The Clan Wars

Author's Note: Aaand that's it! For now at least. This story was meant to be an introduction of sorts to this merry band I created and the world they live in. I've had a lot of fun writing it - I hope it's been a pleasure to read. It's very much been a learning experience, writing this tale, and I really appreciate the encouraging comments and helpful critiques I've received along the way. Obviously, there's still some story hooks and potential for me to continue with the gang's adventures. Let me know if you're interested and I'll see about continuing. As always, feedback is welcome - I'd love to hear about which characters people liked best or other aspects people enjoyed and/or what people want to see more of!

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The Clan Wars, Chapter 20 - Gaermeon

Pointer pushed Bann up against the wall inside the university's entrance hall and held him there, one hand against his chest. The lean elf gave the young barbarian a piercing stare. Behind the thief, Mila looked on, a worried, questioning expression on her face. Bann set his jaw and blinked back the stinging rage roiling within him.

"I'm fine," he growled. "I'm... I'm okay. Let me go."

Beyond the trio, Dayna was crouched next to the beholder, Trelisopoles', battered body where it lay against the wall. The librarian bled from a score of wounds and many of his tentacles had been cruelly hewn off, but he still lived.

"Oh, Trellis," she sighed. "What have they done?"

The beholder's breath rasped past his lips.

"It'll take more than a pathetic demon to finish me off, friend," he coughed. "I'll recover - leave me, go finish this."

"How did she get through?" asked Dayna. "The warding spells..."

"Failed when the gatehouse exploded - the archmage must have been on it."

"Dammit!" the elven wizard cursed.

"Go now," urged Trelis. "You can still stop her."

Dayna placed her hand on her friend's brow and gave him a small but determined nod. With the sounds of battle bleeding through the shattered doors behind them, Mila, Pointer and Bann came to stand beside her.

"Come on," said Dayna grimly, setting off deeper into the college.

To get to the elevator that would take them up to the Omnigarch Chamber, the party had to pass through the main hall of the university. Scenes of carnage paved the way. Dead mages and guards littered the entrance hall and the great doors that marked the entrance to the main gallery, although closed, were scorched and pitted with the signs of the battle that had so recently taken place. The group could hear braying laughter and raucous, jubilant hoots and cheers through the massive doors, indicating that the room's occupants were not friends.

With a wave of her hand, Dayna led her comrades down a side passage and up a set of stairs that took them up to the balcony that ran along the side of the main hall. In better times, the balconies that ran the length of the large chamber would have been used by the university's apprentices and acolytes during important events and offered an unimpeded view down onto the floor of the central hall. Now, they were deserted and provided the quietly moving party with a view of unmitigated carnality.

A band of beastmen had occupied the main hall - there were easily twenty of the shaggy demons - and were in the midst of celebrating what they clearly considered to be a great victory. With animalistic grunts and frenzied whinnies, the goat-like creatures were embroiled in a triumphant orgy. Larger than their male counterparts, many of the female beastmen had deigned to permit their menfolk to mount them - here, two males thrust with alternating strokes into a snarling female sandwiched between them, there, a haughty, black-furred female ground her cunt against the bestial face of a smaller male.

As they crept along the raised observation gallery, watching the obscene display below for any indication they had been noticed, Mila's breath caught in her throat. Near the far end of the hall, two figures in the tattered remnants of purple uniforms were being used as playthings by a knot of the jeering demons.

An orc, with shreds of his purple tabard still hanging from his shoulders, was being held from behind by a large beastman female, her mammoth, bare tits mashed to his back, while he mechanically pistoned his cock into another female beastman on all fours in front of him. The demon behind him had her arm around the orc's neck, forcing his head back, and Mila could see the vacant, dazed expression he bore on his face. It was the couple beside him that caused the warg-rider to pause, however. The sergeant from the tower was pinioned beneath a third, muscular, shaggy beastman female. With her digitigrade legs on either side of his hips, her hooves planted firmly, the demon was rhythmically lifting herself up before letting herself plunge back downwards as she forcefully rode the supine soldier's shaft.

The man's face bore a similar dazed expression as his orcish comrade. His dick was swollen and glistened wetly as the female demon's ass rose and fell upon it, her cunny devouring his phallus hungrily, her docked, goat-like tail quivering in delight at the cleft of her large, muscular buttocks. As Mila watched, the man stiffened, his hips bucking spastically, and the demon atop him roared in delight while a gush of obscene fluids spurted from their joined organs.

"Why are they...?" whispered Mila.

"They surrendered or were taken captive," replied Dayna.

"We should help them," said the orc. "We can't leave them like that."

"There's nothing we can do - we can't fight a band that large," said the mage. "Stopping Gaermeon is the best chance we have of breaking the spell they're under."

Mila shook her head in resignation and followed the elf as she led them along the balcony. Below them, the beastman climbed off the Drasichii sergeant, his discharge oozing in long, sloppy strands from her quim. With a growl, the demon picked up the hapless man by the neck and forcefully mashed his face into her voluminous, thinly furred titties while she began to stroke his dick back to life with rough, callous tugs of her fist.

A spiral staircase at the far end of the gallery connected it to the dormitories on the floor above and the administrative and logistical offices and rooms on the floor below. Dayna led her friends down the steps. The sounds of debauched celebration receded behind them.

The hallway at the foot of the stairs was shrouded in gloom - many of the lamps that usually lit the passage had been smashed, leaving only a few to light the group's progress. Doors on either side of the stone passageway gave access to the kitchens and the storerooms that fueled the university. The party could hear the sounds of wanton looting amongst the noises of more salacious activity as they crept along the hallway.

Dayna and Mila were leading their small group, while Pointer and Bann stole along quietly behind them, each carefully covering the doors they passed. Gomp sloped along in the midst of the group. At one open entrance, Bann peered in to see two demons frantically rutting. One of the creatures was abundantly female; a goblin-sized imp, her large breasts jiggling lewdly. The other was a slavering hellhound, twice the size of the demon he was mounting. The orange-skinned imp was on her hands and knees, idly devouring a salted ham on the floor in front of her while the hellish canine with a disproportionately massive cock reamed her offered asshole.

Bann felt a sharp nudge in his hip and tore his eyes away from the carnal vision. Gomp smiled up at the barbarian, licking his lips and giving the youth a sly wink. Bann shook his head in disgust at the lecherous familiar and hustled to catch up with his comrades as they rounded a corner, only to blunder into a pair of Gomp's kin as they exited a storeroom.

The two imps had their arms full of plundered food and were clearly distracted by their ill gotten gains. Bann reacted with violent haste, smashing the flat of his shield into the closest demon's face and crushing him against the nearby wall. The tiny demon's comrade dropped an armload of sausages onto the floor and made to run, but was stopped short as Gomp grabbed him by a wing and tugged him backwards.

Stunned by the barbarian's shield-strike, Bann's opponent stumbled helplessly as the young warrior pulled his shield back. The small creature was caught flat footed by Bann's follow-up attack - the man's axe plunged downwards to land with a vicious *thunk* in the demon's head. Beside him, Gomp had pulled his fleeing kin to the ground and was holding the creature around the neck with both hands, his mace lying discarded on the ground by his side. As Bann turned, thinking to lend what aid he could, Gomp grinned menacingly, his eyes flashing with a fierce red light. The imp he held clawed uselessly at the familiar's shoulders, but his eyes were locked to Gomp's and Bann watched as a strange stream of glowing dust seemed to drift upwards from the pinned demon's eyes to be absorbed by Gomp's glowing pupils.

Pointer, Mila and Dayna had turned at the sound of the struggle behind them, just in time to watch the body of Gomp's opponent crumble to dust that slowly faded away. Dayna's familiar stood up and stretched, his eyes flashing red.

"Delicious," said the imp with a grim smile at the astonished party, his voice uncharacteristically low and level.

The base of the Omnigarch tower and the elevator room it contained lay at the end of the hallway and the group entered it with a collective sigh of relief upon discovering it was blessedly free of otherworldly invaders. As her comrades gathered on the elevator platform and Mila prepared to throw the switch that would cause it to rise, Dayna bade her pause with a hand on the orc's arm.

"When we get to the top, we have to focus on getting Gaermeon away from the stone," explained the mage. "Fighting her won't be like facing the lesser demons we've faced so far - the magic shielding her is going to be more akin to that which protected the grigori."

Bann growled at the mention of the grey behemoth his friend Jon had sacrificed himself to kill.

"She's also going to have Kalliya by her side, probably some others too," continued Dayna. "We'll have to draw them off to get a shot at Gaermeon. I'll do my best to hold back Kalliya's magic, but I am also the only one who can get the stone clear: get me to it and I'll teleport away with it."

"Why don't you teleport to it right now and steal it from under her nose?" said Bann.

"With the merger occuring, that kind of spell has significant risks..."

"Like what?" asked Mila.

"Right now, there's two realms blending into one," said the elf. "Short range conjuration, if I can see where I'm going, is fine, but trying to 'port any kind of real distance, with this kind of interference - I could end up almost anywhere, even between the realms."

"She could die, dumbasses," grumbled Gomp.

"There's got to be-" began Bann.

"This is our best chance, maybe our only chance," interrupted Dayna. She looked at Mila who gave her a worried nod. "Do it."

Mila pulled the lever and the elevator began to rise. With concern etched upon their faces, the party was carried aloft.

White light spilled down the steps that led from the penultimate floor of the tower up to the Omnigarch Chamber, suffusing the room the group stepped out of the elevator into with surreal, harsh shadows. In grim silence, the barbarian, the warg-rider, the thief and the mage and her familiar readied their weapons and strode towards the stairs. With no way to conceal their entrance into the chamber above upon climbing the steps, the disparate group boldy entered the room at the top of the tower.

Gaermeon was standing behind the pedestal, her hands placed on the stone atop it. She looked up as Dayna's party entered. Beside her, Kalliya stopped watching her master work and snapped her head up to face the intruder, while Kieran and Keira, the demonic siblings with pitch black skin, picked themselves up from the wall they had been lounging against and moved towards the centre of the room.

"You're too late," said Kalliya, showing no surprise at her former hirelings' entrance.

The party fanned out, weapons held before them. Kiera and Kieran grinned and two silvery staves, smaller versions of the weapon the grigori had wielded, appeared in their hands.

"Submit now and-"

"Fuck you," growled Mila, cutting off Kalliya's words and charging forwards.

Estoc in hand, Pointer was right behind his green-skinned comrade as they bore down on the plinth and the succubus beside it. The obsidian skinned twins were faster. With supernatural speed, the two intercepted the charging orc and elf. Staves sliced through the air in silvered arcs. Pointer lept backwards as Kiera's weapon scythed through the air in front of him. Mila smashed her shield into Kieran's, parrying the wicked blow. Bright white sparks fountained from where the silver shaft collided with the metalled surface of the orc's kite-shield.

Kalliya thrust her own staff forwards. The wall behind where Dayna had been standing shuddered and cracked as an unseen wave of force smashed into it. The mage reappeared off to one side of the room.

Bann had no such spell to save him from the brown-skinned mage's magic. As he had begun to run forwards behind Mila, the invisible edge of Kalliya's magical blast struck his left side. His shield shattered, slivers of wood spinning through the air as it split. The concussive force hurled him sideways and sent him sprawling across the stone floor.

Mila pushed forwards with her shield and lunged at the black incubus facing her, trying to throw the demon's staff to one side and open him up for her thrust. Kieran laughed imperiously and beat his wings, easily darting backwards, out of reach of the orc's attack. He slid his hands to the midpoint of his weapon and spun it artfully on his right side as he wound up for a counter-attack.

Nearby, Pointer flicked his estoc out, making contact with Kiera's shaft of silver light, sliding his blade down the length of the ethereal weapon, trying to force a bind. The staff vanished from under the thief's blade and Kiera flapped her wings, lifting herself above the off-balance elf. The succubi negligently kicked out, her foot catching Pointer across the chin and sending him to the ground.

Dayna tore open a rift behind Kalliya and Gomp jumped out behind the dusky-skinned mage, mace swinging. A strange nimbus of orange light flickered around the arckinescist, halting the imp's weapon inches away from Kalliya's back. She laughed and smashed the butt of her staff against the ground. A large portal rent the air beside her and three snarling hellhounds prowled forth from the glimmering pathway between realms.

Bann tossed aside the ruins of his shield and picked himself up, blood burning icy cold in his veins. While two of the newly arrived hellhounds bounded towards Dayna, the third turned to attack the barbarian, loping across the room towards the youth as he got to his feet. While her conjured demons took care of Dayna and Bann, Kalliya turned to face Gomp and casually flicked her hand, propelling the imp backwards with jarring force. Dayna's familiar collided with the wall with a sickening crunch and slid downwards to land in a heap on the ground.

Holding his staff with both hands at one end, Kieran swung a brutal blow at Mila's hurriedly raised shield. Sparks exploded. The orc's feet slid backwards. Numbing pain blazed up her shield arm. Only battle-hardened instincts enabled her to get her sword up and between her and the incubi's follow-up attack as it lashed out at her right side. More motes of light sizzled through the air and more searing pain raced through her body.

The initiative was not with Pointer, either. The elf rolled to the side as Kiera's staff crashed into the ground where he had, moments ago, been sprawled. The rogue felt a shock wave ripple through the stone as the demonic weapon made impact. Nimble as he was, he barely had time to react as the succubus followed up her downwards blow by sweeping her silver staff along the stones towards him. Pointer threw his weapon in the path of the oncoming attack, bracing the blunt edge of his blade against his shoulder as the two weapons made contact. A terrible, acid like burn coursed through his arm and shoulder.

With two hellhounds bearing down on her and her friends on the cusp of being overwhelmed by their foes, Dayna knew she had to do something significant, and fast. Closing her eyes in concentration, the elven mage raised her staff and slammed it down against the stones before her. A terrible grinding noise filled the air and the floor in front of her shuddered as a line of glowing blue symbols shot out along the ground. The eerie marks were similar to those she had drawn in chalk in her quarters and etched in the bark of the tree back in the mountains, but were now carved in stone with pure, cackling energy. A good quarter of the chamber floor, from Dayna's line of magic writing to the nearest wall, suddenly disappeared. The wall that had been attached to the floor she had relocated trembled and collapsed, tumbling away from the tower. The hellhounds that had been speeding across the flagstones vanished along with the masonry.

Unfortunately, as the ground vanished beneath her feet, Kalliya pushed her will downwards and launched herself to safety on the unsteady, but still present, remains of the chamber floor. Dayna collapsed onto her hands and knees, trembling at the staggering effort her powerful spell had required.

Bann had no time to gawp at the awesome display of magic occuring mere inches from him. The hellhound charging him pounced. With a shout of furious vengeance, Bann swung his axe in a wild haymaker. The edge caught the leaping demon dog in its shoulder, biting deep despite the beast's magical resilience. As powerful as his strike was, however, it could not stop the creature's momentum and man and demon crashed to the ground. The creature snarled and scrabbled with its paws, its claws tearing into Bann's chainmail, as it tried to seize the northman with its fang-filled maw.

Mila grit her teeth and heaved her arms, pushing Kieran's staff upwards while running her blade down the length of the silvery weapon.The incubus beat his wings again, trying to lift himself away from the enraged greenskin, but Mila was having none of it - as the demon tried to slip away from her, she punched forward with the edge of her shield, driving the metal rim into Kieran's stomach. The demon's staff disappeared. Carried backwards by the orc's assault, the incubus balled his fists and hammered them into Mila's sallet. Thumping pain pounded into her skull. Her vision flickered.

Terrible pain gnawed away at Pointer's shoulder. Mouth agape in a silent shout of agony, the elf released his blade and grabbed Kiera's staff of light. Even as his hands cramped in torment, Pointer rolled onto the weapon and heaved downwards, dragging the succubi down with it. Kiera snarled with fury and rolled behind the elf, hefting the staff up and pulling it against his neck. Pointer's muscles strained, his brow furrowed with effort, and he gasped for air as the succubi began choking the life out of him.

Dayna could feel Kalliya gathering her will. With exhaustion miring her limbs like she'd just run a marathon, she looked up to see her opponent staggering to her feet. Kalliya snarled with fury and lashed out at the exhausted elf, bludgeoning her with a wall of force. She felt the elf release one final burst of energy in an attempt to save herself and let out a short laugh as she watched a barrel filled with sand crash into the ground beside her. The elf had missed.

Bann could feel the heat radiating off the hellhound atop him as the beast thrashed about, struggling to get his teeth into the young warrior. Bann was angry, but, strangely, he felt an icy calm saturate his body. As the beast he was fighting tore at his armour, time seemed to slow enough for him to look about the room. He watched as Kalliya's unseen wave of force picked Dayna up off the floor and pounded her into the wall. He somehow had the time to watch as Mila grappled with a demon, bludgeoning it with the pommel of her sword even as it caved her helmet in with its bare hands. He looked over at Pointer. The elf had his dagger in his hands and was slashing ribbons of flesh from the succubi he was fighting as the obsidian demon strangled him to death with her staff.