Kemp took another orb, this one glowing warmly, and shattered it on the floor.
"I want fifty of you guarding the entrance, standard formation," ordered the Cadleder, "If any demons come, funnel them through and fight them in the narrow pass."
He called to an officer and designated him as the leader of those staying behind. Kemp then turned his attention to the darkness ahead. The screams still rang, magnified by the resonance chamber that was the cavern. Daylight reached a few meters in, revealing the acute widening of the cavern.
"I need light, priests," barked Kemp.
A few priests moved to the front, accompanied by twice as many shield-bearers. The priests each conjured a source of light at the tip of their wands or scepters. They could illuminate a dozen meters ahead, but no more. Kemp gave the order to march.
Flann, Walgen and Ragnhild were ushered to the first row of the formation, being some of those not significantly wounded. Only about half of the war-band was unharmed; they could only hope that the demons were as few as they were. The war-band marched forth. The cavern stopped widening soon enough and was no more than thirty-metres across.
"This cavern is stable, yes?" muttered Walgen to those around him. A few worried glances were exchanged. Flann patted him on the shoulder and he smiled nervously to her.
They had hardly travelled a hundred metres before shouts erupted from the front lines. The light-priests fell behind the standard three rows of soldiers. They lifted their scepters and wands high as to illuminate the battle. The formation spread itself a little more than thirty people wide to cover the full width of the cave. Maledicti emerged from the darkness, some carrying rocks, others jars. There were perhaps forty of them.
"Beware of thrown rocks! Get behind a shield!" commanded Kemp to the back rows.
Flann stood behind Walgen and he behind Ragnhild.
"What I wouldn't give for a proper tall-shield," complained Ragnhild.
She was using another tear-shield, since hers had been damaged during their fight against the rogue Maledicti.
A rock fell near Flann, who jumped, startled. Walgen dragged her closer to Ragnhild's back.
"What are in those jars?" shouted a soldier in the front.
"I don't wanna know," moaned another, "Just kill them quick."
Kemp knew what they contained, Flann guessed, as he gave an order as soon as the demons came to close.
"Pikemen, move up and keep those jars at bay!" he yelled. His voice echoed, thundering in the cave. "Do not let them throw the oil!"
Pikemen stabbed at the pot-carrying demons, aiming for the arms and head. Some of the Maledicti stepped back, dribbling thin streams of lava, while others pushed forward. More rocks flew towards the war-band. The pot carriers who reached the shield-wall threw the contents of the jar with all their might, splashing the front row with a translucent golden-brown liquid. Those who had successfully soaked their targets spit fire-breath.
Kemp called out to late for the front to retreat. Those soaked burst into flames as the oil burned. Fire spread faster than they could snuff it out. Priests summoned streams of water, but they could not extinguish all the flames, as the oil was difficult to extinguish. The front lines broke into chaos. Those who had been spared a fiery fate had engaged the enemy. Other rows tried to fill the gaps, but many Maledicti rushed in.
Flann drew her sword and remained behind Ragnhild. Walgen moved ahead, pole-arm in hand. To her left, a Maledicti slashed its claw across the face of a priest who was attempting to extinguish a soldier. The priest fell screaming, face bloodied and covered with ghastly wounds. He was immediately cursed – pulled from the ground by a delighted demon and tainted by its power until his skin burned off and he was dropped into a miniature gateway. To her right, two Maledicti spat fire in all directions, hitting as many as they could. One of the two was decapitated with a good blow from a halberd. The head tumbled off as the body collapsed, spraying lava as it fell. The drops cooled soon after hitting the ground. The halberd's user swore as the head of the pole-axe came out of the neck bent and red-hot.
"They're coming our way, Flann!" shouted Ragnhild over her shoulder. She then stepped forward, shield raised and sword poised for a thrust. She clashed against one of the tall fiends who clawed mercilessly at her. She blocked each strike and riposted a few times. The Maledicti took a blow from its right, from another legionnaire. During the moment its attention was diverted by the sudden attack, Ragnhild stabbed it in the eye. The blade sank into the depths of it's skull. She withdrew it with a spatter of lava; the tip of the blade was a fiery red. The demon stumbled back, until another Maledicti shoved it to the ground and grabbed Ragnhild's sword by the blade. It bent the heated tip, rendering it useless. This new opponent was no ordinary demon, as it resembled the rogue, standing taller than the rest by a few inches.
Ragnhild cursed and stepped back.
"I need help here!" she called, "my sword's done for."
"Move", yelled Flann, wand drawn. She summoned her mana and cast forth a powerful blast of wind. The air around her wand compressed into a bullet and blasted forth. The air exploded as the wind-bullet passed. The bullet hit the Maledicti dead-center in the torso. Its chest was sliced in a hundred different places, spraying thin films of orange. It staggered, screeching in pain. Walgen sent it crumbling with a blow to the side of the head. A Luxurite soldier skewered its head with all his might and a hearty cry. Walgen pulled back, next to Ragnhild. Flann also stepped behind the two warriors.
"Impressive. I'm glad Caron taught you that," he said, quickly.
The battle still raged on, the shouts and screams of flesh and metal echoing powerfully in the hollow. Ragnhild grabbed her sword by the blade, about halfway to the point, and she held it hilt upwards. She raised her shield at the approach of yet another Maledicti. She and Walgen took turns bludgeoning it with their weapons. Caron came to Flann's left.
"How goes it, Flann?" he asked absent-mindedly. He was focused on the fiends ahead, eyes scanning the demons.
"Fall back," he said to those in front of him. Ten soldier withdrew, creating a tempting opening for the Maledicti. Just as three Maledicti closed in on the gap, the floor between them and their destination fragmented, and hundreds of small projectiles peppered them from below. The fragments dug into their half-molten-stone bodies. Two appeared to be blinded by the shards, as they clutched dripping faces. Caron finished them off with another spell, a horizontal blade of wind which slashed all three of them simultaneously. The spell split their abdomens clean open, spilling forth their molten interior and revealing the tough ashbone spine in their backs. They tumbled forward, hands on their guts. Vanguards and soldiers gave each of them a coup de grâce, and moved back into position, careful to avoid the pools of still-cooling lava.
The front line held against the demons, but many had fallen, either wounded or dead. The last of the screams stopped with the dying cry of a few demons.
"Those in need of healing, come forth," panted Caron.
Flann had felt much magic at work amidst the chaos, but most of it was Caron's.
"Are you alright, Caron?" she asked as the High Priest knelt beside a bleeding vanguard.
"I should be fine," he said, taking a flask from his belt. He drank from it, then handed it to Flann.
"You may need some too," he said, "now, tend to the fallen."
She took it without question and found some of the dead who had a chance for revival. She spent the rest of her mana reanimating two soldiers, then drank the remainder of the flask's content. As she had expected, she felt a sudden burst of mana; the drink had been a concoction of special herbs. Her body was now drawing nourishment from the mixture to regenerate mana faster. She restored life to a few bodies, but each of the patients were too weak to move. She found herself quite spent, after those efforts. The effect of the concoction was not instantaneous, as she had hoped it would be. She tried as she could, despite her powerlessness, to tend to some wounded. She resorted to traditional methods of bandages and alcohol disinfection.
Around her, those who could still fight were rallied to the front by an anxious Kemp. He had sent his horse away, instead standing atop a crate of supplies in the middle of the formation. He had the dead moved closer to the entrance of the cave. New weapons were hastily brought from the carts to replace those that had been damaged during the fight. The same as done for armour. Flann had been moved back, away from the front lines, along with other priests and priestesses. With their numbers dwindling, the last things Kemp wanted was to lose those that could heal and revive his troops.
Few remained unscathed after that encounter. Less than half were still battle-ready. They were fortunate that priest and priestesses of Light were generally quite skilled at healing. They could not had made it this far in their campaign without their invaluable healing skills. The smell of burnt flesh became apparent to Flann as the bodies were carried away. She never anticipated that the Maledicti would use such tactics. She shivered. Those fiends were truly frightening to her. There were not quite as frightening, however, as what lay just ahead.
"To arms!" shouted Kemp, "Another wave is coming."
He had heard the sound of many clawed feet against stone. One of the priests in charge of lighting sent his light ahead, making it glow brighter. The light travelled further into the cave, dimming as it went. It illuminated a at least a hundred more demons, both Maledicti and stormborn. At the far back, the light was strong enough only to give a brief sight of an ornate great helm.