Demon Squad 7: Exit Wounds (21 page)

A handful of hours passed in muted silence as I watched the tension ahead of me. At some point I’d tuned it all out without realizing. Katon’s whispered, “Hold,” brought me back with a start. Ahead of us the trees had thinned, the bleak soil giving way to brown earth and gray stone. The shift in terrain was sudden as though two different worlds had been jammed together to create one. The ground past the tree line rose sharply, though not so sharp as to stop our progress.

“About damn time,” Veronica said, earning agreeable mutters from Rala and CB. None seemed to realize the easy nature of our travel was about to disappear.

“We’ll rest here for a short while, and then start up the mountain,” Katon told us. “There is no cover from the air, so if the guardians find cause to fly over us, everyone needs to hit the dirt and stay there until it passes. We can ill afford to draw their attention, at this point. Am I clear?”

Everyone nodded or gave some sign in the affirmative; all except Ilfaar. He clutched tighter to his stomach and stared out past the trees. “They will most likely be looking for us, friends.”

“Why is that?” I asked before anyone else could.

He glanced over his shoulder at me. “It is their job to protect that which sits atop the aerie.” The angel let out a tired sigh. “They would be remiss in their duty were they to simply allow us to scale the side without notice.”

“And yet it would appear that many
others
have, if what the green-skinned folks said can be believed,” Rahim added, pretty much implying what we’d been thinking all along. Ilfaar was one of the others Mia had mentioned, the ones who’d been traveling through the prison for some reason or another. If his people had done it, so could we.

Ilfaar smiled. “And they would be correct, though they are ignorant as to how such a task is accomplished.”

“As are we,” Katon said as he walked over to the edge of the trees, “so why not explain it to the rest of us simpletons?”

“Of course.” The angel grinned. “While magic holds no sway here, its energies drained the instant one enters this realm, its Creator had yet to imagine the advances of His creations when this world was first conceived.”

“Technology,” Karra said with a groan.

“Quite right, young lady. The limitations on magic do nothing to counter advanced electronics.”

“Of which we have none,” I muttered, though it did explain how Ilfaar’s cronies, whoever they were, had managed to slip free of this place, though it certainly didn’t answer why they’d been there in the first place or what it had to do with God and Lucifer’s war. That was something I’d have to figure out once I got the chance.

Ilfaar nodded. “Which means we must do this the old fashioned way, though I suspect the guardians will be far more difficult to attend to than if we were suitably prepared to avoid them from the onset.” He gave a casual shrug. “But we have no choice if we wish to leave this place for the device that only I can operate sits atop the highest plateau.”

“How convenient.” I glanced at the rest of the group to see them staring at Ilfaar with a mix of uncertainty and distrust. Only Shaw showed anything different. She had the makings of a grin coloring her pale lips. It was only when she noticed me staring that it disappeared as though it’d never been there.

She nodded my direction. “Seems we’ve a bit of a climb ahead of us.”

“Seems so.” I was half-tempted to send her on ahead and use her as bait for the dragons, but given our lack of fighters, we would probably need her before too long if we were to have any hope of reaching the top.

“I spy a few ways that would leave us less exposed across the face of the mountain, but there is no perfect path that protects us the entire way.” Katon returned from the tree line shaking his head. “The first part of the trip seems the easiest, but then that leaves us compromised once we’re beyond that point. We’ll be on the steeper part of the climb, which will make it harder to defend against an aerial foe with an impressive reach advantage.”

“Couldn’t we just ride our own dragon to the top?” Shaw asked, gesturing toward the little alien.

All eyes went to Rala. The girl still looked as if she’d run a marathon. Her normally bright orange skin was pale, the black stripes of it standing out in sharp contrast. She could have been in the after-market Halloween bin at a discount store and no one would have bothered to give her a second glance. The kid didn’t even defend being called a dragon.

“Leave her be,” Veronica told Shaw, the threat clear in her voice.

“Even if she were capable of transforming, there’s no way she could carry all of us in one go let alone quickly enough to keep us from being spotted,” I said, stepping in. “Since none of us thought to bring a cloaking device, the next best thing is Katon, so it’s decided.”

“Is it now?” Shaw asked. Her smile was feral, but she kept her eyes on mine even though I could tell she longed to look at Ilfaar to see

“It is unless you have some other plan you’d like to share with the group.” I smiled back. “You don’t now, do you? Have another plan, that is.”

Rahim stepped between us. “You’ve remained with us this long, Shaw, for what I imagine is a lack of options or thinking we’re the best of those options you might have. I don’t suspect that has changed much in the last few moments.”

She peeled her eyes from me to meet the wizard’s gaze. “No, I don’t believe they have.”

“Good. Then we’re agreed on our course?”

“For the time being, I suppose we are.”

Which meant a whole lot of nothing, but Rahim seemed satisfied. I knew he wasn’t gullible enough to believe her, but he’d at least headed off an argument and helped expose Shaw’s underlying discontent if not her plot. Fortunately I had a pretty good idea that it started and ended with Ilfaar. As long as I kept an eye on each of them, I could probably head off anything before it got out of hand. Rahim’s efforts only made that easier as the rest of the group would be watching her now, too.

“Then let’s get moving before we grow roots.” Katon waved us all on.

“What do I do with this,” Venai asked, holding up the bag of meat.

“Strap it to your back and bring it along,” he answered without even looking at her. “We might need it further up the climb.”

I nearly choked on that but fought to keep my face impassive. The enforcer had pretty much set her up to be the first one attacked should we encounter something, a nice, sloppy pack of raw meat slung over her back to draw critters in. I so wanted to high five him right then. He didn’t give me the chance.

“We’ll need to move as quickly as we can,” he said and started off before anyone could contradict him.

The rest of us did what he ordered, moving little faster than a herd of sloths. It’d have to do. With Rala so run down she could barely walk, and Rahim helping the angel navigate the hill, fast wasn’t a word in our vocabulary. At this point, we could have turned Chatterbox loose and he’d have taken the lead.

Katon, earning a point for his supreme patience, never said a word. He just led us higher and higher up the slope, angling us with frequent points and gestures to keep us mostly neck deep in the brown foliage that sprouted from the hill as we closed in on the stony lip that jutted from the mountainside. A few prods got us moving between cover, but he’d been right about how easy the early part of the trip would be. Outside of the slight incline and rocky ground under our feet, it wasn’t any more difficult than walking up a sidewalk in San Francisco.

After what felt like forever in dog years, we emerged into the shadow of the rocky shelf looming above. The group collapsed in its shade, taking advantage of the cool air. I glanced over at Karra after I saw Veronica help Rala to a seat.

“You okay?”

She nodded and rubbed at her stomach. “Just takes more effort with a passenger,” she answered, giving me a chiding smile.

“I know how you feel.” I reached down and cupped my leather thong. “I’m always carrying around millions of those little folks.”

Karra chuckled and dropped onto her ass. “It’s a good thing you’re cute.” Her eyes glanced over me slowly, taking me in from toes to head. “Well, at least you were.”

I plopped down alongside her. “And will be again.” Though, after saying it, I certainly didn’t feel all that confident about returning to my old body. While it didn’t take a genius to realize all I needed to do to separate my soul from Hobbs’ host body was to be eaten by a devourer, I didn’t have a damn clue as to what to do after that.

She slipped her hand in mine before I could become too morose, though. “Don’t worry, Frankie. It’s your personality I love.”

That earned a few chuckles from the audience.

Even though Katon had a smile going on, he was all business. “Rest here while I scout ahead.”

He scampered off and climbed up the rocky wall with ease, vanishing from sight once he scaled the protruding lip. I could see that maneuver being way more difficult for the rest of the group. I only hoped it didn’t get harder from there or we were never gonna make it. Judging by the looks on folks’ faces, I wasn’t the only one thinking that.

“At least we’ve seen neither hide nor hair of the guardians,” I said in an effort to raise spirits.

Ilfaar clearly didn’t get the concept of good vibes. “They’ve no mandate to guard the base of the mountain, only its peak and the portals it creates.”

“Way to kill the mood, buddy.” I shook my head. “If you feel the need to spout knowledge, maybe you can tell us something that will help us get out of here rather than doom ‘n’ gloom trivia.”

“I could most certainly do that,” he answered, “but I would prefer to wait until there’s a greater certainty I won’t be left behind in your rush to return to your world.” A twisted little smile distorted his lips. He knew as well as anyone he needed to be valuable to us or we’d leave his crippled ass behind without a thought. What he didn’t know was that his ace had been discovered if not fully revealed.

“Fair enough,” I told him, which was really code for, “
Fuck you, but I’m not gonna waste the effort to argue,
” and left it at that.

“You’ll tell us eventually,” Veronica said, a hint of a menace in her voice.

I didn’t get a chance to laugh at the odds stacking up against Ilfaar because I was too busy hearing my own plans swirling down the bowl.

“Oh, he will most certainly tell
everyone
what he knows soon enough.” All of our heads snapped around to see a man standing on the lip of rock above our heads, the sunlight at his back making him a glowing shadow. He held up Katon’s sword so it gleamed. “But please, stay where you are. We’ll be right down to collect you. Your friend is already here with us.”

“
Oh, poooooooopp.
”

Twenty-Two

True to the stranger’s word, what looked close to fifty greenie accomplices slithered down a dozen vine ladders and encircled us, weapons out and at the ready to
escort
us. Quite a few more remained on top, pointing sharpened spears our direction, gleaming steel and vague shapes in the brightness.

“You’ll have to forgive my insistence,” the man called down. “It’s been a while since we’ve had guests, and I do believe I have lost the knack of it.”

Ya think?

I bit my tongue to keep from getting us in deeper shit, but it was close. They had Katon and we were
way
outnumbered. With no recourse other than sarcasm, I raised my hands in surrender, tossing my weapons aside. We were pretty much screwed no matter what we did. I moved closer to Karra as they pressed us toward the ladders, stripping away our possessions as they did. They took her father’s sword, and I was surprised to see she let them, though the look she gave the greenie might well have been cancerous. He’d pay for that later.

They also collected the book from Rala as well as Chatterbox. A greenie woman held it up to our host. “What about this…
thing
.” CB squirmed in her hands, gnashing his teeth.

“Bring it up as well, but be most careful with that tome.” I could hear the smile in his voice even if I couldn’t see it until we were herded up the ladders and into his shadowy presence.

I was surprised to notice he wasn’t green.

He was also quite human.

Bronzed to the point of being brown, he stared at us through dark, soulful eyes. He wore his curly black hair long, but like the greenies, it was tied with strands of material to keep it from his face. That particular face was of a man barely into his thirties, but there was no mistaking the press of authority he exuded well beyond that meager count of moments. Garbed much like the greenies he commanded, he had a lithe strength about him, long lean muscles standing out to show for his mastery of the prison realm. A ring of deep purple, scars of old, ran about his neck, high along the jaw line, the only hint of mileage he had on his healthy frame.

“And you are?” I asked.

“Judas,” I heard Rahim whisper as he was hauled up onto the rocky outcrop.

A quick glance at the wizard’s face told me he was serious, his eyes locked on the scarring at the newcomer’s throat. How he knew this was
the
Judas was a mystery, but there was no doubting the certainty of his appraisal.

“Really? Iscariot?”

The man smiled, the very essence of suave charm—if we hadn’t been facing down an array of spears, that is. “That name means nothing to me, though I am told it is some long forgotten condemnation of my
sin
in a world since left behind. Here, I am only Judas for there will be none to come after me.”

“That’s poetic,” I told him. “I saw your boy Jesus not too long back. He’s looking mighty spry for a fella who was stabbed in the back and nailed to a piece of driftwood.”

A flicker of something malevolent washed across Judas’ face but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, his fingers tracing the dark line at his throat. “Perhaps when all this is done and over with, you might direct me to him so I might whisper my honeyed apologies in his ear. Until such time, though, we’ve other matters to discuss.”