The Purple Emperor

CHAPTER EIGHTY SIX

'What?' asked Brimstone irritably. 'What? What's not quits? I've opened you a portal into the Analogue World. It works. You've arrived. There are demons heading for New York. You can do anything you want now – idiots here don't believe you exist any more. You could have yourself elected President and three-quarters of them wouldn't know the difference.'

'Don't be a fool!' Beleth bellowed. 'Why would I want to waste time in this miserable little world? Oh, no, it's the Faerie Realm I'm after. Several scores to settle that require full portal access.'

'The portals aren't working any more,' said Brimstone, not without a hint of malice. 'I expect you'd have fixed them by now if you could.'

'The direct portals aren't working any more,' Beleth corrected him. 'Demons can no longer reach the Faerie Realm – you're quite correct in that. But what's to stop a two-stage journey?'

It hit Brimstone all at once. Beleth wanted him to open up a second portal! Not between Hael and the Analogue World, but between the Analogue World and the Faerie Realm. Or maybe more than one. Maybe dozens – scores – of portals between the Analogue World and the Faerie Realm; and probably a few more between the Analogue World and Hael.

It was so simple! That way Beleth could invade the Faerie Realm any time he wanted to. All he had to do was send his troops via the Analogue World. And since nobody would suspect the existence of the new portals until they were actually used, Beleth and his demons could lay to waste the entire Realm before anybody even realised what was happening. It would be a disaster of the first magnitude. It would mean the end of the Faerie Realm as they knew it.

'What's in it for me?' Brimstone asked.