Elowen stares ahead, her face set in a mixture of wrath and disgust. Evander is monitoring the street behind us, his blade still out in front of him.
“What the fuck was that?” I seethe.
Lachlan counts the lifeless demons at our feet. “There are thirteen demons here.”
Tane shakes his head. “How did they even get here?”
Mina pipes in. “And are there more?”
Silence pulses down the street, the only sound coming from the fire still consuming buildings.
“Let’s push on,” I order. As the others move forward, Lachlan pulls me to a stop, his eyes still shining with adrenaline from the battle. “Are ye okay?” His words are soft.
“I’m fine,” I breathe out. My first real battle is now behind me.
“We got more incoming!” Mathilda yells.
We sprint to our positions in line with our friends. Creatures claw towards us as they cling to the walls of buildings that are still standing. Some are on all fours as they run. It’s like there’s a beacon on our position as they swarm us.
We’re severely outnumbered.
I glance to my right to see Mathilda, her knuckles turning white, as she grips her sword tightly in front of her. Tane is angled slightly ahead of her, his brow set in fierce determination. Lachlan’s jaw clenches as he eyes the incoming horde.
I look to my left. Evander has both swords at the ready infront of him, while his bow remains strapped to his back, waiting. Mina takes a deep breath as she slides into a ready stance. Elowen twirls her sword in her hand, a feral grin growing on her face.
They’re upon us in seconds. We hack through the incoming horde. Bodies of the demon foot soldiers begin piling up at our feet as we push our way forward. But just as soon as we cut one down, two more take its place.
“They’re coming from the Great Hall,” Mina yells over the chaos.
I can’t even chance a glance in that direction as a demon grazes its talon across my cheek. The ripping of my skin sharpens my senses as I force my blade through its neck.
“We need to get Lena and Lachlan to the throne room!” Mathilda shouts, and her blade cuts through the demon’s skull in front of her.
“Evander, get to the roof and cover us!” Lachlan orders.
My eyes follow Evander as he slips out of the fray and to the building to our right, an arrow knocked and ready.
A shove forces me roughly to the side and almost off my feet.
Elowen screams, the sound slicing through the sound of the surrounding chaos. I watch as her body disappears beneath trampling talons.
Mina and I converge over the gap Elowen and Evander’s absence has caused. I hack and slash towards where I saw her body last.
She’s fine, she has to be fine.
My breathing comes out choppy as I fight through the exhaustion rapidly slowing my movements. I’m too slow, and a demon lunges for me before it stops in midair. Fletching from Evander’s arrow pokes from between its eyes.
Blood rains across my face, and the creature falls to the ground in front of me. On top of Elowen. My vision blurs. Blood gurgles from between her lips, her gaze on the nightsky above us. Lachlan yells my name as he runs my way, avoiding the dead bodies now piling up between us. I fall to my knees.
The impact of my bone against the stone shoots through me.
“Elowen,” I cry.
We did it, we killed the horde. But at what cost?
I tug at her arm, pulling her from beneath the pile of monsters. She coughs, and blood dribbles from the side of her mouth. I bring her to my chest. The metal of armor clangs. I inhale deeply and gag. The smell is horrendous.
A metallic stench that mixes with the mottled gray corpses around us. There’s movement around us, and fear lances through me before I realize it’s just Tane, Lachlan, Mina, and Mathilda. Evander guards our position from the rooftop.
