Hellfire, page 12
part #9 of The Ironspell Chronicles Series
I wonder what? I mused.
I think there’s a war on. I had an image of Ulf trying to scratch with his feet fettered. Can I take these off now?
Is anyone watching you? Vetr’s strained packspeak came through.
No, I think they’re more worried about whatever it is attacking them.
Vetr glanced at me. I nodded. Go ahead, remove the bonds.
We both felt a snap and heard a sigh of relief. Thank the daemon for switching Gleipnir with these lightweight cords.
I smiled. No problem. See if you can get out of there and find Sabine. I gave him a mental picture of what my mom looked like.
Too bad you don’t have her smell memorized. I could find her easier with that.
Be careful. We’ll find you as soon as we can. Vetr looked strained trying to packspeak.
“I wonder what war he’s talking about,” I mused when we finished communicating in packspeak.
Vetr shook his head. “He’s a smart wolf, but some things bipeds do elude him.”
“Him and me both.” I nodded. “A war between Watchers in the Ninth Circle of Hell, maybe?”
“Maybe. But over what? Ulf? Sabine? Something else?”
I looked at my Jotun partner and shook my head. “We won’t know until we get there.”
“But how?” Elryn gnawed at the energy bar I gave her. She frowned and looked at the wrapper. “You’d think they’d make these taste like what they say they taste like.”
“True.” I sighed. “Faust’s deal is beginning to sound attractive.”
Tuzren lashed his tail. “I don’t trust his deal. Us solve a riddle or Faust gets your body and you get locked up in Hell? Bad idea.”
I thought about it. “Well, we can try the elevator again.”
“No!” Everyone shouted.
I held up my hands in surrender. “Okay, no elevator. So, what then?”
“Why don’t we shake down Faust for the information?” Vetr suggested. “He doesn’t look that hard to control.”
“But he’s a wizard who had a lot of practice with magic Mephistopheles taught him. I can’t imagine he would hesitate to use whatever he’s learned.”
“We’ve beaten Watchers before, how much more powerful could he be?” Elryn mused.
“I guess you would have to find out.” Faust appeared before us. His gloating expression told me he had expected this.
“How long have you been hanging out listening to us?” I demanded.
“Long enough to know you’re having no luck.” Faust rubbed his hands together. “Now, will you accept my offer or are you going to try to make me show you where the portal is?”
I glanced at Tuzren, who gave me a slight shake of his head. “Neither. Go away.”
Vetr stood up, and in less than a second had Faust by the neck. The mage gestured and Vetr flew across the street as though hit by an explosion. The Jotun snarled and tossed ice shards towards Faust. They passed harmlessly through Faust and nearly hit us. I managed to throw up a quick shield before they cut us to shreds.
“Hey, Ice Boy, watch where you hurl your knives!” Elryn snarled, standing up. She tossed fireballs at Faust, who just batted them aside.
“Everyone, stop!” I shouted. I looked at Tuzren, who nodded to my silent question. You sure?
Yes. Just put me in charge of the contract.
I took a deep breath. “Okay, Faust, you win. But we sign a contract.”
Vetr stomped up, his face livid, and his hands in fists. “What in the Nine Worlds are you doing, Ironspell?”
I held up a hand for him to stop. He shook his head and glared at Faust.
Faust’s face nearly split from a shit-eating grin, and a huge scroll appeared in his hand. “I have the perfect contract.”
“Ah, but neither of us trust each other, which is why I will order Tuz to draw one up that is fair to us both,” I said.
Faust chewed his lip. “You do not trust me?”
“Of course not,” I said. “I have everything to lose with this, therefore, I think it is fair to order my daemon be the arbiter of this arrangement.”
“How can I trust he won’t cheat me?”
“Tuz will be under explicit orders to come up with a fair contract. You can read it if you’d like.”
“How about I have my demon help your daemon come up with a good contract?” Faust pulled out his glasses and tapped a ring.
Smoke poured from the ring and coalesced into a large Watcher with pale skin, horns on his head, white hair, and black, bat-like wings. His face looked more like a scholar than a demon, although he did have red eyes. Clean shaven, the demon wore glasses and an ill-fitting gray suit. He sighed, looking up from the tablet he held in one claw. “Again, Faust? Now what?”
“Mephistopheles, I need you to work with this daemon and come up with a fair contract to all parties. These fair people want to find the Ninth Circle of Hell, and I told them I would show them how to get there in exchange for Ironspell’s body if he fails to answer a riddle of mine in a year.”
The demon scratched his head. “Why? When I can just take them down there myself?”
“Because I want to get out of this place.” Faust’s words became a hiss.
I turned to Mephistopheles. “Wait a second, you’d bring us down there, no charge?”
“Of course he won’t!” Faust cut off the Watcher before he could answer, causing the demon to scowl.
“Wait a second.” Vetr raised a finger. “Let’s hear what Mephistopheles wants to do.”
Mephistopheles’ face brightened considerably. “Really? Everyone is always, ‘Faust, this’ and ‘Faust, that,’ but no one ever cares about what I think. You want to hear what I want to do?”
“Of course,” I said. “You’re the brains and the power behind Faust. Without you, Faust would be another two-bit, dime store magician.”
“That’s not true!” Faust shouted, lightning crackling from his fingers.
“See what I mean?” I turned to Vetr with a stage whisper. “I bet he learned that from Mephistopheles and his master’s grimoire. I had to come up with it by myself.” I raised my hand and my “Force Lightning” arced as it jumped across my fingers.
“Oooh! You learned to do that without a mentor?” Mephistopheles looked impressed. “It took Faust weeks before he could conjure up some static electricity!”
“Hanging out with the wrong crowd, Meep.” Tuzren flew up to my shoulder and grinned. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen you. How the Hel did you end up with this loser?”
“Meep?” I cocked my head.
“Yeah, that’s my old nickname from way back when.” Mephistopheles shrugged. “I haven’t heard that name in ages.” He looked at Tuzren. “He summoned me back when he thought making a deal with the Devil was a thing. You know, he couldn’t get a date with a girl, so he sold his soul to Lucifer to get her.”
“Seriously?” Tuzren laughed. “He sold his soul for a girl?”
“She must’ve been quite a girl.” Vetr smirked.
“That’s just bullshit.” Elryn crossed her arms. “Women aren’t chattel.”
“Tell that to Faust here.” Mephistopheles shrugged. “She mustn’t have liked him that much because she committed suicide.”
Faust threw a lightning bolt at us, but Mephistopheles just stopped it with a raised claw. I already had a shield up around us, just in case. I noted that my friends had their shields up, too. So, Faust threw more lightning, fireballs, and even some ice.
I turned to the fallen angel. “So, you’re freelancing, huh? Why is he able to call you?”
“That damned ring.” Mephistopheles pointed to the ring on Faust’s finger. “He can’t control me, but he can annoy the Hell out of me.”
Tuzren blinked out, appeared over Faust’s hand, yanked the ring off, and appeared next to me. “This ring?”
“Yeah. Thanks.” Mephistopheles took the ring from Tuzren.
“Give me that!” Faust shouted and leapt at the demon, only to hit the shield and bounce off. “That is mine! Lucifer gave it to me!”
“Finders keepers, losers weepers.” Tuzren shrugged.
Mephistopheles grinned. “You all still want to go to the Ninth Circle of Hell?”
“Yes, please.” I nodded.
“You can’t just obey them!” Faust shouted. “You must obey me.”
The Watcher rolled his eyes. “Look, Faust, our contract ended when you died. The only reason I pay any attention to you at all is because you held on to the damned ring. I really must say it’s been a real bore. Most people would’ve had imagination for things they’d like to do to sell their souls, but you were just mediocre. So mediocre that Satan tried bargaining your soul back to Heaven, only they didn’t want you.”
“Seriously?” I said. “Hell didn’t want him?”
“Not really.” The demon shook his head. “I mean, he wasn’t very powerful for a wizard, and his desires were pretty lackluster. We were able to give him some decent magic, but he squandered it. I mean, have you ever heard of Emperor Faust, King Faust, or even Baron Faust?”
I scratched my head. “Come to think about it, no.”
“If you were going to sell your soul, wouldn’t you plan on something…I don’t know…bigger, maybe?”
Vetr nodded. “More extravagant, you mean? Yeah, I’d want to go out in a blaze of glory.”
I glanced at Elryn, who shrugged. “Not my shtick. Elves pretty much go to Alfheim, if we die.”
“But your kind already lives in Alfheim,” I noted.
“Yeah. We do. Except those like me who are tied to Asgard.”
Vetr and I exchanged glances. “Then, that’s not really dying.”
“No, not really. Which is why mortality sucks.” She turned to Mephistopheles while Faust was still throwing a magical tantrum at us. “You’ll get us there as a favor because we returned your ring?”
“Sure.” The Watcher grinned. “I’ll get you down there. Any place in particular?”
“Just bring us someplace safe, preferably not in the middle of a battle.” I nodded.
“You got it.” Mephistopheles waved a claw and the Eighth Circle of Hell vanished.
Chapter Fifteen
We landed in the middle of a freakin’ blizzard, with snow up to my waist. I’d say “ours,” but it came up to Elryn’s chest, only mid-thigh on Vetr in his Jotun form, and would’ve buried Tuzren completely had he not been in mid-flight. Vetr pulled Elryn out of the snow with one hand and set her on his shoulder, like an oversized pixie. Tuzren landed on my shoulder.
“What the fuck!” Faust flailed around in the snow like a freshly caught mermaid on dry land.
I groaned. “We had to get Faust, too?” Despite the snow and the cold, my body radiated heat from my Muspelheim powers, melting the snow around me. I pushed through to Vetr, who was having no trouble navigating the drifts.
“I think stranding Faust here was Meep’s way of saying ‘Fuck you’ to him,” Tuzren remarked.
I reached Vetr, who grinned, showing his sharp, white teeth. “Perfect weather. I can’t see why they call this Hell.”
“Perfect if you’re a Jotun,” Elryn pulled her cloak around her and glared at me. “It’s freezing. Aren’t you cold?” I could see her already pulling from her power to warmer herself up.
I shook my head. “I’m good. I think this is a side effect of my immortality.” I watched as the flakes fell on my outstretched hand and sizzled, rising up as steam.
“Whoa! That’s cool!” Tuzren tried it with his outstretched hand, only to end up with a small water puddle.
I snorted and looked at our surroundings. We were in a “safe” place, if one was willing to freeze to death. Only, the dead couldn’t exactly freeze to death, could they? Of our party, only Elryn appeared to be the most vulnerable, but even she was looking less uncomfortable once she casted a quick warming spell. We stood on an outcropping overlooking a barren landscape of ice and snow. The dark gray clouds above us were heavy with snow, and snow fell thick, swirling downward. The dim light held a type of filtered quality. It wasn’t night, but it wasn’t day either. I wondered if this place stayed in a perpetual twilight.
Vetr sighed as he stomped the snow around him to carve out an easier path. “Too bad there are no trees. It would give us a break from this wind.”
“Can you do anything about the wind?” Elryn slid down from his shoulder. “And thank you for picking me up.”
“No problem. But I doubt I can control the weather here. The wights are angry and sullen in this place. They don’t like this world anymore than the prisoners in this world. The Christian god or the demons have imprisoned them to this land.” Vetr scanned the land. “Despite the pleasant weather, I’d say they pretty much don’t like the denizens.”
I nodded. I knew Vetr preferred cold over hot—Hel, I preferred cold over hot—but I would hardly call this weather pleasant. “Let’s see if we can find the place where they’re holding your wolf.”
As we talked, Faust continued to pitch a fit and send fire, lightning, and whatever else he could muster against our shields. Elryn stared at the cold, soaked wizard as he threw a tantrum. “What should we do about Faust?”
I shrugged. “What do you think we should do with him? He’s already dead and sent to Hell—there isn’t much to be done with him.”
“Well, he’s annoying, especially if I have to keep my shield up all this time while he’s around.” She glared at the man.
“I suppose killing him won’t work.” Vetr looked as chagrined.
“Well, it might send him back to the Eighth Circle of Hell.” I watched as the equivalent of a firecracker exploded on my shield. “Hey Faust! Stop that!”
“You’ve ruined me!” His voice came off as a panicked shriek. “Without Mephistopheles I won’t be able to control anyone!”
“Didn’t anyone tell you that slavery is wrong?” Tuzren flew into the man’s face. His shield pushed Faust backwards into the snow.
“Get away from me, you foul demon!” Faust shuddered and picked up snow by the handful and lobbed it at Tuzren. The makeshift snowballs fizzled on his shield.
Tuzren sniffed his armpits. “Hey! I showered today.”
Vetr rolled his eyes. “You did, or did you just put on deodorant?”
“I showered, oh stinky one. Snow baths don’t count.” The little daemon crossed his arms.
I snorted. “Guys, we’ve got to find Ulf and Sabine, not argue over hygiene.”
“Right.” Vetr sighed. Where are you? I heard him talk to Ulf in packspeak.
Don’t really know. There’s a huge demon army assembling out on the plains. They’re talking about angels or something coming down here and bringing the war to them. They look pretty miffed.
What are they doing about you? I asked. Have you seen Sabine?
Yeah, it was easy to find her. The Watchers keep trying to guard her, and she keeps beating them up. I’m sitting with her right now.
Both Vetr and I exchanged relieved glances. “Your mom is totally badass if she’s beating up Watchers.” Vetr nodded, impressed.
“I need to have a talk about this ‘hedge witch’ thing,” I muttered.
“What’s happening?” Elryn asked.
We filled in Tuzren and Elryn on the turn of events. I raised an eyebrow at a thought. “You think Michael might be leading the Heavenly Host against the Watchers in their own territory?”
“Makes sense.” Tuzren nodded. “He might have found out she was down here and was going to rescue her. But with Lucifer down here, he probably had to get an army.”
“Well, it would’ve been nice if the archangel included us in his plans.” I crossed my arms.
“Yeah, like anyone can control an archangel.” Tuzren snorted. “Come on, I think I can guess where they might be.”
~ * ~
“Are you sure this is the way?” I asked, for the thousandth time as Tuzren led us along a barren cliff. The mountain had a small trail hewn into its sheer face with a drop that caused me to freeze the moment I saw it. It took more than just coaxing to get me to step foot on the trail. It took an actual illusion. So, instead of walking up a cliff with a drop that would give most birds hypoxia from hyperventilating, we were walking across a boardwalk at the ocean, complete with suntanned beauties, courtesy of Vetr, whom I determined was a master of illusions. All we had to do was stay on the boardwalk and everything would be okay—or so I kept telling myself.
Being guys, we couldn’t help but gawk at some of the imaginary women in their barely-there outfits. All of them were athletic but had all the right curves. And their outfits left nothing to my imagination. Even Elryn, who is gay, stopped and appreciated them.
After about the fifth stop, I turned to Vetr. “I thought you didn’t like it warm and sunny.”
Vetr shrugged. “When it’s summer, even I hang out at the beaches in Iceland. Some amazingly beautiful women there.”
“I think I’ll suggest a vacation to Iceland to Luna.” I sighed.
“You want to get bitten, horn dog, go right ahead.” Elryn smirked.
“What?” I did a double take at one woman in a thong who had taken off her top to go swimming.
“Women generally don’t like you appreciate the competition.” Tuzren flew back to my shoulder. “We’re almost across. Just up ahead.”
I snapped back to reality. “Yes, but are you sure this is the way?”
He led us away from the cliff and we now stood in the mountain’s lee with less snow. Much to my chagrin, I noticed Faust was trailing behind us, some ways back. “Quite certain. Your blood doesn’t lie. Prick your finger again.”
My finger still ached from slicing it open to get a couple of blood drops earlier. Tuzren used my blood for a locator spell, since I shared half of my mom’s DNA.
Since I healed fast due to my immortality, I had to cut my finger again and let a couple of drops drip onto the daemon’s claws. I watched the spell again, making sure I remembered the sequence. I could probably do the same without the extra foci, seeing that I had Light and Dark Elf ancestry, but I preferred to have more than one method when it came to casting. You never knew when someone might block certain types of magic. Having experienced that first hand, I wasn’t going to limit myself.
