The Heavenly Host (Demons of Astlan Book 2) Page 35

  “Why is there a portcullis in the middle of a cave passage?” Estrebrius asked.

  “Were these caves once inhabited?” Antefalken asked.

  “Are they still inhabited?” Rupert asked nervously.

  “I hope not.” Reggie said nervously.

  Tizzy shook his head. “There used to be some miners and others here, thousands of years ago. However, the entire region has been abandoned for at least thirty-five hundred years, if not more. Like I said, when I used to come here regularly, when I had people to visit, it was over four thousand years ago.”

  “So why did they abandon it?” Boggy asked curiously.

  “War—sort of a rout, you might say,” Tizzy said while examining the portcullis, shaking it for weakness.

  “War?” Tom asked.

  Tizzy shrugged. “War used to be pretty common in the Abyss. The demon princes, occasional dark demigods, Knights of Chaos and such enjoyed battling it out. Much like human princes. This place was abandoned about the time of the last major shakeup among the princes. Since that time, most of the squabbles have stayed at the archdemon level or lower.”

  Tizzy turned to Tom. “Can you try and lift this? I do not think it is locked down, just very rusty and heavy. Demons would have been fleeing out rather than in, so I doubt they locked the thing behind them.”

  “Demon wars?” Rupert was looking very curious. “But if demons fight in the Abyss, and they die, they die permanently, right?”

  Tizzy grinned and nodded. “If you kill them bad enough! If you chop up a demon or a knight”—he glanced pointedly at Talarius—“beyond what they can regenerate and they die here; there is nowhere else to go.”

  “So what happens to their animus and mana?” Tom asked as he tested the portcullis to see if he could lift it.

  Tizzy shrugged. “Well, if you’re lucky, you just sort of dissipate or evaporate and it’s like going to sleep, I’m told. Less fortunately, something powerful nearby eats your soul and consumes your mana.”

  “Eats your soul?” Reggie asked with a tremor in his voice.

  “Like Lilith or Sammael,” Antefalken stated.

  “Or any demon prince, and some archdemons,” Boggy added.

  “Ick,” Rupert said.

  “Yeah, from the screams of the consumed souls, I’d have to say it isn’t pleasant,” Tizzy remarked as Tom grunted and lifted with his legs. There was a huge and painful screech and the portcullis lifted.

  “Don’t let him freak you out, Rupert,” Boggy interjected. “That is a worst case scenario. Remember, we regenerate quickly and efficiently. In order to kill someone permanently, you have to halt the regeneration process somehow.”

  “How do you do that?” Rupert asked.

  “Well, there are several ways,” Boggy said.

  “The simplest is to make regeneration so difficult and time consuming that they just give up and stop trying,” Tizzy said rather somberly all of a sudden.

  “Okay, everyone through.” They all scurried through and Tom gently lowered the portcullis back down. “I have no idea how to keep it up.”

  Tizzy pointed to a nearby alcove. “That was, or is, the wheelhouse for it. There would be a hook for the chains, but it’s not important.” He motioned and they continued down the corridor.

  At this point, Tom was able to note that the corridors were a bit more even, as if the tighter spots had been carved out to be wider and more uniform.

  “So did a lot of demons die permanently in these wars?” Rupert called up to Tizzy.

  “Often. That is why so many demons you meet today are not that old, generally not much more than three thousand years, give or take. While many did die, an equal number of battle-scarred demons tired of the demon princes’ games and high-tailed it out to places unknown in the Abyss. Off to the Hinterlands.”

  “So there are other demon societies? Ones not tied to the Courts?” Tom asked.

  Tizzy shrugged. “I suppose. I’m sure some of them set up other demon villages or cities. At the time, it was mainly greater demons and below who left, a few archdemons as well. Obviously almost no princes.”

  Antefalken shook his head. “I really should be taking notes. Lilith and friends never mention any of this.”

  “Why?” Reggie asked.

  Antefalken shrugged. “I am sure they want everyone to believe that they are the only option. Either submit to them or you are on your own versus everyone else in the Abyss. Standard power consolidation. Start with us versus them, and then make sure everyone believes the ‘them’ are solitary hermits with no resources, luxuries or hope.”

  They wandered on for another half period or so, taking seemingly random openings that Tizzy chose, with Tom marking each turn or branch. As they moved along, going through two more portcullises, the evidence of human, or rather demon masonry and construction became more obvious. There were now sections with carved stone bricks, and areas where the floor had been flattened out with stone masonry, presumably for wheeled vehicles.

  In short, Tom realized at one point, they were now in a dungeon. The only difference between this and a video game or an RPG was that, technically, as demons they were the wandering monsters. Of course, they did have a Paladin with them. Sorry—Knight Rampant, Tom corrected himself.

  “Did you hear something?” Estrebrius asked suddenly. They had all been quiet, lost in their own thoughts for some time when Estrebrius spoke up.

  “Only the sound of us clunking down the corridor,” Boggy replied.

  Estrebrius shook his head. “No, it sounded like nails scraping on stone.”

  “Like hooves? All but one of us has hooves.” Antefalken was shaking his head.

  “No, more like scratching.” Estrebrius said.

  “Where did you hear it?” Talarius asked; they had all paused. Tizzy was in front, Tom behind him, filling the entire passage. Talarius and Rupert were next. Boggy and Reggie were following them, and Antefalken and Estrebrius were in the rear.

  Estrebrius pointed behind him.

  “Grrrrrr...” A rumbling came from the dark to which Estrebrius was pointing. A second growl almost immediately joined the first. Staring down the corridor, Tom could see four red orbs reflecting the light of Talarius’s armor back at them.

  “I know this goes without saying, but didn’t you say this place was abandoned?” Reggie called back to Tizzy, who was scrambling to see around Tom.

  “It should be,” Tizzy replied, puzzled.

  Rupert was looking nervous. “What is it? Or are they?”

  “Apparently something terribly spunky, if they’re willing to attack a party of demons,” Boggy noted. “Estrebrius, let’s switch places.” Boggy moved to swap with the smaller demon and took a crouching position.

  Antefalken pulled a short sword from his belt. Tom blinked; he did not recall ever noticing the bard carrying a short sword. It was rather more like a full-length sword for his childlike size.

  Talarius motioned for Reggie to trade places with him and began dimming his armor. “I am thinking I might want to turn off my light, as that seems to be what is attracting them.”

  “How are you going to be able to see?” Rupert asked, looking at the knight.

  Talarius turned his head to Rupert and the boy could see what looked like a grin through the vertical air slit in the knight’s helm. The knight reached up and flipped down the crystalline visor that covered the cross-shaped slits in his helm to protect him from arrows.

  “My visor has infrared, ultraviolet and several other night vision options,” The knight said.

  “So you’ve been walking around like a giant moth magnet all this time for nothing?” Tizzy complained.

  Talarius shrugged in his armor. “I work on a need-to-know basis.” The knight crouched in a combat position. His right hand slid down his thigh and suddenly there was a short rod his hand. He gave the bottom end a twist with his other hand, and the head of the rod suddenly popped wide with flanges, creating a mace. The mace began to glow at
the same brightness as the knight’s dimming armor.

  “Is that a Rod of Smiting?” Antefalken asked quickly, taking his eyes off the red orbs to glance back at the knight.

  “Yes,” Talarius replied tersely.

  “Is it even possible to disarm you?” Tom asked in exasperation.

  “No,” the knight replied, pointedly fixing his gaze on the growling red orbs. Suddenly another set of red orbs appeared with the first two.

  As the light level from the armor dropped, Tom’s demon sight was able to make out the bodies containing the orbs. “Large, heavily muscled dogs,” he noted aloud.

  “Of course,” Talarius stated.

  “What are they?” Rupert asked nervously.

  “One of two, maybe three things. I would advise blunt trauma,” Talarius said tersely.

  Suddenly one of the dogs leaped at Antefalken, choosing the smallest front line target. The dog moved amazingly fast, its giant jaws reaching to try to engulf the bard’s entire head. Antefalken’s sword lunged forward, squarely hitting the dog’s throat. Boggy roared and his right slashed out, his black claws ripping through the dog’s neck, jerking a bit as the demon severed the dog’s spine. The dog fell to the floor writhing.

  “I daresay, that wasn’t so bad!” Boggy smiled, pleased with himself and looking back at the others.

  Talarius was shaking his head. “Look!” He pointed to the dog’s body. Something really odd was happening at the base of the neck. The severed spine had split vertically, like strands of licorice pulling apart, Tom thought. Suddenly red muck was swarming up the split spinal cords from the bloody neck stump. The dog’s body scrambled, headless, to its feet and backed up towards its compatriots.

  “What is going on?” Rupert asked in shock. The two spine halves were each now accumulating a bloody mass that seemed to wrap around the bone.

  It took but seconds before Tom realized what was happening. “Shit! It’s growing new heads!” he shouted.

  Talarius said, “A hydra hound!” The knight shook his head. “I was afraid of this. For every head we chop off, two more grow back. Quickly.” The hound now had two much smaller heads which were quickly growing. “As a side note, they also breathe fire, but I don’t think that should be a problem for any of us.”

  “How do we fight this?” Tom asked the knight.

  “Blunt trauma to the head. Pulp, but don’t sever or break the spine. You can also gut the body, rip off the legs and incapacitate it. Whatever you do, do not cut or break the spine. If you were to break one’s back, I’m betting we’d get two front halves.”

  “This is not on!” Boggy said. “Making a fist with demon claws is a royal pain.”

  “I want everyone to duck,” Tom ordered those in front him. Everyone crouched down as Tom extended his arm and unleashed a red-hot blast of fire at the hounds. The flames quickly engulfed the hounds; but to Tom’s surprise, rather than howling in pain, the dogs just growled louder and started advancing.

  “Hydra hounds are usually immune to fire,” Talarius observed. “That typically, although not always, comes from the ability to breathe it.”

  “Now you say,” Tom said letting his flames die down.

  “Bard, trade places with me,” Talarius ordered Antefalken. The bard quickly complied.

  The knight gestured at the hounds, making a beckoning motion. “Come, you worthless mongrels. Come taste the wrath of Tiernon!” The red lights blinked for a second, as if surprised by the knight’s words, and then the hounds charged. Three large, angry hounds; four ravening jaws of teeth with tongues dripping spittle in fury.

  As they charged, Talarius began swinging his rod with brutal efficiency, smashing against the first dog, coming between the two heads to hit the head on his left and then back to hit the head on the right. It was like ringing a bell, twisting the hound one way and then the other.

  The second hound bounded onto Boggy, who managed to get his fist up just in time to punch the dog in the throat, keeping its maw from closing on his head. As Boggy tilted back under the dog’s momentum, the demon brought his hoof up to kick the dog right between its rear legs. That caused a howl.

  After a moment of hesitation, Rupert jabbed his claws into the dog’s side, trying to disembowel it as it straddled Boggy. Antefalken, who had scrambled back, swung his sword down on the dog’s rear leg, trying to sever it. Reggie tried making some not-very-effective punches at the dog.

  The third dog dodged around the fallen Boggy and his hound to lunge at Rupert. Rupert screamed in pain from the dog’s bite. Furious at the dog, Tom extended his arm with its six-foot reach and grabbed the hound around the midsection, ripping it off Rupert and smashing it against the ceiling. He then squeezed as hard as he could, feeling the dog’s innards squirt out around his fingers. He tossed the remains down the hall.

  As he looked down, Boggy and Antefalken had finished very successfully gutting their hound.

  Talarius was standing over the first dog, its two heads smashed to pulp. The knight stared at the corpse, making sure no new heads were growing.

  “Well, that was a spot of fun,” Boggy said, brushing the dog guts off his arms and shaking the blood off his hands.

  “Guys,” Estrebrius said from between Tom’s hooves. He pointed down the hall. “There’s some commotion down there; I think there are more.”

  “Tizzy?” Tom looked to the demon behind him. “Get us out of here, maybe through another portcullis?”

  “Sure thing!” Tizzy grinned and nodded. He motioned with his head. “Come on!”

  Tom stepped up against the wall. “I will take the rear for now. Talarius and Boggy, why don’t you go up with Tizzy?”

  Tizzy took off at a much faster pace down the corridor, the others keeping pace. He took them right at the first branching, then left at the one following that. Tom took time to mark the passages, but he was not sure he wanted to backtrack at this point.

  As they hurried down a new corridor, Tom suddenly picked up the sound of barking behind him. The dogs, or rather their packmates, were giving chase. “Tizzy? We’ve got company! We need that portcullis or something!”

  “Next room up ahead, something even better!” the octopod shouted back.

  Soon they were entering a very large room that was more cavern-like than the first rooms they had encountered today. It had stalactites and stalagmites and, most importantly, a very large chasm that was at least forty feet across, and deeper than Tom could see down. Talarius held his arms out and Tizzy got behind him and grabbed him. The two flew across the chasm, as did the rest.

  There were two tunnels on this side of the chasm. The dogs’ howls and barks were clearly audible from the corridor down which they had come.

  “Can they jump this?” Tom asked Talarius, who was now standing on his own again.

  “They should not be able to, but I’ve only encountered them in Astlan. They’re on their home turf here so…”

  “Great. Tizzy, which corridor?” Tom asked.

  Tizzy was pointing back and forth at the two tunnels. Tom raised his eyebrows. If he did not know better, which he frankly did not, he would have sworn the demon was doing “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.” Tom closed his eyes for a moment, praying to he had no idea whom that this was not the case.

  Now Tom heard more barking and clamoring from the right-hand tunnel.

  “I think the one on the left!” Tizzy said suddenly, just as a horde of hounds came bursting out of the right-hand tunnel.

  “Battle stations!” Talarius cried.

  There had to be a dozen hounds coming out of the mouth of the tunnel! Suddenly Talarius was a whirlwind of motion as his mace spun and smashed at dogs. Boggy roared and began punching dogs in the face, with Antefalken slashing at the dogs’ legs from behind. Reggie began flailing and pounding with his four fists. Estrebrius launched himself in the air and began looking for an opening to swoop down upon the creatures. A dog leaped on Tizzy and the two began wrestling.

  Rupert began kicking at two
dogs charging him. Tom grabbed the first one approaching him and picked it up with both hands. It was huge! He spun and threw it as hard as he could down the chasm. It howled and then the noise was squelched as it hit the far side of the cavern.

  Tom yelled in pain as a hound pounced on his back and bit the base of his left wing. His tail whipped up and stabbed the hound in the belly, unleashing his tail’s signature electrical blast. The dog howled and fell back to the ground, spasming and shaking. Tom lifted his hoof and stomped down on the dog’s head as hard as he could, smashing it flat. He tried to release the pressure after crunching the skull; he did not want to break the spine.

  “Rupert!” he yelled at the boy demon, who was busy punching and kicking his dog. The boy had numerous bite and scratch marks. “Electrocute him with your tail! That will incapacitate him, and then stomp his skull!” Rupert nodded even as Tom felt the jaws of another dog close on his arm.

  “What the hell?” He glanced and saw more dogs pouring through the right tunnel entrance. He twisted and struck the dog on his arm with his tail. The dog spasmed and hung loosely on his right arm, its teeth still latched around his forearm. Tom twisted and shook his arm hard, sending the paralyzed dog over the edge of the chasm.

  Reggie had fallen on his butt and was wrestling a dog, using his four arms to pry the dog’s four legs apart. Suddenly the dog howled at an incredible level as Reggie managed to ingloriously and bloodily rip the dog’s four limbs off. The writhing and biting head and torso fell onto his body. Reggie started shouting obscenities and began batting at the dog’s torso to get it off, even as it bit him in the shoulder.

  Talarius had left a pile of three dogs behind him, but was now at the chasm’s edge with two dogs attacking him. Boggy and Antefalken were battling their third dog with Estrebrius periodically plunging down to skewer the dog’s body. Tom moved to grab one of Talarius’s dogs when from out of nowhere, two other dogs attached themselves to his legs.

  Tizzy had four dog haunches, one in each hand, and was busy smacking two other dogs with them. Their pack mates writhed on the ground with no hind legs, and severely mangled or missing forelegs.