by John Goode
The heat was so intense it reminded Ferra of the djinn’s attacks. She knew her ice could not withstand prolonged exposure to this kind of fire. Sooner or later the shield was going to melt, and when that happened, they would be at a huge disadvantage. She could survive for a time, and the gem might be okay, but Molly would instantly be melted, and that wasn’t something Ferra was willing to risk.
“Get out!” Ferra called back, focusing on the shield. “Find a way to stop this thing.”
“No!” Molly screamed back. “We all have to get out now or—”
Her words were cut off by the sound of the doors slamming shut.
Ferra didn’t have to look back to know they were trapped. Calm came over her as a thought passed through her mind. So this is where I die.
There was no fear, no panic, just a quiet regret of all the things she was never going to do. “Caerus,” she said, watching her shield begin to melt under the assault. “Get Molly away from this thing and shield her from the heat. I’ll keep it busy while you two look for another way out of here.”
“Ferra! No!” Molly cried as she realized Ferra was going to sacrifice herself to give them a chance.
“Caerus, go now!” Ferra refused to look back, knowing if she did she would lose her nerve.
A slight hum and the muffled sound of Molly protesting from within the magical shield came to Ferra’s ears. The gemling paused and looked at the warrior. “Logos go with you, Ferra.”
“He always does,” she answered as she dropped the shield and charged toward Diablo. Within seconds, she was engulfed by the flame. Caerus could no longer see her.
The gemling surveyed what she could see of the room and took off away from the fight. Molly pounded against the magical bubble she was trapped in to no avail. She watched Diablo get smaller and smaller as they flew away as fast as they could.
WE GOT to Demain’s study, and I could tell things were about to get real up in here.
Sorry, it’s a nervous habit of mine. I get jittery and I start talking like an idiot. I’m sure you’ve noticed this by now.
She was dressed in an outfit I would assume Lady Gaga would wear if she was going to slay a dragon or present at the Oscars. The dark red leather bodysuit was inlaid with runes and symbols, which glowed brightly as she moved. It took me a moment to notice that all the glowing was actually happening in the air above her suit. She looked like she had decided to accessorize with neon. All of that was nothing compared to the sword that was hanging from her belt.
I have seen a lot of swords. Back in Athens there was always a Renaissance Faire just around the corner, no matter what time of year it was. So I had seen some really cool-looking weapons over the years, but this one took the cake. The hilt was a silver dragon at rest curled around the top of a black blade that could have been a carved and polished piece of crystal from the way it gleamed at her side. Whoever had carved the dragon had been a master, because every single detail was perfect. I could count every scale on its body, see the veins in its wings, I could swear I could see the scales on its eyelid.
Which then opened and looked at me cautiously.
“Oh hell no,” I breathed, fumbling a few steps back in shock. Talking rubies I could take. Stuck-up rabbits with magic pocket watches, sure. But a living minidragon making a home on a sword’s hilt is where I draw the line.
Hawk gaped at the sword, and I felt a clash of shock and awe in his mind. “Is that…?” he asked Demain, not able to finish the question.
She looked down at the sword and stroked the top of the dragon’s head with one finger. It leaned into it for a few seconds before letting loose a huge yawn, in which I could see a silver tongue and tiny teeth and everything. “If you are asking me if this is the vorpal sword, then the answer is ‘yes.’” The dragon looked around for a few seconds before settling back onto the hilt and closing its eyes again.
“Wait,” I said, trying to get some semblance of control on my thoughts. “As in the snicker-snack?”
She raised an eyebrow, obviously wondering how I knew about the sword.
Hawk skimmed my thoughts, and I could see he was surprised to find out how much I knew. “It’s close to your story,” Hawk explained quietly when the queen went back to conferring with her aides. “It is a powerful weapon, but not in the way you think. It’s like your people heard the story but got all the details wrong, so they made up the rest.”
“How does that work?” I asked, not understanding how a writer could know about a sword while being worlds away.
Before Hawk could answer, Ruber cried out, sounding like he was hurt.
“Oh…,” he said, hovering a bit lower than normal.
Hawk reached for his sword while I cupped my hands together to give Ruber somewhere to rest. “What’s wrong?”
I could tell Hawk suspected Demain, but she looked as completely confused as we did.
“It’s Caerus. She’s in danger,” he managed to say in a strained voice.
“How do you know that?” Hawk demanded. I could sense he was upset that Ruber knew of his sister’s whereabouts when the whole point of us scattering was to prevent any team knowing where any other was.
If Ruber cared about Hawk’s anger, he didn’t show it. “She’s sending me a magical pulse confined to my specific frequency.” No one in the room had any idea what he was talking about. “My people have a resonant frequency that can cause us… discomfort. Normally these frequencies are guarded fiercely.”
“But you and your sister shared each other’s in case you needed to contact the other,” I finished for him. “Do you know where she is?”
“No,” he answered, sounding like he was wincing. “I only know she is telling me she’s in danger.”
I looked back to Hawk. “We need to get to her.”
He instantly rejected the idea, since the more of us were together, the easier it would be to capture us all. He could feel I hadn’t been asking him, however, and he made a face, giving in before he spoke. “Even if I wanted to, we have no idea where she is. How are we supposed to get to her?”
We both looked at Demain, who seemed puzzled by the entire exchange. “I have no idea how to trace a… resonant frequency? Resonant frequency, then, much less use it as a teleportation beacon.”
Ruber made another sound, and I could tell whatever Caerus was doing was hurting him. “What about Milo?” I asked, looking at the rabbit. “Can’t you make a portal to where Caerus is?”
He looked at me with wide eyes, and I could see his nose twitch nervously. “If I knew where his sister was, surely. But without a destination—”
“What if you had to deliver a message to her?” I cut him off. “Can’t you just use that to find her?”
“That’s not how his magic works,” Demain said, making it sound like I was talking nonsense. Of course, I was talking to a rabbit with magical powers, which in my mind was the very definition of nonsense, so I ignored her.
“But you are a messenger. You have to have a way to find people you need to get to. Ruber has a connection to her right now. Just try to focus on it.”
The queen looked like she was going to say something, but Hawk held up a hand to stop her from interrupting.
“My friends are in trouble,” I pleaded with Milo. “I know you can find them. Can you at least try?”
He looked up at Demain, who shrugged and said, “It doesn’t matter; your magic doesn’t work that way. But if it satisfies him, you have my permission.”
I really wanted to tell her something rude, but this was not the time.
“Okay, Ruber, concentrate on your sister’s frequency,” I said, kneeling down so the rabbit could touch him. “Make a connection going both ways.”
Ruber glowed, and a high-pitched whine just barely inside my range of hearing came from him. I winced, and Milo’s far more sensitive ears flattened down as he reached out and touched the ruby gently. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate. I closed my eyes and began to pray. Milo had to
be able to do it. Screw what the queen thinks; magic can do anything.
“I think I have something!” Milo said excitedly.
“What?” Demain scoffed. “It’s impossible! There is no way you can know where—”
“Shut up,” I shot at her. “Okay, Milo, keep focusing and draw your portal.
Keeping his eyes closed, he began to scoot around us, making a wide circle with his foot.
Her royal bitchiness would not let up. “Don’t do that!” she ordered. “You have no idea where it will end up. What if your destination point is solid rock or a mile up in open air?”
I gave her a dirty look. “Then it will be a really short trip, won’t it?”
Hawk added, “If you are coming with us, Your Majesty, I suggest you hurry into the circle.”
When it became clear that Milo was not going to listen to her, Demain grabbed a bag off her desk and pushed into the circle with us. She glared down at me. “No one tells me to shut up.”
I gave her a smirk. “And yet I just did. Imagine that.”
“Here we go,” Milo stated as he ended at his starting point. “Get ready.” He completed the circle, and the floor beneath us vanished as we fell into the dark tunnel that made up his transport spell. I held on to Ruber tightly as the wind rushed past us faster and faster.
Milo called out, “We just left Aponiviso.”
“We’re getting closer,” Ruber announced after a few seconds.
“This is impossible!” Demain protested. “Milo could not have made a blind portal to where this sister is. His magic just doesn’t work like that.”
I could feel the smugness in Hawk’s mind as he announced, “It does now.”
Before she could answer, we shot out of the portal like high-speed ammo….
And fell directly into hell.
Chapter 9
“It is interesting to note that nearly all cultures
across the realms have a version of hell in their
belief system. Even those people who do not believe
in heaven believe in hell.”
Moses Ravenclaw
High Priest of the First Sucrose Church
The Willows
PEOPLE HAVE many versions of hell.
Some believe it to be a place of eternal punishment for sins committed in their mortal lives. Others believe it is a place where evil dwells, waiting for the light to fade so the darkness can rule again. Others have defined hell as an extradimensional space that is ruled by a family of creatures collectively known as demons. There are many ideas of what hell could be.
For Ater, hell was kissing Kor.
It wasn’t the kiss itself; that was fine. But the little things…. The way Kor tilted his head to the side, just like Pullus did. It made a romantic action more urgent than it normally was, the same way Pullus would grab him when they had a second to steal a kiss. But the thing that made kissing Kor unbearable was the way Kor smelled.
He smelled just like his brother.
The storm of memories that came flooding back to Ater was almost overwhelming. The dark elf thought he had buried those emotions deep enough that he didn’t have to acknowledge them, but as he felt his stomach clench in protest, he knew there was no escaping them. With every ounce of control he possessed, Ater swallowed back the wave of grief that threatened to shatter him and leave them vulnerable.
They both stood there for a couple of seconds, their lips pressed together while the directeur watched. Ater was about to pull away when he felt Kor bite his bottom lip lightly, then lick over the bite to soothe it. The move so startled the assassin that he almost didn’t feel the other elf squeeze his right shoulder. Just once. Warning.
As soon as Kor’s lips left his, he spun to the right.
The directeur barely had time to register that Ater was moving before his knee buckled backward, dislocated by the dark elf’s kick. He tried to scream out in pain, but the hand over his mouth stopped him cold. All he could see as he reeled backward onto his throne was the burning intensity in Ater’s eyes. He wondered if this was the moment of his death. He watched one of his guards fall over from a blow upside his head from the other elf’s bow, while the second guard tried to draw his weapon. The elf drew his empty bowstring back mere inches from the guard’s face. As he did, an arrow made of magical energy appeared.
“Verglas,” he said, and the guard was entombed in ice.
Never taking his eyes off of his target, Ater said to Kor, “Bar the door. We need some privacy.”
The elf nodded and slid the wooden crossbeam across the door.
“Now,” Ater growled, putting his knife up to the man’s throat. “Shall I show you what I consider entertainment?”
The directeur said nothing. All he could think, over and over, was “This is where I’m going to die.”
ONE SECOND I was falling through Milo’s tunnel; the next I was in hell.
How do you know it’s hell, Kane?
Thanks for asking.
I knew it was hell because I was surrounded by fire, and there was a twenty-foot-tall devil leering at me with a hideous grin on its face. Now, you can say what you want about what hell is or isn’t, but me? I take the fire and devil thing as a mortal lock.
And I’d never believed those Bible people when they told me I was going to end up here.
“Shield!” Ruber commanded as we materialized.
“You shouldn’t have come,” a ragged voice called from near my feet.
Ferra was lying there, parts of her melted away.
Now this is the time when other teenage adventurers would spring into action. I’m sure Dorothy and Alice and even Harry would have something to do, but me? Nope. I took one look at my friend half melted on the floor, staring up at me, and I did the only thing I could think of.
I closed my eyes and screamed like an air-raid siren going off.
I had no thought, no plan, just stark freaking terror mixed with just a touch of insanity. Because my friend was melted and not burnt, and frankly, sports fans, I was so sick of magic I could puke. It was cathartic, just screaming at the top of my lungs and letting it all go. I could feel all my rage and fear and everything just fly out of me.
I was not expecting to hear a thundering crash in front of me as the room shook around us.
When I opened my eyes, the devil thing was embedded into the far wall, cracked stone all around him where he obviously had flown into it. I was shocked as hell and looked to Hawk to see if he knew what had happened.
Demain and Hawk were looking at me, jaws open.
“I know, right?” I said, thinking they were shocked by the devil thing, which I could now see was some kind of a robot. Well, the top half of a robot.
“What in the Nine Realms—” Demain began to sputter when the robot pulled its way free of the wall.
“No take Diablo!” it screamed as it fell to the ground. “No hurt Diablo!” it screamed again. Two circles in the center of its palms began to glow red. He brought them together like he was going clap, and the air around his hands burst into flame. I covered my ears as his hands collided, the fire engulfing them entirely.
And then the fire began to move upward, forming what looked like a blade.
“Oh crap,” I said, stumbling back. “He formed Blazing Sword.”
Demain was still looking at me weirdly, but Hawk wasn’t.
“Ruber, shield them!” he called out, summoning Truheart. Compared to the twenty-foot-tall flaming thing Diablo was holding, Truheart looked outclassed, although I didn’t want to admit it. “Milo, open a portal to get us out of here. Caerus, where are you?”
The sapphire came flying from the other side of the room. I could see Molly running behind her.
“I need to know how to stall that thing,” Hawk called out like there wasn’t a giant devil robot moving toward him.
“It’s a siege weapon,” Molly answered him. “It’s designed to take down armies! We don’t have—” She saw Ferra lying under Ruber’s shield a
nd let out a shriek.
That was when I realized I sounded like a clockwork girl when I screamed.
She ran over to Ferra but hesitated to touch her, since she looked like an action figure that had been half melted. Ferra croaked something to her not to worry, but I didn’t catch it because I was too busy losing it.
“I can’t!” Milo replied, panicked. “Something’s blocking me from forming a portal out.”
Hawk’s expression went grim. “Then we fight.”
Before I could stop him, he went charging toward Diablo, and I had a feeling not all of us were going to get out of this alive.
Like Pullus.
I was frozen in panic, not sure what to do first. I wanted to run but had nowhere to go. I wanted to help Hawk but had no idea how to fight a mechademon, which is what it would have been called if it were a monster in Power Rangers. I wanted to make Ferra better but had no idea how to heal a melted ice girl. I was just a mess.
Demain just stood there taking the whole scene in.
“Help them!” I cried to her.
She looked over to me in that slow, casual way evil queens seem to possess. “Why don’t you?”
“Me?” I sputtered. “What the hell do you want me to do? Challenge it to show tunes trivia?”
She arched that damned eyebrow, and I asked myself how Captain Kirk never slugged Spock when he gave him one of those. “You really have no idea, do you?”
“Now is not the time, Your Majesty,” Ruber said, concentrating on the shield.
“Oh?” Demain said with the fakest surprised look on her face I had ever seen. “I’m sorry, were you trying to keep it a secret from him?”
That stopped me for a second. “What’s a secret?”
“Please drop it,” Ruber asked, sounding more than a little upset.
I looked up at Ruber. “Wait, are you keeping something from me?”
