Yay! Chapter 7! I'm so glad that people seem to be enjoying this thus far. I've been having a lot of fun with this, and I'm glad you are too. Hopefully chapter 8 will be up soon, because we're starting to come to head!
On the surface the sky had opened, the rain coming down in sheets, and both the Horseman and the young woman were soaked to the bone within seconds. The weather raged as though angered by the loss of the Rod.
Even so, despite the howl of the wind and the rush of the water in the streets, it was oddly bereft of demonic sounds. The Swarm did not come screaming for their lost prey and the bellows of angry demons were strangely absent. Needless to say it put the Rider on edge.
"Something isn't right here…" he mumbled.
"You mean other than liquid Hell coming down on us?" the girl replied sardonically, limping miserably beside him.
Death ignored her. "They should know we have the Rod. Why aren't they trying to stop us?"
"Maybe they don't like the rain. Cus if I were them, I wouldn't be out in this mess."
"No," he replied, though it wasn't a disagreement. He grabbed her shoulder, pulling her to a stop, ordering Dust into the air too see what he could not. She glared up at him ready to protest the hold up, when she saw the concentrated look in his ember eyes. Following his gaze up the street she saw nothing. But then she felt it.
The street shook with a sudden quake that threatened to take her weakened leg out from underneath her. Only Death's tight grip on her shoulder kept her upright. The earth shook again and this time its source could be seen.
Its black body was nearly invisible against the dark sky, but the vicious yellow gleam of its eyes and the nodes scattered across it were indicative to the sheer height of it. It loomed over three stories tall, easily breeching the overpass that stood between it and them. A sudden flash of lightning split the sky, illuminating its spindly limbs and insect-like head and offering it a good view of pair standing in the rain. It let out a piercing screech, one so loud and keening that the section of raised road splintered and fell with a resounding crack to the ground. The girl cried out and clapped her hands over her ears. By God, the sound! It shot through her skull like a needle!
On top of the shriek came a uniform drone; the buzzing of dozens of insect wings. From the tubes atop the creatures head swarmed scores of insects, each easily the size of a small dog. They darted swiftly through the pouring rain, making short work of the distance between them.
"Onto my back little one!" Death shouted over the wail, already pulling one of her arms over his shoulder. She instantly obeyed, wrapping her arms around his neck and clamping her legs around his waist, too terrified to even act embarrassed. Her grip was iron as Death began to run.
"What the hell is that thing?!" she shouted over the maelstrom of noise. She regretted looking over her shoulder as the creature stomped after them, lead by its entourage of bugs, its long strides easily keeping pace with even the speed of the rider.
"I don't know!" he answered her, "but I can't kill it until I know it can't get to you! Hold on!"
If possible, her grip tightened further and she buried her face in his curtain of hair. Even over the noise all around them, he could hear her muttering words of assurance to herself, holding back yelps as the Horseman's strides jostled her wounded leg. Perhaps it was a good thing that she would soon leave this realm; he didn't know how much more terror she could take.
On the other side of a long bridge in the distance, Death could spot the glowing angelic barricades, behind which waiting Uriel and her Hellguard, as well as the portal to freedom. The girl clung like a monkey to his back, hardly making a peep as the rider leapt over abandoned cars and ducked beneath fallen iron girders while the monstrosity chasing them bashed through the obstacles like a destructive child would through toy blocks. Death could feel the buzzing of the oversized insects wings starting to vibrate in his skull before the blockade finally loomed into view. Seemingly sensing their approach, the arcane wall dissipated just long enough for Death to slide inside.
Uriel started at the Horseman's abrupt appearance. "Rider! What-"
"No time," Death cut her off, prying the girl stiffly from his back and setting her on her feet. The angels physically flinched away as though repulsed by her. "Hold this please," he said absently, pressing the Rod of Arafel into the girl's shaking hands.
"The Rod!" Uriel exclaimed, "Death, what is-"
"I said no time, Uriel!" he interrupted her again before suddenly holding out a hand to the closest angelic warrior. "Lend me your cannon," he said, and his tone excused no disobedience. The stunned angel blinked before handing the Salvation cannon in his possession to the rider. Death marched back to the barricade and paused, looking back over his shoulder. "If any of you so much as touch a hair on the girl's head," he said darkly, "than I'll make imprisonment at the hands of demons seem the preferable alternative." Stunned as well, Uriel dropped the wall and let the Horseman back out into the city.
With Death gone, the girl felt the platinum gazes of the gathered angels burn into her back. She whirled around, clutching the Rod to her chest, and met the angels' eyes with a wide stare of her own.
"Um," she mumbled, swallowing thickly, "this is awkward." Her terror had faded now that the immediate danger had passed, but it was replaced by a palpable tension; the angels were not excited to see her.
"A human," Uriel stated in disbelief, "how can this be?" She took a step closer only for the girl to take a step back, knuckles turning white as her grip on the rod tightened.
"Your race is supposed to be extinct," the angel said. There was an air of superiority in Uriel's voice that the girl didn't like, and she felt her fear burn off in a hot flash of anger.
"Yeah, no thanks to you!" she spat, taking the angel aback with the sudden venom of her reply, "We were doing pretty good before you and your demon buddies showed up!"
Uriel bristled, rising to her full height to tower over the human, spreading her wings to make herself even larger. How dare this lowly creature speak to her as such! "Guard your tongue human!" she hissed, "I do not fear Death, for my fate is already sealed. What business have you with the Horseman?"
"I don't see why you need to know that," the girl growled, pulling the Rod closer to her chest. The rest of the Hellguard stood bewildered as the air between their commander and the little human seemed to crackle. Never had they seen Uriel, normally so unflappable, lose her temper so quickly.
Another of the creature cries pierced the air, and though the girl flinched as the horrid sound drilled into her ears she refused to react further, keeping her eyes locked with the angel's golden glare. It wasn't until the ground bucked beneath her that she was forced to look away, needles of pain shooting through her leg and she leaned on the Rod staff to stop her fall. The shaking turned to a quake, rippling through the earth as the creature screamed again, this time much higher and obviously in a great deal of agony. Even the phalanx of angels staggered with the force of it. Suddenly it fell silent and only the splash of rain in the streets and a ringing in the ear could be heard. There was a polite knock at the barricade wall.
Pinning the girl with one last glare, Uriel moved to drop the barrier and let the Pale Rider back inside. He left a trail of water and sickly green gore in his wake, the rain painting abstract streaks over ashen skin peppered with small cuts that failed to bleed and were already in the process of closing. Dust swooped down from above and landed on his shoulder, picking at the guts that still clung to his master. "Well," he said pleasantly, tossing the smoking cannon back to its owner, "now that that unpleasant business is over, where were we?"
"The… Rod of Arafel, rider?" Uriel asked slowly, clearly trying very hard to keep the irritation from seeping into her voice.
"Ah yes, as you can see it has been made whole once more," he held out a hand, into which the girl graciously passed it, looking all too happy to be rid of it. Uriel's eyes lingered on her for a moment before she gave a quick shake of her head, returning her attention to the Horseman.
"I am tempted to ask that you wield that weapon and turn the tide of the war," she said solemnly, "but I fear the Destroyer would capture it again, and turn it to his dark purpose." Her grip tightened on her own blade for a moment. "No, better that you remove it from this world and into the safe keeping of the White Army. We will make our stand here, until the Hellguard is no more."
Death nodded his understanding. "I would stand with you, Uriel… but my brother's fate takes me on another path." His tilted his head in the girl's direction and she looked up from nervously picking at her fingernails at the feeling of the Horseman's- and angel's- eyes upon her. She snorted and crossed her arms, looking away impatiently. Death held back a snicker.
"You have proven yourself honorable," Uriel was saying, though she still eyed the girl with deep suspicion, "a virtue little known with your kind. But if I ever see him, War must answer for his crimes."
The Horseman's eyes narrowed at the angel's threat. "He could not have brought this upon the Earth," he said firmly, once more gesturing to the girl, "for here I have proof. I will see my brother spared."
Uriel shook her head. "A single human will not prove anything Horseman. What do you plan to do with her? She would never last a trial before the Charred Council."
"I'll think of something," he told her, "in the meantime, she will remain under my protection. She is a witness, a testament to my brother's innocence, and I plan to keep her alive so that her testimony might be used."
There was the sound of a throat being cleared very deliberately, and both angel and rider turned to find the girl seething with annoyance. "Excuse me," she barked, "I'm literally standing right here. You don't need to talk about me like I'm not."
"Then go wait inside," Death said calmly, though his voice suggested it would be unwise to disobey, "Uriel and I need to speak. Or would you rather wait out here in the rain?"
She opened her mouth to protest again before a crash of thunder and lightning made her rethink. "Fine," she said instead, stalking off for the shelter of a roof, "but hurry it up."
Death actually sighed, shaking his head. "Keep an eye on her, would you?" he told Dust, who all too happily took off for shelter from the rain.
Uriel's lips had thinned as she watched the exchange. "I don't understand," she said, "how such a creature survived here for this long." She fixed the rider with a look. "I understand even less why you would decide to bring her with you."
"She's not so bad once you get to know her," he admitted, "but then she opens her mouth and I begin to question myself. I stand by my plan however. She will be safe and my brother absolved of his crimes."
"Do what you will rider," Uriel said with resignation, "But this world is lost, and that cannot be undone."
"Fight well then," he told her, "and may you live to see the Destroyer breathe his last, Uriel of the Hellguard."
The angel nodded her respect to the Horseman and drifted away, calling to her warriors to rally them once more, leaving Death to wander back to the portal. The old hotel's front façade had crumbled entirely, opening the lobby to the destruction outside. The lobby must have at one time been quite magnificent; the plush carpets had been trampled threadbare and the sweeping staircases sagged beneath the weight of its own rot, the bannisters nothing more than shattered stumps of damp wood. The fountain in the center that at one point spewed water from an angel-shaped statue had run dry, the bottom of the pool replaced by a dark surface that appeared as a liquid and yet was not. This was the portal back to the Angelic outpost of Lostlight.
The girl was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the well of the fountain, wringing an obscene amount of water from her jacket. She looked up as he approached and, upon turning her head, revealed Dust sitting upon her shoulder.
"There you are," she said, rising unsteadily to her feet, bracing against the wall as her left leg shook. She jerked a thumb at the strange rippling liquid at the bottom of the fountain. "So, this is it, huh? Does it seriously go to another world?" She sounded uncertain, but Death couldn't be sure.
"Indeed it is," he told her, looking down into the depths of the portal. Between the ripples, Death could see the vaulted ceiling of the top of the Crystal Spire. "An angel awaits on the other side for the Rod of Arafel."
"Um, is this gonna be safe?" she asked uneasily.
He shrugged casually. "Probably not," he admitted, "I rather doubt that he'll be very excited to see you."
The girl started and pulled back, her eyes growing wide.
"Having second thoughts, are we?" he pondered.
"You're not exactly helping you know," she said tensely, "do you want me to come with you, or not?"
He stood before her, so tall that she had to look up to see the eyes behind the blank mask. Dust fluttered up to his shoulder to add his gaze to his master's. "That depends on whether or not you are willing to trust me. I will not allow you to come to any harm. Do you believe me?"
The girl's eyes narrowed; Death could practically see the wheels turning in her head. Eventually she looked away, taking a deep breath. "Alright," she said softly, "I trust you." Then more firmly, "But that means you can't screw this up."
"You have my word as a Rider," he told her. "Now, if you are ready, we can leave the wretched place."
"Let's just go before I chicken out," She mumbled, tying the sleeves of her damp jacket around her waist. Death led the way to the center of the pool and she followed hesitantly, her face pulling into an uneasy scowl. The Horseman's hand rested on her shoulder, and the girl felt a pressure build around her as the ripples on the surface of the pool came faster and faster. She gave one final sad glance at the ruined remains of her home before the dark portal swallowed survivor and rider both.