A Pure Voice Singing in the Darkness

The booming sound of rhythmic gongs pulsed the air, and the crowd fell suitably silent. This was followed by a single voice singing in the darkness surrounding them. It was a pure voice - high and like a bell - and with it came a fine mist that wound its way through the enormous room. In the half-light now you could see the heavenly bodies forming and re-forming themselves in the particles of that curling mist - these were the angelic beings who had come to join them.

The air became damp with their presence, after which the single voice was absorbed by a many. The lighting slowly and softly returned and in the high domed canopy above them they could see angels in their hundreds now lining the roof, looking down upon them.

"Why don't they sit with us?" Goober asked naively.

"It would be too much to bear for them," answered Puck quietly - "hard enough as it is for them to be here at all."

Across the faces beyond, Puck recognized Yang sitting in the stalls east of the thrones. There were some empty seats around him and his presence was somewhat conspicuous - with his bare feet resting on the row in front, this casual charmer was a real standout amongst the celestial splendour.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

The Goddess of Truth

It was like a theatre before the curtains went up, until the Goddess of Truth made her bright entrance, illuminating the room, purely with her presence.

She stood over fourteen feet tall Goober surmised. He had fallen in love with her instantly. There were thirty-three attendants trailing behind, some who mimed a slow and oddly stepped dance, some who played music, and others to carry her dress. The shimmering fabric of it floated about her and changed its colour, shifting from violet to an etherial blue - and patterned all over were frothy clouds that moved, just like the panorama of a sky would do.

Pea-sized diamonds draped her fine white neck, as a cascade of stars - each, a compounded Planet - one that had passed away many eons before - now she wore on her person. Her hair was raven black and swept atop her head and from her bare shoulders bulged two small wings, folded in.

She carried a golden sceptre that had balanced upon it a diamond the size of a goose egg. It was shaped and polished smoothly, and said to be made from the carbon of those lost to the damning of the court - their sum total now remaining. It would throw a fiery light out from it here and there, flashing intrusively into the eyes of the bystanders who caught its glimmer unawares.

She sat not far from the three, beside a raised dais that held two enormous saucers of silver. Her attendants took places behind her. Peering more closely Goober could now see that they were only children.

No sooner had she sat down did her dress darken to black and once again and the hall fell to shadow.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

With Trepidation

The three found that the walk through the court felt endless. "We should have come in from the other side of the pavilion?" Goober remarked in a hushed voice to Puck, thinking they had made their way the long way round. The little gold dog was trotting along behind.

"Shhh" came a cautionary voice, from a dwarf who sat with his family on the fifth row. "Typical" thought Nervina, already flustered by the ambience of this enormous hall.

Beneath their feet was a silver sand. This slowed the walking somewhat and got into the boots uncomfortably.

Goober was excited now, to him this was a pageant of sorts. Unlike Puck, this was his first time viewing the inner circle, and this depth of solemnity impressed him greatly.

Nervina was cringing with trepidation. He distinctly felt part of this Forsythe saga. He had no liking for the deeply serious, nor the superiority assumed here. Most of the company around him he found to be genuinely frightening and feared what they might see in his soul. He was finding it difficult to breathe and worried that he too might end up annihilated and lost eternally without ever having cake or friendship again.

They were seated just in time before the entire room darkened.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Hall of Judgement

Coming into the Hall of Judgement was daunting - it was the size of a small stadium and the power in the air bore a high velocity that the elves were unused to.

Goober had tried to text Pepper a message to let her know where they were and what they were up to - but the reception in there was non-existent.

A guide from the Old Sphere approached briskly and asked them to be silent as they were shown to their places within the court. He was a fine-featured spirit with a long pointed nose, and chiselled ears – ‘more elf than elf’, Nervina thought.

The rows of seats lay in semi circles and there were hundreds of onlookers already waiting in the amphitheatre looking down at them as they walked passed.

At the floor level there were forty-two tall thrones sitting approximately six feet apart from each other. Every one was carved in a polished onyx, detailed with intricate reliefs that displayed acts of sin and misfortune. They were specifically the deeds that incurred banishment from the earthly realm, artistically rendered into the furniture. Nervina wondered if these reminders were really necessary. Forty-two were a lot to have to walk past and view.

More disturbing still were the forty-two judges who sat high upon them. All were women, and each one was draped with a sheer black tunic and veil to match, as dark as midnight. It was impossible to see through them, save for a shadow of a bosom, or profile beneath this costume. But as to their age or expression, or whether they found favor or objection, the dark material concealed this perfectly.

This was the court of the Immortals. Humans went to Hell, but the Demi-gods and Demons came for their Judgement to this lofty place of perdition.

This was not a fate for the petty or transitory offenders. For most beings there is a karmic compass to reorientate the will and want. No, this was the end road for the indestructible spirits who foul the ethers without conscience, causing the gentle inhabitants of the earthly world unnecessary harm.

Here they listened to the final rants of the powerful, insatiable insubordinates, who defied the cosmic congenialities, overstepped authorities, blasphemed against the great and the Divine, caused death instead of furthering life; and above all, had declared themselves as God.

Marc-Marsden-Forsythe had breached these laws, taking license where he should not. The question was, would the conciliatory grace of the Angels now save him? Puck had hoped not. He was bitter and beyond consolation - tired of the games evility used, amusing only to themselves.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

The High Place of Truth

How impressive, thought Goober - treated to a hot spring spa - the Underworld really was proving to be a first class destination. Free robes too! What a great day.

They did not linger in the bathroom. Puck was keen to get back, and once again the three assembled in front of the palatial golden doors, waiting to be allowed inside. Looking up there was a sign above the mantle that read "That which is, IS".

"Methinks your tunic suits you well" Goober jibed Nervina, who was not sharing the mood at all.

Their costumes were quite plain - a simple robe such as spirit beings usually don, in comfortable folds, with a soft weave, all white, with fine belts of silver.

"I feel like I'm going to a wedding", said Goober cheerfully.

"You look like you're the ugly bride", said Nervina snakily.

"Will you two shut up,” said Puck a little tersely even for himself - he never snapped, but the air down there seemed to exaggerate the emotions terribly.

The usher returned and was satisfied. He permitted the huge doors to slowly yawn open. Goober gave the golden dog a farewell pat on its head when surprisingly the statue started to move, just as though it were a real dog waking from a sleep. He stood upright on the pillar, shook himself all over, stretched one little foot followed by another, and then leapt down, to follow them in.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

The Great Hall

Goober kept looking over his shoulder as they approached the Great Hall. Soon after they found themselves held up in the antechamber, blocked from getting any further.

"What is the hold-up do you think?" Nervina asked.

"Well they have their ways,” replied Puck, patiently.

It was rather large for a portico, and whilst the doors remained shut to them, they took their time viewing the artworks there, of which there were a many. Goober kept returning to a statue in gold of a small dog; it lay on a pillar facing out, and looked like a miniature greyhound - with pointed ears and sharpish snout.

"I hope we are not missing anything - they might have started without us" he said to Puck, leaning on the dog pillar.

Finally an usher arrived carrying a large bundle of clothing. His voice had the quality of treacle, Nervina thought to himself, in fact he smelt of treacle too. He had a strange way of speaking, for he chose not to look directly at any one of them whilst doing so. This made for awkward conversation.

"I have brought you more suitable garments" he said, looking sideways.

What were they thinking? They had forgotten themselves, and how earlier they had all dressed down to go out to the shelter ... jeans and sweaters were not worn in a place like this. He had a point.

"You must also get clean before being permitted to come in. I will now show you to the hot springs where you may enjoy the energising spa there. We suggest however, that you do not remain longer than thirty minutes as it begins to overtire the senses and you will find the vitality of it wearing."

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Infernal Affairs

There was a small dirt path that made its way to the gate that led to a car parking lot and a public garden.

In these grounds was a choir assembled at practice. It comprised of homeless men who were rehearsing their carols, preparing for the up and coming spiritual festivities.

Barnabus had grouped the choir together at a time when the local nursing home had wanted an act to replace the opera singer who had passed away. They also did gigs in shopping malls.

Beyond the fence "O Little town of Bethlehem" could be heard. The elves stood in the sunlight waiting, feeling melancholy listening to the words of that song.

They had not had a proper lunch, and the tea and biscuits just weren't enough to satisfy them at such a time. Puck tossed a milk crate into the air upside down, and then sat on it.

Goober tried to peer over the gate at the singers....

It was a full hour before Barnabus came out, alone, with a bag of sandwiches and three tins of cola.

"They've finally gone,” he said cheerfully. "Have you thought any more about the Tribunal?" he addressed this question to Puck.

"Well, now as it turns out we have the heart, it is all that we need to bring him to court. I just booked a session with Infernal Affairs. We have to be there by two."

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

The Tribunal of Horus

"You want us to pray?" Nervina quizzed, becoming more uncomfortable again.

"Well, er, I have been praying whilst we were drinking our tea together - and then it came to me ... the answer is simple when you know it” he leaned forward further, knocking over the milk jug, banging his fist on the table.

"The Tribunal of Horus.”

"Horus?" asked Goober.

"Horus?" echoed Nervina looking at Puck, with his best 'let’s get out of here fast' sideways expression.

Puck reflected back to the epoch just after the great continent's fall. There had been a period of the Earth's history where the darker wizards had been expelled. They were held accountable for the travails of the Earth and exiled from the realm and its neighbouring spheres. Outcast through the power of the demi-gods who were more ancient and powerful than even they.

He had taken part in the original court as one of the chief notetakers, but had not been called back into that higher world since.

The one prerequisite for this was a heart that had been used by the Demon, to be examined, as to the true substance of his nature. It was then that Puck realized that they had exactly what was needed to summon a judgement on Forsythe and be rid of him once and for all.

"You boys better take the back door,” said Barnabus "while I delay them."

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

On the Run

He moved the biscuit plate closer to them, saying cunningly:
"We don't have long." It was as though he thought someone might be listening in.

"Forsythe and his men are walking this street right now coming to get you."

"How do you know this?" asked Nervina, who was convinced that it was Barnabus who had probably tipped him off about their being back in London.

Barnabus tapped his earpiece - they had all assumed it was an ordinary hearing aid, but it was not.

"Just got word" he said.

"Oh" said Nervina, perplexed as to why the old man was wearing a transmitter and wondering also who it could be that was informing him of these things.

"They are trying to trap you" he went on. "I've seen it before. It's a nasty business with them capturing spirit beings." He paused to fine tune his earpiece.

Goober would have liked to correct him about them not being spirits exactly, but it seemed pointless in the light of what was to come.

"I would offer to hide you but they would find you soon enough" he added.

"Then what is it you suggest ... that we retreat back into the Woods as we have always done?”

"No, we must call upon those who have the powers to help" the old man replied earnestly.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

There is always Hope

Goober was absorbed in watching a young man at the far end working on a mural that read "There is always Hope". His technique was classical and the painting of a virginal muse was strikingly beautiful for a tearoom.

Puck ordered for them, “three teas would be very nice thank you,” he said taking a fiver out from his pocket. Daisy hesitated and then took it - she wasn't used to anyone paying any money in there.

Barnabus arrived with their teas. He looked very pleased to see them - almost as though they were old friends.

"Here's to the gentle souls,” he said inexplicably, picking up a glass of water with dramatis. Puck glimpsed an air of regality about the man.

Dressed in his corduroys and a yarn challenged sweater, he looked more like the crowd that he ran with, than the millionaire that he was. Puck had his security do some research and it revealed that Barnabus had begun his philanthropy over forty years ago.

"You can't bring that in here" he said pointing to Nervina's satchel. Nervina stuck his hand inside and placed it over the steel box holding the heart, protectively.

"This is a holy place you see - and we don't abide that kind of thing. Negative influence and all that - brings the place down."

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

The Christian Mission Tearoom

The Christian Mission tearoom was crowded with elderly men, comforted with scones and bingo and the societal warmth that the meeting place did bring.

No sooner had Puck walked in was he greeted by an older woman with a generous smile. Her name-badge identified her as one of the volunteers, and she had embellished it with a daisy drawn with a smiley face, coloured with a yellow felt tip pen.

Nervina and Goober both looked suitably shabby - even Puck himself had dressed down, wearing just jeans and a hoody (which, as he had pointed out many a time, never really went out of fashion).

They searched the room for Barnabus but could not see him amongst the sea of hats and bald heads.

"Barnabus is out spruiking for the tearoom - we have a few places left for lunch today, which you men might have just filled. I'll call him on the mobile for you. He shouldn't be long" said Daisy, whose name just happened to be Daisy as well as wearing a picture of one on her name tag.

"What would you boys like?"

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

The Weather Channel

There was a rap at the door - it glided open and through walked Pepper, back from her time away on the border. Dressed all in denim, she threw her coat off and thumped herself down onto the couch beside Puck. Little Charley shuffled over onto her lap and started playing with her ponytail. Pepper parked a kiss on her nose and laughed as her hair clips were yanked fiercely from her head.

"Are you doing ok?" she asked her brother affectionately with concern.

She knew that he could not be ok really - which was precisely why she had cut her holiday short to return to him.

"Pip" he said seriously, "I have to go out with the boys - it might take a few days - do you think you could take care of Charley while we're gone?"

"Sure" said Pepper reassuringly "that's what I am here for now...”

He smiled a fond smile at her and motioned to Gordon and Nervina to get their coats.

"You better bring that along with you too" he said to Nervina pointing at the box. Within minutes the three had left the forest for London.

Pepper fixed herself and Charley a hot drink and snuggled up in front of the picture window.

"What country will it be this time?" she asked Charley playfully - "Oh look, it’s Mexico again! It almost seems to be set on that place! Let's see if we can find England and what the weather is like there today!"

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Heart in a Box

Nervina produced a small plain box saying:

"I've brought you Marsden's heart."

Puck tried to look disinterested, he really did not want to give Nervina the time of day, but still he felt compelled to ask: "You said that it was compacted after being placed into the garbage. Are you telling me your mischief of falsehood began as far back as then?"

"Yes, you could say that. I think most likely it was holding his heart that infected me so."

In Fey terms this was a possibility.

"And so you did not dispose of it as said?"

"No, I souvenired it. He had been giving us grief and I had worked so hard to defeat the man - I took it as a trophy."

"But then," asked Puck wonderingly "you fell in love with this same being?"

"Yes, once again I think that by keeping his heart it began the attraction ... and I was thereafter admiring the goodness I perceived in him."

"Until he murdered Marley." Puck said poignantly.

"Yes, until then ... " Nervina started to weep, he continued: "And all of a sudden it became deeply personal and his evility was real, and I began to see, no feel, what he is in reality."

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

A visit from Nervina

His doorbell rang. The birdcall sang twice before he had made it to the peephole.

Two elvish guards were pressed up against the door, gripping another with a stranglehold. They had caught Nervina.

Puck let the three in, asking Gordon to take Charley up into the nursery first before they would talk. He motioned the security elves to the cake cabinet and coffee bar.

Nervina coughed, his throat was red. Puck noted his weight had changed dramatically - he now wore a middle age girth and a double chin as an accessory. His chi was depleted, his eyes were bloodshot. Puck guessed that Forsythe had sucked the very life out of him.

"What is it you want?" he asked disparagingly.

"I want nothing from you Puck - I came only to bring you something I thought you should have."

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Life as a full-time Father

"She can't go back - she can never go back,” Puck said solemnly to Goober who was feeding Charley her morning porridge, on which he sailed little rice paper boats, and would sink with sultana missiles.

"But it's her home there" Goober persisted.

"No more than it is here" replied Puck firmly. "She can be raised as I was, and no one ever needs to know."

Goober conceded. Charley was growing more and more faery-like by the day living in the etheric woods.

"Besides, if she develops, she will be able to see Marley when she returns to us. Better to have a mother in spirit than none at all."

They had still not seen or heard from Marley. Puck had searched, but could not locate her - it was as though the link between them had been entirely broken.

He had much to occupy himself with however, and as ever, poured himself into the first matter at hand. Life as a full-time father was more demanding than what he was used to - but it was growing on him.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

The Interview Room

Puck just sat there, not moving. He could not move, and no words came.

He told himself that she must not have been suffering any pain, or fear, for he would have felt it if she had.

But how could this have happened? They had been with each other just moments before. It did not seem possible. This world was becoming a place of shadows for him yet again.

"Sir", the officer persisted, "do you recognize the young woman in these photographs?"

He nodded yes, unable to respond any further.

"We will give you a moment - would you like a cup of tea or coffee?"

He did not reply.

Puck suddenly became diminutive in size, losing twelve inches from his height. His magnetism waned and the officers became disenchanted – now far more attentive to their duties.

"I am, I was, Marley's partner" he knew as he was saying this that it would be hard to prove. No one had ever seen him enter and exit her flat and there were no belongings of his at her place. Added to all this, he had no DNA to prove Charlene's parentage. There was nothing, absolutely nothing to connect him to Marley at all. When the dialogue continued, both women had now become much sterner.

"And how long had you and Ms Marian Silver been seeing each other for?"

"On and off for years" he replied blandly. He could see where this was going.

"Am I a suspect?" he asked bluntly.

"No, and I apologize if we have implied that in any way at all. The entire crime was captured on CCTV. It was almost as though the murderer had wanted his activity filmed - he actually faced the camera deliberately several times smiling at it."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"We believe that Ms Silver was running a bath when Mark Forsythe entered her apartment. We cannot ascertain if he broke his way in, or if she had opened the door willingly. They were business acquaintances, and so in all probability she just let him in."

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Marley Murdered

Puck was invited into interview room 2. There was no recording there they said, it was just a quiet space for them to talk in. Puck saw cameras and could only assume they had audio too.

The officers - one young and one older - were both women. They seemed to enjoy looking at him, he noticed, and would pause in-between sentences with deliberate, flirtatious glances. His charisma was magnetically potent - this always happened when he was intent on something especially, and when his energy levels were high.

"Name and address please Sir,” purred the younger one, fidgeting playfully with her pen.

"We ask this of all of our visitors, even though there is no legal requirement at this time ... it's just a formality."

Puck obliged - he wanted information as badly as they did - if there was any to be had.

"R. G. Hode, Apartment A 177 Blaxland Terrace, South London."

The older policewoman shot a glance at him and excused herself momentarily from the room ... she then returned with a grey folder in her hand.

When opening it onto the table in front of him a pile of photographs tumbled out. They were body shots of a woman lying in peculiar angles; twisted, slumped, unnaturally, like a rag doll, in peach satin pyjamas.

The policewoman gingerly picked up a picture from the file that showed the face of the deceased. She asked softly, "Do you recognize this woman Sir?"

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Donning the War-Suit

Puck felt so much more 'together' when he was wearing his war-suit undergarment. This shimmering body-hugging gunmetal barely covered his nudity and sat upon him like a silvery second skin. The Fey use them for protection, concealment and containment.

For it is that the immortals' sense of consciousness is so expansive that it reaches far past their own body's perimeters.

If you were to ask a man where he is, he would point to himself. If you ask him where he thinks from, he would point to his head. If you ask him where he loves from, he would point to his heart.

If you asked the same from an immortal they would tell you that their being is everywhere, and that their thinking travels to the person or place or thing that they are thinking of at that time.

Their awareness is far-reaching, comprehensive and sensitive to that which they engage with. And as for their love - it resides with that which they love. They feel their love in the beings of others.

And so, when the Fey need to be more alike to mortals and focused upon themselves, they slip into their war-suits.

Puck also resumed his real height of six foot eleven inches. He now stood out from the crowds, dwarfing practically everyone on the street around him. They kept their distance and it psyched him to walk tall. Needless to say, his war-suit was a one-size-fits-all.

His street clothes bore a strong resemblance to Neo - black with a tailored long coat, dark glasses, and well-polished boots.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

The Ages weighed on Puck's Heart

"Did you leave someone to watch the apartment in case Marley returns back there tomorrow? She has no where else to go right now." Goober asked, just as Puck was about to leave.

"Oh, the rabbit will be fine" he said, "he knows how to get hold of us if she does."

"No, that can't be right, he's back here with us - Charley has him in her room upstairs."

"She must have wished him back. That's alright, I'll stop by and leave a note."

"Message me with any updates."

"I'll do the same" he was tense now - and as he walked out into the half-light of the forest he was feeling very definitely that he could kill someone right now.

The ages weighed on Puck's heart and all of the harm this Demon had done was crushing him. He wanted Forsythe to be gone for good, expelled from the world - to another cosmos preferably.

He looked back at his woods and saw the ethers flicking around the base of the trees like misty flames. The flowers were expiring rich fragrant vapors from their labella and their perfumes of twilight were hazing all over the ferny growth. There was a certain peace one could find with immortality, he mused.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Escape to the Treehouse

"Your uncle Gordon will take care of you until I come back" Puck softly said to Charley, who was drinking her juice contentedly.

They had returned to the treehouse immediately after their escape. The air there seemed to agree with the infant's temperament, and she had settled there quite happily.

The Troll Security Services were replaced with a blue ribbon, top Elvin Guard, who were more costly to hire, but well worth the peace of mind that came with them. Unlike the Trolls they were faithful to their employers and would not be paid off.

Puck was angry, yet cool minded. His ringlets had grown wildly down his shoulders; his eyes had turned indigo with sadness.

From his storeroom he retrieved a fighting suit that the Fey often wore under their street clothes when danger is felt to be imminent. It was woven from a fine spider thread, yet its outer was stronger than steel. It was the very kind that comic books based their costumes for superheroes upon, but much better looking compared to a Lycra counterfeit.

Three hours had passed, yet he still had no feeling as to where Marley might be or how she was. Losing this connection with her was making him agitated. He mentally ran through his plans.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Kidnapped!

"Young man, you have a devil at your back!" he exclaimed rather fearfully. Puck's immediate thought was that this guy was being plain unkind.

"I was not mocking you old man - I was just trying to tell you that I have met Him and I agree with your sign right there."

"Look, look behind you!" he pointed, semi-hysterically, "the way he constrains that child, he is dangerous and ought to be stopped...”

They had been at cross-purposes. Puck turned around in a flash to find Forsythe travelling in the opposite direction, hurrying down the street, moving very clumsily, struggling with Charley who was trying to wriggle free from his hold.

Both Puck and the old man caught up to them very quickly. Charley outstretched her tiny arms to her father, but Forsythe had clamped a child restraint around her chest - it looked to be made for a dog, and was pinching her neck, pulling her back.

"Aye Robin Toad Fellow - look who I have" he said smarmily squeezing her tight.

Charley threw up all over the pavement. Puck quickly scanned his mind for Marley hoping she might be following behind and could help the situation, but could not feel any sense of her whereabouts.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

The Word on the Street

As Puck walked out onto the main street a light rain tumbled scantily down, refreshing the musty city from its staleness. Happily preoccupied, he walked bang into an evangelist who was giving out flyers beside a large sandwich board that read "HE LIVES".

Puck smiled at the old man apologetically for nearly knocking him over. He had been distracted in a blissful haze, overjoyed at how things had all turned out. Finally, it seemed, a little happiness was coming his way.

He glanced down at the sign and remarked to the elderly man:
"He does, you know."

Puck had said this agreeably and then added, "The last time I saw the Master he was looking real buff - as though he works out." The blue truth dust was still making him talk carelessly.

The old man handed Puck a pamphlet and gave him solemn directions to his meeting place that always offered a free cup of tea. What Puck had said seemed to pass right over him ... it was as though he had not heard it at all.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

All is Well

All was calm, the silver bells were silkily tinkling; the Angelic host moving about, performing their unseen duties; the spheres rotated in perfect obeisance and marshmallows dripped from their sticks with a tacky glistening sweetness.

All was well with the world, in between its calamities.

There were those gentle, quiet moments, when one forgets death and all of the inevitabilities that dog each move into the future.

The ordinances of life contrive to multifariously disarrange our perspectives - enough to communicate the firm earth of our spirit-land with the sweet aroma of its cordial symphonic ethers.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Fifteen More

Gribbles reluctantly passed the half eaten box of chocolates over to Herod, who tipped the lot face down into the dirt.

Why did he have to go and spoil everything? It was beyond the comprehension of even the worst of the Demons.

"You know that they say misery loves company?" he drily asked.

"Yes."

"Well, he doesn't - so get out of here and don't come back until you’re invited!"

"But I live here Great One."

"Not anymore" Herod was displeased that Gribbles showed weakness at every turn and he suspected criticism being thought whenever he did or said something - this he found to be a constant aggravant.

"I shan't come back" the young Demon threatened, taking up his backpack with a sneer.

"If you do come back we will eat you - and that's a promise." Herod slammed his fist firmly onto the steel table - the one that was used for both meats and dissection.

Mark Forsythe came in just as Gribbles was leaving. He had his usual business with Herod, and as ever, turned up unannounced.

"Your son seemed largely upset" he commented, as Herod got up to offer him the executive chair.

"Just disowned him fer good" he grunted.

"Only son?"

"No, there's fifteen more."

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Romance between Worlds

"Move in with me please" Marley asked Puck, hugging him tight as he was preparing to go. "I want us to live together like a family."

"Gladly" he said with unreserved truthfulness, genuinely happy. "Or you and Charley can come live with me - it's a bit bigger where I'm staying."

"What if I forget us again? What if I can't see you next time, what if I can't see you tonight or tomorrow? Oh Puck, I have this most awful feeling..."

"Well" he stopped and thought for a moment, taking her concern very seriously. "I'll promise to never make you want to forget anything between us, and if you are agreeable, if I have to, I can record some video to show you - like on that movie with all the first dates" he laughed, he loved making a reference to something current in the world. "But honestly Marley I don't think we will need anything like that after what has been said between us today. We can make it work. Our minds are one now."

"And hearts," she said, following him to the door to give him one last kiss before he left.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Marble Dust

Puck stood back up and swept his hand in the air - the tiny fragments of shining glass drew up from the floor and reformed into one large clear marble that he handed over to Charley to play with. Some of the truth particles must have caught inside also because it was shimmering blue as she turned it side to side.

"What if she swallows it?" Marley said with a motherly worriedness.

"It’s too big to swallow and she plays with marbles all the time, much smaller...”

"Plays with marbles? When has she played with marbles?"

Puck wanted to stop the conversation there but the moth dust prevailed.

"When she comes over to my house", he said quietly.

"When she does what?" Marley asked. This took a bit of explaining and the three sat on the bed together talking then until lunch time with the occasional interjection from the rabbit, who had his own list of memorandum to be heard - including the incident when Charley had pulled one of his ears off. He wanted it stitched back on.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Together Again

The contents of the hourglass had brought Marley's clairvoyance back into being. It was as though earthly cataracts had lifted and the otherworld had become very obvious again. The room seemed to blaze with light.

Puck had appeared very manly to her standing there when he first arrived. He had come in such a hurry that he was still dressed in his gardening gear- strong leathers, a linen shirt that was woven through with a metallic thread, his long farmer's coat, that looked as though it belonged on a squire several centuries before, except for the scrawling artwork tattooed onto the leather. Tall, strong, tanned and muscular - his meditations had been working wonders these days.

"I never left you Marley. You might not have seen me, but I have been around." he then added, "on the few times you have known me, you forgot me just hours later". His jaw tightened slightly as he said this, but a minute later he could not help smiling as he now sat with her. He was remembering back to when Charlene was conceived, and how generously Marley had received him into her.

Marley thought Puck looked doubly attractive when he would look at her like that. His stare was intimate. It saw into her being, and touched her. Once they had locked eyes for minutes at a time, and she knew, just for a while, what it was like to be him. He was amazing.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Arubi Truth Dust

Marley could not help but call out, as one does when a small surprising mishap occurs. 

She in turn startled Charlene, who reacted as any small child would when feeling as though they've done something wrong - she started to wail.

Puck wasted no time in arriving to see what had happened with his girls.

He gave Marley another fright by appearing instantly in their room and this brought one more expletive followed by a loud cry from Charlene.

Marley hurried over to her daughter to give her a cuddle, but her foot caught up some of the glass from the rug - she yelped and fell on the bed beside Charlene having a splinter pierce sharply her heel.

Small blue clouds of the Arubi truth dust were now circulating the room.

They started to laugh, all at once.

"Puck, I've missed you so much. Where have you been?" Marley said warmly, as he joined them, kneeling down and putting an arm around each. With one light touch to her foot Puck had removed the shard, healing it perfectly for her.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Blue "Balloon"

"Balloon?" came a voice from behind the door - it was her mother coming to get her for breakfast.

"Where's the balloon Charley?" she asked in her cheery good morning voice.

"Bloon" burst out Charley, very pleased to share her treasure with her Mumma. She held it out proudly to her in both hands.

"Oh Charley" she said gently taking the glass from her ... "wherever did you get this from?"

And as she reached to take it Charley pulled it back unexpectedly, having decided to keep hold of it herself, but instead it fell hitting the wall, and as it dropped, it shattered into a hundred tiny pieces on the rug.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Vanilla with Sprinkles

Little Charlene discovered very early that if she closed her eyes tightly and pictured something in her mind, it would often as not appear there and then, before her in real life. This had first occurred one day when she had wanted some ice-cream and wishing with a picture, a bowl had appeared exactly as imagined with sprinkles on vanilla.

Marley was not awake yet and the toddler was bored - she wanted something new to play with. Thinking of the shiny hourglass that sat on her father's desk back in his house, in less than a minute she was holding it in her small chubby grasp.

Delighted at the way the blue dust fell down the fine tapered neck, Charley was mesmerized to watch it drizzle into the bulb at the other end. The glass glittered and the colour inside was so pretty.

"Bloon" she said, turning if over and over and peering inside.

"Ba-loon" the rabbit beside her corrected.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Puck in the Depths of Hell

Puck had sat himself down on the steamy ground, in a darkened cell, away from it all: deep in the hot damp depths of Hell.

He often went there to collect his thoughts as this inspired him - he found it woke his mind well, stripping it of its usual bliss and fizz and endless poetry.

Over the ages Puck's visits became alike to a human frequenting a lost dogs' home, pitying the shivering creatures who mourn audibly, whining to be released. It really was no more or less than a simple compassion drawing him back, and when it was possible he would even adopt one or two.

Now and then he would take the 'Celebrity Walk' down to some of the out of the way corridors where few would go. These sectors were for long staying souls impounded - brutal men and women whose influence on worldly history had been significantly dire.

The small enclosures ran side by side, with no precipice or shared company. There they lay in solitary, reliving the hardships caused on others - feeling every terrible suffering inflicted, now upon themselves. Poked by their own barbs, these experiences were detailed and true, with many destined to remain over centuries to endure and work through it all.

The perimeters of karma are set firmly and close - much closer than the mortals ever realize ... with its balances and adjustments coming from within, and not, as supposed, from without.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Scrooge in the Enchanted Woods

Scrooge sat at his desk that was laden with chestnuts and elephants' toes (they were not real elephants' toes, but a nut that went by that name having a rather large wrinkled bulbous shell).

He had retired to the enchanted woods, after a brief recovery in one of the better short-term suites of Hell.

His friend Charles had brought him to the seed farm for convalescence; in a gesture of goodwill for inspiring a literary invention that had turned out to be quite popular.

The literary Scrooge was not so very different to the practical spirit who loved to go through his labours of addition and revision daily. He carried his ledger book everywhere and referred to it constantly.

He would not use a calculator, believing it to circumvent the pleasure of a good sum. With quill to paper he scribbled his scrawl, excited at his totals in a nest of columns and zeros.

"Gordon" he called, when reaching the end of his spreadsheet.

Goober obligingly appeared with a coffee and a box of gold wrapped chocolates.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series