White Angel
Page 10
“No, they wouldn’t go along with that.”
“Having endured the pain of creating life, mothers know the value of life. They’re not as quick to throw it away as men are. And I’ll tell you what, Marcheto, if you lose the support of mothers, you’ll lose the war.”
“But what if mothers aren’t willing to support a war?”
“Then don’t go to war.”
“When is a war justifiable, then?”
“When the well-being of one’s family is at stake. You shouldn’t go to war over land, gold or precious jewels. You fight to protect your family.”
“What about ideals? What about defending what you believe in?”
“There’s no ideal greater than protecting one’s family. All else is second to that.”
“Swarenth killed your father.”
“Yes.”
“He killed your mother, brothers and sisters.”
“Yes.”
“He took your family from you.”
“Yes.”
“And he took Dominion Castle, a place that’s been home to your family for hundreds of years.” “Yes.”
“So you want him dead.”
“Yes.”
“Putting one’s family first both simplifies and clarifies things, doesn’t it?”
“Exactly.”
“This is kind of exciting. I’ve never heard things explained like this before.”
“That means you haven’t spent enough time listening to women. They could have told you all of this long ago.”
“I’ve never felt as alive as I do now,” Marcheto said to Eldwyn. “King Tarlen’s a man of strong emotions.”
“Yes, if anything, he’s that,” Eldwyn agreed.
“I want to serve such a king,” Marcheto declared. “We all live free, or we go down together.”
“That’s illogical,” Eldwyn pointed out.
“Logic be damned,” Marcheto said. “I’ll live by my heart or not at all.”
Eldwyn turned to King Tarlen and said, “I told you this one could be trusted.”
“You did indeed.”
“We’ll all need to trust each other, if we’re going to have any hope of pulling this off,” Chaktar said. “Marcheto, our strategy is simple. Eldwyn will teach you an incantation that will enable you to turn yourself into a gargoyle.”
“Wonderful,” Marcheto laughed, again revealing his nervousness. “I wonder how Aerylln will feel about being in a relationship with a hairy winged ape?”
“Hopefully you won’t have to be one for long,” Chaktar said. “If we can get into the compound where the tigers are, we should be able to solve this particular problem quickly.”
“If we pull this off, what do we do next?”
“If all goes as planned, King Tarlen, Captain Polaris, their 20 warriors and as many big cats as we can get to join us will take control of the castle’s front gate and will open it,” Chaktar said.
“But before that, Chen and 100 of her warrior women will take the place of half the village women who go into Dominion Castle each day to service the gargoyles. After they get inside, they’ll help us storm the front gate,” Captain Polaris said. “Lord Pensgraft, General Tark and as many warriors as they can gather will have made it up the mountain trail by then, hopefully, and will ride into the castle.”
“Facing 10,000 gargoyles?”
“Yes, facing 10,000 gargoyles.”
“How many warriors do my father and Lord Pensgraft have at this point?”
“Around 2,500.”
“What about Balzekior?”
“Flame has an idea about something that might cut the demon woman’s power.”
“Like what?”
“She wouldn’t tell me. She said we had enough to worry about on our own.”
“This is overwhelming,” Marcheto said.
“Oh, no, it’s much worse than that,” King Tarlen said smiling ruefully. “This plan was overwhelming even before I got a lance rammed right through me.”
“What could possibly be worse? I mean, what happens if things don’t work out exactly as planned?” Marcheto asked nervously.
“Oh, then it becomes suicide,” Captain Polaris said grimly.
“I’m sorry I asked.”
“Want to know what’s even worse than that?” Chaktar asked smiling.
“Oh great, a happy tiger, just what I needed. Okay, tell me what’s worse than that.”
“Dying and still having to come back to fight in this mess. That’s what happened to Prophet, and he’ll be tagging along with you and me when we go across that bridge.”
“Well, an unseen tiger warrior angel should be a help.”
“Invisible to gargoyles, but Balzekior will be able to see him.”
“Don’t you have any good news?” Marcheto asked in frustration.
King Tarlen spoke up. “The prophecy.”
“Tell me about it again, please,” Marcheto said eager for any shred of hope.
“Mother Protector, the prophetess at Hawthorn Village, predicted that Aerylln would come forth.”
“Please tell me what she said specifically.”
“Her name will be White Angel, and she will lead your army to victory.”
Marcheto thought, And I’m dating this girl. Not bad, given that I’m General Tark’s youngest son. I was always treated as the baby of the family. No, not bad at all.
“I’m Aerylln’s boyfriend,” he said, bragging a little.
“Lucky dog,” Captain Polaris said.
“Yes, I am lucky, aren’t I?”
“We had all better be, or we’ll be neck deep in lava and gargoyles,” Chaktar said.
But once more, Marcheto thought about Aerylln and said to himself, Her name will be White Angel, and she will lead the king’s army to victory.
He was proud of her. So very proud.
Chapter 10
Dominion Castle, at the base of the mountain. A few days later, after dark.
Flame, a humanoid woman created from hot coals and fire, was making her way along the banks of one of several rivers of lava surrounding Dominion Castle. Each river was hundreds of yards wide with a seemingly endless supply of red- hot molten rock coursing through it. The flaming lava, which had reached the surface through fissures in the earth’s crust far below the base of the mountain, was producing a heat so blazingly intense that it scorched the air filling the nighttime sky with noxious fumes.
Flame, though reluctant at first to accept her role, was turning out to be an excellent spy, easily blending in with the inferno surrounding the castle and going about unnoticed. Having just completed an underground exploration, Flame was excited over a discovery she felt would prove vital to the success of their mission and was eager to report back to Chen and Aerylln.
“I think I’ve found a chink in Balzekior’s armor,” Flame said proudly upon reaching them. Also awaiting the fire woman’s report were Marcheto, Baelfire, Zorya and Jewel. All had been keeping a safe distance away from the rivers of fire and for a shield were standing behind some blackened tree trunks whose charred branches twisted up into the nighttime sky.
“What do you mean?” Chen asked.
“Balzekior derives her power from the lake of demon lava that’s in an underground cavern beneath Dominion Castle, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I dove several thousand feet below the surface and found something very interesting.”
“And that would be?” Chen asked impatiently.
“The cavern is huge, storing vast amounts of flaming evil within thick walls carved from solid rock. But there’s a thin crack on one side running all the way from top to bottom.”
“How does that help us?” Chen asked in a skeptical tone of voice. Dressed from the neck down in skin-tight black leather and often known as the black leather panther, any optimistic viewpoints came under heavy scrutiny from this woman who was so well-versed in the arts of war.
“It’s leaking.”
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��What do you mean it’s leaking?”
“Lava is seeping out of it. I found one spot where the crack was more than a foot wide. I was able to squeeze through and you won’t believe what I found!”
“I can’t wait to find out,” Chen said cynically, the black leather panther being a woman who rarely expected good news.
“It’s something really helpful,” the fire woman said anxiously, suddenly worried that her discovery might be deemed unworthy and rejected.
Even though impervious to red-hot molten rock, Flame had a weakness. Criticism of any kind from Chen wreaked havoc on her emotions. Suddenly feeling subdued, the fire pouring off this humanoid bonfire rapidly diminished along with her sense of excitement.
Jewel, being sensitive to her friend’s moods and how little it took to trigger them, acted quickly to avert disaster by jumping into the conversation.
“Tell us, what did you find?” Jewel asked beaming at her friend while rubbing her back in a reassuring manner.
“Well, I found a passageway leading to a much larger cavern far below the one holding the lake of lava. This new cavern is totally empty,” Flame said struggling to pull herself together.
“That’s really great,” Jewel said giving her friend a big hug. “Isn’t it?” she asked looking over at the black leather panther.
“Flame, calm down and take a breath. There’s no need to get so upset. Just explain how this is going to help us,” Chen said softening her tone so as not to throw Flame completely for a loop.
The black leather panther wasn’t always so sensitive to other people’s feelings, but she didn’t want this ball of fire in humanoid form going off the deep end, at least not now. When Chen needed a person, she could be reasonable, smiling a little and moving closer to her ally or intended victim, whichever the case may be. She’d even exude good will, provided the person held the key to something she wanted and wanted badly. Then, after bestowing this tantalizing shower of seductively penetrating emotion upon the person, god help him if he didn’t deliver the goods.
Believing that one’s level of affection for a person should be directly linked to his potential usefulness, Chen ignored those having no immediate value to her. One day she would heap lavish attention on someone, followed by gross indifference once she got what she needed. Chen was as coldly pragmatic as she was wildly mercurial. She was a mass of contradictory impulses although she did have three consistent traits. She was dangerous, opportunistic and she could fight. Very dangerous, very opportunistic and very skilled with a sword. A form of stability that wasn’t exactly reassuring to those who fell into disfavor with her.
Flame took a deep breath, tried to steady her nerves, and said, “If you have a bowl of water, what would happen if a thin crack running from top to bottom was suddenly forced apart?”
“The bowl would shatter, and its contents would spill onto the floor.”
“Well, Balzekior’s cavern of lava has a thin crack running from top to bottom. If we can split it wide open, we can drain the lake, and a lot of the demon woman’s power will go with it.”
“You want us to drain an underground cavern full of lava into a much larger cavern located several miles farther down?” Chen asked.
“Yes.”
“Your brain’s been fried by all that lava you’ve been swimming around in,” Chen said smacking Flame on the back of the head.
“Master, it would be like cracking open an egg.”
“And this egg, this first cavern filled to the brim with lava, is located how far below the surface?”
“A few thousand feet, I suppose.”
“How do you plan on getting us down there?” Chen asked, anger building up inside of her. She hated when people delivered optimistic news without having the slightest idea of how to capitalize on it from a practical standpoint.
“We could swim down,” Flame said.
“Tell me, why are all of us, except for you and Jewel, hiding behind these tree trunks?”
“Because otherwise you’d get burned to a crisp?”
“Right.”
“I’m sorry, I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly. It’s just that when I saw the crack in the cavern wall, I got all excited.”
Chen became discouraged and thought, Why do I always have to be the one who sees the flaws in everything? Why can’t others see problems that are blatantly obvious to me?
“Most people don’t have the courage to see what you see,” Aerylln said dreamily, as if she hadn’t been giving her full attention to the conversation.
“What?” Chen asked shocked that Aerylln had addressed her thoughts.
“People see what they want to see, ignoring the negative,” the teenage girl said, not quite aware that she had read Chen’s mind.
“Aerylln, I wasn’t speaking. How could you know what I was thinking?”
“Oh, that’s nothing so unusual, at least not for her,” Zorya said.
“But I’ve never seen Aerylln do anything like that before.”
“There are many things she can do that you haven’t seen before. Many things.”
“Like what?”
“To begin with, if she puts her mind to it, she can bust the crack in that cavern wall wide open.”
Chen was completely silent for a moment. When she found her voice, all she could whisper was, “Really?”
“Yes.”
“Take me out of my scabbard,” Baelfire told the teenage girl. Aerylln did so slowly and cautiously, knowing that sometimes her powerful sword released incredible amounts of energy when unsheathed. However, the magic sword had something different in mind this time.
“Flame, wrap your arms around Aerylln, and I want everyone else to form a circle around us,” Baelfire said as little purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red sparks appeared and began swirling around the humanoid bonfire, the young woman and the magic sword.
“Why am I not burning up?” Aerylln asked in surprise as she felt Flame’s arms encircling her waist.
“I tend to grow on people once you get used to me,” Flame smiled.
Jewel cleared her throat loudly.
“Jealous?” Flame asked.
“Of course not, she’s just a girl.”
“Aerylln, hold me over your head,” Baelfire said staying focused.
The heir to the Sword of Light did as she was told. Then Baelfire shouted, “Okay, Marcheto, now!”
The young mystic gripped his wizard’s staff with both hands, held it out horizontally while bracing himself and said, “Firematica infernato enflamertatora engulfhermatius!”
Nothing happened.
Zorya looked over at Marcheto and raised an eyebrow. Chen stared hard at the apprentice wizard. The black leather panther didn’t know what went wrong or what should have occurred, but one thing she hated worse than optimism was failure.
“Eldwyn’s always bragging about how good you are,” Chen said with venom dripping from her voice. “Don’t let the old man down.”
Marcheto blushed, aware that Aerylln’s stepmother had just rebuked him. The young wizard looked over at his girlfriend nervously, and she smiled and said, “Come on, you can do it. Make me proud of you.”
Aerylln believes in me, Marcheto thought, and he suddenly felt a surge of energy careening through his system. It was as if the forces of creation were unleashing themselves upon him. Further bracing himself, Marcheto stepped forward with his right foot, lowered his head and stretched out his arms holding the staff in front of himself horizontally as far as he could reach. Then, with all his might, the young mystic shouted, “Rimoria, dentaritacma, lumatiray lucas!”
A beam of purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red light shot out from the entire length of the wizard’s staff slamming into Aerylln who began shape-shifting up and down her own time line. She became 30-years-old, then 50, 21, 80, 45, 60 and 25. One by one, the Council of Aeryllns reappeared, ten other versions of the teenage girl ranging in age from 20 to 29.
The 29-year-old Aerylln spoke fi
rst, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get to it.”
“Angelector kapernaum dutrian hermangic,” Marcheto shouted.
All the Aeryllns, each a version of what the teenage girl would look like in the near future, began growing and growing. The 19-year-old’s wings appeared first, and then the others took on angelic form rapidly reaching 15-feet-tall and spreading their huge, elegant wings. The White Angels had returned.
Flame continued holding onto White Angel 19, the original Aerylln, who held Baelfire aloft once more. All the other White Angels unsheathed their swords and followed suit holding them high above their heads.
“Flame, set fire to us,” Baelfire shouted, and the humanoid bonfire took a deep breath and let it out, spewing a blistering heat over the White Angels who instantly burst into flames.
“Now White Angels, point your swords at Chen, Marcheto, Zorya and Jewel,” Baelfire told them. Upon doing so, flames leapt from the tips of their blades engulfing the intended targets and a huge bonfire erupted all around them. However, there was so much lava spewing into the air from the red-hot rivers nearby that this new inferno went unnoticed by those at the top of the mountain in Dominion Castle. Well, largely unnoticed, that is. Looking down from the highest tower, little escaped General Zarkahn’s watchful eye. The general knew Tarlen’s forces wouldn’t stay idle for long, and he was expecting trouble. He always did.
Back at the base of the mountain, Chen was inspecting her body which was engulfed in flames, as they all were. “So this is how we’ll be getting down to the lake of fire?” Chen asked Baelfire.
“Yes, but don’t get too far from Aerylln and me.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’ll return to normal and be incinerated.”
“In that case, I think my stepdaughter and I are about to become best friends,” Chen said.
“I thought we already were,” White Angel 19 smiled, her majestic wings of fire spread out to their full length.
Letting go of the youngest White Angel, Flame shot up into the nighttime sky, made a wide circle and plunged down towards the rivers of lava shouting, “Follow me.”