Ruby Shadows (39 page)

“
Lord Laish!”

As I swung off Kurex, he shuffled forward. I
clasped arms with him eagerly.

“
Belial—it’s good to see
you again,” I said, truly meaning it. After my fall, Belial had
been the first to help and instruct me. Despite all my power, I’d
had no intimate knowledge of the Infernal Landscape—without him I
would have been lost. I had become Belial’s pupil and he had become
my friend and mentor. It was a relationship that continued to this
day.

“
We’ve been expecting you,
my Lord.” He looked up at Gwendolyn who was still mounted on Kurex.
“Both of you. Good afternoon to you, young lady.”

“
Good afternoon.”
Gwendolyn’s face said she didn’t quite know what to make of my old
mentor.

“
And why have you been
expecting us?” I asked. “Has news of the battle at the Jealous
Heart preceded us?”

“
What? There was a battle?
With whom?” Belial asked, looking concerned.

“
The Skitterlings.” I
sighed. “I am afraid there are considerably less of them to guard
the Jealous Heart than there were.”

“
Oh dear…” Belial made
a
tsking
noise I
remembered well and shook his head. “I’m afraid that is not good
news. But this is the first I have heard of it.”

“
Well then, why were you
expecting us?” I led Kurex a little closer so that I could help
Gwendolyn dismount.

“
Because of Druaga—I
understand you passed a night at the Hotel Infernal?” Belial raised
one grizzled gray eyebrow at me.

“
Yes, we did,” I said
neutrally. “He offered Gwendolyn a grave insult. I was obliged to
defend her honor.”

“
Most commendable, my
Lord,” Belial murmured. “But I’m afraid that now Druaga is bringing
a complaint against you to the Council of Elder Demons.”

“
Why?” Gwendolyn asked as
I helped her down from Kurex’s back. “Because Laish burned his, uh,
horn off?”

“
Among other things,” I
added.

The gray eyebrow went up again.

“
Yes, I heard about that,”
Belial remarked. “But no, that is not the issue. Druaga claims you
have stolen something from him—something incredibly valuable and
rare and he wants it back along with recompense for his pain and
suffering.”

“
Is this about my shoe
again?” Gwendolyn asked, putting a hand on her hip. “Because that
is just ridiculous!”

Belial shrugged. “He has not said what the
item is. Apparently he is reluctant to disclose it until the
Council convenes—if they agree to hear his case, that is.”

“
This is ridiculous,” I
growled. “Druaga is simply upset that I would not allow him to
sample some of Gwendolyn’s soul. He has no claim on us—any damages
or losses he sustained were a direct result of his own arrogance
and rude behavior.”

“
Hopefully the Council
will see it that way as well.” Belial nodded sagely. “For now, we
can only wait and see. But in the meantime, may I show you around
the Citadel of Knowledge, young lady?”

He turned to Gwendolyn and offered his arm
in a courtly gesture.

She looked at me uncertainly and I nodded
reassuringly.

“
You are as safe with
Belial as you are with me,” I told her. “Go and explore the Citadel
if you like. I have a bit of business to attend to while we are
here.”

“
All right.” She smiled
tentatively and took Belial’s arm. “Thank you.”

“
You’re more than welcome,
my dear. Now what part would you like to see first?”

“
First I’d like to know
how a giant skull got turned into Laish’s penthouse,” Gwendolyn
said, with a look at me. “Laish tells me there’s quite a story
behind it but that you’re the only one who can tell it just
right.”

“
Well I
have
been known to spin
a yarn or two in my time.” Belial’s thin chest swelled with pride.
“The history of Dis and of the Citadel especially is quite
fascinating.”

“
Tell me all about it.”
She smiled at him and he smiled back.

I could tell my old mentor and Gwendolyn
would be great friends—she already had him under her spell. I
smothered a smile as I watched them walk away, arm in arm into the
jaw of the Citadel. I would catch up to them later—for now let her
enjoy a bit of her journey through the Infernal Realm. Gods knew
she’d had enough trauma here to last her a lifetime. I wanted her
to be able to relax for a time and recuperate. We had a difficult
road ahead and she would need all the strength she could
gather.

* * * * *

Gwendolyn

“
So this whole city is
built on the remains of a giant demon?”

“
Not just built
on
the remains,” the old
demon said to me. “Dis is actually built
of
the remains of
Beelzebub.”

“
I thought that was just
another name for the Devil,” I said doubtfully.

“
The Father of Lies has
many designations but his true name is and always has been
Lucifer,” he told me. “Beelzebub was simply one of his followers.
His form of power was that of a giant—he went to war in that form
quite often.”

“
Like Laish’s dragon
form,” I said.

“
Oh, the Lord Laish has
told you of his wyrm form?” Belial looked surprised.

“
He didn’t just tell me—he
morphed into it right in front of me. Nearly scared me to death,” I
confessed.

“
I see.” He nodded and I
thought for a moment he looked troubled. “So back to the history of
Dis: Beelzebub was killed in the second Celestial War about two
millennia ago. He was in his giant form when he died and this is
where his body fell…” Belial spread his wrinkled hands, indicating
the city, which I could still see by looking through the gaps
between the massive teeth in the jaw where we stood. It was cool in
the shadow of the jaw. I slipped back into my white fur coat which
I had taken with me when I dismounted from Kurex.

“
So people decided to
build a city on—or out of—his body?” I asked, pulling the fur
collar close around my neck.

“
Well, after a few
centuries or so once the carcass had been picked clean by
scavengers, yes. His bones make excellent building materials and
the Tunnel of Sighs, which you passed through to get here, is
actually Beelzebub’s voice box. Some say that is why the voices of
the dead can speak there—the ancient demon’s voice magnifies their
own until the living can actually hear them.”

“
And what happened to
Beelzebub himself?” I asked.

Belial frowned and shook his head.

“
Well, he
died
, my dear. Or what
passes for death among our kind. Essentially his corporeal frame
ceased to exist and his disembodied spirit was cast forever into
the Lake of Fire.” He sighed. “Such is our fate when we finally
expire.”

“
That’s awful,” I said.
“But why didn’t Beelzebub just shed the giant form and use another
form instead? Like Laish did when he left his dragon form behind
after fighting the Skitterlings?”

We had been strolling through the dark,
rounded space created by the lower jaw of the skull which reminded
me a little of a screened in porch—or a Florida room as they call
it where I come from. But now Belial stopped short and looked at
me, his cloudy yellow eyes going wide.

“
Did you say that Lord
Laish
abandoned
his wyrm form? That he was forced to leave it behind after
the battle?”

“
Well…yes.” I shrugged
uncomfortably. “He told me there were just too many Skitterlings.
They were
everywhere.”
I couldn’t repress a shudder at the memory. “I was just glad
he got out alive at all! I thought he was dead for a while—it was
awful.”

“
He
was
dead—or a good part of him at
least.” Belial sounded grim. “That was one of his forms of power. I
cannot count the victories he won in that form, charging in front
of his regiments of demons as a great wyrm, spraying fire and
spreading death and destruction in his wake.”

“
I’m really sorry,” I said
feeling awkward. “I feel like it’s all my fault. I never
meant—”

“
No, no, my dear.” Belial
patted my hand comfortingly. “It’s quite all right. Lord Laish is
one of the Great Demons—a Prince of Night and Shadow. Believe me,
he has more than one form of power. His true form for instance,
now
that
is
something to behold. He has not…eh, shown you that one, has
he?”

“
No,” I said candidly. “I,
uh, think he’s afraid of what I’ll think of him if I see it.
Although I don’t see how anything can be more terrible than his
dragon form.”

Belial looked slightly relieved.

“
Ah, the Lord Laish’s true
form is both terrible
and
beautiful—that is what makes it so difficult to
see,” he murmured. “It is a perversion of what he once was, you
know.”

“
Which is what?” I asked,
burning with curiosity. “What was he? How did he get here? And what
does his true form actually look like?”

“
I am afraid if Lord Laish
has not seen fit to tell you, I cannot either,” the ancient demon
said mysteriously. “All that I can say is if you once see him as he
truly is, you will not soon forget it.”

Thanks for nothing,
I thought but my manners were too good to say it
out loud. Instead I said, “Tell me more about Dis. And please show
me the rest of the Citadel—I’ve never been inside a giant skull
before.”

Belial was happy to do just that. We walked
and talked as he showed me through the skull, which looked like a
plush office building with a board room where the Council of Elder
Demons met on the bottom, and a luxury penthouse on the top. There
was a long spiral staircase that connected the two with steps and a
banister all made of polished ivory which I now knew was bone.

“
And here are Lord Laish’s
apartments,” Belial said as we reached the top of the stairs and
found a long hallway that branched off in either direction. To the
right was a long stretch of highly polished hardwood floor with a
single door at the very end. To the left was thick royal blue
carpet that looked like you could sink into it over your ankles. It
also ended in a door.

Belial led me to the left
and opened the massive wooden door—at least not
everything
was made of bone. “This
is his private library.” He made a sweeping motion with one
wrinkled hand, bowing me into the room.

“
Oh, a library?” I said
eagerly. Then I stepped past him into the room and
gasped.

I had estimated when we first rode up to the
Citadel of Knowledge that the huge skull was about five stories
high. Yet the floor below, with the boardroom set up, had seemed
like a normal sized space. I had wondered, as we climbed the
stairs, why the second story would need to take up so much height.
Now I understood.

Bookshelves lined the walls of the entire
room—bookshelves as tall as office buildings—and every one of them
was absolutely full. I had to crane my neck as I looked up…and
up…and up. The ceiling, four stories above me, was rounded,
polished ivory—the top of the skull.

“
This is amazing!” I
exclaimed, walking over to a shelf and running my fingers along the
leather bound spines. “Has Laish read all of these?” I wouldn’t
have asked it if he’d been human with a human life span. A person
could start when they first learned to read and continue without
stopping until they died and still never even get through a quarter
of the books in this room, I was sure. But I knew how long Laish
had been around—he talked in terms of centuries and millennia—he
would have time to get through these if he wanted to.

“
These are just his
favorites,” Belial said, smiling a little. “We have another
facility built of Beelzebub’s ribcage at the other end of Dis which
houses the rest of Lord Laish’s collection.”

“
Wow…” I walked around,
looking at some of the titles.
The
Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, Out of the Silent
Planet…
“These are all by C.S. Lewis,” I
said, turning to Belial.

He nodded. “One of Lord Laish’s favorite
authors.”

“
But, wasn’t he a
Christian author?” I asked. “I mean isn’t
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
an allegory about Christ?”

“
It is.” Belial nodded
again.

I moved a little way down, looking at a
different section.

“
The Case for a
Creator
…
The Case
for Faith
…” I looked at Belial. “These are
really some of his favorites?”

“
Lord Laish always says
you must know your enemy’s mind in order to outwit them. To that
end, he is very well read.”

“
Oh,” I said. “So these
are all just for research.”

“
Possibly.” Belial made a
back and forth motion with his hand. “Though to be honest, I
believe Lord Laish reads them for pleasure as well.”