The Heavenly Host (Demons of Astlan Book 2) (41 page)

There were two tunnels on this side of the chasm. The dogs’ howls and barks were clearly audible from the corridor down which they had come.

“Can they jump this?” Tom asked Talarius, who was now standing on his own again.

“They should not be able to, but I’ve only encountered them in Astlan. They’re on their home turf here so…”

“Great. Tizzy, which corridor?” Tom asked.

Tizzy was pointing back and forth at the two tunnels. Tom raised his eyebrows. If he did not know better, which he frankly did not, he would have sworn the demon was doing “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.” Tom closed his eyes for a moment, praying to he had no idea whom that this was not the case.

Now Tom heard more barking and clamoring from the right-hand tunnel.

“I think the one on the left!” Tizzy said suddenly, just as a horde of hounds came bursting out of the right-hand tunnel.

“Battle stations!” Talarius cried.

There had to be a dozen hounds coming out of the mouth of the tunnel! Suddenly Talarius was a whirlwind of motion as his mace spun and smashed at dogs. Boggy roared and began punching dogs in the face, with Antefalken slashing at the dogs’ legs from behind. Reggie began flailing and pounding with his four fists. Estrebrius launched himself in the air and began looking for an opening to swoop down upon the creatures. A dog leaped on Tizzy and the two began wrestling.

Rupert began kicking at two dogs charging him. Tom grabbed the first one approaching him and picked it up with both hands. It was huge! He spun and threw it as hard as he could down the chasm. It howled and then the noise was squelched as it hit the far side of the cavern.

Tom yelled in pain as a hound pounced on his back and bit the base of his left wing. His tail whipped up and stabbed the hound in the belly, unleashing his tail’s signature electrical blast. The dog howled and fell back to the ground, spasming and shaking. Tom lifted his hoof and stomped down on the dog’s head as hard as he could, smashing it flat. He tried to release the pressure after crunching the skull; he did not want to break the spine.

“Rupert!” he yelled at the boy demon, who was busy punching and kicking his dog. The boy had numerous bite and scratch marks. “Electrocute him with your tail! That will incapacitate him, and then stomp his skull!” Rupert nodded even as Tom felt the jaws of another dog close on his arm.

“What the hell?” He glanced and saw more dogs pouring through the right tunnel entrance. He twisted and struck the dog on his arm with his tail. The dog spasmed and hung loosely on his right arm, its teeth still latched around his forearm. Tom twisted and shook his arm hard, sending the paralyzed dog over the edge of the chasm.

Reggie had fallen on his butt and was wrestling a dog, using his four arms to pry the dog’s four legs apart. Suddenly the dog howled at an incredible level as Reggie managed to ingloriously and bloodily rip the dog’s four limbs off. The writhing and biting head and torso fell onto his body. Reggie started shouting obscenities and began batting at the dog’s torso to get it off, even as it bit him in the shoulder.

Talarius had left a pile of three dogs behind him, but was now at the chasm’s edge with two dogs attacking him. Boggy and Antefalken were battling their third dog with Estrebrius periodically plunging down to skewer the dog’s body. Tom moved to grab one of Talarius’s dogs when from out of nowhere, two other dogs attached themselves to his legs.

Tizzy had four dog haunches, one in each hand, and was busy smacking two other dogs with them. Their pack mates writhed on the ground with no hind legs, and severely mangled or missing forelegs.

“Fuck!” Tom yelled, whipping his tail around to one dog to zap it into paralysis and then grabbing at the other with his right hand claws. He ripped the non-paralyzed dog off his leg and forcefully threw it into the chasm even as he saw a third dog join the two on Talarius. It was too much; Talarius overbalanced and went over the edge with two dogs on top of him and the third yapping on the ledge!

Tom lunged but the paralyzed dog on his leg tripped him up. He fell to his knees with a thud, attracting the attention of the dog yelping where Talarius had gone over the cliff. Tom used his other leg to kick the spasming dog off his leg; it took a couple of tries. Talarius’s third dog was now on him. Tom grabbed the dog by the maw; one hand on the jaw, the other on the snout. He pulled with all his strength.

There was a horrendous noise from the hound as Tom ripped its jaw off. He then tossed the dog and its jaw down the chasm and prepared to dive after Talarius. Even as he moved to do so, Talarius rose from the chasm, whacking at a dog still attached to his leg. The knight could fly! What the hell?

Whap!
Talarius’s rod succeeded in dislodging the dog, and it fell into the chasm with a loud yelping noise. Talarius flew to the ledge and landed. Rupert had finished his previous dog and was just helping Boggy with the final dog. Reggie was standing in the bloody pulp of his dog. Tizzy was busy gnawing on the haunches of the dogs he had shredded. Apparently, he had worked up an appetite.

Tom stared at Talarius as they regrouped. “So you fly,” he said to the knight. Tizzy stopped eating long enough to stare at the knight.

The knight shrugged. “What people don’t know can’t be used against me.”

“Yes, but I’ve been lugging your fat tin-canned ass all over the place!” Tizzy sputtered, spewing chunks of bloody hydra hound meat. Rupert grimaced as a chunk hit him in the face.

“Watch where you’re spitting your food!” The boy complained.

“Thank you. I’ll fly on my own from now on,” Talarius said. Tizzy just shook his head and took another bite.

Tom shook his head and gestured for them to head down the remaining tunnel. As they started down, hounds entered the cavern from the same tunnel they had. There were at least another dozen, if not more, on that side. Fortunately, they did not seem capable of leaping the cavern.

~

“You lost them?” Lilith asked the prostate form of Rosecrantz.

“Yes mistress… I am so sorry…” One could hear the fear in the demon’s voice.

Lilith inhaled, savoring the smell of fear that the demon before her was radiating. She remained silent, allowing the fear to increase. She had no intention of punishing the demon, but neither did she have any intention of letting him know that.

Antefalken and the greater demon had gone through multiple boom tunnels to their next destination. Overall, given that they could go in any direction after leaving a tunnel, the wide-open spaces and the required distance her minions would need to keep, following them even through two tunnels was actually pretty decent. The question was, why had they gone through multiple tunnels? Did they know they were being followed and were purposefully obscuring their trail? That would be the most logical.

Lilith sat there pondering. After some time she realized that Rosencrantz was still groveling on the floor. “Very well. I am most displeased. Failure like this cannot be tolerated. I will overlook it this once. Return to your compatriot and stake out the greater demon’s cave; I am sure they will return.”

~

Tom had lost track of where they were. They had gone down the tunnel from the chasm cavern and made a few more turns. At several points, it had sounded like dogs could be heard within some tunnels, so they had chosen others. Tizzy seemed less and less sure the further they got. This was turning into a fiasco. The price of greed, Tom was sure Talarius would say. Fortunately, unlike humans, they had no need of food or water, or even air, so they had all the time they needed to find their way out. The trick was to do it without being eaten by hydra hounds.

Tizzy had stopped at a T intersection and was looking at the far wall of the right-hand passage. “What are you gawping at?” Boggy asked.

Tizzy pointed to what appeared to be a marking, a sign on the wall. It appeared to have been painted there. “Does this paint seem a little too fresh?” Tizzy asked.

Boggy peered closer and then reached out and touched it. “Yes. I’d say it’s pretty recent, within a few years.”

“Do hydra hounds use paint by any chance?” Rupert asked.

Tizzy and Talarius both shook their heads no. “I’ve never seen a dog that could paint.” Tizzy said. “It’s not like playing poker.”

“Do either of you recognize the language?” Tom asked the two demons, who shook their heads.

Antefalken and Talarius both looked. “Nothing I am familiar with,” said Antefalken with a shrug.

“Agreed,” Talarius stated.

“So we go the other way?” Tom asked. Tizzy shrugged. Tom glared at him. “You are our resident expert;
can we go the other way?
”

Tizzy squinted down the corridor to the left and shrugged. “It appears we can.”

Antefalken turned to look at Tizzy. “What do you mean, it
appears
we can? Will that passage take us where we want to go?”

Tizzy shrugged again. “Where do we want to go?” Everyone but Tizzy let out sighs of exasperation.

“We were going to the gold and silver rooms, but at the moment, I’d settle for a way out,” Boggy said firmly.

“Yeah. Well, I’m not sure,” Tizzy said.

Talarius let out another sigh. “Why are you not sure?”

“I don’t remember ever being in this part of the cavern system before,” Tizzy said honestly.

“You’re saying we’re lost?” Tom asked in disbelief.

“Well, I know where I am, and I know where you all are. So none of us are technically lost,” Tizzy said.

Estrebrius shook his head. “So then, where are we?”

“Here, at a T intersection.” Tizzy said overly patiently, as if talking to a child.

Rupert groaned. “So we are lost!”

“Shit!” Reggie cursed. “I am in a lot of pain right now; I’ve got all sorts of bite holes. I just want to get home and rest!”

“How can we be lost if we know where each of us are? I do not need to find any of you. You are here. If you were lost, we would have to search for you. Like when I misplace my pipe. It’s then lost and I have to look for it.”

Tom rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Okay. We all need to remember we are talking to Tizzy.”

Tizzy gave him a strange look. “I’m standing right here; how would you forget you are talking to me?”

“I mean you operate on a higher plane of consciousness then most of us,” Tom said. It was the politest way he could think of to tell the demon he was crazy.

Tizzy gave a nod of thoughtful agreement, put his pipe in his mouth, and lit it with his left thumb.

Tom pointed in the opposite direction from the markings and the group proceeded down that passage. This part of the cavern system was a bit different. There were large swatches of demon-built masonry interspersed with dark rock. It was a very different sort of rock than previously. Before, the rock had been whiter and smoother. This rock was much craggier and far darker.

They came to another T intersection. “Right or left? Tom asked the group.

“Since we have no idea, let’s just pick one. Right?” Antefalken proposed.

Tom nodded and they headed right. He made a mark to indicate they had passed this way. They had followed the passage for several deminutes when Tom suddenly said, “Is it just me, or is it getting lighter?”

They all stopped and looked around. Antefalken nodded. “It does seem brighter, but it’s not as consistent as Abyss light.”

“I’m thinking we should move cautiously and quietly,” Talarius proposed softly. Tom nodded, as did the others. They proceeded along and soon they could see that the slowly flickering light was coming from up ahead. They could also now detect what sounded like conversation; however, it was not normal demonese as far as Tom could tell. It was more guttural.

Soon they got to a point where the corridor turned and they could clearly tell that the light and sound were coming from around the corner. Antefalken put a finger to his lips and crept quietly up and peered around the corner. He frowned slightly and then crouched and moved around the corner. Tom heard a small gulping sound, and then Antefalken snuck back around the corner.

He gestured them all to a huddle. “We are at the mouth of a ledge overlooking a large chamber. There is only room for a few of us at a time, and we need to keep low and peer over the edge to the floor about sixty feet below. I suggest we go two by two and take a look.”

The rest nodded. Tom motioned Talarius and Boggy to go next. When they came back, Boggy had a puzzled expression, but Tom could not see what the knight was thinking due to the helmet. Estrebrius, Rupert and Reggie went next, and then finally Tom and Tisdale. As the two looked over the edge, Tom noticed Tizzy’s eyes get wider and then he made a
tsah
noise with his teeth and tongue.

They scurried back to the group and Tom gestured for them to head back down the tunnel so they could talk with more confidence of not being heard. After a few deminutes, Tom gestured for them to stop. “I think Tizzy recognized what we saw. Anyone else?” Tom asked.

What Tom had seen was basically a large living chamber or barracks, perhaps for a tribe. He was not sure what to call it. In the chamber were a number of very oddly uniform-looking demons. They seemed to be of a specific type or form, not the usual hodgepodge. They were all different, but they shared the same core characteristics. All were eight to ten feet tall, most were red and pretty ugly. However, they had something of what Tom would call a porcine look. They had hooves, but their legs were much shorter than those of most hooved demons, and further apart. More like pigs’ legs, if pigs could stand on their hind legs.