Promise of Wrath (The Hellequin Chronicles Book 6)

by Steve McHugh

  Any of the old furnishings were long gone, replaced with stained walls and floors. I doubted they had a cleaner come in on anything close to a regular schedule. We followed Kay through the dark corridors, hearing the screams of whatever victims they had somewhere in the mass of hallways and rooms.

  “Do you remember those screams, Mordred?” Kay asked. He paused and raised a finger. The scream was followed by a plea to be allowed to die. “These rooms make wonderful dungeons: all private and the like. You used to have to go to the dungeon to be questioned, but now, it’s just a short walk.”

  We walked past a staircase and stopped next to what had presumably at one point been a window. Now there was just a hole in the side of the citadel, with a wooden lift just outside it. A piece of rope hung down one side of the lift. A pulley system sat attached to either side of the lift, the metal chains vanishing high above us.

  “It’s as close as this place gets to a lift,” he told us, stepping on, and pulling on the piece of rope. “It’s a bell. This lift only goes from here to the floor we want. It’s a bit of a long walk, and honestly just as long of a trip, but you get much nicer views.”

  As the rickety makeshift lift began its crawl upward, it took a lot of effort not to look down and maintain an outward appearance of not caring. By the time it stopped, we were several hundred feet above the ground, and I was grateful when we stepped back into the citadel.

  “If I remember correctly, you don’t like heights,” Kay said to me. “I’m so sorry; that must have been awful. You should have said something. I just remembered there’s a lift inside the citadel. We could have taken the old dwarven lift; it’s a lot less problematic.”

  “The view was nice—lots of death and torment. You’ve really made the place your own.”

  “You took your time. You’ll have to excuse the decor,” Baldr said from in front of a set of open double doors. “The blood elves definitely take after their name. Never met creatures quite like them. They’re savage, bloodthirsty, and utterly without remorse. They really are an impressive creation.”

  “‘Creation?’” I asked. “Someone created them? I thought the crystals did that.”

  He motioned for us to be taken into the room behind him where we were both roughly pushed into chairs. They didn’t bother binding our hands, but they did finally remove our weapons, placing them on a nearby table.

  “Oh, they did,” Baldr said when the elves had left the room, leaving us with him and Kay. I liked those odds. “Those crystals were a wonderful find. When the elves were having their silly little civil war, we discovered that the crystals had a tendency to make them more hostile, aggressive, and willing to go that step further to hurt people. It’s why we suggested the dwarves looked after the elven prisoners. We made sure that no one knew the effect the crystals had and then sat back to watch the fireworks. Fun time for everyone.”

  “Except the dwarves,” Mordred pointed out. “And me.”

  “The dwarves weren’t thrilled, no, but they had their own problem when the king refused to cooperate with our group. It’s why he had to go, and why the elves were allowed to destroy so many dwarves. We didn’t expect them to leave en masse, though. Or that we couldn’t find them after they’d fled.” Baldr walked over to Mordred and flicked him in the forehead. To his credit, Mordred did nothing in response. I wasn’t sure I would have been so calm.

  “You were just in the wrong place, Mordred,” Baldr told him. “You and your little friends were all looking a bit too closely at those dwarven weapons you’d found. And then you discovered those people with the spirit scrolls. Fortunately, by that time Nate had been sent away, and we were able to distract your other allies with new missions and jobs. But you couldn’t let it go. You were going to be king, and a king doesn’t just drop something because it’s uncomfortable. Didn’t turn out so well for you. We were just going to kill you, but then you came here and met with the king and he started investigating. It was easier to kill two birds with one stone. Didn’t expect you to escape; that was on us. Didn’t expect you to go against the programming we’d tried so hard to instill on you, although you did still try to kill Nate over and over again, so some of it worked.”

  “Why me?” I asked.

  “You were looking to become a problem,” Baldr told me. “That’s it. But Merlin sent you to China for the better part of a century, and then orders changed and we were to leave you be. Did you think you went all this time without Hera, or someone else killing you, because they were worried you’d defeat them? We were told not to kill you—to let you just be Merlin’s hound, pissing us off on occasion, but never doing anything of any real long-term damage. I know you think you were the big, bad Hellequin, but in reality you never went up against anyone of our caliber.

  “Actually, that’s not true. You did test several of our group on a few occasions. Most recently with Hera’s plan to take over Tartarus. She was furious about it.” Baldr started to laugh.

  He turned to Mordred. “Oh, and with what you did to Mars Warfare. She was pissed off about that too. That would have been a nice little earner: weaponizing children for future use. She was more angry at Ares, however, for the fact that he’d allowed Mordred to be employed, and obviously Hera knew that Mordred was there, and that he wanted to kill her. That’s why she was never in the country at the same time, and why she never put herself in a position of danger. She was going to kill him, but it was nice having him in one place, knowing where he was at all times, so it was allowed to continue. But those times are at an end. We’ve now had the okay to murder you, Nate. Mordred was always going to die, but we’ve been waiting a while to finally get you. Before now, it was only as a last resort. Now, it’s for fun. Looking forward to it.”

  “So who’s in charge?” I asked. “You said ‘new orders.’ Who’s ordering you about? You and your group: you’re all known as ‘my liege,’ but do you have a liege too?”

  Baldr looked over at Kay. “I’ll whisper their name to you as you die, Nate. Would that make it better?”

  “What about Merlin? Is he on your side?”

  “You ask a lot of questions for someone in your situation,” Kay said.

  “I was always told it’s better to ask a lot of questions than to go ignorant. Besides, I’ve never been in a position to ask about your group before. Or, how Baldr killed Thor.”

  “You heard about that one?” Baldr asked, with a chuckle. “I cut his head clean off while our father watched. The great Thor, a headless corpse. I think my father is still crying about it. You should be happy about it, Nate. My father banished your mother from the realm of Asgard, did you know that? Banished to the earth realm, just for going against his wishes. And she still refused to join our cause. She said that starting a war in Asgard was pointless, that Odin would never allow himself to lose. And she was right: the war is still ongoing. It’s still almost impossible for anyone to get out of there and go to the earth realm.”

  “That must put a damper on your plans to run the earth realm,” Mordred said. “Shame.”

  “It is a shame, actually,” Baldr snapped. “My father had the realm gates destroyed by the dwarves who resided in Asgard. I got here through one of those fucking tablets, and now I can’t get home. And you want to know why? Because no one knows the address for Asgard in that stupid made-up language. No one. The address was in the library, and we still can’t find it. My entire reason for coming here has turned into my own prison. Even now, my blood elves are scouring the building for it, tearing it apart, and nothing. So, I’m stuck here with my thumb up my ass.”

  “How do you know your side hasn’t already lost?” Mordred asked and received a punch to the face that knocked him to the ground.

  “Because after a thousand years of fighting, we wouldn’t hand Odin a victory after only five years.”

  “You’ve been here five years?” I asked. “That has got to suck. Blood elves aren’t exactly chatty.”

  “It’s been . . . testing, yes,” Bald
r admitted. “At first I was just going to kill all of the dwarves in that town, but over the centuries since the blood elves took this place, they formed lots of little groups, and it’s taken me this long to get them all working in unison again. I can’t go home without those scrolls, but once I have them all, and we’ve figured out how to bring the blood elves with us, we’ll cut across Asgard, and anyone else who stands in our way.”

  Kay walked over and hoisted me up. “Oh, are we going on another trip?” I asked, as half a dozen blood elves entered the room and began marching me out.

  “You are,” Baldr told me. “Mordred is staying with me.”

  “I for one couldn’t be happier,” Mordred said. “It’ll give us time to catch up.”

  “I’ll see you soon, Mordred,” I told him.

  “Oh, are you two friends now?” Baldr asked in as patronizing a tone as possible. “It’s so good to see you both back in one another’s good graces. I was worried you’d always hate each other.”

  “Can I ask you something?” I said just as I reached the door.

  Baldr raised his hand, and the elves stopped. “Go on.”

  “Bring him to the room when you’re done,” Kay told the blood elves and then left the room.

  “Did you really kill Nabu’s wife? Did you really arrange it?”

  Baldr laughed. “That’s it? Yes. He was an affront to me, and was investigating a number of crimes that could have been traced back to me. I gave him something more interesting to search for. You must have felt the same way when Jane died, yes?”

  I stared at Baldr. My wife, Jane, had been murdered centuries ago by a human in the English army. I’d found him and tortured him to death, but he’d sworn that he had been given the task, that he’d been working for someone. It was information that I couldn’t verify, even after an extensive search.

  “You did that?” I asked, my words coming out slowly.

  Baldr shook his head. “I was in Asgard. But it’s funny how similar it was to what I did. I wonder if someone you knew was behind it, someone who really didn’t like you? Maybe you should have a conversation with Kay when you get the chance. He might know more.”

  CHAPTER 36

  The blood elves brought me to a large room several floors down, using the stairs instead of any of the lifts. I didn’t fight or struggle; there was no need. They were taking me exactly where I wanted to go.

  The large room was bare-floored and wet, as if someone had recently sloshed out the blood and muck that had been spilled across it. Chains hung from the ceiling, and a bench with straps sat in one corner, while the other corner held a table and various implements hanging from hooks above it.

  Apart from a few dim lights situated around the room, the entire place was bathed in darkness. Kay sat beside a smaller table next to the ceiling chains. A collection of knives lay on the table, and he was lovingly polishing one as we walked in.

  I was shackled to the chains, which were made from silver, and the elves left the room.

  “You can’t escape now,” Kay said.

  I looked at my wrists. The shackles were pretty heavy-duty, and it would be more than a little difficult for me to burn or cut through them. Silver didn’t stop my magic, but it was partially immune to it, and if I got cut with it, it would do considerable damage. Silver blades were dangerous to sorcerers for a very good reason.

  When I didn’t respond to Kay’s obvious taunt he stood up and shoved me. I swayed from side to side, and stared at him.

  “Why aren’t you trying to get me angry?” he asked. “Why aren’t you trying to get me to bite?”

  “You murdered my wife.” I said my words slowly, making sure to put no emotion into them.

  “Ah, you figured that out? Took you long enough. I didn’t actually do anything; I just hired a few people to ensure you were treated to her demise when you finally came home. I was outside the house when the soldiers arrived. A few of them went inside while the rest went down to the village. If it makes you feel better, it’s a trick Baldr used first, and we appropriated it on a few occasions. Husbands, wives, children: it didn’t really matter; some people just need to be sent a message, or given something more important to attend to. I bet you don’t even remember what you were investigating.”

  “I was looking into the murder of a vampire lord. He was an ally of Avalon’s, specifically Elaine’s. By the time I went back to Merlin after Jane’s death, he told me the crime had been solved. I never looked into it again.”

  “So it worked. You were no longer a problem for us in that matter, and you gained some humility at the same time. Also, I did it because I hate you. I’ve always hated you, and I will always hate you. You’re so self-righteous, and you manage to get all of these idiotic people to trust you, to like you, and you were a threat to our plans because of it. How many of those people would have gone for us had we gone after you? Tommy, Hades, Diane, and countless others. You gave us no choice.”

  “No choice.” My voice sounded detached, as if it wasn’t really me speaking.

  “You know, in a way I’m glad you discovered it. You should die knowing that I was better than you throughout your life. Better in every single way. You just never saw it before.”

  I breathed out slowly. “Who do you work for, Kay? Apart from Hera, and Siris, and Baldr, who’s in charge of it all? Merlin?”

  Kay laughed. “No. Merlin isn’t in charge of anything.”

  “So who?”

  Kay stood before me. “Baldr told you: he’ll whisper it into your ear as you die. You want to know something funny about when Jane died? Before she went, before she finally submitted to death, I went to her. You should have seen the surprise in her eyes. I whispered in her ear that you would never know the truth of what had happened. I guess I was wrong.” He brandished a scalpel. “How silly of me.”

  “It’s quite dark in here.”

  He looked around. “I guess it is. You see, I know a little something about shadow magic. And that is that it doesn’t like the darkness. The darker it is, the weaker your power. So you can keep trying to grab the shadows, but it’s going to be difficult.” He sliced across my stomach, only a tiny incision, but enough to cause pain. “Also, it doesn’t help when I do that.”

  He turned away and placed the scalpel down, picking up one of the swords that Zamek had given me. “I think I’m going to use this to cut your head off at the end.”

  He turned away for a second, and when he turned back, his jaw dropped open as the shackles unlocked and I fell to the floor. I’d drawn one of the dwarven runes on the palm of each hand. It meant lock and unlock. It’s one of the twenty-one original dwarven runes. Takes a little out of you, but all I had to do was press my palm to the shackle. Unfortunately, I didn’t expect it to take so long for me to get my hand just right; I should have drawn them on my wrists. Hindsight and all that.

  I punched Kay in the jaw hard enough to send him staggering back toward the table. A blast of air magic toppled him over it, pulling all of the blades with him. Kay got back to his feet brandishing one of the swords that Zamek had given me.

  “You should put that down,” I told him. “It’s dangerous.”

  Kay’s arm wavered slightly, and he looked at the door.

  “You murdered my wife. Would you like to guess what I’m going to do to you?”

  “You can’t beat me; a hundred thousand blood elves are right outside the citadel. You’re never leaving.”

  I threw a ball of flame at the overturned table, which quickly caught fire. “Will you look at that. Light.”

  The shadows wrapped around Kay before he could scream and dragged him down onto the floor in the blink of an eye just as his glyphs lit up to defend himself.

  I grabbed the Zamek sword from the floor after Kay had dropped it, and placed the point against his throat. “You murdered my wife. I’d stay very still.”

  One of the shadows leapt at Kay’s leg, wrapping itself around the limb, tighter and tighter.

 
He cried out and tried to kick it away with his free leg, but it was useless.

  “Did you tell her not to struggle?” I asked. “Did you tell her that it was because of me that she died? Did you enjoy listening to her screams?”

  “It was centuries ago!” he screeched. “She was human! She was nothing!”

  I balled my fists and the shadow began to increase the pressure around Kay’s leg. The sound of tearing and his accompanying screams—quickly cut off as more shadow wrapped around his mouth—were when I knew that he was going to lose a limb if I continued. I stopped.

  “The pain you’re going through must make it difficult to use your magic. That and the fact your arms and legs are covered in shadow must be quite terrifying. I wish I could take you to my shadow realm and keep you there to make this slower. I want to stay here for a long time and watch you beg me as I tear you apart,” I told him. “That’s what I want. But Mordred will need my help, and I’m not going to let him die for my vengeance. Where is the tablet you used to jump between realms?”

  I released the shadow on his arms, and he reached inside his jacket and passed it to me. The tablet was smaller than the ones that had been sent out: no more than the size of a pocket notebook.

  “How does it work?” I rewrapped the shadows around his arms, tightening them when he tried to move.

  “Anyone who wants to travel needs to have placed their blood on the tablet. Only someone who can use magic can actually activate it though.”

  “Why not use it to take the blood elves to the earth realm?” I tightened the shadows again.

  “Their blood doesn’t allow it—something to do with the crystals. They need a realm gate. Baldr was trying to get the one in the citadel to operate again. But it hasn’t worked yet; they can’t create a guardian from the humans they have.”

  “Where are the human slaves?”

  “All over the place. Mostly in the camps away from here,” he said quickly. “You going to save them all? There are thousands of them; most have been here for generations. They don’t know anything else except death and pain.”