CHAPTER 11
He was back in the Underworld. He could tell by the sulphuric smell that hovered in the thick bitter air, and the cold that struck at him through the jeans and shirt he was wearing. He opened his eyes and looked around, he found himself in some sort of cage, open on all sides, and placed in the middle of the biggest meeting hall.
His head was hurting, but more painful than that, was the still oozing wound in his side, and even more painful again than that, was the sense of failure again, that he would never break free, and be able to live a life of his choosing.
He heard footsteps approach the cage, and closed his eyes again, but not before Zaytak, a large demon who displayed very similar red tribal markings to those of Belthazor, came into the range of his vision, followed by several of his followers.
"Don't pretend you are still unconscious, Belthazor," growled the large demon, walking up to the cage, and grabbing the bars, glaring down at him with eyes that glowed red.
"I wasn't" replied Cole, painfully clambering to his feet. "I was trying to ignore you."
One or two of the demons sniggered, and Zaytak swung around, growling. "Don't be too smart," he said, "And I don't want to look at your human form, stop using that particular glamour, and morph back into a more acceptable sight."
"No," replied Cole, with an amused twist to his mouth. "That won't be happening."
"You half breed bastard, you are finished," snarled Zaytak, "The meeting starts in a couple of hours, and when I have been declared the new Source, you will be my first public execution."
"If I have to listen to your speeches first?" asked Cole mildly, "I'll die of boredom long before you can kill me. You always were a boring windbag. Besides which, no Grimore –no Source! You will always only be a pretender."
Zaytak snarled again, and made to open the cage, stopping only when two of his minions grabbed his arms.
"We don't have time," said Toben, "You must prepare for your entrance and speech. He will pay soon enough for his arrogance!"
Cole sat back down on the floor of the cage, looking up at the group in barely concealed amusement. "Oh gosh, I'm really scared," he said, not bothering to conceal the laughter in his voice. "When are you going to realize that I want to die. You are doing me a favor!"
Zaytak smiled himself, and turned to Toben. "Get Kahli – she might like to see if she can heal that wound in his side. I want him nice and healthy, when I cut his throat. And Kahli might like the opportunity to spend some time with Belthazor. She remembers him from his time as the Source."
Cole leaned back on the bars of the cage, and closed his eyes. He couldn't remember anyone called Kahli, but then, he had only been present in a very small way, when the Source had possessed his body. He put one hand up to tug very slightly on the torc around his neck. It felt tight, and heavy, but it was just one more thing he would have to put up with.
He heard the group move away, and tried to maintain his equilibrium. He refused to panic, though he hated to admit it, he felt naked without his powers – naked and helpless, and maybe even a little bit scared.
More footsteps signaled the arrival of someone else. He didn't bother to move, but couldn't help tensing slightly and he despised himself for doing so. He heard the sound of the door being opened, and then felt someone beside him.
"Well, how the mighty have fallen," she said, in a breathless and musical voice – a voice that shattered what self control he had, Phoebe's voice, and his eyes flew open to look. For a moment he even believed it was she, standing above him, gloating, hating him, just as he remembered. But then her features distorted, her hair grew long and turned red, and her eyes changed from brown to purple.
"This is what I really look like," she said in a different voice. "But you didn't care – you wanted me – you wanted all of us to look like the witch. You killed my sister, and all she ever did was want to please you. And now we are all going to watch you die!"
"I'm sorry," said Cole, "But it wasn't me." And he closed his eyes, and turned his face away. The female grabbed his chin, and wrenched his face back towards her. "How pathetic you've become," she sneered. "It was you."
Cole looked into her eyes, and smiled a little, which only made her more furious. She made a sign, and Toben came over asking her what she wanted.
"Zaytak wants him healed?" she asked, "I need a bench in here, and you to help me 'persuade' him to lie still on it. I want to examine him very thoroughly first. And he probably won't like my methods. He may find them painful and humiliating."
Cole stood up suddenly. "I don't think that will be happening," he said. "The knife wound is not serious, anyway! I'm sure I won't bleed to death before Zaytak can kill me. – Unless from the ears, of course, after being forced to listen to his pompous outpourings."
Toben growled, deep in his throat.
"We can make that wound deeper, more serious," he said angrily.
Cole laughed at him. "Aren't you the loyal hound, now," he said. "I don't think your master would like it if you did something that he told you not to. And – didn't he tell you that he wants me healthy when he kills me? Pity, Toben, you and I could have gone a few rounds, and you could have seen if you could have finally beaten me in hand to hand combat.. Because – you never could before!"
The other demon grabbed the cage, and rattled the bars in anger.
"You talk too much, Belthazor, you always did! And unless you morph back into your demonic form, there is no way you could beat me in a fight! Your pathetic human half is way to puny to even land a blow."
"Well you are obviously too scared of Zaytak to find out," sneered Cole, raising an eyebrow in distain, and he turned his back on Toben, leaning casually against the bars of the cage. It was too much for the other demon to take, he wrested open the door, and sprang inside.
Cole swung around and hit him with the side of his hand, in a chopping motion across his throat, and Toben gagged and sank to one knee, but was up in a second and with a mighty roundhouse punch, sent Cole smashing into the side of the cage, where he crumpled on to the ground.
As consciousness receeded in waves, Cole grinned up at Toben.
"You couldn't beat Belthazor," he whispered, "Even in this form, I knocked you off your feet – you are pathetic really,"
Toben growled again, and dragged Cole to his feet, only to smash him down again.
The darklighter stepped between Toben and Cole, who lay motionless on the floor.
"Zaytak needs you – the meeting is about to start. He will be furious if you damage the traitor. He needs to be able to display him properly, and will want Belthazor to kneel before him."
"Heal him then," Toben growled, "Be quick about it, Darklighter" "I was going to exact some revenge myself," she said, glaring at the demon, "I wanted to humiliate him, the way he humiliated me."
"Well heal him, and do it," said the demon, "But be quick about it, Zaytak will need us both on the platform with him soon."
The female darklighter scowled; there was no fun in tormenting someone who was unconscious. She called for a minion to bring buckets of water, and rags to clean the blood, and then leant over Cole's body, placing her hands over the now bleeding wound, which had opened right up, and concentrating on healing it, much as Leo did to his charges. To her dismay, though she concentrated all her power, the wound did not heal.
Just as Leo could not heal a demon, Kahli, the darklighter, was unable to heal someone who was essentially human.
Toben re- entered the cage, and grabbed her by the shoulder.
"What is going on?" he demanded. "Zaytak will want him awake, frightened and begging for his life! It will be no good, if he isn't cowering on his knees! Heal him now!"
"I am trying," she snapped back. "There is something wrong – maybe the torc around his neck is blocking my magic as well as his!"
"Well we can't take it off – he would destroy us all! Keep trying – I will talk to Zaytak."
Kahli leaned back on her heels, and looked into Cole's face. She noticed that his skin was very pale, and covered with a light sheen of perspiration, even though the air was cold, and that he was breathing in shallow gasps. She felt a rush of fear, if he died before Zaytak could ritualistically sacrifice him, her own life would be forfeit.
***************************************************
Jael was drawn along with Zoranne as she shimmered. They materialiszed in the Underworld, not in the caverns, but in a hut, very near to the school where he had taught and been taught. There were two other demons sitting around a table, one was reading, the other throwing two dice into the air, and watching them fall. They both rose to their feet, when Zoranne shimmered in, with Jael close behind.
Jael recognized both of them, they were quite infamous – Tems was one of the previous Source's main assassins and Boraz was a sorcerer. They had both been thought of as dead, along with Zoranne, who had also been one of the Source's top assassins, for many years, when an attempt to take over the continental Underworld had gone sadly amiss.
"Zaytak has my son," she said to the older demons. "He is going to use him in some way to further his pretensions I would imagine; we must stop him. He will try and have himself proclaimed Source, we can't let that happen."
"Does he have support?" asked Tems, a large red skinned demon with black and blue tribal markings.
"He has been throwing his weight around for a while now," replied Jael. "He has his own private army of about 40 or so, who go around and bully the rest of us."
"He cannot be proclaimed Source," said the sorcerer, Boraz, in his deep voice. He dropped back the hood on his cloak, to reveal a handsome face with stern dark eyes, and black hair, flecked with gray. "There is no Grimore! That has been lost, and with it the power to rule absolutely."
"Zaytak is saying that the Grimore should no longer be considered necessary to the proclamation of the Source," said Jael, "That whoever is strong enough, should rule absolutely, and that he can reunite the Underworld and have it strong enough in very short time, to challenge the other realms."
"He is an idiot." exclaimed Zoranne, "But a dangerous one. The last Source had too much fascination for the human world – especially in the last hundred years or so, and look what it cost him. We do need a strong leader, but not someone who thinks like Zaytak. At this stage, however, I don't care – we need a plan to rescue my son."
"Perhaps we need to go and do a quick check, and see what's happening," said the sorcerer in his solemn manner, raising his eyebrows and looking at the large demon.
The two older males shimmered out of the hut, and Zoranne sat down on the chair. Jael looked around, peering out of the window at the somber background of the large building, seemingly carved from the rocky slopes that surrounded it. The school where the young of the Underworld were sent was a gloomy looking place that made Jael shiver when he remembered his time as a student there.
It seemed like ages later, that the air shimmered slightly and the two demons reappeared. The sorcerer approached the table, and sat opposite Zoranne. "Bad news, I'm afraid. Belthazor has been injured, and they have called for a darklighter. She seems unable to heal him. Tems and I got close enough to listen to what she was saying – evidently his human half will not be healed. They are saying he will not live to be part of Zaytak's 'show'."
"Toben, Zaytak's so called deputy, would not allow her to remove the blocking agent they had around his neck, so he could heal himself, either. Evidently his power scares even that lot," added Tems gloomily. "They think he needs a whitelighter."
"Well," said Zoranne, standing up, "Let's go and get one."
He was back in the Underworld. He could tell by the sulphuric smell that hovered in the thick bitter air, and the cold that struck at him through the jeans and shirt he was wearing. He opened his eyes and looked around, he found himself in some sort of cage, open on all sides, and placed in the middle of the biggest meeting hall.
His head was hurting, but more painful than that, was the still oozing wound in his side, and even more painful again than that, was the sense of failure again, that he would never break free, and be able to live a life of his choosing.
He heard footsteps approach the cage, and closed his eyes again, but not before Zaytak, a large demon who displayed very similar red tribal markings to those of Belthazor, came into the range of his vision, followed by several of his followers.
"Don't pretend you are still unconscious, Belthazor," growled the large demon, walking up to the cage, and grabbing the bars, glaring down at him with eyes that glowed red.
"I wasn't" replied Cole, painfully clambering to his feet. "I was trying to ignore you."
One or two of the demons sniggered, and Zaytak swung around, growling. "Don't be too smart," he said, "And I don't want to look at your human form, stop using that particular glamour, and morph back into a more acceptable sight."
"No," replied Cole, with an amused twist to his mouth. "That won't be happening."
"You half breed bastard, you are finished," snarled Zaytak, "The meeting starts in a couple of hours, and when I have been declared the new Source, you will be my first public execution."
"If I have to listen to your speeches first?" asked Cole mildly, "I'll die of boredom long before you can kill me. You always were a boring windbag. Besides which, no Grimore –no Source! You will always only be a pretender."
Zaytak snarled again, and made to open the cage, stopping only when two of his minions grabbed his arms.
"We don't have time," said Toben, "You must prepare for your entrance and speech. He will pay soon enough for his arrogance!"
Cole sat back down on the floor of the cage, looking up at the group in barely concealed amusement. "Oh gosh, I'm really scared," he said, not bothering to conceal the laughter in his voice. "When are you going to realize that I want to die. You are doing me a favor!"
Zaytak smiled himself, and turned to Toben. "Get Kahli – she might like to see if she can heal that wound in his side. I want him nice and healthy, when I cut his throat. And Kahli might like the opportunity to spend some time with Belthazor. She remembers him from his time as the Source."
Cole leaned back on the bars of the cage, and closed his eyes. He couldn't remember anyone called Kahli, but then, he had only been present in a very small way, when the Source had possessed his body. He put one hand up to tug very slightly on the torc around his neck. It felt tight, and heavy, but it was just one more thing he would have to put up with.
He heard the group move away, and tried to maintain his equilibrium. He refused to panic, though he hated to admit it, he felt naked without his powers – naked and helpless, and maybe even a little bit scared.
More footsteps signaled the arrival of someone else. He didn't bother to move, but couldn't help tensing slightly and he despised himself for doing so. He heard the sound of the door being opened, and then felt someone beside him.
"Well, how the mighty have fallen," she said, in a breathless and musical voice – a voice that shattered what self control he had, Phoebe's voice, and his eyes flew open to look. For a moment he even believed it was she, standing above him, gloating, hating him, just as he remembered. But then her features distorted, her hair grew long and turned red, and her eyes changed from brown to purple.
"This is what I really look like," she said in a different voice. "But you didn't care – you wanted me – you wanted all of us to look like the witch. You killed my sister, and all she ever did was want to please you. And now we are all going to watch you die!"
"I'm sorry," said Cole, "But it wasn't me." And he closed his eyes, and turned his face away. The female grabbed his chin, and wrenched his face back towards her. "How pathetic you've become," she sneered. "It was you."
Cole looked into her eyes, and smiled a little, which only made her more furious. She made a sign, and Toben came over asking her what she wanted.
"Zaytak wants him healed?" she asked, "I need a bench in here, and you to help me 'persuade' him to lie still on it. I want to examine him very thoroughly first. And he probably won't like my methods. He may find them painful and humiliating."
Cole stood up suddenly. "I don't think that will be happening," he said. "The knife wound is not serious, anyway! I'm sure I won't bleed to death before Zaytak can kill me. – Unless from the ears, of course, after being forced to listen to his pompous outpourings."
Toben growled, deep in his throat.
"We can make that wound deeper, more serious," he said angrily.
Cole laughed at him. "Aren't you the loyal hound, now," he said. "I don't think your master would like it if you did something that he told you not to. And – didn't he tell you that he wants me healthy when he kills me? Pity, Toben, you and I could have gone a few rounds, and you could have seen if you could have finally beaten me in hand to hand combat.. Because – you never could before!"
The other demon grabbed the cage, and rattled the bars in anger.
"You talk too much, Belthazor, you always did! And unless you morph back into your demonic form, there is no way you could beat me in a fight! Your pathetic human half is way to puny to even land a blow."
"Well you are obviously too scared of Zaytak to find out," sneered Cole, raising an eyebrow in distain, and he turned his back on Toben, leaning casually against the bars of the cage. It was too much for the other demon to take, he wrested open the door, and sprang inside.
Cole swung around and hit him with the side of his hand, in a chopping motion across his throat, and Toben gagged and sank to one knee, but was up in a second and with a mighty roundhouse punch, sent Cole smashing into the side of the cage, where he crumpled on to the ground.
As consciousness receeded in waves, Cole grinned up at Toben.
"You couldn't beat Belthazor," he whispered, "Even in this form, I knocked you off your feet – you are pathetic really,"
Toben growled again, and dragged Cole to his feet, only to smash him down again.
The darklighter stepped between Toben and Cole, who lay motionless on the floor.
"Zaytak needs you – the meeting is about to start. He will be furious if you damage the traitor. He needs to be able to display him properly, and will want Belthazor to kneel before him."
"Heal him then," Toben growled, "Be quick about it, Darklighter" "I was going to exact some revenge myself," she said, glaring at the demon, "I wanted to humiliate him, the way he humiliated me."
"Well heal him, and do it," said the demon, "But be quick about it, Zaytak will need us both on the platform with him soon."
The female darklighter scowled; there was no fun in tormenting someone who was unconscious. She called for a minion to bring buckets of water, and rags to clean the blood, and then leant over Cole's body, placing her hands over the now bleeding wound, which had opened right up, and concentrating on healing it, much as Leo did to his charges. To her dismay, though she concentrated all her power, the wound did not heal.
Just as Leo could not heal a demon, Kahli, the darklighter, was unable to heal someone who was essentially human.
Toben re- entered the cage, and grabbed her by the shoulder.
"What is going on?" he demanded. "Zaytak will want him awake, frightened and begging for his life! It will be no good, if he isn't cowering on his knees! Heal him now!"
"I am trying," she snapped back. "There is something wrong – maybe the torc around his neck is blocking my magic as well as his!"
"Well we can't take it off – he would destroy us all! Keep trying – I will talk to Zaytak."
Kahli leaned back on her heels, and looked into Cole's face. She noticed that his skin was very pale, and covered with a light sheen of perspiration, even though the air was cold, and that he was breathing in shallow gasps. She felt a rush of fear, if he died before Zaytak could ritualistically sacrifice him, her own life would be forfeit.
***************************************************
Jael was drawn along with Zoranne as she shimmered. They materialiszed in the Underworld, not in the caverns, but in a hut, very near to the school where he had taught and been taught. There were two other demons sitting around a table, one was reading, the other throwing two dice into the air, and watching them fall. They both rose to their feet, when Zoranne shimmered in, with Jael close behind.
Jael recognized both of them, they were quite infamous – Tems was one of the previous Source's main assassins and Boraz was a sorcerer. They had both been thought of as dead, along with Zoranne, who had also been one of the Source's top assassins, for many years, when an attempt to take over the continental Underworld had gone sadly amiss.
"Zaytak has my son," she said to the older demons. "He is going to use him in some way to further his pretensions I would imagine; we must stop him. He will try and have himself proclaimed Source, we can't let that happen."
"Does he have support?" asked Tems, a large red skinned demon with black and blue tribal markings.
"He has been throwing his weight around for a while now," replied Jael. "He has his own private army of about 40 or so, who go around and bully the rest of us."
"He cannot be proclaimed Source," said the sorcerer, Boraz, in his deep voice. He dropped back the hood on his cloak, to reveal a handsome face with stern dark eyes, and black hair, flecked with gray. "There is no Grimore! That has been lost, and with it the power to rule absolutely."
"Zaytak is saying that the Grimore should no longer be considered necessary to the proclamation of the Source," said Jael, "That whoever is strong enough, should rule absolutely, and that he can reunite the Underworld and have it strong enough in very short time, to challenge the other realms."
"He is an idiot." exclaimed Zoranne, "But a dangerous one. The last Source had too much fascination for the human world – especially in the last hundred years or so, and look what it cost him. We do need a strong leader, but not someone who thinks like Zaytak. At this stage, however, I don't care – we need a plan to rescue my son."
"Perhaps we need to go and do a quick check, and see what's happening," said the sorcerer in his solemn manner, raising his eyebrows and looking at the large demon.
The two older males shimmered out of the hut, and Zoranne sat down on the chair. Jael looked around, peering out of the window at the somber background of the large building, seemingly carved from the rocky slopes that surrounded it. The school where the young of the Underworld were sent was a gloomy looking place that made Jael shiver when he remembered his time as a student there.
It seemed like ages later, that the air shimmered slightly and the two demons reappeared. The sorcerer approached the table, and sat opposite Zoranne. "Bad news, I'm afraid. Belthazor has been injured, and they have called for a darklighter. She seems unable to heal him. Tems and I got close enough to listen to what she was saying – evidently his human half will not be healed. They are saying he will not live to be part of Zaytak's 'show'."
"Toben, Zaytak's so called deputy, would not allow her to remove the blocking agent they had around his neck, so he could heal himself, either. Evidently his power scares even that lot," added Tems gloomily. "They think he needs a whitelighter."
"Well," said Zoranne, standing up, "Let's go and get one."