The Crystal Mountain by Thomas M. Reid Page A

peered that way, too.
    In the distance, a small band of beings moved toward them. Aliisza squinted and saw the muscle-bound ebony creatures spread broad, leathery wings and take flight. Wicked black horns sprouted from their heads, and they waved vicious weapons overhead as they closed the distance. Whatever they were, they were spoiling for a fight.
    The hulking beasts followed a somewhat smaller but no less fearsome leader, also black and winged, although its body shimmered as it flew, the effect of shiny black scales. A tail fluttered behind it.
    Aliisza swallowed hard, recognizing the source of the foul ambience of the place at last. “Devils,” she murmured. “Not good.”
    “Hey!” Zasian said from behind Aliisza. “Look!”
    She turned, expecting to see that Zasian had spotted the same group of interlopers, but the priest pointed in the opposite direction.
    The black waves of the sea had pushed the form of the great human figure Aliisza had seen before up onto the beach. The figure was indeed a man, though larger than any giant Aliisza might have imagined. The top of his head, resting on the gray sand, appeared so gargantuan that she imagined it rising fully three times her own height. A bedraggled, graying beard covered his wizened face, and his once-fine clothes marked him as noble.
    Or a god, Aliisza thought, suddenly terrified, for she recognized that face from her vision within the Eye of Savras.
    Azuth.
    Is he slain too? she wondered. Can such possibly be? What is happening to the universe?
    Aliisza turned away. Somehow, looking upon the face of a god, even one that might be dead, hurt. “We need to go,” she said, trying to rise. “Now.”
    “I agree,” Kaanyr said, standing beside her and still looking at the gargantuan deity, “but where?”
    “Anywhere. Let’s just get off the beach.”
    “How are we going to move the others?” Kaanyr asked. “We’ll never outrun those fiends trying to carry them, and there’s no way you can muster that magic trick again. You’re exhausted as it is.”
    “I’ll just have to,” she said.
    “No,” Kaanyr said, grabbing her shoulder. “Don’t.”
    “What choice do we have?” she demanded. A part of her beamed at his concern.
    Kaanyr looked at her helplessly and shrugged.
    “Very well, then,” Aliisza said. She grimaced as she prepared to conjure the magic once more. She dreaded the pain and suffering. For a moment, she wasn’t certain she could muster the willpower to subject herself to it again, but all it took was a glance down at Tauran and Kael’s still forms to convince her. She drew a deep breath and braced herself.
    A howl from a ridge of rock higher up the beach interrupted her.
    A second horde of creatures swarmed into view.
    Dozens of muscular, pasty-skinned humanoids took flight on matted feathered wings. Aliisza could see three red eyes blazing on each of their faces, and rows of sharp teeth filled their gaping mouths. Each thick arm ended in a deadly barbed
    claw that reached and grasped ahead as the creatures swooped toward the oncoming black-skinned fiends.
    A crimson-skinned humanoid with a howling, feral-eyed hyena head led the newcomers. A snake protruded from the side of the monster’s neck. The creature held a massive axe aloft as it screamed a war cry and commanded its charges to attack. He spoke in a language Aliisza understood all too well.
    “Demons,” she breathed. “Where in the blazes are we?”
    The white-skinned things outnumbered the ebony fiends two to one, and they flew at the other creatures, who appeared just as eager to join the fray. In a matter of moments, the sky above the six castaways swarmed with white and black bodies clashing, screaming as they fought and died.
    The crimson demon rushed to attack its own counterpart, the scaly-skinned devil. They slammed into one another with a vicious clang of weapon on weapon and became embroiled in a fierce battle of their own, whirling and slicing at one another