He brought the pistol to bear and pulled the trigger. More by luck than judgement, the bullet hit the thing, knocking its leap off-course.
Asea hurled the glittering crystal in her hand, catching the creature on the breast. The sphere exploded in a cloud of ozone and brilliant unchained power. It flickered all around the attacker and penetrated its flesh. The unleashed energy hurtled it towards the ceiling, elevated by a ladder of lightning. The intruder dropped to the floor, stinking of burning flesh.
For a moment Rik thought it was all over, but then the thing started to move again, like a creature in a nightmare, hoisting itself upwards on two hands, rising to its feet and moving towards Asea. It had a skeletal, noseless face that swung to and fro. He heard it sniff, as if trying to catch a scent.
Patches of its clothing had burned away, and bits of skin with it, revealing not flesh but a strange amalgam of bone and burned, blackened tissue along with something else, that looked like nothing he had ever seen before. It resembled the innards of a machine, a watch or clock perhaps, if those mechanisms had been carved from bone and powered by valves and ligaments of rotting flesh. There was no blood, only strange blackish pus.
As the creature rose, Karim came into the room. He was a blur of motion, impossibly swift. His blade passed right through the creature, pinning it to the floor. With an awful wheezing sound, as if air was being forced from dead lungs, the creature pushed itself upright again, lashing out at the bodyguard. Karim ducked, ripped his blade free and struck again, slashing the thing’s chest. It ignored the strike and lashed back. Blows blurred the air between them, so swift that Rik could barely follow them. Then suddenly it was over. A claw connected and Karim dropped in his tracks.
Asea lunged forward, slamming her own runeblade into the thing’s chest. The razor edge parted rotting flesh. The intruder reached for Asea and got its hands round her neck. The armour there went rigid as if taking an awful strain. The Elder signs on her throat pulsed to life. Smoke emerged from the thing’s fingers. Rik hurled himself at the creature, aiming his bayonet at a spot in its back that would carry the blade through to the heart if the creature had one. He was not sure that would make the slightest difference. He suspected the thing was already dead.
The Nerghul felt a weight land on its back, knocking it off balance. The scent of its prey was overwhelming. It loosened one hand from the witch’s throat and reached backward. It felt resistance of a strange subtle sort. It turned its head instinctively but could not see. The blazing light from the witch’s sphere still dazzled its eyes.
Something else baffled its soul sight, telling it nothing was there, even as its fingers encountered evidence to the contrary. Something sharp sliced at its hand. It felt its fingers drop away, along with the burden of weight. The smell of the prey was even stronger.
Something strange was going on here. It was under attack but could not quite sense from what. Using its arm as a bludgeon, it swept the air where the attacker should be. Once more the Nerghul felt resistance as its fist hit home.
It lifted its taloned fingers to its nose hole and sniffed. There was no doubt about it. The stench of its prey was on them. It knew then that its target was there. It began sniffing again, knowing that the scent would lead it to what it sought. It would kill it, and deal with the witch in a moment.
The force of the impact sent Rik flying across the room to smash into the wall. The creature hit with a force like the kick of a destrier. Momentary blackness crossed his field of vision. Stars danced before his eyes. Sharp pain filled his lungs and chest. His knife had fallen from his hand, frantically he felt for it. The creature was sniffing again, its head tracking backwards and forwards as it advanced slowly towards him.
Asea’s fingers danced frantically through a pattern, drawing a symbol of light in the air. Swirls of light emerged from the symbol and stabbed into the attacker. It flinched, and she kicked out with one foot, her strength enhanced by the strange magic of her armour. The attacker’s knee gave way with a crack of bone.
A shout of rage told Rik that his companions had arrived. The Barbarian came through the door like an unleashed thunderbolt, surging across the room and thrusting his blade into the creature’s back with enough force to drive it through its chest and out the other side. Their assailant tried to ignore him and get to Rik, but the Barbarian pulled his sword free and cleaved at its neck.
“Die, bastard thing of darkness,” he shouted.
The creature turned to survey its new assailants.
A knife flew across the room and took the thing through the eye. Weasel’s casting was as good as ever, but a throw that would have killed an ordinary man did not even slow this creature down.
The Barbarian kept hacking. His blade severed the attacker’s neck tearing through ropes of flesh and cables of muscle. The intruder lashed out at him. An ordinary man would have been caught full in the face by that sledgehammer blow but the Barbarian twisted aside at the last moment and took it on his shoulder. Even so, the force of it sent him spinning.
Sardec fired his pistol. The bullet smashed into the creature. It toppled sideways. Asea pulled herself upright and hacked at its head. Somehow it kept going, reaching out with its slashed fingerless hand and intercepting the blade. Its other hand closed on her and pulled her from her feet.
Sardec sprang forward, burying his hook into the flesh of the creature’s neck and wrenching with all his might. The flesh came free with a sickly, ripping sound.
The Nerghul knew it had taken too much damage. In another few moments it might be beaten, and thus fail in its quest. It could not allow that to happen. It needed to escape. It needed to find a dark place to hide and heal. It cast the metal-handed foe from it and sprang for the door. The man waiting there sprang to one side to let it pass. It scuttled as quickly as its battered body would let it up the corridor, heading back the way it came, looking for the open window that would let it vanish into the night.
“What was that thing?” Sardec asked.
“A Nerghul,” said Asea. “A creature of necromancy, vat-grown from reanimated corpses.”
“What was it doing here?”
“Seeking to kill me most likely,” she said.
“Someone certainly wanted you dead,” said Sardec. “I don’t think we need look too far to find the culprit. The question is what do we do now?”
Rik glanced at Asea, wondering whether she would want him to go after Jaderac and Tamara. She shook her head almost imperceptibly. She obviously was keen for him to get on with carrying out her plan.
“You think this thing will be back, milady?” asked Weasel.
“Not tonight,” she said. “But I think it will return some other night.”
“Will there be any more of these things, milady,” the Barbarian, of all people, asked. It seemed far too sensible a question to come from him.
“I don’t know,” said Asea. “I would not think so, not soon anyway. Creating and animating such a creature has an enormous cost, not only in alchemical materials but on the strength of the creator. I doubt we shall see anything like this any time soon.”
“May the Light grant it be so,” said Sardec. “It managed to get right into your chambers before it was stopped.”
Rik wondered if there was a note of reproach in his voice. He supposed Sardec had reason to wonder. Asea had seemed very certain that her wards would protect this place. If she could be wrong about that, what else could she be wrong about?
“At least it was stopped,” said Asea. “I am grateful to you all for that.”
“You may, of course, have my room, milady. I will have some of the men remove my gear and bring yours up.”
“I would appreciate it if you would leave now,” she said. “I am grateful for your help.”
“I am going to redouble the sentries,” said Sardec.
“I want to see you after my gear has been moved, Rik,” she said, just as he reached the door. The Barbarian gave him a look full of envy.
“As you wish, milady,” he said.
Karim stirred on the floor. Asea bent to inspect his wounds.
“What did you wish to speak of Lady Asea?” Rik asked. The change of rooms was done. The fire on the second floor was under control. A bruised Karim stood guard outside the door.
He noticed the maps of the Tower on the table and thought he understood. She shook her head slightly.
“That creature almost killed us tonight, Rik,” she said.
“Almost,” he said. “But you are safe now.”
