Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3) (19 page)

“So what
happened?” Guilian asked. Garnet blinked and looked at the denarae lieutenant.
Guilian rarely spoke to them as a group.

“Mikal
happened,” Garnet replied. “They were getting ready to argue themselves out of
sending anyone but a handful of us when Birch introduced our new friend there,
and that pretty much shut all of them up. The presence of an angel, much less a
Seraph and the current Angel of Death himself, is more than a little startling.
He told them in no uncertain terms that they were to support our efforts and
start making preparations to march to Heaven.”

“I believe his
exact words,” Danner said, “were something like, ‘Don your armor, take up your
swords, and answer the call of Almighty God, who summons you to Heaven to take
your place in the eternal struggle against the forces of Hell.’”

“Poetic,”
Michael murmured.

“They apparently
thought so,” Garnet said with a smile. “Two of them even jumped to their feet
and volunteered to march with us.”

Michael frowned.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Garnet shrugged.
“I know one of them is Daevis, so it shouldn’t be too bad.”

“So that’s what
had you laughing?” Danner asked dubiously. “You laughed like a drunken ox all
the way Home?”

“That? No,”
Garnet shook his head, grinning. “Flasch just does really good impersonations
of the various council members when Mikal first revealed himself.”

- 2 -

Perklet leaned
heavily on Nuse’s shoulder as the two of them walked toward the Iron Axe Inn.
They had been on their way to visit Birch when a woman accosted them in the
streets, begging for help. She recognized Perklet’s green cloak and pleaded
tearfully for him to come help her sister, who was having a difficult birth.

Of course, they
had both gone, and only a few minutes ago they had departed from what should
have been a home filled with joy and wonder at a new life. Instead, they left
behind a home stricken by grief and death.

“Too many,”
Perklet murmured in a tired voice.

“Easy there,
Perky,” Nuse said. His skinny, aged limbs struggled to keep them both upright as
the Green paladin abruptly sagged against him.

“Hey,” Nuse
grunted. “Come on now, Perk. I’m as upset about that poor child as you are, but
collapsing and dragging me to the street with you is no way to deal with it.”

Perklet
straightened a bit, enough so Nuse could adjust himself to better bear the
stricken paladin’s weight. Perklet was more than a decade younger than Nuse,
who estimated he’d been alive for something over sixty years. He really wasn’t
sure how old he was. For most of his young life, his only concern had been
scrounging for food and warm clothing, not celebrating another year of
miserable poverty and degradation.

“We’re almost
there,” Nuse said, repeating it several times like a mantra for strength. “Get
a strong cup of cahve into you, maybe some good stiff spirits, and you’ll feel
a little more like yourself. Never knew anyone that a few good drinks didn’t
made them feel better. Warmer, too, and usually a bit more obnoxious, but
definitely feeling better.”

Perklet didn’t
respond.

Two blocks
later, Nuse stumbled up the stairs and managed to get the door open without
dropping the oblivious Perklet. He whistled for help, and immediately two
denarae were on-hand to relieve him of his burden. It was almost like they’d
been waiting for him.

“Nuse,” Danner
said in concern as he walked over, “what’s wrong with Perky?”

“He just needs
something to lift his spirits a bit, if you take my meaning,” Nuse said, miming
a drink. Danner nodded. “I wouldn’t mind a mug myself, if you’ve got one
handy.”

“Here comes
Alicia now with a little something,” Danner said, clapping his fellow Blue
paladin on the shoulder.

Nuse had always
liked Danner, even from the first time they’d met. Back then, Danner had been a
thief on the run from the Coalition of Men for Mankind, traveling with his
uncle for protection.

My how things
have changed,
Nuse thought.
Such a long road trod in so short a time,
and still so much further to go. At least for him. How much longer until my own
journey is over?

Nuse shied away
from such morbidity as he slumped into a chair and gratefully took a mug of
chilled ale from Alicia. He’d only met the barmaid a handful of times, and
she’d always been very sweet but with a core of steel – much like Moreen, he
mused. Nuse was glad Danner had found someone so suited to him. He took a deep
drink from the foamy mug and closed his eyes as the cool liquid hit his throat
then slowly coursed down to his stomach.

He sighed and
leaned back slowly in his chair.

“You all right,
Nuse?” Danner asked.

“Just age, lad,”
Nuse said wearily. “It’s creeping up even faster on me than my hair is creeping
away. It’s a race, I suppose, to see if I’ll die with any hair on my head, or
will my baldness beat me to the grave.”

Nuse glanced
around the room and saw Birch deep in conversation with a winged figure only a
few tables away. The aged paladin’s eyes widened as he pointed toward the
angel.

“Is that him?”
Nuse asked. “The Seraph who spoke to the Council today?” He stopped and shook
his head before Danner could reply. “Silly question, of course, unless you have
a platoon of angels hiding here.”

“The very same,”
Danner said, smiling. “Mikal, but sometimes we call him Thanatos to keep from
confusing him with our Michael.”

“
We call him
,”
Nuse repeated, rolling his eyes. “Like he’s a pet dog you have sitting around.”

Danner opened
his mouth to protest, but Nuse winked and waved it down.

“You want to
meet him?” Danner asked. “He’s a bit stiff and formal at times, but by and
large we’ve decided he’s okay now. He and Birch had a fight a while ago that
loosened him up a bit.”

“Your uncle
argued with an angel?” Nuse asked, his eyes widening. “Is he finally completely
mad?”

“Well, it was
more Kaelus than my uncle but it amounts to the same thing, and he didn’t so
much argue with Mikal as he did slug him,” Danner said with a shrug. Nuse
stared at him. “Here.” Danner raised a hand and beckoned toward them. “Mikal,
I’d like to introduce you to someone. Uncle, if you’ll do the honors.”

The two crossed
the room quietly and Nuse quickly clasped arms with Birch in greeting. Mikal
looked away from Danner and focused solely on the elderly paladin.

“Nuse, if I may
introduce Mikal the Seraph, or Thanatos, as he is currently the Angel of
Death,” Birch said, motioning to the gray angel. “Mikal, this is Nuse Rojena of
the Blue Facet. He was with me in the
jintaal
that slew one of The
Three, and he’s about as true of heart as they come.”

Nuse flushed
under the compliment, but shook the angel’s hand with unfeigned delight.

Mikal nodded
solemnly. “An honor.”

“Delighted to
meet you,” Nuse said with a boyish grin on his face.

“What’s with
Perky?” Birch asked, as they settled down in seats.

“We were called
on to help with a difficult birth on the way over here,” Nuse explained.
“Perklet’s good, but there wasn’t anything he could do. The mother made it
through okay, but the child only survived for a second or two outside her womb.
Poor thing never had a chance, and Perky’s taking it almost as hard as the
family did.”

Birch frowned.

“He had the same
thing happen a few days ago,” Birch said. “He mentioned it to me. Child born,
but died only a few seconds later.”

“It happened
here, too,” Danner said. “Remember, Alicia? Deshilla’s baby. We’d already gone
upstairs by the time Mo came out and told everybody.”

“That’s right,
she told me about it,” Birch said, but he shook his head. “I was busy at the
time, and it really didn’t sink in then.”

“So many
children,” Nuse said. “So young, so innocent.”

Abruptly Danner
stiffened, and he turned slowly to look at the gray angel sitting opposite him.
The Angel of Death.

“Thanatos,” he
said softly, deliberately using the angel’s title rather than his name, “do you
have anything to do with this? These deaths?”

The gray angel
regarded him silently. Danner was on the verge of repeating himself when Birch
spoke.

“Danner, what
are you saying?” his uncle asked sharply.

“Please forgive
me if I’m wrong about this, but under the circumstances,” Danner said, suddenly
aware he sounded an awful lot like Garnet had only a day or so before, when
he’d confronted Danner about his own suspicions. “There’s been a lot of
children born lately who’ve died immediately after, and it all started about
the same time as you came down from Heaven. I don’t mean to insult you, but it
has to be asked.”

Birch turned to
regard the death angel, a troubled expression on his face.

“Mikal?” he
asked slowly.

“It is not my
doing,” Mikal answered slowly, looking at Birch, not at Danner, “and I think if
you looked into it you would find it has been going on longer than I have been
on this world. Most likely, it goes back to the instant when Hell surprised us
all and began its assault directly on Heaven.”

Nuse frowned,
not understanding.

“Life comes from
the separation of Good and Evil,” Birch said slowly, turning it over in his mind
even as he spoke, “their separation, but recombination in mortals. At the time
of the Great Schism, Pleroma was split in half – two halves of infinite space –
and divided into Heaven and Hell. When that happened, life was created on this
world in the mortal plane.”

Mikal nodded.

“First, life was
simple creatures, nothing like the complex beings that exist today,” the angel
said, taking up Birch’s thread of thought. “Countless eons passed before
intelligent creatures evolved, but it wasn’t until sentient life developed that
anyone in either plane took notice of this new thing called
life
: life
that was created and had its being because the two pieces of the immortal plane
had been ripped apart.”

“And now Hell
has realigned with Heaven, and they are no longer entirely eparate,” Nuse said,
finally comprehending. He thought back to a conversation they’d had immediately
after the end of the Barrier War. “But that means…”

“Life itself is
in jeopardy,” Mikal said grimly. “If we lose… If Mephistopheles gains the
Throne of God and Heaven is destroyed, then everything living in this world
will cease. For now, it is mostly life that is in a weakened condition, like
newborns.”

“Are you saying
that as long as Hell is aligned with Heaven,” Alicia said, a tremor in her voice,
“any new child won’t survive his own birth?”

Danner turned to
look at her in concern and quickly grew worried when he saw Alicia’s skin was
deathly pale and she was trembling. He immediately stood and wrapped his arms
around her.

“Are you
thinking of Brican and Caeesha and the twins, love?” Danner whispered, trying
to understand why she was so stricken. “They’re still months away from being
born. We’ve got some time still.”

As Danner walked
off with Alicia trying to console her, Nuse watched the two of them go and
slowly shook his head. He didn’t think it was Brican – or his unborn children –
that had so upset her. Not that at all.

Birch slowly
stood and looked at Mikal and Nuse with a grim expression.

“I think now
would be a good time to retire for the evening,” he said. “I don’t know that I
want to think any further tonight on the implications of a whole generation of
children dead before their first breaths.”

He turned to
Nuse.

“There are extra
rooms here available,” Birch said. “I think someone has already helped Perky to
one, and you’re welcome to choose one for yourself. Just ask one of the house
maidens for help.”

Nuse nodded.

“I’d like to
stay up a while and speak with our friend here, if he’s amenable,” Nuse said,
looking hopefully at Mikal, who nodded.

“Good evening to
you both, then,” Birch said, then he left. He stopped and spoke softly to
Moreen, who nodded and said she’d join him shortly.

Nuse turned his
attention to Mikal, and only then did he realize he couldn’t think of a single
thing to say to him.

- 3 -

“Who are
you?”

“Oh, you know
who I am,” the Voice replied. “We’ve spoken many times before, but you always
forget, just as you will likely forget this conversation when we are through.
In truth, every mortal knows me, especially those who try so vehemently to deny
my existence. It’s quite amusing, really.”

“Why can’t I
see you?”

“You are
blind, mortal,” the Voice said with a dry laugh. “It is generally impossible to
see when one is incapable of sight.”

“My eyes…”

“Sliced
across the front by a demon’s burning claw two days ago,” the Voice said. “I
watched it happen. It looked quite painful, if your screams were any
indication.”

“Who are
you?” he demanded again. “What new torment is this? I warn you, spawn of Satan,
you will glean no satisfaction from me, whatever your aim.”

“Ah, so
certain of that, are you?” the Voice asked with another laugh. “You assume,
then, that you know what will satisfy me. A most treacherous assumption, that. And
you throw about the Dark One’s name with such courageous disregard. Or is it
arrogance?”

He waited a
long moment, but the Voice let the silence drag on. Finally, he asked, “What do
you want from me, demon?”

“The same
thing I want from all the paladins who are brought here,” the Voice said. “To
speak with you and learn who you are.”

“Why? So you
can better know us and find new ways to torture us?”