Dirge of the Dead

by Reed Logan Westgate

  “Well, that sounds ominous,” Xlina replied, feeling the weight of their foolishness. How could she think they stood a chance against the forces of Hell?

  “Indeed,” Grillo nodded, folding his hands and leaning forward, “Fortunate are you that the demons are warring.”

  “Warring?” Xlina asked, looking at Oxivius to see the necromancer shrugging helplessly.

  “Ertigan’s recent failures on Earthrealm echo through the nine hells,” Grillo sneered in contempt. “Demons see failure as signs of weakness. They circle, like sharks, feeding on fresh chum. A host of other demonic suitors ready to rise and take Ertigan’s place. He battles his own kind to hold his rank among the infernal.”

  “We wounded him,” Oxivius sneered in satisfaction.

  “Now is the time to strike,” Grillo replied. “Your necromancer isn’t wrong. While Ertigan is distracted, you might have a chance. What you seek to do, however, is not without consequence.”

  “What consequence,” Xlina asked, skeptic of the creature before them. She touched her face as if to feel the writhing appendages under her skin, but the illusion was complete, and her soft skin felt unmolested to her touch.

  “Bringing a soul back from hell,” Grillo continued, “It won’t just be Ertigan that comes looking for that soul.”

  “How so,” Oxivius asked impatiently.

  “You’ll be violating the natural order,” Grillo answered with a toothy grin.

  “So... Angels,” Xlina replied, seeing Oxivius grinning like the Cheshire cat.

  “Celestials,” Grillo confirmed, “They will seek to return the natural order.”

  “Perfect,” Oxivius answered, as if all the pieces of his plan were falling into place.

  “That doesn’t sound good, Oxivius,” Xlina remarked, turning to him.

  “No, it’s just what we need X,” Oxivius replied, turning on her. “Think about it... we still do not know how to remove your mark. We cannot know where to find an angel or if they even exist. Now with Amber’s soul free from hell...”

  “The angel will come to us,” Xlina finished.

  “The angel will come to us,” Oxivius replied with a nod.

  “But it won’t be coming to remove my mark Ox,” Xlina replied in frustration, “It’ll be coming to return Amber to Hell.”

  “Regardless,” Oxivius replied coldly, “It will come and when it does, it will tell us how to remove your mark.”

  “And if it doesn’t?” Xlina asked.

  “It will,” Oxivius said coldly, a low threat in his voice.

  “But if it doesn’t,” Xlina replied, “It’s a hell of a gamble, Ox.”

  “Not so much really,” Oxivius replied with a cold and distant voice, “If it won’t help us by choice, then it will help us by force.”

  “Now we are going to fight angels,” Xlina protested, looking back to Grillo and then back at Oxivius.

  “If that is what we have to do, love,” Oxivius replied reassuringly, “I never said it would be easy.”

  “So, we pull Amber from hell, free the Grillo, and wait to see who catches us first, Ertigan or the Angels.”

  “Sounds about right,” Oxivius answered with his telltale grin and raised eyebrow.

  “How do we free you, Grillo?” Xlina asked again, returning to the diminutive creature.

  “Oh, that’s simple,” Grillo replied with a smile, “All I ask is for you to take me with you when you leave.”

  “Sounds too easy...,” Oxivius replied.

  “Not at all,” Grillo retorted, looking back at Xlina, “She is capable of carrying life, is she not?”

  “You can’t be,” Xlina replied, a look of horror on her face.

  “Come now, I can’t just stroll out of the membrane between worlds,” Grillo replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “I need a ride. A vessel. Like the membrane here between the infernal planes and purgatory... I need a host. Despite your unattractive qualities... your womb looks most habitable.”

  “Oxivius?” Xlina questioned, her voice raising an octave.

  “How long?” Oxivius barked fiercely.

  “Just until we are out of Purgatory,” Grillo replied with a sneer. “Then I’ll be free to move around as I please.”

  “No,” Xlina replied in defiance, “I have played host before and there is no bloody way I am letting that thing inside me.”

  “Come now,” Grillo purred. “It’s nothing more than having a traveler. You’ll barely know I am there.”

  “More like a parasite,” Xlina replied flatly.

  “I don’t think we have much of a choice,” Oxivius answered.

  “Then you be the vessel,” Xlina replied, “My womb is not for rent.”

  “Look, we need to survive hell first,” Oxivius replied calmly. “That’s the deal right Grillo, safe passage back from hell as well. For Xlina, Amber, and myself?”

  “Passage for three,” Grillo affirmed, “and a ride for me.”

  “Fine,” Oxivius declared.

  “No,” Xlina replied again firmly.

  “Trust me,” Oxivius replied, looking at her with his ice-blue eyes.

  “Fine,” she relented, clasping her arms about her.

  “Of course, this way...” Grillo motioned, hobbling to the back of his dwelling. “Through this door to the fiery abyss.”

  Oxivius took her hand in his and led the way to the door. With a passing look in her eyes, he pulled her through, and the world flashed a bright yellow light once more as her eyes rolled back and the illusion faded from view.

  Chapter Three

  Fortress of Fire

  XLINA COUGHED, FEELING the remnants of the slimy appendages in her throat as she rolled to her side and heaved a mixture of stomach acid and slime. She was hot, unbearably so as she lay on the ground in a fetal position. Her face ached from where Grillo had dug in his tendrils.

  “That was rather unpleasant,” Oxivius’ voice came from above her. She looked up to see the necromancer wiping away bits of slime from his face.

  “Ox,” she replied, wiping her mouth in disgust.

  “I had no idea,” he replied.

  “You promised my womb,” she answered coldly from the ground.

  “Technically, love, you made the promise when you agreed to free it,” Oxivius replied, again offering her a hand.

  “I never agreed,” Xlina quipped, taking his hand gingerly.

  “Just like with Valeria,” Oxivius continued firmly, “You really must be more careful when dealing with otherworldly entities.”

  “So I am learning,” Xlina lamented sourly.

  “It’s no matter,” Oxivius replied, pulling her to her feet and meticulously wiping her face with his handkerchief.

  “It isn’t,” Xlina replied sourly.

  “No,” Oxivius affirmed, “We needed Grillo to dump us close to Ertigan’s Palace. That is all. I do not intend to return to purgatory through the paradox.”

  “But our deal,” Xlina asked nervously.

  “Yes, our deal was safe passage back,” Oxivius answered, “Which is only good if we meant to return by the way we came.”

  “You seem awful sure about that,” Xlina replied, looking around for the first time at her surroundings.

  “I am,” Oxivius replied, focusing on wiping away the last remnants of Grillo. “I have no intention of releasing that thing on the world. Besides the creature said the Demons escaped. They were freed.”

  “So, there are other doors,” Xlina replied.

  “Precisely,” Oxivius nodded.

  “What about the book and the car,” Xlina replied.

  “It’s a magical construct attuned to me,” Oxivius answered plainly. “It’s a mere matter of summoning the hearse when we return to Earthrealm.”

  “We are just going to leave it in purgatory,” Xlina replied.

  “It’s safe enough,” Oxivius shrugged, “No one has entered the paradox for ages. Without the book, I doubt any would even stumble on the road to Hell. Besides, I don’
t mean to languish here for very long.”

  Xlina looked out on the infernal realm. The sky was a roiling black mass with large tendrils that hung down like giant earthworms probing the ground below. There was no light source in the sky beyond the dark clouds, rather, the fires and molten rock illuminated the landscape from below. The air was thick with sulfur and her lungs burned with every breath. She felt as if the air itself had a weight, like moving through a dense fog. In the distance, an obsidian black citadel rose in a mass of spikes that looked more like a stack of needles than a palace. She shuddered as she looked at Ertigan’s Palace. The black obsidian, the foul smell of sulfur. She had seen it before. When Valeria had tormented her. When she had given her visions of hell. She had shown Xlina this place. She had seen Valeria’s memories of being tortured at the hands of Ertigan. It was profoundly wrong, and her very soul seemed to recoil at the memory.

  “This is where he tortured her,” Xlina mouthed softly.

  “Amber?” Oxivius asked quizzically.

  “Not Amber,” Xlina replied. The demon barb Valeria had placed in her throat still preventing Xlina from saying her name she instead conveyed her disgust for the demon in the tone and way she simply replied “Her.”

  “I see,” Oxivius replied, “She showed you.”

  “When she was riding along in my head,” Xlina replied, “The walls broke, and I saw hell. Or she wanted me to see it. Ertigan standing over her. He peeled her skin like a grape. He broke her.”

  “What else did she show you?” Oxivius asked curiously.

  “Nothing much more than that,” Xlina answered. “The horror of the memory supercharged my powers. I doubt she was doing more than taking pleasure in sharing the torment with me.”

  “Indeed,” Oxivius said, looking down from their perch on the Citadel below. “Grillo dumped us here, close to Ertigan’s palace.”

  “What will happen when we don’t return,” Xlina asked, looking back to see the cavern waiting with an old hand scrawled wooden sign that read Paradox behind them.

  “It will no doubt be angry,” Oxivius replied, “But it will still be trapped in the membrane between Purgatory and Hell.”

  “It’s like,” Xlina stammered.

  “Like the infernal planes is a creature unto itself,” Oxivius replied, looking at the roiling black sky.

  “Yeah, and we passed into it,” Xlina replied.

  “Well, you’re not wrong,” Oxivius replied, gazing around.

  “Here is to not dying in hell,” Xlina mused, trying to bring some levity to the task at hand.

  “I don’t think that’s possible,” Oxivius responded, looking back at her with a solemn expression. “Dying, I mean. I feel my flesh regenerating, my body healing from Grillo’s invasion.”

  She passed her hands over her face and noticed the soreness had already faded. There were no wounds from where the tendrils had wriggled under her flesh.

  “How is this,” Xlina stammered, amazed.

  “Hell?” Oxivius replied, looking back at the citadel. “It makes perfect sense. The infernal planes have regenerative qualities. Thus, they can torture you, endlessly. They can rip off your limbs, they can peel your flesh, they can feast on your organs, but you will not die here. Skin will regrow, wounds will heal, so they can start anew. Endless torture.”

  “We can’t die,” Xlina gulped, “That’s a plus.”

  “No, we can’t die here,” Oxivius replied stoically, “But if we fail... know that there are fates far worse than death in this place.”

  “Then we don’t fail,” Xlina replied, walking in the Citadel’s direction.

  “We don’t fail,” Oxivius nodded and briskly walked beside her. The landscape stretched before them, a charred plain of broken and molten rock with gouts of flame strewn about as if they were fiery bushes. Xlina walked hand in hand with Oxivius cautiously navigating the broken landscape. Watching her footing and trying to avoid stepping on a stone that might be less than solid.

  “Where is everyone?” Xlina asked, looking around at the solitude of hell.

  “I am afraid to ask,” Oxivius replied, picking his way through the broken landscape tapping on the path before them with the tip of his cane. Beads of sweat ran down from his temple and his breath was far more labored than the walk would suggest.

  “It’s hard to breathe,” Xlina replied, looking at the sweat marking the necromancer’s brow.

  “Yes, it’s humid,” Oxivius laughed, wiping his brow with his handkerchief. “I don’t like it, Xlina. This is all just too easy.”

  She looked at the necromancer, who was obviously struggling in the heat and molten terrain of hell. She turned her gaze up to the dark roiling clouds as an earthworm shaped tendril dipped from the sky and tore a line in the ground on the horizon. A plume of molten rock and ash rose like a geyser from the broken earth where the tendril collided with the ground.

  “It’s pretty bad,” Xlina affirmed with a nod. Unlike the dapper dressed necromancer, she wore her typical athletic wear. Yoga pants were not only comfortable, but much more suited to the scorching environment than the black and red suits Oxivius seemed so keen on. It felt like a sauna, but she pressed on, watching the sky tendrils mar the landscape below. In the distance, she saw something flutter beneath the roiling clouds. It could have been a bird, but from this view, she could not tell. Whatever it was, she doubted anything they would find in this place would be friendly.

  “There, beyond the ridge, seems to be a cropping of stone.” Oxivius pointed to a jagged outcropping of splintered stone. “It should provide us some cover on the approach to the citadel.”

  “Yeah.” Xlina nodded, veering in the direction of the rock outcropping. “I don’t see any guards or sentries.”

  “Not sure what they would even look like, X,” Oxivius huffed, his breath coming in short bursts as he struggled to keep pace with her. “Stay on your toes.”

  They continued for what seemed like hours, picking their path along the broken and barren landscape. Stopping briefly to rest whenever they found a rock or formation that could provide cover. Xlina watched the horizon and was now certain that some form of winged creature darted along the roiling black skyline. They seemed to dip in and out of the roiling blackness, gliding around the massive tentacles draping down.

  “What do you think those are?” Xlina motioned to the worm like tentacles.

  “Some kind of devil or demon,” Oxivius replied, leaning heavily against the stone. He looked paler than normal and exhausted. “No doubt a massive creature that lives above those clouds of ash.”

  “You’re not well,” Xlina replied as her voice quaked with concern.

  “Just hot,” he replied, loosening the collar of his shirt.

  “It’s more than that,” Xlina stated flatly.

  “The souls in me,” Oxivius nodded with a smirk, “They churn and roil as if they can feel this place. My insides are on fire.”

  “They are reacting,” Xlina replied, looking at the infernal plane.

  “I think it’s this place,” Oxivius nodded. “They are trying to escape from my flesh. I can feel them tearing to get free.”

  “Can you release them?” Xlina asked with a furrowed brow.

  “I don’t think it would be wise to use my magic here,” Oxivius replied through a grimace.

  “Great,” Xlina rebutted with a sour expression, “We are walking into Ertigan’s stronghold, and you are without your necromancy.”

  “Well, it’s not like we are planning on storming the gates,” Oxivius replied with a grin, “This is stealth, snatch and grab.”

  “Yeah, and then what?” Xlina replied, looking back the way they had come, knowing that the cave to the paradox was waiting. She shuddered at the thought of the bulbous mass that was Grillo inside her. Withering and writhing. It conjured memories of the Cephalopod she has first encountered outside the night club Pandora. The chain of events that had led her to meeting Oxivius in the first place. The pact with Valeria that s
he had broken, promising if Valeria introduced her to someone who could help her, then she would not go after the Cephalopod again. She broke that promise to the demon. Of course, had she realized Valeria was a demon, she might have thought twice about associating with her. Valeria was tricky, however, and presented herself as a state social worker who was only trying to put Xlina on a normal track. How simple it had all seemed then. Before the mark. Before demons and their infernal games, before her world was flipped on its head.

  “Then we find a way out,” Oxivius replied smartly.

  “Sounds like you have it all figured out,” Xlina replied, taking a verbal jab at the necromancer, who so often acted like he knew everything. He was always just one step ahead of everyone else. His schemes had schemes. He was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. He was dangerous, but he was also her friend.

  “By my reckoning,” Oxivius replied, “A fiend like Ertigan has doors of his own. Like the summoning when he wiped out the Council of Magic in Portland. I am betting there is a door in that citadel, that leads to otherworld at the least and if we are lucky, Earthrealm.”

  “That’s a big bet, Ox,” she replied. “What if we can’t find it?”

  “We have backup,” Oxivius answered.

  “Backup?” Xlina questioned, looking around to the barren wastes and shrugging.

  “A break glass in the event of emergency type thing,” Oxivius replied with a smile. “But only if there is no other way, love. As that route will cost us quite a bit more.”

  “Wonderful,” Xlina sighed, looking at the rocky cropping around them. Her eye caught a shifting, a movement beyond the rock and she sprung to her feet in a defensive stance.

  “What is it?” Oxivius asked, looking around cautiously.

  “We are not alone,” she replied, studying the rocks carefully.

  “Are you sure?” Oxivius asked, looking around skeptically.

  She stood in silence, ignoring his question, and focused instead on the rocks. Something had moved. She had not seen it directly, so to speak, but rather caught the movement from the corner of her eye. No, not just something. It was as if the rock itself shifted. She lunged forward and her hand grabbed at the air. To her surprise, she felt something soft as her hand closed around flesh. The air itself above the rock shimmered as a small orange-colored creature came into view. It was humanoid, with bat-like wings.