“Revenants,” Drem breathed.
Keld and Halden ran to the wall, speeding up the stairwell, Drem behind them, others from the courtyard following.
Reng was galloping for the bridge, a black mist rolling along the path behind him, curling from the trees either side, then his horse’s hooves were cracking on stone and he was bursting through the open gates of the fortress, his wolven-hound leaping behind him.
“Ware Revenants,” Reng cried out.
Feet pounded on steps; warriors manned the wall, Keld’s scouts amongst them.
“Halden, best be closing those gates,” Keld said grimly.
“CLOSE THE GATES!” Halden bellowed, then looked to Keld. “What are Revenants?”
“Look,” Keld said.
The mist boiled along the path, spilling out onto the riverside. More vapour flowed from the wall of trees beyond the river, rolled up to the bridge and stopped, churning sluggishly. Shapes moved within the mist.
“How many ways out of here?” Drem asked.
“That’s it,” Keld nodded at the bridge.
The flapping of wings—Rab all but fell from the sky above them.
“Revenants, Revenants,” the bird was squawking, alighting on the wall before Drem and Keld.
“Will that bird ever tell us anything before we already know it,” Keld muttered.
“Worried,” Rab croaked.
“Rab, fly to Byrne as fast as your wings will take you, tell her what is happening here.”
“Rab not leave friends,” Rab protested.
“Go now,” Keld said. “If Byrne doesn’t learn of this, and soon, then none of us will be leaving here.”
Rab hopped from claw to claw.
“Rab fly, save friends,” he said, then leaped into the air and flapped over their heads, spiralled once and flew west.
On the riverbank a figure stepped out from the mist.
A man once, now twisted. He was tall, his head shaven, pale as parchment, black veins mapping his skin. He looked up at Drem and the others on the wall, hissed at them, revealing a mouth too full of razored teeth. One eye drooped shut, a scar running through it. His chin was crusted black with blood.
A memory flashed through Drem’s mind, of Gulla rising before a bloodstained table, of seven figures stepping forward, raising their chins and baring their throats to the Kadoshim lord.
“That’s one of the Seven,” Drem said.
“Revenants? The Seven?” Halden said.
“Dark spawn of Gulla and twisted magic,” Drem replied.
“Rune-marked spear,” Keld cried, turning and looking down into the courtyard. One of his scouts threw a spear up to him.
Keld caught it, in one motion turned, arm whipping back and then forwards, the spear hurtling from his grip. It flew down from the wall, across the water.
The Revenant on the riverbank saw it, watched, then swayed. A spark of blue fire as the spear’s edge grazed the creature’s ribs, sailed on to disappear in the mist. There was a gurgled scream, a flare of blue light inside the mist.
“Bollocks,” Keld muttered. “Do you have a rune-marked blade?”
The figure on the riverbank raised a taloned hand and pointed at the keep.
“Aye,” Halden said, patting his scabbarded sword.
“Brothers, sisters, be ready to FIGHT,” Keld called out. “All with a rune-marked blade to the wall and gates.”
“Only a runed blade will hurt them,” Drem said to Halden. “Anyone without such a blade will die a quick death at these creatures’ hands.”
The Revenant on the bank opened its mouth and screeched. A high-pitched, scratching sound issued from its mouth, like a thousand flies trying to crawl into Drem’s brain. He fought the urge to put his hands over his ears.
The mist moved, slid onto the bridge, gaining momentum, flowing across, towards the barred gates.
Keld turned and sprinted down the wall’s steps, running for his horse.
Drem drew his sword and thrust it into Halden’s hands. “It’s runed—give it to someone who needs it.” Halden grunted and turned, barking out orders to his warriors as he strode along the wall, heading to the gates. Everywhere was motion: warriors running to the gate, racing to the walls. Drem glimpsed Keld’s scouts handing out their weapons—all of Keld’s crew had more than one runed blade, whether it be spear, axe or sword.
Drem drew his seax and hand-axe, hefted them, felt the excitement and fear of imminent battle flutter through his veins.
The mist slammed into the gates, burst upwards like a dark wave, wisps curling over the wall. The barred gate shook as bodies slammed into it, hundreds, the sound of wood creaking.
Keld appeared beside him, his bow and quiver of arrows in his fist. Fen and Ralla were with him, snarling, muscles rippling in their coats of mail. Drem looked to the white bear, saw he was standing below in the courtyard, facing the gates, snarling and scratching the ground.
Keld rested his quiver of arrows against the wall and strung his bow. Impacts against the gate echoed through the courtyard, a tremor Drem could feel in his boots and bones. He leaned over the battlement, peering at the bridge and gate.
That gate is not like Dun Seren’s. It is not going to hold.
Revenants appeared, swarming out of the mist, climbing the gate and towers in a tangle of snarled limbs, just as they had done at Dun Seren.
“BURN THEM!” Keld cried out as he drew an arrow from his quiver, leaned out over the wall, loosed at the Revenants climbing the gate. A spark of blue fire. Another arrow loosed, then another and another. Bodies fell from the wall, into the river.
Drem bounced on his toes, feeling both frustrated that he couldn’t get at the Revenants and a sense of building dread in his gut about the numbers they were facing. There had been no warning of this attack, no time to tell Halden and the warriors of Brikan that fire was the greatest weapon against the Revenants, and no chance to explain the urgency of identifying and killing the Revenants’ leader. It was all happening too fast.
The Revenants clambering the wall were close to the top. Some of Keld’s scouts were there, stabbing with rune-marked spears, other warriors of Brikan with runed blades or burning torches. Drem saw a constant crackle of blue flame in the swarm at the gate, a Revenant here and there falling away, flames sprouting from face or body, but the throng of creatures swallowed their dead and kept hurling themselves at the gates, others surging upwards in a mass of bodies.
Keld loosed his last arrow, saw a Revenant tumble into the river, disappearing with hardly a splash.
With a growl, he dropped his bow and shrugged his shield onto his arm, drew his sword.
“With me, Drem,” he said, and strode along the wall towards the gateway.
Revenants were clawing their way onto the wall, tendrils of mist curling up around them, grabbing at limbs even as they were stabbed. A warrior of the Order was dragged screaming over the wall. Then another. A Revenant leaped out of the mist, landed on all fours, threw itself into a warrior, the two of them falling into the courtyard.
Drem reached the press, leaned and stabbed a Revenant as it climbed, saw a hundred more beneath it. The mist on the bridge seethed and swarmed with dark figures.
There are too many.
“We must find their captain,” Keld grunted, thrusting his sword into the mass of enemies in front of him.
Revenants were clambering over the wall, now too many of them to push back. One threw itself onto a warrior of Brikan. She swung a sword but the creature was too fast, surging inside her guard, jaws wide, teeth searching for flesh. Drem stabbed it in the waist with his seax, a burst of blue flame, saw it spasm and scream, chopped into its skull with his axe, bone and rotten flesh exploding. The Revenant collapsed, the woman pushing it away in revulsion.
A loud crack from the gates, vibrating up through stone. Drem and those around him froze for a moment. Another crack, louder, the iron hinges of the gate squealing.
Then in a burst and screech of iron and splintered wood the gates exploded inwards. Drem and those around him on the wall above the gates were thrown to the ground.
A frozen moment, a cloud of dust filling the courtyard, slowly settling. Drem clambered to his feet, saw Keld rising.
Black mist poured through the shattered gateway, followed by countless Revenants.
“SHIELD WALL!” a voice yelled in the courtyard, Halden, standing with forty or fifty warriors of Brikan. Round shields came together with a crack, sharp steel glinting. The Revenants hit it like a wave, the wall staggered, straining, but it held against the first rush, swords and spears stabbing out, flashes of blue flame and Revenants fell back, screaming.
They have no chance, Drem thought, the shield wall is too short, its flanks unprotected. Even as Drem looked he saw Revenants pouring around the shield wall’s edges, leaping and tearing at warriors.
There was a deafening roar as Friend waded into the Revenants on the shield wall’s right flank. He swiped with his claws, his huge jaws clamping onto bodies and shaking them. Revenants went flying through the air like sticks, bellies opened, torsos and limbs shredded. Drem saw a severed head spinning through the air.
It gave a moment’s reprieve; the shield wall took a step forwards, stabbing down at the scattered Revenants. But the tide of creatures through the smashed gates was relentless, the courtyard filling. A new wave threw themselves at Friend, swarming over him.
“No, not again,” Drem breathed, and leaped into the courtyard.
He slammed into a knot of Revenants, scattered them, though they were instantly twisting and turning, leaping back to their feet. Drem slashed and stabbed with axe and seax, crackling blue flame as Revenants fell about him. Then Keld was at his side, Fen and Ralla throwing themselves at the creatures, ripping at limbs, Keld working with them, his runed sword stabbing and hacking at any Revenant the wolven-hounds pinned or distracted.
They cut a way through to Friend. The bear was covered with Revenants biting and slashing at him, frenziedly trying to rip through his coat of mail. Friend let out a deafening roar, spittle flying, and he reared onto his back legs, throwing a dozen black figures in all directions, slammed back down to earth, crushing a fallen Revenant; the ground shook. Drem chopped into a skull, stabbed through a back, ripped his blade free, sliced another Revenant across the face. Keld punching Revenants with his shield, stabbing, chopped into one between neck and shoulder, his blade snaring in bone, dragged down, his booted foot on the dying creature’s chest, yanking his blade free.
And then the bear was free, a space cleared around them, dead or dying Revenants all about, gurgling, scratching. Fen and Ralla crouched either side of Keld, snarling. Drem strode to Friend, stood with his back to the bear’s shoulder, looking into the courtyard.
Halden’s shield wall was swamped: dead Revenants piled before it but so many more were climbing over the dead. Drem saw one grab a shield rim and drag the warrior holding it out from the ranks, three Revenants falling upon her, tearing and biting. A warrior stepped into the breach from the second rank with a two-handed spear and pierced a Revenant, blade punching into its chest and bursting out of its back. But the spear was not rune-marked. The Revenant gripped the shaft piercing its chest and dragged itself along the wood towards the warrior, grabbing him by the throat, talons raking flesh to red ribbons.
A scream from above, shadows flitting across the courtyard, and Drem looked up, saw winged figures swooping down. Their wings were black and leathery.
“WARE THE SKIES!” Keld cried as Kadoshim and half-breeds fell upon the courtyard. Drem saw a half-breed woman swoop at the shield wall and stab down with a spear, a dozen more winged warriors following her.
It’s her, Gulla’s daughter.
The shield wall shattered with her attack, a hole opened that Revenants poured through, the shield wall breaking and splintering.
“TO THE KEEP!” Keld yelled, started to run, stopped and grabbed Drem by the shoulder, half dragging him. Drem turned and ran with him, Fen and Ralla bounding ahead, leaping up the wide steps. “Friend!” Drem bellowed. The bear was swatting at another Revenant, then turned and lumbered with them.
The keep’s doors were open. Brikan was built from stone by giants in an age long past. Drem ran through into a deep hall, turned at the entrance. Friend trudged past—there was room enough for him.
Keld stood at the gateway and put a horn to his lips, gave it three short blows, the sound echoing in the hall, ringing out into the courtyard.
“WARRIORS OF THE ORDER!” Keld yelled. “TO ME! The doors,” he called to Drem, and the two of them began to heave them closed. Warriors leaped up the stairs, ran into the hall, ten, fifteen. All about the courtyard battle raged. A knot of warriors from the shield wall were fighting their way up the steps, others caught in scattered melees. Horses bucked and screamed as Revenants fell upon them, a stampede as ropes were snapped, some horses galloping for the gateway, trampling Revenants and clattering across the bridge, others falling to the horde, dragged down by a wave of teeth and talons. Their screams filled the courtyard.
Reng burst through the doorway, his wolven-hound still with him, a handful more of Keld’s scouts following. They turned and helped Drem and Keld with the doors, some reaching for the wooden bar. Halden was leading a knot of warriors up the steps. Drem ran to join them, chopped his axe into a Revenant’s wrist, severing the hand that had just grabbed a warrior’s shield. He ducked a swipe of talons from the other hand and stabbed upwards with his seax, punched into the creature’s belly, on, upwards and deeper, found its rotted heart, twisted his blade and then pushed it away.
“YOU!” a voice cried. Drem looked into the courtyard to see Gulla’s half-breed daughter staring at him. She hurled her spear; Drem stumbled to the side, the spear striking stone and flying through the keep’s doors.
She beat her wings, moving towards him.
Drem turned and ran, throwing himself into the hall just behind Halden.
Keld and Reng were closing the doors.
Drem hefted the wooden bar, ready to set it in the doors, another warrior helping him.
Something changed in the courtyard, a stillness settling upon the Revenants, all of them halting whatever they were doing. They all looked up. Survivors of the Order took the opportunity, running to the keep’s open doorway, flying through.
Drem saw the Revenants’ captain again, standing in the wreckage of the smashed gateway. He was looking up, too.
Drem followed their stare, saw half-breeds descending, maybe fifty of them, alighting in the courtyard amongst the dead, then a score of Kadoshim. They spread through the courtyard, forming a ring. Another figure descended, dark wings wide, beating slowly, dust stirring on the ground. He was a Kadoshim, but different. Taller, limbs stretched, musculature striated. He wore a coat of dark mail, a nimbus shadow about him like a dark halo, and he had only one eye, which glowed red.
“Gulla,” Drem whispered, though all in the hall heard him; the silence in the courtyard was absolute.
Gulla looked about him, surveying the dead, saw warriors of the Order scattered everywhere, the courtyard slick with their blood. He smiled, then looked up at the keep, saw Keld, Reng and Drem.
Keld slammed his door shut, Reng a heartbeat behind him.