Devil Ash Deceit (Devil Ash Saga) (8 page)

“
New
-s?” Aura said, repeating the foreign word. “Funny word. I like it.”

Glebeck continued to bellow out headlines while Machmann and her men handed out the newspapers to whomever paid the price. This went on for almost an hour. By the time they were done with the performance the entire stock of newspapers were sold. The satisfied customers left while many others stood around waiting for them to bring out more papers. Glebeck assured those who were not able to purchase a copy that there would be more available during the evening presentation of current events.

After the crowd cleared out of the warehouse, Glebeck, Machmann, and their employees disappeared through the mysterious backdoor once more. The boys stood and stretched their limbs, feeling like an eternity had passed since the start of the show.

“Maybe they’ll just have us carry some newspapers,” Ash said.

“Or maybe they’ll make us get up on stage and bark their stupid sales pitch,” said Aura.

The boys headed for the backdoor. Ash approached meaning only to knock, but Aura clutched the handle and pushed his way in without so much as a second thought.

“Shouldn’t we knock first?” Ash asked.

“Why?” Aura said. “Busy place like this, they’d never even hear us.” Aura was right; the building was very busy. And very
loud
. Ash stepped inside and saw rows of machines and a hundred men operating them. Some people were running around shouting out headlines, contributing to all the sound pollution. The machines hissed and squealed while sweaty men pulled levers and lifted heavy-looking metal plates.

“Is this a…
print press
?” asked Ash.

“Must be. And up there is the bosses office,” Aura said pointing to a room suspended above the factory floor. “This place look familiar to you?”

Ash thought for a moment. Staring down the rows of machines and then observing the placement of the main office sparked something in Ash’s memory. Suddenly he knew why this place did indeed look familiar.

“It’s the same layout as the building I found Apsat in!”

“Yep!” Aura said, surprised that Ash actually remembered. “That’s how I know where the main office is. Let’s go.”

Ash hadn’t really thought about it until now, but Aura did know a lot about that old weapons plant. The boy had never talked much about his childhood, and never once did he give Ash a solid explanation on where he grew up or where his parents are. They were simply taboo topics, and Ash had always figured Aura would tell him some day when he was ready to.

But what part did that building play in Aura’s past? Why was it so special to him? Ash wished his friend would just out and tell him finally. As they climbed the steps up to Glebeck’s office, he thought about just asking Aura. They reached the office and once again Aura busted through the door without so much as knocking.

“We’re here to see Glebeck!” Aura said.

Sitting at a receptionist desk was Machmann, who stood firm at once. “I don’t know who you are young man, but you need an appointment to speak with Mr. Lowdly,” she said.

Luckily for the boys, Glebeck Lowdly was seated at a desk behind Machmann. He quickly recognized the death toucher half-human duo. “Machmann! These boys are our guests!” he said.

“Right Mr. Lowdly,” she replied, changing her demeanor instantly. “What business do these hooligans have with you, sir?”

“Aura Draxler? Ash Kaplan?” Glebeck said to confirm their names.

“Yeah, we were sent here with this work order by Royal Advisor Goddard von Gosick.” Ash pulled the soggy work order out and handed it to Machmann.

“This is… a forgery!” Machmann said, tearing apart the wet paper.

“No it’s not you old hag!” said Aura.

Glebeck, on his feet now, stepped away from his desk and snatched what remained of the wet work order out of his assistant’s hand. “This is the real deal, straight from the Royal Advisor’s desk,” he said. He walked over to the wall where several pipes stuck out, each with their own label. Glebeck approached the pipes labeled B and R and put his mouth right next to them. “
Get up here
!” he said into the pipes.

When he turned around, he was now smiling ear to ear. “So, Goddard’s finally sent you our way, has he?” Glebeck reproached the boys. “Well we’ll certainly get our money’s worth out of you, that’s for sure. You boys swim by chance?”

“
Swim
?” Aura asked, looking perplexed. “What’s this all about?”

“Ah don’t worry about it,” Glebeck said. “You guys are here to make money, right?”

“Actually…” Ash said.

“We’re here for the money!” Aura blurted out, interrupting his friend. He pulled Ash aside and lowered his voice. “I’m sure they’d just love to dig up some dirt on us, but don’t give them anything they can use against us. Just let me do all the talking, okay? I don’t mind being a dick to them. Just remember, we’re here to complete whatever job they give us
flawlessly
. Let’s just do it fast, do it right, and get the heck out of here.”

Two more men entered the office. One was a morbidly obese balding man in a shirt two sizes too tight. The other was an impossibly old man whose face was so riddled with wrinkles it looked like it had collapsed in on itself.

“Well look what the demons dragged in,” the fat man said.

“Looks like a bunch of… of… a bunch of baby ragamuffins, it does,” the old man said.

“Bliley, Rumbaugh, this is Ash Kaplan the human and Aura Draxler the death toucher,” Glebeck said.

“
Human
!” Bliley bellowed.

“Half-human,” Ash said, correcting him.

“
Breast toucher?
” Rumbaugh asked, for he was hard of hearing too.

“Yes, that’s correct,” Aura said.

“Royal Advisor von Gosick finally sent them over to work for us,” Glebeck said, attempting to steer the conversation. “We have them for the day.”

“This is too good,” Rumbaugh said while leering at Ash with a gleam of hunger in his eyes and a drop of drool hanging off the side of his mouth. “We’re going to give them
that
job right?”

“What is
that
job?” Ash asked.

“Certainly you don’t mean…” Bliley said.

“Yes, guys, we talked about this a month ago. Remember? The ink?” Glebeck said.

“
Ink
?” everyone in the room repeated.

“Take a look out the window towards the back of the factory,” Glebeck said, pointing the boys to the window. “What do you see?”

The boys directed their attention out the window that overlooked the factory floor. In the rear of the building were several large vats.

“Do you boys know how many ingredients are in the ink we make?” Glebeck asked. “Of course you don’t; you’re a primitive human and a perverted ruffian. Four. There are four ingredients in our ink.”

‘Primitive’!
Ash thought, outraged. 
I could blow this guy away with the internet in one second! If only I had the internet here, and knew how to explain it…

“Well those four ingredients don’t come cheap, especially at the rate we go through them,” Glebeck said. “So we’re always experimenting with various
solvents
, pigments, dyes,
res
ins
,
and lubricants. That’s all expensive too! We need to find a less expensive way to produce ink, and we think you could be the guys to help us with our next break-through.”

“Hey, isn’t that the infamous death toucher, Dora Braxtin?” Bliley asked.

“Yes, Bliley, pay attention!” Glebeck said, snapping on his fellow noble.

“I don’t know if we can help you there,” Ash said. “We don’t know the first thing about ink.”

“Ash! What did I say?” Aura asked. “We
have
to show them up by doing whatever they ask! No matter how stupid or hard the job may be!”

“We want you to collect the ink from a species of demons known as Sting Squids.” Glebeck said.

“
Ah
ha
,” said Aura. “We quit then.”

“
What
!” Ash grabbed Aura by the arm. “You can’t quit that easily! What happened to all your confidence?”

“I’ve just realized how absolutely silly it was that I ever cared what these old farts think about me. I don’t need to go in the water to prove that.”

“Headline!” Glebeck said suddenly, startling the boys. “Death Toucher Aura Afraid of Water!”

“Headline!” Rumbaugh said, joining in. “Humans Can’t Swim!”

“Yes they can!” Ash said. “This is bull! Come on Aura, let’s do what we came here to do and shut these guys up!”

“I
really
don’t want to,” Aura said.

“We’ll do it,” said Ash.

“Excellent!” Glebeck said with glee. Behind him Rumbaugh and Bliley cackled like deranged children.

A short while later everyone walked to the pier in East Hell. Glebeck, Machmann, Bliley, and Rumbaugh all had their own assistants holding umbrellas for them. Ash and Aura were not even given a newspaper to cover their heads with. They got drenched as soon as they set foot outside. That, combined with the dreadful thought of how they’d be dealing with the sting squids made for one unpleasant trek through Hell.

The group arrived at the long pier leading out into a turbulent dark sea. The boys were thankful as they finally got out of the rain by entering a small shack halfway up the pier. They walked down some stairs and found themselves under the pier, almost at the water level. Rows of smaller docks and wooden boats lined the water’s edge. Glebeck explained to the dockworker on duty that the two boys were here to dive, and the dockworker began preparing equipment for them.

“Ash, it’s been fun…” Aura said. “Actually, today has been pretty horrible, but that’s not the point. The point is that I’m running away from this one.”

“Are you really that scared of the water?” asked Ash.

“Yes! Do humans do a lot of swimming?”

“Yeah. Don’t devils?”

“No!”

“It’s easy. Just get in the water and move your arms and legs around. As your friend, I can’t allow you to disappoint yourself and run away.”

“I am quite alright with disappointing myself, I’ve been doing it for years,” Aura said.

“Quit squawking and put on these dive suits!” Rumbaugh said, glaring at them.

The diving suits in question were nothing fancy. Not like the scuba-suits Ash had seen on Earth, anyway. They were basically tight rubber suits that were supposed to protect them from the freezing cold water somewhat. Aura immediately pointed out that the suits lacked wing-holes on the backs, but everyone laughed and told him to deal with it. He grumbled about not being able to use his death touching hand either.

It only took a minute to put on the stretchy suits. The boys followed the group to the end of the pier, a long way from the shoreline. The water looked deep, dark, and heart-stoppingly terrifying. Ash felt sorry for Aura not being able to swim as he gazed into the abyss. Glebeck handed the boy a single small knife.

“Here, you might want this,” he said. “Sting Squids have been seen under this pier before, so I’m confident you should encounter at least one. We just need enough ink to fill these buckets,” Glebeck said, motioning to a few small buckets the dockworker brought with. “Over here is the central air supply,” he said pointing to a pipe that was built into the framework of the pier. It bent around and pointed downward so that nothing could be poured inside of it.

“I’ll plug your breathing tubes into the central air supply and just like that you can stay down there as long as it takes to capture our Squid,” Glebeck said as he jammed a hose into another opening in the pipe work. “When you got one, just tug on the hose three times and we’ll pull you up.”

Ash put on the clunky diving helmet they handed him. It was just a thin, metal helmet with a glass eyepiece in front to see out of and a hole in the back where the air hose connected. A more primitive setup than the humans used on Earth, but effective nonetheless.

Next, the boys were given clear plastic globes the size of basketballs. They were shown how to twist off the cap and instructed to insert some of their flames inside the ball. This worked as a lantern that they could use to see better underwater.

Aura lingered, hesitant to put his mask on. “We’ll have no flame, no wings, and no death touch down there,” he said.

“I know. I hate to admit it, but I kinda wish Shiva was here for this,” Ash said.

“Hah. Yeah. No doubt she’d be the first one in the water.”

“Headline!” Bliley said. “Death toucher wets pants before getting wet!” The other nobles got a good laugh out of that.

“Damn it!” Aura said. “Screw this! Shiva would have already jumped in by now, and I’m just as brave as she is!” Ash followed his friend to the edge of the pier and watched him strap his helmet on. Ash did the same, making sure the helmet fit snug on his head and he could breath properly through it.