Well, really, it would only be a Heven shish kebab.
Hellhounds were fireproof and I had a feeling The Devourer was too.
“It’s the gate of hell,” Sam murmured.
“This is the entrance to hell?” I asked, yelling a little over the roar of flames.
Sam gathered me closer and I felt his words echo through his chest and tickle my back. “Yes. I know it instinctively. Originally, hellhounds were charged with guarding this gate and helping souls cross over.”
“Why are we here?” I asked, fear sliding into my belly. I was so tired of being afraid.
“How good of a friend did you say this dragon was?”
“I didn’t.” I pointed out, wondering if maybe I had been wrong about the connection I seemed to have with The Devourer.
Just as I thought the words, The Devourer made a shrieking sound and turned to fly directly at the wall of flames.
Chapter Fifteen
Heven
Sam’s body was tense and his breathing was labored. He gathered me as close as possible and wrapped every part of his body around me while still keeping balance on the dragon’s back. My ankle screamed in pain and my muscles ached at being held this tightly, but I kept my mouth shut. This pain was way better than being burned to death.
We neared the wall of fire, so close the intense heat stole my breath. Brilliant flames reached out to me until red was all I saw. Then the dragon turned. Actually, it felt like he fell from the sky. My stomach threatened to empty itself, but I swallowed it back and reached out to steady myself. Just when I was sure we were going to die, the dragon threw its wings out and took a wide arc away from the flames, dropping down in the gray sky. I opened my eyes and looked back.
“That was close,” Sam said, gentling his hold on me.
I looked down and gasped. We were flying over what looked like an ocean. An ocean filled with black sludge. But that wasn’t the surprise. It was what was sitting in the center or the ocean.
An island.
One side of it was gray and desolate. There was a huge mound of rock in the center that I realized was actually the entrance to a great cave. Small fires burned around it, giving off a heavy smoke, but there was nothing else. It was depressing and sad.
But then came the other side.
It was a shock to the eyes. It was an unexpected twist among the dead.
It was life
“Oh my,” I said to myself, my eyes straining to see more of the beauty.
It was completely covered in brilliant green. An expanse of grass that promised to be soft under the feet and gentle on the skin. There was also a stream, a real stream with real water. It looked fresh and cool and it made me realize how thirsty I felt. There was a great tree with abundant reaching limbs that twisted into the sky and bloomed with more brilliant green.
These things were spectacular, but they weren’t the most wonderful thing I could see.
In the center of the all the green was a house. A house made of white stone with a thatched roof. It was large but quaint. Old school, but new. And it was beautiful.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” I asked Sam.
“It’s amazing,” Sam agreed.
The dragon made a rather smooth landing on the depressing side of the island. Sam was the first to climb off and then he reached up to help me. My heart began to pound as we all stood there next to a dragon’s lair. No, he didn’t make us into shish kebab, but maybe he liked sushi… as in raw meat.
“Now what?” I asked Sam, gazing over to the side of the island that looked so beautiful. For some reason I saw no way to actually get there.
The Devourer gave a roar, then lumbered inside the mouth of the cave, turning back to stare at us.
“I think he wants us to follow him.”
“In there?” I asked dubiously, looking at the black hole of the cave.
“We’ve come this far,” Sam said.
“Why not?” I said. “No one likes sushi anyway,” I mumbled.
“What?” Sam said, gazing at me.
“Nothing, let’s go.”
And then we walked right into dark mouth of the cave.
*
“I certainly hope following the most feared creature in hell into its dark and scary lair isn’t a horrible mistake,” I said as Sam practically carried me as I hobbled through the dark.
“Eh, he’s only ten times the size of me, covered in prickly scales and razor sharp spikes. Just because he has more teeth than a shark, could swallow us whole and eats the dead souls of demons doesn’t mean he’s going to kill us,” Sam said nonchalantly.
Oh, how I missed him. I giggled. “Well if all else fails, we can feed him a Snickers.”
“How’s your soul?” Sam asked, his voice turning serious.
Actually, my chest was beginning to feel a little odd… but I hadn’t been feeling well anyway so how was I supposed to know the difference? “I think it’s okay for a bit longer.” I hedged, when in truth I had no idea how much longer I had.
“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea,” Sam said.
Suddenly, pure, bright light filled the inside of the cave. The Devourer was no longer leading the way. He had stepped through another doorway, an exit to the back of the cave and his massive body was no longer there to block the light. Sam and I looked at each other and he moved in front of me, keeping a hand behind him and firmly on my waist. “If I tell you to run, go as fast as you can on that ankle, back into the cave and find somewhere to hide. I’ll come and get you.”
I didn’t bother to argue because I didn’t have to. Sam stepped through the opening and I heard his intake of breath. I wasn’t about to wait for his permission so I stepped through, coming up behind Sam, and forgot to breathe.
It was stunning.
It was incredible.
It was the most perfect place I had ever seen.
And it was in hell.
Irony at its best.
“Holy cow,” I whispered, so in awe I could barely speak.
“If I didn’t know better, I would think we were in heaven,” Sam said, wrapping his arm around my waist and drawing me against him.
We were welcomed by the greenest of grass, not mowed short by the brutality of lawn mowers, but left to flourish. It didn’t take over, almost as if it knew exactly how long to grow so it invited your toes to wiggle into its depths. Swaying ever so slightly in the cool breeze that caressed your skin, it promised a luxurious respite from anything and everything that ailed you.
The sky, the most dazzling shade of azure, had no blemish in sight and the trees grew in abundance, their branches knowing no bounds and growing with a joyous, twisting freedom.