by Vox Day
“Uff-da!” Christopher grunted as he smashed into the sharp edges so hard that the cavern shook, and stalactites and other stony debris fell into the giant pool of magma. His supernatural strength and angelic form allowed him to survive the blow, but even so, it hurt badly, and he dared not shift into full immateriality lest he lose his grip on the talisman.
“I’ll eat your soul for this, Phaoton!” Jehuel snarled.
They were nose to nose, and for one dreadful moment Christopher thought the angel was going to bite him in the face.
He didn’t have the breath to spit back an answering threat, but made a violent reply by turning his teeth into fangs, and sinking them into the angel-prince’s fingers. Jehuel howled and his grip loosened for a second, but when he transformed the talisman into a small dagger with the blade cutting into Christopher’s fingers, the angel-prince regained any advantage that had been lost. Christopher started to lose his own grip as, moments later, Jehuel hammered him down into the rocky floor near the stone entrance.
Okay, this is not good, he thought as pain exploded through his body again. I can’t take much more of this.
But Melusine threw her sparse weight into the conflict, wrapping her arms around Jehuel’s wings at their base and preventing the prince from leaping towards the ceiling again. Jehuel flexed his shoulders and the great wings sent her flying, but the brief respite was all Christopher needed to get the grip he had been seeking on Jehuel’s right arm.
He pulled the talisman one way, while his forearm, locked behind the angel-prince’s elbow, forced Jehuel’s arm into a painfully straight position. The prince’s greater strength was useless against Christopher’s leverage, and Christopher threw everything he had left into exerting even more pressure on the prince’s arm. Jehuel was able to resist the pain for an inhumanly long time, but at last even his will failed and he was forced to shift into full immateriality, leaving the talisman in Christopher’s possession.
Jehuel was back in seconds with his sword drawn, ready to continue the battle, but Christopher was already diving deep into the lava, speeding directly towards Leviathan’s massive jaws.
“Who art thou?” the deep voice thundered inside his skull.
“Do you want him?” Christopher screamed as the furious angel-prince hurtled towards him through the magma like a winged torpedo of wrath. It was a matter of seconds before Jehuel would be close enough to strike.
The three-headed dragon roared in wordless affirmation.
“Then take him!”
One of the great horned heads abruptly dipped down into the lava, seizing the powerful angel-prince in its dripping jaws like a dog catching a squirrel. Jehuel screamed, more in outrage than in alarm, but as the dragon shook him, the look of fury on his face quickly changed to amazement and then panic. Christopher realized that there was a powerful magic about the Chaos monster that prevented the Seraph from shifting to the spiritual plane and escaping.
Leviathan’s two outer heads roared in triumph, bobbing up and down in some kind of serpentine dance of celebration as the beast threw its middle head back, opened its great maw and swallowed Prince Jehuel whole. Seconds later, there was a mighty detonation from within the torso of the dragon, and the beast belched forth a massive fireball against the far side of the cavern.
It exploded on impact, and white hot phosphorus was splattered all over the huge grotto, burning away the surface of the rocks it struck and hissing angrily as it rained down upon the lake of fire. Of the princely Lord of the Sword, there was no sign except his namesake weapon, buried to its hilt in the rock of the cavern wall.
Christopher and Melusine quickly shifted into the immaterial to avoid the burning rain, but Leviathan could not and his roars of pain were deafening even to their angelic ears. He finally fell silent when the liquid remnants of the Seraph finally ceased burning, and Christopher watched uneasily as his three pairs of yellow eyes raked the cavern from side to side, searching for him.
“I think someone wants to talk to you, Phaoton,” Melusine said, satisfaction mixed with anxiety in her voice. “You’d better show yourself.”
“We should just get… uh, I’m right here, uh, your Beastliness.”
Christopher tried not to flinch or appear uncertain as a massive head suddenly dropped down to within a few feet of his face. Apparently sneaking out wasn’t going to be an option.
“What dost thou ask of me?”
Christopher stared into Leviathan’s huge yellow eyes, but they were impossible to read. Without any clues about what the dragon was thinking, he decided that honesty was the safest path.
“Well, I kind of hate to say it, but it’s pretty much the same thing Jehuel wanted. You know, slay a couple thousand angels, then help us torch what’s left of Heaven while we overthrow the old King and put the Dawn Prince in his place. Sounds like fun, don’t you think?”
“Why should I help thee? Wouldst thou threaten me, as Prince Jehuel was wont to do?”
Christopher considered his answer carefully. As much as he wanted Leviathan’s help, it seemed stupid, not to mention suicidal to try to make the monster do anything he didn’t want to do.
“No, I won’t,” he said decisively. “See, I’d rather work out some kind of deal that would work for both of us, you know? A win-win situation where I’m not having to, you know, keep an eye out to make sure you’re not going to eat me or whatever.”
The great beast snorted. He almost sounded amused.
“I would be free, released from this cursed place to roam the Universe, riding where I choose upon the winds of Chaos. Canst thou do that?”
Christopher eyed the talisman.
“I think I can, maybe. What is this thing, anyhow?” He turned the talisman over in his hand. It was no longer a dagger, but had returned to its original form, a dark, curved object shaped rather like a shark’s tooth, only larger. A lot larger. “Is it one of your teeth?”
“It is. Lord Jehuel hath stolen it from me long ago. My dominion lies outside of the bounds of Order. Once Order is imposed, however slight the imposition, my reign is curtailed and I am bound. To be free again, I must be complete. Until then, I will serve him that beareth that part of me.”
“Hmm. That’s interesting. I would have thought it worked the other way around. You know, a little chaos creeps in and then everything goes to Hell.”
“Mayhap it works that way too. Give me one of thy teeth and we’ll see.”
Christopher laughed. It was pretty awesome that this huge beast had a sense of humor.
“I don’t think so, dude.” He spread his hands and made a suggestion. “What do you think about this? You help me out and we can beat the King of Heaven. You can even eat him too, but if it’s going to be like that indigestion you had with Jehuel, you’d better warn me so I can get the heck out of Dodge. Then, after we win the war, I set you free, as long as you promise not to ever attack me, my friends, or anybody serving the Dawn Prince.”
“What if thine friends choose to attack me?”
“Then the deal’s off and you can go after anybody who attacks you first, me included. Look, I’m not dumb enough to try taking you on, okay? It’s a big universe out there, and there’s plenty of room for both of us. What do you think?”
All three heads bobbed slowly. “We are agreed.”
Christopher exhaled, relieved. “Okay, well, we can’t really shake on it. Do you swear?”
“By my everlasting hatred of Heaven and its King.”
“Good enough for me.” He looked back and saw Melusine smiling at him. She had extricated Jehuel’s sword from the cavern wall and was offering it to him. “Thanks, I could probably use that. But first, how do we get out of here?”
“Thou shalt ride, but first thou shalt free me.” Leviathan lowered two of his giant heads. “It will be most comfortable for thee if thou sittest behind mine ears.”
“Okay, ears it is. How do I free you, then?”
As the dragon informed him, Christopher looked
back at Melusine, looking for confirmation that he was doing the right thing. Melusine smiled and shrugged, as she waved one of Leviathan’s heads away from her. She had no further instructions from Kaym, and Christopher outranked her. For better or for worse, he was on his own.
The scales on the neck of Leviathan’s middle head were harder than rock, and Christopher made a mental note to see about getting a saddle in the future. In the meantime, he shifted back into the spiritual plane, because he had an idea how the dragon intended to free them from this subterranean prison. As Melusine settled in behind him and wrapped her slender arms around his waste, Christopher took a deep breath and looked at the tooth in his hand.
Thy will is mine, my will is thine
Meshakhrer kan, lehaba lesharat
Amen, selah, fiat
When Christopher completed the spell, the great dragon, freed at last, rose from the burning lava, and the hot molten rock dripped from its mighty wings like the last remnants of a cocoon falling away from a newly-wakened butterfly. With a triumphant bellow of victory, the great beast of Chaos flew up towards the unsuspecting rock, eager to shatter the last vestige of its primordial prison.
Chapter 14
Lady of the Tower
Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
—Psalms 96:6
“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”
Jami whirled around, alarmed at the sound of a woman’s voice. She thought she was alone in the gardens that surrounded the Tower of Qawah. Except for a large purplish bruise on her back, Khasar’s crash landing had left her unharmed. But Holli had not woken up yet, and Jami was worried sick about her sister, because she’d been unconscious for two days now.
She turned around and saw a young woman standing behind her.
“I’m all right, thank you,” she replied politely. “But I’m worried about Holli. She’s my sister, you see, and she hasn’t woken up since she got hit on the head a couple days ago. I’m Jami, by the way. Who are you? You sound kind of familiar. Are you one of the angels that rescued us?”
The young woman smiled unselfconsciously. She was rather plain, with medium-length brown hair, but she had a friendly smile and a pleasant way about her. Only her eyes were attractive; they were large and colored an unusually bright shade of green.
“No, I am no angel, just a woman like yourself. But you need not fear for your sister. She will be well, and will awaken when the time is right.”
“How do you know that?” Jami asked sharply. How could she know? No one could, and it wasn’t fair to raise her hopes like that.
“Because I say it will be so.” The woman shook her head. “Is not my word enough for you?”
“No!” Jami snapped angrily, then, as she realized what she’d said, she covered her mouth, mortified.
“I thought not.” Fortunately, the woman did not seem offended. “I remember when I was young and needed to know everything. But take this to heart. It is not always for us to know why things must be, it is only for us to know what we should do, and then to do it. Understanding is good, but obedience is better.”
“Um, okay, I guess.”
“Good, then enough is said.” She turned away from Jami and gestured towards the lush garden in front of them. “Do you like my flowers?”
“Oh, totally.” She was glad to change the subject, and the flowers really were beautiful. “The roses are bigger than any I’ve ever seen before, and those tulips are so pretty. I’ve never even seen blue ones before! My favorites are the lemon trees, though, except I don’t get how they can grow so close to the mountains. Isn’t it too cold for them?”
The woman’s violet eyes sparkled with pleasure at Jami’s words.
“Not in this place. I am glad you enjoy my garden. It reminds me of how beautiful life can be, and how delicate.”
She reached out and delicately snapped a leafy twig off of a nearby lemon tree. The twig was bare, but as Jami watched, a small yellow bud appeared and quickly grew into a firm, full-sized lemon.
“Here, try this,” she said as she offered the fruit to Jami.
Jami stared at her for a moment before accepting it. Was she some kind of witch or something? She must be, if she wasn’t an angel, like she said. Was it safe to eat? There was no way of knowing. Of course, is she was a witch, not eating might be worse.
Jami shrugged and peeled away the yellow rind, which tore easily away from the juicy orange-yellow fruit inside. She hesitated momentarily before popping a section into her mouth, anticipating the familiar sourness of lemon. But she was pleased to discover that instead of tasting sour, the fruit was sugar-sweet, and the lemon taste was flavored with lime and orange as well.
“It tastes like Juicy Fruit!” she exclaimed. Her blue eyes narrowed. “If you’re not an angel, then how did you do that? You’re a witch, aren’t you! I bet you’re the Lady that Khasar told us about. The Lady Tiphereth.”
“I am,” the Lady admitted. “But I am no witch. I must confess, though, this is not my true form. I wear this one at times, when I wish to forget my cares and come to play, here in my garden.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me right away?”
“I cannot say.” The Lady looked away for a moment before explaining. “I think sometimes one grows tired of the burden of always being something rather than someone at times. I don’t suppose you understand what I mean.”
“But I do!” Jami did understand, and she liked the Lady better for it. “Like, when I go over to the Thompsons, I’m always Jami the Babysitter, not just me. It’s like, the kids think I live there, and I only come out of the closet when their parents leave.”
“Exactly,” the Lady laughed, a warm and pleasant sound. Jami laughed too, until she remembered Holli.
“You say you’re not a witch, but how do you know my sister is going to be okay?”
“I know because of a dream I had.”
“A dream?” It was hard, but Jami managed not to scoff.
“Yes, and I will tell you of it. It was three months ago, at a time when I was feeling despair. The armies of Lord Matraya, whose evil arm reaches to the ends of the earth, were on the march again, and for almost a week my nights were sleepless. Finally, worn out by exhaustion and fear, I fell asleep at last.
“In my dream, I found myself standing in the sand before the ocean. I stood before a castle of sand such as the children will build, and as the tide swelled, mighty waters threatened the castle, only to fail inches from the ramparts. This happened many times, and I heard a voice say, ‘be strong in thy faith, daughter, even unto the End of Time.’ Then, in the distance, I saw two seabirds flying low over the water, and out of the sea rose a terrible serpent, which tried to devour them. It failed, but in the attempt it struck one bird, and the wounded bird fell to the earth beside the sandcastle, its wing broken.
“When I approached it, I could see that the birds were not normal seabirds, for they were gold, not white. When the wounded bird touched the sand, its wing was miraculously healed, and just in time, for another serpent rose out of the sea, even more terrible than the first. This second serpent crawled upon the sand, though whether it came in pursuit of the birds or sought the destruction of the sandcastle, I do not know. When it came upon the land, though, the birds flew at it, pecked out its eyes and the serpent fell back into the sea.”
Jami frowned, thinking about the vision.
“So, are you saying that this Tower is the sandcastle and that Holli and I could be, like, the birds?”
“That is my thinking, yes.”
Jami nodded. That made sense, sort of. “Okay, so then the first serpent is the snake-thing that attacked us, Lord Bile or whatever, right?”
“It seems likely.”
“But, here’s the problem. Like, how could Holli and I hurt something like that? We’re just two girls, and even Khasar couldn’t fight that thing.”
“I cannot say. I do know this, that the Lord will provide.”<
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Jami sighed.
“You know, the angels are always saying things like that.”
“In my experience, I have always found it to be so. You asked how I could cause the lemon to grow, remember? I have no power, except that I am an instrument of the Lord. Despite the wisdom of my years, I have found that when I attempt to predict the future and control my destiny, I am usually wrong, and my plans often fail.”
A look of sadness crossed her face. “Even now, I can see the evil seeds of my greatest failure coming to fruition, and yet I have confidence that all will be well in the end.”
“Your greatest failure?”
The Lady smiled.
“It is a long story.”
Jami snorted, unlady-like. “Well, I’m not going anywhere. Not ‘til Holli gets better.”
“I will not tell you now. Some secrets, I must keep for the future. For the present, how would you like a cup of tea?”
Over the next three days, the Lady told Jami many things. She told her about the angels, about the demons, and how the fate of humanity was intertwined with both. She told her about Ahura Azhda, its history, and how the Dawn Prince had won over the soul of Lord Matraya and the hearts of nearly all of his people. And she told her about her own life, and how she had become the Lady of the Crystal Tower so many years ago. Late on the third night, as the dancing flames on the hearth died down to glowing embers, she even told Jami of the failure that still haunted her sleepless nights.
Of one thing only she did not speak, and that was the end of her vision of the birds. For at the very moment the golden birds had leaped into the sky, striking at the second serpent, a mighty wave had swept in from the sea, washing away the little sandcastle. As the serpent fell back, wounded, the birds returned to the beach only to find it empty, devoid of any sign that children had once played there.
Holli woke with a start, and the sudden movement made her head hurt. She winced and ran a hand through her tangled curls as her other hand fumbled blindly for the curtain pull, trying to shut out the bright sunlight that had woken her. The sun was uncomfortably warm, and she realized that her legs were sweating as she kicked off the heavy blankets that covered her.