From Hell with Love (22 page)

“Saw that coming,” Niccolo commented as the creature lifted its leg out of the demon’s bleeding foot and brought its other claw around to clamp down on the demon’s midsection.  The crowd shouted as the demon’s friend jumped on the back of the Claw and slammed down his blade into the creature’s back, causing it to rear back in pain.

“That wasn’t too bad,” Andras said to Niccolo’s left, but both of them knew the fight was not over.  While the demons were preoccupied with the hellish crab, two more Claws had entered the arena, slowly skittering to help their fellow crustacean.  “But they’re goners.”

The demon with the pig snout had backed away from the Claw that was spinning around, but he had not gone far enough.  While it was turning, trying to deal with the warrior on its back, the creature brought the back of its right claw across the demon’s head, cutting deep into his face and removing the end of his nose.

“What a weakling,” Niccolo muttered before looking away from the coward screaming in pain.  The Horseman looked toward Cadmus, who seemed to be having a difficult time with the display; he was breathing in heavily and shaking while he watched.  Niccolo was about to console the man, but he turned when the crowd cheered.  He had just missed the pair of Claws rush up to the bleeding demon and cut him into quarters before shoveling the pieces into their cavernous maws.

“Damn,” he said in pure reaction, but instantly regretted it.  Cadmus was not taking this well, and Niccolo certainly did not want to enjoy it while his friend suffered.  In a desperate effort to console his friend, Niccolo tried to distract him.  “Hey, Cadmus?”

“Y-yeah,” he said, his gaze breaking from the horrific scene in front of him.  He had been trying to watch the other demon as he brought his blade down into the creature’s brain and removed it from the fight.  It was a much better alternative to watching the Claws eat their prey.

“So, um,” Niccolo faltered for a moment, but then looked the reaper in the eye so he could distract his friend, “so why aren’t you always at the Pits?  Demons die here all the time.  I would think someone needs to reap them,” he asked, gaining his friend’s attention for the moment.

“Well, just like how not every human makes it to Heaven or Hell, not every demon stays on after death.  Only the strongest people leave behind…souls…” he tried to explain, but he trailed off as he turned to watch the warrior fighting all alone.  Niccolo turned and saw the former human hunched over with his blade pointed out, completely terrified by the two monsters clacking their pincers on the other side of the arena.  The crowd gasped as one of the Claws rushed over to the human, who just barely jumped over the dangerous pincers and rolled over its back, only to be faced with the other creature raising its claws.  The demon brought up his blade to ward off the attack, but his sword could not match the sheer power of the hellish creature.  The blade shattered in his grip and the power behind the hammer blow caused him to go sprawling into the dirt, blood seeping from wounds in his forearms.

“That’s rough.  Well, it won’t be too long for us, now,” Niccolo said as he turned to the reaper, who was visibly shaken by the violence occurring on the sand.  “Whoa, are you alright?” he asked, but Cadmus stopped shaking and his eyes focused.

“Not again,” he muttered before whipping back his cloak and then leaping from the edge of the pit, his scythe held to the side.

“Cadmus!” Niccolo shouted, but he did not jump after the man.  From his own experience, he knew what it was like to stop a Horseman on a mission.  The Pale Rider landed on the floor of the pit and sent sand flying in every direction, but he quickly got to his feet and rushed toward the nightmarish crabs descending on the lone warrior.

“What the
hell
is he doing?” Bifrons shouted from the top of the pit, but Cadmus could not care about rules at a time like this.  It was far too similar to what had happened all those years ago in Rome.  He would not stand for this display of brutality.

“Hey!” he shouted, drawing the attention of the two hellish crustaceans, which had cornered the demon against the wall of the pit.  They turned, snarling at their new enemy, and clacked their pincers menacingly.  The one closest to Cadmus was on his left, but the reaper just ran past the beast even as it swiped at him with its massive claw.  He merely twirled his scythe and knocked the deadly appendage away before coming to a stop in front of the other crab.  It roared at him, its horrific mandibles stretching away from its maw and the three faces tied across its top shell silently screaming at him, but Cadmus was far from frightened.

In Hell, the beasts should fear him.

The Claw brought its right pincer at him blindingly fast, but Cadmus had already started bringing down his scythe toward the shoulder joint.  It connected and sliced through with a crack of the creature's shell, causing the crab’s arm to go flying off into the sand.  Cadmus did not bother to wait for it to roar in pain and instead brought his blade underneath the creature’s bottom shell, pointing his blade at its belly.  When Cadmus brought up the scythe in a wicked arc, splitting the front of the creature in half and causing blue blood to spray from the cracks in the chitin, the crowd cheered in pure bloodlust.

Cadmus heard the creature approaching from behind him and continued the half-moon arc of his blade, but was surprised when he met resistance at the top of the swing.  The creature had grabbed the handle with both claws and roared at him, its mandibles snapping instinctually.  Before he could even react and try to wrestle the scythe away from the creature, it stopped moving and blood leaked out of its wide-open maw.  The creature sank down, having released the scythe, and Cadmus finally realized what had happened.  Three black arrows were buried deep into the creature’s top shell, centered where the brain would be.

Looking up from his opponent, he saw Niccolo holding his black bow, a look of disapproval twisting his blemished face.  Cadmus almost laughed at the reversal; Niccolo was always the impulsive one.  After breathing in for a moment, he looked past the dead Claws to find the demon he had saved, who was frantically trying to hold onto the wooden planks behind him while staring at Cadmus in horror.

“We’re taking your place, I hope you know,” he stated firmly before turning back to Niccolo and sighing.  He could see Andras somehow smiling and Bifrons regarding him with disdain, but Cadmus did not care; the reaper would not allow creatures to fight unarmed men.  After picking up his blade and setting the end of the handle on the sand, he regarded the demonic crowd gaping at him.

“Do any of you think that you can beat me or Niccolo in a duel?  Do you think that you can fight us on these sands and hope to walk away the victor?” he asked, his voice booming out and echoing off the walls of the arena.  The demons above him looked dumbfounded, so he slammed the end of his scythe against the ground once more.

“DO YOU THINK YOU CAN FIGHT US?” he shouted, which brought a chorus of “no” and a number of shaking heads.  “I DIDN’T THINK SO!” he continued before looking at the stone demon.

“Let’s get this over with, Bifrons.  Nico and I have things to do,” the reaper said before walking to the edge of the arena and then jumping up to the top with one movement.  The stone demon looked at him and sighed before shaking his head.

“This is what I was talking about, Andras,” he said with his gravelly voice, but Andras just hooted before looking at his two recruits.

“I knew I could trust you.”

***

They were only standing in front of Eligos’ throne for ten seconds before a massive slab of iron slammed into the bricks in front of the Horsemen.  Neither moved from their place, but an errant brick did roll over Niccolo’s foot.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?” Ajax roared from the side of the throne, his crimson helmet shaking from the vibrations of his voice.  The slab of iron was wrenched out of its place and flew toward the armored warrior, who had used the chain attached to the handle to make it soar back to his hand.  Ajax stalked toward the Horsemen, ripping off his helm to show the anger etched into the lines of his bearded face.

“Nice to see you, Ajax.  I see you’re already drunk,” Niccolo said, turning to meet the warrior, but Ajax was not amused.

“THE HORSEMEN ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE TOURNAMENT, YOU BASTARDS!  WHY DO YOU THINK I’M NOT IN IT?” Ajax shouted, spit flying from his mouth and gathering around his crooked teeth.

“I never said that,” the demon on the throne said before standing up, causing the armored man to whip around and glare at him.

“What?  Yes, you did…” Ajax said, completely flustered by the fallen angel’s statement. The larger demon just shook his head before putting his thumbs underneath the harness for his chest plate.  He was lightly armored, only dressed in a chest plate with a leather skirt, gauntlets and grieves, but he was somehow more intimidating than the crimson Horseman.

“No.  I said
you
couldn’t be part of it,” the fallen angel said before looking at the other two men standing beyond the crater made by Ajax’s great sword.  Though his face was marred by wrinkles and crows’ feet, the fallen still looked quite formidable.  Wisps of gray were streaked through his hair, which was pulled back into a short ponytail, and his beard was dusted with white, but it was the eyes that betrayed his age.  Staring into Eligos’ silver eyes was like looking into a deep well.

“How is that fair?” Ajax growled, but Eligos just turned to his student and breathed out deeply.

“You’re in the Pits every day, Ajax.  There’s nothing exciting about you killing a nightmare or a dragon,” he said before waving his hand over the numerous demons that had come to see the confrontation in the middle of the pavilion.  “These violent citizens of mine can see that whenever they want.”

“If they can fight, so can I!” Ajax shouted, but Eligos just shook his head as he walked around Niccolo and Cadmus, who were almost afraid to speak to the fallen angel.

“I don’t let you fight for the same reason that Amon is not allowed to bet,” he said before nodding at the raven-headed demon who was sitting at the edge of the crowd.

“I told you that my visions aren’t that specific!” he cawed, but Eligos just looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

“C’mon, brother, you and I both know that you wouldn’t have come here if you couldn’t
somehow
predict the outcome,” Eligos argued, but Amon just shook his head before looking directly at Niccolo and Cadmus.

“I told you why I came here.  I knew
they
would be here making a mess of things,” Amon said with an undertone of violence, but Eligos simply laughed.

“Hah, and you were
right
.  I fail to see why I should let you bet if
that
came true,” Eligos said before continuing his walk around the two Horsemen.

“You bastard…you BASTARD!” Ajax said before springing forward and swinging his slab of iron at his teacher.  Niccolo and Cadmus tried to react, but before the blade could reach the fallen, it flew straight into the air and the point of a thin blade was pressed against Ajax’s throat.  In contrast to the surprised reaction on Ajax’s face, Eligos almost looked bored as he held the saber up to the human’s neck.

“Do I really need to make you take a time-out?” he lazily asked as the giant great sword crashed into the ground behind Ajax.  The Horseman looked at the demons surrounding them and tried to salvage his persona, backing away from the ruler of the War Quarter and grabbing his sword by the handle.

“No, master.  I’ll stay…quiet,” he said, placing his blade onto his back and then leaning up against one of the poles holding up Eligos’ tent.  The warrior crossed his arms and huffed, but he continued to glare at his fellow Horsemen.

“So why, on all days, do you wish to fight in the Pits, Horsemen?” Eligos asked as he straddled the crater that his student had created, the saber transforming into a small dagger he lazily holstered in the scabbard on his left side.  “Niccolo, it’s been a long time, but don’t you have better things to do?”

“Not particularly,” Niccolo responded, shoving his thumbs between his belt and armor, “we were just getting antsy waiting for the Council tomorrow.  And, like you said, it’s been a long time for me.”

“We did enjoy your company, I will say that,” the old demon said before turning his gaze on the reaper.  “But, Cadmus, this is a new thing for you.  Heard you split a Claw.  Out of
turn
, even.  What’s all that about?”  The cloaked Horseman shrugged at the question and held his scythe close.

“The warrior’s weapon broke.  Felt like it was unfair.”

“That’s part of the game,” Eligos said before crossing his arms, but Cadmus just stared into his silver eyes.

“Well, that
game
is over.  Is there any way we can speed this up?  We’ve been waiting for two hours, already.”

“Cadmus, it’s the middle of the biggest tournament in the last three centuries,” he said before uncrossing his arms and setting his massive hand onto the reaper’s shoulder, “I’m
going
to watch it.”

“We were supposed to be
part
of that,” Cadmus said, but Eligos just chuckled and looked at Niccolo before gesturing toward the reaper with his thumb.

“Can you believe this?” he asked before turning back to Cadmus.  “No one’s going to fight you and I’m not gonna waste any of my animals on your antics.  If my beasts are going to get butchered, it should at least be entertaining,” Eligos said before turning and heading toward his throne.  “You weren’t waiting for
me
.”

“You were waiting for the other finalist,” he grunted out as he sat down on his throne.  It was a simple thing, just a wooden chair carved to the shape of his rear end and set on top of three steps.  The two Horsemen looked at each other before turning back to the ruler of the War Quarter.

“The other finalist?” Niccolo asked, but Eligos just laughed as he set his left elbow on his armrest and then propped up his head.

“Yeah, you got a bye.  Figured the only one who’d venture to fight you would be the champion,” he said before sniffing and then scratching his belly with his other hand.