Lawyers in Hell
Page 53
“Enough,” Erra says aloud.
This one word frees the rest of his Seven, weapons beyond mortal comprehension: the fifth of the Seven spins himself into a whirlwind of bladed retribution, and goes among Satan’s troops and death machines. Beside Erra, the first of the Seven opens chasms to the deepest underworld in the path of Satan’s warriors and their tanks. The front ranks tumble into the abyss, victims of the unstoppable momentum of their own forces coming on behind them.
The fourth of the Seven blows his hurricane winds and deflects every projectile, every missile, every weapon aimed their way.
The sixth brings his torrents, to clean the streets; the third freezes armies in their tracks. Now the fourth calls forth a plague upon all the soldiers and all Hellywood’s onlookers, voyeurs of death who hide among the rubble: those who could have run, but didn’t, will learn their lessons too this day.
The torrents clean the streets of corpses; the chasms suck down all the wreckage and accouterments of war, and the city is silent: ravaged, ruined. No building stands. Sobbing and moaning and groaning fill the air with deserved songs.
Still, Satan has not come. So be it. With his word made good, Erra gathers his Seven to him, and the lord of Ki-gal and his boy.
“Make your ropes once more,” Erra commands the second of his Seven. “We go to Ki-gal now, to rest from our labors. You fought well, all you weapons. And you Kigali, you have seen what sons of Ki-gal need to see: how the powers from on high treat those who resist the will of highest heaven.”
Neither Kur nor his boy said a word: the Kigali youth had his wings wrapped tight round him like a cloak. His mentor stared around, speechless, at heaven’s wrath.
The second shook out his ropes of blue lightning and the Kigali raised their wings high.
Then up into the air they went, Erra and his Seven and the two Kigali, with the Almighty Kur and Eshi holding tight to the ropes of lightning all the while.
*
Kur had never been happier to be back in Ki-gal, but Eshi was still troubled, lashing his tail, wings half raised. Kur wanted to take Eshi up the mountainside, let the boy soak his quill-pricked skin in the healing sulphur pools. Breathe the pungent steam, and let the mountain do its work while the feast-boards for the evening meal were being laid.
But the second of the Seven came for Eshi, as he always did, to take the boy hunting the red-tailed lizards who swooped and played in the green-gold clouds rolling down the mountain at the end of day.
The red-tails squawked overhead, fat and juicy, beating their wings, consumed with their lizardly games.
But tonight Eshi wouldn’t go hunting with the beautiful son of heaven and earth: “I don’t want to hunt now, Second. I need you to tell me some things and I want Kur to hear what you say.” Eshi rubbed the back of one hand with the other, where his new quills itched.
“The three of us will sit together then, Eshi, and you can ask me what you want to know, if the Almighty Kur will indulge us.” Of the seven Sibitti, this one was the kindest – or the smartest.
“Great Kur, can we? Do you have time? Will you sit with us?”
“Not here, Eshi,” Kur said. “Come with me.” Kur could see Erra and the other Sibitti, who had not yet repaired to their cavern, lingering close by.
Kur led his eromenos and the second of the Sibitti up and up the mountain’s skirt, Eshi by his side with wings raised.
The three of them climbed high on the slope to sit by the steamy sulphur pools overlooking Ki-gal, magnificent in the gloaming. Kur said, “Now, Eshi, ask what you will. And you, second among the Sibitti, tell my boy what truth you know.”
“What happens to you Seven when you are not terrifying mankind? Where do you go when you are not with Erra? Or are you always bringing pestilence and mayhem somewhere?”
The Sibitti cocked his head at Kur, then turned his beautiful face to Eshi. “They put us in a cupboard, prince of Ki-gal. Weapons must have targets – a purpose. When there are no targets, we have no life. There we wait, enclosed, away from the world, the sea, the sky. I hate being shut up. A Sibitti wants first to fight a worthy enemy and then to sleep in the open among honest creatures in a beautiful place such as Ki-gal.” He waved his hand at the agora below, at the feast-boards, at the vault above. The tribe was gathering, soaring overhead, circling, riding the updrafts and the downdrafts, winging down to join the feast. “Ki-gal, of everywhere I have ever been, is the most magnificent. Free of all the foolishness of men. In harmony with nature. You are very blessed, you Kigali.”
Kur was unmoved. This Sibitti still romanced his boy.
“What happens to Erra then?” Eshi pressed.
“He goes back to his godly seat in Emeslam and rules there until he is needed to bring his pestilence and mayhem once more. You have seen what we do, Eshi. We hide nothing. If Ki-gal ever were threatened, we Sibitti would gladly fight by your sides, if Erra would allow.”
“Would you fight against us, if Erra said? If he commanded you?”
Kur’s wings went up in surprise and he forced them down. Eshi’s wings went higher and stayed high.
“Yes,” said the second, son of heaven and earth. “If Erra so commanded. We would. We would have no choice.”
“Then you are no friends to the Kigali. You are no friend to me.”
“Eshi…” Kur touched Eshi’s pinion. “He is honest with you, as friends are honest with one another.” Tread lightly, Eshi, with this peerless warrior.
“I am only a weapon, Eshi. Not a man. Not a dead soul. Not a Kigali. I can be no more than what I am. But I am your friend. You can call me and I will aid you if the gods allow. Someday you will understand. You Kigali, you can be whatever you wish. I admire you.”
Eshi said nothing. Wary, defiant, suspicious and hurt, he stared at the second of the Sibitti.
The second of the Seven rose to his feet. “I must go down. Erra and my brothers are looking this way. They will ask me what was said. I must tell them, Almighty Kur, what they want to know.” This weapon was discomfited. His molten eyes held clouds like the sulphur billowing down from the mountain peak. Shrouded.
“I know,” Kur told him.
“You have raised a great one, Almighty Kur. You can be proud.”
“I am still raising him.” Kur took Eshi under his left wing.
They watched in silence as the second of the Sibitti made his way down the slope to his fellows. All eight put their heads together and then looked upslope, where Kur sat with Eshi in the embers of the day.
“Almighty Kur?”
“Yes, Eshi.”
“They are not good, these Sibitti.”
“No, they are not. But they are not evil either. They are firm in their purpose. As are we.”
“Do you trust him, this weapon?”
“I trust him to be a weapon. As I trust you to be full of questions. Now come with me into the sulphur pool: the waters will soothe your skin. And you can soothe my skin. It has been a long day for the ‘prince’ of Ki-gal.”
“Prince? If I am a prince, then you are my king, great Kur, forever and ever.”
Eshi threw himself upon Kur then, in a rush of legs and wings and arms, and grabbed Kur about the neck, and buried his head in Kur’s breast.
They sat that way until Eshi’s stiff body relaxed. Kur stroked Eshi’s downy spine and his shivers eased. Eshi started to hum.
Then Kur got to his feet with Eshi in his arms and waded into the warmth of the sulphur pool. And it seemed to him then, holding young Eshi in his arms, that nothing could ever be more perfect than this night in Ki-gal under the smoldering vault above, with the tribe fluttering down to join the feast below.
Table of Contents
Interview with the Devil 1
Tribe of Hell 5
The Rapture Elevator 29
Out of Court Settlement 43
Revolutionary Justice. 71
Tale of a Tail 103
And Injustice For All 135
Measure of a Ma
n. 153
The Adjudication of Hetty Green. 181
Plains of Hell 195
The Register 223
Island Out of Time. 237
Appellate Angel 265
With Enemies Like These. 275
The Dark Arts. 303
Heads You Lose. 313
Check and Mate. 341
Disclaimer 357
Orientation Day. 385
Remember, Remember, Hell in November 401
Theo Khthonios. 433
Erra and the Seven. 459