Voidhawk - Lost Soul (23 page)

She gulped in air for a moment then grinned. “They’re on the far side, we’ll be fine.”

“They’re fast,” Dexter warned. “Be safe!”

“Xander, why couldn’t you make one of those discs to take us up and over this wall?” Jenna asked.

Xander turned to look at her. He stared for a long moment, then nodded his head slowly. “I think I could,” he said. “I’d have to take into consideration the
single fixed gravity field, but it’s certainly possible.”

Dexter scowled at him. “I’m paying you to think of these things quicker!”

“I’m getting paid for this?” Xander asked.

Dexter raised his finger to point it at the wizard but Tasha stopped him. “Captain, they’ve made for the gate. Let’s hurry!”

Dexter shook his finger threateningly at the wizard then turned and led the way to the barred gate. Bailynn and Haley were staring at the wheel that a chain was attached to. “Use the levers!” Dexter said, pointing at the two long levers, one on either side of the wheel.

Bailynn grabbed one and pulled on it, heaving to turn the wheel several notches. The portcullis shifted after a moment, slowly lifting a few inches. Haley grabbed the other lever and yanked on it, only to find it moved easily. Bailynn returned her lever to its original position and began to pull it back towards her again. Haley waited until Bailynn had completed the journey and then pushed her lever back to its original position.

Dexter had knelt down stared at the six inch opening, eager to crawl through as soon as he could. With Haley’s latest movement the heavy iron barrier crashed down into the stone, missing him by inches and sending broken chips of rock into his face. Dexter stumbled away, cursing and rubbing at his face.

“That’s the lock!” Xander sputtered, pointing at the handle in Haley’s hands. “It sets it so the portcullis won’t fall. Pull it and leave it in place!”

“And hurry,” Tasha said. “You’re going to have company.”

Haley pulled her lever back in place before turning to see the three demons rising up from their grisly meal.
Bailynn hauled on her lever, raising the portcullis inch by inch. She’d finished cranking the handle four times when something black streaked beneath the gate, causing Dexter to curse anew. He spun about, seeking understanding, and saw a pile of clothing behind him.

“What the—”

“Logan!” Bailynn screamed. She cranked the heavy lever once more then turned and ran after the wolf her lover had turned into.

“Haley! Open! This! Gate!” Dexter demanded.

Haley grabbed the lever and started pumping it as fast as the heavy machine would allow. Dexter rolled under it, Jenna close behind him. Tasha tried to follow them but had to cry out when her armor left her lodged beneath it. Haley cranked it up another few inches then turned and ran after the others.

Logan was bleeding from several cuts along his sides and face. The fur around his mouth was burnt and smoking, but the arm of one of the demon
s hung limp at its side. Bailynn circled with a grace that made Dexter pause. She faced one of the gray demons and neither of them seemed ready to press the attack.

“They’re fast!” Dexter warned.

Haley ran past him, a sword in one hand and a hand axe in the other. She swung at the second demon facing Logan, forcing it to break away from the wolf and turn to deal with her. It snarled, the hissing noise it made more of an insane laugh than a threat.

Haley swung her weapons, aiming to disable or kill with each. The demon slapped the axe away and
slipped to the side of her sword, then ripped bloody furrows on her hip, tearing easily through the leather skirt she wore. Rather than showing dismay or defeat, Haley spun away from the talons and backhanded the demon in the face with the flat of her axe.

It fell back, hissing and shaking its head. She advanced while she had the advantage. She’d seen how quick it was and knew what to do. When it came for her next she threw herself into it, earning a painful scrape across her ribs from its teeth but keeping its claws from finding purchase. The gr
ay fiend fell back, off balance, and gave her the chance to thrust her sword into its bowels.

It let loose a screeching howl
that faded from a sound into a hiss that turned into gray smoke that poured out of its mouth and chest. In seconds it was gone, retreating to its own realm. She turned and saw Dexter sweep the head from the demon facing Logan and Tasha kneeling on top of the demon that Bailynn had opposed, the Golden Lady’s sword pinning it to the ground until it faded into a noxious cloud.

“Can you go on?” Dexter asked, looking at the blood running down Haley’s thigh to her boots.

Haley put her weight on her leg and nodded. “It hurts, but I’ll be all right.”

“I can help,” Logan growled. The hair receded from his naked body as he straightened slowly.

“Got control over that, did you?” Dexter asked.

Logan turned his head to look at him, then let his eyes take in Bailynn. Her own scratches from the fight had barely broken the skin. She grinned at him and he let his shoulders droop a little. “With Bailynn’s help,” he answered.

“Don’t have time to get your pants, see if you can’t find some along the way.”

Logan glanced down and blushed. “Aye, Captain.”

“Only if we have time,” Bailynn said, winking at her lover. Logan turned a deeper shade of red.

A moment later and Haley was
walking without a limp. A bellow from behind them stopped them before they could move any further ahead. Resigned to what misery awaited them, Dexter turned to see Rosh lifting the heavy iron portcullis with his bare hands. Volera slipped under it, barely needing to duck, and cranked the lever until the slack in the chain was taken up. Rosh stooped to grab something then hurried through to join them. Moments later Dexter saw the combined forces of Port Freedom and the Federation approaching the gate.

“Can’t say you got the best timing, healer,” Rosh said, tossing Logan his pants that he’d picked up. “But I think a little more highly of you all the same.”

Bailynn giggled at Logan’s side while he struggled to pull the pants on. “You brought reinforcements,” Dexter noted.

“Too late, looks like.”

“There’s plenty more inside, I’m sure,” Dexter said. He turned to face the small army of men and women. He pointed at some of the grisly remains of fallen defenders. “You’ve seen what they can do. They’re fast, vicious, and without remorse. One on one you don’t stand a chance. We don’t know how many there are or where. Split into groups and hunt them down or they’ll find you while you’re asleep and eat your guts while you’re still alive.”

The partially eaten bodies behind him gave credence to his threat. “Go! Don’t let them get dug in!”

Dexter turned to Volera. “So you’re some kind of demon?”

“I used to be.”

Dexter nodded. “Then maybe you can tell me where Rolxoth’s keeping my daughter?”

“It’ll be with him,” she said without a second thought. “And he’ll be somewhere safe and stable. Like the cavern he used to summon his minions.”

“Down then. I’m guessing the castle has a dungeon. That’s where we’ll go.”

“A dungeon? Where? The
se are manor houses of the wealthiest of Port Freedom here!” Jenna said, turning around and staring at the luxurious estates contained within the castle proper.

“Xander? Bekka? Anybody?” Dexter asked. “
These demons been here for a while now, any second might be the one we spent too much time working our jaws!”

Bekka had the good grace to look miserable. She shook her head and let her eyes fall to the ground. “I’m sorry, Dex,” she whispered. “I learned so much, but it doesn’t help for what you’re after.”

“You’re a necromancer,” Volera snapped at her.

Bekka’s head jerked up in surprise. “What?”

“I can feel your sorcery. You’re magic focuses on the dead, you’re a necromancer. Necromancers also have power over the energies of a living thing, including its soul. Reach out for the girl. Her soul, if it’s still on this realm, will still be linked to her body. Find that bond and follow it.”

“Jia’s body’s on the ‘Hawk,” Dexter added. “About three days toward the Federation in the void.”

“Um…okay,” Bekka said. She took a deep breath in spite of the tightly laced corset she wore and closed her eyes. After several tense moments she opened them again to reveal they were milky and white, as though her pupils and irises had disappeared. She walked, stepping over piles of gore and around other obstacles as though she was guided. She came to the entrance of an estate, the doors swinging in the entryway. “Here,” Bekka whispered. Even her voice had taken on a ghostly timbre.

Dexter rushed past her into the building. Jenna paused, hugging the half elven sorceress and startling her out of her trance. The color rushed back into her eyes and she blushed. “I think I did it!” Bekka
squeaked out thanks to Jenna’s crushing grip.

“I think you did,” Jenna let her go and hurried after the others into the manor house.

They found demons roaming the house, seeking out whatever mayhem they could. The servants and family had long been butchered. Now destruction alone remained to delight them. A group of six of them were destroying a large dining room when the group tried to hurry past them. The demons shrieked out a warning and ran towards them.

“Go on,” Rosh told Dexter. “I got this.”

Before Dexter could voice disapproval Rosh bellowed out his own war cry and charged into the room brandishing his sword. The raised ceiling allowed him room to move the weapon but it did little to stop him from smashing an enormous crystal chandelier with his first swing. Two demons launched themselves at him, scratching and beating as he fought to free his sword.

Volera followed behind, more fiery bolts streaking from her hands to catch a demon ready to pounce and slam it back into the wall. Her sword lashed out, catching a seventh demon that had been hiding as it tried to sneak up on her.

Rosh yanked one of the biting demons free, losing some flesh as he did so, and threw it across the room. He pounded his sword-turned-mace into another demon, shattering the ornate decoration enough to let his sword slide free of it. A moment later the other demon clinging to his leg was sent back to hell in a puff of smoke.

“De
x, go!” Jenna urged him.

Dexter surged forward, hesitating at the next hallway that offered a cross passage.

“Right,” Bekka called out from behind him. Dexter turned to the right, rushing past a larder where a gray skinned demon was ripping apart a closet filled with foodstuffs.

The demon turned and launched itself them. Tasha threw herself in front of it, accepting the scraping claws and biting teeth against her mail clad arm. She fell under the powerful force of the attack but before the demon could find a soft spot to chew through her armor Haley’s magical blade cleaved into its back and dis
persed it.

Logan helped the Golden Lady to her feet, exchanging thanks along the way. With the latest threat removed, they moved on after their Captain. Dexter and Jenna waited
at an open doorway leading to a dark staircase ahead of them. A faint sulfurous smell rose out of the depths, promising and end to their trek.

Chapter
14

“This’d be a good time for Rosh’s pet to show up and offer some guidance,” Dexter said as he stared into the dark staircase.

“She’s not a pet,” Bekka defended.

Dexter glanced at her then shrugged. “I suppose not. Don’t mean I wouldn’t like knowing what’s coming a little better.”

“Only one way to find out,” Haley encouraged.

Dexter nodded and started down the stairs. Jenna moved behind him, a sword in each hand. The others followed as space allowed, descending the staircase until it opened into a cellar once used for storing vegetables and other perishables.

“Shouldn’t it be cooler in here?” Tasha asked.

“Yes,” Xander replied. “It shouldn’t smell like brimstone and sulfur either.”

Tasha winced, her actions echoed by Dexter and Jenna. “Let’s hurry!”
she urged.

A door on the side wall offered the only
other egress from the room. Dexter looked at it, noting dull carvings surrounding the door. They didn’t resemble anything he’d ever seen before, whether they were letters of pictures. He pushed it open, noting that it hadn’t been shut properly.

“The runes have already been burnt out by whatever came before us,” Xander said from the rear of the small convoy.
“They were meant to keep intruders away.”

Dexter grunted, then kept going. The hallway opened into an antechamber, complete with closets in varying states of distress. One was smashed open
, broken wooden fragments laying on the ground. Another had the door torn from its hinges. Robes, torn and shredded, were the only remnants of what might have once been in the armoires.

Beyond a larger room awaited. It was lit by glowing spheres set in sconces in the wall. A circular dais made of a
glossy black stone was centered in the room, glowing black runes worked into it just beneath the surface. Black flames rose from the runes, reminding Dexter of the portal in the cave, save that this one looked far more ornate.