'Hades,' Malkor said. 'Your dome can't help you now.'
'You're not welcome here,' Lord Hades said, thrusting out the palm of his hand.
Malkor flew backwards, crashing against the opposite wall. He rolled along the floor with the spear still cradled between his hands. When he had stopped rolling, he snarled and leapt back to his feet. His eyes shone with white malice.
'She's mine,' Malkor said.
'You can't have her.'
Malkor laughed and sprinted towards Lord Hades with short explosive steps. He slammed him into the wall, and the two of them fought at close range, twisting back and forth as they exchanged savage blows. Malkor thrust his black spear forwards but Lord Hades leapt to one side and the spear's tip hit the wall behind him.
Rachel felt the wrongness of the spear flowing through the wall around her. She tried to scream but her voice had deserted her. Something had happened. She was no longer present in the corridor. Her mind had fled, taking her body with it. Somehow she had abandoned her physical form and embedded herself within the wall. Now she understood why Malkor could no longer see her. He had told her that she couldn't hide from him, but wasn't that exactly what she had done? She had no idea how she had done it. Her actions had been driven by fear alone. Now she was a helpless spectator, trapped in a stone prison of her own making. She had no idea how she could ever return.
'Rachel?' Alice had managed to break out of her room. She was standing just a few metres from the fighting lords. 'Where are you?' she said. Her moist green eyes searched the corridor, wondering where her friend had gone.
Rachel tried to call out to her, begging Alice to turn and run away, but her efforts were in vain. She was frozen. Powerless. Nothing but stone. She could only watch the events unfurling before her.
Clerics poured into the corridor from both sides. They hobbled towards Malkor, attacking his exposed back as he fought Lord Hades. The clerics fought like devils, throwing vicious punches and kicks at Malkor's body and head. If he was troubled by their blows, he didn't show it, but after one particularly savage punch that caught him on the back of the neck, he turned with a snarl and grabbed one of the clerics by the throat. He struck the cleric so hard that his face crumpled inwards and his body collapsed onto the floor like a broken doll.
The klaxons continued their raucous alarm. More clerics came running on bowed legs. A dozen now gathered around Malkor, and a growing number lay dead on the floor. The clerics had given up striking Malkor with their fists and feet. They had started using short wooden staffs that they pulled from pouches on their backs.
Rachel was amazed by how fast the clerics moved. She had never seen them fight before. Their faces twisted with exertion, and their deformed features grew ever more terrible as they fought like savages, striking at Malkor's back. Red light flashed from the end of their staffs as they struck his body over and over again. Malkor roared with pain, barking in a language that Rachel didn't understand. He pulled away from Lord Hades, leaving him slumped against the wall, and turned to face the clerics.
The clerics swirled their staffs in a frenzy, barking and snapping at each other with gaping, lipless mouths. They attacked en-masse, battering Malkor from all sides at once. Malkor twisted and snarled, striking out randomly. More clerics fell dead on the floor. The others swung their staffs around, hitting Malkor with the opposite end. Now white flashes erupted with each impact, and snapping sounds reverberated along the length of the corridor. Malkor struggled against so many blows. His face contorted in agony. He thrashed back and forth in a rage as his feet started rising above the floor. His black teeth clenched in a foul grimace as he struck out at the nearest clerics, sending them crumpling to the floor. More arrived to replace those who had fallen, and his movements started to slow.
The clerics struck Malkor with waves of synchronous blows. A cloud of white light formed around him. There was a rhythm to their movements now. They were growing in confidence, despite Malkor's black teeth snarling back at them. A brilliant white cloud enveloped his body. He struggled against his glowing prison, his white eyes darting back and forth as he tried to free himself. The clerics continued their assault as his body rose up above the floor. His movements slowed as his face contorted in pain. Eventually, Malkor froze, trapped in time.
The clerics stepped back, rocking on their feet with sagging shoulders. Sweat covered their deformed features, and their bony chests rose and fell with ragged breaths. They had pushed themselves to the limit. Only five remained on their feet. A dozen more lay dead on the floor where Malkor had struck them down. Their bodies looked sad and broken, despite their unnatural appearance. Rachel noticed Malkor's spear lying on the floor beneath the floating white light. Gold symbols flowed along its length before fading to black.
Rachel felt like crying but she had no eyes. She felt herself sliding from the wall like molten metal poured from a cup. She didn't know what had happened to her. She had been part of the wall. She had been desperate to escape to her true form once more. Now that Malkor had been trapped, she knew it was safe to return. She was becoming whole again. Her physical form reassembled itself in the corridor. Rachel gasped, standing on her own two feet. She stared at dead bodies around her and inhaled the cold stale air. She looked down at her hands, and was relieved to find them whole again. Her fingers flexed at her command and her arms felt strong again. Her shoulder was no longer bleeding. Somehow she had left the bullet embedded inside the wall. Her flesh was whole again. When she raised her arm to one side, she felt no pain at all. Tears welled in her eyes. She was her true self once more. Malkor's malevolent presence no longer intruded into her mind. It left her feeling exhilarated. She wanted to cry out with joy.
'Rachel,' Alice said in a quiet voice. She stared at Rachel with wide eyes.
'It's okay,' Rachel said.
'What happened? Where did you go?'
'I'll explain later. It's not safe here. You should go get help.'
Alice nodded with tears in her eyes. She tried to hug Rachel but Rachel pushed her away.
'Go now,' Rachel said, 'while there is still time.'
Alice stumbled towards the stairwell at the far end of the corridor. She stared at the clerics and the white light that hung between them in the air. Pressing her back against the opposite wall, she stayed as far away from the clerics as possible as she stepped over the bodies that lay scattered across the floor.
The clerics barked at Alice until she had passed. They glanced at Rachel with cold, dead eyes. They didn't want her there. She could see it in their hard, twisted faces. For the moment they left her alone. They were preoccupied with the white cloud that hung between them. Rachel belonged to Lord Hades as far as they were concerned. They would gladly beat her with their fists, if given the choice, but for now she was under his protection.
Rachel ran across to Lord Hades. He was lying on the floor with his legs splayed out in front of him. One of his arms was broken, and he held his ribs with his other arm. Blood stained his nose and mouth and his eyes were unfocussed. She wondered what Malkor had done to him. He looked to be in a bad way. Was it possible that he might die? She had never wanted anything to do with the lords. She hated Lord Hades for what he had done to her mother, but she couldn't deny that he had just tried to save her life. Would he have fought Lord Malkor if she hadn't been in danger? Maybe he would have waited for others to arrive before taking on Malkor himself. Rachel didn't think she would have survived Without his help. Suddenly the idea that he might die sent waves of fear coursing through her body.
Lord Malkor wanted her dead. Lord Hades had been trying to protect her all along. What would happen to her if Lord Hades didn't survive? Her enemies seemed to be growing in number day-by-day. She wasn't afraid of fighting any ordinary man, but the lords were too strong for her. She couldn't fight Malkor alone. Rachel shivered. She noticed that the clerics were watching her. She had no illusions that they shared Lord Hades' concern for her. If he died, the clerics would turn against her at once.
The klaxons stopped as suddenly as they had begun. Lord Hades gazed up at the ceiling and clung to his ribs.
Rachel could hear his course breathing. There was something wet inside his lungs. 'You're hurt,' she said. 'Tell me what to do.' Her words sounded so helpless, even to her own ears, but she didn't know what else to say.
Lord Hades stared back at her with a blank expression. He didn't seem to recognise her at first. Gradually his green eyes came into focus. 'Get away from this place,' he said, his voice little more than a whisper.
Rachel leant closer to hear him more clearly. 'I don't understand,' she said. 'Isn't it over?' She looked over her shoulder towards the clerics behind her. They were becoming agitated again. She didn't know what was wrong with them.
Lord Hades shook his head. Blood dripped from his nose into his lap. 'No, Rachel. It isn't over. It's never over. It's only just begun.'
Rachel stared at him with confusion.
'Get away from this place,' he said. 'You must go now, before it is too late.'
'It's okay,' Rachel said. 'The clerics captured him. We're safe now.'
Lord Hades gazed back at her with sadness in his eyes. 'You have so much to learn,' he said. 'A stasis field can't hold a war lord. The clerics have only bought you time.'
Rachel felt her stomach churning inside her. She wanted to run away, and keep running, and never return. She was out of her depth, surrounded by things that she could never hope to understand.
'Merivon,' Lord Hades called out. Blood spluttered from his mouth as he spoke, and his voice sounded more like a cry for help than a summons.