The Desert Spear

Everywhere, there were warriors fighting for their lives in the Maze, but Jardir could not pause to save them. If the breach was not sealed, the sun would rise to find every Sharum in the Maze torn to shreds.

“Sell your lives dearly!” he shouted as his men thundered past. “Everam is watching!”

A roar and accompanying screams echoed through the Maze, seeming to shake the very walls. Somewhere behind them, the giant rock demon was laying waste to his men.

Leap the hurdles before you, he told himself. Nothing else matters if the breach cannot be sealed.

They found the courtyard before the great gate in ruin. Alagai and dal’Sharum alike lay dead and dying, speared by scorpion bolts or torn from tooth and claw. The Mehnding had managed to pile some rubble before the broken door, but the nimble alagai scrambled over it effortlessly.

“Fall off!” Jardir cried, and the few ragged dal’Sharum still fighting in the courtyard broke off and quickly got out of the way.

Shields locked, Jardir’s warriors ran at full speed for the breach, ten wide and ten deep. Beside him in the first rank, the greenlander ran, matching their pace as if he had been drilling with the dal’Sharum all his life. A chin he might be, but the man was no stranger to spear and shield.

The warriors on the edges picked up speed as they went, forming the ranks into a shallow V as they scooped up entering sand demons and drove them back toward the gate.

There was a sharp impact as they hit the incoming tide of alagai, but the wards on their shields flared, and the alagai were thrown back. The warriors roared at the resistance, those behind adding force to the press, keeping a bright flare of magic between them and the demons. Slowly, Jardir’s hundred began to force their way to the gate.

“Back ranks!” Jardir shouted, and the ranks farthest back spun about with a snap, locking shields and advancing, opening up a wide area between the forward and backward ranks where the Pit Warders could work. The elite dal’Sharum dropped their spears and slung their shields over their backs, producing lacquered ceramic plates from their battle bags. Two Warders laid the plates out in order across the yard before the breach. The other two took up their spears and used them as straightsticks, lining up the plates one by one.

Jardir put his spear into a sand demon’s eye—one of the only vulnerable spots on the alagai. Next to him, the greenlander found the other, driving his spearhead down the throat of a roaring demon. Swiping claws came at them through gaps in the shields between flares of magic, and they all had to twist this way and that to avoid being gored.

As they moved closer to the gate, Jardir’s eyes widened at the host gathered outside. It seemed the dunes were covered with sand demons, all pressing to enter the stronghold of their enemies. Stingers and boulders fell upon the alagai, but they were like pebbles dropped in a pool of water, quickly swallowed.

Then the Warders gave the call, and Jardir and his men began to withdraw. “Another night,” Jardir promised the demons that came up short at the flare of magic from the ceramic wards. “Krasia will fight again tomorrow.”

He turned to find the courtyard otherwise clear of battle. The remaining demons had escaped into the Maze.

“Watcher!” Jardir called as he stepped away from his men, and in seconds Coliv dropped a ladder from the wall and ran down it to report.

“Tidings are grim, First Warrior,” the Watcher said. “The Majah have gathered in the sixth to hold off the majority of sand demons, but there are scattered tribes fighting throughout the Maze, and few battles go well. The giant roams even deeper, cutting apart whole units as it claws its way toward the main gate. It was just spotted in the eighth.”

“Surely it cannot navigate all the turns of the Maze,” Jardir said.

“It seems to be following a trail of sorts, First Warrior,” Coliv said. “It pauses to sniff the air, and has yet to miss a turn. A handful of sand and flame demons dance at its feet, but it pays them no mind.”

Jardir lifted his veil to spit the dust from his mouth. “Get back on the wall and set Watchers to plot me a path to gather the scattered units as we drive toward the Majah.”

Coliv punched a fist to his chest and ran to his ladder, scrambling back up the wall. Jardir turned to gather his men and noticed the greenlander attempting to communicate with one of the Pit Warders, waving his hands wildly while the warrior looked at him in confusion.

“Nie is strong this Waning,” Jardir shouted, drawing everyone’s attention, “but Everam is stronger! We must trust in Him to see us through to the sun, or all of Ala be consumed with Nie’s black! Show the alagai what it means to face warriors of the Desert Spear, and know that Heaven awaits you!”

He punched his spear into the air, and the Sharum did the same, giving a great shout as Jardir led them off into the Maze.

Throughout the night, Jardir’s men charged into demon hordes, driving them into warded pits and linking with the survivors of scattered units. He had more than a thousand warriors at his back when they joined the Majah, holding the narrow corridor that gave entrance to the sixth level.

Jardir’s men drove hard into the alagai ranks from behind, using their warded shields to force a wedge and push through. The Majah made an opening in their shield wall, and Jardir’s men flowed through as smoothly as if they were drilling in Sharaj.

“Report,” Jardir told one of the Majah kai’Sharum.

“We’re holding, First Warrior,” the captain said, “but we have no way to force the alagai into pits.”

“Then don’t,” Jardir said. “Have the Warders seal off this level. Leave a hundred of your best men to keep watch, and then head to the east seventh to assist the Bajin.”

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.