Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3)

by Mitchell Olson

  “Pft,” said Aura. “Tell that to the greater demon we thwomped just yesterday.”

  “Greater demon?” said Goddard, alarmed. “You don’t mean the greater demon that showed up at that children’s card game tournament and possessed some foolish Noble, do you?”

  Shiva grinded her teeth.

  “That’s the one!” Aura said proudly. “We took care of it!”

  Goddard did not look happy. For a moment, Ash wondered if Shiva had reported to Goddard about the incident. But he knew she wouldn’t, since she’d want to keep her secret.

  “And you were all there, engaging with the greater demon?” Goddard asked.

  “I wasn’t,” Shiva said. “I was… at home.”

  “Still, I can’t believe I didn’t hear about it,” Goddard said. “There was nothing mentioned in Stryd’s report.” A light clicked on inside Goddard’s mind and his brow furled. “Stryd! Of course! He’s put an information freeze on any of your victories. Clearly he doesn’t want you becoming any more popular than you already have since your last adventure.”

  The Commander of the Royal Guard, a man named Sepultura Stryd was no friend of Ash’s. Ever since Ash’s first victory in Hell against the berserk Apsat Glumb, Commander Stryd had been trying to cover up any and all of Ash’s acts of heroism. He didn’t want the people of Hell depending on Goddard’s three-man-team instead of their own Royal Guard army.

  “Makes sense,” said Ash. “Stryd’s had it out for me since day one.”

  “It’s not just him,” Goddard said, his hand on his forehead. “There was no mention of any of you in the morning paper, either.” Goddard motioned to the dining table near the entryway where the morning newspaper sat undisturbed.

  “The nobles,” Aura muttered, gritting his teeth.

  Sure enough, when Ash flipped open the newspaper the big headline inside read: Greater Demon Cut Down By Royal Guard – No Casualties. The article, which had no mention of Ash or Aura even being there, was penned by a familiar name.

  “Glebeck Lowdly,” Ash said with a scowl. He crumpled up the paper and tossed it. “It figures. Those people never liked us.”

  “Greater demon attacks are rare, but in the future please let me know immediately if there’s another,” Goddard said. “So what happened?” he said, turning to Ash.

  “Shi-” he said before stopping himself. “Vashi Tansa, that foolish Noble, was possessed by some kind of plant demon. We fought a little, and Aura managed to separate the demon soul from Vashi Tansa’s body. It was pretty impressive, actually.”

  Aura played overly bashful, waving away Ash’s compliment with a huge smile on his face. “Oh come on, it was nothing!” he said.

  “I agree,” came Shiva’s distant voice.

  “That is quite an accomplishment, Mr. Draxler,” Goddard said with an interested smile. “Am I to understand your powers are developing in new ways?”

  “It’s possible,” said Aura. “I have come a long way with my soul sight technique. Who knows what I’ll come up with next.”

  “And what about you, Ash?” asked Goddard. “How did you fare in the fight against the greater demon?”

  “Well, actually, I got caught pretty quickly,” Ash said with an embarrassed look on his face. “I didn’t think it really hurt me all that badly, but I felt pretty terrible after the fight was over. For a second there I felt like I was dying.”

  “What do you mean?” Goddard asked, more concerned now.

  “Well, after Aura killed the demon and we left the gambling parlor I felt so bad I almost passed out in the street. It hit me hard for like, a minute, then I was fine again. Maybe that plant demon was actually a poison ivy?”

  “Hmmm…” Goddard said, stroking his chin in contemplation. “You look fine now, but let me know if anything else like that happens again.”

  “Right,” said Ash. “I will. Did you come all the way here just to tell us about the Helio Star?”

  Ash’s subtle way of asking if they had another job order.

  “No, there’s more,” said Goddard. “The alignment of the Helio Star also signals the beginning of the summer soulstice. It’s our summer festival. There’s going to be events and games played all over the kingdom, every day. For some reason, I’m the one in charge of planning it all,” he said, not the least bit pleased looking about it.

  You could have let us in on all this a little sooner, Ash thought.

  “The festival will run until the weather changes back, or when we get through all of the games, whichever happens to come first. The summer soulstice is a huge deal to the Kingdom. It gives the citizens a shared event to come together where anyone can take part, young or old. We have games for every age bracket. It’s no easy task coordinating where everything will take place, let me assure you.”

  “Cool,” said Ash. “So are we on guard duty or something?”

  “No,” said Goddard, turning to Ash. “I encourage you all to start a team and take part in the festival events.”

  “Whoa,” said Aura in amazement. “You mean no more work orders for a while?”

  Goddard sighed. “You’ve all done such excellent work. You’ve truly come a long way since the team’s formation. You deserve a break from all the torments of living in this world, just like everyone else here. So enjoy the games and the nice weather, while you still can.”

  “I’ll pass,” said Shiva. She sat up, clutching a throw pillow to cover her chest. “Games aren’t my thing.”

  Ash couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. It was enough to make Shiva cast her icy stare at him.

  “Something funny?”

  “Not at all, your highness,” Ash replied. Shiva shut up after that, a troubled look coming over her face.

  “You will take part in the games Lady Shiva,” Goddard said. “Let’s not forget how easily these boys find themselves in trouble when you’re not around. As their leader, it is your duty to watch over them at all times.”

  “Fine,” said Shiva, standing up. “But if any wayward demons show up I’m slicing them into tiny bits.” With that she scurried out of the living room, moving the pillow to cover her behind.

  “Naturally,” Goddard nodded as she went away.

  Something Goddard said was weighing on Ash’s mind. “You mentioned we should enjoy the games and weather while we still can,” Ash said. “That sounded a little ominous. What did you mean by that?”

  “Oh yes, that’s perhaps the most important piece of information I have for you,” said Goddard. “When the Helio Star passes our planet, it’ll be at its furthest point away from us in the cycle, meaning it’s going to get cold.”

  “But Hell is already cold,” said Ash.

  “Think colder,” said Goddard. “That’s why it’s important to enjoy the warmth while we have it. Because when it’s gone, it’s going to be a long one hundred years of winter.”

  “So Hell is about to freeze over, huh,” Ash said. “And here I thought it was already as cold as a planet without a sun could get.”

  Shiva reemerged from her bedroom wearing a tanktop and some spandex-like pants. She joined the group in the living room as Goddard made his way to the exit.

  “I have information and registration booths set up around the kingdom that will be opening tomorrow morning,” he said as he stepped up to the front door. He picked up a folded black umbrella that was leaning against the wall. “I would suggest you start there. They’ll have a complete itinerary of all the games and a sign up sheet.”

  “Fun in the sun with babes in scantly-clad outfits? I’m totally in!” Aura said with the biggest smile Ash had seen on his face in a long time.

  “This sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun,” said Ash. He was starting to get worried. “There’s not a catch, is there?” It was unusual for Goddard to be so nice to the team. The only reason he rewarded them with the cozy West Hell condo was because Shiva had to trick him into it. Acts of charity were rare for Goddard, and Ash couldn’t imagine he’d let them go so e
asily.

  “No catch,” Goddard said. “I know I’ve been working you all to the bone lately. You’ve been through some dreadful jobs in the last few months. I should know, I assigned them all to you. And I made sure I got all the worst ones out of the way as soon as possible. Remember clean-up duty after the Satan’s Day parade?”

  “I never knew demons could produce so much manure,” Aura said, experiencing a traumatic flashback.

  “Case in point; you deserve a break.” Goddard opened the front door and unfolded his umbrella to block the heat rays. “If anything else comes up and I need your assistance, I’ll send for you.”

  Goddard left the team and went about his business, probably to make more arrangements for the Devil Games Festival. As Ash watched him go, he couldn’t help but wonder if Goddard could be trusted. He was a demanding boss that worked the team tirelessly every day, but sometimes he surprised Ash in a pleasant way. He did save the boy’s life back on Earth once, after all. For that Ash was grateful.

  Still, he couldn’t help hearing the late Phoenix’s warning that Goddard could not be trusted, that he was only using Ash to accomplish a plot involving the frozen corpse of Lucifer Satan. It all sounded crazy, and Ash might have not believed Phoenix if he hadn’t seen for himself the original Satan’s body in the basement tunnels of the royal castle. He made a promise to himself that he’d have nothing to do with that soul-paralyzing corpse-sicle ever again.

  As for Goddard, Ash would have to remain on high alert around him. No way was he getting pulled into a plot to revive Lucifer. Nuh uh. Didn’t matter how many summer breaks he offered him, Ash couldn’t be bought like that.

  But if Goddard were to let him go home and be with his mom again, instead…

  Ash feared what his hesitance to immediately dismiss the notion meant.

  Chapter Eight: The Sneaker’s Techniques

  Ash felt cooler waltzing down the street in his new pair of shorts and a thin t-shirt. He got them from Gio when he went to see him after their chat with Goddard the other day. He thought he’d check in with the tailor and see if he could snag some ‘summer clothes’ before he went and cut off his pant legs to make them into shorts. As luck would have it, Gio had a nice pair of shorts ready and waiting for the boy.

  Everyone wore t-shirts and shorts. Ash had never seen the population of Hell in such casual and so little attire. Aura was in a thin tanktop minus his usual coat-cape, but he still wore some light jeans. Despite her fainting just yesterday, Shiva insisted on wearing her armor. She claimed it wasn’t too heavy and that she’d be just fine, but the guys noticed her movements weren’t as fast.

  It was early morning and the team walked to North Hell to find the information kiosk Goddard had told them about the day before. They could have flown and found the kiosk faster, but their goal was actually to waste time. Plus with all the extra heat, flying just wasn’t as enjoyable anymore. All that wing flapping was tiring work, which unfortunately meant it was doubly so in this heat wave.

  Ash enjoyed walking. The trip through West Hell was always one he looked forward to. The desert landscape surrounded by giant cliffs and canyons reminded him of fun family memories in Arizona from his life on Earth. He loved looking at all the dwellings built into the sides of the cliffs, carved right out of the stone over hundreds of years. West Hell had an entirely different charm than any of the other subdivisions of the kingdom.

  They passed under a huge “Thank you for visiting West Hell” sign, and on the other side it read “Welcome to West Hell.” They were now in North Hell, the subdivision belonging to the richest inhabitants of Hell. A small amount of them were even called Nobles because of their ancestor’s involvement with the original Lucifer Satan so long ago. North Hell was the oldest section of the kingdom, but had the most upkeep.

  West Hell has its vast landscapes and cliff-dwellings. East Hell has the ocean and fishing. South Hell is where all the farming and industry happens. North Hell is where you find anything else. All the best everything in Hell could be found there. Restaurants, schools, bars, shops; North Hell has it all. An oasis in an otherwise demon-infested crapshoot.

  “Now that its actually hot here, Hell is kind of awesome,” Ash said. He didn’t even miss his peacoat as he felt the hot breeze brush against his bare arms. “I don’t care if it takes us all day to find the registration booth. I’m loving this heat!”

  Shiva and Aura were less enthusiastic. This being the first time either of them had ever experienced such heat, they felt like they were being baked in an oven they couldn’t climb out of. Neither of them said much on the trip, but Ash just chalked it up to them not being fully awake yet. Shiva grumbled in response to Ash’s statements of joy. Aura had his eyes occupied looking around at all the bare-skinned girls out walking the streets. His dreams had finally come true, but he did not have the energy yet to show his elation.

  They reached the street that would eventually lead to the noble’s news building. The building grounds were typically busy as the various noble elderly put on their little news shows to keep the citizens informed. Of course they also sold newspapers on the side, which was their main source of income. Today’s show was all about the upcoming festival games. The team caught a useful snippet as they walked by.

  “…sign up for the Devil Games Festival at the information kiosk on Main Street!” the noble Bliley Braggart shouted into his megaphone. “Naturally, that line will be very long, very busy indeed! But! You can purchase a copy of the morning newspaper for a full list of all the kiosk locations around the kingdom, and then plan a trip to a less busy site!”

  The pitch worked, as scores of people pushed forward to buy the newspaper, apparently choosing to save time over money.

  “Look at all those idiots desperate to give up their money to those greedy nobles,” Ash said with a grin. He turned and said this to Aura, and when he looked back at the line he was surprised to find Shiva standing in waiting with a handful of skorch to buy a paper. She came walking back over to the guys as she idly flipped through the pages of the paper.

  “Says here the nearest kiosk is only a block away, near the entrance to East Hell,” said Shiva without looking up from her newspaper.

  “I can’t believe you paid for that….” Ash grumbled. The nobles had been extra cruel to him in the past, and he hated the idea of supporting their business in any way.

  “Let’s just go sign up and get back indoors already,” Shiva said, too hot and tired for her usual banter.

  “You know…” Aura said to get Shiva’s attention. “You might just enjoy this heat if you dressed more appropriately for it. I’m thinking a short skirt would suit you nicely.”

  “Leave me out of your little dress-up fantasies please, Draxler,” Shiva replied in disgust.

  By the time the team reached the small information booth in East Hell, Shiva looked like she was going to pass out again. She’d fallen behind in their walk, but when she saw the festival kiosk her eyes lit up and she raced toward it. Ash and Aura power walked to catch up. The booth was round, with four workers sitting behind the counter on each side.

  There was a lot of information laid out on the large billboard that wrapped around the top of the kiosk, such as event times, records, and descriptions of each game that could be played. Each of the four lines moved quickly as the people spoke to the workers in the booth and signed up their teams. Shiva stood in line for only a couple of minutes before getting to speak to the person behind the counter.

  “I need to sign up,” she said, not the least bit excited.

  “Okay,” the guy said, sliding forward a clipboard with a bunch of people’s names on it. “Single player games are posted over there, but we require a team of five players for most of the games. Which would you like to register for?”

  Shiva groaned, her irritation building. “He says we need five people,” she told her teammates. Ash and Aura just shrugged.

  “Let me direct your attention to this board right here,” the g
uy behind the counter said. He pointed them to a nearby board that had a bunch more names on it. “This board is for people looking to find a team to join, or for a team that needs to recruit some more players. Please feel free to utilize it if you need a few more teammates.”

  “We’ll be back,” Shiva said as pleasantly as she could. She stepped out of line and the next person moved up. Ash swiped a festival flier that had a huge list of events compiled on it to look over later before they left.

  “How about we get some breakfast while we brainstorm?” Ash suggested.

  The team moved to a small restaurant on one of the main streets in East Hell. Inside it was packed with excited people who were likewise there to talk about the festival. It took a couple minutes, but Shiva eventually claimed a free table for them to sit at. She flopped down in the chair like a tired dog.

  “Some of these games sound pretty cool,” Ash said. He’d been looking over the flier he snagged on the trip over. “I’d like to play ‘Push Ball’ and try the ‘Flame Obstacle Course’ for sure.”

  “I’m just interested in watching the women’s ‘Lift Ball’ games,” said Aura. The description of lift ball that Ash read on the flier sounded a lot like beach volleyball to him, and it was no wonder why Aura would be interested in being a spectator there.

  The server came and took their orders. Shiva only wanted an iced coffee, and when Aura heard that he had to order the same with a side of bacon. Ash ordered one giant egg with a glass of something called grapple juice.

  “Which games do you want to play, Shiva?” Ash asked her.

  Shiva was busy fanning herself with the newspaper, but snapped out of her heat exhaustion to reply. “I don’t care what we play. I don’t even like games.”

  “They’ve got another Devil’s Duel tournament listed,” said Ash as he eyed Shiva intently. “What do you think about that?”