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Chapter 14 - Hunted

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The demons didn't wait until the shadow cycle was in full effect to launch their attack. 

Tayne heard the demons before he saw them. The hidden bodies rustled the undergrowth of the forest, letting them know they were surrounded, that they'd been hunted long before this moment finally came. 

We made the right decision to fight, thought Tayne.

It was north, directly ahead on where the old highway led and where Skye believed the portal to lay, that the first demon appeared.

A large tainted emerged that would have stood double Tayne's height easily. Horns curled down, twisting over to frame its grotesquely human facial features. Its hide was scarred from countless blows, likely fighting with other tainted, but it was the tail that held Tayne's attention. The fifth limb was as thick as the trunk of a tree, the spiked carapace around it leaving a deep rut in the dirt behind it.

Nissa had described this one. She'd known the Master's strongest tainted would be here. 

Tayne gripped his sword and kept Wing steady beneath him. 

The Hunter. 

Unlike the tainted that'd tried to take Skye previously, the Hunter didn't bother making demands. 

It pointed, and the forest exploded. 

The ground was swallowed up by the swarm of minor demons, a neverending tide coming to sweep the Silverborn away from the forest. The imps squawked and complained as they fell over eachother, each one desperate to be the first to reach the Silverborn's line. Talons met with steel. The first imps died to Silverborn blades. 

The demons didn't stop. 

Some ignored the first Silverborn, instead seeking opponents further inside the defensive circle. When they reached his section of the secondary line, Tayne was there to meet them head on. 

The first demon he battled died within seconds. It charged, aiming for Wing's leg to bring her rider down. The mare danced out of the way and Tayne ran it through. Before he could pull his sword from its body, the imp had dissolved into little more than dust. 

Wrain said it'd be fast with a portal nearby, thought Tayne, swinging his sword at the next demon. But I figured it'd take them a few minutes to dissolve into the Nether. At this rate, I could be fighting the same demon again within ten minutes and we have no way to break the cycle. 

Despite the dread the thought gave him, there was nothing he could do but hold the line. 

Tayne lost track of time as demon after demon charged him. He lost count of how many he killed. The imps weren't a problem individually. It was when they attacked in numbers that he had to focus on not losing his leg, and he could only rely on himself. Unlike their usual battles, every knight, bar those tagged out for a brief respite, was fighting for their life.

To his right, Verdrana narrowly avoided a fatal claw to the side as an imp jumped on her back and the others took the advantage. Somewhere in the centre, Wrain barked orders, and to Tayne's left, a Silverborn took over another's fight as they limped to the sidelines of the fight. 

Tayne barely heard anything. If he wanted to get through this, he'd have to rely on instinct. The lesson was drilled into him again and again as a demon landed a blow across his leg, catching the unarmoured point near his knee. It stung, but he ignored it, determined to prevent it again. 

Every strike, Tayne dealt temporary death to another demon. He beheaded them. He impaled them on the end of his sword, several at a time. Wing danced around the claws, adding her hooves to his arsenal, yet no matter what they did, the deities cursed things refused to end. 

Though the initial storm had faded, the demons now trickled in small groups. They just kept coming, charging with heedless regard for their own survival, and Tayne swore they were the same ones he'd killed before. 

Somewhere in the middle of it, Tayne found a way to measure the time: how heavy his sword became to swing. His reactions became slower and he was punished accordingly with glancing blows that would bruise and make it ache with continued use. 

Another Silverborn he didn't have time to recognise moved up beside him, signalling him to back up. Tayne took the chance for a breather without question. He finished off the imp attempting to flank him and backed Wing up to the centre. 

"Good girl, Wing." Tayne dismounted, wiping his blade on the grass. With that done, he pressed the hilt against Wing's shoulder where a demon had managed to score a decent hit. Silver light blossomed on the blade and the wound knitted together. Wing nickered her thanks as Tayne turned the blade on himself, using its limited reserve of energy to replenish some of his own, lessening the growing ache somewhat. 

The night had truly come now, the shadow cycle begun. Around him, the Silverborn fought by the light of the torches and the slight sheen of their armour. His knights were holding their own, cycling in and out of combat with a few making the trip to Skye in the centre where green light occasionally flashed. 

"But the demons are still coming," Tayne murmured to Wing as he took advantage of the water laid out earlier before pulling himself back into the saddle. "Nothing to do except get back to it, I--" 

Movement from the Hunter caught his attention as the massive tainted raised its arms. Tayne was surprised to see a small, humanoid figure hanging off its right horn, something dark glinting in their free hand. 

"I AM THE HUNTER. NONE HAVE ESCAPED ME, AND YOU MORTALS SHALL BE NO DIFFERENT." 

The gravel-like voice thrust itself into Tayne's skull and shook it from the inside, leaving him clinging to the front of Wing's saddle for balance. From the several Silverborn cries of pain that followed, he knew he wasn't the only one affected. 

This isn't good.

The Hunter leered down over its battlefield, malicious glee twisting the features into something that resembled a smile. 

"BEHOLD, MY PACK."

With one movement, the Hunter threw back its head and released an unearthly howl that Tayne swore should have cracked the air. Every demon, fighting a Silverborn or not, turned to face the Hunter and answered with a shrieking cry of their own, filling the night with a chorus of the damned.

"Strike! Clear them out!" 

The demons didn't falter as the Silverborn took the chance to cut their numbers down and regained ground by shoving their weapons through the turned backs. The demons fell like weeds.... but the hair on the back of Tayne's neck refused to relax. 

Verdrana felt the same. Having helped a Silverborn to her right to the centre of the circle, she stopped beside Tayne and gave him a worried look.

"What are they doing?" she whispered. "They're just..."

Her question was answered. 

The ground shook as tainted emerged from the undergrowth of the forest from behind the Hunter. Not ten, not twenty, not even the forty Nissa had predicted--nearly a hundred tainted stood, facing down the Silverborn and waiting for the order to attack.

Tayne could do nothing but stare. "Deities help us."

"Ho...how?" Verdrana's voice cracked. "The amount of energy he'd need to make them...how powerful has he become that he can spare this?" 

"Maybe we've become bigger pains than we anticipated," said Tayne. "He's been saving up special for us." 

Whatever Verdrana said next was lost under the rumbling of the tainted's growls. They lined up shoulder to shoulder in somewhat recognisable ranks, though the demons themselves remained restless and aggressive, even towards each other. 

"They're Crevtons," said Tayne, a bitter taste in his mouth. "They're all Crevtons, except the Hunter." 

All of them taken by the corruption, all of them forced. What town did the Master steal them from? 

"Then the best thing we can do is release them from their torture," said Verdrana, raising her sword. "We're with you, Tayne." 

Tayne raised the Silverborn horn to his lips. When the Hunter roared again, he drowned it out with the crystal note of the horn at his lips, long and pure. 

"Silverborn!" he cried, not sure exactly how many could hear him. "Send them back to hell!" 

Shouts answered his own and Tayne let Wing fly. 

She galloped beneath him as the tainted line charged ever closer, the Crevtons eager for a fight. Her hooves crushed imps and smaller demons alike, pounding them into the dirt where, to Tayne's surprise, they stayed twitching, still not quite dead. 

It gave Tayne an idea.

"Don't kill the demons!" he called. "Injure them enough to keep them down, but they can't reform if they aren't dead!" 

The order was echoed. Tayne didn't get time to consider it further as two Crevtons around his height reached his position and attempted to knock him off Wing. 

He wheeled her around, narrowly avoiding the tainted's blood-soaked talons. Realising staying on the mare would only put her in harm's way and make him a bigger target, Tayne leapt off and faced them, his shield and sword at the ready. 

The first tainted turned. Tayne shoved the point of his sword into the base of its skull, rolling to recover as the second took a swipe at him. Without missing a beat Tayne pushed to his feet, slashing his sword at the back of the Crevton's knee. It howled in agony, leg giving way to the bulky mass of body. 

Though it was down, the tail was still a problem. It thrashed at the back, sending dirt, grass, and anything else the hook-like spines could pick up into the air. Tayne kept away from it, using the range of his sword and the fact that its arms were pinned beneath its body to deliver a painful blow to its horns. Once more the Crevton howled, this time shifting its head enough for Tayne to maneover his blade into the back of its head. 

He leapt off the body, taking note of the imps lying broken across the battlefield. If they could lessen the number that kept coming back, it might just be the thing to save them. Even if there were still the same number as tainted as Silverborn, if not more, left afterwards. 

An imp attempted to get the better of him, and Tayne removed its version of hands and feet before leaving it there, writhing on the ground. Guilt gnawed at him but he forced it down--it was necessary. 

Even with that minor victory, it meant nothing. The tainted still rampaged around the battlefield, still tearing his ranks apart even though the Hunter appeared content to remain watching from his throne of trees. 

He took a breath against the hopelessness seeping in and swung his sword at a tainted eyeing him from the corpse of a Silverborn. 

"Come on then," he said. "Let's see what you've got." 

*+*+*+*

Skye watched the battle unfold. 

She watched as the tainted appeared and began to slaughter the Silverborn and watched as there were no more wounded making it to her for healing. She saw the same, female figure with the ragged wings shifting through the combat beside every Silverborn as they died to a tainted, something in her hand flashing with every life that passed. 

Skye stood alone in the centre of the circle's remnants, save for the Advisor who was refusing to come out of the tent. 

"I hope you're happy, elf," said the Advisor in that annoying, whiney tone of his that never seemed to cease. "Had you gone with them, this wouldn't have happened! We'd be back in Alguarde, but instead, we're being killed like sheep trying to protect you!" 

"You're not doing anything," hissed Skye. "They're fighting for their lives. You're hiding in the tent, praying to the deities they don't find you!"

"So what!" screamed the Advisor. He clutched a jewelled dagger in his hand, like he expected it to help if a tainted came for his head. "I like living! And you're doing no better, sitting there waiting for them to come collect you!" Hysterics kicked in. "You're probably working with them, aren't you? Aren't you!"

Skye went to reply when realisation sank in. 

He's right. I'm standing by while the Silverborn die. She glanced at the sword and dagger sheathed at her sides. Quality weapons or not, they weren't going to be what helped her take down the tainted army ripping through the knights. 

Skye steadied herself, dreading the delve back into the forest's consciousness. I need nature. 

Letting feeling guide her, she took a step back and released a breath. She could sense the point in her mind where it linked to the forest. Magic tingled in her veins as she reached for it, preparing herself for the contact. She couldn't lose herself in them again, couldn't allow them to suffocate her will beneath their own and waste the precious minutes getting it back. 

She could do this. She could--

The Advisor shook her shoulder. Reflexively, Skye slapped his hand away and reached for her dagger. Fear flashed through his eyes, but he still managed to make his demands and sound like he expected them to be followed. 

"Whatever you're doing, you'll damned well stop it right now!"

Skye's fingers wrapped around the hilt. "The Silverborn will die if I don't." 

"Bah, what do I care?" said the Advisor, waving a hand. "Their group is an unnecessary luxury if you ask me, but I guess I'm stuck with you. But I will tell you now--when we get back to Alguarde, I shall personally see that you are--"

Skye couldn't take any more. She whipped around and slammed the hilt of her dagger into the side of the Advisor's head, who slumped to the ground in blissful silence immediately. She didn't bother moving him, instead closing her eyes and touching the place where the forest resided in her soul. 

Everything changed. 

The rush of the wind, the vibrant, pulsing energy of the forest and everything within its system swept through her, extending her senses throguh the ground and up into the tree claimed sky. Every root and leaf around her was sitting, waiting with coiled potential for her command. The land was vibrant, and it was alive. 

Her eyes flashed open. In one smooth movement, Skye drew her blades and gave them an experimental swing to check the perfect weighting hadn't changed. She stepped out of the barricaded alcove and onto the battlefield before her, white torchlight glinting off the Silverborn armour. 

Let's do this.

*+*+*+*

"The cycle has begun, Kiarae," said the Master. "I know you feel it, and you know that you're damned well wasting my time." 

"But I do so love your company," said Kiarae. "I would never dream of ridding myself of you, Master."

"Skye! Who is she!" 

"Asking additional times will not yield a different answer. Continue with the torture, please. It is less pointless than the questions."

The Master grabbed her arm, covering Kiarae's Sentinel mark with his hand. "If you want to keep your magic longer than this cycle, it'd better yield a different--"

Ebony's flash of light interrupted his sentence. The Master summoned a sphere of magic and threw it at her as she appeared from the air, only to have it crash against the wall when Ebony stepped once more, causing a secondary flash of light that moved her to the other side of the room. 

"No need for that, geez."

"You," the Master growled. "Get back to the Hunter. Now. You're collecting the Silverborn souls in the Opal, Ebony, and you will damned well do it or I'll--"

"Well you see, there's a minor squidgey little problem with that," said Ebony. "The Hunter is having some trouble with them, they aren't dying anywhere near as often as they were a few minutes ago. One might say that they're losing."

"I sent over a hundred tainted to deal with that force and get the elf back," said the Master. "And you're telling me that they're losing, Ebony?"

"Yup," she said, popping the final syllable. 

"Do you care to explain how, or should I just step over there myself now and sort it out?" 

Ebony considered it for a moment before shrugging. "Well, you'll kinda have to. The Silverborn found a Sentinel somewhere along the line, and she's destroying them rather efficiently. She's that elf we captured a few weeks back in the forest, the one you tried to turn earlier--uh, Anty, you okay?" 

The Master's face paled. The blood drained from Kiarae's face as she saw the pieces click into place in his mind. 

His voice was neutral. "Ebony. Back to the Silverborn, now."

Ebony shrugged and disappeared. 

The Master turned to Kiarae, shaking his head in disbelief.

"You weren't lying," he said slowly, taking her chin in his hand. "For the first time in over a hundred years, you didn't lie to me, and I didn't even consider it. Ha!" 

"Or am I tricking you once again?" said Kiarae, trying to keep her voice light. "The Silverborn are of the celestial, Master. They can do things you aren't aware of."

The Master smirked. "No, Kia. I don't think you are--and I'll be back to discuss your alliegence shortly after I bring back the newest soon-to-be Sentinel addition to my ranks." 

He released her chin and stood. Kiarae felt the pull of magic around him as he went to transport his body to the Nether realm and across Lerelia in a matter of seconds straight to the unsuspecting Silverborn. 

She couldn't let that happen. 

With every scrap of energy Kiarae had left, she raised her right hand to the centre of the room, as far from the Naclictite as she could manage in the sectioned second she had before the Master disappeared. 

Ski'dorei!

A brilliant silver light engulfed her fingers as the risky word crossed her soul. Too late, the Master realised what she was doing and too late, he turned to throw up a shield. Her shockwave of pure energy caught him across the head, and by the time he hit the wall, the Master was completely unconscious. 

Kiarae's body gave out as the Naclictite leeched her dry. Though she couldn't find the strength to lift her eyelids, she found the will to mutter a prayer, a wish almost to any deity that might be listening. 

Let it be enough. 

Darkness came. 

*+*+*+*

Tayne moved methodically around the battlefield, finding one tainted after another. He slew another two Crevtons after the third, and the fourth nearly crushed his leg when it fell dead to the ground. Despite that achievement, he knew he couldn't keep it up, and a quick glance around revealed how insignificant the feat was. 

Over half the tainted numbers still remained, not including the Hunter who had pulled down several trees to construct himself a throne. All around Tayne, Silverborn were crying out in pain as they tired and lost their agility to exhaustion, only to fall into the hands of a tainted to be ripped apart or gutted. 

The Silverborn's defensive circle was practically nonexistent. They fought scattered in groups of two or three around the clearing, desperately trying to hold off the demon swarm around them with varied success. More than a few silver clad bodies littered the ground. 

Tayne couldn't identify them. Not from this distance. All he could do was continue to avoid the neverending hail of blows and slay as many of them before they returned the favour. 

He was heading towards a nearby group of Silverborn when a tainted blocked his path. 

The demon stalked towards him on all fours, tail lashing behind it. There was an intelligence in its eyes that drew Tayne's gaze to its brow. Sure enough, the Vercton's mark was etched into the armour plate, and Tayne couldn't help the snarl pulling at his mouth. 

"You're a traitor to your own kind!" he said, demanding an answer with his sword. Verctons could speak, and he'd get an answer out of this one before he killed it. "You accepted the corruption, and I'll be glad to put you down for it, tainted!" 

The Vercton regarded him with black eyes beneath the base of its thick horns. "Hunter will be pleased when I bring him you," it said in a voice borderlining on a growl. "I have been tasked to bring you to him--the leader, the elf, and the halfblood. Three prizes, three targets for Neploc to claim." 

"I'm a hunted, eh?" said Tayne. "I'm honoured, really. But you're going to find me a little harder than your usual targets." 

The Vercton chuckled. "If this were a fair fight, maybe. But you fight on our terms, Silverblood."

Tayne barely had time to breathe. Every imp in a twenty metre radius charged him, locking him down to a small square of ground before piling atop his legs. Other than what felt like a thousand shallow scratches from their hides, they didn't make an attempt to actively hurt him. Either way, Tayne couldn't move his sword fast enough to clear them, and for every one he killed, another two took its place and pulled him further down. 

The Vercton stalked forward, reaching to wrench the sword from Tayne's hands, but he was having none of it. As soon as its talons got close enough, Tayne ignored the imps and swung at the tainted's hand, unleashing a powerful overhead blow that severed one of its fingers despite the armour plating. It roared in pain and reared up, but not before Tayne landed a second glancing blow on its wrist. 

Tayne used the chance to clear more of the imps, going for kills instead of the disables. The instant dissolving worked in his favour as their bodies disintegrated immediately, meaning he didn't have to kick the dead husks off himself after killing them. 

He was almost free, only three left clinging to his ankle when a lightning fast tail swipe from the Vercton crashed into his back, sending him sprawling across the ground. 

The tiny hooks on the limb bit into his armour, keeping him attached. The tail lifted up, taking some of his weight with it and once more slammed down, blurring his vision. Sharp pain shot through him, his muscles clenched and Tayne's sword fell from his hand. 

The tail kept him pinned as the Vercton moved beside him. 

"You are lucky the Hunter demands you alive, Silverblood," it said. Something black and liquid dripped to the ground beside him. A large hand easily the size of Tayne's head edged under Tayne's chest, apparently going to pick him up. "Neploc will be rewarded for you."

"Put him down!" said a voice. 

Tayne found the strength to lift his head as the pressure from the tainted's tail lifted off his body. A brilliant emerald glow flushed his vision, silhouetting the Vercton's enormous mass. It made a sound of satisfaction and lifted a taloned hand to follow the figure skirting around it. 

"You are also wanted, elf. The Hunter--"

"Don't bother wasting your breath! I've had enough of being captive--you'll have to kill me before you take me again!" 

Dread crept over Tayne--Skye had come to his defense. The elf that had been in no state to spar, let alone take on a tainted solo, still covered in bruises and shadows in her hollowed cheeks. He winced every time he heard them collide, and with his vision still blurred, his imagination took over--a swipe that Skye barely dodged, the inevitable hit that knocked her aside before the tail accidentally crushed her and spilt her blood across the grass. 

He had to help. Tayne tried to push himself up but failed, feeling warm liquid slide down his back as the sharp edges of his punctured armour dug in. 

Someone, a Silverborn, knelt beside him. They helped him sit up and supported him as they pressed something cold into his back that felt like the hilt of a sword. The pain disappeared, but the armour still pressed uncomfortably against his skin.He tried to stand, but the hands held him down. 

"Give it a second, Tayne," said Verdrana's voice. "No rush, take it easy."

"My eyes," he said, resisting the urge to fight her ministerings. "I need to see."

Verdrana fiddled with something, pressing the same cool object to his temples a moment later, restoring Tayne's vision to its usual state. He got his first real look at Skye's battle and had to wonder if he was seeing things. 

In the twenty seconds it'd taken Verdrana to heal him, Skye was undeniably winning.

The Vercton slashed horizontally. Skye didn't leap out of the way. Instead, she nimbly stepped under it, pivoting on her foot and following the movement through with a blow to the tainted's side, her dagger following sword. 

The strike was hard enough to disrupt the tainted's balance and it stumbled to the side, and it was all Skye needed to end it. Roots erupted from under her feet, catapaulting her into the air with a feline grace. She landed lightly on the tainted's back, steadying herself with one hand on its horn while the other plunged the sword into the back of its neck.  

The Vercton fell forward, dead. Skye leapt off its body and dashed over to Tayne. 

"Did it get you with its blood?" she asked, shifting her sword to the other hand and pressing the palm to his forehead. 

Tayne shook his head, curious as to the tingling sensation that rejuvenated him. "No."

Skye nodded. "Good." She looked to someone behind him and swapped her sword. "Let's go." 

With that she took off, Nissa, Verdrana and three other Silverborn close behind her. 

Tayne glanced behind him, still feeling the recovery from Verdrana's mending as the magic settled things back together, and was surprised to find no tainted left on that side. The surviving Silverborn there fought with a renewed vigour. A faint green aura clung to each of them, speckled with the faintest trace of gold. Though tired, they now only had to deal with the lesser demons, a lot of which now lay on the ground twitching. 

Tayne went to run after Skye but soon realised there was no need. The Silverborn flanked her, keeping the lesser demons away from Skye's sides as the elf went after the tainted. 

He couldn't help but watch in sheer admiration. Skye ducked and weaved like the wind. The tainted missed her by miles, and when her own agility failed, the forest itsself came to her aid. Roots lifted her weight, bound the tainted, held them down and gave Skye the opening she needed to finish them off which she took without fail, pouncing upon them without hesitation. 

Ten minutes later, the tainted were completely gone. 

Their husks covered the ground that the lesser demons were now wary to cross. Somewhere during Skye's rampage, the Hunter had disappeared from its throne of broken trees and left a trail of destruction in its retreat that ripped apart the forest. But even in victory, the Silverborn's numbers were sorely depleted. Silver clad bodies littered the ground, more than one of their horses having joined them. 

From the hundred and sixteen knights they'd started out with, Tayne guessed that maybe forty remained. 

They closed into the centre, looking to him for a plan, for guidance. Tayne read the defeat on their faces and hoped the complete loss on his own wouldn't send the wrong message.

"We don't have time for speeches," said Tayne, hating the words as they came out. "Gather up the weapons of the fallen and assist any survivors. We're moving now, while we still have the chance. We'll pay our respects in Alguarde, when we can be sure their deaths were not in vain."

The Silverborn moved off in silence to complete the undesirable task, giving Tayne a minute to gather his thoughts and come up with their next move. When Luke walked up beside him, Tayne could have kissed whatever deity had kept him alive. 

"Where are we going, Tayne?" asked Luke. "That portal's in the way, and with the number of injured we have, we won't make it to Alguarde without leaving them behind. Even Skye can't heal forty people that fast, not including the horses." 

Tayne was shaking his head, wracking his brains for a reply when Skye approached them. 

Luke gave her a hopeful look. "I don't suppose you can keep that up for the rest of the night, can you?" 

Skye frowned. The tiredness on her face was evident. "I don't think so, not without the forest taking me over completely. It's hard to keep it under control, keep myself seperate from it."

Luke sighed. "Thought that might be your answer. So do we have a plan B?" 

"We could skirt around the portal," said Tayne. "Hope that it's far enough away for the demons to not pick us off one at a time."

"Maybe if we ask them nicely, they'll just agree to never attack us again," said Luke dryly. "You know, while we're discussing the impossible."

"Helpful, Luke," said Tayne. "Really contributing to the conversation here."

"I have an idea," said Skye, interrupting Luke's response. "There's some town not far from here, still towards Alguarde's direction that we might be able to shelter at for the night." She paused, tilting her head like she was listening to something they couldn't hear. "The trees... I think they're showing me some kind of protection thing from the demons. It's like a large, sculpted crystal?" 

Tayne and Luke looked at eachother. 

"A wardstone," said Tayne. "If it's still active, we can give it enough power to repel the demons for the night, which should give us enough time to get everyone in a state to travel tomorrow." He looked to Skye. "Can you get us there?"

Skye was already nodding. "I can. I'll heal a few of the more injured horses while you... collect things," she said awkardly, sidestepping away with the words. "I'll have as many ready to go when you give the order to move." 

Twelve minutes and a few more demons braving the Silverborn steel later, the Silverborn left the clearing, careful to avoid the silent bodies of their comrades that would never again move from the ground. 

Tayne had to wonder if they would soon join them. 

*+*+*+*