Horan was flown to an ominous stone-brick tower in the middle of the city, looking like it was taken from a medieval castle. Demons with all sorts of animalistic features swarmed the surrounding area, numbering in the thousands. It looked like Thel’s army had converted Istanbul into a veritable fortress-city.
Horan and Erlani landed just in front of the main entrance. Several demons stood to attention as Erlani brought Horan down. Clutching Horan with one arm, Erlani stepped forward to address the people nearby. “You, get the bindings, I found a big one.” He looked up at Horan. “Really big, we’ll need a specialized cell. You, arrange a message to Lord Thel, tell him I captured Horan.”
Horan looked up at the looming building as he was led to the main doorway. “Nice digs. You planning on turning it into Thel’s summer home?”
Erlani waited as a demon opened the doorway for him. “Istanbul is my place and mine alone. It’s a pretty good spot to stage my campaign against the Greeks, isn’t it?”
“Oh, you’re not done?” Horan was led through the door. “That’s… uh… A shame.”
Horan stopped talking for a moment as he looked around at the building’s interior. Demons stood guard at nearly every doorway, standing along painted stone walls. The entire storey of the tower appeared to be one large room, with the guarded doors seemingly leading to stairways further up.
“There’s no way you guys built this. Looks like it was made by the Romans, or someone like that. I Feel like I’m on Deus’ turf.”
“I don’t care why the humans made this place, or who owns it, only that it rules.” Erlani called over a demon carrying a length of glowing blue rope. “And here are the bindings.” He held Horan in place as the demon bound Horan’s arms behind his back. “Lord Thel and I looted a few these from the Chinese back when we were still setting up the plan. We keep them on hand especially for folks like you.”
Horan continued walking once the bindings were firmly affixed. “They better not chafe. So, sounds like you and Thel go a ways back. Funny, he never mentioned you. How exactly do you know each other?”
“Of course he wouldn’t mention me, he’s not stupid. I’ve been working with him for a while, figured he was a good guy to back after the Chinese failed miserably at keeping order on their turf. If it wasn’t for me being his inside Primus, none of this would have been possible.”
“Really? Well, from what I’ve seen, this hasn’t been the best work environment for you. Why stick with him?”
“Oh, what do you know?” Erlani led Horan down a dark flight of stairs, which looked like they were naturally carved. “He’s as powerful as they come nowadays, and once I’ve dealt with the Greeks, he’ll surely see just how much I’ve done for the cause. I’m gunning for Vietnam as a driveway.”
As Erlani spoke, Horan turned on his flashlight-eye to get a better look at where he was.
A roughly-carved tunnel extended forward, branching off into several paths. Large pits at the bottoms of niches on either side of the tunnel contained various wild animals, from dogs to pigs to even an elephant. Rusted bird cages filled pit-less niches, containing a variety of birds from all over the world. Demons milled along the tunnel, dumping food and water for the various captive animals.
Towards the far end of the tunnel, Horan began seeing demons carting off loads of dirt and stone in old wheelbarrows. Further beyond, he heard the sound of claws tunnelling through the earth.
Finally, they arrived at a pit covered by a metal sheet with a trapdoor in the middle. Erlani slid the trapdoor open and pushed Horan inside. “I figure it’ll take about a day for my messenger to reach Thel, and Thel can come here in about thirty minutes. So, uh, enjoy the next 24-and-a-bit hours!” He slid the trapdoor shut.
After a few minutes of waiting to make sure nobody was coming, Horan shifted into a bird to escape his bindings, like he had done in Antioch. The bindings shrunk to close around his wings, keeping him just as bound as before. He tried the same with his human form, with the same result. Right, that trick wasn’t working twice.
Horan attempted to summon a sword into his bound hand, but all that came was a small pulse of blue light from his palm.
Beginning to panic, Horan stood up and prepared to ram the pit’s cover. At his full height, his head almost touched the ceiling, Horan launched himself up and hit the ceiling with all his weight, resulting in a small dent in the cover and a splitting headache. Then Horan tried using his wind control to blast the cover wide open. Summoning every ounce of power he had, he pushed the air in the pit upwards against the ceiling. It bulged upward slightly and a light groaning sound came from the bolts holding it in place, but still no dice.
Horan slumped to the floor. With the bindings restraining him and seemingly weakening his power, he was helpless down here. It was now, without a doubt, Mark’s job to save him. Like always.
-
Mark’s car trundled along the bridge across the Bosporus, headed for the demon-infested west side of Istanbul. About halfway across, four dog-headed demons stopped Mark in his tracks. Three stood in his way, while the fourth walked over to his door window. Mark, the sleeve of an old shirt bandaging his head, rolled down the window and waited for the demon to speak.
“This part of the city’s restricted. Do you have ID papers? Also, is your head okay?”
Mark winced. “Right, uh, those. Where exactly would I get some of those? Uh, Hail Lord Thel. And my head’s fine, thanks for asking.”
“Cool.” The demon pulled out a notebook, ripped one of the pages out and handed the page to Mark. “Fill in the information where it asks and you’re good to go.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Mark fished a pen out of the cup holder and started filling out the form with false but credible information. “That’s… straightforward. Doesn’t this defeat the purpose of having security like this in the first place?”
The demon shrugged. “Lord Thel told us to make an ID system for his human subjects. Didn’t say it had to be a secure one.” She took the paper back from Mark and skimmed through it. “Yup, looks good.” She folded the form up, tossed it into Mark’s lap and gestured at the other demons to make space for Mark. “Try to stay away from any building that looks like a historical tourist attraction, those are usually off-limits to humans. Especially the Galata.”
“And, um, where’s the Galata?”
“It’s the giant pointy castle building by the river, you can’t miss it!” One of the other demons spoke up.
“Yeah, what Fei said. Head on through.” The first demon stepped aside and sat back on one of the lawn chairs on the edges of the bridge road.
As Mark started driving, he noticed a large building across the channel. A single outspoken tower among the comparatively subdued skyline, it was most likely the Galata he was looking for.
“Look at you, going straight through the security!” Rachna spoke abruptly from the backseat, causing Mark to swerve slightly from the surprise. “At the rate you’re going, you’ll have Horan back with you in time for tea.”
“Have I ever even drunk tea in my life? Wait, no, that’s not important. Why are you still here? I’m doing the suicide mission thing, aren’t I?”
“Of course, that’s quite obvious. But I think some moral support is in order. Pretend I’m not here, just remember that you’re doing a good job and feel good about yourself.”
“Sure, whatever you say.” Mark checked the rear-view mirror to see that Rachna was gone again. “Creep.”
-
Istanbul proper was far more grandiose than any other lived-in settlement Mark had come across in years. Sure, the vast majority was empty ruins, but it still looked like there were thousands of people making the west side of the city their home. The majority of those people were immortal half-animal demons, but it was the thought that counted.
Mark parked his car in an alley about a block from the Galata, the building’s towers looming over the surrounding rooftops. He wasn’t going there just yet, even the surrounding city was swarming with demons. If he wanted even the most infinitesimal chance of making it out of the place alive, he needed a plan. And right now, he didn’t even know where to start with one.
As Mark walked the streets for a while to get a layout of the city, he noted the inhabitants. Most people out on the streets were demons, but a good chunk of them were clearly not on security detail, being unarmed and in casual clothes. Residential buildings appeared to function as segregated communal housing, with buildings being marked as human or demon habitation exclusively.
Navigating using the multilingual signage, Mark stepped into a building claiming to be a bar. Inside, humans and demons sat around rotting tables, served by the human staff. Mark saw one demon pay for their meal of what looked like a plate of spinach using gold pieces.
Mark prepped his Arabic voice and walked over to the person who seemed to take orders behind the counter (the counter being a coffee table flipped on its side). “Uh, hey there, barkeep. I see you pay for things with gold out here, but would you happen to accept water as payment?”
The barkeep looked Mark over. “A traveller from down south, then?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, we can probably trade some of our food for…” The barkeep trailed off as she saw a demon guard glaring at her from the corner of the room. “…Right. Sorry, these animal people are forcing us to use gold as money, say it’s mandated from Lord Thel or someone like that.”
“Okay…” Mark looked over at the guard, who seemed to regard him with no particular hostile intent. “Well, I’m not really looking for food or anything. I’ve got plenty. I’m mostly just here for information.”
“Ah, the old ‘going to the bar for gossip’ trick, eh? Yeah, I do this all the time.”
“Okay then.” Mark fished a small bottle of water out of one of his pockets. “How about I give you this water out of the kindness of my heart and you decide to answer a few questions I have about this city due to completely unrelated factors?”
The barkeep looked at the guard demon, who glared and reluctantly nodded. She looked back at Mark. “Alright, generous stranger, hit me. I feel like kindly answering…” She checked the volume of the bottle. “Two questions. Maybe pull up a chair.”
Mark took a chair from an empty table and dragged it over to the counter. As he pulled it over, one of the legs weakly snapped off. The barkeep looked at the broken leg for a moment, as if she had been expecting it for a while. “Boy, I’m feeling mighty thirsty all of a sudden.”
“Yeah, I’ll get you a drink once we’re done.” Mark tested the chair to see if it still worked, then sat down. “First question: What’s the deal with the… big tower building near the river?”
“Oh, yeah, the Galata. Used to be a museum before… everything happened, then the local warlord turned it into a dungeon when he took over the city. Then this guy called Erlani showed up, you know him?”
“Yeah, I’m… aware. Of him.”
“Alright, so about a week ago, he swooped in with about a hundred or so of these animal people you see around you, and he declared the whole city under the rule of Lord Thel, whoever that is.”
“Yeah, him. Uh, we’re familiar with him down south.”
“Alright, so he does actually exist then. So, most people aren’t going to try and fight a three-eyed man with an army of animal-human hybrids, but the warlord wasn’t most people. He scrambled to assemble a small militia to protect the city, gave a little speech about the city being his to rule, the whole deal. Then Erlani killed him in seconds and took control of the city.”
“From what I’ve seen, that checks out. Not too sure what this has to do with the Galata, though.”
“Well, it’s still important info for a newcomer like you. So, ever since, Erlani’s been in charge from his repurposed palace just south of here, and the Galata has been taking in animals his minions have captured from all over. Plus, more animal-people have been showing up, and I’m pretty sure they outnumber the regular humans now. That’s basically everything you need to know about the state of things here. You’ve got another question if you feel like using it.”
“Oh, right, sure.” Mark straightened out his chair. “Is the Galata public space? Like, could I visit it?”
“Oh, absolutely not. Place is off-limits to all ‘humans’, and it’s super heavily guarded. Whatever Erlani is doing in there besides prison stuff, he really doesn’t want anyone to mess with it.”
“Okay then. Thanks for the details.” Mark got up, but was stopped by the barkeep.
“Still need to quench that thirst of mine which is completely unrelated to the damaged property, stranger.”
“Right, sorry. I’ve got some water in my car, follow me.”
“Will do.” The barkeep pulled a shotgun out from under the counter and followed Mark out the building.