Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3) (18 page)

“Most people,
looking into our eyes, see only a glimpse of what he endured,” Kaelus went on,
“but you established a form of
shaishisii
with both of us, so you tasted
a more complete experience. Be thankful we didn’t complete the link.”

“I saw the face
of Shaitan,” Mikal murmured in fear. “He has met the Dark One.”

“As have I,
Mikal,” Kaelus confirmed, “and while I cannot claim to know the mind of Evil,
He has given me considerable insight into the workings of Creation itself and
specifically to this war. I don’t know how much He has foreseen, but I know you
and I both will have critical roles to play in the days to come.”

Kaelus extended
a hand to Mikal and helped him back to his feet. They clasped only forearms and
carefully avoided extensive contact with each other’s flesh.

“I need to know
if I can count on you, old friend,” Kaelus said. He looked searchingly at
Mikal’s face, seeking some sign of the former menticide. “You weren’t yourself before,
that much is obvious. Someone or something was influencing you without your
knowledge, and that scares me.”

“It was Maya,
who rules Heaven since Gabriel’s demise,” Mikal said grimly. “Only she would
have the power to affect me thus, and so subtly. I never even realized her
touch was in my mind.”

“I never liked
that rosy-winged witch,” Kaelus grumbled under his breath. He looked at Mikal
intently through his mortal host’s eyes. “I need you to be on your guard
against external influence, and I’m going to need your support when we all get
to Heaven.”

“To Heaven?”
Mikal exclaimed. “How? You may be able to translocate there through the
Binding, and maybe even that one,” he said, nodding toward the half-angel,
Danner, “but these others? They are mortals and cannot ascend save through
death.”

“The Merging was
weakened enough by Mephistopheles that his armies were able to cross,” Kaelus
said, “and now it barely exists since Hell has moved on. What of the Binding?
Might mortals now be able to cross?”

Mikal frowned.

“No mortal has
used the Binding in millennia, at least,” the Seraph said. “It was designed to
keep mortals from crossing into Heaven, not to keep us from coming here or
returning.”

“No doubt the
same mentality that led to your accursed mission,” Kaelus grumbled. “Should it
surprise me that no one thought to simply come here and ask the mortals for
help? Work to release the stricture on the Binding, or perhaps just find out if
they could cross the weakened Binding whilst still alive?”

Mikal shook his
head. “None of us are thinking clearly, it seems. I was sent to identify and
kill as many virtuous mortals as possible without revealing my presence. Had it
not been for that stricture, I might have wreaked even further havoc.”

The demon
nodded. “I suspect it was more than that holding you back, Mikal, something I
saw during the
shaishisii
. Looking within you, some part of you still
knew what you were doing was wrong and fought to minimize the damage. Why else
would you stalk one person at a time in different locations? You studied your
quarry to ensure their suitability, and you hid your presence by attacking one
at a time. Had you been fully out of control, you likely would have walked into
this inn and tried to slaughter every living thing. Your subconscious
inefficiency probably saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives.”

Mikal nodded
shamefacedly, then looked at Kaelus in concern.

“I’ve been here
for days,” the angel said, “and the Binding was no doubt weakened even before
my crossing. Can we be sure it hasn’t disappeared entirely in the intervening
days?” He was clearly alarmed at the thought of being trapped in Lokka, cut off
from his own home and the war raging there.

 “Oh, it
still exists,” Kaelus said confidently. “The Merging still exists, albeit in a
much weaker form. I can feel it, and if the one still exists then so does the
other. We could cross
there
, but we’re not trying to get to Hell just
yet. You were the first angel to cross the Binding during the Epiphany, and it
touched off a new age of mortal history. Now you can lead them back across to
Heaven to prevent the extinction of every living mortal in this world. Where
were you when you crossed?”

“Show me a map,
and I will guide you to it,” Mikal said confidently.

Do you know why paladins feel the urge to cross the
Merging? It is because I summon them, looking for a suitable champion, and your
God allows it. How many of your best and most-deserving warriors have crossed
and never returned? Hundreds? Thousands? Think on that when you contemplate
your supposedly
benevolent
God.

- Satan,

“Dialogues with Satan”

(from the secret memoirs of
Birch de’Valderat)

- 1 -

They heard
Garnet coming a full minute before he opened the door to the Iron Axe. It began
as a distant sound barely heard, but quickly grew until everyone in the common
room looked about in perplexity, trying to place the noise. Finally, it grew
loud enough to clearly distinguish a deep, resounding laugh. Everyone stared at
the door, first in curiosity, then in shock to see the Shadow Company commander
– normally reserved and focused – with tears streaming down his face as he held
the door open.

Mikal entered
the inn first through the proffered door, a confused smile on his too-perfect
face. Birch, Danner, and Marc followed the Seraph, all of them chuckling.
Flasch entered next, a broad grin on his face. Garnet entered last, wiping the
tears from his face as he quieted his mirth.

Michael and
Brican looked at each other in surprise, then turned to stare at their commander
and friend. The group split up and dispersed around the common room, and Garnet
came over to sit at the table next to them. By the time he got there, they
seemed totally focused on their ongoing game of
Dividha
. Surprisingly
enough, Guilian was at their table too, but somehow even sitting next to them
he still maintained an aura of being shut off and distant from everyone around
him.

Alicia, Moreen,
and a denarae woman whose name Garnet couldn’t place were sitting with them,
and they were each holding a few cards in their hands. Someone had placed a
large mixing bowl from the kitchen in the center of the table, and the bottom
was covered with various types of coinage.

Danner walked
over and gave Alicia a quick kiss on her upturned lips, then she returned her
attention to the game at hand.

“Who’s winning?”
Garnet asked.

“Tough question
to answer,” Michael answered without looking up. He frowned at his cards, then
put them face-down on the table. “Moreen has
won
the most frequently,
but Brican here has accumulated the most cash, even though he’s technically
lost
most of his games.”

“It’s a question
of strategy,” Brican said, flicking a quick glance at Garnet. “The Hero’s
Gauntlet versus Satan’s Gambit. Moreen has been playing heavily to win, and
she’s been controlling the deck nearly every hand for the last half hour. So
while she’s busy racking up the coins by winning, more people hedge their bets
by betting to lose, and by larger and larger amounts as time goes on.

“Enter, me,”
Brican said, writing down a number on a small slate he kept hidden from
everyone around him. He dumped a fistful of coins in the mixing bowl in the
center of the table.

“I’m making no
secret of what I’m doing here,” Brican explained. “I’m betting to lose, and so
far I’ve managed to get a crap hand consistently enough that I’m doing rather
well for myself. I may have to give some of my winnings to Moreen at the end,
though,” he added, winking at her. “Without her taking and winning the high
road so much, the bet-to-lose pot wouldn’t be nearly as worthwhile. I almost
feel like I owe her something.”

“You know,
without a strong Hero-style player,” Marc said from a nearby table, where he’d
been listening, “Satan’s Gambit can’t work. It just isn’t worth it.”

“It’s strategy,”
Brican said.

“It’s crap,”
Michael muttered. “I’m still convinced Brican’s using the Denarae Trump
technique.”

“What’s that?”
Marc asked. “I haven’t seen that in any of the rules or strategy books I’ve
read.”

Michael turned
to look at Marc, then rolled his eyes and sighed. Danner shook his head, and
Garnet chuckled.

“What?” Marc
asked, confused.

“We have
got
to get you out of those books more often, brother,” Garnet said. He turned
around and shouted, “Janice! Come grab this booker and show him something of
the real world.”

“Yes, sir!”
Janice called back, throwing Garnet a mock salute.

Marc turned to
look at Garnet in perplexity.

“You’ve
obviously overworked yourself lately and strained that wonderful brain of
yours,” Garnet said. “Go enjoy yourself for a while, Marc. That’s an order.”

Before Marc
could reply, Janice appeared at his side and dragged him off toward their
apartments.

“Oh, you’re a
fine one to give that kind of an order,” Brican said. “I can’t wait for the day
someone gets the chance to tell
you
to go, ah…
enjoy
yourself.”

“Hey, yeah, when
are you going to get a girl, Garnet?” Danner asked. “We were all talking about
it the other day, and Flasch is starting to think you’re a little bubbly in the
boots.”

“Flasch is
what?” the Violet paladin called from across the room where he was sitting at a
table with Deeta and a few of the denarae from his platoon.

“Nothing,
Danner’s being an ass,” Garnet called back.

“Righto.”

Danner was
grinning impudently at Garnet when the Red paladin turned back to look at him.
While Garnet was pleased to see his friend enjoying himself for once – Danner’s
mirth had often been a bit subdued ever since Trebor’s death, and recent events
hadn’t helped any – he wasn’t terribly pleased at his friends treading all over
such a frustrating issue for Garnet.

“Oh, leave
Garnet alone,” Alicia said, elbowing Danner in the hip.

“He’ll meet the
right woman eventually,” Moreen said, dealing out a final card to everyone at
the table. “We just haven’t found her for him yet.”

“What is this, a
conspiracy?” Garnet asked.

“We’re just
looking out for the welfare of our glorious leader,” Brican said. He frowned at
his slate, then wrote a number down and tossed his entire pile of coins into the
bowl. Alicia whistled in amazement while Michael stared and Guilian scowled.
The pile of coins in front of him was noticeably smaller than anyone else’s
except Michael’s.

The final bets
were made, and Brican smiled as he laid down a hand consisting of absolutely
nothing worthwhile. He had no more than two cards in any of the five suits, no
two cards had the same number, and his highest card was the seven of Beasts.

“You have a
knack for amassing large piles of crap,” Michael muttered.

Everyone else
turned over their cards, hoping against hope someone would outwit Brican.
Moreen was the last to play down her cards.

“Okay, let’s see
how much she beat us by this time,” Alicia said with a sigh. She looked at
Moreen’s cards and did a double-take.

Like Brican,
Moreen had a useless array of cards. Her highest card, however, was the six of
Men.

Brican’s jaw
dropped.

“Oh, damn, looks
like I lost,” Moreen said, her eyes twinkling.

Tally slates
were handed in, and to everyone’s great amusement, both Brican and Moreen had
bet everything to lose. Moreen dragged the bowl toward her and poured an
enormous pile of coins out in front of her – most of them had been sitting in
front of Brican not two minutes before. Guilian had “won” the hand with three
eights, but he only received a handful of coins from the large pile.

Brican was still
staring in shock at the two arrangements of cards as though trying to figure
out how his cards had betrayed him.

“So,” Michael
said, his spirits now lifted considerably. He turned toward Garnet. “Tell us
what had you in such a good mood. We heard you coming about a mile away.”

Garnet clapped
Brican on the back and settled himself more comfortably in his chair.

“Well, our
meeting with the Prismatic Council went better than we ever could have hoped,”
Garnet said with an easy smile, “due largely to our winged friend over there.”
He waved his hand toward Mikal, who was sitting in close conversation with
Birch on the far side of the common room.

“We made our
proposition to the Council, and at first there was some resistance, as could
only be expected,” Garnet continued. “It’s a major undertaking to send five
hundred paladins halfway across the continent, and if we find the Binding in
usable shape, thousands more would follow us. We finally got them to agree to
let us go, but at first they only wanted to send Shadow Company with a few
messengers to bring back word.”

“Are you
serious?” Michael asked. “You’d think maybe they’d have learned to trust us and
listen when we bring something to them. Experience alone should lend some
credence to our backing.”

“Some people
take longer to learn lessons than others,” Danner said, shaking his head. He
still looked tired, but Alicia said he’d slept better the previous night than
he had in weeks, and it showed. “Even with my uncle there, still they didn’t
believe us. They didn’t
want
to believe. It’s so much easier to just
pretend the war ended with the fall of the Barrier and the passing of Hell. We
survived, we’re still here, so maybe we won after all,” Danner said in a
whining, mocking voice. He snorted in disgust. “They didn’t want to be forced
to acknowledge that the demon hiding under their bed hasn’t really disappeared,
he just went to hide in the closet instead.”