Sons of Ironstorm - Book 4: Griffon's Stand

A Different Shade of Darkness

Completely focused on the task of pulling power from the grid and channelling it into the magical metal of the gateway, each piece a powerful talisman crafted with the negative magic of the Abyss, Ra'Khan disregarded the squad when it entered the chamber. They weren't even an annoyance, their presence so far beneath his notice they gained virtual invisibility. That, however, was about to change.

The commander of the squad, a sharp faced shadow elf captain, nodded in satisfaction when he observed the demons were too busy with the task of starting up the portal to give them heed. Perfect; just as the masters had planned. A subtle gesture of a gloved hand and the shadow elves behind him reached under heavy cloaks and drew out double-stringed crossbows, bolts already loaded and cocked. A second gesture lifted the crossbows to the ready, his soldiers picking out targets amongst the slowly moving tjor'riin down on the grid, still protected by their magical shields as they waited for the demons to signal they were no longer needed.

While the shields, normally sufficient to deflect the caldera's consuming head, would easily turn aside mortal quarrels of steel and wood, the bolts fitted into these crossbows weren't mortal quarrels. Forged in secret by those that had worked closely with the demons and knew many of their weaknesses, the bolts were heavily ensorcelled, each square finger width etched with arcane symbols, the symbolic unity created for one purpose and one purpose only: to penetrate Kaal Eran shielding and disrupt negative energy.

Seeing his men ready, the captain smoothly drew his dagger, the curved blade still dark with Gerumenum's blood. Then with a silent snarl, he hurled himself forward, his target the demon manning the control panel. That was the signal: with the hard 'twangs' of releasing crossbow strings, a hail of destruction sleeted down into the waiting shadow elves on the grid.

Ra'Khan frowned when he heard the bowstrings release. But he didn't look up from his crystal until he heard the first wave of shadow elves down in the pit begin screaming. Forged well and true, the bolts' magic proved highly effective, piercing the shield bubbles like a knife through fine silk. If the target didn't die in the sudden gout of fire and heat unleashed upon them by their shield's abrupt failure, they did when the bolts struck home into heart or head, their bodies falling to the magma's surface to be utterly consumed.

<<What treachery is this?>> the demonic councilor growled in irritation at the sound of screaming erupting all around him. He let the crystal vanish to turn and face the sound. Only to find that they were under attack. His sculpted face quickly twisting into a snarl of rage, Ra'Khan began to gather dark energies from within him to fuel a counterattack just in time to see the tjor'riin captain plunge his dagger into Ven'Dar's back, directly between the shoulder blades.

As immune to regular weapons of this plane as the shields were to mortal missiles, the Kaal Eran councilor jerked in surprise when the engineer froze in place at the blow that shouldn't have affected him, his face a rictus of sudden agony. By the Abyss, the weapon was magical, possessing the power to hold a demon in place, if not slay it!

The second shock came when, shaking off his astonishment to counterattack, Ra'Khan watched his black lightning, able to pierce and corrupt mortal flesh with a thought, merely danced over the captain's body before discharging harmlessly against the obsidian and basalt tongue on which the control panel stood. More magic! And the kind only the most powerful of human wielders could create, if it could deflect a determined demon's attack thus.

Apparently prepared against such a counterattack, the tjor'riin easily shook it off and, after smirking and making a rude gesture in Ra'Khan's direction, stepped forward to begin working over the crystals on the control panel. Behind him his comrades continued their crossbow attack unabated, the tjor'riin numbers on the grid already halved by the unrelenting assault, as easily shaking off the Kaal Eran retaliation launched by the other demons in the chamber as had their commander.