by Ann Aguirre
“So the more our enemies try to send something through to strike at us, the weaker they’ll be when we arrive?” I guessed.
Greydusk nodded. “Most will be prudent enough to wait until you cross to send their best assassins. It is a calculated risk, of course. Should you choose to ascend, once you reach Sheol—”
“Ascend?”
“It is not my place to explain your choices, Binder.”
Bullshit. Greydusk was just tired of answering my endless questions. I took the hint and trudged on in silence. The deeper we went into the mountain, the more it felt like a subterranean forest with exotic stone trees. My witchlight kept the dark from becoming oppressive, and I ignored the burn in my thighs. It was a lengthy hike, but not one that required an overnight rest, thankfully.
We didn’t speak more. I traveled down, down, down, until the air puffed from my lips in smoky whorls. That wasn’t normal in the caves I had visited before, yet another sign that these weren’t normal caverns. Witch sight revealed shimmers of magick in various crystals, glowing red and blue and silver. The stones would be good for various spells, I knew instinctively. I resisted the urge to dig them out of the walls.
The path became steeper, nearly vertical in places, and I braced my hands against the wall as I fell. Greydusk caught me with a careless arm, demonstrating unnatural strength; its gangly limb shouldn’t have possessed that kind of tensile power. The demon lifted me down in an easy gesture, and I stepped away before my unease could insult the creature further. It had dealt with us in good faith; I had no cause to distrust it other than its obviously alien nature.
“We must climb from here. There will be no more easy path.”
Greydusk tied the trusty rope around a rock formation and indicated the yawning chasm before us. Straight down then, no more path. The sound of water greeted my ears, distant and filtered through the tunnels.
This time, it wasn’t ledges, just an endless slide. I zipped Butch all the way into my purse and then handed it to Chance. It was hardest thing I’d ever done to step off the wall into darkness and just let myself fall. That meant trusting the rope was long enough to reach the bottom, even though I couldn’t see it. Butch whined as I went down, a canine study in misgiving.
When I landed, the demon said, “Not much farther now.”
Chance followed with my purse looped around his neck, and Greydusk reclaimed the rope. With one long arm, it indicated the last leg of the journey. Then he gave me back my handbag, still containing a nervous dog.
We went toward the water we could no longer see; it was almost as if we had passed under the river, descending to the point that I expected to see molten lava at the next turn. To my surprise, massive boulders blocked our progress. I’d expected the gate to look more…gatelike, but this was just impassable rock with a stream bubbling beneath it.
Greydusk produced a shimmering red jewel from his pack; it was enormous and unlike anything I’d ever seen, more luminous than a maharajah’s ruby. I considered asking what it was, but then he whispered an incantation in demontongue, a language that lent itself to quiet sibilance. He set the gem in a small niche on the rocks, and a glow sprang up, radiating outward from the gem to encompass us. It arced down into the water like a laser, drawing a path in the air with each movement. Down below, the water gained a bloody glow, swirling up to fill the space between the scarlet streaks that split the dark.
“Now!” Greydusk ordered. “Dive now!”
Maelstrom of Doom
Into that? Seriously?
Before I could think better of it, I took a running leap and flung myself toward the water, expecting to smash on the rocks, but instead, the sparkling curtain of water caught me as if it were something else, and I passed through it like a doorway. The magick screamed through me, sparking my own gift, and it was like being boiled in oil. I landed, gasping, and I was somewhere else.
Not in the caverns.
I peered into my purse to check on Butch. He popped up and shook himself all over, ears flying wildly. As far as I could tell, he seemed fine.
“You okay, boy?”
He yapped in the affirmative.
I laughed. “Wanna do it again?”
Butch cocked his head as if to say, Are you crazy, lady?
Well, yeah. Maybe. Probably.
A sickly sun shone overhead, but the whole world seemed bathed in ash, sullen and gray, a universe done in charcoal and chiaroscuro. A thin trickle of a stream flowed over rocky ground, and on the bank above grew a tree barren of greenery. In its spindly boughs perched a thing that wasn’t a bird, but might have been their evil cousin. It had skin instead of feathers, like a hairless cat, leathern wings, a small red beak, which was full of tiny, sharp teeth, and beady, nosy eyes that tracked my movements as I pushed to my feet. I stepped out of the river, wringing out the bottom of my pants. From a magickal perspective, it made sense water would be used in transitions like this one, given it was symbolically linked to journeys.
Overhead, the evil avian chirred with unsettling interest.
“Shit,” I said.
Before I could worry about bird-thing’s curiosity, Chance tumbled out of a rent in reality, similar to the one I’d seen in Peru when the sorcerer gated the demon knight in to slay me. It happened a third time, permitting Greydusk to join us. Then the magick diffused on a dank breeze, carrying remnants of light as the only brightness in this otherwise wretched vista.
“You all right?” I asked, offering Chance my hand.
“That was…” He shook his head.
“Right?” There was just no adjective to describe that trip.
“What was the deal with the ruby?” I added to Greydusk.
“It was a soulstone,” the demon replied.
Chance raised a brow. “Did it have an actual soul in it?”
Please say no. Please.
Greydusk inclined its head. “I did say that passage between realms required power and sacrifice.”
“So you destroyed somebody’s soul to get us here?” Horror overwhelmed me. Whatever religion you followed, destruction of a soul meant the end of that path. No more rebirths, no afterlife. Just…gone.
Fuck.
The demon offered a cold smile. “No, Binder. You chose this path. I am merely the guide.”
Chance objected, “But you’d have burned the soulstone to get home, wouldn’t you? If she’d declined your offer.”
“Would I?”
Maybe Greydusk would’ve chosen to go sightseeing in the human world for a few hundred years. Damn it. Then I recalled the terms of his employment: If he failed to guide me to Xibalba, as agreed, if I’d refused to come with him, he died. The person captured in that stone wouldn’t have been destroyed. This was another sin that I hadn’t anticipated, but unintentional harm didn’t make it better or more forgivable. I closed my eyes, sick.
“You didn’t realize,” Chance whispered.
Thing was—and it made me worse than he knew—I’d have gone ahead, even if Greydusk had warned me. I’d choose to sacrifice some unknown soul to save Shannon. That was the kind of person I’d become, or maybe always had been. Certainly, I wasn’t a gentle white witch like my mother had been. I really had to talk to Chance. Damn. First chance I got, I’d tell him everything, before we went back.
“Take me to Shannon,” I said quietly.
“Those are not my orders.”
I froze. Magick flared from my fingertips in a wild rush. It felt different here in Sheol, darker, almost viscous, as if I could drip it through my fingers like molasses. The energy clung to me like a dark cloak, sizzling beneath my skin in silent threat. Sure, it hurt me too, but if this thing tried to double-cross us, I would fry it. Somehow. Before it could touch either one of us. I gauged the distance and calculated how many seconds I’d have before it reached me.
“That will not be necessary, Binder.” The neutral tone was back, a sure sign I had offended it. “I will convey you to my employer, as I was instructed. Where you
go from there is between you and her.”
Her?
“Do we have allies?” Chance asked.
“In a manner of speaking. The Luren want to see you. Speak with you. They are…amenable to the idea of a shift in the power structure.”
I pondered; I wasn’t without resources, so I etched a sigil in the air with my athame, whispered a word, then asked, “Did the Luren have anything to do with taking Shannon?”
“No,” the demon answered. “But they did not strive to prevent it either.”
Truth echoed in my head. The spell wouldn’t last long, so I needed to get as much info as I could.
“Who are they?”
“They mean you no harm,” Greydusk said impatiently. “Which is more than I might say for any other caste. You imperil yourselves by arguing here. It’s imperative that you permit me to complete my contract.”
Half truth. The whispered judgment from the spell didn’t shock me. Unfortunately, it couldn’t tell me which part was less than honest. Maybe the last bit, because the consequences would be terrible for Greydusk if we balked. He’ll die, a skeptical voice reminded me. That meant it was doubtful we could trust him. He’d say anything to get us to cooperate. Yet it wasn’t like I had a demonic version of Chuch hanging around Sheol, waiting for my call. There were no better offers on the table.
“What do you think?” I asked Chance.
He lifted one shoulder in a graceful shrug. “I don’t know where the hell we are. We could die here before we find Shannon without some help, so it seems better to let him take us to the demons who don’t immediately intend to kill us.”
That summed up the situation nicely. Greydusk had us over a barrel. So I muttered, “Let’s get on with it.”
The Imaron set a small, intricately graven box on the ground. Then it whispered a word in demontongue, and the item responded with an agitated rattle. It unfolded rapidly, assembling into something larger, and when the pieces stopped unfolding and turning, the tiny article had turned into what looked like a mechanical coach. I shared a glance with Chance, brow raised. In reply, he shook his head: Nope, never saw anything like that before.
Next, Greydusk uncapped a vial, and blacklight poured out. I recognized it from Lake Catemaco, even if I hadn’t been able to identify the smell. Panicked, I drew, so that magick sparkled on my fingertips, burning like ten small suns. My spells slipped, so that I couldn’t remember which sigils matched what effects; I was that scared, and without an outlet for the power I’d drawn, I would cook myself alive.
“Calm down,” Greydusk said impatiently. “The Klothod won’t hurt you.”
Except when they possess a bunch of angry monkeys, who then try to eat your face. They killed the boatman in Catemaco without breaking a sweat. “Since when?”
“Since I command them.”
Chance took my hand, even with the energy crackling from it, and it burst away from him, lancing the air in a wild bolt that shook the tree. Overhead, the bird-thing uttered a raucous cry in protest. As I watched, Greydusk whispered orders to the Klothod, and they infused the carriage he’d called. The thing shuddered to life, fed on demonic energies. I swallowed my misgivings, climbed up, and then we were off.
The smell lingered around us, tingeing the air. I couldn’t forget that some of these things had tried to murder me; they had killed Ernesto, an honest boatman from Veracruz. In my heart, I knew Kel wouldn’t approve of this. He’d said I held both heaven and hell in me, and that I had yet to choose my course. But this? No. There was no paradise waiting for me after this. So I’d better make my mortal life count because it was straight down in a handbasket thereafter.
A lonely road stretched before us; there was no other traffic. No signs of indigenous life either. No native flora and fauna. “What is this place?”
“The Ashen Plain. On its other side, we will cross the River of Lethe, and come through the Chasm of Despair.”
“Seriously?”
It ignored my sarcasm. “Once past, we will see the city walls.”
“Xibalba,” Chance said.
“Just so.”
“From there, you’re taking us to the Luren. Tell me about them?” Since Greydusk didn’t seem to be guiding the carriage—the enslaved, formless Klothod appeared to be doing the work—it seemed safe to ask.
“They are the tempters,” the demon said. “Beautiful. Seductive. Deadly. They are…difficult to resist.”
“Is that how you wound up guiding us, against your better judgment?” Chance wanted to know.
Greydusk offered a curt nod. Interesting. So these Luren had incredible powers of persuasion, even over other demons. I’d have to be on my guard. I wished I had some spell to make me proof against mental shenanigans, but off the top of my head, I couldn’t remember anything in either grimoire that would help. Chance’s luck should keep him safe to some degree, but the longer I stayed close to him without a cleansing, the more danger I’d encounter.
“You mentioned taking us to her?” I prompted, hoping the demon would take the hint.
“Sybella,” Greydusk supplied. “She is the patroness of the Luren caste, holding the rank of Ruling Knight.”
Like Caim, I guessed. Time to learn a little more.
“Do you know of a demon named Caim?” I asked.
Greydusk cut me a sharp look. “The Ruling Knight of the Hazo?”
“I guess?”
“They are the warriors, not to be trifled with.”
Shit. What I had done to the demon knight in Peru was way worse than that. I imagined he’d want to impale me on something sharp and rusty, as soon as I hit the city. The news just kept getting better and better. I mean, I’d known Caim was scary as hell, but the fear that laced Greydusk’s expression made my dread worse.
Chance cut in, “Back to the Luren. Do the others take orders from Sybella?”
“Nothing so brutish,” Greydusk replied bitterly. “It is all much more smooth and civilized among the Luren. More accurate to say she has seduced them to the point that most would rather die than displease her.”
More shit. I preferred free will.
“Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves from her?”
The demon considered, and I could tell it was weighing the advantages of helping us. I wished I hadn’t pissed it off so often. “Don’t look her in the eyes. Stay at least two meters away at all times. Above all, don’t let her touch you.”
“Touching is bad?” Chance looked worried.
“For you, yes. If you consent to sexual contact, she’ll steal a year of your life, and once you start down that road, you’ll find it impossible to stop. The Luren are a…lethal addiction.”
Yeah. Bad. Really bad.
“No sex with the Luren. Got it.” I narrowed my eyes. “I thought you said they mean us no harm.”
The Imaron laughed softly. “They need not intend harm to inflict it…as you well know, Binder.”
Ouch. Direct hit.
“I take your point. And we’ll be careful.”
“It is nothing to me either way, once I complete my contract.” But a hint in the demon’s expression told me that wasn’t entirely accurate—or maybe it was a flicker of response from the truth spell I’d cast a while back.
So I called its bluff. “So no matter what we do in Xibalba, it won’t affect your world at all?”
Greydusk angled a cold look at me. “You have the power to level my world, Binder, but I am no kingmaker. I am Imaron—I honor my contracts. And that is all.”
“Would you like to be more?” I asked.
“That’s like asking an eyreet if it wants to fly. Some things can never be.”
I had no clue what an eyreet was, but I recognized stifled ambition when I saw it. “Let me offer you a new deal. Keep your contract with the Luren, but once you deliver us, you come to work for me. I need someone who can explain how things work and keep us from making stupid, terrible mistakes.”
“That could be dangerous—and unwise
,” Greydusk said.
“You said I have influence here, whether I want it or not. And it’s always better to have powerful friends.”
“Will you force me to submit to the ritual?” Its tension and word choice gave me insight into its preferences.
I recalled the demon had mentioned how it was compelled to complete its contracts via a blood ceremony—with death as the penalty for failure. So I shook my head. “No. Your word is good enough for me. It isn’t right to force you to keep an agreement in such a way when you have no assurance that I will deal faithfully with you in return.”
Greydusk shifted and offered me its hand, long fingers with those soul-stealing sucker pads. The first time, I’d refused to touch it. This time, I gambled—and as Chance drew in a sharp breath in protest, I clasped the demon’s palm in mine, sealing the bargain. I didn’t know if this was the right move, but it had to be better to have some notion of how to behave and what dangers we might face.
I didn’t expect our mission to be as simple as demanding to see Shannon and being taken to her. The fact that I’d been brought to Sheol was a power play, pure and simple, and the ones responsible for her kidnapping would try to make sure I did as they wanted—whatever that action might be. My goal was to survive, keep Chance safe, rescue my friend, and get the hell out.
The ride continued in silence from there. Beside me, Chance seethed. He hadn’t changed so much that he enjoyed seeing me take foolish risks. But this one was calculated more than stupid. Killing and draining me to a husk didn’t serve Greydusk’s interests at all at this juncture. That move, in fact, would’ve killed the Imaron, as it had an obligation to take me to Sybella. So with minimal risk, I made inroads into its good nature, such as demons might possess, and gave it reason to think well of me. I was a sentient being who had dealt honestly and kindly with it and who trusted its honor enough to make a pact that wasn’t rooted in death magick. That had to be significant.
I understood why this was called the Ashen Plain. It looked as if volcanoes had erupted for eons, before the lava cooled, leaving a dark, ashy earth that churned as our diabolic carriage clanked along. It plumed out in our wake like a macabre banner, and the bird-things swooped along behind us. There were more of them, singing our arrival in a cacophony that reminded me of tortured cats.
