Hell's Ascendant (Mantles of Power Book 3)

by Benjamin Medrano

  “Damned right,” Gandar grunted, his arms folded as he stared at Estalia unhappily. “We lost an area about forty miles across to whatever those featherdusters did.”

  “Featherdusters? An amusing insult if I’ve ever heard one,” Estalia said, laughing softly, her voice enchanting enough to distract for a moment, but her amusement faded as she nodded. “Indeed. It seems my initial estimates were wrong, in any case. We haven’t determined the full scale of destruction, but my magister hasn’t found an intact city within eighty miles of Black Mountain yet. I’ve informed Anna and the others, and she informed me she’s on her way to the heavens, where she’ll set up her teleportation beacon for us.”

  “Ah. Is that why you have angels with you, then? I… must admit, I’m startled to see so many of them in your colors,” Alserah said, frowning as she looked across the angels, then realized the sea of white wings had a few oddities in it, with a handful of black, gray, or even blue or red wings among them, and after they’d reached about two hundred in number the teleportations had slowed, then stopped. After a moment she asked. “Unless… are they disguised demons?”

  “Demons? Oh, no, of course not. Bringing demons into the heavens would be far too close to an invasion, and prompt those who aren’t the society to jump to the wrong conclusions. That’s why I asked for volunteers from the many angels who’d taken refuge in my domain,” Estalia said, smiling again as she looked at the angels affectionately, adding, “I will say, they’re all skilled in battle, I didn’t bring anyone who couldn’t defend themselves properly, and I ensured that all of them had the best gear I could provide. It won’t be enough against archangels, but against angelic soldiers they’ll hold their own.”

  “Just hold their own?” Phillip asked, arching an eyebrow skeptically as he folded his arms in front of him. “If that’s all they can manage with that kind of magic, they’re not that good.”

  “I prefer to be modest about their chances rather than appearing to be overconfident,” Estalia replied, her smile widening still more as she looked at Phillip and the others, nodding slightly as she murmured, “Let me see… Gandar, Ire, Ratha, Phillip, and… Sidina, yes? I hadn’t expected quite this many deities to be present.”

  “You know who we are?” Ratha asked, looking a little taken aback as she glanced at Alserah nervously. If they hadn’t been in front of the angels, Alserah suspected that her friend would have backed away.

  “Of course I do. I make a point to keep an ear out for information on deities, especially for new ones or those who’ve handed down their mantles,” Estalia said, shrugging as she looked back at her soldiers. “It simply makes sense, as powerful as you all are.”

  “I think I should be more worried about your spy network than anything else,” Alserah murmured, eying Estalia warily, a little concerned despite the intense aura of attraction she felt toward the demon queen.

  Estalia laughed, her voice ringing out beautifully despite the situation, and Alserah could see how all the angels straightened at the sound, looking happier despite themselves. She couldn’t entirely blame them, with how riveting the sound was, and Estalia looked at her with twinkling eyes.

  “Oh, Alserah… believe me, that’s the least dangerous thing about me,” Estalia said, her mirth obvious as she grinned widely.

  Haral made sure her vambrace was properly in place and nodded to herself, glancing down at her whip to ensure that it was coiled properly on her belt. She didn’t like using it indoors, which was why she had a sword, but it was her favored weapon and even having it on her person helped soothe her nerves.

  Now fully armored, though not as heavily as so many other members of the society, she quickly stepped out of her room and into the chaos. Members of the society were rushing down the halls, likely heading for the Eagle Citadel to reinforce the vanguard. Haral longed to rush after them, but Sorm had told her they’d been ordered to gather in the council’s antechamber.

  Moving against the flow of angels slowed her down more than she liked, so Haral was a touch late, at least based on Sorm’s voice as he spoke to a group of a dozen other angels, most of them heavily armored, though there was a priest and mage among them.

  “…our task is to guard the council members who’re coordinating messages. Chances are that no one will strike here, but there’s no guarantee that we’ll go unnoticed,” Sorm told them grimly, his hands folded behind his back, while he had a sword at his side. Haral had half-expected him to use a cloudpiercer, but she supposed that just because he’d trained with it didn’t mean he liked it. He continued steadily, ignoring the echoing boots in the hallways. “I want all of you to be on your guard, as things have gone too far awry already, and I will not let them go wrong here.”

  “Sir?” one of the angels spoke up, her voice betraying a touch of nervousness. At Sorm’s nod, she continued. “Why are we staying so far inside the complex? Wouldn’t it be better to keep anyone from entering?”

  “If we had more people, we could. Unfortunately, every angel we can spare is going to assault the Eagle Citadel, and there’re too many halls to guard with a force our size. No, we have to focus our defense on somewhere we can ensure no one is getting by us, and that’s here,” Sorm said, gesturing around the wide antechamber. Haral looked around, and she had to admit that he had a point.

  The room was large, with a couple of sofas and chairs for those waiting to meet with the council, and it had plenty of space for them to spread out, yet there were also only three exits, the two that led into the halls of the rest of the building, and the one that led to the council chambers. Haral would be astonished if the council didn’t have some way of escaping from there, but getting in wouldn’t be easy.

  “Besides, I’m sure that the wards will slow down any attackers,” the mage said, his deep voice oddly soothing as he folded his arms. “Hopefully there won’t be any, but…”

  “Agreed. That’s why your first task is to secure the room. I want spells in place to at least weaken any common attack spells launched into the room, especially fireballs, and other defenses as well. Archers, feel free to grab tables from other rooms to use as cover if you want them. I’m not taking any chances,” Sorm said, scowling as he looked at them. “Now, get to it.”

  “Sir!” the soldiers rumbled, and the priest and mage quickly got to work, while the two archers discussed things, then left the room for the moment.

  Haral hesitated, then approached cautiously, waiting until the others were out of earshot before she spoke to Sorm quietly. “Sorm… do you know why we’re in here? I would’ve thought that we’d be with the attackers, especially you.”

  “Mm, we might’ve, if Aserial hadn’t screwed things up. I hear she managed to not only kill the entire Holy Council, but in so doing she also kept attacks on the commanders of the heavenly orders from happening,” Sorm replied, grimacing ever so slightly as he shook his head, sighing. “I don’t know how it happened, but I can’t believe she’d do it intentionally. As it stands, though, I suspect they’re keeping us here because they don’t want us making a mess of the attack on the Eagle Citadel.”

  “Deadly winds,” Haral murmured, stunned enough to just stand there for a moment in shock. She’d known most of the members of the society who were, no, had been on the Holy Council, and the idea of them being dead was an enormous shock to her. After a few moments she shook off the shock, though, taking a deep breath and letting it out. “Well, I suppose I understand why, even if I’m not happy. Still, it’s an honor to guard the council, isn’t it? The people in charge of relaying communications are important too.”

  “That’s the right way to look at it,” Sorm said approvingly, smiling at last as his worry seemed to ease at last. “We’ll get through this, love, then everything will be done.”

  Haral nodded, resisting the urge to lean in and kiss him. As much as she wanted to, it wasn’t the time or place for that. They had their task, and it was time to carry it out.

  Kitania barely flinched at the lu
rch of the teleportation, and the thunderclap of their arrival echoed through the room around them. The world felt different, and Kitania looked around curiously, a bit surprised by their surroundings.

  Anna had revealed she had an amulet that would allow her to return to the heavens, and she’d used it to bring all of them with her. Kitania had been expecting to appear in a temple or field, not in a building, and what surrounded her was somewhat amusing.

  The room they were in smelled of wood shavings and the somewhat fouler scent of lacquers, prompting Kitania to wrinkle her nose, but she wasn’t upset about it. Woodworking tools surrounded them, and she could see carefully made violins hanging from racks along the ceiling. Some were quite complete, while others looked like they were in the early stages of construction.

  More amusing than anything else to her was the blond angel sitting on a chair only a few feet away, his mouth open as he stared at them, a brush in one hand as he paused in the midst of applying a coat of lacquer to the violin in front of him.

  “Hm, this is something of a surprise. I suspected that my home had likely passed to another, but I didn’t expect it to have been turned into a craftsman’s workshop,” Anna said, looking around for a moment, then smiled at the man. “My apologies for the intrusion, good sir, I’ll endeavor not to repeat this, but there are no guarantees. I’m afraid this was a bit of an emergency.”

  “Um, I… are you A-Anathiel?” the man asked, his voice and hands trembling.

  “That’s right,” Anna confirmed, tilting her head slightly, and the man’s eyes seemed to light up as he smiled widely.

  “So rumors were true; you did live here!” he exclaimed, looking relieved. “It… it’s a surprise, but it’s not a problem, if you aren’t going to do this often. I’m just glad you didn’t show up when I was working on something delicate.”

  “Thank you for your understanding,” Anna replied, then looked at Kitania and the others, adding, “That said, we have to go. This is an emergency, after all, and we need to get Kitania and Vinara’s gawking over with.”

  “Why would I gawk?” Kitania asked, a little miffed that Anna had singled her out, but she followed as Anna opened the door to leave the workshop and headed down the hall of the house.

  Kitania was surprised by the width of the doors and windows at first, after having spent so long in the mortal world, but she supposed it made sense with everyone having wings. The house was filled with examples of woodwork, and was a nice, homey sort of place, which she certainly appreciated.

  “Because neither of you have ever been in the heavens, and I know you,” Anna replied, brushing past a lady angel who’d come from the kitchen to their left, adding, “My apologies, ma’am. We’ll be out immediately.”

  The woman stared in shock, obviously taken aback as the six of them proceeded through the home, then out the front door. Kitania opened her mouth to speak, but when she finally got outside she almost froze, mouth agape as she looked at the sky.

  Kitania felt like she could see forever, at least until the clouds got in the way, but the clouds… those were like nothing she’d ever seen before. The enormous clouds over the oceans of the mortal world had astounded her when she’d first seen them, but even they were dwarfed by the immense white and gray clouds that towered upward to incomprehensible heights. They made her feel so much smaller, it was practically impossible for Kitania to describe, especially with how dark some of them were.

  Beyond that were the mountains Kitania could see in the distance, many of them floating in the sky, serenely ignoring gravity or wind as they just hung there, like they’d been fixed in place on a pole or something. Those mountains hung over a land of lush forests and fields, ones that reminded Kitania of the Forest of Sighs, if even greener, and the air was incredibly refreshing.

  On the other hand, they were also in what looked like a small village, standing on the doorstep of a shop in the main part of town, and Kitania quickly shook off her astonishment. She looked around, blinking as she saw how angels going about their business stopped to look at them curiously.

  “See? You gawked, even if not for quite as long as I expected,” Anna said, glancing back at Kitania with a smile. “It also looks like the village has grown since I was last here. Not unexpected, since it’s been a long time, but strange to me. In any case, let’s go. We need a good place to set up the beacon, and in the middle of town seems like a poor idea.”

  “True enough,” Rose agreed, looking around and frowning, then pointing to their right. “If I’m not mistaken about where we are, the Eagle Citadel is that way. We probably should go that direction, since we’ll be heading there anyway.”

  “Most likely, yes,” Anna agreed, and her wings extended as the archangel took flight, and was quickly followed by the others.

  Kitania hesitated only a moment before channeling mana into her armor to take flight as well, glancing over at Vinara as she did so, commenting, “This is different than I expected.”

  “Mm, I agree. I never expected the heavens to be like this, even if I read some books that described it several times,” Vinara agreed, still in her angelic disguise, looking down at the village with brief glances as she added, “I suppose it only makes sense that they wouldn’t have walls, but I would’ve thought they’d have dangerous animals here.”

  The lack of walls was something Kitania hadn’t noticed, and she looked around, pursing her lips as she took in the sights of the different buildings. They were all different than what she’d expected, a little closer to the flowing elven style than the blocky dwarven, human, or even demonic construction she’d seen. If anything, the angelic structures seemed to be designed to allow the wind to pass them by. That was probably for a very good reason, though, and she glanced upward at the sky, trying to imagine what it would be like to live in a supposedly endless sky.

  “The heavens are relatively safe, especially compared to the hells, but even the mortal world is more dangerous,” Isalla chimed in, flying alongside them as Anna led the way upward over the trees, which seemed to grow far taller than others Kitania had seen, though many of them were growing at angles, probably due to the wind. “There are a couple of continents with more dangerous creatures, and they’re mostly kept that way, as both game preserves and training grounds for soldiers. There’s never really been a need for walls, since any invaders would presumably be capable of flight, and the heavens have never really been threatened by others.”

  “Not until the Battle of Scarlet Peaks. That came far closer than the heavenly orders liked and prompted them to fortify areas near the portal there,” Rose added, her voice relatively quiet as the wind buffeted them.

  “I believe it. A lot of people died, and the commanders of the hells thought they’d succeed in getting through the portal at first,” Kitania agreed, noticing that Anna was now angling toward a broad field, one which didn’t look like it was a farmer’s to her.

  “Not surprising, considering the fears that were likely on the other side,” Anna said, swooping down for a landing, then turned around, grinning as she added, “Speaking of which, I don’t see a point to keeping your disguises, you two. It’s going to be very obvious that something is amiss here in a few minutes, after all.”

  “A fair point,” Kitania said wryly, reaching over to pull off her gauntlet so she could get to the bracelet. It took a few moments, and as she did so Vinara returned to the shape of a succubus for the first time in what seemed like months to Kitania. It was a bit of a surprise, but when Kitania pulled off the bracelet she felt relief surge through her, like a weight had been taken from her shoulders.

  “Now let me see…” Anna murmured, pulling out a teleportation beacon, and this one surprised Kitania, since it was composed largely of adamantine and platinum, and she saw several glowing diamonds set into it.

  “Um, Anna… is that what I think it is?” Kitania asked, eying the beacon in worry.

  “Most likely, though I can’t be certain,” Anna replied absently, smiling
slightly as she glanced at Kitania as she set the beacon on the ground. “Your mother is bringing an entire military unit with her and can’t afford to drain their mana to get them here, so she sent this with me.”

  “Oh. Well, she definitely is taking all of this seriously,” Kitania said, relaxing ever so slightly, while Vinara took a step forward.

  “Indeed. I’ve never seen one of this type of teleportation beacon… I wish I had time to study it,” Vinara said, a hint of longing in her voice.

  “What exactly is it, Lady Kitania?” Eziel asked curiously, a hint of worry in her voice. “It sounds like it… negates the cost of teleportation or something of that sort? I didn’t believe that was possible.”

  “That’s because it isn’t possible to negate the mana cost. No, that beacon is designed to draw the mana from itself to form a link to its twin, creating a much stronger connection, then each teleportation takes much less mana than normal, and is drawn from the beacons themselves,” Kitania said, shrugging as she smiled. “I suspect we’d better step back. I have no idea how many soldiers Mother is bringing with her, but we don’t want to get in their way.”

  “Agreed,” Rose said, following Kitania as the demoness retreated. The others came along as well, though Vinara hesitated for a long moment.

  It took Anna a minute before she was happy with the placement of the beacon, and Kitania saw the gemstones glow a little brighter as she nodded in satisfaction. Then Anna pulled out a green gemstone and murmured something, causing the gemstone to evaporate into green flame, turning into another of the bird-like messengers Kitania had seen her make use of lately. It vanished after listening to her message, and Anna walked toward them calmly, her cloudpiercer resting over a shoulder.