Sargatanas stood mere yards from Hani and he felt his knees buckle slightly. For all his observations, the physical presence of the Demon Major was overwhelming; there was, it seemed, a tremendous, supernatural power to his proximity. Hani did not know if it was some studied force of intimidation that the demons used to enforce servitude or merely some innate part of their being. And Hani was not alone in its influence; some souls actually fell before the demon, unable to stand, whimpering without control. The demon engineers, architects, and Overseers, too, seemed as if they were holding their breath. Only the banners flapping loudly in the hot wind fought the silence.
Hani watched as one of Sargatanas' two companions leaned in to his lord. This demon, too, was impressive but, if appearance was any gauge, was the Demon Major's inferior by reason of his less elaborate decorations.
"I know that you never wanted this, Lord," Hani overheard. His eyes widened in amazement. While he had understood the Overseers' infrequent guttural commands, he had never imagined that the higher demons' speech would be intelligible. Their accent was strange and hard to penetrate and their voices many layered, but with some effort he could understand them!
"Here it stands, Valefar. I accept that. But I do not accept why Beelzebub insists on these hollow gestures. I do not like this thing any more than I like his motives."
Sargatanas' voice sent a chill down Hani's spine. It was a terrible voice, resonant, and almost hoarse to the soul's ears. He tried not to imagine what it would be like angry.
"My lord," the demon called Valefar said, "this was not a battle worth fighting. Just accept it. Anyway," he said, looking up at the figure, "it looks good here."
Sargatanas shook his head. "I have never been good at blind acceptance."
Hani saw some more workers collapse.
"Enough," said Sargatanas to Valefar, taking a thick, glyph-dotted scepter from him. "Let us finish this pretense and go back to the palace." He beckoned the Chief Engineer, a beast-headed demon whom Hani had rarely seen, who nearly fell in his haste to obey his lord.
"Yes, my lord," the engineer said, saluting, covering the hole in his chest.
"You have done a splendid job, Abbeladdur. And you have left the last step for me to finish."
"Thank you, my lord." Abbeladdur's eyes never met Sargatanas'.
Hani quailed. He realized that he and his small group of workers were very close to the unfinished step. Overseers edged in, prodding and compacting the line so that he was even closer. Dangerously close.
He turned back to Sargatanas, who had his scepter in hand.
More souls tumbled to the ground, begging not to be turned to bricks.
"No, please. My only crime," a soul waving his forked flipper-hands cried out, "was to steal bread for my family. Please, please don't do this to me."
Another soul with half a jaw shrieked, "Please, Lord, please. This is forever; please, no." This he repeated over and over.
Hani clenched his jaws and tried to close his eyes but could not.
As he raised the scepter, Sargatanas stopped. Hani saw him staring at a single soul who, it appeared, was unafraid to stare back at him.
Hani had seen her earlier, as they worked; she was hard to ignore. Tall and striking with unusually piercing, blue eyes, she, like himself, was relatively unscathed by the Change. He had almost thought her attractive, a thought so ludicrous in Hell he had smiled inwardly. Souls around her had called her Bo-ad and given her some breadth for her fierceness. Now, she stood proudly at the moment of her ultimate punishment.
But the Lord of Adamantinarx was not about to suffer the insolence of a soul lightly. He moved a pace, which brought him toweringly before her.
Hani saw her trembling, saw how she resisted sobbing or simply collapsing as the others had done. Instead, she looked up at Sargatanas, shaking, and Hani, himself shaking, swore under his breath in incredulity. Looking closely at her, he saw that she was wearing a necklace upon her well-formed bosom, a necklace from which hung a tiny white figure, the sister of his own!
"Why," she asked, "why am I here? I killed, it is true, but I fought justly against a ruler who neither understood nor cared for me. Is that any reason to spend eternity here? Is it?"
Again Hani swore, but this time in admiration. The passion and forcefulness of her words carried Sargatanas back half a step. For a few seconds he stared at her and then, incredibly, he turned away, brows knit, jaw set. Valefar stepped toward Sargatanas. The two demons stood looking at each other for a moment.
"What is it, my lord?" the demon named Valefar asked.
"It is the same reason I am here," Hani thought he heard Sargatanas say. Walking past Valefar, the Demon Major placed the scepter in his companion's extended hand, and the Prime Minister spun, glaring at Bo-ad.
With an uttered command, Valefar sent a bolt of luminous writing forth from the baton touching the female's forehead and imploding her in a horrific instant. The glyphs flickered outward to each side of where she now lay, a steaming, rectangular brick. Vengefully, it seemed, the glyphs jumped from soul to soul converting each of them into a brick and stopping only two souls short of Hani.
The step, smoking from the heat of its creation, was complete.
Sargatanas turned, like one who had forgotten something. He moved slowly back to where Bo-ad had stood and knelt down, his robes falling in a wide arc around him. Hani, who could see what no one else could because of his position, watched the demon probe with his clawed fingers in the brick, poking into the folds of what had been the woman. He saw Sargatanas pause for a moment and then, tugging lightly, withdraw the necklace, sinew strand first and followed by the amulet. The demon rubbed its polished surface, thoughtfully, and then clenched it tightly in his fist. And then, without any warning, an eye opened on the brick's uppermost surface, a piercing blue, pain-filled eye that looked up accusingly at Sargatanas. The Demon Major started and then stared back. Hani could just see a tear welling in the eye, unable to free itself, pooling. Amazed, he watched Sargatanas carefully dip a claw into the welled tear and, after a moment's hesitation, inexplicably smear it upon the little white statue's surface.
The demon rose, a mountain of flesh and bone and fire, majestic and menacing again. And yet, the soul thought, he seemed somehow shaken. Hani had seen something no one, let alone a soul, was meant to see, and it had given him a great deal to wrestle over.
"Valefar," said Sargatanas, his voice low, "bring up the mounts and let us go back to the palace. I am very tired."
Chapter Eleven
DIS
Ardat Lili was late. She had insisted upon going out with the half-dozen new statues, and Lilith, remembering the Prince's words, had come very close to ordering her to remain in the chambers. Instead, seeing her resolve, Lilith had warned her to be extra careful leaving and entering the palace, to take special precautions to avoid any detection. Perhaps that was it, Lilith thought. Perhaps even now she is carefully sneaking past the guards at the Keep's entrance. As much as Lilith cared for her handmaiden and feared for her safety, she still needed Ardat to spread the statues throughout Hell's cities.
Work, Lilith decided, would be the ideal distraction while she waited for her handmaiden to return.
The marked piece of bone had freed itself from the wall easily, almost as if it wanted to be prized away, and when it lay upon Lilith's small table she had been even more pleased with its shape than before. It was special and she knew exactly what she would do with it. And to whom it would be given. She had found Sargatanas' charisma undeniable.