It might have been a laugh. She was sure the sound that rumbled from the storm was some expression of mirth. “All debts must be paid. No one may defy my laws and go unpunished. For years I have waited to seek retribution. All will pay in time, but the hunter’s sire must pay first. He has made his life about my defeat.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
There was a long pause. “There is no sense in keeping it from you. You cannot escape and you have a greater calling. You should be proud. I wanted to see the warrior who had bested so many of my soldiers. To know your heart before it is crushed in my coming.”
Belinda raised her arms outward. “And what do you think of the enemy?”
“Puny, but I have seen you defeat the durgot priest. I knew when I saw you in my temple that you were the one. It is a shame to kill something as deadly as you, but I must arrive and you shall be the perfect conveyance.” Whatever spoke, sounded genuinely sorry that she would have to die. It was an odd change of attitude compared to his obvious hatred of her father.
Belinda didn’t care for the sound of the word, conveyance. She didn’t like that one bit.
“Why do the demons fear me?”
“You have been chosen.”
“That is not an answer.”
“Your kind is meant for killing. They do not know how to relate to the orders I have given to keep you alive.”
“My people will come for me.”
“They are irrelevant.”
“What are you?”
“I am master. I lay claim to this world.”
“This world belongs to another.”
Another laugh rumbled from the swirling pillar. “That may be, but it has been left to your kind to defend, and I find you wanting. I have seen enough for today.”
The black pillar dimmed to gray, though the swirling continued at a slower pace.
Belinda’s heart firmly lodged in her throat. What had she just seen and heard? The pillar was some kind of gateway. Why didn’t the master just come through? She needed more information.
She had no idea how long she waited in the ballroom. She sat down on the floor and watched the gaping hole and the swirl of light gray clouds. Nothing came out and nothing went in. It swirled in apparent emptiness. The master was no longer within the storm. He couldn’t come through to her world until the new moon and he needed her sacrifice to come through unharmed.
Finally the doors opened and she was escorted back to her cell.
She sat back down on the hard ground. Her instincts had said to jump in after the master. Where would that lead her? It could be instant death to go to the place of the demons. Still, she knew that she might have to if she was to stop his coming. How many more demons would he bring with him if he managed to get through?
Drake Cullum had used the phrase all Hell breaking loose. Now she had some kind of idea what that meant.
She rose to pace the room waiting. Though what exactly she waited for, was unclear.
* * * *
Gabriel’s body ached almost has painfully as his heart. He had lost her. His wife of only one day, and he couldn’t hold onto her. Rage and fear attempted to blur his vision. He was a soldier. He should be able to block out emotion and do the job. None of his time in France or even in the prison could have prepared him for the anguish of losing Bella.
He and Tubbs lost the trail after the sun went down. The footman was a good companion and a fine tracker, but they had lost the demon’s trail in the rocky ground. Exhaustion had gotten the better of them and they had slept for a few hours.
The sun crested above the horizon, and they set off in the general direction the demons took. Craggy rocks and heather left little imprint for following.
“My lord, I have the trail.” Tubbs pointed to the ground.
In a five-foot-wide patch of dirt filling the space between jagged rocks, they could clearly see wide flat prints with only four toes. The prints were neither human nor animal. No sheep had feet such as these. The trampled heather cut a path through the hills.
“Well done, Tubbs.”
They walked on, in a southeast direction.
“Sir, I think we are quite close to Stirling.”
Every tree and rock looked the same to Gabriel in this part of the country. “What makes you think so?”
They moved quickly. There were fewer rocks so the ground allowed for more prints to follow.
“I grew up not too far from here. I know the area fairly well. We’ll bypass the city if we continue in this direction.”
“Can you think of a place where that many demons might be residing and no one would notice?”
The footman stayed quiet as they approached a stand of trees. His shoulders stiffened and he rubbed his neck. “There’s an old manor house near the Firth of Forth. It has been empty since before I was born. No town near it and no one goes there these days. It would be a perfect place to hide. Could be they’ve gone there.”
“Just across the water from Edinburgh, do you think they would be that bold?”
Tubbs shrugged. “They don’t seem too concerned with the closeness of our kind, my lord. Walking the streets of London as if they belonged there and attacking our carriage, on the high road, while there was still light in the sky. Bold beasts, they are.”
Gabriel could give no argument. Everything Tubbs said was true. The demons had little concern over the masses of English society finding them out. The English, in turn, were disposed to explain away events that made no sense. He had been guilty of that same crime when he assumed Belinda was less than pure and then again, when he’d thought she’d killed a man in the alley. “What’s the name of this place you think they may have gone?”
“It’s called Fatum Manor, my lord. When I was a boy, we all thought the place haunted. My friends would dare each other to get close, though none of us ever succeeded in getting inside. It’s a terrifying place. I can’t imagine what it would be with real monsters and not just the imagined ones of my youth.”
“Let’s go to this manor of doom then, Tubbs. If we find it strange when we get there, you can get a horse in Stirling and go for help.”
“What of you?”
“I will try to find a way in. Perhaps I can decipher what else they’re doing in there. We only have a few days until the new moon. I shall wait for the other hunters until then. If help does not arrive, I will go and retrieve my wife.”
It took the pair another day to traverse the rough terrain.
Strange did not begin to describe the state that they found Fatum Manor in. The entire place was surrounded by a stone mound. Fires burned all around and screams occasionally pierced the silence from within. Gray clouds swirled above the highest point of the structure.
“I think it is safe to say, we’ve found them. Go get help. I will be here,” Gabriel said.
Tubbs looked pale as a ghost. “My lord, I am quite fond of Lady Belinda. She has been good to me, took me in off the streets when no one else would give me a job. Still, I’m advising, and I know I have no right to do it, don’t go inside that place on your own. You’ll only get killed and then saving the lady will have been for nothing.”
Gabriel watched the myriad of emotions cross the face of the young man. “I will be right here unless the new moon arrives and no one comes to assist.”
Nodding, the footman started off at a run.
* * * *
The demons brought Belinda food several times. Only lamb and mutton, no vegetables or fruit, but at least it would keep her alive.
She had no idea of time since her cell was deep under the earth.
A demon came and replaced her lantern every so often. Several times the lamp had gone out, leaving her in complete darkness. It was unsettling not to see her hand in front of her eyes. The malleus who replaced it was a welcome sight. The notion that she wished to see one of these demons disturbed her, but the total darkness was far worse.
&n
bsp; Even when she was brought up to the ballroom all the widows in the house were draped in heavy black shrouds or blackened, allowing no light to get through.
She could only assume that it was the following day when she was once again brought up the narrow, stone stairs. However, it could have been two days or half a day. She just didn’t know.
Her escort grew in numbers. This time there were eight demons surrounding her as they made their way through the house to the ballroom.
The doors opened and the demons all backed away while she stepped inside. Still, no furniture in the ballroom, the hole in the floor had gotten bigger since the last time she was there. If it had only been a day then it was growing fast. The swirling clouds, which she was sure was a gateway, were light gray as opposed to dark black. She walked all the way around it. Yes, she was sure there was less floor and more gateway.
Peering over the edge, she saw nothing but darkness and more swirls. Her head spun as she stared into the void. Taking several steps back, she shook her head clearing away the disorientation.
The clouds darkened. “Hunter.” This time his voice was softer. It still bounced inside her head, but the pain was minimal.
“Yes, I am here.”
“I find myself curious about your world, Hunter. You will tell me things.”
“Why?”
“Because I demand it.” His voice boomed.
She held her head against the pain. The master had a temper that she would do well not to encourage. “I meant, why do you want to know? You plan to destroy my world.”
“You think very small, hunter. I am going to bring the glory of my realm into the light.”
Belinda circled the gateway trying to think of a way to respond. Finally, she squared her shoulders. She pointed to the windows “You hide from the light. Besides, the result will be the destruction of my way of life.”
“What did you do before you were a hunter?” the master asked.
His question surprised her. “I was young. I planned for my future, my wedding.”
“And when you became a hunter, did the planning for your wedding change?”
He had out maneuvered her, but she didn’t care. “I only became a hunter to destroy your plans. If you were not invading my world, I would be happily doing as others of my kind do.”
“So you do not enjoy the hunt.”
She didn’t respond. How could she? She loved the hunt, but saying so would prove his point.
“I saw you save those puny humans, hunter. I saw your face when you killed the priest. You crave the battle. I have brought you glory you could never otherwise have known.”
“That may be true, but I would not have known the difference, demon. I would have been married, had children, run a home and never have thought my life lacked anything.” She’d had enough conversation and walked to the double doors. Her cheeks and neck burned with anger the master had provoked.
The doors did not open immediately. She turned back toward the gateway. Her gaze bore into the swirls of nothingness to the point where she became nauseated, but she wouldn’t turn away.
The blackness faded to gray and the doors opened.
Belinda expected to be returned to her cell, but instead her escort took her out into the courtyard. It was twilight. She surveyed the different fires burning all around. Demons forged weapons in the superheated burns. She saw a swords and an ax in one fire along with branding irons. A durgot pulled the sword out and plunged the hot blade into the water troth. Steam rose and the water sizzled. The air tasted of metal.
She’d believed the durgot were only priests. Why would a priest be forging steel? Would that mean that these weapons had some significance?
Strapped to the stone embankment two women lay naked. A trebox sniffed at their bodies. He walked back to the pyre and took hold of a branding iron.
Rage and fear replaced good sense and bubbled up from Belinda’s belly. Her hands shook with it. Her eyes narrowed on a point where the steel rested in the water. At least a hundred demons filled the yard. Durgot, malleus, trebox, a small hairy type she had never seen before arriving at Fatum. She didn’t care. They no longer mattered, but some of them would die today. She ran toward the fire and grabbed the sword that had just been set to cool.
The durgot lunged for her. She spun, slicing his throat. Jumping over the water trough, she leaped down between the women and the trebox. He bared his ragged teeth and lifted the hot steel above his head. He rushed at Belinda.
She dodged the branding iron, cut off the arm brandishing it, sidestepped the demon and plunged the still hot sword through his back.
She turned to the women, but their bindings were steel chains welded to a long post buried deep in the stones. She couldn’t free them without a key or a heavier weapon. The demons moved forward closing in on her. She couldn’t win this nor could she save these women. Tears rolled down her cheeks, her body shook and she dropped the sword to the dirt.
It had been a test. The master tested her, and she didn’t know if she had passed or failed. He claimed she enjoyed the battle, she would argue, it was her duty. In the end, he had manipulated her, and she’d done exactly as expected.
None of the demons touched her. She turned to the bound prisoners. “I am sorry. Forgive me.”
One stared blankly up to the sky perhaps in prayer. The other’s dark brown eyes met Belinda’s. Her voice was a scratchy whisper. “This is not your fault, child. Save yourself.”
The words made Belinda even angrier. She would save herself, if only to destroy these abominations. Surrounded by demons she turned, and walked back into Fatum.
Expressionless, the demons walked her to the familiar door leading down to her cell. Their regard for life, human or demon was negligible. They only cared about bringing the master into the world. Why? What was wrong with their own?
She trudged down the steps, her face wet with tears that wouldn’t stop. “Do you have a name, trebox?”
“Trebox will do, my true name is not pronounceable with that fat tongue of yours.”
“Fine. Trebox, what is wrong with your place that you come to ours.”
He opened the door to her cell and pushed her inside. He walked forward with a small knife in his hand until her back came up against the wall. “You should mind that fat tongue, lest someone cut it out of that ugly mouth.”
Belinda said, “Your master likes to talk to me. I do not think he would be very happy if you left me unable to speak.”
Fear widened his eyes. He put the knife away and turned toward the door. “Our world dies.” He shut the door with a heavy thud.
“I guess there are things worse than death.” She said it to the empty cell. The trebox was already moving up the steps before she responded.
* * * *
For two days, Gabriel had watched the courtyard. He covered himself in mud and crawled to the top of the stone embankment. What he’d seen in forty-eight hours turned his stomach. There was no way to save the people held in the courtyard at Fatum. Not by himself and not without an escape plan. Even if he could get in and get them unbound, how would he get them out? It might be better to kill them. The torture they endured was worse than death. He needed help.
When Belinda ran into the courtyard, he didn’t know whether to jump for joy or rush in and get them both killed trying to get her out. He understood he couldn’t succeed on his own, but the temptation to rush over the embankment and kill as many demon’s as possible, threatened to override his military training. He wished there was a way to let her know he was there, that she wasn’t alone.
She looked dirty and tired. Her clothes were in tatters and her hair stuck out in every direction, but she was alive.
His bruised ribs hurt like a stab wound from lying on the rocky surface and his muscles ached from inactivity. He didn’t move, trying to blend in with the dark stones. Each night he crawled back to his hiding place in the trees, ate what berries he foraged and sl
ept a few hours. The risk of lighting a fire to cook meat was too high, even if he could find a rabbit or some other animal to hunt.
The next morning he did the same, crawling back to the barricade and waiting for some sign of Belinda.
The sun set and he backed away a few inches when she emerged from the front door. The minute she saw what was about to happen to the women prisoners, she’d reacted. Besides being furious that she would put herself in that kind of danger, his pride escalated tenfold. While he did the sensible thing and waited for assistance, his wife would risk her life for those two strangers. Perhaps he should have been ashamed, but he was too busy praying she wouldn’t get herself killed with her rash actions.
Staring in wonder, Gabriel did nothing to help his wife. To escalate the situation doomed them both. The demons made little to no attempts to harm her. She was far outnumbered, yet most only watched. The priest’s wound had been quick and mortal. He’d held his gushing throat until falling to the ground in a matter of seconds. The trebox had tried to stop her, but he too never stood a chance. The other demons surrounded her but never attacked or picked up a weapon.
When she realized she couldn’t win, hope drained from her face, and his heart ached for her.
The crowd of demons closed in on her. None of them were armed. They either wouldn’t or couldn’t harm her.
She spoke to the prisoners, but Gabriel didn’t hear what she said. He ached with her sorrow and wanted with all his heart to comfort her.
The demons didn’t touch her. They must need her alive for something. If he rushed down there his death was a certainty. At the very least, he would be tortured until he died. The courtyard was some kind of experimental ground. They tested just how much a human could take before they succumbed to death. The lucky ones died quickly. The strong, lingered for a day or two.
The soulless torture, murder and complete disregard for human life Gabriel had seen, bolstered his determination to win this war. Hating the enemy always made the fight easier. The fact that this enemy wasn’t human didn’t change that fact.
Surrounded by demons, Belinda made her way back inside Fatum Manor.
Ascension Page 22
