by Vox Day
Without looking back at the fallen beast, Lokhael had already turned his attention to two of the other false angels, striking them down with a forehand-backhand combination that was lighting-quick and deadly. As he spun around, he saw one of the two survivors had already taken to its heels, but the other was standing frozen in place, its bestial jaws gaping wide in stunned disbelief.
The warrior-angel leveled his sword at the imposter’s furred throat as its companion disappeared into the dark shadows of the woods.
“There are many who pretend to godhood who do not have the right. So tell me, if you will, in whose name you make this claim?”
Chapter 19
Last Days of the Faithful
That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
—Genesis 18:25
Jami was worn out from their long flight, and she was amazed when Khasar pointed out it was only noon. She preferred riding with him instead of with Jhofor, who could only be persuaded to talk about serious things. As the sun reached its peak, a small city appeared on the horizon. It was basically a walled village, but it wasn’t the limestone walls or the tall spires of its temple that caught Jami’s eye. What grabbed her attention was an army of men that surrounded those walls, a large army nearly twice the size of the one she’d seen destroyed at the Crystal Tower. Khasar muttered something about the demons that accompanied it, and though she couldn’t see them, she could feel their invisible, oppressive presence like a heavy weight on her chest. It was a feeling she was really learning to hate.
“Can you see them, Holli?” she shouted over her shoulder.
“Oh, Jami, there’s so many of them, so many!” Sure enough, the Lady’s gift was real. “And they’re ugly, just so ugly. I hate them, I hate them!”
“Hold tight,” Khasar said abruptly, and Jami alertly grabbed a firm hold on his mane.
“What are you— ulp!”
She didn’t finish her sentence as the Archon pulled in his wings and dove towards the ground. A hail of arrows arced through the air, passing just over her. Horrified, she whipped her head around and was relieved to see that Jhofor and Holli had evaded the attack.
“Khasar, where did that come from?” she shouted.
“Matraya’s men,” Khasar growled shortly. “Shooting at us.”
“So make us invisible or something!”
“I can’t.”
“What?” Jami didn’t believe him. “Of course you can. You’re an angel!”
“Prince Gabriel told me not to. It isn’t in the prophecy.”
The prophecy? What prophecy? She would have asked him, but he banked suddenly to the right, taking her breath away and nearly throwing her out of her seat. Three arrows flew past her ear, inches wide of the mark, but one slammed into the Archon’s left shoulder with a meaty ‘thunk’.
“Grrraauuuwlll!” Khasar snarled, but Jami saw the embedded shaft didn’t slow him down as he kept flying towards the city. Because of his dive, they were flying very low now, below the level of the city’s thirty foot-high stone walls, but as they came closer, the Archon redoubled his efforts and began climbing higher into the sky.
They were close enough now that Jami could see the hurried activity of soldiers rushing about behind the walls, and she suddenly realized that the arrow that had hit Khasar came from the city, not the enemy army. She watched with horror as an archer wearing a conical helm lifted his weapon and drew the bowstring back to his cheek. She saw him close one eye as he took aim at her chest, and knew he was too close to miss.
“Khasar, watch out! He’s gonna shoot me!”
“Just hold on,” came the terse reply.
Jami screamed hopelessly as the archer released his shaft, but before it flew off the bow, Khasar threw himself upwards, placing his body between Jami and the arrow. She could feel his body shudder as the arrow buried itself deep within him, but his wings didn’t stop beating for a second.
Ohmigod! That was too close. She concentrated on breathing, on hanging on to Khasar’s mane.
“Grrrrraaauuuuuuwwwlll! Oh, but that did NOT feel good!”
“Khasar!” Jami wailed, suddenly realizing that falling to the ground from this height would kill her as surely as any arrow. “Don’t die on me now!”
But Khasar was an immortal angel after all, and it took more than a mortal arrow to finish him off. They were nearly at the wall when she heard the brassy call of a trumpet blowing. There was a short blast, then a second, and with the third, the sun went dark. The sky was suddenly darker than midnight, a frightening shadow broken only by the distant stars. It was as if an eclipse appeared out of nowhere, a huge object obscuring all Ahura Azdha in its massive shadow.
Jami breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the blinded archers shouting and milling about in confusion and realized that she was safe, at least for the moment. Despite his terrible wounds, Khasar seemed to be all right, and she guessed his divine nature was somehow protecting him. She looked around for Holli and Jhofor, but couldn’t find either of them in the unnatural darkness.
Torches were just being lighted to the south as they sailed silently over the walls of Chasah. Jami still couldn’t see much, but Khasar’s eyes were better than hers, and he landed easily on the ground just inside the south gate of the city. Moments later, she heard a flutter of feathers, then the deep patter of large paws landing heavily nearby.
“Jami, are you there?” she heard her sister whisper.
“Yeah, I’m all right. Khasar got hit by an arrow, though. Are you okay?”
“Oh, no!” Holli gasped. “We’re fine, but did you just say Khasar got shot?”
“Shut up, girls,” Khasar hissed. “I’m fine, now be quiet.”
“Who’s there?” an unfamiliar voice called, and Jami shut her mouth, hoping the darkness would conceal them.
The unseen stranger sounded suspicious, even afraid, and Jami didn’t blame him. With an enemy army surrounding the city, giant winged lions flying into it, and the day turning unexpectedly into night, fear was the only reasonable response. Of course, a scared dog was more likely to bite, but even so, she couldn’t help feeling something in common with the poor guy.
“Show yourselves!” she heard another voice command.
From all the footsteps and clanking weapons, she could hear that there were a lot more than two people surrounding them now. She wasn’t sure what she should do, but it seemed that staying motionless and keeping her mouth shut was her best option. At least she wouldn’t give herself away by bumping into someone.
Then, just as abruptly as it had gone dark, the sun reappeared. Jami blinked. It was a cloudless sky, and the sudden brilliance dazzled her eyes so much that she dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands.
“Fiat lux,” she heard Khasar say, chuckling, but she didn’t know why. “Be brave, little one.”
Then he was gone.
“Khasar!” she yelled. “Where are you going? Get back here, you jerk!”
It only took a few moments for her eyes to readjust, but by the time she was able to open her squinting eyes wide enough to see anything, a group of armored men were gathered in a circle around her, pointing wicked-looking spearheads at her. She didn’t see Holli anywhere, and Khasar was gone too. She was completely alone.
Except, of course, for the guys with the spears. Fainting would come in real handy right about now, she thought, as they stared at her with open fear and distrust. Too bad I don’t know how.
“I—” she started to say, but they would not let her speak.
“Silence!” a thin-faced angry-looking soldier yelled at her, his face twisting with fury. “You be quiet now! Don’t let her speak or she’ll cast a spell on us!”
Spell? Ha! I wish.
“What should we do then, Safek?” another man asked, jabbing his spear uncomfortably near her face.
&
nbsp; “Koser’s got another one right over there,” the thin-faced man said. “Bring her over there… Matraya’s manhood! Will you look at that! Koser, look at this. They’re just the same!”
Jami saw another group of men were surrounding her sister. Holli was standing in the shadow of the walls on a small, dusty street, right in front of a group of small brick houses that were built into the walls. Chasah was bigger than the Crystal Tower, but it seemed to be more poor and violent. She shook her head, wondering why Khasar had disappeared so suddenly and what in the world she was supposed to do now.
She watched, alarmed, as a tall man with a thick black beard left the group surrounding Holli and walked confidently towards her. Two of his men forced Holli to follow behind him, holding her arms pinned behind her back. One of the men was angrily rubbing a fresh bruise under his left eye and the other’s face was scratched. Despite the lousy situation, Jami grinned. Kittens had claws, and so did her sister. It’s just that Holli’s were painted a pretty shade of pink.
“Look, Koser, she looks just like the other one!”
“Do I look blind to you, Safek?”
The thin-faced man cringed before the other’s acid tone. He looked so much like a weasel that Jami almost laughed.
“N-no, Koser,” he stammered. “I was just saying-“
“Yes, I heard it the first time.” The bearded man turned his attention back to her. “You do look just like the other—”
“You can’t let her speak, Koser!” Safek protested. “She’s a witch!”
His cry was echoed by the crowd.
“She’s a shapeshifter!”
“A demon come to destroy us!”
Koser ignored the surrounding soldiers and turned a withering look on Safek.
“Hold your foolish tongue!”
“But—”
“I will send you on a one-man sortie before nightfall if you interrupt me again. I swear I will, Safek. Do you understand me?”
Safek nodded miserably. The bearded man glared at him a second longer, then turned back to face her again. He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at Holli.
“You look just like her. Is it some kind of magic trick? Are you here to help our attackers? No, don’t answer me, just nod your head, yes or no.”
Jami frowned and shook her head. If he wasn’t going to let her talk, one question at a time would be nice.
“Are you witches? Demons?”
She shook her head again.
“Then how did you get inside the walls? My men tell me that they saw you flying from the west on some kind of winged beasts. Was it your doing that turned day into night?”
Jami didn’t know how she was supposed to answer him without talking, but it was pretty clear from all of the white knuckles gripping the spears pointed at her that this was not a good time to argue. She shook her head.
The bearded man shrugged and drew a knife from his belt.
“I don’t know why I’m even bothering to ask you anything. You seem harmless enough, but with an army camped outside our walls, we can’t afford to take any chances. Maybe you’re not one of Matraya’s witches, but there’s only one way to be sure….”
Jami stepped away from him and tried to scream, but a soldier grabbed her from behind and shoved a thick wad of cloth into her mouth. She heard Holli cry out, but with her arms pinned, that was all she could do. The curved blade arced back and she saw the corded muscles in the man called Koser’s arms bulge as he started to bring it slashing back towards her exposed throat.
“Drop that blade, Koser Vadout, you accursed fool!” she heard someone shout. “Would you destroy our very deliverers?”
Jami held her breath as the forward motion of the blade suddenly stopped. It seemed to hang in the very air for an agonizing, endless moment. She felt as if her heart stopped beating, and knew her fate was hanging by a very tenuous thread. Then a querulous old man leaning on a twisted staff marched stiffly up to the big bearded man and pushed the blade away from her. Her rescuer pointed an accusing finger at the bigger man and began to lecture him.
“How blind you are! Can you not see salvation when it drops from the heavens right before your eyes? Have the Faithful grown so sick with fear that we snap like dogs at those who come to save us? Praise the Lord, friends, let us all praise the Most High, for I tell you the deliverance for which you have prayed is before your very eyes!”
The big soldier was stunned speechless. Even the unsettled crowd was hushed for a moment, taken aback by the fervor of the old man. But their silence did not last long, and their mood quickly turned to anger at his interference.
“Get out of here, Havtah!”
“Forget him, Captain, kill the witch!”
“Kill them both, and stone the charlatan!”
But Koser had already returned his dagger to his belt. Thank God for that! He raised a commanding hand and the crowd again was quiet.
“Your wisdom is well-known, Father Havtah, and I honor you in the memory of my own father, may God rest his soul. But you say these are our saviors… tell me, how can two girls save us from the army camped outside our walls. Matraya’s men outnumber us twenty-to-one, and even as we speak, another army attacks the Crystal Tower. There will be no help from the west this time.”
He sounded like a reasonable man, and Jami almost found herself sympathizing with the difficult position he was in. She and Holli didn’t exactly look like warriors. Considering the bizarre means of their arrival, she couldn’t blame the people for being suspicious of them.
Father Havtah, however, didn’t see things her way.
“Have you forgotten the prophecy, you muscle-headed dolt?” he lambasted the captain.
“What prophecy?”
“From the book of Hatsallah Anshei!”
“Um, yes, of course, but…” Koser paused uncertainly. “Which one would that be?”
“The only prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled!” Havtah rolled his eyes, as if unable to believe the depth of the ignorance that surrounded him. “Regarding the last days!”
The old man turned to the crowd and lifted his staff, waving it dramatically in wide circle about him. He looked up to the skies, and despite his aged voice, his words resonated with a power that was rich and deep.
The morning sun shall fail
And shadowed sky unveil
Hark! The trump shall blow three times
In the last days
Two alike as one shall ride
Upon the wings of angels pride
One shall be fair and pure in light
One shall be fair and shining bright
In the last days
In those days the Foe will quake
Before My wrath the earth will break
Rocks will shatter, mountains fall
The void shall triumph over all
Silent witness to the power
And the glory of the Lord
There was an respectful silence as Father Havtah finished, and many people leaped when the old man punctuated the prophecy with a loud crack of his staff on a nearby brick. Jami felt the soldier release her, and with her hands now free, she quickly removed the foul-tasting cloth from her mouth before it made her gag again. Holli rushed to her side and hugged her.
“Oh, Jami, Jami! I thought… I thought they might….” She couldn’t finish the thought. “I saw them. It was the bad spirits whispering to them, trying to get them to hurt you.”
“They were just scared,” Jami reassured her, although she was still pretty shaken herself. The bad spirits? She stopped and stared. “You mean you can see the angels? Then where are Lokhael and Khasar?”
“I couldn’t see them, just the bad ones. Wait, there they are!”
Jami stared at Holli as she put her hands on her hips and glared at a wall. There was nothing there, and then, a moment later, Khasar, Jhofor, and Lokhael suddenly appeared. They didn’t look very upset, and their apparent lack of concern infuriated Jami. She was just about to lay into them whe
n Holli beat her to it.
“So where were you guys while that guy with the beard was about to chop Jami up?” she demanded.
“We never left,” Khasar protested. “Except for Lokhael, we were at your side, but we had conceal ourselves so the dark ones did not know we were here.”
“You left me, Lokhael?” Jami accused the bronze angel. “Nice! I’m surprised the Lady lasted so long with you protecting her. I’ll be lucky to make it a week!”
The handsome archangel stared back at her, unperturbed.
“Who do you think fetched Father Havtah?” he said.
Oh.
“Uh, thanks,” she muttered, blushing as Khasar grinned mockingly at her.
The old man, meanwhile was staring at her as if they’d suddenly grown ten feet tall.
“Who are you talking to?” he asked. “Do you see them?”
“See who?” Jami asked.
“The angels! Was it the angels that brought you here?”
“Well, yeah. Oh, that’s right, you can’t see them now, I’ll bet.” She turned to Khasar. “Would you do me a favor and show yourself to this guy? I guess he saved my life, so I figure I owe him, you know?”
Instead, Khasar grinned mischievously and caused glowing halos to appear around her and Holli, bathing them in a pure and holy light.
Jami stepped back as the crowd of people again began to point at her, but this time in awe and wonder rather than fear.
“They are angels!” they cried.
“Save us, Holy Ones!”
“Yes, save us!”
“Save us from the fury of the Foe!”
Koser approached her warily. His face was full of wonder, but his dark eyes were guarded, as if he feared their retribution.
“I, ahem, apologize.” He would not meet her eyes. “I should not have lifted my hand against you, divine one. I only beg that you not hold my people responsible and let your anger fall on me. Do not leave them without hope because of me.”