The Heavenly Host (Demons of Astlan Book 2) Page 36

  “Fuck!” Tom yelled, whipping his tail around to one dog to zap it into paralysis and then grabbing at the other with his right hand claws. He ripped the non-paralyzed dog off his leg and forcefully threw it into the chasm even as he saw a third dog join the two on Talarius. It was too much; Talarius overbalanced and went over the edge with two dogs on top of him and the third yapping on the ledge!

  Tom lunged but the paralyzed dog on his leg tripped him up. He fell to his knees with a thud, attracting the attention of the dog yelping where Talarius had gone over the cliff. Tom used his other leg to kick the spasming dog off his leg; it took a couple of tries. Talarius’s third dog was now on him. Tom grabbed the dog by the maw; one hand on the jaw, the other on the snout. He pulled with all his strength.

  There was a horrendous noise from the hound as Tom ripped its jaw off. He then tossed the dog and its jaw down the chasm and prepared to dive after Talarius. Even as he moved to do so, Talarius rose from the chasm, whacking at a dog still attached to his leg. The knight could fly! What the hell?

  Whap! Talarius’s rod succeeded in dislodging the dog, and it fell into the chasm with a loud yelping noise. Talarius flew to the ledge and landed. Rupert had finished his previous dog and was just helping Boggy with the final dog. Reggie was standing in the bloody pulp of his dog. Tizzy was busy gnawing on the haunches of the dogs he had shredded. Apparently, he had worked up an appetite.

  Tom stared at Talarius as they regrouped. “So you fly,” he said to the knight. Tizzy stopped eating long enough to stare at the knight.

  The knight shrugged. “What people don’t know can’t be used against me.”

  “Yes, but I’ve been lugging your fat tin-canned ass all over the place!” Tizzy sputtered, spewing chunks of bloody hydra hound meat. Rupert grimaced as a chunk hit him in the face.

  “Watch where you’re spitting your food!” The boy complained.

  “Thank you. I’ll fly on my own from now on,” Talarius said. Tizzy just shook his head and took another bite.

  Tom shook his head and gestured for them to head down the remaining tunnel. As they started down, hounds entered the cavern from the same tunnel they had. There were at least another dozen, if not more, on that side. Fortunately, they did not seem capable of leaping the cavern.

  ~

  “You lost them?” Lilith asked the prostate form of Rosecrantz.

  “Yes mistress… I am so sorry…” One could hear the fear in the demon’s voice.

  Lilith inhaled, savoring the smell of fear that the demon before her was radiating. She remained silent, allowing the fear to increase. She had no intention of punishing the demon, but neither did she have any intention of letting him know that.

  Antefalken and the greater demon had gone through multiple boom tunnels to their next destination. Overall, given that they could go in any direction after leaving a tunnel, the wide-open spaces and the required distance her minions would need to keep, following them even through two tunnels was actually pretty decent. The question was, why had they gone through multiple tunnels? Did they know they were being followed and were purposefully obscuring their trail? That would be the most logical.

  Lilith sat there pondering. After some time she realized that Rosencrantz was still groveling on the floor. “Very well. I am most displeased. Failure like this cannot be tolerated. I will overlook it this once. Return to your compatriot and stake out the greater demon’s cave; I am sure they will return.”

  ~

  Tom had lost track of where they were. They had gone down the tunnel from the chasm cavern and made a few more turns. At several points, it had sounded like dogs could be heard within some tunnels, so they had chosen others. Tizzy seemed less and less sure the further they got. This was turning into a fiasco. The price of greed, Tom was sure Talarius would say. Fortunately, unlike humans, they had no need of food or water, or even air, so they had all the time they needed to find their way out. The trick was to do it without being eaten by hydra hounds.

  Tizzy had stopped at a T intersection and was looking at the far wall of the right-hand passage. “What are you gawping at?” Boggy asked.

  Tizzy pointed to what appeared to be a marking, a sign on the wall. It appeared to have been painted there. “Does this paint seem a little too fresh?” Tizzy asked.

  Boggy peered closer and then reached out and touched it. “Yes. I’d say it’s pretty recent, within a few years.”

  “Do hydra hounds use paint by any chance?” Rupert asked.

  Tizzy and Talarius both shook their heads no. “I’ve never seen a dog that could paint.” Tizzy said. “It’s not like playing poker.”

  “Do either of you recognize the language?” Tom asked the two demons, who shook their heads.

  Antefalken and Talarius both looked. “Nothing I am familiar with,” said Antefalken with a shrug.

  “Agreed,” Talarius stated.

  “So we go the other way?” Tom asked. Tizzy shrugged. Tom glared at him. “You are our resident expert; can we go the other way?”

  Tizzy squinted down the corridor to the left and shrugged. “It appears we can.”

  Antefalken turned to look at Tizzy. “What do you mean, it appears we can? Will that passage take us where we want to go?”

  Tizzy shrugged again. “Where do we want to go?” Everyone but Tizzy let out sighs of exasperation.

  “We were going to the gold and silver rooms, but at the moment, I’d settle for a way out,” Boggy said firmly.

  “Yeah. Well, I’m not sure,” Tizzy said.

  Talarius let out another sigh. “Why are you not sure?”

  “I don’t remember ever being in this part of the cavern system before,” Tizzy said honestly.

  “You’re saying we’re lost?” Tom asked in disbelief.

  “Well, I know where I am, and I know where you all are. So none of us are technically lost,” Tizzy said.

  Estrebrius shook his head. “So then, where are we?”

  “Here, at a T intersection.” Tizzy said overly patiently, as if talking to a child.

  Rupert groaned. “So we are lost!”

  “Shit!” Reggie cursed. “I am in a lot of pain right now; I’ve got all sorts of bite holes. I just want to get home and rest!”

  “How can we be lost if we know where each of us are? I do not need to find any of you. You are here. If you were lost, we would have to search for you. Like when I misplace my pipe. It’s then lost and I have to look for it.”

  Tom rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Okay. We all need to remember we are talking to Tizzy.”

  Tizzy gave him a strange look. “I’m standing right here; how would you forget you are talking to me?”

  “I mean you operate on a higher plane of consciousness then most of us,” Tom said. It was the politest way he could think of to tell the demon he was crazy.

  Tizzy gave a nod of thoughtful agreement, put his pipe in his mouth, and lit it with his left thumb.

  Tom pointed in the opposite direction from the markings and the group proceeded down that passage. This part of the cavern system was a bit different. There were large swatches of demon-built masonry interspersed with dark rock. It was a very different sort of rock than previously. Before, the rock had been whiter and smoother. This rock was much craggier and far darker.

  They came to another T intersection. “Right or left? Tom asked the group.

  “Since we have no idea, let’s just pick one. Right?” Antefalken proposed.

  Tom nodded and they headed right. He made a mark to indicate they had passed this way. They had followed the passage for several deminutes when Tom suddenly said, “Is it just me, or is it getting lighter?”

  They all stopped and looked around. Antefalken nodded. “It does seem brighter, but it’s not as consistent as Abyss light.”

  “I’m thinking we should move cautiously and quietly,” Talarius proposed softly. Tom nodded, as did the others. They proceeded along and soon they could see that the slowly flickering light
was coming from up ahead. They could also now detect what sounded like conversation; however, it was not normal demonese as far as Tom could tell. It was more guttural.

  Soon they got to a point where the corridor turned and they could clearly tell that the light and sound were coming from around the corner. Antefalken put a finger to his lips and crept quietly up and peered around the corner. He frowned slightly and then crouched and moved around the corner. Tom heard a small gulping sound, and then Antefalken snuck back around the corner.

  He gestured them all to a huddle. “We are at the mouth of a ledge overlooking a large chamber. There is only room for a few of us at a time, and we need to keep low and peer over the edge to the floor about sixty feet below. I suggest we go two by two and take a look.”

  The rest nodded. Tom motioned Talarius and Boggy to go next. When they came back, Boggy had a puzzled expression, but Tom could not see what the knight was thinking due to the helmet. Estrebrius, Rupert and Reggie went next, and then finally Tom and Tisdale. As the two looked over the edge, Tom noticed Tizzy’s eyes get wider and then he made a tsah noise with his teeth and tongue.

  They scurried back to the group and Tom gestured for them to head back down the tunnel so they could talk with more confidence of not being heard. After a few deminutes, Tom gestured for them to stop. “I think Tizzy recognized what we saw. Anyone else?” Tom asked.

  What Tom had seen was basically a large living chamber or barracks, perhaps for a tribe. He was not sure what to call it. In the chamber were a number of very oddly uniform-looking demons. They seemed to be of a specific type or form, not the usual hodgepodge. They were all different, but they shared the same core characteristics. All were eight to ten feet tall, most were red and pretty ugly. However, they had something of what Tom would call a porcine look. They had hooves, but their legs were much shorter than those of most hooved demons, and further apart. More like pigs’ legs, if pigs could stand on their hind legs.

  The demons were also very large around, and many of them extremely muscular. They had bat-like wings, as did most demons, but they had no horns. At least, most didn’t seem to; rather, they had huge mouths with large bottom tusks growing upwards, sometimes to eye height or higher. The other odd thing was that most of them were wearing some form of clothing; at the very least, loin cloths and bands of different colored cloth. They were also all heavily armed.

  The demons were basically milling about talking, some resting on beds. Some were standing around a giant firepit in the center of the room. That seemed to be where the light was coming from. It was clearly magical fire, as there were no logs or anything else to burn in the Abyss. The chamber looked like army barracks or something similar, although there were both men and women in the barracks. Tom had no idea what to make of it. He looked to the others.

  “They look like really big ugly orcs with hooves and wings,” Talarius said.

  “D’Orcs.” Tizzy nodded in agreement.

  “Dorks?” Tom asked.

  Tizzy shook his head no. “D’Orcs, like Demon Orcs or Damned Orcs or Dangerous Orcs or Doomed Orcs or Dark Orcs or Death Orcs or—”

  “I think we get the idea,” Tom cut him off. “So they are orc demons?” He was not sure if he had seen any orcs in Astlan, but if it was a fantasy world, it probably had them. Tizzy nodded. Tom looked to the others, who seemed about as puzzled as he was. Antefalken looked as if he was searching his memory for something.

  “So are you saying there are distant planes with orcs on them that get summoned by orc wizards?” Tom asked.

  “I’ve never heard of an orc wizard,” Talarius said firmly. “Orc shaman, yes; wizard, no. Doesn’t seem in their nature.” The knight looked at Tom more intently. “However, I am not sure I follow you.”

  “We can go over that later; it’s part of why I brought you to the Abyss. However, at the moment, it’s most likely not useful to our current situation,” Tom said. “Tizzy?”

  Tizzy shrugged. “Sort of, but not really. There used to be a cult of orcs that worshipped an orc god who would reward the greatest, nastiest, meanest warriors by transforming them into D’Orcs upon death. I suppose it was sort of like sainthood, but rather than being saints, the orcs ended up being demons in the Abyss.”

  Tom shook his head. “So one deity’s idea of punishment is another’s idea of reward?”

  Boggy snorted and said, “And neither is accurate.”

  “So what was the point of this? Why would the orcs want to end up in the Abyss?” Tom asked Tizzy.

  Tizzy frowned as if it were obvious. “Orcs love battle, and their god promised them the right to fight for him for all of eternity. Why would they not jump at that? That’s a promise so-called ‘good’ gods make all the time.” Tizzy glanced over at Talarius, who said nothing.

  “Uhm, so where is this god of theirs?” Rupert asked, looking around nervously.

  Tizzy shrugged, “He called down the final battle and lost. Bummer when that happens. He died, as did all those with him. These guys must have been left doing rear guard or something. Huge disgrace to not die in battle with your god.” Tizzy was shaking his head. “You really have to feel for the poor saps.”

  Boggy shook his head, staring at Tizzy. “You really are daft, mate.”

  Talarius sighed. “No, the octopod makes a lot of sense. The sense of failure must be crushing for them.”

  Tom shook his head. “So what are they doing here?”

  Tizzy shrugged. “Where else would they go? They wouldn’t have been welcome in the Courts, so it would make sense to get far away and hole up in a defensible location.” He gestured to their surroundings. “Seems like this place would do nicely.”

  Antefalken chuckled. “Well, we were thinking about holing up in the Crystal Caverns to avoid Lilith, so yes.”

  “By the way, I’ve changed my mind. I want to go back to Tom’s cave,” Boggy said. The others nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, well, we don’t want to go that way”—Tom pointed back to the lit area they’d just left—“so let’s go back to the last T and take the other direction .”

  They returned to the T and continued on straight. This corridor went along for about four hundred feet before it made a turn to the right. Antefalken went ahead and looked around the corner carefully before gesturing them forward. This passage seemed to be going downward at an angle; that was not a particularly good thing, Tom felt. Down was further from the surface and closer to the floor of the barracks room.

  The passageway eventually led to a landing with a large iron door that opened onto it.

  “Hmm, not so good,” Antefalken said softly. “I’ll try listening at the door to see if I hear anything, but it appears rather thick and soundproof.” The demon put his head up to the door, twisting it awkwardly to get his ears as close as possible despite his protruding horns. Everyone remained silent while the bard listened.

  Tom examined the seals around the door. They seemed pretty tight. He had been thinking that if there had been space below the door, he could have turned to flame and gone through; unfortunately, that did not appear to be the case.

  Antefalken pulled his head back, shaking it. “I don’t hear anything. Whether that’s because there is nothing, or because the door is thick, I don’t know.” The short demon shrugged.

  Talarius sighed. “That seems to be the norm. I had hoped perhaps your demon hearing would be better than human or alfar, but the same thing always happens when I find an iron door in a dungeon.” He flexed his hands. “We need to be ready for whatever is there, and be prepared to fight or flee as the case warrants.”

  “You do this often?” Boggy asked, rather surprised.

  The knight made an exaggerated nodding motion in his armor so they could see it. “Yes. In the quest to rout out evil, one often has to march through underground warrens, mazes and dungeons.” He shook his helmeted head back and forth. “For some odd reason, evil seems to prefer the underground, away from the light of day.”

&n
bsp; Antefalken rolled his eyes. “Okay, so everyone get ready.” They braced themselves as the bard moved to the handle, slowly placing his hand on it and then twisting and pulling. Tom was not sure the demon was strong enough to open the giant door. However, the door moved. Demons were very strong for their size. But then the door stopped moving with a soft clank. Antefalken shook his head. “It’s locked.”

  “I don’t suppose you know how to pick a lock?” Boggy asked.

  Antefalken gave him a withering look. “I’m a bard! Of course I can pick a stupid lock. You don’t need to be rude.” He shook his head and reached into his belt pouch to pull out some lock-picking tools. “One nice thing about D’Orc-sized doors: the keyholes are good sized. Hearthean locks are quite the pain. And due to both size and complexity, they are quite complex. They are excellent locksmiths and lock picks!”

  The bard fiddled around in the keyhole for a short time before there was a clicking noise. He put his tools back in his belt and nodded to everyone to be on guard. He twisted the handle and pulled. Surprisingly, the door did not make anywhere near the screech Tom had expected. It was not silent but relatively quiet. Antefalken looked through the door, and then stuck his head through the door. He pulled back and opened the door wider, gesturing for the others to go through.

  On the other side of the door was a corridor running perpendicular to the corridor they had just come down. This corridor went some distance to the left and right, with various openings and doors every so often.

  “So now we enter a more fortress-like environment,” Antefalken observed softly.

  “Are we sure we want to go this way?” Estrebrius asked. “It seems way too populated.”

  “Well, the hydra hounds are the other way, and if this area is more populated, there must be an exit somewhere,” Boggy noted.

  “I believe the barracks we saw are that way.” Talarius pointed to their right.

  “So let’s go the other way,” Tom suggested. The knight nodded.

  They began moving carefully down the hall away from where they thought the barracks were. They continued down the corridor for several deminutes, ignoring doors and side passages. Eventually the corridor ended in another T intersection.