Chapter 3

"Well, Baal, what is it this time? Things are still going as I wish in the USA, but I have the impression that you are not doing as well in Central America."

"Yes, Dread Lord Satan, Your plans are moving along quite well in the north, but down south there is a mixed bag."

"Come, come, Baal. You know that I am not known for My patience. Stop pussyfooting around and tell Me straight out, how are things going in Central America?"

"Very well, Dread Lord Satan, I will do as you command. Allowing the ghosts to kill the humans only worked for a very short time before they found adequate counter measures. I need Your permission to bring in greater numbers of ghosts so that we can prevail by sheer numbers. This seems to me to be the only way that we can beat the humans, now. The primary facet of my plan is working, because the two superheroes are still tied up in the south and not interfering with your plans in the north, but I don't know how long I can keep them occupied with the present strategy."

"OK, Baal, take as many ghosts as you need. This battle you started in the south has now taken on the ramifications of pride and status. Our forces MUST WIN! This is no longer simply a distraction to the superheroes, but a question of My position in society. I am already getting knowing looks from the other evil deities, and I cannot tolerate that. You must win, and win soon, or I will have to replace you. Do you you understand?"

"Oh, yes, Dread Lord Satan, I understand completely. I will get right on it."

Storm Who Walks paid a rare visit directly to Shadow with a message, "The Great Spirit is well pleased with your progress in feeding the starving people behind the lines in this war. Your clever work has been noted and will never be forgotten. You are living up to expectations and your efforts are appreciated. So I am here to present you with a formal THANK YOU. Is there a special boon that The Great Spirit can grant?"

"The only thing that I could possibly want beyond what I already have, is for me to have a child fathered by Fire Bringer. That is probably too much to ask, but that is my desire."

"No promises, but I will relay your request. Goodbye for now."

"Fire Bringer, I bring you some answers. Do you have time to listen?"

"I always can make time for you, old friend. What do you have for me?"

"We now know the name of the demi-devil who is directing this war. It is Baal. You need to be on your mettle, because Baal is particularly devious and hard to trick. I hope that you never have to face him directly because of his power and guile. He also is stubborn as Hell, so you probably will eventually have to face him in order to win—I'm just not looking forward to that.

"The other information I have for you is that there is a plant called "Devil Bane" which can banish a minion of Hell back to the nether regions, never to return to the mortal plane. It is a rare form of orchid growing only in the Amazon jungle. This is what it looks like. It is so powerful that its mere touch is enough to banish a demon to Hell, forever. I cannot supply you with any of the plants; you will have to journey to Brazil to get it on your own. Any part of the plant is effective, so one plant would provide you with many effective touches.

The active ingredient in Devil Bane is water soluble, so you could boil the plants in a pot of water and use the resulting liquid as your treatment. But, remember, not only do you have to dose the demon or ghost with the liquid, you also must kill him, so the operation will not be as easy as it first sounded. Good luck."

"Thank you. I'll get set up here and then leave for Brazil. If I'm lucky, I'll be back in a couple of days."

Getting ready to leave consisted of letting the generals know that they were on their own for a little while, but their men had gotten so good that Fire Bringer was not worried. He TPed to Brazil and started scouting for the orchids. Fire Bringer knew the area he had to search, but he still had to hunt for the specific plants. He was helped by the fact that the orchids grew unusually high in the trees, so they were easier for him to spot from the air than if they had been lower to the ground.

The orchids grew in clusters, so he was able to take some of them and leave others to foster new growth. As a matter of principle, he took only the small ones and left the larger orchids to be the parents of the new crop. He hoped that would encourage the orchids to get bigger over generations.

Fire Bringer spent nearly two days collecting orchids and stowing them in his "poke" for transportation back to Central America. He made for Shadow's location and used some of her helpers and facilities to prepare his solution of Devil Bane. Within four hours, they had about 20 gallons of solution, so Fire Bringer now had the problem of figuring out how to dispense it.

Fire Bringer made up a dispensing system from his old standby, frozen air. Basically it consisted of a container of solution connected to an "airless sprayer" device. This way, all he had to do was squeeze the solution container and the liquid was sprayed out as a fine mist.

Hardly had he gotten this ready when the first contingent of clients showed up for supper. Hard on their heels were the demons, ready to break up the operation. The troops charged in to meet the demons, but were soon facing about three times the number they normally had to fight. Fire Bringer quickly sprayed the demons and then joined the fight. He occasionally sprayed out more of his solution mist as new demons joined the attack.

This fight continued to grow as more and more demons were brought into the battle. As happens with many engagements between human armies, the fight evolved into a major battle without either side wanting it to or properly planning for it. As more demons showed up, Fire Bringer TPed more and more soldiers in from where they were temporarily freed from fighting ghosts. In fact, this fight escalated into a full scale war between demons and human troops. The food kitchen clients had long since run away from the fighting, lest they be cut down by accident.

Fire Bringer continued to spray as new demons showed up, and he was starting to fear that he would soon run out of solution. However, after about an hour of fighting, the whole character of the battle changed. The humans were now facing a few ghosts intermixed among the demons. As the battle continued, a higher and higher percentage of the non-human combatants were ghosts. After a few hours, there were almost no demons; virtually all of the enemy were ghosts, and Fire Bringer continued to spray as long as his solution held out.

Suddenly, the fighting stopped as the ghosts and occasional demon simply vanished! Instead of a multitude of ghosts, the enemy was now a single entity that was only vaguely defined in gray smoke, but resembled a giant wasp a hundred feet long from stinger to antennae. Fire Bringer shouted, "SHADOW, TP EVERYBODY AWAY FROM HERE BEFORE THEY ARE HURT OR KILLED! THIS IS BAAL, THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM!"

As an act of defiance, more than anything else, Fire Bringer sprayed Baal with the last of the Devil Bane solution. Baal laughed and said in a booming voice that nearly broke the eardrums of every mortal being within hearing, "HA, HA, HA! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING, PUNY HUMAN? YOU CAN'T HURT ME WITH YOUR EARTHLY POTIONS! I AM BAAL, SECOND ONLY TO SATAN IN POWER IN HELL AND ON THE MORTAL PLANE. I AM HERE TO QUASH YOUR INSIGNIFICANT EFFORTS TO INTERFERE WITH MY PLANS AND THOSE OF MY MASTER!"

Fire Bringer decided to stall while he desperately tried to come up with a plan to fight this figure who was certainly more powerful than him. He said, "If my efforts are so puny, why did you show up instead of sending more of your minions? Are you running out of slaves that you can send to fight us? Yes, I'll bet that's why you are here, you can no longer send legions of demons and ghosts in our direction. You had to come fight personally because your pawns have been used up."