Kill Karma by Kelly L. Marsh

Author:Kelly L. Marsh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jellyrum Press
Published: 2021-10-07T14:48:20+00:00

CHAPTER 21

The skiff began its descent as they entered the outskirts of Bhi’gow’s hamlet—the Isles of Obolus, where the climes plumbed the depths of frigidness, plumes of Pepper’s breath visible. The lush isles were girded by the River Cocytus, where aqua-hued glaciers floated about in gunmetal gray water.

Loki chittered and jabbed his furry finger at the last pyramid located at the dead end of Elysium Lane. Bhi’gow had the isle all to his lonesome. The next property, “his neighbor,” could be found on an island miles and miles away.

The skiff cozied up to a skiff-less dock. The gang disembarked, and Pepper hared it to terra firma, only to halt at a thicket of sod. The sprawling grass was terribly deceiving insofar as the blades of grass channeled the literal sense of the word “blades.” Though dwarfed, the stalks bit and lashed and wanted for nothing but to slice through dermis, “feed us your blood!” they surely demanded. They even tormented the address plaque 664 ELYSIUM LANE as it creaked to and fro on its rusted chains. Needless to say, the intelligent gargoyles refused to touch ground and hovered above, their flapping wings drumming up gale-force winds.

Jhi produced his jack-of-many-weapons, the scythe to be exact, and whacked a trail for venturers, leading directly to the front door of the pyramid, then he wheeled around and headed for the riverbank, landing at the firebushes; the lot of them colonized the bank and were stuck in their own circle of Hell; water not-iced over would ebb and flow onto the dry land. Valiantly defending its territory, the firebushes would blast a fusillade of flames at the encroaching enemy, only to sizzle as the water outgunned the milky-white flora every time—a forever war raging on.

After uprooting a few firebushes, Jhi gingerly held the rhizome, a plexus of sooty spidery roots, and the only part of the plant that wasn’t licked in flames. Jhi pithily explained how the plant was medicinal, styptic in nature, and as such, would cauterize his impressive collection of festering wounds. From there, he’d concoct a paste from the unused parts and should be doctored up in no time flat.

The limestone pyramid resembled those dwellings Pepper had glimpsed on her journey into Pandæmonia proper. Judging by the eight-foot-tall gargoyles who stood sentry before the sole entrance, the pyramid’s apex towered roughly twelve feet. Still, the mind was hard-pressed to believe that a residence resided underground. That this wasn’t a pyramidal mausoleum but a subterranean dwelling.

A fiery keyhole on the massive stone door like that found on a chaosgate barred entrance. An impatient Perrin grabbed Bhi’gow’s leathery palm and dragged her absurdly sharp nail down its length. When enough blood had been drawn, she fed the lock its owner’s blood. Once sated, a click sounded. Jhi pushed the door inward, and the stone entrance dragged along the silty ground. A zephyr of dank air howled past as if warning newcomers to Beware! Enter at your own risk!

The sound of mechanical whirring and churning, albeit faint, and muffled howling, mimicking that of a gust of wind, could be heard.

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