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Fighting desperately Swainable Some are small, like the one hen we arrived Others tower above us Many are strange hybrids - mixtures of ani I&039;ve ever seen, luht in a tight circle, back to back Sharmila sets the demons on fire when they co the severed ars as clubs to beat back other deical energy where he can, his fists and feet when a derown her nails and is using them as swords, ten deadly blades Beranabus uses a mix of spells and punches to shatter the bodies of our ene cal wildly, trying to be as much of a nuisance as possible I&039; hard, but not roaring Maybe it&039;s because I know this is a fight which can&039;t be avoided Even if I ran away, I&039;d have to coain Unless I abandon Art Which isn&039;t going to happen

The demons should have overwhelmed us by now There are so many of different sizes, shapes and powers We shouldn&039;t be able to stand up to theth and nu minor wounds, but don&039;t pile upon us all at once

"What&039;s going on?" Dervish yells, wiping a de an otter-like beast away "Why are we still alive?"

"Like I said," Beranabus grunts, "Lord Loss wants to play He iven orders not to kill us"

"Then why don&039;t we stop fighting?" Dervish asks

"When demons catch the scent of blood, they don&039;t always obey their oing to stay here?" Shar demons around her

"No," Beranabus says "Let&039;s move towards the castle But keep up our defences I think they&039;ll let us through, but they won&039;t make it easy for us If one of us stumbles and falls behind"

He doesn&039;t finish Doesn&039;t need to It&039;s clear that anyone who stuh the ranks of de across the strands of web, feet sticky, coated with a glue-like substance The stench is unbelievable - not just the deuts The webs around us are slick with the entrails and life juices of the dee master to let so many of his servants perish at our hands

Some of the wounded fall between the layers of webs and disappear into the darkness, howling and screa But their cries never last more than a few seconds As we draw close to the moat, and pass over a patch where the webby strands are thin and sparse, I see what happens to those who fall

There are shark-like de in the darkness beneath the layers of webs, constantly circling Whenever a de the unfortunateit whole

In this universe, just when you think things can&039;t get any worse, they usually do!

We coe of the moat This close, I see that it&039;s actually just open space - a circular gap between the layers of ith nothing to stop us falling straight down to where the shark de us with no si at the webby castle walls with one eye, keeping the other on the deest sense of d��j�� vu, like I&039;ve seen this place before But I can&039;t have I&039; about castles I&039;ve seen in books and h into the air and throws itself at Dervish while he&039;s grappling with another of the beasts Acting on instinct, the punk lowers his head and the spikes of his hair turn to steel The de Dervish flicks his head left, then right, dislodging the dead demon He bellows at Beranabus, "What now?"

"We have to jump across and scale the wall," Beranabus shouts

"I don&039;t think I can jump that far," I roar

"Then we&039;ll leave you behind for the Demonata," Beranabus retorts Before I can think of a reply, the rabs the back of aze down into the abyss and the circling shark demons Then we hit the wall and stick "Come on!" Beranabus yells at the others

Shark jumps with ease So does Nadia Dervish is nervous and flails with his ar, but he s her sari She rips free, but the attack robs her of heracross the moat, she falls towards the sharks

"No!" Dervish shouts, reaching for her - but he&039;s too late He misses She falls I open my mouth to scream

Then Beranabus is beside her He wraps an arles her upwards Soars back to the ith her, holding on until she gets a grip on the webs She&039;s sobbing weakly - she thought she was finished

"You never told us you could fly," Shark grunts

"It varies from world to world," Beranabus says "In some I can In others I can&039;t"

"Did you know you could fly here?" Dervish asks

Beranabus shrugs "I had a pretty good idea"

Which means he wasn&039;t sure He risked his life when he threw hin that he isn&039;t as cold and unfeeling as he pretends

As we&039;re clinging to the wall, the drawbridge nearest us is lowered It&039;s a it are constructed entirely of webs Even in the middle of my fear andsound as the drawbridge touches down on the other side of theand howling All are focused on the drawbridge now, holding their position, waiting for what?

We soon find out

I spy the shadow of so out of the castle At first, I think it&039;s the lice-headed, fire-eyed deht and ives an actual physical leap

"Art!" I screae He looks at les Exactly as I remembered him Unharmed by the demons Not the least bit afraid Looks as happy and at hoe is to rush to my brother, but Beranabus snaps, "Stay where you are!"

"But it&039;s - "

"I know But wait Let&039;s see what comes out after him"

As he says it, I see two more shadows appear The first of the pair steps out It&039;s Cadaver, the de as hairy and loathsoht and his wide, white eyes are alert He picks up Art and glares at us with his half-human, half-canine face Art cuddles up to the deh ure appears and jealousy washes away to be replaced by awe and terror - and recognition

The creature is ht arers, with bones sticking out of the flesh No legs or feet, just long strips of flesh beneath the waist He doesn&039;t touch the floor of the drawbridge, but hovers in the air Lumpy skin, a pale red shade, cracked in dozens of places, blood oozing from the cracks Bald like rey tongue and teeth No nose, just two holes set above his upper lip A gaping hole in the left side of his chest, where his heart should be Lots of s and spitting