***
Lucifer exited the armory and pulled the executioner’s robe over the armor he had fashioned from Anne’s colors at Bulger’s Pass. He pulled a piece of black cloth over his seared eye sockets and laughed as he caught a glimpse of Batarel’s red midsection and elbows.
“Shut up,” Batarel said. “I killed two other guards, and this was as close as I could get to my size.”
“It looks nice,” Lucifer said as he smiled through the slot in the executioner’s mask and picked up the two legs on a chain that he had borrowed from Garion.
Batarel and Sariel flanked him as they made their way upstairs toward the growing mumble of the crowd. Lucifer was worried that it might be the wrong balcony until he heard the King’s curses.
“Is that them on the steps?” Eranos asked an adviser. “What took you guys so long?”
“He was a fighter,” Lucifer said in a deep voice.
Eranos nodded without looking at the two legs on the chain. “Well, let’s go. Let’s go. Hurry up! Not you two. You two, stay here. I just want the crowd to see the black hood.”
Sariel and Batarel hung back while Lucifer followed the King up to the balcony.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the King announced to the hundreds of thousands of demons below. “I am pleased to tell you that the Prophet has given us another sermon from the dungeons, and I must tell you, he didn’t hold back this time. The pattern gave him all kinds of insight …”
Eranos put his hand out without looking back, and Lucifer hung the chain with the two legs on it over his arm.
“Behold!” Eranos said as he raised the chain high above his head. “The prophecy!”
Eranos chuckled and shielded himself from the vegetables that the crowd threw at him. He finally looked at the dangling legs.
“Two legs?” Eranos asked and turned to Lucifer in fuming outrage.
“He tried to kick me,” Lucifer said.
He looked out at the mourning citizens, many of whom sank to their knees at the news that their Prince had been rendered a quadriplegic.
“Tried to kick you?” Eranos asked.
“Yeah, like this!”
Lucifer booted Eranos in the middle of his chest and sent the King flying over the railing. He threw off his executioner’s robe, exposing his shiny blue, silver, and white armor and drew his two zinanbar swords as he leapt over the balcony’s edge in pursuit. His red wings whipped at the ground and cracked the cobblestones of the marketplace floor.
The crowd scattered and gasped as Lucifer twirled his blades and shielded himself.
Eranos crawled away on his hands and knees and turned around to see his attacker. His teeth chattered together when he caught sight of Lucifer, and he screamed curses and pleaded for help from any who were near.
But even the members of the royal guard wouldn’t draw their swords.
His tearful eyes darted around the square, and seeing no aid coming, he fired bolt after bolt at Lucifer. The chaos bolts didn’t even slow him down, though. The magic just bounced harmlessly into the skies above.
The crowd gasped as a green cloud formed, and Lucifer knew immediately what it was. He had watched the entire Council perish underneath such a tornadic deluge. He shielded himself and looked up at the funnel. He would need to concentrate.
Eranos cackled as the maelstrom descended faster, but the green cloud began turning yellow and pink and then a different texture. It broke apart into millions of little rotating wings and pivoting heads that scattered amongst the crowd and perched themselves on shoulders, hats, and shops all around the square.
Lucifer watched three of the chaos butterflies land on Eranos’s face and chest. He approached him slowly, dropped one of his swords, and placed an armored glove on the back of the crazed king’s neck.
“You say you are interested in a prophecy,” Lucifer said. “I have one for you.”
The crowd dared not breathe. Eranos continued to play with the wings of one of the butterflies. His mouth twitched horribly, and he mumbled under his breath.
“Chaos recovers from your terrible reign,” Lucifer said. “Magic becomes a common curriculum for all of our demon children, and you are buried in an unmarked grave. Unloved and forgotten.”
Lucifer thrust his sword into Eranos’s chest and twisted. He kicked the dying demon from his blade and then climbed atop the central square of the market place, where his father and mother had died years ago. He raised his sword, and the crowd roared its approval.
He smiled as he watched the outline of Eranos’s blood drip down the finely honed blade. He thought of his mother and father. He thought of his cousins, aunts and uncles who had been murdered in Eranos’s undying hatred. But for the most part, as the demon mob swarmed the platform and hoisted him onto their shoulders, he thought of his beloved Anne and the son that the pattern promised would change everything.
Christian Kadingir, the savior of Chaos and prisoner of Order. It wasn't too long ago that Lucifer had been in the same position while trapped on Earth.
Lucifer looked up to the balustrade that he had just sent Eranos over moments ago. His brother and uncle had taken off their helmets and were all smiles and cheers. He waved to them as the crowd carried him out of the marketplace.
“Long live King Lucifer,” Sariel yelled from the balcony as he hugged his uncle. “Long live the Prophet!”