Free The Gateway (Harbinger of Doom Volume 1) by Glenn Thater Page B

sprang to
Ob’s aid. The three soldiers interposed themselves between the
devils and their wounded Castellan and held the fiends at
bay.

    XII
    THE HERO’S PATH

    The monstrous fiend, Korrgonn, strode up the
hall toward the temple’s entrance, stepping on as often as over the
still unconscious knights strewn about the chamber, and tossing
aside any of its minions that got in its way. A tall knight
brandishing a bastard sword blocked its path. The demon threw back
its head and laughed at the petty creature that opposed it. But its
laugh was stifled when the cold steel of the warrior’s holy blade
sliced through its nigh impenetrable exoskeleton and punctured its
innards. The beast howled in shock. Its golden eyes threatened to
fly from their sockets, smoke and wisps of flame surged from its
maw.
    Sir Gabriel Garn withdrew his war blade and
slashed it back and forth across the demon’s chest and shoulder,
each time biting deeply into the living armor. Green blood surged
from the jagged wounds as Korrgonn roared in anger and agony.
Despite its grievous wounds, the creature raised its blade to parry
Gabriel’s next strike.
    Gabriel slashed his blade in a mighty,
sweeping arc, employing a fencing maneuver used only by the Picts
of the Gray Waste, but Korrgonn countered it. Gabriel tried the
spinning thrust maneuver taught him by the Emerald Elves, but
Korrgonn effortlessly deflected it, already seeming to regain its
strength. The infamous Dyvers thrusting maneuvers, the Dwarvish
overhand strikes, the Cernian technique, the Sarnack maneuvers, and
the Lengian cut and thrust style were all equally ineffective.
Korrgonn countered them all. All the while, Gabriel dodged blow
after titanic blow, and parried others with the flat of his blade.
Although he countered Korrgonn’s sword, the creature also made deft
use of its spiked exoskeleton, slashing Gabriel several times,
shredding his thick plate armor, and slicing into his flesh. Though
Gabriel had perhaps never faced an opponent with such strength and
resilience, he would not allow the fiend to defeat him. He had
fought too many wars, too many duels over the ages to allow even
one such as this to best him.
    A spray of green blood and foul smelling ichor
washed over Gabriel and a fiend’s dismembered head hit his leg. A
shout of “Doom!” came from nearby. The Lord Angle Theta was alive
and had joined the fray!

    Five fiends stalked Theta, who stood beside
the corpse of one of their fellows, his silver-hued falchion
dripping with ichor. When they met his steely gaze, the devils
froze in their tracks and looks of terror formed on their grotesque
visages.
    “ No!” bellowed one fiend, “It’s
the ancient enemy, the traitor!”
    “ We are betrayed, the humans knew
of our coming,” cried another. “Spare us Lord and we shall serve
thee!” implored the fiend as it fell to its knees
whimpering.
    Theta’s sword slashed by once, and then again,
almost faster than the eye could follow, and both fiends’ heads
tumbled to the floor. The other three sprang toward him, overcoming
whatever fear they felt. Working sword and shield to masterful
perfection, Theta dodged, and parried, and cut, dealing out death
and destruction as only he could. Moments later, he stood alone as
his opponents’ dismembered, twitching corpses littered the floor,
green ichor pooling about his boots. As Theta moved to assist
Gabriel, another thunderous roaring emanated from the breach, this
time much louder and deeper than before. More than a score of
fiends scampered through the black hole, followed by a beast of
incredible proportions. It struggled to expand the breach, its bulk
far too large to fit through the six-foot wide portal.
    Theta didn’t even glance at his old friend
Gabriel before turning to face this new threat. Theta charged
toward the gateway and engaged the horde. He never looked
back.

    Claradon stood alone against a trio of
multi-armed fiends of wicked fangs and barbed tails. Three