Tear Down Heaven: Urban Fantasy Action with Witches and Demons, page 26
“That is Crown Prince Alexander,” Leander informed her before the prince on the dais could even open his mouth, “Gilgamesh’s most reliable paper pusher and the Prince of War.”
“That explains why he doesn’t have a princess,” Bex said as she lifted her own sword.
“The loss of my partner was unfortunate,” Crown Prince Alexander agreed, settling deeper into his golden seat. “But also inevitable. Father has always despised war in all its forms. Even if my princess had survived, there was never going to be a place for her in Gilgamesh’s new kingdom.”
“Then you already know what he’s doing,” Adrian said, clutching Boston in his arms as he stepped forward to join Bex and Leander. “Alexander, brother, please listen. I know how good Gilgamesh is at making bad ideas sound noble, but you have to believe me when I say this isn’t a good path for any of us. We believe that Gilgamesh is going to use the power of the gods to reset the world and establish himself as the new divinity. You have to help us stop him!”
“Why would I do that?” Alexander asked, turning his head slightly to the side so that he could stare directly at them with his good eye. “Even if your ignorant accusations had merit, what part of our current world deserves saving? The death? The suffering? The destruction and exploitation of every natural wonder? The witches who dabble in black magic and sell their children for power?”
“And you think Gilgamesh’s world would be better?” Bex demanded. “He’s a murderer, a tyrant, and a slaver! Any future he makes will be just as twisted and self-centered as he is. Just look at the disaster he calls Heaven.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Coward Queen,” Alexander snarled. “Your creators were the ones who pushed us to this point! Yes, my father is cruel, but he is also brilliant. He alone was able to defeat the gods and return this world to humanity. But even after the gods were slain, they were too selfish to die. The Heaven you criticize is indeed a flawed compromise that none of us wanted, but my father was only doing what needed to be done. For five thousand years, he has been our bulwark against your gods. You say he enslaved your people, but from our perspective, he has kept millions of enemy soldiers from overrunning the world.”
He stabbed his finger at her. “You are the demon here, daughter of Ishtar! You lead an army of parasites who feed off the very people Gilgamesh fought to save. You’re not even organic lifeforms. Ishtar’s demons are tools crafted for the convenience of a delusional regime that sought to remake humanity in the gods’ own image. What Gilgamesh did to your kind was not slavery but containment. If you have a problem with that, take it up with the one who built you to be used in the first place.”
“I have taken it up with her,” Bex growled, clutching her sword. “I’m not here to fight for Ishtar or any of the gods. I’m here to win freedom for my people, who never asked for any of this! The gods may have built them, but you’re the bastards making them suffer right now.”
“If that’s what you’re here for, you’re too late,” Alexander informed her with a sneer. “The war is over. Father already has everything he needs. I’m only keeping watch to make sure his victory is not disturbed.”
“And then what?” Leander asked, putting out a hand to stop Bex, who was already readying her sword to take off the Crown Prince’s head. “You’re still being the good son, Alexander, but Father doesn’t value goodness. The moment he gets what he wants, he’ll toss you aside just like he did the rest of us. I know you understand that, brother, so why are you still helping him?”
“Because he’s the only way any of us get free,” Alexander replied with resigned acceptance. “You’re too young to know this, Leander, but while I am Gilgamesh’s oldest living son, I am far from his first. I was born only two thousand years ago. Over those twenty centuries, I’ve seen more of my brothers die than I can count, mostly because of her.”
He nodded at Bex, who winced despite her best efforts.
“I’ve seen so much death,” the Crown Prince continued. “I’ve caused so much death. So much suffering and destruction and loss, and for what? To keep a bunch of stubborn gods in their graves.”
Alexander shook his head with a sigh and sank lower in his golden chair. “I’m tired,” he said. “Tired of war, tired of bickering warlocks and vain, scheming princes. I’ve wanted to enter the Sleep for ages now, but after so many years, I was the only one capable of running Father’s empire. If I quit, all the balance and order I’d spent my entire life constructing would fall apart. I couldn’t stand the thought of returning to chaos, so I stayed and worked. I hated every single second, but I did it all perfectly. That’s why Gilgamesh trusts me most of all his sons. I’m the only one who understands the world of peace and order he’s trying to create for all of us.”
“If you’re so important to Father’s vision, why didn’t he take you with him?” Leander asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why are you sitting alone in this empty room, waiting for the likes of us?”
“That was my choice,” Alexander replied with a sad chuckle. “For the record, Father did invite me to join him. I was the one who refused. The new world King Gilgamesh is making will be splendid, I’m sure, but as I already told you, I’m tired. I’ve done my duty. I worked for two thousand years to help Father achieve his great dream, and now I intend to rest. When the current world ends, I’ll end with it, and so will all of you.” He smiled. “It is the Epic of Gilgamesh, after all. Minor characters like us don’t belong in the final stanzas of his victory.”
“Don’t lump us in with you,” Bex growled, raising her sword again. “You’re free to die all you want, but we’re not the Eternal King’s lapdogs, and we’re not giving up just because Gilgamesh says it’s over.”
“That we are not,” Leander agreed, taking Bex by surprise when he stepped into a battle stance beside her. “Unlike you with your one blind eye, we can see this for the farce it is, and without your sword, you can’t stop us.”
It might have been Bex’s imagination, but Alexander looked disappointed.
“I knew you wouldn’t see reason,” he said bitterly, rising from the throne at last. “For such a clever man, you never could make the right decision, Leander. That’s why I brought this.”
He clapped his armored hands together, and a figure stepped out from behind the towering throne. The golden room was so glittery that it was hard to make her out at first, but Bex already knew it was a princess. There was no one else whose carved feet made that musical clacking sound when they walked, but it wasn’t until Leander went stone-still beside her that Bex finally realized which princess she was looking at.
Like all of Gilgamesh’s dolls, she was incredibly beautiful with a willowy body and long, straight hair that cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall, but her face was the saddest thing Bex had ever seen.
“Leander?” she whispered, her carved hand trembling where it clutched a square of blue silk around her narrow shoulders. “My love, my prince, is that really you?”
Leander stared back at her like he’d seen a ghost. “Mara,” he choked at last, stumbling forward. “But it can’t be. How is this—”
“I had her reconstructed,” Alexander explained, placing his hand on the princess’s shaking shoulder. “She’s your Mara again.”
“But… you said she’d already been wiped,” Leander insisted. “You told me she was gone!”
The Crown Prince shook his head with a tut. “You should know by now that Gilgamesh never actually throws anything away. We kept all her old memories just in case we needed them. It was a tactical precaution, though in the end, I’m afraid my reasons for bringing her back were entirely sentimental.”
Leander looked confused, and Alexander sighed again.
“I told you,” he said irritably, “I’m tired of my brothers dying, so after Father ordered the destruction of the Hells with you still in it, I had her wipe reversed. I wanted somebody else who remembered you, somebody I could mourn with. I figured there’d be no one better for that than the Princess of Sorrow, but what started out as a tragedy might have just turned into a happy ending.”
He extended his arm, pushing the princess forward with the hand that was still clamped around her shoulder.
“Here,” he said, looking Leander dead in his mirrored eyes. “She’s yours. Your princess, just like before. Father’s even agreed to let the two of you assist him while he finishes his work. You can finally be together with your beloved in a place with no war or gods just like you’ve always dreamed, and all you have to do to is bring me the heads of the Coward Queen and Prince Adrian.”
Bex went perfectly still. Everyone on her side of the room did as all eyes turned toward Leander. The Prince of Sorrow was staring at his princess like she was everything he’d ever wanted, but just as Bex was getting ready to put her sword between him and Adrian, Leander said, “No.”
Alexander’s confident face went blank in shock. “What?”
“No,” Leander repeated, gripping the golden floor with his bare, dirty feet. “You’ve told me so many times that I could earn Mara’s freedom if I just did this or killed that, but you never once kept that promise.”
“Because you were never successful,” Alexander snapped.
“That shouldn’t have mattered!” Leander roared. “You’ve always claimed I’m your favorite brother, but you hold my beloved to my throat like a knife every time Father snaps his fingers. You go on and on about how the gods mistreated humanity, but you’ve helped Gilgamesh treat us even worse, and I’m sick of it! You think you’re the only one who’s tired of this nonsense? I’ve been exhausted for four hundred years! Mara was the only bright spot in my entire miserable existence, but I’m not so stupid that I’m going to betray the allies who have been honorable toward me and turn myself into a dog for Gilgamesh again in the hope of a happy ending that’s been forever promised and never come true!”
“Don’t do this, Leander,” the Crown Prince warned, gripping Mara’s shoulder. “I’ve offered you a great gift. Don’t throw it away like a fool.”
“You’re the one being a fool,” Leander snarled. “You know better than anyone that Father’s not the glorious king he pretends to be, and yet you let him do whatever he wants! You say it’s because it keeps back the gods, but I know the real reason. You’re a coward! You say you’re tired of seeing your brothers die, but who was it who stood by and let Father send them to their deaths? Who drags us to him so that we can be punished? No wonder you’re so tired. You’ve been complicit in everything Gilgamesh has done! Now you want me to join you in licking the boots that kick us, but I will not.”
He pulled himself straighter. “I refuse to be anything less than the noble prince my beautiful princess deserves. She is my paradise, so I don’t need Gilgamesh’s condescending invitation. With her by my side, I already have everything I could ever want. I know she feels the same, so come, Mara!” He threw out his hand. “Run to me!”
As soon as Leander called out to her, the horrible sadness fell off Mara’s carved face, replaced by a look of pure fury as she reeled back and slammed her carved elbow into Alexander’s stomach. That shouldn’t have been enough to hurt a prince by itself, but Mara was also the Princess of Sorrow. The moment she touched him, Alexander’s armored body seized up with a sob, leaving him crippled as she tore herself free and ran for her prince. Alexander recovered the instant she stopped touching him, but by that point, Mara was halfway across the room, reaching out her hands for Leander, who was already there to catch her.
He must’ve teleported. By the time Bex realized he was no longer standing next to her, Leander was sweeping his princess into his arms. She crashed into him with a sob, pressing her carved white lips against every bit of Leander she could touch. That normally would’ve creeped Bex out, but this wasn’t the normal obsessive princess attachment. Every clutch and kiss was filled with what looked like true affection, so much that even Bex couldn’t help but smile.
She’d already signaled Nemini to move forward and help her protect the lovers, though she wasn’t terribly worried. Now that his scheme to bribe Leander into betraying them had failed, the Crown Prince was outnumbered five to one. Bex was hoping he’d just give up since he seemed like such a sad sack, but Alexander didn’t look like he was planning to step aside. He’d already drawn the black sword Bex had noticed him wearing at the beginning, the one she just now realized strongly resembled her own Drox.
“Stop,” he commanded in the language of the Riverlands.
The order fell on the throne room like a hammer. The only time Bex had felt anything like it was when the eight stolen voices of the queens had commanded every demon in the Hells to kneel. She’d been hornless at the time, so it had hit her hard, but even that pressure was nothing compared to this, because those voices had been mere echoes. This was the real thing, because the sword in Alexander’s hand wasn’t a Blade of Gilgamesh. It was the blade Enki had made for Bex’s mother, the weapon Gilgamesh was always holding in his statues while the carvings of the defeated queens sobbed at his feet.
Ishtar’s sword.
“Maranea,” he said in a voice so full of stolen power that even Bex shuddered. “By your sacred name, I command you: Kill everyone in this room except for me.”
Bex sucked in a breath. She had to get that sword out of his hands, but before she could even take a step in the Crown Prince’s direction, Leander cried out in pain as Mara ripped her white-carved arm off his shoulders and stabbed it through his chest.
CHAPTER 15
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THE STAB WAS SO fast it seemed instantaneous, but everything that followed looked like it was moving in slow motion. Leander didn’t even seem to understand what had just happened. He kept clinging to his princess with a confused look on his gaunt face while gallons of white blood—far more than any human body should’ve been able to hold—poured out of his sundered chest and landed on the throne room’s golden floor.
For what felt like an eternity, nobody moved. Even Bex’s feet were rooted in shock. When she finally managed to overcome it, she raced forward and yanked Leander off his princess, whose arm was still sticking through his chest. This caused even more blood to dump out of him, but while Bex was trying to get Leander to safety, the prince was fighting back.
“No,” he wheezed, grabbing at Bex with weakened, blood-slicked hands. “Don’t take me from her. I can’t leave her like this.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Bex hissed, pulling him harder. “She’s a Blade of Gilgamesh, the Traitor King! Of course they used her against you the moment your loyalty went in the wrong direction.”
Leander made another gurgling sound of protest, but Bex had had enough. She hauled him out of danger and shoved him at Adrian, who was already digging his medical supplies frantically out of his coat, before turning to put herself between the wounded Leander and the enemy. She’d just gotten into position when Bex caught another glimpse of the Princess of Sorrow’s face.
It was enough to make her pause. The princess might have the same carved body and tooled-gold eyes as all of Gilgamesh’s dolls, but the look of abject horror on her face belonged solely to Mara. If ivory and gold had been capable of producing tears, she would’ve been weeping rivers, but her smooth-carved cheeks were dry. She didn’t even have enough control over her body anymore to open her lips and let out the scream Bex could see building inside her as Gilgamesh’s weapon lifted her perfectly carved bloody hand and swung again.
Bex was fast enough this time. She sidestepped the blow and struck back, swinging Drox like a bat to bash the terrified but still deadly-looking princess with the flat of her blade.
Mara didn’t even try to dodge. She took the hit full across her front, letting Bex throw her across the circular throne room into the wall on the opposite side. She landed with enough force to flatten the golden carving of ancient Uruk, but the real damage came when she slid to the floor, revealing the cracks Bex’s hit had opened all over her carved body.
“No!” Leander screamed, fighting Adrian’s grip as the witch tried desperately to keep him still. “Don’t hurt her!”
“Yes,” Mara said at the same time, giving her sister a desperate look even as her cracked body pushed itself back up with the janky motion of a marionette. “Do it again, Bexa. Shatter me before—”
Her plea cut off as her body shot forward, her carved white feet slipping on the slick gold floor as she charged recklessly at the enemy. Her movements were so obvious that Bex could’ve hit her with her eyes closed, but she didn’t even raise her sword. She spun out of the way instead, letting the Princess of Sorrow run right past. When she was in the clear, Bex turned to Nemini, who was standing directly behind her as usual.
“Can you keep Mara off me without hurting her?”
“Probably,” Nemini said, glancing at the princess, who was already wheeling back around for another charge. “But what will you be doing?”
“Stopping this tragedy at the source,” Bex growled, turning to glare at the Crown Prince, who was still watching from the golden dais with Ishtar’s stolen sword at in his hand.
Nemini’s lips curved into a slight frown. “Be careful. He was War’s prince for a reason.”
Bex didn’t care. She’d already defeated War once, and she’d rather fight Gilgamesh himself right now than keep hitting the sobbing Mara.
“Just keep everyone alive,” she ordered, getting into position. “This shouldn’t take long.”
The Queen of Pride nodded and stepped up to take Bex’s place, facing off against their tragic sister while Bex launched herself across the throne room to drive Drox’s blade into the Prince of War’s heart.
That was the plan, at least. Unfortunately, Drox’s point didn’t get within a foot of the prince’s golden armor before he stepped out of the way. The move was so fast Bex’s eyes could hardly track it, but by the time she slammed her boots into the slick floor to course correct, the prince was already behind her.
