The upper half of the tree folded forward and started to fall, knocking silts out of the crowded sky as it went. Ilgrin leapt into the air and flew for dear life as the distance between them became increasingly less. The giant mass of timber flew past and the resulting gust of wind sent him spiralling. Once he’d regained it, Ilgrin watched the half-tree crush a massive length of the legion. Near the top half of the tree, a flood of humans poured through the woods, swords flashing, arrows shooting, and the occasional pistol going off with a bang.
‘Attack!’ Ilgrin cried furiously. ‘Kill them all!’ He didn’t care who heard him. It didn’t matter whether they were military or not. These filthy creatures had destroyed the great tree and he would make them suffer. ‘Attack!’ he cried out again, launching himself toward the enemy and lunging for his scythe. Before long, others surrounded him, flying in allegiance. Every eye was filled with righteous fury and every hand gripped a weapon.
Ilgrin shut his wings and dove. He snapped his toes around the head of a soldier and tore him into the air. The man screamed in terror as his sword fell. He clung to Ilgrin’s leg begging and screaming for his life. Ilgrin looked down at him, a tiny voice begging and pleading in the back of his mind that he not do what he was about to do. Ilgrin ignored the voice and with a shake of his leg he watched the soldier fall to his messy death. In a frenzied rage, Ilgrin swooped again in search of his next victim.
The battlefield had been determined with countless thousands of silts swooping about the trees tearing up and destroying the human army. They were bees who’d just had their hive sliced in half. Ilgrin’s heart filled with a strange kind of pride as he watched his demons dominating and destroying the piteously weak humans. It was almost cruel how far superior his kind were. Tracing his eyes through the crowds, Ilgrin sort desperately for one specific face, but he couldn’t find it. Where was Far-a-mael? No matter how he searched, he couldn’t find the old man.
Ilgrin threw his feet out as he beat his powerful wings and snapped his toes around human shoulders. He pitched his feet forward and watched as the weakling creature flew howling into the distance. He hit the ground and rolled several times. Ilgrin pounced on him and breathed into his face.
‘You’re pathetic,’ he hissed, pinning the human beneath one foot.
‘Do what you must,’ the man growled before turning his head sideways to spit in the dirt. Ilgrin gasped and pulled back at the sight of white pupils glittering in the dark. He swallowed hard, his heart filling with pain at what El-i-miir would’ve thought of what he’d become.
‘Run.’ Ilgrin pulled away and launched himself into the air. But something snapped around his soul and his flesh began to burn. He tumbled toward the ground. He twisted about in the air to see an angel beckoning him through dead eyes. His Elglair puppet master stood several strides away directing his every move. Ilgrin’s eyes twitched toward a hint of movement over the old man’s shoulder. But the affiliate noticed Ilgrin’s eyes and was immediately alerted to the fact that Jakob was sneaking up behind him.
The gil spun around and thrust a hand out at Jakob, who hit the ground sobbing. Ilgrin hit the earth, freed of the angel’s crippling power, a slight sieift dusting itself from his body. He snatched at his hip pistol, threw up a hand, and pulled the trigger. A bright patch of red bloomed on the gil’s shirt. He turned in a slow circle, his eyes devastated. He stared at Ilgrin for just a moment and then collapsed, never to get back up.
The angel fell to his knees, his eyes coming alive. He lifted his hands and gazed at them as though he couldn’t believe it were possible.
‘You’re free,’ Ilgrin said. ‘And I promise no harm will ever again come to you on account of demons.’
‘I’m . . . free!’ the angel cried delightedly, immediately leaping into the air and disappearing from sight.
‘Thank you,’ Ilgrin said to Jakob as he got to his feet.
‘It’s always a delight to help kill the Elglair.’ He half-smiled before rushing off through the trees.
When Ilgrin was back in the air, he realised just how many demons had suffered at the hands of affiliated angels. He needed to find their gils and kill them. It was the only way. Immediately, he spotted an older woman several hundred strides away. She had the blank face of a gil concentrating, and although she didn’t lift a single hand, not a sword was able to touch her. Ilgrin kept his distance and attempted to aim his pistol, which proved to be difficult while in flight. The second he’d raised his arm the woman’s head snapped in his direction, she having already felt his intentions through the Ways. The old woman thrust a hand out at Ilgrin and he immediately decided to fly face-first at the ground below without slowing down in order to kill himself.
Snapping shut his wings, Ilgrin flipped around and plummeted. The ground flew up at him quickly, but he knew he’d made the right decision. He fell faster and faster but before he could hit the ground, long toes snapped around his arms and guided him gently to a softer landing.
Teah looked at him in astonishment while multitasking and thrusting her sword through the heart of a human. ‘What the torrid were you thinking?’
‘I wasn’t.’ Ilgrin shook his head. ‘An affiliate was thinking for me.’
‘Gils are rather tricky to kill head-on.’ Teah nodded. ‘Come on. I’ll show you a better way.’
With that, Teah raced through the woods on foot. Ilgrin followed as quickly as he dared, weaving between trees, often the homes of presently dead silts that’d been very recently adopted as human hideouts.
‘What’re you planning?’ Ilgrin called, but Teah refused even to acknowledge him as she raced on.
‘There.’ She stopped behind a rather thick tree. ‘Is that your gil?’
‘That’s her.’ Ilgrin peered through the trees to see the old woman focusing on her angel as it attacked a free angel above.
‘Watch this.’ Teah shoved Ilgrin so hard that he stumbled into the small clearing.
The gil’s attention snapped toward him. ‘You’re persistent. I’ll give you that.’ She pursed her lips irritably and pointed at his chest.
Ilgrin vanished from existence, only to reappear moments later. He was in his home outside of Sitnic. ‘Mother?’ He called. ‘Fath--’ But the word stuck in his throat.
The smell of blood filled Ilgrin’s nostrils. Baen and Urelie had been tied up. Their faces were beaten and bruised and their throats were cut. A deep sob escaped Ilgrin’s throat and he fell to his knees in the middle of the woods outside of Hel. It was all his fault. He was the reason they’d been found and killed.
‘No, no, no!’ he cried.
Ilgrin’s aura was released as an agonised howl snatched him back to reality. The old woman squirmed on the ground, Teah looming over her as white mist leached away from her flesh. The gil pleaded for mercy, slamming the back of her head against the ground. She made mad gesticulations, undoubtedly snatching for the Ways, but found herself to be in too much pain to do anything useful with them. Ilgrin looked away, unable to stomach the slowness of her death.
‘Please!’ the woman screamed at his back. ‘Please!’ Finally her cries stopped and Teah put a hand on Ilgrin’s shoulder.
‘I’m sorry. That was ugly,’ Teah whispered, ‘but it had to be done.’
‘I know.’ Ilgrin looked at the old woman with the thought in mind that she was probably about two hundred years old. She probably had great-great-great-grandchildren. It seemed like such an awful way to complete such a long life. But she’d made her choice. They all had.
‘Hey,’ a stranger called from the branches above. Ilgrin glanced up to see a silt smiling down at them. ‘Thanks.’ He smiled, his halo glimmering momentarily.
‘Thank us by helping us,’ Ilgrin replied tiredly. ‘Free as many others as you can. Teah, you do the same.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
HEL FIRE
Ilgrin sailed through the air, scoping out the mayhem of the battle below. Both human and silt alike had been enlisted into slow games o
f cat and mouse. Such was to be expected when fighting within the constraints of a heavily wooded forest. Several of the affiliated angels had been killed. Others still worked patiently with their black powder bombs. Half the legion burned with deadly fire, starting at the base of the tree and continued to the west. As a result, the armies of mankind favoured an easterly direction for their assault. Having spotted Jakob trapped behind a wall of flames, Ilgrin banked toward the ground only to lose sight of the man behind a veil of smoke.
‘Jakob?’ Ilgrin called. ‘Jakob, where are you?’ He stumbled around a burning tree, pulling his shirt up over his nose.
A New World soldier screamed as he leapt through the smoke with his sword raised. Ilgrin sidestepped the man, spun him around and slammed his face into the burning tree. He stumbled back, howling and slapping at his face.
‘Jakob?’ Ilgrin called again, but his toe touched something soft and warm, which served to steal his attention. ‘Jakob!’ He gasped, finding his friend collapsed on the ground. He threw his arms around the man and lifted him easily. He beat his wings and leapt into the air. ‘Wake up.’ He shook the human. ‘Come on!’
‘Maker,’ Jakob groaned, taking a shuddering breath. ‘What’d you do that for?’
‘I need your help,’ Ilgrin said determinedly.
‘What for?’
‘We must have our own black powder bombs, right? And oil . . . anything to make fire burn faster.’
‘I don’t know.’ Jakob shrugged. ‘Noah might.’
‘Let’s go.’ Ilgrin flew for what was left of the great tree. Countless whisps drifting up from the battlefield caused him to pause cringing. To add insult to injury, his soldiers were playing dirty.
After allowing Jakob to drop the final stride to his feet, Ilgrin landed ahead of him and raced down into the roots. He cast a worried glance into the flames devouring the upper parts of what was left of the tree. He couldn’t help but feel concerned about how long it would take before they reached the bottom.
‘We’ve got to get to the dungeon.’ Ilgrin put a hand on Jakob’s shoulder. ‘Take me by the quickest route you know.’
‘Sure,’ Jakob replied. ‘But I really wish you’d tell me what you’re planning.’
‘There’s no time.’ Ilgrin hurried through the massive doorway and into the main entrance.
‘Um, Ilgrin,’ Jakob called, forcing him to come to an abrupt stop. ‘It’s this way.’ He nodded toward a doorway across the room.
‘Right.’ Ilgrin hurried through the door and down a long curling staircase, before entering a crudely made tunnel with the occasional root prodding through the glistening dirt wall. ‘Quickly,’ Ilgrin urged, having noticed a rise in temperature.
‘Look,’ Jakob said, pointing at a large iron door.
‘Give me the keys,’ Ilgrin ordered the guard, tearing off the cumbersome Devil’s crown from his head and looping it around his belt.
‘My lord.’ The silt bowed deeply before handing them over.
‘Thank you.’ Ilgrin tried one of the keys in the lock only to find that it didn’t turn. He moved onto another one. ‘Now get yourself out of here. Quickly,’ he snapped at the guard. ‘The tree is burning down. Warn anyone else working underground who might be unaware.’
‘Immediately, Devil Sa’Enoch,’ the guard replied as he hurried along the length of the tunnel.
‘Got it.’ Ilgrin felt the third key move into place, turned it and was satisfied to hear the lock slide. He burst into the dungeon with Jakob at his heels and rushed over to the cage that housed the silt he was looking for. ‘Noah!’
‘The Devil honours me too much with such frequent visits,’ Noah uttered sarcastically as he approached the bars. ‘To what do I owe this pleasure?’
‘There must be a store room.’ Ilgrin gripped the bars. ‘I need black powder and anything else that’ll burn.’
‘And you think that I’m going to tell you where to find it?’ Noah laughed. ‘Why in Maker’s name would I do that?’
‘Because I’m your Devil,’ Ilgrin snarled, thrusting a hand through the bars to lock his fingers around Noah’s arm. He pulled him up against the cage and forced his hand around Ilgrin’s crown.
‘Stop!’ Noah cried, his hand blistering. ‘Please!’
‘Tell me!’ Ilgrin shouted, removing Noah’s hand from the crown, but maintaining his grip on the demon’s arm.
‘I’ll have to show you,’ Noah sobbed. ‘It’s too far away.’
‘All right,’ Ilgrin grumbled. ‘But if you so much as breathe the wrong way, you’ll suffer twice what you just did.’ He jangled the keys about until he found the right one and used it to open Noah’s door.
‘This way.’ Noah hurried toward the exit.
‘Noah,’ Ilgrin said softly, before moving to follow the silt. Noah turned around, his expression one of suspicion. ‘You should probably be warned that I have one of these now.’ Ilgrin moved his cape to reveal a pistol at his hip.
‘I understand,’ Noah uttered nervously.
‘Come on,’ Ilgrin said to Jakob, before the two hurried out of the dungeon after Noah.
Noah was fast and occasionally Ilgrin had to ask him to slow down for fear of losing him, but eventually they came to a room containing that which Ilgrin had been hoping for.
‘This is it?’ Ilgrin hurried into the room to examine the capsules and crates of weapons stacked up against the walls.
‘This is precisely what you need,’ Noah’s voice sounded strange over Ilgrin’s shoulder.
‘Watch out,’ Jakob yelped. Ilgrin spun around as quickly as possible, but in a room filled with weaponry Noah had known just where to find himself a pistol. The silt’s aim was perfect but Jakob leapt into the path of the bullet and received it in Ilgrin’s place.
The human hit the ground with a heavy thud as Ilgrin charged across the room and slammed Noah against the wall. His pistol tumbled from his hand and clattered across the bricks at the same time as the first dense cloud of smoke wafted into the room. At first Ilgrin suspected a whisp, but quickly recognised the dirtier colour for what it was.
‘Smoke?’ Noah’s eyes revealed his confusion.
‘Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just leave you here to burn in Hel,’ Ilgrin spat, shoving his arm up against Noah’s throat and waving his pistol in the man’s face.
‘Please,’ Noah begged weakly. ‘I was only doing what I had to.’
‘You’re pathetic.’ Ilgrin backed up toward the capsules of black powder and threw them onto a trolley, all the while keeping his weapon levelled at Noah’s face. Next he removed the large crates, before finally dragging Jakob out by his collar. He slammed the door and locked it to Noah’s pleas for his life.
‘Jakob,’ Ilgrin called out to the man, but he was dead. ‘Oh, for Maker’s sake.’ Ilgrin bit his lip in frustration. ‘I still need you.’ He put his hand against the man’s chest and felt it tingle.
The bullet squeezed its way out of Jakob and bounced across the floor as the wound in his chest healed over.
‘Ilgrin,’ Jakob gasped when his eyes burst open and his chest began to rise. ‘I thought you didn’t believe in--’ The man cut himself off by belching loudly. The black mist shot out of his mouth and oozed away from his flesh.
Ilgrin watched in captivated silence as the whisp drifted through the door he’d closed just moments earlier. ‘No!’ Noah cried. ‘Get it away from me. Help! Help me!’ Thereafter his words became unintelligible and the man simply screamed unceasingly.
‘Carry everything you can manage,’ Ilgrin ordered Jakob, only to observe the man struggling to lift a single crate. ‘Really?’ Ilgrin uttered disbelievingly. ‘Just push the trolley,’ he said, only to freeze at a loud banging behind him. Ilgrin followed the sound, his eyes coming to rest on the door and it occurred to him that Noah was no longer screaming.
The door shuddered violently a second time as something incredibly heavy slammed against it. With the next hit, the lock broke and the door flew op
en. There was a heavy thud that sounded like the footfall of a large animal. The creature Noah had become hunched low in order to squeeze through the doorframe. Oddly enough, the thing still bore Noah’s resemblance, but everything had gotten a lot larger and a lot more muscular. The mutant silt took a step into the light, boasting leathery grey skin and two large horns that’d sprouted from his head. His mouth curled up into a cruel smile, his eyes locked on Ilgrin and his laugher was revealed to be a menacing rumble.
‘Run!’ Ilgrin shouted, only to turn around and find that Jakob was already halfway down corridor.
The crates fell from Ilgrin’s arms as he raced along the passage, but he maintained his grip on one and hoped dearly that it contained what he needed. Noah thundered along after them, slowed down only by his sheer bulk and the immensity of his wings getting in the way as they dragged along the walls. Jakob disappeared around the corner up ahead, but almost immediately raced back toward Ilgrin, his face filled with fear. An explosion brought a ball of fire and flying bricks around the corner after him. Ilgrin leapt into the air, gripped Jakob’s shoulders in his toes and shot through a passageway above his head.
The level above was going down in flames. They hurried passed raging fires and around falling lumps of charred wood. ‘It’s this way.’ Jakob pointed. ‘We’ll have to go through the inner space.’
‘No problem,’ Ilgrin said sarcastically at the end of the tunnel and looked out into the cavity where not a single surface seemed to be free of flames. ‘Hold on,’ Ilgrin grabbed Jakob and pulled him into the air where they were struck by an almost unbearable wall of heat.
‘See there,’ Jakob gasped. ‘That’s the main entrance.’
Following the human’s extended finger, Ilgrin found the large double doors and was pleased to see the open woods beyond. Behind them the wall of the cavern erupted in a spray of flames and debris as Noah thrust himself into the open space. Ilgrin doubled his efforts in reaching the exit, but the distance between himself and Noah was decreasing rapidly. Snapping his wings shut, Ilgrin shot through the doorway and into the woods. He threw open his wings and fought for the sky.