There But For The Grace (26 page)

I had to hope that my dream had actually been a vision, and that something would keep the attention of the sentries on the wall turned outward, or I’d have no chance. At the same time, some small part of me hoped that Adelaide had stayed well away from Hell.

I moved around more of the tombs, heading steadily away from where I’d entered the circle. I managed to ambush three more Demons, finishing two with the sword and crushing the throat of the third with my bare hand. I hid the bodies against a tomb wall as best I could in limited time, so they wouldn’t be too obvious a trail, and moved on as quickly as I dared.

Just as I thought I might be clear, there was a shout from behind me, calling out movement. There was a renewed sound of wingbeats, and the Fallen were on my trail again. I did my best to lose them in the maze of tombs again, once more managing to finish a pair of hunting Demons before they gave away my exact location. As I dragged their bodies to hide them, with the sound of pursuit all too close, I caught sight of movement further down the row of buildings. Two damned souls, one I recognized as having escaped from the River Phlegethon, the other one of those I’d released from the tombs, huddled behind a tomb, watching in terrified silence.

There was a few moments that I was sure they were about to call out and give away my location. After all, it only made sense that they’d do so, in hopes of negotiating some lesser punishment. I flattened myself back against the wall, readying myself to run, but froze instead, trying to evade the gaze of the Fallen Angel who rounded a tomb with a pack of several Demons with him. Apparently he was entirely willing to suggest most of the Demons split into teams of twos and threes, but he preferred to keep an honor guard of sacrificial sword-catchers with him.

Just as I was sure he would see me, there was a shout, and a flash of movement, as the pair of damned souls called out, and then ran. The Fallen turned only in time to see the rapid movement disappearing, not soon enough to distinguish who was fleeing from him. He gave a shout and started in pursuit, with his band of Demons racing to catch up. With such a clear signal, others followed.

The two souls would surely be caught in short order, but they’d drawn the pursuit away from me and bought me time, entirely aware of what they were doing. There was absolutely nothing I could do for them at the moment but honor their sacrifice, and hope that it might earn them kinder quarters come judgment. I did make sure I remembered their faces in hopes of eventually putting names to them. Otherwise, I limped along, running as best I could for the fortress walls.

***

I emerged from the tombs into the wide clearing leading to the climb. At the top of the steep ascent were the walls of the City of Dis, the ‘city’ being the last four circles of Hell, separated from the upper levels. The walls were consistently guarded by Fallen Angels, often supported by bands of Demons. They wouldn’t be loyal to the Grigori, and more than a few of the officers were especially noted for their loyalty to Lucifer or others of great influence. Elsewhere, I’d likely benefitted from the politics of Hell. With so much of their history defined by betrayal and so much of their experience defined by exposure to sin, few of the truly powerful trusted one another. There was plenty of effort to hunt me in the pits, but little coordination between most of the bands. Once I’d emerged, Gadreel and those loyal to him would have done all they could to conceal the damage for a while—and even once it was discovered, I had no doubt they’d blame some of the Demons for failing, if questioned. Likewise, those who left their stations at the river would have preferred to conceal their failure, trying to round up the lost quickly.

The wall would offer no such division. If spotted, be shot down, and they’d question the situation later. The keys would go straight to Lucifer, instead of being used in an attempt to claim them as a bargaining chip. Most of these were known for their obedience, so if the war happened, and Hell won, they’d reap the rewards of good soldiers.

Their primary task might be keeping the belligerent masses of the wrathful who wandered the swampy grounds of the Fifth layer away from the walls, but unless there was an attack of large enough scale to draw a lot of attention—rare, since the damned of the Fifth usually fought each other far more than they ever unified in any way—they’d be watching for threats from within, too.

Despite that, as I started the long ascent from the plains of the Sixth layer up to the base of the walls, there were no warning cries, and better, no arrows. Exhaustion and pain threatened to slow my pace, but worry of being seen from either the plains of the tombs below, or the walls above, kept me climbing. In looking up, I was certain on a regular basis that arrows would rain down any second, or that someone had spotted me, but no arrows and no shouts came. I finally felt a brief surge of hope and reassurance when I pulled myself up and rolled over onto the top of the hill where it flattened out, eventually meeting the walls at their base.

It was only then that I looked out over the plains below, to see a trio of winged figures flying towards my position. While too far away at the moment to make out much detail, I suspected that Gadreel had either seen movement against the still rock of the rise between layers, or simply figured that if he hadn’t found sign of me yet down below, best to see if I’d moved on. I had a little more time before they’d be on me, but not much.

I could also hear shouting from the walls and the gatehouse far above me. Something had to be going on out beyond the wall, or they’d have seen me. With nothing else to go on, I had to suppose that what I’d seen in the tombs was, indeed, a vision. If so, I had to hurry, as there wasn’t much that would last against the significant number of Fallen Angels that manned the walls, unless, somehow, Michael and the other archangels had raided and gotten through the gates.

Checking what lay in front of me, I determined my best chance and best cover was the gatehouse. Heavy chains added to the look of the place and ran from the gatehouse to the doors. Closed as they were, they hung down far enough that I thought I could climb to them. The walls were invulnerable enough that I wasn’t able to dig my sword in to aid in climbing. Likewise, it had enough infernal protections that smiting it wasn’t going to work. I was, finally, able to dig my sword in to gaps between the stones, and found just enough finger and toe holds to make progress. I hugged as tightly to the wall as I could on the way up, hoping to avoid notice a bit longer.

I finally reached the chains, able to climb faster up the links, moving towards the gatehouse. An arrow grazed my shoulder, and struck the wall. A glance back confirmed that it had been fired from behind me, not above—one of the two Fallen Angels with Gadreel had fired at long range. I was fortunate that the first had taken an ill-considered shot, because the other also had his bow out, and was more accurate. I swung around on the chain, avoiding the shot, which struck the wall where I’d been a moment before. Gadreel had skipped drawing his bow and just charged onwards, sword in hand. The one thing they didn’t do was warn the gatehouse that I was approaching, perhaps hoping they’d get one, last chance to dislodge me and fight me at the base of the wall while those loyal to higher powers were still distracted. If so, I was going to disappoint them.

Avoiding two more shots, I finished pulling myself up the chain, and swung into the gatehouse, drawing my sword as I did. The four Fallen within the structure had bows drawn and were focused on the front of the walls, and now that I was here, I could hear shouting and the clash of metal on stone. I was on them quickly, putting my sword through a ribcage before they’d turned. I grabbed a second, cutting his throat, and then hung on, using him like a shield when a third turned and fired his bow at point-blank range on reflex. I pushed my shield at him before he could drop the bow and go for his sword—and put my own blade through his eye. Only the fourth managed to draw his sword, while the others turned to smoke.

He immediately went on the attack without a word, lunging at me. At least he hadn’t sounded the alarm yet. I managed to turn his attack aside and fenced back and forth with him in the enclosed space. We locked swords, fighting a battle of strength for a few moments, with my legs feeling like they were going to buckle. I managed to push him away, setting him stumbling, though he righted himself by the door. Winged forms landed behind him, and the guardsman grinned. “A nice try, but—”

He was cut off as Gadreel’s sword plunged through his back, the guard’s eyes opening wide. Before he could turn to smoke and flee, Gadreel’s blade took his head off. “No witnesses, and now, Tabbris, nowhere to go.” He glanced at the pair behind him. “Don’t let him out.” The two moved to stand sentry at the door and the main window, readying their blades, while Gadreel advanced on me. I blocked his first swing, but the force of it knocked my sword out of the way. I ducked back just in time to avoid his follow-up swing, not able to get my guard back up in time.

I blocked another forceful blow, but it almost knocked me off my feet. When I staggered into reach of the door, Gadreel’s companion stabbed at me. I managed to catch my balance in time to partly sidestep, only taking a deep gash in the side. I couldn’t get my sword ready, but did elbow my attacker hard in the face. Unfortunately, Gadreel was back on me before I could follow up. I managed to turn his sword aside, but not all of his momentum. He crashed into me, leading with his shoulder, knocking me away from the door. He swung several rapid-fire blows, driving me back towards a corner of the room, while his helper got back to the door, face covered in his own blood, glaring at me from there.

When he thought he had me pinned, Gadreel smashed my sword aside again and lunged. I dropped to one knee, ducking under the sword, which hit the wall behind me. I pushed off from there, driving my shoulder into his stomach and driving him backwards again, eventually colliding him into the winch and chains for the doors. He hit hard enough to turn the crank, and, with a groan, the heavy doors creaked open just slightly. Within moments, the sounds from the other side of the walls intensified.

Gadreel kicked me away, and this time I did hit the ground, rolling too near the window that I’d originally climbed into the room through. His guardian there leaned in, stabbing at me. I caught his wrist, stopping his stab before the blade went very deep into my stomach, then held it there. He tried to pull back and free his arm, but before he could, I slashed down at his forearm with my sword, cutting deep.

The Fallen Angel screamed and staggered back, less one arm. He stumbled off the narrow platform on the other side of the window, still screaming. Had there been less noise from whatever was going on at the gates, someone would have certainly heard. I recovered his sword but hadn’t gotten up by the time Gadreel was on me again. I managed to get the borrowed sword up to block his swing, then stabbed with my own. Gadreel grunted in pain as the sword cut into Angelic flesh, but I’d only hit his side, nothing vital. He backed away long enough for me to get back to my feet, then came back at me while I was still off-balance. Unable to fly, going back through the window wouldn’t help me, just send me back to the base of the wall, where I’d be dead soon enough. I lunged to the side instead of parrying, which he didn’t seem to expect. His sword still left a cut across my shoulder, and I was too off-balance to take advantage of his miss. At least, by the time he turned towards me again, I was back in fighting stance.

I managed to turn his next swing aside with the off-hand blade, following up with my own sword again. This one hit his left arm as he tried to side-step, leaving a deep, bloody gash. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d hoped for, and he was right back at it, while I was struggling just to remain standing. I kept parrying the attacks, but had to give ground each time. I had a choice to make, either let him drive me towards the corner, or towards the door. Either one gave him a different advantage. I chose the door, slowly giving way, parrying with one blade, lashing back with the other, without any further success, aside from occasionally backing him off, or forcing him to use his blade defensively. At one of the points he stepped back from a thrust, and I lifted my sword again, I caught a flash of movement behind me in the reflection on my blade. The other Fallen was preparing to stab me in the back when Gadreel pushed me far enough, if not just planning to join the fight, as if I wasn’t losing badly enough.

When Gadreel next came at me, I surprised him by retreating quickly, turning away from his swing, and in the process, swinging at the Fallen. He was raising his sword, readying for a swing, and I caught him in the stomach with a thrust from the other Fallen’s sword. Gadreel followed up faster than I could get any kind of defense for—before I could pull the sword free of the Fallen Angel’s stomach, Gadreel’s own blade flashed down, taking my hand off at the wrist. It was only desperation that let me catch his next swing with my own sword, locking blades with him. Before he could shove me backwards, I drove the bleeding stump of my left hand into his face. Gadreel staggered back, blinded. Unfortunately, I was too slow to take advantage, and by the time I had recovered my senses enough to attack again he was able to block my blow. He blocked the next as well, even more easily, then responded in kind. I was able to keep it from being a lethal blow, but was not able to turn the swing aside entirely, taking another deep cut in the process.

I deflected a couple more attacks with increasing difficulty, struggling to stay on my feet. Once again, I found myself giving ground, until I slipped in the blood on the floor. While I didn’t fall, Gadreel still took good advantage. He lunged, and all I managed with my attempt to block was shifting the sword-thrust aside slightly, so when he plunged it through my stomach, it wasn’t as lethal as it could have been—which made it no less painful.

He twisted the blade in my guts, trying to force a scream out of me, while pushing me back against the wall. When I didn’t oblige, biting down to choke back the scream, he twisted the other way. I hammered down with my stump of an arm on his hands, but accomplished nothing. “So close, Tabbris. So close. And now you’re going to die here.”