DIRE : HELL (The Dire Saga Book 6)

by Andrew Seiple

  “And it will be your doom!” Illwrack howled, getting a claw in despite my flailing, ripping into my mask with rage-driven strength. My helmet registered a breach and whispered softly into my ear. “Dye pack deployed.”

  ’Blood’ sprayed from my helm, and Illwrack snarled with glee. “Bleed, mortal! Add your blood to my realm!”

  And he cast me down.

  Simple plan, really. Cast me into the river, where my armor would stick to the lodestone with a force I couldn’t counter and let the river seep in until I drowned.

  But there was a flaw in this plan.

  I knew magnetics. I’d mastered magnetics. One of my earliest inventions had involved turning a busted sonic blaster into a crude gravitic system, and oh hadn’t that been a trick.

  This? This was just a big freaking lodestone. Whereas I? I had tools.

  I plummeted, and in the microseconds I had, I did the math, checked the angles, and flicked my gravitic system to life, in just the right way. Just had to extend my field, stretch it out, and repolarize accordingly.

  The lodestone had no more chance of resisting the aligned polarity flow than a toddler could stop a monster truck. Poked like a billiards ball whacked by a cue, it tore loose of its moorings in a spray of blood and whirred skyward, flipping like a coin.

  I checked the math again, tucked in, killed the gravitics, and sucked air through my teeth as the ‘coin’ of lodestone tore past, missing me by four inches. My armor actually paused in midair, as the tug from its fields pulled on the revealed ferrous components... then it was past and I was falling again, turning to get the right angle—

  —As I flipped on the gravitics, this time to repel the lodestone.

  It caught Illwrack square on, and I brought my hand down, trapping him on one side of the coin as six-hundred and forty tons of lodestone flew away from me and slammed into his iron tower with a resounding BONG.

  One of his arms protruded from where he’d been crushed against his own tower, for about a second. Then it peeled away and fell, spurting, to the ground below.

  I stopped my fall, inches above the river. Child’s play now that the lodestone was gone and the anomaly was out of range. With one gauntlet I mopped dye from my mask, and shook my head with an exaggerated twitch. “MAGNETS. YOU SOUGHT TO USE MAGNETS AGAINST A SCIENTIST.” I flew back to the river bank as the demons of the foundry, who had been frozen watching my fall, scattered in all directions.

  There, on the bank, lay the crown. The cola can was crumpled and torn, most of the rubies were gone, sprayed out from burst sockets, but I picked up the black iron headpiece anyway and held it aloft as I hopped the wall and settled back to the ground, walking through the army like it wasn’t there. They pulled back as I went and I paid them no heed. There was a more important matter to tend to. “Khalid? Vector?”

  Khalid replied. “We are here. The Spitters are dead, but we have managed to shell down some of the tower guns. Now that I mention towers... that impact was you, correct? What did you do?”

  “Just some casual regicide. You were right by the way, it was an enormous lodestone. It’s currently restrained by the central tower, so you can probably risk firing up Beaky’s Tesla Deflector.”

  “Of course. Then what?”

  “Pull up out of the army’s reach and wait for word to get around that the king is dead. Then meet Dire in her new throne room. Ah, bring some of that ironbane reagent that you mentioned. We’ve got a few hundred tons of lodestone to get off her new tower.”

  CHAPTER 7: MASKS AND MALICE

  “And lo, did the great teacher bring to Caym the great game. And its magnificence enthralled all who witnessed it. None could deny the allure of the Shared Lie!”

  --Excerpt from the fourth chapter of the first book of the Chronicles of the Shared Lie

  The hammer descended, and I grinned as sparks bounced off my mask. I could have done this part with the pneumatic press. But it felt good, to beat the last part of my new carapace into shape.

  Coal-black from head to toe, wrought of an alloy forged from the bloody iron of Caym, the newest layer of my armor was but one of many local materials that had made it into my repaired suit. I had been right; the city was a bonanza of rare earths and metals that the quarry had simply lacked.

  And it was all mine. For the moment, anyway.

  I brought the hammer down again, straight on my mask, and more sparks flew. I was beating it not to temper the metal, but to test it. Diagnostic displays, wrought from the finest glass the city had to offer, registered the impacts.

  No damage.

  I sighed in relief. Blood iron wasn’t as high-grade as the terrestrial stuff I used, but refining it and going for a microcarbon sandwich build had done the trick. It added weight to my frame, but eh, whatever. The gravitics would cope. This suit was powered by a microfusion generator, literally the same force that let stars burn. It could cope with a few hundred extra pounds.

  “Doctor?” Khalid’s voice echoed through the vox link. “Your pet demons wish to see you.”

  “Dire sometimes wishes for a pony, a box of pretty hair ribbons and a quiet farm in the middle of nowhere with plenty of room to ride. But alas, like the wishes of demons, that wish has never come true.”

  “They are rather insistent. They are claiming it is a matter that threatens the whole city.”

  I sighed into my mask. With a few strides I crossed the floor of my tower workshop and threw open the shutters on my way to the balcony. Caym spread out below me, smoke wisping up from its foundries, pressed to the limit by my decree. Demons walked the streets, going about their business and mine.

  Well, all save for the fleshmarket district. I’d put a stop to those particular torments, over the strident and hysterical objections of the merchants. Barely a day later came the first assassination attempt. I gave them points for style, if not originality... finding a tiny demon to fit into the plumbing couldn’t have been easy. But it had been no match for the Chorus. Finding and punishing the demon responsible had been a bit harder. Thankfully, Vector had been up to the task there.

  “Epsilon, do we have any of that sodium pentothal equivalent left?” I glanced over to my most logically-minded minion.

  “A little. I can easily make a new batch if necessary. Why?”

  “Court demons are getting uppity. Tempted to whip up an aerosol version and release it in the middle of high court, and ask them their deepest, darkest secrets. Then watch how they have to face each other the next day.”

  “Hell seems to be affecting you,” Beta said, from his perch. He was in a lotus position up on the balcony railing, looking away from me. “Do you really want to torment these creatures?”

  I shrugged. “Might do them some good to see how it feels.” I leaned on my elbows next to him.

  “They are no less trapped in here than us. They’re just following their nature.”

  “Which is to be evil demons,” I said, but I wondered. Thirteenth Chain’s compassion for the beasts he’d raised and ridden still came to mind. I drummed my fingers on my mask, chin resting on my palms.

  “Oh, they’re no less dangerous for that,” Beta said. “But there’s no need to be cruel. That’s not your nature. You would get sick of it in short order.”

  “True.” I weighed the matter, sighed again, and activated Khalid’s vox channel once more. “All right. Tell those seeking an audience that Dire shall take her throne shortly.”

  Only two courtiers awaited me when I entered the great hall and crossed the tiled floor so recently filled with shrieking faces and now spackled over with fresh cement. The winged woman, First Whisper, and the masked guy with the eye-chains, First Manifesto. They knelt, prostrate, until I hopped up on the throne and settled my cape around my armor. I’d added more spikes, which made maneuvering the cape a little dicier.

  Four Damned, attired in reworked demon armor, stood silent around the chamber. Nezool, an Axumite from somewhere around Ethiopia, led this particular squad. The others wer
e three of the ones I’d freed from the fleshmarket. They were my honor guard now.

  Then I turned my attention to the two demons, as my Chorus filed in around me. All save Delta, who had taken a leave day for some reason or the other. But the five remaining were more than sufficient, I felt.

  “SPEAK,” I told the demons. “YOU ARE INTERRUPTING VITAL WORK. BE CONCISE.”

  The two rose and shared a look. Finally, First Manifesto cleared his throat, shaking blood from his mask’s eyesockets. “Great lady, we fear that the Lord of Smoke and Sinew plans to invade Caym.”

  “WHO IS THIS LORD, AND WHY WOULD HE DO SUCH A STUPID THING?”

  “He dwells below the Bloodfont, in the Wrathlands, oh great lady,” the winged woman intoned. “As to why... we believe that his spies in the city think you are weak and foolish for sending the army away. Not, that is, that you are weak and foolish. But he is stupid and surely believes so.” She added, flushing red and turning so that her ass jutted out at a favorable angle.

  “SPIES IN THE CITY.”

  “It is a matter of fact that we regularly found and executed spies from the Wrathlands under Lord Illwrack’s reign. And that the Lords of the Wrathlands did the same to ours, as they caught them,” First Manifesto spoke up again.

  “THAT’S INTERESTING, BECAUSE THE WRATHLANDS ARE PRETTY MUCH SEVERAL MILES DOWN THAT BLOODFONT.” I’d scoped the area after my conquest, taking note of the sheer cliffs, forceful winds, and thin, deadly trails that were the only land route up. “AND DIRE SEEMS TO RECALL ORDERING ALL PATHS DESCENDING IN THAT DIRECTION SEALED UNTIL SHE COMMANDED OTHERWISE.”

  “We believe that they sent an imp, great lady Dire,” First Whisper spread her hands, making her barely-restrained boobs bounce.

  “INDEED.” Imps were those bat-things that I’d seen speaking with the winged fiends shortly before they jumped me in the city. They were semi-sentient, and the demons used them as messengers.

  I activated my vox. “Gamma, you’re the one in charge of pathside security. Did any imps get past us?”

  “It’s possible something got by the first day or so, before I got the cameras online. Since then, no, no imps have gotten past the turrets. A few tried, but the rifles did for them.”

  I nodded. “Coordinate with Alpha, backtrack the camera footage into the city, see if you can link it with the network. Spies don’t rely on a single messenger getting through. If we’re lucky we can figure out who’s dropping these.”

  “We don’t have anywhere near the full city covered yet, boss,” Alpha voxed. “Local fauna’s been doing a number on the spy-eyes and crawlerbots.”

  “Do the best you can. It’s not vital that we find these spies, not yet. If all they’re reporting on is the general state of the city, that’s minor. Now if they start leaking more specific intel, then we’ve got a problem.” I turned my attention back to the demons. “THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THIS TO DIRE’S ATTENTION. ARE THERE ANY OTHER MATTERS YOU WISH TO DISCUSS AT THIS TIME?”

  They looked at me blankly. First Whisper even forgot to shake her boobs for a second, I’d shocked them so badly.

  “The Lord of Smoke and Sinew is mustering his armies, filling the plain below with Damned slaves and demons and preparing for the long march up, lady. We thought it might perhaps cause you a brief moment of concern for this city which you have claimed,” First Manifesto intoned. “You will certainly forgive us if we are concerned.”

  “Hang on,” Alpha said. “How did you find out that he’s doing this?”

  “Our spies, of course,” First Manifesto said, his voice resembling the tone of an overworked grade-school teacher. “We’ve received three imps from three different agents. He has formed an alliance with three other lords, mustered four million of his hellions, and readies great siege machines to scale the Cliffs of Screaming Woe.”

  I looked to Gamma. She voxed back her reply. “Three imps did come up the cliffs over the last thirty-seven hours. I tracked them to this tower and decided to let them live.”

  “Dire did order those paths sealed, y’know.”

  “The trails, yes, but you never directly commanded me to shut down the airspace. And once we learned the imps were message carriers, I figured the ones arriving could only benefit us or the city. It’s the ones leaving that we had to worry about. I know, I was stretching your orders a bit here. I feel it was worth the risk.”

  Gamma was showing more and more initiative as she developed. I weighed it, considered the situation, and found that I didn’t mind. I didn’t require slavish obedience from my minions, that was for villains who suffered from inadequacy. “On this occasion, you were right. Consider every future occasion just as carefully, and don’t be afraid to raise the matter to others. Including Dire herself.”

  A tension seemed to go out of her. My Chorus were developing more human mannerisms as time went on.

  “Now look at First Whisper,” Beta voxed, barely a murmur. I turned my gaze to her, found the winged demon’s eyes sliding between Gamma and myself. “That one picked up on your body language, Gamma.”

  “Duh. Courtier.” Alpha voxed.

  “YOUR EXPLANATION HAS BEEN CONFIRMED.” I turned back to the demons. “DIRE’S MINIONS HAVE BEEN WATCHING THE CLIFFS. AS TO YOUR CONCERNS, THEY ARE UNDERSTANDABLE. BUT THE ARMY BELOW WILL BE DEALT WITH BEFORE THEY POSE A THREAT TO CAYM.”

  The demons simply looked at me as if I’d declared Jesus Christ my lord and savior. “You will not recall the army?” First Manifesto managed.

  “NO,” I said, simply. “BY THE WAY, HOW ARE THEY DOING, EPSILON?”

  Illwrack had roughly three million troops in the city, less a few dozen thousand that our assault had slaughtered. A few hundred thousand more had deserted, after my ascension to the throne. But the three million troops outside the city, stationed around the borders of Caym’s territory, were both still unbloodied and a potential problem.

  So I’d declared war on all surrounding territories and set out to conquer the Ridings, the Steadings, and all the other little -ings that made up this particular part of Hell.

  It had taken about a week, but we’d mass-produced two-way radios, disguised them as severed heads carved with occult symbols, and flown them out to the various commanders. Epsilon was in charge of running this particular initiative, and he responded now.

  “The West caved fairly easily. The East is taking more time. There’s a solid buffer of swampland between us and Tindalo, the next City-state over. Crossing it is problematic, but once we finish the conquest in the West we should be able to spare reinforcements for that front. After that it’s a matter of time.”

  “GO TEAM CAYM,” I made little victory symbols with my fingers. “WOO.”

  “Woo?” First Whisper smiled, twisting as she tried shooting victory signs back.

  “JUST STOP.” I wanted to palm my face. Between this and the constant posing, I had the uncanny feeling she was trying her damnedest to seduce me. I found it annoying. “DIRE REITERATES, FOR THE LAST TIME; DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER ISSUES TO DISCUSS AT THIS TIME? UNRELATED TO THE ONGOING WARS, OR WARS TO COME?”

  They looked at each other again. First Manifesto cleared his throat, a rattling sound that caused red goo to ooze from his eyesockets. “There is... the matter... of food.”

  “YES. WHAT OF IT?”

  “There is concern growing throughout the city, about the loss of our... food sources.”

  Demons ate the Damned. They ate other things, but their main diet consisted of Damned flesh. I’d freed all the Damned slaves upon my ascension, and oh, hadn’t that caused an uproar.

  It had actually been one of my reasons for announcing the war of conquest. Two million, seven-hundred thousand fewer mouths to feed, with the soldiers gone. They could forage or live off the land. It was an imperfect solution, since they’d simply eat from the Damned they found on the way, but it bought me time.

  And it also made the city’s reserves last longer.

  “ARE THE STORES OF SMOKED MEAT INSUFFICIENT?
”

  “They are sufficient Lady Dire, for now. But if we come under siege...”

  “THEN THEY SHALL REMAIN SUFFICIENT. VECTOR ASSURES DIRE THAT DEMON FLESH IS GENERALLY AS NUTRITIOUS TO OTHER DEMONS AS THE FLESH OF THE DAMNED. IF THE ENEMY IS AS NUMEROUS AS YOU ASSURE DIRE, THEIR CORPSES WILL BE A READY FORM OF REPAST.”

  First Whisper’s eyes went wide, and I saw no trace of whites at all in her blackened orbs. That had shaken her down to the core. First Manifesto, for his part, reached into his tunic and drew out his book, flipping through it with shaking hands. “Lady Dire. It... as part of... this city is part of the Pax Infernum. We follow the first law, that demon shall not consume demon, save for vengeance of blood or family.”

  Now that was interesting. I drummed my fingers on the armrest of the throne. “THE FIRST LAW.”

  “Yes.”

  “YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THE WRONG WORDS HERE COULD POTENTIALLY CAUSE YOU GREAT DISTRESS, OR LEAD TO YOUR DEATH.”

  “Of course, great lady.”

  “YET YOU STILL FEEL COMPELLED TO TELL DIRE NO. YOU STILL FEEL THAT STRONGLY OVER IT.”

  The thin, eyeless demon took a breath, let it out. “I do, great lady Dire.”

  I looked to Beta. “This is fascinating,” the android said over the vox. “With your permission I’d like to speak with him later, learn about the Pax Infernum.”

  “Granted.” Then I turned back, and activated my speakers again. “YOUR WORDS HAVE SWAYED DIRE.”

  First Manifesto sagged in relief. First Whisper’s wings twitched, but she kept her face motionless. Would she have been relieved or upset if I’d ordered her comrade’s execution?

  “PROFESSOR VECTOR WILL INVESTIGATE ALTERNATIVE FOOD SOURCE POSSIBILITIES THAT DO NOT VIOLATE THE PAX INFERNUM ONCE HE HAS RETURNED FROM HIS ERRAND. IN THE MEANTIME, THE CITY STORES REMAIN SUFFICIENT. ALSO, A THING TO CONSIDER...” I looked to Nezool and the rest of my Damned honor guard, who had stood stoically through the exchange, faces unreadable behind their helms. “THE DAMNED OF CAYM ARE NO LONGER SLAVES AND CANNOT BE BUTCHERED FOR FOOD WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT. BUT IF ANY DEMON WISHES TO PAY THEM FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF FEASTING UPON THEIR FLESH, IT IS UP TO THE INDIVIDUAL DAMNED AS TO WHETHER OR NOT THEY WANT TO TAKE THAT BARGAIN.”