Armageddon?? (89 page)

One
particularly bold group had tried to block the road just in front of her
skyscraper, piling up rubble and cars and trucks and all manner of junk right
under the people mover track. The lava had already reached the barricade, which
was burning and melting and shifting dangerously, yet they still kept
reinforcing it. Another rumble, another boom… another building was collapsing,
just a hundred yards north of the barricade. The lava was closing in, seeming
to come at the tower from every surrounding street. Weren’t they going to run?
Didn’t they realize that this was the end? Gloria closed her eyes, wondering if
a New Detroit would ever rise from the plains of Hell.

Brush
Street, Downtown Detroit

Agent
Drexler finally found the control that tilted the bed of the truck, and slowly
drew a line of gravel three feet high across the street. Other people stopped,
and seeing what they were doing, began to manhandle benches, tires, and any
still-working cars into the line. After only a few minutes they had a barrier
five feet high. The lava began to pool behind it, but as the rocks glowed, they
fused into a solid berm. The lava swirled slowly.

Sander
clapped his brother on the shoulder, and they both smiled. Before either had a
chance to say anything, a loud -CRACK- echoed above the din. On their right, a
building bucked wildly, shedding a rain of cladding, and they both saw the lava
pouring into the basement windows and storm drains. With all the heat, the
foundations were giving way. The crack repeated again, into a deafening roar as
the building came down. The two brothers looked each other in the eyes, knowing
they wouldn't see each-other for a long time, bracing themselves for what was
in store, as hundreds of tons of steel and masonry came down on them.

Neither
flinched.

Free
Hell, Swamps by the River Styx, Sixth Rings of Hell

In
the distance, the Russian artillery rumbled, sounding for all the world like
far-off thunder. Jade Kim could only imagine what it was like in the firing
zone, or the hell on the receiving end of the steel rain. Once, she'd been near
a single large howitzer firing; the sound had knocked the breath out of her and
deafened her even through the headphones. And knowing the Russians, they'd
lined up their artillery wheel-to-wheel for fifty miles. She wouldn't want to
be in that big baldrick army assaulting the Russian positions right now.

Kim
brought her mind back to Free Hell. Initial estimates put the number of people
imprisoned in Free Hell at a bit over one hundred thousand. The sheer number
still surprised Kim on a gut level when she thought about it, so she constantly
had to remind herself that there were ninety billion people in the Pit alone,
and the surveying flights had shown that Free Hell controlled little more than
a mere millionth of the surface area of the Pit. Spread out before her was a
rudimentary map of Free Hell. She was in between appointments in her command
tent, contemplating the area they controlled. Marked were the major rock
outcroppings, particularly dry and wet places, the courses of streams and
rivers, baldrick roads, and known human and baldrick positions. She had also
penciled in the locations of canals-in-progress and the small, growing city
that housed all of the freed humans.

Nearly
one-third of Free Hell's border lay along the Styx. Along the other two-thirds,
Tarrant had placed extensive minefields and regularly spaced small fortifications,
generally taking advantage of particularly wet areas and clusters of boulders
thrusting up through the mud. These had repulsed several weak baldrick assaults
in the last few days; they'd taken no casualties, while the baldricks had gone
down heavily.

But
there wasn't enough information about the main baldrick forces. The noted
baldrick strongholds were vague, and there were all too many question marks.
She wasn't sure how many reinforcements had arrived, or even just how many
baldricks had been under Asmodeus' command in the first place. This lack of
knowledge was disturbing.

Kim
frowned. There were several token emplacements along the shore of the Styx, one
monitoring the destroyed bridge and the others spaced evenly across the banks.
The defenses there were too thin; Tarrant was relying too much on the Styx as a
natural barrier. She made a note to speak to him about that later.

McInery
stuck his head in the tent. “Ell-tee?”

“Yeah,
Mac?”

“Rahab
is here with three men to see you.”

Ah,
yes. Rahab and Julius Caesar. “Who are they?”

“One
identifies himself as Julius Caesar and says the other two are his bodyguards.”

“Please
show them in.” She made sure that her pistol was loose in its holster, just in
case, and she'd have Mac here as well if things went sour. She had no intention
of that happening, however.

The
tent flap opened, and Rahab stepped through. She was followed by Caesar, a
short man with thin, black hair and a wide mouth. After Caesar were two men.
One was large and very muscular, with a forward-thrust head and short hair; the
other was shorter, with curly blond hair and jutting eyebrows. Both were
wearing scabbards, but no swords. Mac was on top of his game.

Rahab
spoke first. “May I introduce Gaius Julius Caesar. With him are Titus Pullo and
Lucius Vorenus, his bodyguards.”

Kim
nodded. “Thank you, Rahab.” She rose and extended her hand. “I am Lieutenant
(deceased) Jade Kim, commander of the People's Front for the Liberation of Hell
and administrator of Free Hell.” Caesar passed her hand and clasped her wrist.
After an instant, she grabbed his wrist. His grip was firm, and he squeezed for
an instant before releasing.

“Please,
take a seat.” Kim gestured to the chair in front of her desk and three others
along the wall.

Licking
her lips, Rahab said, “If you don't mind, I'll be going.”

“Suit
yourself,” said Kim. Caesar, meanwhile, sat at the chair before her 'desk'.

Kim
looked inquiringly at Pullo and Vorenus. Vorenus shook his head and spoke for
both of them. “If you don't mind, ma'am, we'll be standing.” Kim nodded. In the
back of the tent, Mac stood unobtrusively.

“So,
Mr Caesar, how can I help you?”

Caesar
smiled. “Please, call me Gaius. I'm here to offer you my help.”

Kim
raised an eyebrow. Caesar continued, “I know that you're surprised at the
possibility I can help you. I've taken your man Dawkins into my protection. In
conversing with him, I've learned much about what has happened since I arrived
here in Hell, especially in the last few centuries. You have weapons that are
far beyond anything I, or any Roman, could have dreamed of.”

Kim
nodded her assent. “This is true.”

Caesar
leaned forward. “But,” he continued, “in establishing yourself here in Hell,
you do lack one thing.”

“And
what is that, Gaius?”

“Manpower.”
Caesar smiled. “Every year, since I arrived, I have freed men. They have gone
on to free men, who have gone on to free men. I have created a network to
shuttle these people to safety in areas the demons do not regularly patrol.
There are small groups hiding out in the interiors of each ring, ready to act
at my command.”

“And
what good are they to me,” Kim asked, “if they don't know how to use my
weapons?”

“They
can be trained. So this is what I propose, Lieutenant Kim. If you equip and
train my army, it will be ready to rise up against the demons all at once,
throughout Hell, at your command.”

“How
many men do you have?”

“At
this point, my people number over two and a half millions.” Kim nodded,
carefully concealing her surprise.

“Thank
you, Gaius. We will be in contact. Can I put you and your men up here for the
night?”

“We
would be pleased to accept your offer, Lt. Kim.”

“Mac,
would you find a place for them to stay over the night?” asked Kim. McInery
nodded. “Thank you.”

As
Caesar and his two bodyguards exited the tent, Kim turned back to the map, her
mind churning. After a moment, it began to settle. First things first – now to
talk to Tarrant about the Styx line of defenses.

Bank
of the River Styx, Fifth Ring of Hell

Xisorixus
had been a nobody. During the last few millennia, however, he'd risen to his
own fiefdom at a breakneck pace. Through a combination of military prowess,
conniving wit, and sheer raw courage mixed with an outrageous level of bluff,
he now commanded a large, prime piece of territory in the Sixth ring. With the
death of Asmodeus and so many lords under him, Xisorixus was the senior demon
in the legions remaining near the human-infested territory.

Although
he was busy consolidating his control over the lands of those minor lords who
had died – his holdings had tripled since Asmodeus had been killed – Xisorixus
was also consolidating his command and beginning to lay plans for the feat that
would cement his place in Hell's hierarchy for all eternity. Xisorixus was
going to utterly destroy the humans who had freed themselves.

Through
the past few days, he had been feinting at the humans, testing their defenses.
They were thorough on the sides of the human-occupied territories facing away
from the Styx; Xisorixus harbored few illusions about the ability of his forces
to storm through the magical defenses and emerge in enough strength to wipe out
the humans on the other side.

But
his eyes and ears had been busy gathering information. The overwhelming human
defensive magic was indiscriminate, he'd learned; one of his spies had watched
human mages preparing the spells, and one of the spells had accidentally
exploded, leaving the human a bloody mess, screaming and writhing in pain on
the ground. This had given rise to the beginnings of an idea: if he could
somehow get across the Styx and gain the upper hand against the humans, he
could drive them back and trap them against their own magic.

To
make the situation even better, Xisorixus had learned that only a few humans
watched the Styx. His demons were now able to show themselves in full daylight
without earning the slightest magery in retaliation, save in a few places.
Once, he'd tried restarting construction on the demolished bridge, but the
humans had unleashed their magic on him and he'd lost nearly two hundred good
demons.

He
emerged from his tent into the bustle of Dis itself. This was the one place he
could be assured that no humans would spy on him, so he'd asked permission to
bring his legions here. Satan had absent-mindedly agreed – rather, one of the
lower bureaucrats in the government had agreed – so his five remaining
augmented legions had requisitioned, and were occupying, these few blocks of
city. He'd attached to each legion a fifth-legion of flies, from the sizeable
air force he had accumulated in his rise to power.

Today
was the day he was going to test his plan. In the courtyard of his
headquarters, by his tethered wyvern, were ten curious wooden bundles. Standing
by them were three wyverns, to which the bundles would be attached for
transmission. His air guard snapped to attention as he exited, and fell into
escort around him. They would follow him through the air and to the testing
grounds, at a wide, shallow part of the Styx between the human area and the
waterfalls. There, a cohort of his troops awaited him. Xisorixus smiled. The
floating bridges would almost certainly work, and from there it would only be a
few days before he joined the battle.

Chapter
Sixty Two

Incident
Command Centre, Sheffield Airport, United Kingdom.

“I
think me may have a little bit of a problem, Sir.” Colonel Mace said as he
stepped back into the command trailer. “I’ve just been speaking to the Chief
Constable and it seems that two of his officers along with their vehicle have
gone missing.”

“The
situation in the city is pretty confused, Colonel.” Brigadier
Lethbridge-Stewart replied. “I’ve been led to believe that the network that
supports the emergency service’s radio network has been damaged, so it is
hardly a surprise that officers may be out of contact.”

“Ordinarily
that fact would not worry me, or the Chief Constable, Sir, but witnesses some
of our men rescued in the city a short time ago have reported that the officers
ejected them from their vehicle and placed a baldrick inside. Now no baldrick
prisoner has been reported as being taken so…”

“Something
was badly wrong.” Lethbridge-Stewart finished the sentence. “Intelligence does
say that some baldricks may be able to exercise mind control by injecting their
victims with some kind of poison. We’re overstretched as we are, but we better
find this baldrick before it does any more damage. Put together a unit to go
and hunt it down, I’ll ask Midlands Command if they can send us some Paras, or
Marines to act as a hunter unit if necessary.”

“I’ll
command it myself if I have to, Sir.” Mace replied.

The
Brigadier turned slightly as Keavy McManus stepped into the Command Trailer.

“Ah,
Doctor, how can I help?”

“It’s
just Mrs McManus, Brigadier.” The vulcanologist corrected him.