Alice felt uneasy. They had been on the move, virtually unprotected, for two whole days, and nothing had happened. There were at least three Horrors after them: the Wraith, the shadow demon, and the vampyre. And they were moving towards the enemy, into a town that was probably crawling with gospog.
Alain was worried because, not only had the Horrors not made a move yet, but something was keeping normal Ayslish and terran animals away from them. Even at night, there had been very little in the way of fauna that dared near the group.
Of course, if there is one thing true about suspense, it is that it must end eventually.
In the middle of the second watch, Bubba yelled at the top of his lungs, ``Wake up, wake up! Everybody up!''
Valentine saw it, too. The huge misshapen shadow demon flitting about under cover of its own kind. Val and Bubba felt the coppery fear start to crawl up their throats. Then Bubba whirled his ball and chain about, growling and roaring as loud as he could.
``We will destroy you, beast!'' And the sleeping Knights woke to the sounds of confidence, which filled them. Waiting was over; now they could do something!
Bubba's ball and chain split the air and swung in slow motion through the demon's unnatural form. Val cut loose with her Kyogo, putting bullets into the shape.
Then Alice came fully awake, and let the wolf loose. Baying and barking, she charged the creature.
Gunfire lit up the night and reverberated from the trees and rolling hills. The muzzle flashes subsided as the wolf leaped onto the demon.
As the two colossal forms grappled, shadows oozed out of the ground to attack Bubba and Shadoe. They laid into their translucent doppelgangers with anger and ferocity.
Suddenly, there was a whimpering yelp, and the wolf fell to the ground, with gouts of blood pouring from her side as she shifted back to human form. Seeing their injured comrade, the Knights redoubled their efforts to bring down the unholy monster.
Father Hardy had suggested that light and fire should be able harm a creature of shadow.
``John, cast your biggest fireball!'' yelled Alain.
Kickingbird produced a ball of pitch, lighted it, and brought the magickal fire in on the demon.
Alain knew that, normally, only one fireball could affect the creature at a time. Any beginning student of magick knows that only one spell of a knowledge can affect an object at a time. But Alain, too, produced pitch, enchanted it, and sent it to the beast. With her synonymous knowledge, she was able to cast the same spell in a slightly different fashion, and both fireballs exploded against the writhing shadow figure.
Shadoe felled her opponent, and began to put burning arrows into the howling shape.
Brenden stood from Alice's side, and picked up one of the pieces of equipment Major Keeler had gotten for him: a white phosphorous grenade.
The shadow beast collapsed to the ground, aflame with chemical and magick. None of the Knights could approach the conflagration. Amazingly, several seconds later, the demon climbed once more to its feet, but it fled hastily off into the distance.
Brenden and John went to Alice, the former bandaging her wound, the latter using his enchantments to accelerate her body's own healing, until she was no longer close to death.
Brenden leaned back against a tree, trying to calm his breathing, holding Alice's head in his lap.
Nobody slept until the sun's early rays brought the world back to life.