Into the Hells

by Christopher Johns

  That was some damned fine thinking.

  “Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.” Yohsuke clapped the Paladin on his shoulder and nodded. “Good, man.”

  So, I stood as a barrier for my friends. Could Maebe have stopped the biting cold and stinging winds? Yes. She could’ve, but I figured that going into whatever we were, she would need to be fresh. If the high elves had treated her so poorly when they numbered so few, how would they treat her in their own halls?

  Better safe than sorry.

  The wind entered the rod’s area of effect and warmed slightly, but it wasn’t enough to keep me from shivering a bit, even in my bulkier form.

  Bokaj didn’t seem to be bothered by it in the slightest. At times, he would scout through the snow, seemingly embracing his ice Elf heritage and scouting into the distance before returning to report his findings—nothing.

  The second day of wandering through the snow, me as an Ursolon and the others by mount so they were out of the swiftly melting snow, saw us to a freak, gigantic snowstorm that just suddenly began as we trudged on.

  “Uh, the fuck is going on here?” I growled to the two people with the most experience with the cold. The snow was hitting our bubble of spring and melting, drenching us in stinging, semi-cold droplets.

  “This will pass.” Maebe held a hand into the air, and the snow did seem to stop swirling so violently around us.

  “It turned us!” Bokaj cursed. “Turn left. We’re closer to the city than I thought. It looks like it‘s closer.”

  “Then we forge ahead!” I smiled to the others. Finally! We were closer to our goal!

  We trekked through the torrential waves of snow-turned-rain water, the drizzle hitting us to the point that I could feel the cold fingers of madness beginning to clutch at my mind, wondering when the next gust of cold-turned-slightly-warmer-water drops would tap my skin. Finally, after a couple hours that had seemed to stretch endlessly, the blizzard began to billow less and started to slow. As the radiating flurry before us opened up, the party gasped collectively.

  The snows behind us became more of a barrier in my eyes as the sight before us unfolded. Boulders lined a valley just in front of us, cutting off a little of the view, but what it didn’t cut off was breathtaking.

  A sprawling city lay in the valley below us that looked to be well in the throes of summer, somehow. Rivers flowed easily through the hills, and the homes appeared to be made of some kind of white material that grew from the ground itself. There was even a larger, milk-white structure in the center surrounded by a rainbow of colors.

  There were no walls. No sentry posts that I could see. It was well protected by the near impenetrable snows—we had been lucky to have Maebe here to help us—it looked like security was lax.

  “State your names and your purpose with the high kin!”

  Well, fuck. So much for the lax security.

  To our right and slightly ahead of us, a High Elf sentry stepped out from behind a boulder. He wore leather armor, surprisingly well suited to the surroundings as it was dyed to match the grays, browns, and sparse greenery of the upper portion of the area we were on now.

  Several others in the same uniform joined him around us, some leveling bows in our direction, and more than a dozen astral adaptors flared to life.

  “Queen Maebe, ruler of the Unseelie Fae, and if you continue to keep me from seeing my former subject and my emissaries, you invite death and cold into your fair city below.” Her brows arched as some of the sentries stepped forward like they wanted to start some shit.

  “My lady,” Bokaj began. “While you could easily slaughter them all or turn them into living statues of ice doomed to stand guard for the rest of time,” I noted a few of them gulping, “this isn’t the time to waste yourself on rabble like them, right? You killed a—what was it again?”

  “Greater fiend?” I offered to help him, seeing that the others agreed with nods and calm expressions.

  “Ah, thanks, man—a greater fiend, in less than ten minutes?” He shrugged before motioning to the now-nervous looking group of sentries before us. The leader looked decidedly pale. “They would last, what—a heartbeat?” Bokaj moved to stand in her way and knelt before her theatrically. “I beg you, my Lady, find it in your heart to forgive them for even daring to question you.”

  Maebe’s eyes twinkled at the show of fervent placating on before her and laid a hand magnanimously on his shoulder. “Rise, youngling, and know that their reaction is fitting of a city guard. They stand here day and night, toiling and guarding for foes who may seek to attack them. They do their home and people proud.”

  It was so hard not to laugh as the sentries before us stood a little taller. And the best part? None of us had been able to feel Bokaj using his charm against them if he had. I’d have to ask when we weren’t around company.

  A telepathic conversation right now might draw attention. There was no telling what kind of abilities these guys had.

  In came Maebe with the right cross though, “They do so well, in fact, that they stop a visiting queen who seeks an audience with their ruler.”

  The guard who had addressed us first paled once more and put his bow down before whistling a shrill note and making several motions with his hands and arms. I thought I made out one that was meant to act as a gathering before he pointed to our location.

  I brought Magus Bane into my hands just in case. I saw my friends pulling their own weapons. Yohsuke’s hood almost fell, but he fixed it before letting his hand slip swiftly back into his sleeve. That had been odd.

  “Majesty, we will have a number of guards to serve as escort to you and your party—unless you wish to send them away?” He waved dismissively at us as we clutched our weapons menacingly. “Clearly, they are mercenaries, rabble unfit for the high Elven city of T’agnolian Val.”

  The other sentries hadn’t put their weapons away either, but seeing us clutch our own had resulted in a similar return.

  Before any of us could so much as blink, Maebe levitated in front of him, clutching him with one hand on his throat and his feet dangling.

  “You question me. You question my guard—my champions—and yet I allow you to still draw breath.” She regarded the others who had begun to react at last coldly, “Do not be like this one.”

  Ice burst from her grip and surged down his body until it held him aloft where he was. His head was the only portion of his body free, his lips quivered, and I could hear his lips chattering from twelve feet away.

  “Does anyone else wish to insult a monarch whose name is synonymous with death?” Muu asked loudly.

  Maebe waved the rest of us forward, and we brushed past the guards in a tight formation around her, as though we were really her guard.

  As we walked through the sentries, their attention split between us and attempting to free their leader, there were some seriously hateful glares. And I heard a few things they muttered to themselves. Getting even. Mongrels. Faithless. Heathens.

  Maebe went rigid, but I whispered, “It’s okay, Highness. They mean nothing.”

  As we continued on, the others began to speak via earring.

  Lesser beings, I heard Yohsuke grunt into my head. These fucking assholes have no idea.

  Oh, I know. By the way, did you charm that guy, Bokaj? I asked as I observed our surroundings. Just below us on the path down, a troop of ten sentries marched forward toward us.

  Nah, he seemed nervous already. I was just ensuring that they knew who they were fucking with. She would have killed them if I hadn’t stepped in.

  I sighed. I could understand that.

  She was itching for it almost, Jaken added softly. I think she’s missing her more brutal side. She’s been pretty soft with us, man. You think she needs to flex on some people for herself to make sure she knows she’s still the shit?

  I blinked at the thought. We had been working our asses off, and I had to admit, the side I saw most often was indeed kinder and gentler—the children being much more beloved
to her than I expected. Was that true? Was she getting the itch to run rampant? To show people that she was truly one to be feared?

  It is possible. He did just disrespect her choice in who she surrounds herself with, though. I looked at the others. People I had fought with and bled for. If she hadn’t done something, I might have.

  Calm yourself, man. Muu punched my shoulder lightly. You would’ve killed one, and it would’ve gotten us attacked and probably fucked over. Even with the queen of hot and heavy here.

  What the fuck did you just say? I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and saw him look away pointedly.

  “Hail!” a voice greeted us from a distance. “I see that we are to escort you to her Royal Highness!”

  “You are, and your friend will likely need help for being an imbecile,” Bokaj replied.

  The sentries who closed on us turned and began to walk in front of us as the other five waited on the side of our forming parade. Once we passed them, they took their place at our rear, and the fur on the nape of my neck stood on end.

  I didn’t like the fact that they were behind us and I couldn’t turn and watch them. Or could I?

  Muu, I’m gonna catch a ride on your shoulder to watch our backs.

  He held a thumb up out to where I could see it with my peripheral vision, and I jumped a few feet into the air before shifting into my owl form to watch the high elves behind us. I alighted on his shield arm’s shoulder, facing them fully.

  He seemed uncomfortable at first, but it was a necessary evil.

  You do realize that we can turn our head almost completely around, right?

  I blinked. Of course I know that. That’s why I chose this form. Duh.

  I felt a flutter in my mind and a hooting kind of chuckle I hadn’t heard before from the owl instincts.

  Then why not face forward and stare at them like that to make them uncomfortable?

  Oh. Yeah, I liked this new side of the owl instinct, but I kind of wondered what changed to make him come around like this.

  I like your take on being a dick, I sent a mental, metaphysical nod to the voice in my mind. I turned on Muu’s shoulder so that I was facing forward like the rest of the party.

  “I thought you were gonna—oh my god it turns that far?!” he whispered and shrank back a little bit. “Fucking birds.”

  I now watched with my head turned in a complete one-eighty, tilting it from side to side. One guard seemed pleased to see an animal. The others? Not so much. They were slightly concerned, but their hands stayed off their weapons, and I was all about that.

  As we moved along, I snuck glances at our surroundings. The lands outside the main host of the city looked to be farmland that farmed standard crops, fungus, some kind of bushes, and there was a vast grove of trees off in the distance that seemed to span acres of land.

  The interesting part to me, though, was the lines of metal that intersected the rows of different foods. With the owl’s perception and long gaze, I could see a series of engravings and runes on them that could have been anything. My suspicion, though, was that these were meant to help the crops grow faster, healthier, stronger, have more yield, and keep them safe from insects and disease. At least, that’s what I would have thought.

  Coming to some kind of arch in the path here, great spot for an ambush, I heard James speaking through our minds.

  I whipped my head around and saw what he was talking about. I tried to respond but couldn’t, instead receiving a system message.

  Error!

  While in animal form, speech of all kind is beyond you. While you can understand others, they cannot understand you unless they’re under the influence of a speech-type spell such as Nature’s Voice.

  Oh, that is such bullshit, I growled to myself. The owl stayed quiet, thankfully.

  I observed the arch and began to panic. Those runes looked nasty. I wasn’t sure what they did, but I didn’t want the party to pass through them without knowing what they did. I took off from Muu’s shoulder and fluttered ahead of the group.

  “DO NOT FLY AHEAD!” one of the guards bellowed.

  I saw an archer poke his head from atop the archway, and an arrow whizzed beside my right wing. I dropped from the flight path I was on and rolled as I shifted into my fox form. I was ten feet from the arch, and I could feel the power radiating from it.

  I scrambled through a hail of arrows and shifted into fox-man to touch the stonework.

  I heard scuffling and angry words behind me, but the arch was all that I needed to get to at that moment.

  The arch was beautiful, a deep maroon with gold runes etched and filled in on the inside.

  Portal of the Whole Truth

  Information concerning all equipment, statistics, abilities, and spells on every individual who passes through this arch are cataloged and available immediately to the ruler of the high elves.

  Within this archway, the seen and unseen become apparent to She Who Rules, long may she reign.

  Architecture carved by grandmaster stone mason Carver Pumpkil and enchanted by grandmaster enchanter Brelm Silverthroat.

  “Oh, FUCK no!” I turned to see the others halted around my friends with weapons ready for a battle. “We aren’t going through there.”

  “You will if you want to see the queen!” the archer above the archway screeched. His voice cracked as he said the word queen. “All visitors must pass through it! It is the law!”

  “What does it do?” Yohsuke asked.

  “Catalogs details on everything about us, our equipment, abilities, and spells—all of it—so the queen can have it.” I eyed the guards who seemed unsurprised by this revelation or that I could tell what it did since it was an item. “It’s your law, but it’s bullshit. We mean you no harm unless you try some shit first, and this is the second time that your people have offered insult rather than hospitality!”

  The red ring of my Werewolf rage made itself known in my vision, and my breathing began to quicken with my pulse.

  These guys wanted a fight? I would beat their asses myself.

  We could turn them all and flood the city with our kind. We could rule.

  The voice was intoxicating, and I immediately knew that this was the Werewolf speaking. I battered the rage aside and spent precious seconds to steady my breathing.

  I opened my eyes, and three guards had astral adaptors at my throat.

  “We will pass beneath your archway,” Maebe calmly stated. She looked pointedly at me, and her gaze held warning. “Allow my warrior to return to me, and we shall pass beneath your gate, so swears Maebe the Queen of the Unseelie.”

  The guards’ eyes widened, and I could see them dismissing the Fae warning that they would all have received, the same that I had received before.

  As they allowed me to pass, I stepped close to her and mumbled, “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  I felt her hand cross my face, the strike louder than it was painful.

  Her gaze was cool and outwardly furious. “You do not question your queen, warrior.”

  Did I just get bitch slapped? This was going to be a bad time later on if that was the case. Could I beat her ass? No.

  But I would damned well be hurt in her general direction! Smack me in front of all these people and without saying surprise. Sure as hell wasn’t my birthday either.

  The guards began to walk through. As they did, the runes flared, and then the world went dark just before we passed under the archway.

  “Act as if nothing happened,” Maebe ordered quietly.

  We blinked at her, and she ordered in a low whisper, “And step!”

  We all stepped forward as the light returned to us, and then the guards before us stepped through the archway.

  I heard a muttered, “I swear I saw something odd, Belthios. They seemed to flicker in the shadows.”

  “It’s just play of the light, Nictol.” An older sounding guard sighed. “You’ve been jumpy ever since the other night. Maybe you ought to go see the wizar
d?”

  “Creeps me out worse than seeing things.” The first guard shivered. “Play of the light. That’s all.”

  An act. And she must have kept her word somehow because no one seemed the wiser about it. Had it been an act then?

  It took us another twenty minutes at a quick pace to get to a line of metal that had been coated in an oily substance attached to the side of the chasm wall that fell into the valley at a slow decline. There was a large basket that reminded me of a device I saw in movies all the time at home, cable cars that ferried people in mountains and hard to reach places.

  “This will ferry you to the ground where another set of five guards will join you.” The leader of this set of guards looked at us and smiled, his angular features stretching. “Do try not to fall out.”

  He caught himself leering and bowed curtly to Maebe. “Your Majesty, welcome to our magnificent city.”

  Maebe ignored him, two of the guards had gathered inside the basket, and the others bowed slightly to signal we should get in. The ground seemed steady now, but the basket, even only slightly raised from it, swayed precariously as we climbed aboard, then joined us.

  Seconds later, one of the guards on the cliff face touched his palm to a rune that I had been too distracted by the huge amount of air between us and the ground to notice.

  Now, I know what you’re thinking—you have the ability to shapeshift into an owl? Why are you being such a fucking wimp? It’s not wimpy to be aware of your mortality. Right?

  Don’t get me wrong, I had flown back home too, I flew on CH-53E Super Stallions, MV-22 Ospreys, hell I even got to fly in a CH-46E Sea Knight before they were completely phased out of the Marine Corps. I had flown with some of the best pilots to do that damned thing, and it had been wild! But I’d always had a gunner’s belt. That lifeline that wrapped around my chest just beneath my arms and attached to rings on the floor of my aircraft of the day.

  This damned thing didn’t have one fuckin’ gunner’s belt. No rings. And sure as fuck wasn’t piloted by some of the best in the game. The five assholes other than us who were in it right now looked amused to see that I was sweating a bit more than normal about this, but I wasn’t really worried about them. If shit went sideways—they would die too.