Herbie Brennan - Faerie Wars

Beleth stepped into the brimstone pool. The molten lava lapped over his feet like lukewarm water. As he moved towards the cage his foot caught on something just beneath the surface and he stumbled. His huge flailing arm struck the Doomsday Bomb which toppled from its stand and started to roll. 'Noooooo!' Beleth howled in sudden alarm.

Everything seemed to slow. The Doomsday Bomb rolled inch by inch towards the pool. One of the demon workmen tried to grab it, but missed. Beleth hurled himself forward, but missed the bomb as well. Gently, so very gently, it slid into the molten pool.

Beleth's scream reverberated through the cavern. A bubble erupted on the surface of the pool like some giant belch. Huge bolts of elemental energy snaked across the molten brimstone. From somewhere deep below there was a rumbling that rose to a roar. Beleth ran, but not fast enough or far enough. The brimstone pool erupted in a vast explosion that tore him limb from limb. A fraction of a second later the entire cavern collapsed, burying every living being in it.

Far above, the great metal city rang like a bell before its buildings began to topple and sink.

All of a sudden Henry wasn't doubting any more. All of a sudden, the self-conscious feeling left him and a wave of confidence swept in. He felt himself stand a little straighter, felt his voice grow stronger, felt – yes, definitely felt – a surge of energy flow through him that carried the words he spoke through space and time and alien dimensions. The Book of Beleth trembled in his hands. 'Come to us, Pyrgus, come!' There was power in the room. 'Come, Pyrgus, come!'

But the creature wasn't Pyrgus. And it wasn't trapped in the triangle either. Through the swirling incense smoke he could see something approaching out of a nightmare. It was human in form – two arms, two legs, a trunk, a head – but nothing ever born to human mother. It was small and thin and pale and grey with huge black eyes and skinny insect limbs.

'Don't look into its eyes!' screamed Holly Blue. Her voice seemed to reach him from far away.

It was a fuzzy photo in the tabloid press. It was an illustration from a cover of a flying-saucer book. It was like that thing they cut up after Roswell, the one everybody said was just a rubber dummy. It was one of the aliens that came in UFOs. But Blue thought it was a demon. And he'd called it with a magic rite that was supposed to conjure demons. Mr Fogarty was right. He'd been right all along. UFO aliens and demons were the same thing under different names!

'Don't look into its eyes!'

The creature seemed confused. It walked in a zigzag across the room, sometimes stopping, sometimes turning, sometimes actually backtracking a pace or two. Its small mouth moved. 'Kill the Emperor!' it said in commanding tones, then added in a thin, faltering voice, 'They're out to get me! They're all out to get me!'

Henry thought it might be blind.

The creature held its hands out like a child begging for food. 'You must kill the Emperor,' it whined. 'Or Beleth will punish me.' It blinked its blind, black eyes. 'But keep out of my mind, old man! I can't stand you in my mind!' It jerked its head to one side to look over its shoulder. 'It's the Government, you know. Them and the CIA. They've all got mind-control machines.'

It sounded hauntingly familiar. Especially the bit about the CIA. What would a demon in the Realm of Faerie know about the CIA? Henry did a mental flip and knew! 'Blue,' he shouted, 'this is the demon that took over Mr Fogarty!'

The creature turned towards Henry at the sound of the name. 'I'm sorry, Beleth,' it said plaintively. 'He wouldn't do what he was told. His mind was so slippery I couldn't hold him. Wouldn't do it. I was fighting the whole CIA.' It staggered towards Henry, arms outstretched. Blue screamed. It reached the edge of the protective circle and winked out of existence as if someone had turned off a light.

There was a loud groan from the triangle. Henry swung round, knowing he'd find Beleth there. His insides turned to water. There was something crouching on the floor.

'Pyrgus!' Blue shrieked.

'Don't leave the circ – ' Henry shouted. But it was already too late. Blue was running across the room.

Pyrgus was hunched up in the triangle, his head cradled in both arms. For some reason there was smoke coming from the soles of his boots. He groaned again.

Blue reached him and threw her arms around his neck. 'Pyrgus! Oh, Pyrgus!' Still clinging to him, she half turned. 'It worked, Henry! It worked!'

Henry thought what the hell and stepped out of the magic circle. The demon creature did not reappear. He moved towards the figure in the triangle.

'My head!' Pyrgus moaned.

Blue released him and fumbled in a pocket. 'I can do something about that, you poor thing!' She drew a syringe from her pocket, uncapped it and plunged the needle into Pyrgus's thigh. 'There,' she said. 'I've carried that around ever since I heard you'd been poisoned. It's the antidote – you'll soon be right.' She cradled him in her arms again.

She was right too. As Henry watched, Pyrgus gradually ceased rocking to and fro and in a moment took his arms away from his head. Blue released him and stood back, grinning. Pyrgus straightened up and looked around. 'Hello, Henry. What are you doing here?' Suddenly he was hopping on one leg as he tore off his boots. 'Ruddy brimstone!' he hissed.

Blue said all of a rush, 'Pyrgus, Father's dead – he was murdered. You're the Purple Emperor now. The Nightside are attacking and they have demon reinforcements. We're being over-run!'

Pyrgus said, 'Destroy the book!'

He had no reaction to his father's death, Henry thought. Almost as if he knew already.

'Destroy the book!' Pyrgus said again.

Henry realised suddenly Pyrgus was talking to him. 'What?'

'That's The Book of Beleth you're holding, isn't it?'

Henry looked down at the book in his hands. 'Yes… ' he said uncertainly. Then, more definitely, 'Yes, it is.'

'Destroy it!' Pyrgus snapped. He grabbed the tome out of Henry's hands. 'Look!' He ripped the hideous skin backing off the cover. Underneath, thin worms of blue light writhed across what looked like some weird type of printed circuit. Pyrgus threw the book violently on the floor. 'Stamp on it!' he commanded. 'Break it up!'

Henry blinked at him.

'For God's sake, Henry!' Pyrgus shouted. 'I haven't any boots on!'

Henry's paralysis broke and he slammed his foot down on the book. The printed circuit jagged easily, sending a mild electric shock across his toes. He picked up the jagged pieces of the book and dropped them in the brazier. They flared at once, filling the room with strange, green light. He turned to look at Pyrgus. His friend seemed taller somehow, more commanding.

'I need to see Tithonus now,' Pyrgus said.

Blue was looking a shade in awe of her brother as well. 'He'll be in the Situation Room,' she said. 'He's Regent for Comma now that Daddy's dead. Nobody knew where you… well, you know – ' She shrugged. 'Comma was the next in line. So Tithonus has been running things – the war and so on – while you've been away.'

'I'm back now,' Pyrgus said a little grimly. His face softened briefly and he gave a tiny smile. 'Thanks to you two.' The smile vanished. 'Come on – we still have work to do.'

The guards looked stunned as Pyrgus, Henry and Blue stepped out of the suspensor shaft, but snapped to attention at once. 'Crown Prince Pyrgus!' one exclaimed.

'You address your Emperor,' said Pyrgus quietly.

'Majesty,' the guard acknowledged.

With Pyrgus in the lead, they were escorted down the corridor towards the Situation Room. The door guards came to attention at their approach. Pyrgus seemed extraordinarily confident to Henry, every inch an emperor. The doors swung open and they marched through.