Mated (The Queen's War #1)

Chapter 26

The Archdemon Lucan and second-in-command, Abaddon crept through the darkness the alleyway provided just in sight of a seraph portal. This portal in particular was one of the newer ones that had popped up recently and construction had already begun on a fortress to surround it. Situated in the centre of a nearby town, it was supposed to be a brilliantly hidden source for knights right on the outer reaches of Undercity territory. Fortunately, one of the many human spies Abaddon had in his employ heard rumours of construction workers entering the town, so when a small legion went to investigate, the matter was quickly brought to their attention.

"His arrogance will be his undoing." Abaddon muttered, glaring at the half built walls that shouldn't exist so close to their territory.

"Michael is growing bolder. This portal means we need to move up our timetable, we cannot be caught unawares like this again." Lucan paused his lazy perusal of the construction site and made a sharp motion with his hands to the legion lieutenant just within sight. One by one the members of the twenty-man strong team closed the gap to their King and waited for further instructions.

"Now." Lucan made sure to inject enough power into his words so it travelled down to the very last soldier.

The legion swarmed the portal from every angle, each soldier primed and fully demonic. Two Imps immediately attacked the half-built fortress walls and another two Umbters raced around the building to put a halt to any reinforcements. Lucan and Abaddon flew into battle just as a small contingent of knights gathered in perfect formation in front of the portal. One of the knights was an angel seraphim and was clearly powerful enough to be a challenge. Abaddon grinned at Lucan.

"Finally, a fight worth having."

Lucan said nothing but agreed wholeheartedly. The seraphites that rivalled his Commanders and seraphim were more often than not being sent to other parts of the world to help battle against his less powerful soldiers. Fair and honest combat was becoming a rarity.

The two of them landed a few metres away from the knights and flared their wings as they readied themselves. Lucan drew the Nightsword, Abaddon the demonsword and together the Archdemons inched forwards. Either side of them, the legion pressed a tight circle so every seraph was corralled inside.

"We will not surrender to you." One armoured knight seethed.

"What made you believe we wanted your surrender?" Lucan shot back.

In the next second, he leapt forward and back-handed the knight, only barely paying attention to the chorus of battle cries that erupted from his legion as they followed suit. The sounds of metal clashing against metal, the grunts and crackling of fire was music to his ears. It all fed into the pool of satisfaction and exhilaration that Lucan gloried in.

He parried and slashed at the knight whilst being careful to avoid the numerous angelfire balls that were thrown his way. It was clear word had gotten around about the deadliness of his Nightsword, as the knight was extremely skilled at staying out of range of its dripping blade.

Taking a moment to take stock of how the legion were faring against the enemy, Lucan quickly spat out an order. The strongest of his soldiers immediately sent out a coordinated burst of power that made the enemy stagger. The clearly weaker immortals were overtaken easily from that point onwards and his legion were quick to disarm their opponents before forcing them to their knees and holding a blade to their throat.

Abaddon, busy fighting the seraphim, used the momentary panic of the lesser seraph's defeat to bash in the side of his head and render his enemy to the ground unconscious. A few minutes later, the last of the knights were either dead or restrained, all that was left was for Lucan to stop playing and finish what they came to do.