Storm Holt (The Prophecies of Zanufey Book 3) (26 page)

The crystal shard dimmed and darkness fell upon the hall. King Gedrock’s roar seemed to echo for hours. Stillness crept forwards and eventually silence descended upon the shaken demons who stood unmoving. Fearful eyes glowed red as they looked at each other, all wondering what horrific things the king had witnessed in the crystal shard to make him howl. Maggot pulled on his ears and twitched.

Gedrock’s eyes flashed, wild with rage and fear. A green ray of Zorock’s light pierced through the highest round opening into the cave, illuminating the underground hall and the huge gathering of Shadow Demons. The king gave a look of pure shock and horror - a look so unnatural on any demon’s face. Unrest like a cancer spread through the crowd. Maggot was afraid.

‘The raven did not lie. Our end, the end of the Murk, is coming. I have seen it in the chrystal shard.’ As the king of the Shadow Demons spoke, more of Zorock’s green light fell in through the opening, by design cleverly illuminating the great stone chair upon which King Gedrock sat.

Maggot cowered and shivered. He had heard about the awful raven that had come from the higherworld foretelling their king of their doom. Gedrock continued, his deep voice rasping and constrained.

‘But more than that, the Demon Slayer returns, and with him his Banished Legion,’ veins bulged on Gedrock’s neck as he spoke. He dropped his hands from the jagged crystal embedded in the waist high stone before his throne. It was supposedly taken from the crystal caverns beneath Carmedrak Rock when the Shadow Demons fled thousands of years ago. The crystal shard pulsed green in Zorock’s light, reflecting the moon of the Murk even as the moonlight cleansed and charged it.

The hall was the busiest Maggot had ever seen it, and like every other Shadow Demon here he bustled close to see their king. The demons shuffled nervously, but not one of them dared utter a sound. Usually they’d all be chattering when great gatherings such as these took place. The gathering had been called because of the king’s vision, and they had all felt it - something bad had happened. Something terrible to cause such a disturbance in the energy of the Murk. It seemed to be coming from that awful bright place above, the higherworld called Maioria where extremely dangerous, but very tasty beings resided.

The larger demons in front of Maggot shuffled forwards and blocked his view so he had to squeeze between their legs and wiggle closer to see the throne. Whilst the tallest demons in the room reached up to eight foot high, Maggot was barely two feet tall, and numbered amongst the smallest of the lesser demons. King Gedrock rubbed his face with a clawed veiny hand. Maggot shivered again as the fear in the room slithered over him, a horrid alien feeling.

‘Our mortal enemy can only have returned for one thing, to claim the spear and destroy us utterly.’ Gedrock’s muscles bulged on his arms as he clenched his fists and hunkered back in his great chair. Sweat gleamed on his grey skin and all over his bald scalp little veins stood up. The demons around him whispered and shuffled.

‘The crystal shard does not lie. Even as our destroyer returns, our own kin are turning upon us, led by one that is not even our own. The Grazen and the greater demons are organising themselves. As I speak they are preparing to attack us, to wipe us out completely, so that the greater demons can take all. But we will never submit ourselves to that demon-human half breed, Karhlusus.’ Some Shadow Demons howled out in agreement, whilst others shook their heads with worry. They all were in agreement in their hatred of the demonic wizard Karhlusus.

‘The greater demons want nothing more than to take our home, the Murk. They have already enslaved our kin, the Grazen, and they will not stop until we are all slaves to them. Our troubles are dire and they are many.’ Gedrock’s eyes turned hard as he surveyed the Shadow Demons standing before him, all looking to him, their king, to lead them, to protect them.

Maggot caught the king’s gaze and dropped his eyes to the floor. His king was awesome but also scary. After a moment he peeked a look. Gedrock’s eyes had returned to the glowing crystal. It made him shine green too, making him seem even more so their great king. He leaned upon one hand and scowled in thought. The crystal shard pulsed and the Shadow Demons clustered around him even closer, wondering what it was their king would see, for only the king of the demons could access the crystal shard. Gedrock’s eyes gazed far into other planes.

‘I see our utter annihilation.’ Horrified chattering filled the hall in response, but did not disturb Gedrock’s spoken thoughts, ‘and I also see our freedom.’ All mutterings ceased. Gedrock frowned in confusion and his voice dropped to a whisper. ‘I see the spear of death, I see Velistor.’

The demons hissed. Their red mouths filled with fangs opened wide and snapped shut. Some shook their heads and tugged on their ears. Maggot felt sick and belched loudly. His stomach was the first thing to suffer the effects of fear and nervousness. The gnashing of teeth calmed as a look of understanding spread across and smoothed Gedrock’s face. His long flat nose twitched.

‘The Demon Slayer will hunt for Velistor, but in his finding it lies our freedom,’ Gedrock’s eyes shone brighter.

The king’s advisor Wekurd, a gangly demon whose skin was sagging and pale with age, bent close to Gedrock’s large ear and spoke, his voice thin and whining. Maggot was close enough to hear what he said.

‘We all know Karhlusus has Velistor under lock and key and greater demon magic such that none of us could possibly undo, even if we could find the spear.’

Gedrock looked away from his advisor and nodded slowly, his lipless mouth taut and grim. He remained that way for a while, long enough for ideas to form and whisperings to begin amongst those gathered. Then he spoke in a hushed voice that still managed fill and echo within the hall.

‘If the Demon Slayer does not find the spear, the crystal shard says we are doomed.’

Maggot began flapping his wings, trying to ease the tension and intense emotional heat that filled his body. He struggled to take everything in. Freedom from the greater demons, freedom from the detested Karhlusus who had enslaved their cousins and ever threatened to enslave the Shadow Demons. Freedom from those upon the higherworld with whom they had warred for eternity. Freedom or utter annihilation. The extreme options were just too hard to comprehend. He listened pensively for his king to say more.

‘We cannot fight greater demons, and we cannot fight our kin chained by them. We never could,’ Gedrock’s advisor said, coming closer to the king. Gedrock side-glanced at him, nodded slightly, and rested his eyes back on the crystal shard. The light of Zorock fell fully through the opening now and illuminated all the Shadow Demons in green. Zorock was full tonight and the crystal shard would be at its most powerful, another reason why they gathered now. Gedrock lifted his arm and laid a hand upon the crystal.

‘Our death awaits us in all directions but one. That’s what the raven showed me, and the crystal shard confirms it. The Demon Slayer, our mortal enemy, must find the spear, and with it slay our other enemy. He will not stop until Karhlusus is dead, he cannot for it’s the only way the Cursed King can be free. And it’s the only way we can be free. All else is our annihilation.’ Gedrock took a deep breath and let his hand drop from the crystal. ‘We must open the demon tunnels.’
 

Shock and horror filled the voices of the Shadow Demons as they dared to disagree with their king. Such an act of dissidence would be crushed painfully, but to Maggot’s surprise the king ignored them.
 

‘And we must make a pact with our ancient enemies.’

The hall hushed into stunned silence. Maggot’s wings beat faster, lifting him off the ground, and he opened and closed his mouth, struggling to comprehend what he’d just heard. The demon tunnels hadn’t been opened since the Demon Wars over three and a half thousand years ago, long before his soul had been dug out of the rocks of the Murk. Since then the tunnels had been sealed by the Demon Slayer who supposedly now walked again upon the higherworld.

‘They’ll destroy us all,’ the King’s advisor breathed, his eyes were wide. ‘The Demon Slayer will destroy even lesser demons on sight, we cannot possibly make a pact with him.’

Maggot’s wings beat faster than his heart and he struggled to control his height, having to roll head over tail to drop lower in the air. Not that it mattered what he was doing, every demon was struggling in their own way and no one was looking at him. All eyes were locked onto the king and his advisor.

‘Not with him,’ Gedrock shook his big head. ‘We make a pact with another, the one who speaks with ravens. We must make a pact with the Raven Queen.’

A squeak escaped Maggot’s mouth, and he clamped his hands over his mouth. How could they even think about talking to one of those ugly, painfully bright, higherworld beings? Humans - their most hated enemy who’d destroyed thousands of demons over millennia and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again. Maggot’s head bonked the ceiling and made his vision go blurry. He did another cartwheel to drop lower in the air, nervous energy refusing to let his wings slow their frantic beating.

‘Even so, we cannot open a demon tunnel. Only a greater demon has the power and even they could not break King Marakazian’s seal. Not even Karhlusus could.’ The king’s advisor continued to dissuade him, but Gedrock’s face was firm.

‘The crystal shard never lies,’ Gedrock repeated. ‘There is one gate they did not close, and it is hidden by the wizards of the higherworld. There is still one gateway into Maioria. Protected by powerful magic, yes, but closed, no. Once there were even ancient demon tunnels within the earth of Maioria, tunnels that the humans never discovered.’

‘But my great King,
that
gateway also leads downwards to the greater demons in the Pit. It is simply too dangerous, we cannot enter it.’ The advisor shook his head but backed away when Gedrock’s ears began to twitch and his eyes narrowed, a sign he was getting irritated. ‘Perhaps we should speak on this in private?’ Wekurd posed in a high-pitched voice.

‘Enough,’ Gedrock roared, and every demon took a step back. ‘All must hear this for it concerns our very future. The crystal shard never lies, and only before the King of the Murk, the true king, does it reveal our destiny. I have seen our future, and there is only death and the sinking of the Murk into the Pit to become one with the greater demons. And we the Shadow Demons, all of us, their slaves. This cannot happen.

‘Only a pact made with the one I have seen in the crystal shard, the one they call the Raven Queen, can bring us close to the one that would destroy us all. Through the crystal shard the Storm Holt gate can be reached, and only this gate still links us to Maioria. The wizards of the higherworld never closed this gate because they knew that once they had, they would not be able to test their magic and power against the demons in the underworlds, they would never know how strong their enemy had become if they shut that gate. So they left it open. To reach the Pit they must first reach the Murk. I shall send one of us through the Storm Holt gate to find the Raven Queen. One of us that is the least frightening to the humans ’

Silence descended upon the Shadow Demons as their king spoke. Maggot did another frantic cartwheel, the action only making him feel even sicker. A belch clawed its way up his throat and out his mouth. It echoed loudly in the silence. The king glanced at him. Maggot clamped his hands over his mouth.

‘I shall send Maggot.’

Maggot’s wings finally stopped beating and he dropped to the stone floor with a thud.

THE wizards looked at each other, their faces a mix of sadness and confusion. Freydel frowned. He’d been expecting a reaction of shock. As if seeing his confusion Haelgon spoke, his deep voice was soothing.

‘Master Wizard Freydel, we know the devastating news of Celene. We are all still reeling from it.’

‘How do you know?’ It was Freydel’s turn to be shocked.

‘The first to know were the Daluni,’ Averen said, worry for Freydel vivid in his face. ‘They said ravens told them. Then we confirmed it for ourselves.’

‘But how can you know so soon?’ Freydel struggled to make sense of what he was hearing.

‘Freydel, are you all right? Where have you been? Celene fell a week ago,’ Navarr said.

Freydel sat back in his chair. How could that be? He shook his head as the other wizards looked at him, worry now mirrored in all their faces.
 

‘I’ve been gone only half a day, a day at most since I first tried to call the Wizard’s Circle.’

‘Freydel, friend, tell us what happened. Why did you call the Circle, and why did the first call fail,’ Averen said gently, sensing that was the heart of the problem.

Freydel nodded and considered where to begin. ‘Initially I intended to call the Circle to discuss Issa, the young woman I talked about when we last scryed together and discussed the rising of the dark moon. As I mentioned then, to put it simply, the events that I witnessed over the past few months all fit exactly with what I knew of the Prophecies of Zanufey.’