Reversing course as hard as she could, Syd skidded across the smooth stone of the entry walkway to Trummelton’s. Jay turned as well, bouncing off of the door lintel in her haste to reverse her sprint, but her reaction was slightly behind Syd’s and was a half second delayed since she had been in the lead. Clenching her teeth, Syd felt her toes crack the surface of the stone walkway as she propelled herself back towards Alex.
The charging man was in full plate armor and had his huge tower shield held in front of him. With his stone-capped mace raised high, it was clear that the knight had every intention of using it on Alex. As time slowed with the sense of clear urgency Jadis felt, she could see the dark opening of the knight’s visor and the glint of light playing off of the man’s eyes as he ran with single-minded purpose towards Alex and Elodie.
Alex wasn’t slow; her Agility was numbered in the sixties, which meant she could dodge most people of a similar level without issue. But this charging beast of a man was barreling towards her like a runaway truck and Jadis could see that Alex wasn’t going to be able to get out of the way in time.
Launching herself with one powerful push of her legs, Syd flew through the air, rocketing past Alex’s left side, on a collision course with the knight.
“Wait—!” Syd heard Elodie cry out, her voice cut off by the ringing sound of Syd’s fist striking the man’s shield.
It was like punching a solid steel wall. Syd felt the skin on her knuckles split as the bones in her hand cracked under the strain. Her whole forward momentum was stopped as she bounced off of the man’s shield like a ricochetting boulder. She was knocked back the way she’d come, tumbling through the air before landing on her feet several yards back as all of the energy of the attack was spent.
By the same token, the charging knight was stopped dead in his tracks. While his shield remained held solidly in front of him, the golden light that had suffused it was snuffed out like a candle. Rebounding from her blow, he skidded backwards, leaving long tracks in the snow-covered ground with his heavy steel boots. The arm holding his mace rotated wildly as he acted to keep his balance, and while his face was covered completely by his thick great helm, Jadis could practically feel the stunned look hidden behind his helmet. Of course, that might have just been projection on Syd’s part at having been knocked back so hard herself.
Whether the punch had left him feeling stunned or not, what he most certainly felt next was the ground as Jay charged in next to him an instant after Syd struck his shield. Getting her arm past his shield thanks to her height and reach advantage, she grabbed him by his armored shoulder as her momentum carried her past him. With a tremendous flex of muscle, she slammed the knight down on his back with enough force that the cobblestones below him exploded from the impact in a wide web of expanding cracks.
Before the knight had even finished rebounding off of the cold ground, both Jay and Syd were over him, pointing fingers down at his helmeted head.
“Don’t you fucking attack my lover!” both of her selves shouted at the knight.
“Your lover!?” the man’s stunned voice echoed from under the helmet. “She’s my bride!”
Moving with greater speed than Jadis expected, the man launched himself up off the ground, bashing into Syd with his shield as part of the movement. By the same smooth motion, he swung his mace in a sweeping arc that forced Jay to dodge back or be hit by the weapon.
“Elodie!” he cried out, his accent thickly Germanic. “Elodie, my love!”
His shout was accompanied by him leaping towards Alex and the noblewoman. Alex, for her part, confused by the man’s words and actions, hurriedly backed away. That had the unfortunate effect of carrying Elodie further away from the knight, since she hadn’t yet put down the injured woman. The panicked man only became more frantic as he watched a Demon drag away his “bride” while no one did anything to stop it. Most of the guards were too busy trying to deal with the Demons that were attacking the doorway and a few of the broken windows to focus on what was happening behind them, and those who did look back at the commotion were just trying to stay out of the way of battling titans.
As Alex backed up against the front of Trummelton’s with Elodie still clutched in her arms, the knight launched himself at her in a desperate attempt to get her free from the perceived threat.
“She’s not hostile, you moron!” Jay shouted as she charged after the bulky man, but her words fell on deaf ears.
“Stop charging!” Syd shouted as well as she recovered from her knockback, though she was hindered by several of the surrounding guards scrambling to get out of the way.
“Ludger, I’m fine!” Elodie screamed at the same time, though she was no more heard than Jay or Syd.
The knight, who Elodie had just confirmed was Ludger from the Hero’s party, was barreling forward on an unstoppable track. The situation needed to be explained, but the middle of a massive battle with Demons attacking everywhere was hardly the best place for a calm conversation. Seeing no other option, Jadis did the only thing she could think to do. She redirected his charge.
Jay hit the man from the left, wrapping her arms around him in a flying tackle. The Bulwark’s momentum was immense, and even her strength had trouble handling the power. But Jadis was no lightweight. Her bulk slamming into Ludger at speeds that would make a cheetah weep in shame forced him off course. As Alex used her tentacles to scurry up the wall and out of the way, Jay and Ludger crashed directly into the stone surface. They broke through the solid stone barrier with a tremendous noise, tumbling together for several yards before landing in a heap on the other side.
“She’s not hurting Elodie!” Jay shouted in the man’s helmeted face, coughing as she choked on the dust and noxious gas in the air.
“That was a demon!” He shouted back in less than eloquent terms. “How is she not in danger!?”
“She’s not!” Jay repeated as she pushed herself up off the floor by shoving him down onto the ground. “But we are!”
Jay’s pronouncement was coupled with the sudden appearance of a massive translucent tentacle that swiped through the air like a scythe reaping wheat. Jay ducked down, falling to the floor to avoid the attack while Ludger, having rolled up onto his knees, brought his shield up to block the attack.
The tentacle slammed into the tower shield with what had to have been incredible force, but the Bulwark didn’t move an inch. Instead, the sharp blades lining the edge of the tentacle screeched as they slid across the metal surface before slipping away into the obscuring fog where Jay could just make out Vraekae’s orb of doom still doing battle.
“How did a greater wight demon get in here?” Ludger cried out in alarm as he finished climbing to his feet.
“I have no fucking idea,” Jay screamed over the sound of another couple of spell-created explosions. “Just help me kill it!”
“But Elodie—”
“I told you she’s freaking fine!” Jay lost patience as she picked up a heavy piece of broken stonework from the ground. “Get it through your thick skull that Alex isn’t a fucking threat!”
“Alex? You mean that was—”
The huge tentacle struck at them again, this time coming from above in an overhead blow that cut deep into the marble floor where it sliced between Jay and Ludger.
“We will discuss this later!” Ludger shouted as he turned towards the looming shadow of the Greater Demon.
“Fine! Whatever!” Jay hurriedly agreed. There were certainly more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.
With a bellowing war cry, Ludger led the way with his shield raised high. Jay followed directly behind, hefting the rock in one hand while having odd flashbacks to the first fight she’d ever had on Oros.
Outside, the soldiers who had been following behind Ludger had caught up and were already working together with guards to clear the entryway of Demons. The consensus among them was that the civilians still inside needed to be evacuated right away, which was a plan Jadis could easily agree with. While the capable fighters inside the restaurant had done well so far to keep as many people safe as possible, the longer people were in the building and in close proximity to Greater Demons and dead heads, the higher the chance that something catastrophic would happen and a great deal more lives would be lost.
“There’s a Greater Wight Demon inside and to the left!” Syd told the man in charge of the troop of soldiers, using the info that she’d gleaned from Ludger. “Straight ahead are the stairs to the second floor where a lot of people are gathered. They’re ready to move out as soon as the way is clear!”
“Then we will clear it!” the gruff older man shouted as he commanded his men. “Form ranks! Two deep! Move in!”
As the soldiers pushed into the building with their shields raised and spears out in front, Syd turned to Alex and Elodie. Alex was, for reasons that Jadis was sure made sense to the Demon, hanging off the wall ten feet up and to the left of the hole Jay had just made.
“Can you two coordinate a place for the injured to be taken to? They need to get out of this snow and somewhere warm as soon as they get out of the building.”
“I don’t know if I—” Elodie started to say.
“Yes…” Alex answered without hesitation.
Elodie blinked, startled by the certainty in the Demon’s confident word. She glanced up at Alex, then back down to Syd. When she spoke again, her voice had firmed with resolve. “Yes, yes, I’ll do that. Alex, take me to that building there,” Elodie pointed at a neighboring structure that had a few lights on. “The first floor is a pastry shop. The bakery’s ovens will still be going and will provide warmth. I’ll talk with the owners.”
“Good,” Syd nodded at the noblewoman. “Keep her safe.”
“I will,” Elodie and Alex both replied, to Jadis’ surprise.
Turning to the side, Syd grabbed two nearby guards and physically lifted them and set them down next to where Alex and Elodie were coming down off the wall. Then, for good measure, she grabbed two more.
“Guard them with your fucking lives,” Syd bared her teeth as she motioned towards the two women. “Or you’ll answer to me when this is over.”
“Yes ma’am,” the guards answered without even a hint of dissent.
With no time left to spare, Syd shot Alex one more look before she ran in through the entrance to the restaurant where the soldiers had been busily clearing a safe path. She needed to check on the progress there, since she had to get her Dys self and all of the injured people out as quickly as possible. She’d feel a lot better about letting Alex leave her side if she could get the rest of her lovers gathered with her. But she was being pulled in too many different directions at once. Her real concern was getting Syd into the fight again with Jay, because the Greater Wight was a monster not easily reckoned with.
“Get ready to move!” Dys called out to the men and women who had gathered together around her.
With the third floor completely evacuated to the second floor, the whole crowd of survivors had shifted into position at the top of the stairs. There were still lesser Demons popping up over the railings or coming from down the third-floor stairs, so the situation was far from safe, but it looked like far more people were getting out of the building alive than otherwise. There were many, many injured though, far more than Eir could handle all on her own. Her focus was on those with the direst of wounds, as well as keeping Jadis up and in the fight by healing Dys. First aid was being applied where it could, but none of the other people had classes with magic healing.
From what Dys had overheard from Margrave Kernagin and Eir’s father speaking to each other, there were more nobles and people likely trapped on the fourth floor and above. Guards had cut off the only stairs leading up there, according to Kernagin, which meant the Demons would have a hard time breaking through their defenses. But it also meant that none of those people could get out, unless they wanted to jump out a window.
Jadis felt like she needed to have a long conversation with the Eldingholt City Planning Department about emergency exits once everything was over.
Syd rushed through the entrance, blazing past the guards and troops. From what she could see, the soldiers had formed a line two men deep that stretched from the doorway to the base of the stairs, creating a shield wall that blocked a pathway off for the people on the second floor to move down and out. Demons were already attacking them, but the soldiers were efficient in their defenses, not breaking ranks even when a wight attack struck a man down with his arm cut off. The man behind him immediately took his place while a runner dragged the wounded man away. It was about as good an opportunity as they were going to get.
“Let’s go!” Dys shouted at the crowd as soon as the way was clear. “Down the stairs and outside!”
“Move, move, move!” Kerr commanded as she ushered person after person forward.
She and Aila continued to stand at the top of the stairs, guarding against attacks while the non-combatants made their escape. Many of the guards, including Margrave Einer, stayed on top with them, making sure that everyone else got out first.
“You need to move now,” Dys told Eir as the elf continued to alternate between healing her and several other guards and victims who had been injured in all the fighting. “You and Sorcha and Sabina need to get away from all the fighting.”
“So do you,” Eir said as she stood up, still pouring her magic into Dys.
“We all do,” Sorcha said as she helped a nearby injured woman to her feet. “Don’t talk about it, let’s just go!”
“Here, let me help,” a quavering voice said at Dys’ elbow. “We need to work together to get out of this mess.”
It was the elf who Alex had been mistakenly protecting thanks to illusion magic. The woman still looked like she was about to die of fright, but she put on a brave face as she helped lift Sabina up. Dys took Sabina from the woman, who then turned and helped the next injured person lying on the ground up to their feet. Between her, Sorcha, and Eir, they quickly got everyone who could stand up and moving, while those who couldn’t walk were picked up by those who were able-bodied like Aila’s father.
“Hold your breath,” Dys told them as she led them down the stairs, still limping from all the damage being transferred to her from her other selves. “Keep moving!”
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