Return of the Crimson Guard

Movement shivered the treeline all up and down the beachfront for as far as Kyle could see in either direction. Armoured soldiers identical to those dismembered around them stepped forth. Tens, hundreds. ‘Ereko!’

But still enmeshed in his efforts the giant did not answer.

‘You have no choice but to abandon him,’ Jhest observed blandly.

Snarling, Stalker drew and thrust in one movement. The mage did not flinch. Instead, he looked down calmly at the sword impaling his abdomen and cocked one brow. ‘You will find me a great deal more difficult to kill than my servants.’

Stalker stepped back. His blade sucked free, glistening with a clear, thick ichor. ‘Kyle…’

‘Wait!’

Ereko, grunting his effort, was withdrawing his arms from the sands. His hands came free, clasped in a shared wristlock with another's arm – Traveller's. Up and down the shore, the beach shuddered, rippling beneath everyone. Even the mage, Jhest, was rocked. ‘No!’ he bellowed. ‘Impossible!’

Beneath Ereko was revealed a gap, a wound into darkness. Sands disappeared, sucked in a growing vortex that appeared to lead to… dark nothingness. Kyle leaned forward to lend a hand.

‘No!’ Ereko gasped. ‘It will take you.’

Traveller's other hand appeared, pushed down against the surface. Gasping, Ereko straightened his legs, drawing the man free. The gaping void disappeared with an explosion like the burst of a Moranth munition. The report of its closure echoed from the tree-line. Traveller lay supine while Ereko straightened, drawing in great bellowing breaths.

‘They're still comin’,’ Coots drawled into the silence.

The swordsman pushed himself to his feet. Jhest watched, his face eager, almost avid, lustful. ‘You live,’ he breathed, awed.

Traveller rolled his shoulders, wincing. ‘My life is now my own, magus. It can no longer be taken by anyone.’

The statement seemed to transport the mage. His eyes lit up and open glee twisted his mouth into a frog-like leer. ‘Then it is true! It can be done!’

Traveller seemed merely to gesture and the mage's head flew from his shoulders to roll to the sands. ‘Not by you.’ He sheathed his sword.

‘Time to run away,’ Coots suggested.

Blinking, Kyle stared at the headless torso of the mage that remained standing, immobile. He had the u

Cursing as well, Kyle threw himself back into the surf. When he arrived Ereko was pleading with the swordsman. ‘It is of no use!’

‘Go,’ Traveller said. ‘I will deal with all of these and their masters as well.’

‘There is no need!’ Ereko was fairly weeping.

‘They came between myself and my vengeance.’

‘Traveller!’ Kyle called sharply.

The dark-ski

‘Your vengeance is elsewhere, isn't it?’

A hand rose from his sword grip to massage his brow. He clenched his eyes shut, pinching them.

‘Well?’

The front ranks of soldiers met and trampled the body of Jhest. They drew their weapons in a clash of iron that echoed all up and down the treeline. Traveller allowed Ereko to drag him backwards into the surf. ‘Yes. Elsewhere…’ he murmured, sounding confused.

The waves buoyed them, darkening Traveller's leathers. Ereko continued pulling the man backwards. Kyle forced himself out against the waves. Glancing back, his chest clenched at the sight of the statue-like soldiers marching on, not even hesitating, to push into the surf. ‘Don't stop!’

The cousins reached for them over the side of the Kite, Ereko slapped their hands aside. ‘Trim the sail!’

Springing up, Kyle grasped hold of a rope. Ereko had an arm around Traveller who still held his head, his eyes closed. The sail snapped, filling. The Kite pulled on Kyle. Behind them the soldiers marched on, disappearing beneath the waves rank after rank. Hanging from the side, Kyle could not help but raise his legs as tightly as he could from the water.

Impatient strikes on the tu

She closed her dark knotted hands on a walking stick no longer than his foreleg. Her fingers were twisted by the swelling of the joints that afflicts the aged – those who ca

Ho started, shocked. ‘Kill them? How in Togg's teats is he to manage that? Talk them to death?’

A cackle. ‘Ha! That's a good one. I don't know how. But he does intend to introduce them to our guest down below.’

Introduce them? Sweet Soliel, no. Who knows what might become of that? ‘I'll get my things. Many thanks, Su.’

‘Oh, I'm coming with you.’

At the tu

The Wickan witch was tapping her way along the uneven tu

They came to the broad main gallery and Ho was surprised to find it nearly deserted. ‘Where is everyone?’

Su jabbed her stick to the beaten earth floor. ‘Didn't I just tell you, fool? They're down below!’

Slowly walking along, down a side gallery, Ho tucked his hands into the sash he used to hold up his old worn pantaloons, so loose after he'd lost so much weight. ‘And no one came to tell me…’

‘I came! Thank you very much!’

‘Other than you, Su.’

She leaned heavily on her stick, a bit out of breath. ‘Poor Ho. You really didn't think that you could simply stand aside, did you? Yath has been whispering against you for years! Undermining you constantly! Haven't you noticed?’

A shrug. ‘No…’

‘Bah! You blind idiot! Not much of an infighter, are you…’ She sighed. ‘Ah well, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. I suppose I'll just have to work with the material the Gods have mockingly cursed me with.’

Ho stopped short. ‘Your i

‘Oho! Some spirit! There's one segment of spine left in there after all!’

Ho refrained from commenting that she, of all people, should not talk about spines. He collected a full lamp from a nearby alcove and lit it from another, then crossed to a steeply sloped side tu

A cackle from the dark above. ‘Ha! Takes you longer than anyone to admit you're human just like the rest of us, doesn't it? Makes perfect sense! Ha!’