The Fall of Rahab
And then they were alone. In the main hall of the sanctuary, Rahab and Dumah awaited their assassin. They didn't speak until they heard a gate slam shut somewhere in the stronghold. Then, suddenly, screams...pillar guardians, crying for Malek. Dumah came to his feet quickly.
"This has the appearance of a betrayal! He choreographed things so we would await our assassin to rob the Guardians of any protection, to purge the circle of rivals!"
"No...Malek is with him. He would not allow such."
"Malek may be bound to his word!"
"What could he gain by it?"
"...Little. A weakened circle would give the vampires the ideal opportunity to revive, but...have you ever known Moebius to order something when he didn't know the consequences? He may have other motives."
"Well, one was hardly to rob the circle of our protection. That was Vorador's voice. Only Malek could stand against him."
"And where is Malek? With Moebius. That is hardly happenstance."
More gates crashed down, and voices, raised in challenge, could be heard distantly.
"Come to take your revenge, demon?"
"Back to hell with you!"
Clashing steel followed, but there was no reply.
"Vorador?" Rahab was beginning to have doubts himself.
"No...he could not bear to fight in silence. This is another."
"So Moebius spoke some truth."
"Some, yes. So...Vorador strikes at the circle, while another, lesser power strikes at us in a concerted attack designed to cripple the circle and the Sarafan, hopefully demolishing us."
"And will it?"
"Truthfully? I know not. But we will not fall lightly!"
Time passed. Distantly, there was a slightly different sound, a heavy clang, to the connoisseur familiar as armour hitting the ground.
"They held him well," Rahab noted, just before the clashing resumed. "They still hold!"
"But not for long."
The noise continued for a time, and then there was a second sound of metal on stone. And the creak of a rising gate.
"He comes," Dumah noted, and stood up, donning his helm.
"Regrets?" Rahab asked, donning his own and facing the doors the assailant would arrive from.
"No...we built an order that brought our former rulers to their knees from a ragged band of bandits, and I saw the father of all vampires gutted like the worm he is. What of you?"
"Well, Rahab is a woman's name...but none of you noticed, so it mattered little." He'd originally been exiled after reacting badly to an insult on that theme. Dumah just had time to laugh, before the demon arrived.
The demon, paused for an instant, just before its attack, and each general threw out a challenge.
"You'll have to get through us, first." Hardly choice dialogue, but then, who would hear it? The demon nodded slightly, as though agreeing –Yes, I thought that was implied- then charged into the attack. Melchiah and Zephon had blunted his blind rage, and now he employed craft in his offences, but his defence was lacking, for the simple reason that he knew they couldn't give him a lasting wound. Rahab and Dumah, fighting with instinct alone, landed innumerable strikes between blade and spear, but no wound was more than fleeting. The demon, it was clear, could defend himself if he so wished, but didn't deign to bother, and any normal creature would have been torn to shreds by the time he leapt free of the conflict, and fled towards the gates to Turel-safely sealed.
Turning, the demon appeared to attempt to put down the blade he carried –probably to use some form of telekinesis or projectile-such things usually required the use of one or both hands to summon- but his efforts failed, and he charged again. Rahab and Dumah, slowly closing the distance, had now realised the futility of struggle, and only bothered to block every third stroke. Dumah bore a spear, and as such, was attacking from greater distance, so it was Rahab who was the first to fall.