Four terrifying hours after the last of the screams were over, the twins made their move on the Binding. They crept out cautiously, and Brad eased his head forward to peer through a crack in the pile of boulders. Their path out from behind the rocky shield gave them a clear view of the cleft with the Binding, but he needed to see where the demons were.
“We’re clear,” he whispered. Anolla reached forward and clasped one of his hands. Their fingers tightened about each other.
“Ready,” he whispered. “Now.”
Cautiously, the two crept out, taking care to stay low to the ground to take the best advantage of the scattered rubble that littered the ground. They’d barely gone five yards when a strange, hooting cry split the night. The cry was taken up by others, and Brad fought the urge to cover his ears.
Without bothering to check if the cry had anything to do with them, Brad hauled his sister to her feet and shoved her in front of him.
“Run!” he shouted and took off after her.
If the demons hadn’t seen them before, they were certainly aware of them now. Snarls and cries of fury and glee rang out through the night, and some demons started hurling rocks at them even as others sprang after them in chase.
“Don’t stop!” Brad shouted needlessly as a stone grazed his right calf. Another struck him in the back of the head, knocking him off balance. He stumbled, recovered, and kept running only a few feet behind his sister.
They dashed into the cleft with the demons close on their heels. A claw snapped closed right behind Brad’s head as he saw Anolla abruptly vanish, and he threw himself forward as a white light enveloped him.
When he opened his eyes, Brad saw fluffy white clouds all around him, and at first he couldn’t decide which way was up. Finally he realized he was laying on his side, and he shifted himself to a sitting position and looked around.
The landscape was breathtaking.
Rolling hillsides of white clouds, mountains of crystal, it was all so beautiful. The sky was filled with puffy white clouds, and in the distance it was impossible to tell where the white ground and the sky separated. A bemused corner of his mind absently noted that Anolla’s and his shadows were being cast in different directions.
Only seconds before, the twins had been running for their lives, but such concerns were suddenly beyond them as they stared in wonder.
“What’s that?” Anolla asked, pointing at the sky.
A six-winged man clad in shining armor soared out of the sky and landed a few feet away. He was perfectly beautiful in the same way Mikal had been, and his wings were a brilliant, beautiful violet. Even from the little they knew, there was no doubt they were looking at another Seraph.
“Mortals,” the angel said in wonder. “Mikal brought mortals, and alive at that.”
“Mikal?” Bradley asked. “You know Mikal?”
The angel blinked, as though surprised they were addressing him.
“Yes, I know Mikal,” the angel replied. “He and I were friends once, and perhaps still are, if I can find him in time. How do you know him?”
“He’s traveling with our father and brother,” Anolla said eagerly. “They crossed through the Binding just a few hours ago.”
“A few hours?” the angel said, shaking his head. “They crossed nearly half a day past. I felt the crossing myself and flew here to find them. It seems they’ve already moved on, however. He’ll have to take them through the Iridescent Gates,” the angel went on, speaking more to himself. “I’ll overtake them there.”
“Wait!” Anolla cried as the angel made ready to fly off. Again, the angel looked surprised that they were talking to him.
“We were ambushed by a group of demons and separated,” Brad said. “We came through the Binding to find our father. Take us with you, please.”
“Of course,” the angel said. He hesitated. “My name is Uriel.”
“Bradley and Anolla,” they said in unison.
“Tell me, Bradley and Anolla,” Uriel said, “do you know the name Maya?”
“Isn’t that an angel here?” Brad asked.
“She’s the King of Heaven in Dividha,” Anolla said.
Uriel stared at them speculatively.
“Gotta be the queen,” Brad corrected her, “unless she’s a cross-dresser.”
He gulped and looked guiltily at Uriel. “Uh, no offense, I mean, to your queen.”
“King,” Anolla growled at him under her breath. Brad glared at her.
“Please, enough,” Uriel said with a strangely pleased smile. “You’ve satisfied my question. Now, if you’ll take my hands, please, we’ll get moving.”
“You said they came here almost a half-day ago, but how is that possible?” Anolla said, taking the angel’s hand. “We saw them cross several hours ago, but nowhere near a day.”
“Time passes differently here, mort.. Anolla,” Uriel said. “For every hour that passes in your world, approximately two pass here.”
He held up his free hand to forestall any further questions.
“Later,” he said. “Now come, we need to catch them before they reach Medina. I dare not teleport to them directly, lest I alert Maya to my interest.”
Brad took the angel’s hand and clutched it tightly as they suddenly left the ground. Brother and sister clung to each other with their free hands as they dangled beneath their heavenly companion. The angel lifted them easily as though they weighed nothing, and he flew confidently forward toward a destination only he could see.
- 3 -
“The Iridescent Gates,” Danner said in wonder, slowly putting pressure on the brake as they approached the gleaming structure.
Even compared to the breathtaking landscape and stunning environment, the Iridescent Gates were singularly beautiful. They gleamed like mother-of-pearl, and pastel colors swirled perpetually beneath the smooth, marble-like surface. Thick strands of color spanned the gates from top to bottom to form the bars, spaced just narrowly enough that it would take a small child to fit through. The gates were easily fifty feet tall, but each was only ten feet wide. On either side of the gates, a wall of gleaming white rock[18] towered a hundred feet tall and stretched off infinitely into the distance.
“It’s beautiful, but a little imposing, don’t you think?” Marc commented, standing up in the back seat. “I always thought the Iridescent Gates would have a sign that said Welcome. These look more like Do not enter.”
“Which begs the question, why are there gates at all?” Danner asked. “I mean, it’s an infinite realm, so why the wall?”
“The Iridescent Gates are as much psychic as they are physical, Danner,” Marc said. “You should know, you helped me translate the text. The symbolism of passing through the gates is so powerful, mortals – living or dead – quite literally can’t get to the rest of Heaven without going in here.”
“Is that what you got out of that convoluted verbal torture that passed for an ancient text?” the Blue paladin asked sardonically, looking back at his friend. “I may have translated the words, but it doesn’t mean I understood one in ten of their meaning.”
“Shall I take a look?” Flasch asked from the front passenger seat. Danner waved him forward.
“Be my guest.”
Flasch climbed out of the buggy as the rest of the expedition caught up with them. Shadow Company had taken the lead, and when the Iridescent Gates had come into view, Garnet sent the three of them ahead in the buggy to investigate.
“What’ve we got?” Garnet asked, walking up beside them.
“Flasch is taking a look now,” Danner replied.
The Violet paladin hurried forward to the center of the gates and reached out to touch them with a reverent hand. Then he pushed slightly and bent to examine something on the gates. He turned and jogged back to the buggy.
“What’s wrong?” Garnet asked.
“Would you believe the damn things are actually locked?” Flasch replied in exasperation. They all stared at him until finally Danner laughed at
the look of sheer indignation on his friend’s face.
“Well, go see what you can do about that,” Garnet said.
“I just need my tools,” Flasch replied, rifling through a pack in the back seat of the buggy. “I brought them as a matter of habit. Never thought I’d actually have to pick the damn lock on the gates of Heaven.”
“Think you can do it?” Marc asked.
“Have faith, brother,” the Violet paladin replied with a wink.
“He’s better than I am with locks, and that’s actually saying something,” Danner admitted. “If anyone can get in, it’s Flasch.”
“Look at it this way,” Garnet said, his face carefully neutral, “if it works, at least you know they can’t keep you out, no matter how much of a pain in the ass you are.”
Flasch grinned impishly at him, then pulled out a thick leather bundle and hurried back to the gates.
Mikal flew overhead, circled, and came back to land in front of the buggy.
“What’s the problem?”
“The gates are locked,” Garnet said with a grimace. “It’ll be taken care of in a minute.”
“Locked?” Mikal said in amazement. “Then you’ll never get in. The gates were set in place by God Himself, the locks designed by Dem at the forge of Heaven, and I could no more open them by force than could a small child. I can’t imagine what possessed Maya to lock them, and I fear I’ll have to fly on alone to confront her and convince her to open them. There’s no way we’ll be able to…”
“Got it,” Flasch cried from up ahead, and he smiled triumphantly as he pushed open first one door, then the other. He hurried back and tucked his bundle back in his pack. “That was pretty tough. There were actually three different, completely independent locking mechanisms in one, and they all had to be done simultaneously. I need to get that design.”
Flasch saw Mikal staring at him. “What’s with him?”
Danner smiled. “Well, Mikal?”
Mikal leaped into the sky without answering.
“Flasch, take the wheel,” Danner said, following the departing Seraph with his eyes. “Garnet, I’ll be airborne for a few minutes.”
“Go,” Garnet said, waving him on.
Danner asolved his wings and followed Mikal into the sky. The angel veered slightly, but Danner caught up and held level with him.
“Alright, Mikal, what gives?” Danner asked without bothering to disguise the irritation in his voice.
“What do you mean?”
“Ever since I’ve met you, you’ve had a strange aversion to me and unless I’ve completely lost the ability to read people, a lesser one to the denarae,” Danner said. The two slowed and stopped in midair. “At first, you were just strange to everybody, but over the last few weeks you’ve lightened up to everyone, especially my uncle, but you still look at me like I’m some sort of freak. I’ve had enough of that from the mortals I’ve encountered, and the last place I expected to feel it again was from an angel who shares some of the same nature.
“So I say again, what gives?”
Mikal and Danner hovered in silence a moment while the Seraph considered his answer.
“I’m not sure how to feel about your existence,” Mikal said finally. He looked appraisingly at Danner, who motioned for him to continue. “You are a hybrid of mortal and immortal beings through a manner considered impossible. Millennia – no, eons ago – immortals on both sides began to experiment with mortal creatures, trying to give some of our power to them.”
“Why?”
“To use you in our war, of course,” Mikal said with disgust in his voice. “I was not a part of the experiments, but I knew about them all the same. In early experiments, demons took dragons and were able to give them the gift of shape-changing, creating the first dakkans. Many others were tried on both sides, nearly all failed.”
“Last of all, an angel named Samyaza tried to actually combine immortal āyus with mortals, and from humans he and his flight created denarae.”
Danner stared at him in shock.
“Yes, all of your friends below are the descendents of an experiment conducted by immortals on human flesh,” Mikal said grimly, “the result of which was their ability to read minds and communicate telepathically. You’ll notice it is only possible among other denarae and with humans. That is because of their shared origins.
“Shortly after the first denarae were created, sentiment in the immortal plane shifted and the experiments were shut down as an abomination against the will of God,” Mikal said. “Uriel and I fought long and hard to make sure the experiments were stopped, and Uriel fought to ensure that the results not be destroyed.”
Just Uriel? Danner wondered. He let the comment slide, knowing he wouldn’t like the answer.
Again, Mikal turned and looked at Danner.
“And here you are, flying beside me, the ultimate achievement of an idea I fought hard to defeat,” Mikal said. “You’re a good man, Danner, anyone can see that. You chose the hard path of a paladin. Your uncle has told me of your life since his return, and I must admit I am impressed, and not a little afraid.
“You have tremendous power, Danner, perhaps someday more so even than I, though yours is raw and wild as it evolves,” Mikal said. “I have looked into the strength of your āyus; it’s a testing of sorts between two immortals called shaishisii. Imagine my dismay to discover that one I considered an abomination had the potential for even more power than I, one of the most powerful angels in all the Heavenly Hosts. It is a hard fact to accept, and a bitter pill to swallow, if I may borrow one of your mortal metaphors.”
“So that’s why you can’t stand to be around me,” Danner said.
“It was a mistake on my part to treat you so,” Mikal admitted, “and I apologize. Immortals are not, it seems, immune from failings such as pride.”
“I think I understand,” Danner said.
“Good,” Mikal said. He turned and looked back behind them. “It looks as though your friends are trying to get your attention.”
Danner looked and saw a tight cluster of bodies he recognized immediately as all of his closest friends, and they were clustered around a single point and shifting about excitedly. Flasch was standing at the edge of the group whistling and waving at Danner to catch his attention.
“Go,” Mikal said when Danner hesitated. “If need be, we can speak some other time, but I will try not to let my pride and past prejudices get the better of me.”
Danner nodded and sped back down toward the ground. He flared and landed lightly, then dekinted his wings with barely a twinge of regret. As soon as he set foot on the ground, the cluster of bodies he’d seen from the sky started to open up, and they were all grinning broadly. Marc and Flasch even had tears in their eyes.
“What’s going on?” Danner asked. “What’s got you all so…” He trailed off as two men in the center of the group suddenly came into view.
One was a human wearing a red paladin’s cloak; his face was horribly scarred, but he beamed with a happy smile that seemed totally out of place on the man Danner had known. In fact, he didn’t think he’d ever seen Gerard Morningham with such a pleasant expression on his face.
The other with him was a denarae wearing a green cloak, and it took Danner a moment to register that it was, in fact, a paladin’s cloak. He stared without comprehension at the face before him until the denarae stepped forward and caught Danner into a rough embrace. Then the veil of shock lifted from Danner’s eyes, and he pushed back to stare into the face of his best friend… of his dead best friend.
“Trebor?” Danner croaked in amazement as his voice suddenly failed him. The denarae smiled at him, but it seemed words were beyond him.
“Trebor!” Danner shouted in joy as he clutched his friend tightly. Sudden tears streamed down his face as three months of grief, regret, and self-torture were suddenly erased by the sight of his friend. Then suddenly the rest of their friends were around them again, joining a group hug as they enjoyed a sense of
completion they’d all been without for far too long.
Chapter 18
The hands that divide are not divine.
- Human Proverb
- 1 -
Something didn’t seem right, but Michael couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
“It’s amazing here,” Trebor was saying with a smile they all remembered so well. “You can’t imagine any place more beautiful.”
“So we’ve seen,” Marc said, wiping tears from his eyes.
“What about the war?” Garnet asked, turning to Gerard, who was still smiling. “We’ve been assuming the worst, what with…” he glanced at Mikal, who was just landing, “well, some things that have been going on, you know.”
“The war’s going fine, lad,” Gerard said. “We’re holding our own, and any day now I think we’ll turn the tide and push those dirty beasts back where they came from.”
Michael frowned.
“Hey, chin up, Michael,” Trebor said, smiling. “He just said we’re going to win, not that your kitten just died.”
Michael quickly faked a wan smile, which seemed to content his dead friend. The Yellow paladin shuddered. Maybe that’s what it was. Here he was talking to two dead men just as calm as you please. Ignore the fact that both men had died nearly three months ago, and it could almost be a normal conversation.
Danner, Trebor, and Flasch stood side-by-side with their arms thrown over each other’s shoulders, Trebor in the middle. Despite his feeling of unease, Michael wished he had the time to sketch them and capture the image forever.
“Anyway, I’d ask you boys to tell me how things have been since I left,” Gerard said, “but we’ve both been keeping a pretty steady eye on you whenever we can. Can’t say as I’m sad to have left, what with the great job you’ve been doing, Garnet. I’m proud of you, son.”
Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3) Page 25