Involuntarily, I stepped back and the crowd roared louder in delight. The pixie held her ground though her legs were shaking. I kept my focus on the creature advancing slowly towards us, one heavy foot after the other. The closer it got, the more the promise of vile murder glittering in its eyes became obvious.

One of the winged bastards above us dropped something on the sand in front of the monster’s feet. It didn’t even pause but bent down and scooped it up while it continued to stride in our direction. With a sinking feeling, I realised that it was a medieval flail – a spiked ball on the end of a heavy chain. It was far larger than anything I’d seen on television or in a museum and its weight didn’t seem to bother the bastard. With as much effort as it would have taken me to wave a feather boa round my head, the monster began to swing. And still it advanced.

Suddenly it broke into a run, the flail spinning in the air with greater and greater speed. The pixie screamed, a sound not of terror but of a battle cry. She launched herself towards the monster and I had no choice but to throw myself after her. One swipe of that weapon and she’d be mincemeat.

I grabbed a hank of her hair and she yelled in pain as I threw her to one side and out of the demon’s path. It bared its teeth in what was supposed to be a smile. By this point, I was barely aware of the screaming crowd.

The best thing I could do was to get rid of the flail. That was where the immediate danger lay. As my hefty opponent took his first shot and almost lopped off my head, I concentrated on the last trickle of Apportation magic I had left. There was very little there and, even as I pulled it out and concentrated it towards the weapon, I knew it would be touch and go. I clenched my fists and focused. The flail vanished from the creature’s hands. While it stared down at its empty palms, I let out a quick breath of relief.

The creature snarled while the crowd booed their dismay then it barrelled towards me, using its whole body as a weapon. I ran, zigzagging away. It bellowed in frustration and turned from to me to the pixie, who was just getting back to her feet. Shite.

‘Hey!’ I yelled. ‘Ugly boy! Get your arse over here!’ I jumped up and down and waved.

It snorted and glanced back. Whatever it might look like, it wasn’t stupid. It knew that I was trying to distract it and didn’t veer off course. Before I could think of something to do, there was a sickening crunch of breaking bones as its fist connected with the pixie’s body. She crumpled like a rag doll. The move was so sudden and completed with such brute force that I had no way of knowing whether she was alive or dead. Whatever state she was in, the demon decided he was no longer interested in her. He twisted back to face me and grinned, his tongue lolling out of his mouth in delighted anticipation.