by James Somers
Circumstances had been manipulated so as to produce these results. Men were easily controlled, especially while they remained unaware of the entities moving them like chess pieces upon a board. Finally, his hopes for a world war had been realized.
A cluster of French soldiers huddled together behind their embankment, rifles held to their breasts like security blankets, hoping to stave off death a day longer. As Lucifer approached, he heard the mortar round whistling lightly through the air above. Most likely the soldiers here had not heard it.
When the round exploded right behind them, their world turned to pain. The angel walked among the bodies flying through the air. His movements were so rapid that the soldiers appeared to him in slow motion, carried by overwhelming destructive forces illuminated by a flash of fire and an accompanying spray of mud.
The moment passed. Bodies landed again. Some were alive but missing limbs. Others had perished. Lucifer felt the nearness of his kin and vanished from the French line.
He appeared again on the German side. A soldier came over the embankment with his rifle, setting his sights on a Frenchman across the battlefield. A bullet tore through his helmet with a ping. Blood ran down his face as he slumped lifeless in the dirt.
Lucifer walked on, only mildly amused by the scenes of carnage unfolding all around him. He set his gaze upon a group of soldiers. One in particular turned to him and grinned before glancing back through the telescopic sight on his rifle and firing. Across the field, an English soldier died with a bullet between the eyes.
“Excellent shooting, brother,” Lucifer commented.
“It’s the simple pleasures of this mortal body that I enjoy most,” Southresh said, firing again, making another clean kill. “We could never do such things while dwelling only in our spiritual forms. You should take a human host and experience this for yourself.”
Lucifer gave him a wan smile. “I’ve more important work to attend to,” he said.
“Bah,” Southresh said. “What work could be more important than what I have accomplished? After all, I’m the one who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife.”
“As I had heard, of course. I trust you did not appear as you do to me?”
“A glamour,” Southresh chuckled. All around them the battle raged, yet none of the soldiers could see Lucifer or the true nature of Southresh’s Japanese host. “Imagine the surprise on that Serbian’s face when they arrested him for the murder.”
“Yes, I’m sure he and his Black Hand associates were quite shocked,” Lucifer commented.
Southresh took another shot, making another kill, smiling to himself.
“But I have another matter that needs dealing with,” Lucifer said. “An opportunity has presented itself, and I would be a fool to let it pass.”
“What opportunity?” Southresh asked, lowering his rifle. “This doesn’t have to do with Black does it?”
“No,” Lucifer said. “The cherubim removed his body from the Tower of London. To my knowledge, he’s not returned to the physical world.”
“He’s about somewhere though, probably plotting his revenge against me for shooting him again.”
Lucifer allowed himself a slight smirk at the thought of Black bleeding out on top of the wall nine years ago. “Undoubtedly, he thinks about it every day. However, this has to do with the royal heir in Rockunder. For some time, I’ve been privy to his prayers.”
“Regarding?”
Lucifer smiled. “Treachery, of course.”
Southresh smiled. “Of course,” he replied. “But I meant in what way?”
“That is why I’m here. I require your assistance with a matter. You’ll have to come at once.”
Southresh stood, the rifle in his hand vanishing. He seemed slightly put out by the request to leave the battlefield. “But I was having fun,” he complained. “I hope you remember all of the assistance I’ve already given.”
“Of course, brother,” Lucifer answered. “Which is only due me since I’m the one keeping you from the clutches of Tartarus at any given moment. Which is also why I’m sure that you find none of my requests inconvenient?”
Southresh smiled wanly. “Never crossed my mind, brother.”
“You will need to remain invisible when we arrive.”
Southresh gave the battle a final glance. “Where are we going?”
Lucifer smiled. “County Cork in Ireland. A congregation awaits us there this evening.”
Supplication
Liam stood in the midst of stones, wearing a billowing white robe. The hood of his garment was pulled forward, obscuring his features from the many who stood round about. Nevertheless, they knew of his identity. But they would not reveal his involvement to others. These humans were honored by his presence tonight at the Drombeg Stone Circle.
It wasn’t every mortal that had the opportunity to know of the Leprechauns, let alone to stand in the presence of their prince. They were privileged. These humans had taken the oath that would bind them to oblivion should they ever reveal the Leprechauns in any way. Moreover, these mortals were Druids, bound by secrecy as to the identities of everyone present at this ceremony. To break that oath meant death.
Each of the supplicants were a reflection of one another, all wearing white robes with a distinct runic symbol emblazoned in red upon a stone amulet worn around their necks, hanging at their chests. Sixteen persons stood before their respective stones. The seventeenth, Liam, stood in the middle of the circle facing the single recumbent altar stone.
To either side, an armed Druid held their hands upon the pommel of a broadsword, having the blade driven into the earth before them. The flanking portal stones towered above these two. Upon the altar stone lay a white bull which had been chained down. The animal had been drugged with a natural mixture to prevent it struggling.
The Druids had begun a low chant moments before. Only the bright white of a full moon shone down upon them to illuminate their gathering. As the chant reached a fever pitch, the runic symbols upon the amulets began to glow. Above each supplicant, near the tops of their respective stones, the same runic symbols blazed to life with a fiery light. Only a moment ago, these symbols had not been visible at all.
The animal was left alive. Now that the presence of their intended deity could be felt, the beast began to struggle, perhaps sensing that the end was near. However, the chains restrained the white bull. There would be no escape.
Liam smiled beneath his hood, his eyes closed, following the rhythm of the chant toward its crescendo. He threw his hands into the air, the oversized sleeves of his robe falling back to reveal runic tattoos upon his forearms.
“Oh, great Taranis, I call to thee on this moonlit night, bringing an offering with my prayers,” Liam intoned. “Honor us, your faithful worshippers, with your presence tonight.”
The bull struggled all the more now. The Druid worshippers began to sway with the chanting. Their hands raised in similar fashion to the sky, awaiting a sign that would signify that Taranis was among them.
“Great Taranis, God of Thunder, hear my call and receive my offering!” Liam called.
“Isn’t this lovely,” Southresh remarked, standing next to Lucifer just beyond the portal stones and the offering chained between them. “I’ve not had the opportunity to attend such a gathering in so long I had thought no one bothered with the old ways any longer.”
Lucifer smiled, keeping his eyes upon Liam. “There are still some. The truly desperate ones will never abandon the extremes, after all.”
“True, I suppose,” Southresh replied. “Only, how did you manage to enlist the Leprechaun Prince in all of this?”
“From his youth, he has desired to be rid of the Descendants who came to Ireland with your offspring. He feels slighted. I led him to the Druids and their worship of Taranis. I’ve been stringing him along ever since.”
“But to what end?”
“Well….Oh, here is the part about the sacrifice,” Lucifer said, inter
rupting his train of thought. “Why don’t you do them the honor, brother?”
Southresh smiled. “Very well.”
He raised his hand toward the beast. A terrible flame erupted from the recumbent altar stone, engulfing the white bull. A horrifying screech came from the animal as it writhed upon the stone, trapped beneath the binding chains. Within seconds, the inferno consumed the animal, becoming ever hotter until even the bones had been reduced to ash.
The chanting had stopped abruptly. The Druids closest to the altar had leaped away in terror. Even Liam appeared to not quite believe what had just happened before them. He had never seen anything like it. A part of him had wondered if there really was any Taranis to pray unto, while another part of him hoped for someone—anyone—who might have the power to grant him his desire.
Lucifer grinned as the fire burned itself out and the stone circle was plunged back into darkness. Even the moon’s pale light seemed unable to compare with what had just transpired. The supplicants stood motionless, none of them apparently able to speak.
“I do believe you have gotten their attention,” Lucifer said. “My turn.”
Suddenly his voice could be heard by all, a booming cavernous sound that came from everywhere and nowhere. “My children, I have heard your prayers and received the sacrifice at your hands. What is your desire, Leprechaun Prince?”
Liam peeled back his hood, kneeling hastily upon one knee before the altar. “My lord, Taranis, I seek the destruction of a powerful Descendant named Brody West and to have his people driven out of my land.”
“I know of this person,” Lucifer said, his voice booming. “He is indeed powerful. The price will be high. Are you prepared for what is necessary?”
“For the good of my people, yes,” Liam pledged.
“A Leprechaun like you will die,” Lucifer said. “However, the link that now exists between your people and the followers of Brody West will be severed.”
“And West, will he die also?”
Lucifer paused.
Southresh grinned at him. “You can’t promise him that, can you?”
Lucifer shook his head. “He is protected, as you well know, brother. But his death is not necessary.”
Liam waited patiently, wondering why the reply was delayed.
When Lucifer addressed him as Taranis again, he said. “If West were to die, he would become a martyr, a hero, at least to his followers. What I intend will undo his reputation even among those he now rules. He will become an outcast, putting him in your power to destroy.”
Beside Lucifer, Southresh nodded agreeably.
“In my power?” Liam whispered.
“Only, remember that you pledged the life of one of your own people for this,” Lucifer said to the prince.
Liam stood as the light of the runic symbols all around the circle faded upon the stones and the amulets. “Thank you, my lord Taranis,” he said. “I will remember.”
Even as the humans began to disperse, Lucifer and Southresh remained invisible beneath the light of the full moon. The prince conferred with the Druid High Priest and Priestess, thanking them for their support and participation. He made them promises of power when Taranis fulfilled his part by undoing Brody West and severing the ties between the Leprechauns and the Descendants following the Lycan King.
He vanished from Drombeg Stone Circle a moment later—something the humans were unable to do. Those who dwelt among the Leprechauns in Rockunder would still have to use one of the portals available to them. However, most of them still lived within human villages not far away.
“An impressive feat, promising to undo Brody West,” Southresh remarked finally. “I wonder, can you actually do it?”
Lucifer chuckled lightly. “I have every confidence in the success of this plan. After all, it requires someone with a dramatic flare. It won’t depend upon me at all.”
Southresh gave him a scrutinizing look. “I don’t understand,” he said. “Who’s going to pull this off?”
“Why, dear brother, you are.”
Exploration
Obviously, with a window opening up into what appeared to be a completely different realm, there was no way we weren’t going to find out more about it. The Dragon Riders had been unable to coax their beasts to cross the divide between the valley and the new land spreading out beyond. It was up to us to find out what was going on.
Presently, I was flying in raven form flanked by Sadie, in her preferred eagle guise, and Adolf. In minutes we had passed beyond the valley completely, crossing over into the new realm. A fertile plain stretched out unmarred by any sign of inhabitants. Animals, like those that may have dwelt upon the grasslands in the mortal world, also ranged here.
I saw herds of bison, deer, and antelope roaming. However, they were not unmolested. A pride of lions could be seen stalking through the high grasses waiting only for the right moment to pounce. Adolf pointed to the predators, smiling at me.
Of course, that was Adolf in a nutshell. The longer I had known him, the more I had come to realize that a beast lay within. In some ways, I could empathize completely. After all, my ancestry was that of some of the most efficient predators in existence. Honestly, only the Lycans could match the ferocity of the Breed.
And yet, there remained this gap between my friend and I. Whereas, I sought to control the raging side of myself—to be civilized—Adolf relished letting it emerge in his personality more and more. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why Sadie and he remained distant to one another.
As we flew further into this world, I began to notice something familiar about it. However, I could not put my finger on what aspect made me feel this way. Somehow, I knew that I had been here before.
A vast forest filled the horizon ahead. The three of us looked at one another uncertainly. Still, we flew onward. Strangely, the boundary was very distinct between the grasslands and the forest, as though each had been set to a certain place and could go no further.
Trees of a seemingly endless variety stretched out below in every direction. I found blooms of purple, crimson, gold, orange, yellow and blue. The forest looked like a rainbow had splashed down upon it at some time in the past. Its many flowering trees had sucked up the colors and put them again on grand display.
Miles and miles of forest went on until we began to wonder how long it would continue. Then a desert region came next. Each part of this world, again, appeared to have been marked with a clear boundary. The desert, however, was a smaller section, only lasting five minutes of flight time before it met water.
A cold blue sea lay before us. Waves crashed upon the sandy shore, the desert running right into the ocean. While there was spectacular beauty in what we saw, there also appeared to be limitations. In the mortal world, on Earth, an endless amount of overlap and complexity was found. Here, matters seemed very cut and dry. Here is the desert, here the forest, and here the plains. In many ways, this world was like an odd copy of the true with a simpler creator operating.
Something had caught our attention. We landed upon the seashore looking out to the city which stood in view. It rose above the water, a beautiful combination of dark marble and gold, granites in a variety of colors and gemstones embedded in unique patterns among the stonework. A perimeter wall stood around this massive city to a height of nearly thirty feet.
“Now who do you suppose dwells there?’ Adolf asked.
“No way to know without taking a closer look,” I offered.
Sadie glanced at me. I could see that she was just as curious. Still, she always kept a cautious mind in these sort of situations.
“What do you think?” I asked her.
“Well, we don’t know who’s there, or if they represent a threat,” she said. “On the other hand, we don’t know that they aren’t a threat.”
Adolf and I waited—Adolf impatiently so.
“We had better find out what’s going on,” she concluded. “Without charging in, though,” she added.
I smiled, g
iving her a nod of agreement.
“Well, I’m not an animorph,” Adolf noted. “I can’t do any recon in bird forms like you two.”
“Perhaps, Sadie and I can go aloft and then return here to you?” I offered.
“Couldn’t you just do some spell casting to make me invisible?” he asked.
“If they can see heat like Sadie and I can, it won’t do any good.”
He sighed. “All right, you go ahead. But don’t think I’m going to sit here indefinitely. If you’re not back within an hour, I’m coming after you.”
I glanced at Sadie and then nodded to Adolf. “Sounds good to me. By that time, we might actually need some help.”
“I’ll wait,” he said. “I won’t be happy, but I’ll wait.”
Sadie took to the air ahead of me, transforming into an eagle again. I grinned at Adolf. “Give us the full hour,” I said. “This may be nothing to be concerned about, after all. Even if it is, I’d rather not end up in a battle with only the three of us against everyone in that city.”
“Cole?”
“Yes?”
“Have you noticed that the sun, if it is a sun at all, hasn’t moved the entire time we’ve been flying?”
I scanned the sky. That was something I hadn’t noticed before. We had been flying long enough that something should have changed, but it hadn’t.
“You’re right,” I said. “Not sure what that means.”
“It’s almost certainly night in Ireland. Maybe even the next day, by now. Time feels funny here.”
I nodded. There was nothing that could be done about it now. But I kept the matter in mind. Any peculiarities would help us to assess what we were dealing with. If not now, then later.
I leaped into the air, assuming my raven form, beating my wings furiously in order to catch up to Sadie. She was climbing fast as she approached the distant offshore city. We were far enough that none of us had been able to actually see any persons upon the wall or otherwise. So, we could safely assume that they had not spotted us here on the shore either.