Wait. Was the van slowing down?
Rodney the maniac, werbull call screaming pizza delivery driver was shaking and trembling. And easing his idiot foot off the gas.
Hilario slapped his shoulder. “Go faster!”
Rodney took a shaking hand off the wheel and pointed at the windshield. Well, at the horrible things beyond the windshield that they were hurtling toward.
“But, but, but…”
Hilario grabbed the idiot’s shoulder and shook him. “Look behind you!” he shouted.
Rodney’s bugged out eyes went to the rearview.
Hilario moved his bulk aside so the moron could see what was coming up their backside.
The four werbulls bellowed and roared. Their thunderous hoof falls were like an earthquake chasing them.
Rodney screamed back into supersonic levels. He jammed the gas pedal to the floor. The van practically whinnied and surged forward.
Why couldn’t the van ever do that for him?
Hilario held on the the back of the passenger seat. Barely kept himself from tumbling back again. His knees screamed at him to sit down. He told them if his body and soul weren’t obliterated in the next couple minutes, he’d find a place to sit down.
Until then…
67
The Eye of Malachi portal at the base of the tower swirled in a mass of fire and crackling blue lightning.
The thick, black pillar of the tower stuck up like an extended middle finger between the humps of two smaller extensions on either side.
At its base, the portal glowed with red fire.
Lightning coalesced into a single ball at the center. Brightened and discharged in a giant, purple pulse that light up the sky around the tower.
Red fire shot out from either side of the portal. Ran along the ridge the tower sat on.
The red light didn’t fade. And it wasn’t a fire, either.
It was a gap between the earth and the sky. He could see pink tinged clouds beyond the red light. A shimmer of light on a familiar bay.
And at the base of the tower, arrayed in front of the portal and extending to each side…
The lords of the dark places.
Even from a distance he could recognize some of them…Karvnet…Unhar…Bortray…their shapes as distinctive as they were terrifying.
There had to be dozens of them. All of them with their arms upraised, fingers crooked in shapes of casting. The air distorted around their bodies as magic coursed through them.
And lying face down in front of the gate was the giant form of Sinzerklaazz. His red armor was dented and scratched. His long, white hair hung dirty and lank.
Dozens of husky orkes stood on either side of the massive being. They seemed to be in the process of trying to lift him. They were just getting his head and torso lifted. He looked like a huge…
“BOOGER PEPPERONI SANDWICH ON THE SIDE!” Larry/Igidbon shouted through the bullhorn.
Hilario smacked him on the shoulder. “Yell at them to wait!” he said, “Tell them you’ve captured the clown.”
Larry/Igidbon gave him a sideways glance. The rotting corpse of Lord Igidbon that Larry’s ghost inhabited smelled really bad. There were spots of decay on the corpse’s cheeks. Igidbon’s eyes were already milky, his cheeks sunken.
He was really going downhill fast.
Larry clicked the bullhorn and shouted at the dark lords to wait, so on and so forth.
Not that it really mattered. The dark lords weren’t going to stop for anything now. He just needed a few moments of distraction.
He turned to the back of the van. Roger the ogre held Sinzerklaazz’s red bag in shaking hands. He held it out to Hilario.
Hilario shook his head. “You and Rachel,” he said.
A glance at Rachel. She gave him a solemn nod.
He stared at the silky red bag with its glittering golden cord. Was he going to survive this? This was the sort of thing that would do more than get him sent back to the bad places. That much power could shatter his soul into so many pieces it would never come back together.
His raised his eyes to Odom. “Cut the bag when it’s time,” he said, “If this works.”
Odom gripped his massive sword. “It shall be done noble clown.”
He looked to Marco. Pointed to the bloodwood box. “Get ready to give me Queezleyan,” he said, “Then hang on to Larry. Make sure he doesn’t fall out And keep hold of that box Don’t lose it.”
Marco gave him a firm nod. Put his hand on the bloodwood box.
He turned to the Sapphire Witch. She held out the gold and sapphire amulet. He hated that his hand shook as he reached out to take it.
He took a moment to look into the blank, blue disks of her brass rimmed goggles. It wasn’t a matter of trust anymore. He’d shared more with her than either of them really wanted. Words weren’t necessary.
“On the other side,” she said.
He nodded. Turned, finally, to the black angel that buzzed and shimmered behind the driver’s seat.
Probably just as well the still screaming Rodney couldn’t see it.
What was the black angel’s realm? They transported souls to the various realms. But where did they call home? Where did they come from?
He closed his eyes and saw the pearlescent spiral that went from one end of eternity to the other. The spiral of Yev, in all its aching beauty.
Where had that glimpse come from?
Not from the Sapphire Witch. She had already been compromised. And switched out with the puppet that Queezleyan piloted. Not from Rachel. She had not fully returned into her powers. Certainly not from Detective Marco or the ghost of Larry.
We were allowed to turn. It was the only way to get here without using the Eye of Malachi.
Turn.
Who killed Larry Sparrow?
What kind
