it catch the side of his brigandine. The fear flaring inside him came out as a shout and he launched himself forward before the Byoran had a chance to withdraw. His sword had pierced the man’s throat and before he’d even fallen Doranei had turned and chopped with his axe into the arm of the next guardsman.
Past him there was only empty ground, and though Doranei looked around, there was no further threat. The wave of Brotherhood had crashed over the outnumbered defenders and slaughtered them with savage speed. It was only a matter of seconds before the attackers were the sole people standing, taking great gulps of air as Daken’s laughter echoed around the compound walls.
‘Let’s go find more,’ he roared, heading for the main entrance to the tower. Doranei followed him, as did Telasin, whose body now appeared to have fat strands of dancing black smoke attached. Osh, the Mystic of Karkarn, joined them, together with the four thieves and Mage Cetarn. The mage-killer, Shim the Bastard, hurried along in the rear, his axe as yet unblooded.
Coran led the rest to the barracks, in the other direction.
The cackling Daken was first to reach the entrance. He sidestepped a spear point with surprising agility and rammed the spiked tip of his axe into the guard’s gut, driving him back through the tall double-doors. Doranei raced to follow and found himself staring at an empty throne in a dimly lit audience hall. There were no guards in the room so he followed Daken across the hall and headed for the smaller of the two doorways on the far wall.
Beyond it was a bare room with three more open doorways. It looked like this was the way to the rear buildings where the servants lived and worked, so he backtracked to the main hall. In the gantry above he saw a soldier with a crossbow looking down at him, and an unmistakable figure in mail and a steel skull-cap: Ilumene.
‘Catch me if you can, puppy!’ Ilumene yelled as the soldier levelled his crossbow.
Doranei ducked back through the doorway, shouting a warning to his companions caught in the open. The bolt went through the throat of the nearest, one of the thieves, who fell without a sound.
‘Damned traitor!’ Cetarn roared, his face scarlet with sudden and rare fury.
The mage looked around for a moment before his gaze alighted on Telasin Daemon-Touch. As Doranei ran for the other door to find a staircase he saw Cetarn run around the possessed soldier and place his hands on the man’s back. Telasin, knowing what was going to happen, tensed, weapons at the ready.
With a burst of green-tinted light Cetarn punched forward and Telasin was propelled up to the landing. He hooked a leg and arm neatly over the balustrade as he reached it, in the same movement hacking at the archer’s neck.
Instead of fleeing, Ilumene threw himself forward with a roar, his bastard sword swinging at Telasin’s head with such ferocity that the daemon-touched soldier was almost driven back over the balustrade by the blow. Ilumene didn’t give him a moment to recover, cutting again and again at Telasin with his longer sword and forcing the soldier back against a wall. In desperation Telasin smashed at Ilumene’s sword with both weapons, knocking it to one side to avoid a killing blow, but he was head-butted by the bigger man.
Telasin grunted in pain and rode the blow, throwing himself to one side and half-falling back through the open doorway behind him. His khopesh crashed against the stone pillars on either side as he fought to remain upright.
‘Where the fuck did he find you, freak?’ Ilumene laughed, lunging with his long sword as he spoke.
Telasin batted the blade away, but succeeded only in deflecting it down and it nicked his thigh. He staggered and slashed wildly at Ilumene’s head, forcing him to retreat a precious pace. They found themselves in a corridor where long, densely embroidered tapestries covered the inner wall. It was narrow, but still high enough for Ilumene to raise his sword without impediment. Telasin continued to retreat, a quick glimpse behind having shown him a short flight of stairs before the corridor widened.
He leaped down the half-dozen steps and raised his khopesh again. The stench of decay filled the corridor and a sudden hot wind blew past him towards Ilumene. The darkness wrapped around him was raised by the wind and grew to become thick tendrils that rapidly spread through the corridor.