Page 101 of Soul Forge

“You keep her safe,” Reiner told Nox, ignoring the chaos and placing her hands on the steed’s cheeks. Pale white eyes stared back, ears flicking forwards to listen. “My life begins and ends with her.” Elda’s throat constricted, the shrieks and wails fading when the words left the valkyrie’s lips. “Keep moving. Don’t get caught.You keep her safe, Nox,” she repeated.

The tulpar demon bobbed her head in answer, then turned and galloped away from the flames, heading for the side of the village that was yet to be swallowed by the flames. Elda glanced back in time to see Reiner’s power flare, crackling around Atlas’ wings and illuminating her veins in a lilac inferno when the pair reunited.

Sypher and Gira were fighting in tandem, their swords slicing through flesh and bone, and Julian had dismembered his opponent and was searching for the next one. Elda caught a glimpse of eight pointed legs and pale, sagging skin before Nox rounded a corner and obscured them from view.

The sound of demons faded, replaced by the wails of frightened civilians. A gaggle of them were huddled together in the street, looking for a way to escape the madness. When they saw her, they called out for her, hands reaching to grab at her in desperation. Nox reared up and backed away, and Elda put her hands out to ward them off.

“Please!” she shouted over their panic. “The Soul Forge and I are here to help. Right now, he and another wielder are dispatching the arachna in the village square. I’m here to help you, but you must try to stay calm.”

“The temple is full!” A woman shouted from the back of the crowd, clutching a crying child to her chest. Her face was stained with soot, but she appeared unharmed. “The village hall has space, but it’s locked. There are people inside who have activated the runes. They’ve trapped us out here.”

“You have to open the hall!” Someone else agreed. More shouts followed, vying for her help. Elda knew the hall was back in the middle of the chaos.

“What kind of runes?” she asked. If it was a simple locking spell, going to the hall for protection would be useless. A locked door would do nothing against the arachna or the fire, but it would be enough to trap the people inside and turn the hall into their tomb.

“We think they’re the same as the temple,” the woman with the child said. “The village elder is the one who knows how they work.”

“And where is your village elder?”

“In the stomachs of about five or six demons,” a grizzled man replied, spitting blood into the dirt. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and a nasty slash gouged down his cheek. “Going back to the square is a fool’s errand, girl.”

A flicker of worry shot down Elda’s spine. “You said there were people in there. How many?”

“At least ten.” The man scratched the stubble on his chin and studied her with the one eye he could still use. “You’re the new wielder, right?”

“Who I am isn’t important right now. I need all of you to head in that direction and to stay together.” She pointed to the edge of the village, away from the fire and death, out towards the marshy fields where the ground was too wet for the flames to spread.

“And be cut down by the arachna without a place to hide?” a wood elf with a shaved head scoffed. They were the only non-human among the group.

“You won’t be cut down,” Elda promised, closing her eyes and reaching inside herself for that pinprick of light, the one that had led her to Irileth’s realm in Gira’s garden.Irileth, I need you.She sent the thought into the ether, hoping an answer would echo back.

“You called?” Elda opened her eyes at the sound of the collective gasp, finding Irileth standing beside the tulpar demon. The flames in the near distance reflected off her frozen skin, her pale hair billowing in the wind. Despite their fear, and despite their lives being in imminent danger, the people still bowed their heads in worship.

“Can you keep these people safe?” Elda asked.

Her head tilted. “You’re going to the hall without me?”

“And the temple. If the runes are down, the people there will be in danger, too.”

Irileth smiled. “The temple is safe. It’s one of mine, and the runes are strong,” she assured. “But the hall is only protected by a weak shield.” Which meant it was only a matter of time before the demons or the fire got to the people inside. “I’m with you, little friend, even if you can’t see me,” the Spirit promised. “My power is yours. Go.”

Heart thundering in her chest, Elda squeezed her heels against Nox’s sides, leaning over her dark neck when the demon kicked into a full gallop. The sounds of battle drew closer too quickly, sending adrenaline zinging through her veins. This was her first real experience of what Sypher had to stand against on a regular basis. There were no practice manoeuvres, no second chances if she failed. A wrong move meant death.

Nox plunged into the chaos, passing the first flaming houses without slowing. The shape of the hall loomed over the rooftopsthat still stood, the shield still holding up against the inferno engulfing the rest of the village. Elda tried to breathe shallowly, the gritty smoke stinging her eyes and lungs.

When she caught sight of her friends, she found Sypher fighting from the ground, his wings too strained to offer him much help after the long flight. Elda watched him bend his knees and leap at one of the monsters.

Its skin was the colour of raw meat, peppered with blue and purple veins. Coarse, sparse hairs jutted from its body, and eight pitch-black eyes adorned its head above a mouth too wide for its face. Rows of teeth lined that gaping maw, glistening with the blood and viscera of the villagers it had already devoured. It had eight legs, each ending in a single point, the sharp tips reinforced with the same armoured plating protecting its shoulders, strong enough to pierce through the wooden planks it stood on.

Sypher dropped onto its back, severing its head with his sword in one quick swipe before moving on to the next. A fountain of brackish grey blood splattered the mud as it collapsed. A second fell when he cleaved its legs above the bone sheath, flailing on the ground until his blade pierced its heart. His chest was heaving, but he fought with determined zeal, moving between each crushing body like smoke and felling a dozen of the beasts before Elda even entered the square.

Nox whinnied at the sight of Julian, his axe spinning so fast it blurred. Great welts appeared in whatever demon flesh he could reach, a broad, vicious grin lighting up his face. To Elda, the vampire had never looked more deadly.

Reiner and Gira were equally intimidating, the former crushing skulls with her mace and incinerating eyeballs with her power, the latter cleaving bodies with his heavy claymore gripped in one hand, tearing the arachna limb from limb with the other. His wolf had been freed, and all eight feet of him was coated in silken black fur and bulging muscles, splattered withthe blood of his enemies. His fangs gleamed in the hazy orange light, the fire reflecting in his eyes.

Every second seemed to last an age, but Nox skidded to a stop outside the hall when Elda tugged on the reins. The structure was intact, but she saw the embers falling onto the roof start to catch, the first strands of hay shrivelling under the small flames that blossomed when the shield began to fail.

People were inside the building, and when Elda tried the door, it refused to budge. Her lockpick was in her pack, but there were too many demons to risk the time it would take to pick it. She knew from experience that locking runes could be smashed with enough force. Her father had forced his way into her bedroom when she’d managed to reverse engineer one, only to find her already gone. The door had still been shattered when Reiner dragged her back home.

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