The God of Battles

by David Menefee

  Soon the familiar flashes of vision occurred, and then suddenly, Angela was jolted by megaphone-amplified shouts and flashing lights. Stark in their clarity amidst the dreamlike, shifting scenery, the chaotic sights and sounds threatened to break her concentration, but she kept her focus. She hunted for her girlfriend in the chilly, noisy darkness.

  Angela nearly collapsed with relief upon finding Cassandra, and beckoned to her. They only had moments to use what Simon called “sex magic” to get to the Overworld.

  Taking Cassandra’s hand, Angela found a patch of level ground nearby, drew Cassandra to her, and cradled her face in one hand as they kissed. The dry earth scratched at her exposed skin while the cool desert breeze cut through her thin clothes like a knife. Angela had made love in more challenging places, though. Remembering Simon’s suggestion, she visualized the classical form of Aphrodite.

  Angela ran her fingers up Cassandra’s spine and twined her legs between those of her partner. They thrust against each other as they kissed. Angela nuzzled Cassandra behind her ear, breath quickening. However, the sound of shouting tore through Angela’s mood and broke her concentration, and she shook her head with irritation.

  Cassandra put her finger to Angela’s lips when she tried to speak. “We only have a couple of minutes.”

  “I know.”

  They fumbled with each other’s bodies, groping for passion, but Angela could not relax. Every shout and every stamp of boots shocked through her body.

  “A battlefield doesn’t exactly turn me on,” she said, disengaging from Cassandra. “Dammit.”

  She leaned on one elbow and looked around her at the hurrying shapes of the dream-world soldiers. Failure now would only make successive tries more difficult, and time was running out in the real world.

  Cassandra touched Angela’s chin, turning her face tenderly. Angela found herself looking into those dark eyes, and her tension began to melt as she lost herself in them. Cassandra’s lips parted, and Angela felt a whisper of breath. Then they kissed, long and deeply, enough to send an electric shock down her spine and into her suddenly weakened legs as she fell back. This was the answer. Not simple physical desire but a transcendent lust for union here in the heart of war’s nightmare.

  They began making love in earnest. The sounds of shouting and gunfire filled the air. A roaring engine rapidly approached, and their rhythm accelerated with it. Angela pressed her body against Cassandra’s, her fingers stroking and massaging, sensitive to her partner’s longing for release. Cassandra ran fingers down to cup Angela’s thighs and pulled convulsively, rocking her hips and crooning softly. Every movement brought an electrical impulse that stole Angela’s breath and blazed in the darkness behind her closed eyes.

  Cassandra’s breath caught, and she cried out. She began keening softly, her voice rising in volume and pitch as she came. Angela rode the wave of ecstasy up her own spine, the image of Aphrodite shining before her inner eye. She managed to retain enough presence of mind to raise her damp fingers and touch Cassandra’s forehead at the peak of orgasm.

  As the world whirled away from them both, Simon’s anguished scream distorted and faded away into nothing.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

  War in Heaven: Dark Eyes Loses

  Realm of Dark Eyes

  Dark Eyes surveyed the battlefield, rage building inside him. Many of his angels were dead, but more devastating to him was the destruction of the border Guardian whose form had been modeled after the oversoul of his wisest servant, Nadia. The Guardian had exploded when the hawk-headed angel, which he suspected was an avatar of Bald Eagle himself, thrust his sword through her defensive perimeter. The blast destroyed part of the Forest and killed many angels. Dark Eyes himself was wounded in that great fight.

  As he began the difficult task of finding survivors and cleaning up the debris, he planned his counter-strike. A frontal assault on Bald Eagle would be far more difficult with Diamond Angel as War Leader. He would rely on his natural talents of trickery and stealth instead. Fortunately, his spies had brought him useful information concerning the keystone within the Root Hexagon. What was his name? Simon? The spies showed him what bound Simon to the Root Hexagon. Dark Eyes would find a way to release that binding and destroy the power of the Root Hexagon forever. Perhaps that wily old nomad, Crooked Staff, would be able to help.

  War on Earth

  “They put the evil eye on you. Yep. Happened to my cousin…”

  —

  “I heard she died. Seemed she had the clap, real bad…”

  —

  “I said, don’t touch that filthy animal. But…”

  —

  “Now look at them! Call the police, Bill…”

  —

  “They have to go. Stealing…”

  —

  “Filthy animals.”

  Nadia’s house, Oakland

  “You can’t do this!” Michael shouted at the departing policeman. “She is sick and needs me to care for her.” He lunged, but one of the other officers grappled him and held him.

  “I’m sorry, sir. We got a report that she’s an illegal.”

  Michael struggled. “That’s insane! We’ve lived here forty years. Why aren’t you taking me, too?” He shook himself loose.

  “This is a question for immigration, sir. You’ve got the number on the card I gave you.” The officer turned to leave.

  Michael watched as Nadia was led to a patrol car and put in the back seat while the immigration officer got in the front.

  “Nadia!” All at once the fight went out of him, and he sagged against the policeman. He was led back into the house, where he collapsed into his chair and put his head in his hands.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

  Serpent Lion

  They returned to awareness, swimming out of the haze of sensory overload. Cassandra’s mind was edged with panic, and Angela reached out with her world-walking talent to help her girlfriend adjust to this place, wherever it was.

  The world was vast, elegant softness. The light was dim, and the air throbbed with a rhythm that echoed the aftermath of their lovemaking. A musky scent, magnifying the aroma of their own cooling bodies, filled her nostrils. Cassandra and Angela were face to face, almost touching. Then a movement past Cassandra’s shoulder brought everything into focus. They were lying on cushions.

  They both sat up and looked around. At first, all Angela could think was that a tornado had struck an oriental carpet factory. There were rich, vibrant colors in endlessly intricate designs all around her, confusing her depth perception. She concentrated, trying to make sense of what she saw. Finally, she succeeded.

  She was in a large room, crowded with hangings, lit with lamps, floor piled high with cushions on embroidered rugs. Many of the cushions moved. No, they weren’t cushions. Angela and Cassandra were surrounded by women making love to each other. That sight, coupled with the aroma, sent a shiver up and down her spine.

  Angela glanced sidelong at Cassandra, whose eyes were wide and whose cheeks were flushed. Her girlfriend leaned over to kiss her, but Angela raised a gentle hand. “It’s tempting. I know. But we’ve got something to do.”

  Cassandra’s mouth closed, but then she nodded, smiling. “Yeah.” Her smile faded as her forehead creased. “Angela? Should you be here?”

  The floor shook. There was a massive rumbling, and the air echoed with a muffled shriek. Angela clutched her chest. “Ow! Shit. The stain of war.” She sighed, crushed with the weight of disappointment. “Cassie, I have to go back, but I don’t know how.”

  Cassandra put a hand on Angela’s shoulder, her chin trembling. “I think it’s going to happen anyway.”

  There was a bright flash of light and then another. The world around Angela dissolved, and all of the rich variety of color in the gigantic boudoir was replaced with the rust-red, stained-white, and dingy-blue of Bald Eagle. Rather than ending up on Eric’s sofa bed as she had expected, she lay on the debris-strewn crater floor.

 
; “Dammit!” She choked back the stabbing sensation in her chest with a sob. Then she looked up into the troubled sky. “Cassie, Goddess go with you.”

  With a clatter, several soldiers who had been standing guard rushed forward to surround her. She pushed herself to her feet, recognizing Sergeant Texas Tea among them. He stood aside, gesturing toward the lip of the crater. Without a word, she climbed up with her escort to meet her destiny.

  The soldier angels led Angela to the entrance to Diamond Angel’s palace. They formed rank on either side and snapped to attention. The door began to swing open, and the same brilliant, hard-edged light glared from beyond it. Angela was unable to resist the tidal urge to join with her oversoul, and she sobbed, but her despair was quickly overwhelmed by the intensely sexual impulse that dragged her into that light.

  Her face began to tingle as she neared the source of that light. That same soul-shaking voice became audible again as if it had been speaking all along and her ears had only now adjusted to it. “This is peace, joy, and fulfillment. Come to me.”

  Angela gave herself to the movement. The compulsion was like and unlike that used by the Soul Thief when he had sought to absorb her mind. He was flawed, corrupted, whereas this was an experience of awakening, of remembering. As she moved closer, her body frayed away from her perception, and her sense of identity expanded. The little “i” that had been Angela Cooper dwindled within her larger self.

  Finally, she stopped moving. For a moment, she wondered what was to happen next, but then she realized it had already happened. The memories, visions, and wisdom of her oversoul were now her own. Diamond Angel felt full, rested, and complete.

  Turning in place, she surveyed her surroundings. The blinding light was gone, as if it had never been. Diamond Angel went to her throne and mounted it. She scanned the ranks of angels with satisfaction. Within her, she felt the core that had been Angela Cooper, but she decided not to consolidate that identity. That incarnation had not, after all, been terminated, and there was more for Dr. Cooper to do on earth. But now their goals were aligned, and the destiny that she had held in trust for the doctor would become a conscious part of her work.

  She addressed the angels. “You may leave me now. I will commune with Bald Eagle.”

  The soldiers saluted her and marched out of the room. Diamond Angel closed her eyes and sought that place within her that linked her to the great Egregore.

  A vast, all-encompassing voice rumbled within her deepest self.

  —You are complete. Your law is your life. Your life is your truth. Your truth is in me.—

  Diamond Angel inclined her head. “It is within your truth that I have found purpose. My earthly avatar has surrendered to her destiny within me.”

  —I am beset by enemies, both within and without. I require much of my allies and more of my servants. The weakness within you continues to trouble me.—

  A warmth grew in her, a sympathy for the mighty entity that suffered and strove all around her. She had never before sought a place of power within an Egregore, but when Iron Star had moved toward abdication by allowing Angela to defeat him in single combat, she saw an opportunity to accelerate her plans.

  One of her extended senses recoiled from danger. A low rumble filled the chamber. It grew into a dull roar, and the floor began to rock.

  —Dark Eyes and Serpent Lion are attacking. War Leader, defend me.—

  A vision of the inner perimeter, partly obscured by plumes of smoke, appeared before her inner eye. She raised her right hand, fingers crooked in a summoning gesture. A party of warrior angels marched into the chamber from the right. The sense of Bald Eagle’s imminence departed as they arrived.

  “Commander, take your detachment to reinforce our defenders. Two of our enemy have mounted an offensive upon Bald Eagle. Take your men to this zone.” She impressed an image of the attack zone upon the commander’s mind.

  The commander saluted, and the group of warriors turned smartly, disappearing in a brilliant flash of light. Diamond Angel extended a thread upon which lesser angels moved swiftly to and from the scene of the battle. She elected not to join the battle and then wondered why she was so reluctant. Instead of fighting, she watched from within the heart of Bald Eagle.

  The battle raged. Dark Eyes was beaten back, taking severe casualties. However, Serpent Lion took an opportunity to breach Bald Eagle’s defensive line. Several of the enemy angels penetrated deeply into Diamond Angel’s palace.

  She noticed that the light in the chamber had taken a rosy hue, as if some of the ubiquitous red had leached out of the walls and permeated the air. A whiff of perfumed air came and went, too swiftly to do more than register a momentary impression. Yet that aroma entered the mind of Diamond Angel. The earthly incarnation, Angela, stirred within her and exerted a new opposing force.

  Pain stabbed beneath her sternum. Diamond Angel winced, stifling a gasp, as the pain widened within her form. Ignoring it, she focused her attention on Bald Eagle. “I have sent defenders to repel the attackers. There has been a minor breach in my own defenses, though.” She gasped and touched her hand to her chest.

  —There must be no breach. You will explain your failure.—

  Diamond Angel focused her attention on the source of her agony. The face of the Chancellor coalesced in her awareness. She probed more deeply into the memories of her avatar, Angela, and learned that the earthly incarnation of the Chancellor, Cassandra, had accompanied Angela into the realm of Bald Eagle’s opponent Serpent Lion. “There is a powerful bond between the Chancellor and my avatar. This bond has provided an avenue for Serpent Lion to attack, and it is threatening the avatar’s integrity.”

  —Absorb your avatar and be rid of pain for now. You may delegate the resolution of that bond between yourself and the Chancellor to a future avatar.—

  Diamond Angel felt another, sharper pang, and nearly doubled over with agony. The heat within her began to throb, occluding her awareness of Angela Cooper. She would not be able to absorb her earthly incarnation after all. The attack by Serpent Lion had consumed all of the energy she would need to dissolve her avatar’s identity. “I cannot. Angela must be returned to the care of the Chancellor. That is the only way.”

  The air rumbled again. Anger built around her, the heat of which would have been sufficient to destroy her. She thought quickly. “Consider reinstalling Iron Star to his position within you.”

  —He refused. He has told me there is a destiny to weave before he may consider taking the throne of War Leader.—

  Then, as if swept away by a sudden wind, Bald Eagle’s anger vanished. Taking advantage of the unexpected respite, Diamond Angel rose and stepped unsteadily down from the throne. There was an invisible Presence within the chamber, a mighty goddess greater than any Egregore, and that great entity beckoned. Diamond Angel could not refuse the call. Feeling beset by gods and daemons, an urge came over her to rid the world of them all. She quelled that dangerous impulse, though it formed the core of her own corrosive power that they all feared.

  She bowed, facing the invisible focus of Bald Eagle’s awareness within the chamber. “I shall attend to this weakness within me. You will have a War Leader again. I promise that.”

  With that, she turned on her heel and walked into the darkness beyond the light of the throne, following the call of the goddess.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE

  The Girl

  A goddess do they hope to find

  Whose power can this fate unwind

  Yet when they meet that comely Girl

  Another’s life is there entwined.

  Cassandra was alone in the boudoir of love. She looked around, getting her bearings. None of the women, engaged in their passionate embraces, noticed her. The musky scent, recognizable now as a mixture of perfume and aroused women, made the air heavy and interfered with her concentration. Stepping carefully over piles of loose cushions, she approached one of the writhing couples. No, it was a threesome.

  She touched the s
houlder of a stocky, auburn-haired woman and cleared her throat. “Hey. Sorry to interrupt, but…”

  The woman looked at Cassandra—no, past her—with languid eyes, pupils dilated to the size of dimes. Cassandra dropped her hand. “Never mind.”

  She wove her way among the prone figures, some partially clothed and some entirely nude, trying to locate someone who looked more alert. Passing through a portal draped in rich brocaded fabrics, she began to suspect she was in an endless maze of chambers. Everyone appeared to be in a drugged state of sexual abandon. Finally, she stopped walking.

  “Can anybody help me?” she shouted. Then she giggled as another thought struck her. “Who do I have to fuck to get some service?”

  Several couples near her stopped, staring. One woman propped herself up on an elbow. She was slim, naked, black haired, and, fortunately, alert. “Help you what? I can help you come, if that’s what you need.” She spoke in a low, silky voice. Several women tittered.

  “I need to find whoever’s in charge here.” Cassandra put her hands on her hips and scowled.

  A smile playing on her lips, the woman stared at Cassandra intently. “No one’s in charge. This is the palace of love, and these are the chambers of the desire of woman for woman.”

  Cassandra lifted her chin. “I was looking for Aphrodite.”

  At that name, the chamber rang like a bell, and Cassandra felt a gentle tremor.

  The woman’s eyes opened wide. “Don’t say her name like that. She is not some ordinary person, to be spoken of casually. You may use that name in the throes of passion or the height of ecstasy. No other time.”

  The woman disentangled herself from the others, rose to her feet, and stretched. Cassandra felt her mouth drop open. The woman stepped gracefully toward her, moving with sensuous languor. The invitation in her eyes was unmistakable.