“Eleven?” Wrencroaked.
“Yes,” I said. “Humans mixed up what they saw through the veils about the horsemen. They separated the four horsemen of the apocalypse from the seven deadly sins, but they’re all together. They always have been. However, as humans commonly believed, the horsemen weren’t originally heralds of theapocalypse.”
“But now?” Wrenasked.
“Now there’s no telling the destruction they could rain down onEarth.”
“Lovely,”Erinsaid.
“And they all ride around on horses?” Vargasasked.
“You could consider them horses, I guess,” Shaxreplied.
“I don’t like that answer.” Erin lowered her head to rub at hertemples.
“You and me both. I saw too many monstrosities in Hell for that to be a good thing,” Hawk said. “Okay, so there are eleven horsemen. I know some of the deadly sins, and I think I remember two of the horsemen, but not allofthem.”
“To humans, the four horsemen are Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. The deadly sins are Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, and Sloth,” Magnus explained. “To demons, they are all the horsemen and one woman, and we call them by different names. However, when translated, their demon names pretty much mean the same thing as their humannames.”
“Why were they locked away?” Vargasinquired.
“Because each of them can influence or create the feelings they’re associated with in others,” I explained. “War can get two or more demons to fight to the death, Pestilence spreads some pretty nasty things around, and Famine could make a demon or Hell creature waste away from starvation with a banquet of wraiths before them. The demon wouldn’t die, but it didn’t exactly liveeither.”
Wren shuddered beside me when Irevealedthis.
“Wrath can make any living creature so incensed they destroy everything in their path,” Magnus said. “Lust makes it so sex becomes an obsession. The worst of them all, of course, isDeath.”
“No explanation needed for that one,” Wren said. “What seal were the horsemen lockedbehind?”
“One hundred fifty-two,” I answered. “I knew their seal had fallen, but I’d hoped it hadn’t been in time for them to break outofHell.”
“We all had,” Balemurmured.
“Are we going to tell Kobal and River?” Erinasked.
“We can’t keep it from them,” I replied. “They have to be prepared for the possibility the horsemen might head towardthewall.”
“I never saw anything resembling a horse exit the gateway,” Wren said. “How did theygethere?”
“Don’t forget that another gateway opened in Hungary at the same time as the one here,” I reminded her. “It closed at the same time as this one too, but we don’t know what escaped from that side before it closed. All the guards established over there were killed before we could speak with them. The horsemen must have been amongst those escapees, and if the angels wanted them in this area of the world, they could bring thehorsemenhere.”
“Why bring them here when Kobal is here? Why not keep them on the other side of the world?” Hawkdemanded.
“Only they could answer that completely, but if you intend to rule the world, then you have to take out its leader,” Magnus said. “The angels and horsemen are here to prepare for war. And don’t forget Kobal has followers on the other side of the world too. Hell is more dangerous than it’s ever been, but Kobal can still take palitons and travel through Hell to fight the craetons over there. The craetons know that. They’re as safe here as they would be over there. However, they probably think we’re at the wall with Kobal and River, and not traveling through the Wilds in searchofthem.”
“So what do we do now?” Wrenasked.
“We prepare to move,” I replied. “Before then, I’m going to see them. I’ll witness for myself what we’redealingwith.”
* * *
Wren
Corson hadn’t been at all happy about my insistence to go with him and the others to the gateway, but he didn’t argue too long with me about it. In the end, I thought he knew he would only push me away completely if he tried to dictate what I could andcouldn’tdo.
That didn’t mean he didn’t stay protectively in front of me or glower at me when I tried to push ahead of him. Igloweredback.
Before leaving to see the horsemen, we’d returned to find the camp already packing up and preparing to move on. I’d happily made my way through the Wilders who came forward to see me. I’d shook their hands or embraced them as they greeted me. Malorick may have been lost, but thankfully no Wilders had died while Iwasaway.
