THE DEMONATA - Demon thief (2)

Chapter 18 - FLY ON THE WALL

Fighting desperately. Swamped by demons of every mutation imaginable. Some are small, like the one we saw when we arrived. Others tower above us. Many are strange hybrids - mixtures of animals, lizards, birds, even fish. Others look like nothing I've ever seen, lumps and blobs, teeth and claws, shadows and blood.

We fight in a tight circle, back to back. Sharmila sets the demons on fire when they come within reach. Shark rips heads and limbs loose, using the severed arms and legs as clubs to beat back other demons - he's loving this. Dervish uses bolts of magical energy where he can, his fists and feet when a demon closes in. Nadia has magically grown her nails and is using them as swords, ten deadly blades. Beranabus uses a mix of spells and punches to shatter the bodies of our enemies, fighting calmly, controlled.

I lash out with my fists, punching wildly, trying to be as much of a nuisance as possible. I'm not terrified. Scared, but in control. Panting hard, but not roaring. Maybe it's because I know this is a fight which can't be avoided. Even if I ran away, I'd have to come back and face these demons again. Unless I abandon Art. Which isn't going to happen.

The demons should have overwhelmed us by now. There are so many of different sizes, shapes and powers. We shouldn't be able to stand up to them. But they don't take advantage of their strength and numbers. They snap and bite at us, inflicting minor wounds, but don't pile upon us all at once.

"What's going on?" Dervish yells, wiping a demon's yellow blood from his face and kicking an otter-like beast away. "Why are we still alive?"

"Like I said," Beranabus grunts, "Lord Loss wants to play. He must have given orders not to kill us."

"Then why don't we stop fighting?" Dervish asks.

"When demons catch the scent of blood, they don't always obey their master's orders," Beranabus chuckles.

"So are we just going to stay here?" Sharmila shouts, face bright, lit by the flames of the burning demons around her.

"No," Beranabus says. "Let's move towards the castle. But keep up our defences. I think they'll let us through, but they won't make it easy for us. If one of us stumbles and falls behind..."

He doesn't finish. Doesn't need to. It's clear that anyone who stumbles will be left for the demons.

Battling our way through the ranks of demons, edging across the strands of web, feet sticky, coated with a glue-like substance. The stench is unbelievable - not just the demons, but all the blood and guts. The webs around us are slick with the entrails and life juices of the demons we've wounded or killed. Lord Loss must be a strange master to let so many of his servants perish at our hands.

Some of the wounded fall between the layers of webs and disappear into the darkness, howling and screaming. But their cries never last more than a few seconds. As we draw close to the moat, and pass over a patch where the webby strands are thin and sparse, I see what happens to those who fall.

There are shark-like demons floating in the darkness beneath the layers of webs, constantly circling. Whenever a demon falls, the sharks move in for the kill, ripping the unfortunate monster to shreds, sometimes swallowing it whole.

In this universe, just when you think things can't get any worse, they usually do!

We come to a halt at the edge of the moat. This close, I see that it's actually just open space - a circular gap between the layers of web, with nothing to stop us falling straight down to where the shark demons are waiting. The bridges have been drawn closed, leaving us with no simple way of getting across.

As I'm staring at the webby castle walls with one eye, keeping the other on the demons, I get the strangest sense of d��j�� vu, like I've seen this place before. But I can't have. I'm probably just thinking about castles I've seen in books and movies.