The flickering light illuminated two hooved, hairy legs. The legs ran up into a broad human torso. The torso had the head of a bull, and one of its horns had been broken off. Behind it, in the shadows of the flickering torchlight, were the red, slinking forms of dyitzu. A hoofstep echoed again down the chamber, along with the hushed sounds of dyitzu breath and the noise of their claws scratching across the stone.
Johnny shook Dakota. “Wake up! Wake up!”
Dakota groaned.
“Time to go!” Avery shouted as he turned and ran.
“Dakota, so help me God, brother, you have got to move!” Johnny screamed.
Dakota sat up putting a hand to his head.
“If you don’t move right now, we’re going to die.” Johnny reached down and dragged him to his feet. “Move!”
Dakota ran.
Martin’s boots felt heavier than usual as he approached Hidalgo’s home.
The hermit lived in a cave he’d blocked off with a wall of stacked woodstone planks. It had a single window with a row of iron bars that guarded a pair of closed woodstone shutters. Skulls of varying types, both human and devil, formed a line near where the woodstone wall met hellstone.
Martin did not feel comfortable asking Hidalgo to help him again, but he was too afraid to enter the Carrion without the man. With Aaron, Galen, and Rick gone, Hidalgo might be the single best hunter left in the area. The only problem was that Hidalgo was not a member of Harpsborough, so Martin could not simply order him to go. Even worse, Martin already owed the hermit a favor for his help in fighting the corpsemen and the Kyle-thing.
Martin stepped reluctantly onto a mat made of a coiled sinfruit vine and knocked on the door. “Hidalgo?”
“I be,” Hidalgo’s raspy voice answered.
“Hidalgo, I’ve come to thank you for your help against the corpsemen.”
The door opened. Hidalgo stood in the doorway, his dreadlocks loose about his shoulders, his long arms open wide. “I be thanking you for your thanks. But Martin, you thanking me for something I be glad to do.”
“And I’ve come to ask for your help again.”
Hidalgo’s mouth broke into a wide smile. “You be needing me, Martin? They not make you famous leader?”
Martin sighed. “I need you. They’re sending me into the Carrion.”
Hidalgo’s grin disappeared. “Harpsborough, they can’t be sending you there. They be sending Galen into the Carrion, and he never come back. You be new, Martin. You be very new. You know I coming from there with Klein and Charlie and Severn and Michael.”
“That hole is open, Hidalgo. I’ve never been to the Carrion, but I know there are things in there we can’t fight. And we can’t close that hole until we make sure the noise won’t draw one of those things to us.”
Hidalgo looked angry. “I be telling Hidalgo that he never be going back there. I be saying this many years. Never. Never. Never.”
“I’m scared, Hidalgo,” Martin admitted. “I’m fucking terrified. I’ll be leading a team of people who’ve never seen the Carrion. They’ve never had to face it. They don’t know what’s in there. I don’t either. My girlfriend is so scared shitless that I might die, she won’t even talk to me.”
The beads in Hidalgo’s dreadlocks rattled as he nodded his head. “But Martin, you be coming to me to ask me to be doing you favor. You a fool, Martin. You a fool. I live closer to the hole than Harpsborough. Martin, you be filling that hole, you be doing me a favor. I help you.”
Thank the ever loving Christ.
Martin let out a long breath. “Thank you. Thank you so much, Hidalgo. We won’t go in far. We’re just going to scout.”
Martin felt his stomach grumble. He’d forgone eating and given his food to Katie. It was the least he could do for putting her through all this.
“You be right, Martin man. We not be going in far. We not being able to, even if try.”
“We won’t try,” Martin assured him. “I’ll be back with my team.”
Martin turned around to leave, but one of Hidalgo’s long arms reached out and grabbed him. Martin turned around and was surprised to see how close Hidalgo’s face was to his. He was staring into large, white, bloodshot eyes.
“Your girlfriend,” Hidalgo said. “You be going to her, and telling her goodbye. You be making things so she is okay when you dead. Understand?”
Martin froze, his mouth hanging open.
“Understand?” Hidalgo demanded.
“Yes,” Martin said. “I understand.”
Johnny ran headlong into the pitch black tunnel. His shin collided with a jutting rock. He reeled through the darkness, his shoulder skimming against the wall to his right—but there was no time to stop and catch his balance.
He tripped again, falling headlong over Dakota’s grunting form. Johnny broke his fall with his forearms and then sprang back to his feet. He reached out, catching hold of some part of Dakota’s clothing. With a heave, Johnny pulled the man to his feet.
Avery’s voice called back at them from further up the tunnel. “Run run run!”
Suddenly the tunnel was lit by a dim, ruddy glow. Johnny saw the aqueduct’s metal pipe just inches to the right of his face. Skull shaped stones glared at him.
The light was from dyitzu fire. Johnny ducked as the fireball rushed over his head.
“Dakota!” Johnny screamed. “Move it!”
The fireball nicked the pipe and splattered across the corridor in front of him. Dakota tried to stop, but Johnny pulled him through the fire. The intensity of the firelight had half blinded Johnny, and its smoke filled his lungs.
He and Dakota coughed as they sprinted forward.
Avery had climbed up the tunnel’s exit ladder and was busily turning the wheel which would unlock the exit hatch.
“Wrong way, Avery!” Johnny shouted. “You’re turning it the wrong way!”
“Shit!”
Avery frantically spun the wheel in the other direction. He shouted in frustration, ramming his shoulder up into the hatch to see if it was open. He fell back down a rung and redoubled his efforts.
Johnny fired his shotgun back down the corridor. Dakota leaned against a wall and vomited.
Jesus, he’s in bad shape.
Avery rammed his shoulder up into the hatch again, and this time it burst open. “Got it!” He shot up out of the tunnel.
Johnny fired another shell with one hand, the kick knocking his shotgun out of his grasp. The weapon went spinning across the floor as Johnny shoved Dakota to the ladder. Avery pulled him up.
Johnny looked to the charging Minotaur and the army of dyitzu which followed him.
I’m going to make it!
Johnny ducked a pair of dyitzu fireballs and started climbing. Another fireball hit him in the side. It knocked the breath out of him and he nearly lost his grip. Avery reached down and grabbed his forearm. Johnny’s shirt was on fire.
The beat of the cloven hooves increased in intensity. Fear of the Minotaur and Avery’s strength powered Johnny upward.
The chamber they found themselves in was covered in mist. It was dark, but they were illuminated by flashes of blue light coming from down one corridor.
Avery slammed the hatch shut. Johnny threw himself down, rolling across the stone floor to try and smother the flames. The roll only lessened the fire a little, but Dakota and Avery were already running for an exit, so he chased after them, beating at the remaining tongues of flame which licked up at his face while he ran.
Avery was leading them away from the flashes of light, away from the Erebus.
Dakota’s strides were uneven and lurching, as if he’d lost either his balance or his vision.
“Galen!” the warrior’s voice announced from beyond the corridor ahead of them.
Thank God.
“It’s us!” Johnny shouted.
Galen, Aaron, Turi and Kelly were in the next room.
“Minotaur!” Avery warned as the two groups came together.
Galen ha
d already turned around. “Follow me!”
Together they ran, following Galen through the maze of Carrion corridors.
“Other way!” Galen shouted as he burst back into the chamber.
He was followed by half a dozen dyitzu fireballs.
Arturus pivoted on one foot, leveling his pistol behind him at the exit. He ran after his father, gunning down the first dyitzu that came into their room. A second entered, and Arturus took aim, but Dakota’s lurching form blocked his line of fire.
“He’s herding us!” Aaron shouted as he and Arturus ran into the next chamber.
The pockmarked grey surface of the solidified magma lake blurred under Arturus’ feet. The stone ripples threatened to trip him as he ran, and he found himself looking down as often as he looked over his shoulder towards his pursuers.
“He’s driving us towards the city,” Galen said.
“Any chance we can survive that?” Aaron shouted back.
“No.”
Arturus saw another pair of dyitzu across a one hundred foot chamber. He didn’t even bother trying to shoot them. One got off a fireball, but it sailed behind Johnny. Then Galen led them rushing into another room.
“Johnny’s not looking good,” Kelly reported.
Kelly was right, Johnny seemed almost as bad off as Dakota. What remained of his shirt was smoking. Some of the cloth had been burnt into his skin. He looked like he was close to shock.
Their next room had no exits along the ground. The molten stone had poured into this room from a chute that was perhaps fifteen feet above them. A solidified stone waterfall descended from it providing a way to climb up into it.
“Up up up!” Galen shouted.
Aaron and Turi tried first. The stone felt odd under his fingertips, and he was afraid that his grip might slip, but the climb was easy, nonetheless. Arturus turned around and helped Aaron crest the solidified stone waterfall.
Johnny and Dakota came next, with Avery trying to push Dakota up from below.
Galen took off his pack and threw it upwards. Arturus caught it, confused as to why his father would have done such a thing—then the Minotaur entered the chamber.
Its red eyes were wide with anger. Sweat made the thing’s grey skin glisten. Its veined muscles rippled as it walked towards them.
“Climb!” Galen ordered.
The Minotaur snorted as Arturus’ father advanced on the beast.
Arturus and Aaron reached down, grabbing Johnny’s arms and then yanking him up between them. They reached down again for Dakota, but he was having trouble. Avery had stopped pushing him and was trying to climb around. Kelly was just beneath them on the wall.
Galen threw an overhand right which caught the eight foot tall Minotaur on its snout. The smack of the blow reverberated across the room. Arturus doubted that, had the beast been human, it would have survived the blow. As it was, the Minotaur took a step back. Galen followed his punch in, pushing the massive bullman back into the wall and throwing knees at the thing’s hairy legs. The Minotaur stomped down with its hooves. Galen moved his feet away from the crushing hooves, but doing so disturbed his balance, and the beast was able to push him away.
Kelly had climbed higher than Dakota and was trying to pull him up by his collar. Finally Aaron was able to grab him, though Dakota’s wrist was just out of Arturus’ reach.
“Climb!” Kelly screamed.
Finally Arturus got a hand on him. He and Aaron pulled Dakota up.
Galen danced back from the Minotaur. It lowered its one-horned head and tried to gore him. Galen stepped off at an angle while launching a shovel uppercut into its face. The beast leaned back, snorting from the pain, but then it continued forward. Galen caught one of its arms and dropped for a suicide throw. The beast kept its balance however, and Galen ended up on his knees, his back to the creature which was bent over him. It tried to bite him, but Galen, with the Minotaur’s arm still caught over his shoulder, lunged forward. The Minotaur dropped its hips, making sure that it did not topple over Arturus’ father.
The sound of dyitzu hisses came in from the room beyond.
Arturus and Aaron were helping Avery up into the chute. He reached out again for Kelly.
The Minotaur, having resisted both throw attempts, tried to strike the back of Galen’s head. Galen sat out, moving his body from hands and knees into a crab position. In so doing, he was suddenly out from under the Minotaur. He sprang to his feet. Galen did not turn to face the Minotaur as it lumbered upright but instead charged the stone waterfall. He leapt into the air, found his footing on the wall and leapt again. Arturus and Aaron didn’t even have a chance to grab his wrists before he was between them in the chute.
“Move!” Galen yelled.
Constance, and a crew of over fifty volunteer workers and hunters were busy transporting mortar and stone to a room Martin had guessed to be a safe distance from the breached Carrion barrier. Even without all of their materials, they were ready to begin repairs to the barrier at any moment. When Martin gave his go ahead, they’d begin work and send a man back to Harpsborough to bring in Copperfield. Graham’s people were even now scouring the wilds on their side, and though they had shot down four dyitzu, their initial reports were that there was nothing out there the Harpsborough hunters couldn’t handle. Everyone was waiting on Martin.
Martin had gathered the three people who were, in his opinion, the best warriors he knew. There was Tucker, who had proved useful in the fight against the corpsemen. There was Huxley, who Graham had chosen as a right hand man for good reason. And there was Hidalgo, who Martin was glad to see wasn’t wearing any beads or unclean clothes.
Of the three, Hidalgo’s the only one I trust with my life.
“Four damn dyitzu,” Tucker was saying. “Maybe we shouldn’t even close up the barrier, you know? We could use that kind of food. That’s more than we found during the entire time Graham was Lead Hunter.”
Huxley nodded. “He’s got a point, sir. I wouldn’t mind heading back to town and talking more about Molly.”
Martin shook his head. “First, Hux, that’s the wrong girl to get caught up on, I don’t care what Klein says about her. She’s smarter than he is, and I don’t trust a woman who’s smarter than her priest. Secondly, I’m scared shitless of the Carrion. Shitless. I would jump at the first excuse not to go in there. Try bringing it up to Mike, or to Klein, or even to Hidalgo here. They’ve been through that place, and ain’t none of them right about it.”
Hidalgo nodded gravely. “It be in my head. I never be right again.”
“That Kyle-thing, it came from in there. And there must be other things, things people don’t even want to talk about, which we cannot allow coming across.”
“Banshees,” Hidalgo said. “There be banshees, they be screaming so loud that your ears bleed. Found many a dead man, they not be wounded, but they having pools of blood coming from their ears. There be packs of dyitzu, they be fifty strong or more. There be Minotaurs and there be hounds, they be large as elephants. There be harpies, smell so bad your eyes be watering. And there be worse things. There be a woman named Maab, and the men she commands. They be taking things from Hidalgo’s soul, and Hidalgo never be getting them back. Not after all these years.”
Huxley shrugged, but Tucker seemed appropriately fearful.
“Besides,” Martin said, “those are our orders from the Fore. This ain’t the time to question them. Now get your head on straight, Hux. You’re new, so you don’t know nuthin’ but winning. Mark my words, Son, we don’t always win. Aaron went into the Carrion. He’s twice the hunter I am, and the Carrion beat him. Beat the best hunters we had. So stay sharp, and we’ll get out of there as soon as we know it’s safe.”
Huxley straightened. “You’ll get my best, sir.”
Martin put a hand on the man’s shoulder.
I just hope your best is enough.
“Follow me,” Martin said.
His growling stomach tied itself into knots as he brought his team
through the winding passages of the wilds towards the corpse eater village. He brought them down to the dried river bed and into the dead hungerleaf forest. Then he brought them into the halls which led to the village itself.
It looked no different than when last he’d left it, except that the bodies had been crushed into the loose cobblestone floor—probably by the stamping feet of a thousand corpses. Martin looked to his men. Hidalgo did not look well, and his hands were shaking. Tucker was nervous, jumpy. Only Huxley looked calm.
He’s just too damn stupid to know any better.
Across the cobble plain, and on the far side of the Hellenistic marble temple, was the fallen Carrion barrier. Martin led them in that direction, stepping over the smatterings of dried blood and splintered bone; the remains of the casualties of their war. As they neared the temple, they found bodies which had not been trampled down into the stone. There was the body of a corpse eater, and there was the Kyle-thing’s body, grinning up at him, seemingly untouched, with cobblestones scattered around it.
Martin was still bruised from that fight. Bruised on his palms from falling to the ground. Bruised on his head from where it had hit him.
There had better not be any more of those back there. I don’t think I could even bear to face an Aaron-thing.
It struck him suddenly that the only reason he’d been able to beat the Kyle-thing was because of the cobblestones. In the Carrion, there might not be such convenient ammo lying around. He unslung his pack, picked up a stone, and tucked it away. As he was putting his pack back on, a hand on his shoulder made him jump.
It was Hidalgo’s hand.
I can’t be helping morale, jumping around like I’m new to Hell.
“I be speaking with you. Alone.”
“Sure, sure.”
Hidalgo led him to the edge of the chamber and crouched down. Martin did so as well.
There was a cubed purple stone beside them, perhaps three feet tall, lying in front of the open corridor which had once been blocked with a wall of stone and gravel. Martin wondered if it was his imagination, or if he could really feel the cold emanating from that place.
March till Death (Hellsong Book 3) Page 4