Between Heaven and Hell

by David Burnett

  Moreover, every plan ultimately culminated in another surprise attack. Adryel saw no reason to suspect that a frontal assault with a hundred fifty soldiers would be any more successful than was the first attack with one thousand. With no way to reach the city, and no better plan of attack should they reach it, the war councils seemed like another waste.

  Eventually, Adryel had turned to drawing and painting as ways to pass the time. As she had when she was younger, she made her own paper using bark from the trees in the garden and she located plants from which she could make dyes. She would sit for hours in the garden, copying the intricate designs of the flowers and carefully mixing the colors so they were identical to those on the blooms. Beliel always made fun of her work, but Lord Lucifer seemed to enjoy her paintings, and they had several placed about in their small cave.

  Adryel passed through the gate, now hanging open, and looked in the direction of the rising sun. The humans had fled in that direction as they had run from the garden. Perhaps they had settled in the hills she could just make out in the distance. No path had been worn across the earth, so Adryel simply set out, with the sun shining on her face.

  Tiny yellow flowers carpeted the ground, poking their heads out from among the blades of grass. A large tree with pink flowers stood off to her right, and bees swarmed around the tree in search of nectar.

  She spotted a rose bush and bent to admire its graceful blooms and to inhale its fragrance, tracing the shape of the flowers with her finger. It made her think of the palace garden, and she suddenly felt sad, but she shook the feeling off, berating herself for sentimentality. The city and everything in it was her past. She had moved on.

  Nothing was going to spoil her adventure today.

  As the sun rose higher and the air became warmer, she sat in the shade of a tall tree to rest. The tree had long, arching branches covered with large green leaves. She leaned against it and she sighed.

  Reaching into the bag she had slung over her shoulder, she took out a piece of fruit and a flask of water. Then, she lay back on the soft grass, her hands under her head, and gazed up at the clouds. As she watched, they seemed to take on shapes. She spotted a dog and a fish almost immediately. The perfectly round cloud to the left reminded her of a plate. She did a double take as she spied what seemed to be an angel. It stepped out from a larger cloud and raised its hand, as if in greeting. Adryel found herself waving in response and then dropped her hand, laughing at herself.

  It would be so easy to fall asleep and spend the afternoon beneath the tree, but she hoped to reach the first of the low hills before the sun went down, and she would need to push herself now if she planned to make it. So, after a while, she dusted off her robe and set out.

  She reached the top of the first hill late in the day, and, spying a tree and a small pond at the bottom, she decided to camp there for the night.

  After collecting wood for a fire, she laid her robe on the grass and stepped into the pond to bathe. She lay back in the cool water, scraping the grime and the stench of Hell from her skin, and she felt clean as she left the pond and twirled around to shake the water from her body. She had done that at home on occasion, but it had been more for Ramael’s benefit than for hers. If they had a pond in Hell in which to bathe, she supposed she would do the same for Lord Lucifer, and she imagined that he would enjoy watching her as much as Ramael had.

  She had thought of Ramael rarely, if at all, in the last several years, but thinking of him now, she suddenly missed him. She imagined he was watching her, and pictured the expression he would likely have on his face, and she twirled a second time, enjoying the sensation. Adryel laughed with pleasure as her body slowly ceased turning.

  From the corner of her eye she caught sight of someone standing beside the pond, and she turned, smiling, so caught up in her fantasy that she called out Ramael’s name without thinking.

  But then her eyes focused, and she gasped. It was a man, yes, but a stranger, and he was staring at her, holding a spear in one hand.

  “Who are you?” They spoke the query in unison.

  Adryel snatched her robe from the ground and held it over her body. The man appeared to be human, but she did not recognize him as Adam, the one who had been in the garden.

  “My name is Cain.” His voice sounded low and menacing “What are you?” He raised his spear.

  “My name is Adryel. I’m a power. An angel,” she added quickly, feeling certain the humans knew of no other creatures who served Adonai.

  “Angels are evil,” the man growled. “One of them deceived my mother, and my parents were forced by angels to leave their home.”

  Adryel was shocked. All these years she had believed that she had gotten away without anyone seeing her, but it seemed Eve had noticed her after all.

  “And another angel stood guard, day after day and year after year, so they could not return.” He drew his arm back, and Adryel began to tremble. She was not certain whether a human could harm a power or not.

  “Not all angels are bad.” Her voice shook as she scanned the area for some means of protection. “Many angels are good.”

  Many perhaps, though not all. . .Adryel wondered if the man would believe her, when she hardly believed it herself.

  He did not relax his stance, holding his aggressive pose as though he would strike at any moment. His eyes narrowed. “I know nothing of good angels.”

  They stared each other down for a long moment. Then, Adryel stepped back and slowly bent to retrieve her robe, her eyes fixed on the man the entire time. After slipping on her robe, she glanced quickly around her campsite, again searching for something to use as a weapon. She’d not even brought a knife with her today.

  Kindling lay ready for her fire, but the wood was piled beside the tree, several steps away. Had it been closer she might have seized a piece to use as a club, or she could have retrieved a branch and aimed it at his head.

  Perhaps she could distract him. She placed her hands on her hips. Her eyes narrowed. “How long have you been watching me? Is such behavior common among humans?”

  He hesitated, lowered his spear, and stared at the ground, his face turning red.

  “Since you entered the water.”

  “How dare you?” Her voice rose. “You should have made yourself known.”

  “But you are so beautiful. Much more than Abi, and. . .”

  “I’m beautiful, and that makes your actions acceptable?” She glared at the man. “Leave. Now,” she ordered. “If you don’t, I’ll call. . .I’ll call Lord Lucifer. He’s an archangel, and if you harm me, he and his army will fall upon you and hack you into small pieces.”

  The man’s head twisted from side to side, looking behind her, in the sky above her, checking the brow of the hill to her right. Adryel heard a muffled roll of thunder in the distance. The man seemed to hear it too, and his eyes became large.

  “Please, no.” He dropped his spear.” I won’t hurt you.”

  Adryel stood still, looking at him for several moments. Then she strolled across her campsite and picked up a large piece of kindling. “Who is Abi?”

  “Abi is my wife.”

  “What is a wife?”

  The man looked confused. “You know. . .she belongs to me. No other man can. . .touch her.”

  “So you have family. How many humans are there?”

  “There are six in my family—my parents, my brother, our wives. I do not know of any others.”

  She searched the nearby hills for any sign of humans. “I don’t see anyone. Where are they?”

  “That way.” Cain pointed in the direction in which she had been walking earlier. “Over that rise.”

  Adryel hesitated. From what Cain had said, his parents were the humans from the garden. If they recognized her. . .Well, what if they did? She tapped the piece of kindling against her leg. She would not be taken by surprise, this time. If they were hostile, she’d simply go on her way. She would enjoy her time on Earth and she could tell Lord Lucifer where
the humans were living.

  “I’d like to meet your family.”

  Cain now seemed to hesitate. “They will be afraid. . .They might harm you, drive you away.”

  “I won’t hurt them. If they want me to leave, I will leave.”

  Cain stared at her for a moment. He took several paces away, and she thought he was going to run, but he turned back. Finally, he nodded. “Follow me.”

  He began to stride toward the low ridge. Stopping as they crested it, Adryel saw a settlement in the valley below. Several tents had been pitched around a large fire pit. A pen stood to one side, containing several dozen sheep. Behind the tents, fields of grain stretched onto a plain that reached toward a range of low mountains just visible in the distance. Nearby, a strange little hill, really just a lump of earth, rose out of the ground as if Adonai had been interrupted before he had completed the ridge.

  “My parents live in that tent.” Cain pointed to one on the other side of the camp. “The other two belong to me and my brother. Our wives and children live with us.”

  Children? So there were more than six.

  “Let me go first.” Cain stepped in front of her and led the way down the hill. As they entered the settlement, they found three women bent over the fire pit. The older one was screaming at the others.

  “Mother, Abi, what’s wrong?” Cain called.

  One woman, she seemed to be about Cain’s age, stood and ran to him.

  “The fire has gone out.”

  “No!” Cain dashed toward the pit and peered in.

  “We were busy preparing our meal, with cleaning, with the animals. We weren’t watching it.”

  Dropping his spear, Cain knelt on the ground and began to blow onto the ashes. Finally, he stood, heaving a deep sigh.

  “What are we going to do?” The young woman seemed about to cry.

  “There is nothing to do, Abi. Perhaps when it rains again, perhaps in a storm. . .” His shoulders slumped.

  The older woman glared at the other women, who seemed much younger, barely adults. “They’re both lazy. Teach them to mind their work.”

  Cain picked up a piece of wood and stepped toward his wife. She sank to the ground, wailing, her hands covering her head.

  “Go ahead. Hit her. She deserves it.”

  Adryel stepped forward. “What’s the problem?”

  As Cain hesitated, turning toward Adryel, Abi scrambled away, joining the other young woman near the fire pit. Once out of Cain’s reach, she turned and stared at Adryel, fear in her eyes. The old woman scowled at her.

  “What is this, Cain? What have you bought home with you?”

  “She’s an angel, mother. A good angel who—”

  “No angels are good. Send her away.”

  “My name is Adryel.” She held out her hand. “I’m not here to harm you.” The old woman ignored her and, struggling to her feet, limped off toward one of the tents. “Send her away. Do it now, before she causes us trouble,” she called over her shoulder. “And beat that wife of yours, or your father will do it when he and the children return. We’ll have no real food to eat because of her.”

  “You can light another fire,” Adryel said.

  The old woman stopped at the door of her tent, regarding her with suspicion, as all eyes tuned to Adryel.

  Cain sighed. “I’ve seen fire come from the sky twice. We were able to capture it once. It may happen again. . .It may not.”

  “You mean you know of no other way to find fire than to wait for Adonai to send it?” Adryel smiled. “I can show you how to make fire.”

  Cain drew away from her, putting out his hand to shield himself. With his other hand, he reached for his spear.

  “What are you, really? An evil spirit? No one can make fire except for Adonai.”

  Adryel laughed. “So he might tell you. All I need is two rocks.” She scanned the ground. “There.” She pointed to the other side of the fire pit at a white rock about the size of her hand. “Abi? Is that your name?” She looked at the young woman. “Can you hand me that one, Abi?”

  Taking the rock, she turned it over. “Good. It’s hard and it has a point. . .Let me look. . .” She searched the campsite, finding the black stone she had noticed near the sheep pen.

  Then, Adryel gathered some dry straw and took a few pieces of kindling from the woodpile.

  “Watch. You strike this rock with this one. If you do it just right. . .” she hit one rock against the other, “then sparks will fly. . .” she hit it again, “and when they land on the straw, it will catch fire.” She banged them together a third time and small sparkles popped.

  “Ooh,” Abi exclaimed. “Can I try it?” She clapped her hands like an excited child.

  “I’ll do it.” Cain reached for the rocks, but Adryel ignored him, handing them to Abi.

  “Surely. Go ahead. Try it.”

  After a few attempts, sparks popped into the air when she thumped the rocks together. Several landed on the straw, and it began to smolder. “Fire,” Abi squealed. “I’ve made fire.”

  Abi blew on the straw softly, and small flames were soon visible.

  “Add some small sticks,” Adryel said. “When they catch, add larger ones. . .Good job.”

  Soon, a fire roared in the pit and a cut of meat hung above the flames. Adryel’s stomach rumbled. It had been years since she had tasted meat.

  “Our evening meal will be late tonight.” Abi sat beside her. “But thanks to you we will have meat.”

  “If you are hungry, I have fruit you may eat.” Adryel reached for her bag. “I collected it in her garden before I set out this morning.” She inclined her head toward Cain’s mother.

  The old woman had been sitting in the door of her tent, talking to her husband, who had returned to see them relighting the fire. Six children played nearby. At Adryel’s words, she stopped in mid-sentence and the entire camp became silent. She stood with some difficulty and hobbled across the camp to stand over Adryel. She peered into the bag, her eyes narrowing with suspicion as she eyed the fruit.

  “Don’t lie to us, angel. No one can enter the garden. It is forbidden.”

  “Oh, that’s right.” Adryel laughed. “Adonai tossed you out. I remember.”

  “He ordered us to leave,” the woman snapped. “We tried to return, but he had placed a guard at the gate, an angel like you.” She paused, looking Adryel up and down. “Well, bigger than you. With a flaming sword. No one has been in the garden since. We would die if we were to return.”

  “You mean the angel would kill you?” She looked at the woman, who nodded.

  Adryel smiled and shook her head. “The angel left years ago. The gates are wide open. Anyone, any creature, can walk through them. I go there whenever I’m on Earth. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, even in its current state.”

  “It was indeed beautiful.” The old woman shuffled back to her tent and sat beside her husband. She described the garden as it had appeared in its glory. Her face was sad, and there was yearning in her eyes. “We were happy in the garden.”

  “Would you like to go back?”

  The woman shook her head. “Adonai would not allow it.”

  “Adonai wouldn’t know,” Adryel sniffed. “It’s only a day’s journey in that direction.” She pointed to the west. “I could meet you. It would be fun.” She looked at the others. Abi and the other young woman seemed to be excited. The men seemed wary.

  “Just the women then. We can swim in the river, stuff ourselves with food, sleep under the trees.”

  “You will die.” The old woman dragged herself to standing. “If you disobey Adonai, you will all die.”

  “Pooh. I’ve been there many times.” Adryel looked up and down her body as she had when disguised as the serpent. “I’m still alive.”

  “Do not toy with Adonai, angel. You should know better.” The old woman stepped into the tent and jerked the flap closed.

  Adryel rolled her eyes, and Abi laughed.

 
; ***

  Three days later, Adryel paused at the portal into Hell, having spent more time away than she had planned. In seven days’ time, she would meet Abi and Mari, the other woman, at the garden’s gate at sunset. The old woman had been insistent that they not go, that Adonai had forbidden it, but the fact that Adryel had survived multiple trips to the garden, paired with the taste of the fruit she had shared, had overcome her warnings.

  One small act of disobedience to Adonai. One small doubt planted in the humans’ minds. What was the saying? From small children do great angels grow.

  As she stepped through the portal, Adryel heard angry voices. A problem? Or simply their common bickering? She sighed. It had been so pleasant on Earth. The voices grew louder as she trudged down the long passage.

  As she stopped just outside of the main cavern to listen, the noise died away and a single voice echoed through the cavern. She knew that voice.

  Peeking around a boulder that partially hid the passage, she saw Dariel looming over the others. His appearance was striking, his brilliant white robe shining in the semi-darkness, a vivid contrast to the soiled clothing worn by Lucifer and his angels.

  She stepped into the cave, lingering at the back of the crowd that surrounded Dariel. She stared in amazement at a group of twelve angels, all female, who huddled in front of him. Had more angels been cast into the pit? Why was Dariel with them? Looking more closely, she saw their faces were bruised. Some of their robes had been ripped.

  “They are coming with me. All of them.” Dariel held up a hand to silence Beliel’s protest. “Your portal to the northern mountains will be sealed. Do not set foot there again.”

  “And if we don’t let you take our females?” Beliel gave an evil smile. “Do you believe that you alone can defeat all of us in a fight?”

  “Beliel, silence,” Lord Lucifer snapped.

  “I likely could not.” Dariel shook his head. “But if I do not return with all of them, my legion will assault your home.” He smirked as he spoke the word home.

  “Do you have weapons?” He studied their faces. “I thought not. We’ll bind you to the rocks nearest the fire, and we’ll seal your portal to Earth.” He cackled at the surprise written on Lucifer’s face.