by HP Mallory
The diamond dust proved to be terribly inadequate. Horrified screams ripped up and down the ranks of our enemies, including Jedidiah, who stumbled close enough for me to reach him. I yanked out me blade from the sheath at his side, rose to me feet and brained him with the pommel in one swift motion. He fell to the ground senseless, still clutching his useless rifle.
The girl’s voice rent the din of buzzing and screams with crystal clarity. “Suivez moi, mes amis!”
Follow me, my friends, she said.
Looking over at our captors, I had to be sure none of them were in any condition to track us. I felt a tiny hand grab me by the wrist and I looked down upon the small girl.
She said, “Come please, Tido!”
“That’s what I’m sayin’!” the angel called out with a quick nod.
“Bloody hell,” I grumbled, but I didnae have the time nor the wherewithal to correct her. Aye, there was nae denying the good sense of a retreat. While keeping a wary eye on Cauchon’s embattled soldiers, the angel and I followed the girl’s lead as we weaved our way through the chaos.
Strangely enough, wherever she stepped, no Spite came within four feet of her. The angel began to fall behind, having trouble keeping up the pace. I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, making him yelp. He wriggled like a worm impaled on a hook.
“Hey, Conan, go easy you fucktard!”
I lifted him up to me eye level. “Ye dinnae wanna git left behind, ye blatherin’ fool! Git goin’!”
I couldnae support the angel’s full load but I assisted him all the same, draping me arm ‘round his back and supportin’ a good percent of his body weight. He limped beside me, muttering all the way.
Soon enough, we were on the other side of the swarm, running deeper into the morgue’s ruins. I dropped me hold on the angel and watched him fall to the ground when a loud whistle pierced the air.
The girl held up her arms again, this time to stop us from continuing forward. Her eyes were filled with unmitigated fear.
“Malebranche!”
The useless angel and I exchanged a concerned look for the demon dukes would have near as much mercy towards us as the cardinal we’d just left behind. A quick glance ‘round the landscape gave me me bearings.
“This way!” I yelled.
Now ‘twas the girl and the stookie angel’s turn to follow me. I only hoped the direction I took them would prove safe. We heard the unmistakable steps of a professional army closing in behind us.
When the sounds of battle became too loud to ignore, I risked a glance behind us. The Spites were once more parting the skies, now fully sated with their prey.
As I returned to the business of figuring out a locale in which to hide, I found meself praying to whoever would listen that me Besom was okay.
“Who in his lifetime many a noble act achiev’d, both by his wisdom and his sword.”
- Dante’s Inferno
NINE
LILY
For the third time since becoming airborne, my stomach rumbled. I’d managed to ignore it before since I’d been preoccupied by all the crazy shit that seemed to happen every other minute. But my tummy finally hit its limit. Now it wanted me to know I hadn’t eaten in God only knew how long.
That didn’t change the fact that I didn’t have any food on me and it wasn’t like we could make a quick stop at the Burger King drive-through.
Ha! Funny, Lils, I said to myself.
I decided to distract my mind by paying attention to my surroundings instead. I hoped to trick my stomach, but I was also actively sweeping the scene for any signs of trouble.
The Spites’ swift decimation of the army had definitely shaken me to the core. All my previous trips to the Underground City left me face-to-face with calculated, cruel, and what the Dungeons & Dragons enthusiasts in my old medieval group liked to call “chaotic” evil.
The Spites were a ferocious, malicious, unstoppable force of nature. There was no talking to them, no bargaining with them, and no escaping them. Based on what I’d witnessed, my best strategy was to make sure they didn’t notice us, and after they moved on, to put as much distance between us as was possible.
So that’s exactly what we were doing—flying the opposite direction of the Spite cloud. My Furies were busily soaring above the morgue at a lower altitude to monitor the ground activity. I had no plans to land unless we had no other choice. Manfred wasn’t exaggerating how dangerous the land was.
Speaking of my prisoner, he was sitting in front of me, squirming and pulling against his bonds like he had an itch. He heaved out a sigh before turning to look at me.
“While I have no right to ask anything of you, fraulein, I nonetheless feel compelled to make a small request.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “And that is…?”
“Please free me of these bonds. If we are unfortunate enough to be attacked again by forces unfriendly to us both, I would very much prefer to have at least a fleeting chance to defend myself.”
Donnchadh reacted to this idea exactly as I expected. He began filling me with an anger that was deep and powerful. Clearly, he didn’t advocate the idea of releasing the Red Baron. “A suspicious person might argue that your true motive is to escape.”
He frowned. “If you are such a person, I can hardly blame you for your distrust. Nonetheless, I give you my word as a gentleman that I shall not take advantage of any mercies offered to me.”
My stomach picked that moment to growl again, making it easier for Donnchadh to shove his way into my consciousness. Seeing through my eyes, I could read Donnchadh’s thoughts as though they were my own. The first thing he noted was that a fall from this height wouldn’t be pleasant but it also wouldn’t be fatal, and that was something Manfred had, no doubt, taken into consideration.
We were close enough to the tops of some of the ruined buildings that Manfred could easily jump without breaking any limbs. And if he did manage to get away, how long before he reported the mysterious woman with the flock of angry furies to his superiors?
Even taking all of that into consideration, I reached for and pulled out my blade. I was surprised when Donnchadh quieted down and backed off. If we had been somewhere safer and my belly were full, I might have wondered why. But I wanted to take care of my next task before my harrassenger acted up again.
Harrassenger? I thought to myself with a smile. Bill would be proud.
Placing the blade against the rope, I sawed away at it. It took all of two seconds to cut clean through. The captain sighed with relief as he rubbed his sore wrists. Then he put his hands on the Fury’s shoulders, which made her turn her head a full one-hundred-and-eighty degrees.
After a warning hiss, she tried taking a chomp of Manfred’s face. He barely withdrew far enough to save his nose. When I saw her rearing back for another strike, I decided to step in.
“Down, girl!”
She hissed at me like a cat just denied a juicy mouse.
“I mean it! Back off!” I said.
Her expression read “Fine!” and she turned her head back. My flying ace held his hands up, now uncertain as to where to put them. After resheathing my sword, I gently lowered his hands onto the bird woman’s flanks. A bolt of electricity shot through me once our skin made contact and I immediately pulled away.
I didn’t understand what had just happened but it didn’t seem as though Manfred had experienced it. He just continued facing forward.
“So how does it feel to be the most renowned war pilot of all time?” I asked, deciding to make conversation so I wouldn’t have to listen to my stomach continuing to growl.
The Red Baron slowly nodded his head. “I used to care about such things.”
“And now?”
“Being in this place changes the importance you place on silly things such as fame.” He grew quiet for a few seconds. “There have been plenty of moments I have wished for a time before the war. Had I the opportunity, I would go back and rethink many of my decisions.” He was silent ag
ain before he turned around to face me. “The Great War truly cost too much.”
I cringed at the guilt I saw on his face. “But from what I know of your history, you didn’t commit any atrocities. Being the best pilot, you earned the respect of all sides. So maybe you were sent here by mistake? You wouldn’t be the only one.”
The gloominess remained on his handsome face. “While you are very kind to say such things, Fraulein Harper, I believe I have earned my place here. I long ago made peace with it.”
I still wasn’t sure I believed him. “But why?”
His eyes hardened all of a sudden and then he turned back around again. “A series of misdeeds that I have no interest in expanding upon, Fraulein Harper…”
“Misdeeds?”
“I must ask that you please respect my privacy on this matter.”
Silently, I reviewed the historical facts I knew about him. While he’d had the undying admiration of his fellow pilots, he’d also been a bit of a showman. The plane my fury had taken down wasn’t the only one he’d painted red but it was the reason he’d earned his nickname of The Red Baron. He may not have been evil, but he must have done something to warrant his being here.
Donnchadh poked his head out of his spiritual foxhole again. I did everything I could to push him back inside it but lacked the necessary strength. Right on cue, my stomach chose that exact moment to remind me I was starving by inflicting another ripping sensation in my guts.
Of course, my prisoner didn’t fail to notice me struggling. “You appear distressed, fraulein.”
I waved him off, hoping I was convincing. “It’s nothing. I just haven’t eaten since I esca—”
I stopped myself way too late for it to matter but the truth was that I didn’t want him to know I’d just escaped Alaire. Maybe the Red Baron would attempt to return me?
He glanced back at me and his eyes brimmed with sympathy at my accidental confession. “So you have also been a prisoner of the Malebolge?”
I frowned at him again. “The what?”
His expression spoke volumes. “An old name for the Circle beneath us, one that I understand is no longer used.”
I nodded but didn’t reply. I was worried I’d already said too much. His voice went from crisp and professional to gentle and caring. “With all due respect, fraulein, it is obvious to anyone who has been here for longer than a day that you do not belong here. That piques my curiosity… How did you manage to arrive here?”
I didn’t doubt his sincerity, but for safety’s sake, I was reluctant to tell him anything. So I decided to go with the bare minimum. “I’m being hunted right now…”
“Hunted?”
“I was taken without my consent,” I said simply. “And now I’ve rectified that situation.”
His eyes widened in shock before narrowing down into slits of anger. “You were taken by the Master of the Underground City?”
I was surprised but didn’t respond.
“I will take your silence as agreement,” Manfred said.
“Take it however you want to take it but I didn’t admit to anything.” I took a breath. “I was separated from my friends and I was advised I’d find them down here in this Circle.”
He gave the landscape below a rueful glance. “Then Gott help them. As you have seen, survival in this place is no guarantee.”
Donnchadh roared his defiance inside me while I nodded. That’s when Manfred asked another question I wasn’t comfortable answering. “Would I be pressing this matter too far by asking who you were in life?”
I fully intended to keep my mouth closed when I heard ringing in my ears again. I closed my eyes…
…only to see my Self staring back at me. Before, she was just a reflection in my blade. Now, she was standing before me on the grounds of Fergus Castle, Tallis’s ancestral home that had become an intermittent psychic safe house. She wasn’t physically perfect, as I was in this current body, but she looked and felt more real. I saw a blend of the old me and the new post-AE me in her smile and the light of her eyes. She put her hands on my shoulders, kissed my forehead and whispered, “You can trust him…”
My eyes snapped opened again. Manfred looked at me with visible concern, so I decided to cover up the episode with a lie. “Sorry, my hunger seems to be getting the better of me.”
“If I had sustenance to offer you, fraulein, I would.”
I nodded, the pricking of my conscience becoming too much to ignore. My Self wanted me to talk to Manfred but I wasn’t sure why. There was just an assurance floating through me that I needed Manfred on my side—that he would prove to be an ally.
“In life, I was a nobody,” I said in a soft voice. “I worked at a dead-end job, I was close to my mom and I had a best friend. That’s about it.” I cleared my throat. “Oh, and I was a member of a medieval re-enactment group.”
“Was ist das?” Manfred interrupted with a look of bewilderment.
I laughed and felt embarrassment that surprised me. The days before I’d died felt like a lifetime ago. I supposed they were. “I know it must sound really strange to you, but I learned lots of important things from that group like how to make fire and how to sew.” Memories of doing DIY alterations to Persephone’s porn star wardrobe flashed through my mind like a bad case of heartburn.
His face softened while he shook his head. “You misunderstand, fraulein. I am simply amazed that a popular interest in the Middle Ages still persists.” He grew quiet for a few seconds before he spoke again. “There is no disgrace in living an ordinary life.”
I growled in frustration as I slapped my thighs. “But that’s just it! I wasn’t living… not really. I was just… existing, taking up space, being of service to everyone else and usually being ignored.”
He grunted in disbelief. “I find it hard to believe that someone with such striking features could ever be ignored.”
I felt a stabbing despair at his words. The wretched curse of the supermodel physique strikes again! I gestured toward my body, from my swan-like neck to my perfect legs that went on forever. “I didn’t look like this when I was alive.”
“I do not understand, fraulein.”
“It’s too long and complicated to explain but let’s just say that I got these looks as part of my deal with Afterlife Enterprises.” I was quiet for a second as I thought about all the time that had led up to this moment. “Quite frankly, it’s a massive upgrade from how I looked before.”
“Afterlife Enterprises changed the way you appeared?” Manfred asked, clearly confused.
I sighed and realized I’d have to explain the how of things if he was ever going to understand. “Yeah. I was killed in the most ridiculous accident in modern history. I hit a truck that was carrying a bunch of chickens. And I didn’t survive the accident because my guardian angel was nowhere to be found.”
A surge of anger towards Bill overcame me when I remembered that lapse in his protection. Yes, we were close now and I loved him but that didn’t change the fact that he had seriously fucked up.
“Forgive me, but none of this truly explains why or how you came to the Underground City.”
Once again, I hesitated. But what the hell? I’d told him practically everything else. “I mentioned Afterlife Enterprises… do you know about them?”
He nodded. “Ja, quite well.”
“Well, when I got to the other side, I was stuck in one of their offices with a douchebag weasel named Jason Streethorn. He told me that, through no fault of my own, I’d died and I was slated to spend the next hundred years in Shade…” I held up my pointer finger. “Unless I chose to become a Soul Retriever for his joke of a company.”
“I know of these Soul Retrievers, yes,” Manfred said with a clipped nod.
“So then you know we’re meant to find and relocate all the souls who were sent down here by mistake?”
“Yes,” he answered succinctly.
“Right. And apparently when I satisfy my quota of souls, I’ll be free to venture on to th
e Kingdom where my happily ever after is waiting for me.”
At the rate I was going, I doubted my time in the Underground City would ever end. Alaire had some kind of pull with AE and he’d done a spectacular job of throwing me off my game. What good was that apartment in Scotland, an unlimited bank account, or my borrowed good looks if it meant I’d be coming back here forever?
Manfred released the Fury’s flank to reach behind him and he covered my hand with his own. “For whatever it is worth, fraulein, I am truly sorry to hear about your mistreatment.”
That snapped me out of my pity party. What the hell was getting into me? Even at my lowest, I was never a whiner. Why now? Then my stomach and the angry spirit dwelling inside me reminded me why.
Manfred released my hand and gripped the fury’s flank again. My next comment was more of a question. “I’m guessing your current bosses are demons, so you’ve been getting a pretty good education, yourself, on abuse.”
The shadow fell on the Red Baron’s face again. “Jawohl… sadly, that is truer than you know.”
He fell silent and I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to press. “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, sounding hesitant.
“You are not the first person who has come to the Malebolge claiming to be a Soul Retriever. Quite a few dead souls of late have been captured by the Malebranche and…”
Even with the acid churning it, a cold knot formed in my stomach. Whatever he was about to say couldn’t be good. “Then… they were killed?”
Manfred shuddered. “All such persons who identify themselves as ‘Soul Retrievers’ are summarily guilty of espionage, according to our orders.” The knuckles on his hands started turning white from his tightened grip. “They are not allowed to live, as you can imagine. But the method of execution is solely at the discretion of the commanding officer. So most of your kind are condemned to die a slow, agonizing death by whatever torture currently ranks as the commander’s favorite. Most of these executions are too hideous to watch.”
