Erecting Barriers

by L. J. Vickery

  “He…he just gave us welcome to the collective.” Waylon looked aghast at Slaggat and appeared as if he were about to fall over. “He and about two thousand other voices.” Waylon took a long, deep gulp of air, turning to make sure his men were experiencing the same thing. With their incredulous nods, he got his answer, and it seemed that understanding dawned.

  “We’re related,” he murmured to the glowie. “We’re part of you. Or you are part of us.”

  Slaggat nodded an affirmative and bowed his head.

  “We weren’t sure, your majesty,” he answered. “We’ve had our suspicions since we met you above at the god’s house, but the ease of our connection to you now seems to confirm it.”

  Bee-Dee knew that Dagon had been granted the ability to mind-speak with the glowies, but the skill had taken time and practice to perfect.

  Waylon still groped for answers. “How?” he questioned.

  “We don’t have time to go into it now.” Nergal looked satisfied. “When you return, you’ll have the whole story,” he promised. “Just know that we have trained warriors whom we call champions, and they will gladly come to your aid if you have the need.” He looked around at the other five blue guards. “Any one of you can make the call for help.”

  Obedience could tell that the Lauernley were still processing, and remained more than a little overwhelmed, but time was slipping away. They had her god to rescue, and she wanted him back in one piece. She’d had enough of watching Kulla regenerate. “Can we go now?” she asked Dorian.

  He looked down at the map he’d been given. “We’re ready.” His boots marched off down the right-hand passageway; a tromp of feet followed, deadened by the thick packed dust. The column moved with purpose.

  At the next turn, three Lauernley grabbed the lead while the other three took up the rear. They would sense demons first, visible or invisible.

  Kabta, with his protective necklace, misted in and out ahead of the whole group, giving an advance scouting report. They traveled quietly to the end of the first level where they regrouped, and prepared to enter a portal down to the next area. Razure, the tallest of the blue men, raised up a hand. Everyone stilled.

  “Four demons…no five, just on the other side,” he stated, then showed bright white teeth in a wicked smile. “They’re mine.” He extracted a vicious scimitar from its resting place between his shoulder blades, and stepped through the breach with his men at his back. All Obedience heard from beyond the void were horrible grunts for several moments before silence finally descended. She held her breath.

  Razure stepped through the doorway, smiling and eying some hideous green goo left on his blade. He addressed Dorian, “We’re clear.”

  “My thanks.” Her cousin smirked, also looking at the sword. “You’d better clean that off. It eats through most anything within minutes.” He hid a laugh as Razure furiously scrubbed a spot which had also spilled onto his hand, using the lichened rock wall behind him as a towel.

  When Bee-Dee turned, she saw the others wiping hands and blades vigorously in the dirt at their feet, with looks of terror on their faces. Funny what some otherwise powerful men found revolting. She wondered how they did with spiders.

  The witch felt more positive by the minute. The bunch were really proving true. These were all good immortals to have around. Flick apparently felt the same way, and quickly lent a hand.

  “You’ve got some on the back of your neck,” he said to Scobalt, picking up a large husk of some kind and wiping the acid gloop off the blue guy. Obedience was astounded to see a purple color infuse the Lauernley’s face. Whoa. How very unexpected. The quiet, shy body-guard had some interest in Flick? Bee-Dee didn’t know the human agent’s gender preference, but by the light in the the male’s incendiary eyes, the attraction could be mutual.

  Kabta moved on, and the rest of the group quickly followed.

  By midday, they made it to Stave’s last transmission bearing. They encountered three more bands of demons along the way, all with fewer than a dozen combatants, and all easily taken care of. Almost as if the kingpin, Sal, didn’t care if their group made it through or not. Was it some kind of a plot to trap more above and Overworld beings?

  Obedience couldn’t imagine what use most of them would be to the man. Her own incarceration would suit Beletseri’s purposes very well, but what could the goddess and an Underworld bad-guy possibly want with Lauernley and humans? Not to mention Dorian. If Beletseri decided to try and hold him, she’d have the wrath of the warlock nation down upon her. She couldn’t want that. If the might of all gods and witches combined against her? Well, Armageddon sounded like a tame word for what would follow.

  “So what do we do from here?” JP had been quiet up until this point. He’d been conscripted from amongst the other agents for his superior fighting skills. The agent, a man of few words, sported a lot of muscle, and after he stripped off his shirt―like many of the other males faced with the incredible Underworld heat―his bare chest, tanned, taut and completely devoid of hair caught Bee-Dee’s attention. If she didn’t already love her some magnificent Kulla, its glory might have turned her head. Still, she drew breath, didn’t she? Slowly taking her gaze away, she dropped the pack she carried. The rest of the group followed, gulping down water from canteens.

  Dorian studied the map and looked at the five corridors leading off the chamber where they rested. “We can either split up,” he pondered, “each non-seer paired with a demon-detector, or we can wait it out until we get a signal from Stave or Kulla.”

  “I hate to have us in pairs.” Waylon shook his head, and looked toward Bee-Dee in particular. “We’ll be weaker and easier to take down.” There were nods of agreement. “If we have to split up, let’s call for the glowies to increase our numbers.”

  Everyone remained curious about the group and anxious for some interaction. It was also a smart decision, so no one disagreed.

  “It will take the security forces a while to get here,” Dorian said. “Even if Nergal transports them one by one.” Which Bee-Dee felt pretty sure the queen wouldn’t let her husband do. “We need a break anyway, and maybe we’ll hear something while we wait.” He gave a nod to Waylon.

  Once again Obedience saw the awe on all the Lauernley faces as the king must have engaged with the collective. She could only imagine what it felt like to have thousands of voices in their heads. Mindboggling.

  Waylon nodded when finished. “We have a contingency of a hundred champions coming,” the blue royal told everyone not connected. “I’ve been warned that they are simple warriors and will be open to taking orders with the exception of one named Lavarette who is a commander in her own right. She’ll want to lead her troops and…” Obedience could see the indecision in Waylon’s eyes as he paused, unsure of what to say. “…that will be difficult for us.” He glanced at his men. “In our society, women do not fight,” he admitted. “To have a blue female telling us what to do―” He trailed off.

  “You’ve seen the goddesses kick ass enough times.” Dorian grinned, amazed at the backwardness of the Lauernley culture. “I’m sure you’ll get over it.”

  “Perhaps,” the king agreed, but he didn’t look too sure.

  ****

  Kulla rolled over in the dust. They’d finally left him alone, back in his jail. After enduring some of the worst pain he could ever recall, he’d been thrown on the ground to recover, with threats that organ removal would commence on the morrow. Not if he could help it. He spit blood where they’d pried out teeth, and tried to clear his throat of the noxious poison they’d dumped into him. In truth, he didn’t know how much more his body could take. It seemed like his healing process had slowed down. He’d never been subjected to so much bodily damage in such a short span of time. Did his recuperating powers have limits? He didn’t want to find out.

  Finally certain that everyone, including Stave, had left the room, he dragged across the barred enclosure. It proved a long and agonizing process, but he would not give up. T
ime to activate his cell phone. More than enough time had passed for a rescue party to be scouting for him. He knew Nergal’s new computer systems and the glowies running them would have to be searching. His thoughts turned to the infernal communications device, and he just hoped he’d remembered to charge the foolish thing. He almost barked a laugh. Wouldn’t that just burn his ass?

  He scrabbled in the dirt, uncovered the phone, and choked back a relieved sob. Four bars and half a charge. Hot damn. He hit 911 and hoped to hell he’d be in business.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Obedience sat with Kabta, their backs up against one rock wall of the cavern. There was something she’d been dying to know, but had been too wrapped up in current problems to ask Kulla. Here presented a perfect opportunity to pry some information out of her mate’s brother, and she didn’t hesitate.

  “So Kabta, can you tell me why Kulla got thrown into the Underworld a few thousand years ago?” she asked. “He seems like the type who prides himself in being on the up and up, and it doesn’t make sense to me that he committed a crime heinous enough to be relegated to Hell.”

  Kabta’s whole demeanor change. His body stiffened and the skin around his mouth became white and pinched. “He hasn’t told you?” The words emerged clipped from the god’s mouth.

  “It hasn’t come up,” she admitted. “When we first met, four hundred years ago, Kulla couldn’t tell me about his god-ness, let alone give me details about his past. And this time around? Well, we’ve had other things on our minds.” Bee-Dee could feel the heat moving up her cheeks. Certainly the time they spent together should have been enough for him to share his history, but they’d been more interested in the taste and texture of each other’s bodies, even if Kulla hadn’t relented to “go all the way”. The long overdue conversation remained an oversight which she wished to remedy now, with his brother.

  “It’s easier to ask you,” Obedience coerced. “Sometimes getting Kulla to divulge things about his life is nearly impossible.”

  The witch expected to get a knowing smile out of the normally affable god, but if anything, he looked even more pained. She worried. “What is it?” she asked, laying a hand on his strong forearm. “He didn’t murder anybody, did he?” She swallowed.

  Kabta turned dark, unfathomable, wine-colored eyes to hers, and said the unthinkable. “No. But I did.”

  Bee-Dee controlled the urge to snap back from the god, and instead tightened her hold on his flexor. “If you did—” she paused. “—I’m sure you had a very good reason.”

  He wasn’t telling her, yet, why Kulla had been sent to Hell, but what he divulged must have something to do with it.

  “Yeah, you might say that.” He closed his eyes tightly and the lines of tension deepened. “I had a daughter once,” he admitted.

  Bee-Dee took in a breath. She knew this recollection wouldn’t be easy.

  “I married a human nearly two thousand years ago. One who was not my Chosen.” Kabta grimaced. “When they say that beauty is only skin deep, they were talking about Hartha. But to me, she seemed like everything I’d ever wanted, and I truly believed that eventually my amulet would light for her. So we married in a human ritual.”

  He continued. “As much as my family―Kulla and my parents―warned me, I would not be deterred. I brought her to the Overworld and showered her with everything that a true goddess would want. There was talk, even then, that she snuck out to see gods other than me. I didn’t believe it. I didn’t know that she had become obsessed with the idea of being immortal. And if I couldn’t give it to her, she would find someone who could. I had seriously thought that as long as I didn’t mind her aging, she wouldn’t either. My stupidity and arrogance is unforgivable.”

  Obedience thought of Addie-May, the witch/Lauernley/human hybrid; a woman stronger than most immortals she knew. The aging differences between she and Dorian had been too much to overcome, even for her. Bee-Dee turned her attention back to Kabta.

  “When Hartha became pregnant, I was ecstatic, and didn’t notice any signs that she felt differently. I worshiped her as she grew large, but to her, the ungainliness of her body kept her from ‘testing’ out other gods, and she resented it with every fiber of her being.”

  A minute tear trickled from the corner of one of Kabta’s closed eyes. Clearly his heart had never healed.

  “When our beautiful baby girl came into the world, I was sure the sullen attitude that had emerged during my wife’s pregnancy would disappear. And it did, to some degree. Her demeanor went back to being the bright, playful woman she had been before…with everyone except me and the baby. She treated me like dirt. And our daughter, although she took care of her needs, never enjoyed the gaze of a loving mother.” His lips trembled in remembrance

  Bee-Dee knew what he meant. A softness, an aura that normally surrounded a mother and child showed the deepest kind of love.

  “I went on a building assignment that left her alone with our daughter for three days. It was the first time I had been away. I worried, but I didn’t imagine that the worst could happen. When I got back―”

  Kabta bowed his head and Obedience thought he wouldn’t continue, the silence lasted so long. His voice eventually cracked to life, filled with pain. “When I got back, Hartha had disappeared, and our daughter lay still in her crib. Dead.”

  Obedience put a fist to her mouth to keep from crying out.

  “The doctors determined that she’d been left without nourishment for an undetermined amount of time.”

  “Oh Kabta, I’m so sorry.” Obedience stroked his arm. “It must have been awful.” A mild word for it, but the witch couldn’t imagine such anguish. “What did you do?”

  “What would anyone do?” He barked out a harsh laugh. “I hunted Hartha down.”

  His eyes opened and glowed with a malice the witch had never seen before.

  “She lay with a human male, one who acted consort to a very rich goddess; a neighbor whose husband Hartha coveted. Hartha had been sleeping with the mortal to wiggle her way into the household. She believed that this neighbor’s husband would light for her; make her immortal.”

  Kabta paused to gather his thoughts. “She never got a chance to find out.” Cold, satisfaction laced his words. “Out of my mind with anger and grief, I confronted them in bed together. I demanded the story, then bound them and dragged them both to the construction site where I’d been working.” His lips curled back in a sneer. “I bricked them up inside the unfinished temple.”

  His body deflated after that horrific statement. He ran a hand across his eyes, as if suddenly tired.

  When he started again, his voice sounded devoid of emotion. “They slowly starved to death,” he finished. “I made sure. And once the deed had been accomplished, I went to Kulla and told him everything. In my pain I relished whatever punishment came my way. I didn’t need to live any longer.” He laughed bitterly. “But my big brother saw it in a different light. If I’d known what he would do, I would have turned myself in before talking to him. But how could I have known? He told me to stay in the house while he contacted the authorities, and before I knew it, he was under arrest. He took the blame for what I had done.”

  Kabta’s face flushed now, with emotion. “I tried to stop him. I told everyone that I had committed the crime, but Kulla convinced them all that I remained crazy-mad with mourning for my daughter; that he, and he alone had the presence of mind to take vengeance.” Kabta shook, agitated and completely overcome with memories.

  “I remained angry with everyone. But especially him for exonerating me. Our last words for each other before he got banished to Hell were harsh. I called him terrible things and blamed him for leaving me above to deal with my emotions.” Tears poured freely down Kabta’s face. Bee-Dee had seen an entire gauntlet of pain from the god over the past half hour.

  “He left hearing my selfish words.” Kabta trembled, then subsided. “I lived with my guilt for centuries, waiting for a time when I could make amends, and
wouldn’t you know it? When I finally set eyes on Kulla again a few months ago, there were no recriminations from him. No hesitation from my big brother. He welcomed me with open arms and told me he was sorry.” Kabta shook his head, incredulously. “That he was sorry.”

  The god of bricks turned resolute eyes to Bee-Dee at that moment. “My brother is the finest and bravest man I know, and I will spend the rest of eternity showing him how I feel.” The god squared his shoulders and used his large biceps to wipe away the last vestige of moisture on his face. “I won’t leave the Underworld until I get him back.” He gave a decisive nod. “And when I do, nothing is going to put him here again.” His face took on a new strength. “I will make sure the two of you are mated, and that the rest of the gods find their Chosen. I will not let Kulla rot in Hell for eternity, no matter what it takes on my part.”

  Obedience knew what Kabta meant. He’d commit crimes again; against her in-name-only husband, against Beletseri, against anyone else who threatened his brother. She leaned up and kissed his rough cheek.

  “It won’t come to that.” She tried to hearten him. “We’ll make it through.” She crossed her fingers in a very un-witch-like way behind her back. And we’ll find your true Chosen while we’re looking for everyone else’s. Kabta deserved some happiness of his own.

  Obedience looked around the cavern. Such a good group. A capable group. If the gods had any chance of beating their deadline in September, these were the mortals and immortals to help. She looked to where Dorian and Flick were deep in conversation, a few of the blue guys had also gathered around. There stood a lot of power here; way more than the gods had ever counted on, certainly. They were a group that attracted like-minded individuals. Surely they would prevail.

  Bee-Dee, still intent on her own inner pep talk, flinched when Waylon snapped to attention.

  A smile broke across his lips.