Chapter Thirteen: Elda…

“Duck!” Brady yelled, leaping into the air and shifting mid-jump. Julian dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding the swiping claws batting aside one of the undead like they were made of feathers.

“Run!” Elda roared, loosing a barrage of arrows that sent rotting body parts careening into the air.

“Where?” Gira asked, the distorted growl rumbling through wolfen vocal chords. “We’re trapped!”

“We’re not trapped,” Julian argued. “Our escape just hasn’t presented itself yet.”

“Is now really the time for semantics?” Elda asked, letting another arrow fly in a blinding flash of white light.

The air was thick with rot, the press of undead bodies a relentless swell in every alley and street. They moved like a tide, forever forcing their way inwards towards the scent of fresh, living meat.

Elda tried to look away from the gory wounds, the vacant, filmy eyes and the strips of flesh stuck between teeth that gnashed in a mindless rhythm. The creatures made no sound other than the clicking of teeth and the lumbering of numb feet across cobbles.

A sickening tear broke the unsettling quiet when Gira ripped a dead man in half and tossed the decaying pieces aside. The legs flopped uselessly, but the torso dragged itself along the ground, the teeth never stopping in their constant grinding.

Elda dodged the grasping hands of a woman with half her face missing and kicked her solidly in the chest, knocking the corpse backwards and toppling the ones standing behind her. Syd’s hoofs came down on their skulls with a sickening crunch and a triumphant whinny.

“We have to get out of here!” Brady gritted through sharpened teeth, tearing off limbs and hacking at skulls with a hatchet she’d found sticking out of a wooden bench.

Julian swung his axe with deadly precision, stepping in and out of the shadows as much as the small space would allow to avoid the grasping hands. Syd dogged his steps, kicking out at anything that came too close.

Cain flew overhead, belching fire into the crowds until they drew too close to burn. He switched to dipping low and snatching up bunches of them in his talons, angling towards the sky and dropping them back down onto their shambling friends.

The square became too crowded for his companions to fight, so he wheeled round and landed hard enough to shake the ground, whipping his tail and wings out and spewing crimson flames across the sea of bodies. They went up like kindling, charred flesh mixing with the smell of rot.

But there were more bodies, and not all of the ones he knocked down stayed down. Elda unleashed her dagger and set about dispatching those close enough on the ground, driving the blade deep into their temples until they finally went limp.

Julian let out a roar of pain and punched with his free hand, his knuckles striking the cheekbone of a boy that had been no more than fifteen when he was afflicted. He’d been a beautiful Fae once, but his rich blue skin was tinged with grey and the vivid violet of his eyes was coated with a milky film. His skin split easily where Julian struck it, peeling back to reveal a white flash of bone. The force knocked him loose, his teeth unclenching to release the Vampire’s shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Elda asked, slashing at a pair of women each missing an arm.

“Yeah,” Julian grunted, not pausing in his punches until the head of the biting corpse caved in. “These fuckers have a bite on them though.” Syd reared up and crushed the cadaver’s torso, letting out a worried whine and nosing at Julian.

Cain snarled and blasted another wave of blistering fire across the army of shambling figures, swinging his tail like a club. The undead were dominoes toppling in his wake.

A deafening roar split the sky, and Ember descended. Blue fire ignited the masses, swallowing buildings and incinerating the corpses in seconds. Cain tucked himself around Elda and Julian, reaching out a taloned paw to snatch Brady and Gira. They disappeared behind a shield of red scales seconds before Ember’s scalding fire sizzled them.

Several pairs of boots hit the ground when the flames stopped. Elda’s breath caught when Vel shot her a wink and swung a sword that wasn’t his, spinning through the swing to decapitate one creature and then the next in one move. He wore no armour and his damaged wing was bandaged over his tunic.

Bennigan and Clover were right behind him, picking off the stragglers with sharp, deadly blows. Clover’s sword was identical to Vel’s, but Bennigan swung an intricately carved warhammer like it weighed nothing.

Julian rubbed his sore shoulder and leapt back into the fight with Syd in tow. Elda shook herself and followed after him, taking the opportunity to blast a group of stragglers to pieces with her bow.

Aetheria blew past them all, the glossy vines of her hair billowing behind her. Her feet didn’t touch the ground, the air carrying her towards the criwd like a cannonball with Gira sprinting alongside her. He swung his broadsword and Aetheria spun with the grace of a ballerina, a tremendous gust of air bursting from them both in an arc. The creatures trapped in its wake simply disintegrated, along with the nearest buildings.

And yet there were more. Far more than the village should be able to hold, appearing from the shadows like a plague. Elda closed her eyes and concentrated, throwing all her energy into bringing Irileth forth in her earthly form.

The ice maiden laughed, stepping out of a whorl of white and silver to turn and face the horde with raised arms. A carpet of ice swept across the ground, trapping any foot that touched it in a frozen snare. It crept up legs and across torsos until twenty of the cretaures were nothing more than statues.

Vel and Julian smashed the frozen bodies to pieces with their weapons, breaking off to kill any undead shambling too close. Brady danced between them in her shifted form, lithe and quick despite the muscle and fur of her beast, working with Clover and Bennigan to split large hordes of infected into smaller groups.

Ember and Cain flew overhead in perfect sync, picking off the groups one by one with short bursts of azure and crimson fire. Despite their best efforts, the horde didn’t seem to be thinning.

“There are too many of them,” Elda gasped, jogging up to Vel and grabbing his sleeve. The skin around his eyes was tightened with pain, but he turned and surveyed the crowds.

“The whole of Bratus is hiding here somehow. Did you find a den? A cave? Anything that might lead underground?” he asked urgently. Elda shook her head. “Then where the fuck are they coming from?”

“We don’t know.” They watched a group of four appear round the side of a small shop. Their advanced decay and slow movements identified them as victims caught up in the chaos of Bratus.

“This is a shit show,” Vel growled. “I can’t kill them all without my magic.”

“Can you two kiss and make up later?” Brady yelled, grappling with two of the undead. “We’re a little busy here!”

The demon blinked. “Kiss and make up?”

“Were we fighting?” Elda asked.

“Not that I know of. Let’s go.”

Elda drew her bow and brought a dilapidated barn down on the corpses, crushing several of them beyond recognition. Vel leapt over the wreckage and cut down any stumbling through the alley behind. Irileth joined him, her power flourishing.

“We need to clear a big enough space for the dragons to land!” Julian yelled over the noise of various fires eating through the remains of the village. “There are too many to kill!”

“You guys take the left. Vel, Brady and I will clear the right!” Elda called back. The others heard and switched tactics, aiming to clear the village square of undead long enough for Ember and Cain to pick everyone up.

Irileth and Aetheria shared a look, then both of them knelt and pressed the tips of their fingers to the ground. To the left, a blanket of ice. To the right, a carpet of grass. Frost and greenery shot outwards in all directions, freezing the undead in place or ensnaring them in tough, leathery vines. Anything within a fifty metre radius was captured, the statues smashed to pieces by hammers and swords, those trapped in vines crushed to paste when the green ropes constricted.

“Now! Go!” Irileth commanded, and the two Spirits vanished. The dragons landed, ember crushing the smoking remains of a house beneath her talons. Julian grabbed Brady and hauled her onto Syd’s back. Vel seated himself on his dragon, taking Bennigan with him, and Clover hopped up behind Elda. The group lifted off a second after the first corpse regained its feet and shambled into the village square.

Elda shivered, watching it grow smaller with every metre Cain climbed. The village was destroyed, all of its residents dead. The horde watched their meal retreat with vacant white eyes until Elda couldn’t see them anymore.

“Are you hurt?” Clover asked.

“No. You?”

“No.”

“Good.” Elda blew out a breath. “We need to warn every village we pass. The smaller towns too. If that horde reaches any of them, they’re done for.”

My mother agrees with you, nirehni. We will make stops along the way, Cain promised her.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, running a hand over the smooth scales of his neck.

No.

“Thank the Spirits,” she sighed, leaning forwards to lay her cheek against the spot she’d stroked. A low hum rumbled through him.

I am glad you are safe too. A shrill whistle made her sit up, and she looked over to find Vel signalling that they were going to land. We are already nearing the first village.

“That’s so close,” Elda murmured, leaning over to catch a glimpse of the settlement. Relief fluttered in her chest when she saw welcoming lights and smoke pouring from chimneys. Cain landed a hundred metres away, letting the pair down from his back before butting his nose gently against Ember’s side.

Julian rubbed his shoulder, watching Brady climb down from Syd’s back. Her clothes were tattered from her shift.

“You should wear bigger clothes,” Gira commented. “They can accommodate the change better.”

“But then nobody would know how good my ass looks in leather,” she quipped, winking one amber eye. Vel snorted, a broad grin splitting his cheeks. Gira shook his head, and both Clover and Julian looked straight at her backside.

“Yep. Definitely keep the leather,” Julian teased.

She laughed, then her eyes flickered to his hand resting on his shoulder. “Are you alright? That kid got you pretty bad.”

Bennigan, Clover and Vel whipped round to stare at him.

“What?” Julian asked. “Is there something on my face?”

The demon stalked across the space and took hold of his wrist, moving his hand away from the spot the dead teen had chosen to bite. His jaw slackened when he saw the perfect crescent shape of teeth marks piercing through the leather.

“Vel?” Elda asked uncertainly.

“Take off the jacket,” he instructed quietly.

“You’re looking at me like I’m about to explode,” the Vampire scowled.

Vel laid the tip of his sword on Julian’s collar. “Take the jacket off.”

“What the fuck, Vel?” he asked, backing away a step. His silver eyes widened when the demon soul followed and Clover made no move to stop him. “Alright, sheesh.” He shrugged the jacket off and let it drop into the dirt. “There.”

Vel scanned the site of the injury, sucking in a breath when he spotted a small tear in the fabric, right where the bite had been. Clover put both hands to his head, gripping his blonde hair and chewing his lip.

“Well, shit,” Bennigan murmured.

“Will somebody please tell me what’s happening?” Julian begged.

Vel ignored him. “Show me the wound.”

“Oh for the love of… Fine.” The Vampire unfastened the tie on the neck of his tunic and yanked it aside, revealing vivid teeth prints bruised into his skin. Vel got closer, running his fingers over the mottled marks.

“The skin isn’t broken,” the demon said eventually. Clover crouched down and pressed his face into his hands. Vel let his friend fasten his tunic and shrug his jacket back on, and then he smacked him round the back of the head. “Didn’t you read The Long Night?!” he yelled.

“Ouch!” Julian rubbed the new injury and glared at him. “Why the fuck would I read an orcish horror?”

“Because if you had, you’d know not to get bitten by a fucking zombie,” Vel growled. “You almost died, you moron!”

Julian opened his mouth to protest, but he was cut off when his chest bumped Vel’s and he was swept into a tight hug.

There was a pause, and then Julian smiled. “I knew you loved me, deep down.”

“Jackass,” Vel snapped, but he didn’t let go.