Pawn (24 page)

Plutos had known they were coming and prepared accordingly. But not well enough. Not well enough at all. Not if a mortal man like him could defeat his monster.

Taking a deep breath or three, Rufus screamed his victory to the stars, before he started running off through the endless darkness of the tunnels, heading for the nearest roar, hunting for the next beast to slay.

Every beast he destroyed he knew, brought him closer to Di. And it brought Plutos closer to death.

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Chapter Twenty Seven.

“What was that?” Hopkins was the first to ask the question, his voice somewhat higher pitched than normal, but not by a lot. They’d all heard the growl, and while it might have been a dog, it sounded much bigger. Maybe that was just the effect of the howl echoing through the stone alleyways. The inspector clutched his gun a little more tightly, and wondered if the bullet proof vest was also bite proof.

“Don’t know. Keep going.” Sergeant Farry was never one to be indecisive as he lead the team into the castle, a quality to be admired in the leader of an armed response group, but still Barns and the others worried a little as the growling seemed to come from all around them. But it was a silly thing to worry about. There were twenty of them, all wearing vests and carrying guns. Even if Venner did have a pet wolf, it didn’t stand a chance against them. They followed him further in to the courtyard.

Then the unthinkable happened. The portcullis iron-gate behind them suddenly slammed shut with a rattling of chains and a crash of metal and Barns instantly realised it was a trap of some sort. Too late, naturally. The front of the castle lay ahead, but the huge oak doors were closed and he guessed, bolted and barred. The iron bars of the portcullis were closed behind them, and they couldn’t climb the huge stone walls to the sides. It was a trap, the only ways out the two stone alleyways ahead, running to the sides of the castle, and he was certain, as the growling grew louder all around them, that they weren’t empty. That was where the dogs had to be.

“Well, well, well.” A voice he knew only too well, suddenly rang down on them, and Barns looked up to see Venner standing on the battlements looking decidedly pleased with himself. In fact he was grinning from ear to ear, as if he wasn’t about to be arrested for numerous crimes and locked away for a very long time. He was chuckling too, but it wasn’t a welcome sound leaving his mouth. “The pigs have entered my home.”

Something had happened to him Barns realised. Something serious. Gone was the suave, polite, educated businessman, and in his place there was a mocking psycho. That did not bode well.

“Douglas Venner you are under arrest for fraud, theft and conspiracy to commit multiple murders. Give yourself up and you will receive a fair trial.” The sergeant still sounded remarkably certain of himself as he ordered Venner to surrender. But Barns knew it was never going to happen. The man had slipped over into some strange world where he thought he could do anything, and a score of armed police weren’t going to stop him. He’d lost his connection with reality. And just to prove it he laughed some more, this time huge belly laughs that left Barns wondering what he was planning. Everyone who’d ever seen a movie knew that when bad guys laughed like that it meant that they had some not very nice plans in place for the good guys. All of a sudden the pistol felt remarkably flimsy in his hand.

“Stick together and group your shots.” Agent Dikē was calm at least, in fact very business like as she gave the order. Had she expected this? Did she know what was coming? Barns had to hope so, since he had no clue. “If we stand as one we will get through this.”

“Gentlemen.” Suddenly the far too suave Venner was back on the battlements above them, though still mocking them with every word. But he wasn’t speaking to them. Half a dozen other heads had appeared among the battlements, peeking out between the crenulations, looking down on them. Most of them were holding glasses of wine, and all of them were smiling too. Barns had the terrible feeling they were looking forwards to a show, and that they were the entertainment.

“Our guests are finally here.” He believed him too. The man had been expecting them. That much was obvious. But his plans for them had nothing to do with fine dining even if he did call them guests.

“Venner, are you mad? You’re under arrest.” Barns probably should have left the talking to the sergeant, but he just couldn’t. And at least he got a response, though not the one he’d wanted.

“Inspector!” Venner stared down at him from the battlements, and smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “How nice of you to come – and die.” That fairly much said it all as far as Barns was concerned. A confession in front of witnesses, and on disc. Which gave him an opening.

“You do know that everything here is being recorded?” Any sane man would have ducked about then, hidden his face, maybe started lying. But Venner just laughed.

“Nothing is being recorded. My lord has seen to that. And after today it wouldn’t matter if it had been. Today a new world order begins. It’s a pity you won’t live to see it.”

“Let the games begin.” Venner raised his glass to his real guests and Barns’ blood chilled as he realised the man meant some sort of blood sport. The man thought he was some sort of ancient Roman emperor presiding over the games of gladiators. What else could it be? But could he be that crazy? New world order? His lord? Had he truly gone that crazy?

“Release the hounds.”

Somewhere in the distance, echoing through the stone walls, Barns heard the sounds of big steel cogged wheels turning, of chains falling to the ground, and worst of all, the blood curdling howling of wolves, and for a brief moment he wondered if this was actually happening. It was madness. No one unleashed dogs on a squad of armed police. Especially not when twice as many more were still outside, watching everything through the cameras they had attached to their helmets, and in all likelihood already rushing forwards with lances to cut the iron gate and heavier weaponry. But then the first of the beasts came charging in from a side alley, and he forgot everything else as he started shooting.

Bullets didn’t seem to kill it though. Why would they? A dog would have died in the first few seconds but this wasn’t a dog. Even as he shot at the beast, aiming for the middle of its chest, a part of him recognised that this great monster with two heads and fire streaming out of its nostrils, was no dog. Venner had gone mad and so too had the world. The beast seemed to consider the bullets hitting it a mere flea bite. It slowed down a little in its mad rush for them, but only a little. And then, still twenty feet from them, it leapt into the air, intending to land right on them, right on Barns.

Time seemed to freeze about then as Barns shot and shot at its exposed underbelly, hitting it perfectly each and every time, knowing that it had to die if they were to live, and the others did the same. But as the beast sailed closer and closer to them, almost in slow motion, he knew their weapons were useless. It just didn’t care about bullets. But it did care about spears however, and even as he watched his death approaching a huge silver spear came out of nowhere to embed itself deep in the beast’s chest.

The beast screamed in rage and pain, before the holder of the spear suddenly flicked the spear about, an impossibility when it had to weigh five hundred pounds and she scarcely a hundred, and then flung it against the distant wall, where it collapsed and stopped moving.

“Foul things. Hades will pay for this.” She looked angry as she said it, and he believed her completely. What he didn’t believe was that the agent was gone and in her place a woman in a long white flowing robe and strips of leather was holding the end of the long silver spear, with a silver sword strapped to her waist. First the hounds of hell and now this? Reality was taking a break.

“Agent Dikē?” It was her, he recognised her, but it also wasn’t. The agent was a polite, neatly dressed woman with a briefcase. This wild woman was someone completely other, who just happened to be standing where she had been, and wearing her face if not her clothes.

“Hold your places, there will be more of these things.” She commanded and he obeyed, not completely sure why. She was right of course, already he could hear the blood curdling howling of more of the beasts echoing around the castle walls, but it was more than that. There was something in her that spoke of authority, and he simply had to obey her. The others too.

Then the next of the two headed beasts came charging down the alley, and he didn’t care any more as he opened fire on it. They all did. This was madness, but in the end the only thing that mattered was surviving. Letting the beasts kill them, now that would have been true madness.

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Chapter Twenty Eight.

Endless stone passageways with dank dark green moss hanging down from their ceilings. Rows and rows of solid oak doors with little barred windows in them where the ghosts of those poor souls who had spent their last days here, had stuck their heads. The sound of water flowing underneath, and the sheen of it flowing down the walls. The smell of decay and disease in the air. Rufus hated this place. But it was still better than wading through the sewers filled with hellhounds. And at least there was more light. Not a lot, but enough.

“Di.” He called for her, his voice already hoarse from all the screaming. He’d been calling for her for hours it seemed, as he wandered through this seemingly endless maze of underground cells. And before that he’d been screaming his head off as he slaughtered the hellhounds. Half a dozen dead at least, and that was just by his blade. The others had killed many more.

They were gone now, some still in the sewers killing more of the beasts, others spread out through the levels of the dungeon, hunting for Di like him. But at least they were alive. No matter the odds and the danger, they were alive. A few had taken injuries. None though were life threatening, and being what they were, he suspected most of them would be at the hall drinking when this was over. Drinking and boasting of their glorious battle. He though, was only here for Di.

“Di!” He called her name again and wandered down the long dark passageway, checking each cell as he passed it by, and wondered if he’d been down this particular row before. They all looked the same and he was more or less lost.

“Di.” At the end of the passageway, he turned left. He’d been making a habit of it, hoping that sticking to always turning in one direction would let him at least cover every bit of the dungeon. And it seemed to be working. Using that method, he had at least managed to find the stairs as he ascended from one level of the dungeon to the next. But how could a dungeon have levels? Somehow he’d never imagined that before. He’d never imagined that they could be so large.

“Di!” Half way down it he called for her again, and this time heard something other than an echo. He called her name again. And then, when he was sure, he ran for her, screaming like a wild man.

“Rufus?” She was suddenly so very close, and when she called his name he knew it. He could find her very cell just by the sound, and he ran for it, heart racing in his chest.

“Di!” She answered and in that moment he knew he’d found her. Rufus’ heart soared. After what seemed like days of fighting beasts, wandering completely lost through the interminable maze that was the underground of Plutos’ castle, and generally panicking as he kept breaking down doors and not finding her behind them, it was almost too good to be true. But it was true. He knew that without the need to even see her through the tiny bars of the solid oak prison door. He could feel her somehow.

Still he needed to see her, to feel her in his arms again, and he didn’t waste another second as he smashed the door hinges apart with his sword, and then when the solid timber door fell out of its frame to hang precariously on an angle, picked it up and tossed the remains away. It crashed into the stone wall behind him with a thunderous racket, but he didn’t bother looking around to see if it had brought another of the beasts his way. He would deal with them when they came. There were times this new strength of his could be very useful, and a sword that could slice through stone and steel and lop off hellhound heads cleanly wasn’t exactly unwelcome either.

“Thank God!” After that he was with her, holding her tight, wrapping her up in her arms and feeling every inch of her against him, and very nearly in tears. Manly or not he simply didn’t care. But then that he was certain, was her fault. It was her divine power at work and he was just a humble mortal. So if a few tears squeezed their way out of the corners of his eyes, he couldn’t be held responsible. Besides she was holding him just as tightly.

“I was so worried.” Terrified would have been closer to the truth. Especially when he’d started wandering through the sewers and fighting the beasts as he realised just how high the stakes were. Plutos might have killed her. And he still might try again.

“No need. He could hold me, with Hades’ help. But no more. I’m a lot stronger than I seem.” And she was. He could feel that in her. He could feel her power resonating through him as he held her. How had he never noticed that before?

“Speaking of which, Rufus, how did you do that? And what are you wearing?” She sounded surprised, something that seemed wrong to him. She was a goddess, his goddess. Surely she knew everything he did? But maybe not. Not while they’d been apart. Not when she’d been locked away in this hellhole.

“What I need to to get you out of this place.” It wasn’t much of an answer, but there wasn’t time to find a better one. She had to be free. And for some reason, even in her cell she was chained, great black chains that wrapped around her waist and wrists and ankles, and held her tight. Plutos was taking no chances with her. Maybe that was a good sign. Maybe he was learning fear. Maybe he knew enough to fear her.

He went to smash the chains and then stopped. There was something wrong with them. He could feel them almost like the sword, but not in a good way. These things were evil. There was something twisted and dark about them that made no sense to him. But what did make sense was that they had to be destroyed. Not with the sword though. Even as he raised it to strike the blow he could feel the sword refusing. It was a blow it simply couldn’t do. But all was not lost as the hammer was suddenly singing at his hip, and without quite knowing how he knew, he knew that it would destroy them. Blunt weapons, there not to slice through chains that couldn’t be cut, but to crush them, deform them, change their shape. That was the key. The strength of the dark chains was in their twisted shape, and anything that altered that would destroy them.

“Close your eyes.” He didn’t want to let her go, but he had to, and when he drew his hammer and raised it high above his head, she did as he asked. Then he brought the hammer smashing down on the black chain looping around her waist, just where it connected to the dungeon wall. But the result wasn’t quite what he expected.

The chain screamed. A terrible heart rending, ear piercing sound that surely echoed through the entire castle. How could a chain scream? Rufus didn’t understand that, but as he saw the chain still intact, though badly damaged, he didn’t care. He raised the hammer again, and brought it crashing down on the same spot again with all his might.

This time, when the chain screamed, it broke. He watched the link shatter and heard the scream cut off in mid cry. Then it vanished. The chain around her waist at least, and he guessed it had died, fairly much as all the hellhounds had fallen to his blade. They didn’t die quietly, and when they finally did perish, their bodies slowly dissolved. It had taken him a while to discover that. In the end he’d only found out when in one of his confused and misguided wanderings through the endless maze of cells and tunnels that was the castle’s underground, he’d come across a couple of half dissolved corpses.

“How did you do that?” Di seemed surprised, so maybe she hadn’t been checking up on him while they’d been apart. But there was no time.

“Polemos has been teaching me to be a better consort. He says you need a warrior at your side. Now hush.” He took aim at the next chain and brought his hammer down on it with all his strength. This time it snapped through cleanly, the scream was short lived and the chain vanished in the blink of an eye. The rest followed even faster. Just a few more lusty blows and they were all gone, and then Di was free. She was also in his arms.

“Thank you.” She kissed him again and again, tears flowing freely down her cheeks, her body melting into his and for a brief moment everything in the universe was right. There was no dungeon, no foul smelling water covering him from head to toe, no hellhounds howling in the distance. There was only her. But Polemos had drilled him again and again in distractions. Never let anything take him away from the moment. And he quickly recalled his duty.

“Alright, I’m sorry but we’ve got to get you out of here. Stay behind me and let me handle the beasts.” It was exactly what needed to be done, but Di didn’t think so.

“You’re giving me orders now? And you’ve named yourself my consort? Isn’t that just a little presumptuous?” But she didn’t mean it he knew. He could hear the laughter in her voice, and she was still hugging him very tight from behind. It was the wrong place and the wrong time, but he had to respond.

“Di, I love you completely.” He turned back to her, somehow twisting around in her grip. “But keeping you safe comes first. You can do as I say or I will pick you up, sling you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and carry you out of this hellhole, back side first!” It wasn’t a completely idle threat, and the truly strange thing was how easily it came to him. Once, could it only be two short weeks before, he would never have dreamed of speaking to her like that. He would never have spoken to anyone that way. Yet it felt right when he said it, and despite everything, he didn’t regret a single syllable.

“You’d like that!” She stamped her foot a little in mock annoyance, but when she was still holding him close and kissing him non-stop he knew she wasn’t that upset. She was just having a little fun in a dark place. He could do the same.

“Oh you have no idea how much I’d like that. And how much more I’ll like it when I get you back to my place and put you to bed!” That drew a laugh, a lovely musical sound that somehow seemed to cut right through the dark and gloom of the dungeons. This unexpected boldness was working out well for him, even if he didn’t really know where it was coming from.

“Cheeky!” But he gathered she wasn’t that upset by the thought when her summer frock suddenly vanished to be replaced by a shimmering gold sequin number that hugged her body like a glove. Rufus’ mouth went dry and his heart started beating a little faster. A lot faster. It was the wrong time and the worst possible place, but he wanted nothing more than to make love to her there and then.

“Oh God!”

“Now that’s much better!” She laughed at him, obviously happy that her charms were still working, and he tried not to groan too loudly.

It took all of his strength to turn away from her, to set his thoughts on the mission as he had been taught, and to start leading her out of her cell, but even that wasn’t enough as he could feel her hands on his waist and hear her gently laughing at him. One thing was sure he realised as they waded out through the dirty water in the dark passageway, or actually two things. First she owned him, body and soul, and second, she knew it.

And he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

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