Give the Devil His Due

by Blackwell, Rob

  As he looked above him, Quinn waited for the large spider that must have made the webbing to arrive. He both dreaded and fiercely wished for its arrival, hopeful that it might at least distract his two shadowy pursuers.

  But no creature appeared. The web was empty.

  He looked back down at the shadowmen, expecting them to be in striking distance. But they were still on the other side of the cavern, gazing up in awe.

  “Lovely,” Dother said. “It must have taken it years.”

  “Centuries,” Dub responded.

  “Once we finish the pretender, we must return here,” Dother said.

  “Yes,” Dub said. “And we must bring Dian as well. He would dearly love to see this place burn.”

  “Lord Sanheim mustn’t know,” Dother said.

  “We are not stupid, brother,” Dub said. “We told him this place was destroyed. It would be unwise if he learned the truth.”

  While they were talking, still staring at the web above them, Quinn backed silently toward the far wall. There was no chance of hiding from them or of darting into the tunnel where they came from. Quinn suspected that fading into the shadows would only make it easier for them to catch him.

  Instead, he looked at the torches. He wondered how they were lit. He knew that Dub and Dother weren’t behind it, since they had apparently never been here before. Perhaps some influence of whatever creature lived above them must remain. With a start, Quinn realized he knew who it was. Crowley’s book had made a list of the important Princes of Sanheim that came before him. There was one whose real name he didn’t know. But his cennad had been the Spider.

  It had disappeared from the mortal world when it opened a portal to the world of the dead and attacked Sanheim. Quinn knew it had failed — the book had made that part clear — but it must have managed to survive in this cavern.

  Quinn didn’t have time to think more about it at the moment. Instead, he focused on the torch beside him. It was affixed to a long staff and held with an iron clasp to the wall. Quinn reached over to pull the torch out.

  He turned to look at the shadowmen, but they were no longer gaping above them. Instead, they had vanished entirely.

  Quinn held the torch in front of him and looked around the cavern in a panic. They were nowhere to be seen.

  “So much better this way,” a voice said, echoing throughout the cavern.

  “Yes,” another voice said. “Dian never appreciates this part.”

  The voices seemed to come from everywhere at once. They bounced off the walls. Quinn looked carefully around the cavern, watching for any sign of movement. He didn’t bother to try to hide, but instead started walking back toward the tunnel where he’d come from. He was careful to stay close to the torches, moving from one ring of light to the next. It was just a gut feeling, but he felt sure that if he drifted too far into the darkness, the shadow brothers would grab him.

  He walked along the outer edge, periodically stopping to listen for any noise. But the acoustics of the cavern were misleading. The way the sounds echoed, Quinn couldn’t be sure if they were coming from right next to him or across the room.

  He heard a rock fall to his left and jumped. But just as he prepared for an attack, nothing happened. He heard another sound behind him and whirled around to find nothing again. The shadowmen were toying with him. He heard laughter echo throughout the cavern.

  Fine, he thought. They aren’t the only ones who can play games.

  He approached another torch on the wall and unclasped it. He now carried a torch in each hand. He quickened his pace, moving closer to the tunnel’s entrance. Every fiber in his being wanted to run, but he knew that was a mistake. For starters, the flames on the torches could go out. For another, the shadowmen were clearly counting on Quinn’s fear to get the better of him. Quinn felt sure they were waiting for him to start running — and then they would strike.

  Quinn held the torches out on either side of him and walked toward the tunnel. He heard another sound behind him and turned around. But once again, there was nothing there.

  He turned back toward the tunnel and almost didn’t see it in time. One of the shadowmen came surging forward out of the darkness in front of him, swinging a meaty fist at Quinn’s head. Quinn jumped back and thrust one of his torches toward it. The shadowman moved effortlessly to the side and struck again. Quinn dodged again and thrust his torch forward.

  Quinn heard another sound behind him and turned around in time to see the other shadowman leaping off the dark wall.

  “It can’t escape, Dub,” Dother said. “It must know this.”

  “I don’t know, Dother,” the other replied, its red eyes looking at its brother. “It seems stupid and weak. I wonder why Lord Sanheim bothered to have us kill it.”

  “Perhaps we have displeased him in some way,” Dother said. “It wouldn’t let us go with Mother.”

  Quinn decided he had enough of being on defense. Focusing on both at the same time was also clearly not going to work. He concentrated on the one on his left, the one called Dub. He came at him with both torches at once, thrusting forward with one, while swinging the other with his left arm. Dub moved, but not quite fast enough. He’d been looking at his brother, not concentrating on Quinn, and the assault clearly caught him unprepared. Dub stepped aside from the first jab and tried to jump away from Quinn’s second swing. But the tip of the torch caught the shadow creature just as he pulled back. There was a small spark of orange fire and he screamed so loudly that Quinn nearly dropped his torch.

  He managed to hold on though, and kept attacking, hoping to hurt him again while he was surprised. Quinn brandished the torches as if they were swords, striking from the left and right, varying his moves. Dub dodged a few times, before Quinn connected again. Dub screamed a second time.

  Quinn sensed rather than heard Dother behind him preparing to strike. Now that he was fighting instead of running, his senses felt like they had kicked into overdrive. It was the same kind of power that he had used as the Horseman. Even though his cennad lacked a head, Quinn had always been able to “see” by using his supernaturally-enhanced senses.

  As Dother was about to attack, Quinn abruptly broke off his assault on Dub and rolled to the side, narrowly missing a heavy blow from Dother. He looked both surprised and angry that Quinn had dodged his swing.

  Quinn quickly attacked again. Far from feeling afraid, he felt invigorated. Time even seemed to slow down. Dub, who clutched his arm like it was wounded, tried to punch at Quinn with his other arm, but Quinn moved out of the way. Instead, Quinn swung and jabbed with his torches, stopping only to dodge another blow from Dother. Though Dub was quick, he was moving slightly slower than before and Quinn caught him again, this time burning his other arm. Dub let out a furious yell.

  “Kill it! Kill it now!” Dub screamed.

  Dother stepped up his attack, moving in front of his brother and swinging furiously at Quinn. Quinn moved with speed and agility to dodge him, but made a critical mistake. For a moment, he forgot his torches weren’t really swords, and he brought up one to block Dother’s strike. The shadow creature’s fist slammed through the torch’s staff. It split into two and the flame fell uselessly to the ground. Before Quinn could move away, Dother slammed his other fist into Quinn’s head, knocking him against the wall.

  Quinn screamed in pain and there was a horrible ringing in his ears. He didn’t have time to pause, however. Dother came in for another attack, and Quinn rolled to the ground, this time with only one torch to use as a counter.

  He knew he was going to fail. Dub was injured, but hardly out of the fight. Dother, meanwhile, was smiling from ear to ear, clearly enjoying himself. Quinn could run for another torch and he might even make it, but he would eventually fall. The two brothers were simply too much for him.

  Quinn stared at the nearest torch even though he didn’t plan to go there. He tensed his muscles for a sudden leap, knowing both Dother and Dub were watching him closely.

  He
feinted a jump toward the torch. Both shadowmen fell for it, moving with lightning speed to block what they thought was Quinn’s path.

  But Quinn was never heading that way. Instead, he launched himself forward at a dead sprint, ignoring the pain in his head.

  Quinn feared he wouldn’t make it to the tunnel, almost expecting Dother and Dub to block his path. But the two of them must have been slower than he thought, and he burst into the tunnel with the two creatures close behind him.

  Like before, he didn’t dare pause to figure out which way he should go. Nor did he try to remember which direction he had come from. He let instinct guide him. Quinn didn’t think this was what Janus had done in the cornfield — that seemed more deliberate. But he’d started to realize that thinking too much was part of his problem. When he used his instincts, Quinn fought like the Horseman. He didn’t think, he just acted.

  He ran through the tunnels the same way — never thinking, just moving. He hoped it would get him out. He heard the sounds of the shadows right behind him, an angry roar following in his wake.

  Quinn suddenly burst into the cavern where he had originally been, where Elyssa and Janus were held. But they were no longer there and Quinn shouted in triumph. The spider-creature’s plan had worked.

  Quinn didn’t stop, instead running through into the next tunnel. When he came around the bend, he saw the exit out of the cave.

  He heard the shadowmen behind him howl in fury and Quinn never slackened his pace. Just as he was about to escape, however, Quinn nearly stopped dead in his tracks. In front of him were four other creatures, dark shapes lined up in the snow, carrying what looked like large, round weapons.

  It’s not fair, Quinn thought. Now they’re six of them?

  Quinn heard Janus’ voice shout at him.

  “Quinn, down!”

  Quinn dove into the snow bank, momentarily savoring the cold when it touched his bruised body. He lay in the snow for a second and turned over.

  “Now!” Buzz shouted.

  Beams of light suddenly flashed into the entrance of the tunnel. Quinn heard a hideous sound. After a moment, he realized it was Dub and Dother screaming. They had emerged from the tunnels into a blaze of light.

  Quinn realized Elyssa, Janus, Buzz and Carol — all now somehow in snow gear — were aiming large flashlights directly at the creatures. Dub and Dother tried to move back, but the lights were too bright. Quinn watched as they grew smaller and smaller, and finally became nothing but wisps of black smoke.

  From far away, Quinn thought he heard something else let out a roar, but the shadows themselves vanished relatively quietly, their screams growing fainter until they disappeared entirely. Dub and Dother were gone.

  *****

  Quinn stared at his companions as the six of them gathered again inside the first cavern. Only Quinn seemed cold now. The rest of them looked like they had been shopping at REI. Quinn looked enviously at their snow pants, thick jackets, fur-lined boots, hats and ski masks. Janus had gone one step further and also wore ski goggles.

  “We need to get you some new clothes, mate,” Janus said as he saw Quinn staring at them.

  “First tell me what happened to you,” Quinn said.

  Janus gestured to the newest addition to their group, the spider-creature facing them a few feet away.

  “He dragged Elyssa and I out of there after you left,” Janus said.

  Quinn nodded toward the spider.

  “I assumed that’s what you had in mind,” he said.

  “I would have been little help against Dub and Dother,” the spider responded. “But I knew I could get your friends out and plan a proper trap if you gave me the opportunity.”

  “You guys weren’t even moving when I found you,” Quinn said.

  “No idea what that was,” Janus said. “Elyssa and I were just walking ahead in the snow when those shadow things jumped us. They got me first and dragged me off here. She followed them.”

  “I tried to fight them,” Elyssa said. “But it was like fighting smoke.”

  “Light was the key,” Quinn said. “I hit them with torches.”

  “Parker here told us about the light, once I stopped screaming and trying to hit him with my shoe,” Janus said.

  “Parker?” Quinn asked.

  “It is his name for me,” the spider replied gesturing toward Janus. “He judged it would be easier if I had a more pronounceable name.”

  Quinn rolled his eyes at Janus.

  “What?” Janus said. “What did I do now?”

  “Parker, huh?” Quinn said. “As in Peter Parker?”

  “It fits, doesn’t it?” he said, smiling.

  “I don’t understand,” Elyssa said.

  Quinn tried to frame it in a way that wouldn’t offend their new companion.

  “There’s a legendary hero in the mortal world,” he said to Elyssa. “He’s a man with the powers of a spider. His name is Peter Parker, but mostly he’s known as Spider-Man.”

  Quinn couldn’t be sure, but he thought the spider — or Parker, he supposed — looked quite pleased. Elyssa merely nodded her head.

  “You and Kieran would get along,” she said to Janus with a bemused expression on her face.

  “Is it okay if we call you that?” Quinn asked the spider.

  “I would be honored,” the creature responded.

  “Okay,” Quinn said, “Parker it is. But you better hope Stan Lee doesn’t end up here when he dies or he’ll be very upset.”

  Janus laughed.

  “Anyway, once I stopped freaking out, Parker here told us the score,” Janus continued.

  “So where did you get those flashlights? Is there a sporting goods store on this mountain or something?”

  “You should know; you figured it out,” Janus said.

  Quinn looked quizzically at Carol.

  “Buzz was tracking you,” she said. “We knew you’d been taken and followed you to this cave.”

  “There was a misunderstanding,” Parker said.

  Buzz grunted.

  “I may have, uh, mistakenly thought he was an enemy,” Buzz said.

  “It is no matter,” Parker said. “You were a worthy foe.”

  Buzz nodded appreciatively in his direction.

  “I knew Parker was here,” Buzz said. “I’d seen him following us earlier. Once we straightened out that he was on our side, we had a meeting of the minds.”

  “They showed up with this terrific snow gear,” Janus said.

  “Your theory was right, Quinn,” Carol said. “How we appear here depends on our own vision of ourselves. Buzz identified himself with his favorite jacket, so he had it with him. It stood to reason that if we could picture ourselves with jackets, we could follow his lead.”

  “If you figured that out, why didn’t you put on a jacket yourself?” Janus asked Quinn.

  “I understood the theory, not the practice,” he said.

  “I’ll show you in a minute,” Janus said. “It’s quite easy.”

  “But I still don’t get the flashlights,” Quinn said.

  “That’s the best part,” Janus said. “You can imagine yourself with objects too. Once Parker mentioned that those shadow blokes could be hurt by light, it was easy.”

  “You could have imagined yourself with something a little more powerful,” Quinn said. “Like maybe a machine gun.”

  “No, that won’t work, hon,” Carol said. “It has to be an object you’re familiar with. The deeper your connection to it, the easier it is to conjure. If you have no experience with it, nothing happens.”

  “I tried to summon a flamethrower,” Janus said. “It didn’t work, but bloody hell, that would have been epic.”

  Quinn smiled and nodded.

  “Nice idea,” he replied.

  “Okay,” Carol said. “We need to keep moving. Parker says there’s a tunnel down here that will bring us out on the other side of the mountain. That way we can avoid all of this damned snow.”

  “Great,�
� Quinn said. “Let’s head out.”

  When he stood up, he grunted in pain. He had forgotten how much his head hurt for a moment. He put his hand to the side of his head and felt blood.

  “Are you okay?” Janus asked.

  Elyssa crossed over to him and examined his wound.

  “He’s hurt,” she told Carol. “The bruise is completely black. It even seems to have some black liquid on it.”

  “Did Dub or Dother hurt you?” Parker asked.

  “Dother whacked me in the head. It’s nothing.”

  “It’s not nothing,” Parker said.

  He crawled over to Quinn, but Quinn unintentionally pulled away. He liked Parker, but he creeped him out.

  Janus leaned over and looked at the wound too.

  “Yuck. Looks nasty, mate.”

  “Thanks so much for the help, Janus,” Quinn said.

  “Try some light on it,” Buzz said.

  Before Quinn could say anything, Janus turned on his flashlight and pointed it at Quinn’s head. Quinn looked down to see a thick, black substance dripping onto his shoulder. But as the light hit it, the black goo started to evaporate. Like the monsters that had hurt him, in a minute, the goo turned to mist and dissipated.

  “Wow, it’s totally disappearing,” Janus said.

  Quinn touched his head and didn’t even feel a wound anymore.

  “All better,” he said. “Let’s head out.”

  But when Quinn started to walk away, he noticed the spider had lifted an appendage in the air. It took Quinn a moment to realize Parker was raising a hand.

  “I’d like to ask a question before we go.”

  Quinn saw him look wistfully deeper into the cave.

  “Did you find it?” he asked. “You mentioned torches. Do they still burn?”

  “Yes,” Quinn responded. “It’s beautiful down there.”

  Parker looked down at the ground.

  “Down where?” Carol asked.

  “The Altar of Damhán Alla,” Parker said. “It has been lost for a long time.”

  “Then how did Quinn find it?” Janus asked. “He used to get lost driving to Purcellville.”

  “He is a Prince of Sanheim,” Parker replied. “He was drawn there.”