The Code War (45 page)

Above Nathan Road,
Yaumati, Kowloon

The cavalry arrived just in time.
Lafarge's alert that he had seen an unearthly-looking object, the
globe that Jabez lost when he was beaten out of the Fundial by
Zhivkin, resulted in a stampede of marauders and foragers of all
kinds in search of loot. But amongst the rabble was an organised
squad of soldiery sent by Bezejel. Its captain was Baalbul and he
had a reputation for savagery that terrified even his own
troop.

A globe would be more than just a
valuable bauble in the corridors of power in Inferno. It could be
used for listening into conversations throughout the Heavenly
Realm. The Leader, yes no less than he, would use it as a trophy to
remind his followers that battles could indeed be won against the
angelic host.

Baalbul led a centurion of satyrs in ten
by ten phalanx formation. Their armour and axes burned red hot as
they plunged through the upper levels of Earth's atmosphere at high
speed heading for the little British colony. As they neared the
surface, they saw, on an interception route in front of them, the
column of twelve cavalrymen that Ruth had ordered. It was led by
Bohemond, one of the most valiant commanders in all of
Paradise.

'Desist,' shouted Bohemond to his
massed enemy. 'Depart and go home to your fiery fields and you will
not be harmed.'

But Baalbul's dark mood was set for he
was in search of personal glory.

'Get out of my way, fool, or I will take
you back with me and set you down beside your brother Jabez. There
to be tormented in a way you cannot imagine.'

Then he looked left and right at
his grim-faced warriors and ordered them to kindle their fire
arrows for he planned to send waves of blazing tar barbheads arcing
into the angels bright plumage and immolate them in their rush and
make of them a sight like many comets burning their way across the
heavens for men to point to and wonder at. 'Tar and feathers,' he
laughed. 'Can't beat them. They go together like saints on fire.
Time to light them up boys.'

But he had reckoned without the
determination of Bohemond's angels on their speedy steeds for while
Baalbul was boasting and celebrating too soon, the angels had
closed the gap between the forces. Bohemond, that knight of old
Byzantium, led his mounted, breastplated angels in a
thunderous charge against the muscly satyrs
under their rock mail coats. Three angels continued for Nathan Road
to find and guard the globe. They linked up with Luke who had flown
on streamlined wings faster than ever before to make the rendezvous
on time.

The other nine steadied their ice
lances
before them and drove straight
into the enemy formation, ripping right through its heart. Eighteen
demons fell burning in the first pass as lances fell left and
right, their diamond sharp ice tips ripping through the brittle
slate rings into the infernal skin beneath. There they released
sprays of life-giving water that seared the undead tissue dealing
catastrophic shock to the damned creatures' miserable
senses.

The cavalry wheeled about and
charged again into the already broken and fleeing formation of
shrieking devils picking them off in ones and twos. Baalbul brought
up his bow and aimed a sure shot at one angelic rider. But just as
he prepared to release the string, a fragment of ice from a lance
tip hit him in the eye. His fingers slipped and his arrow skewed
high, missing its intended target. Baalbul fell, the melted ice
burning his brain, his body already sagged and unfeeling. An angel
bugler blew a song of praise as he slew and the retreating demons
covered their ears from the hateful sound and threw away their bows
and their untorched arrows.

Lafarge, hearing the din and
realising he was alone and surrounded made a desperate dash for
cover. As he attempted to reach the upper air, an ice lance hurled
from a great distance by the angel Thaddeus caught him in the neck.
His body jerked rigid. Lafarge's remains continued their fall into
the Fifth and Inferno even as the first husk strands appeared
through his skin and began to envelop him. He would take no further
part in Bezejel's mission.

The nine regrouped with the three and
recovered Jabez's missing globe. Spurring on their chargers they
rose from Earth's sleepy night and soared upwards to Heaven's
grateful embrace even while Jabez lay wounded in Kodrob's squadroom
and Nancy was arriving back at the Golden Luck after her own
hellish torment at the hands of the almost damned.

This had been just a skirmish, a minor
affair. But at least no more angels had been lost.

Now it was time to recover Jabez. Now to
get Heaven's captured angel back. Not one must be left behind.

Half-Way Island,
mid-way between Paradise and Inferno

Heaven's envoy, Augustine, arrived on
the neutral platform that served as the occasional meeting point
between the irreconcilable forces of truth and deceit.

Under the terms of the parley
there was to be no ambush or attempt to hold or delay. War was
suspended, at least as much as could be when one party believed
itself in permanent belligerence. Inferno's Leader arrived with an
escort of female siren demons in uniform long boots and skirts, all
carrying short flame guns. They were fair, in the manner that
beautiful assassins may be, but they moved as a group, all
individuality lost.

He was late of course, as befitted the
Prince of Ego. He approached the island slowly, almost insolently,
as if all of creation waited on him. Then he feathered his shining
wings - for was he not once an angel, as great as any in the
heavens, and was his name Lucifer not synonymous with light? - and
strutted and tutted around the island, lamenting its rudimentary
landscaping which was unworthy of a spiritual leader of his
importance.

'Why am I here?
W
hat business do you want with me, O
relic of Hippo?' began he whose name could not be uttered in
Heaven's spaces and whose time, even in his own kingdom, was
limited. 'Are you chaste yet, Gus, or are you still chasing angelic
tail with as much verve as you chased Roman tail?' The Leader
laughed at Augustine's apparent pain.

'None of that in Paradise? What a
shame. I can lend you some if you like.' He gestured at his
escorts. 'On the QT, you know. While you're away from home. Won't
tell anyone, promise. Got some delicious skirt just arrived from
Earth too, all colours, all sizes. Wicked, some of it. We're
strictly egalitarian in Hades, no discrimination. But too much for
me to handle by myself, you know. Fancy flexing the old muscle,
Gussie? Bit of pork swordery just to remind you of the old days?
What do you say old chap?'

Augustine had wisdom in his eyes and on
his countenance, but these were withheld from Inferno's Leader who
saw only what he wanted to see, the basest of motives and desires.
Augustine had long since faced down his fleshly yearnings and put
them aside. Now with his youth restored to him in Paradise and
strength in his arms he seemed to the Leader like one who must be
bursting with appetite and longing. The Leader could not see his
courage, patience and self-control for these were outside his
imagining. Augustine knew that he never would.

'You know why I'm here,' he said
simply.

'Oh what a bore,' sighed the
Leader. 'You heavenly types only want to talk business. You're just
no fun. You don't know how to have a laugh. Why don't you let your
hair down, tell a few jokes?' He looked at Augustine to see if he
was scoring any hits. But the Saint looked back patiently and
waited.

'All right then, if we must talk
business let's get on with it,' he went on. 'You've lost someone I
believe. Most careless of you. Forgotten his name.'

'Jabez.'

'Oh yes, that was it.
Jabez. Remember now. He was mentioned in one of
your books wasn't he? Chronicles. Boring name for a book. You know
I've always wondered about Jabez. You have this intensely boring
list of names - everything about you lot is boring - then Jabez
pops up for a couple of lines, asking for favours as usual. Do all
your lot do nothing but beg for favours all the time? So selfish.
Mine work hard you know. You could learn something from us. Anyway,
after Jabez says he doesn't want to cause pain - which is ironic
don't you think, in the circumstances?' he laughed at his joke and
turned to his escort for complicity in his humour 'you go back to
another boring list of names. And then you tell everyone your books
are enlightening. Illuminating, even. I just don't see it old
friend, the logic escapes me.' He turned back to his escort shaking
his head in derision.

'You captured Jabez, against the rules,'
went on Augustine. 'We want him returned.'

'Oh rules, always rules. You lot make up
rules and then expect everyone else to abide by them. We don't
acknowledge your rules.'

'You agreed to the rules. You
signed up to them.'

'Well, I lied.' The Leader held up
his hands. 'Oh, don't be surprised Gus, you know I lie. It's what I
do best. Everyone knows that.'

'Jabez. We want him back. What's the
price?'

The Leader pretended to think hard for a
moment.

'Well, Jabez tried to save Nancy's
soul and got caught in the attempt. Red-handed, so to speak. Or at
least he will be if he stays in Inferno much longer.' His line of
females sniggered with him, in perfect unison. 'So their fates are
tied together and the old formula is still there, if you want to
rely on that. Life for a life. Nancy can save Jabez but only if she
pays a high price.'

'And what's that?'

'If she surrenders all she's won,'
said the Leader smugly. 'Luckily for me, she's enjoying herself too
much. She doesn't care about anyone else so long as she 'finds
herself'. She's a natural for Hell. Slave trafficking, drugs,
pimping - she'll have lots of friends when she finally gets here.
Though I hope that won't be for a long time. She has a lot to do
for us before then. Nancy belongs here and I'm going to enjoy her
when she eventually arrives. In fact I've already got the handcuffs
sorted. I heard she likes that.' He laughed and looked around him
at his escort, one of whom stepped forward with a flourish and
produced a pair of linked steel bracelets from behind her back. She
waved them in the air before slapping them playfully on her
wrists.

Augustine ignored her. 'We want Jabez
back for certain. What are your terms?' he asked.

'Well, if you really want Jabez back
your Boss will have to come and ask me for him. On bended
knee.'

'You mean the Lamb,'

'If you want to call him
that.'

'That's unlikely,' replied Augustine
sternly.

'I thought you might say that.
He's made such a big thing about that screw-up outside Jerusalem
when he got his come-uppance. We never stop hearing about it, do
we? All this incessant bleating about how he died for everyone. It
seems to me he was begging for a grisly death.' The Leader
stretched his arms out to the sides. 'Oh poor old me,' he said in a
croaky voice. 'And he's been dining out on that ever since. If you
really want Jabez back all I ask is that the Lamb comes here and
makes the request in person. Seems pretty reasonable to me. Or is
he too busy partying and listening to everyone tell him how
wonderful he is.'

'On bended knee? You want the
Lamb
to bow down before you?'

'Well if you want to put it that way,
please yourself,' smiled the Leader. 'But I won't be hard on him,
one knee will do. The floor here is a bit hard and I wouldn't want
him to hurt himself. A single genuflection will do, no need for the
double. What do you say?'

Augustine was silent.

'Not much of an envoy, are you?
Can't make a decision, obviously.' He turned to his escort. 'They
used to make saints who could think for themselves. This lot have
to kick every decision upstairs. To a higher power.' He
sniggered.

Augustine was furious. 'Your time is
limited. Hell will not last for ever. This will not help you get an
extension on your lease.'

'Oh so you keep saying. Well, I'd
better have fun while it lasts then, hey? By the way, since you're
unable to give me an answer right now and you've wasted my time,
I'm going to take it out on poor Mr Kelly, the beery detective, he
of the forename Dan. I want him as dead as a losing scratchcard on
a Liverpool pub floor and I'm going to make sure it happens soon.
Painfully. That's your fault for not being prepared.'

'Anyway Gus,' he continued, 'while
you're consulting with your important chums, I'll just nip off and
do some shopping. Got hundreds of delightful darlings in the
catalogue to choose from. Shame they're not coming your way.
Heavenly bodies, some of them, isn't that a laugh? Flash a red
light if you want to join me and I'll send a pair of vixens to pick
you up. I'm sure you won't be such a miserable cuss when you're
back in the saddle again like the old days. Bye now.' And with that
the Leader of the Lost turned, leapt from the island spreading out
his wings - and they were still dazzling to behold - and led his
siren guard back to the land of the damned.

Kodrob's Squadroom,
Pentacurse, Inferno

Jabez lay on the floor, breathing
heavily. One of his arms was manacled and chained to a stubby iron
girder embedded in the wall. Zhivkin and Kodrob sat watching him at
the table while they supped diesel and threw darts at a troll that
was running around the room looking for hiding places. Pu Gash
stood at the door watching in case Bezejel should make an
unannounced visit.