Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3) (73 page)

Uriel was
on-hand with his Archangels flying overhead, and he led a fully recovered
Doriel and several other flight commanders in a massive aerial campaign to
protect Mikal’s forces from the air. Arrows streaked by overhead and tore into
the demons’ ranks, subtly guiding them toward the areas where Mikal had the
hoses prepared.

“Closer,” Mikal
whispered, watching the distance between the ground forces. “Closer.” He raised
his sword, ready to give the signal.

The demons crossed
an imaginary line.
There!

“Now!” Mikal
shouted, sweeping his sword down.

Members of the
blessed dead activated the pumps and heavenly water spewed forth from the
nozzles and poured onto the on-coming demons, who screamed in agony and fell
writing to the ground.

“It’s working!”
someone shouted in exuberance.

Beside Mikal,
Garet laughed heartily at the sight of demons falling back under an onslaught
of nothing but water.

Just then, a
wall of flame leapt up between the demons and the lethal sprays of water. Steam
hissed and rolled off in black waves as holy water met infernal flame, and from
their vantage Mikal could see that the demons were no longer touched by the
heavenly liquid. After a moment to regroup, they started forward again – the
wall of flame preceded them, protecting every step they made toward the angels
on the ground.

“Iblis,” Mikal
said through gritted teeth. “Garet, take word to the paladins on the right
flank. I want them to charge in behind that wall and carve up as many of those
fiends as they can. The hose crews are lightly defended, and if they get too
close, they’ll be butchered.”

“Yes, sir,”
Garet said. He saluted quickly, then hurried off.

- 3 -

Danner spun the
wheel on the buggy and felt the back wheels fish-tail out behind him. He
quickly compensated, regained control, then squealed the tires as he stomped on
the accelerator. Clinging to the back and sides of the buggy were Michael,
Marc, and Trebor, all of whom were slashing at anything demonic that came in
range.

“Left, Danner,
left!” Michael shouted from his spot just outside the passenger’s seat.

“Where do you
think
I’m going?” he yelled back.

They plowed
through a weak spot in the demons’ lines, and as he crushed two creatures
beneath the buggy, Danner had the odd thought about putting spikes on the
wheels and marking them with the holy symbol. If he survived this war, he’d
have to ask Faldergash if it were possible.

“Right!” Michael
yelled.

“I’m going to
push you off if you don’t shut the Hell up,” Danner shouted irritably.
Nevertheless, he veered right and a few more demons were thrown aside as they
sped by. Danner had been a little on-edge ever since they crossed into Hell,
like some inner tension had knotted in his chest and was tightening a little
more every day. He assumed it was a result of his angelic heritage, which made
him wonder whether his uncle had experienced the same thing in Heaven.

“Are we clear
yet?” Marc asked.

“Are we fighting
demons this second?” Danner replied sarcastically.

“Nope,” Trebor
said. “Guess that means it’s time to go back in.”

“How are they
coming up there, Treb?” Danner called over his shoulder as he turned them
around for another attack run.

“It’s hard to
make out, but Brican says they found shelter of some sort,” Trebor replied.
“Something about trees.”

“In Hell?”
Michael said incredulously. “Has your cousin finally lost it?”

“Call it as you
see it,” Trebor said with a shrug.

“Well, keep in
touch with him to let us know when we can stop this suicidal driving,” Marc
said.

“One more pass
ought to do it,” Trebor said after a moment’s silent communication. “After
that, we can speed forward and join them. Birch is saying the demons won’t be
able to follow us into the trees, or whatever they are.”

“He’s the
expert,” Marc said with a shrug.

“Let’s get to
it,” Danner told them grimly as he hit the accelerator again. “Hang on.”

This time as
they sped past the demon’s flanks, Trebor threw a pair of explosives into the
larger clusters of demons. Danner didn’t want to use too many of them, but a
couple here and there wouldn’t seriously deplete their supply, even limited as
it was.

They spun around
and made one final attack against the demons, then sped off into the distance
where the others had escaped. Even without Birch to accelerate their journey,
they quickly covered the ground the others had traversed on foot. Finally, they
found the shelter Brican had spoken of, and it was indeed a large, dense grove
of trees.

Siran met them
at the edge and waved them in, and they were all shocked to see a smile on the
elf captain’s face. Danner wove the buggy through the trunks, and just as he
was thinking that a path would be helpful, the trees opened up into a clear
trail just wide enough for the buggy to pass through. They still bumped
occasionally over uncovered tree roots, but they were at least moving with more
speed.

“What is this
place?” Michael asked in wonder.

The trees all
had white trunks and beautiful, luscious foliage that blossomed in rich shades
of green that seemed somehow deeper and more pure than any color they’d ever
seen before. Bright light, more like the light of Heaven than the molten light
they had just left, shone down through the canopy, and even the air felt
brighter and cleaner.

“I’ve never seen
or heard of anything like it,” Marc whispered. “What are trees doing in Hell?”

“It’s a Grove of
Holiness,” a deep voice said nearby, and they turned to see Birch leaning
against a nearby tree. Danner quickly stopped the buggy and shut off the
engine. Behind Birch, a large clearing housed most of the soldiers from Shadow
and Halo companies.

“During the
Great Schism, angels were killed on the lands that would one day become Hell,
and demons were killed in the future lands of Heaven,” Birch told them as they
climbed out of the buggy. “Their spirits lingered, much the same was as
Abdiel’s did, and the combination of holiness and corruption created these
living stands of trees,” he said, gesturing to the foliage around them. “Uriel
assured me most angels cannot even see the Groves of Corruption in Heaven, much
less enter them, so we should be safe for the time being until the demons pass
by.”

Danner stared
about him in wonder.

“And you never
saw these on your first trip, uncle?” he asked.

“Never. I didn’t
know they even existed until Uriel told me about the Groves in Heaven, and I
reasoned these might exist in Hell.” He smiled. “We needed protection, and I’ve
said your destination matters more than your route here. I just never knew to
look for these before.”

“If angels can’t
see the ones in Heaven, how is it you saw this one here, uncle?” Danner asked.
“I mean, your
āyus
is demonic, so…”

“I can only
speculate, Danner,” Birch replied. “Perhaps it’s my humanity. Perhaps the Grove
itself sensed that I’m a paladin. Your guess is as good as mine at this point.”

Michael heard a
snapping sound and looked over at Marc.

“What do you
think you’re doing?” he asked the Orange paladin.

“I was just…”
Marc said guiltily. “I was taking a sample back with me to study. It’s not
every day you get a chance to study a plant created in the immortal plane.”

“It will be
fine, I’m sure,” Birch assured them. “Come and rest. Garnet has stationed
lookouts at the edges of the Grove to keep an eye out for the demons.”

A sense of peacefulness
and relaxation slowly crept over them as they followed Birch into the clearing,
and they quickly joined the others in resting. When Danner awoke several hours
later, he felt as though he’d slept for a week and was ready to take on every
demon in Hell.

Which, he
realized eventually, they just might have to do.

- 4 -

“It’s not
enough, Mikal!” someone shouted. “We’re losing the water sprayers!”

Mikal launched
himself into the air, spitting a balrog on his sword even as he looked toward
the wall of flames. The encroaching inferno was being held at bay on the right
flank, but on the left a wall of black steam had already engulfed the
stationary emplacements where the sprayers were housed, and screams echoed out
from the sickly cloud.

The Seraph looked
about and spotted a vaguely humanoid patch of violet-colored smoke.

“Hariel!”
Mikal called to her, and the Power solidified and turned to look at him.
“Gather
your force and fan the smoke. There are men and angels dying in there. Rescue
them.”

The Power sent a
terse reply and darted away, gathering Erelim and Parasim not currently engaged
with an enemy in her wake as she drew nearer the flames. One unlucky angel was
caught midair by a pair of swooping gremlins and hurled into the flames before
anyone could react. Hariel spun in midair without missing a beat and sent two
arrows racing after the demons, who followed their victim into the flames and
were consumed.

The Philion
threw up a reflection of the flames as they drew nearer, and Mikal ordered his
ground forces to fall back behind the river. Angels who were able swooped down
and lifted men across to safety.

Mikal heard his
name and turned as Doriel flew past him to help Hariel and her impromptu flight
of angels.

“Mikal,
you’ve got to stop Iblis,”
the Dominion said.
“You’re the only one here
strong enough to take him on, and without him these flames die.”

The angels had
reached the smoke and were fanning their wings, blowing sickly steam away from
the stone fortifications housing the water sprayers. Hariel solidified and
picked off any demons foolish enough to approach the angels accompanying her,
sending demons and damned souls alike to their doom as she fired arrows at a
dizzying rate. Doriel led a handful of angels into the dissipating steam and
rescued the men and angels trapped within, slaying the demons who yet lurked
within the overrun fortifications.

“Doriel and
Hariel, as soon as you’re clear, gather on me and prepare to charge,”
Mikal
ordered. He contacted the angel overseeing the right-most flank of sprayers,
which was still holding firm, and gave him instructions as well.

Soon enough,
Hariel’s flight formed up around him, and Mikal led them forward, flying toward
the looming wall of flames at a suicidal speed.

“Now!”
he
ordered the angel waiting below, and immediately every sprayer on the line
turned its stream of water to one point in the wall. Black steam hissed and
billowed furiously from the point of attack, but a small hole opened in the
wall just large enough for Mikal to fit through without singeing his wings. The
others followed closely behind him, but the last Erelim was only halfway
through when the flames redoubled and abruptly filled the gap. The angel’s
torso and wings fell to the ground below and disappeared in a cloud of yellow
smoke.

Mikal paid
little heed, so focused was he on their quarry. Iblis was easy to find, blazing
forth as he did like a fiery beacon. Even with the wall of flame a dozen yards
away, Iblis’s infernal light shone still brighter as the demon prince exerted
himself to maintain the Hellish flames. Mikal pointed and the angels
accompanying him immediately unleashed a wave of arrows to clear the air
between them of interfering demons.

Even as they
flew closer, though, Iblis turned and sent a wave of flame scorching through
the air, annihilating a pair of Parasim who couldn’t evade in time. Angels
scattered and reformed, then broke up again as the demon threw a ball of flames
in their midst. A balrog led a flight of gremlins to intercept them, and Mikal
relied on Doriel and Hariel to direct the others, allowing him to focus on
their target.

Mikal shouted at
the demon prince to draw his attention, and Iblis turned his gaze on the
Seraph.

“Mikal, so
good of you to join the battle,”
the demon taunted him.
“I was concerned
something had happened to you when you didn’t come to play sooner.”

“I had other
concerns, Iblis,”
he replied coolly, twisting in the air to avoid a poorly
aimed glob of fire hurled by the fiery demon.
“Rest assured, your death
remains a priority.”

Iblis sent a
storm of small fireballs at him, and Mikal summoned a round shield of power to
deflect the marbles of flame. As soon as they passed, Mikal shrank the shield
and hurled it at the demon. Iblis only just managed to avoid the incoming
missile, and the delay allowed Mikal to close, putting the demon prince within
reach of his sword. Iblis immediately crafted a blade of flame in his left hand
and a shield in the other, fending off Mikal’s initial lunge in a shower of
sparks.

Angel and demon
engaged in a duel that, while not as personal or consuming as Aesthma’s and
Uriel’s had been, was nevertheless a meeting of powers not seen since the days
of the Great Schism. Iblis was one of the original lords of Hell, a prince of
demons since the moment the first immortals had awoken and gazed on the realm
of Pleroma crafted by their deities. Mikal was of the highest Choir of angels
in Heaven, a Seraph trusted as a guardian of the Throne of God Himself. The
ground itself trembled at the force unleashed by each, and any demon or angel
foolish enough to approach was immediately consumed by the raw power cast off
from the embattled immortals.

Whatever else
was accomplished by their assault on the demon prince, his attention was solely
focused on defeating Mikal, and the wall of flames that was maintained by his
will quickly faded away. The battle raged on around them as the two remained
locked in combat, and what felt like hours was compressed into seconds of timeless
strain and immortal effort.