Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3) (78 page)

Water is formless, yet conforms to what surrounds.

Air is ethereal, directionless, and too expansive to
be of use.

If combat must have form, let it be fire…
… which is to say, no form at all.

- Cerel El’Zethera,

“Song of War”
[40]
(307 AL)

- 1 -

Uriel led the
Archangels on a twisting path through the water of the city. Their wings
propelled them swiftly through what they whimsically called Lake Medina, and
they turned tight corners through underwater alleys as they maneuvered closer
to the demon army. Like a giant aquatic snake, they wove through the streets
until they were in position.

The elite
angelic unit was spread down a long line of the demons led by Lotan, and at
Uriel’s command they surged out of their hiding places and swept toward the
demons’ unprotected flank. Long, thick ropes of steel blinked into existence
stretched between pairs of angels – created as a manifestation of one’s
āyus
,
and as they swept by overhead, they scooped up hundreds of demons and hauled
them out of line and into the waiting waters of the lake. The Archangels
plunged back into the water and regrouped as demons screamed and writhed in
agony.

“Again,
farther down the line,”
Uriel told them and the Archangels followed him on
another weave through the partially submerged city. The toppled buildings made
maneuvering difficult at times, and they were often forced to detour around
large obstructions rather than risk exposure by leaving the lake to go over
them.

Twice more, the
Archangels used their steel ropes to drag demons into the lake water, but on
that third attempt flights of aerial demons attacked with a volley of cursed
crossbow bolts, and the Archangels suffered heavy casualties from the
unexpected attack. The angels healed quickly in the lake water, and only three
of Uriel’s warriors were actually destroyed.

“Mikal,”
Uriel contacted the other Seraph as they escaped through the city,
“have
Garet keep an eye out for airborne demons armed with crossbows. Any efforts to
clear them from the sky would be greatly appreciated.”

“Acknowledged,”
Mikal replied.
“Can you reach the sixth empyrean? Johnalyn is pinned-down,
and she needs your help.”

“On my way.”

Uriel passed
word of their destination, which was adjacent to their current location.
Sacrificing security for speed, the Archangels left the lake whenever their way
was obstructed, and twice they crashed through groups of demons who were caught
in their path. Uriel reached out with his mind and found the embattled
Dominion.

“Johnalyn,
the Archangels are inbound from the fifth empyrean. Where are you?”

“Holed up in
a tower,”
she replied.
“They’ve cut us off from below so we can’t escape
to the lake, and they’re breaking it down around our heads faster than we can
break through to the water. There’s a swarm outside just waiting for us to try
and escape.”

“We’ll be
there in two minutes,”
he told her quickly.
“Can you hold that long?”

“We’ll have
to. Hurry.”

Uriel pumped his
wings and pushed the Archangels even harder. As they neared the besieged
angels, he looked up through the water and saw a swarm of demons clamoring over
a large tower. Bloodhawks and imps clustered above the windows and balconies,
eagerly awaiting the first sign of an angel trying to flee the doomed
structure. Damned souls tore away at the angelstone walls and dropped chunks of
white stone into the lake below.

“Turiel,
circle right,”
he ordered. The Cherub had taken the place of Camael as
Uriel’s lieutenant, and while he was capable, the Archangel commander keenly
missed his long-time companion.

He chose his
fate,
Uriel thought to himself.

“Attack!”
Uriel barked. The Archangels had no sooner cleared the surface of the water
than they unleashed a volley of arrows that riddled the creatures clinging to
the building. Most of those struck weren’t destroyed outright, but they fell
into the lake below and were quickly consumed by the holy water.

Turiel led a
charge at the demons hovering around the building and chased most of them off
on one side, which allowed Johnalyn to escape with her force of Parasim. The
angels streamed out of every unguarded doorway and window with Uriel providing
covering fire from the water below. Johnalyn led her angels down to meet Uriel,
firing arrows behind them all the way, and Turiel quickly followed once they
were all safe.

“Thank you,
Uriel,”
Johnalyn said, swimming up alongside Uriel. He glanced at her and
was struck – not for the first time – by how beautiful she was. Dark eyes and
hair, midnight-blue wings, a strong will, and a perfectly muscled body clad in
form-fitting steel made Johnalyn one of the most formidable and fetching angels
in the immortal plane. Had Uriel not been an angel, he might have suspected
himself of being enamored of the female commander. Fortunately, he knew such
complications were only inherent in mortals, and his appreciation was therefore
nothing more than admiration.

Johnalyn caught
his appraising glance and smiled at him.

“Do you have
anywhere you need to be just now?”
he asked her. She shook her head, and
her long hair drifted wildly in the water.
“Stick around then.”

“What did you
have in mind?”
she asked him archly.

Uriel wondered
why his mind suddenly went blank. Finally he ordered his thoughts and kythed,
“We
could use a hand in the fourth empyrean. Molekh seems to be the worst danger,
and I want to see if I can’t go saw his horns off.”

“If we do, I
get to keep one.”

Uriel grinned at
her.

- 2 -

Brad and Anolla
manned one of the nozzles that sprayed holy water onto the oncoming demons, and
the twins shouted in glee as another attack wave was repulsed by the water
cannons. At the adjoining window, a pair of men who’d been farmers in life (a
thousand or so years ago) manned another cannon. They, too, whooped in joy at
the sight of the retreating demons.

“Thema demons is
gonna rigret today they never came ‘gainst us!” one of the dead men shouted.

Anolla looked at
Brad and fought back a laugh. “Did you…”

“Not a word,”
Brad replied, hiding his own grin.

“Must be from
Melis,” Anolla said.

“Har they’s
comin’ agin!” the farmer shouted. He activated his cannon and unleashed a
stream of water aimed at another wave of demons charging toward their building.

“I think he said
to start shooting again,” Brad said, twisting the nozzle on their cannon to
start the water flowing again. Anolla grabbed the handles and pivoted the
nozzle on the tripod, directing the stream into the demons while Brad pumped a
special type of bellows-cramp that kept the water coming. He didn’t understand
all of the science that went into the invention, he just knew it worked as long
as he pumped the bellows, and that was enough for him.

They’d been in
the building for over two hours, ever since their last one had been overrun by
demons and they’d had to evacuate. They broke down the water cannons into
manageable pieces, then carried them to a new building and set up again to continue
their defense of the city. It was the same routine they’d followed since the
demons first made it to their section of the city – an angel had called it the
fifth empyrean, but the name meant nothing to the twins.

The demons were thrown
back by the combined effort of the water cannons and the angels firing arrows
from a different floor of the building, but another wave followed, then
another, until the demons began to swarm the building and break apart the
angelstone walls.

“Time to go,”
someone shouted.

Brad stooped to
disconnect one of the hoses and was thrown to the ground as something crashed
through the wall behind him. An angel lay crumpled and bleeding on the floor
amidst a pile of stone, and a stream of demons soared past the hole in the
building.

“Help me!”
Anolla cried, rushing to the angel’s side. Brad thought the angel was a Cherub,
but he couldn’t really be sure; they were the only angels he’d seen wearing
such full, form-fitting armor. He knelt and lifted one of the angel’s arms over
his shoulder while Anolla ducked under the other arm. Together, they carried
the angel to the far side of the room toward a door that led outside.

Brad ducked his
head out quickly to verify there were no demons lurking out of sight, then the
twins hurried outside. They were two stories above the surface of the lake, but
burdened by the angel they didn’t have the luxury of escaping to another
building using the walkways the others were using. They’d move too slowly and
be easy pickings for marauding demons.

“Let him go in,”
Anolla said, and Brad nodded. They leaned the angel over the edge, then let him
fall toward the waters below. Something roared in the room behind them and,
without bothering to turn around, the twins jumped from the ledge and plunged
into the water.

- 3 -

For once, Trames
was not smiling. This one time, he found nothing amusing, curious, or
interesting about his surroundings. He had been alive longer than he cared to
acknowledge or even consider, and he was at a loss to recall the last time he’d
been so completely subdued by events around him. Mortals and immortals –
blessed and damned, angels and demons – were dying all around him, and he
mourned the loss of every one of them, even the demons. Kala kept a close eye
on him and had already defeated one group of imps that had attacked them.

As was his
custom, Trames was unarmed and had no intention of ever lifting a weapon.

“More coming,”
Kala said grimly, raising her katana again. She stepped forward to block the
doorway as a group of gremlins approached, driven by a whip-wielding balrog.
The demon cracked his lash over the gremlins’ head and bellowed a war cry as
they leapt at Kala.

Trames kept an
eye on the back door of their little room, which was down a few steps and
half-submerged by the waters of the Philion that blanketed the city. He didn’t
think any demons would be coming through the water-filled entrance, but some
inner warning prevented him from turning his back to the opening. His ganashir
had the other door covered, so Trames felt he was doing his part by guarding
their back.

Kala cut the
gremlins to shreds and faced the balrog, who nearly lost his whip when he tried
to ensnare her katana. The sharp blade, blessed by a paladin and marked with
the holy symbol, cut through the lash easily and shortened the demon’s reach by
a good foot. He gnashed his teeth and pulled a black broadsword out of thin
air, then charged forward.

Trames glanced
toward them for just a moment, and of course that was the instant another
balrog swooped through the doorway and entered the room. The demon’s toes
sizzled as they dragged in the water, but it landed in the room without
suffering serious injury.

The balrog
wielded a long-bladed knife in each hand and grinned maliciously when it saw
Trames standing before him, apparently helpless. Kala saw the demon and shouted
in alarm, but she was too occupied with her own demon to try and help Trames.

Trames watched
with a neutral expression as the demon charged toward him, and when the balrog
swung one of the knives at him, the old man neatly side-stepped the attack and
tripped the demon. The balrog crashed head-first into the wall, then rebounded
quickly and approached Trames more cautiously. He backed him toward the watery
doorway, then apparently realized Trames might escape and came at him again.

This time,
Trames waited until both weapons were stabbing down at him, then he moved with
the speed of a much younger man and stepped forward, just to the side of the
downward-plunging knives. Using the demon’s own momentum against it, Trames
shifted his weight and turned, pushing just enough with his arms and forcing
the balrog to overbalance and tip precariously forward. The demon spun to avoid
diving head-first into the holy waters and its wings flared as it twisted
almost comically off balance.

“I’m sorry,”
Trames said as he pushed the balrog backwards. It toppled into the water and
quickly sank out of sight, thrashing in pain as the Heavenly water of the
Philion quickly began to destroy its demonic
āyus
.

Kala finished
off her demon and spun to help Trames, but all she saw was the demon fall into
the water and disappear.

“How did you…”
she trailed off in amazement.

Softly, Trames
sang:

“The demon
tried to give a hug,

Now he’s
going ‘glug glug glug,’

And all he’s
got, the poor lost dove,

Is just a
bit too much of love.”

He smiled
halfheartedly at the song and looked wearily at Kala.

“I’m tired of
being in Heaven,” he said in a sad voice. “I did what I needed to do and found
out what I wanted to know here, and I think you found what you needed, too.
After tomorrow, can we go back to Garnet’s farm and get some honey? I ran out.”

Kala stared at
him. Somehow, what he said didn’t strike her as funny or insane in the
slightest. She just nodded.

“Of course we
can.”

- 4 -

Angels and
demons roared their mutual hatred as the two immortal enemies clashed overhead,
tearing into each other with an enmity predating the dawn of Creation. Weapons
forged in the fires of Hell sliced through holy armor and left blackened flesh
behind; demonic claws grappled with angelic hands that sprouted wickedly tipped
nails. Heavenly blades clove through accursed flesh while angelic wings
buffeted demonic foes to drive them from the skies.