by Leo Romero
Bracken threw his arms over his chest. “Hmph! More angels! Why can’t your kind keep away from us?”
“Because I seek my brother in arms who fled here after we were betrayed by Satan. We wish to reunite with him, and then we will leave.”
“It’s true, Father. They’re just looking for their demon friend.”
“And pray why do you need to know of this demon’s whereabouts?” Bracken asked haughtily.
“Because the horsemen have returned, and they’re gonna destroy the Earth,” I said. “Only they can stop them.”
“Hmph, good riddance!” said Bracken.
“Hey, Earth is where I was born,” Aurora reminded him. “I still consider it home.”
“Hopefully not for much longer!” Bracken barked back.
I stepped forward, my palms raised. “Let’s all just calm down.” I met Aurora’s angry glare. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. I let out an exasperated sigh and faced the Fae King. “Bracken. Just tell us where the damn demon is, and we’ll be out of your way.”
I wasn’t in the mood for this crap. I’d had a shitty day.
Bracken idly tapped his upper arm with his fingertips while he glared at me. “Very well. A demon was captured in my realm many plaegons ago. He was loitering, hiding.”
“What was his name?” Draxil asked.
“I believe it was Vim or something or other.”
“Vlahm,” Draxil corrected.
Bracken nodded. “I believe so,” he said with a flip of his hand.
“And where is he now?” I asked.
“Where all the undesirables are. In the very depths of the privy gaol.”
“Take us to him!” Draxil demanded.
A half smile crept up Bracken’s cheek. “As you wish.”
*****
Bracken called for his guards to go and fetch an old friend of mine.
“Fishstink!” I said in a fake jovial voice to the goblin with a patch over one eye, who was waiting for us at the entrance to the privy gaol. He laid his remaining eye on me, and his jowls quivered in anger.
“Good to see you made it out of that cell,” I told him. I’d once escaped from the privy gaol after Bracken locked me up in there. On my escape, I’d locked Fishstink in my cell. Good times.
“You rodent!” Fishstink spat, pointing his whip in my direction. “I’ll thrash you to death!” He lunged for me, the idiot not realizing he’d have to push past Bracken to get to me. He shoulder barged his king, who flailed back.
I pulled out Bam Bam and aimed her at the advancing goblin.
Before I had a chance to shoot and Fishstink could crack his whip, a big, white hand grabbed hold of his wrist. Fishstink flinched, his head flicking up toward the irate face scowling down at him. “What in the name of Perina do you think you are doing?” Bracken growled from the depths of his chest.
Fishstink’s bravado immediately melted. “Oh, please, your grace! A thousand apologies. I didn’t see you there. It’s my dodgy eye; it blinds me sometimes.” He bowed his head. “I’m at your mercy.”
“You’ll be on a pike if you continue in this manner!”
“I promise to behave.”
Bracken threw his hand toward the privy gaol entrance. “Take them to Vlahm’s cell.”
Fishstink’s head flicked up. “Vlahm?” he echoed, his eye darting from side to side.
Draxil stepped forward. “Yes. Is there a problem?”
“No, no, no,” Fishstink said to him. “It’s just his cell is at the very bottom of the gaol.”
“Then take us there!” Draxil ordered.
Fishstink bowed his head. “As you wish.” He met my smirk and returned it with a scowl before turning and scuttling off down the tunnel.
“I’ll be in my throne room,” Bracken said and sauntered off.
Aurora shook her head. “I’m sorry about my father.”
“We cannot choose our families,” Draxil said, meeting my gaze.
I lowered my head. Boy, was that the truth.
“Let’s go,” Draxil said and led us into the tunnel to trail Fishstink. I followed up, Aurora behind me, Jagelon and Nigella taking up the rear. We entered the gaol, and we were soon moving past cells occupied by anyone and everything that had pissed off Bracken at some point over the last who knew how many years. Elves, goblins, orcs, fae, you name it. They either slept on straw bedding, sat gibbering to themselves in corners, or stood by the bars, watching us pass with despondent eyes. Groans of pain and cries of insanity echoed down the tunnels and back again.
“Prisons are all the same,” Jagelon noted, gazing around him.
Fishstink led us down various sets of stairs and down more winding tunnels filled with occupied cells as we moved deeper and deeper into the privy gaol. It wasn’t long before I was lost. There was no way I could have made it back. I’d been lost in those tunnels once before and being back there was triggering all the memories. I shivered as we followed Fishstink through yet another tunnel.
Eventually, we entered an archway surrounded with ancient fae runes and into a dark stairwell that wound around and down in a sharp spiral. We emerged from the darkness to the mother of all musky stenches, and I knew right away we were in the long-forgotten depths of the privy gaol. Where Bracken’s favorites were sent.
The lighting there was candlelight low, turning everything a dark yellow. Things shuffled in the cells around us. The groans down there were more tortured: grainy and lackluster. Every one made my skin pebble. Fishstink led us down to the end of that corridor. We passed emaciated and decrepit beings, who’d most likely forgotten their own names, until we reached the very last cell of the gaol.
Fishstink came to a stop. He turned to face Draxil and put a hand out toward the cell. “Vlahm,” Fishstink said in a sheepish tone, his head bowed. He crept back away from the cell, his hand still outstretched.
My confused stare went from him to the cell and its contents. A body lay in the corner, crumpled and disheveled. It was too gloomy to get a good look at it.
“Open the door!” Draxil growled.
Fishstink lowered his head and plucked the huge ring of keys from his belt. As he fumbled through them, Draxil stared intently at the body. There was a clink and creak as Fishstink unlocked the door and opened it. Without hesitation, Draxil barged past Fishstink and leaped inside. I swiftly followed up, a sinking feeling weighing down my heart. This didn’t look or feel good at all.
Draxil stood over the crumpled body in the corner. “Vlahm,” he said down to it. No response.
I gulped as I went and stood next to him, Jagelon stepping up next to me. We all stared down at the body for a few seconds.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Jagelon said bluntly.
I saw a flicker of doubt dash across Draxil’s face. He shook it off and bent down. He reached out, grabbed the body, and pulled it toward him. Vlahm rolled over, his arms splaying. His gaunt and shriveled face glared up at us. His cranberry-colored eyeballs, dried and shrunken, gazed beyond us all. He was a mummified demon.
I flinched back in shock. Any demonic features he once had had been neutered by the ravages of a slow death. He was barely a skeleton, a thin veneer of wrinkled skin stretched over his skull. His ribs protruded out of his chest, vivid and detailed.
Draxil gazed down at his brother in arms, his trembling lips curling back in a snarl. I met Jagelon’s concerned stare. This was bad.
Draxil continued to glower, his whole face now shaking with ire.
“Draxil,” I said in as calm a voice as I could muster. The last thing I wanted was for him to explode in rage. He didn’t respond. Instead, he just stared, his eyes welling with black tears. I looked at Jagelon and shrugged.
Jagelon went to speak to him, when Draxil released a demonic roar. He smashed his fists on the stone floor and shot upright. There was a distant, wild glare in his eyes that scared me shitless. I already had both hands on my weapons ready to draw them if needed. Draxil threw back an arm and
punched the wall ahead of him, taking a huge chunk out of it. Bits of stone and dust rained down on Vlahm’s remains. I ducked back, not wanting to get in the way of the inferno.
Draxil whirled and stomped out of the cell.
“Hey!” I said after him, but he wasn’t home.
He grabbed hold of a terrified Fishstink and pulled him in toward him, their faces inches apart. “What did you do to him?” Draxil sneered.
Fishstink shook his head vehemently. “It wasn’t me! This is where the king sends prisoners to die. The runes. They slowly decay things over centuries. He ordered me to send the demon here once he was captured.”
Draxil clamped his teeth together. With a guttural growl, he threw Fishstink away like a piece of trash. Fishstink smashed into the tunnel wall and fell to the ground. Draxil whirled back and faced the cell, his chest heaving. He laid eyes on Vlahm’s corpse, and his shoulders slumped. He trudged back into the cell and collapsed to his knees ahead of Vlahm’s remains.
“I’m sorry, brother,” he said, his head bowed, his shoulders juddering.
I shook my head. “Not your fault, Draxil.”
“Oh, but it is, Stone,” he said in a voice laced with lament. “It was I who convinced him to join Lucifer’s rebellion, and then to rebel against Satan. If not for me, we would be angels, or at the very least Princes of Hell.”
“We made our own choices,” Jagelon said. “I chose to join you. Rightly or wrongly, it was my decision. Same for Vlahm.”
“Jagelon is right,” came a voice from outside the cell. Nigella was gazing in from between the bars. “We did what we thought was right at the time,” she added, no doubt Lothar speaking through her. “At first it was a worthy cause, then when we realized we were betrayed, it became about redemption and fighting for what is right. The same can be said of Vlahm.”
Draxil lowered his head, nodding reluctantly.
I gazed down at Vlahm, sympathy swelling in my heart. “Where is his soul?”
Draxil shook his head. “When a demon dies, their soul is sucked back down to Hell. He’s there now, most likely being tortured. And we were just there.” His head dropped.
Margaroth let out a saddened whimper.
“You weren’t to know that, Draxil,” I said.
Draxil nodded. “It’s true.” He rubbed Vlahm’s side.
I wished Vlahm well. Hell was a bitch. “And what now?” I asked.
Draxil gave me a despairing look before turning back to Vlahm. “Fair travels, brother,” Draxil said and rolled Vlahm’s body back the way it came. Draxil shot upright, spun, and stomped up to Fishstink. “Take us back to your king!” he said with a hateful snarl.
Chapter 24
We walked fast up and out of the privy gaol, Fishstink scampering ahead of us, Draxil marching stoutly along like a man with a purpose. Jagelon followed up like his lieutenant with Nigella just ahead of Aurora and me.
“What’s he going to do, Gabe?” Aurora asked me.
“I’ve no idea,” I answered, my stare fixed on Draxil.
“I hope he doesn’t start a fight with my dad. That could end very badly for both of them.”
“You’re not wrong there.”
“Well, what shall we do? We better do something!”
My mind was in a whirl. The last thing I wanted to do was get between an argument between the Fae King and an ex-Prince of Hell. I doubted I’d walk away from that one with everything intact. “Your dad can handle himself,” I said, not knowing what else to say. In a way, it was the truth. We were in Bracken’s home. He had the power. Draxil was angry, but that could subside before any real shit went down. Hopefully.
“If a fight breaks out, I’ll have to be on my father’s side.”
I shook my head. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Let’s just try and calm things down.”
We made it out of the privy gaol and marched past the fae guards lined up in the hall leading to Bracken’s throne room. The fae guards eyed us with suspicion, some of them deciding to accompany us, which I was glad to see. Fishstink scuttled into the throne room, virtually groveling he was bent over so low.
“Your highness,” he said. Bracken was stood facing away from us, hands on hips. Draxil grabbed Fishstink and threw him to the side. He stepped up to Bracken and stopped ahead of him. Bracken didn’t turn or even flinch.
“Your highness,” Draxil said in a fake pleasant voice. “It appears one of your prisoners has died.”
Bracken turned slowly to face Draxil, a frown on his face. “I had a demon in my realm. He was a threat. I have my people to protect.”
“Vlahm wasn’t a threat,” Draxil retorted. “He came here for protection.”
“And I should take the word of a demon? What kind of king allows demons to run amok in his realm?”
“Vlahm was prepared to rebel against Satan. He could’ve been a useful ally to you.”
“Hah, ally with a demon? You must be insane!”
Draxil growled. His etchings flared; dark fire erupted in his palm. The fae guards accosting us rounded on him in an instant. Bows and arrows, spears, and swords were in his face in the blink of an eye.
Bracken stood there haughty while Draxil’s eyes flicked to all the weapons in his face. “I have nothing to lose any more, Bracken!” Draxil stated. “I’ll send us both to our deaths.”
Bracken’s eyes widened in concern. Aurora leaped into life. She raced over them both, getting between them. “My father couldn’t have known Vlahm was a reformed demon, Draxil,” she said in a hurried voice. “If he had known, he wouldn’t have put him in the lower parts of the gaol. Isn’t that right, Father?” She turned to face him, a nasty grin on her face.
Bracken gazed down at her. “What?”
Aurora raised her eyebrows, that toothy grin still on. “Isn’t that right, Father?” she growled.
Bracken sighed. “Yes,” he conceded in a labored voice. “If I’d have known, I would’ve kept him in the upper reaches of the gaol.”
I grinned to myself. Looked like Aurora was beginning to exert some authority over her obstinate dad. Go A!
Aurora turned to Draxil. “No more death, Draxil. Please.”
Draxil gazed from her to Bracken, back to Aurora again. After a second, his chest released, and he lowered his hands, the fire flickering out. Aurora motioned; the guards lowered their weapons and backed off.
“This shall not be forgotten,” said Draxil.
“Very well,” said Aurora. “But save it for another day. You have a bigger battle ahead of you.”
“Ahead of us,” Draxil said and looked my way. I turned my head, thinking he was looking at someone behind me, but Jagelon and Nigella were ahead of me. I turned back to see Draxil still staring at me.
“Me?” I said in a surprised voice.
Draxil marched up to me. “Yes. You will have to take Vlahm’s place.”
“What?” I blurted. “Fight the horsemen? Are you high?”
“You have the etchings of Hazatar.”
“Yeah. So?”
“So, you have the power to fight them. We need four fighters.”
Margaroth yelped.
“Five,” Draxil corrected himself. “Four and a hound.”
Margaroth let out a small purring sound.
I waved my palms on the air. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. The deal was, I help you find your buddies, then you take the horsemen on. Now, I’ve kept my end of the bargain up. I’ve had to go through more than enough to help you. You’re on your own now.”
“So, that’s it? Your selfishness will destroy Earth and everything in it?”
“Only if you lose,” I said with a knowing grin.
“And we will if we’re one man short.”
Margaroth yelped in my ear and chewed on my earlobe. “Ow!” I yanked my head away from him. He continued to bark in my ear.
“Not you too!” I lamented.
Aurora stepped up to us. “Maybe Draxil’s right, Gabe.”
I gave her an in
credulous stare. “You’re high as well?”
“You’re strong, Gabe. You have power. Weapons. You’re a match for the horsemen.”
“Uh, I already took them on and almost got my ass handed to me.”
“But Margaroth can now render their immortality useless,” said Draxil. “However, we need even numbers because they’ll still remain strong. We can beat them, Stone. You must join us.” He grabbed hold of my shoulders and gazed down at me. Jagelon came over and stared intently at me over Draxil’s shoulder. Over his other shoulder, I watched Lothar prize himself out of the back of Nigella. Bracken staggered back as he gazed up at the huge demon now standing in his throne room. The fae guards all readied their weapons.
“It’s all right, everyone,” said Aurora. “He’s reformed too.”
“He bloody better be!” Bracken said with a gasp, his neck craned upward.
Lothar stomped over to us, releasing his connection with Nigella, who immediately whirled away and raced up to Bracken. “It’s Superman!” she exclaimed, grabbing his cloak.
Bracken gazed down at her in bewilderment. “What the devil has got into you?”
Aurora sighed. “Just ignore her, Father.”
Now they were all sweating me. Draxil, Lothar, Jagelon. They gazed down at me with their evil-looking eyes, twitchy grins on. “Join us,” said Draxil, and his grip on my shoulders tightened.
“Join the boys, Gabriel,” said Jagelon, his jagged teeth clenched in a horrible grin.
“Become our brother,” Lothar boomed down at me, giving my hair a ruffle with his massive hand. Margaroth barked in my ear again and then rubbed his muzzle in my neck.
Inside, I was split in pieces, mortified, sickened, but at the same time feeling the need and love from those weirdoes. They continued to grin and coo and plead and rub me with their demonic love.
In the end, I caved.
“Oh boy, I’m gonna regret this,” I mumbled to myself. “Okay,” I said with a nod. “Let’s go take on the horsemen!”
Draxil’s eyes lit up. “Hallelujah, Stone!” He grabbed me and hugged me. Jagelon joined in. And so did Lothar, wrapping one big arm around us all. Margaroth yelped with excitement, and I was the meat in a demon sandwich. I got caught up in their filthy aromas, their demonic auras, and all I could think was how I’d just screwed myself.
