'GRAAARGH!' roared the spellbound Council members.
Artemis was surprised at how calm he felt. You would think that a teenage human would be terrified at the sight of a pride of demons climbing towards him, but Artemis was more nervous than terrified, and more curious than nervous.
He glanced backwards over his shoulder, into the crater they had just climbed out of.
'The pride comes before a fall,' he said softly, then smiled at his own joke.
Holly overheard. 'You certainly pick your moment to develop a sense of humour.'
'Usually I would be planning, but this is out of my hands. Qwan is in charge now.'
No.1 led them along the rim of the crater towards a low rocky ledge.
There was a wooden rod jammed into the ground beside the ledge, and hooked over the rod were dozens of silver bangles. Most tarnished and soot-caked. No.1 wiggled a bunch over the top of the rod. 'Dimension jumpers leave these here,' he explained, passing them out. 'Just in case they make it back. No one ever did, until now. Except Leon Abbot of course.'
Qwan slipped a bangle on to his wrist. 'Dimension jumping is suicide.
Without silver, a demon will never be able to stay in one place for more than a few seconds. They will drift between times and dimensions until they are killed by exposure or starvation. Magic is the only reason we're here. I am amazed this Abbot person made it back. What is his demon name?'
No.1 squinted down the mountain pathway.
'You can ask him your self. That's him, the big one elbowing his way to the head of the group.'
Holly squinted down at the pride leader.
'The one with the curved horns and big sword?' she asked.
'Is he smiling?'
'No.'
'That's Abbot.'
It was a strange reunion. There was no hugging, no champagne and no teary-eyed reminiscing. Instead there were bared teeth, drawn swords and threatening behaviour. The latest batch of imps were especially eager to skewer the newcomers and prove their valour. Artemis was the number one target in the group. Imagine, an actual live human here on Hybras. He didn't look so tough.
Artemis and company had stayed put on the ledge, waiting for the demons to come to them. They didn't have to wait long. The imps arrived first, breathless from the climb and just dying to kill something.
If it hadn't been for Qwan, Artemis would have been ripped to shreds on the spot. In fairness, Holly had something to do with keeping Artemis alive too. She tagged the first half-dozen imps with a charge from her
Neutrino strong enough to send them scurrying back to what they thought was a safe distance. After that, Qwan managed to hold their attention by conjuring a multicoloured dancing monkey in the air.
Soon every demon who was able to climb the mountain had done so, and they were all staring at the magical monkey.
Even No.1 was entranced. 'What is that?' Qwan fluttered his fingers, causing the monkey to somersault.
'It's a simple magical construct. Instead of allowing the sparks to roam on instinct, I marshal them into a recognizable form. It takes time and effort, but in time you will have this micro-control too.'
'No,' said No.1. I mean what is that?' Qwan sighed. 'It's a monkey.'
As their numbers grew, the demons became more and more agitated.
The warriors crashed horns in a show of strength. They bashed each other's chest plates with their forearms and made a big show of sharpening their swords on stones.
'I miss Butler,' said Artemis.
'Me too,' said Holly, scanning the crowd for the greatest threat. It wasn't easy to decide. Every demon in the crowd seemed as though he was on the verge of hurling himself at the new arrivals. Holly had seen three- dimensional models of demons, of course, but she had never seen the real thing. The models were accurate enough, but they couldn't capture the bloodlust in the creatures' eyes, or the eerie whines that curled out of their noses as battle fever possessed them.
Abbot barged through to the front of the group and Holly instantly trained her weapon on his chest.
'Qwan!' said Abbot, obviously amazed. 'You're alive? I thought the warlocks were all dead.'
'Except the one that helped you,' said No.1 before he could stop himself.
Abbot took a step back. 'Well, yes. Except that one.'
Qwan closed his fist and the monkey disappeared. 'I know you,' he said slowly, searching for the memories. 'You were at Taillte. You were a dissenter.'
Abbot drew himself up. 'That's right. I am Abbot the dissenter. We never should have come here. We should have met the humans head-on. The warlocks betrayed us!' He levelled his sword at Qwan.
'You betrayed us!'
The other demons growled and rattled their weapons.
Abbot took a moment to study the other members of the group.
'A human! That's a human. You have brought the enemy to our door.
How long before the rest of them follow in their metal birds?'
'Metal birds?' said Artemis in Gnommish. 'What metal birds? All we have are crossbows, remember?'
There followed a collective ooh, as the demons realized that this human spoke their language, albeit with an accent. Abbot decided to change the subject. This boy was picking holes in his story. 'And you brought an elf too, warlock. Armed with a magical weapon. The elves betrayed us at Taillte!'
Qwan was getting bored with all this posturing. 'I know, everybody betrayed you at Taillte. Why don't you give the order you're working up to? You want us dead. Give the order, and see if our brother demons will attack the only being who can save them.'
Abbot realized that he was on very dangerous ground. This poisonous little bunch had to be dealt with. Quickly and permanently.
'You want to die so much? So be it, you can die.' He pointed his sword at the small group and was on the verge of roaring 'Kill them!' or perhaps 'Death to the traitors!' when Qwan snapped his fingers. He did this in a very showy way, setting off a magical mini-explosion.
'I remember you now. Your name isn't Abbot. You're N'zall, the idiot who ruined the time spell. But you seem different. Those red markings.'
Abbot flinched as if struck. A few of the older demons sniggered.
Abbot's demon name wasn't brought up very much. Abbot was a little embarrassed by it, not surprisingly since N'zall meant 'little horn' in the old demon cant.
'It is you, N'zall. It's all coming back to me now. You and that other moron, Bludwin — you were against the time spell. You wanted to fight it out with the humans.'
'I still do,' roared Abbot, overcompensating after the mention of his true name. 'There's one right here. We can start with him.'
Qwan was angry now, for the first time since he came back to life. 'We had it all worked out. We had a circle of seven in the volcano, the lava was rising, and everything was under control, then you and Bludwin hopped out from behind a rock and broke the circle.'
Abbot's laugh was hollow. 'This never happened. You have been away too long, warlock. You have gone mad.'
Qwan's eyes burned with blue sparks, and magic rippled along the length of his arms. 'I have been a statue for ten thousand years because of you.'
'Nobody believes a word of this, warlock.'
'I believe it,' said No.1. And there were some in the demon camp who believed it too. It was in their eyes.
'You tried to murder the warlocks!' continued Qwan accusingly. 'There was some commotion and Bludwin went into the volcano. His energy tainted the spell. Then you dragged my apprentice, Qweffor, into the lava too. Both of you went in. I saw it.' Qwan frowned, trying to piece it all together. 'But you didn't die. You didn't die because the spell had already started. The magic transported you away before the lava could melt your bones. But where did Qweffor go? Where did you go?'
