"No," the words slipped out of my mouth as a whimper.
"Why?" Imiko asked, her own voice just as quiet.
More percussive thumps sounded as the remaining Yurthammers unleashed their toxic loads, and more gas clouds sailed overhead. The beasts would take many minutes to generate enough toxin to release again, but their damage was already done. A howl sounded and large packs of my Khark Hounds leapt forward into a loping run.
"Eska, stop!" Imiko clutched my arm so hard it hurt.
"It's not me." Useless words, but I uttered them anyway. "I didn't do this. Ssserakis, stop!"
My horror was silent for a moment. No.
"Eska, you have to stop this." Imiko tugged on my arm again. "Didn't you listen to a word I said? Don't you care?"
The packs of Khark Hounds tore past us, panting and barking in a flash of spikes and fur. I tried to stop them. I drew on the magic of my Impomancy Source and sent a command to every monster nearby, a mental scream at them all to stop and retreat. Ssserakis blocked me. The horror had ordered the attack when it sensed my will faltering, and now it was in control. Not I. I was helpless to stop them. No longer in control. I didn't understand how my horror could do that to me. It knew what I had been through. It had been there with me for all of it. And now it wrenched control away from me, making me helpless. It betrayed me! Just like Josef had. Just like Silva had. I thought I could trust it. I believed we were one. One mind, one soul. But just like everyone else, Ssserakis betrayed me.
Maybe a hundred soldiers died in the first salvo from the Yurthammers, those who could not drag themselves to the safety of fresh air before the toxin did too much damage to their skin and lungs. More died when the Khark Hounds hit. A single hound can take down half a dozen soldiers in a flurry of claws and teeth and bladed spines, but fully half of the beasts I summoned were committed to that first charge. Fifty Khark Hounds attacking in packs, barrelled through the lines of the soldiers turning ordered ranks into frenzied chaos. I must hand it to the field marshal though, he pulled his troops together and organised a proper defence; he had fought against the denizens of the Other World before. He also sent a unit of trei bird mounted cavalry to charge at me, hoping to end the battle in its infancy.
"Ssserakis, stop this!"
"Who are you talking to?" Imiko was frantic.
No. You started this, Eskara. You swore nothing would stand in our way. Your vengeance, then mine.
"There has to be a better way," I said, ignoring Imiko's aghast look.
"There is!" she said.
There is. There is always a better way. You could spend eternity looking for it, or you can choose the path in front of you now.
"I choose to look for another way."
And I choose this path.
A horrifying screech sounded from behind us as dozens of Hellions took to the sky. All around us a battle waged, monsters and humans fighting and dying in my name, or against it, and yet I stood at the centre arguing with my horror. It was a pointless argument. There would be no convincing Ssserakis of other action, and the ancient horror held all the cards. For the first time in my life I chose not to fight, only to have that choice ripped away from me.
Five cavalry soldiers, mounted on charging trei birds, bore down toward us. You may have never seen a trei bird in combat, but they are even more deadly than the people riding them. With slashing claws and a beak that can pierce metal or break bone, they are trained to lash out while their rider swings with spear or long axe. Even from a distance I could see the metal barding they wore was warded against various Sourceries. And I was out of time.
"I'm sorry, Imiko." I turned away from my friend, putting myself between her and the cavalry charge. They might take me, but I would not let them take her. I formed a long Sourceblade in my right hand, and I saw my left hand curl into a fist, though I still could not feel it.
My shadow flared, the cloak whipping around into two great black wings, lightning arcing between them. Then Ssserakis lifted my wings high and thrust the jagged tips over my shoulders and down into the earth. They erupted a few paces further on as spears of darkness and two of the trei birds impaled themselves upon cold shadow, their momentum arrested, and their riders pitched forward to roll on the hard earth. My wings faded into nothing just as the first of the remaining cavalry reached me. I released a kinetic shockwave that pushed it off course. The bird stumbled, its right leg snapping, and it went down for good. The final two cavalry veered off to avoid their downed comrades, then came around for another pass, charging at me in a pincer.
I chose the bird coming at me from the left and leapt towards it, pushed by a kinetic blast. It's fair to say the move wasn't expected, but man and bird both recovered well. The soldier struck at me with his spear, and the bird snapped its beak at me. I parried both with Sourceblade and stone arm, and let Ssserakis strike out with my shadow, slicing the bird's neck. It continued for a couple of dozen paces, bleeding all over the hard-packed ground, before finally collapsing.
The final member of the cavalry unit completed her charge, long axe swinging in an arc that would cut me in two. I dropped my Sourceblade and formed a huge shield as tall as I was, and twice as wide. My shadowy wings burst out of my back once more and speared into the ground, bracing me against the force of the charge. Bird and rider both hit with a sickening crunch. Even braced, I felt the force of the impact travel up my arms. Neither rider nor bird got back up again.
Hellions screamed overhead, and Khark Hounds raced past us. This was no organised assault, it was chaos. Ssserakis had ordered the monsters to attack but had given them no orders. Even now I could see the Terrelan soldiers starting to form a resistance, the instructions of how to attack the hounds being relayed, and their efforts backed up by the Sourcerers from the guild. At the same time, I could hear the Yurthammers rumbling as they readied for another volley of toxic gas.
I ran back to where Imiko waited. She was not born for battle and had no idea where to run. Panic had gripped her entirely and she had frozen. I had to get her to safety before things got any worse. Unfortunately, I was already out of time. Just as I reached Imiko, the Yurthammers began dying.
The first of the giant monsters collapsed in a scream of pain, an explosion of gas, and a river of blood. Another followed, and I could see two more panicking and letting loose similar screams of agony.
What is this?
There were small shapes crawling over the Yurthammers, multi-legged things that shone like metal catching the sunlight. Each one looked like a disc with legs and each of the legs ended in sharpened blades that gouged and dug into the flesh of my monsters. And there were hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe. A legion. The remaining Khark Hounds received similar treatment. They tried to fight back, but there was little even their teeth or claws could do against constructs formed of solid metal. The Horain fared slightly better, flinging the constructs away and crushing them into the earth, but their numbers were too great and even that mighty beast started to falter, cavorting about in pain as the iron legion tore it apart piece by piece.
He's here!
"What's going on?" asked Imiko.
"You were right," I said wistfully. "We should have run."
No! We fight.
I glanced back towards the Terrelan army. They were still struggling with the Khark Hounds and Hellions, but their soldiers had pulled together. Without backup, my monsters would not last for much longer. A unit of archers pushed past the front lines and raised their bows to the air, a guild Sourcerer was with them and with a wave of their hand, the bows began to glow, the sign of an Augmancer making deadly projectiles even more so.