“We can take a few more for the journey, right?” I asked, stuffing a couple more apples into my pockets. “Cerys might be hungry when we find her.”
“Cerys, sure,” Clyde said. “Could you add another one to your pocket for this Cerys? I’d do it, but I don’t have any storage.”
“Feel better, Morrow?” Gray asked.
“Food makes everything better,” I replied.
Clyde resumed his place beside me. “I can see why you and I get along.” He halted in his tracks, his focus diverted to the horizon. “Great gods of the underworld. Is that your demon’s palace?”
I followed his gaze to the building in the distance. It looked like Versailles on hormones. Fountains erupted in multiple places, and the landscaping was designed with precision and attention to detail.
“Who does this guy think he is?” Clyde asked.
“Hades, apparently,” I replied. “He wants to live like a god.”
“Well, he’s doing a pretty good job so far.” Clyde marveled at the palace. “You’d better be careful. A demon like this is going to have security.”
“We know,” Gray said. I saw the concern reflected in his eyes.
“We can handle wards,” I said.
Gray studied the palace grounds. “I doubt he uses wards. His security will be more hands-on.”
“No one’s come to kill us yet,” I said, forcing a cheerful smile.
“We have to figure out where he’s keeping Cerys,” Gray said. “In a place this huge, it could be anywhere. We don’t have the numbers to sweep the whole palace. Not without the others.”
Clyde looked up at us. “I can sneak in. No one would suspect a goat. They’ll think I’m part of the palace livestock.”
I frowned. “What if they accidentally take you to the kitchen?”
Clyde puffed out his chest. “They won’t. I’m too slick for that.”
I folded my arms. “So slick that you managed to get trapped at Hilda’s inn?”
Clyde grimaced. “Sure. Throw that back in my face.”
“You can’t go inside the palace,” Gray pointed out. “How do you expect to get information on where Abraxas keeps his bride?”
“You don’t know anything about goats, do you?” Clyde asked.
“Not really,” Gray agreed.
“You have your magic, and I have mine,” Clyde said. “Watch and learn, friends.” He began to trot down the long dirt pathway that led to the palace.
“Do you think he’ll make it?” I asked.
“He strikes me as a survivor,” Gray said. “Like you.”
“Cerys, too,” I said, keeping the hope alive. “She’s tougher than she looks.”
A low growl originated behind us. Slowly, I turned to see a hellhound about six feet away, much larger than Princess Buttercup and with two extra heads.
“What is it with three-headed hounds down here?” I asked.
Saliva dripped from the three mouths, creating tiny pools of acid on the ground.
Gray clenched his fists, ready to start fighting. “I guess he’s part of the security team.”
I reached for my wand, and my hand brushed against the lumps in my pockets. Fonthill’s words came rushing back to me. Don’t knock any apples on the ground. The hellhounds gobble them up before I can stop them. They love golden apples.
I pulled an apple from my pocket and held it out in the palm of my hand. “You like these, right?”
Three noses sniffed the air, inhaling the fragrant scent of the apple. The hound crept forward, wanting to investigate.
“I don’t know if making friends is such a good idea, Morrow,” Gray said quietly.
“Do you have a better one?” I asked. “You’d have to knock all three heads unconscious to subdue him. Think you can do it?”
The middle head lurched forward and the apple disappeared from my hand. The other heads looked at me expectantly. I retrieved another apple from my pocket and tossed it high in the air, over the demonic hound’s heads.
“Fetch!” I yelled.
The trio of slobbering heads went galloping after the apple.
“How many apples are left?” Gray asked, eyeing my pockets.
“Clyde will forgive me,” I said, producing another one.
The Cerberus-wannabe came barreling back to me. One of the tongues lashed out in an effort to give me a friendly lick, but I jolted my arm backward. I had a good idea what their acidic saliva would do to my skin.
“Who’s a good triplet dog?” I said, in a voice designed for puppies. “There are loads more apples if you behave.” I reached over the middle one’s head to scratch behind his ear, the way I’d seen Fonthill do to Apollo and Princess Buttercup.
Gray cocked an eyebrow. “We’re not taking them back to the overworld with us. I don’t care how much you beg.”
“Them or him?”
“Three mouths to feed qualifies as them, as far as I’m concerned,” Gray replied.
All three heads were panting happily now, gazing at me adoringly. “Who needs magic blood when you have golden apples?” I joked.
“Yes, but now what?” Gray asked. “Clyde is headed this way, and I doubt the goat will get a welcome reception from these heads.”
I craned my neck to see the white goat traipsing down the pathway toward us. His gait was incredibly upbeat for a nymph that was trapped in goat’s body for eternity, and recently rescued from the inn of a witch that served her victims as supper.
“I bet he’s found Cerys,” I said.
All three heads tilted, prompting Gray and I to exchange looks.
“You know Cerys?” Gray asked.
The head on the left barked.
“Hate to disappoint you,” Clyde said, “but I only found a bunch of weird statues and too many servants that looked like they enjoy a nice bowl of goat stew. Something big must be happening because those servants were scrambling like their lives depended on it.” He slowed when he noticed the security trio. “Maybe I’ll just head back for another peek.”
“Thanks, Clyde,” I said. “I think these guys might know where to find Cerys.”
All three heads barked this time.
Clyde maintained a careful distance. “Now might be a good time to part ways as friends.”
The goat made a good point. He’d guided us here safely, and we were heading into a dangerous situation.
“Where will you go?” Gray asked.
“There are plenty of hillsides around this region,” Clyde said. “I think I’d like to explore.”
“Good luck to you,” I said. “Thanks for your help.”
“No, thank you,” Clyde said. “Could I have my apple for the road?” He inclined his stunted horns toward my pocket.
“Um, about that…” I said. “You may want to head back to the orchard on your way out.” I jerked my thumb at the hound heads. “I had to use the emergency rations.”
“Understandable,” Clyde said. “Good luck escaping with your friend. I hope she’s okay.” He skipped off into the wild blue-grey yonder.
I turned back to the triplets. “Can you take me to Cerys?”
Tongues wagged in response.
“Great! Let’s go, boys,” I said.
The hound guided us to the back of the palace, past the fountains and a row of statues that I recognized from my vision. Thankfully, none of them actually looked like Cerys. I worried that we’d pass more security guards, but everyone we saw seemed to be preoccupied with another task.
A winged woman with a birdlike face took the measure of us. “You’re early. The master dislikes when guests are early.”
“Don’t be rude, Nova,” a goblin said. “The master dislikes when servants are rude to guests even more.” He smiled at us, his teeth yellow and sharp. “You must be very special, indeed. It isn’t every day that the hellbeast takes a liking to visitors.”
“We apologize for our early arrival,” Gray said. “Our travel plans required us to be nearby, so we thought we may as wel
l come when we were ready. Where would you like us to wait?”
The goblin motioned to a large gazebo. “We’ll be setting up a bar area there soon. If I were you, that’s where I’d linger.” He winked. “Make sure to try the golden apple martini. It’s an incredible recipe.”
“Thank you,” I said.
Gray and I escaped to the gazebo before anyone else could question our presence. The hellbeast trailed after a pair of servants carrying a wild boar.
“What do you think is going on?” I asked Gray, once we were safely installed in the gazebo.
“You don’t want to know,” he said.
I watched as servants began rolling out a black carpet from the back of the palace to the main fountain. “It’s almost like they’re setting up for a…” I stopped talking. “Oh, no.”
Gray shot me a sympathetic look. “We’re here, Morrow. We’ll put a stop to it.”
“This is awful,” I said, pacing the length of the gazebo. “What if the ceremony means she has to stay here forever?”
“There won’t be a ceremony,” Gray said. “If they’re preparing for a wedding, that means there’s likely a team of servants getting the bride ready.”
I snapped to attention. “Away from the groom?”
“Exactly.”
A heavyset man hurried past the gazebo, holding a small basket of mistletoe. His face was red with exertion and he seemed ready to keel over. I chased after him.
“Excuse me,” I called. “Where are you taking that mistletoe?”
“To the bride-to-be, of course,” he said, panting heavily. “The master insists she wear them in her hair, but you know how difficult mistletoe is to come by here. We only just found them in time.”
“Oh, thank the gods for that,” I said, with a dismissive wave of my hand. “You seem so busy. Why don’t I take them to her?”
The servant seemed more than happy to pass the basket over to me. “She’s in the second parlor.”
“Which is where?”
He pointed. “Enter through that doorway. Ute is in there. If you pass it to her, she’ll put the finishing touches on the bride. She’s the master’s preferred stylist.”
The demon had a preferred bridal stylist? How many times had he married a mortal against her will? Forget it. I didn’t want to know.
“No problem,” I said. As soon as the servant turned his back, I waved Gray over. “Come on.”
There was no time to lose.
14
We hurried to the entrance and slowly opened the door without knocking. We crept into the galley entryway and took refuge behind a large piece of furniture. A tall, muscular demon took center stage in the room.
“Abraxas,” I whispered. So much for our hope that underworld wedding customs would be the same as ours.
We remained hidden behind a buffet and hutch, surveying the scene. Unsurprisingly, Abraxas was hideous. He looked like a cross between an alien and one of the Nazgul from Lord of the Rings. Unlike the Nazgul, though, we could see his face. Kinda wished we couldn’t. The most unsettling part of him was his ice-blue eyes. They seemed out of place when the rest of the demon was dark grey from head to toe. A sword with an ice-blue blade rested against his seat.
“I expected him to be fiery and hellish,” I whispered to Gray.
“Oh, believe me. He is,” Gray assured me. “The hottest fire creates blue flames.”
Right.
My stomach plummeted when I finally caught a glimpse of Cerys. Her legs and arms were shackled with golden chains as she served her demon-captor a plate of underworld food. Although her blond hair was styled in Grecian curls, her petite frame appeared malnourished. How could the underworld have taken such a toll on her so quickly?
“Gray, she looks weak,” I said. “How are we going to get her out of here?”
“We need to worry about those shackles first,” he said.
“Can’t we just break them?”
He pressed his lips together. “They’re not ordinary chains, Morrow. They’re forged by the gods. Abraxas may be the only one here that can release her.”
“So we can’t fight our way out with her?”
He gave me a hard look. “We’re sure as hell not leaving without her.”
I was glad we were on the same page. I couldn’t imagine what hell Cerys had been through down here.
Just then, another young woman came into view. She was also shackled and carried a small tub of water. She set the tub in front of Abraxas and kneeled.
“Wait. Two brides?” I queried.
“Watch the left foot, Beth, my sweet,” he said. “I still have a blister there from your friend’s last escape attempt.” He glared at Cerys as she dipped a piece of fruit into a honey-colored liquid and fed it to him.
“Beth,” I repeated in disbelief.
Gray looked at me sharply. “Who’s Beth?”
“She was their roommate before I came,” I said. “Everyone thought she ran off because she didn’t want to join the AMF.”
Yet here she was. Another captive bride of Abraxas.
“What’s our plan?” Gray asked. “There’s only one of him now, but we’re surrounded by his servants and staff.”
“The girls don’t look in any shape to fight.” And if we couldn’t get those shackles removed, it would be hard to get out of here, even if we managed to subdue Abraxas.
“You and I are enough,” he said. “We make a good team, remember?”
It took all my strength not to kiss him.
The scampering of feet alerted us to new arrivals. Two minions entered from the far side of the room. They were some odd combination of goats and spiders. Hairy heads with two short horns, equally hairy torsos, and six legs. Neither Cerys nor Beth reacted at the sight of them, which implied they were a regular feature of life here.
“Where is the mistletoe?” Abraxas demanded.
“We were not tasked with mistletoe, master,” one of the minions said. The ugly one. Well, the uglier one.
“You take the minions,” Gray said. “I’ll take Abraxas.”
“How?” I asked. “He’s got a sword. You’ve got…”
“Skills,” he finished for me. “I spent years as a warden, Morrow. Trust me.”
I did trust him. Completely. I didn’t realize how much until this moment.
Gray seemed to read my thoughts. “It feels nice to trust someone, doesn’t it? We’re in this together, Morrow. As soon as you deal with the minions, you help me. Deal?”
I nodded. All the more reason to dispatch the goat-spiders quickly. The less time I had to look at them, the better.
“Make a protective bubble around me,” Gray said. “You can do that, right?”
“Yes.” I retrieved my wand.
“Do it fast,” Gray advised. “Because as soon as you use magic in here, Abraxas is going to feel it.”
“Okay.” My heart began thumping wildly. This was the moment of truth—the reason we made this journey. We couldn’t afford to screw up now. “Aren’t you going to tell me to quiet my heart?”
Gray gave me a half smile. “Not this time. There’s something strangely satisfying about the sound.”
I laughed softly. “That’s weird.”
“You’re not exactly cut from normal cloth yourself.”
“Good luck, Gray,” I said. Before I had a chance to talk myself out of it, I kissed him firmly on the lips.
“There’s something strangely satisfying about that, too,” he said.
I kept the butterflies as contained as I could. Butterflies would have to wait until we got out of this alive…assuming we did.
There was plenty of moisture in the air. I called the water to me, and my magic immediately responded. I aimed my wand at Gray and watched as the bubble formed around him. I focused on strengthening the protective layer, yet leaving it flexible for his preternatural movements. It was harder than it seemed.
Abraxas lifted his head slightly, seemingly aware of the shift in energy. “W
hat’s this?” He whistled for his goat-spiders. That was our cue.
As Gray bolted for the demon, I charged the minions. I didn’t have time to register the shocked expressions of Cerys and Beth. I used my wand to zap the goat-spiders with fire magic, setting their legs ablaze. Their high-pitched screams chilled my blood as they ran in panicked circles, trying to douse the flames. I didn’t give them a chance to regroup. I called the water to me again, and let the magic fill me. I placed the minions in a single bubble and flooded it with water. It wasn’t the most humane death, but I didn’t feel that I could afford to be generous under the circumstances.
I turned toward Abraxas to see he and Gray struggling for control of the sword. As I ran to join the fray, I realized that the blade wasn’t made of metal at all. The ice-blue blade was almost transparent, like a gas. Right now, Abraxas had the upper hand and swung the sword, slicing the vampire’s side.
“No!” I yelled.
Blood gushed from Gray’s torso, and he stumbled back. I was so focused on Gray that I failed to see Abraxas take aim at me.
“Bryn, watch out!” Cerys yelled.
I ducked as the blade swept over my head, catching a few stray hairs on my way down. I had to disable the demon so I could help Gray. Vampire or not, I had no idea what the demon’s blade was made of—whether it was potent enough to kill a vampire. I couldn’t take the risk of Gray taking another hit.
“The blade can free us,” Cerys called. “Get the sword, so we can help you.”
“Quiet, you petulant creature,” Abraxas hissed, and I noticed his forked tongue for the first time.
I launched myself forward from a crouched position. Although he was a large demon, I pushed the bulk of my weight into his knees and tackled him to the ground. He managed to maintain his grip on the sword and brought it down on my shoulder blade. A searing pain shot through me, the intensity nearly knocking me unconscious. Blood dribbled down my arm. I rolled to the side and scrambled to my feet before the demon could attack again.
Gray was already back in action, drawing the demon’s attention away from me. The vampire favored his left side, and I knew he was in more pain than he was letting on. It was hard enough to fight Abraxas at full strength. I didn’t think Gray would make it very long.
Outlast: Spellslingers Academy of Magic (Warden of the West Book 3) Page 13