Hell Freezes Over (Hellscourge Book 6)

by Diem, J. C.

  I looked up to see my foe snarling with anger that I’d figured out what his final trap was. He rushed at me and I lifted my axe to deflect his strike. Our weapons clanged loudly and sparks flew. He was far stronger than me and I was driven backwards. My boots skidded on the slippery flagstone and a section of the floor fell out from beneath me.

  Throwing myself to the side, I landed on a solid section of floor more out of luck than skill. The marked stones didn’t crumble beneath my opponent. It had been designed to defend him. He was the only one who could walk on it without fearing death. All of the princes had pet hellscribes. His had created these inventive traps. They must have mixed his blood in with the flagstones so he wouldn’t trigger them. I hadn’t seen any scribes in this realm so far. Maybe he’d had them all locked away so they wouldn’t gossip about his secret palace.

  Catching movement high above, I glanced up to see four narrow windows that were flanked by long black curtains. As usual, they were glassless. The raven was sitting on a sill peering down at us. Aware that it had been spotted, it fluttered down to perch on the throne where it could watch the action as it unfolded.

  I motioned for my minion to stay back. He wouldn’t be of much use during this fight. He’d probably just end up falling to his fiery death. Trying to watch the marked flagstones as well as my opponent, I knew I was in trouble when the prince began to spin his spear in a dizzying circle. He was clearly skilled with the weapon. It spun so fast that I couldn’t keep track of it. He moved around me and I turned to keep him in sight.

  Using both hands, he twirled his spear until I was nearly mesmerized by the flashing scarlet display. Then he lunged at me so fast that I couldn’t quite evade the strike. I managed to lean to the side so his blade sliced a deep cut in the side of my neck rather than spearing through my throat.

  With Raziel inside me, I couldn’t stop the blood from sheeting down to soak my jacket. All of my wounds throbbed in pain, but this one burned like the fire I’d avoided earlier. Instead of weakening me as the prince hoped, it had the effect of bringing my rage to the surface.

  Do not attack him blindly, Morax warned me. He is a skilled warrior and he will not fall easily. I suggest that you should try to even the playing field.

  Before I could ask him what he meant, he sent me an image. The prince hesitated when I grinned and his brows drew down into a suspicious frown. I transformed my axe into a spear again and rapidly tapped the unstable flagstones. One by one, they fell, leaving a checkerboard pattern behind. Instead of black and red squares, they were black and orange from the magma below.

  “Clever,” the prince said grudgingly as I made the area that surrounded me as dangerous as possible. He was too large to fit through the gaps in the floor, but he would become vulnerable if one of his cloven hooves fell through a hole.

  “Morax suggested it,” I said truthfully.

  “I would never have believed that a lord of his caliber would turn traitor against his own kind.”

  “He wants to survive, just like the rest of the legion that are trapped inside me.”

  “This was a wasted effort,” he said, indicating the checkered floor. “I think you are forgetting something. I have an advantage that you do not.” He unfolded his wings and they spread out on either side of him. Wind buffeted me when he lifted himself into the air. He hovered a foot or so above the floor. He flapped his wings every few seconds to keep himself in the air.

  He will not be able to remain aloft for long, Morax said before I could panic. He is too heavy to maintain flight for more than a few minutes at a time.

  My foe came rushing at me and I had to throw myself to the side to avoid his spear tip. My legs went into a hole and I clutched a flagstone with one hand while desperately trying to hold onto my spear.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the prince coming for me. This time, I couldn’t move quickly enough to avoid him. I screamed in pain when his blade rammed into my back. I lost all sensation in my legs and knew that he’d severed my spinal cord.

  Picking me up with one hand, he eyed my limp form. “How pathetic,” he declared. “To think that I have feared you for so many millennia.” He tossed me aside and I landed at the base of his throne where the floor was solid.

  The raven cawed in laughter and leaned forward to peer down at me. Hatred and rage pulsed through me and my anger rose with it. I jabbed my spear at the bird’s face and it jerked back with an alarmed squawk. It took off, seeking refuge in a higher location and settled on a windowsill again.

  Rage filled me, which nullified the effect of having Raziel inside me blocking my healing abilities. My wounds disappeared like magic and I rose to my feet. “You have incurred my wrath, Prince of the fourth realm,” I intoned. “Prepare to meet your death.”

  His dark face paled and he glanced around, seeking escape. Before he could flee, I transformed my weapon back into an axe and launched myself at him. Using all of my strength and speed, I leaped thirty feet across the floor and my blade lodged in his shoulder. Dropping his spear, he sprawled on the checkered ground with his wings spread out beneath him. His spear fell through a gap and landed in the magma far below.

  “If you succeed in defeating the rest of my brothers, you will rue the day that you were born,” he vowed, then screamed when I yanked my blade out of his torn flesh. Succumbing to my rage, the red haze descended and I went into a chopping frenzy. Pieces of his flesh fell through the gaps in the floor and his screams soon turned to whimpers. The scarlet light faded from his eyes when his life finally left him.

  Kicking what was left of his body to the pool of magma below, I felt my wrath recede. Exhaustion came crashing down in its place.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  With the prince dead, I could now turn my attention to the second reason why I’d come to the smaller palace. After a short rest, I gingerly worked my way across the perilous floor and came to a stop a few yards away from the pedestal.

  About three feet high and a foot wide, it was a plain black pillar made of volcanic rock. None of the flagstones that surrounded it were marked. It had been set several yards away from the wall. It had been put on display so the prince could gloat that I’d never gain possession of it.

  Unable to see any traps in the vicinity, I made my axe transform back into a dagger and tucked it into the sheath in an inner pocket of my jacket. I knew there were soldiers in the palace, but they hadn’t made any move to approach the throne room. They must be aware that their leader was dead. They were too frightened to show themselves.

  Crossing to the pedestal, I picked up the piece of metal and the floor fell out from beneath me. Only my demonic reflexes saved me. I grabbed hold of the top of the dais with one hand and waited for it to crumble. Somehow, it remained suspended in midair. The pillar was slick and my grip started to slip. Tucking the silver object into my pocket, I grabbed the pedestal with my other hand to halt my fall.

  Leaning around the pillar, I saw that it was attached to the wall by a thin iron bar. So much for magic, I thought and nearly giggled in relief that I was still alive. Relaxing slightly that it wasn’t going to collapse, I tried to figure out how I was going to get out of this predicament.

  A wide section of the floor had caved in, leaving a gap of about forty feet around me on three sides. The throne had collapsed as well, but the prince wouldn’t be needing it anytime soon. Even if I’d still been filled with wrath, I wouldn’t have been able to leap forty feet. It was useless to send my minion for help. I doubted he’d be able to make his way back through the traps without being injured so badly that he was sent back to the first realm. Even if he did manage it and reached Sam, I didn’t want to risk my best friend’s life by making him go through the trials to reach me.

  Despair threatened to overwhelm me. I was frozen with indecision with no idea what to do. After a few minutes, I felt a strange sensation. It was almost like an alarm was going off in my head. I felt it again a couple of minutes later, b
ut it was much stronger this time. A misty doorway formed on the wall just beyond the pit that had opened up around me. I gaped in astonishment as Sam came through the magical opening. He hadn’t come alone. He was riding on the back of one of the soldiers that I’d left to defend him.

  Sam looked around and saw me desperately clinging to the pedestal. He slid to the ground and shook his head. “Seriously, what would you do without me?”

  I sniggered then started laughing so hard that I nearly lost my grip. He took a step towards the edge of the pit and my amusement fled. “Be careful,” I warned him. “The flagstones that have marks on them are designed to collapse if you step on them.”

  Seeing the checkered pattern that I’d left on the far side of the throne room, he understood what I meant. “Where is the Prince’s body?” he asked.

  “How do you know I defeated him?”

  “It became fairly obvious when it started to snow.”

  I gaped at him again. “What? How?”

  He shrugged as if it wasn’t important that snow was falling in the fourth realm of hell. “Dark, ominous clouds formed over the area and the temperature dropped. At first, I thought it was just ash that was falling, but it was far too cold. Then I realized it was snow and figured that you had defeated the Prince. When you did not return, I suspected that you had managed to get yourself into some sort of trouble. I knew that you needed my help.”

  “How did you get through the traps?”

  “I avoided them altogether,” he said nonchalantly. “The soldiers protected me from the arrows as we ran to the palace. One of them was gravely wounded and disappeared. The other watched my back as I painted Sy’s rune to create the magical doorways. I used him to activate them and he carried me straight through each one until we found you.”

  Tears gathered in my eyes and I had to fight not to let them fall. “Have I told you how much I love you?” I said. Thanks to his perfect recall and natural intelligence, he’d figured out how to come to the rescue without putting himself at risk.

  “I love you, too,” he replied with a grin. “Now, how am I going to save you this time?”

  Looking around, I spied the long black curtains that hung next to the narrow windows. The raven was gone and I hadn’t even noticed its departure. It had probably taken off before the freak snowstorm had hit. Not even an undead bird would want to fly through the ice that was falling from the sky. “Grab one of the curtains,” I suggested. “It should be long enough to reach me.”

  Sam carefully worked his way across the dangerous flagstones to the wall and yanked one of the curtains down. He returned to the soldier and gave him one end to hold. He wadded the fabric up and tried to throw the other end to me. It fell far short and fluttered downwards. The magma was a hundred feet or so below us and the curtain was in no danger of catching on fire. He tried a few more times, but he just didn’t have the strength to throw it to me. He handed it to my soldier to try, but he didn’t have any success either. They needed something to weigh it down with so they could toss it further.

  “I have an idea,” Sam said. “Can you send your other soldier over to us?”

  My minion was still waiting on the sidelines of the throne room. I’d almost forgotten that he was there. “Go to Sam, but be careful not to step on any of the flagstones with markings,” I told him.

  Blank faced, he did as I instructed and made his way over to the other two. Sam wrapped the end of the curtain around the waist of the first soldier then moved to a stable flagstone behind the pair. “Take the other end of the curtain,” he said to the second demon. He dutifully took hold of it and waited for his orders. “Grab hold of him and spin him around a few times then throw him to Violet,” he ordered the first one.

  I understood his plan and shifted around so I was closer to the wall. The iron bar holding the pedestal was only two inches wide. I hauled myself up high enough to be able to perch on it and held onto the pedestal with my left hand. “Do what he said,” I said to my minions.

  Taking hold of the second soldier’s hand, the one with the curtain tied to his waist spun around. The second lackey’s feet left the ground with the force of the swing. On the third rotation, he was sent flying towards me. I leaned forward and reached out as he held the end of the curtain towards me. I grabbed hold of it, but he slipped out of my grasp and fell into the pit of boiling liquid far below.

  “Are you two going to be able to hold my weight?” I asked. They’d be in danger of being pulled in after me once I left the safety of the iron bar.

  “I am not, but he will be,” Sam replied. “Even the smallest demon is far stronger than they look.”

  “Brace yourself,” I said to the only lackey I had left. He dug his heels into the floor and leaned back slightly. Letting go of the pedestal, I wrapped the curtain around my wrist until it was secure then pushed myself forward. Swinging over the empty space, I felt the heat of the magma trying to fry me. The curtain pulled taught as the soldier took my weight. For a horrible moment, I thought I was too heavy and that I was going to drag him over the edge. Then he caught himself and started to haul me upwards.

  Reaching the top, I flopped on the floor and rolled onto my back. Sam was standing next to me and I looked up at him. “You saved my butt again.”

  “That is why I am here. I was chosen to be your guardian when you travel to the underworld. It is not a duty that I take lightly.”

  “I can’t believe you avoided all the traps by going straight through the walls,” I said with an incredulous laugh. “I wish I’d thought of that. It would have saved me a lot of time and aggravation.”

  “Perhaps the aggravation was necessary,” he pointed out. “I did not think of using the rune until after you had killed the Prince.”

  He was probably right about that. I needed my wrath to rise before I could kill the princes. I couldn’t just switch it on and off at will. “We’d better get out of here,” I said and climbed to my feet. I couldn’t wait to see it snowing in hell. It was bound to be memorable.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Taking the container of demon blood and a brush from Sam, I painted the rune that would create a magical doorway that could only be used once. Since I’d created it this time, it was larger than the one Sam had made. They seemed to change to suit whoever would be using them.

  I turned sideways and Sam stood in front of me. My lackey joined us, squeezing Sam in the middle. We stepped through the misty doorway and emerged into a hallway. Only now did I realize what the alarm had been that I’d sensed. I’d felt the magic of the rune being activated when Sam had drawn close to me. It was a startling revelation and I kept it to myself. My physical transformation was already hard enough to take. I could now sense magic being used as if I was a fully-fledged Demon Lord. It was a grim reminder of how rapidly I was changing.

  We had to travel through ten more walls before we finally emerged from the palace. The air was freezing and the ground was covered in several inches of snow. More was falling from the angry clouds that had formed above us. Even the lava from the mountain was blanketed in a sheet of ice.

  My nightmares appeared on the path and we hurried towards them. Sam opened the carriage door and didn’t wait for me to climb in first this time. He shifted to the far side of the seat and I slid in next to him. He huddled at my side for warmth as my soldier entered last and pulled the door shut.

  The shadowy steeds took off and the wheels crunched over the ever deepening snow. A howling wind rose. It pushed against us, trying to slow us down and drag us back into the center of the storm. The nightmares’ footing remained sure as they fought against the unnatural wind.

  We thundered through the petrified forest towards the bridge. I looked out through the back window to see the black palace fading beneath a blanket of white. The mountain behind it became almost indistinguishable from the snow.

  “That was not so bad,” Sam said in relief that we’d made it out without encountering any pr
oblems or enemies.

  “It was almost easy,” I agreed. I wasn’t talking about the battle with the prince, but of our escape afterwards.

  The carriage tilted backwards as we started climbing over the bridge. Hearing the sharp sound of cracking stone, I froze. Then Sam and I were both scrambling for the windows. We looked out to see that the bridge was covered in ice. Far below, the river of lava was partially iced over. Only the center of the river remained free. Steam rose into the air, almost obscuring our view.

  We reached the top of the bridge and I heard another sharp crack. “Uh oh,” Sam breathed. “That cannot be good.”

  We raced down the other side and I had a horrible feeling that we weren’t going to make it. The nightmares galloped as hard as they could, but the bridge collapsed beneath them. Sam, my minion and I were thrown through the air as the hellhorses disappeared, taking the carriage with them.

  I grabbed hold of Sam and saw that we weren’t going to make it to the other side. I had a split second to decide what to do and I didn’t even need to think about it. I tossed him forward with all of my strength and trusted that Fate wouldn’t let me die.

  Sam landed on the broken edge of the bridge. I had enough time to see him pulling himself up to safety, then I was falling towards the river of boiling hot lava. Long icicles clung to what was left of the underside of the bridge. They looked sharp enough to impale the unwary. Sam leaned over the edge and his eyes were wide with fear. “Violet!” he screamed in terror then steam cut him off from my view.

  I landed on my stomach on the edge of the ice and my lower legs splashed into the lava. Agony unlike anything I’d ever experienced before paralyzed me. It hurt so badly that I couldn’t even scream. Morax came forward and I allowed myself to be shunted aside. Pushing the pain away, he dragged me over to the crumbling dirt wall.