Morana stared in disbelief as her soldiers came raining back down to earth. The crystal constructs climbed the wall easily enough, just as she’d known they would, but the moment they reached the top that horrid warlord knocked their claws free and sent them sprawling to the ground.

A blinding flash was followed by a burst of corruption. One of her soldiers had been destroyed and judging by the white light that preceded it the paladin had been the one to do it. She clenched her teeth so tight her jaw ached. Morana couldn’t allow these pests to impede Connor’s efforts, for her own sake as much as his.

She summoned a handful of soldiers and conjured a black disk under them. They flew up toward the wall. When they were at their highest point a jolt ran through her and the disk vanished, sending them tumbling like the others.

“Damn it!”

She traced the source of the jolt and found the red-haired sorcerer waving down at her, smirking. Morana snarled and darted into the air. The soldiers didn’t need her constant attention. She could deal with the arrogant little sorcerer and her mentor then turn her full attention to the paladin and warlord.

The female sorcerers met her well away from the wall. They spread out so she could only focus on one at a time. It appeared they weren’t quite as stupid as she hoped.

A golden blast from the young one broke on Morana’s personal shield. If that was the best she could do there was nothing to fear.

Morana countered with a burst of hellfire. The girl dodged and blasted her again with a feeble energy bolt.

She sent burst after burst of hellfire at the speedy sorcerer, but none of them connected. A construct appeared around Morana’s leg and needle-sharp extrusions tried to punch through her shield.

Morana shattered it and sent a burst of hellfire at the older woman who deflected with a golden shield. A blast from the young one, much stronger than the first barrage, sent her tumbling through the sky. Morana righted herself and sent a wave of hellfire in every direction. She’d burn the insects out of the sky.

When the hellfire died out she found her opponents floating in a sphere of their combined soul force and looking none the worse for wear. Morana had used half her power chasing the obnoxious gnats with nothing to show for it. She needed to bring the urn to bear, but she couldn’t use it and fly at the same time.

Gah! What was she supposed to do?

Down on the wall her soldiers were falling as fast as they climbed. This was a waste of time. She needed to smash the wall or at least blow a hole in it. Once that was done the sorcerers wouldn’t matter anyway.

She flew back to rejoin her soldiers. The sorcerers seemed content to let her escape. It was clear to Morana that they were just playing for time, all of them. Of course there was only four of them so they didn’t have many other options. Did they have reinforcements already on the way? She had to assume they did. If more sorcerers and warlords showed up her army could be bottled up for weeks.

Worse, if she hadn’t claimed the fortress by the time that bug-headed demon arrived she’d have to listen to its mocking laughter.

Morana issued a mental command recalling the constructs. When they were all clear of the wall she drew deep from her core and fired a river of hellfire at it. An instant before her attack would have struck, a white glow appeared. It sucked up her fire and when she finally ran out of soul force there wasn’t so much as a scorch mark on the cursed barrier.

If pure rage could have destroyed the wall it would be so much dust, but her anger was no more effective than hellfire.

Morana pointed at the wall. “Smash a hole in it!”

Her army surged forward. When they reached the wall some pounded with their fists and other clawed with talons as hard as steel. Thin lines and shallow scrapes appeared where they struck. In ten years they might tunnel through it.

Morana stretched. She’d let them work for an hour while her soul force recovered and she tried to think up another tactic. The urn was the key. If she could somehow fly up there and knock out the defenders her problems would be solved.