by N. P. Martin
I knew the sword was on the other side. It was only that sense of certainty that allowed me to get down on my hands and knees and start crawling along the cold, damp rock of the cave, otherwise I would have left then and there, going back the way I came and forgetting about all of it. The world could go to Hell in a hang basket for all I cared.
It hurt crawling through that cave, the hard rock pressing against the bone of my elbows and kneecaps. Every movement was an ordeal. There was no air and I wheezed as I tried to breathe, my chest feeling like it was about to cave in. I heard the blood rushing in my ears and my head pounded, sweat dripping off me.
I kept crawling. I knew if I stopped, I wouldn’t move again, that I would just lay there until the cave became my coffin.
The claustrophobia was unbearable when I was forced to lie flat on my stomach, the cave being too narrow to stand up in or even crouch in. There was barely a foot of space all around me. It felt like the entire mountain pressed down on me and it got harder to move with every agonizing inch that I took.
I didn’t allow myself to think. Self preservation demanded that I concentrate on moving forward or else I was going to die. I couldn’t even turn around, which left only one direction to go in.
Forward.
Keep moving forward.
I cried tears of relief when I came to the end of the cave and it opened out into another open space. I slithered out of the hole and took massive lungfuls of air, even though it tasted stale. I felt like a newborn, having just emerged from a womb of hard rock.
Finally able to stand up again, I leaned on my legs for support, moving the flashlight around the room with my other hand. This opening wasn’t as big as the previous one where the bats lived. In fact it was about half the size as the other opening, and unlike the other one it was completely featureless, just smooth rock walls, floor and ceiling.
Except for a single large boulder in the center of the room.
I shone the torch over the boulder, my stomach muscles tensing as I prayed the sword I was looking for would show up in the light. I couldn’t face going any further into the mountain, and besides that there didn’t appear to be any other openings in the rock face.
The light flashed over the boulder and I didn’t see anything that resembled a sword and my heart sank in my chest. I directed the light beam over the stone again, this time catching a glimpse of something, not shiny metal as I had expected, but something dull that I could just about make out from where I stood.
That has to be it.
With clammy skin and an aching chest I walked towards the boulder but then lurched forward as my foot fell into a dip in the rock. Losing my balance, I fell forward and crashed down onto the hard stone, dropping the flashlight in the process which immediately went out.
I lay motionless on the rock, entrenched in total darkness.
Panic gripped me tighter than a dying man hanging off a ledge and it felt like two huge hands had reached out from the darkness and grabbed me around the ribs to crush me. I couldn’t breathe as I blinked into the pure blackness.
In the terrible darkness I was lost and as alone as I’ve ever been.
“No, no, no, no…” I groped around the cave floor, trying to locate the flashlight again, praying that if I actually managed to find it that it would still work.
There was no way I was getting out of that cave again without light; the idea was unthinkable. If I dwelled on that outcome I’d curl up in a tight ball on the stony floor of the cave and wait to die.
So I kept searching, despite the panic that crushed me like the weight of the mountain crushing layers in the rock. I ran my hands along the surface in desperate hope of locating the flashlight again, my only lifeline in the awful darkness.
And then I felt it, the familiar metal grip of the torch.
Yes!
I grabbed the flashlight and clutched it tight to my chest harder than I’d ever held anything, taking deep breaths as I did so. Hard to believe something as innocuous as a flashlight could mean the difference between life and death.
I felt for the power button. Clicked it.
Nothing happened.
The darkness remained.
I clicked the button again.
Still nothing.
Low mewling noises escaped from my mouth that echoed around the lightless cave and the hands that grabbed me earlier from the darkness squeezed me hard again.
“Please…come on…” I banged the flashlight on my arm, trying to get it to work, clicking the button on and off but nothing did any good.
Darkness persisted.
The hands around my ribs squeezed tighter.
Once more.
I shook the torch.
Clicked the button.
And there was light.
“Oh thank God…” The hands that gripped me suddenly released and I sank down on my knees, tears running from my eyes as I threw my head back and released a long breath.
I had never felt such relief.
“Alright...” I illuminated the boulder a few feet away and walked over to it.
The sword was jammed in the rock.
It was embedded about half way into the boulder at a forty-five degree angle. The blade itself looked red in color. It didn’t appear to be metal unless the atmosphere of the cave had done something to it. The hilt of the sword was metal though, with the grip wrapped in some sort of leather binding.
All I had to do was pull the sword out of the huge lump of rock.
My stomach tightened at the possibility that I might not be able to remove the sword from the stone. If that turned out to be the case, then the horrible experience I just put myself through, would be for nothing.
I would have sold my soul for nothing.
And I didn’t think the crossroads demon gave refunds.
I took a deep breath and placed the butt of the flashlight in my mouth. I gripped the handle of the sword with both hands and pulled as hard as I could.
The sword didn’t budge.
Not a single inch.
This can’t be happening.
I pulled at the sword again and it still wouldn’t move.
“Fuck!”
On the third attempt I put my foot against the boulder for leverage as I pulled once more on the sword.
I almost went flying back as it came out of the stone with a loud grinding sound, but I kept my balance this time. One fall was enough.
I stood there in the cave with a sword in my hands and a flashlight in my mouth, staring at the blade in amazement, hardly able to believe that I even had it in my hands. Tears of joy and relief streamed down my face. I felt like a contestant on one of those extreme gameshows having finally gotten the prize after much pain and humiliation.
Then I remembered where I was.
In a cave, inside a damned mountain with a colony of bats next door.
Time to go.
With sword in one hand and flashlight in the other, I walked back to the hole in the rock that I had emerged from what seemed liked hours before. I didn’t look forward to crawling back into that cave. From this end it seemed even narrower and just looking down it, made my mouth go dry and sweat to run down my stinging face.
Don’t think about it. Just do it.
Bracing myself as best I could, I bent down and crawled into the cave, keeping the flashlight in my mouth, which it difficult to breathe, and the sword in my left hand. My right hand I used to pull myself along the rock as I slid deeper into the tunnel. The going was even tougher than the last time because I had to carry the sword. A ridiculous amount of sweat streamed down my face, making my eyes sting and my mouth taste salty. I breathed heavily, to the point where I thought I was in danger of using up all the air in the tunnel.
I stopped for a moment to catch my breath then started moving again, so glad when the tunnel widened and I could start walking on my feet, albeit bent over. Pretty soon I reached the opening and the space with the bats in.
Making it into Bat
City, I stood wiping sweat from my face, getting my breath back. The ammonia smell assailed my nostrils once more, causing my eyes to water and my stomach to turn, but I didn’t care.
All I had to do now was cross the room without disturbing the bats too much and make my way back through the entrance tunnel and out to the ledge on the mountain side. It felt like a lot to do still, but I was motivated by wanting to get of there, plus it was a journey I had already done once, so it should have been easier second time around.
I walked across the room, the sword by my side giving me some comfort this time. At least if the bats did decide to go for me I could the use the sword to defend myself, although I wasn’t sure if it would do much good if an entire colony of large bats attacked me all at once.
They did seem slightly more noisy and animated above me this time, but I dared not dwell on what that could possibly mean. I just kept moving.
Do bats even attack people?
I didn’t know and I hoped I would never have to find out as I treaded back through the sloppy shit that covered the cave floor, the ammonia smell overpowering as I churned up the guano with my boots. Every step I took echoed around the cave, amplified way too much for my liking, considering what was above me.
Once I made my way around the cave pool, I quickened my steps, not caring that the bat shit was splashing all over my legs and filling my boots.
I wanted out of that damned cave. I needed to see daylight again.
I had no idea up to that point that I would miss something as everyday and taken for granted as daylight. But I did. Terribly. I’d make a terrible a vampire, that’s for sure.
Reaching the tunnel entrance, I wasted no time about stepping into it. The end was in sight and I couldn’t wait to get there, so much so that I tripped and fell, the flashlight flying from my hands a second time, the sword clanging on the rock beside me. I yelled out in shock and pain when I hit the rock, having hit both my knees hard. My cry echoed through the tunnel and back into Bat City where it continued to echo for what seemed like a long time. Too long.
The flashlight had stopped working again.
I was back in the full dark once more.
Then something flew past my head at great speed and I flinched.
No.
Something else whizzed past me in the darkness with a high-pitched screeching sound.
The bats had awoken and more and more of them flew past me in the darkness of the cave, their ear piercing squeals killing my ears to the point where I hunched my shoulders and scrunched my eyes closed.
I had to get out of there.
But I had no light to see.
Forget the fucking flashlight and just run!
I felt for the sword, grabbed it and ran forward in the darkness, feeling my way along the rock walls as bat after bat flew past me, missing my face by just millimeters.
Then I felt one of them crash into my back and I yelped.
Another bat flew into the back of my head and I cried out again, this time in pain as I was knocked forward on to my knees.
More of the creepy as hell things flew into me, hitting me like bullets as the cave filled up with them. A storm of bats surrounded me, their furry bodies rubbing against my skin, their leathery wings flapping in my face, their claws scratching me.
I screamed like I was being murdered.. All I could do was try to cover my head as I stumbled on through the cave, praying the exit wasn’t too far away.
Then I saw it.
Light.
Just a few chinks of it up ahead.
That was all I needed to see.
Screaming with effort, I ran down the cave toward the light, toward the entrance where all the bats were shooting from. I kept running and screaming until I burst through the cave exit and into the light along with the storm of bats that surrounded me.
I ran too far.
My stomach heaved and adrenaline shot through me as I teetered on the ledge on the mountainside, daylight blinding me. I fell forward into thin air and was sickened that things could end that way, that I should go through all that to come out the other side and fall off a goddamned cliff.
I braced myself for the inevitable impact on the ground below, but then I felt a grip on my arm and a second later firmness under my feet. When I dared to open my eyes, I saw that I was standing on the ground and that I was back on the crossroads like nothing had ever happened.
I fell to my knees on the dirt road and stayed there crying, never as grateful to be alive in my life.
I don’t know how much time passed before I got a grip on myself, but I looked up to see the crossroads demon standing over me. Between the sun at his back and the tears in my eyes I could hardly make him out. “Did you have to disturb the wildlife?” he said.
I wiped my face with my hands and stood up. “You could have told me there was bats in that damned cave,” I said. I was still shaky as I looked up towards the top of the mountain. It was a long way up but I could see the colony of bats circling around up there, just a cloud of black shapes in the sky now, nowhere near as threatening as they were up close. “I thought I was going to die in there. If I get rabies our contract is null and void, you hear me?”
“Don’t be silly, girl. You’re a Nephilim, you won’t contract rabies.”
“I still could have died in there.”
“Well, you didn’t, and you managed to get the sword, I see.” He looked eagerly at the Demon Blade. “May I see?”
I almost forgot I had the sword in my hand. I considered his request for a moment, reluctant to hand over my prize.
“I’m not going to take it from you. We had a deal, remember?”
I handed him the sword. He held it horizontally in both hands, his eyes running over it. “The blade is made from demon’s blood, you know. It’s from where the sword gets its power.”
I nodded, understanding then why the blade was that dull crimson colour. “And it will kill Abigor?”
“If you manage to get near him with it.” The look on his face said he didn’t hold out much hope of that happening.
I took the sword from him. “I’ll get him, don’t worry.”
The demon’s eyes flashed red for a second as he considered me. “Well good luck then,” he said. “It looks like our business is concluded. You’ll hear from me again at some point.”
“When?”
“When I need you.” With a smile he disappeared back to wherever he came from.
I walked to the car and put the sword in the trunk. Then I sat in the car and used my cell phone to call Frank. “We might just have a chance at killing Abigor,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Frank said. “What have you done?”
“I’ll explain when I get back. In the meantime you need to call Eva and get to work on a location spell to find out where Abigor is.”
“What? Why?”
“Because,” I said. “I’m going to kill the sonofabitch.”
Chapter 24
Frank and Eva were in the cabin when I got back. The two of them looked at me like I was some kind of creature that had just wandered in from the woods. I must have looked a sight as I stood there, grubby, sticky with sweat, covered in bat shit, scratches all over my face from the bat claws and a demon-killing sword in my hands.
“Remember when I said not to do anything stupid?” Frank said. “I take it you didn’t heed my advice.”
“What the hell happened?” Eva asked from the living room. She sat in one of the armchairs, a book in her hand. She put the book down and came over to examine me. “Where did you get all those scratches?”
“More to the point, what is that smell?” Frank asked, his face contorting. “Is that ammonia?”
“Guano,” I said walking into the kitchen to get a glass of water, the sword still in my hand.
“Bat shit? What the hell have you been up to? And where did you get that sword?” He came over and took the sword from me, started to examine it. “What kind of blade is this?”
/> “It’s made from demon’s blood,” I said after knocking back two full glasses of water. I hadn’t realized nearly dying in a cave was such thirsty work.
Eva took the blade from Frank and tested its weight, giving it a few swings. “Perfectly balanced,” she said. “Is this supposed to kill Abigor?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Okay,” Frank said folding his arms. “Where’d you get it? I can’t wait to hear.”
I quickly went over the whole scenario I’d gone through to get the sword. They both looked flabbergasted. Frank shook his head. “You sold your damned soul for a sword?”
“No, Frank, I sold my soul so we could kill Abigor and save my brother, along with the rest of the world. A small price to pay, don’t you think?”
Frank and Eva looked at each other. They knew they couldn’t argue with me over what I’d done, simply because we didn’t have any other options open to us.
“That was a very brave thing you did,” Eva said.
“Thank you, Eva, but I just did what I had to do.”
Frank still didn’t seem convinced, but I knew he would come around, as he didn’t have a choice. “You should have told us what you were planning,” he said. “You can’t keep things from us like that. That’s how people get killed.”
I gave Frank a look that made it clear he had no right lecturing me on full disclosure and he looked away. “I need a shower,” I said. “Are you two going to do the location spell or what?”
“I’ll get started right away,” Eva said, smiling at me like she was proud.
I started toward the bathroom so I could shower. Frank called after me as I did so. “Yeah?” I said, expecting another lecture.
“That was reckless what you did, but...you know, good job.”
“Thanks.” I gave him a smile before I shut the bathroom door behind me..
After I showered, I went to my room to get changed. I moved quickly, still hyped up from the cave experience, and just wanting to confront Abigor. Adrenaline shot through me every time I thought about the demon. I tried hard not to think about the consequences if I failed to stop him. My own death would be the least of it. Humanity would be enslaved forever, trapped in Hell on earth and ruled over by a demon despot with a grudge. It was nuts to think that I could stop something so catastrophic, but if nearly dying in those caves had taught me anything, it was that I was stronger than I gave myself credit for. I just hoped I was strong enough.
