Chapter 29
As they stepped through the broken doorway, a rush of memories assaulted Raiya. The last time she’d stepped over this threshold, she’d been with Azreth. She’d been terrified of him, but more terrified of her husband. She’d felt so helpless, so filled with misery and desperation, that she’d seen no other way out.
So much had changed in only a few weeks.
She had strung her bow and hung it over her shoulder beside her new satchel, placed her small quiver of iron-tipped arrows on her hip, and she held her charged baton in her hand. She was prepared this time. She was ready to face whatever would come.
From the moment they entered, she sensed something off. The castle was always dark and cold and quiet, but now there was a heaviness to the silence. The air was dead, no breaths disturbing it, and no flickering, lively candlelight breaking up the shadows. She was thankful for the moon slicing through the narrow windows, and Azreth’s ball of mage light.
They had only taken a few echoing steps into the large entry hall before they encountered another corpse sprawled on the floor. It was a woman with a dark robe and a ghostly pale face marked with black. Her hood had fallen back to reveal silver hair.
“It’s Priestess Gereg,” Raiya said.
“She’s dead?” Azreth said. He seemed as surprised as she, his brows dipping down in a deep frown.
Raiya stepped closer and found the reason for the woman’s death—several deep punctures in her belly. A short trail of bloody footsteps was smeared behind her, as if she’d managed to wander for a few steps before bleeding out. “Quite dead.”
“Well. She’s with her goddess now.”
Sensing the irony in his voice, Raiya raised an eyebrow at him. “Was that a joke, Azreth?”
“Maybe.”
“Do you think a sword did that, or another demon?” Madira asked.
“I cannot say,” Azreth replied. “We should find the lord and ask him.”
“A summoning gone wrong?” Adamus suggested. “It’s hardly rare for a demon to kill its own summoner.” He glanced up at Azreth. “No offense.”
Azreth looked at Raiya instead of at him. “The truth does not offend me.”
“Or Lord Han-gal killed her after she helped him,” Jai suggested. “He seems like the type to get rid of someone after they’ve outlived their usefulness.”
Raiya stepped around the corpse and kept moving. Whoever had killed Gereg was probably still somewhere in the castle. “The summoning circle the last cultist made was in the tunnels below the castle. We should start there.”
Wind whistled through the corridors as Raiya led them toward the staircase to the dungeon. They passed more dead creatures on their way, none of them human. Raiya stared at their twisted, bloodied forms. They looked terrifying, but when they were lying dead and motionless on the cold floor, she couldn’t help but pity them.
“The inhabitants of the hells are so strange,” Jai murmured.
“Especially when you consider the fact that these must have been killed by something even bigger and stranger,” Adamus said, his expression dark. “They have the same puncture wounds the priestess had.”
They entered the great hall. Snow and moonlight were drifting through windows that had been broken recently, their glass littering the floor. Raiya stopped when she heard a soft fluttering. Something was moving near the ceiling. Azreth raised his ball of mage light higher until the rafters were illuminated. Raiya’s jaw dropped and she took an automatic step back.
The rafters were lined with roosting demon-birds, their heads tucked into their feathers in sleep. Raiya could see the beginnings of several nests in the corners. They’d made themselves right at home. Something small skittered along the railing of the balcony that overlooked the space from the second floor, and more crept around in the shadows on the floor. More unwanted visitors from the hells.
Azreth put a hand on her shoulder. “Just birds. They’re small.”
“They’re quite large by our plane’s standards.”
“But not bigger than I am.”
Her home had become a graveyard and a demon nest. It looked like it had been abandoned.
They watched the creatures for a few moments longer, and then the birds shifted, lifting their heads in unison. As if one of them had spread a telepathic command, all of them spread their wings and flew, fleeing through the narrow windows or down the corridors, not seeming to care which way they went as long as they got away.
“Something frightened them,” Azreth said. Raiya felt him grow tense. A shadow shifted in the corner of her vision, and then a bright projectile flew toward them.
Azreth spun, putting himself between her and the projectile and raising a shield of magenta magic. The projectile exploded against the shield with such force that Azreth stumbled and Raiya was shoved off her feet.
Disoriented, Raiya looked up. Beyond Azreth’s shield, a figure approached from the shadows of an adjacent corridor. It was tall, humanoid, and horned. He had violent red skin, almost like he was covered in blood, and his eyes were like embers.
Unlike Azreth, each of his fingers tapered into enormous claws. Raiya’s throat went dry. She had thought Azreth was enormous, but this other demon made him look scrawny by comparison.
The demon swung an arm, releasing another projectile. It was a solid beam of light not unlike Azreth’s own light weapons, but these ones seemed somehow more aggressive, more wild and powerful, sparking and crackling like lightning. Azreth rushed forward, deflecting the projectile and then tackling the demon. To her surprise, he swept the other demon off his feet with a dive into his legs.
Someone grabbed her arm. “Get up!”
She obeyed, letting herself be dragged backward as she stared at Azreth wrestling the other demon. Every other time she’d seen him fight had been like a child play-wrestling compared to this. Their bodies contorted and struck out with ferocity and speed unlike anything she’d ever seen.
He was going to be hurt, or killed. He couldn’t beat someone so much bigger than he was. She aimed her baton, waiting for an opening. Beside her, Adamus had drawn a bow and an iron-tipped arrow.
A screech pulled her gaze upward. One of the birds was swooping down on her. She jerked her baton up, and a blast of magic boomed out of it, sending the bird spinning. More of the birds were coming now, as if spurred by the commotion, perhaps an instinct to protect their new nests. Raiya shot another one as it tried to dive for Jai. The sharp smell of raw, crackling magic filled the air.
As Raiya’s eyes followed the circling birds through the air, her gaze caught on a pair of eyes peering down at them from the shadows in the corner of the balcony.
Nirlan. He was… hiding.
Instead of fear, her heart filled with fury at the sight of him. “Nirlan!” she snarled.
His eyes widened. He spun and disappeared down the hallway. The coward. The worm.
“Go,”Azreth shouted to her. “Go after him.” He and the other demon had separated for a moment, but he hardly had time to take a breath before the other one struck out with those terrible claws, catching Azreth across the chest. Four deep lines appeared on his pectorals, dripping black. Raiya’s breath caught, but then Azreth conjured a sparkling beam of light that struck the other demon, knocking him back. Azreth was holding his own. For now.
Adamus nodded to her, drawing the iron sword from the sheath at his waist. “Go with the elves. I’ll stay with him.”
Jai took Raiya’s hand, pulling her toward the stairs. Raiya’s chest felt like it was tearing in half, but she forced herself to turn away from Azreth and run toward the curving stairs that led to the balcony.
Jai’s magic flowed through her as they took the stairs two steps at a time, and when she looked down, her body had faded to shadow. Madira’s feet were silent behind them, but she knew he was following a step behind. As a bird flew down at them, talons extended, Raiya fired another shot and kept running.
At the top of the stairs, she slowed, following the elves’ lead in staying low and quiet. They came to the intersection of corridors leading to the bedrooms and the servants’ chambers. Raiya turned down the hall to the bedroom. Nirlan would have wanted to run to a place that felt safe, where he probably had weapons hidden away.
She slipped through the door to the bedroom in time to see him squeezing into the gap between the wardrobe and the wall. Raising the baton, she shot at him, but he disappeared behind the wardrobe at the last moment, and the blast hit the wall. Blackened stone rained down on the floor. Another wasted shot.
Raiya circled closer to the wardrobe, her baton raised, and then she saw the opening. There was a hidden door behind the wardrobe, half obscured by the rubble. A dark tunnel lay beyond.
Cursing, she ran to the wardrobe and shoved at it ineffectually until Madira came to help her. With their combined efforts, they shifted it a few inches, then climbed over the rubble and into the tunnel. Far down the passageway, she could see a faint light disappearing around the corner.
“Nirlan!” she shouted again, breaking into a run. They rounded the curve of the tunnel, and then came to a fork. She stopped, listening, but she heard nothing. Tiny mage lights lined the walls in both directions. He could have gone either way.
Without having to discuss it, Madira went one direction, and Raiya and Jai went the other, running hand in hand. The tunnel turned into rough stairs cut from the rock, and Raiya sensed they were below ground. The tunnel had exited into the dungeon beneath the castle.
Ahead, a light flashed briefly. She sprinted toward it, her lungs burning. This time, when they rounded the corner, she was fast enough to see Nirlan still running down the corridor ahead of them. She lifted her baton and fired again. In her rush, her aim was off, hitting the wall ahead of him. Nirlan ducked, flinching as rock shattered around him, but he kept running. Raiya nearly screamed with frustration.
But just as he started to round another corner, he stopped short, grunting as his head abruptly jerked back. Madira flickered into view in front of him, wincing and shaking out his fist. Before Nirlan could recover, Madira had grabbed him by the hair and raised his sword to his throat. Nirlan’s eyes widened.
“You bastard,” Raiya hissed, stalking toward him. He was responsible for this. He had killed all those people in town. He had summoned that demon who was trying to kill Azreth as they spoke. “What were you thinking? How could you do this?”
Nirlan held up his hands, grimacing as Madira gripped his hair tighter. “Wait! We’re on the same side.”
“Like hells,” Raiya scoffed.
“That red beast downstairs—he’s wild. He needs to be put down. That’s what you want, right?”
Raiya was dumbfounded. “Are you telling me you’ve lost control of your demon? Again?”
Nirlan sneered. “No great works ever came to fruition without risk, Raiya. Ambition has its costs. Next time, I will succeed, and when I do, everyone will say I was lucky. But it’s not luck. Success takes work and time and sacrifice, and yes, sometimes failure.”
She rolled her eyes, wanting to strangle him. How had she ever tolerated him? “For the gods’ sake, be quiet.”
Madira’s blade nicked Nirlan’s throat. He seemed eager to bleed him out.
Nirlan glanced nervously between Jai and Raiya. “So… Is this it? Are you going to kill me, wife? After two years?”
Raiya clenched her teeth. “How do we get rid of the binding you put on Azreth?”
“Azreth?”
“The demon.”
“Which one?”
“The blue one,” she said through her teeth. They were losing time. Every second they spent with him was one that they could have been spending helping Azreth. If she hadn’t still been hearing distant thuds and crashes vibrating through the walls, she might have thought the fight was over already.
Nirlan smiled smugly. He was pleased to have something he could withhold from her. “And why would I tell you that?”
“So we don’t kill you, idiot,” said Madira.
“If you kill me, you’ll never have your answer.”
“The answer is in the runes,” Raiya said. “I will figure it out eventually, with or without your help. But if you tell me now, you might live longer.”
Nirlan chewed his lip for a moment, glaring at her. “Tell your servant to release me, and I’ll show you.”
“I’m not a servant,” Madira growled.
“Let him go, Madira.”
Nirlan shot a pointed look over his shoulder at Madira, waiting. Madira snarled and lowered the sword.
Nirlan straightened, smoothing his hands over his coat. “That zealot mucked up the binding. You can’t depend on these people for anything, even the one thing they’re supposed to be good for.”
“The priestess?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill her?”
“The demon killed her. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mourn her, but I didn’t want her dead. Now I have no one to fix this mess she created. But you can help me send him back to the hells. I can’t have a wild, unrestrained demon running loose in my home.”
Raiya hesitated. She wouldn’t put it past him to stab her in the back the moment he had what he wanted. But what other choice did she have? “Fine. Show me the summoning circle.”
Nirlan gave a sarcastic bow, gesturing down the corridor. “Follow me.”
Madira leaned in to whisper in Raiya’s ear. “This is a mistake. We should kill him now.”
“I agree, actually,” Jai whispered.
“Not yet.” If he knew how to send his demon back to the hells, and how to remove that lingering half-binding from Azreth, they needed him. And she didn’t want to admit it, but she still hadn’t found the courage to end his life. Some kind of internal block kept her from just raising her baton and blasting him in the face.
Nirlan glanced over his shoulder as they walked, peering apprehensively at her baton. “What have you done with that thing?”
“It’s a demonic weapon,” she replied, her lips curling up. “Does it frighten you?”
“You’ve certainly changed in the past few weeks. Being a demon’s whore has made you think rather highly of yourself, hasn’t it?”
“We don’t need your help for this,” she said. “The sound of your voice grates on me. Insult me again and I’ll silence it.”
Predictably, he looked like he wanted to say something else, but he sealed his lips. There was outrage on his face, but there was also apprehension that she’d never seen there before. The fact that she had put that fear there filled her with satisfaction. She didn’t think she’d ever made Nirlan afraid before. Their power dynamic had never, not once, swung in this direction, and the thrill it gave her was intoxicating.
“Tell me what happened when you performed the summoning,” she said. “How did all the other monsters get here?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
“Of course it’s my concern. They’re terrorizing the entire countryside.”
“I mean that you don’t need to worry about it.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
She stopped short as they passed beneath an iron gate and reached the central chamber where he had summoned Azreth.
The room was teeming with magic. Glowing runes radiated from the middle of the chamber, even more of them than the last time she’d been here. At the center of them all was a strange object that she had trouble making sense of.
It was a shining irregularity in the air, an ovalish shape a little larger than a human, floating a step above the floor. Vague images flashed in the shadows within the shape, never quite becoming anything recognizable. She could not decide if it reminded her more of a mirror, a window, or a rune shimmering with magic energy.
As she looked at it, a shape appeared inside, like a creature from the ocean depths coming to the surface. It was another bird, like the ones upstairs.
There was a flash and a snap, and to Raiya’s shock, the bird burst forth and soared over their heads. It circled the room once before choosing a tunnel seemingly at random and disappearing down it.
Nirlan had opened a gate to the hells.
The planes of hell were not her area of expertise, but even a layperson knew that you couldn’t just open a gate. This wasn’t how you were supposed to go about summoning demons.
The gate itself was jagged and messy, like a rip in the air. It shouldn’t have been there. It felt wrong. A mistake born of desperation and hubris.
“What have you done?” she asked, dazed.
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Nirlan said. He had crossed the room and picked up something from a table. He turned around to face them, raising a small metal disk. Runes on the disk glowed to life, flashing as its enchantment activated.
Raiya didn’t have time to figure out what the thing was before a wave of something hit her. She felt herself falling, and then there was nothing.