VALKO STRUCK HARD.
The Deathknight he faced was practised and wary and avoided the slash, but he left himself open for a circling move, which Valko finished by impaling him on the point of his sword. He spun quickly to find another opponent and was almost struck by a vicious blow from above. He raised his sword and blocked it then, grabbing the hilt of his sword with both hands, dropped low and cut hard at the back of his second opponent’s legs, causing him to collapse. Valko flipped his sword and plunged it down into his opponent’s throat, then looked up, ready for the next confrontation.
His side was barely holding their own against the seemingly endless waves of the TeKarana’s Deathknights. How they had finally discovered the stronghold of the Bloodwitch Sisterhood and the virtual leadership of the White was a question that would have to wait; perhaps it had been a traitor, or one of their own loyal servants had been tortured into revealing this location, but either way the damage was done. Even if they were victorious for the moment – and the outcome was still in doubt – everyone here would be forced to flee and the leadership of the White would be disrupted for weeks to come.
Valko signalled for two other Deathknights serving the White to rush to support the fight over on the right hand side and took a breath while surveying the scene. They were in the large courtyard where he had first entered after breaching the illusion that surrounded the home of the Bloodwitch Sisterhood. The magic-users were embroiled in a confrontation with half a dozen Deathpriests who had been accompanied by the palace Deathknights.
The red-and-black-armoured Deathknights were easy targets for Valko and his silver-clad warriors, but there were too many of them for him to find a tactical advantage. His warriors were more talented and might be able to win through attrition. But that faint hope was growing dimmer by the minute, for if the Deathpriests overcame the Bloodwitches any magic turned against Valko’s men would end this struggle quickly.
Suddenly a howl of madness cut through the sounds of battle and abruptly there was something unimaginable in the midst of the struggle. A being nearly double the height of the tallest warrior in the fray had appeared. There was a mantle of smoke around its shoulders. Its skin seemed to be of a scintillating white-blue crystal material and it radiated a pulsing energy that Valko could feel across the grounds of the compound. It made the hair stand up on his arms and neck, and he could see it having the same effect on combatants on both sides of the battle.
The creature lashed out with a long, powerful arm, its heavy black nails leaving smoking wounds wherever they struck. The first victim of the attack was one of Valko’s Deathknights, but the second was a Deathpriest who had come too close to the edge of the fray after killing a Bloodwitch, his neck snapped by a crushing grip from the monster’s massive hand.
Valko shouted, ‘Back!’
He had seen there were more foes close to the monster than his own men, and instantly recognized the opportunity to let the creature do his fighting for him while he ascertained the best way to deal with the monster. He used hand-signals to organize the defenders and they moved to the positions he indicated, leaving the palace’s Deathknights to defend themselves from the monster. Valko saw that the Bloodwitch Sisters were being bested by the Deathpriests, so he gestured for four of his fighters to attack the Deathpriests from behind.
They did as he commanded and he watched.
Valko had been given neither command nor rank by the Bloodwitch Sisters, but when the onslaught by the forces of the Dark One had begun less than fifteen minutes earlier, he had just naturally taken charge and no one had questioned his instructions. He was Lord of the Camareen, and while not the most experienced warrior present, he was the highest ranking noble. And he proved to have been, an adept student of Hirea. He had kept a catastrophe from befalling the Sisterhood, and now it looked as if there might be a chance for them to survive the assault.
If he could contrive a way to best this monster.
Retreat never occurred to Valko. It was not in the Dasati nature. You won or you died; it was that simple. But he was not stupid enough to throw away his life or the lives of his warriors needlessly. He saw with satisfaction that the warriors he had sent to attack the Deathpriests had made quick work of them while they were occupied with their arcane battles with the Sisterhood, and now they had gained a slight respite while the remaining palace Deathknights were engaged with the monster. Valko ran to where Audarun stood exhausted, the old Bloodwitch having spent all her energy in the fight with the Deathpriests. ‘Do you know what this creature is?’ he asked.