Chapter 12-5

They moved at a jog, Garkhen's and Jesil's heavy armor clashing and clanking as they moved. For a little while they were undisturbed, but soon they came around a corner and found a small group of Infernals racing towards them. When they saw the soldiers, they roared and charged. 

“Taste Mashano's wrath, fell beasts!” Jesil roared back, white light suddenly blazing from his blade as he moved to meet them. 

First to meet demon flesh, however, were Mirthin's arrows. One, and then a second, appeared in a squat dwarf-like Infernal's chest and throat, a faint halo of green light fading from them as the beast toppled over mid-step. A clap of thunder startled Garkhen as he ran to join Jesil, matching the lightning that struck another of the charging demons. It stumbled, but shook itself and continued forward. 

Then Jesil met the first of the advancing foes, and his blade struck true, slicing through skull and into its head. With a grunt, he pulled his weapon free as the demon fell and started to disintegrate. Garkhen reached him as he was doing so, just in time to block the attack of a taller, hulking Infernal. Its claws shrieked on the metal of his shield, and then it shrieked as Garkhen's mace shattered its shoulder. It stumbled back, and another the Warder followed up with another mace blow to its chest. Again it staggered, until a third strike to its head finished it. 

Garkhen looked about to see the remaining Infernals, or rather their corpses, disappearing. Wordlessly, Jesil motioned forwards, and they began jogging again.

Twice more they encountered small groups of demons, and twice more they quickly dispatched them. It seemed only the least of the Infernals remained within the city. Garkhen thought it a good sign for their distraction, though he hoped they could face the forces that must have mustered against them. 

“Up ahead! I see the spires of the cathedral!” Garkhen raised his head at Tirel's shout. He wondered how the tiger-man had breath to shout, but pushed the thought aside in favor of forcing himself to keep moving. Jesil and Khera seemed to be even worse off than he, struggling to keep up their pace, while Tirel and Mirthin showed no signs of fatigue. 

They turned the corner into the plaza in front of the cathedral, and saw that its doors were guarded. Two large troll-like Infernals stood in front of its doors, one red-scaled, the other white-scaled, while a dozen smaller ones stood in front of them. All were watching as the small group came into view.

Tirel grinned and flexed his claws. “Looks like they heard us.”

Jesil nodded, catching his breath. While he did, Tirel brought his hands together and murmured something, and a slight aura of green light appeared around his clawed hands. Garkhen, catching the thought, murmured a spell-prayer of protection, warding his allies against flame and claw. Behind them Khera began to whisper a spell. In front of them, the demons growled, waiting to pounce.

And then Khera finished her spell.

She threw small darts into the air. As they flew, they multiplied and grew, becoming a hail of icy lances that fell amongst the Infernals. They roared in pain and fury, then charged. Arrows sprouted from the lead demon, and he fell. Garkhen moved forward, bracing himself to meet their charge, but was startled to see Tirel sprint past him, leaping upon one of the other Infernals, his claws slashing deep gouges into its face and chest. Another demon fell to a lightning bolt, then another to arrows, but the next reached Garkhen.

By now he was familiar with the pattern. Block the claws. Crush whatever he could with his mace. Press the attack. It occurred to the half-dragon that, for all their savagery, these Infernals were actually rather poor warriors. They had no discipline, and no skill, relying only on pure power. 

Another explosion startled Garkhen as he finished off his first foe. Looking up, he saw several dazed Infernals laying on the ground in front of him, and he wondered what Khera had done. Tirel wasted no time, however, tearing into one before it could recover. To his right, Jesil was fighting with the white-scaled larger demon... leaving the red-scaled one that was now charging forward to him.

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Hey, look, fighting! And in case you're wondering, Green is Naishia's holy color, White is Mashano's, and Silver/Platinum is Bahamut's. Other colors are often associated with them, too (dark blue for Bahamut, for example), but these are the colors associated with their holy magic.