Gabriel's Armada

Chapter 24: Cross-eyes and Newt l

Dina silently thanked the most high for being successful in the first part of her mission, and prayed that she would be successful in the second and harder part; infiltrating the Outpost.

It had taken her two days to note how the demons patrolled and when their shifts ended.

The demons changed guards only twice in one day, before dawn and during twilight.

She had even mastered the mannerisms of some of the guards, notably Cross-eyes, as she had named him. Cross-eyes was a huge demon, with bulging muscles. He had really bad cross-eyes and a set of badly broken dentition which he never closed. He walked around intimidatingly with a gleaming scythe and Dina had seen him attack his fellow demons upon the slightest provocation.

There was also Newt. Dina had named him after the earth animal because he was as tiny and playful as one, always scampering about with a broadsword that looked too heavy for him to carry.

Newt had a short attention and was known to c***k humorless jokes.

Newt and Cross-eyes worked alternate shifts, and as at the moment, Cross-eyes was patrolling seriously, his eyes roving around for the slightest sign of a threat.

Dina counted down the hours until the next change of guard, which was twilight. As the day turned to night, Cross-eyes and four other demons were approached by Newt and three others.

Dina frowned, noting that the next line of guards were not up to five in number. The nine demons began to discuss avidly, and from Dina's location, she wasn't able to discern what they were saying.

Dina extracted a minute spyglass she had kept in a utility belt, and put it to her right eye which had better vision.

If she couldn't hear them, she could at least read their lips, Dina thought with satisfaction.

Concentrating as hard as she could, Dina trained the spyglass on Cross-eyes' fleshy lips which were moving.

“Why are you only four, instead of five?” He seemed to be really annoyed.

“Xaxxar was torturing a soul and hurt himself in the process,” Newt explained animatedly, telling the story of how the clumsy Xaxxar had fatally injured himself while trying to scare some new soul.

From her vantage point, Dina heard Cross-eyes growl of rage before he said, “You people don't take your duty of guarding the Outpost seriously enough.”

Dina saw Newt roll his eyes, “It's not like anyone attacks us. Our job is too boring.”

“Boring is good,” Cross-eyes asserted.

“Says who?” Newt challenged.

Before Dina could blink, Cross-eyes backhanded Newt, sending the smaller demon flying.

Newt hit the ground, sending sand flying in all directions. Regaining his upright stance, Newt growled loudly, beating his chest before he charged at Cross-eyes.

Cross-eyes gave him a punch square to the face, and pandemonium broke out. A crowd of demons gathered, cheering on Cross-eyes as he pummeled Newt.

Dina cracked a grin and retracted her spyglass. As much as she would have loved to watch the fisticuffs unfold, this was an opportunity for her to infiltrate the Outpost.

Surreptitiously, she crawled down the dunes, getting sand in between her fingers in the process.

The demons were so engrossed in the wrestling match that they did not see the leather-clad Dina enter the building from one of the numerous spaces in its walls.

* * *

The next day

Gabriel paced Zachariah's office, biting his nails to the quick anxiously.

“That's not going to bring her back.” Zachariah said tiredly.

Gabriel ignored Zachariah's words and continued marching to and fro in the small office.

It had become a daily occurrence for Gabriel to appear in Zachariah's office as soon as it was open. He would stay there the whole day, impatiently awaiting news of Dina, or Dina herself.

At first, Zachariah had tried to send him away but Gabriel had obstinately refused to go.

Zachariah was distracted by Gabriel's constant presence and the prayers he muttered under his breath, and he was not as productive as he would have liked to be.

Yes, Zachariah knew he was worried for Dina as well, but that did not mean he would suspend all his activities to fret over a competent general who could handle herself in any situation.

Trying one more time to get Gabriel to see reason, Zachariah spoke, “Dina would not be happy if she found out you were ditching training.”

Zachariah's words stilled Gabriel, who turned around to face the chief of Teres with a scowl.

“Excuse me?” Gabriel growled, “I'm not ditching training. I will train twice, in fact, thrice as hard to cover up for the days I missed, when she returns safely.”

Zachariah rolled his eyes at how dramatic Gabriel's words sounded, “Well, do not shirk your training on my watch. Could you leave? I find your agitation infectious.”

Gabriel arched a full eyebrow, “And worrying over Dina is bad how?”

“I can't leave everything I have to do to worry about her. Teres needs a fully functioning administrator to keep thriving.” Zachariah explained.

“Yeah, right,” Gabriel scoffed disbelievingly.

Zachariah dropped a quill he had been holding, and stood, “What the hell was that?”

“It means that I don't believe your excuse,” Gabriel pushed forth, “You just don't care enough. You don't deserve her.”

Zachariah was so dumbfounded that it took his brain more time than necessary to process Gabriel's words rightly, and when he did, he shouted, “What do you think you're saying?”

* * *

Gabriel knew he was crossing a line with Zachariah, but he did not care. He couldn't believe Dina was somewhere far away, probably battling a horde of demons alone, while Zachariah was here, giving him stupid excuses about how Dina would not have wanted him to worry over her.

So, instead of doing the sensible thing which was to apologize and leave, Gabriel waded into the fray with his two feet and continued, “Yes, I know. You two are the couple everyone likes to ship—”

“Ship?” Zachariah interrupted, confused.

“People wish you and Dina would get together but little do they know that you care nothing for her.” Gabriel spat, and before he could blink, Zachariah was before him.

Zachariah grabbed Gabriel by the throat and brought him close, so close that they could feel each other's breath on their skin.

Gabriel tried to escape Zachariah's bird-like grip, but the man's huge hands refused to unlock from his neck.

“Listen here,” Zachariah warned with gritted teeth, “Don't you ever, I repeat, ever say that I care nothing for Dina.”

Gabriel's throat felt constricted, but he refused to back down, “Why? It is the truth.”

“That's as far as the truth as you could possibly get,” Zachariah countered, still keeping his grip in place, “I care for the general a lot, so stop saying nonsense.”

Gabriel looked into Zachariah's blue eyes, and saw how sincere the man was.

Gabriel nodded, “I'm sorry, I was out of place.”

Each word hurt like a bullet was being extracted from him, apologies weren't second nature to the Sinators.

Zachariah's grip slackened, but he still did not free Gabriel.

“What, I apologized, didn't I?” Gabriel asked when Zachariah refused to let him go.

“One more thing,” Gabriel added, his eyes filled with threat, “Whatever you do, make sure you don't tell Dina that angels hope that she and I become a couple.”

“Why?” Gabriel asked curiously.

“Because she isn't ready to hear that, or to focus on anything apart from defeating Beelzebub and getting revenge for Ariel.” Zachariah concluded and released Gabriel.

Gabriel took a step back and massaged his neck, glaring at Zachariah.

The two men were surprised when the door to the office flung open, and Dina appeared in the doorway, looking unhurt but tired.

The two men rushed to welcome her with a hug but stopped when she raised a hand to halt them.

“There's no time to waste on pleasantries,” Dina ordered, “I need to tell you everything I know so we can plan our attack!”