by HP Mallory
When Minos sighed, it seemed as though the weight of countless centuries suddenly pressed down on his shoulders. “In a manner of speaking, Lily Harper, and as noted by your Tallis Black, I once sat on the high bench in Dis, dispensing judgments as I saw fit.”
The angel hummed. “Heard a few careless whispers ‘bout some o’ them judgmentals pissin’ off AE.”
“Well, in all fairness, William, on several occasions, I simply ruled to rectify the wrong.”
Having experienced me own version of this story, I saw the shape of where ‘twas going. “Ah imagine that some o’ them decisions made by AE is why ye’re now traipsin’ aboot here?”
Minos pursed his lips and shook his head, allowing some of that invisible weight to come off his shoulders. “As poetic and tragic as that would make my tale, the answer is sadly no. My current circumstances can be laid at the feet of your successor, Alaire. As I am certain you discovered through your own interactions with the man, he will brook no authority that can supersede his own. He even managed to persuade Afterlife Enterprises that… what is that revolting neologism? The theory that downsizing the judiciary and making them the court of last resort was far more efficient than the current system.”
Aye, he knew Alaire as well as I did. “An’ so ye were dismissed.”
The weight on his shoulders returned with full force. “No, Tallis Black, all judges were purged. The official story claimed we were given public honors and a comfortable retirement befitting our station. The reality is that within one day of setting foot outside the courthouse, nearly all my fellow judges were slaughtered by Dis’s greater imps.”
Lily put the hand that was tapping her thigh to her face as the horror of this history sunk in. “No one escaped except for you?”
“The few that did, Lily Harper, became lackeys and sycophants for Alaire’s new regime… with the sole exception of myself, of course.”
Besom’s eyes narrowed while she lowered her hand. “I’m thinking good luck happens to follow you.”
“Yes, and my luck kept me from sharing the fate of my fellow judges. I regret that, due to certain binding agreements I am unable to break, I could never share such protection with my colleagues. I can only lend it to those who were never judges themselves and even then, under the strictest of circumstances.”
I pointed at Minos. “Such as when ye’re appointin’ bailiffs an’ witnesses fer a trial?” The curtness of his nod spoke volumes on how he wished that such limits were not so strict.
Oblivious to the mess he was making of his face and his head, the stookie angel wiped his brow even harder. “So how come Poly an’ Sally over in Requisitions keep gittin’ regular reports ‘bout all the judgmentals ya been makin’?”
Unable to tolerate the sight anymore, I tossed a handkerchief I kept inside me breican into his lap. “Wipe yer face, man!”
Without paying our drama any mind, Minos answered the angel’s question. “Though I was officially dismissed from the bench, the extended term of my office granted me certain residual powers that rescinding my status could not undo. I therefore took it upon myself to use what was left of my gifts to make the Underground City as fair a place as I could under my new circumstances.”
Besom finished swallowing the last of her bread and added one other keen observation. “I’m guessing that you needed to stay on the move if you didn’t want extra trouble from Alaire?”
“That is partly true, Lily Harper, although the safety of anyone in my court is of more concern to me than my own. What truly inspired my current course was one prisoner named Roy Bean. In life, he himself was a judge, though his actions led him to be sent to my court. While I was reviewing the evidence, he mentioned how he once was a ‘circuit judge’, someone who roams over a certain territory to administer justice. Thus, I followed his example.”
I could tell from the expression on Lily’s face that she wasnae completely sold on this explanation. “And AE is cool with that? They don’t try to stop you?”
“Oh, there have been plenty of attempts. But when the third one failed, they realized that such an enterprise was anything but cost-effective. Alaire, on the other hand, has never ceased his efforts. Every moment I roam freely across his paper kingdom is another moment in which his authority is undermined.”
I grimaced at the thought. “One thing nae leader can be is weak.” I started to wonder if Minos would have given Lily better justice than AE did. I doubted that getting killed by a flock of chickens could have been held against her. That thought led me to another—that being what if Lily’s accident hadnae ever happened? I would never have met her. Could I truly say that either of our lives would have been the better for that outcome?
Not wanting to pursue that thought any further, I asked the High Judge, “So, this be yer first time in the Dark Wood, Yer Lordship?”
A warm smile blossomed on his face, lighting up his eyes. “I was wondering when you would ask me that particular question, Tallis Black. Yes, my duties have never given me cause to come this way before now. Too many lost souls from this… Y2K nonsense.”
All three of us looked at Crete’s one-time king in shock. He took it in stride as he went on with his explanation. “Oh, you need not be surprised. I was actually the first to report on the vagrant soul phenomenon to Afterlife Enterprises. Even before then, I was sending the souls back to the world above in conjunction with my trials. But as I am merely one person covering a vast area, I had to request additional aid in this matter.”
Lily immediately came to the wrong conclusion. “So you’re the one who came up with the idea of Soul Retrievers?”
Minos grimaced as he glanced at the woods around us. “Oh, no, Soul Retrievers have existed since well before the aforementioned unpleasantness ever unfolded. But they were a rarity and much more highly trained than our current crop. The number of such true professionals was grossly insufficient for the task at hand.”
The angel finally finished wiping all the grease from his face before he absentmindedly tossed the handkerchief into me own lap. It took everything I had nae to admonish him for mistaking me for a rubbish bin.
“But, yo, you were already off the bench before Y2K, right?” Once he got the nod from the High Judge, the angel fired another question. “So why’d they listen ta ya if they wanted ya ta leave anyway?”
Minos shrugged. “As I have no solid information to support the correct conclusion, I would only be speculating. The two things I can say with certainty are that my request was taken seriously enough to be acted upon in the end; and the untrained persons AE sent have led to far greater and unnecessary frustration for all involved.”
Lily turned away from him, frowning. Minos’s face softened with regret. “Forgive me, Lily Harper. The directness I employ during my trials tends to follow me in casual conversation. I know this is a painfully personal subject for you.”
She tried smiling but I doubt anyone, Minos least of all, was fooled by it. “Oh, it’s all right. Not like it’s your fault. It’s just…” She sniffled as she took a deep breath. “I wish I knew whose fault this situation was so I could scream at them for an hour straight. None of this is fair.”
The High Judge nodded with the solemnity I’d come to expect. “No. No, none of this is fair.” Standing up, he prompted the rest of us to follow. I let the handkerchief fall from me lap to the ground. “In fact, there is an extremely troubling development that I wish to show you all. It is the principal reason why I walk these woods.”
###
It didnae take long to reach what Minos wanted us to see. A pulsing red scar was embedded on the trunk of a great tree. It beat in a rhythm similar to a human heart, letting small drops of blood roll down the bark with each contraction.
This time, both me throat and me mouth were dry at the sight. Only one place in the Underground City would play host to such a gate: the Seventh Circle. “When did this happen?”
Minos made sure both the angel and Lily saw the gate before answerin
g. “According to my sources, fairly recently. My best estimate would be no longer than a week ago, the absolute minimal time such a gate from the Seventh Circle could be made by the likes of Alaire.”
Besom looked at Minos with anxious dismay. “That’s where we need to go to retrieve a soul.”
“With respect for your skills, Lily Harper, I am uncertain if taking this particular gate is worth the price. Even if you got past the guards, you would find the Blood Plains just beyond them. Whatever violence the former could visit upon you would be exceeded by the latter many times over.”
Cassie’s prophecies and the discussions about them came back to me, the neatness in which the events were lining up was making me flesh crawl. Like all true Scotsmen, I had little to nae use for prophecy I could nae grasp.
Then the Lord High Judge made me misgivings go from bad to worse. “But even that is not the most troubling thing. I have it on very good authority that the football field beyond those Plains is being used as a place of recruitment for Alaire’s forces. Some of these recruits lie on the other side of this gate, in fact.”
I couldnae take me eyes off the dripping blood on the tree. “An’ where have the rest o’ Alaire’s recruits gone?”
“As I understand it, to various places. A few fight the freshly brewed civil war in the Eighth Circle. Others are given tasks that put them in parts of the Underground City in which they have no business being. At the moment, they function as a den of spies. But I have no doubt that when the time is right, they will strike swift and true as soldiers.”
I narrowed me eyes at the gate, deep in thought. “How many o’ Alaire’s ilk be waitin’ on the other side?”
Minos gave me a sideways glance. “No more than a dozen but they are not the true problem. Cut all of them down and a stronger detachment will eventually be sent to secure the gate once more.”
The angel studied the closed gate, stroking his chin. “What if we blew this one up too? I mean, that oughtta throw a spannerang inta Blondie’s plans, right?”
Besom surprised me with what she said next. “Or we could just take it over.”
I whirled me head around to her. “Whit?”
She looked up at me with a combination of frustration and decisiveness. “Look, if we’re going to build up this… this underground railroad for Soul Retrievers, we’re going to need quick exits like this to get around. So how would blowing this gate up manage to help us?”
While all that was true, she was ignoring one big problem she didnae want to address. “Ye just heard his Lordship, Besom. Takin’ sooch a portal is the easy part. The trick is holdin’ it ‘gainst all who will come tae take it back. How dae ye plan on accoutin’ fer that?”
The frown that sprang up on Minos’s face was instantaneous; his lips were nearly buried by his beard. “There is one who could quite possibly hold this pathway in your stead… my wife’s son, Asterion.”
Besom picked up his distinction straight away. “Your wife’s son is not your son?”
A tentative shake of the former king’s head seemed so out of character with his previous, more confident statements. “Though Asterion is often called by my name, nothing could be further from the truth, no. Nor are we on very good terms, I’m afraid. Intellectually speaking, being the illegitimate son of Pasiphae, a woman who repaid my love with treachery, was never Asterion’s choice. And yet I could never overcome my sheer hatred for his very existence for many centuries.”
While Minos talked, the angel squinted at the judge in a way I knew all too well. When his squint vanished, the stookie angel cleared his throat. “Asterion’s mom, she ain’t down here, is she?”
The sadness in the Lord High Judge’s eyes was nearly unbearable. “If she is, William, I have yet to encounter her. But Asterion himself is being held prisoner in the football field. Despite his victorious past, he has yet to be released for reasons I do not know.”
I looked at Minos. “An’ he’s a fighter?”
“The most formidable warrior I know. In the course of my life and duties, I have encountered a good many. He could ensure that the gate remains a closed road to Alaire while allowing free passage to all who oppose him.”
I swore that Besom’s eyes were practically sparkling. “He sounds perfect! We’d be crazy not to free him.” She swallowed hard as she looked at me. “Asterion could help us.”’
I took a big breath. “It seems sooch is the case.”
Minos seemed relieved at my response. “Then, if your traveling companions agree, there is one last procedure we must perform before I open this gate. If you will all raise your right hands, please?”
Lily did so without a second’s hesitation. I glanced at the angel, who shrugged before raising his hand. I was quick to follow.
Minos held up his own right hand while his left hand stretched towards the three of us, his palm facing the ground. “By the authority vested in me by Almighty Zeus, Lord Hades and the board of directors of Afterlife Enterprises, I hereby pronounce all of you officers of the court, complete with all the privileges and responsibilities thereof. Do you accept?”
Unsure of the proper response to this ceremony, I kept me answer simple. “Aye.”
The angel’s response was a wee bit more crude. “Fuck yeah, yo.”
Lily grimaced at her ex-guardian angel’s answer before saying, “I do.”
Minos nodded. “So be it done.” He suddenly clapped his hands and a bright flash blinded me for a moment. I had to blink me eyes several times before I could see again. Lily and the angel were sharing the same problem.
The stookie angel shook his head before looking up at Minos. “What the hell was that?”
By then, Minos was already at the gate, a knife in his right hand. “Apologies for the discomforting theatrics. The flash merely indicates that you all carry the same protection from harm that I now currently enjoy.”
Even as he said the words, he slid the knife blade across his open palm, sending a small stream of blood running down his hand. Besom pointed directly at the fresh wound.
“Not to sound too technical, but doesn’t that constitute harm?”
Minos ran his hand down the blood red tree scar, carefully tracing his wound down the path that was already carved into the bark. “Not at all, Lily Harper, this is pure ritual. Had I made this cut with harmful intent, such an action would have been thwarted at the last moment.”
The angel started grinning, no doubt, he was thinking of the possibilities that even his immortality didnae grant him before. “So, does that mean we can git our asses across the Blood Plains without a scratch, yo?”
Minos stopped smearing the blood over the trunk. Now with each pulse, the scar seemed to slowly open the tree a quarter inch at a time. “Alas, William, the combatants of the Blood Plains are included in the few that can override your new status. However, you have survived many journeys in the Underground City before this, and I have every confidence you shall find a safe way through their ceaseless conflict.”
The entrance was gradually forming as the tree cracked open. I caught some dismayed voices on the other side, no doubt some of Alaire’s guards who had nae idea what was about to befall them.
I unsheathed me blade and strode up to the gate. “Do we return here after we free Asterion?”
Minos calmly bound his bleeding hand while stepping back. “I shall await you on this side of the gate, Tallis Black. Good fortune to you all.”
While the opening was expanding rapidly, it still wasnae big enough for me to charge through. I steeled meself for the right moment when someone ran past me with a war cry. Even if I missed the red flowing hair, the clinking of the chainmail told me who went first, Besom, of course. I barely had time to figure such out when the smaller figure of her angel followed behind her.
“Wait fer me, Nips!”
The moment the stookie angel disappeared into the gate, I couldnae restrain a frustrated growl. I kept it—and me temper—at bay until it boiled over into a full-fledge
d war cry of me own. By then, the gate had opened wide enough for me to charge through at last.
EIGHT
Lily
The first thing I noticed on the other side of the gate was the pitch darkness around the island of light in which I was standing. The Seventh Circle was a place of neverending night. That was primarily owing to the black “sky” that stretched from one end to the other. I couldn’t help noticing all the lamps propped up on poles and the string of LED lights hanging like plastic ivy.
I might have taken a closer look if not for the next thing I noticed. I was surrounded by a dozen perfectly gorgeous humans—definitely ex-Soul Retrievers or, as Minos called them, Janissaries—yelling at me as they retreated in alarm. Since they were too busy yanking out their weapons to deal with me, I wasn’t listening to what they were saying. Too bad for them that my blade was already out and ready to strike.
I started with the closest big guy on my right. He was a brunette wearing blue jeans that showed off, rather than concealed the same toned muscles as the blond kid that Minos sentenced to thirty years in Shade. Since I only came up to his breastbone, I aimed my blade at the side of his knee. And I swung.
I heard the cartilage crunching under the impact of my swing, barely giving me time to pull the blade out of the path of his collapsing leg. Using the momentum, I tried to get closer to him when he fell on both his knees. As soon as I could, I gave his nose a hard smack with my forehead before following it up with another one from the hilt of my sword. That last one landed right between his eyes, knocking him out cold.
Lily Harper: 1. Bad Soul Retrievers: 0.
Too bad his fellow guards all managed to pull out their weapons by the time he went down. A willowy, blonde woman wore a black body stocking under a brown bomber jacket as she aimed a good-sized automatic pistol at my back. When she fired, all three shots ricocheted off my chainmail shirt, hitting the nearest three guards who tried to surround me. As the trio went down in flames—painfully—I noticed that none of their wounds were lethal. The bullets that ricocheted hit the first one’s leg, the second one’s shoulder and the third one’s wrist. With injuries like that, none of them looked too eager to return to the fight.
