ed red as blood, with a barrel helmet with heavy, curled ivory horns affixed to the sides.  The waggling red beard told him exactly who it was without seeing the Dwarfs face.
	Ill not be dishonorin the axe of me ancestors, Darax said steadily, hefting the Axe of the Dwarven King in his hands confidentlynot as a symbol of office, but as the weapon it most certainly was.  No Dwarven king sits in his keep and lets his people do his fightin for him.
	This isnt the place, your Majesty, Tarrin told him grimly.
	I wont be sittin in the back, he protested.
	No, I mean that this isnt where were going to make our stand.  The magicians have no clear line of sight at the attackers.  Im just here to piss off ShazBaket.  I just ruined her little trap she meant to use to kill me quickly.  I cant just hide behind the rampart and not let her see how badly it failed.
	Darax chuckled maliciously.  Well then, allow me to help ye.  He then bellowed several extremely crude and offensive curses, banging the flat of his axe against his breastplate and beard.  What happens now? he asked.  Ill admit Im still learnin the complexities of tactics from Bragg.
	Well, she cant send her humans with me and the Shadows here, because our magicians can just wipe them out.  So shell send her Demons to charge the line and break our formation, then send in her humans.  She wants to take this pass so she can flank us and just grind us against her superior numbers.  We want to hold this pass until she loses so many Demons that the Demon Lord wont send her any more.  Every Demon we kill here today is one less well have to face later.  Once theyre dead, the Demon Lord cant summon them back to this plane for one hundred years.
	I get it.  Whatll be our greatest threat?
	The Demons who can fly, he answered.  They can attack from the flanks for the rear, and they can get a clear line to try to attack the magicians directly.  Look for ShazBaket to send quite a few vrock and chasme on suicide attacks to try to kill the Wizards and Elementalists just as her Demons on the ground make contact with our front lines, to keep them from stopping the assault.
	Aye, I remember Kang warning about that to Bragg.
	Look for Lorak to deal with that, Tarrin chuckled as he mentally commanded his Elementals to retreat back to the army.  And my Elementals, as well as Anayi and Ariana.  Ive fixed it so three of them can fly.  Theyll be responsible for breaking up the attacks on the magicians.  Lets get back to the others.
	Alrighty.  Nice armor.  It almost looks Duran.
	Not quite, he smiled through his visor.  Its something I hoped Id never had to use.
	Why is that?
	You know how uncomfortable armor is? he asked.  I feel like Im wearing my mothers pots and pans.
	Darax looked at him, then laughed as they turned and hurried back to the others.

	Did all of that serve some kind of purpose, dear one, or did you do it just to make my heart stop? Dolanna commanded crossly as he joined the others.  All of them were looking at the armor he had on.
	Oh, it had a purpose, alright, Tarrin grunted.  ShazBaket knows she cant bait me now, and she also knows that I can use my Sorcery.  I want her to think very carefully about that before she commits her forces.
	But thatll make her commit everything, Kang protested.
	Exactly, Tarrin growled.  Ulger.
	Aye, Tarrin? he asked from across the group.
	Did you put that little surprise in the trench?
	Ulger grinned evilly.  Right where you wanted me to, he answered.  Can you hit it without seeing it?
	Easily, I just have to know where it is, thats all.
	Exactly where we planned to put it, he assured.
	What surprise? Kang asked.
	Remember those kegs of gunpowder Ulger brought along? Tarrin asked.
	Kangs face screwed up, but Kimmie and Miranda laughed delightedly.
	We decided this might be a good time to use them, Ulger said with a nasty grin.
	You should have told me, Kang protested.
	And ruin the surprise? Karas forbid, Ulger protested.
	You have to stop hanging around Sarraya, Ulger, Kang said darkly, then he stomped off, muttering curses under his breath.  But he returned immediately.  Alright, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like its about to get serious! he called, pointing.  Across the valley, hundreds and hundreds of Demons were beginning to form up, the vast majority of them being the small, stupid manes.  Most of them were unarmed, but the front four ranks of the assembling formation were equipped with the long spears that they had tried to use against him.  Larger Demons were herding the manes into position using whips and claws, using pain to motivate them into obedience.  More and more Demons were pushing into position, and the skies over the far side of the balley were starting to get populated with flying Demons, circling over the army and preparing for their part.
	Nice armor, Tarrin. Where did you get it? Ulger asked.
	Tarrin raised his left paw, and the five blades of the Cats Claws extended from the tips of the armored gauntlets.
	That armor is the Cats Claws? Ulger gasped.
	He nodded.  Karas probably decided that it wasnt proper for me not to have any armor, he said, tapping the symbol of Karas on his left shoulder.  I am a Knight, after all.  Ive never used it before because I dont really like armor.  You know that.  But I thought, given this particular situation, it might be best.  Ive never really fought in this kind of a battle before, so its best not to take chances.  Against a horde of Demons, armor isnt a very bad idea, he admitted.
	I never knew they could do that, Ulger mused.
	I like to keep a few secrets, Ulger, Tarrin said with a slight smile behind his visor.  It adds to my mystique.
	Ulger laughed.
	Can Mists claws do that? Kimmie asked.
	They can, he answered.  They can do everything mine can do.
	Does she know they can do that? she asked.
	He glanced at her.  Of course she knows.
	Shes never told me!
	She knows when to keep her mouth shut, Tarrin grunted.  You dont make something that can save your life common knowledge.
	Cant argue with that, Kimmie grunted.
	They quieted down and got serious as the Demons completed their preparations.  Kang called for the magicians to get ready as quite a few of those flying Demons suddenly vanished, and then reappeared at the edge of the Ward that stopped them from appearing on top of the army.  Tarrin took his sword in both hands and stood in the middle of the line, ignoring any attempt to move him, and he wasnt alone.  Over his generals strenuous objections, Darax stood immediately beside the Were-cat, taking an offered shield from a Dwarven soldier and preparing himself to stand at the focus point of the impending charge.
	The Demons began to move.  Led by the surviving balor, those hideous foes began marching inexorably into the valley, giving out bone-chilling cries and shouts to unnerve their foes.  A large phalanx of manes were flanked by many assorted Demons, and a large complement of armored Cambions, male half-breed Demons, brought up the rear, all of them armed with all kinds of assorted weaponry.  There were Alu among them, but since Alu could fly, they were high in the sky, preparing to attack from above when given the order.  Tarrin flexed his wings a few times and then folded them behind him, and clapped Darax on the shoulder with a paw.
	Good luck, your Majesty, he intoned.
	Aye, you too, Lord Tarrin.
	Luck?  Phaugh, we dont need luck, Ulger grunted as he moved up with them.  To either side of Tarrin, the strongest and most heavily armed and skilled of them gathered, the anchor to which the line would cling when the Demons struck.  Darax found himself wedged between Tarrin and Binter, looking like a child between two adults, and Sisska took up the position on Tarrins left.  Azakar stood to Binters right, and Ulger to Sisskas left, and to either side there stood a staggered array of Knight and Vendari, armor and strength, to stand fast against the approaching horror.
	There was a light clatter close to his ear, and through the smell of the metal of his armor, he realized that Fireflash was sitting on his shoulder.  Go back to Mist and the children, little one, he ordered.  This is no place for you.
	The drake hissed ominously, and did not move.
	This is going to be a war, my friend.  I cant protect you.  Ill be busy.
	He hissed again.
	Alright.  Be careful, and remember your fire wont hurt the Demons.  Use your gas.
	He chirped in understanding, and jumped atop his helmet.
	The ground beneath their feet began to shudder from the footsteps of the approaching army.  They could see most of them, for they stood uphill from the Demons because of  the natural slope of the valley floor, could see that terrifying mass of evil striding closer and closer.
	Set, shields! Kang boomed.
	In unison, those Dwarves armed with a shield presented it forward, and their lines contracted to form an interlocking wall of metal and wood, a tactic shared by both Arakite and Dura.  The only hole in that shield wall were the twenty or so beings in the middle, the most dangerous of them all, the ones that didnt need a shield wall to protect themselves from the advancing horde.
	The Demons began to trot.
	Set, pikes! Kangs voice thundered across the valley.
	A cascade of rasping wood and metal heralded the lowering of the pikes held by the first three ranks, a bristling wall of deadly steel that would make any attempt to get past the log palisade they defended a deadly undertaking.
	The Demons began to run, screaming and shouting in those unearthly voices, as the short manes vanished behind the earthen rampart as they neared it.
	Lorak, close the lid! Kang screamed as the flying Demons all began to surge forward.
	Lorak, the Air Elementalist, raised his hands and used his power to create an impressive wall of solid air that centered around the magicians, anchored to the ground to create a solid barrier that would prevent any attempt of a flying Demon to reach them.
	Phandebrass! Kang boomed.
	The white-haired Wizard began to chant in the language of magic, a spell that Tarrin had read in his book, but had never cast before.  It was a defensive spell called the spell engine, a field of magical energy that would absorb any incoming hostile magical spell and hold that magical energy, which then Phandebrass could use himself to power any spell that he cast.  Only the most powerful Wizards could cast that formidable spell, a spell that Tarrin wasnt willing to try because of its complexity.
	Tarrin was impressed.  With two spells, Kang had just protected his magicians from their greatest vulnerability, the flying Demons.
	He didnt have much time to enjoy it, for the first of the Demons came over the earthen rampart, the mostrous balor, with his jagged sword in one hand and his nine-tailed whip in the other.  It stopped short and then thrust its sword at them, unleashing a massive bolt of lightning at the line, directly at Tarrin.  But the Were-cat brought his sword up and allowed the bolt to strike the blade.  Lightning danced through the fire of his sword, but went no further.  The massive beast snapped out its wings and gave an ear-splitting roar of rage and fury, and then pointed at the lines and remained where it was as its army poured over the rampart, to either side of it.
	The Dwarves all gave out a tremendous cry, a battle cry of defiance and challenge, and the manes charged the line with their long spears.  They charged across the flat, open area between the rampart and the palisade with surprising speed given their short stature, rushing to the attack.
	But then the magicians behind the lines unleashed their magical fury on those charging Demons.  A volley of magical spells streaked over the front lines, and before them, manes were consumed in huge storms of ice that fell from the sky, or struck by jagged bolts of lightning, or literally melted to piles of black goo by jets of evil green acid.  Some fell into deep pits created by magical spells, some had their feet sink into the ground, and have the ground hold them fast.  Some were struck blind by the power of magic, and some were struck by great blows of magical force.  All up and down the line, the charging manes were whittled down in number as they tried to rush across the open field.
	The Demons on the ground were not the only ones encountering heavy resistance.  With keening cries, dozens of winged Demons surged forward, spreading out, and then they began diving at the Duran army with long spears, aimed at the magicians kept behind the front lines.  The vulture-like vrock and the hideous fly-bodied chasme, the long-limbed scaly nabassu and half-breed Alu dove fast and straight, but they all veered away when the fastest of them, those to get there first, suddenly slammed into some kind of invisible wall.  It was Loraks creation, the powerful Air Elementalist utilizing his power on a large scale.  One of those that turned away, a sleek vrock, seemed to literally explode in a puff of feathers and black ichor as it was intercepted by Tarrins Air Elemental.  A chasme buzzed angrily past its dead companion, but it was literally sliced in half by the Water Elementals long tendrils as they slashed through the air from the flank.  The magical creature flew through the air using wings of ice extending out of her back just below those tendrils, and she dipped aside as the Fire Elemental raced past her to intercept two more chasme, who banked away from their assault on the magicians to flee from its long, burning arms.  Several more seemed to wobble in midair and then crash into the hillsides, struck by the crossbow quarrels of Ariana as she fired on them from high above, using her exceptional skill with her hunting weapon to kill them before they got anywhere close to threatening those on the ground.  Anayi, wearing a red breastplate supplied to her by the Dura to distinguish her from other Alu, had circled around those attacking Demons and dove behind them, unleashing spell after spell at them from behind, even as a few Wizards and Elementalists on the ground unleashed their attacks up at them from below.  Caught in a magical crossfire of bolts of lightning, fiery missles of magical energy, and pale beams of magical light that had many assorted unpleasant effects when they made contact with them, the magicians and Anayi managed to break up the organized attempt to dive at the magicians.  Several of the Alu had pulled up and attempted to rain magical spells down on the magicians, but their attempts were absorbed by the spell engine, which Phandebrass almost immediately used to power one of his own spells.  It was not aimed at the flying Demons, however.  He chanted loudly and powerfully in the language of magic, and the balor, recognizing the spell, turned and dove back over the earthen rampart as the Wizard threw a handful of powdered lodestone into the air, which vanished almost as soon as it was released.
	Fiery missles suddenly streaked down from the heavens themselves, a rain of deadly rocks that had fallen from the stars, and impacted into the field between the rampart and the palisade.  Those impact shook the ground and resonated in every ear a titanic BOOM that threatened to deafen them all.  Those in proximity to those impacts simply vaporized, just as they had when Tarrin had used his air shockwave.  The field through which the manes charged suddenly became a smoky, dusty wasteland of deep craters, smoking holes, rapidly decomposing bodies, and noxious pools of ooze burning into the ground, but Phandebrass spell had turned the entire field into an obstacle course of dangerous, deep holes that would make any kind of coherent impact with the lines of the Dura absolutely impossible, not to mention the hundreds of Demons that he had destroyed with the might of his spell.  It was a spell called meteor strike, and it was one of the most powerful and devastating combat spells a Wizard could employ.
	But manes were as fearless as they were stupid, and they charged right through the vicious magical counterattack.  Their job was to take the brunt of the counterstroke, to die so the stronger Demons could reach the lines without as much danger to themselves, and in that capacity they performed their task well.  The first of the manes to reach the palisade was skewered on the pike of a Dwarf, as it tried to thrust its long spear through the palisade and shield wall, but the long pikes of the Dura were longer than its spear.  Instead of trying to dodge or evade, it simply ran right into the pikes in a mindless attempt to do what it was instructed to do, with no regard for itself.  Its body immediately began to dissolve into that acidic black ichor, and the Dwarf holding that pike shook it frantically to get the body off the pikehead before its caustic remains ate the weapon away.
	The balor behind the lines, that was now looking over the rampart, widened its eyes at that sight, and immediately turned its head back to the main force, no doubt reporting to ShazBaket that the Dura were armed with weapons that could kill Demons.
	The manes that reached the center of the line were not skewered on pikes.  They were instead engaged with swords, axes, hammers, and maces, the weapons of the Knights and the Vendari.  Tarrin and Darax stood solidly in the center of that line, chopping down anything that got within reach.  Darax showed that while he was still learning the arts of commanding armies, he was a fearfully effective warrior when it came to swinging his axe in melee combat.  His strokes were powerful and expertly aimed, but they also did not overreach by a finger.  He struck with exactly the force it would take to kill his opponent and returned to the defense position before the body so much as had the chance to fall to the ground.  Darax knew the intricacies of fighting with his axe.
	The bodies of the manes began to pile up at the palisade, as more and more of them managed to get through the sustained magical barrage and reach the lines of the Dura, only to be speared on pikes or mowed down by the center of the line, but even the dead began to affect the battle.  Their bodies quickly became smoking piles of noxious, acidic slime, and those piles began to eat at the ground, eat at the logs, burn into the weapons of the Dura, and created a foul miasma that was affecting the ability of the Dura to breathe.  Tarrin called to his Elementals for help, and they responeded quickly.  His Air Elemental disengaged from its battle with the winged Demons and streaked across the palisade, creating a brisk wind that blew that poisonous pall away from the Dura, back over the field.  His Earth Elemental, which had been submerged into the ground the entire time, used its power over the earth to suck underground the pools of black ichor that were the remains of the Demons dying at the palisade.  It started at the east side of the field and moved west, creating a furrow of overturned earth as it moved that either caused the remains of Demons to be pulled underground or turned earth over on those remains, either way helping to neutralize their detrimental effects.
	But the Demons were making headway as well.  One of the Alu Wizards in the air over the magicians managed to cast a spell that disrupted Loraks wall of air, and the winged Demons converged on the magic-users with coordinated haste.  Several of them were blasted out of the sky by the Elementalists and Wizards who had turned their attention from the manes to their own safety, but those that managed to get through found themselves facing a barrier nearly as impervious as Loraks wall.  Tarrins Water Elemental hovered over the magicians, and she caused her form to change, to shift, as she spread out her liquid form to form a protective barrier between the Demons and the magicians.  Neh raised her hands and cast a spell into her liquid form, causing it to freeze solid in an instant, covering the magicians in a thick dome of ice.  Vrock slammed into that frozen dome with their taloned feet and drove their feather-decorated halberds into the ice, but could not penetrate it.  Chasme and Alu struck it as well, the winged half-breeds pounding on it with weapons as the hideous fly-Demons used their innate Demonic power to project fire to try to melt their way through, to get at the magicians within.
	To the Demons shock, that barrier of solid ice became liquid water again almost instantaneously, as the Water Elemental shifted her form from ice back to water, as was her power to do.  They had all been standing or clinging to the dome except for a few chasme who had been trying to burn through, and all of them that had been doing so were suddenly sucked into that liquid mass, enveloped into her form and held there as she contracted herself back into a singular mass of water.  The Demons thrashed and struggled, but they could not escape from within her watery form.  The Wizards among them could not speak to cast spells, and their attempts to project fire to boil away her form would not succeed in time to save them.
	The vrock and chasme within her form struggled and then began to shudder and convulse as currents of water within her form rammed them like the striking of a Giants hammer, striking them on the head and in the vital points of their bodies, killing them with quick and brutal efficiency.  Those bodies were ejected from her form before they could decompose and taint the water that made up her physical form.  The Alu trapped within were simply held within her as they struggled, as she killed the pureblood Demons, until their struggles slowed, and then finally ceased.  One by one, she ejected the inert form of an Alu before it could decompose, killing them by drowning them.  The chasme that had evaded that grim, watery demise did not live long enough to get around the Water Elemental to reach the magicians.  Those that werent killed by the magic of their prey when the Water Elementals form contracted were shot out of the sky by Arianas crossbow.
	But they had managed to breach one of the defenses of the mortals, and Lorak was not recovered enough to create a new wall, leaving them vulnerable to aerial assault.  The Water Elemental shifted form once more, creating four spidery legs to stand upon the ground as she created a mass of watery tentacles atop her amorphous form, long whip-like appendages that lashed out at any Demon that tried to reach the magicians.
	Archers! Kang boomed over the shouting and cursing and screaming of the line, waving his sword and then pointing it behind him.  The flagger with him made three gestures, instructing the archers to start shooting at the flying Demons, to help protect them now that the wall of air was breached.
	The reduction in the magical onslaught keeping the manes at bay caused many more of them to reach the palisade.  In a grinding roil of clashing metal, the Dura kept the small Demons away, held the line, kept the suicidal charge from breaking their defenses as Tarrins Elementals strove to prevent the dead among the Demons from affecting the battle with their noxiously decayed bodies.  After a few chaotic moments, fewer and fewer manes rushed over the rampart, fewer and fewer picked their way across the tortured earth to hurl themselves against the Dwarven lines, but Tarrin knew that their dwindling numbers only heralded the next wave, a wave of Demons that would be much more dangerous.
	And they didnt wait.
	A disorganized surge of Demonic foes rushed over the rampart with shrieking, bone-chilling cries, all of the land-bound Demons which were led by a thundering charge of Cambions that were mounted on warhorses.  That cavalry charged across the broken ground as quickly as they could, but they were slowed considerably by the many deep craters and pits in the field caused by the magic of the defenders, and that gave Kang enough time to react.  He pointed at the charging cavalry and boomed a quick order, and the flagman issued that command, a command for the archers to turn from the aerial Demons and prepare to loose against the advancing horses.
	Haley, NOW! Tarrin screamed at the top of his lungs.  The Were-wolf, fighting further down the line, rushed back towards the spellcasters, going to counter this assault in a way that only Tarrin, Haley, or Sarraya could.
	This was an eventuality for which they had planned a counter.
	STOP! a voice absolutely thundered across the line, but it was not Haley.  It was the piping voice of Sarraya, augmented by a Wizards spell.  The Faerie must have got back to the battle and performed this task before Haley could reach the magicians.  But though it was a different voice, she was no less effective than Haley; in fact, she was probably more effective, for Haley often had trouble commanding instant and unswerving obedience from animals.
	In a single instant, every horse up and down the line skidded to a halt, most of them throwing their Cambion riders over their heads, and bringing the thundering cavalry charge to a screeching halt.  The horses obeyed the command of a Druid out of instinct, out of reflex, and the tactic was as simple as it was devastating.
	Those horses didnt live long enough to obey the second part of Sarrayas command, to turn and run.  The hezrou, glabrezu, nalfeshnee, and babau that were charging behind the horses slammed into them from behind and tore them apart in their maddened rush towards the lines of the Dura.  They trampled quite a few of the Cambions under them as they continued their rush forward, but those halfblooded Demons managed to regain their feet and join the charge with the others.
	It was not the same result.  The much larger, much stronger pureblooded Demons crashed into the lines of the Dura like an avalanche, and the lines of the Dura buckled under the assault.  The screams of the dying drowned out the clash of steel against steel or the sickening crunch as Dwarven weapons penetrated Demon flesh, or claws or pincers or talons ripped through heavy Duran armor to rip the life from the flesh beneath.  The only place the line did not fall back, the only place where the defenders held to the palisade, was in the middle, where Tarrin, Darax, and Binter served as the anchor that held against the onslaught.  Demons fell before them with every chop of the axe, slam of the hammer, slash of the sword.  The Knights and the Vendari maintained their position while the Dwarves to either side were pushed back, as two Dwarves fell for every Demon that sank into the chaos of the struggle, being felled by a Dwarven axe or a crossbow quarrel fired from the hillsides, or the magical spells of the magicians behind.  The Dura were pushed back, and back, and back more, paying in blood for every step they were forced to take backwards, pulling in their lines to fill the holes created by the fallen.  But the Dwarves would not collapse under the overwhelming attack, thrusting with their pikes, chopping with axes and hammers, pushing back with their shields as they strove to prevent the Demons from breaking their lines.
	They would bend, but they would not break.
	Demonic claws scraped at his armor, but could not penetrate as Tarrin chopped down foe after foe, slashing at the frenzied Demons that strove to overwhelm them with sheer ferocity and overwhelming force.  But in Tarrin and those around him, they faced men and Vendari who could withstand that kind of chaotic push, could be the rock against which the crashing of their wave of fury would break.
	Kang had best call it soon! Binter growled as he crushed the head of a hezrou with his warhammer.
	Not yet, Tarrin answered, decapitating a nalfeshnees ugly boar head from its body, then kicking the still body back into a charging Cambion.  That halfbreed Demon simply slithered to the side with amazing grace and charged directly at Tarrin, but it was Darax who intercepted him.  The Dwarven king parried a fast, lithe slash of the Cambions black bladed scimitar and then chopped his knee almost in half, nearly amputating his leg at the knee.  The creature staggered and dropped to one knee, and looked up just in time to see Darax bring his axe over his head, and plant the half-moon blade firmly in the top of the black-skinned creatures skull.  The body convulsed jerkily as Darax wrested the blade free, then Binters tail slammed into it and sent it hurtling back into the writhing horde of Demonic creatures.  Give the Dura a chance to push back.  If they cant hold the line here, they shouldnt be fighting this war.
	Why arent they using their fire? Ulger called as he chopped a pincer off a glabrezu that tried to impale him with it, then a trio of pikes punched into its body, wielded by the Dwarves behind them.
	Because of me, Tarrin answered, driving the chisel tip of his sword through the throat of a skeletal babau wielding a hooked glaive.  All it would do is give me a weapon to use against them.  Another glabrezu rushed in behind the babau and managed to catch Tarrins blade on its pincered arm.  Tarrin took one paw off the sword to catch the other pincer, and they were caught in a deadly game of push, each trying to throw the other off.  The Demon was taller than Tarrin, but he was stronger, which made their pushing at one another an even match.
	I thought fire didnt hurt them, Ulger grunted.
	Two whip-like tendrils lashed out from Tarrins wings and ripped through the Demon in front of him, shearing through its chest to cut it in half.  It does like that, Tarrin growled as the body fell to the ground in pieces.
	True, Ulger laughed as he helped Azakar dispatch a squealing nalfeshnee.
	The push into the Dwarven lines became critical when, as if on cue, all the Demons pushing against the lines suddenly began to use their innate magical abilities.  None of them used fire, but they had many more weapons than fire.   Dwarves were struck by magical missles, or paralyzed by chilling gazes, and several large billowing clouds of deadly, poisonous gas materialized over certain parts of the line.  To Tarrins left, a sudden surge of Demonic creatures pushed deeply into the line, threatening to break through into the reserves stationed not far from the back ranks.  Bragg shouted orders, calling reserves in to help hold the breach, but Kang raised his sword and the