Bind Down

By now, the others had devolved back into their usual tactic of bickering amongst themselves, tossing threats around, swearing and pleading until nobody could hear anyone else. Within moments, Ramsh, one of the dwarves, stood up and bellowed with a deep voice, “My lords! I have just one more thing to say. To Arakkia with these demons!” before spitting on the floor. “The course of action is clear. We must meet them on the field of battle. The demons will not stop their endless war until every last one of them is obliterated.”

As if on cue, a blinding flash of light filled the room amidst a cacophony of demonic laughter. Once the light faded, an entire group of demons, armed with various weapons, dressed in all manner of armor or lack of armor, had us surrounded.

“Demons!” I shouted as I attempted to unsheath my new sword.

“Bind Down!” one of the demons, presumably a leader of the group, chanted. In an instant, everyone in the library other than the demons was forced to the ground, unable to get up or even so much as lift up our shoulders. Under normal circumstances, that spell would have only been able to pin one of us to the ground. It took a special kind of dark magic to pin all thirteen of us down at once. I was barely able to turn my head sideways to get a good look at the demons. The one who cast the spell stepped forward.

“You must be the commander of this infernal bunch,” I told him. He merely bellowed out an utterly evil laugh in response.

The demons had us surrounded on all sides, as their commander’s magic pinned us to the floor. Those of us who had weapons were unable to reach them due to the dark spell. The demon commander, dressed in royal robes, paced back and forth as he introduced himself and presented his terms to us, glaring down upon us as he did so. “Foolish royals, foolish warriors. I am Hotesh, younger brother of the Demon Lord Ayya and Lord Commander of the Children of Fire, bringing terms of surrender to -”

He paused upon making eye contact with King Edagri. “You…” the King struggled to say under the crushing weight of the dark spell.

“I figured you, of all the people in this room, would have been smarter than this,” Hotesh sneered. “Instead, you in your so-called elf wisdom and honor brought every ruler and military leader in the realms into one city. If I was capable of crying, it would bring tears to my eyes knowing just how easy you made all of this for me.”

“To Arakkia with you…”

“Quite the contrary, Your Highness,” Hotesh countered in a mocking tone. “We will be bringing Arakkia to you. Now where was I?” The demon commander paced back and forth some more to recall his thoughts. “Ah, yes! The terms of surrender. First, direct control of this city and all lands in this kingdom shall be ceded to the Demon Lord Ayya. Second, every man, woman, and child in this city shall be rounded up and sold to the highest bidder or slaughtered at the discretion of the Demon Lord.”

“We won't let that happen,” Giorg said in short bursts of desperate breath. “The ogres will stop you from even trying.”

“This city is surrounded,” Hotesh warned him. “Twenty thousand Children of Fire, compared to, what, eight thousand ogres? A few hundred elven warriors? They would all be slaughtered in minutes.”

Giorg spat at the ground, just missing the demon commander's clawed feet.

“Third,” Hotesh continued, unfazed at Giorg's display, “All of your weapons will be surrendered to be redistributed at the discretion of the Demon Lord. Fourth, all of your scrolls shall be destroyed. You will not be needing any of that precious knowledge where you're going.” He fell silent as he continued to recall the terms he was meant to deliver to us.

“Are we finished?” Edagri asked.

“Not even close,” was Hotesh's answer. “And fifth, Halliyah Zikatta, the so-called chosen hero, shall be escorted to the city of Wast, where Ayya has requested an audience with him.”

“And if we say no?”

“Should you attempt to resist, should you attempt to say no, you and your friends will be slaughtered, save for Zikatta. Ayya insists on keeping him alive. I'll give you five minutes to come to a decision, though given the present circumstances, I don't think it will take that long.”

“No,” I answered immediately. As best as the others could, they all looked at me with shock, horror even. Judging from what I could see of them, they looked like I had just signed all of their death warrants. Even though he had the upper hand in this situation, Hotesh took a couple of steps back, retreating slightly towards the wall of demon warriors behind him.

“What did you say?” he asked me.

“I said no.”

In an attempt to regain his composure, he told me, “Perhaps, I must admit, I did not communicate clearly.” He took several steps closer, wanting me to feel the evil emanating from him. “This city is surrounded. You are surrounded. You have no weapons, no way of defending yourselves. And you want to refuse my generous offer?”

“That is correct.”

“Perhaps what they say is true,” Hotesh continued to sneer. “Humans do get foolish in their old age.” He lifted himself up to resume his dominant stance. “You've sealed the fates of everyone in this room.” As he moved through the group, he scanned each of us, examining us. “Now, which one of you should I kill first?”

He walked over to Edagri first. “You won't get away with this…” the Elf King told Hotesh.

“The Elf King,” Hotesh replied, looming over him. “You've been quite a nuisance for a while now. But no. I'd like for you to have some punch. But…” He took his sword to Edagri's cheek… “There's power in king's blood, they say,” …and lightly sliced it open, collecting the blood that squeezed out of the cut. He took a bit of a taste of that blood, sounding quite pleased with himself.

Next, Hotesh walked back over to Giorg. “This time, I won't miss,” Giorg threatened him.

“An ogre wildheart,” Hotesh observed. “You and the chosen hero seem like good friends.” He carefully placed the tip of his sword on the bridge of Giorg's nose. “Perhaps I can give you matching noses. But no.” He pulled the sword away. “You would make for a fine gift to Ayya when we return to Wast. He will want you in one piece.”

He simply smiled a very wicked smile as he passed me.

“Coward,” I whispered to myself.

At last, he made his way over to Ipas. “Yes… This will be the one. A seer, and a very pretty one at that.” He put his blade up to her face. “Maybe I can wear your eyeballs like earrings. Wouldn't that be fun?” The blade slid up to her ears. “But… Lykosi ears fetch a pretty price on the black market.”

I struggled to move even a little. The demon commander's spell was just too strong, especially against my frail, old man body. Maybe… I tried to reach for my new sword. The thought crossing my mind was if I could just swing the sword around to hit him in the leg, it would hurt just enough to break his concentration. There was only one way to find out.

Ipas’ strength broke, causing her to start crying. The madman must have been toying with her now, much like the wiamiu plays with its food before eating. If I could just… Stupid old man fingers! I kept on pushing, barely managing to get a hold of the blade.

Hotesh screamed as my blade made contact with an exposed part of his leg. The pain was too much for him to handle, forcing him to drop his sword. Just as I had hoped, the attack broke his concentration just long enough for the Bind Down spell to fade. A massive weight had lifted off our backs, allowing us to hurry to our feet and everyone to retrieve their weapons, if they had any.

The demon commander roared, “You will pay for this, you insolent rodent!” He barked a single order to his soldiers, “Kill them all!”

His order was met with my blade cutting right through him. No longer would he be a threat, for the attack turned him into mist. The war room erupted into a frenzied melee, full of the sound of metal clashing against metal. Though the demons had sheer numbers, they were disorganized and undisciplined, especially without their leader. We had a better position and better coordination. The table, built into the floor, provided us with a good brace for support. It was the first time I saw most of these people fight. I had to admit they were holding their own in battle quite well.

After some time, the last of the demons in the room had been vanquished. Through some miracle, our side had only sustained (relatively) minor injuries. Edagri had taken multiple cuts to his face, though none hurt as much as the one Hotesh dealt him. Giorg dislocated a shoulder from swinging his hammer too hard. One of the Stewards lost an ear, which Queen Rini was able to reattach with a healing spell. Rini herself managed to last the entire battle and only lost bits of her hair. I had sprained a leg trying to kick one of the demons away from Ipas and was dealt a long, though thankfully shallow, cut to my left arm. Other than that, everyone said they were fine.

Our celebration, however, was short lived, as an explosion rocked the entire city. And then another. And another one again.

“What was that?” King Edagri asked.

“The demon commander did say we were surrounded,” I explained. “The whole city is under attack.”