Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3) (31 page)

“Just be sure
and take care of yourself, too, Perky,” Nuse said seriously. “You won’t be able
to help anyone if you neglect yourself and fall by the wayside.”

“I will, I
will,” Perklet said, nodding his head.

The Blue and
Yellow paladins stood and the trio embraced.

“You two take
care of yourselves,” Perklet said. “It’s a long road there and back again, so
hurry safely.”

“Hurry safely,”
Nuse laughed. “I like that.”

“Take care,
Perky,” James said.

Perklet left the
pair, a warm glow filling his body. He started walking toward the denarae camp,
but stopped halfway there when he saw a soft, steady orange glow coming from
behind a rock. He moved closer out of curiosity until he heard a pair of low
voices. The orange light winked out for an instant, then was back again. Edging
a little closer, he identified one of the voices as Birch, then the other as
Moreen.

“…when this war
is over, there’ll be nothing left to keep us apart,” Birch was saying. “I swear
by my life and by God Himself, Moreen, I’ll make it up to you somehow. All
these years, I… I don’t know how I could have left you, or why you waited.”

“You know why I
waited, Birch,” Moreen answered softly. “I love you, and I know you love me.
You remember in Demar when I told you that you’d have to fight for us? You have
been, my love, and that’s made all this time bearable. I know your heart is
torn, and I know where I must fall if it comes to a question between me and
God. I accept that, because it’s part of who you are, and who I love.

“But Birch, no
matter what, I will always and have always been with you in heart and spirit,”
she continued. “I followed you when you had to choose God again, and I’d do it
again and again, just to be with you.” She paused, and Perklet thought he could
hear the smile in her voice when she added, “I’m a very patient and determined
woman, and I get what I set my eyes on. Hell and death haven’t been able to
keep us apart, and they never will.”

Perklet heard a
rustle of cloth and leather as the two embraced, and he crept quietly away. He
smiled bittersweetly at the thought of the two lovers kept so long apart. One
of the things Perklet had always admired and desired to emulate in Birch was
his sense of determination and will power. Nothing could stop him! Perklet
feared that, if faced with a true test of will, he would fail long before those
more tempered around him.

Continuing on to
the denarae camp, Perklet passed Brican and Caeesha, who lay gently embracing
each other as they stared into a small fire. There were tears in both denarae’s
eyes, and Perky hurried quickly past so as not to disturb them.

Next he passed
Garet and his family, and here Perklet stopped by long enough to inquire after
injuries that might need healing. He knew neither of the Red paladins had
significant healing skills.

“I think we’re
all set here, Perky,” Garet said forcing a pleasant smile. He was obviously
upset over parting from the twins, but he was hiding it well.

“Now,” he said
as Perklet started off again, “you two are not to dawdle or hedge in any way.
I’ve already spoken with Moreen, and she’s going to keep a stern eye on you two
until they drop you off at the farm. Then it’s all up to your mother to see
you’re aptly punished for running off like that. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” they
murmured in unison.

“Good. Now come
give your old man a hug,” he said gruffly, pulling them into an embrace. Only
Garnet could see the tears that brimmed in his father’s eyes before they were
blinked away, unshed.

Perklet quickly
passed by Danner and Alicia, and just barely overheard the words, “…war is
over, I promise,” from Danner, echoed immediately by Alicia, “I promise.”

He stopped to
offer healing to a group of a dozen denarae eating their dinner around a fire,
then moved on to another group.

A quarter hour
passed while he moved from campfire to campfire amongst the denarae, healing
the aches and pains that came with a forced march. Trames and Kala greeted him
warmly, and Perklet graciously declined Trames’s offer of a spoonful of honey.

Just as he was
moving on toward the elven camp, Perklet saw the young woman Deeta moving
hesitantly toward the fire where Flasch sat alone. He had heard about the episode
between the two from the night before and, out of concern for them, he strayed
close enough to overhear.

“Flasch,” Deeta
whispered, and he looked up. Slowly, but respectfully, the Violet paladin stood
and offered his hand to help her nearer the fire. After they were both seated,
they looked at each other in an awkward silence.

“Deeta, I…”

“Don’t,” she
said, holding up a hand. “You were right. What I tried to do to you was a
horrible, horrible thing, and you were right to reject me.”

“I didn’t mean…”

“No,” she cut
him off again. “I think it’s time we both faced the truth. I love you, Flasch,
but you don’t really love me.”

“Deeta…”

“Damn it, will
you shut up and let me get through this,” she said angrily, and Flasch
subsided. Deeta straightened her hair and took a deep breath. “I’ve got a lot
of thinking and feeling to do while you’re gone, and I think so do you. The
truth is, I tried to make myself be what I thought would attract you, and I
guess it worked for a while, but it wasn’t really me. It’s nothing new, I’ve
been doing it my whole life, I think, and I don’t know if I’ll ever find who I
really am as long as I’m with a man. But I do know that I can’t be the woman
you need, no matter how much I want you to be the man I need.”

She sniffed back
tears, but threw him a warning glanced when Flasch looked like he was going to
speak again.

“I think it’s
too much to hope that there’ll be anything for us on the other side of this
war,” she said. “I guess what I’m trying to say, is that I know you’re going to
find someone who’s right for you, and that’s okay. You deserve that.”

This time, when
her tears rose, Flasch handed her a handkerchief that she gratefully accepted.

“You deserve the
same thing, Deeta,” Flasch said gently, “and I think you’re right that we’re
moving on different paths now. But after this war, I know there will still be a
close friendship waiting for us. It’ll be awkward at first,” he paused when she
quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Okay, it’ll
probably be a downright, bloody nuisance,” he amended. Deeta laughed, and most
of her tears dried up. “But it’ll still be there, and when you find the right
man for you, I hope you know you’ll have to send him to me for inspection. If
he doesn’t pass muster,” Flasch made a throwing motion over his shoulder.

They both
laughed, then embraced awkwardly.

“Thank you,
Flasch,” Deeta whispered.

“Thank you,” he
replied.

Perklet left the
two of them alone, warmed and saddened all at once by the poignant scene he’d
witnessed.

- 3 -

Birch watched as
rank after rank of paladins filed forward through the narrow divide, breaking
off into pairs as they entered the stone passage. Three hundred went through to
create a beachhead, the other two hundred waited to take up the rear. After the
first group of holy warriors, the elves filed through, following their
commander El’Siran. Next came the assorted smiths, squires, and other essential
helpers who would accompany the expedition, then Shadow Company marched through
under the watchful eye of Garnet. Danner carefully drove his buggy through the
gap with Flasch riding passenger. The backseat was packed with an assortment of
bundles that were all under cover.

The last group
of paladins lined up, and Birch rode at the very tail end of the group. Mikal
had led the first men across, Birch would be the last.

One hundred
paladins were left, then fifty.

Birch felt a
strange tingling creep under his skin, a feeling of unease he couldn’t quite
place. He glanced at the line of paladins disappearing into the Binding. Twenty
or so left. Birch was at the mouth of the cleft. He looked up the sheer sides
to either side of him, trying to place the source of the unease. He thought he
should recognize it, and it seemed hauntingly familiar – and yet different at
the same time. It was as though he was dreading an unnamed menace… and at the
same time calling to it in welcome.

“Heaven?” he
asked himself softly. “The demon?” Did the immortal plane call to him even as
it repelled the demonic
āyus
within him? What about Kaelus? What
did he feel from the immortal plane? The overwhelming presence of the Binding
confused him and kept him from pinning down the sensation.

The last two
paladins disappeared across the Binding, and Birch turned around for one last
look back at Moreen. She was sitting behind James on his dakkan, holding up a
torch in the darkness and watching Birch with an intensity of emotion he could
sense even across the distance.

“I’ll come back
to you,” he whispered. “Hell and death.” He almost raised a hand in farewell,
but their goodbyes had already been said. Instead, Birch turned Selti back
toward the Binding and urged him forward.

The stone walls
pressed around him with unnatural tightness, but Birch ignored the pressure in
his chest. His claustrophobia had seen worse days, and it would hardly stop him
from continuing on now.

The air
shimmered slightly as he drew nearer, and finally the Binding lit up when
Selti’s nose was almost touching it. The gray dakkan turned his head and looked
dubiously over his shoulder as if to ask Birch if he was really sure he wanted
to do this.

“Come on,
Selti,” Birch said. “Your mother already went through this with me once, and
who can say who will have had the harder journey.”

Selti turned to
the front and took a cautious step forward, then another. His head passed
through the curtain of light, which slowly crept down his gray-scaled neck
toward his human rider. Birch took a nervous breath as the Binding neared him.
When it was inches away, he closed his eyes and leaned forward. A gust of wind
ruffled his hair, a parting reminder of the mortal world he was leaving behind
for the second time.

A warm, vaguely
familiar feeling swept over his body in a wave as he passed through, and light
shone through his eyelids with a comfortable glow. He heard a faint hum in the
air that had nothing to do with the din of voices from the group waiting for
him.

Birch opened his
eyes and saw a beautiful landscape of rolling hills seemingly made entirely of
clouds, and beyond them crystal mountains that stretched upward into a
completely cloud-covered sky. Pillars of crystal dotted the landscape, none of
them less than six feet tall and most of them soaring to forty or fifty feet of
lofty elegance. The area was lit by a soft, pure, sourceless illumination, as
if the light came from everywhere all at once. The most disconcerting result of
this was that while everyone cast just one shadow, each person’s lay in a
different direction, and some people had no shadow at all.

Still, even as
the gleaming landscape threatened to overwhelm them with splendor, it soothed
their souls and smothered their anxiety.

“Beautiful,”
Birch whispered, and he heard the same sentiment repeated over and over all
around him.

“It’s amazing,” Marc
murmured. “I never imagined it quite like this. None of the descriptions, none
of my dreams, nothing comes close.”

Birch heard a
deep sigh nearby and saw Danner exhaling with a sense of wonder in his eyes.
“Part of me feels like this is home,” he murmured. He looked briefly at Birch,
who smiled ruefully and shook his head slightly. He didn’t share Danner’s ease
and acceptance of their environment, and the reasons seemed obvious.

Nearby, Trames
stared about with his usual curiosity, but he lacked the awe experienced by
everyone around him. He actually shrugged when Kala asked him what he thought
of it.

“How can you act
so nonchalant about it?” Marc demanded, turning to look at the old man. “Isn’t
it just beyond anything you ever imagined? The clouds, the angelstone mountains
and crystalline beauty.”

“Ah, is that
what you see,” Trames said, looking around as though just seeing their
surroundings for the first time. “I don’t know,” he said finally after scanning
the landscape. “I never really wondered what Heaven looked like.”

Marc turned
away, then did a double-take as the old man’s presence sunk in.

“Trames,” he
said warningly, “I seem to remember Garnet telling you to stay behind.”

“I don’t think I
ever agreed to do any such thing,” Trames countered impishly.

“How could you
let him drag you into this?” Marc asked, turning to Kala. “You at least know
what’s going on here. What’s at stake, right?”

“It’s not her
fault,” Trames jumped in. “I convinced her to let me take one quick trip
across, then we’d go back. Right?”

Kala nodded
absently, her eyes scanning the area nervously, no doubt keeping an eye out for
Garnet.

“We’re here now,
Trames,” she said, “and now we can go.”

Trames sighed
and shook his head. “That wouldn’t be a good idea, even if we could.”

Only half paying
attention to the conversation nearby, Birch tried to relax in the enveloping
sense of comfort, even as it warred with the unease roiling within, and his
eyes drifted shut. Almost immediately, however, he realized the combined sense
of disquiet and welcome had changed from what he’d first felt, and Birch’s eyes
snapped open in alarm. Whatever peace and tranquility he’d achieved shattered
as fear and alarm drove deep into his heart. Too late, he recognized what he
should have known long before. He, of all people, should have known.

“No!” he
whispered in fear. “God help them, no!”

- 4 -