The two Hashmallim had entered the control room and were quietly to the side, watching. They knew enough to not interrupt the Colonel.
She watched the main screen, a wide angle shot from one of their drones. The angels, now broken into several groups, streaked toward their target. She shook her head sadly. They were going to be cut to ribbons before they even reached the platform.
And if that did happen, she feared the angels here would finally revolt, casting away both the Hashmallim and trillions of cycles of tradition. Most of the angels viewed the humans with contempt, but if their friends and companions were obliterated in a raid prompted by them, it would at last be too much.
If there was an uprising, she didn't know what she would do.
She ordered the drones to activate. If they worked as planned, they would draw the fire from the automatic surface to air batteries. Marksmen controlled the few armed drones, but with the slight delay in transmission times, they had difficulty actually hitting their targets.
Yehppael cast her a secret wink. It calmed her nerves greatly. As much as she didn't want to admit it, most of her strength came from the male angel.
She loved him fiercely.
It was not common for angels to be paired with one another. Unlike the humans and demons, they couldn't derive pleasure from bringing their bodies together.
Her attraction was a mystery, but she had stopped denying it long ago. Soul Mates, he said. It was a common human term. The others knew of their cohabitation, but that wasn't uncommon. They didn't advertise their pairing, and no one inquired about it. Only the Hashmallim really knew, but she suspected even they didn't understand.
Male and Female. The differences were rarely discussed, and few angels even acknowledged a variance between the two. The humans accepted their roles so easily, but they were full of contradictions. The women were the creators, yet they had a subservient role in most human cultures. It was all so confusing.
The angels were doing an effective job of laying devastation upon the temple platform. But the confused Dahhak rose into the sky, an alarming number. The automatic defenses that hadn't already been destroyed were finally kicking on. The drones were exploding too fast. Even though she wasn't actually in the fray, terror gripped at her. She felt her arm tightening around her helmet. She adjusted her composure as valiantly as possible. She couldn't allow the others to see her like this. She was their leader.
Three angels were caught in a single blast. Their wingmen all cried out simultaneously, two of them quickly switching to anger when they turned to see the Hashmallim in the room.
The camera caught the forms of several human slaves, perhaps twenty of them, burning on the ground. An odd feeling of guilt struck her. They are free now.
She envied them.
* * * *
A bolt of fire streaked across Levi's back. A sliver of his neck was unprotected, and it seared with agonizing pain.
A cry came from behind him, but a fraction of a moment later, the sound was edited out of the radio frequency. They were down to four angels in his group.
A concussion sent waves through the air, and he tumbled. Jullishia, his dear friend, was suddenly gone from the screen. One hundred thousand cycles of friendship, disappeared. Just like that.
“No,” he whispered. It wasn't a plea, or an exclamation. Just a statement.
He straightened his wings and prepared for the dive. Occasional blasts still came, but the demons were focusing on the angels far below, the ones destroying the city.
The command came. Dive.
* * * *
Tamael sent a few drones skidding to an explosive, smoky end upon the streets of the temple city. Yehppael sent the angels on their dive. They had to be protected at all costs, and the drones were quickly running out. A pair of angels strafed a rising force of Dahhak. They lasted only seconds before they were cut down, but it was enough to throw the enemy into a temporary disarray. But more were coming, emerging out of nowhere. Too many.
Retreat. Abort. Flee.
But she couldn't.
One of the three diving angels was suddenly bowled out of the sky by a well-aimed cannon blast. Tamael shivered. The remaining two swooped in through the entrance and disappeared into the dark temple.
Out of twenty-four angels, and many more drones, only two made it to the temple.
Communication was suddenly cut off.
“What's going on?” she demanded.
No one answered as technicians jumped at their computers and scopes.
“Answer me!”
“We're being jammed,” came the reply. The fear was heavy in the voice.
“Impossible. I thought our encrypted signals couldn't be jammed or traced.”
The signal came back, then blinked out again.
“All of our sensors are going off line, one by one,” a technician cried. “I can't stop it.”
It took a moment for the terror to pervade her. The two surviving angels at the temple were likely already dead. Slaughtered for nothing, and even worse, the attack had somehow given the enemy an opening, exposed a weakness in their communications.
“If they can jam us....” She let the question hang. Yehppael looked at her with eyes cold and sad. And for the first time, there was fear there too.
This place, this hidden palace, this wonder of technology suddenly seemed more like a tomb.
“General quarters,” she called. The itching at her arm could no longer be ignored. She slipped her helmet over her head. It immediately patched itself into the local defense system. Then she uttered the three words she constantly prayed she'd never have to use.
“Initiate defense procedures.”
* * * *
Uli exploded behind him. The resulting turbulence almost kept him from his course. He cried out in frustration. But then, the entrance! Levi and the only other living angel, Zane, curved into the temple as rock exploded around them. Once inside, the explosions abruptly stopped.
The darkness pounced. For a terrifying moment, Levi thought he was dead.
No. Not yet.
The light on his helmet switched on, revealing a tight hallway. The walls appeared wet, as if they were carved of meat. Cold wrapped its fingers around him, despite the protection of his armor. Zane was beside him. He didn't know this other angel very well, but he had been good friends with Uli. The angel trembled with anger and fear.
Their link with base abruptly went off line. The temple, perhaps, Levi thought. The structure blocks the frequency.
“How are we going to find him now?” Zane muttered. “This place is huge.” His voice was broken and barely audible over the radio, though they were only inches from each other.
“Come on,” Levi said. They hurried down the hallway, guns ready. He expected to be met with resistance, but there was nothing. The hallway wound, sometimes rising, sometimes falling, but it never split. They came to a room, and the walls were covered with the fresh skins of humans and other creatures. They were pulled taut with nails, as if being prepared to be used as drums. The stench was abominable. But still, nothing.
They continued. No sounds. No movement. As if the temple had been abandoned.
“An ambush,” Zane whispered.
“I don't think so,” Levi said. “I think our human might be in there.”
Zane nodded. His weapon hummed in his hands.
They took a few steps upwards and curved toward an archway. Beyond it was a cavernous room. The main chamber, Levi thought. The lair of their rector.
Their lights shined upon the carnage within. The bodies strung about the walls and to stakes, most of them dead, some clinging to life. The Nemat cut in half. The tubes running about like snipped electrical wires, spewing fluids. The slightly sunken-in floor had become a pool of the most repugnant bile.
In a corner were two humans. One was an older man draped in a filthy crimson robe, the other was their target. The human, Rico. And more importantly, the older human had both periscepters in his po
ssession.
“Rico,” he called, stepping forward cautiously, careful not to step down into the pool. “Come with me. I'm to return you to your companions.”
The boy had a bewildered look, as if he was wrought with indecision. Levi half hoped he refused so he could slay both of them.
He and Zane circled the edge of the chamber, avoiding getting their feet wet. This place was surreal, a wicked vision that human parents would devise to scare their children into submission. Such real, tangible horror was difficult to fathom.
A hand shot out from one of the bodies on the wall and grabbed his shoulder. The quick movement terrified him. He let out a yelp, splashing down into the bloody pool. With horror he realized the hand and wrist went with him. The body did not. He quickly brushed the hand off his shoulder. It landed with a splash.
He looked up, and the older human was gone! Just Rico stood there, unmoving, looking at them. The periscepters were with the older man. Panic welled in him.
“Where'd he go?”
“I don't know,” Zane answered. “I was looking at you! He just disappeared.”
Levi rushed forward, no longer heeding the pool. He rushed up to the human, grabbing him by his suit. “Where did he go?”
It took the boy a long moment to answer. “I thought you came for me.”
He had to ease his own anger. “You and the periscepters. Now where did he go? We haven't time for these games.”
“He's gone.”
Levi couldn't take it anymore. All this death. For nothing. He raised his gun, putting the muzzle under the chin of the human. His finger heavy on the trigger.
“Tell me where he went right now, or you'll never see your friends again.” He jabbed the weapon upwards.
Rico narrowed his eyes. He seemed unafraid. “It's true. It's all true.”
“Stop talking nonsense, human. Where did he go?”
The human sneered. “You'll never escape this temple alive, angel. ”
And then he disappeared. Just like that, like a flame whiffed out.
He looked with surprise. What was happening?
“What now?” Zane asked. He seemed almost relieved the human was gone.
“I don't know.”
“Maybe we should just leave. Try to blast our way back to base.”
He felt ashamed. Unworthy to be called angel. “We have a mission.”
“We have lives,” came the quick reply.
He whirled to face the other angel. “That's not the way a soldier speaks. Or thinks. A soldier's life is secondary to the cause.”
Zane shook his head sadly. “I'm not a soldier. And neither are you.”
Levi sighed. Zane was right. He still felt shame. This mission was important, even crucial. But what more he could do?
“All right then. Let's go home.”
* * * *
The Hashmallim and his Pendant exchanged glances.
The mission had failed. The entire wing was gone, probably dead. And now their base may have been discovered.
We should have sent a larger group, his Pendant thought.
She was right, of course. This was too important. They should've sent every soldier they had available. Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe they could send another raid. All the Powers, all the angels, take up whatever weapons they had available, devastate the temple and not stop searching until the two periscepters were found.
It would still leave us one short.
We'll hear back from the patrol sent to the pyramid soon. Perhaps it had been overlooked.
We won't hear from them if we're under attack. We won't hear from them if our communication network is down.
All thirteen of them will be found. I am confident.
Several angels suddenly broke from their stations and approached the two Hashmallim. He felt the rare fear in his Pendant. He looked at the murderous rage in their eyes, and he felt it too.
Your faith in the prophecy is our undoing, Brother.
“Tamael,” he spoke aloud. His voice reverberated throughout the control center. “Call your soldiers down.”
Everyone paused. It was rare that he spoke aloud.
“Stand down,” Tamael roared, finally noticing what was happening.
Colonel Yehppael jumped from his station and rushed forward. “No!” he cried.
But it was too late.
A knife flashed. The Hashmallim looked down, and it was sprouting from his own chest. He stared at it dumbly, not quite comprehending what was happening. His stomach burned. He fumbled for the ceremonial sword on his back. His Pendant was on her knees, clutching at her chest, though the physical injury was his.
Brother, help me.
The Hashmallim pulled his sword free. He cursed himself for allowing them to be together. Everyone knew that was why a Hashmallim was rarely in the presence of his Pendant. Their duality was protection. But they had been negligent. He felt her presence slipping. Once one of them died, the other wouldn't survive long. Their lives were attached.
He swung his sword, cutting two angels down. Their bodies dissolved to sand.
Forgive me, sister.
Yehppael tackled two more angels, screaming at them. They struggled, but the brawny colonel held them fast. A few more were coming. The Hashmallim jumped forward with his sword. An angel kicked his Pendant hard in the head, and the blow sent him reeling.
An angel kneeled over his Pendant, but he was looking directly at him. “This is for Uli. And Jullishia. And all the others you murdered today.”
Tamael had extracted herself from the chair and held her weapon up. The rage in her eyes filled the room, and the scent of anger and fear permeated the air. “Do not move, soldier. I will kill you.”
The traitorous angel ignored her, producing a knife. The angel smiled as he plunged it directly into the head of the female Hashmallim.
The steel carved a fiery path of phantom pain in his head. He fell. The angel with the knife jerked, then slumped over. A low-energy blast from Tamael. The pain was unbearable. He felt his sister slip away, gone forever. No. It was a feeling like no other, and it terrified him. For the first time in his existence, he was alone. Truly alone.
I'm coming.
* * * *
Not too far within the city of Cibola, a surface-based air harbor sat, the main hangar built with the dome style architecture indicative of the earliest Cibola structures. At one time, the area had been used to house the enormous air transports of the angel city. However, these flying marvels were mere insects compared to the behemoth flying machines of the Dominion. A black sea of asphalt spread like demon's blood.
The creatures that these transports ferried were stored underground in a series of subterranean caverns, called setts, that housed humans before the occupation. These monsters, mostly beasts of burden from the world of the Overseers, were not easily controlled. They were huge, even by demon standards.
The order had come from headquarters, just like that. The small group of handlers looked at each other uneasily as the message ticked out over the prompter. Load up three Burrowers for deployment.
Not one. Which would be more than adequate. Three.
Though they weren't the most colossal of the many beasts in the menagerie, they were probably the most troublesome. An adult was about the height of seventy Dahhak, with six legs thick enough to crush a building. The two front legs were slightly longer with curved, rake-like claws. Watching them dig was an awesome sight. It took them mere seconds to carve out a hole that would take a hundred workers a whole cycle to dig. The beasts were entirely blind and covered with a black shell of natural armor and razor-sharp fur. They were kept in cells of carved diamond to keep them from burrowing away.
The handlers were a multiracial unit of Dahhak, Pazuzu, and a few of the bulky Geyrun of the Overseer world. The demons stood side by side, contemplating how they were going to do this. They peered over the giant ramp that led down to the sett. The handlers rarely ventured down there. Only to feed, and never alone
. Never alone.
The smell of fear and uncertainty rose from them.
“We'll drug them,” a Geyrun said. The red demon fingered his black goatee. “Just enough to knock ‘em out for the ride.”
The others nodded. It was the only way.
Far below, the beasts rumbled.
* * * *
Tamael was frozen with shock. The Hashmallim, dead. Killed by angels. She could've stopped it. The angels had been starting to turn against the leaders. She knew that. The raid was a suicide mission, yet she allowed the Hashmallim to stay. Such a confrontation had been inevitable.
Stupid. You call yourself a leader? This is your fault.
Yehppael took control of the situation. The angels involved in the incident, seven in all, were rounded up and disarmed. They didn't resist. She couldn't hold their gaze.
I'm no leader. I'll step down. Let Yehppael take over.
The Hashmallim, both of them she considered a friend, dead.
“Colonel,” Yehppael said. “Colonel. ”
“Wha ... what?”
He arched his eyebrow as if to say get a hold of yourself. “What should I do with them?”
She sighed. Have them executed, and they'll be martyrs. Let them go, and she'll be considered weak. What to do?
You are the leader, she told herself. You have no choice. Like it or not, they killed the Hashmallim knowing you would take their place. Make a decision, damn it.
“We'll decide in council. In the interim, take these traitors to the pagoda, and they shall hold vigil for the Hashmallim. They shall remain there until further notice. Post guards at the entrance and instruct them to execute anyone who so much as sticks their head out the door.”
Yehppael nodded grimly. He began shouting orders.
She moved to an engineer who was desperately trying to get the radar back on line. He'd switch to a different frequency, only to have it jammed before the sensor could make a complete pass.
“This is new demon technology,” he muttered as he tried a different approach. “Even the ones we're directly connected with aren't functioning correctly.”
Tamael gripped the engineer's chair tightly. The wood splintered under the pressure. “Make it work. Make it work now.”
The Shivered Sky Page 13