Rise of the Beast (37 page)

For so long he’d assumed that she had gone with the dark angels and the Marines. She’d never given up hope of being rescued, even here. She went on and on about it. Perhaps her hopes had been a prophecy of things to come.

For so long, he’d been afraid to venture from the cave, afraid of being captured and returned to the torments of Hell. Life was good in his cavern. He had light, fresh water, and good company. There was nothing out there for him, or so he thought. It wasn’t until a month ago that he had once more stepped into the daylight, escorted by several dozen of his small friends. He knelt right here, behind this same rock, observing the tragic procession before him. He was
horrified to find that Megan was still there. She hadn’t been rescued. She’d been stuck there all this time. She looked so sad, so alone.

Tim had retreated back to the cave and cried for hours. He felt like he’d abandoned her. What could he do? He had to do something. Yet his grief was turning into something else. It was turning to anger and then into the desire for revenge. In the end, it turned into a plan. He would rescue her; no one else would. That dark angel, Abaddon, had vowed to return for the others. He’d said so, but he never had. Now the task fell to him. Tim had planned it for nearly a month. Goliath and some of the others had helped, but their brains weren’t quite wired like a human brain. They were smart, yes, but they were designed to execute plans, not to engineer them, so most of the planning had been up to him. They’d gathered what he needed from the surrounding land, reconnoitered the region carefully, and reported back to him.

The plan was complex and the hours of planning were great. It had taken much time and effort, but now he was ready. All he was waiting for was Megan. He’d been waiting for what seemed like a very long time; then he saw her amidst the ragtag procession coming up the canyon. She limped as if her left leg were still not fully healed. It was time. He turned his head to Goliath. “Now,” he said, in a voice of the mind, and Goliath understood.

Goliath shot into the air. His voice was hypersonic, like a dog whistle, a voice that only those of his kind could hear and understand. It was a voice that carried on the air, echoed across the canyon walls. All hell was about to break loose.

It had taken many hours for the creatures to move into position. Some had followed the many underground passageways that led to small cavern entrances here and there along the canyon walls. Others had flown and walked to their stations. Yet, the demons had taken no notice of them. Their full attention was directed toward the thousands of human victims remanded to their care. Now they swept in from their hiding places among the rocks by the tens of thousands, quickly overwhelming the demons. They never stood a chance. For the second time, pure pandemonium had broken out. The humans gazed on in wonder as the creatures literally darkened the skies in places. There was less fear than anticipation among them this time. They hoped that it spelled liberation for them.

Faced with the danger, most of the demons drew their swords, yet it was clearly the wrong weapon. The swift and agile creatures were able to avoid the vast majority of these attacks. They went instinctively for the demon’s weakest
point; their bat-like wings, tearing them to shreds, and rendering their adversaries unable to fly.

A few of the demons tried to make a break for it, taking to the air. Yet they soon discovered that the creatures were both swifter and more maneuverable than they were. Within a minute, they had come crashing to the ground, their wings in tatters.

With the battle in full swing, Tim rushed from his hiding place, and ran toward Megan, who stood motionless amidst the others. He couldn’t risk losing her again, couldn’t risk something happening to her in all of the confusion. Yet he could not have anticipated the obstacles he would have to overcome to reach her.

Tim saw the demon’s shadow before he saw the demon himself, a dark form sweeping across the canyon floor. The demon was plunging headlong out of the salmon sky, three of the small creatures in pursuit. He was targeting the stranger in the dark cloak. Perhaps he sensed that this being was somehow behind the current attack.

Tim had but a fraction of a second to respond. He dug his sandaled feet into the gravel and stumbled backward. The demon swept across his path, missing him by a matter of inches. A second later, the demon’s feet were planted on the ground. The creatures lit into him, but he quickly shook them off, creating a whirlwind with his bat-like wings.

The demon turned to the hooded stranger, and Tim came face to face with his nemesis. The demon’s skin was almost gray, with facial features like those of an incredibly old man. He scowled as he looked Tim over.

“I know you!” he roared. “You walked this very trail not so long ago. You should not have come back. Now I will make you pay in pain.” The demon drew his long, menacing sword.

The demon was surprised when Tim drew out his equally menacing sword from beneath his cloak. There was no fear in Tim’s eyes. Instead, he saw rage.

“You boast way too much,” said Tim, stepping forward. “You’re brave enough when you’re dealing with shackled and defenseless men and women. Let’s see how you do against me.”

“You’re just a boy,” said the demon.

“All I hear is talk,” replied Tim. “I think that’s all you are. That and stupid.”

The demon was enraged. He charged headlong at the youth, who most certainly was no more than half his weight. Their swords clashed amidst a flurry of sparks. They clashed again and again.

The humans looked on in amazement. That cloaked figure was not a demon or an angel, it was one of them—a human being—and he was holding his own against a demon.

The demon had apparently been convinced that he would defeat this human within a matter of a few seconds, but the clashing of swords was going into its second minute. The demon had raw strength on his side, but this human had superior speed and agility. Tim lunged and slid from side to side, avoiding every thrust of his opponent. In fact, he had actually scored a hit at the base of the demon’s left wing. There was a wild-eyed madness in his eyes of a sort the demon had rarely seen. The demon actually found himself on the defensive. How could a mere human be so good?

“Do you need help?” asked a telepathic voice that Tim recognized as Goliath.

“No, he’s mine,” replied Tim.

Tim knew this demon, or at least he thought he did. He’d applied the lash to him and to Megan more than a few times. Now, it was his turn.

“You’re only delaying the inevitable,” roared the demon.

“Then let’s be done with it.” Tim made his move, one both bold and foolhardy. He lunged forward. The demon swung his sword laterally, missing Tim by no more than two inches. Then Tim thrust forward and upward. His sword penetrated the demon’s throat from below, and plunged straight into his spine. He went down, amidst a rush of pulsing blood.

The demon looked up incredulously, unable to move. Tim returned his gaze for but a moment. Then the demon looked around to see that no less than a hundred of the creatures surrounded him.

“Now, he’s yours,” said Tim, turning to Goliath and the others. “Have fun.”

The creatures wasted no time; they tore into the helpless demon, and more were joining in the attack every second. Tim turned away, sheathed his sword, and proceeded toward Megan.

At first Megan didn’t appear to recognize the approaching figure in the dark cloak. Then she began to walk toward him, her shackles clanking and rattling with each step. Could it really be? He stopped about ten feet in front of her, drawing back his hood to reveal his face.

Megan’s eyes immediately teared up. “Tim?” she gasped. “I thought they took you.”

“No, they left me behind too,” he replied. “But I won’t leave you behind, not again, not ever again. We’re getting out of here.”

Megan took several more steps forward and practically fell into his arms. She could hardly believe it. “I’ve missed you so much,” she wept.

“I’ve missed you too,” replied Tim. “I swear that no one is ever going to hurt you again, not ever. I’ll destroy anyone who tries it.”

Megan looked down, even as four of the small creatures lit into her ankle shackles. Within a minute, she was free.

Tim looked at all of the others who starred at him in stunned amazement. “I’m releasing all of you,” he announced in a loud voice. “My name is Tim Monroe. I don’t care what you’ve done in the past; it is the past. We’re all here in Hell; none of us were angels in life, but we didn’t deserve this. I’m giving you all a second chance. The rule of the demons is at an end. There’ll be no more chains, no more whips, no more jumping off that cliff. I’m calling the shots now. Don’t be afraid of my small friends. They will release all of you; just stay where you are. They’re going to be your friends, too—just wait and see.”

Hundreds of the small creatures moved into the crowd and started to work on the shackles. Sparks flew everywhere.

A bald man, released from his shackles, but still limping from his recent fall, stepped up to Tim and extended his hand. “I’m glad and grateful to see you again, Tim. I’m with you wherever you lead. What do you need me to do?”

“I am too,” said a dark-haired woman several feet away. “I promise to do whatever you ask.”

A general round of agreement arose from the growing crowd. Tim was the hero of their eternity. He was their messiah.

Tim turned to the bald man. “Karl, I need for you to go to the top of the
ridge. Tell everyone that you see that they’re free. They can go wherever they please, but if they want my protection, they should come right here. I have a plan for everyone.” Then he turned to the dark-haired woman. “Silvia, you can go down the canyon and out into the plains, give everyone you see my message.”

“I will,” confirmed the woman.

Twenty minutes found not a single human in bondage in this place. And the runners took the word of the coming of a messiah to the Valleys of Noak, of a human who had defeated a demon in combat and commanded a vast army of creatures.

Within three quarters of an hour, the valley around Tim was full of grateful people. Some ran, some walked, some were carried, but all came to offer thanks to their liberator.

Tim had the limelight, and he took full advantage of it. He spoke of the difficult times ahead. For the moment, they would be living in the caverns; it was the safest place. But the day would come when they would live on the surface. They would build towns and roads. They would create a civilization, perhaps an empire. They would try to make peace with the demons if possible, eradicate them if necessary. But in the meantime, there was a lot of work to be done. There were a total of 64 demons assigned to the Plunge of Desolation—demons who had been literally ripped apart by his creatures. Still, given time, they would regenerate to become a threat once more. Tim had already arrived at a method of removing them from the picture, but it wasn’t pretty. Then again, it didn’t need to be.

Tim began to delegate responsibility to teams of people in his midst. They would be gathering up things they needed; swords, clothing, even shackles. They would raid a small cave that the demons used as a storage area for any materials they might use, and that might well be everything that was there. Then they were on their way.

The creatures had turned out to serve many purposes. They were warriors and builders, but they could also be excavators. During the past few days they had widened and leveled a previously unusable cave that led from the cavern system to the surface, about a mile up the canyon from what was previously the only entrance large enough for a human to pass.

Creating it was a risk, and Tim knew it. It became the Achilles’ heel of his
subterranean world, an entrance large enough for a demon or group of demons to enter. Still, he could ill afford to have an entrance so small as to prevent the passage of many of his liberated subjects. What was he now—a king, an emperor, or just a frightened youth? He really couldn’t answer that question.

With thousands of the small creatures flying overhead, the once victims of the Plunge of Desolation moved the needed supplies and their former captors, now shackled hand and foot in a sort of hogtied position, up the canyon and into the cavern. The demons growled, snarled, and howled, for all the good it did. If anything, it only sweetened this moment for the humans. Many of those in the precession took this opportunity to brutalize these foul creatures, kicking and punching them savagely and throwing rocks at them. For much of the two-mile journey to the cavern entrance, that was the order of business: revenge. The demons were dragged into the subterranean twilight, into a maze of tunnels, and in the end, were hauled through a narrow passageway and into a cavern room dominated by a dark pit 20 feet wide and 50 or more feet deep.

One by one, the demons were tossed in. Their bodies were broken by the fall. The abyss echoed with their shrill cries of pain. Some ended up impaled on the scattered stalagmites that protruded from the rugged floor. Their bodies soon covered every square inch of the floor. Then bodies piled upon bodies. It was truly poetic vengeance.

Stones were piled up at the entrance of the passageway, leaving only enough room for the small creatures to enter. And so they would. No longer would they need to travel miles in search of prey that might just as easily kill them. No, now they would have a practically limitless supply of food close at hand in the form of these constantly regenerating demons, a supply unable to fight back. The demon taskmasters would now assume a new role: meat. Already, the tiny creatures were taking full advantage of this new resource, a fact attested to by the shrill cries of the demons within the pit. They swept in and out of the cavern room by the hundreds.

With their captured supplies stored, Tim allowed his new subjects to rest. The discovery of often-deep-pools of water within some of the rooms led to a gleeful episode of splashing and drinking among the former victims of the Plunge. Then, with their thirst quenched, they rediscovered the wonderful blessing of sleep, free of pain. Tim knew that if their experience was anything like his, they might be in for a rough few days. They would have to help each other through those difficult times.