by James Somers
Adolf and I were swept up by the water. Cold and wet and unable to hear anything but a muffled cacophony, I lost any sight of my comrade. I was pushed violently along the corridor, forced to hold my breath with no promise of air coming.
Every few seconds, I found myself dashed against the walls and floor, rolled along and then pushed very quickly only to be smashed into solid blocks again. By now, I had lost all bearing. I attempted to draw myself into a ball, but this proved nearly useless. My back was as dangerous a target as my head. Instead, I tried extending my arms and legs with the hope of cushioning any blows that might come at me from the dark.
I had vaguely considered teleporting out of the situation. But I found that I could not simply abandon Adolf to his fate. And, if the water suddenly abated, Adolf would have no idea how to find his way out of the city to our desired destination.
On several occasions, I thought that we might have been thrust into one another. However, my attempts to grab at him proved unsuccessful. There remained a steady pressure upon my body, meaning that the water, itself, was also under considerable pressure due to the corridor and the amount of water being pumped into the city from its unknown source.
I had no idea how long we had been underwater. The deluge seemed to last forever. Yet, I was not suffering so much from a lack of air. Indeed, I had been trained, again by Ishbe, to hold my breath for nearly ten minutes at a time. I was forced grudgingly to be grateful again for his thorough curriculum during my training.
Suddenly the pressure upon me was relieved. Light returned around me, though it was deeply crimson, nearly the color of blood. The water separated and air rushed in. I was tumbling inside a water spout.
Briefly, I heard the cries of Adolf somewhere nearby mingled with my own spluttering. I landed upon cold wet ground, tumbling over and over through a muddied landscape. Water continued to crash down all around me, as water forced through the city exited in a huge stream—the same which had deposited me here.
“Cole!” Adolf cried.
“I’m here,” I replied.
The crimson light around us suddenly darkened further. “Interlopers!” the cherubim bellowed, three voices speaking as one.
We had been discovered.
I stood, seeing Adolf nearby and the stream of water sending a steady heavy rain down all around us. A quick survey proved inadequate. I wasn’t sure where we were in relation to the barrier separating the Underworld from the spiritual plane.
Thunder echoed across the sky as lightning crackled and came down toward us, striking the ground repeatedly. Adolf was at my side in a moment, gathering me up in powerful arms. He tossed me bodily through the air, following right behind.
Lightning hit the ground and then impacted with an invisible wall that now stood between us and the cherubim. “The barrier?” I asked.
“I believe so,” Adolf replied looking back to see if anything came through.
The cherubim on the other side sent an entire storm of wind, rain and lightning against us in a moment. However, Adolf had realized where we were before I had. His quick thinking had gotten us through the barrier where the cherubim could no longer come. All of their unleashed fury stopped at this dividing line and came no further. We were past them and safe.
Timely
“What have you done?” the cherubim asked of Lucifer. He was still hovering at a distance when the children were delivered by water out of Greystone’s underground city.
Lucifer laughed heartily. “Done? How dare you accuse me of anything. I was here speaking with you. I am not your lackey set to guard this realm in the absence of your attention to detail. How is it that you did not discover the intruders yourself? Or why did the abominations which now serve you not know of their presence?”
The cherubim had delivered a terrifying response to discovering the children. A storm of hurricane strength had been unleashed in an instant. Lucifer had to admire the power they possessed. He would not like to face them as an enemy, but neither would he bow to their accusations—true though they might be.
Seething with rage, lightning and thunder continued unabated throughout the vortex. The storm itself had already rapidly dissipated. Despite the enormity of their power, Lucifer reasoned that it must have its limits in duration at least.
“Besides,” Lucifer added innocently, “what harm can two children do?”
The response by the cherubim was immediate. “It was two children who opened the Underworld and then traveled one of its deadly paths to make possible our release.”
“Congratulations on that, by the way,” Lucifer added facetiously.
“You would mock us?”
“Of course not,” he replied. “As I said, these children may have only been curious about the destruction you caused here. Is that not the nature of the young, to be curious? Only imagine what might happen should you decide to recreate the realms here. Those who departed may come to bow before you. Desiring to take up residence upon the spiritual plane, they might very well worship you as the creator here. Again, robbing the Almighty. My counsel is only in your best interest, after all.”
“As we have already said, we will consider your proposal.”
Lucifer bowed his head slightly and then vanished from the spiritual plane.
Now beyond the barrier separating the spiritual plane from the Underworld, we set about quickly to get to the gateway that opened in Siberia near the Tunguska River—the same place where my father had perished during his attempt to stop Black from bringing down the keystone. I put the memory from my mind. There was no time for grieving. Lives were at stake and they could still be saved, if Adolf and I completed this mission successfully.
Before us stood the broken plain where the cherubim had previously erupted from the ground in the form of the dragon. A massive crater had been left where the dragon had remained buried for millennia.
Above us, the floating islands we had encountered previously were now exposed. They were no longer all connected. The water no longer flowed between them and they seemed to be askew from their previous positions. Apparently, the Realms of Abominations had also been dealt a destructive blow by the release of the cherubim.
Adolf looked aloft with me. “Is that the way?”
“On the first island, the one furthest from us,” I reported. “That’s where Sadie and I entered.”
Adolf didn’t reply to that.
“No time like the present,” I said, leaping into the air, taking my raven form again. “No need to stop anywhere else along the way.”
Adolf rose from the ground following me.
We climbed higher and higher together. I noticed, as we passed the islands, that their foundations were crumbling and falling away. Plants were wilting or altogether dead. Water had stopped flowing and dried up. Where there had been ice and snow, there was only a bog now.
One of the most startling revelations was the fact that none of the abominations appeared to still inhabit these islands. All of the creatures, great and small, had abandoned these places, apparently for better pickings on the spiritual plane. After all, we had already seen the Minotaur herd and those fiery horses. The spiritual plane might be devastated, but it still held better options for these beasts in sustenance alone, if nothing else.
Adolf and I continued to drive ourselves steadily upward, me beating raven wings in order to keep up with his pace. He was simply defying gravity while I had to work my way. Steady horizontal flight was no big deal, but climbing straight up was a different matter, a fight with the air, dragging my minor weight higher and higher.
Finally, we reached the uttermost island in the pale sunless sky. I recognized the edifice dominating the landscape immediately. The Minotaur’s castle, built into the side of the mountain, towered over the outlying grasslands. The river that had previously flowed from beneath the mountain was now only a dry rocky bed.
Much of the mountain, itself, had slid away into piles that littered the area around. The castle was dilapidated
, crumbling like the foundations of these islands. Had the cherubim actually been the sustaining force in the Underworld? It was as though their power provided the life force for the land. I couldn’t help but connect the thought with the fact that they had created much of what had been present previously on the spiritual plane.
“The castle, the castle,” I croaked from the raven’s throat.
Adolf nodded and we flew toward the place, landing finally near the huge butcher’s block with its iron manacles still attached at the top and bottom. My own arms and legs had been held fast in those chains for a time. My life had nearly ended on this bloodstained block, and would have if not for Sadie’s timely rescue.
“Which way to the gate?” Adolf asked as I returned to my human form.
I could tell that he wanted to be away from this realm as much as I did. Far better to be back in the human world than here where terrible beasts might still lurk unseen, waiting for another opportunity to attack unknowing travelers. Still, I hadn’t even spotted one of the goat people that dwelt here. Either they had moved on like the others, or the Minotaur had slaughtered the last of them before leaving.
“Down that tunnel,” I said, remembering the way I had come from.
We ran, pausing at the mouth of the tunnel just to be sure nothing unexpected awaited us.
“The ceiling might be good here,” I said. “That’s how I got through unseen before.”
I leaped up to the roof of the tunnel, holding fast to the block, another vampire trick. I started off and then noticed that Adolf was mimicking my move, though utilizing a different method. He could fly and I couldn’t.
We made our way through without incident, coming into the dungeon where Sadie and I had led the escape of the goat people earlier. As I had suspected, there were none in the cells. I hoped they had simply managed to flee for their lives rather than being killed by the Minotaur. Either way, here we were, hoping to be able to reach the mortal world.
I crossed the dark chamber to the cell where Sadie and I had emerged after passing through the wall from the lock and keystone. The wall was slid back partially, enough to be able to see light at the end of the tunnel beyond. Thin boys that we were, we passed through the doorway and proceeded down the passage.
We came out in the room which contained the keystone and lock, as well as the spiral stair. “We’ve made it!” I exclaimed happily.
Already the cold of the Siberian wilderness caught hold of us. It was bracing, to be sure. However, as a former inhabitant of Greystone, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. We launched ourselves up through the opening, Adolf as himself and me as a raven. We landed upon the snow covered ground surrounding the sunken gateway.
I returned to form and began working on the portal that would usher us into the city of London.
“How long?” he asked, looking a bit chilled.
“Only a moment more,” I assured him.
True to my word, I had the portal constructed within seconds. A pane of light flashed into being before us, colors flashing green, yellow, purple and blue. Then it became clear and London coalesced into view.
I smiled at Adolf. “After you.”
He nodded happily and walked through. I followed. The portal closed, and London received us on the other side. We had survived the cherubim and the spiritual plane. We had survived the Underworld and emerged victorious through the gateway. All of the danger was behind. We only had to do our reconnaissance and report back what we found so that our army could prepare.
Reconnaissance
As soon as we found ourselves in London, Adolf cast a glamour to allow himself to fly without being seen. I adopted my raven form again, and we set out across the city. I had no idea where we might find the army that Gladstone and Black were assembling. However, I did know that Gladstone resided in Kensington, but had his office in Whitehall. Since it was already the middle of the afternoon, I assumed this would be a good place to find him.
We went aloft again together.
“What are we looking for?” Adolf called.
I had no idea how to answer. After a moment, all I managed was, “An army.”
We followed the Thames, with its winding course through the city. Whitechapel stood on our right some distance away. Whitehall lay nearly dead ahead. Then we saw it.
The Tower Bridge crossed the river ahead of us. And there, on the northern bank sat the Tower of London. Beyond its western wall lay a tremendous staging area near rows of massive warehouses. Standing upon the vast paved area was a human army of nearly five thousand soldiers. Towering over them, hundreds of metal men standing at least fifty feet in height, waited to be set into motion.
“I’ve never seen anything like them,” Adolf said.
“Nor I. What do you suppose moves them?”
“You’re asking the wrong guy,” he replied.
We swept down. I led us to the White Tower where we landed so that we could overlook what was taking place beyond the western wall. Two guards on rounds came around the perimeter. Adolf tackled them single-handedly, leaving them unconscious in seconds and us free to survey the scene.
I remembered then what Brody had said to me. Through the blood bond I could send him a thought. I attempted to do so now. I pushed out with my mind, unsure if I was actually getting anywhere with my transmission.
“What in the world?” Adolf exclaimed.
My concentration interrupted, I opened my eyes to see what he had noticed. On the vast courtyard below the White Tower, between it and the western wall where lay what many called the Bloody Tower, an enormous portal opened. It was no more than a shimmer of refracted light to behold, but I recognized the power of it immediately.
Brody West walked through the portal on the grounds below. But he was not the last to come through, only the very first of many. Laish appeared and Redclaw also. The Shade King emerged on their heels. And then a vast congregation of Leprechaun warriors, Lycans, Elves, and various other races and spell casters came through—a procession that would soon fill the available space behind these walls.
Human soldiers guarding the Tower complex attempted to assail them at first, but Laish and Brody quickly spelled them unconscious. They would likely have no memory of what they had just seen. I, on the other hand, would never forget this great army assembling.
Adolf and I leaped over the perimeter wall at the top of the White Tower, springing from various surfaces on our way down until we came to the courtyard below. Sadie was the first to come to us, though she barely regarded Adolf. Still, she did manage to say, “I’m glad to see both of you safe.”
I received a hug on top of that.
Brody and my uncle and Redclaw came quickly after, each of them patting us on the shoulders and Brody embracing me as though I was his own son.
“I don’t understand,” I admitted, looking a bit dumbfounded by their sudden appearance.
“I received your thought,” Brody said. “Knowing your location, I only required the power of the blood bond in order to open a portal directly through to you.”
“You planned this all along?” I asked.
“It seemed like the best course of action, to bring the fight to Gladstone and Black while we retained the element of surprise. Even the barrier erected by the cherubim around Ireland could not withhold the blood bond.”
“Brilliant,” I muttered.
“But where is Gladstone’s army?” Redclaw asked.
“There,” I pointed toward the western wall. “beyond the wall and moat upon a massive staging ground. They have a human army, but what’s more they have built giant metal men to fight for them.”
“What’s that?” the Shade King asked coming up behind them.
Brody whipped his right hand over his head and our group was suddenly standing upon the perimeter wall overlooking the brackish water of the moat beyond and the staging ground still further away. It was exactly as I had reported. The human army was sizeable to be sure, but the automatons overshadowed them
all. These were the real threat we faced.
Even now, many of them were moving, falling into position in rows, no doubt lining up in preparation for the attack we had been threatened with. Each of us counting, we came up with about three hundred of the metal giants with which we would have to contend.
Brody turned to the rest of us gathered upon the wall. “As yet, they have no idea that our army is here in London. We still have the element of surprise. We must use it.”
Anxious nods answered him all around.
Across the wall, at equidistant positions, sat cannons. “What about these?” Redclaw asked. “We could pound those things with cannon fire.”
“We need ammunition and powder,” Brian Shade said. “I happen to have those very things in abundance. And more cannons set on cavalry mounts with wheels.”
He vanished. A moment later, Brian Shade was walking through the courtyard bellowing orders to Connic and some of the soldiers to bring his cannons through the portal. With an open portal, the task was completed posthaste.
Shade’s cannons were mounted on wagon wheels in order to be used in charges where they could be pulled behind horses to advance a line. Carts of cannonballs and others with kegs of gunpowder were quickly brought up onto the western wall. We worked to brace the cannons, leaving the British cannons out of the equation. We had no time to deal with them.
A line of fifty cannons was quickly assembled across the wall complete with firing crews out of Shade’s Leprechaun army. He claimed to have more, but there was no room to place them now. For the most part, the rest of us stood by watching the efficiency of the king’s warriors. The time would no doubt come for us to fight, but the more damage we did with heavy weaponry the less lives on our side might be lost.
In the courtyard below, Lycans and elves, as well as the rest of the Shade King’s army were setting themselves in array preparing for when Gladstone’s forces breached the wall, now that the humans present in the compound had been nullified. We knew already that his army would make it through, especially with Black behind him. A great many spell casters were on the wall with us working to cast wards upon the very outer wall beyond the moat in order to repel attackers.