Neutral Ground - Wednesday Evening
As he arced up off the bed, he could feel a fourth presence and opening himself up to the surging currents of power, he raced to meet it.
It was a lot like absorbing the fire he’d set in Leah’s curtains.
Except this fire burned.
His heart pounded, he couldn’t catch his breath, and bits of his life were passing before his eyes. No. Wait. That wasn’t his life. He wasn’t double-jointed. And then he was back in the white and two very large, hot hands were wrapped around his biceps and lifting him into the air.
Someone was talking. Deep rumbling. Shades of Barry White.
Tony struggled to focus and finally managed to hear words.
“What place is this, Wizard?”
Good question. It took him a moment to figure out how his mouth worked, but he finally managed to form the words, “Neutral ground.”
It was a guess, but it seemed to be enough of an answer since the hands released him and he found himself sprawling at the feet of Ryne Cyratane.
The view from down there was pretty damned amazing.
“You risked much to speak with me, Wizard.”
“Did I?” That was news. Did he want to know what he’d risked? No, he decided, getting carefully to his feet. “You wanted to talk to me, big guy. I made it happen. Say what you have to so I can go put on some pants.”
The Demonlord’s lip curled, exposing long ivory-colored teeth. Recognizing one of Henry’s expressions, Tony realized Ryne Cyratane had just hung out a sign saying Want to be eaten? Ask me how. “You speak bravado out of fear.”
“Duh.” Had he come into this cold, without all those years of Henry behind him, he’d be a gibbering wreck.
“You desire me.”
That was too obvious to require a response. Tony had no idea where the energy was coming from, considering the rocket ride he’d taken to get here as well as the mentioned and admitted fear.
“You have been protecting my handmaiden from the attacks of an Arjh Lord.”
“No, she’s been attacked by… Hang on.” He could feel his brain begin to sluggishly work. “What’s an Arjh Lord?”
“I am an Arjh Lord. Sye Mckaseeh is another.” The first statement was very nearly a roar. The second merely a comment.
“Right.” They’d hardly call themselves demons. And, apparently, the new one was a Scot. Which brought up another point. “Why are you speaking English?”
Massive arms crossed over a hairless chest. “I am speaking what you are hearing.”
“Sure. Okay.” That made as much sense as most things in his life these days and was, at least, useful. Absently scratching at his left palm, Tony backed up a few steps, hoping a little distance would help clear his head. “Look, why don’t I tell you what I think is going down, and you can yay or nay the synopsis?”
Dark brows drew in. “I am unaware of your meaning.”
“Just listen.” He laid it all out. An Arjh Lord directing the Demonic Convergence to create specific weak spots he could use to push through his own minions, marking them so they could kill Leah, thus opening the gate and allowing the Arjh Lord to enter their world and try to take it over.
Minions needed explaining, and Tony downplayed just how easy that takeover would be. No point in giving the big guy ideas.
When he finished talking, Ryne Cyratane nodded. “It is as you say; Sye Mckaseeh is warping what you call the Convergence to her own place.”
“Sye Mckaseeh is a wo… is female?”
“Yes. And a mighty warrior among the Arjh Lords.”
“Great. A mighty warrior.” Tony cleared his throat. “Look, you wanted to talk to me, what did you want to say?”
“I wished to give you, as the wizard protecting my handmaiden, the information you already possess. Your people have grown wiser since last I walked your world.” He didn’t sound like he approved.
“Probably not wiser, we’re just more used to processing information. But if that’s all you wanted, let’s move on to what I want… need.” The Arjh Lord’s expression suggested Tony’s needs were so low on his list of priorities they were essentially nonexistent. Time to evoke vested self-interest. “I need your help, or your handmaiden is going to buy it-die, she’ll die-and you’ll lose all that energy she keeps sending you, not to mention any chance you might have of using the gate yourself sometime in the future. You know, in case she finally gets depressed enough to…” He drew a finger across his throat.
The gesture didn’t need explaining. “Go on.”
“Sye Mckaseeh is creating twenty-seven weak spots between your world and mine.” He’d finally taken a moment to actually count them. “Apparently three nines are a mystic number or something, but that’s not the point. Very shortly we’ll be ass-deep in arjh and the odds are good one of them will get through to your handmaiden and kill her to open the gate.”
“You are a wizard; you hold the eternal cosmos in your hand. Strengthen the weakness before it tears. With power drawn to so many places, it will take time before the arjh are through.”
“Not enough time. My world is a complicated place, and I don’t think I’ll be able to get to all the weak spots before they rip open. I need you-your handmaiden needs you-to slow things down on this end. The arjh end. We need you to interfere with Sye Mckaseeh’s plan.”
“No. I am not one who battles with the other lords for power.”
Tony blinked as that sank in. “You’re kidding me. You’re a lover, not a fighter?”
“As I understand your use of the language, yes. And there is disunity between Sye Mckaseeh and I.”
“Disunity?”
The Arjh Lord shrugged. “Once there was unity. Now there is not.”
Standing on that featureless white plane, Tony had a sudden strong desire for a wall, so he could bang his head against it. “She was your girlfriend and you guys broke up and that’s how she knows about the Demongate and that’s why she’s trying to get it open, to screw you.” Same old story, add a truck and a dog and they could set it to country music.
Ryne Cyratane shrugged again. “Her arjh watch for me. I could not get close to her should I desire it.”
“Hey, you fighting your way through a few of her arjh would be a distraction, at least. We could use that.”
“No.”
“Yeah, we could.”
“No, I will not fight.”
“Yeah, but this isn’t a power struggle with another lord,” Tony reminded him. “You’ll just be smacking around a few arjh.”
“I do not fight.”
“Then what the hell are those horns for?”
“They are a symbol.”
Oh, that was useful. Not. “Fucking great. You’re nothing but Bambi’s dad.”
Ryne Cyratane may not have understood the reference, but he definitely understood the tone.
Actually, Tony figured as he was once again lifted off his feet, it was probably a good thing the reference sailed right on over. “I’m sorry, okay! I’m just worried about your handmaiden!” He could see himself reflected in the onyx eyes-which was more than a little disconcerting since the hands holding him did not appear in the reflection.
“I do not wish my handmaiden to die.” This close, the Arjh Lord’s teeth were as out of proportion as certain other parts of his anatomy-only not in a good way.
“Bonus, because she doesn’t want to die.”
“But neither will I put myself in danger.”
“Not even for her?”
This new expression was not one of Henry’s. Tony’d last seen it on Mason’s face when CB had set up an interview with one of the science fiction media magazines. The expression of the innately selfish forced to acknowledge they had responsibilities they didn’t much like.
“If Sye Mckaseeh is indeed attempting to control so many entries to your world, she will not be able to watch all of her lesser arjh,” Ryne Cyratane admitted reluctantly after a moment. “It seems her continuing defeat at your puny hands has caused her to rage against you and to overextend.” He smiled but, whether at Sye Mckaseeh overextending or at her continuing defeat, Tony wasn’t sure. “While she is distracted by the great effort she makes, I will mark one of her waiting arjh with my sigil so that when it breaks through to your world, it will fight at your side and rend the others of its kind.” Rend was pronounced with enough relish to supply an infinite number of hot dog carts.
“If you could mark one of her arjh,” Tony pointed out, “you could kill it. And if you could kill one…”
“Death of her arjh, she would most definitely notice.”
“Okay, back to your original plan.” Tony’s lower arms were going numb, but the Arjh Lord didn’t seem to be tiring. “Problem is, I’m closing as many of these things as I can before they open. What if I close the weak spot you’ve co-opted?”
“Do not.”
Yeah. That was helpful.
“If my handmaiden, my priestess, my love is with you, she will know which weakness I use as mine.”
Okay, that actually was helpful.
“Now go.”
(Tony bounced a little as he hit the ground. Bounced a little higher. The white began to darken. Higher still. Fighting a rush of nausea, he closed his eyes.)
It was a lot like absorbing the fire he’d set in Leah’s curtains.
Except this fire burned.
His heart pounded, he couldn’t catch his breath, and bits of his life were passing before his eyes. No. Wait. That wasn’t his life. He wasn’t double-jointed. And then he was back in the white and two very large, hot hands were wrapped around his biceps and lifting him into the air.
Someone was talking. Deep rumbling. Shades of Barry White.
Tony struggled to focus and finally managed to hear words.
“What place is this, Wizard?”
Good question. It took him a moment to figure out how his mouth worked, but he finally managed to form the words, “Neutral ground.”
It was a guess, but it seemed to be enough of an answer since the hands released him and he found himself sprawling at the feet of Ryne Cyratane.
The view from down there was pretty damned amazing.
“You risked much to speak with me, Wizard.”
“Did I?” That was news. Did he want to know what he’d risked? No, he decided, getting carefully to his feet. “You wanted to talk to me, big guy. I made it happen. Say what you have to so I can go put on some pants.”
The Demonlord’s lip curled, exposing long ivory-colored teeth. Recognizing one of Henry’s expressions, Tony realized Ryne Cyratane had just hung out a sign saying Want to be eaten? Ask me how. “You speak bravado out of fear.”
“Duh.” Had he come into this cold, without all those years of Henry behind him, he’d be a gibbering wreck.
“You desire me.”
That was too obvious to require a response. Tony had no idea where the energy was coming from, considering the rocket ride he’d taken to get here as well as the mentioned and admitted fear.
“You have been protecting my handmaiden from the attacks of an Arjh Lord.”
“No, she’s been attacked by… Hang on.” He could feel his brain begin to sluggishly work. “What’s an Arjh Lord?”
“I am an Arjh Lord. Sye Mckaseeh is another.” The first statement was very nearly a roar. The second merely a comment.
“Right.” They’d hardly call themselves demons. And, apparently, the new one was a Scot. Which brought up another point. “Why are you speaking English?”
Massive arms crossed over a hairless chest. “I am speaking what you are hearing.”
“Sure. Okay.” That made as much sense as most things in his life these days and was, at least, useful. Absently scratching at his left palm, Tony backed up a few steps, hoping a little distance would help clear his head. “Look, why don’t I tell you what I think is going down, and you can yay or nay the synopsis?”
Dark brows drew in. “I am unaware of your meaning.”
“Just listen.” He laid it all out. An Arjh Lord directing the Demonic Convergence to create specific weak spots he could use to push through his own minions, marking them so they could kill Leah, thus opening the gate and allowing the Arjh Lord to enter their world and try to take it over.
Minions needed explaining, and Tony downplayed just how easy that takeover would be. No point in giving the big guy ideas.
When he finished talking, Ryne Cyratane nodded. “It is as you say; Sye Mckaseeh is warping what you call the Convergence to her own place.”
“Sye Mckaseeh is a wo… is female?”
“Yes. And a mighty warrior among the Arjh Lords.”
“Great. A mighty warrior.” Tony cleared his throat. “Look, you wanted to talk to me, what did you want to say?”
“I wished to give you, as the wizard protecting my handmaiden, the information you already possess. Your people have grown wiser since last I walked your world.” He didn’t sound like he approved.
“Probably not wiser, we’re just more used to processing information. But if that’s all you wanted, let’s move on to what I want… need.” The Arjh Lord’s expression suggested Tony’s needs were so low on his list of priorities they were essentially nonexistent. Time to evoke vested self-interest. “I need your help, or your handmaiden is going to buy it-die, she’ll die-and you’ll lose all that energy she keeps sending you, not to mention any chance you might have of using the gate yourself sometime in the future. You know, in case she finally gets depressed enough to…” He drew a finger across his throat.
The gesture didn’t need explaining. “Go on.”
“Sye Mckaseeh is creating twenty-seven weak spots between your world and mine.” He’d finally taken a moment to actually count them. “Apparently three nines are a mystic number or something, but that’s not the point. Very shortly we’ll be ass-deep in arjh and the odds are good one of them will get through to your handmaiden and kill her to open the gate.”
“You are a wizard; you hold the eternal cosmos in your hand. Strengthen the weakness before it tears. With power drawn to so many places, it will take time before the arjh are through.”
“Not enough time. My world is a complicated place, and I don’t think I’ll be able to get to all the weak spots before they rip open. I need you-your handmaiden needs you-to slow things down on this end. The arjh end. We need you to interfere with Sye Mckaseeh’s plan.”
“No. I am not one who battles with the other lords for power.”
Tony blinked as that sank in. “You’re kidding me. You’re a lover, not a fighter?”
“As I understand your use of the language, yes. And there is disunity between Sye Mckaseeh and I.”
“Disunity?”
The Arjh Lord shrugged. “Once there was unity. Now there is not.”
Standing on that featureless white plane, Tony had a sudden strong desire for a wall, so he could bang his head against it. “She was your girlfriend and you guys broke up and that’s how she knows about the Demongate and that’s why she’s trying to get it open, to screw you.” Same old story, add a truck and a dog and they could set it to country music.
Ryne Cyratane shrugged again. “Her arjh watch for me. I could not get close to her should I desire it.”
“Hey, you fighting your way through a few of her arjh would be a distraction, at least. We could use that.”
“No.”
“Yeah, we could.”
“No, I will not fight.”
“Yeah, but this isn’t a power struggle with another lord,” Tony reminded him. “You’ll just be smacking around a few arjh.”
“I do not fight.”
“Then what the hell are those horns for?”
“They are a symbol.”
Oh, that was useful. Not. “Fucking great. You’re nothing but Bambi’s dad.”
Ryne Cyratane may not have understood the reference, but he definitely understood the tone.
Actually, Tony figured as he was once again lifted off his feet, it was probably a good thing the reference sailed right on over. “I’m sorry, okay! I’m just worried about your handmaiden!” He could see himself reflected in the onyx eyes-which was more than a little disconcerting since the hands holding him did not appear in the reflection.
“I do not wish my handmaiden to die.” This close, the Arjh Lord’s teeth were as out of proportion as certain other parts of his anatomy-only not in a good way.
“Bonus, because she doesn’t want to die.”
“But neither will I put myself in danger.”
“Not even for her?”
This new expression was not one of Henry’s. Tony’d last seen it on Mason’s face when CB had set up an interview with one of the science fiction media magazines. The expression of the innately selfish forced to acknowledge they had responsibilities they didn’t much like.
“If Sye Mckaseeh is indeed attempting to control so many entries to your world, she will not be able to watch all of her lesser arjh,” Ryne Cyratane admitted reluctantly after a moment. “It seems her continuing defeat at your puny hands has caused her to rage against you and to overextend.” He smiled but, whether at Sye Mckaseeh overextending or at her continuing defeat, Tony wasn’t sure. “While she is distracted by the great effort she makes, I will mark one of her waiting arjh with my sigil so that when it breaks through to your world, it will fight at your side and rend the others of its kind.” Rend was pronounced with enough relish to supply an infinite number of hot dog carts.
“If you could mark one of her arjh,” Tony pointed out, “you could kill it. And if you could kill one…”
“Death of her arjh, she would most definitely notice.”
“Okay, back to your original plan.” Tony’s lower arms were going numb, but the Arjh Lord didn’t seem to be tiring. “Problem is, I’m closing as many of these things as I can before they open. What if I close the weak spot you’ve co-opted?”
“Do not.”
Yeah. That was helpful.
“If my handmaiden, my priestess, my love is with you, she will know which weakness I use as mine.”
Okay, that actually was helpful.
“Now go.”
(Tony bounced a little as he hit the ground. Bounced a little higher. The white began to darken. Higher still. Fighting a rush of nausea, he closed his eyes.)