Book 1 - Chapter 2.7
Nothing in the town was made of wood. Every building was brickwork and iron, built perfectly to resist fire. But though the buildings could withstand searing hot flames, the people living within them had their limits.
The monsters had started with Prosper's apartment. Half of them focused their flames in a steady stream on the metal front double doors, while the others shot volleys of fireballs at the windows. The drapes of the window where Prosper had spoken from were on fire and broke off into ashy flakes.
The monsters were so preoccupied with their task that they did not notice when Sol stepped out of a different side alley with her bow drawn. To both her and Nyx's surprise and relief, the enchantment had taken. Sol's guidance had proven effective, and though it wasn't her magic to use, Nyx followed the instructive movements of her hands as she wove her strange energy along the length of the horn and wood bow. The result wasn't as smooth as what an experienced witch could make, Nyx's magic came out jagged like the lighting she favoured, but it held.
The arrow on the string of Sol's bow glowed and vibrated faintly as it touched the woven linen. She had slipped on her gloves to handle her bow in the ensuing fight, as the magic made her bare hands numb. She preferred the padded awkwardness of the thick leather over losing feeling in her fingers.
Though Nyx told her that a magic strike on any part of a shadow's body would destroy it, Sol still aimed for her target's head out of habit. She breathed out and let her arrow fly. It shot bright and true and lodged itself into the back of the skull of one monster that was sending flame up at a window, and the beast turned to ash.
Hiding in the alley a bit behind Sol, Nyx let out a gasp of surprise. The monsters stopped their assault on the building and rounded on Sol.
Sol notched another arrow and let loose, and another shadow disintegrated into ash and food.
The monsters fired return volleys of fireballs smelling similarly of burning peat. Sol dashed along the side of the town square, narrowly evading the fire and shooting off two more arrows.
The crowd became only two and the remaining shadows galloped towards Sol, looking to close the distance between them and make her shots harder to take.
But Sol was a woman in a trance, at one with the rhythmic motion of notching and firing, and the last two monsters only made it halfway across the town square before they were ash.
Sol lowered her bow and breathed out one long steadying breath as her body trembled as she released herself from her controlled exertion. Nyx rushed out to her and grabbed her arm, giving her a start.
"You did it!!!" She exclaimed. "I can't believe that worked!"
"Yeah." Sol said softly and let out a light chuckle. She was in a daze from the fight, her heart still pounding from the adrenaline, and her whole body drenched in sweat under her coat. She looked down at her bow. For once in her life she had access to something that had been denied her for some indiscernible reason. It wasn't the same as the magic the witches used, she would argue it was more powerful, but it was magic. She had wielded it, even if it was borrowed.
"It's strange though." Nyx said looking up at the still opaque sky. "The mist hasn't cleared."
"Does that mean we missed one?" Sol said. "Or are there more on the way."
Nyx answered her with a silent look of dismay.
From the front gate of the town came a cacophonous roar, louder than the brays and barks of the monsters Sol and Nyx had felled. It echoed inwards through the main street towards the town square.
The two women crept to the mouth of the main street and peered down it.
On the other end of it, standing at the gate, was a towering shadow, larger than the ones from before.
Its head reached the very top of the buildings next to it. Its crown of horns reached even higher, and unlike the smaller monsters, who walked on four feet, it stood upright.
Its long arms were outstretched, with its hands resting on either side of the opening in the wall. Its eyes glowed a similar but much brighter orange, and swirling molten patterns shifted along its shadowy body.
"An arch demon." Nyx breathed out.
She then whispered frantically at Sol. "We have to hide, now!"
"Alright." Sol hadn't taken her eyes off of the monster on the other end the street. Through the limited touch of her gloves she counted her remaining arrows, three, and then notched one to her bow. "Can magic still slay it?"
"I don't know! But we won't be able to get close enough to try!"
"MAGE." the demon rasped, and its voice rushed towards them like a burning field. Its large orange mouth opened to as it spoke and gouts of mist poured out. Nyx froze and cowered behind Sol, still clutching at the back of her coat.
Sol jumped at the sound of my monster's voice. "These things can talk??"
"DISOBEDIENT." It rasped again. "PUNISH ALL!!!!"
With this last bellow its mouth lit up with flame. It sent forth a plume so massive it filled the whole main street as it rushed towards Sol and Nyx. The two of them ran for the nearest alley as fire filled the whole square. The heat cracked windows, showering glass on them from high above.
Sol pushed Nyx into the overhang of a back alley door and crouched over her so that they were both protected by her coat. It was made from the skin of the dire bear she slew years ago and fire resistant. Sol hoped that this included demon fire as well.
The flame stopped just at the mouth of the alley and the two of them remained crouched and silent in anticipation of what would come next.
"MAGE." The demon now roared, and it shook what glass was left in the window frames.
"We need to get deeper into the alley." Sol said gasping as she got back to her feet and pulled Nyx along behind her. The heat and the mist made it difficult for her to breathe. "Maybe head to the river." She didn't like the idea of getting into the water, but if it was sink or sear she was willing to take a dip. She would just need to make sure her feet touched the bottom.
"That thing will follow us into the river and boil us alive." Nyx said. "There's no escape."
"MAGE!!!" Came another bone rattling roar, and then the loud crunching of brittle clay.
"How is that thing different from the others, besides being bigger and stronger and the fact that it can speak? Can my arrows still work on it?"
"I don't think so."
They turned a corner to catch their breath again in a cooler part of the alley and collapsed with their backs against the wall.
"What makes you think that? Have you fought one of these before?"
"I tried." Nyx said. "I had to run. My magic wasn't strong enough anyways."
"How about now?"
"I doubt even now."
They sat in silence.
"So it would boil us right? If we got in the river? Like soup?"
"Yeah," Nyx said with a haunted and far away look. "Like soup."
There was the crumbling crash of heavy stones hitting the ground.
"You survived one of these before though." Sol said as she slipped off her coat.
"I was very lucky." Nyx was looking at her hands. At the edge of her fingerless gloves her skin was ashy and cracked, and the tips of her nails were black. She rubbed at them. "It was too busy laying waste to my home village to find me." Nyx swallowed. "I hid in some tall grass and buried myself under a layer of wet mud."
"I'm sorry about your home," Sol said as she looked down at Nyx, crouched small beside her, but she did not meet her eye.
"Alright, well." Sol slipped off her gloves. "Here's hoping that luck holds." her retied her quiver over her shoulder. "Maybe we can add it to some of mine."
Nyx looked up at her quizzically. "You're not going to fight it, are you?"
A plume of fire shot past them a few feet away and Sol stood up to lead Nyx away, turning several corners until they were crouching again in a dead end.
"It's either fight or get turned into soup." Sol held out her hunting knife and her padded gloves. "I need you to enchant these for me, if you can. Just in case my arrows don't work."
"Maybe we'll be lucky running?" Nyx said softly as she took the items in her hands. Her mouth was twisted in misery. "I made a bad bet."
Sol draped her coat over Nyx's shoulders. The weight and heat of it made it difficult for Sol to run and she had a sense she would need to be fast, and Nyx would need to be protected, if she was to win this fight. Even if it made fire more of an issue for her.
Nyx looked up at her touch and Sol, catching her eye, pointed at her knife and gloves. "Finish enchanting those so I can prove you wrong."