by Emery Skye
“Are you sure we are safe here?” I calmly and apprehensively asked to no one in particular.
Taylor spoke to me in a tone of distaste that matched her god-awful, dirt-filled hair.
“We have been safe for three days while you got your beauty rest.”
It was odd that we were all at each other’s throats. I began to feel a tint of hatred to the people around me. Something about this cove was wrong.
“I think I am ready to get up now,” I told them. They slowly came to my side and began lifting me to my feet. It wasn’t painful, just difficult. Taylor stood behind me, Amalie to my side, and Nathan on the other side. I put most of the weight on Nathan.
I took a few sluggish steps with their help.
“I think it’s okay,” Taylor let go immediately. I hoped that she wouldn’t have a baby to take care of one day. She would probably drop the poor thing on its head.
Amalie and Nathan were a little slower. Amalie eventually lessened the strength she had been using to help me, and then she let go entirely. My legs almost gave out on me, and my knees buckled. Amalie reached back over.
“I’m fine,” I snapped and unintentionally sounded more vexed than I meant to.
She immediately dropped back but still kept close. Nathan wasn’t as fast to let me go on my own.
How ridiculous, I thought, and shook my head bitterly.
“I am fine,” I told Nathan sounding unshakable.
He gradually, bit by bit, released himself from me. It was laborious at first, but slowly I was able to walk at a normal pace. I stared down at my feet so I wouldn’t trip. It was like learning how to walk. I had to learn which muscles moved what part of my legs. It was infuriating to feel this out of control. I walked a few circles around Taylor, until I felt good enough to really move. I learned fast how to walk and started jumping. Nathan was worried and stayed glued to me.
“I am fine,” I repeated through gritted teeth.
He shook his head with annoyance and sighed loudly.
I couldn’t help but smile at him.
I wasn’t tired or worn out from the walking, but oww. My tattoos throbbed. I clutched my wrist hard and tried to rub on them, but it only made the pain worse, far worse. I wanted to rip my hand off, it was burning so bad. The pain was excruciating.
“Are you okay,” Nathan asked. I must not have been hiding the pain from my face.
“Something about this place is very wrong. We need to go, now!” I said it as sternly and strongly as I could in my weak state.
He didn’t question me; he just nodded his head.
“The exit is in that direction.”
“I don’t think we should leave yet,” said Amalie solemnly.
“Yes, we should,” I retorted apprehensively. Looking all around me.
The ground started shaking. I turned slowly and repressed not only a shudder, but a screech. A tall, ghastly creature stood behind us. He stood ten-feet-tall, puss excreted from wart-like formations that blanketed his translucent skin that covered his large muscles. A black liquid oozed from not only his eyes, but also his nose, and his mouth. His face was a mass of entrails from humans. This monster, this demon, was the Lord of Abominations.
The demon screamed.
“My ears!” I grabbed at them. There was a terrible pain in them that left me immobile. The shrieking was excruciating. It felt like my brain was going to explode from the throbbing ratcheting on the inside of my skull. Above all his awful features and all the pain, it was the stench of dung that left me gasping for air.
He let out an enormous, mountain-moving roar. When I glanced up, I saw that he was stuck in the neck by a long, flying dagger. A dagger that Nathan had released from my side.
“Don’t smell it,” shouted Nathan above the roar of the shaking ground.
“What?” replied Taylor in a shaky voice.
“He said, ‘don’t smell it,’” yelled Amalie at Taylor. I didn’t bother looking at either of their faces. I needed to pay attention to the hideous demon.
Both Taylor and Amalie walked backwards from the demon, no doubt holding their breath. Nathan stood in front of me in a protective stance—one arm held another dagger and one was pushed out to my side.
How chivalrous, I thought happily.
However, chivalry was something that we didn’t need at the moment. Even in my weak state, I pulled out my dagger and threw it into the giant’s chest. Even in the heat of the moment, I was amazed at the accuracy and depth of its hit. The abomination pulled the daggers out with his claws and threw them on the floor. Wonderful, I knew he would be hard to kill, but two blessed, silver daggers should have at least slowed him down.
The ground still shook violently, but Amalie and Taylor weren’t in my sight. I became slightly lightheaded from the lack of breathing I had to do in an attempt to avoid the creature’s poisonous breath.
He stomped nearer to Nathan and I, in fast, calculated strides. The blood that leaked from his face was disturbing. Nonetheless, I fought my treacherous thoughts of fear. The creature came towards us in a movement that separated Nathan and me. He then chose to come after me. It was interesting that, like any predator, he chose the weakest one to attack first. Normally, I was the predator, now I had become the prey.
With the brute force of a giant beast, the creature’s arm came down on me fast with the speed of a cheetah. His arm felt like a tremendous, iron hammer. My body twisted and became numb as it flew through the air. I wondered if this was what it felt like to fly or if this was what it felt like to die.
I had no control of my body, but my pain dispersed. For a long moment, or maybe two, my breath would not come. I thought for sure this was death, and I began to say my last prayer. I prayed for my sister—my sister who would be alone in this horrid world without me.
Never going to happen, I thought vehemently.
My once dulled senses heightened, and I could hear and see, clearly, every movement of the abomination. I jumped up, and the whole scene cracked into flames. In a world of supreme cruelty where there were no rules, I refused to play by mine. I would not be taken from my sister or her from me.
The abomination had moved in on Nathan, the most direct threat. I saw the Skine-crane Lura of Cumhail lying on the floor. The Lura of weapons not being utilized was pitiful. I seized the bag and pulled from it a long sword. Without a word, I threw the bag behind me to where I could hear the footsteps of Taylor’s and Amalie’s surrender.
“For us,” was all I had to say.
Comradery had gotten us this far. Thus, our collective attitude was not to die for each other but to fight for one another. That attitude resulted in the most savage, ferocious fighting in which there were no rules commanding our next strike.
I jumped up in a motion of primal hatred—a hatred I didn’t think was possible for angels until now—and landed on the hideously mutated enemy. With one swift motion, and a motivation to cause lethal bodily harm, I stuck my sword through his right shoulder and down through his heart. The sword came out underneath his left arm. Then, I turned the sword in a vicious and calculated assault. Blood showered my face and my clothing.
It was surprisingly warm blood for such a cold killer.
Amalie and Taylor began throwing daggers at his ankles and legs until the savage beast came down and hit the ground, creating a sound of thunder. He fell on top of Nathan, who until now I hadn’t looked at.
Nathan’s face was scrunched into one of disbelief and horror. As I looked to Amalie and Taylor, I saw similar emotions, but I also saw fear. Fear of what, I did not know.
Fear of me? That couldn’t be it.
Amalie had never been frightened by me.
We stayed in those positions for what seemed like eternity until I finally leapt off of the Lord of Abominations. Nathan, then, heaved the creature off him and sprang to his feet. No one spoke. I grabbed the creature, and with Nathan’s help, we pulled him to the side of the Cove.
I pulled the daggers from his ankl
es and eventually removed the sword from his heart. I heard the occasional gasps from Amalie and Taylor. Nathan just stood near me. All I could think was how we couldn’t leave the weapons behind.
The once repulsive toxins emitted by the abomination dispersed the second it had been killed—the second, I had killed it.
“Hey, guys,” said Lucas from behind us. He was notorious for not being present when we needed him. I heard his footsteps approaching.
“Where the hell have you been?” Taylor yelled at him.
“Whoa,” finally Lucas had seen the dead abomination. “Did you use the ring?”
“No,” I answered casting him a sideways glance; it was interesting how he knew about the ring.
“Answer me,” Taylor pushed him, and he didn’t budge an inch. I could feel him staring at me.
“You know what? I don’t even want you to answer me. You are so not the strong Warrior I thought you were. You are the most worthless piece of shit. We all almost died, and where were you? That’s right; Lucas was just ‘chilling.’” She mimicked his easy breezy voice. Not a one of us stepped in to stop her from yelling at him. We all felt a little betrayed, I think. Or at least, I know I did.
“Back off.” He moved to Nathan’s side. “You all look fine to me.”
“That’s because Miss Anna went all Buffy on his demon ass.”
Nathan looked over at Taylor in confusion. It dawned on me that maybe Nathan had never watched a minute of TV, much less Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
“She’s been doing that a lot lately,” Lucas looked at me in disbelief, or at least I think it was disbelief. I tried again to look into his eyes and still there was a wall blocking me out. It wasn’t like the wall in Nathan’s that resembled insecurity; it was something else.
“Where is my ring?” I asked, suddenly missing its warmth against my chest.
“It’s right here, Anna,” Amalie stepped forward and handed me the ring.
“Look, I read Lord of the Rings. Maybe you shouldn’t be carrying it and stuff. You know, bad news... I could hold onto it for you,” Lucas reached out his hand a little too quickly.
“Anna should hold onto it, then,” Nathan finally opened his mouth.
Like I would ever give him the ring, anyway. I scowled at Lucas.
“I vote that we leave Lucas here,” Taylor bit and I totally agreed with her.
“Taylor, we can’t just leave someone,” Amalie’s voice was more timid than I had ever heard her.
“Whoa, whoa. You’re not leaving me anywhere...Besides, I know a thing or two about Guilisol.
“Guilisol?” I asked. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but I wasn’t sure why.
“Yeah, you know the capital city of the Dark World,” He made quotation fingers when he said capital city.
I looked down at the ground letting the reality set in that we actually had to go the most forbidden place to angels. It was surreal that our horrid journey had led us to a far more terrible destination.
“Let’s just get going. The longer we stand here and argue about where Lucas was or what he was doing… God knows what is happening to Alyosha,” Amalie interjected. She had a point. I couldn’t even remember how long we had been down here to begin with. What with it being dark day in and day out, it was hard to tell anything.
“Fine,” shrugged Taylor. She shook her head crazily and I almost smiled.
Nathan, on the other hand, was not smiling at anything, and it didn’t look like that was about to change. He stood next to the abomination. His face twisted with something unfamiliar. Maybe, he felt more worried about Alyosha. I hadn’t spoken to him about it for a long while now. Come to think of it, I can’t remember if I ever did talk to him about it.
“I agree. Let’s get going.”
With that, we all made our way out of the Cove and into the Darkness.
Chapter 25
We mounted our horses. Amalie and Taylor shared a horse, which I found interesting. Amalie hadn’t even asked to ride with me. She automatically joined Taylor. That was something I thought I would never see. Then again, there were a lot of things that had changed since leaving our sanctuary at the Academy. Who would’ve thought I would ever miss little, old Hope, Alaska.
Lucas and Nathan rode sorrel horses. Each horse, matted with dirt and rocks in their engrossed coats. Not one of us had a saddle to sit on, so it was a good thing that we each knew how to ride.
Making our way down the mountain was tough. Rocks repeatedly slid, which prevented the horses from getting any footing whatsoever. The dead trees that covered the ground made it difficult for the horses to maneuver their next steps. For the most part, we rode in a line with each of us following the other closely. With the difficult travel down, I wondered to myself, how did they get up here in the first place?
The silence that engulfed each of us was uncanny. I had just killed a first level demon, and no one even said congratulations. I don’t know what I thought my first, first level demon kill would be like, but this wasn’t it. Yet, there was an unbelievable amount of camaraderie surrounding me—which I didn’t quite get—when I remembered the baffled looks I had gotten when I killed it. How confusing.
Maybe I could just quickly stare into Amalie’s eyes and...NO, no, no. I can’t do that. That is bad, Anna. No. I told myself how wrong that was, but sometimes, it was hard not to do it. With just a peek, I could get a look at what she was thinking. Well, sometimes, but it didn’t always work that way. I decided against it.
We continued our ride in utter silence down the mountain and to the flatlands. I rode in the front. For some reason, I had this odd feeling in my gut that was directing me.
“There’s a light ahead,” called Amalie from behind me. I looked up, and I could see the faint light through the trees. I was trying desperately to mentally prepare myself for Guilisol, but nothing in this place was familiar. My worry increased with every stride we took.
Lucas rode up next to me.
“I’m going to lead, now. I know where to go,” I must have shot him a look of confusion, because he added, “Trust me.”
I didn’t want to trust Lucas, but I was running low on options, and that’s what kids at the Academy were taught: If we couldn’t trust each other, how could we trust anyone?
After a few turns that led us into the trees, and what felt like a lifetime, he put a hand up motioning for us to stop.
“We’ll have to continue on foot,” he said as he dismounted the gelding.
“You’re kidding; we’ll be slower on foot,” Amalie said from behind me.
“And, slower means more vulnerable when shit hits the fan,” Taylor continued.
“It also means more discreet,” Nathan countered the two girls and jumped off his horse, as well. They all looked to me to for a decision and sense of direction. Only, I wasn’t sure which move was smarter. The horses would be easily spotted. However, without them, our speed would never get us away from whatever was waiting for us beyond those trees.
Chapter 26
We kept quiet and hugged the tree line for as long as possible. We weren't eager to enter the capital of Hell.
The demons couldn't see us, or they would have sent a posse. We couldn't see them, but we heard screams of agony on the wind. My skin rippled with gooseflesh.
The air was riddled with the four horsemen of death: terror, bewilderment, frustration, and despair. I didn’t know how much longer we could go on like this. The off-white tattoos marring both my hands, tingled, then burned. I was about to speak, when Lucas lifted his right fist. We stopped. I exhaled forcefully. I didn't realize I'd been holding my breath. I heard screams, belching, clawing, and screeching. The air reeked of decay and something else I couldn’t identify. It took everything I had to not vomit. My hands full on burned now.
“We have to move west. In the city,” Lucas whispered.
“What do you mean, ‘the city’?” I asked, gritting my teeth against the pain in my hands.
“Alyosha is righ
t through there,” He pointed through a mass of trees. “The only way to him is through that entrance.” I squinted harder. It was some sort of cabin-like structure.
He had to be kidding.
“That’s a hut, you idiot,” Taylor said it perfectly.
“No, he’s right. Alyosha is down there.”
We all looked at Amalie. She stared absently into the blackness. She started through the trees toward the city. Toward the cabin/hut.
“Amalie!” I grabbed her shoulder. She pushed me away. Her strength surprised me. I wasn't sure that was a good thing.
“Nathan, help!” I growled.
He flinched and came back to life. Thank The Powers; he was able to restrain her.
“Let me go! Alyosha needs me!” She shouted, thrashing.
I had no idea she had it in her—to be this big a pain.
“Shut up, or demons'll be on us like white on rice!” Taylor covered Amalie’s mouth. I wondered if Amalie was possessed.
Suddenly, Amalie went silent and perfectly still, like a lifeless doll. Odd. Creepy.
“That’s better,” Taylor said absently. She glanced at me and froze. A sarcastic eye-roll became a look of terror.
“Don’t move!" Lucas commanded. I spun, dagger drawn, and felt a pin-prick in my neck. Next thing I knew, I was pistol-whipped in the side of the head. I tried to keep my feet, but I couldn't. I called out to Amalie. The last thing I saw were encircling demons: a fetid odor engulfed me as I passed out. My tattoos were cold.
Rats! Rats ran around me in every direction. One ran over my hand, and I vomited. When I was done, I dry heaved. My stomach muscles clenched painfully. My throat burned, small explosions erupted in my head, and my face felt puffy and painful to the touch.
“Amalie,” I gasped.
I felt around the room, praying I was alone.
“Amalie? Nathan?” I was so hoarse I didn't sound like myself. “Taylor?”
“Anna, is that you?”
“Taylor?” I got to my feet and crossed the small space to the metal bars, grateful for their coolness against my hot forehead. “Is Amalie with you? Do you see Nathan?” I swallowed a few times, but my throat still hurt.