Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3)

by Brian J Moses

  Despite his gentle, easy nature, Perklet didn’t make friends easily, and he lamented the necessity of letting these two leave him.

  “Have a seat, Perky,” James said, motioning with a chicken drumstick for the Green paladin to be seated. Perklet politely shook his head.

  “I just came to wish you a safe journey,” he demurred softly. “There are a number of elves and denarae who need tending from everyday trail mishaps, and I want to make sure I see to them before it’s too late and we have to leave.”

  “There are other Greens in this expedition, you know, Perk,” Nuse said, mumbling through a mouthful of seasoned chicken. “Why not relax and let them take care of it?”

  “They all have other things to worry about,” Perklet said humbly, “and I’m already packed and fed. How can I refuse to go where I’m needed?”

  “Perklet,” Nuse said with a friendly smile, “you aren’t by any chance trying to get nominated for sainthood, are you?”

  “Wh.. N..No, I just,” Perklet stammered.

  James laughed. “Easy, Perk, don’t get flustered. Nuse is just teasing you. We both think it’s wonderful, how much you do for everyone.”

  “Just be sure and take care of yourself, too, Perky,” Nuse said seriously. “You won’t be able to help anyone if you neglect yourself and fall by the wayside.”

  “I will, I will,” Perklet said, nodding his head.

  The Blue and Yellow paladins stood and the trio embraced.

  “You two take care of yourselves,” Perklet said. “It’s a long road there and back again, so hurry safely.”

  “Hurry safely,” Nuse laughed. “I like that.”

  “Take care, Perky,” James said.

  Perklet left the pair, a warm glow filling his body. He started walking toward the denarae camp, but stopped halfway there when he saw a soft, steady orange glow coming from behind a rock. He moved closer out of curiosity until he heard a pair of low voices. The orange light winked out for an instant, then was back again. Edging a little closer, he identified one of the voices as Birch, then the other as Moreen.

  “…when this war is over, there’ll be nothing left to keep us apart,” Birch was saying. “I swear by my life and by God Himself, Moreen, I’ll make it up to you somehow. All these years, I… I don’t know how I could have left you, or why you waited.”

  “You know why I waited, Birch,” Moreen answered softly. “I love you, and I know you love me. You remember in Demar when I told you that you’d have to fight for us? You have been, my love, and that’s made all this time bearable. I know your heart is torn, and I know where I must fall if it comes to a question between me and God. I accept that, because it’s part of who you are, and who I love.

  “But Birch, no matter what, I will always and have always been with you in heart and spirit,” she continued. “I followed you when you had to choose God again, and I’d do it again and again, just to be with you.” She paused, and Perklet thought he could hear the smile in her voice when she added, “I’m a very patient and determined woman, and I get what I set my eyes on. Hell and death haven’t been able to keep us apart, and they never will.”

  Perklet heard a rustle of cloth and leather as the two embraced, and he crept quietly away. He smiled bittersweetly at the thought of the two lovers kept so long apart. One of the things Perklet had always admired and desired to emulate in Birch was his sense of determination and will power. Nothing could stop him! Perklet feared that, if faced with a true test of will, he would fail long before those more tempered around him.

  Continuing on to the denarae camp, Perklet passed Brican and Caeesha, who lay gently embracing each other as they stared into a small fire. There were tears in both denarae’s eyes, and Perky hurried quickly past so as not to disturb them.

  Next he passed Garet and his family, and here Perklet stopped by long enough to inquire after injuries that might need healing. He knew neither of the Red paladins had significant healing skills.

  “I think we’re all set here, Perky,” Garet said forcing a pleasant smile. He was obviously upset over parting from the twins, but he was hiding it well.

  “Now,” he said as Perklet started off again, “you two are not to dawdle or hedge in any way. I’ve already spoken with Moreen, and she’s going to keep a stern eye on you two until they drop you off at the farm. Then it’s all up to your mother to see you’re aptly punished for running off like that. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, sir,” they murmured in unison.

  “Good. Now come give your old man a hug,” he said gruffly, pulling them into an embrace. Only Garnet could see the tears that brimmed in his father’s eyes before they were blinked away, unshed.

  Perklet quickly passed by Danner and Alicia, and just barely overheard the words, “…war is over, I promise,” from Danner, echoed immediately by Alicia, “I promise.”

  He stopped to offer healing to a group of a dozen denarae eating their dinner around a fire, then moved on to another group.

  A quarter hour passed while he moved from campfire to campfire amongst the denarae, healing the aches and pains that came with a forced march. Trames and Kala greeted him warmly, and Perklet graciously declined Trames’s offer of a spoonful of honey.

  Just as he was moving on toward the elven camp, Perklet saw the young woman Deeta moving hesitantly toward the fire where Flasch sat alone. He had heard about the episode between the two from the night before and, out of concern for them, he strayed close enough to overhear.

  “Flasch,” Deeta whispered, and he looked up. Slowly, but respectfully, the Violet paladin stood and offered his hand to help her nearer the fire. After they were both seated, they looked at each other in an awkward silence.

  “Deeta, I…”

  “Don’t,” she said, holding up a hand. “You were right. What I tried to do to you was a horrible, horrible thing, and you were right to reject me.”

  “I didn’t mean…”

  “No,” she cut him off again. “I think it’s time we both faced the truth. I love you, Flasch, but you don’t really love me.”

  “Deeta…”

  “Damn it, will you shut up and let me get through this,” she said angrily, and Flasch subsided. Deeta straightened her hair and took a deep breath. “I’ve got a lot of thinking and feeling to do while you’re gone, and I think so do you. The truth is, I tried to make myself be what I thought would attract you, and I guess it worked for a while, but it wasn’t really me. It’s nothing new, I’ve been doing it my whole life, I think, and I don’t know if I’ll ever find who I really am as long as I’m with a man. But I do know that I can’t be the woman you need, no matter how much I want you to be the man I need.”

  She sniffed back tears, but threw him a warning glanced when Flasch looked like he was going to speak again.

  “I think it’s too much to hope that there’ll be anything for us on the other side of this war,” she said. “I guess what I’m trying to say, is that I know you’re going to find someone who’s right for you, and that’s okay. You deserve that.”

  This time, when her tears rose, Flasch handed her a handkerchief that she gratefully accepted.

  “You deserve the same thing, Deeta,” Flasch said gently, “and I think you’re right that we’re moving on different paths now. But after this war, I know there will still be a close friendship waiting for us. It’ll be awkward at first,” he paused when she quirked an eyebrow at him.

  “Okay, it’ll probably be a downright, bloody nuisance,” he amended. Deeta laughed, and most of her tears dried up. “But it’ll still be there, and when you find the right man for you, I hope you know you’ll have to send him to me for inspection. If he doesn’t pass muster,” Flasch made a throwing motion over his shoulder.

  They both laughed, then embraced awkwardly.

  “Thank you, Flasch,” Deeta whispered.

  “Thank you,” he replied.

  Perklet left the two of them alone, warmed and saddened all at once by the poign
ant scene he’d witnessed.

  - 3 -

  Birch watched as rank after rank of paladins filed forward through the narrow divide, breaking off into pairs as they entered the stone passage. Three hundred went through to create a beachhead, the other two hundred waited to take up the rear. After the first group of holy warriors, the elves filed through, following their commander El’Siran. Next came the assorted smiths, squires, and other essential helpers who would accompany the expedition, then Shadow Company marched through under the watchful eye of Garnet. Danner carefully drove his buggy through the gap with Flasch riding passenger. The backseat was packed with an assortment of bundles that were all under cover.

  The last group of paladins lined up, and Birch rode at the very tail end of the group. Mikal had led the first men across, Birch would be the last.

  One hundred paladins were left, then fifty.

  Birch felt a strange tingling creep under his skin, a feeling of unease he couldn’t quite place. He glanced at the line of paladins disappearing into the Binding. Twenty or so left. Birch was at the mouth of the cleft. He looked up the sheer sides to either side of him, trying to place the source of the unease. He thought he should recognize it, and it seemed hauntingly familiar – and yet different at the same time. It was as though he was dreading an unnamed menace… and at the same time calling to it in welcome.

  “Heaven?” he asked himself softly. “The demon?” Did the immortal plane call to him even as it repelled the demonic āyus within him? What about Kaelus? What did he feel from the immortal plane? The overwhelming presence of the Binding confused him and kept him from pinning down the sensation.

  The last two paladins disappeared across the Binding, and Birch turned around for one last look back at Moreen. She was sitting behind James on his dakkan, holding up a torch in the darkness and watching Birch with an intensity of emotion he could sense even across the distance.

  “I’ll come back to you,” he whispered. “Hell and death.” He almost raised a hand in farewell, but their goodbyes had already been said. Instead, Birch turned Selti back toward the Binding and urged him forward.

  The stone walls pressed around him with unnatural tightness, but Birch ignored the pressure in his chest. His claustrophobia had seen worse days, and it would hardly stop him from continuing on now.

  The air shimmered slightly as he drew nearer, and finally the Binding lit up when Selti’s nose was almost touching it. The gray dakkan turned his head and looked dubiously over his shoulder as if to ask Birch if he was really sure he wanted to do this.

  “Come on, Selti,” Birch said. “Your mother already went through this with me once, and who can say who will have had the harder journey.”

  Selti turned to the front and took a cautious step forward, then another. His head passed through the curtain of light, which slowly crept down his gray-scaled neck toward his human rider. Birch took a nervous breath as the Binding neared him. When it was inches away, he closed his eyes and leaned forward. A gust of wind ruffled his hair, a parting reminder of the mortal world he was leaving behind for the second time.

  A warm, vaguely familiar feeling swept over his body in a wave as he passed through, and light shone through his eyelids with a comfortable glow. He heard a faint hum in the air that had nothing to do with the din of voices from the group waiting for him.

  Birch opened his eyes and saw a beautiful landscape of rolling hills seemingly made entirely of clouds, and beyond them crystal mountains that stretched upward into a completely cloud-covered sky. Pillars of crystal dotted the landscape, none of them less than six feet tall and most of them soaring to forty or fifty feet of lofty elegance. The area was lit by a soft, pure, sourceless illumination, as if the light came from everywhere all at once. The most disconcerting result of this was that while everyone cast just one shadow, each person’s lay in a different direction, and some people had no shadow at all.

  Still, even as the gleaming landscape threatened to overwhelm them with splendor, it soothed their souls and smothered their anxiety.

  “Beautiful,” Birch whispered, and he heard the same sentiment repeated over and over all around him.

  “It’s amazing,” Marc murmured. “I never imagined it quite like this. None of the descriptions, none of my dreams, nothing comes close.”

  Birch heard a deep sigh nearby and saw Danner exhaling with a sense of wonder in his eyes. “Part of me feels like this is home,” he murmured. He looked briefly at Birch, who smiled ruefully and shook his head slightly. He didn’t share Danner’s ease and acceptance of their environment, and the reasons seemed obvious.

  Nearby, Trames stared about with his usual curiosity, but he lacked the awe experienced by everyone around him. He actually shrugged when Kala asked him what he thought of it.

  “How can you act so nonchalant about it?” Marc demanded, turning to look at the old man. “Isn’t it just beyond anything you ever imagined? The clouds, the angelstone mountains and crystalline beauty.”

  “Ah, is that what you see,” Trames said, looking around as though just seeing their surroundings for the first time. “I don’t know,” he said finally after scanning the landscape. “I never really wondered what Heaven looked like.”

  Marc turned away, then did a double-take as the old man’s presence sunk in.

  “Trames,” he said warningly, “I seem to remember Garnet telling you to stay behind.”

  “I don’t think I ever agreed to do any such thing,” Trames countered impishly.

  “How could you let him drag you into this?” Marc asked, turning to Kala. “You at least know what’s going on here. What’s at stake, right?”

  “It’s not her fault,” Trames jumped in. “I convinced her to let me take one quick trip across, then we’d go back. Right?”

  Kala nodded absently, her eyes scanning the area nervously, no doubt keeping an eye out for Garnet.

  “We’re here now, Trames,” she said, “and now we can go.”

  Trames sighed and shook his head. “That wouldn’t be a good idea, even if we could.”

  Only half paying attention to the conversation nearby, Birch tried to relax in the enveloping sense of comfort, even as it warred with the unease roiling within, and his eyes drifted shut. Almost immediately, however, he realized the combined sense of disquiet and welcome had changed from what he’d first felt, and Birch’s eyes snapped open in alarm. Whatever peace and tranquility he’d achieved shattered as fear and alarm drove deep into his heart. Too late, he recognized what he should have known long before. He, of all people, should have known.

  “No!” he whispered in fear. “God help them, no!”

  - 4 -

  Uriel roared in fury and triumph as he clove the last demon in two, splitting it from shoulder to hip. He watched with fierce glee as two of the demon’s arms fell one way with its head, while the other two accompanied its body in a completely different direction. The creature dissolved into black dust and vanished.

  The fight is ours! he exulted. White flames danced across the surface of his six violet wings, flaring brighter in his exuberance.

  Around him, Powers and Cherubim joined their voices with the Erelim and Parasim in Uriel’s command and cheered their victory. The Archangels were Heaven’s elite warriors, led by Uriel since the earliest days of the Great Schism.

  “Congratulations, Uriel, my Fist of Justice.”

  Exhilaration died as the voice broke into his thoughts.

  “I am no fist of yours, Maya,” he replied angrily. “Willing it to be so will not work with me, no matter how you exert your power.”

  “I have instructed you to call me Metatron.”

  “And instead I call you Pretender,” Uriel bit back. “This gets us nowhere, Maya. You may control those around me, but you will never again hold sway over my mind. My Archangels were the last to succumb, and they will follow me at the first hint of your weakness. You will never dominate me, Maya, now leave me to my work.”

  “It is my work
, and it can wait a moment. Come with me and see how the whole of Heaven stands against our oppressors.”

  Against his will, Uriel found his awareness split, and he was compelled to follow the guidance of Maya as she observed other forces of angels and the blessed dead as they fought to defend Heaven. They looked down as though from a great height, and Uriel knew that back in Medina, Maya stood in her tower and could observe all of Heaven with ease.

  Landscapes of breathtaking beauty passed beneath them in the blink of an eye as they moved from battle to battle. Waging war on a field that was quite literally infinitely large presented impossibilities in defense that had been mitigated through strategic restructuring of Heaven’s landscape. Demons could not bear the touch of the water from any of Heaven’s three rivers, so they had all been diverted and widened to produce the maximum effective barriers possible against the invading demons. Mountains of crystal and stone erupted to form barriers that were all but impassable, but still there was only so much that could be done against an army of such overwhelming might.

  Wherever possible, the demons were funneled into areas where Heaven’s forces had gathered to fight them, but already most of these initial fortifications had been overrun. Angels and dead souls now occupied secondary positions, and these too were beginning to crumple – it seemed not a day passed without another position being overrun by the demons and its defenders slaughtered or scattered to carry word of their defeat.

  “Our situation is perilous. Division within our ranks can only further weaken us, my Fist. Even Mikal saw this.” Maya sounded smug.

  “Lies and false pride will be our downfall long before anything else,” Uriel countered angrily. “The sooner you realize the truth, the sooner we can go about trying to save our realm and the lives of the mortals entrusted to us. Mikal was blinded by his own virtue and saw only what you wanted him to see. I am not so blind, False One, not anymore. What you did was wrong, what you’ve done is worse, and what you plan will only lead us to disaster.

  “Mephistopheles has learned from his mistakes, it seems. Will you not learn from yours?”