by Edward Lee
Then the cheers rose up.
“Wow,” Cassie muttered.
The entire field was now a pile of meat. Ushers, Golems, and Conscripts alike all lay dead in a long mound yards high. The generals and sorcerers had been slaughtered, too, without bias. It was a wall of dismembered corpses.
“Praise Ezoriel,” one of the knights whispered.
“Hey,” Via asked him. “How did you guys know about us?”
“Ezoriel has Diviners too. Our war against Lucifer knows no bounds. It is written in the Infernal Archives that one day the true Etheress will walk in Hell and bless us.” The knight’s black-visored face turned to Cassie. “You.”
Cassie felt a chill walk up her back. “I’m just ... here to find my sister,” she peeped.
“Then you shall, Holy One, even if it means that every soldier in the Contumacy be slaughtered in your name.”
“Well ... I hope it won’t quite come to that.”
Via tapped on his black armor plate. “We need to get to the Commission of Judicial Torture. Can you help us?”
“We would freely drain our blood into the mouths of Cacodemons to assist the Etheress and her confederates. We would willingly bathe in the Lake of Fire—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Thanks. But we need to get there, and that’s not gonna be easy with every Warlock and Diviner and armed Conscript in Satan’s legions gunning for us.”
“Come and meet our commander,” the knight said, “and all your worries will be allayed.”
The knights led them down. Via explained the details : “The Fallen Angel Ezoriel is the leader of the Contumacy. He was one of the Angels, like Lucifer, who rebelled against God and got cast out of Heaven. But—”
“Ezoriel realized the error of his ways, repented?” Cassie guessed.
“Exactly. Unfortunately, once you’re in Hell, you can repent your sins all you want but you still stay here. Ezoriel is Satan’s greatest enemy. The rumor is that his rebel army is hidden in a secret place beyond the Outer Sectors, a place called the Nether-Spheres. And over the last couple of thousand years he’s been able to not only train and equip his army, he’s developed his own sorcery and has been able to steal a lot of Satan’s technology.”
“Like the Nectoports,” Cassie figured.
“Right. You can bet that Lucifer was royally pissed when he found out about that. Nectoports were one of his most guarded secrets, his pride and joy. But now the Contumacy has the ability too. Their ultimate mission is to burn down the Mephisto Building and depose Lucifer.”
That sounded like a big job to Cassie. All she wanted to do was find her sister, but she’d take any help she could get.
When they came fully off the trail, the field before them fell pin-drop silent. The mass of soldiers all stood up at attention and looked at Cassie as she stumbled along in her flipflops.
This is ... awkward, she thought.
Then someone shouted, “Holy One!” and the rebel army cheered, raising their weapons and waving flags.
“See what a big hit you are,” Via said.
But Cassie whispered back, “Yeah, but it’s almost like I have an obligation to them.”
“You do. They saved your life.”
Cassie couldn’t disagree, but ... “I know, but, look, I’m just a Goth girl from D.C. I’m not into all this Etheress stuff. All I want to do is talk to my sister and then go back to where I belong.”
Hush grinned up at Via, as if sharing a joke.
“What?”
“Cassie, you have incredible powers. With the Contumacy behind you, you could really change things around here. Don’t be so selfish. With power comes responsibility. You think George Washington wanted to fight the British? No. But he did anyway ’cos it was his responsibility.”
“I’m not responsible for people in Hell!”
“Take my word for it. The longer you’re here, the more your powers develop. Pretty soon you’ll be spending more time in Hell than you do in the Living World. These people are right. You really are a holy one.”
Cassie slumped in frustration. I don’t want to be a holy one. I just want to listen to Rob Zombie and read Goth Times!
But at least Via seemed a lot more confident now about finding Lissa. Another Nectoport opened on the field and out filed several hundred pretty girls. They wore sheer white dresses and had flowers in their hair, and they all skipped happily along the line of butchered demons, retrieving their fallen weapons and stripping off all armor. Next, a white-cloaked Wizard appeared, holding a pair of crystal balls. He was chanting something, and when he clacked the balls together, they shattered and all at once the nude bodies of the dead burst into flames.
“Magnificent, isn’t it, Holy One?” the knight remarked.
“Uh—yeah,” Cassie replied, wincing at the mammoth burst of flame. It rose upward in a booming mushroom cloud. “That’s, uh, some slick trick.”
“Disgrace to Lucifer. Death to all enemies of the Angel of Repentance. May the souls of those who died here tonight be consigned forever to the bodies of Excre-Worms.”
In moments, the dense black smoke began to block out the scarlet twilight overhead. The long fire roared and crackled. Distant shrieks could be heard from the blaze, from the few demons who were not quite dead yet....
Many of the black knights now began to retreat into the radiating Nectoports. Next, several platoons of queer-looking Dentatpeds—giant mouths walking on human tegs—began to eat the smoking corpses.
“So,” Cassie said, getting a bit impatient. “Where’s this guy, Ezoriel?”
But then a voice that could only be described as bright light issued behind her. “Here am I, Holy One. I live forever to serve you.”
Cassie turned with a start and found herself facing a figure who must’ve stood eight feet tall.
“It’s ... him!” Via whispered in awe. Even Hush seemed shocked as she looked up. All Cassie could thinkwas, Holy SHIT....
Ezoriel, the Angel of Repentance, the Defier of Lucifer the Morning Star, looked back down at them with luminous blue eyes. He wore a battle tunic akin to a Roman legionnaire, strapped with black leather armor. His sheathed sword was a foot wide and five long. Behind him were the stems of his once-great wings, little more than a web of bones, charred by his fall from Heaven. He wore a classic Greek helm of highly polished brass.
Cassie couldn’t help but notice the Angel’s perfect, muscled physique. That’s some bod! she thought.
“It is written that you would come ... and now you have,” the voice glimmered. “Your presence here has bestowed upon us the most magnificent blessing, you, Cassie the Etheress, the Holy One from the Living World come to consecrate the Damned.”
“How’s that for a title?” Via said.
The huge sword sang as it was pulled from its sheath. Cassie’s eyes widened. Something unconscious compelled her to kneel.
“It is the greatest honor of my eternal life to dub thee Saint Cassie, the First Saint of Hell....”
The tip of the sword touched her head and each shoulder.
“We are at your command.”
Cassie stood back up, flabbergasted. When she looked around, everyone else on the field was kneeling.
Wow....
“So,” she said, “you’re going to help us?”
“With every fiber of our might.”
Great answer! “Well, you’re the commander here. What do we do next?”
Ezoriel raised his hand, and another Nectoport opened at once. “We shall strategize now. At my secret post.”
“Cool,” Via said. “Let’s go!”
They followed the Angel toward the port, but then something occurred to Cassie. “Excuse me? Ezoriel?”
The Angel turned.
“Would you mind taking off that helmet? It’s kind of creepy looking.”
Without a word, Ezoriel removed the helm.
Cassie stared.
Jesus Christ! He looks just like Brad Pitt!
(II)
Upon their entrance to Ezoriel’s chateau-like fortress, Cassie, Via, and Hush quickly found themselves surrounded in luxury worthy of a medieval queen. They lounged nude in a wide marble pool full of cool, sudsy water; after all this running around in Hell, the baths were well-appreciated. Broad banded feathers formed fans, connected to poles that moved slowly forward and back, a cool makeshift breeze. Exotic flowers floated in the scented water. Cassie just lay back with her eyes closed, enjoying it all.
“And this is pure water,” Via remarked. “It’s an extreme luxury, very hard to come by in Hell.”
“Where do they get it? Is there a stream or a spring around here?”
“In Hell?” The notion amused Via. “They make it, from those big distillation vats over there.”
Hush’s head seemed to be floating on suds. Her remaining hand rose from the fragrant water and pointed across the long tiled atrium. Knights were indifferently packing chopped-up demon corpses into great iron kettles set over fires and tamping the pieces down with heavy wooden shafts. Then tubed lids were latched down.
“The heat turns all water moisture in the corpses into steam,” Via explained. “Then the steam travels through the tubes, and once it’s cooled—presto. All the pure water you could want.”
Cassie blanched at the grueling sight.
The Nectoport had brought them here straight from the battlefield, and their host, Ezoriel, had extended every regal courtesy. The Angel’s command post extended as a vast stone-walled fortress full of turrets, minarets, and even a moat. A great keep, for prisoners, occupied an entire wall miles long, while the chateau spired grandly from the perimeter’s center. Literally thousands of the black knights comprised the compound’s security force.
“This really is some dynamite crib,” Via said, luxuriating in the water.
Cassie noticed the foggy sky beyond an open, stone-framed window. It didn’t look like Hell’s dark-red sky at all, and the breezy air blowing around from the fans and in through the stone windows smelled enticingly fresh, with no trace whatsoever of the city’s urban stench.
“Where is this place exactly?” she inquired.
“The Nether-Spheres” Via replied. “We’re still in Hell, but you can think of it as a different plane of existence from the Mephistopolis. There are several Spheres, but nobody knows much about them. It’s a secret that only the most powerful Fallen Angels know. According to the legend, Ezoriel won this Sphere from Lucifer on a bet. There’s another rumor that the Nether-Spheres exist on the same line as the Sphere of the Seven Stars. That’s where Heaven is—supposedly, at least.”
“Strange,” Cassie remarked.
“Sure, but who cares?” Via lazily rowed her feet in the perfumed water. “You can’t beat this place for a well-needed change. I could spend all eternity here, no problem.”
“That’d be real nice, but we’ve got quite a bit of work to do,” Cassie reminded, knowing that this gentle luxury would soon be finished. She enjoyed it too, but she also knew she wasn’t here for bubble baths.
When they were done in the spacious tub, more of the white-toga’d flower girls came in, dried them off with soft, newly sewn towels, and dressed them. Next, they were taken to a long banquet room whose tables were heaped with exotic fruits. A second salvo of servants—boys this time, Cassie’s age—massaged them on long scroll couches and hand-fed them the delectable fruits. The boys were all very handsome, like male models.
“Kind of sucks for you,” Via said.
“What do you mean?”
“You have to stay a virgin.”
Cassie hadn’t thought of that, though it wasn’t exactly foremost on her mind. Being wanted by the authorities in Hell had a way diffusing one’s sex drive. Instead, Lissa remained the focus of her attention.
I’ve got to get Lissa.
But how would they do it?
Several knights escorted them next to Ezoriel’s War Room. The preposterously attractive Angel and his senior officers bowed on one knee when Cassie and the others entered.
This royalty treatment is starting to get on my nerves....
“Holy One. Have your needs been adequately attended?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Then I’d be honored, my Saint, if you will hear my plan.”
“Let ’er rip, handsome,” Via said.
Cassie just shook her head. A huge map, drawn in ink on bleached demon skin, stretched across the front of the room, and Ezoriel raised a long thin wing-bone of a Nether-Bat as a pointer.
“A delayed two-front attack is my suggestion, Holy One,” Ezoriel said in his light-like voice. “The Constabulary will be expecting you to initiate an incursion here—”
He tapped the pointer on the mark for the Commission of Judicial Torture.
“—and I recommend that you do so. After you’ve infiltrated the Commission, we wait. Give the enemy time to focus, let them think a second wave will strike the Commission. It is then that I will lead my largest force here—”
The pointer roved across town, and landed on the Mephisto Building.
“Lucifer would never expect a second attack here.”
Cassie remembered the explanation of the Mephisto Building’s defenses. “But isn’t that a suicide mission? The Mephisto Building is surrounded by the Flesh Warrens. Aren’t they impenetrable?”
“Ordinarily, yes,” Ezoriel answered. “But in this extrao rdinary circumstance? I think we can take a tremendous advantage. The Warrens will be weakened as Lucifer will most certainly divert the mainstay of his Warlocks to the Commission—in hopes of capturing you. This transfer of phantasmic energy will leave the Warrens at a reduced strength.”
“The Flesh Warrens are an organic entity,” Via reminded. “It’s like an immune-system. Think of it this way: at full strength, it will never catch a cold. But at reduced strength?”
“A massive simultaneous attack into multiple orifi could overwhelm its defenses,” Ezoriel projected. “We could penetrate the Flesh Warren and lay siege to the Mephisto Building itself. The first step in deposing Lucifer. The risk is high, but with no risk, there will never be victory, and the Morning Star’s reign will go unchecked as the obscenity it’s always been.”
It seemed like an awful lot of trouble. “Why not just use Nectoports to go into the Mephisto Building? Bypass the Warrens altogether?”
“Nectoportation won’t work over the Warrens. The sorcery doesn’t exist to achieve such a feat. Air transportation is likewise impossible. We once dispatched an entire division of troops on Nether-Bats to try to fly over the Warrens. The result was catastrophic. Lucifer’s psychic-power generators are much too strong. The only way in is through the Warrens.”
But then another point popped up in Cassie’s mind. “How do Via, Hush, and I get to the Commission? Do we use the Hand of Glory?”
“By now, Lucifer’s Warlocks are well aware of the ploy,” Ezoriel said, “and their counter-measures will render any Hand of Glory useless. Instead, I shall Nectoport you and your friends to the Commission’s grounds.”
This seemed kind of weak. “And ... that’s it?”
“With a hundred of my best trained soldiers to lead your assault.”
That sounds a bit better. Cassie tried to keep all of the plan’s pieces sorted in her mind.
“Okay, great. We attack the Commission and then you attack the Flesh Warrens—a sudden two-front invasion. But if Lucifer’s diverting so much power to protect the Commission—” Cassie could think of no better way to put it. “Won’t our asses be grass?”
“Holy One, what you don’t yet understand is that you and your two confederates will enjoy the most powerful weapon of all.” The Angel held up the sack of Fenton Blackwell’s bones. “This. The greatest Power Relic to ever be activated within the dominion of Hell.”
“It’s just a bag of bones,” Cassie complained.
“It’s a lot more than that,” Via countered. “That�
�s why we went to all that hassle to bring it.”
“This Power Relic, buried in the Living World and stolen away into ours, will make you invincible,” Ezoriel said.
“How?”
“You’ll see,” Via said and looked excitedly to Hush.
Don’t worry! Hush mouthed to her.
Cassie shrugged. Better to just take their word for it.
“Theoretically the only potential flaw,” Ezoriel went on, “regards the supernatural nature of the Power Relic.”
“But you just said it’d make us invincible,” Cassie complained. “Either we’ll be invincible or we won’t. Which is it?”
“You’ll be invincible to any force in Hell save for one: Fenton Blackwell himself. Once you energize the Relic, the real Blackwell will know; he’ll be able to feel it at the core of his damned soul.”
“Like I told you on the train,” Via said, “Blackwell’s in Hell now, and Lucifer transformed him into a Grand Duke. When we start using the Relic, Blackwell will sense it and he’ll come after us. Since the bones belong to him, he’s the only one who won’t be affected by their power.”
“Well that screws up the entire plan!” Cassie exclaimed. “What good is a freakin’ Power Relic if Blackwell comes after us?”
“He’s too far away,” Via said. “By the time he gets to us, we’ll be long gone. He lives on Templar Cape. That’s at the farthest comer of the Mephistopolis. It would take him days to find us.”
“Actually,” Ezoriel interrupted, “it would take quite longer than that. Grand Duke Blackwell no longer resides on Templar Cape.”
“He ... doesn’t?” Via worriedly inquired.
“He now resides in my dungeon,” Ezoriel said with some satisfaction. “I ordered my troops to capture him not hours ago.” Ezoriel turned on a familiar oval television which showed a ten-foot-tall figure, with an angular head and horns, bound neck to ankles in stout iron chains. Surrounding him was a squad of the black knights on watch, bearing spears and battleaxes.
“Blackwell’s not going anywhere,” Via said excitedly.
“And with Ezoriel’s plan, we get to kill two birds with one stone.”