by D A Rice
It was enough time for Gabriel to laugh low and soft beside me, “alright then, consider this a contest.” And then he was loosing arrows and stepping forward as Corrupted exploded into the grove all at once. Isaac stepped forward at the same time I did, and I smiled as I heard him counting under his breath with each beast that met his swords. I twirled as I evaded and stabbed back, watching Gabriel stoop down to pull an arrow free. He landed on his knee to shoot again, avoiding a Corrupted as he stabbed it through the eye with the arrow still in his hand. Yanking it back out again, he nocked it and let it fly.
I moved, pulling my own sword free and pushed a demon back with my force. I stabbed the demon in the neck, using it as a catapult to launch myself into the air. Your battle isss futile, little girl, I could feel the ice that came with the voice that hissed through my head. I started as I fell, my sword in my double-handed grip. I struck true and rolled, my fingers coming up to my head. We can get you out of here with a cure. Trussst usss to take care of you.
“Zakiya!” Gabriel’s voice had me pulling my sword up to block, returning me to my reality, “keep your head!” Remembering what Gabriel said about how to defeat the Fallen, I shifted my weight and sent a thought back to them, I will bargain in my own time, my own way. I let the Corrupted fall forward, moving my sword to stab it in the stomach as it fell.
Gabriel had said we needed to bargain; he’d also said that we could not trust the Fallen to hold true to theirs. I had a feeling he had a trick up his sleeve. I glanced at him as he fought, his movements unyielding. I glanced at Isaac. His gaze flickered out of focus on occasion, but he fought without pause. If the Fallen were getting to him, he showed little of it on his face.
I focused my attention, pulling my emotions in and locking them away. I let the adrenaline take over, swinging my sword and sprinting at a Corrupted and launching myself back into the air. “Isaac!” I called. He didn’t even look at me as I fell, only pushed the demon in front of him to his side, using its weight against it and turning to another. I pierced the monster, riding it down before jumping off and facing my back towards Isaac. The smell of sulfur was building around us as I glanced back at him, “are you well?”
Isaac braced for an attack, “as well as I can be.” He shoved the Corrupted back with his swords crossed, “perhaps best to speak of it later.” I could feel my lips twitch in response. I had worried the Fallen would affect him more and I still had those worries, but I would stay as close to him as I could. I made that promise to both Gabriel and myself. I glanced up. The shimmering had gotten brighter, and it covered more of the sky above us. I took this as a good sign.
“I will bear what you cannot,” I told him as I covered his blind spot, severing the demon’s head that had nearly clawed his side as he had raked his swords through the stomach of another. Isaac finally glanced at me, “as always.”
He pulled me into him, his arms coming around me and into a Corrupted at my back. He held my gaze before slowly pulling his swords out of the demon’s flesh, “I will cause you no more pain.” His eyes flickered in and out of focus, as if listening, before meeting mine again.
The Corrupted he had stabbed behind me shielded me from the battle raging around us. I took this moment as I grazed his face with my fingers, the scars that had darkened around his eyes. He did not flinch as he watched me, “then you will stay by my side, and you will fight.”
Isaac cringed, his eyes closing momentarily as my words hit him. Then he was nodding,his gaze meeting mine before I was dancing around him, raising my sword to block his back as he kicked the Corrupted that had been my shield out of the way. He turned and went low, crossing his swords in front of him up into the demon’s rib cage. I pushed as Isaac pulled his arms out and away, ripping the Corrupted open when his swords broke free. Together, we were a force to be reckoned with. When I turned, Gabriel was sprinting towards us backwards, shots still firing from his bow. Isaac heaved another demon off of his swords, watching my back as I turned.
“It is time to bargain; follow my lead, aye?” I nodded as Gabriel looked towards the sky his hands coming down, one free of weapons, the other loosely gripping his bow. “Adonai, I wish to speak to thee!” He shouted at the glittering light that that had all but overwhelmed the sky. My sword dropped by my side as I watched that light grow in strength, and then shoot down. The Corrupted around us screamed as the light hit them, fleeing back into the forest in an erratic pattern as their skin began to blister and steam. My body jolted as I felt a hiss go through it, then the ice was gone as well. I could feel the weight lift from me as peace invaded in its stead.
It was then that I realized that, while Gabriel had told us the necessity of bargaining, he had never specified who the bargain would be with. I huffed out a laugh as I glanced at Isaac, who had dropped his swords beside him, his hands coming up. The light, while not burning him as it did the Corrupted, seemed to make him intensely uncomfortable. I came to his side, my own sword dropping and wrapped my arms around his waist. His eyes looked terrified as his arms blocked the light from them. I reoriented my body so that I was in between his elbows, looking up into his face, “shalom, Abadi. Breathe. This is nothing but a headache. A scratch on your body. Do not flee the unknown.”
I could feel his breathing pick up pace as his heart beat fluttered through me and my grip tightened around him. His fists clenched and then, with great effort he wrapped his arms around me, holding me close as he let me be his anchor. Gabriel still faced the sky, his arms out and his eyes closed. I turned my head to watch him, Isaac’s grip on me now the only sign of his discomfort. There was a warm brush against my mind, a mental butterfly requesting entrance. My eyes closed. Adonai, I thought, I wish to speak to thee.
The warm brush fluttered again as another presence gently flushed its way through my head. I tensed, and Isaac tensed with me. I could feel the presence within me smile in approval, my daughter, and then the presence was gone. The light around us softened, causing Isaac’s arms to relax. When I looked up at him, his eyes were closed, and his face was peaceful. I could feel the tears at the brim of my eyes as I guessed what had happened.
A rustling from Gabriel had me glancing back in his direction. With a start he hunched over, his arms crossing his stomach as two bulges began to push out of his back. I tensed, but Isaac leaned forward, his chin resting on the top of my head comforting me this time, “Adonai has blessed him. Do not be afraid.”
I smiled as my body relaxed again, “he spoke to you.”
Isaac nodded above me, “he did. He told me to be at peace, that this was all for the good. He would never hurt me for I am his child, even now.” His grip tightened on me as his emotion took over, “I was afraid, Zakiya. He gave me reason not to be.”
I nodded as Gabriel grunted, the bulges in his back getting bigger. Suddenly a pair of massive white wings burst forth, the wind of them slamming into us. Isaac braced, pulling me into him as we skidded back. The wings flapped once before expanding so much that they were nearly the width of the grove we stood in. I could hear hissing and growling around us, but not one of the Corrupted or their masters dared enter the grove again. Gabriel turned, his bow dropping from his fingers as his eyes found mine. His wings hitched before resting over his shoulders, “I believe I have found us transportation.”
I stepped from Isaac’s embrace, pointing, “are we all getting a pair?”
Isaac tilted his head, the horns glistening as the light began to dim around us, “they are preparing to come at us in force. Whatever has been done here, they are not happy. We will not be able to get out alive unless we act now.”
Gabriel nodded at Isaac and shook his head at me, “I have Angel blood in me, lass, remember? Apparently, I had more than I thought,” his hands came out in front of him, palms up as he studied them, “that blood has been activated.” Gabriel’s eyes moved to the shimmering mass above us as the last of the light left us. Isaac and I tensed. I knelt for the sword I had dropped as Gabriel offered me his h
and, “better have a strong grip, girl.” Isaac took his other hand after sheathing my sword for me. He had found it first. Gabriel’s wings beat against the grove, pushing back the fresh wave of Corrupted. I could hear an unnatural screeching rising from the trees as the Fallen voiced their anger.
Gabriel ignored them all. His grip fierce on us, he shot into the sky.
18
I found my other hand clasping his also as I dangled from his grasp. My legs kicking freely, we burst into the glittering cloud above us. I could hear Isaac grunt on Gabriel’s other side as the mist of the cloud sprayed us gently with condensation. When I looked out again, I could see the garden. The glittering light that had spread above us had only been the bottom. The garden itself was on top, and it was beautiful. Green grass, and paths made of smooth pebbles. Bushes and brush lined each path. The trees themselves stood taller than anything else. One was golden-barked, the leaves a dark, healthy, green. The other had white bark with dark purple leaves.
There was a fountain that rested in between them, flowing with water like a miniature waterfall. Gabriel set us gently before it, before landing with a soft thump behind us, his wings folding over his shoulders again. He shifted, as if re-centering himself with the new added weight. Feathers dripped down from them as he shook his shoulders and looked up with a sheepish grin. “This will take some getting used to….”
There was a giggle in front of us. Isaac and I turned with a start, instantly tensing. There was a little boy sitting on the edge of the fountain, only about ten years old to my eyes. I relaxed as his familiar aura reached me. The boy smiled before looking up, his white locks dripping into eyes that were the lightest of blue. He wore a white tunic, loose white pants, and his feet were bare as he sat with one across the other. One of his hands played with the water beside him, completely at ease. “Welcome to my garden!” He greeted us, voice the playful soft of an innocent.
Isaac was the first to step forward. He knelt just in front of the boy, his head bowing, “Adonai,” he whispered.
The boy watched him for a moment before reaching out his hand. His small fingers grazed Isaac’s cheek and Isaac’s eyes fluttered closed, tears brimming them. I took a small step forward, but Gabriel’s gentle hand on my shoulder halted me. I stepped back again, bowing my head in respect as the child smiled at Isaac, “lift your head, my son. Do not hide from me.” Isaac’s eyes came open and then shifted to meet the boys. He said nothing as the child continued, “you will carry scars, but you will heal. It is for the good.” I could feel my emotions roll through me. How Isaac had looked when Adonai had told him this the first time inside his own mind came into my own.
The boy drew his hand away and Isaac let out a gasp as the horns on his head began to draw back into his skull. I shivered with the sound of it, but said nothing as Isaac tilted his head, his eyes closing with the pain. The child watched him, his eyes sad, “I wish I could take the pain but sometimes the pain is necessary.”
Isaac shivered with a groan as the horns receded and I stepped forward, “pain is a great teacher, but he has had plenty. Will you not give him mercy?”
Gabriel flinched behind me, but the child met my gaze with a gentle smile. “My daughter, that is not why pain is necessary here. I would gladly lift his burden, but for him, the cure is as much in the pain as it is in the healing.” I could feel my face tensing, my lips pursing together. I had always thought that if Adonai existed, he would be cruel and far removed from us. Seeing him as a child was disconcerting, but seeing the gentle compassion in his eyes as he once again faced Isaac, the presumptions melted. I had felt his gentle presence in my mind, and I could feel it again now. He was nothing like I thought he would be.
I stepped forward again and knelt beside Isaac. He shuddered again, his head dropping as the last of his horns grew back into him. He was breathing hard, but I could see the scars around his eyes lessen marginally. They still looked a maroon-like red, but they were beautiful on him as he smiled. His gaze met Adonai’s, who nodded once. I bowed my head as my own burdens lifted, “thank you, my lord.”
A flutter had us looking up as beings of light appeared around us. I could see their wings, much like Gabriel’s and eyes like those of the child Adonai. They only watched us, much like the Fallen had, except these presences did not invade our minds. The child bent to me, his hand coming to mine, which was crossed at my chest as a salute, and pulled me to my feet as he stood. Isaac rose soon after me and the child glanced to the golden tree. His eyes held a weight in them, the wisdom there older than his body appeared. “I fear there is much to come in your world. It has been deceived and the stories lost.” Adonai shifted his gaze back to me, “someone will need to share them again.”
I shook my head, “I am but a warrior, my lord.”
“Some fights cannot be won with a sword, Zakiya. You have doubted; you are the only one who can reach them.” The child’s gentle smile returned, “no one is unreachable, but not everyone will choose to believe as you have. There is still much pain in your future.”
My fist clenched at my side as I studied the boy before me. I could feel the depth of him, so much more than he looked as he stood there. Gabriel’s wings fluttered behind me as he stepped forward, “my lord?” The hunter grimaced as he stumbled with the unfamiliar weight.
The child laughed as Gabriel came around me. Adonai held out his hands to touch the wings over the hunter’s back. A light surrounded Gabriel and he shuddered. His wings cracked as they receded back into his shoulders. He sighed in relief before meeting the boy’s gaze with a grateful nod. The boy moved then, walking with a glide over to the golden tree. Reaching up, the branches of the tree moved to meet him, offering him a fruit. It was shaped like a large berry and was golden in color. Adonai smiled as he plucked the fruit off the tree and nodded his appreciation to it, “thank you!” He turned back to us as we gathered around, and extended his hand to me with the berry-like fruit in it.
I took it gently, “is this what we need to make a cure?” I could only hope that it was. I had guessed that the answer lay within the Tree of Life, I could never have guessed the journey to it could go like this. The Angels around us moved, a rustling sound like the wings of a flock of birds the only sound they made as they each took flight.
The little boy took a step back from me and nodded, “everything you seek can be found within that fruit. Not everyone will believe you, and you will not always feel me. Just remember that even in those times, I am always with you.” His voice echoed in the air as he too, disappeared. The garden shimmered around us and I took a step back.
Gabriel steadied me with his hand as the ground shook beneath us, “trust, lass. Remember?” Isaac slid his hand into mine, his gaze steady. I smiled at him, his head no longer marred by the horns, at the permanent scars around his eyes. To me, he was the most beautiful man in the world. A warrior I could never replace. He was mine. I glanced to Gabriel and nodded. He smiled, “aye, that’s the way.”
The garden disappeared, and we dropped out of the sky.
When I woke, I could feel the dead grass underneath me, Adonai’s fruit still clutched in the palm of my hand. A soft moan beside me registered the presence of the men curled up beside me. My body ached all over and I could see the morning dawn begin to creep over the horizon. When my eyes finally fluttered open, the ice-cold presence of the Fallen had me shooting up into a sitting position. I pulled Adonai’s gift into my chest as I shifted into a crouch. Whispers filled the air as the Fallen above us moved, shifting as they stood over us, their glowing red eyes unnervingly still. The fruit… she hasss the fruit…. he hasss given her hisss life…. The voices echoed all around me and I found my head moving this way and that as my mind tried to track it all.
One of the Fallen glided forward in front of me, his presence pushing into my own. It was heavy, and I had to sit back from the weight of it, give it to me, girl, it hissed. I shook my head and the creature came forward again, its head tilting menacingly. This wor
ld isss corrupted. You are corrupted. Humanity is lossst. Give me the fruit!
“If humanity was lost, you would not want the fruit so badly,” I managed as the Fallen pushed its heaviness into me more. I could feel my limbs shaking as I fought it.
“Zakiya,” came an agonized moan next to me and I recognized Isaac’s voice. There was fear in it as he watched helplessly from the ground while the Fallen tormented me. Gabriel said nothing, but I could hear his deep, labored breaths from the combined weight of the dozen or so creatures focused on him. While I had the attentions of one or two, even I could see where most of their focus lay and it wasn’t Isaac or even me.
I clutched the fruit into me. I didn’t know what they meant by it being Adonai’s life, but the more they wanted it, the more determined I was to protect it. My head was pounding as the Fallen in front of me stepped forward again, Zakiya….This whisper against my mind was altogether different, it was soft and familiar. I grinned as I remembered what Adonai had told me. He would always be near. I heaved my head up, boldly meeting the Fallen’s eyes as it hissed through my mind again. Give it to me!
“No.” I said as I struggled to stand under its pressure. The darkness around the Fallen heaved, I could see it clearly in the light of the dawn. “No, I will not be giving this to you.” The Fallen hissed again and stepped back as the fruit in my hand began to glow.
“Zakiya! Your sword!” Isaac said, but I did not have time to look back. For in that moment, Gabriel cried out as, with a snap his massive wings broke out of his back and slammed down in between me and the Fallen. I could hear it screeching as I fell to my knees, its weight instantly released from my mind. Isaac scrambled to me in the next moment, pulling me into his arms. Gabriel knelt before us, his wings covering the three of us like a globe. He was breathing hard and looked far worse than I felt. There were bruise like marks under his eyes and his face was deathly pale.