The War in Heaven (Eternal Warriors Book 1)

by Vox Day

  Eewww, how nasty was that, she thought, completely grossed-out.

  “Mom,” she shouted. “What time is it?”

  Then she froze as she looked past the foot of the bed. In the place where her bedroom door should have been was a giant picture window. Or rather, as she saw when she looked more closely, the window itself was a wall, constructed of clear glass. Wherever she was, it wasn’t home.

  Since her head was still aching, she climbed carefully out of bed and walked over to the window. The scene below her was quite pretty, as a wide blue river wandered lazily through the green grass that covered a series of gentle hills. She realized that her room was high above the ground, and from the curve of the glass walls, it was obvious that she was in a tower of some sort.

  She pushed away the silk curtains that covered the rest of the room and discovered that not only were the inside walls also made of glass, but that there didn’t seem to be a way out. For some reason this discovery seemed kind of funny and she started to laugh, but laughing made her head hurt, so she stopped. For some reason, the pain recalled her fearful flight from the house with Jami and the angels. She also remembered meeting Khasar and riding on his back with Jami, but though she tried to recall more, she simply couldn’t figure out how she had come to be here, in this pleasant, pretty little prison.

  “I hope they didn’t lock you away too,” she told her absent twin as she walked back towards the window and looked down at the river.

  She felt a little like Rapunzel, like a princess locked in a tower, when she saw a rider on a white horse approaching the river. The man was riding hard, and even from this great distance, his mount looked as if it was almost finished.

  “Someday, my prince will come,” Holli sang to herself as she watched the rider, although his plain blue cloak and huddled posture made her think that he was probably a delivery boy, not a prince.

  But it was more romantic to think of him as royalty in disguise, perhaps the crown prince of a great kingdom who would boldly sneak into her glassy prison and rescue her. They would ride madly away, racing to reach his royal castle before the evil witch even realized she was gone. He would be handsome, of course, and kind and loving, and would even have a younger brother only slightly less handsome than her prince, who would himself fall in love with Jami and marry her.

  Swept away by her little fairytale, she gasped as her imagined prince did not hesitate at the river’s edge, but urged his horse directly into the flowing waters. For a moment she feared for him as the tired horse fought against the current, with the river rising almost to its muscled chest. But as the horse reached the midpoint, she saw that its rider knew what he was doing, because the water didn’t get any deeper.

  Then behind her, she heard was a grinding sound, and she whirled around, frightened. But the hand that pushed away the hanging silks was a familiar one, and the face that followed was a very welcome sight.

  “Jami,” she exclaimed joyfully, and this time her sister returned the exuberant embrace.

  “Holli, you’re up! Ohmigod! You have no idea how worried I was.”

  But Holli could see the relief in her sister’s eyes. It surprised her, because she didn’t feel that bad. Why was Jami so upset?

  “How long was I sleeping? It doesn’t look that late.”

  Jami shook her head, still holding Holli’s arms. “You’ve been unconscious for three days, ever since we were attacked by Lord Bile.”

  “Ever since what?” She had no idea what Jami was talking about.

  “You don’t remember being hit on the head? No, I don’t suppose you would. Well, I’ll explain later, because Lady Tiphereth wants me to bring you to her. She knew you’d be awake.”

  “Who’s the Lady Teefer?”

  “The Lady Tiphereth. She’s the Lady of the Crystal Tower, which is here, obviously.”

  Holli tapped the thick walls with her fingertips. Even though her nail polish had mostly flaked away, her nails still evoked a soft ‘chunk-chunk’ sound.

  “Wow. I thought we were going to the Tower of Qawah.”

  Her twin smiled.

  “It’s, like, the same thing. Anyhow, the Lady is really, really nice. She’s, like, the protector of the whole land or something, and she’s so pretty. She dresses like a Queen, and everything in her court is just like something out of the movies.”

  Holli eyed the expensive white silk of the dress Jami was wearing, and fingered her simple shift.

  “I can’t go out in this!” she protested. “Especially not if she’s, like, a Queen.”

  “No, it’s okay,” Jami insisted. “I brought some stuff for you. The Lady said it was for you. It’s out in the hall. She even gave me a brush, so we can do something about that hair of yours.”

  “We’d better,” Holli agreed, ruefully, as she worked at the mass of curls knotted behind her head.

  As Jami helped Holli make herself presentable, she gave her twin a quick run-down of the events of the last few days, starting from their escape from the night shadows. Between Khasar and the Lady, she had learned much about the struggle that had begun for this strange and wonderful land of Ahura Azhda, which the Lady had told her meant ‘the Deathless Kingdom.’

  “But the Lady says that the land is dying, because most of the people are so bad now,” Jami grunted as she finally managed to jerk the brush through a particularly recalcitrant knot of hair.

  “The land is dying?” Holli repeated absently as she reviewed the results of their hasty labor in the little mirror her sister had supplied. “Hmmm. I wish I had some lip gloss. And I can’t believe how chippy my nails are. If I don’t find some polish soon, I’ll have to cut them.”

  Jami gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

  “Oh, what a tragedy! Anyhow, you look fine, especially for a girl who nearly had her brains splattered on the rocks. It’s just a good thing you don’t have any!”

  “And like, you do?” Holli stuck her tongue out. Jami laughed. It was so good to see Holli back to herself again, it made her want to cry. She pinched Holli instead.

  “Ow!” Holli glared at her. “What was that for?”

  “Oh, nothing. The Lady said I’m supposed to bring you down to her right away, and you don’t want to keep her waiting. She’s a queen, after all. Let’s go.”

  Chapter 15

  The Green Rider

  Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.

  —M. Aurelius, IV 17

  Jami held Holli’s hand as she rushed her down the twisting, spiral staircase of the tower. They couldn’t go too fast, though, because like Holli’s chamber, the rest of the castle was made of clear, unflawed crystal and the steps were slippery. The tower was a marvelous building, and she was wishing she’d thought to ask the Lady how it was built when a squad of guardsmen appeared at the bottom of the staircase.

  “Please follow me, Lady Jami, Lady Holli,” the Captain of the Tower Guards said, bowing gallantly. Jami had met him before, and he was a handsome man, although she really didn’t like his thick brown moustache. “The Lady will see you now.”

  “Of course, sir,” Holli replied, favoring him with a charming smile. Jami coughed, and covered her mouth with her hand. She knew Holli wasn’t about to tell the young captain that they didn’t merit the title.

  The captain didn’t seem to notice Holli’s play for attention, though, and Jami thought his eyes looked distant and troubled as they swept unseeing across her sister’s face.

  “I wonder what’s bugging him,” Holli whispered in her ear. Even at fifteen, Holli was used to being appreciated, and she did not enjoy being ignored.

  Something was obviously wrong. Not only had the man looked past the two of them as if they’d been a pair of wrinkled old ladies, but he set a pace that was uncomfortably fast for a pair of girls wearing gowns. That was really weird. Jami knew that the captain normally had excellent manners, and his rudeness did not off
end her, it only worried her.

  “Maybe the rider,” Holli said suddenly.

  “The what?” Jami had no idea what she was talking about.

  “The rider,” her twin repeated. “Before you came in. I woke up and looked out the window and I saw a man riding across the river. He seemed to be in a hurry.”

  “Maybe that’s it.”

  “Think we’ll get to meet him?” Holli’s eyes danced.

  “Oh, Holli, can’t you think of anything but boys?”

  “Got anything better to think about?”

  Before Jami, exasperated, could come up with a good retort, the massive silk curtains that covered the entrance to the reception hall were drawn apart, and they heard their names announced to their waiting audience.

  “My Lady, the Ladies Jami and Holli Lewis, of Mount Arden.”

  “Mount Arden?” Holli hissed under her breath as she took in the small crowd of courtiers, ladies-in-waiting, and guardsmen. She looked for a green cloak, but did not see her rider anywhere. Khasar wasn’t there either, as far as she could tell, not in any of his forms.

  “Well, it sounded better than Arden Hills, don’t you think?” Jami sounded miffed. “We’re supposed to be ladies, after all.”

  Holli did not reply, though, for her gaze was arrested by one of the most spectacularly beautiful women that she had ever seen. Not even the most gorgeous movie star could have rivalled her, and only the angelic perfection of Ariel and Mariel surpassed her. She was neither old nor young, but somewhere in the middle, at that timeless age that combines the best of April and September. There was effortless grace in her every gesture, and Holli marveled not a single dark strand of the complex, upswept coiffure that supported a circlet of silver was out of place. She decided she would have to hate her.

  But unlike most of the beautiful women Holli had encountered, the Lady did not use her appearance to intimidate or unsettle them. Her violet eyes were friendly, even kindly, as she indicated that they should come closer to her glassy throne.

  “My ladies Lewis, I bid you welcome to the Tower of Qawah. I am the Lady Tiphereth.”

  So this was the Lady that Jami was talking about. Holli nodded. She was indeed a Queen.

  Her voice was a rich contralto that was pleasing to the ear. Holli made a polite curtsy, and the people of the Tower applauded warmly, echoing their Lady’s sentiments.

  “Thank you, Lady,” she heard Jami say. “Thank you for the hospitality you’ve shown us for the last three days. And thank you for taking such good care of my sister.”

  The Lady smiled, and tiny lines appeared at the corners of her upturned lips, the only imperfections on her otherwise flawless face. How was that possible, Holli wondered. She had to be at least thirty, but she had almost no wrinkles. Did she have a special skin cream, perhaps? And if she did, would she let Holli have some of it? Wrinkles, she thought, shuddering, had to be the worst.

  “There is no debt, Lady Jami, for it was at my command that you were brought here. If there is an obligation, then it is mine, for I should have foreseen the attack that injured you, Lady Holli. It was only thanks to the Almighty and his brave angels, however, that my mistake did not cost you your life.”

  Holli flushed, embarrassed by Lady Tipereth’s use of her false title. Letting it slide past a nice-looking young guardsman was one thing, but here, in front of the real thing, well, it was just asking for trouble.

  “Um, that’s okay, Lady Tiphereth,” she said awkwardly. “I mean, I had a little bit of a headache for a while, but I’m fine now. And we’re not really ladies, we’re just two girls, you know?”

  “What she means, Lady Tiphereth, is that you should probably just call us Jami and Holli,” Jami explained.

  The audience tittered, but the Lady quelled them with a reproving glance before replying.

  “I would be honored to address you so,” she smiled reassuringly. “Jami, you may recall that when you asked me before to tell you why the two of you had been summoned here, I told you that I would tell you later. Now that Holli is awake, the time has come.”

  The Lady leaned back in her throne and raised her face towards the great chandelier that hung suspended from the high, transparent ceiling. As she lifted her arms, she raised her voice that she might be more easily heard by all those present in the hall.

  “For almost five hundred years I have ruled here, in the Most Holy Name of Our Lord God, who lives and reigns forever.”

  “Hallowed be Thy name,” the audience replied.

  “I was here when the mighty angel of the Lord caused this place to be. I was but a maiden of some thirteen summers, and I watched, hidden behind a tree, as this castle was constructed. It was not built by the hand of man, as some have foolishly insisted in the past, but by the spoken command of a great and wondrous spirit. He was a fearsome being of flame and mist, and when he spoke, the ground shook and trembled, and the river tried to hide inside its banks.”

  The Lady waved her hand, and Holli felt as if she were there, as if she was the young girl hiding in the woods, watching in awestruck wonder as the elements themselves obeyed the spirit of God.

  “I was frightened, but despite my fear, I found that I was curious too. I thought perhaps I should run, but where can one hide when the world itself is quaking. Then the spirit gave a great shout, and out of nothing, nothing at all, this tower appeared, on this very hill. It was as if the air had suddenly become solid, for the tower was pure crystal, in all aspects complete, just as it is today. I was so surprised by this miracle that I forgot my fear, and I wandered out from the woods in a daze of disbelief and awe.

  “I wanted to touch the glass, to know that it was real, and not a fevered summer daydream. Then, from behind me, I heard the spirit speak, and my heart was seized with fear.”

  “Don’t be afraid,” he said, and as he addressed me, he transformed into the appearance of a gentle old man, with a beard that was as white as snow.

  “Are you a magician?” I asked. “Surely you must be one of the great Mages of the east, of whom it is written that even the angels bow before them. Will this be your great tower of sorcery, and shall I be your acolyte?”

  The Lady paused a moment to reflect, and her gaze dropped from the ceiling to meet Holli’s eyes.

  “What you must understand is that I knew nothing of the true Lord, for my parents were followers of the Dawn Prince and his unholy ways. I had never heard of God, nor of Heaven, nor of the life beyond death that awaits the Faithful,” she explained before continuing with her story.

  “His wrinkled face was red with anger, but it was not with me that he was wroth, for he turned west, towards the great city of Aurora, and pronounced a terrible vengeance upon it. Then he told me of the True God, of the world beyond this one, and of the life to follow. I took his words into my heart, and when he saw that I believed, he gave the Tower into my care and said that I should live as long as it would stand, clear and incorruptible, a light in the darkness pointing the way towards Heaven.

  “I thanked him, for I accepted his charge and I believed his promise, and you can see that he spoke true, for last year did I not celebrate my four hundred and ninetieth summer?”

  Holli’s eyes narrowed in disbelief, but when she elbowed Jami, the sharp grey eyes of the Lady caught the movement.

  “You do not believe me? Ah, well. Ages pass and cities fall, but people never change.”

  She smiled and continued.

  “When I asked what purpose this Tower should have, he answered me strangely indeed. He raised his voice and sang a little song.”

  This world has no explanation

  For the wonders in Creation

  And lo, forsooth, in Beauty, Truth

  In Truth, Beauty, there thy duty

  ‘til this Tower of Strength shall fall

  The End of Days awaits thy call

  “Of course, I did not understand at the time, but as centuries pass, my knowledge deepens, and now I understand. In a world of darkness,
ugliness, and sin, there is no way for the people of the Dawn to explain away the existence of this Tower and its people. You all know how they avoid it and us, and deny our existence. Their golden temples are but castles made of sand in comparison, their artistic masterpieces are seen for lies, and their claims of power are exposed for falsehood, for they can never hope to compare with the splendor and majesty of the Lord, not even with us, the least of his creations.”

  The Lady’s voice grew stronger as she dismissed the shining world surrounding her Tower, but even as she reached a crescendo, her eyes fell and a grim look crossed her face.

  “But I have failed in my duty, for corruption has entered this place, through your complacency and my own misdeeds. As time passed, and Matraya’s armies learned to pass us by thanks to the strength of our walls and the swords of our men, we ceased to live by faith, trusting instead in our own strength. We became soft as we sought pleasures to fill our worldly desires, and decadent as we turned the wealth with which the Lord blessed us towards our own selfish purposes rather than His.”

  She bowed her head and cleared her throat. Then she looked up, and her honest gaze swept firmly across the assembled gathering.

  “Many of you know my son, Bel Mavor. He has been my joy and my heart for twenty years. But he is also the lasting sign of my sin, the capstone of the corruption into which we have slowly fallen. You know that I married his father thirty years ago to secure an alliance with the people of Sepharvaim when we felt threatened by Matraya’s waxing power. What you do not know is that I disobeyed the angel of the Lord when I did so, refusing to trust in the Lord to protect us instead of the arms of mortal men.”

  “Lady, you have done no wrong,” Holli heard a man protest from the rear of the room.

  “You know not of what you speak,” the Lady rebuked him. “When my son was born, an angel came to me in my chambers, and told me that because of my sin, his father would fall before the shattered walls of Sepharvaim within the week. This would be a foreshadowing, he said, of our own fall. Ten days later, word came that Sepharvaim had been taken by Matraya, and that my husband was dead.”