Eirwyn turned and greeted each of the others with smiles and hugs. 'I should have known I would find you all here,' she said at last. 'Banded together to the end, following your own course, listening to your own wise counsel before accepting the edicts of any other.'
'We believe Kaanyr will come here,' Aliisza said. 'We think he still intends to bathe in these waters.'
'We all came to the same conclusion when we heard that war was brewing,' Kael said.
'It's what he would do,' Tauran said, 'just to spite all of us and fulfill what he probably insists is his rightful destiny or some such nonsense. We intend to stop him.'
Eirwyn looked over at the drow. 'You agree with them?' she asked.
Pharaun shrugged. 'I haven't the barest glimmer of an opinion about the cambion's motivations,' he said with a chuckle. 'But seeing how my prospects are decidedly nonexistent, I gave in to whims of fancy and decided to join the fray.'
'Sounds good to me,' Eirwyn said. 'How can I help?'
'You don't need to aid us,' Tauran said. 'You've already given up too much for me as it is. I cannot ask for more from you.'
Eirwyn rolled her eyes and grinned. 'Oh, don't be so melodramatic, Tauran. You should know me better than that by now. You think I just happened to stumble upon you four here while out randomly flying around? I knew I was needed, and I came. Besides, my only other option was killing demons, so it sounds like a wash, to me.'
Tauran laughed. It was the first time in a long time that Eirwyn remembered him doing so. 'Fair enough, my friend,' he said.
'Now, what's the plan?' Eirwyn asked.
'No plan,' Kael said. 'We simply wait and watch.'
'We aren't sure how Kaanyr intends to get here,' Aliisza said. 'He might come alone, hoping to slip past the House's army, or he might attempt to bull his way here with a horde of his own. I'm betting on the latter. He was never one for subtlety.'
'Whatever he does,' Tauran said, 'from up here, we'll know when he arrives.'
Eirwyn hefted her mace. 'When he does, let's make sure he regrets it.'
A long, ragged line of celestials ran through the woods, angels and archons forming a defense against invasion. They waited and watched the barrier between their own world and the void beyond. The forested land felt calm and pure, towering trees interspersed with green thicket upon the leaf-covered ground, right up to the point where magic altered the fabric of reality. There, the land stopped, and the shapeless clouds of elsewhere crackled with blue lightning.
Every celestial stared at that seething maelstrom, waiting.
Garin and Nilsa stood on the edge of a large clearing, a wide glade that spread out for perhaps three hundred paces and abutted the preternatural storm. The pair of devas commanded a company of archons, the hound warriors milling on either side of them. Their responsibility was the clearing. Nothing was to be allowed past them.
'Garin, I don't think I can do this,' Nilsa said, standing next to him.
The deva pulled his gaze away from the roiling, purplish wall of insane magic and looked at her. 'What is it?' he asked.
Nilsa appeared unsettled. Her wings fanned and fluttered, and she seemed to look nowhere and everywhere at once. 'I'm afraid to…' she let the words trail off and gestured helplessly. 'I can't.'
Garin saw the turmoil in her wide, frightened eyes. He realized she was on the verge of breaking down. He moved closer to her and drew her to him. 'Tell me,' he said, trying to comfort her.
Nilsa shook her head. 'I cannot find the courage to…' She looked away, her mouth opening and shutting. 'To let him in,' she said. She brought her hands up and pressed her palms against her temples. 'Torm, I mean. I want to, I really do, but…'
Garin's eyes widened. 'You have not pledged fealty to Torm yet?' he asked, incredulous. 'Nilsa, you must. You have no power! You cannot withstand the demons if you-'
'I know,' she said, her voice breaking. 'I just can't. There's a part of me that will die if I accept that Tyr has… has… Oh, Garin, I'm so scared!'
His own heart pounding, his own hands trembling, Garin firmed his grasp on his companion. He began a silent prayer.
Blessed Tyr-No. Torm, he corrected. Blessed Torm. Grant us strength today, not just in our limbs, but in our hearts. Please guide us and grant us courage so that we may face the looming battle before us unafraid.
Garin drew a deep breath, feeling calm wash over him. Torm's spirit infused him. It felt different from the familiar touch of Tyr, but it comforted him.
She just needs a glimpse of this to understand. Once she knows him, she'll embrace him.
'Nilsa,' he said, drawing her gaze to his own. He stared deeply into her eyes. 'This is real, right now. You've got to do this, or you will not survive the field today.'
She nodded. 'Yes,' she said. 'Help me.'
'Torm welcomes you into the fold. It is strange and frightening, I know, but he will comfort you. Tyr wishes it. Do not be afraid. Instead, let your spirit soar, let your majestic countenance reflect Torm's might, even as your heart sings for Tyr's safety.'
'I want to,' she said, 'but I-'
A thunderous blast erupted from the opposite side of the glade, drowning out Nilsa's final words. Fire roared into the sky. Trees and dirt sprayed everywhere. Black, churning smoke poured out of a jagged opening in the ground very near the edge of the world, blotting out the wall of nothingness beyond.
Another eruption struck to the angel's left, and then two more, almost simultaneously, to Garin's right. A cacophony of blasts reverberated through the surrounding woods as explosion after explosion tore the land apart and filled the sky with flame and ash. An entire row of the devastating blasts formed a continuous wall before the celestials.
The first of the demons rushed out of that conflagration, a motley swarm of every imaginable shape and size, all disgusting to behold. Hideous creatures of pasty white or red flesh loped on misshapen legs. Bulbous heads that seemed too fat for spindly necks jostled and bounced, while arms that looked to be too short to be useful flapped spastically. Flames licked the ground where they ran, and a foul stench preceded them. They screamed in delight at the sight of the defenders and rushed forward, waving clubs and sickles, spears and blades at their enemies. Behind them, a constant flow fed the swarm, pouring from the gashes in the ground.
Garin released Nilsa and spun to his right. 'First rank, to them!' he cried, magically amplifying his voice so that the archons all down the line could hear him. 'Second rank, hold!'
He turned back and found Nilsa down on her knees, gaping at the onrushing horde. She was not issuing orders to her troops. They were milling in confusion as his side of the line pressed forward.
Garin repeated his orders to the celestials under Nilsa's command, then squatted down and grabbed her face in his hands.
'Nilsa!' he shouted at her, making her look at him. 'I need you, right now! Open your heart to Torm! His presence will give you strength, but you have to trust him as you always trusted Tyr.'
He risked a glance up at the field of battle and saw that the demons and the archons were only thirty paces apart by then, two rows of combatants charging full tilt at one another.
Nilsa sobbed. 'I'm so scared!' she cried. 'I cannot abandon Tyr! He will fade away! I could not bear it!'
Garin fought back his panic with every ounce of his self-control. He pulled his gaze away from the impending melee and returned his attention to the angel weeping at his feet. 'Nilsa,' he said as calmly as he could, 'Tyr's destiny is his own. You cannot control it. You can only follow the path set before you. Torm needs you. These soldiers need you.' He drew a deep breath and added, 'I need you.'
Please, Nilsa, stand up and fight.
Nilsa swallowed and closed her eyes. 'Very well,' she said, her voice trembling.
A great shout erupted as the two moving walls, archon and demon, slammed together. Garin shot a glance up. The battle had been joined.
