Mirra jumped up as a deep rumble shook the ground, and the cave entrance collapsed. A blast of air, laden with dust, pushed her back, forcing her to close her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, the cave was gone. Only a jumble of fallen rocks, raw from the earth, marked the place where it had been. Dust billowed around her, and she squinted as grit stung her eyes. The wound in the chasm wall bled pebbles that rolled past her feet.
“Bane!”
Mirra ran to pull stones from the immense pile, blinking away tears that were not dust inflicted. The demon steed stood immobile, its silver eyes blazing through the haze. Mirra slumped against the rocks, sorrow rising like a black tide. Bane was gone. The troops gathered to stare at the collapsed cave, murmuring in astonishment. Some scowled at her as if blaming her for the Demon Lord’s demise.
Mirra bowed her head, an odd emptiness tempering her relief that the slaughter of innocents would stop, and two wards still bound the Black Lord below. She knew, deep in her heart, that she had lost something precious. The fact that Bane’s suffering was finally ended brought a little consolation, and she wiped tears from her dusty cheeks.
The soldiers shouted as a black circle formed on the ground in front of the rubble, spreading with a soft hiss of burning soil. Mirra stared at it. Could Bane travel like a demon? Would he rise from the circle? The troops backed away, and a mud-form thrust up; an earth demon. The soil writhed, forming six arms, and the demon swelled as it rose. It pushed forth stony eyes and pinned her with a glare. Yalnebar.
“So, wench, we meet again,” it grated, its voice like rocks rubbing together.
Mirra clutched at a desperate hope and indicated the tumbled stones. “The Demon Lord needs your help. You can get him out!”
Yalnebar laughed, a gravelly sound. “Bane does not need my help, stupid child.”
Mirra’s hope died. He must be dead. She recalled the last time the demon had attacked her. Now that she no longer had power, its first blow would be fatal.
Yalnebar advanced. “I have come to finish my task.”
Mirra backed away, wondering if she was fleet enough to outrun the ponderous demon. The fiend was indefatigable, however, and her defiance hopeless. Still, she could not simply stand there and allow herself to be pounded into the earth. She would avoid that grisly fate for as long as she could, no matter how fruitless it was in the end. As she was about to sprint away, the demon steed stepped between them, surprising her. Yalnebar glared at the fiery stallion with flinty eyes.
“He told you to guard her?” The earth demon sounded incredulous.
Evidently Yalnebar was privy to Orriss’ silent communications. The demon’s gritty mouth dropped open, then snapped shut in a grim line.
“The Black Lord himself has ordered her death, Orriss. Get out of my way.”
The steed snorted fire, its flaming mane writhing hotly. Yalnebar tried to push the stallion aside, but the steed dug in its hooves, holding the demon back. The strange conflict that was arising amazed Mirra. A demon fighting a demon steed. The situation was hopeless, however. Bane may have ordered the steed to guard her, but he had not known he would perish in the cave. In time, more demons would rise to kill her, and the steed could not fight them all.
Yalnebar heaved against the steed. “Orriss, I do not have a lot of time. The Black Lord will be furious with you. I know Bane summoned you, but the slut must die.”
Orriss snorted, shaking its burning mane, and the earth demon brought more arms into play, grasped the stallion’s neck and twisted. The steed lowered its head and shoved the demon, making it stagger back, scorched earth crumbling from its arms as the stallion slipped from its grasp. Yalnebar brushed the loose earth off, obviously annoyed, and charged the demon steed, which lunged to meet it, the two thudding together. Both recoiled, Yalnebar shedding clods of soil, Orriss’ fiery hide hissing. Mirra wondered what she should do. Fleeing was pointless. The demon would find her, and no one could protect her from it, save Bane. The steed would not be able to hold the earth demon back for long, and then more demons would come.
Mirra winced as the two clashed again, Yalnebar losing more soil, Orriss’ fire dimming. She wondered if they would destroy each other, but surely a demon was more powerful than a steed. Mirra watched the diabolic battle with a sick feeling that her time was running out.