at least a dozen golden arrows. Bright angels were pressed shoulder-to-shoulder at the cave entrance, arrows and quivers raised.
"Get ready to open the gates," Spyder shouted to Shrike. "Now!"
He bought the Hornet up and spun the business end as fast and hard as he could. The angels arrows flew at them, but were vaporized by the Hornets flails. Spyder kept the weapon between the angels and them. The angels advanced steadily into the cave. Some stood over Count Nons body, and that made Spyder angry. He spun the Hornet faster as a blast of heat and the stink of rotting flowers washed over his back.
A strange light filled the cave when Shrike pulled open the gates of Hell. The walls turned a deep russet, and the light seemed to bubble, as if it were boiling to the surface of the world in sluggish waves, weighed down by the malevolent gravity of Hell below and the miles of earth it had to pass through.
The forward-most angels skin and wings turned dark and shriveled in the Hell light. The ones that didnt cook and collapse immediately, backed quickly out of the cave. When they were gone, Spyder went to Count Non and checked his pulse. He was dead. Spyder pulled the blindfold from the Counts hand and set the Hornet gently down beside him.
"I cant use this blind. Maybe itll do you some good wherever you are," Spyder said.
There was a spiral wrought-iron stairway beyond the open gates, and sounds came from deep below. Some were rhythmic, others random. The rhythmic sounds were like the banging of vast and relentless machines. The arrhythmic sounds were screams. The walls of the cave flickered as if someone were quickly clicking a light switch on and off.
Before they entered the gates, Shrike knelt on the flo
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