Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3) (71 page)

Selti latched
onto his paladin’s forearm and wrapped his tail around Birch’s bicep. He stretched
out his neck and crooned urgently.

Birch’s eyebrows
drew together in thought, and he looked at the area around him in confusion.

“Is this…” he
murmured. “Why do I remember this place being different?” He looked all around
him, then shook his head. “It was brighter, and the landscape was gentler.
There were creatures all around, demons who were gathered and spoke of battle.
Up there,” he said, pointing toward a nearby cliff, “one demon stood and told
us we had to fight back or be slaves. They all agreed and shouted, eager for
battle.

“Only one among
us spoke against him, as he’d always spoken out,” Birch went on in a daze,
reliving what Flasch realized was probably a memory leftover from Kaelus. “He
was my friend. He looked like one of the angels, save for his red eyes, but he
was a demon like the rest of us. He spoke of peace and understanding, and when
the demon king shouted for him to die, a dozen monsters rushed forward and tore
him to pieces. Nisroc cut his wings off and held them high as trophies. And I
did nothing.”

Gerard stepped
forward and shook Birch gently. “Birch, snap out of it.”

Birch shook his
head to clear the visions and nodded at Gerard in thanks. Then he looked down
at Selti, who still clung to his arm.

“Is it….
Abdiel?”

- 3 -

Kala watched in
frustration as the demons marched past the outpost. The reports were true, then
– Malith had instructed his forces to bypass all fortresses and march straight
on to Medina. The demons had a long way to go yet, but there seemed to be no
stopping them. She knew Uriel and Mikal were working non-stop, trying to find
ways to delay or destroy as much of the army as possible, but the demons had
split into five groups and were that much harder to affect. Even if they
managed to somehow slow or halt one division of the army, still there were four
more who would march on unimpeded.

Already, the
demons had covered nearly half the distance to the holy city. They built
bridges made from the flesh of damned souls to cross rivers or simply flew
across, and they bored through mountains using the powerful digging skills of
the drolkuls. There seemed to be no stopping them.

Whenever
possible, Uriel led hit-and-run strikes against the demons, and while he was
having some effect on one of the armies, others had been less successful. A
Power named Dunael had led an assault against the army commanded by Beelzebub,
and the demon prince had wiped them out to the last man and angel. A Dominion
named Doriel had suffered almost as badly at the hands of Iblis, the fire demon.
Less than half of the angels led against Iblis’s forces had survived the
encounter. Doriel himself was badly burned by the demon prince and was still
recovering in the waters of the Philion under the care of a Sarim.

Garnet and the
others had crossed into Hell three weeks ago, and there had been no word from
them since. Not that anyone was expecting to hear from them – they
were
deep in enemy territory, after all – but still, Kala missed the giant warrior
and his surprising gentleness. They had only just started to explore their
feelings when suddenly Garnet’s father was killed and he had to rush off to
rescue Danner’s uncle.

She wanted him
back.

“My dear,” a
cheerful voice cried, “look who I found.”

Kala turned from
the window as Trames entered the room with Brad and Anolla in tow. The twins
had filled out considerably since she last saw them, and even Anolla had
developed the lithe muscles of a swordswoman. Kala smiled at the competent way
they both handled themselves now, even if they were still both untested on the
battlefield.

“Kala!”

Anolla rushed
forward and hugged the warrior woman, but Brad reserved himself with a broad
grin and a polite nod.

“Well met,
Anolla, Brad,” Kala said, genuinely pleased to see them. “Where did you find
these two, Trames?”

“Oh, wandering
the halls,” the old man replied absently as he became absorbed in studying the
angelstone walls of her room. Kala sighed in resignation.

“Our unit is
assigned to the Seraph Michael,” Anolla said eagerly as she released Kala.
“We’re part of a real fighting unit now.”

“What does your
father have to say about that?” Kala asked.

Brad waved a
hand. “You know our dad well enough. He warned us to be careful and look out
for each other and everyone around us, but you can tell he’s really proud. He’s
assigned here, too, probably so he can keep an eye on us.”

Kala smiled,
then she looked out the window. The twins followed her gaze.

“It’s pretty
bad, isn’t it?” Brad asked, all traces of youth and glee gone from a voice that
suddenly sounded very adult.

“Worse than you
can imagine,” Kala told him. “Seraphim, Cherubim, Dominions, Powers, and all
the other angels are doing their best. Armies of the living and the dead are
striking wherever they can, and still there doesn’t seem to be any way of
stopping them.”

Anolla embraced
Kala again, this time in comfort.

“We may not be
able to stop them here,” the young woman said, “but I bet things will change
for the better when Garnet and the others kill the demon king.”

“You think they
can do it?” Kala asked.

“Of course,”
Brad replied confidently.

“He’s a child of
Garet jo’Meerkit,” Anolla said. Brad nodded and smiled faintly as his sister
added, “There’s no stopping any of us.”

Anolla grinned
fiercely at Kala, who could only laugh.

- 4 -

Hoil crept back
down the hall toward James and Nuse, who were secreted around another corner.
James watched him coming and wondered how anyone that large could move so
silently. Sure, Hoil was a thief who recently went honest, but still, there
were some things that just shouldn’t be physically possible.

The former thief
motioned for them to duck back out of sight, and he followed them a moment
later and breathed a soft sigh of relief.

“I never
wondered how good an angel’s hearing was,” Hoil whispered. “Now I know. I made
the tiniest of noise well down the hallway, and one of those blasted Cherubim
came to investigate. I had to duck into a side room to avoid notice.”

“So they are
still guarding him there?” Nuse asked.

“If not him,
then someone.” Hoil shook his head. “I know you two are great paladins, but
there’s no way you’re going to get close to them without making noise. You
can’t sneak up on these angels, trust me.”

James frowned in
thought.

“Maybe we don’t
have to,” Nuse suggested. The other two looked at him inquiringly. “I mean,
yes, they’re guarding him, but I doubt they have orders to shoot on sight
anyone who happens to wander through the library. We might be able to talk our
way past them.”

“How?” Hoil
asked bluntly.

“He’s the
mediator,” Nuse replied, off-handedly waving toward James.

“Thanks for the
vote of confidence,” James said wryly.

“Think nothing
of it,” the Blue paladin said with a guileless grin.

“I do,” James
muttered.

The trio walked
down the hallway, deliberately doing nothing to hide their approach. Their footsteps
echoed on the pristine angelstone floor.

The library
looked like every other building in Medina – beautiful and cold. There were no
paintings, no soft furniture, no alcoves with desks for studying; none of the
usual things James expected to find in a library. Except for rooms filled with
books, the entire complex was virtually devoid of any decoration or furniture.
The building was one of the largest in Medina, but it had taken them over a
week just to find it. Hoil’s memory was a little vague, and James was convinced
they went in several circles before the former-thief discovered the right
place.

The interior of
the sprawling building was confusing, with several floors that only seemed to
connect to each other in one place that could be used by mortals. There were
strategically placed, wide holes in the ceiling and floor, but none of them
relished the thought of leaping down through one, especially without knowing
for certain they could get back up. Even after searching an entire floor, they
had to get back to the only available staircase before proceeding to another.
Hoil, of course, didn’t remember exactly what floor he’d been on when he came
across the angels, which delayed their search several more days.

James shuddered
back from thinking about just how massive the library truly was – a building
that took
days
just to navigate.

The trio turned
the corner to where the Cherubim guarded a large double-door made from
translucent crystal. One Cherub had a spear ready, the other had his bow out
and half-drawn. There was nothing to differentiate these two angels from the
others James had seen, except these had a more youthful appearance than most.
He didn’t know if that had anything to do with their being Cherubim, but he
would have to have a few words with the mortal artists who depicted them as
chubby, winged babies. These were lean, warrior-ready angels who looked all too
capable with their weapons. Their armor was form-fitting and gleamed with a
mirror shine.

“Good day, holy
angels,” James said politely.

“And you,
teiranon,” one of the Cherubim said guardedly. His companion looked closely at
Hoil and said, “We’ve seen you before.”

“Uh, certainly
you have,” Hoil said with forced cheerfulness. “I was here a little while back,
lost you see, and we chatted a bit.” The two angels nodded. “Well, I came
across these two holy warriors in the city who said they were looking for the
library, so I brought them back here.”

The Cherubim
looked at each other uncertainly.

“You should not
have brought them here,” one said.

“Gentlemen,”
James said, stepping forward, “I believe you have a friend of mine locked in
there.”

The angels
immediately lifted their weapons and James found himself staring down the shaft
of a crystal-tipped spear while a glowing yellow arrow was aimed at Nuse.

“Easy, easy,”
James said, raising his hands away from his sword. “We’re not here to force
past you.”

“As if we
could,” Nuse muttered.

Neither angel so
much as blinked. James took a deep breath.

“Exactly why are
you guarding him?” the Yellow paladin asked.

“We were ordered
by Metatron to guard him,” one of the angels replied. His companion nodded,
then added, “She said he was dangerous and was collaborating with our enemies.”

“Do you even
know who’s in there?” James asked. They stared at him blankly. “He’s a
paladin.”

The angels
looked at each other uncertainly. “We haven’t seen him at all,” the
spear-wielder admitted. The archer added, “Metatron told us he was to remain
locked in there and never to even open the doors. We’ve heard him knock and
call out to us, but we never responded except to say he was under guard.”

James sighed.

“Was that before
or after Maya was barred from the Hall of the Throne?” Hoil asked, jumping into
the conversation. James and Nuse stared at him in surprise, as did the two
Cherubim.

“Haven’t you two
heard
any
thing of what’s going on out there?” Hoil asked in
exasperation. “Mikal returned from the mortal realm and went with Uriel to the
hall, where they found Maya sitting
on
the Throne.”

“Sacrilege!” the
Cherubim gasped in one voice.

“We sort of
thought so, too,” Hoil replied. “I wasn’t there to see it, but for her affront,
Mikal and Uriel exiled her from the Hall and banned her from ever stepping foot
inside again.”

James hadn’t
heard all of this yet, and he sincerely hoped Hoil wasn’t making it up. Things
would end badly for them if they contacted any other angel and discovered the
former thief was lying.

 “So you
see, gentle angels,” Hoil went on smoothly, “there’s no longer a need to guard
this room. I know the man within, and I can assure you, he is not in league
with our foes. We were sent here by Uriel himself to locate and liberate our
friend from this misunderstanding.” He eyed the two angels, who teetered
uncertainly on the brink of acquiescence. “After all,” Hoil said innocently,
“you wouldn’t want to incarcerate an innocent man, would you? Restore liberty
to a poor, blessed soul, and undo the wrongdoing done him by the false
Metatron.”

He paused, then
added in a conspiratorial stage whisper, “I understand the Seraphim are none
too happy with her, and they’re on the lookout for anyone still associated with
her as a possible collaborator in her sacrilegious affronts.”

That did it.

The Cherubim
backed away and allowed them access to the doors. Nuse tried the handle and
found it was locked.

“Will you be
going to join the front lines, then?” James asked as he stopped next to them.
The pair nodded simultaneously. “What are your names?”

“I am Ithuriel,”
said the spear-wielding Cherub said.

“And I am
Zephon.”

“Well,
gentlemen,” James said, “we’d love to join you, so if you’ll give us a moment
to collect our friend, I wonder if we might not prevail upon you to give us a
lift.”

“Certainly,”
they replied together.

Hoil stared at
them speculatively. “You two have been around each other a long time, haven’t
you?”

The angels
stared at him in perplexity. James glared at Hoil.

“Just ignore
him,” James told the angels, then waited expectantly in front of the door.

They stood
together a moment in silence before Nuse cleared his throat.

“Ahem, is, uh,
anyone going to unlock this door?” the Blue paladin asked pointedly.