The Deadliest Bite (35 page)

As soon as Raoul held the map so we could see it, he said, “The message at the bottom. It’s clear, yes? ��Who holds the hammer stil must find the keys to the triple-locked door.’ That has to refer to Zel . We needed him. We needed his skin. And we needed the spel on his skin.” I didn’t mention that the first key to Zel had been my Granny May. Or that the last key had been a demon. Neither one seemed like a comfortable subject to bring up at the moment. And since they had worked, it seemed doubly unnecessary.

Zel opened his mouth, but Helena put a hand on his newly healed arm and murmured something. Since her lips were partial y hidden by the fence, I could only read the last part, which was, “for themselves.” What did we need for ourselves? Before I could waste time guessing Vayl said, “I wil agree with that assumption.”

Raoul went on. “But the phrase at the top of the map must be just as important. More so, because it’s mentioned first. ‘Cursed and thrice cursed be ye who raise the Rocenz without offering proper dues or sacrifice. For Cryrise’s hammer and Frempreyn’s chisel may spel your salvation, or your doom,’” he read. He stared hard at us. “I hate to ask for theories on that meaning, because I know what kinds of ideas I’m having. I’ve only known demons’ minds to track one way when they start talking sacrifice.” His eyes went from Lotus to Astral to Vayl to me. Then he included Helena and Zel in his concern before he said, “I think this tool has to have blood before it wil work properly.

In fact”—he stopped, shook his head, forced himself to go on—“I think it needs death.” I shook my head. “I don’t know. Back in Marrakech, Kyphas only had to rub her blood on it and chant a few words before she separated the parts. She was already working her heartstone when I found her.”

Raoul held up his fingers as he ticked off his objections. “She’s a demon. They can use the tool differently. She told you that herself.”

“True,” I admitted. I looked at Zel . “You got anything to add?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Nothing that wil not make my tongue turn to ash inside my mouth the moment I say it. I can only confirm what you deduce on your own.”

Vayl stepped forward. “Is that why you are here, Zel ? Did they capture you and bring you to hel because you know al the secrets of this tool, and it is so valuable that they cannot risk al owing your soul to fly free?”

Zel nodded. “You hit that one on the head.”

“And this last secret?” Vayl continued. “Are we on the right track?” Zel just stared. Vayl’s smile looked a lot more triumphant than I felt. “I wil take your silence as a positive sign.” He turned to Raoul. “Let us assume Kyphas managed the death this tool requires and we never discovered that detail—”

“I say we give it what it wants.” We al looked at Lotus, whose face had paled so drastical y she looked like a mannequin before the makeup’s gone on. The starkness of her expression, her absolute certainty amid al our doubt, made her seem more Vayl’s progeny than anything else she’d done so far. “Then we can go, right? Then this whole nightmare wil be over?” I said, “Not necessarily for you, snookums.” I kept my voice gentle as I pointed to Helena and said, “She was a good, honorable woman. And she’s trapped inside, stil being righteous, stil fighting on the side she chose when she was just a girl. You, on the other hand, are stil trying to turn your back on the pile of bul shit you’ve made out of your life when you’re actual y buried under it.” I pointed to the souls that had chosen maiming and torture. “That’s you if you don’t start digging.” I made a fist. “And I’m not helping you make it worse by kil ing someone in this crew.” Astral had been sitting quietly beside Raoul al this time. Now she stood up, looked over at me intently, and then stared at Lotus. “Grenade?” she offered politely, as if she knew exactly how I was feeling and had already figured out a quick way to rid myself of the unwanted company.

“Not at the moment, thank you,” I told her.

“Maybe later, though,” Raoul said.

We al looked at him. “What if we invite the noisemakers”—he jerked his head toward the howls we’d been monitoring since our arrival at the gate—“a little closer?”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” asked Zel . “Normal y spiderhounds aren’t creatures you fight. They’re ones you hope you can outrun.”

I stared him straight in the eyes. “I have to put this name on the gate, Zel . You, of al people, should understand why.”

He nodded. “I have another idea. If it works, it might even get us out of here. But you have to trust me.”

“No problem,” I said. “Anybody else have any issues with trusting the cowboy?” I asked. Then before they could answer I did it for them. “Nope, we’re al for your plan. Don’t even bother fil ing us in. Just throw it in motion and we’l learn as we go.”

Zel nodded and began stomping. It was hypnotical y rhythmical, like the precursor to every stage show that had ever involved drums and heel taps. Helena joined him, linking her arm in his and adding a double stomp every fourth beat. Sometimes she would pause and grind her toe into the chalky soil, leaving a crescent moon–shaped indentation that, combined with al the others, began to look a lot like some of the spel s I’d seen scrawled across pieces of ancient parchment.

While Zel and Helena performed their bizarre dance, my comrades pul ed every blade they’d brought with them. Since my job was to bloody the Rocenz with its sacrifice, I gave Vayl my bolo. He held it in his left hand while his right continued to grip his cane sword, its sheath stil lying at the foot of the gate, waiting for the final outcome.

Raoul held his shining weapon with both hands while Lotus gripped the dagger he’d lent her.

They both stared off into the horizon thinking such different thoughts that it was a wonder to me that they could stand next to one another without smal lightning bolts zapping into their brain stems until one of them final y blew a gasket.

I didn’t see any weapons on Zel or Helena, though I sensed they were both carrying. Maybe it didn’t pay to display, especial y when you were basical y walking around inside a huge prison al day long.

Astral, perhaps sensing the rising tension, paced restlessly among the four of us as if we’d caged her. Most often her nose pointed toward the source of the howls and a new, deeper rumbling that signaled many more than two or three creatures heading our way. It seemed like she already knew Zel ’s plan and her place in it. Especial y when she leaped into my arms and said, “Hel o!” Suddenly the ground under my feet tilted. I grabbed Vayl’s arm as Astral anchored her claws into the soft meat of my shoulder. Vayl wrapped his arms around my waist as another rumble of unstable ground moved us into an awkward fighting-for-upright dance.

Zel and Helena intensified their movements on the other side of the gate, barely acknowledging the dead earth beneath their feet groaning like an arthritic old man trying to get out of bed in the morning.

“Guys,” Astral hooted.

“What?” I turned my head so my ear was next to her mouth. “What do the guys need to do?”

“Geyser coming!” she shouted just as a fountain of boiling-hot water shot out of the ground on Zel ’s and Helena’s side of the fence, its perimeter inside the perfect circle I could now see that Zel and Helena had made with their boot, toe, and heel marks.

“Do you see how we did it?” Zel cal ed.

“Yes,” said Vayl.

“We’re gonna need at least three or four on each side of the fence before the durgoyles wil smel the water and come to drink.” He didn’t have to explain further. Durgoyles were hel ’s livestock, herds of four-leggers inhabited by the souls of those who had plodded through life with rings through their noses, al owing everyone from gangbangers to dictators to lead them into evil as if they were as docile and dumb as cattle. Bigger and meaner than ful -grown moose, they fed on scavenged meat and spent most of their waking hours thinking up new ways to maim each other. If we could attract a herd, one of them could be sacrificed to the Rocenz. Unfortunately, where there were durgoyles, you could usual y count on at least a couple of spiderhounds as wel . Somewhat ironical y, even death’s realm had a circle of life, and the spiderhounds had managed to climb the food chain faster than the durgoyles. What a crazy flipping world.

What Zel had surmised was that we’d been hearing spiderhounds fol owing a herd somewhere south of us. Now he wanted to turn the durgoyles our way. Which was an excel ent plan since we didn’t want to sacrifice any humans to the Rocenz. But none of us discussed the possibility that we’d probably have to fight their natural predators if we meant to get back to our world alive. Instead we paired up and joined Zel and Helena, copying their moves until every one of us, Vayl included, had become an expert at the watering hole dance. One by one geysers shot into the air, until we had to stand on the far right side of the gate in order to avoid being burned.

And stil Astral continued repeating her message. “Geyser coming!”

“Okay, okay,” I final y told her. “I gotcha.”

“Do you think that is enough?” Vayl asked as we watched seven fountains stink up the atmosphere. They smel ed of sulphur and unwashed ass. I couldn’t imagine any living thing sticking its face in a concoction with such an obnoxious odor, especial y one designed to boil your nose off the second you came within a foot of it. But within five minutes we could hear the steady clip-clop of what Zel estimated was a herd of between forty and sixty durgoyles. And Raoul said, “I see them!

Horns on the horizon and closing fast!”

They emerged from the water-induced fog like a fleet of sailing ships speeding into view, their gray skins resembling stained sails, their protruding ribs reminding me of rigging. The yips and howls continuing at the back of the herd explained their speed. I don’t know where they thought they were headed, but the plan definitely seemed to involve escaping the spiderhounds snapping at their hooves.

The doomed animals’ horns grew straight out from their heads and then curled back in, so that the tips were constantly rubbing against their necks, leaving a steady trickle of blood that turned their forelegs a permanent rusty color. Flies pursued them relentlessly, buzzing in and out of their ears, forcing them to slap their hindquarters with whiplike tails that left bloody slashes, opening sores for the insects to lay eggs in, many of which had hatched and flourished, transforming the sores into oozing pits ful of wriggling maggots.

As if they needed yet another reason to be permanently pissed.

Fights broke out at the brushing of a flank. Horns clashed almost constantly, fil ing the air with echoes of bone smashing against bone. At least once a day a durgoyle fel to its knees, where it was promptly trampled by the rest of the herd, which didn’t moo like cows. The sound they made, and they did it with the frequency of New York car horns, squeaked through the air like dolphin cal s, making me suspect my ears would also be bleeding before this episode had ended.

“I think I wanna kil them al ,” I said. “Is that a bad thing?”

“Just pick the one you want,” Vayl told me.

“Wait,” said Zel . “We need them to crash the gate first.”

“And how are we supposed to do that?” I asked. “They’re on the wrong side of the Moat.” Zel said, “Four of the geysers are over here. Half of them wil cross just to drink this water.” He nodded at Astral as a series of yips made us look beyond the herd. We stil couldn’t see the spiderhounds at its edge, but their cal s were clearer than ever. “The durgoyles wil think your cat is one of their predators. Not a spiderhound, of course, but perhaps a zenqual, who hunt in herds of sometimes twenty or more. I noted she can talk. Can she make special sounds too?”

“When she’s in the right mood.”

His eyebrows quirked. “Wel , the zenqual often hunt silently, but many of them squeal like a hog at feeding time too. If you can get her to make that sound while you help herd them toward the gate, panic should do the rest.”

I glanced over my shoulder at the huge metal edifice leering behind me. Even with the entire herd butting their heads against it at once, I doubted they could round up enough force to break open an entry that the devil himself had ordered closed until further notice. But it was worth a try. So I nodded as Raoul and Lotus went to the other side of the gate to make sure they’d be somewhat on the opposite edge of the herd once they moved into range.

The yips got louder and more frequent, assuring us that the spiderhounds had stayed on the durgoyles’ tails. We became even more positive when the pace of the herd increased. When their heads came up, their ears swiveled, and they began to squeak at each other more often, we knew we’d be seeing predators sooner rather than later.

The first of the durgoyles hit the Moat without even hesitating, swimming strongly toward the geysers we’d danced out of the earth despite the depth of the river at this point. Luckily the current was slow enough that it didn’t carry the creature far downstream at al . Within minutes half of the fifty head had joined it.

I pul ed the cat, who’d been perching on my shoulder, into my arms. Somehow it felt important to maintain eye contact as I said, “You need to squeal like a pig as soon as the durgoyles hit shore so they’l run toward the gate. Make it seem like you’re fifty cats, not just one. Can you do that?” I asked.

Her reply was a soft grunt that sounded an awful lot like contented pig. But I wasn’t real y sure until she headed toward the water and jumped in. As if I hadn’t been impressed with Bergman’s invention or the fact that he’d deigned to give it to me rather than sel it to some mega-rich country for enough dough to retire on, now I felt real affection for Astral as she emerged from beneath the water, swimming strongly against the current, and making pig squeals so authentic I could almost see the wal er from here.

Unbelievably, every time she made noise, the durgoyles lunged forward as if they’d been tased.