fast as possible. A few officers were starting to shout orders to reform their units, but it was a disordered mess. For the next few minutes the minotaurs would be on their own.
‘Get back out there,’ he yelled, ‘get that fucking drawbridge open!’
‘It’s bust, sir,’ a soldier shouted back from the walkway above the gate. ‘Ain’t movin’ no time soon.’
Hain fought his way back down the stair, furious at his powerlessness. He battered aside the soldiers in his way and made his way to the broken door, but before he reached it he heard shouts of panic that sent a chill down his spine. He ran into the sunshine, axe at the ready, and stopped dead.
‘Oh Gods,’ said someone nearby.
Hain could only gape.
A burning figure stood at the head of the central street, reaching out to the nearest building. A dirty plume of smoke was filling the air above it. The timbers of the building burst into flame with terrifying eagerness, but it was the figure Hain gaped at. This wasn’t the Aspect of Death, the Burning Man, nothing like: this was a wild thing of whipping flames and jagged, brutal movements; this was a Chalebrat - a fire elemental, savage and mad.
‘Gods preserve us - this king’s too like Lord Styrax for comfort,’ he whispered before remembering himself. ‘Fifth regiment, form ranks!’ he shouted at the top of his voice.
Startled faces turned and stared incredulously at him.
‘Did I fucking stutter?’ he bellowed. ‘Shift, you bastards! No man of the Third’s going to run away from a bloody elemental, and I don’t fancy burning!’ He gave the nearest man a shove forward and it stirred the rest into action. ‘We ain’t getting out o’ here in a rush, so it’s time to fight!’
He didn’t need to point to the ramparts to make his point. There were troops swarming down, others starting back up, and a massed crush at the bottom of the stairs where men had left the high-walled walkways and caught their first sight of the Chalebrat advancing towards them. Some were staring in shock, others fighting to get back up the way they came, but meeting a solid wall of men coming the other way.
The sergeants of the regiment took up the call and Hain left them to it as he ran forward to yell at the confused mass piling over the ramparts. The Chalebrat gave an unearthly screech and drowned out what he was trying to say, but that had the same effect as the message to retreat was at last shouted back at those behind.
The elemental was taller than Lord Styrax, and had elongated arms of fire. A handful of Chetse mercenaries charged it as he watched, but two were smashed aside before they even brought their axes to bear. The others struck, but did no obvious damage and their frantic blows were soon halted as the elemental engulfed them. Once they were dead the elemental stopped and looked all around it, hunting for more to kill.
The Chetse had unwittingly bought him the time he needed. Hain gestured for his men to advance, while muttering, ‘Now if I could only remember about Chalebrat, - come on, Gess, think!’
For a moment the wind turned and engulfed him in a cloud of dirty black smoke. He coughed and flapped ineffectually, trying to clear the air around him.
‘Sir!’ Deebek called as the regiment trotted up in formation, ‘you sure ’bout this?’
Hain forced himself to straighten. ‘Nope, but we’re doing it anyway! Fore company, go left and flank it. Rear company, we’re going straight.’ He took a breath to clear the last of the smoke from his lungs and raised his voice. ‘Work in squads, strafe it and go clear - every time you hit an elemental it weakens, so we need to hit it enough to send it running. Keep it turning and go for it when it turns after another squad.’
Hain caught the eye of a company lieutenant and pointed to the streets on the left. The man saluted and trotted off, half the regiment following him. The rest were already formed into ten-man blocks, ready to move at his order. The first two squads pushed forward. The small town was built on a simple grid: an outer ring of barracks, within which were warehouses and official buildings, each surrounded by a square of small, single-storey homes. Hain guessed the intention was to have easily demolished houses around each to prevent fire from spreading, but that relied on