred years from now, folk remember and take heart in our bravery.’

‘Rather live,’ Renna said, as the cries of demons began to sound in the night. The greatward was coming to life beneath her feet, a huge pool of strength she did not fully understand. Could she tap it as Arlen had? Would it be enough even if she could? She thought again of her husband, lying still as death in his hospit bed.

There was a rustling in the thin line of trees across the clearing, and she embraced her fear and worry, straightening. As she did, she felt power rush into her, making her strong. Her mouth watered. If they were going to die, let them die fighting.

‘Bows at the ready,’ she called, and the Haveners raised their weapons. The Krasians were not shooters, but each held three spears, two for throwing and a third for close fighting.

‘That’s our cue,’ Rojer said, stepping forward and raising his fiddle, beginning to play. Amanvah and Sikvah raised their voices to join him, touching the demon bone chokers at their throats.

The music carried far on the currents of magic, growing louder and more complex, weaving a spell in the air that pushed at the demons as strongly as a wardnet. Renna knew they were out there – could see their glow shining in the trees – but they seemed unable to approach so long as the trio continued to play. After several minutes, the pounding in her heart began to slow.

But then a boulder arched high into the air over the trees.

‘Look out!’ Renna cried. Enkido was already pulling Amanvah out of the way, and Renna grabbed Rojer and Sikvah like children, leaping aside. The gigantic stone hit just as they landed, knocking her from her feet and showering them with bits of rubble. They coughed from the dust, unharmed, but the damage had been done.

The moment the music stopped, the woods exploded with demons. Field demons came in reaps, with flame demons at their heels. Others, their scales a glittering white, followed. Renna had never seen the like, but knew snow demons from Arlen’s stories.

Someone screamed, and the Haveners let loose a volley of their precious warded arrows. Their aim was erratic and the targets in fast motion, but the sheer number of demons meant many were struck. Some few of these fell, but most ran on.

‘Don’t shoot, you fools!’ Renna screamed. ‘The greatward is still active!’

Indeed, the corelings came up against the ward and were thrown back with a bright flare of magic. Renna wondered at the point of the charge until a falling stone fell on the head of an archer, killing her instantly. She looked up and saw a wind demon bank and fly off even as more came, hauling large stones in their hind talons.

‘Shoot the windies!’ she cried. The Haveners lifted their bows to comply, but their fear was palpable, shaking hands that needed to be steady. Even with the light of the greatward, the night sky was dark, and they could not see the demons glowing as Renna did. A few wind demons dropped from the sky, crashing into the wardnet and sliding off like birds flying into a thick pane of glass, but most of the arrows vanished harmlessly into the blackness.

‘Rock and wood!’ Kaval shouted, and Renna turned, cursing. At the tree line, the huge demons were massing, carrying heavy stones and sections of tree trunk in their talons.

Renna froze, unsure, but Kaval smoothly took command. ‘Archers!’ he cried. ‘Target the rock demons! Ignore all else! We will deal with the wood!’

Some of the Haveners looked to Renna, and she gritted her teeth. She should have seen the diversion for what it was, and now she had foolishly wasted much of their ammunition. She hated to admit it, but she was out of her depth. Kaval, calm and ready to lead, had trained a lifetime for this. ‘Do as he says!’

The Haveners loosed again, this time at targets even a novice could not miss. As they did, the
Sharum
ran forward, coming to a stop right at the edge of the wardnet and using the momentum of their sprints to aid their throws. The light spears flew far, piercing the hearts of wood demons and knocking them down. The demons shrieked, trying to clutch at the weapons, but the defensive wards along the shafts prevented them from drawing them out, even as the offensive wards continued to suck magic from the corelings, turning it into killing energy they pumped back into the wounds.

The Haveners were having less success. Their strongest arrows wasted, the crude ones stuck from the rock demons like pins in a cushion. The demons shrieked, but it seemed more in annoyance than distress. They cocked their arms back, launching their heavy missiles.

Everyone scattered, but the defenders were not the demons’ targets. One stone struck a wooden fence that formed part of the greatward, knocking it to splinters. Another blasted through a section of embankment. Flame demons spat fire on some of the stones, and while the flames winked out when they crossed the wardnet, the rocks remained superheated. One smashed through the doors of a barn, and smoke and flame soon began to stream forth.

And still more demons came on. Stone and wood demons carried ammunition for the larger rocks, whose range and power were incomparable. Even when a few of the rock demons finally succumbed to the dozens of arrows sticking from their armour and fell to the ground, they were swiftly replaced.

Rojer raised his fiddle again, but before he could begin to form a melody, a wood demon threw a log the size of a beer barrel at him and his wives. He managed to roll out of the way, and Amanvah and Sikvah dropped to the ground, dirtying their fine coloured silks but saving their lives. The three of them ran for cover as other demons launched projectiles their way.

They
know
,
Renna realized.
The
minds
can
see
through
the
eyes
of
their
drones.

The thought filled her with anger, and she felt the greatward respond. She pulled at that strength, feeling it flood her with power, but it was power laced with pain, as if she had been dropped into a cauldron of boiling water. Unable to bear it for long, she drew a heat ward in the air at the offending demons and watched in satisfaction as three wood demons burst into flames and collapsed into ashes.

But then Renna felt her legs give way, barely catching herself with her hands before her face hit the ground. She gasped for breath and her throat felt scalded, eyes dry and burning. The strength that had flooded her a moment earlier had vanished, leaving her muscles weak and watery.

This
what
Arlen
feels?
she wondered.
How
does
he
stand
it?

She forced herself to her feet, pulling at the greatward again, but this time it did not respond. She felt the power pulsing beneath her, strong as ever, but whatever connection she had found in her anger was gone now.

Yet looking at the chaos around her, she knew she had to do something. The Krasians were out of throwing spears, and the Haveners were now firing crude arrows that splintered against the rock demons’ hard carapaces as often as they stuck. The barn fire was under control as folk threw buckets of water on the blaze, but flame demons were heating more stones, and soon the fires would be too numerous to contain. Wind demons rained smaller stones from the sky, and the other demons were massing, waiting for the wards to fail.

She reached for her belt, feeling the reassuring grip of her father’s knife.
Ent
no
easy
way
to
plough
a
field
,
Harl used to say.
Nothing
for
it
but
to
bend
your
back
and
get
it
done.

The magic responded to her resolve, filling her with strength once more as she gave a cry and ran out into the night. Behind her she heard Kaval shout, followed by the sound of the
Sharum
locking shields and charging out after her.

And then it was a blur of tooth and claw and the hard metal of her knife as she dodged around the lesser demons, slashing and kicking, never slowing. Demon ichor arced into the air as she slashed the paw from a field demon, and kicked a flame demon in the throat just as it was about to spit at her, causing it to choke on its own fire. She heard the clatter of talons on shields and the spark of magic, the wet sound of spears piercing coreling scales and the screams of men pierced by coreling jaws.

And then she was at the first rock demon, stomping on the flame demon that was heating its stone. She used the flamer’s back as a springboard, leaping high to plunge her knife into a gap in the armour plates of the demon’s neck.

Even her father’s long blade was not enough to cut the throat of a rock demon, but Renna used the grip to swing herself around
behind the behemoth, whipping her brook stone necklace about its throat and pulling tight with all her weight. The warded stones flared to life, pressing inward using the coreling’s own strength against it. After a few moments, the head popped free with a flare of magic and a shower of ichor. Renna hit the ground in a crouch, seeking her next target.

Only to find her targets seeking her. The eyes of every demon in the field had turned to lock on her, like a thousand cats staring at a single mouse.

Rojer looked on in amazement as Renna drew a ward in the air, and the demons that had tried to kill him exploded into flames, shrieking as they fell to the ground, blackened and smoking. From the look on her face, she was as surprised as he was.

Hope came alive in him for an instant, remembering the power Arlen had wielded the night before. But then he saw the young woman stagger, and heard Arlen speak in his head.
Ent
no
such
thing
as
a
Deliverer, Rojer. Folk want to be saved, they’re gonna have to learn to save themselves.

Renna seemed to realize it, too, giving up on the magic and charging into the night, cutting a path through the chaos much as Arlen had in the Battle of Cutter’s Hollow, taking down a rock demon while he still gaped from behind the embankment where he and his wives had taken cover.

Kaval led his warriors in Renna’s wake, and for once Rojer was thankful for the presence of the brutal drillmaster and
Sharum
. Where the Haveners mostly shook with fear and indecision, the Krasians moved as a tight unit, shields locked together, protecting their brothers. They thrust their spears as one, mowing down field demons like hay before the scythe.

It seemed the battle might turn if they could take out the rock demons, but then something terrifying happened. The demons
all locked gazes on Renna, ignoring every other target to charge her. Even the rock demons dropped their missiles, leaping for the girl with their giant talons leading.

Renna lasted a few seconds, literally running across the backs of field demons with the grace of a dancing master. A snow demon spat at her, but she dodged aside and the coldspit struck the leg of a rock demon instead. The spot turned white with rime, and she gave a well-placed kick that shattered the demon’s leg. It fell into the press, adding to the chaos.

But then a wood demon hurled a section of trunk at her, clipping her with enough force to throw her several yards before she struck the ground. Renna put her hands under her, struggling to rise, but the opening was all the demons needed. Their teeth and claws found little purchase as her blackstem wards flared, but here and there they found gaps and dug in. She bled freely, and soon her wards would be marred and useless.

Kaval cried out and the
Sharum
made a valiant effort to save her, but one of the demons before them reared up, its body elongating to tower over them as it grew a long, horned tentacle that it used to slash over the tops of their shields. The warriors wore metal helms under their turbans, fine warded steel, but the demon slashed through them like fruit, killing several of the warriors instantly.

Kaval gave a shrill whistle and the
Sharum
broke formation and reassembled in a new configuration, surrounding the demon, which could only be the mimic Arlen and Leesha spoke of. It was a tactic Rojer had seen before. They would wait for the demon to strike, those in front locking shields defensively while those behind struck.

But the mimic demon was like nothing they had ever faced. It twisted impossibly as they tried to get behind it, and when that was not enough it grew eyes all around its head and additional tentacles until it faced every warrior at once. Tentacles snatched up fallen warriors by their legs and swung them like clubs to knock others aside. Even when the
Sharum
were lucky enough to strike a blow, their spears seemed to pass through with a puff of smoke, leaving the demon unharmed when they withdrew. Arrows rained in on the creature, but they, too, fell to the ground having done no harm.