a ghostly glow over four reddish-black figures nearly as tall as Yereq. One raised a notched dagger. With dark wings his only adornment, he flexed his muscular arm as he cackled. “Look at the boy’s eyes, Grindle. He is definitely alive.”
One of the other devils flapped his jagged wings. “Excellent. We shall have his blood in our goblets tonight.”
“Not if I can help it!” With a quick downward swipe, Walter lopped off the first devil’s hand, then, swinging the sword back up, narrowly missed his face. The other three flew at Walter and Yereq, each waving long stilettos and clawing with pointed fingernails.
Yereq grabbed a devil by the arm and dashed him against the wall. Walter dropped to the ground, allowing the second one to zip over his head. Thrusting Excalibur upward, he pierced the attacker’s belly as he flew over and rammed the blade completely through. Then, ripping it out again and leaping to his feet, he wheeled around and sliced through the third devil’s waist, cutting him in half.
With the devil he skewered writhing on one side, and the one he cleaved wiggling in two halves on the other, Walter lowered Excalibur and gasped for breath. Strangely enough, there seemed to be no blood flowing from his victims, nor from the smashed body of the one Yereq was now dragging back from the wall.
The devil Walter first attacked leaned over and picked up his severed hand. “It will take years for it to heal,” he muttered as he turned and slinked away. The second devil rose from the ground and spread open his belly wound as if checking for missing innards. He then picked up his stiletto and scuttled into the darkness.
Yereq tossed his pummeled victim down. Crawling on its belly, it slithered away inch by inch. The fourth devil pushed against the ground with his hands and slid his upper half toward his hips and legs. “One dark night, we will catch you off guard,” he snarled. “No one has ever escaped this realm, and you cannot hide from us forever.”
A new light poured onto the scene. Walter spun around. One of the bright angels was watching them from the other side of the promontory. His booming voice echoed. “Walter and Yereq, Jehovah has commanded that you come and see the execution of justice upon his enemies.”
“Yessir!” Walter slid his sword into its scabbard and hustled to the wall. The angel reached over with one arm and, grabbing Walter by his coat, pulled him across. Grappling the rock with his long limbs, Yereq climbed over the promontory and joined them.
The angel led Walter and Yereq across the gravelly beach toward the jetty and its long wooden ramp that led out over the lake. As they approached the ten chained prisoners waiting near the beginning of the ramp, Walter kept his head angled away from Morgan, but as he walked by, a shiver crawled along his skin, no doubt a result of the icy stare he was trying to avoid.
As they tromped down the narrow ramp, black foam gathered along the edges of the supporting rocks, raising a noxious stench—sulfur mixed with burning flesh. Walter gagged. How could he possibly breathe in this place? Just a few more seconds and he would heave everything in his gut!
Fortunately, when they neared the end of the jetty, the fumes dissipated. The ramp widened out into an octagonal platform, maybe fifteen by fifteen feet. As he stepped onto the flat stone, Walter scuffed his foot across an etched design. It looked like a compass with a multi-pointed star in the center and narrow spires tapering in the direction of the octagon’s sides.
The angel brushed a wing across a wooden bench at the very edge of the platform. “The witness seat,” he said in his resonant voice. “Please sit in silence until you are called upon to speak.”
Walter set his hand on the waist-high bench. Since it had no back, he could choose to sit facing toward the lake or away from it, but facing the lake would mean that his feet would dangle over the black fire.
His legs shaking, he eased onto the bench with his back to the lake. When Yereq sat at his side, the bench’s wooden frame groaned under his weight. The giant clenched his hands together, but his face showed no signs of fear.
The other two angels led their prisoners to the center of the platform, stopping them over the star on the floor. Trying to keep