The Code War Read Online Free PDF Page A

how Hell would decline if any of
those arrogant swine became Leader?'
    They watched as a group of Fall
inmates was led out in chains and tied to pillars in the centre of
the walkway. Many Infernals owed their own fate to the actions of
these tyrants. Now the crowds gathered around one or other of the
chained figures and began to hurl abuse.
    One crime boss who had ordered
many killings in his community was
surrounded by the families of those he had butchered. The abuse was
raucous and savage, the faces of the accusers twisted with rage and
hate. As the noise increased the attacks became physical. Male and
female demons, formerly mothers and fathers who had later fallen
into ruin, began to tear at his flesh and stab at his eyes. The
ex-crime boss screamed and cried as his bones were cracked and
teeth gouged at his privates. His pleas for mercy only intensified
the violence. He had shown no mercy to his victims, one demoness
shouted, there would be none now for him. They swarmed over him
like ants around a captured beetle, slashing and biting.
    All along the line it was the same
as formerly proud men - and some women - once impregnable and
haughty in their government palaces or hiding behind their armed
stooges were faced by those they had destroyed. The mayhem and
brutality intensified, one group's rage feeding off another's until
the very ground shook and the air was
riven with screams. Then guards came, beating back the mobs and
hauling off the torn and bloodied bodies until the next day when
the process would be repeated. For those who had abused their
power, the final death of the soul could not come soon
enough.
    Even Bezejel, a stalwart believer
in the value of fighting seemed moved, Gog and Magog noted. Her
eyes were wide and her fingers held tight to the edge of the
parapet. They shuffled their feet noisily and Gog made a sign to
Bezejel reminding her she had an appointment to keep. It would not
do to keep the Leader waiting. Not unless she too wanted to find
herself in Tyrant's Fall.
    Bezejel drew her eyes away from the scenes below and continued her
helical ascent. Gog and Magog fell in behind. The mood was now
sombre and she walked stiffly. Fear was growing in her eyes. She
looked up to see her destination and her previous good humour
evaporated further. Husk Tower was not designed to inspire or
encourage. Its many windows were constructed to look like hooded
eyes, watching the behaviour of Hell's citizens below. Within each
window was a far-seeing jager imp, scanning the crowds and
gatherings throughout the kingdom for any sign of a plot against
Inferno's Leader.
    As her gaze lifted to the top her
blood chilled. The crown at the top of the tower was a vast, round
construction that projec ted out many
metres on every side. Black stone slabs set into the sides of the
crown were so angled as to appear like angry frowns.
    Bezejel could see the trap doors
set into the overhanging floor of the crown, trap doors that were
used all too frequently when the Leader found one of his subjects
guilty of some minor offence. As she watched, one pair of trap
doors flew open with a loud clatter. Nothing came out. Bezejel
could see two helmeted sprites on the inside looking down at her
sourly. That one was just a test. Maybe a warning.
    A troop of demon soldiers led by a
sergeant came marching down the walkway. As th ey rounded the curve their military bearing was perfect,
their eyes fixed straight ahead. But the beauty of the siren
Bezejel was too much for them and several slowed their pace and
fell out of step. Two soldiers collided with each other. Another
stumbled and walked into his own spear. Worst of all, the sergeant
didn't notice his men's disorder, so intent was his
stare.
    Bezejel reacted in fury. 'Squad.
Halt.' The troop came to an undignified stop. Bezejel approached
the sergeant like a tempest. Before he
could react her slap landed on the side of his face and he span
away into the parapet wall. Gog and Magog came up