Give the Devil His Due (The Sanheim Chronicles, Book Three) (36 page)

The others came running up.

“Nice work,” Buzz said. “Having trouble getting it open?”

Quinn nodded, but then gestured to Janus.

“Would you mind giving it a try?” Quinn asked.

“You want to pull on it together?” he asked.

Quinn shook his head.

“No, I want to test a theory,” he said. “Try it by yourself.”

Janus stepped up, grasped the handle and planted his feet as if he were going to pull with all his strength. But just as he began to barely tug on the handle, the door swung open easily. Behind the door were a couple of steps down followed by a long hallway lined with torches. Janus looked down at his hands.

“Damn, I’m like Superman,” he said in a tone of obvious amazement.

Carol looked at Quinn.

“You knew that was going to happen,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

“We’ll talk about it later,” he said. “Let’s get going.”

Janus gave Quinn a quizzical look, but he only shrugged. Quinn was about to step down the stairs when Parker raised one of his hairy, black legs in the air again.

Does he think I’m a teacher?
Quinn wondered.

“What’s on your mind?” he asked.

“I would ask the Dullahan’s permission to depart,” the spider said.

Quinn looked down into the pitch black hallway and back at the giant insect-man.

“I could use your help in there,” he said. “All we know is that it’s some kind of fort. An extra pair of eyes… well, four extra pair of eyes could go a long way.”

“The Dullahan must prepare for the attack against Sanheim,” Parker said.

“There isn’t going to be any ‘attack against Sanheim,’” Carol cut in. “Even talking about it is madness.”

At least four of the spider creature’s eyes looked at Carol in annoyance.

“It does not have a choice,” he responded. “The Dullahan’s actions are controlled by fate.”

“I’m getting really tired of people telling me what I’m controlled by,” Quinn said, looking pointedly at Elyssa. “It’s not fear, it’s not my past and it sure as hell isn’t fate. If you want to help me prepare, we need to get Crowley.”

“The Dullahan does not understand,” Parker replied, some black goo oozing from his mouth as he spoke. “The Dullahan will find Crowley; it will help open the portal. We are not worried about this. We must prepare for the battle against Sanheim.”

“I keep saying…” Carol started.

“Would you please pipe down?” Quinn told her, then turned back to Parker. “What are you planning to do?”

“Gather allies,” Parker said. “We have roamed far in this world; there are others who will help us.”

“It’s a sound plan,” Buzz said. “If we make it out of this mess, we’re going to need all the help we can get. We can’t wait to seek help after opening the portal or we’ll run out of time very quickly. Assuming Kate successfully comes here, we’ll have to march on Sanheim as fast as possible.”

“
If
he decides to move on Sanheim,” Janus said. “That hasn’t been decided yet.”

Quinn sighed. He wished he had more time to discuss this with Parker, but it was clear the creature had made up his mind.

“Okay, where do I meet you?” Quinn asked. “Assuming, of course, that we survive this and we march anywhere.”

The spider bent his front legs in what Quinn belatedly realized was a bow.

“We will find you,” Parker said. “We know where you are headed. We are confident of your victory.”

“I’m glad
somebody
has faith in me,” Quinn said, looking for a moment at Janus, Elyssa and Carol in turn.

“
I
don’t doubt you, my boy,” Buzz said. “You have the mind of a warrior.”

“Thanks Buzz,” Quinn replied. He turned back to the spider. “Parker, good luck. I hope we meet again.”

“We will, Dullahan,” the spider replied. “Luck is not necessary.”

With that, the spider bowed again and abruptly turned around. Quinn watched as he crawled off to the north.

“Well,” he said, “What are we waiting for?”

Quinn looked at the entrance and then down at his scabbard. He patted the sword at his side. He walked down the few steps, strode forward and grabbed one of the torches on the wall. He looked back at the others.

“Come on,” he said. “We’ve got a Prince of Sanheim to find.”

*****

“Anyone else sick of being underground?” Janus asked after they were inside for five minutes.

“Could be worse,” Buzz said. “It could be that damned mountain.”

“Still,” Janus said. “I feel like I’ve been in a tunnel for years.”

That wasn’t Quinn’s primary concern. Ever since they entered the hallway, he had a sinking feeling. If this was such an important fort, why wasn’t it guarded? The door was hidden, but Sanheim didn’t feel like the kind of person to count on that as the sole precaution.

And he knew we were coming
, Quinn thought. He felt deeply unnerved.

The hallway had a dirt floor that seemed to slope slightly upward. Eventually they came to another door, which Quinn also found locked. He gestured for Janus to open it, which he did once again with ease.

“This is getting a little freaky,” Janus said.

On the other side of the door was another long hallway. However, this one had a stone floor and there were doors of iron bars every few yards. It still felt dank, but slightly less so. Short torches lined the hall.

Quinn walked over to the nearest set of bars and looked inside. There was a strange horse-like creature chained to a wall. Water dropped from his dark fur.

“That’s a ...Kelpie,” Carol said in a stunned tone.

The creature stared at them with wide eyes. But it didn’t — or couldn’t — move.

“It’s still alive,” Buzz added.

Quinn looked down the rest of the hallway. He saw it curve upward and around. Every few yards there was another set of iron bars covering a doorway. In his mind, Quinn saw an image of the hill from the outside. He realized the hallway in front of him must stretch around underneath it to the stone walls on top, like a coiled snake.

“Oh my God,” he said.

He walked to the next cell and saw a pale humanoid creature in manacles. When it saw Quinn, it jerked them frenetically and began slobbering. It had huge, pointed teeth and what looked like dried blood on its lips.

“A Dearg Due,” Carol said. “It’s a kind of Celtic vampire.”

“What kind of fort is this?” Janus asked in a horrified voice.

“It’s no fort,” Quinn said. “It’s a prison.”

****

The six of them walked down the hallway in silence.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Janus said.

Quinn didn’t respond. He looked in horror as he passed each cell. The place was a collection of nightmares. Some of the creatures he recognized from legend and myth, others were entirely unknown to him.

As they passed, most of the creatures started shouting or screaming, their noises echoing down the corridor and spurring more prisoners to cry out ahead of them. Within a few minutes, the place was filled with a cacophony of sound.

Some of the creatures appeared free to move about their cells, and stuck their arms, legs or — in a few cases — tentacles through the bars. Many of them shouted words, but they were incomprehensible.

“You have any idea where he would be?” Quinn asked Carol.

For a moment, she didn’t look at him. She looked in terror at each cell they passed.

“Carol?” Quinn asked.

When he got no response, he looked at Buzz, who gently touched Carol’s arm.

“Honey?” he asked.

She turned to him in confusion.

“I can hear them,” she said. “Their thoughts are... tortured. They’ve been here so long.”

“Do any of them know where the portal opens up?” Quinn asked. If they couldn’t find Crowley, maybe they could ask someone else.

“Their minds are shattered, Quinn,” she said. “I can’t hear thoughts, just.... They’ve been driven insane.”

Janus passed a cell and suddenly stopped. Inside was a small figure looking intently through the cell bars. He wore a dark green suit and a long beard fell to his chest. A green hat perched on top of his head.

“Is that what I think it is?” he asked.

He approached the bars of the door.

“Janus,” Buzz said, “Don’t get too...”

“It’s a bloody leprechaun, mate,” Janus said. “What can it...”

There was a blur of green and the small creature stuck what looked like very large claws through the bars. Janus jumped back to keep from being disemboweled. The little man began talking in gibberish and laughing. He made a series of obscene gestures toward Janus.

“I guess nobody’s getting his Lucky Charms, are they?” Janus said.

“Until further notice, assume anything can hurt you,” Buzz said. “Although to be fair, that’s pretty much my standard policy.”

“Yeah,” Janus replied, still rattled. “In this case, I think you might be right.”

Quinn looked nervously at Carol. The noises around them were growing steadily louder. They had clearly stirred up a hornet’s nest. But Carol seemed overwhelmed by the angst around her. They rounded a bend and kept climbing, Quinn looking on the left, while Janus and the others looked on the right.

“What are we even looking for?” Buzz finally asked.

Quinn stopped.

“Well, if he’s like me, he should be human,” Quinn said.

“But what if he never died and is still his
cennad
?” Carol asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I never knew what his
cennad
was. We’ll just have to hope he either looks human or waves and tells us his name.”

“So he could be here and we wouldn’t know it?” Buzz asked.

Quinn looked at him in despair.

“Maybe,” he said. “I don’t know.”

“If we’re lucky, maybe he’ll have a name tag or something,” Janus said.

“Let’s just do what we can, okay? Keep looking.”

At that moment, Quinn realized something else was wrong. He had been so busy looking in cells, he hadn’t noticed that they were missing one of their group. He looked behind Carol, Buzz and Janus, but only saw an empty hallway. Janus spotted him looking back and followed his gaze.

“Where did Elyssa go?” Quinn asked.

At that moment, there was a loud rumble and the earth shook. Quinn felt a tremor through the ground and watched some of the torches fall to the stone floor.

“What the hell is that?” Buzz asked.

The vibration stopped, but the noises from the creatures around them grew louder. If they’d been keyed up before, they were even worse now.

“I don’t know,” Quinn said. “But we better find Crowley fast.”

*****

They were running out of time and Quinn knew it.

What had started out silent as a tomb was now alive with the screams of a multitude of nightmares. The prison corridor seemed to go on and on as they climbed up — and Elyssa was missing.

“Fuck it,” Quinn said under his breath.

He started running from cell to cell, shouting a name above the din.

“Crowley!” he screamed, struggling to be heard against the noise. “Robert Crowley!”

His companions took up the call, joining their voices to his. Quinn quickly glanced into each cell before moving on. He was practically sprinting and hoped he hadn’t somehow already overlooked Crowley in his haste.

“Crowley!” he called again.

He ran past a dozen more cells when there was another large sound from below them. Once again, the entire cell block rattled and shook.

“Bloody hell,” Janus said.

Quinn was just about to automatically move past a cell with an old man in it when he caught himself and stopped. In the past few minutes, Quinn had seen many bizarre creatures, including selkies, leprechauns, and a tree-like creature that spat fire. The one thing he hadn’t come across, however, was a normal human being.

Quinn watched the old man as the others continued to shout Crowley’s name. The man’s eyes darted back and forth as Crowley’s name was called. Quinn took a step toward the bars.

“Are you Robert Crowley?” he asked.

The old man focused on Quinn for the first time, appearing to really take him in. Unlike many others, he wasn’t chained to the wall. He stood up and walked toward the cell door.

“Are you Robert Crowley?” Quinn asked again.

The rest of the world seemed to fade away as Quinn looked at him. The man was positively ancient. He looked like he might dissolve into dust at any moment. His hair was stark white, his skin heavily lined with wrinkles. His fingernails were dirty and long. As Quinn watched him, the man’s dark gray eyes searched Quinn’s face. Finally, he spoke.