The Hunt Begins

Dawn of Chaos: Hell Gate - Chapter 4

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The Hunter

The ground shuddered with the heavy thud of Gorath’s feet as it lumbered up the palace road. Behind it, a second wave of demons rushed forward to block escape from the High City.

An agonized roar keened through the air above. It looked up to see the enormous form of Incanus Thad flying toward the hellgate, its great wings beating frantically away from the palace.

Gorath threw back its head and laughed. As with most of the larger and more powerful demons, its voice was loud, and it reverberated menacingly. It had a grating edge that made it difficult to listen to, like the sound of nails being raked across a chalkboard.

“So, the royals aren’t so soft after all,” it said aloud. “And once again you overestimate yourself, Captain of the Horde. I don’t know what Lord Borr sees in you. Without that axe of yours, you’re just a second-rate Deman with pretty feathers.”

It turned toward the palace, and what it saw made its eyes narrow dangerously. The remnants of the winged strike force were being driven back by a disciplined line of soldiers with gleaming pikes. A fusillade of arrows rained down on them from the upper walls. Alchemical bombs and bursts of magic launched from the tower above exploded in their midst. Many of the monsters were already leaping from the lower walls to escape. The attack was quickly turning into a rout.

“So much for the ‘decapitation strike,’” it growled angrily. “Thad’s fleeing and we’re losing the bailey. It won’t be long before the rest come limping out as well.”

It was quickly proven right. Demons appeared around the corner from the north side of the castle, where the walls and ceiling of the conference room had been breached. Some were so badly wounded that they could barely fly. The rest of the attackers took to the air as well. They fled the palace, wings beating away from it to the east.

Gorath raised a scaly hand. A burst of flame erupted from it and flew into the sky. Some of the demons immediately banked toward it. Before long, many of them had landed nearby, regrouping around it.

One of the larger creatures stepped toward it with a salute. Gorath did not return it.

“Report, Barzoun,” Gorath ordered.