bedeviled & beyond 06 - bedeviled & befouled

by Sam Cheever

  Gerch roared and slammed into us just before the corpse-filled council room slipped away under a veil of silence.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Damn and Damnation!

  Fire burns bright inside her soul, and apparently outside too,

  But water sucks away her goal, and turns her bath to poo.

  The spongy ground reformed beneath my feet and I stumbled against Dialle. I’d have gone down under Gerch’s weight if Dialle hadn’t been there to catch me. The loyal soldier regained his balance and wrapped his arms around me, wrenching me away from Dialle and shoving me behind his broad back as his king turned.

  Dialle frowned. “What is this, Gerch, old friend?”

  “You told me to protect the queen. That’s what I’m doing.”

  I stepped out from behind the big, red soldier but he threw a thick arm in front of me, holding me back.

  A flare of something that looked like pain flitted through Dialle’s gaze. “From me?”

  Gerch stiffened, his broad form rigid with matching pain. “If necessary, sire.”

  Dialle’s gaze slid to mine, confusion mixing with the pain. “It’s okay, Gerch.” I placed a hand on Gerch’s arm, holding Dialle’s gaze. “Dialle wouldn’t hurt me.”

  “Not the Dialle we once knew.” The big warrior resisted my efforts to shove his arm out of my way. “But the Dialle who just massacred a room full of his subjects...” Gerch let the thought hang there, unfinished.

  I expected Dialle to get angry. Or try to pull rank on his loyal soldier. But instead the pain in his eyes deepened. “You believe I did that?”

  “What else am I to believe? There was only you, standing in a field of death behind locked doors.”

  Dialle’s gaze held mine, a question throbbing behind it. I knew what he was asking, but I wasn’t sure I was prepared to give him an answer he’d believe. “It looks bad, Dialle.”

  He glanced away, his fists clenched at his sides. After a moment he nodded. “Very well. At least I know where I stand with you.”

  “I don’t know how you know that, bud. Since I don’t even know how you stand with me at the moment.”

  He turned away striding off into the growing dusk. I hurried to catch up, falling into step beside him. “Where are we?”

  For a moment I didn’t think he was going to answer me. When he did, his tone was curt. “Perdigo. It’s an outer circle of Hell.”

  Gerch stepped up on my other side, staying close. “Why have you brought us here?”

  Dialle snapped a look toward Gerch. “I didn’t bring you here. You forced your way in.”

  Gerch’s small, black eyes narrowed with irritation. “I’m doing as I was ordered.”

  “Yes,” Dialle answered sourly. “Protecting the queen. From me.”

  “Sire—”

  “Save it, Gerch.”

  We walked for several moments in silence. In a rare moment of discretion I decided I’d give Dialle some time to deal with his hurt feelings before I started pressing him for more information. I know, amazing huh? It appeared that I was growing up. Having your heart ripped out of your chest and your world torn into bitty pieces will apparently do that to you.

  I used the time to take in my surroundings. If Dialle hadn’t told me we were in Hell I’d have never known it. In stark contrast to the smoky, singed, superheated environs of Hell’s fiery center, Perdigo was a very normal-looking place. The ground beneath our feet was covered in lush, green grass. We walked along a wide path, with immense trees towering over us. The strange-looking trees climbed high into the sky and were covered in smooth, pale-gray bark. Directly above us I could see a dark, purple sky dotted with golden stars and two, white-gold moons.

  Strange looking bushes marked the grassy area where we walked. They were perfectly round, as if someone had taken the time to shape them, and were covered in velvety looking black flowers that gave off the scent of lemons. In the center of each dark bloom was a cluster of bright-red berries. I’d never seen them before and wondered what they were.

  A soft breeze slipped through the trees, making the leaves in the huge trees dance and showing their whitish undersides as the branches swayed. The air smelled slightly smoky, with a delicate undertone of sulfur.

  We seemed to be walking toward a long, uneven ridge far ahead.

  “Why are we here, Dialle?”

  He walked on, his jaw visibly working as he ignored me.

  “Dialle?”

  He jerked a look in my direction. “To find my father and that bitch you call a mother.”

  I blinked. Of all the things I’d expected him to say, that was definitely not on the list. “What? Why?”

  He stopped, turning to fix me with an intense gaze. “To destroy them. The way they destroyed my court.”

  I held his gaze, unsure what to say. He had destroyed his own court. Hadn’t he? “What are you saying, Dialle? My mother and your father were there?”

  His laugh was bitter. “There? I’d say so, yes. They were there when they told the court you and I were destroyed. They were there when they killed all who remained of my loyal guard. They were there when they announced that my father would retake the throne with your mother at his side. They were there when my father released the witch Astis from her chains and told her to kill everyone in that chamber. Yes, they were there, Astra. They were there until I showed up and saw what they’d done. Then they were no longer there. Because I looked into my father’s eyes and told him I’d kill him. If it was my last act in this life. I’d grasp his wretched throat in my hands and squeeze the life out of him.”

  Dialle’s handsome face was dark with rage. At some point during his diatribe he’d wrapped his hands around my arms and, by the time he’d finished, he held me in a painful grip, fueled by emotion.

  Tears flooded my eyes as I realize the depths of betrayal Dialle had suffered. And, I suddenly understood, Gerch and I were part of that betrayal. We’d assumed the worst of him. “I’m so sorry, Dialle.”

  He was breathing heavily, obviously fighting some deep emotional dragons. He jerked his hands from my arms and started walking again. Gerch and I shared a look. Dialle’s right-hand man looked shamed by his part in Dialle’s pain. I suspected my face was filled with the same emotion. I touched Gerch’s arm, shaking my head.

  There would be time to deal with our emotions later. Right at that moment we had bigger problems. We had a very powerful trio to find and defeat. And besides, when you’re space-walking on the bottom of a shit-filled lake there was only one direction to go. I was swimming toward the light as fast as I could.

  ~SC~

  We were walking through velvet darkness by the time we reached the ridge. Dialle hadn’t spoken a single word through the entire journey, which felt as if it took the better part of an entire day. My feet were killing me and my eyes kept trying to close. And, to make things worse, my stomach had started growling a few hours earlier, and was getting more insistent with every mile that passed.

  After one particularly adamant rumble, Gerch looked over and lifted his brow. Heat flooded my face. But I turned away and walked more quickly. Dialle’s coldness was daunting enough, there was no way I was going to be the first one to break and ask to stop.

  Sometime later, when I stumbled over a tiny rock, Dialle glanced at me and frowned. “We’ll rest here for a few hours. I know where they’re heading anyway.”

  I was mildly curious, but somehow didn’t have the energy to ask him where my mother and his father had gone. There’d be time enough for that after I’d gotten some sleep. I lay down on the rocky ground and felt the world slipping away almost before I closed my eyes.

  Energy flared and spit all around me, bathing my surroundings in harsh, white light. I stood in the center of it all, my hands lifted over my head. Power spit from my palms and sprayed, unheeded while I stood, frowning.

  In the distance someone called my name, sounding panicked. I ignored the summons and continued to spray my surroundings with energy.
Trees burned and melted away. Bushes flared into flame. The air smelled like the fiery pits, sulfuric and smoky.

  I felt the heat against my skin but the flame didn’t burn me. I smiled at the feeling of power I held within me. The hole at my core was full again. I felt strong again. A feeling I hadn’t felt in so long...

  “Astra!”

  Strong hands encircled my arms, shaking me. I came out of my rest slowly, as if fighting off a drugged stupor. The first thing I noticed was the sharp crackle of fire. Then I smelled the smoke. Blinking rapidly, I looked around. I was on my feet and the area where we’d stopped for the night was in flames. The air was so thick with smoke it hurt my lungs to pull in a breath. “What happened?”

  Dialle grabbed my hand. “We need to move.” He glanced to his side. “Gerch. Can you keep up?”

  “Yes.”

  Gerch sounded strange. I started to glance in his direction but Dialle jerked my hand, urging me into a run.

  “We need to get out of here, Astra.”

  I allowed him to pull me down the path, running full-out as flame moved in on us from both sides, quickly closing off the path ahead. Dialle sent power into the area ahead, blasting a hole through the burning debris just seconds before we moved through.

  My lungs were seared by smoke, my chest heaved with an effort to draw oxygen out of the ash-thickened air. And my skin burned in a hundred tiny spots as embers fluttered against me, singeing my skin and burrowing into my clothing.

  Still we ran on.

  I could hear the heavy clump, clump, clump of Gerch’s footfalls behind us, hear his labored breaths. I focused on those sounds like they were the beat of my own heart, driving me forward through the choking air. Because I was paying attention, I quickly noted when the sounds behind me stopped. I dug my feet in, jerking my hand from Dialle’s. “Wait! Gerch.” I turned around, saw him lying on the ground a few feet away, and headed for him.

  He appeared to be unconscious. I knelt beside the fallen warrior and tried to shake him awake. He didn’t move. I sensed Dialle’s arrival and looked up. “We’ll need to carry him.”

  Dialle nodded, reaching down and easily picking up the massive soldier. He flung Gerch over his shoulder and started off. I followed them, coughing so hard I could barely run.

  We finally emerged from the conflagration into an area beside a river, where the ground was too sandy to burn. Dialle headed toward the water and laid Gerch down underneath one of the strange trees I’d noticed when we’d arrived in Perdigo.

  Though smoke still filtered through the air around us, it was thin enough to allow an actual breath without choking. I sagged to my knees beside Gerch and panted, my hands on my knees and my head down as I struggled to clear my lungs of smoke. “What the hell happened?”

  When Dialle didn’t answer me I looked up. He was sitting on the ground beside Gerch, his handsome face soot covered and his sexy blue gaze perplexed. “You don’t remember?”

  “Remember what?”

  Gerch groaned. I forgot my question as I turned to the big soldier. I gasped when I saw his condition. Dialle had laid him down on his back so I could see his face for the first time. It was blackened, covered in oozing sores. “Shit. Dialle, what happened to him?”

  Without thinking I lay my hands on Gerch, wanting to heal him.

  “He was burned.”

  I reached deep inside, looking for the healing energy I used to carry within my core. “I can see that, Dialle. Were we attacked?”

  “Not strictly speaking, no.”

  White light emerged from my palms and Gerch jerked, groaning as my energy began to heal him.

  “Astra...?”

  I ignored Dialle as I focused on healing my friend.

  “Astra...?”

  Beneath my energy, Gerch’s wide, red face started to resume its natural color and texture. The ugly boils and charred flesh seemed to slough away, making way for the soft pink of newly healed flesh.

  “Astra!”

  My head snapped up. “What?”

  “You have your power back.”

  I stared at him for a moment and then blinked and looked down at my hands. Shock swept through me in a wave and all the blood left my face. I swayed slightly, feeling dizzy. “My power?”

  “Yes. I can feel it. There must still be some connection between us.” Dialle looked as if he didn’t know whether to smile or frown.

  I’d forgotten. For just the briefest moment in time I’d forgotten that I hadn’t been whole before. And my mind was too muzzy from being ripped from sleep and running for my life to grasp it fully in that first moment.

  But as soon as I did, I gave off a whoop of delight.

  Dialle’s answering smile made me scream again, tears of sheer happiness flooding my eyes. “I have my power back.”

  I stood up and did a little happy dance, laughing with Dialle at my own silliness. I was just so happy.

  Gerch groaned and opened his eyes, glowering at me. “Celebrating my imminent demise?”

  I was too happy to let Mx. Grumpy distract me. “I have my power back!”

  He shoved himself upright. “Yeah. I noticed.”

  Dialle threw him a look and Gerch’s scowl deepened. “Thanks for healing me.”

  In a moment of pure delight, I ran over and dropped to my knees beside the big soldier, enclosing him in an impulsive hug. “You’re welcome.”

  Gerch fought out of my embrace. “By the Serpent, I think the smoke rotted her brain.”

  Dialle stared at me with an unreadable expression.

  I stood up, grimacing. “Speaking of smoke. I stink of it. I’m gonna go take a bath in that river over there.”

  Dialle nodded, his gaze flitting toward Gerch. “Stay close, we’re vulnerable out here.”

  I turned away and headed for the dark ribbon of water that cut a swath through the sandy ground. Dialle’s gaze burned my back as I walked away. I wondered what he was thinking.

  I soon forgot Dialle as I reached the gently flowing water and crouched next to it, running an exploratory finger through its surface. The water felt thicker than I was used to and silkier. But it smelled like water and nothing jumped up to eat my finger. More importantly, it was deliciously warm, like everything else in the Hades environs. One of the massive, gray-barked trees I was growing familiar with rose into the dark night sky a few feet away, its heavy branches stretching out over the river.

  I moved behind it to give myself a little privacy and started to strip. Listening to the distant roar of fire, I frowned. Dialle seemed reluctant to tell me how the fire started. I figured spontaneous fires weren’t that uncommon in the fiery environs of Hell but still, it seemed strange that the exact area where we’d been resting exploded into a conflagration. I made a mental note to ask Dialle about it later. After my bath.

  I crouched beside the water again and washed my clothing as well as I could, hoping at least some of the smoke stench would wash out of the fabric so I could stand to be around myself.

  I draped the newly rinsed clothing over a branch of the tree and stepped into the river. The water was deeper than I expected near the shoreline and my first, tentative step sent me plunging deep with a shriek.

  The warm, silky water closed over my head as I sank down, down, and down, never feeling the bottom. I finally realized I’d better swim for the top.

  As I neared the surface, the silver globes of the double moons wavered and danced above me, broken only by the blackly jagged shape of a tree limb. The water was impossibly clear, like looking through old glass. I swam through the warm silk, my limbs slicing the distance in clean, powerful strokes. It was a heady feeling and I wasn’t anxious to cut it short. I burst through the surface, gasping for air and decided to swim for a few more minutes before climbing out.

  I swam downstream, letting the gentle current carry me easily and quickly. As I swam, my euphoria dimmed and my muscles warmed, growing heavy. Lethargy wrapped strong arms around me and I dozed off, jerking awake only as w
ater started to slide down my throat.

  I realized I must be more tired than I realized. I turned around, intending to swim back toward Dialle and Gerch. The world was suddenly covered in black glass. I was sinking. I sucked in a breath and felt warm liquid filling my lungs.

  Astra!

  Dialle’s voice brought me awake. I flailed against the insistent pull of the black water, managing to swim back to the surface. After what felt like several minutes, I finally broke through, my fingers clawing for something solid to pull me free of the sucking liquid. I coughed and choked but my scrabbling fingers could find nothing to help me climb free.

  I managed to cry out once before my traitorous limbs succumbed to the warm lethargy of the water and I started to sink again. I held my breath as my face slid beneath the water and tried to fight, but my arms and legs wouldn’t work.

  Dialle... My eyes stared upward as I sank, through the black glass that framed my watery coffin. Then the black thickened, became more opaque, and I settled into my death with a sigh. Bubbles rippled past my face, tickling my nose.

  A splash sounded far away. The water swayed around me, tossing my weakened limbs like a rag doll in a breeze. Hard hands grasped me. A strong arm wrapped around my waist and pulled, dragging me inexorably upward, through the molten silk of the deadly liquid.

  When we broke the surface, I didn’t choke, didn’t cough. I felt as if I was encased in rock, impermeable and unable to move. I was aware of being dragged from the water and laid out on something hard, but my eyes wouldn’t blink, my body wouldn’t move.

  Light flared, moving closer, as Dialle’s face hovered over mine. “Breathe, Astra.” The light found my chest and burrowed in, drawing a gasp from my lips, and on its heels a shriek of agony as fire speared my chest.

  Feeling returned to my limbs, accompanied by a painful tingling that I knew was the blood rushing through my veins again. Finally Dialle removed his hand from my chest and sat back on his heels, his golden features set with worry.