Netherworld

by Lisa Morton

  And then the thing stepped out from behind a concealing tomb, and Diana couldn’t restrain a harsh, single cry, half-laughter and half-gasp.

  It was a living skeleton, but was missing its lower half; it balanced on two arms and a rib cage, with the spinal column dragging behind it like an obscene tail. A few bits of sinew or moss clung to it here and there, and the skull still bore wild strands of hair and—impossibly—two eyeballs, rolling in their fleshless sockets.

  The thing goggled at them, and Diana had the impression that not only was it dead, but also quite mad.

  “What’re yeh starin’ at?” it demanded in a raspy, high voice, tinged with Cockney accent.

  They were at a loss for an answer. Mina meowed questioningly.

  The thing yattered its jaws at them, making a clacking sound. “Well, don’t just stand there. Yeh haven’t much farther t’ go, y’know. C’mon….” It turned and began trotting along the path, moving surprisingly well on its two arms.

  Diana and Yi-kin shared a quick glance, then Diana shrugged. “Ngoh dei hui ma.”

  They set off after the thing, which glanced back to make sure they were following, and then slowed down to walk alongside them. “Yeh don’t need to worry ‘bout me, none, I can’t hurt yeh…less you step off the path.” The thing suddenly screeched laughter, and the sound caused them both to wince.

  “Chi-sin,” muttered Yi-kin, and Diana nodded.

  Crazy, indeed.

  “Besides,” their new companion went on in that grating voice, “there’s much worse’n me waitin’ fer yeh ahead. ‘Fact, I daresay yeh’ll be missin’ ol’ Howie afore this day’s done.”

  “Howie?!” Diana said, with a single laugh, “your name is Howie?!”

  “Well, what’d yeh expect? What’s wrong with Howie, anyway?”

  “Nothing,” Diana conceded.

  “Oh, I know,” the half-monster went on, “yeh thought it’d be somethin’ scary, like Asmodeus or somethin’….”

  Trying not to sound too interested, Diana asked, “Oh, do you know Asmodeus?”

  “’Course I know ‘im! We’re like this—” Howie tried to hold up a hand with two bony fingers joined together, but had to cut the gesture short when he nearly toppled over.

  “So, what’s he like?”

  Howie said, “Oh, he’s a fearsome lord, he is. The two’a yeh are gonna be nice lil’ appetizers for ‘im! He’ll crunch yeh up a’tween his teeth like yeh was just a handful’a nuts—”

  Yi-kin stepped forward angrily, but caught a glance from Diana and restrained himself. She turned back to Howie, still trying to maintain a nonchalance about the conversation. “Maybe…or maybe not. I wonder if he knows about the little surprise we have planned for him.”

  Howie stopped, balanced on his hands, and turned to eye her, his eyes whirling madly in the sockets. “’Little surprise’?”

  “Oh yes, quite,” Diana said, then looked to Yi-kin for confirmation.

  He nodded at her, then turned to Howie. “We not come here to die. We come to kill Asmodeus.”

  “And just how will yeh do that?” asked Howie, his head thrust forward as if ears still existed to catch the sound.

  “First,” Diana said, taking her gamble, “we’ll lure him to one of the other areas of the Netherworld, where time moves differently.”

  Howie actually gasped. “Yeh know ‘bout that?!”

  Diana smiled and turned to see Yi-kin, looking puzzled. “Good news for us, Yi-kin: It would seem my suspicion was right, and that in this area of the Netherworld time moves as it does in our world.”

  Yi-kin considered, then said, “So when we come back it is not twenty years later?”

  “Ngaam ngaam.”

  Howie began to bounce angrily on his fingers, causing his bones to bang together in an especially noisy way. “Yeh tricked me! Yeh didn’t really know that, did yeh?”

  “I guessed,” Diana said, then started on her way again.

  Howie clattered along beside her, furious now. “Mark my words, miss, yeh’ll regret trickin’ Howie, yeh will! I’ve got friends here, powerful friends, they’ll see to it that yeh not leave this graveyard alive. Wait’ll yeh meet Thaloc—he’ll rip yer flesh apart and eat yer souls—”

  Diana abruptly stopped, and Yi-kin was so distracted he nearly ran into her. “What—?” he began, then saw the reason she balked.

  The path ahead of them forked.

  The divergent paths appeared identical. One wound off to the left, through more gravestones and tombs; the other to the right, through another stand of tall, grasping trees.

  “Which way?” Yi-kin asked.

  Diana nodded. “Which way indeed?”

  Howie danced back and forth now, gleeful. “Yeh can’t figger it out, can yeh? Both ways could be right, or one could be a trap, it could lead to certain death! I know which is which but I’ll not tell—!” He howled more riotous laughter.

  Diana tried to block the noise out to concentrate. The fork itself was very plain, and the paths looked identical to her.

  “We can try one way, and if it is not good we come back and try other way,” Yi-kin suggested.

  “Maybe,” Diana muttered.

  Howie interrupted her thoughts again. “Or you could pick the wrong way and and step off the path!”

  “M ho gong!” Yi-kin shouted at the grotesque little creature, but Howie only screeched with delight.

  Diana was still contemplating when Yi-kin started to step around her. “I try left path, you wait here—”

  “No!” Diana grabbed his arm, and he stopped, then watched as she bent down and retrieved two rocks from the path beneath their feet. She tossed the first rock at the right-hand path, and it landed with a slight clatter as it bounced off the other pebbles on the path.

  “Oh, we’re down to throwin’ rocks now, are we?” Howie taunted.

  Ignoring him, Diana aimed carefully and tossed the remaining rock at the other path.

  It landed not with a reassuring clatter, but a splash. Suddenly the greenish rocks of the false path vanished, and they saw instead a dark green swamp, of liquid that bubbled slightly and gave off a lowlying noxious gas.

  “Nooo! Damnation!” Howie cried out, shaking with agitation. “Damn yeh, woman, yer good, I’ll admit that. But yeh’ll not get past Thaloc!”

  Diana exchanged a quick look with Yi-kin, who was clearly shaken by the understanding that he’d come dangerously close to stepping into that lethal pool. Then she turned and started off down the right-hand path, following it into the stand of trees.

  Howie, unable to cross either the path or the swamp, called after them, “Yer deaths’ll be slow an’ painful, just like yer William, he’s still dyin’—”

  Diana abruptly stopped where the dead branches hung just overhead. She reached up to break one off, and Yi-kin stepped up to help. Together they snapped off a sturdy six-foot length as thick as an arm.

  “That’s right, I’ve seen yer William, I have, he’s suffered the tortures of the damned, and yeh’ll be joinin’ him soon, both of yeh, and that animal, too—”

  Diana hefted the branch and walked back to Howie resolutely. “What did you say?” she demanded.

  The mad little monster screamed back at her, “Yeh’ll die, just like that bastard husband’a yers—”

  That’s when Diana swung the branch. It connected with Howie and shattered him, sending shards flying in every direction. His skull landed in the middle of the path a few feet away, facing Diana, but continued to rebuke her: “The lord Asmodeus has something really special in store fer yeh, m’lady, oh yessss—”

  She brought the branch down on the skull. Twice. Three times. Until it was pulverized into a fine white powder. A silent powder.

  Satisfied, she tossed the branch aside, and returned to Yi-kin, who was staring at her appreciatively. “Ho yeh,” he commended.

  “He should never have mentioned William.”

  Sometime later, with no end of the necropolis yet in sight,
they decided to take a break. At least the horrifying sight and reek of the mangled bodies was behind them, and so they tried to strengthen themselves with a small repast of bread, salt beef and tea. Diana shared the beef with Mina, who nestled in her lap and ate but remained alert.

  They were just finishing the meal when an unexpected voice called her name.

  It was Stephen.

  She leapt to her feet and spun around, finally spotting him emerging from the shadow of a mausoleum a dozen feet to the right of the path. “Stephen—!” She had to restrain herself from running to him.

  He stepped into the moonlight, but came no closer. “I’m pleased that you’ve made it this far. But then, I knew you would.”

  “I don’t understand—I thought you said you couldn’t cross over.”

  Stephen extended one arm to her. “It was very difficult to arrange, but necessary. I’ve come to take you back.”

  Diana frowned. “Back? I don’t understand….”

  “We know what Asmodeus is planning, and you won’t survive it. Now just take my hand, and I can return us to your world.”

  Diana found herself desperately wanting to step forward, to leave this madness behind, this place of chattering, lunatic skulls and blood-chilling spirits, to return to the peace and safety of her home. Her arm came up, reaching towards him, leading her forward….

  And then Yi-kin was beside her, also staring at the beckoning figure. “Mui mui?” he asked.

  Diana’s thoughts seemed hazy somehow, and it took a few seconds for that phrase to work through her consciousness. Mui mui…but that meant…older sister….

  “Yi-kin, that’s not your sister,” she told him, “it’s Stephen.”

  “No, it’s mui mui—she says she can bring us home.”

  He stepped forward, reaching out, believing.

  Diana looked away from Yi-kin, and plainly saw Stephen, beckoning her with tender concern, calling her forward. “Asmodeus is coming for you even now, Diana. Hurry—take my hand so we can leave here now—”

  She was about to step forward, she wanted so badly to go with him, be with him—

  —and then a paralyzing shriek filled the air, and something hurtled past them both.

  That something was Mina. The feline’s leap carried her forward half the distance to Stephen/mui mui, and one more leap brought her into clawing, screeching contact. As Diana stood dazed, about to step onto the ground beyond the path, she saw Stephen’s image melt away, and instead Mina fought a winged, cat-headed demon that hissed and slashed at her with lion-sized paws. Mina dodged the blows and leapt away from the creature, running off into the necropolis.

  “Mina!”

  “M ho!” warned Yi-kin as he grabbed Diana, pulling her back from the path’s edge.

  The cat-headed demon whirled and quickly took flight, its wings propelling it up and away over the graves, looking for its tiny assailant, who had vanished.

  Diana struggled in Yi-kin’s grip. “We have to get her!”

  “Miss Diana, we cannot. Mina is gone!”

  Diana struggled briefly, weakening, then fell back, drained, fighting back tears.

  Yi-kin held her arm, without restraint, only shared grief. “Mina save us,” he said softly.

  Diana exclaimed with realization. “Thaloc!”

  Yi-kin thought briefly, then agreed, “That is name gwai yeh say.”

  Nodding, Diana chided herself. “Damn it, I should have remembered earlier. Thaloc was an ancient Egyptian shapeshifter. I saw Stephen, but you saw your older sister. It almost lured us off the path. It would have, if Mina hadn’t….”

  She trailed off, unable to continue.

  Yi-kin waited.

  Slowly, Diana stood, and Yi-kin released his grip on her, stepping back, slightly unnerved at the set of her jaw, her hooded eyes. He’d never seen this level of fury in her before.

  “It’s time for us to meet Asmodeus,” was all she said, before striding off down the path, and it didn’t escape Yi-kin’s notice that her hands were now clenched into fists.

  And so they finally came to the end of the necropolis.

  Chapter XXIX

  ?

  The Netherworld

  The boundary of the necropolis was a high stone wall (although the moon’s bilious light made it hard to guess its real height, Diana estimated one hundred feet) which blocked any view of whatever might lay beyond it. At first there didn’t seem to be any way past, but finally the path rounded a last tomb and they saw a small, man-sized gateway set into the base of the wall, marking the terminus of their path.

  As they approached the exit, Diana noticed it was barred by a gate made of impossibly long bones. She was just wondering if getting past the gate would be the final puzzle when a clawed hand gripped it from the other side and pulled it open. She and Yi-kin paused twenty feet away, waiting for some new vision of horror, when a familiar voice called out, “What, not ready to leave the graveyard yet?”

  Diana led the way and offered Hob a wan smile as she saw the demon holding the gate to let them through.

  Diana looked past him and saw that the area on this side of the wall was completely enshrouded in a thick, billowing fog, one that so far obscured any other details. The vapor had a rank smell, of rotting filth and metal slag and chemicals, and Hob’s two human charges found themselves covering their noses with handkerchiefs, trying to block out as much of the nauseating stench as possible.

  “I should have known,” she said.

  “As I suppose I should have,” Hob answered, rattling the gate closed behind Yi-kin. “I really didn’t believe you’d make it.”

  “You do not know us,” Yi-kin said.

  Hob glanced at him, before turning back to eye Diana. “Apparently not. Yet…weren’t you three strong earlier? Your loathesome little pet seems to have deserted you.”

  Anger rushed through Diana, hot and sharp, driving out all other emotions for a moment. She felt no fear of this demonic thing, only outrage at its taunting tone. She took a step towards it, her limbs stiff as if built around steel rods, and she gave Hob a baleful stare that caused even the powerful, winged monster to back away one step. “I’ve slain demons before, Hob. Would you like me to demonstrate how?”

  Her fingers closed on the silver dagger strapped to her belt.

  Hob saw the movement, and for an instant there was a gratifying flash of bright yellow fear in his eyes. Then he bared his great fangs and declined, “Normally I’d welcome the challenge, but at the moment I’m acting under the specific instructions of Asmodeus, and his wrath is not one I wish to incur.”

  Diana didn’t realize she was breathing hard until she felt Yi-kin’s gentle touch on her shoulder, bringing her back. “Miss Diana,” he whispered, leaning in close so only she could hear, “this gwai yeh will take us to Asmodeus. Then we will kill both.”

  The thought brought a grim pleasure to her and she let herself relax. “Yes,” was all she could say.

  With the situation thus defused, Robin stepped back and gestured widely. “Very good, then. The Lord Asmodeus is waiting.”

  Sounds began to filter through the haze, and they weren’t happy ones: There were deep rumblings and rhythmic poundings, and Diana could only guess at some vast machinery…although why the Netherworld would require machines was something she couldn’t begin to guess at. And then the other sounds: Piteous whimpers and groans. Sobbings. Cries of pain.

  All very young.

  “Hob, what is this place?” Diana asked, still trying to see anything through the mustard-hued vapors.

  “All part of the Lord’s grounds,” was all he would answer.

  As the noise changed slightly around them, Diana realized they had entered either an enclosure or a narrow passageway of some sort. A brightening glow overhead resolved itself into a streetlamp, one strangely similar to those found on any large city street, but not powered by gas; it gave off a steady glow, without trace of flicker. Diana’s left foot suddenly slipped in something, and
she looked down, disgusted to see she’d trod in a large pile of decaying rubbish—unrecognizable food and printed cartons of some unknown material all leaked foul liquids onto the paved ground.

  They were in a city.

  And now the city’s dwellers began to appear: They were human, but so drained and glassy-eyed they seemed more like the wraiths Diana had seen a year before in the Hertfordshire cemetery. Men and women plodded along the grimy, reeking street, their eyes hollow, their footsteps slow and heavy. Some were horribly thin, their threadbare clothing doing little to disguise their emaciated forms; others were grotesquely fat but just as lifeless, as if the quantities of food they’d consumed had done nothing to nourish them.

  Yi-kin sidestepped a woman with the unlined face of early adulthood, but the stooped posture and limp, sparse hair of someone elderly. “They do not see us,” he muttered.

  Diana nodded. At least these adults made no sound; somewhere nearby, she could hear the sounds of children in torment.

  Robin led them through a doorway, and the noxious fumes thinned slightly, parting enough so that they could see they were in a cavernous building of some sort. The booming and grinding sounds were heavier now—nearly deafening—but not loud enough to drown out the children.

  And then Diana saw them:

  They were workers. They stood on either side of some sort of mechanical moving belt, applying small pieces to large, intricate-looking items that could only be guns of some sort. But it wasn’t the weapons that held Diana’s attention—it was the horrifying young laborers.

  Some looked to be as small as five or six years of age; the oldest couldn’t have been past mid-teens. They stood apathetically, going through their motions by rote. Some couldn’t restrain cries of pain as they worked. Most were covered with sores, bruises, festering wounds. A few were missing limbs. One dropped to the ground, dead or unconscious, as Diana watched.

  Suddenly, she understood. And felt faint herself.

  “Oh my god.”

  She closed her eyes to the sight of the pathetic children, and Yi-kin stepped beside her, perplexed. “Mat yeh a?”