When Angels Fall (Demon Lord) Read online

  “No, I think the flow into it has increased.”

  “You do not know that. You have nothing to compare the current flow to.”

  Bane shrugged. “Well, if it is becoming blocked, the sooner we get down it the better.”

  “Are you sure you can shield both of us in that?”

  “Would you rather stay here?”

  “I suppose I am dead either way.”

  “An excellent supposition.” The tar’merin crouched, and the shields rose around them once more. As the dark sphere closed overhead, Bane asked, “Are you ready?”

  The archangel nodded, fighting a strong urge to demand egress as the walls seemed to press in on him. Being in such a confined space with a dark god made his stomach clench and his heart thud, even if Bane was tar’merin. Bane clenched his hands as if he took hold of the air and pulled it, and the sphere slid downwards, then bobbed sluggishly. Majelin wanted to climb up the walls at the thought of the magma beneath him. Bane motioned towards the floor, and the sphere sank, bumping against rocky walls. Majelin sensed their speed increase as they were sucked into the magma river, grinding and lurching along an apparently winding course. Bane sat down and spread his hands on the floor, his eyes unfocussed. To Majelin, it seemed insane to be going down when they needed to go up. What if this route led somewhere even worse than the cavern?

  The sphere bumped and veered for some time, while Majelin’s nerves frayed, then he floated into the air with a yelp.

  Bane tensed and muttered, “Uh-oh.”

  “What is happening?”

  “We are falling.”

  “How far?”

  The tar’merin’s eyes grew distant again, and he shook his head. “Too far. Come here.”

  “Why?”

  Bane lunged at him and seized his arms in a steely grip. “Because otherwise you will die.”

  The black sphere vanished, and Majelin’s breath caught. They plummeted towards a green expanse that looked like forest, and, at the speed they were falling, they would surely be splattered when they landed. He wished he still had his wings as he cringed and closed his eyes. Bane’s grip on his wrists grew painful, and, realising that he hung from the dark god’s hands, Majelin opened his eyes. A column of black fire slowed their descent towards the forest far below, almost singeing his toes. He tucked up his feet to remove them from harm’s way, while Bane held him at arms’ length. Several moments later, they passed between branches whose leaves the black fire crisped and landed on soft humus. Majelin’s knees almost buckled as Bane released him, and he reeled a little.

  A forest of broad-leafed trees, some festooned with vines, surrounded them, and the archangel wondered where they were now. Certainly it was not the mid realm. They had been travelling in the wrong direction, unless down had become up in the trap. There were also no Channels, which disquieted him and confirmed that they were in a strange place indeed, more akin to an underworld than a mid realm. A pale orange sky with a hazy yellow glow at its centre was visible through the canopy.

  Bane surveyed the surroundings. “Where the hell are we now?”

  “You do not know?”

  “No idea. How would I know something like that?”

  The angel shook his head. “I do not know. You are a god?”

  Bane snorted and looked up. Majelin followed his gaze. High above, almost lost in the haze, a river of lava plummeted from a cliff face, becoming semi-solid as it cooled. He wondered what happened to it after that, but had more pressing issues on his mind.

  “Can you Move to the light realm now?” he asked.

  The dark god held out a hand, and Majelin grasped it. Bane’s expression became vague, and then he shook his head. “No.”

  Majelin freed his hand. “Surely this whole place cannot be warded?”

  “Apparently it is.”

  “So, what now?”

  Bane’s eyes lingered on a dark horizon shot with lightning. “We explore; maybe find a way out, or, at least, somewhere I can Move. Perhaps there are people here who can tell us where we are and how to get out.”

  “If there are people here, they must be trapped, too.”

  “Maybe not; it seems like a pleasant enough place.”

  “Would you want to stay here?”

  “No, but then, I have a wife and family outside.”

  “You have children?” Majelin asked.

  “Not yet. You?”

  “A daughter.”

  “I want a daughter.”

  The archangel thought how odd it was to be swapping pleasantries with a dark god. One who had just saved his life several times, he reminded himself. “This could be some sort of overflow from the mid realm, formed when the domain was created. A flaw, if you will. Like a miniature world within the domain’s boundary.”

  “Not too deep in the boundary, I hope.”

  “More likely its bedrock,” Majelin amended.

  “There are white wards there too, are there not?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then that does not comfort me. I just hope if there are any I will be able to see them. Can you sense them?”

  Majelin nodded. “Yes.”

  “Good, then you will lead the way.”

  “What if there is something dangerous...?”

  “I will be right behind you.”

  Majelin snorted. “I do not find that comforting, either.”

  “Let us agree that we do not find each other comforting, and leave it at that.”

  “Perhaps you should use an Eye to see what is here and where we should go?”

  Bane created an Eye, which showed a variety of forested scenes and silver lakes. Often, there was a towering cliff face in the background, as if they were in tiny domain, no more than a few hundred thousand leagues in extent.

  Finally, the Eye showed a ramshackle village next to a rocky outcrop. Bane ran his fingers along the edge of the Eye, magnifying the image to show more details of the shabby thatched huts and the people who wandered amongst them. They had refined features and large eyes, but wore coarse garments made from homespun cloth. Majelin stifled an oath.

  Bane frowned. “Angels?”

  Majelin nodded. “They are fallen.”

  “They have turned to the darkness?”

  “Not exactly; they have lost their abilities, their light and their wings.”

  Bane shot him a startled look. “How does that happen?”

  “They have been tortured and abused for a thousand years, or...”

  “What?”

  “Something else.”

  “But how the hell did they get in here?”

  Majelin shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  “Well, there must be a way, because they certainly did not come in the same way we did, and if they can come in, we can get out. Let us go and ask them.” Bane dismissed the Eye and set off through the forest, then paused when Majelin remained behind. “What?”

  “You are a dark god.”

  “I am not.”

  “They will not know that. They cannot even see your aura now.”

  “So you can tell them. Come on.”

  “Bane…”

  The tar’merin looked impatient. “What now?”

  “They… You will terrify them.”

  “All right, you go and talk to them first.”

  “They will think I am your slave.”

  Bane sighed. “What, then?”

  “Can you cast out your power?”

  “How do you think I got into that chamber where you were imprisoned?”

  “I do not know.”

  “Well, that is how, but this is a strange place with unknown threats.”

  “But we need their help,” Majelin said. “If they run away, we will be stuck here.”

  “They cannot run away forever. I will capture one.”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “You will frighten him half to death.”

  Bane shrugged. “All right; I will become invisible.
”

  “How will you talk to them, then?”

  “You talk to them.”

  “They will want to know how I got here, and I cannot tell them the truth. I could not have done it alone.”

  “You could have come through the same portal as they did,” Bane said.

  “For all we know, they have been here for millennia, in which case a strange angel arriving out of the blue would be most suspicious.”

  “And a strange angel with a human companion will not?”

  “Perhaps less so, since some humans have powers,” Majelin said.

  “Mages, you mean.”

  The archangel nodded. “Yes.”

  “A black mage is only a little less unpleasant for mortals than a dark god, you know.”

  “But without your power, you could be a blue mage.”

  Bane muttered under his breath. “And if there is a bloody beast god here or demon hound, we will be dead. Or you will. Maybe.”

  “They would not be alive if such a monster dwelt here.”

  The Demon Lord threw up his hands. “Fine! You had better hope you are right, though.”

  “They cannot harm us. They would not.”

  “It is not them I am worried about. It is whatever we do not know about yet.”

  “How long does it take you to Gather your power?” Majelin asked.

  “Only a few moments, these days, unless there is another damned enchantment in here that prevents me from doing that, too.”

  “Is that possible?”

  “I do not know. I did not know it was possible to block a Move.”

  “Try now, then.”

  Bane extended a hand towards the shadows between the trees, and filaments of darkness oozed towards him like black strings. “It seems to work.”

  “Then you have nothing to worry about, so do it.”

  “You are becoming as bossy as Kayos.” Bane motioned to the archangel’s manacles. “Would you like me to remove those chains first?”

  Majelin glanced down at them. “Yes.”

  The Demon Lord stepped closer and touched the shackle on the archangel’s right wrist, and it parted and fell off with a clank. Majelin sighed and rubbed his callused skin. He had almost forgotten how good it was to be free. Bane touched the left shackle, and it joined the first on the ground, then he bent and freed Majelin’s ankles. When he straightened, the archangel nodded, avoiding his eyes. Somehow, he could not bring himself to thank the dark god. Not yet, anyway.

  Bane spread his fingers again, and black fire poured from them like smoke, swirled on the leaves and sank into the ground. “Of course, with my luck, I will discover that I cannot regain the power once I have cast it out.”

  “That seems unlikely. You have other powers, though, do you not?”

  “Slight ones, but I cannot Move.”

  “That ability does you no good right now, and we need their help.”

  Bane snorted and frowned at the shadows he shed, and, when no more flowed from him, they set off towards the village. Majelin’s injuries ached, making him limp a little, and he longed for rest, hoping there was a medicine woman or healer amongst the villagers.

  “Where are they?” Drevarin asked, frowning at Kayos’ Eye.

  The younger god’s Eye had filled with swirling sparkles shortly after Bane had created a dark sphere and sunk into the magma sea. Drevarin and Sherinias now sat on either side of the Grey God, for his was the only Eye that still followed Bane, although at times the image was hazy, as if even his vast power was barely able to penetrate the wards.

  Kayos shook his head. “They are still in this domain, but in a place so well warded that it blocks just about every kind of power or magic. Sherinias?”

  The young goddess looked up. “Yes, Father?”

  “Ask the Oracle.”

  “Of course, Father.” Her expression became vacant for several minutes, then she shook her head, clearly mystified. “It does not know.”

  Drevarin raised his brows. “How can it not know?”

  “It does not. I do not know how, My Lord.”

  “It is possible,” Kayos said. “If that place was created close to the boundary wards, in the very bedrock of this domain, and by a strange god, it might not have sensed it.”

  “Why would a god do such a thing?” Drevarin asked.

  Kayos shrugged. “That, I do not know. It appears to be a hidden place, a lair, perhaps. Either that, or it is a spill over from another dreaming.”

  “A mingling.”

  “Yes.” At Sherinias’ puzzled look, Kayos explained, “Sometimes, when two domains are created close together, one invades the other a little, and they overlap. Bane and Majelin could have passed into another world without even realising it, through a hole in the boundary wards where the two worlds join. If that is the case, the other domain is below this one, and they might not be able to get back.”

  “Bane could not get back even from the cavern,” Drevarin said. “It must be warded against Moving. If that place is the same, we are in a lot of trouble.”

  Kayos nodded. “I know.”

  Drevarin muttered, “All this because he went to rescue an archangel from the underworld.”

  “There are always pitfalls with the darkness.”

  “If he is trapped there, it is a disaster.”

  Chapter Four

  Changelings

  Bane studied Majelin as they strolled towards the village. The archangel appeared weak and ill, caked with grime and covered with wounds, scars, burns and bruises where demons had tortured him. His white hair hung halfway down his back in dirty strings and a soiled swathe of diaphanous grey material clothed his hips. Bane reflected that was just as well the cloth seemed impervious to rot, or else the angel would have been naked long since.

  After five centuries at the mercy of dark gods and demons, it was a little surprising that the archangel was still sane, and his quick acceptance that Bane was tar’merin was even more unexpected. Majelin had every reason to never trust a wielder of the darkness again. Two stumps protruded just below his shoulder blades, each with a few feathers on it, and Bane assumed that Torvaran had amputated his wings. He turned his thoughts to their situation and the possible ramifications of what had happened.

  “You do realise that if there is no portal into this place there is only one thing that could have brought those angels here.”

  Majelin nodded, his black brows knotted. “A god. Perhaps it was Torvaran, or Tolrar?”

  “And if it was not, we will be in a lot of trouble.”

  “You do not know that. Perhaps whoever brought them here is gone, or dead, or perhaps they came here some other way. Maybe it was even a light god. Let us find out before we become nervous.”

  “I am not nervous; just concerned, and with good reason.”

  “You do not think you are a match for another dark god?”

  “Not without my power,” Bane grumped.

  “That really bothers you, huh?”

  “Normally I am glad to cast it out, but, considering how strange this all is, and how few of my powers worked before, I think I have good reason to be concerned.”

  “Let us not jump to conclusions,” Majelin said.

  “If it had been a light god, he would not have abandoned them.”

  “Perhaps he had no choice.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “I am just saying we do not know enough to draw any conclusions, and you are going to drive yourself insane trying to figure it out without the necessary information.” Majelin stopped so abruptly Bane almost bumped into him. “We are here.”

  Bane peered between the leafy branches at a slovenly village where men and women moved about lethargically. Some appeared to be human, and a few children played in the dirt.

  Majelin drew in a sharp breath. “I know what they are.”

  “What? Not fallen?”

  “Oh, they are fallen all right. They are urthdrae.”

  “Outcasts?”<
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  “Gothass.” The archangel swung around. “We are not going in there.”

  “Why not?”

  “They are… Ugh.”

  “Gothass urthdrae?”

  “Fallen! Not through torture, but by choice!”

  “Oh.” Bane raised his brows. “And you definitely do not approve.”

  “I will not speak to them.”

  “Why? What have they done?”

  “They…” Majelin’s mouth twisted. “They lie with humans.”

  “Heaven forbid! What the hell, Majelin?” Bane scowled. “Do not tell me you are a bigot.”

  “I am an archangel. What do you think?”

  “I am beginning to think you are a bit stuck up.”

  Majelin shook his head. “It is forbidden!”

  “Why?”

  “Because of the children; they are changelings.”

  “Oh, right, that makes sense. What the hell are changelings and why are they forbidden?”

  “They are monsters; vampires. They feed on life force. That is why their parents look so ill, and they are sealed away in here.”

  “Ugh.” Bane pulled a face. “Then I guess it is a good thing you keep the company of a dark god. Does it give us a clue as to how they got here?”

  “No, but it means they are exiled here, trapped, so there will be no way out.”

  “Wonderful.” Bane sighed and sat on a log. “They must have got in here somehow, though, and I might be able to get out the same way. We need to find the portal. I am not camping in this damned forest for the rest of my life.”

  “You cannot go in there. Your spirit is far more powerful than any angel or human. The changelings will be drawn to you like moths to a flame.”

  Bane snorted. “Then they will be crispy fried soul suckers.”

  “Maybe so, but it is too dangerous.” Majelin raised a hand when Bane opened his mouth. “I will find a human outside the village, but you must stay well hidden. Go back the way we came, for at least a league.”

  “A league!”

  “To be safe.”

  “Fine.” Bane rose and turned away. “Hurry up.”

  “I do not want to be here any longer than I must.”

  Bane thrust aside the branches and strode back up the faint trail, annoyed and weary.