FIREFANGED

Chapter 16 (Hell-diving)

After a short talk with Khamros, King Ylamil eagerly agreed to my terms. A dark elven warband marched from the city less than two hours later. We had fifty dark elves armed with their long-bladed spears plus Lorna and her seven Royal guards, all armed with spears and their heavy blackblades. My three guards carried their usual assortment of blades and axes.

I was beginning to appreciate the easy decisiveness of the King. A century or more of leading his people had endowed Ylamil with plenty of insight and self-assurance. Of course, he was risking very little at this point, and if things went south later today, he could always change his mind. In my mind, the day would only go badly for the minions of Hell.

It was mid-afternoon as we reached the suspected mine site, and I felt the slow pulsing of a burning void deep underground. We were in the right place. Raven's redemption pooled in the dark labyrinth below.

Lorna and I wasted no time setting up for our attack on the cave. Yseria Warric would remain outside with my two sentinel guards, and she would be in overall command of our external forces. Their job was to act as a rearguard until we returned. No way was I going to risk my young bodyguards on this Hell-diving expedition, and I wondered if Vigil Snow would risk my life in this same situation. I came to the conclusion that he was smart enough to stay out of a Hell-cave.

Lorna would accompany me into the mine with her seven royal guards, each cloaked with a hunter's amulet. They were the best fighters the dark elves had to offer and having the edge of surprise might make all the difference. We hoped to find most of the demons close to the entrance. After eliminating them, I planned to work silently with Fei-Krull, my fang-knife's resident soul, until I killed whatever was producing or controlling the local horde. It was a plan, anyway. We would see how long it held together.

We moved through a natural cave opening and down an irregular-shaped tunnel until we found our first demon stretched out on the floor of a large seemingly man-made room. Our shamanic talismans worked their magic, and the man-crab demon didn't notice us in time to avoid all the long elvish blades. It was almost as if the demons were expecting us. Toward the back of the cavern, three snarling wolf-man beasts swept forward in the gloom, and a hairy, black spider-like fiend fell on us from the ceiling.

As traps go, it was well-timed.

Unfortunately for the Infernal beasts, I was hanging back, waiting for that hairy demon to drop. It met my axe while its eight legs were still eight feet short of the floor, and its head had no other option but to split, a dozen demonic eyes parting on either side of the wide blade. The spider-demon thrashed uncontrollably on the floor while the claws of the approaching wolves grew louder, tearing at the rough stone floor.

Turning to face the triple threat, I whipped my axe into the nearest of the beasts racing our way. The weapon struck hard, knocking it back but leaving it alive. The other two monsters veered rapidly toward the elves that were finishing off the crab-man. I drew Fei-Krull from its sheath on my back and leaped upon the injured wolf, quickly punching smoking holes in its head and neck.

An elf went down screaming. The rest danced away from the remaining wolf-demon pair, keeping their long blades slashing to the front. Eight against two was an excellent ratio, and we were soon left with hairy black bodies scattered all about in pools of black blood and quickly melting chunks of unreal flesh. The wounded Royal guard had lost his arm at the shoulder before being disemboweled by the scrape of razor-sharp claws. The last of his life force slipped away, and there was little we could do but catch our breath and leave a prayer.

Overall, we had been lucky. The room had a sizable, broad shape. It could easily hold forty demons, so the fact that it only held five of the Hell-borne was a good start. The natural light was almost nonexistent, and I expected it to fall away completely as we pushed onward and downward. Fortunately, there was a consistent flow of heat coming from the dark tunnel opening on the far side of the room. We could feel it and see it as if it were a dim red light. Following it to the source would be the simplest part of the afternoon.