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“Yeah, there’s a problem with that, seeing as I am bound to this realm and can’t leave until I meet Hades, King of this Underworld.”

Both men turned to face me, their surprise easy to see, and I wondered if this was because they found me awake or because of what I just said.

“You might have mentioned that.”

“What…? Just like the way you guys mentioned about having no intensions of taking me to the Gate of Hermes… that type of mention?” At this Tyr opened his mouth to argue when a commotion caught all our attention from outside.

“BRING ME THE HUMAN OR WATCH THIS VILLAGE BURN!”

The second I heard the voice, I froze, because I would know it anywhere, making me turn fearful eyes to Asher and Tyr before saying,

“It’s Garmr…”

“He’s found me.”

9

BEAST OF A PLAN

“Oh shit!” I shouted as both men got to their feet from the table they were sitting at.

I too scrambled from the bed as we all made our way to the window. I pushed it open and gasped before Tyr and Asher took hold of me and put me behind them. But despite this, I’d had long enough to see for myself the trouble we were now in. There was no mistaking the army of HellHounds that were making their way down the streets coming from the other side of town. Nor was there any mistaking the sight of Garmr that led them, from dead center, in between his robed lackies, whoever they were. I couldn’t see their faces, which I gathered was the point because Garmr was the same. Their cloaks all snaked around the ground like living shadows.

“What are we going to do?!” I asked in panic, making Tyr say casually,

“Well, this might be a problem.”

“You think!” I shouted.

“Well, whatever we do, it’s going to have to be fast, as look, they are making their way inside each home, and it won’t be long till they reach the inn,” Asher pointed out with a grit of his teeth. He was clearly the only one to take this situation seriously out of the two of them.

“In that case, time to go,” Tyr said, picking back up his weapons, his axe soon going to his back.

Well, it looked like we would certainly be needing it. As for Asher, he rushed me out the door, just as we heard the snarls of HellHounds from down below as they must have already made it inside. The sound of screaming and yells of shock echoed through the floor, along with the crashing of furniture.

“We will have to break through to the next building,” Tyr told us, after first looking one way and then to the next, only to find a dead-end because this hallway went to nowhere.

“Break through, how…? Oh…” I said as Tyr pulled his axe from his back with Asher leading the way down the corridor.

Demons opened their doors to look and see what the commotion was. But when I saw their horrified faces look behind us, I stupidly turned. This was just in time to see one of the HellHounds that had made it up the stairs and was now snarling our way from the other end.

“Shit, one found us!” I shouted, alerting the other two to the fact we were now being hunted. One had been bad enough, but now two were in pursuit of us because the second HellHound rounded the corner. It came through the arch too fast and slammed into the wall before shaking itself from the daze enough to add to the chase.

“Fuck! Now there is two of them chasing us!” I shouted, making Tyr say,

“Not for long!” Then he stopped to face them head on, and I was just about to shout what the hell, when he swung his axe over his head. And just as they got close enough to leap at him, he hammered his axe hard into the floor. The wooden boards cracked before crashing through to the floor below. Which meant all he had to do was take a step back out of reach, and the HellHounds had nowhere to go but down.

Both of them fell through the large hole in the hallway and down into what looked like the kitchens below. One howled in agony as it landed on the hot stove, setting ablaze instantly. The other one crashing into a massive clay bowl filled with soapy water that looked to have been used to clean dishes. It shattered instantly, making the HellHound slip and slide on the suds when trying to get back to its feet.

“Come on, we need to keep going before they catch up to us!” Asher said, and Tyr took his place in the lead.

When we got to the dead-end of the hallway, he used his axe again to smash straight through the wall. And from where I was standing, I could see the way the runes and symbols etched into the gleaming steal all started to glow blue on impact.

Asher turned quickly to cover me, so the debris didn’t fly back and hurt me. Then he grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crude opening, making demons scream when we appeared in someone’s bedroom. Their white and black patched faces were a shock to see, but no more shocking than having us suddenly burst into their personal space. The poor woman even covered up her breasts, that like the rest of her skin, one was white and the other black. In fact, there was something profoundly beautiful about her two-toned skin. Their horns were like curled ridges, also striped black and white.

“Er, sorry, just passing through… you have a lovely home,” I said, feeling bad for them both and not knowing what else to say as we went running through their lives. Of course, we did this only to find ourselves in the same boat, as of course we had another wall in our way at the end of the house.

This time, however, when we smashed through, we ended up in a storage room for a shop or something. It was filled with crates and large pots full of flour. One of which Asher went tumbling into, and he was consumed in a white cloud before coming out of it with a cough, now covered from head to toe. He looked to Tyr and warned,