Page 44 of Chaos Unleashed

Sure enough, she moves even further out from behind the tapestry but makes sure that she is staying close to the wall.

She nods, “Yes. Lots of those who were here are now dead, killed in one of the princes' fits of rage or simply because they’re bored. The lucky ones have escaped, and the rest of us are just staying out of the way as much as possible. I don’t think any of the people who work here now are here willingly; all are either taken from the villages by force or here under threat of all sorts of things. Even the generals don’t come here anymore unless they have to.”

It seems she’s had a lot to say for a long time, and now that someone has taken the time to ask her, she wants to get it all out as quickly as possible. I’m certainly not going to stop her; she’s giving me important information.

I raise my eyebrow, “How did the princes know what was going on with the Helliers then?”

“They didn’t; the commanders haven’t sent any new Helliers here for a very long time. That’s why there aren’t many here. They’ve died or been killed off. The princes still order the commanders to do terrible things with their armies to ensure that the Underworlders stay in line and accept their rule, although begrudgingly. From what we can tell, they try to keep the Helliers as far away from the princes and their tyrannies as possible.”

I frown, “So, why haven’t they done anything about it?”

“No one is strong enough, even with an army. The princes have a lot of power at their disposal, and there are people that do agree with the way that they’re running the Underworld,” she explains and then lowers her voice, “there are those that are so desperate to leave that they’re willing to go to extreme lengths to do it. I know that they gained a following in the spirit side of the Underworld. There are many humans, creatures, and supernaturals from all over the many realms that want to go back.”

“Desperation is a dangerous thing,” I mutter, concern pushing against my mind.

This is really bad; even the souls that were human in their lives and have no magical qualities have a power to them simply because they’re souls; if they went back, they could cause a lot of issues. They cannot go back to their old lives; it’s not the natural order of things, and it quickly warps and distorts the souls. It can cause massive issues, huge mass murdery type issues. It is almost impossible to stop them because of the power they can gain.

In other words, the dead need to stay dead. Apart from those souls that believed in reincarnation in their lives, they remain until anyone they knew has moved on and then get their memories wiped and sent back into a new body with little or no memories of their previous lives. There are many complicated facets to the Underworld; after all, this is where all of the souls from all of the realms and all of the religions come when they die, their beliefs in life are honoured in death.

I’ve gotten off track; the short of it is that the dead can’t go back to their lives without causing catastrophic consequences that are not even worth thinking about.

“It is, you need to be careful.” Her warning surprises me as she looks down the hallway nervously, “from the looks of you, I’m going to assume that you are the reason that the princes went into high alert. They’ll be able to catch you if you stay in one place for too long, and I fear that we’ve already hit that point.”

She seems like she’s got more to say, but the panic that is flooding her eyes makes me want to interrupt her so she doesn’t have to worry anymore, “The princes are dead; I killed them.”

Her mouth drops open as she simply stares at me in what can only be described as absolute shock; I wait while she processes what I just said and that I’m not joking.

After a few moments she asks, “You killed the princes?” I nod, and she gulps, but asks again, “All of them?”

I pull a face, “I killed all of them except for Azreal. He hasn’t shown up, and I didn’t see him while I was in the cells.”

The open expression she is wearing fills with guarded caution again as she edges back toward the tapestry. I’d be offended by her reaction and her obvious fear of me, but I understand it. I shouldn’t have been able to kill them, in fact, I’m not entirely sure that I did, but I do know that even if their bodies reanimate, they’ll be useless without their heads, and even demi gods can’t regrow heads. I try not to let it affect me; I should be used to the look she's giving me; it’s been given to me many times over the years when someone has seen what I’m capable of. It usually comes from those that I’m saving, which is a real kick in the teeth. With time, it’s stung less, but it still stings more than I’d like to admit.

“No one knows what happened to Azreal,” she replies, her voice nervous, but she’s still talking to me, which I’m grateful for.

“There haven’t been any rumours or anything going around the staff?” I ask. I know how big castles like this work, there is always a rumour going around, some obviously fake but some of the best intel I’ve gotten has been from the staff in the houses of my targets.

She shakes her head quickly, “No, he always steered clear of the other princes; as much as he could, he was polite and kind to us and tried to keep his brothers in line whenever he could; he saved many of us from death. So we all noticed when he disappeared. It was around that time that the commanders stopped being willing to come to the castle and engage with the princes face-to-face. Azreal was the only one that they would deal with; when he was suddenly unavailable without any explanation, they refused to engage with any of the others. It really pissed them off.” She finishes her explanation with a smile.

“He’s dead then,” I reply, my mind going a mile a minute, causing me to forget to censor my words and make them less blunt. Surprisingly, she doesn’t seem offended at all.

“Yes, that is what everyone agrees,” she replies.

I nod, then clear my throat, smiling as warmly as I can and hoping that I don’t look constipated, “Gather all of those still alive and tell them to get out of here and go home. There’s no need for you to stay. The princes are gone, and from what you’ve told me, none of you are here willingly.”

Her eyes widen, “We can go home? Really?”

My smile widens, and I nod, “Really, you can go home. All of you can.”

Her smile becomes blinding, and she quickly turns around, darting behind the tapestry and to what I’m assuming is a hidden door to allow the staff to move around unseen. The smile is still on my face as hers pops back out.

“You shouldn’t head into that half of the castle. There’s a reason why it’s not been cleaned in the many years that Hades has been missing.”

“Care to share?” I ask. Having to admit to myself that the very definitive line of clean and dirty had really piqued my interest.

“I wasn’t here then, but those that were passed down the warnings before they were killed. That wing leads to Hades' private quarters and throne room. Anyone that has gone in there hasn’t come back out; no one knows for certain what happens to them, but their pain-filled screams somehow manage to echo around all corners of the castle.” She gulps as all colour that was in her cheeks drains away, “Something guards that side of the castle. Once the princes realised that, they sent Helliers in to go and kill whatever it is but none of them ever returned. They lost a lot of Helliers that way. They also used it as punishment for people that pissed them off, visitors and staff.”

“Well, fuck.” I reply.

---