None of them looked particularly thrilled by my plan, and I have to say that I wasn’t overwhelmed by my brilliance, either. But it was the best I could come up with, and none of them had anything better on offer.
“Let’s go,” I said.
Beezle flew off my shoulder, muttering imprecations at me for forcing an old gargoyle to do such tedious and difficult work.
“There’s a doughnut in it for you if you do your job and stop complaining,” I said.
Beezle looked contemplative. “Deal. Of course, I fully expect that we’ll all be killed by this idiocy.”
And with that he took off down the tunnel. I waited a few moments, and then followed behind him. I very much hoped that Beezle was wrong, and that my half-assed plan wasn’t about to get us all killed.
4
I CREPT FORWARD INTO THE PASSAGE. THE CEILING WAS even lower here than in the cave. Since I am shorter than average, the top of the tunnel was an inch or two above my head. I glanced behind me to see the others filing in silently at the proscribed distance. The men were all hunched over. The wings of the angels scraped lightly against the walls and ceilings, and downy feathers drifted in their wake.
The tunnel gleamed with the same strange light as the cave, but it was fainter. I couldn’t see Beezle ahead of us. He’d obviously gotten a little overzealous with his scouting duties. My heart beat wildly in my chest and I made a conscious effort to silence the sound of my breath. Several minutes passed, and I felt the frantic build of adrenaline inside me, anticipating the attack that would not come.
I became aware of an insistent pressure at my hip and could hear a faint buzzing sound. It belatedly registered that my phone was ringing. I pulled it from my pocket and read J.B.’s name on the screen before stuffing it away again. There was no way I was answering the call right now. Never mind the fact that we could be attacked at any minute—J.B. was probably only calling to yell at me about something.
The fact that I was picking up a cell signal told me that we were still on the Earth that I knew, and that gave me a little comfort. It meant that we didn’t have such a long way to get home. If we got home at all, that was.
Beezle suddenly loomed out of the darkness in front of me and I swallowed a startled scream.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” I hissed.
He landed on my shoulder and whispered in my ear. “You have to see this. Tell the others to stay here.”
“Oh, yeah, like they’ll go for that,” I said.
“Order them to stay if you have to,” he said, and his voice dropped even further, until I could barely hear. I knew he was trying to dodge the supernatural hearing of certain members of our party. “You don’t want Jude to see until you can prepare him.”
My stomach dropped. Beezle must have found the cubs.
I turned and waited for Gabriel to catch up to me and then signaled the others to stop. Gabriel looked terribly uncomfortable hunched over. I waved him closer and indicated he should use his wings to block us from the others. He crouched a little farther down so he could close us in the private circle of his wings.
Beezle’s found something, I signed. Gabriel had taught sign language to both Samiel and me, and it was pretty handy just now. Jude’s hearing is unbelievable. I was surprised he hadn’t heard Beezle.
What is it? Gabriel signed back.
I don’t know. I’m going to go ahead with Beezle. I want you to keep the others here until I get back.
Gabriel shook his head.
This is no time for…I realized I didn’t know the sign for “testosterone,” so I just said it aloud. Beezle wouldn’t lead me into harm; you know that.
I do not like you going by yourself, Gabriel replied.
I won’t be by myself. I’ll be with Beezle. Please, just stay here and make sure the others do, too. Especially Jude.
Gabriel looked like he wanted to argue some more but I shook my head at him. We didn’t have time for this.
He nodded and backed away from me, and Beezle and I went forward. I hoped that Gabriel would actually listen to me and keep the others behind. If the cubs had been slaughtered by the demons, I didn’t want Jude to go on a suicidal rampage. I was certain Wade would want Jude to take care of their pack.
Beezle and I went forward into the tunnel. I couldn’t see any turnings or junctions, just the same endless expanse of white rock, glowing faintly in the dark. I was reminded uncomfortably of my time in the Maze, the dark unknown stretching out before me, taking my measure, waiting for just the right moment to break my heart.
After several minutes I felt Beezle’s claws tighten on my shoulder, a sure sign of his growing tension.
“How much farther?” My voice was hardly louder than my breath, but it still sounded like a scream in the eerie stillness. We had long since passed out of the sight and sound of the others.
“Very soon now,” Beezle growled.
The tunnel abruptly turned, and I followed it. Beezle put his beak close to my ear.
“Quietly.”
I tiptoed forward, sure that the blood pounding in my body would be loud enough to give us away. At the end of the passage there was a brightly lit opening, and beyond that were the sounds of screams and moans.
Gods above and below, I thought. I don’t want to see this.
I steeled myself and crept to the edge of the passage.
The tunnel sloped downward into a wide ramp for perhaps ten or fifteen feet, and then emptied into a huge cavern with soaring phosphorescent ceilings. There were large floodlights attached at intervals along the cavern walls. Cables snaked along the ground, attached to a humming generator in the far corner of the room.
The wolf cubs were all in human form. There were about twenty of them, ranging in age from maybe eighteen months to ten years. They were all bound to hard metal chairs and their eyelids had been taped open. In front of each eyelid was a small object that looked like a digital video camera, except that the camera emitted targeted pulses of light at the cubs’ eyes.
I didn’t know exactly what the cameras were doing to the cubs, but whatever it was couldn’t be good. Several of the smaller children were crying, and a couple of them looked like they had fainted, but since their eyes were forced open, the camera continued doing its gruesome work.
On the opposite side of my perch, at the very front of the cavern, were three demons. All three were humanoid-shaped with dark green scales. They all had wickedly sharp-looking claws, large pointed ears and long simian tails. The end of each tail was tipped with a barb. The left cheek of each demon was branded with the same sigil that we had found on the rock that led to the portal.
They seemed like they ought to be supervising the proceedings, but mostly they appeared bored. One demon had a chair tipped back against the wall and appeared to be dozing with half-closed eyes. The other two were playing some kind of game in the dirt with sticks. There was a lot of arguing and punching involved, although that may have had more to do with the personalities of the demons involved than the actual rules of their pastime.
All seemed immune to the distress of the cubs. I didn’t see any sign of Wade, but there was another opening in the cavern beyond the demons. He could be held in another part of this place, or he could be in another location entirely. The cubs were before me, and obviously in pain, so they were my priority. Once the cubs were free, I could move on to the Wade problem.