Pitt paused to look around. He hated to admit it, but he was lost. He scratched his head as he tried to think which way he should be going.

He hated mazes. They hid monsters and kept hunters wandering around until their supplies ran out. When he got strong enough, he started breaking down walls to cut a straight line to his goal. That wouldn't help him here.

He didn't know which way to go, so just randomly cutting a line through everything could lead him further astray than what he already was. What he needed was a guide to the king.

How did he arrange that when all the demons he had seen so far was upstairs trying to get through the summoning circle to the upper world? Should he go up and grab one to help him out?

He looked behind him. He had already walked from the entrance for minutes. The city could be destroyed by now. He doubted the defenders had held out while he was fooling around.

At least Skaren couldn't get what he wanted without Pitt being there to help the process along. His old comrade must be fuming over this setback even if he had destroyed the city with the surge.

He would have loved to put his fist through the man's face. Escaping had seemed the better deal to do to ruin everything. And ruining things was one of the things Pitt did as naturally as fish swam.

The other was exterminating his enemies.

And it wouldn't be the first time Pitt had killed someone who had fought beside him in the past.

Pitt heard rustling ahead. Maybe he wasn't as far away from the king as he thought he was. He walked a little slower, paying more attention to his surroundings.

He found a set of doors blocking his path. He went to them and listened at the wooden face of the right one. He thought he heard something heavy move on the other side. He knocked on the door and stepped back.

He decided that he was expected. The king must know he was walking the personal maze. How long would he let that to go on? The king couldn't allow it if he wanted to keep control of his horde.

Letting some human walk around without a challenge would an encouragement to the lesser monsters they could be greater monsters. That would force the king to take extraordinary measures to regain control.

He couldn't wait that long. If the axe fell on the lesser demons from the king, he needed to have the surge stopped from this side of the line. Once he had stopped the flow, he could turn his attention to the people causing problems.

That would be short work in his opinion. Magicians tended to avoided people like him for a reason.

He pushed on the door. It creaked open under the pressure of his hand. He had to put something in the push.

It had been a long time since a regular door tried to be so heavy he couldn't move it.

“So we meet again, Cutter,” said the King. He glared down at his visitor from his throne on its dais. He tapped one arm of the giant chair. Fire drifted from his eyes. “I would have thought you had better things to do than get in my way once again.”

“I do, but someone made the call to get me here, so here I am,” said Pitt. “I was hoping that you would call your troops back so we can go back to a cold footing.”

“I think things have gone too far for that,” said the King. “Skaren would want to know why I broke our deal. And he has a way to enforce his will on us.”

“Through your deal?,” asked Pitt.

“That's right,” said the King. “The only way I can tell my people to refuse the summoning is if he breaks the deal. It doesn't matter now. The summoning has been stopped from the other side. Someone there has silenced the call.”

“I doubt Beaver did that,” said Pitt.

“Unless the summoning is put back in place within a few minutes, the deal will be off,” said the King. “My people who have already been summoned will be free to run amuck while I await developments.”

“And you will call your demons back?,” asked Pitt.

“No,” said the King. He revealed shark teeth in a savage grin. “They are free to kill as many of the human scum that they can. The Underworld will always make more to replace those who decide to stay up there.”

“We seem to have a problem here,” said Pitt. “I need you to call all of the demons back so the city can start repairing the damage. Otherwise we're going to have a bigger problem than a misunderstanding of purpose.”

“There's no misunderstanding,” said the King. “I want to wreck havoc on your world, Cutter. It is something that I was born to do. Now that I am doing that, I don't see why I should stop. And since you're down here, you can't interfere with them.”

“So that's how it is?,” asked Pitt.

“That is how it is, and I don't see any reason for it to be any other way,” said the King. “The only thing to make it sweeter is your death by a scheme set in motion by your former comrade.”

“Do you really want to do this?,” asked Pitt. “I have already killed some of your subjects. Killing you won't be any harder.”

“I'm a lot hardier than my people,” said the King. He stood, natural armor glittering in the floating fires around the chamber. He towered above his enemy, tails fluttering behind him like banners in an angry wind. “It will be my pleasure to rip you apart with my bare hands.”

Red bands of force wrapped around Pitt. He fell over in the cocoon.

“This is all well and go, but I need him alive, King Grolus,” said Neil Skaren from the door. He glared at the two. “And we need to return to the surface so I can finish my plan.”

“In a few minutes, our agreement will be null and void,” said the King. “I think I am going to keep the Cutter here to do with as I please.”

“I can't allow it,” said Skaren. “I need him to carry out my plan and honor our agreement. If you try to stop me, you will be reneging on our contract. You know what will happen if you do that.”

“It might be worth it to see what you will do,” said Grolus. “It's not like you can leave. Your summoning is gone.”

“I can open a door with my own power,” said Skaren. “I don't need a circle to move myself and the Cutter to the upper world.”

“I have a question,” said Pitt. He strained against the spell holding him in place. The red bands tried to contain him, but eventually they snapped under his pushing. He pushed himself to his feet as the partners glared at him. “How much time is left exactly before you two aren't partners anymore?”

Grolus reached into the air. He twisted his hand. A hourglass of screaming faces and burning sand dropped to the floor. It stood as tall as Pitt.

“When the sand runs down, the deal is done,” said the King. “Unless the circle is put back in place and the summoning recommences.”

“All right,” said Pitt. “Neither one of you is going to last that long.”

He leaped across the space, swinging a fist at Skaren. Once the magician went down, the plan was wrecked for good. Grolus didn't care enough to follow through with whatever the magician was trying to do.

Skaren brought his arms up in front of his body. Magical energy wrapped around him in a bubble. It cracked from the blow, but held against the jab thrown against it. The force still flung the magician into the wall.

Grolus moved lightning fast, his gigantic size giving him a giant hammer at the end of an arm like a ship's mast. Pitt took the impact and went flying himself. He hit the wall on the other side of the room. A sound like a hissing kettle escaped the King.

Skaren groaned as he pushed out of the crater he had created upon impact with the throne room wall. He straightened his armored shirt with a tug at the hem. It was time he showed these two who was in command here.

Pitt pushed himself out of his own crater. He started grinning. He glanced at the hourglass. He only had to hold out for a bit more before the partners weren't partners anymore.

Until then, he was facing off against the both of them at the same time. If Grolus killed him by accident, he would say he didn't know his own strength and he had abided by the agreement until it had ran out.

The king might put him in a killing position and stall until the sands ran out, and then try to kill him out of spite for Skaren.

Let's see what happens when they try to stop me. They might backstab each other before I have a chance to kill them.

Pitt stooped and grabbed a rock from the floor. He flung it sideways at Skaren, hoping to pierce the magician. A shield caught the rock before it did anything harmful.

Grolus came in, swinging his arm in a death blow. He couldn't openly oppose Skaren yet. That wouldn't stop him from wrecking the demigod's plans if he could. His fist was knocked away by the smaller Pitt's own arm swinging through the space.

“Let's do this,” said Pitt, grinning like a loon.