Darklands (42 page)

Edern nodded his satisfaction. “I think you’re ready. I’ll cloak the entrance, and we can go up.” He gestured, and the entrance disappeared. “It’s still there,” he said. “But anyone looking would have to feel along the wall to find it.” He gestured toward the ramp. “Ladies first?”

Oh, please.
Okay, so Edern had last walked the human plane during the age of chivalry. But that didn’t mean I had to go first, toward whatever waited at the top of the mountain. We’d agreed to trust each other, yes, but what was that old saying? Trust, but verify. In this case, it was going to be, Trust, but don’t show ’em your back. I didn’t like the idea of an armed man behind me. And anything could be waiting at the top of the ramp. For all I knew, it could dump us out a side door into Uffern, like Pryce pushing me out that window in my client’s dreamscape.

“You go ahead,” I said. “We’ll follow.”

“As you prefer.” He didn’t look bothered to be first in line. Maybe I was being too cautious.

Edern stepped onto the ramp and looked back at me. “Remember,” he said, “balance and lightness of touch.” He let go and moved upward.

Kane went next. He wobbled a bit at the start—and nearly
fell over when he looked back to see if I was on my way—but within a few yards was gliding nearly as smoothly as Edern.

My turn. Clutching the railing, I stepped onto the ramp. Warm, tingly magic wrapped itself around my ankles and licked at my calves. When I felt a lift, like I was a leaf floating on a stream, I let go.

Holding my arms out for balance and keeping my left hand near the railing, I let the current carry me forward. The stiffer I stood, the harder it was to stay upright, so I kept my knees soft and my back slightly rounded. Half-crouched, I felt like a sumo wrestler ready to take on an opponent.

The current shifted and rippled under my feet, and once—just once—I made the mistake of looking down to see what carried me. The moment I tilted my head, my legs shot out from under me. I fell forward and sideways, banging my head on the wall before I managed to grab the railing. I gripped it with both hands and lifted my feet until they were out of the flow. Bent over the railing, I could see down, way down, to the bottom of the mountain. Another mistake. I closed my eyes until the vertigo passed. Okay. So now I knew why Edern kept shouting about keeping our eyes up.

Holding on to the railing, I got my feet back under me and bent my knees. Eyes up. I let go. For the rest of the journey I kept my chin lifted, watching the rock wall ahead as I spiraled up the inside of the mountain, moving toward whatever awaited me at the top.

LEAVING THE CURRENT WAS AS SIMPLE AS STEPPING OFF AN escalator. As I neared the top, Kane held out his arms to me. I reached out and grasped both his hands. One step and I left the current behind. We stood on a platform of rock inside the mountain, the peak doming over our heads, surrounded by granite walls—and higher up than I wanted to think about.

Edern stood at Kane’s shoulder. As soon as I left the current, he went to the top of the ramp. He said some words in a language I didn’t recognize, making a counterclockwise spiral motion with his hand. “I’ve reversed the flow,” he said. “Now it will take us down when we’ve finished here.”

Assuming we survived.

“This way,” Edern said, and walked straight through the wall. My heart lurched, certain he’d tricked us, leaving us trapped on the platform.

Then Kane followed him, disappearing into the solid rock. Immediately he stuck his head back through. It looked odd, like a trophy hanging on a wall.

“The doorway’s here,” he said. “It’s still cloaked, that’s all.” A hand appeared below the head. I took it, closed my eyes, and stepped through. It felt like walking through a cool mist.

When I opened my eyes, I stood in a large, flat arena, oval in shape and ringed by a waist-high stone wall. At my back was a cliff that jutted up another twenty feet, coming to a peak that capped the hollow part of the mountain. Otherwise, we stood at the top. The arena was empty except for the three of us.

“As I told you below, this place is a lookout station for the Border Keepers,” Edern said. “To the south, the Darklands. To the north”—he gestured to our right—“Uffern.”

I walked to the side overlooking the Darklands. Arawn’s realm stretched before me for miles, the swamp of Hellsmoor giving way to forests and rolling hills beyond. From up here, it looked quiet, peaceful, a place for shades to rest after they’d worked long and hard in their clay-born lives. There was no sign yet of Difethwr’s approach, but I knew the Hellion was on its way. I could feel each footstep in the pulsing of my demon mark.

As soon as I focused on the mark, pain shot through my arm, and the scene before me changed. Flames burned everywhere, consuming the landscape. The swamp boiled, the rocks melted, creatures shrieked with pain and terror as their flesh charred. It felt
right
. Another demonic laugh bubbled up in me, and I had to fight it down.
No.
This was Difethwr’s vision, not mine. But calling the Hellion to me made it harder and harder to find the line where I ended and the Destroyer began.

I closed my eyes and pulled back until I could feel that the mark I bore wasn’t me. It was the Destroyer in me, yes. But I was stronger. I had to be.

Something brushed my arm, lightly, and I opened my eyes to see Kane’s concerned face.

“Just making sure you’re still with us,” he said.

I smiled. “Yeah, I’m still here.” Barely hanging on, but here. He put his arm around me, and I rested my head against his shoulder. It helped. The burning inside me calmed a little.

Edern came up beside us. He carried a spyglass, like the one I’d used on Rhudda’s archery field, but bigger. “I have done the service I promised you, bringing you to the mountains. Now, tell me more about why you’re here. You said a Hellion approaches. What is its name? From which direction does it come?” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, toward the demon plane. “Not from Uffern, I suspect. Occasionally a demon attempts to scale the mountains and enter our realm, but today a dozen demons or more approached the border from our side.
That’s never happened before. Tell me, Lady Victory, what is happening?”

“The Hellion is Difethwr, the Destroyer. Right now, it’s rampaging through your land.” Edern’s expression turned grim. It got grimmer as I brought him up to speed on how Pryce had used the cauldron of transformation to change hundreds of personal demons into a far bigger, far nastier demon. “The cauldron spat out the Destroyer. Pryce is bound to it, but the Destroyer is in control. I’m trying to draw them here.”

“How do you call the Hellion?” His eyes strayed to my right arm, where the demon mark glowed through my sleeve. “Are you a sorcerer?”

“No, I’m not. Pryce isn’t the only one with a bond to the Destroyer. Ten years ago, it marked me. I’m using that mark to draw the Destroyer this way. I can’t command the Hellion, but I can call it. When it gets here, I’ll kill it.”

“With Darkblaze.”

“That’s the plan. I killed the Destroyer once before. Lord Arawn believes I can do it again, so he loaned me his sword.” When Difethwr arrived, I’d have to wield Darkblaze left-handed. My demon-marked arm refused to raise itself against the Hellion. But I’d trained myself to fight with either hand.

Edern searched the Darklands through his spyglass. When he lowered it, he looked as though he’d come to some decision. “I will help you,” he said. “My own sword, Demonsbane, has dispatched a Hellion or two in its time.” He patted the hilt. “Never one as powerful as the Destroyer, of course, but we’ll give that demon some trouble so you can move in for the kill.”

I tilted my head, skeptical. “For what price? Don’t even think about asking for Darkblaze. It’s not mine to give.”

“Dark—?” Edern threw back his head and roared with laughter. “I see you’re catching on to our ways. We do like to bargain here.” He chuckled. “But it would never occur to me to bargain for Lord Arawn’s own sword. What a notion. No, Lady Victory, I ask no price beyond our original agreement. I wish only to help.” He placed a hand over his heart and bowed his head.

“Thank you.” I bowed in return, then glanced to the right. “I want to check the north side, to see whether any demons are massing in Uffern.” Hellions have a way of knowing when trouble is brewing. Disasters attract them like a rose garden attracts
bees. Difethwr would be hard enough to deal with; we didn’t need demonic reinforcements.

Edern nodded. “I’ll keep watch here.”

I turned to Kane. “Want to take a peek at Hell?”

“Not particularly.” He looked down at his white tunic and leggings, so different from the expensive suits he normally wore. “But I think I’ve already proved I’ll follow you anywhere.”

Together we crossed to the northern border. Kane held my hand, but I pulled away, folding my arms across my stomach. Too much of the warm fuzzies would dim the signal I was sending to Difethwr. And every minute that the Destroyer wasn’t here was a minute of destruction in the Darklands.

At the wall, we looked into Uffern. The air there was dim and dirty, thick with smoke from fires that blackened the landscape. Even the lakes burned. The ground was scarred and pitted. Everything was dead. Even at this distance, you couldn’t avoid the stench of sulfur and brimstone on the scorched wind.

This was how I’d seen the Darklands earlier—a ruined land of pain and death and desolation. This was what the Destroyer would do to every place it passed through, everything it touched.

In the distance, two or three demons flew with batlike wings. But no Hellions gathered below the mountains.

“Ugh,” said Kane. “Scratch Uffern from our list of vacation spots.” He glanced at me, but I couldn’t smile.

“Fine with me.” We went back to stand beside Edern.

“There’s some smoke in the distance, but it reaches across the horizon,” he said, handing me the spyglass. “I can’t pinpoint the Destroyer’s location.”

I looked through the spyglass. Hazy smoke stretched along the horizon. So much destruction. My demon mark flared, excited, but the rest of me felt sick.

A blur of white sailed through the circle of my vision. I adjusted the spyglass to focus on the falcon that soared over Hellsmoor. It felt strange to observe the beautiful bird from above. Suddenly, it folded its wings and dived. I followed it with the spyglass. A jet of water plumed, and the falcon rose again, wings flapping. A snake twisted in its talons. The falcon gained altitude, carrying its prey back to its nest.

A good hunter. And one that could go where others could not.
No wonder the Night Hag wanted the falcon. She’d have a blast watching it dive-bomb the souls she chased.

The nest was on a ledge that jutted out from the sheer rock face, far below where I stood now. It was inaccessible, unless…“I don’t suppose your magic escalator has an exit at the falcon’s nest.”

Eyebrows raised, Edern shook his head.

I set the spyglass on the wall. The white falcon was a distraction—one that let me avoid what I was almost afraid to do. Difethwr’s approach was too slow. I had to strengthen my call.

The Hellion was coming. I could see the smoke in the distance. Even more, though, I could
feel
it. The heat from my demon mark spread up my arm. Instead of trying to hold the feeling back, I let it grow. I opened my heart to anger, to rage, to the blind urge to destroy. The fiery feeling burning through me—agonizing, like my soul was on fire, blazing inside and out.

“Over there!” Edern said.

I scanned the horizon. To the right, a column of smoke rose, denser and thicker than the general haze. It was red at the bottom, lit by flames, and sooty black at the top. “It’s the Destroyer,” I said. “Give me some room—I’m going to reel it in.”

Edern clapped my shoulder, then moved away. Kane stood in front of me, a warm glow lighting his eyes. “I know this isn’t the time or the place, but the hell with all that.” He pulled me to him, folding me in his arms and pressing his mouth against mine. For a moment, my demon mark fought him, urging me to pull away. Then I thought “the hell with it,” too. I kissed him back, drinking in his strength, his goodness and loyalty—things I’d need if I was going to survive this encounter.

“I love you,” he said. “Whatever happens, remember that.”

“I…” My feelings tangled in a jumble of confusion. The anger I’d called up wanted to take over, claiming me, obliterating all other emotions and burning them to ashes. But somewhere inside me, the other feelings hung on. Loyalty, honor, the desire to do what’s right…and love? Could a fragile thing like love survive the Destroyer’s wrath?

“Shh.” He touched a finger to my lips. “It’s all right. You don’t have to say anything.” He kissed my forehead, a gesture so tender that tears welled in my eyes. Then he moved away.

I blinked rapidly and wiped my face. My heart thumped as I
watched him go. I let myself feel its rapid beating. Then I turned back to the job I had to do.

The column of smoke had veered farther right. I rolled up my sleeve, exposing my demon mark, and focused my full attention on the Destroyer. I dropped all defenses I held against the Hellion. No pushing down, no holding back. I threw away thoughts of Kane and love and anything else I’d ever cared about. I craved only destruction. Only pain, burning, rubble. An explosion rocked Hellsmoor. My arm exploded, too. That’s what it felt like as hellfire erupted from the demon mark.

I held up my arm like a beacon, a demonic Statue of Liberty lighting the way for utter destruction.

The Hellion roared in response. It was too far away to hear, but I heard it anyway. The sound reverberated inside my head. It shook me down to my toes.

The hellfire spouting from my arm burned brighter.

Something tore itself from my gut and fell at my feet.

“Whoa, it’s
ugly
in there.” That damn Eidolon. “Hey, how come I can’t fly?” Its black wings fluttered, but the demon stayed on the ground.

Stupid annoyance. I don’t know why I hadn’t killed it before. But now I had bronze. I pulled a throwing knife and hurtled it at the Eidolon.

It jumped away a nanosecond before the knife struck the dirt.