The Angel's Fall (The Fay Morgan Chronicles Book 6) (2 page)

Now that we had crossed over, the land spread out in all directions and there hung a distinct and menacing funk in the air. As we stood there, it thickened, almost as though Hell was taking note of us and not liking what it found.

The feel of that menace told us to run, but where could we go?

“Let me check something,” I said, forcing myself to stay rooted. I pulled a brass compass from my pocket and opened it. The needle inside swung around and around, unmoored. “It needs more time in this realm,” I whispered.

“Or it will not work,” Merlin said darkly.

“Time will tell.”

“Time? Do you imagine you have time in this realm? That the Queen has not already sent out her worst monsters to find and drag you in?” Azurez said. The demon stood on the crest of a grassy hill and looked down at us with a sneer. “It has been centuries since someone as dumb as the likes of you two have come here. I have no idea why, but I have been tasked to take you to sanctuary.” Cerberus stood beside the demon and wagged his tail. “But ignore me. Do as you will. Blunder away and get your limbs torn off. Wander through the fields and let the grass-leeches feast on your fluids.”

“You are the Queen’s boy. You wish to earn her favor by taking us to her.”
I tried to keep a shiver from my voice. I forced myself not to look around and glimpse whatever beasts were tracking us.

Azurez let out a sharp “Ha!” and folded his arms across his chest. “You think I’d be an errand boy for the Queen?”

“You served her when last we met,” I replied.

“She
thought
I served her,” he countered. “Whatever. I’m not staying here.” He turned and disappeared down the other side of the hill. He called back to us, “Good luck with the soul-wights and the badlanders. Hope they get to you before the Goliaths. No, actually, I don’t hope that at all.”

Merlin and I looked around. I saw something move to the grasses, far to my left, with many great legs and a misshapen head.

The sky stuttered and missed a beat. It filled with jagged and gray cracks that reached across the world. Then it turned sunny again, Merlin raised his hand and pointed to our right. Another something, almost a mile away, shivered with malevolence, so coated in dark magic that its form remained shadowed. It hurtled toward us, moving at an alarming speed.

“The left and the right seem like poor options, and I’m not returning to the river,” Merlin said mildly. “Toward the demon and his sanctuary?”

“
Don’t trust him,” I said.

“Of course not, my dear.”

3

Sunlight

We ran up the trampled path, and when we crested the small hill, we saw that Azurez waited for us where the path led into the woods.

“The dumb monkeys do something intelligent. I’m shocked. Follow.” He turned and entered the forest.

“Just, let’s remember why we’re here. We must stay centered on our mission,” I said, threading my fingers in Merlin’s as we ran down the hill and into the woods.

“Steadfast and steady on. For Lila,” Merlin whispered back.

We followed close behind the demon. Hell pulsed gray and lifeless above us. The heavy sense of the monsters reached out from behind us and hurried our pace.

“So,” Azurez said. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, put one to his mouth, and lit it from a small flame that flicked from his pointer finger. “There are things he asked me to tell you. Things he might forget to say. He’s gone a bit….” The demon paused and sucked on his cigarette. He shrugged. “Everything has gone a bit south. Understand, I’m doing this for him. Not you.”

“He?” I asked.

The demon scanned the forest, eyeing some drooping pine branches and glaring at some birch trees. He walked faster. “The first thing you need to know? Hell is your fault,” he said.

“I’m fairly certain, of all our misdeeds, Hell isn’t one of them,” Merlin said.

“Humans, I mean. Your whole damned and ill-smelling species. Once upon a time, someone had a terrible idea to help out humans, and thus this realm was made. It is not a natural place, but a space to contain and hold in the worst creatures of Earth so you dear humans wouldn’t be quite so miserable all the time.”

“Someone?” I asked. “God?”

The demon shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is that as soon as there were humans, there was big trouble on little Earth.”

“With free will comes the choice to do evil deeds,” I said.

Azurez nodded, lit another cigarette in one smooth motion, and walked faster. “So Hell was made to keep Earth safe from the worst human and sentient creatures. Let’s put them all together in Hell. What could go wrong, right?”

Our path led into a thicker part of the woods with thorny bushes and thick trees. I glanced behind me and overhead, not sure when and how the creatures that chased us would attack, only that they would.

“You have been to Earth and know it abounds with genocidal dictators and murderous villains, yes?” Merlin asked.

Azurez scowled and exhaled a long stream of smoke. “All those bad people? Hell’s failures. The ones we didn’t trick to come down here. Free will, like you said. We can’t force them. And once someone topside gets power, they almost never willingly leave their realm behind.”

I heard true regret in his voice. “You do not strike me as a goodhearted type who seeks to make Earth a better place.”

He turned toward me and tipped his sunglasses down to show me the pits of darkness that went down and down. “I get to be the apex predator, witch. I get to hunt the most wicked and drag them down here, into the one place where everyone is evil and there are no true victims.”

“You hunt any who has made a mistake or had a dark thought?” I asked.

Azurez shook his head. “Not all pass. Cerberus decides. He sniffs out wickedness. Hearts don’t matter. Deeds do.”

Merlin and I shared a glance. I could think of a dozen actions that had allowed me to cross into this realm. I assumed he could as well.

“A nice and tidy story,” I said. “But Lila. The Marid. She has never—”

Azurez shrugged. “There are a few species that are so destructive that they can enter with no questions asked. Not my rules, just someone’s jacked idea about how to help your world and make a realm to cure all the baddies as well.”

“Cure them?” Merlin asked.

We exchanged a look. Of all the stories of Hell, this was not one either of us had ever heard.

“Yeah. Back in the day, rehab was the plan. Here, have this great realm, do whatever you want with it.”

Behind us, I heard a far-off echo of splintering wood.

“But rehabilitation is a tricky bitch,” Azurez said. “At first, everyone was kept isolated here. The theory went that everyone, alone in their minds and thoughts, would heal through quiet and meditation. But after centuries of isolation? All these psychopaths went batshit, which didn’t help the Hell scene. The next thing they tried was punishment, all tailored to fit the crimes everyone had committed topside. Because that will teach everyone that what they did was wrong, right? That will teach them empathy.”

“It turned them all crueler,” Merlin said.

“Got it in one, mostly,” Azurez said. He flicked his spent cigarette into the dry pine needles and dirt and started smoking another. The breaking sound, echoing through the woods behind us, grew louder. “Some emerged from that era reformed and live in peaceful pockets here and there. But mostly, the punishment era created worse monsters. Then we entered the era of the experiments with the fabric of reality and consciousness, then talk therapy, and I don’t know, probably some other stuff, too. Some always benefited. Most got worse, and those worse ones?” Azurez shook his head. “You Earth creatures have no idea what this realm shields you from.”

“And what era is Hell in now?” I asked.

“The ‘who gives a damn about the damned’ one. The ‘let a thousand ugly flowers bloom’. It’s been like this for a long time. They do whatever they want, with a couple of rules. Anyone can set up their own domain here, and anyone else can join them, as long as they follow the rules of that place. So there are places, here and there, that are true communes of brotherly love and peace. But ninety-nine percent of everyone is just in one domain, the one where everyone gets to hurt each other.”

I nodded. “Yes, for what else do they have besides their hierarchies and desires to make each other miserable?”

“Don’t judge until you’ve lived here a couple centuries. Everyone needs a hobby,” Azurez said.

A beast screamed somewhere to our left, accompanied by thumping sounds. The world turned jagged with bleak fissures that ran across the sky. A moment later it turned normal again.

“And that?” Merlin asked, pointing upward.

Azurez shrugged. “It’s been doing that ever since your Marid got here. Weird times. You here for her?”

Neither of us replied.

“Take her, as far as I’m concerned. It might work.”

As we half-walked, half-jogged, I thought about this demon’s story of Hell and wondered how much of it was true. “What about Maria?” I asked. “She’s not of some dangerous species. She was tricked into going to Hell, and then tortured, without cease, for centuries.” I knew Maria, the Queen of Hell, and her story well, for my friend Diego had once rescued her from this realm. They had long ago been caught, and Maria’s punishment had so twisted her that she was now the evil ruler and had dragged Diego down here to be her King.

“Oh, yes, poor little Maria,” Azurez scoffed. “I bet your Spaniard friend told you quite the story about her. But never revealed how she spent her youth trapping wild creatures and torturing them to death with devices of her own making. Poor sod, he probably still doesn’t know the truth. So we got Maria down here, safe and sound, before she could create too much trouble. But then your friend had to drag her back to Earth. You ever heard of the Red and Black Widower?” He lit another cigarette. “They called her that because of the mess of blood and entrails she always left behind. So we found Maria and dragged her back to Hell, and then cursed Diego to ever walk the Earth so that you stupid humans would learn to leave well enough alone. And all the torture? That was Maria’s choice. Part of her apprenticeship so she could climb the ladder. Can’t believe she made it to Queen.”

“You believe this?” I asked Merlin.

“It does have the ring of truth to it,” Merlin said with an unhappy frown.

I nodded.

Azurez shrugged. “I couldn’t care less what you believe. My job is done. We’re almost there and I’ve filled you in on the basics. Oh, and it’s time to run,” Azurez stopped walking, flicked his cigarette to the ground, and pointed at the smoldering stub. It erupted into flames, quickly lighting the leaves and twigs on the ground. He turned and faced the woods behind us. “Know me and come forth, foul creatures!” he yelled. He turned his attention to Merlin and I and growled, “Didn’t I tell you two fleas to run?”

Merlin and I ran down the path, away from Azurez. Cerberus streaked in front of us, leading the way.

Ten strides away, our path spilled out into a meadow.

Heat pulsed from behind us. Then an inhuman scream and a thud that I felt as much as heard.

I didn’t look back, but ran as fast as my legs could carry me. Merlin kept pace alongside me. The dog galloped forward, growling and barking.

We ran into the meadow, and the path led down toward a circular fence that ringed a small cottage. It was the kind of fence that stood only as high as our thighs, and was made of mud and straw. A farmer’s fence, good for keeping the cows and horses in, and little else.

We barely paused as we ran to it and leaped over, alongside the three-headed dog.

As soon as we crossed to the other side, a deep feeling of safety enveloped me. Merlin put his hands on his chest and leaned forward as he breathed heavily. I scanned the meadow and the small wattle and daub house that lay at the center of it. I reached into my pocket and held a handful of defensive spells, ready for whatever might come next.

Azurez sauntered out of the forest. He wore a thick gash on his cheek. He bled black blood. Behind him came howls and thrashing. Trees shook and splintering sounds boomed out from the woods.

The demon walked toward the fence and then stopped before he crossed over. He turned to face the forest and the unseen creatures in the woods.

“Come on, you puppies and chipmunks. Do your best.” He lit another cigarette. “Hey boss,” he called out, casting a glance behind him. “I brought you your pathetic magicians. You’re welcome.”

“Thank you, Knight Azurez.” A voice called out, coming from the small house. “I would provide you assistance, old friend, but I’m afraid—”

“End of days, boss. We’re all low on fuel. I’ve got this, one way or another,” the demon replied.

“Thank you. For your many years of service.”

Azurez shrugged and stood tense and ready as he watched the woods.

“Come, come, Merlin and Morgan,” the man called out. “It’s well past tea time.”

We turned to see an old man standing in the crooked door frame of the house. He smiled and beckoned us forward. All the light in the valley seemed to bend toward him.