Cobble, AC - Benjamin Ashwood 04 - Empty Horizon by Cobble AC

Author:Cobble, AC [Cobble, AC]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, fantasy
Publisher: Cobble Publishing LLC
Published: 2017-12-05T07:00:00+00:00

10

A Stab to the Back

Around them, a hundred demons struggled weakly on the floor.

“What do we do with these things?” asked O’ecca nervously.

“Kill them before they get up,” declared Towaal.

Ben plunged his sword down, stabbing one of the creatures in the head. O’ecca’s naginata swept down next to him and decapitated another. Purple blood spurted out of the stump of its neck, splashing across Ben’s boots.

“Sorry,” mumbled O’ecca.

Ben sighed and set to work, stabbing and hacking his way methodically across the floor.

High above them, Amelie peered over the balustrade.

“What happened?” she called.

“Gunther went through and closed the rift,” Ben yelled back.

“What do you mean he went through?” questioned Amelie. She saw their expressions and mumbled, “Oh.”

“Where is Rhys?” asked Ben.

“He went looking for more Purple,” responded Amelie. “I tried to follow, but I think he’s better off on his own. I wouldn’t want to be a Purple mage right now.”

Ben opened his mouth to ask about Corinne, but he closed it. He knew the answer to his question. Grimly, he went back to work.

Across the room, a large arch-demon rose unsteadily. The lights flickered in the room, and a thin spear of fire flew from Towaal’s hands, striking the creature square in the forehead.

“I can’t believe we lost Gunther’s hammer,” complained Milo.

Ben glanced at the former apprentice. He was efficiently plunging his spear into demons, working his way closer to Ben.

“If Gunther didn’t take it with him, he’d have no chance,” replied Ben.

“A chance at what?” scoffed Milo. “That was a suicide mission, no matter how strong he was. We lost the most powerful weapon we were likely to get our hands on. We’ve done nothing here except sacrifice lives.”

“We stopped this,” remarked Ben, gesturing to the ruined rift. “If we hadn’t come, the Purple could send demons anywhere they pleased. I saw what happened at Northport, and so did you. They could have demolished anyone who stood against them.”

Milo grunted. “The Purple can’t send demons around the world, but there are still thousands of them loose in Alcott. The rift in the Wilds is still destroyed, and they’ll continue to cross naturally, showing up in unexpected places where no one is prepared to hunt them. You may have fixed something you didn’t know was broken, but the original problem still exists. That hammer was the solution, and it’s gone now.”

Ben kept hacking at the demons.

* * *

Several more arch-demons attempted to rise, but Towaal cut them down before they could regain their strength. The smaller demons thrashed around hopelessly, unable to defend themselves against Ben and his friends. It was tiring, brutal work. By the end of it, Ben’s arms ached, and he was covered in foul purple blood halfway up his thighs.

“Better than chopping down the live ones,” quipped O’ecca.

Ben grunted. She was right about that.

When they finished the clean up, they ascended the stairs and found Amelie and Rhys. The rogue had returned from his own clean up endeavor. He was kneeling by Corinne’s body, holding her head in his lap.

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