“Berry and Aisa will alight with you,” said Thimble. “Then you need to get into the City. They’ll go with you to the gate, but you’ll need to find a way to convince the gate guards to let you in.”

“And you? Where are you going?”

“I have some other business to take care of. Now that… well… plans have changed.” She glanced at him. “What is it?”

“Well it’s just,” said Jayson, “it feels like you actually know what I’m supposed be doing, better than I do at least. You’re sure you can’t come with me?”

She looked at Jayson and her expression softened. “You really are all on your own, aren’t you?” She chewed her lip. “Here, let me give you something.”

She disappeared into her cabin and came out with two small birds perched on her shoulders, a pair of owls, one white and one black. “Ovo,” said Thimble to the black one. “Go to him.” The little bird chirped and whistled and flew over to alight on Jayson’s shoulder. Up close, he could see it was an enitrely mechanical creature, made out of some sort of dark metal. Despite its metallic appearance, it didn’t weigh much.

“What’s this?” he asked, looking at the owl. The owl looked back at him, spun its head round 360 degrees, and hooted. It made a series of tiny mechanical clicks as it moved.

“His name is Ovo,” said Thimble. “You’ll take him with you. Ovo will stay with you, and Uvu,” she motioned at the white owl still perched on her shoulder, “will stay with me. This way we can communicate while I’m away. And you won’t be left completely on your own. How’s that?”

“Ovo,” said Jayson, looking at the bird on his shoulder. Ovo whirred happily and gave a soft hoot.

“Take good care of him,” she said, and Jayson wasn’t sure if she was talking to the owl or to him.

“Ovo, furl,” said Thimble. The owl gave another little hoot, and collapsed down in a complex mechanical action and a series of clicks and whirrs into a small dark metal egg. It rolled off Jayson’s shoulder and he caught it.

“Don’t keep him in view all the time. People get greedy for mechanimals. If you’re at your wits end, tell Ovo to call me and I’ll do my best to answer. But remember, all you need to do is talk to Tea Leaf. Make the sign, and tell him what you told me about Eljay.”

----------------------------------------

The ports of Pandaemonia consisted of three massive central piers, with smaller wooden walkways spreading off it like a gigantic ribcage. Thimble had referred to the one they were alighting at “Port Folly”. Dozens of ships of all kinds were flying in and out of the docks, twisting as they entered or exited the windways. Dozens more were moored by ropes to different parts of the pier system. Beyond that, the tent city known as Limbell hugged the outer walls of hell like moss against a rock. As Thimble guided the Mobius in towards the dock, a diavol, a red demon, jogged up with a sheaf of papers in hand and began shouting.

“Hold, hold, hold! This ship’s not registered to moor here!”

“We’re not mooring,” Thimble yelled back. “Just alighting.”

The diavol gestured with his pen. “Fine, just be quick about it. We have ships docking here in a minute.”

All across the edge of the island, ships of various sizes were docking and undocking, streams of passengers drifting across the port towns, into Limbell and towards Hell’s great gates.

“Is it always so busy?” said Jayson.

“Always,” Thimble replied. “They’re here to watch the games. Or to take part in them.”

Another diavol was waiting on the pier to help them onto land. Ropes were thrown off the side, and the demon caught them and tied them in a loose knot around a nearby pillar of red crystal.

Aisa leapt off the side of the ship while it was still lowering itself to ground level, landing in a short roll.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Berry,” Thimble said, sternly. “Make sure she doesn’t get into trouble.”

With obivous trepidation, Berry followed her, muttering under his breath as always.

Jayson was about to follow them, when a hand grabbed his arm.

“Listen,” said Thimble. “Eljay trusted me. It sounds like he trusted you too. So don’t forget that. Do right by him. And good luck.”

“I was born lucky,” Jayson quipped reflexively. “Ah, I mean, I’ll do my best,” he added, and he hopped off the side of the ship onto the pier beside Aisa and Berry. Ovo hooted a short trill of farewell.

The red demon untied the ship’s ropes, and Thimble guided the ship up and out of the dock. She gave them a curt nod as the Mobius turned, and then set off into the distance. Jayson watched as it grew smaller, gliding into the cloud layer.

“Come on, then,” huffed the diavol impatiently. “You can’t be hanging about here.”

“Right,” said Jayson, hurrying after Aisa and Berry who had already set off towards the tent city.

Jayson managed to catch up with them before they were lost to him in the maze of ships and planks that was Port Folly. He followed them as they wound their way through the network of piers, heading towards the great gate that led to the First Circle. Through the gaps in the planks, Jayson could see there was no ground underneath, all this weight relying on the sturdiness of only so much wood.

He was beginning to feel a little queasy when Aisa caught his eye and fell in beside him.

“I should apologise to tha, primal,” said Aisa, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “For earlier. I had tha wrong.”

“Oh?” said Jayson.

“Sometimes, they play tricks on me,” she said, tapping her head. “Some tell lies in the tones of truth.”

“… oh, of course”, Jayson nodded, not following at all.

He looked to Berry for some explanation, but, despite glancing at Jayson every now and then, the gargol was still muttering to himself, lost in his own world.

“For what it’s worth, tha fought well,” said Aisa, with a wry smile. “But it definitely weren’t a draw.”

Eventually, the ground underfoot changed from wooden planks to dusty earth and stone. They had left the port and made it to the outskirts of the tent city of Limbell. As per its moniker, ahead of them was a sprawling cluster of tarpaulin tents and other precarious looking edifices made of corrugated metal and uneven planks of wood. Some structures had been built up on each other, becoming bizarre stilted jenga towers that threatened to topple at any moment.

Far ahead, the colourful tent city crawled up and around the large outer wall of the First Circle like flowering weeds growing and gathering against stone. By far the tallest building in the tent city was an enormous central bell tower, housing a commensurately enormous bronze bell that gleamed in the daylight.

“Hey, look, it’s the Liberator!” someone shouted. Jayson looked over, feeling eyes on him. A group of briarbor were pointing at him and grinning. “Make way, everyone, the Liberator’s coming through!”

One of the briarbor staggered came up to him and snorted. A smell of alcohol filled the air. The briarbor grabbed part of Jayson’s cloak and rubbed it between his fingers.

“Nice costume, mate!” he said with a snort. “Did you make it yourself?”

“You think they’re going to let you in quicker if you dress up?” said another.

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” the first replied, with a hiccough. “Maybe I’ll dress up as Carnation Star and see if that’ll make ‘em let me in.” He leaned back in a dramatic pose, and almost fell over. The briarbor all laughed.

“No, you should dress as Saint Silver. That way at least you can hide that ugly mug of yours with a mask.”

The others roared with laughter as the two briarbor started to push and throw punches at each other.

“Come on, let’s keep moving,” said Berry, pulling at Jayson’s arm.

They walked through the city in silence, winding between canvas tents and shacks with makeshift corrugated ceilings. There were different clines from all across TreArkh, demons, therians, and more, all mingling and talking and trading with each other. Jayson had never seen anything quite like it.

“I didn’t realise there were so many people here,” said Jayson.

“Getting into Hell isn’t easy,” said Berry, and he pointed ahead towards the gate set into the wall that loomed ahead of them. Queues of people lined the small hill that lay before the gates.

“These days they’re careful about who they let in.”

Up ahead, Jayson could also see diavol guards stationed across the hill that led to the entrance to the First Circle.

“Why’s it so popular,” Jayson asked, half to himself.

Berry shrugged. “People like to be entertained. Life gets boring otherwise. Eternal life, I mean.”

As they approached the gate, Berry muttered, first to himself, and then to Jayson. “Well, I’d say it was nice meeting you, but it wasn’t really. No offence. Captain, we’re going this way.” He guided the melian towards a queue to the left.

“Uh, ok. Where am I going?” said Jayson.

“I don’t know. What did Thimble tell you to do?”

“I think… she said I should talk to the guards?”

“Do that then,” said Berry, fighting to keep a grip on a clearly distracted pirate. “Good luck. Maybe we’ll meet inside.”

Aisa turned back to look at him as if realising something. Her eye gleamed, and she gave him a wry smile. “I hope tha finds wha’ tha’s lookin’ for, monkey boy.”

“Thanks?” said Jayson, as the duo walked away. Mad as a box of frogs, that one, he thought.

Now came the hard part. How to get into Hell.