by Marie Browne
‘Well, we might get to do that if you hung around long enough to talk to.’ I really was getting to the end of my tether. The whispering and the echoes had now joined forces, clashing to form a susurrating cacophony which felt as though it was turning your brain inside out.
‘Oh a backbone, how amazing!’ Lucifer gave me a wide smile. ‘I thought you didn’t want me around?’
I figured as I was going to be made into a battery anyway, I didn’t really have anything to lose. ‘You could get us out of here, couldn’t you?’
One of the guards looked over with a frown and I shut my mouth with a snap.
Lucifer put his arm around my shoulders and, leaning close, he hissed into my ear, ‘Yes, I could, but you lot brought me here – you dragged my host kicking and screaming out of his life and into Hell.’ He bumped my head hard with his own. ‘And now you have the audacity to ask me to save your worthless self?’ Stepping back he stared at me for a moment then ran a sharp fingernail over my sweating top lip. He held it up for me to look at. ‘People sweat for two reasons: heat and lies.’ He wiped his finger down his jeans and breathed out and watched his breath condense in the cold of the tunnel. ‘Hmm, not exactly hot in here, is it?’
I winced as blood and salt mixed.
‘What’s the matter, Joe? Don’t you have the courage of your convictions? Don’t you think you’re doing the “right” thing?’ He snorted a laugh; there was no humour in the sound. ‘Or, by some strange coincidence, are you just going along with what everyone else tells you to do?’
I twisted out from under his arm and glared back at him. ‘I was presented with two options – neither of them was great. I went with the one that –’
Lucifer cut across my little speech. ‘Suited you best?’
‘At least I did something.’ I was aware that the rest of the group were staring at us. Behind Lucifer’s back I could see Belial shaking his head and making “For fuck’s sake, shut up” motions. I ignored him. ‘Some of us didn’t have the opportunity to hide away like a child under the bed. Some of us had to live with the dice that were thrown.’
Belial gave a tiny groan and ran a shaky hand through his hair.
Lucifer just stared at me.
I stared back, arms folded defiantly. Leaning against the damp wall, there wasn’t anywhere I could go, so I might as well pretend I wasn’t about to need new underwear.
Lucifer’s lips whitened as he pressed them together. His almost black eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared.
I swallowed; there seemed to be a lump in my throat.
‘Maybe …’ The Lord of Hell spoke through gritted teeth, ‘… I am saving your arse despite being dragged around like someone’s toy and you’re just too stupid to notice.’ He took a step toward me and thrust his face forward until it was only inches away from my own. ‘And maybe,’ he went on quietly, ‘it’s not your arse I’m saving – there are other people here, you know? Believe it or not, the world does not revolve around you!’
As I opened my mouth Belial stepped around the angry ex-archangel. He stepped hard on my foot before turning to face Lucifer. ‘Is that what I think it is?’ he asked.
Lucifer peeled his gaze away from me and stared up at the ceiling as he listened to the begging whispers that drifted about us. Head cocked on one side, he walked over to the polished door. Ignoring the guards who were standing with their hands over their ears, the Father of Lies placed his left hand against the wood of the door and gave it a gentle stroke. ‘I’m here,’ he whispered. ‘Be free.’
The whispers grew in force and form; I could now feel them as they moved. A warm wind whirled round and round. Dust and small stones rose in a spiral, eventually coalescing into the hazy form of a teenage girl – pale and drawn. Her long hair, once blonde, hung lank and lifeless in a moist mat that stuck to her bony shoulders. I could see the bumps of her spine as it moved against the material of her featureless ivory dress.
She stared at her feet then, with a smile, walked over to Lucifer. Taking his face in her hands she gave him a kiss. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered. Then, still smiling, she collapsed back into dust and earth. All was still.
‘Well, come on then.’ Lucifer indicated the door.
One of the guards gingerly reached for the handle.
‘Oh, for crying out loud.’ Lucifer pulled him out of the way and, giving the heavy metal ring a twist, pushed open the door.
The guard dragged Carly’s head back and pressed his knife to her throat. A line of garnet beads appeared livid against her pale skin. Belial and I both stepped forward. Lucifer held up his hand. ‘Don’t bother threatening me.’ He stared at the guard who blinked the sweat out of his eyes. ‘Believe me when I tell you that I really couldn’t care less if you kill the lot of them.’ He stared at the man until he dropped his eyes and focused on his knife. ‘But if it’s that important to you,’ Lucifer carried on. ‘Please … after you.’ He swept into an elegant bow and gestured for the man to precede him through the door. He remained in this bowed position as we all walked through.
‘Liar, liar, pants on fire!’ Una sang up at him as she skipped past, ducking beneath his lowered head.
For just a moment I was sure I saw the Morning Star break into a small smile.
As we began climbing the stone steps toward the noisy crowd I turned back to him. ‘What was that about with the door?’
Lucifer glowered at me for a moment and then in one of those mercurial mood swings of his gave me a big grin. ‘Have you heard of the wood of suicides?’ he asked.
I nodded. ‘Galgaliel said something about it being chopped down?’
‘Well, apart from being poorly named, I created that wood,’ he explained. ‘It was so long ago and an odd act of kindness.’ He snorted. ‘Now you can see what a waste of time that was. It really is true that no good deed ever goes unpunished.’
‘You have an odd idea of kindness.’ I concentrated on climbing the slippery stone steps. ‘How can it be kind to turn people into trees?’
Lucifer laughed. ‘People who want to commit suicide are racked with so many emotions.’ He pondered for a moment then went on. ‘Guilt because they know they’ll hurt their families, feelings of failure and of everything being pointless, terrible feelings of being trapped. Then there are all the reasons they want to end it – that they can’t live up to other people’s expectations. Depression, illnesses like schizophrenia – it’s really difficult to deny those voices, you know. Some of them don’t want to die but they really can’t cope with living. So the wood offered them a safe halfway environment; somewhere to exist between the states of living and dead. Those feelings don’t just go away, you know – they have to be faced, and for some that can take a very long time.’
He climbed in silence for a moment. ‘That young girl attempted to starve herself to death, just because she felt it would make her prettier which, in turn, might make people accept some of her other stranger gifts. These people weren’t sinners – they were the way they were because of what we did. But it was God’s will that if they actually succeeded in killing themselves they’d be denied Heaven.’ He bit his lip. ‘I didn’t manage to get them all. There were some that managed to do what they set out to do. But my tiny forest was made from those that were going to succeed but hadn’t managed yet. Forcibly immobilised for a period of time, they would have as long as they needed to work it all out. Some stayed as trees for hundreds of years, some came to terms with their lot and fell with the winter storms, but they were all at peace.’ His voice became harder. ‘But none of them – not one – were destined to become furniture, or doors or firewood.’
‘Oh.’ I balked at the idea of a living door, its body mangled and chopped up then reformed into something that suited others – something that had a use. It was the ultimate rape and violation. In a strange sort of way it was exactly what had plagued them while they’d been alive, but in these forms they really were trapped – and for ever.
As I stepped out thro
ugh the hole I took a deep breath of the clean night air and looked around. Hundreds of faces stared back at me; none of them looked happy.
‘Don’t say anything,’ Lucifer warned. ‘Just look stupid.’ He paused for a moment, peered at me then grinned. ‘Or more stupid,’ he amended.
‘These people came to take what we have.’ The strong voice of a man carried over the crowd. ‘They came to steal and to destroy. They don’t want us to have a working government and they don’t want us trading with the outside world. They want to take us back to the dark ages.’ He paused for a moment to let that sink in. ‘What should we do with these people?’
Belial shook his head. ‘Andromalius – he always could talk a good fucking fight.’
‘Send them out! Send them out!’ The chants of the crowd became clearer as the guards pushed us along the path toward a huge metal gate.
‘Do we want them here?’ Rahab called out.
‘No!’ The crowd roared back.
‘Do we send a clear message to those who would try to take our hard-won liberty away?’
‘Yes!’ The crowd was completely with the speaker. As we walked through the crowd, some reached out and slapped at us or pushed us. Jeering faces and braying mouths covered us with spittle and insults.
I waited for Lucifer to do something destructive, but he just sauntered along with a slight smile on his face. He could have been strolling along a beach at sunset.
Before us, two guards hauled on the handles of the great door. It swung outwards on silent hinges. Through the open gateway I could see a huge empty expanse.
I took a good look around as I was prodded forward. Carved from what appeared to be olive-green glass, I could understand why they called it the bowl. There were no edges or straight lines and the walls curved high above our heads. The illusion that it was leaning toward us was overwhelming. A deep humming tickled my toes and seemed to push upward through my calves. My whole body seemed to vibrate and I felt more than a little nauseous.
Carly was finally released as her captors backed toward the gate. She scuttled over to my side, pulling the hood of her grey sweatshirt over her head as she ran.
I crushed her into my chest and, burying my face in her neck, took the time to breathe in her smell. Reaching up I pushed the hood from her head and ran my fingers through her shorn locks. It looked as though someone had hacked it off with a knife; some of it was less than a couple of centimetres, while other strands were longer. I smiled at her then leant down and kissed her. ‘You look like an elf,’ I said. ‘I like it.’
She kissed me with trembling lips, then, pulling away, she looked down at the ground. ‘I know elves,’ she said. ‘I don’t think that’s the compliment you think it is.’ Sniffing, she gave me a watery smile then pulled her hood up again.
I wanted more time with her but a deep, slow drumbeat began to guide the vibrations. The gate opened again and the five council members paraded through the inside of the huge crystal. They positioned themselves at equal points around the perimeter, standing on five black stone discs that formed the points of a pentacle that had been deeply carved into the crystal floor.
Andromalius raised his hands and began to chant. I couldn’t make out any words but it seemed to be a recurring set of syllables that one by one the others took up, repeating the same nonsense sounds over and over to the beat of the drum.
‘What was that?’ Parity jumped slightly and stared at her feet.
We all looked into the glass floor. Flashes of green-white light seemed to swirl and twist within the crystal. It followed the valleys and hills that were naturally part of the stone, exploding outward in balls of radiance at odd intervals. Some of the lights danced through the walls, backlighting the chanting council members turning them into silhouettes. I felt my legs begin to shake and not just from the vibrations.
I tried to see where it was all emanating from. The lights seemed to flash from nowhere but every time the crystal lit up I could see darkened patches – small human shapes that, like flies in amber, were held deep within the crystal heart. There was layer upon layer of them – tiny used-up husks. That well-known battery rabbit would have cried and changed its career.
Lucifer put a hand on my shoulder. ‘Do you trust me?’ he shouted above the rising wind and the thundering drums.
‘No!’ I pushed his hand away. ‘I really can’t emphasise enough how much I absolutely do not trust you.’
He threw his head back and laughed. ‘Probably wise,’ he replied. His now almost completely white hair began to stand away from his head. I heard Una laugh. ‘We need to stand in a circle.’ He made motions with his hands as he tried to get his point across over the strengthening wind and vibrations that buffeted our little group.
‘Why?’ I bellowed back.
‘Joe.’ He studied me for a moment then shouted into my face. ‘You used to trust me, you used to agree with me and you used to just take it for granted that I would never let you down.’ He stepped forward and grabbed my shoulders. ‘I know you don’t remember, but you just have to do as I say.’ He stared at me. ‘Come on, what have you got to lose right now?’
I wanted to shout “No”. I wanted to push him away. The wind had now risen to a howling gale and we huddled together, trying to brace ourselves, one against another in an effort to stop ourselves tumbling away across the crystal bowl. Beneath our feet, the lights had now settled into a blanket glow which pulsed with a heartbeat rhythm. As I struggled with my thoughts the glow reached the top of the bowl and shot into the sky, blocking out the strange array of stars.
‘I just want to give them exactly what they’re attempting to steal.’ Lucifer, hidden in the middle of us, sneaked a furtive glance at the chanting figures who had now worked themselves into almost as great a frenzy as the wind they summoned. ‘Please.’ He clenched his fist. ‘I want this to stop as much as you do and, more to the point, Belial needs this to stop. He needs to succeed at something – especially something that saves children.’
Well, whatever he wanted to do, it certainly couldn’t be much worse than what the council had planned. With a quick nod I held both hands out and grasped those next to me. Carly gripped my fingers hard, her eyes closed in a pale, unhappy face.
Lucifer physically manoeuvred Farr into the very centre of circle, where he stood alone and small. Lucifer held his shoulders and gave the frightened man a small shake. ‘Bring it all back,’ Lucifer shouted at him. ‘Go as deep and as old as you can and see what you find – then bring it back.’ The Lord of Lies gave the quaking young necromancer an encouraging squeeze. ‘You don’t have any restraints any more. Just let it all out.’
Farr swallowed convulsively then, licking his lips, he gave a single tiny nod.
With a final glance at the chanting council members, Lucifer positioned himself, Belial and Galgaliel at the very outer edge of the group. ‘They want our life force?’ he screamed above the howling wind and the monotonous chanting. ‘Let’s give them what they want!’
All three angels spread their wings. Transforming into full Host they stretched and rippled. The most perfect of forms, it was so easy to see that humans were but a poor replica of these incredibly beautiful beings, like a child’s drawing next to a Van Gogh. So beautiful they took your breath away. The glow from the bowl highlighted sculpted naked bodies and shining wings that blurred with heat and power: Belial, purple and green tinged like a raven; Galgaliel, bronze and cream; and Lucifer, so dark that even the light seemed to spurn him giving him a dark aura. Each angel rose above us, face turned towards the heavens, mouths open in silent screams. Slowly joining wing tip to wing tip, they created a multi-toned barrier. Belial laid his hands on both mine and Carly’s shoulders, Galgaliel held onto Parity. Lucifer loomed behind Una, his long, elegant hands heavy on her shoulders. She gave a delighted giggle. Then they began to draw energy.
Lucifer looked over at Farr who was standing alone, white faced and panicked in the centre of the circle. ‘Now, Farr!’ Luci
fer bellowed.
Farr thinned his lips, stopped shaking, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, raised his hands and began a deep, commanding chant of his own. So totally at odds with that coming from the council, it sent ripples and shudders through the crystal beneath our feet as the stone was bombarded by different tones.
It was an odd feeling, like the sinking feeling of bare feet in sand as the tide tries to take you away. It was a sucking, drawing sensation. None of this really described the loss of life force we were experiencing, but it was the best I could come up with.
Strands of palest pink were pulled from each of us to form a twisted rope that thickened and danced in the centre of the circle. It was like watching a bellydancer sensuously swaying and moving; it gyrated as more and more of our life was forced into the column.
Farr, locked within his chant, didn’t even notice that he was standing in the middle of a sparkling column of twisting, humming energy but his voice became deeper, more demanding. Whatever he was reaching out to, he wasn’t asking it to obey – he was damn well telling it.
From the sides of the bowl, the reedy chanting of the councillors faltered then stopped as they finally noticed that things were suddenly horribly awry. Cracks appeared beneath our feet, running quietly throughout the bowl. In the odd silences that occurred between Farr’s deep chanting and the howling gusts of wind, you could hear tiny pops and cracks as the stressed crystal began to give way under the almost unimaginable pressure of the energies forcing their way into it.
It seemed as though we had stood there for hours, each of us becoming weaker as Lucifer and the other angels used us up. I struggled to turn my head to look at Carly. Huge shadows had appeared beneath her glazed eyes and she shook with the rigours of one who was on the point of collapse.