Hidden Runes

by G. Bailey

  “Nothing, I don’t know,” I mutter.

  “I will find a joke that makes you laugh one day, Blue,” he grins, and it makes me smile. No, he won’t, but I’m not going to burst his bubble. I look ahead as we walk over a sand dune, seeing the entrance to the pyramid. There are demons everywhere, walking around the small market outside the entrance. We will have to keep our heads down to get through them, and hope no one important notices us. I hold my hand up, waiting for the others to catch up to me. They all stop, sliding their bags off, and getting out their water for a drink. I do the same, reaching around Star who is sleeping in the bag, snoring loudly. I gave her some water an hour ago, so I know she is alright. Cute little tiger. I drink my water, pouring some on my face to wash the sweat away, before speaking.

  “We are getting close, and we can expect there will be something waiting for us. Whoever took your princesses must know we killed and escaped their traps by now. Demons talk,” I tell them. Trex picks his axe up, holding it on his shoulder.

  “We will be ready,” he says.

  “Everyone be alert, and keep your heads down. None of us look like demons, other than red eyes over here,” I point a finger at Azi.

  “I will walk ahead,” Azi says and walks off before we can agree with him. I catch up, walking just behind him as we go down the sand dune and towards the stone path where there are a few demons dotted around.

  “How much do you trust these Protectors?” Azi asks me quietly, never turning to look at me as he speaks.

  “Not at all,” I answer simply. They could betray me at any second.

  “I could take you out of here, and we could get Hali back together,” he whispers. I look back at Connor, who is a few steps behind me, and then at Trex and Nix.

  “It wouldn’t work. Trust me, I have thought about killing them and getting out of here, but that risks Hali’s life. I can’t do that,” I whisper back. We walk past a few demons talking quietly, their eyes watch us with curiosity, but they don’t move.

  “I don’t like this. I feel like I’m missing something,” Azi says.

  “Same. Can you do something for me?” I ask, and he looks back at me for a brief second, nodding.

  “Anything for you, Vi,” he replies in a warm and affectionate tone.

  “If anything happens, portal and find Hali. Keep her safe, she is everything. Okay?”

  “For you, I promise. Nothing will happen to you, though,” he says darkly, and I believe him. I know he would do anything to save me, and if I’m honest with myself, I don’t think I would let him die either. I move back next to Connor, letting Azi lead the way.

  “I have a question,” Trex says in a demanding tone, sliding into the gap between Connor and me.

  “What?” I ask.

  “How do we get out of the third layer of Hell when we get the princesses back?” he asks. “The way we came, it’s too dangerous to take them back that way.” I keep my head down as we enter the market. It’s full of more demons than I thought. My hair covers my face well, anyway, but there is too much chance of someone here recognising me.

  “There is a way,” Azi answers, looking back. “I will not tell you how. It is a family secret. You will just have to trust me.” He speaks with a creepy grin that no one in their right mind would trust.

  “Guess I’ll have to, demon,” he says. Well, clearly Trex is crazy.

  “Everyone gather around! Gather around! We have a new sale!” I hear someone shout, and I look around to see where it’s coming from. We keep walking and see the demon standing on top of a row of cages. Demons are all gathered around them, so I can’t see what is in the cages from here.

  “Auctions are banned, what are they selling?” I ask Azi.

  “Leave it. It doesn’t have anything to do with us, and we can’t draw trouble to ourselves,” Azi warns me, giving me a look that tells me I should do as he says. Purely because of that look, I slip away from him and into the crowd. I hear him shout my name from behind as I pull myself through the crowd of demons and get to the front. Everything seems to go silent as I look at the demon children in the cages. They have rags on skinny frames, and most are hidden in the corners, scared. One cage is full of women, all stunning demons, but they don’t look in the best condition.

  “What the fuck?” I mutter, looking up at the demon who is selling them, shouting prices into the crowd with a greedy look on his ugly face. He is greasy, that’s literally the only way to describe him. He has red skin, spikes on his head that go down his arms, and expensive clothes on. I move my hand to my dagger, but Azi gets to my side, placing his hand over mine.

  “No. You do this, and we have to kill all of his bodyguards. Likely most of this crowd as well, and if we die, no one protects Hali,” he warns me.

  “If I do nothing, I will never forgive myself. I was a child, just like them, and left alone with no one to protect me. Hali’s mother was the only one that did the right thing, and that’s what she taught me to do. The. Right. Thing,” I tell him, knocking his hand away and sliding my dagger out.

  “Then we are with you,” I hear Connor say from behind me. Trex gets his axe out, nodding at me, and Nix grins as he unclips his daggers. I look up at Azi, who shakes his head, but slowly removes his sword from its sheath.

  “Make your move, Vi. I’m here,” he says. I grin, lifting my dagger over my shoulder as I step in front of the crowd and fling it straight into the neck of the seller. His eyes widen as his gasps fill the air, and then screams from the crowd immediately follow, as the five demon bodyguards run at us. I head straight for the biggest one in the middle, seeing how slow he is moving. He narrows his eyes at me as he lifts a purple sword into the air. I like that sword. I spin to the left at the last second and slice his sword carrying arm with my dagger. He growls, switching the sword to his other hand and running at me again. I wait this time, allowing him to get close enough to swing the sword straight at my head. I quickly shift backwards, making him stumble past me on my right, and I spin around, throwing my dagger straight into his back. Right where his heart is. The bodyguard screams, falling to the floor and dropping the sword. I look around to see Azi has already killed two of the bodyguards, and the Protectors only have two left to kill. They can handle it. All the demons from the crowd have fled, clearly not wanting to be part of any hassle. Cowards. I walk over, pulling my dagger out of his now dead body, and wipe the blood on his top before putting it back. I pick the sword up, looking it over. The whole blade is made of a purple metal, with silver tips, and it shines. There are symbols all down the one side. I’m keeping this.

  “Nice,” Connor comments with a whistle, getting to my side and looking down at the sword.

  “It is,” I reply, sliding my old sword out of the holder on my back, and putting the new one in. My old sword was just silver, nothing special. “It’s mine now.” I grin at him. I run, jumping on the cage and climbing up, pulling myself to the top. I kick the body of the seller over and grab the five keys off his belt. I climb back down, holding the keys out.

  “Here, help me unlock the cages,” I hand the guys a key each. Luckily the cages and keys have numbers on them, making it easy to unlock them. I go to mine, number one, and unlock the door. The child looks up, shaking her head of red hair with scared eyes.

  “You’re free, do you understand?” I ask, and she nods, standing up. I flinch at the small bruises on her shoulders that are visible and wish I had made the seller’s death longer, more painful. “Come on, kid.” I nod my head at the door and hold my hand out. I don’t expect her to take my hand as she walks forward, but she does. Her cold hand slides into mine. Demons usually run hotter than normal, and yet, she feels freezing.

  “Let’s find someone to look after you,” I tell her, and she smiles up at me.

  “Salvator,” she whispers. Saviour.

  Twenty-Two

  Evie

  “The women won’t come out, they are too frightened,” Nix says as I walk to his side, looking in the cag
e where he has opened the door. The women are huddled together in the corner, none of them looking our way as they cower and hide. I glance over to the other cages, seeing Trex and Connor walking three little children over to us. Trex is even making one of them smile, and it’s not what I expected at all. Who knew he had a soft spot for kids? Azi is kneeling down in one of the cages, talking slowly to a little boy who doesn’t seem to want to move.

  “They likely don’t speak English,” I comment, glancing back at the women just as one of them looks up, and she stands up slowly. The woman's long, red hair is dirty and is barely held back in a ponytail. There is dirt all over her face, but it doesn’t take away from the strength in her green eyes or her tight-lipped expression. Her eyes widen when she looks at me, and then over to my side.

  “Karaisa?” the woman asks, looking at the little girl who is still holding my hand. She lets go, running to the woman who grabs her and holds her tight. Her eyes, full of tears, meet mine as she stands up, holding the little girl.

  “I speak English. At least some,” she says slowly, though she’s clearly struggling to think of the correct words. I start to speak to her in Latin, but decide that Nix might want to hear what she has to say. He helped save them, after all.

  “Is she your daughter?” Nix asks, and she nods, giving him a fearful look. They are all obviously scared of men, and I feel sorry for them. Hopefully in time, they will forget being here.

  “It’s okay, we mean you no harm. You are free, all of you,” I say firmly, and she gives us a confused look as Connor, Azi, and Trex walk towards us. The children run into the cage, and the women grab them when they are near, crying as they hold tight to their children. “Free,” I repeat firmly.

  “Thank you. Can I have your name?” she asks.

  “Salvator,” Karaisa pipes up before I can answer, and her mum nods, repeating the name louder. All the women and children repeat it, as they stand and walk out of the cage, each one bowing their heads at me. Karaisa and her mum are the last ones to come out, and she stops right in front of me.

  “We return to our husbands. We never forget, Salvator,” she tells me, and walks away. I look at my old sword on the ground, and I make a split-second decision. Quickly grabbing the sword, I run after the slaves. Karaisa pulls her mum’s hair when she sees me, and her mum turns around, giving me a confused look.

  “This is yours. It will keep you safe, or you can use it to trade,” I say, pushing the sword into her spare hand.

  “We never forget,” she says, and I know it’s her way of saying thank you. I watch her turn and walk away until she has disappeared into the market of people that eye us warily.

  “Do you think they will be safe?” Connor asks, as he gets to my side. The others come over as well, and I look up at Connor.

  “I hope so, but at least we gave them a chance. Everyone deserves a chance,” I say, and he places his hand on my arm for only a second.

  “You’re right,” he whispers and steps away.

  “Time to go. I don’t want to be on this level of Hell when it gets dark,” Trex tells us as he walks ahead, and we have no choice but to follow.

  “Azi, you should go in front,” I say to him when he stays near my side.

  “I know,” is all he replies, but he stays right next to me. Nix and Connor walk behind us, and I keep flashing my eyes back to them, remembering how I’ve kissed them both, and we have been interrupted each time. I would like to not be interrupted at some point.

  “You like them, the Protectors,” Azi comments, and I look back at him, feigning ignorance.

  “I don’t have a clue–”

  “I like it,” he interrupts me, and I laugh.

  “Seriously? Sharing was not something I had you down for,” I say, still chuckling as his red eyes stare down at me. “Not that sharing is even an option for us, considering we aren’t together.”

  “We will be together again, but I think you will be with them also. I see the way you look at them, and how they look at you. At first, I wanted to cut their dicks off, but now, I believe they are good for you,” he says, his eyes watching my own as I look up at him. I don’t even want to touch the subject of him arrogantly thinking we will be back together.

  “Why do you think they are good for me?” I ask, curious.

  “They bring out this side to you, a different side than the defensive Vi I’ve always known. You never let me in, not ever, even if you tell yourself that you did. There has always been this wall, and I think you need more than one person to knock it down,” he says.

  “I didn’t put a wall up with you, I gave you what I could,” I argue, but it's a weak argument, and we both know it.

  “You can’t even see the wall because it’s been there since you were a baby. You don’t know how to trust, how to fully love. Life for you has always been a fight, a struggle, and you never had someone fully at your side that you could trust,” he says, and I look away.

  “I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I say, stepping in front of him, and he doesn’t stop me. We walk in silence up to the entrance of the pyramid, and Azi finally steps in front of us as we pass through the open stone door. The pyramid is empty inside, with sand floors and one spiral staircase that goes all the way up to the top. At the top is a gold light, but it’s so bright that I can’t see anything else up there.

  “The only way is up,” Azi says as he walks to the staircase and starts climbing. I jog to catch up, and the others follow as we climb up the dusty, sand-covered steps. The steps are huge, causing me to have to lift my legs up high to make each step.

  “What were these steps built for? Giants?” I mutter, making Azi laugh.

  “No, there used to be a royal family of Hell, and it is said the very first queen of Hell was a goddess. There are no royals around to tell us if that was true or not, though,” Azi tells us. Royals of Hell? Sounds like a terrible inheritance. It takes ages to climb all the steps to the top, and I’m out of breath by the time we get to the clearing.

  “You should do more cardio, you clearly need it,” Trex comments.

  “You need the stick that is stuck up your ass removed, but you don’t hear me offering you advice,” I reply as Trex glares down at me, going to step closer.

  “Enough,” Azi snaps, making me look away from Trex, to see him waving a fire-covered hand over what looked like an empty circular space. The ward, or whatever it is, burns away with Azi’s touch, and a bigger room appears. This one isn’t empty. No, it has five doors and polished stone floors with fire in pots around the room. Four of the doors are wooden, nothing special about them, and the one in the middle looks like it’s made of solid glass. You can’t see anything other than smoke through it, and if I had to guess what a door to Heaven would look like, this would be it, not the door to the deepest level of Hell.

  “Azi, my man, what do we have here?”

  Twenty-Three

  Evie

  I follow the deep voice of the man that spoke to see the door to the far right is open, and a demon is leaning on the door frame. He only has jeans on, with a cheeky grin on his attractive face, and a mop of messy red hair. His black eyes look at us all, before settling on me.

  “Azi, tut, tut, tut. You shouldn’t bring a beauty such as her to a place like this,” he comments as he ambles over to me, but Azi places his hand on the read-head’s chest, stopping him from coming too close.

  “Touch her, and I will enjoy killing you, Cody,” Azi warns, and Cody laughs, pushing his hand away and walking over to the other doors. He bangs on them both, before leaning on the wall in the middle of them.

  “Who have you let into Hell recently? And were there three women with them?” Trex asks, stepping next to Azi. Cody’s eyes go to Azi, who nods, and then back to Trex.

  “I will tell you what you want . . . for a price,” he replies as the door on his right is opened, and a demon who looks the mirror image of Cody steps out, narrowing his eyes on Azi.

  “The wayward ove
rlord returns,” he looks at us, “with friends, it seems.”

  “It’s none of your business, Caleb,” Azi snaps.

  “You’re right, it’s not. You and your brothers are playing with fire, and every single one of you will be burned for it,” Caleb replies dryly.

  “What does that mean?” Azi demands, and Caleb looks at Cody rather than answering.

  “Have my key and let them in, I want no part in this,” he says as he pulls a necklace off and hands it to Cody before striding back to the door he came out of and slamming it behind him.

  “Sorry about that, my brother is a dick,” Cody explains.

  “At least you know it. Let’s hope he realises it sometime soon,” I say, and Cody laughs, standing up.

  “So, a price for the information? You want to make a deal, man?” Cody asks Trex, who looks at the smoky door, and then back to Cody.

  “Yes.”

  “I will tell you some shit you are sure to find interesting, if you promise to do anything I ask when I call on you. I’m not crazy, so it won’t be killing anyone, or any shit like that, but that is my offer,” Cody says, but I wouldn’t trust him. He smiles like the creepy Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland when Trex offers his hand to shake on the deal, and Cody shakes it.

  “Done. I will keep my promise,” Trex assures him.

  “Oh, I know you will. You seem like one of those serious fucks that keeps your promises,” Cody grins.

  “What do you know? We don’t have all day,” Nix interjects.

  “About a week ago, one of his brothers came through here with three women. All of them were tied up and had bags on their heads, so I couldn’t see their faces,” he tells us, and I watch as Trex tightens his hands into fists and looks back at Connor and Nix.

  “Which brother?” Azi asks, and the seriousness on his face makes me a little concerned for a second.

  “Roth,” Cody says quietly.