From Hell with Love (51 page)

Niccolo did not bother to watch as Amon drove Cadmus back through the air; he was much more concerned with the furious Horseman who was pulling the chain of his weapon back toward him so that it would loop around for another strike.  Without a second thought, Niccolo formed the handle of his bastard sword and swung his left arm across his chest, forming the wicked blade and gripping the handle with both hands.  As he did, Ajax turned his back to Niccolo to travel along with the momentum of his great sword, pulling back the chain swiftly so that it would fly back to his hands.  The armored warrior grabbed the handle just in time to bring the slab of iron back in a half-moon vertical arc, determined to crush Niccolo beneath its weight.  Instead, the clash of their steel echoed throughout the street.  Niccolo held his own bastard sword above his head and pushed against the flat of the sword with his right hand, glaring up at the warrior in a formidable stance.

“Look at you, little Nico,” Ajax said, his bearded face filled with a mild amusement and the stink of alcohol coming from his ancient mouth.  “Seems like you’ve grown up since our last duel.” 

“Stop this now, Ajax,” Niccolo commanded, his grip strained underneath the weight of Ajax’s weapon.  “We are trying to
help
.”

“Stop
now
?” he said with a slight smile before picking up the iron weapon slightly, causing Niccolo to stagger forward from the sudden release.  Ajax then slammed the weapon back down, hoping to knock his opponent off of his feet.  The warrior only smiled as Niccolo warded off the blow, but not before cracking the stones below him and sinking down by a half-inch.  “But we’re having so much
fun
.”

“You’re killing Lucifer!” Niccolo urged, throwing more of his strength into his arms to swipe away the iron slab.  Ajax’s weapon slid along the green blade and fell into the ground to Niccolo’s right side as the leper’s bastard sword remained in the air, but Niccolo was not prepared for the giant warrior to rush forward with his shoulder, knocking him backward and off balance.  He fell to his back once more and looked up just in time to see Ajax raising the great sword above his head, preparing for a downward strike.

“
You
killed him, Nico!  You killed him with your little beggar act!  You made him
soft
!” he shouted before swinging the slab of iron down to crush his opponent, but Niccolo rolled over in time to miss the two-inch wide “edge.”  The resulting wave of stones and dirt pushed him back as he rolled, sending him tumbling a few yards away from the gash Ajax had made in the road.  He stopped on his stomach before pushing himself up enough to gain his footing and launch into a ready position.  He held his blade with his right hand and sliced across the air in front of him.

“I have done
nothing
wrong, Ajax!” he shouted, bringing a weary chuckle from the legend slowly picking up his blade from the trench it had made in the street. 

“Then how did you end up in Hell, little Nico?” he teased, turning to face his opponent.  “Face it, Horseboy, you wouldn’t have come down here if you didn’t deserve it!”

“Shut up!  Shut up, you fucking bastard!” Niccolo screamed, his diseased arm shaking in his fury.  “I didn’t deserve any of this!  I’ve been trying my best and all I want to do right now is save the angel who stood for us all!”

“You didn’t deserve it, Nico?” Ajax asked before standing up to his full, impressive, height, picking up his sword lazily and laying it against his pauldron.  “What makes you say that?  What makes you think you don’t belong here with the rest of us?  What makes you think you’re
better
than us?  That you can make decisions without considering any of us?”

“Ajax…” Niccolo growled, but the armored warrior continued talking over him.

“I never liked you, Nico.  You were always a pain in the ass.  A snarky, cowardly son of a bitch.  Somehow you became everybody’s favorite, though.  Lucifer
himself
took you under his wing and taught you everything you know.  And still you want
more,
” he said before sighing heavily and glaring at Niccolo just a few yards away.  “I am a legend and I get less respect than a goddamned thief and beggar.”

“This isn’t about respect, Ajax,” Niccolo said, placing both of his hands around the handle of his bastard sword and starting to circle his opponent.  “If we go now we can still save Lucifer.  We can save Hell.  We can stop whatever the Shroud is planning,” he concluded, drawing a scoff from the massive Horseman.

“Who are you kidding, little Nico?  This is
all
about respect.  You don’t respect me, and I don’t respect you.  How could we even
start
to trust each other?” he asked before lowering his blade from his shoulder and bringing it to his side.  “We’re done with words.  You make me bleed, we’ll see what happens.”

Niccolo grunted before running forward, his blade carried to his right.  At the same time, Ajax threw his blade forward, the chains rattling as the deadly missile sailed toward his opponent.

***

Cadmus was worried as he was pushed through the air, Amon’s momentum sending them far from Niccolo and Ajax.  On one hand, Cadmus was grateful for the space, he knew what Ajax was able to do with that sword, but he also knew that the raving demon biting the handle of his scythe would not give up easily.

“Amon, will you just…listen,” Cadmus urged, trying to stop Amon’s beak from getting closer to his face.  The fallen angel could rip Cadmus’ face off with those wolf teeth of his, not to mention the black fire coming from his eyes was making the reaper's skin dry up from that distance.

Suddenly, Amon let go of Cadmus’ scythe and flapped his wings, rising into the sky above them just as Cadmus was falling to the street.  The reaper cursed as he twisted through the air, wondering how far above the ground Amon had carried them.  When he saw the stones rushing to meet his face, Cadmus did the only thing he could think of and slammed his scythe into street, burying the blade into the ground and sending a small shockwave through the air.

“
Listen
, Horseman?  You kill my brother and reap his soul, and you expect me to just
forgive you
?” Amon said, flapping his arms so that he could stay in the same position thirty yards away from his opponent.  “When you talked to me yesterday it took all of my willpower not to peck out your eyes!”

“Just stop, Amon,” Cadmus commanded as he fell to his feet, bracing his legs before pulling his scythe out of the street, all the while maintaining eye contact with the furious raven.  “I had
nothing
to do with Räum turning feral and all we are trying to do is help!  Hell is going to fall without us!  The Shroud is trying to open a portal to Earth!”  Cadmus’ revelations were met with a shriek from Amon, echoing throughout the Famine Quarter.

“You think
I
don’t know that?!  I see the future just as well as my brother, just as well as you!  I know they’re opening the portal.  I’ve seen it!”

“Then
why
are you trying to stop us?” Cadmus shouted, whispering to Mercy in his mind.  The rasp of a moan from his horse concerned him, but it was enough for the reaper to know that the pale horse was still alive.  Amon flapped his wings harder at the question and flames burst from his open beak.

“You kept the truth from
me
,
Pale Rider
,” Amon said before turning his head toward Cadmus, a growl somehow coming from his throat.  “You held the
future
from me.  Me!  The one who told the prophecies!  I
cannot
forgive that.”

“This is about
pride
?” Cadmus asked, his eyes narrowing at the fallen angel’s behavior.

Of all the things to be sore about
, Mercy’s voice rattled in his head, agreeing with his master.  The avian demon above them did not find it as light a statement.

“This is about knowing your place, reaper. 
I
tell the future. 
You
reap souls,” Amon said with his mouth slightly open, his teeth threatening violence.

Like his brother?
Mercy thought, causing Cadmus to hush him in his mind.  This was not the time for it, and even in his frustration Cadmus was trying to resolve the situation.  The reaper squared up to the demon flying in the skies of Hell and breathed in deeply.

“If you don’t get out of our way, we will have to kill you.  Do you understand?  We’ll have to kill you in order to save Lucifer, to save Hell,” Cadmus stated, his voice as serious as he could make it.  The demon flying above him only flapped his wings harder, climbing into the sky.

“Wrong, Pale Rider.  You will only
try
,” Amon shrieked before taking off even higher, his form twisting as his black feathers blended into the dark sky of Hell.  Cadmus waited for a moment, hoping to find Amon in the darkness, but when he heard the scream echoing from behind him, he knew he was looking in the wrong place.  Dust coalesced below him, turning into a pale horse which carried him from where he had been standing just in time for them to escape the onslaught of Amon and the impact crater.  When Cadmus turned Mercy around in order to see their enemy, the reaper was hard-pressed to not give into fear.

Amon might have been somewhat unintimidating before, but his fury had transformed him into an entirely new monster.  His head had completely changed, becoming mostly human except for his mouth, which was extended to accommodate the wolf teeth that were exposed by the lack of skin around his maw.  His eyes burned with black fire and his hair was a crown of bird feathers, but his body was more distracting. 

While his frame was mostly human, two massive black wings spread out from his back, the skin attached to the sides of his torso and raven’s feathers covering them, and the new limbs were complemented by black hands, the fingers gruesomely extended, covered with scales and ending with sharp talons.  Where his real arms should be were two withered, human arms, barely long enough to reach the end of Amon’s rib-cage, but perpetually curled in on themselves.  The extra-long nails of those underdeveloped limbs ended in vicious talons as well, but Cadmus figured they were rarely used.  Finally, Amon’s legs were not human at all, covered in yellow scales and the knees bent backward, but Cadmus was wary of them.  Powerful muscles could be seen in the demon’s thighs, and the talons on his feet looked sharper than the reaper’s own scythe.

“Why run,
Pale Rider
?” Amon said as he turned to face Cadmus on his horse.  “You killed my brother already.  Why are you scared of
me
?” he growled, saliva dripping from his lipless mouth, pouring down from the grooves in his gum line.

“I’m not scared, Amon,” Cadmus said, reclaiming his poise and turning Mercy to face the demon.  “I’m just not stupid enough to let you kill me,” he said before tapping Mercy’s sides with his boots, the creature breaking into a gallop at his instruction.

“Then you should have kept running,” Amon barked as he started running toward the Horseman, hobbling slightly on his malformed legs.  Cadmus led Mercy to the demon’s right side, hoping to catch Amon with the sharp edge of his scythe, but when he sliced across Amon’s body, he only felt the grinding of talon against steel as Amon jumped up and parried the strike, twisting in the air so that he could sink the talons of his left foot into Cadmus’ chest.

The reaper was only just able to bring up the handle of his weapon and met the bottom of Amon’s foot, hoping to ward off the strike.  As strong as he was, because of his momentum and Amon’s strength, the demon’s foot was able to push forward and an inch of his talons sank into Cadmus’ leather cuirass, causing a great deal of pain in his chest before the demon flapped his grotesque wings, flying above him.

“First blood is mine, Horseman.  I can see every move you make before you make it,” Amon cackled as he flew up into the air, leaving Cadmus to grimace in pain as he considered his options.  Knowing they were losing too much time with this battle, Cadmus looked toward Amon, who was smiling as he held himself in the air.  The reaper looked past him, toward the stairs leading to the palace, and found the perfect solution to his problem.  Cadmus pointed at the demon in the air behind him, took a deep breath and yelled as loud as he could.

“NICCOLO!”

***

The Horseman of Pestilence jumped high into the air, having avoided Ajax’s flying blade, and raised his bastard sword above his shoulders.  Unarmed, Ajax might have been easily dispatched by a powerful downward strike, but Niccolo underestimated the legend’s sheer talent and experience.  Ajax pulled back on the chain attached to the slab of iron and immediately slammed his foot down on top of the hell-forged links of metal, causing a swift redirection of the sword’s movement.  Before Niccolo could land his downward strike, Ajax’s weapon was yanked back and upward, flying straight into the leper’s unguarded back.

Pain spread from the impact, causing Niccolo to let go of the handle of his sword and force him from consciousness for a split-second.  Accompanied by deep bellows of laughter from his opponent, Niccolo hit the ground hard, feeling his joints popping as he landed on them.  As he tried to keep his wits about him, Niccolo was just grateful he had not been torn in half by the dull edge of Ajax’s blade.

“See?  Why would I respect that?” Ajax teased as he stomped forward, Niccolo’s head still cloudy from the pain.  The only thing that saved him was the strength flowing from the beast mentally attached to him.

Yeah, hurts like a bitch, doesn’t it?
Plague asked, his own voice filled with pain.  Niccolo pushed himself off the ground, his arms shaking from the effort and, before he extended his arms fully, his torso convulsed, causing him to cough out a mouthful of blood.

I didn’t say it didn’t,
Niccolo thought back before sitting back on his knees, watching the armored warrior stomping toward him.  He groaned before looking to his side and finding his gnarled, black bow was just a few yards away.  It was enough to make him laugh for a moment, but quickly he reached behind him to see the state of his quiver.  Niccolo smiled as he found there was nothing wrong with the wooden missiles, grateful that the sword had somehow missed that part of his back.