Free When Angels Fall (Demon Lord) by T C Southwell

Kayos said. “If that place was created close to the boundary wards, in the very bedrock of this domain, and by a strange god, it might not have sensed it.”
    “Why would a god do such a thing?” Drevarin asked.
    Kayos shrugged. “That, I do not know. It appears to be a hidden place, a lair, perhaps. Either that, or it is a spill over from another dreaming.”
    “A mingling.”
    “Yes.” At Sherinias’ puzzled look, Kayos explained, “Sometimes, when two domains are created close together, one invades the other a little, and they overlap. Bane and Majelin could have passed into another world without even realising it, through a hole in the boundary wards where the two worlds join. If that is the case, the other domain is below this one, and they might not be able to get back.”
    “Bane could not get back even from the cavern,” Drevarin said. “It must be warded against Moving. If that place is the same, we are in a lot of trouble.”
    Kayos nodded. “I know.”
    Drevarin muttered, “All this because he went to rescue an archangel from the underworld.”
    “There are always pitfalls with the darkness.”
    “If he is trapped there, it is a disaster.”

Chapter Four
     
    Changelings
     
    Bane studied Majelin as they strolled towards the village. The archangel appeared weak and ill, caked with grime and covered with wounds, scars, burns and bruises where demons had tortured him. His white hair hung halfway down his back in dirty strings and a soiled swathe of diaphanous grey material clothed his hips. Bane reflected that was just as well the cloth seemed impervious to rot, or else the angel would have been naked long since.
    After five centuries at the mercy of dark gods and demons, it was a little surprising that the archangel was still sane, and his quick acceptance that Bane was tar’merin was even more unexpected. Majelin had every reason to never trust a wielder of the darkness again. Two stumps protruded just below his shoulder blades, each with a few feathers on it, and Bane assumed that Torvaran had amputated his wings. He turned his thoughts to their situation and the possible ramifications of what had happened.
    “You do realise that if there is no portal into this place there is only one thing that could have brought those angels here.”
    Majelin nodded, his black brows knotted. “A god. Perhaps it was Torvaran, or Tolrar?”
    “And if it was not, we will be in a lot of trouble.”
    “You do not know that. Perhaps whoever brought them here is gone, or dead, or perhaps they came here some other way. Maybe it was even a light god. Let us find out before we become nervous.”
    “I am not nervous; just concerned, and with good reason.”
    “You do not think you are a match for another dark god?”
    “Not without my power,” Bane grumped.
    “That really bothers you, huh?”
    “Normally I am glad to cast it out, but, considering how strange this all is, and how few of my powers worked before, I think I have good reason to be concerned.”
    “Let us not jump to conclusions ,” Majelin said.
    “If it had been a light god , he would not have abandoned them.”
    “Perhaps he had no choice.”
    “What do you mean by that?”
    “I am just saying we do not know enough to draw any conclusions, and you are going to drive yourself insane trying to figure it out without the necessary information.” Majelin stopped so abruptly Bane almost bumped into him. “We are here.”
    Bane peered between the leafy branches at a slovenly village where men and women moved about lethargically. Some appeared to be human, and a few children played in the dirt.
    Majelin drew in a sharp breath. “I know what they are.”
    “What? Not fallen?”
    “Oh, they are fallen all right. They are urthdrae .”
    “Outcasts?”
    “ Gothass .” The archangel swung around. “We are not going in there.”
    “Why not?”
    “They are… Ugh.”
    “ Gothass urthdrae ?”
    “Fallen! Not through torture, but by