When Angels Fall (Demon Lord) (10 page)

“I cannot even hea
r prayers here,” Bane remarked.

“Is that significant?”

“It could be. Whatever wards guard this place must be truly impenetrable.” He rose to his feet. “Come on, I am eager to quit this hellhole.”

Majelin guided the tar’merin back to the stream, which was deserted, and they settled down to wait for someone to come. A
fter a couple of hours, Andriss appeared on the path, buckets in hand. Apparently she was the village’s main water bearer. Bane waited until she filled her buckets before he rose and stepped into the open. Majelin followed, more confident now that Bane was in charge. Andriss shrieked, dropped the buckets and fled, but Bane overtook her in a few strides, caught her arm and jerked her to a halt. She let out an ear-splitting scream before he clamped a hand over her mouth, and she struggled like a wild cat. Pinning her to his chest, he dragged her into the forest, pushed her against a tree trunk and frowned at her.

“I will let you go if you swear not to scream.”

Her eyes darted, white-ringed, but she nodded.

Bane released her and stepped back. “You will take us to the portal. If you attempt to run or scream, I will stop you, and I can, very easily.”

She looked ready to bolt, but stood still, licking her lips. “You-you’re the blue mage?”

“If that is what he told you, it will do. Get moving.”

Andriss shot the archangel a half-amazed, half-accusing look and led them upstream, casting many glances over her shoulder at Bane. Majelin wondered at her fear, for it seemed too intense for a blue mage to inspire. Perhaps she recognised Bane for what he truly was, even without his power, but if she could do that, it meant she had met a dark god before, which seemed unlikely.

Only a few grassy clearings and an occasional lake broke the woodland’s monotony, and it
lacked wildlife. Apart from the carolling birds that flitted amongst the branches, he only glimpsed a deer and a fox. The place had an eerie ambience, he decided, even though it was ostensibly nothing more than a verdant, almost uninhabited land. Perhaps because he knew that changelings hunted here, and every shadow and rustling bush alarmed him.

After about three hours, Andriss led them into a clearing with a ring of dolmens at its centre and gestured to it. “There. We all wake up in the centre of that.”

Bane studied it. “You do not remember how you got into it?”

“No.”

“So, you were taken while you slept.”

“I suppose so.”

“It was not a question.” Bane approached the stones, passing through the ring to stop beside the weathered altar stone in the middle. He ran his hand over it, and where he touched it runes became visible, glowing with soft blue light.

“What is it?” Majelin asked.

“I am unsure.” Bane examined the runes, frowning. “It is ancient… possibly predating this domain.” Going over to the ring, he ran his hand over a standing stone, igniting blue runes in it. The surface of the stones, Majelin realised, was so weathered that the carved runes had long since been obliterated.

The Demon Lord snatc
hed his hand away with an oath and strode out of the ring.

The archangel hurried after him. “What is it?”

Bane stopped and turned to frown at the ring. “That is not blue power, it is white, and it was created by a Grey God.”

Majelin’s jaw dropped. “How do you know that?”

“I sensed it, and the runes are written in the language of the gods.”

“But the light in the runes looked blue to me.”

“It is fading. Whatever power source kept the portal active is almost depleted, and soon it will not work anymore.”

“Thank the stars for that,” Andriss muttered.

Bane swung on her. “Why? So your blighted offspring can wipe out domains?”

“They would not!”

“They are soul eaters. They would rampage through worlds, draining their inhabitants to death, if they were not confined here. One of the Grey Gods did this, perhaps Ordur, to prevent that from happening, but you know better?”

She looked uncertain and wary. “So can you make it take us out of here?”

“No.” Bane marched off.

Majelin caught up and fell into step beside him. “Where are we going now?”

“To the boundary.”

“Why?”

“Because it holds the answer to escaping this place.”

“How so?”

“This place is more than just ancient,” Bane said, “it is from the Times of Reckoning, when the Grey Gods started forming domains and created the first humans. Angels were already around, and apparently one fell in love with a human. Their child was doubtless the reason Ordur created this place for them, and I guess they lived out their lives here. I would imagine Ordur predicted more offspring of angel-human relationships and set up that portal, which is, in fact, a Fetch. A white one, which I did not know existed, and should not, because it robs whoever it snatches of their free will, a fundamental right the Grey Gods gave to every living thing. In this case, though, it was warranted, to keep the other worlds safe. If those changelings got loose, they would not only kill people and angels, they would breed, and overrun domains.

“Here, they cannot; there are not enough resources. That Fetch locates changelings in the womb and brings them and their parents here. It is a punishment of sorts, I suppose, and to ensure the children have parents to feed on. Only a Grey God could have created a Fetch like that one, able to jump from domain to domain throughout the God Realm. Usually
, a Fetch has a fixed entry point, but then, I know little about the white power.

“When Pretarin created his domain, he unwittingly incorporated this place into it, and since then
I think the domain has been draining the Oracle that powers this place. It is almost depleted. I do not have to tell you what will happen then, although hopefully Ordur will step in and create another place like this when he realises what has happened, but probably not before some changelings are born outside.”

Majelin digested this for several minutes, stunned. “How can an Oracle become drained? I did not think that was possible.”

“Neither did I, but this is a weird place and its Oracle is ancient. Perhaps two Oracles cannot exist so close to each other.”

“What do you think we are going to find at the boundary?”

“The wards that hide this place,” Bane said.

“And then?”

“I will have to deactivate them and form a Gateway to get us out of here.”

“Will that not allow others to escape, or enter?” the angel asked.

“No. Only those who have their Eyes upon it will see it, but the inhabitants do not have the power to escape it. The wards will only be inactive for a few minutes.”

“So this place has no realm gate?”

Bane glanced at him. “Perhaps. I do not know. I think it is more like a mid realm.” His eyes focussed on something behind Majelin, and he stopped and swung around.

The archangel also halted and turned. Andriss
stood a few paces away, looking nervous.

“Why do you follow us?” Bane asked. “Go back to your village.”

“Please take me with you. I don’t belong here. I have no child.”

“That does not make you innocent,” Majelin said. “You conceived one.”

Bane eyed him. “How could she have known about changelings outside when none are ever born there, unless someone told her?”

“Angels know, and her mate told her. She told me they hoped to have many years before they were cursed with a changeli
ng child.”

Andriss bowed her head. “We didn’t know we’d be sent here. Fyrth said our child would be cursed, and drain our spirits for the rest of our lives, that’s all!”

Bane raised his brows. “And that was not enough?”

“We loved each other! Do you know what that’s like?”

“Oddly enough, I do.” He turned and continued through the forest. “But you are not coming with us, so go back to your village.”

“Please!” she wailed. “It’s not like I’m going to do it again!”

Majelin caught up with Bane. “You know, if she goes back, she could tell the changelings, and they might find us before you make the Gateway.”

Bane stopped again and looked back. “If she comes with us, she will tell others about this place. Even demons do not come here. If a dark god hears the tale, he might release the changelings.”

“Could he? And would the Fetch not bring them back if they escaped?”

“Only until it runs out of power; and yes, of course a dark god could open a Gateway, just as I am going to do.”

“But he would have to do it from inside, right?”

“No. Gateways can bring or send, as their creator wishes.” Bane frowned at Andriss, who sniffled and shuffled her feet. “All right… but I will have to remove her memories of this place once we are free of it
. That is the only way to keep the secret safe.”

“I am sure she will be glad to forget it.”

“Yes, and she will probably commit her folly again and end up right back here.”

“Perhaps not, if you warn her about it,” Majelin said. “Anyway, the chances of her meeting and falling in love with another angel, and of him falling in love with her, are slim to none. It is not like it happens all that often. These people come from all over the God Realm, and yet there are only about twenty couples
in the village, so it is extremely rare.”

“True. Angels consider humans beneath them.”

“Well… they are rather… ordinary, compared to us.”

Bane smi
led. “You are a snob, Majelin.”

“You disagree?”

“Oh, your kind is certainly more interesting, and more annoying, I find.” Bane beckoned to Andriss, who hurried up to them, her eyes full of hope. “You may come,” he said, “but I shall wipe out your memories of your beloved and this place once we leave it, understand? If you want to keep those memories, you will have to stay here.”

“No, I want to leave. Many of my memories are horrible. I’ll be glad to forget them.” She paused, her expression becoming distant. “Soon after we got there, one of the changelings decided that he wanted me for himself, and took too much life force from me, to kill my child. He said
that if I didn’t give up Fyrth and go with him, he’d kill Fyrth, too. Fyrth tried to protect me, and Morphus killed him. He still pursued me, even then, even though I told him I’d rather die than be his, and… I killed him. The changelings hate me because of that, so they make my life hell.”

A heavy silence fell while Bane studied the girl, wondering what it was about her that had inspired an angel to love her, then he raised his brows at Majelin. “That is a lot of killing.”

The archangel nodded. “Love can do that. I am sure you would do whatever it took to protect your wife, just as I would to protect mine. I will never understand angels who fall in love with humans, though. They know the consequences, yet they do it anyway.”

“Could you have avoided falling in love with your wife?”

“No…” Majelin sighed and shook his head. “I suppose they are happy until the first child comes. Angels fall in love forever, but humans only live a short time, so they spend the rest of their lives alone in this place.”

“They have their children,”
Bane said.

“Oh, I am sure they are a great comfort.”

“Indeed.” Bane set off through the forest once more.

Majelin would have followed, but Andriss caught his arm and asked, “How can a blue mage wipe out memories?”

“I do not know. Do I look like an expert on blue mages?”

Majelin shook her off and strode after the dark god. She was no fool, he sensed, but she would find out what Bane truly was when he opened the Gateway. Then it would be too late for her to run back to he
r village with the information.

Chapter
Five

Hidden World

Kayos sat back and ran a hand over his hair, scowling at the Eye.

Drevarin glanced at him. “What is it?”

“I know where they are. Those standing stones… It is a place called Arvandeth, which means ‘hidden world’. Ordur created it as a prison, and its inmates must never be freed. They are extremely dangerous.”

“Could Bane free them when he tries to get out?”

“No, but he will reveal it for a moment.”

“And dark gods might see it,” Drevarin said. “What are the
inmates?”

“An unforeseen and unfortunate result of love’s power: angel-human hybrids. They are soul eaters.”

“By the light… Could the Grey Gods not have prevented such a thing?”

“No
, but we rectified it. Angels and humans are worlds apart in some ways, but a fundamental part of their blueprint is similar. Arvandeth was created to house them, since we did not know what to expect. The possibility that they would be dangerous was taken into account, and they and their parents were imprisoned there. There is no way out of that place that I know of. Ordur made sure of it. Bane is trapped.”

“Could Ordur not free him?”

“I do not know. I did not participate in Arvandeth’s creation. It is possible that Ordur has a key, but even if I send him a message, by the time he gets here, Tolrar, Jerriss and Scryon will have risen again.”

“So… is there nothing you can do to help Bane?”

Kayos glanced at Mirra, who gazed at him with deep anguish, and silently cursed the seemingly innocuous series of events that had led to this disastrous end, starting with Majelin’s fall. Fate sometimes conspired to enmesh gods in particularly convoluted events for reasons that only became clear after much strife. He sensed that this was one such situation, and wished that his dark son had not attracted fate’s attention.

“
Not at the moment,” he said. “Several millennia after its creation, Arvandeth vanished completely. Even the Grey Gods who knew where it was could not find it. We could only surmise that the angel-human hybrids had become so dangerous that Carthius, the light god chosen to watch over them, had sealed it. No one has found Arvandeth since then, and the only reason I can see within it now is because my Eye has followed Bane there. Arvandeth is far older than this domain, and this Oracle did not sense it because it is hidden. It is so ancient, in fact, that it was created in the old way, with the light realm on the same plain of existence as the mid realm, sealed off by a world gate. It has a dark realm, but it is not a true domain.”

Bane arrived at the boundary as the pseudo-sun sank beyond the forest, and stared at it, fascinated. It appeared to be a ball of white fire somehow bound to the outer boundary, and he surmised that it travelled underground during the night to emerge on the far side of the realm each morning. Similar to a domain, but on a far smaller scale and without the vast area of space around it that formed the sky. He would have liked to study it more closely, but the pressing issue of escaping this place before its inhabitants found them prevente
d him.

Turning his attention to the sheer cliff of black stone that rose from the forest floor to be swallowed by the haze high above, he strolled along it, searching for the runes that formed the wards. Majelin and Andriss trailed him, both apparently too tired after the long trek to ask questions or make observations. The trio had stopped to rest twice along the way, slaked their thirst in streams and lakes and picked wild fruit to eat. The realm was quite vast, so it was fortunate that the village and portal were fairly close to the boundary. The cliff was not as weathered as the ring of dolmans, and after half an hour or so of walking he spotted a sequence of runes carved deep into the rock, just within reach. Bane stopped beneath them and ran his hand over them, causing them to ignite with sullen blue fire that faded slowly when he removed his hand. The simplicity of the wards surprised him somewhat. They owed their power to their creator, not to the intricacy of the binding they placed upon this realm, and he suspected that they had
been woven into the ley lines.

There were no runes that deactivated the wards, but he had not been expecting any. He pondered what he would have to do and its possible consequences. Once he had created a deactivation for the wards, others would be able use it, but he doubted that any of the realm’s inhabitants would possess the necessary knowledge. It had to be done, regardless.

Behind him, Majelin cursed and Andriss gasped, and Bane swung around. Changelings emerged from the forest, at least twenty by his count, and most stared at him with obscene hunger. Some even licked their lips. Bane frowned at them as Majelin sidled towards him, wondering if Andriss had betrayed them somehow. The girl looked frightened and dismayed, however, so perhaps the changelings had followed their trail. Their features shifted almost constantly in a bizarre and horrible way, one moment angelic, the next human, with a strange blurry, smeared phase in between. Some had stunted wings that shrank and grew as their aspect changed, and the women’s rough grey shifts only reached to mid-thigh, revealing shapely legs, while the men wore the same coarse brown homespun shirts and trousers as the boys. Their clothes were too small, as if they had no way of making new ones once they left their parents.

Most appeared to be in their prime, while a few looked a bit younger, but it was hard to tell, with their ever-changing
faces. In their more angelic forms, they possessed a strange, savage beauty, but the switch to the more human aspect made it uglier by comparison. Some had brown hair and others blond, and a few had feathers sprouting from their forearms. Bane blinked, noting that their corrupted souls, most a deep crimson or a mixture of mauve and green, suffused them, as angels’ spirits did. So, they had the souls of angels, usually immune to corruption, as far as he knew. Somehow, human blood made them vulnerable.

A tall, golden-eyed woman with blonde hair tied up in a
crude plait approached Majelin, who quickened his retreat. She studied Bane, her expression a little wary. “Newcomers are most welcome here.” She showed pearly teeth in a false smile. “But since neither of you have a wife and unborn child, we have to wonder how you got here. Not through the portal, I will wager.”

Andriss
sprinted for the forest, and yelped as two changelings grabbed her.

The woman glanced at her. “How did they get here?”

“He-he said they came through a black trap.”

The woman stopped a few paces from Bane and tilted her head as her visage transformed into an angelic
one. “Do you know what we are?”

“I do, but you would be foolish to attack me
, and dead shortly thereafter. Did the children tell you of their encounter with me?”

Her eyes narrowed. “So, you are a blue mage?”

“Even that should give you pause.”

A man shouted, “Enough talk, Anneska, let us feed!”

She shot him a quelling look before frowning at Bane again. “You claim to be more?”

One of the men who held Andriss captive clasped her face and kissed her savagely, and she sagged, fa
lling to her knees with a moan.

Bane raised his brows and shot Majelin an incredulous look. “That is how they do it?”

The angel nodded, looking sick. “It is vile.”

“In more ways than one.”

“We can draw life force from any part of your body,” Anneska said, “but we prefer to do it in a kiss. So much more poetic, do you not agree? A kiss of death, if we choose. We let her live because she is bait. We capture many humans with her, because the males think she is pretty, and the children use her as a snack.”

“How many humans are there?”

“A lot.” Her eyes glinted. “They breed like rats in their stupid city. Do not imagine you are safe because you are a mage. All mortals are mere sustenance to us.”

Two of the bigger men sidled closer to Bane, their eyes shifty and faces tense. Since she appeared to be the ringleader, he took control of the woman
’s mind with a lash of thought.

“You two, stop!” she cried.

They froze, casting her puzzled, angry looks, and the taller man demanded, “Why? Enough playing with him; we are hungry.”

She blinked rapidly as she fought Bane’s control, and her mental strength surprised him. He increased the power of his psychic hold and forced her to say, “He is right, we should not attack them. We do not know what he is or what he could do to us. I think he is dangerous.”

The two men scowled at her, and the rest muttered. “That is not what you said a moment ago,” the tall man said.

“I have changed my mind. Leave him.”

“No. You are wrong. We will feed.”

“He will kill you!”

“What happened to your courage? You fear a mere man?”

Anneska grimaced
as she struggled against Bane’s psychic hold. “He is more. I know not what, but he is not a mere man.”

“So he is a mage, so what?”

“He has powers.”

“So do we.” The changeling
glanced back at his cohorts. “Come on!”

The big men and several others charged Bane, and he took control of a few more of them, making them stop, but there were too many and their ability to defy his control was strong. Just before they reached him, he jerked up his chin, flinging them away with the power of his mind. They fell with thuds and grunts, as did Majelin, and
the women and Andriss sprawled.

Bane frowned at his would-be attackers. “Leave, now, or you will regret it.”

A numbing shock fizzled through his mind, making him stagger back and clutch his temples as the changelings scrambled up and charged him again. Once more, he flung them away, and a second, more powerful mental blow made him reel sideways and fall to one knee. The psychic attack surprised him, and he surmised that it must be a bastardised angel talent they had inherited. It would have incapacitated a normal man, and it was targeted at him, for Andriss and Majelin were unaffected. The changelings scrambled up again, some appearing a little dazed, but they closed in on him, undaunted. He rose to his feet and summoned the shadows.

“Clearly you idiots have never encountered a dark god before.”

Bane raised his hands as the changelings approached, some of them circling to try to get behind him. That would not do them any good, he reflected, but they seemed singularly uneducated when it came to dealing with a dark god. Evidently their angel parents had not seen fit to teach them about the dangers of the darkness, never expecting them to encounter it in this protected place, and they lacked an angel’s instincts. If they ever escaped, he suspected that they would soon fall foul of a dark god and become his slaves or perish at his hands. Their ability to feed on life force would delight their master, so perhaps sealing them away in this place had been a mercy, too. Ordur must have known they would be used for evil purposes if they were allowed to roam free, even in the God Realm, where their need for spirit energy would force them to hunt mortals. For once, he faced people who did not fear him, and wished they did.

The changelings rushed at him, and he gestured, unleashing the black fire in burning swathes that crisped those closest to him. They collapsed, howled and writhed as the shadows consumed them. Two exploded in red sprays, splattering their comrades with shredded meat, blood and offal. The survivors cowered and beat a hasty retreat, looking at Anneska for guidance. She snarled, scowling, and swung away to stride into the forest. The rest followed, casting many angry, hungry looks back at Bane. Majelin brushed at the gore that clung to his skin, his face twisted with disgust, and Andriss
dry heaved.

The Demon Lord turned back to the cliff, keen to form the Gateway and leave this accursed place and its dangerous denizens before they came up with a plan to incapacitate him. Now that they knew about him, they would probably stalk him, waiting for an opportunity to catch him off guard, which would make sleeping difficult. The depleted power source concerned him, too. If the changelings escaped, they would wreak havoc in Sherinias’ domain.
He read the sequence of runes that sealed this realm off from the rest of reality, seeking the answer to deactivating the wards in the knowledge the dark power bestowed. The answer came to him within moments, despite the ancient language the wards were written in, for the darkness was just as primeval.

Bane wrote a shadowy runic sequence in the air and spoke their names in a whispery voice, then motioned at the cliff. The runes shot into the stone with a puff of dust, forming a line of chiselled symbols filled with black fire. Bane stepped back as some of the runes on the cliff face glowed soft blue. Lines of them lighted and dimmed all along it, disappearing into the haze on both sides as his command sparked a reaction from the white wards. Perhaps, if the power source that fed them had not been so depleted, his disarming might not have worked. These were not true boundary wards, which could not be disarmed; they merely hid the realm and blocked everything that tried to get out and much of what sought to get in, save Kayos’ Eye. The white wards brightened all along the realm’s boundary as they fought his command runes, then, with a deep chime, they went dark. For the first time in millennia, the hidden realm was visible to any god who happened to be watching.