by John Hook
“Maybe we turn into donkeys.” Izzy grinned.
“I thought of that. But why this rumor about a place of good? Why would the demons care?”
“It seems selective,” Blaise mused.
“How is that?”
“We’ve been given the impression there is a kind of profile for Haven.”
“People who retain hope in spite of all the terror.”
“Like the citizens,” Izzy added.
“Citizens?” Blaise asked.
“That was the name we gave ourselves when we were living on our own away from anywhere the demons would go. Because we still retained our sense of self and free will.”
Blaise was thoughtful a moment. “I don’t think that’s the profile. That’s why I sensed we needed to kiss ass with the Demon King.”
“Hope, not self-determination,” I said.
“Yes, not happy people. Desperate people who have not given up.”
“Why?”
The shirks had moved up closer.
“You want to quit yakking so much,” one of them sneered.
“I’m sorry, am I keeping you boys awake?” I puffed myself up a bit hoping to provoke something.
“You should be careful how you talk to us.” One shirk stepped up to me, trying to stare me down.
“Was I speaking too fast? Slumming with demons slowed your thinking too much?”
“I can hurt you. I can create a lot of pain and still leave you able to travel.” He sneered.
“What, with your breath?”
I brought my elbow around hard, smashing the bridge of the shirk’s nose. He went down on the ground hard, covering his face with his hands. Blood came out from between his fingers. The other shirk just stood there.
“You want to be careful you don’t catch his nasty little sinus condition.”
I heard the demons approaching and saw with my peripheral vision Blaise and Izzy bar their way. I heard Izzy say cheerfully, “Don’t worry about them. Human stuff. We’re coming. No worries.”
I turned back and followed the demons with Izzy and Blair. The shirks had fallen further back.
“What was that?” Izzy asked.
“Wanted to see how committed they were. We can’t kill them or run off, but I wanted to know if this was a bushwhack. They have no power. They are going to hand us over to someone who does.”
“Who might that be?” Blaise asked.
“Demons seem to be the bottom of the hierarchy here. They are the ones who get to torture humans. If I understand things, territories are run by Manitors who may have a Shade working for them.”
“What’s a Shade?”
“A human with special powers who works at the pleasure of the Manitor.”
“And Manitors? Guido is one, right?”
Izzy nodded.
“I don’t know much about Manitors. I just know they are very powerful beings. Saripha says they are ancient. But Guido doesn’t go out of his way to fill me in. Makes me nuts, but he seems to be on our side.”
“I think you were nuts before Guido showed up,” Izzy added.
“So, we are probably going to go up against powerful magical beings with no weapons.” Blaise’s eyebrow went up.
“Be my guess.”
“And plan B?”
“I can usually only handle one plan at a time.”
“Good idea. Makes it easier to remember what you’re supposed to do.”
“See, now you’re catching on.”
“So what do we do when we run into these powerful magical beings?”
“Haven’t worked out that part of the plan.”
“Certainly leaves our options more flexible.”
“There you go.”
Hell reminds me a bit of Arizona, where I spent some time after college. It is sunny most of the time, but that doesn’t mean you don’t get other kinds of weather. Sometimes that weather has a tendency to be sudden and severe.
We had just crossed a range of low hills and were descending into a gulch that opened up very widely, like a valley with steep walls. The gulch was still wooded but rockier. It ran across the land as far as we could see and what we saw moving right down the track of the gulch were columns of black clouds. Lightning uncoiled ferociously, lashing in all directions. Wind churned up out of nowhere and howled past us. As the skies darkened, rain exploded from the sky. Within moments we could hardly see ahead of ourselves.
The demons may be stupid, but they know how to survive. It was as if we were forgotten as both the demons and shirks scrambled back up the way we had come. One of the demons snapped his head back and we heard in our heads, “Hurry!”
They were right. The gully would produce dangerous flash flooding. However, I grabbed Izzy as he was starting up after them. Blaise was not moving yet. He always seemed slow to react, but I had come to realize he wasn’t slow. He was almost always evaluating before he took action. Evaluating what, I wasn’t sure, but he rarely missed anything.
“Izzy! Blaise!” I shouted. It was hard to hear as the sky blackened and the rain came down harder. It would be handy in this situation to be able to project thoughts like the demons.
I cut along the slope, generally favoring higher ground, but also favoring the opposite direction of the demons and shirks. It was a tough slog. We were headed in the direction the winds were blowing from. Rain was falling all around and almost stream-sized ribbons of runoff washed down from above us carrying dirt and rocks. Straight up would have been smarter when we had the chance, but I was trying to take us away from where our guides were going to be. Izzy and I both slipped and each time, Blaise caught us. If we were ever dragged down by the rushing water into the gorge, we would probably be overwhelmed and drown.
We finally made our way to an outcropping. The advantage was that it provided a narrow shelter from the rushing rain, if not the howling wind. The disadvantage was, if it wasn’t solid and it got washed away by the water that roared past on either side, it would probably crush us. I looked at Izzy and then Blaise. Both nodded. We crowded in under the overhang. We didn’t even bother to try to talk as the wind was, if anything, louder as it funneled through, sounding like a scream.
And then, as quickly as it had arisen, everything died down. The sky was still overcast but much lighter, and blue patches were beginning to break through. Water was still running in clear ribbons down the hillside, but it was being quickly absorbed into the thirsty ground. The wind had died down to a breeze. We were soaked and chilly, but I hadn’t noticed that you got sick here.
“Come on,” I said and came out from beneath the overhang. Blaise and Izzy followed. I climbed up the embankment. It was muddy, so I slipped a number of times, getting covered with dirt, but I made it to the top. We carefully picked our way through the trees and the brush, circling slowly back to the area where I thought the demons and shirks might have come up.
We came up on the hill line. I motioned to Izzy and Blaise to keep quiet. We made our way slowly and silently through the trees. As we approached an area with more light, we heard voices. We approached slowly.
We found ourselves in a stand of trees on a small rise. Down below was the trail we had come on. The three demons had the two shirks that had been with us surrounded. The one with the broken nose was already on the ground with some nasty slashes from the demons’ claws. The other was frozen in panic. One demon was in charge. The other two simply loomed menacingly.
“I-I don’t know how we lost them. They were right behind us. They may have gotten swept away.”
“We had to get to high ground,” The other shirk muttered weakly. He was slashed for his trouble, but tried not to cry out.
“Yes,” said the shirk on the ground. “That’s what we will say. They were caught in the flash flood and died.”
It was like hearing one end of a telephone conversation. The demon in charge was obviously broadcasting into the shirks’ minds, but we weren’t picking it up.
“Yes, we will say we saw them
die. We saw their bodies but they were washed away.”
Another pause. The shirk on the ground grew more fearful.
“Yes, it is our fault. We will take the punishment.”
The demons, seemingly satisfied, hauled the shirk up rudely and pushed both in front of them, making no effort to retract claws. They marched the shirks back in the direction of the city. We waited for nearly ten minutes before we spoke.
“So what now? Will this create trouble for Roland?” Blaise asked.
“I doubt it. This is more or less what I came to find out. They really don’t know if we were lost in the storm, but that’s how they’ll sell it. By the time they get back, they may even decide to say we were successfully delivered. The demons won’t admit failure to the Demon King.”
“I thought you wanted to find this Haven?” Izzy asked.
“I do.”
“How do we find it without them?”
I shrugged. “They are demons.” I turned and surveyed across the gorge and the wider valley. “What do you see?”
“I see a widely traveled trail through the woods, descending toward a valley and I see a wall of very high mountains behind the valley. Ah ha!” Izzy laughed.
“Ah ha?” Blaise looked from Izzy to me.
“Demons don’t like high mountains.”
Blaise grinned. “So Haven is…”
“Follow the yellow brick road. It will be at the end, down in the valley.”
We climbed down from the rise and began to pick our way through the trees parallel to the road. Without communicating, I think we were all three thinking the same thing. Use the road for navigation, but stay off the road in case someone was watching.
It took us a while to make it down to and through the gorge and up the other side. Most of the water had receded or gone underground again, but it was still a muddy mess. We seemed to dry out quickly each time we got wet. It occurred to me that that was a property of the glamour, just like recovery from wounds.
As we emerged, the valley presented us with rolling grasslands and occasional stands of trees, so there wasn’t much point in avoiding the road. We could see a rock formation in the distance and another wall of trees beyond that. It looked like that was our destination.
“You still remember your life before this.” I looked at Blaise. It was a statement more than a question.
He was silent a long time, staring straight ahead.
“I do.”
“What did you mean when you said you expected to end up here?”
Blaise looked amused and said nothing.
“Have to do with what you used to do in life?”
“Something.”
“But you still aren’t going to tell me.”
“Old habits die hard.”
“And I don’t have a need to know.”
An eyebrow went up. “Something like that.”
“You still don’t trust me.”
“I don’t trust anyone here, babe.”
“Good instinct. So why stay with me?”
“I told you. Things are always interesting around you. I might get bored I wasn’t with you.”
“Yeah, well, let’s hope things don’t get too interesting.”
“Probably will.”
“Quentin!” There was urgency in Izzy’s voice. I followed his gaze. We were almost to the rock structure, which appeared to be an archway fashioned of stone. The ground fell away beyond it and there, nested in a small depression, was a village. We couldn’t see much because a lot of the village was below our present ground level as we came over the hill. However, that might mean whoever was there hadn’t seen us either.
On instinct, we avoided the arch, which I assumed was the official gate. The village was situated in the hollowed-out top of a naturally formed mound, so we headed down to go around the mound out of sight. We then made our way back up, crawling on all fours when we were nearing the top. Carefully, we peered over the top and looked down.
Below was a small town, not unlike Rockvale, except it was cleaner, and brighter. Houses were all of the usual stone and adobe mix with wood trim, but they looked well cared for. Some even had small gardens. People walked around and greeted each other and smiled. I almost expected to see kids and pets, but so far I had never seen any kids in Hell. We had no idea why. It was just one of the many puzzles here. I leaned in a little more.
“Careful, Quentin. We probably don’t want to be spotted yet.” Izzy was clearly nervous.
“You know the old adage. People never look up.”
Another detail that was interesting was that there were no demons anywhere I could see. There were shirks, but they kept to themselves in small clusters and didn’t seem to pose any threat to the others.
“They look happy.” Izzy was now leaning closer in.
“What’s wrong with this picture?”
“Lottery,” Blaise said quietly.
“Excuse me?”
“You make a few millionaires in order to keep the other rubes playing your game. The house is rigged, but the rubes don’t know that and the millionaires don’t care.”
“Nice theory, but very few people seem to know about Haven, so how does it keep anyone going?”
“A ghetto to separate the ones with hope.” Izzy shook his head.
“Looks like a nice Get Toh to me,” Blaise teased.
“Being nice to humans for any reason—I just don’t buy it.”
“Don’t be so shy,” a voice bellowed out behind us. Actually, it was behind and above us, but I didn’t figure that out until I was tangled in barbed wire.
At first I didn’t realize what was wrapping around me. It was like something alive, as if snakes had come out of the grass. Then, as the web of barbed wire closed in around me, it cut into my skin. It wasn’t deep enough to do real damage, but it was painful and drawing blood. I figured out quickly that if I wanted the cutting to stop, I had to stop struggling.
I looked over and descending from above was a man standing on one of those platforms that both I and Janovic had used before. The fact that the platforms could levitate was actually just a side benefit. They were actually a conduit of special powers. Which probably meant I was looking at this territory’s Shade.
I turned to Blaise from inside my barbed wire netting. “See, I was right. People never look up.”
Blaise rolled his eyes, but it was subtle. Izzy wasn’t moving but you could tell he was startled and unsure what to do. Blaise looked like someone standing in a park somewhere enjoying the breeze. And yet, I sensed wheels turning.
I looked at the Shade, and in this case the name was appropriate. His skin was black except for his face, but I don’t mean black as in African looking. It was more like he was painted with high gloss black paint. He had nothing on above the waist, so this was skin, not clothing. His face was long and Nordic looking, ruddy skin, with long but limp blond hair.
As he landed, he stepped off the platform and walked over to me. It was almost as if Blaise and Izzy weren’t there. Up close I could see a metallic residue on his skin and it only now made me realize how strange this was, given the lack of metal in Hell. He made a quick but subtle motion with his hand and the barbed wire was gone. He leaned close to me, looking in my eyes, almost seeming to sniff me. Then he stepped back.
“You seem different from others. You wouldn’t be Guido’s pet, would you?”
I kept quiet for the moment. He reminded me a bit of Janovic. He had the same self-absorption and lack of empathy. I could sense the danger.
“No, you couldn’t be. You have no power. You would have needed the blue power to kill Janovic, but you would have never given the power up.”
I had the feeling he was toying with me, that he actually did know who I was. However, I still didn’t say anything.
He turned away and for the first time addressed all of us. “It is good you have come. We thought we lost you in the storm.”
“This is Haven?” Izzy asked.
“
Yes. It is unusual to have three at once, but we can adjust.”
“And you are?” I finally spoke.
He turned to me slowly, like he was half asleep. In fact, that was how he seemed in general, but you could sense danger just under the surface.
“I am Baron Steel because it amuses me to so label myself. I represent the Manitor of this territory and I watch over Haven. In this world bereft of metal, it is that element which manifests through my powers.”
“Who better to serve and protect?” I said cheerily.
“Who better indeed.” He smiled. It was worse when he smiled.
“There was another we knew who came here recently. Couldn’t have been that long ago.”
“Yes, there was one.”
“Will we be able to see him?” I asked.
“No, alas. He didn’t stay. It turned out he wasn’t happy with life here after all.”
“You let him leave?”
“Oh yes. We have other such communities in other territories. He moved on to one of those.”
“So what is this place?”
“ A place where humans are happy.” The Baron, as he called himself, looked at me but it was a very hard expression to read. “And, no demons. Go. You have been given permission. Go and enter the village that is now your home.”
10.
Izzy, Blaise and I stared at each other in the living room of “our” new house. There wasn’t much to it. It had a living room where we lounged now, two bedrooms and a small kitchen alcove. The typical Hell-style bungalow. It was sparsely but adequately furnished with a bed in each bedroom and a couch and chairs in the living room and stools at the kitchen table. Blaise had magnanimously said he would take the couch until Izzy and I reminded him we actually don’t sleep much.
We had walked into town and been checked out by a couple of shirks. As we approached, they had looked up to the Shade with the cornball name, Baron Steel, who waved. They then took us to the town mayor and left. The mayor was an overweight if jovial sort who enjoyed holding court. He seemed quite jolly. Paul enjoyed his job, but he was never jolly. This mayor, named Vernon, looked at records he kept on a couple of pieces of wood with crisscrossed lines and pegs and determined which house we would have. We were told that there were three main rules in this place.
