The Forsaken Hero

The Fatesworn saluted and responded to the call, ”For the Oracle!”

I smiled, sitting down with my back against the parapet. I had never asked for armies, never liked the performance, but at times like this, their loyalty was enough to bring a tear to my eye. The way Avrass said it, you’d think I was right there, fighting beside him, sharing the same risks. Not trembling and weak, curled up on a freezing mountain, bleeding black poison.

The mountain shook as a towering elemental rose beyond the nearest peaks, towering over the mountains themselves. Hundreds of thousands of tons of rock, burning forests, and snow took humanoid shape, burning brightly with R’lissea’s magic. It swept its fist through a cliff, obliterating a mountain top and sending hundreds of tons of rubble cascading into a hidden valley.

Clouds of dust, snow, and debris billowed in an avalanche, washing over our position. I coughed weakly as it stung my throat and lungs. A bright pinprick of light shot out of it, coming toward us. R’lissea, flying faster than I’d ever seen her move, left a comet’s tail behind her. Her elemental lumbered after, stomping through hordes of demons clamoring around its feet.

”Why is she leading them here?” Luxxa asked, frowning. ”Did she already defeat the apostle?”

”If so, we might just have a chance,” Jenna said.

Borealis stiffened, alarm spiking through the mark. He hopped off my shoulder, flapping his wings to gain some distance before expanding in a cloud of stars, taking his full form. A screech ripped through the night, and he flew toward R’lissea.

The feeling in my chest, the tightening that warned me of infernal mana, was growing. The next wave of demons broke the horizon and attacked the wall, stronger than the first. Multiple sixth- and seventh-level demons rampaged through the Fatesworn, shattering blades and armor as they cleaved through ranks. Even with my magic, their numbers were few, and the sheer weight of the horde forced them back.

Flying demons rained from the sky. A massive, eighth-level winged fire demon led a pack of several hundred through the storm directly at us. It was these that Borealis had seen. He caught the fire demon in a blaze of golden light, deftly evading every spell, art, and claw that came for him. The Nightsworn provided cover fire, picking off demons as he single-handedly kept the skies from falling on them.

”Where are those reinforcements?” Avrass growled, launching an arrow that claimed the life of a sixth-level curse demon.

R’lissea slipped through the battle, using Borealis’s size and fate projections as a shield. She came in too quickly, and I had just enough time to throw up a wind cushion before she landed hard, rolling across the tower. She coughed violently, blood streaming from several jagged lacerations visible through tears in her dress.

”R’lissea!” I cried, fighting vainly to go to her side.

She shook herself, rolling to her feet and rising unsteadily. ”I...I held them as long as I could, but...”

”The insect apostle?” I asked, taking her hand. A dozen life magic spells were already active on her, fighting a strange venom running through her veins. It seemed to keep her wounds from mending, so I added my own, lacing it with Adaptive Resistance. Combined with her purifying power, it erased the toxin, and she gasped as her cuts finally closed.

”I left that elemental to stall, but it won’t hold her for long. She turned herself into a bug, and...” she shivered, touching a scar across her side as it vanished. ”I can fight the Risen. I trained for that. But I don’t have the spells for something like her.”

A fiery explosion lit the night sky, illuminating the battlefield. Borealis had managed to down the fire demon with a dive, sending it plummeting into its kin below. The demon dug its claws into his wing, nearly tearing it in half, and ground them both.

”Bring it down!” the Fatesworn cried, swarming them with swords and spears.

”My Lady, the scouts just reported another five thousand incoming,” Avrass said, cursing under his breath. ”I hate to admit it, but we need to retreat. The Nightwatch aren’t prepared for an engagement of this scale. We’re for skirmishing, tracking, and scouting. We don’t have enough proper soldiers on the front lines, or the mages, to deal with this many demons.”

”Can we?” I asked, limping to the parapets. The mountain was an excellent defensive position, but only because of the walls and cover. Retreating toward High Valley meant fleeing through the open valleys, or worse, struggling through the rough terrain of the peaks. Borealis was our only cover from the air, and it would take him a minute or two to regenerate from his wounds and fly again.

”No, but we don’t have a choice. We have to rendezvous with those reinforcements, or we’ll be overwhelmed. The good news is that your pet took out that flying demon, so the skies are clear for now. You should be able to slip away with the Life Hero and the Star Guard.”

”I’m not abandoning you.”

He shook his head. ”You wouldn’t be. We’ll fight better knowing you’re safe.”

”You’re being too nice,” Luxxa said, frowning at the captain. ”The demons are after you, Lady Xiviyah, not the Fatesworn. If we leave, it will take a lot of pressure off of them.”

”Oh.” I sat quietly for a second, the sounds of battle ringing in my ears. I gave a short nod. ”Alright. But be safe. Promise?”

He gave a grim smile. ”Promise.”

R’lissea hesitated only a second, but seeing there was no arguing with the captain, she picked me up and took off. Luxxa and Kahlen flanked us, while Jenna and Gith picked off the weaker flying demons who noticed our departure. Borealis remained on the ground, lashing out with wings of razor ice and spines. He raised jagged pillars of ice from the ground, skewering dozens of demons and cluttering the mountain approach.

The Fatesworn pulled back, safe in the shadow of his wings. It was disciplined and coordinated, with the injured first, and the soldiers withdrawing last, holding back the demons who broke through the ice. The tower we’d sheltered at was the last to be abandoned. Avrass gave us one final salute before joining the rest of his men.

Behind us, a tremendous shockwave ripped through the air, sending us spinning a few hundred feet before R’lissea caught her balance. The elemental she’d summoned had collapsed, returning to the primal elements it was forged from.

”That wasn’t the apostle,” R’lissea said. ”That was a demon. I can’t tell which one, but it had to be strong. Maybe even a demon lord.

Just as Luxxa predicted, as we flew low over the mountains, the majority of the horde hunting us followed in our wake. Borealis caught us first, shrinking to his reduced form and collapsing in my arms. I whispered a life spell, straightening the unnatural crook to his wing, and washing the blood away.

”You did so well,” I cooed, stroking his limp wings. ”Rest well, we’ll handle it from here.”

I meant it. He had taken on another eighth-level demon and emerged victorious. Even if it hadn’t been a demon lord, there were only so many eighth-level demons. Killing even one of them was a massive victory. That he then remained fighting with severe injuries until the last Fatesworn had fled meant he deserved all the praise and pets I could give him.

The reason for our absent reinforcements quickly became apparent. Besides the horde hunting us down, tens of thousands of demons swarmed across the entire mountain range. Fatesworn were everywhere, fighting in groups of hundreds against thousands, yet with ferocity I hadn’t seen before. I even spotted Commander Bethiv leading a charge up a ridge toward a hulking eighth-level spider demon, carving through countless ranks of weaker fodder.

”We need to help,” I whispered, gripping Borealis tightly.

”They’re fighting for you, buying enough time for you to escape. If we turn now, all of that will be in vain,” she replied. She sounded close to tears.

We almost made it. The wall of stars sheathing High Valley came into sight, glowing like a gentle beacon in the night. But our luck was short-lived. Two powerful hostile auras sped from our flank, rapidly catching up to us.

”We’re not going to make it,” Luxxa growled, drawing her sword. ”Go, Lady R’lissea. See her to Haven. They can’t touch her there.”

”No!” I cried, shaking my head. ”You convinced me to leave the Fatesworn, but I won’t leave you!”

”My Lady, you can’t fight them, you’re--”

”No, we’re done running,” R’lissea said, her voice firm. ”Thrice we’ve run, now, and yet they keep coming. If we run now, we leave everyone in High Valley to be slaughtered. There’s only two of them, and even if one’s the apostle, we’ll find a way to win together.”

”It’s not the apostle we have to fear,” I whispered, hugging Borealis tighter. My flesh could feel it even if my soul had not. The heavy, acrid touch of a poison demon. Hag had come to finish what she started.