‘Three-hundred!’ Fandel said, moving away from the door and leaning against the bar.

Now Van Demon had been a cunning bandit for as long as he could remember, way before him and his team of outlaws had been fed to the sharks, but he had never seen anyone so desperate for something in all the years he had spent on and beneath the Dusty-bogs of Endra. This meant one thing to Van Demon; a perfect money making opportunity.

Again, Van Demon nestled his wounded cheek next to Anna’s and sighed as he sniffed her hair. ‘More’ he whispered, ‘she smells too good to sell for such a cheap price. I mean come on senor; I’d be robbing myself!’ and the other bandits laughed at their dead-leaders sarcasm.

‘A thousand!’ Fandel bargained.

Van Demon’s outlaws stopped laughing and gasped, and then he knew he could get rich quick from this deal.

‘Amigo, you must wan’ this little lady very badly. Very badly indeed. That being the case; more!’ he sneered.

‘How about you give me the girl and I spare all your lives?’ a voice said from the doorway. Spinning round, everyone looked to see a man standing at the entrance to the Inn. His voice was soft, yet cold like steel.

Pulling the girl closer to him, Van Demon chuckled and said, ‘so, another bidder has entered the auction. Welcome amigo, welcome!’

Dec Tanner strode into the bar. Fandel recognised his unmistakable voice from their telephone conversation and groaned. ‘what are you doing here superintendent? Haven’t you got any missing person’s enquiries to keep you busy?’

Without taking his eyes from Van Demon, Tanner said, ‘I’ll deal with you later Fandel’.

‘How? What, are you going to arrest me?’ Fandel said.

Van Demon and his team of bandits spied the gleaming crossbows that swung against Tanner’s hips and knew straight away that he was a peacekeeper.

‘I like your outfit senor, though it looks a little out of place,’ Julio sniggered.

‘Si Julio, Si. It used to be quite a popular look. Now, it’s old fashioned and, how you say, out of style. It’s the look of the past. Of a relic. Of a dead species,’ Van Demon grinned.

Tanner’s black eyebrows pointed into a ‘V’ shape at the bridge of his nose as he glared at Van Demon with his piecing blue eyes. Holding out his hand he said, ‘give me the girl.’

‘She’s not yours to take,’ Fandel sniped from the bar.

As quick as Neanna would blink Tanner had drawn one of his crossbows and fired a warning shot into the wooden floorboards at Fandel’s feet. Jumping backwards, Fandel released an ear-piercing scream from the back of his throat. Turning, Tanner trained the crossbow on Van Demon and aimed straight for the bandits head.

‘I won’t ask again’ Tanner warned, stroking his huge white moustache with his free hand.

Van Demon’s team were at his side in an instant and the sound of axes, knives, rifles and crossbows being drawn filled the air.

Hooking his arm around Anna’s neck, Van Demon roared with laughter and his tongue snaked from the hole in the side of his face and brushed against Anna’s cheek.

‘Ha ha. No senor. Thank you for your kind offer, but I must regretfully decline. Instead, how about I keep the senorita and....... you die like a good peacekeeper?’ he grinned.

As promised, Tanner didn’t say another word. His crossbow thundered in his fist and then all hell broke loose.

Standing back to back, Marshal Goth and Zach fought off the approaching Demonic Guardians and Radan. Neanna blinked, appearing long enough to rip out the throat an un-expecting Guardian and then disappear again. Snarling, William charged in a blaze of burning eyes and flowing hair at the Radan.

Captain Bom had at last got to his feet and was fighting alongside Henry the Cathedral Knight as they dismembered anything that got too close. But it didn’t matter how many of the Guardians and Radan they destroyed as more of them appeared through the wall and charged at them. Even with the hundreds of Cathedral Knights swooping about like phantoms, they were fighting a battle that they couldn’t win.

William bounded towards Zach and Marshal Goth, clawing to pieces several more of the Guardians as he raced across the exercise yard that was now strewn with the dead.

‘We have to get the key away from here!’ he barked at Zach.

Looking back at Goth, Zach shouted, ‘is there another way outta here?’

‘There’s the tunnel!’ he roared, releasing a volley of arrows from his bow.

‘What? In the prison block?’

‘No. The tunnel!’

‘What tunnel!?’ William howled, his voice full of urgency.

‘The tunnel that our families hide in!’ Marshal Goth yelled.

‘We’ll you better evacuate them!’ Zach told him.

‘Why?’

‘Cos, I’m gonna destroy this prison and anyone left within it!’ Zach said.

The stake ricocheted off the dagger Julio thrust in front of Van Demon’s face. Leaping through the air, the bandits opened fire. Tanner darted for cover behind the bar. Armed with both crossbows, he popped his hands over the top of the counter and fired.

Several of the zombies spun through the air, clattering into tables and chairs as they were struck down by Tanner’s barrage of stakes. But as they were already dead, the bandits were on their feet again and arming themselves with daggers and crossbows.

Seeing this, Fandel and the Delf raced behind the bar for cover.

‘They can’t die unless you shoot them in the head you idiot!’ The Delf belched.

‘Call yourself a peacekeeper?’ Fandel whined.

Turning to look at them with his cool stare, both Fandel and the Delf knew that they shouldn’t say another word.

Popping his head over the top of the bar, Tanner released another torrent of stakes from his crossbows. The bandits retaliated and the rows of bottles stacked on the shelves above the bar exploded, showering Tanner in glass.

‘Some rescue!’ Fandel screeched. ‘Do you have a plan on how to get out of here?’

Glancing at the Delf, Tanner shouted, ‘shut him up!’

Looking at Fandel, the Delf belched. She then stood, and throwing open her fists, released a shockwave of energy that rippled out across the Inn and sent a horde of the bandits through the air. Seizing her chance, she turned to Tanner and Fandel and said, ‘I don’t know about you two, but I’m off!’

Gathering her Bloat bag to her chest, she shuffled from behind the bar and headed for the door. Jumping to his spidery legs, Fandel started to follow her, when Tanner gripped him by the arm and said, ‘and where do you think you’re going?’ In one swift movement, Tanner had yanked Fandel back onto the floor behind the bar.

Peering round the edge of the counter, Tanner could see that Van Demon had let go of his prisoner. Anna was now cowering in the corner, away from the flying stakes, daggers and axes.

Standing, Tanner locked both of his arms and unleashed another burst of stakes at the bandits. He hit several of them between the eyes, sending them spinning through the air. This time they didn’t get up.

‘Give the girl to me!’ he said.

‘You want her amigo?’ Van Demon roared, ‘then you come and get her!’

Peeking through her fingers at the peacekeeper, Anna watched him dodge this way and that with the precision of a rattlesnake, evading the daggers and knives being hurled at him.

Who is this guy? He must either be insane or the bravest man I’ve ever seen! She thought to herself.

Anna settled on the notion that he was insane, as one of the many weapons that were being thrown at him sliced into his right shoulder, sending his crossbow flying from his hand.

‘Get up! Get Up!’ Fandel screeched as Tanner collapsed beside him. Gripping the lapels of Tanner’s long dark coat, Fandel whined, ‘please get up. You’re meant to be protecting us!’

Before Tanner could think of a suitable reply, darkness took him and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Chapter 39

‘To the tunnel!’ Marshal Goth roared over the sound of battle. ‘Make for the tunnel!’

Zach motioned for his friends to follow Goth as he headed for an iron door set into the wall. Goth pulled a ring of keys from beneath his tunic and began to fumble with them.

‘Hurry!’ Captain Bom shouted.

Marshal Goth separated a key from the rest and opened the door. A set of stairs led down beneath the ground, and like the stairwell that led to the cells, it was lined with torches that flickered like ghosts. Following Goth, they all raced to the lower levels of the prison, followed by the surviving Norsori Guards.

At the bottom of the stone stairs, Goth reached up and began to yank on a bell that hung from the wall. Its deep melodious clang, vibrated as it echoed down the tunnel they now stood in.

‘Evacuate the Prison!’ he roared. ‘Head for the rendezvous point!’

On his command, wooden doors were thrown open as the Norsori and their children fled the prison. Some left with a few personal belongings clutched to their chests and others with the clothes they wore.

A female Norsori raced passed Zach, a baby wrapped in swaddling across her back. Unlike the male guards, her face was unmasked and she looked striking in a feline sort-of-a-way. Her face was covered with fine silky-white hair and although her mouth was the same shape and design as any human, her eyes were shaped like that of a large cat, and they shone bright green in the dimness of the tunnel. Like the other Norsori, Zach had seen, her arms were long but not muscular like the males, slender and sleek – somehow beautiful. She used these to propelle herself down the tunnel.

As the Norsori evacuated, the sound of the booted feet of the Demonic Guardians could be heard descending the stairs.

‘We’ve got company!’ Zach shouted as the fleeing Norsori brushed past him.

Turning to look at the others, William barked, ‘get to safety. Me and Zach will try and hold them for as long as possible.’

Without any further prompting, Captain Bom was huffing and puffing away with the rest of them as he fled the tunnel.