Summoned to a Shattered World

Birthright Chapter 23 - The Grim Toll

Lady Sarinknell drew back her spear of blood and stabbed it through the back of her uncle's neck, ensuring his death. I would have thought she'd be exultant, yet all I could see on her face was exhaustion. Despite her victory, I suppose it was hard for even demons to be happy about this grisly business. Now that our battle was done, I was aware of the sounds of fighting still coming from outside. Steel rung against steel and the injured or dying cried out.

I must have been able to hear them the whole time we were in Lord Sarinknell's room, but in the heat of the moment I'd tuned them out. It appeared Lord Sarinknell's intervention hadn't been enough to end the fighting which meant our work was far from done. "Are we going out there?"

The blood withdrew into Elmidath's body and she took a deep breath. "Now we just need to mop up whatever's left of the Tertiums, and my home will be secure." She strode out of the room, pausing at the doorway when she realised we weren't following. "Well? What're you waiting for?"

Shaking myself from my daze, I hurried after her with Korzan by my side, armour clinking. We passed Tagath, and Elmidath said to him, "Wait for us here, we shan't be long."

As we walked through the corridor outside, it occurred to me how far we had to go before we reached the ground floor. "Are we just going to run the whole way?" A run through the manor in full equipment right before a battle didn't much appeal to me. Not that I was overly fond of doing cardio in the first place.

Elmidath didn't so much as look back. "There's not a lot of other options, unless you particularly fancy jumping out one of the windows into the battle. I think it's best we stick together for now."

I shrugged, it made sense. Resigning myself to running, we sped through the manor. By the time we arrived, panting, the battle was all but over. The soldiers on both sides were spent, a few of the Tertiums were limping around but there wasn't a single Primis standing. None of the Tertiums looked like they could put up much of a fight but there were still the other, unknown demons, beyond them.

Having thrown all their javelins, the pair had drawn their swords. They had lighter armour than the fallen Primis soldiers, with only mail protecting most of their body including little metal hoods that left their faces bare. It seemed liked they'd been standing around talking when we emerged.

Their chatter ceased and they stared at us. Elmidath shouted, loud enough that I flinched, for them to identify themselves. The pair exchanged a few words, sheathed their swords and approached until they were within easy speaking distance.

The lead figure squared his shoulders and drew himself up. "I am Yorshuk- "the rest of his introduction was cut short when Elmidath's blood lance shot forward and went right through his eye. Fumbling for his sword, Yorshuk's companion charged, his face a mixture of fear and outrage.

Given that he was coming right for us, it wasn't hard to guess which emotion won out. I glanced at Elmidath as she dissolved her weapon, wondering if we should move forward to engage the lone demon. She gestured for me to proceed and I stepped forward, brandishing my sword. Korzan drew her own blade and stood to my left.

Seeing us bar the path to Elmidath, the assailant changed course, heading for me instead. I suppose I must have looked like the easier target of the two, lacking a shield or Korzan's heavy armour. And, if I'm being honest, I was definitely the easier target in terms of skill. He tried a wild slash at my head which I parried with equal ineptitude.

After I exchanged a few blows with him to little result, Korzan found an opening and jammed the tip of her weapon into his chest. The mail links split apart at the impact, blunting the force of it but not enough to save the demon wearing them. Korzan left him on the ground, bleeding and helpless. And with that, the attack was over.