Angeldust

by Peach, Hanna

  Piki let out a curt chirp. Even Sparrow could hear the doubt in it.

  Sparrow stopped at the entrance to Alyx’s room. He knocked on her door even though it was half open. Alyx was standing inside looking like a warrior goddess in her battle gear; black pants teamed with her black warrior’s jacket with feathered and barbed shoulders and two white armbands.

  She turned. “Oh, come in, Sparrow.”

  “Alyx,” Sparrow announced as he stepped into her room. “I want to come with you.”

  Alyx recoiled. “Sparrow, no. War is not for…not for you.”

  “But I have powers.” They were completely out of his control or nonexistent at best, but she didn’t need to know that. “I can help.”

  “I know you want to help but the best way that you can help is by staying here and guarding the other young ones.”

  “That’s not a warrior’s role.”

  “You’re not a warrior yet. You’re too young.”

  He pouted. “I’m not too young. I’m almost as old as you were when you started fighting.”

  “Sparrow, this isn’t training. Some of us won’t make it back.”

  “But I need to come.”

  “Sparrow, I know you feel guilty about Israel. But it’s not your fault and it’s not your place to rescue him. It’s mine.”

  “You’ll need my help. I can come with you.”

  “I already have Vix coming with me. Sparrow, please, you need to stay behind.”

  “Fine,” huffed Sparrow. Behind his back he had his fingers crossed.

  “Thank you,” Alyx gave him a quick squeeze. “I would hate if anything happened to you.”

  For a second Sparrow was flooded with so much guilt he almost gave up on his plan. But a greater gnawing need overtook it; he needed to prove he wasn’t just a coward. I’m going. Alyx can’t stop me.

  “You can borrow one of the books if you like to keep you occupied while we’re gone,” Alyx said. “Go on, have a look at my shelf. It’s not a big collection but it’s growing.” She indicated the fireplace mantle in her room. “I’ve got to see Vix. I’ll find you and say goodbye to you before I leave, okay?”

  Alyx disappeared out the open door and Sparrow plopped down by the bed. Piki landed on his shoulder.

  “I’m going, Piki.”

  Piki fluttered.

  “I know what Alyx said but I don’t care. I have to help.”

  Piki seemed to get more distressed, fluttering in his face.

  “No, Piki, I’m not discussing it anymore. I’m going.” Or else he couldn’t live with himself. He didn’t want to be a coward. It was the worst feeling in the world. He would rather die than to keep feeling this gnawing hollow pit in his stomach.

  “If you tell Alyx, then I won’t ever speak to you again.”

  Piki let out a small chirp of shock, landed on his shoulder and rubbed his head along Sparrow’s neck.

  “I know it’ll be dangerous. If you want to help me, figure out a way for me to help Alyx without being seen.”

  Piki chirped and flew off his shoulder, landing somewhere on the bedside table.

  Sparrow tapped his chin. “I just don’t know how.”

  Piki hopped up and down.

  “I need…I need…magic. Yes, MirageWeaver magic. I’d be invisible then.”

  Piki hopped more frantically and began to twitter at him.

  “Cut it out Piki, I’m trying to think. If only I knew where to get MirageWeaver magic.

  Piki opened his beak and let out a loud musical call.

  Sparrow nearly rolled his eyes. Damn attention-seeking bird. “What do you want, Piki?” He turned his head. His eyes landed Piki, then on the vial of blood that Piki was standing on. It was labeled MirageWeaver.

  He gasped. “Piki, you’re a genius.”

  Piki tutted at him and waggled his little head as if to say, duh, of course.

  Sparrow stared at the vial. Could he? He glanced at the door. Alyx wouldn’t miss it if he borrowed a bit…

  Chapter Forty

  The Dades Valley was a wild landscape. The two sides of the valley rose in craggy steep sides of pale orange-brown. A line of green trees marked the valley floor, a thin oasis stretching through this sunburned area dusted with sand. Behind Alyx were the FreeThinkers of their community and the communities across the globe. In the pale light of the full moon, she could make out Michael’s army, a black stain of ink across the valley and mountains. The sea of black-clad warriors grew as the warriors of the three Seraphim cities arrived.

  When she scanned her army behind her, they looked like a field of snowdrops, pale beacons of hope glowing under the full moon. She swallowed. Their rows of white warriors were still greatly outnumbered by the vast sea of black on either side of the mountains that guarded the valley and the Gate. Have faith, she told herself, not everyone is here yet.

  All the Seraphim were coming; this was too important for them not to come. An entire race of Seraphim would stand and choose which side they would raise their swords and magic for. Black or white. Each side shifted, a growing restlessness and tension building between two armies, so thick that Alyx thought they might have to wade through it when it finally came time to attack.

  She noticed Lukas dropping down from the tree that they had been using as a kind of crow’s nest. His eyes were bright and focused. He must have news. Tobias and Jordan, who were standing at her side, noticed him too. Lukas spotted the trio and hurriedly approached.

  He wasted no words when he reached them. “Our swallows have passed on this message. Michael left Michaelea with his convoy several hours ago. They should be joining the main army soon.”

  “Does he have Israel with him?” Alyx asked.

  “The swallows say that they saw what looked like a body under a sheet being carried. I dare say it’s him. I’ve got to get back to my post just in case more messages come through.” With that Lukas disappeared back into the trees.

  “It’s time,” Alyx said. “We must attack now.”

  “What are you doing?” Jordan hissed. “We’re severely outnumbered. We should wait to see if more Seraphim chose our side.”

  “You think Michael is going to wait for us to get our defences together before he decides to open that Gate? No. We have to attack now. We have no choice.”

  “You want all these FreeThinkers to rush to their deaths? Alyx, this is suicide.”

  Alyx’s mouth suddenly went dry as she glanced out over the Seraphim who had decided to fight with her. Could she sound the command to attack now? While they were outnumbered?

  It’s for the greater good, she reminded herself as guilt twisted its way up her chest. “The rest of the Seraphim will be here soon,” she said. “I need to get to Michael now before he opens the Gate.”

  Jordan dropped her arm, a stunned look on his face. “No, you want to get to Israel. You need a distraction. We’re your distraction.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “You would let an entire community of Seraphim die just so you can save him.”

  “My feelings for him are irrelevant in this decision,” Alyx lied. “Our first priority is to stop Michael from opening that Gate. Otherwise Michael’s dark army outnumbering our FreeThinkers is the least of our problems. It wouldn’t just be a few who are…sacrificed, it’ll be this entire planet.”

  “Tobias, please talk some sense into her.”

  “I’m afraid,” said Tobias, “I agree with Alyx.”

  “Tobias!” Jordan said, his shock evident.

  “Making difficult choices is one of the curses of being a leader.” Tobias turned his eyes towards Alyx. There was a gravity to his stare that caused Alyx’s mouth to go dry. “You made your choice. Make sure you can live with it.”

  * * *

  Jordan pushed through the field of FreeThinkers waiting to attack. Where was she? Behind him he heard Alyx begin her pre-attack speech. His body buzzed with desperation and he began to shove FreeThinkers aside harder than he should have.
God, he had to find Cleo now before it was too late. He had to find her.

  He spotted her through the crowd. She was in skin-fitting black, a type of leather cat suit that stretched and hugged every single one of her curves, blades strapped to her thighs and hips. She had her dark hair tied back, which only highlighted her sharp cheekbones, thick lips and the bottomless depths of her dark cat-shaped eyes. She had two warriors at her side, two witless idiots that she was flirting with just to pass the time, no doubt. She laughed at something one of them said, or perhaps she was just laughing at them. Jordan certainly wanted to. The sound of her laugh tinkled over the air to his ears. Her admirers drew closer to her, completely ignorant, like mice being played with by a cat.

  She looked up and their eyes met; she broke off mid-sentence. Her body turned towards him. Suddenly he felt like he was the only man on this battlefield. A deep protectiveness came over him.

  He stormed right up to her and grabbed her arm, pulling her away. “Get out of here, Cleo,” he hissed low to her.

  Immediately her face changed into that combative scowl that he was so familiar with. “Isn’t there room on the battlefield for the two of us? How about you get out of here.”

  Jordan pointed at Alyx who was mid-speech now. “She’s about to order the attack. Our backup isn’t here yet. I’ve seen our numbers, Cleo. It’s a suicide mission, a distraction so she can get to the Gate.”

  “Are you fighting?”

  “Of course.”

  Cleo pulled her arm out of his hand. She leaned in, so close that he could smell the mint on her breath. She stared him right in the eyes. “Then I’m staying.”

  “Are you insane?”

  “All my life I’ve been running from death, running from life, fearful of growing old. I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”

  “Cleo, if you fight you’ll die for nothing.”

  “No.” Her eyes blazed with a dark fierceness. “It means I will have lived for something.”

  Jordan stared at this woman who continued to shock him with everything she said and did. Her soul blazed with more fire than he thought should be possible in a mortal body. She wasn’t a duchess, she was a queen. His brave little warrior queen. He realized in that moment what he had been ignoring for the last few weeks…

  “Cleo,” his voice rang with awe. I’m falling for you. I don’t know when it started or perhaps I had always been but was too stupid to realize it, but there it is… I’m falling in love with you. That’s what he wanted to say. That’s what he should have said. But instead, this came out. “I see you, Cleo. I see underneath all that sex and trash talk you cover yourself with. You are kind even though life has not always been kind to you. You shine with light even though you have lived in darkness. You are easily the bravest person here because you tempt death more by being mortal. Please, would you do me the honor of letting me fight alongside you?”

  Cleo blinked at him rapidly. “Oh, wow…”

  They were the truest words he had ever spoken.

  A look came to her eyes and she tilted her head. “Did you get possessed by a demon or something?”

  “What?”

  “Who are you and what have you done with my Jordan?” Did she just say her Jordan? “It’s kinda unnerving, you being so nice to−”

  “Cleo, just take the damn compliment.”

  “Okay…thanks. And by the way, yes.”

  “Yes, what?”

  “Yes, you can fight alongside me. Just try not to cramp my style.”

  Behind him he heard Alyx’s shout to advance. The FreeThinkers around them roared in response and began to move around them.

  “It begins,” Jordan said.

  Before he could move, Cleo closed the space between them and pressed her mouth to his. Her kiss was hard yet her lips were soft. That tiny space where their mouths connected contained the promise of a passion big enough to shake the universe. Her kiss silenced his heart, then kick-started it again like a shock to the chest. It was over all too quickly and suddenly there was space between every part of their bodies.

  Holy Hell.

  “So, it begins,” she said.

  She tapped his chin with her finger, closing his mouth for him. She winked at him as she brushed past, her sword singing as she unsheathed it.

  So, it begins. He wasn’t sure if she was talking about the battle.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Alyx thrust her sword in the air and her white army let out a roar, their voices united as was their cause. The white sea sparkled with the glints of silver. They rushed around Alyx like water around a rock. She lowered her sword and turned, swallowing hard as she watched the flurry of white aiming for the sea of black. The first sounds of swords started to fill the air and the first of her army started to die, their cries cut short as were their lives.

  “Making difficult choices is one of the curses of being a leader. You made your choice. Make sure you can live with it.”

  Was she a leader? She didn’t feel like one. She just felt like a girl who wanted to save a boy she was in love with.

  “So, it begins,” said Vix who was standing beside her.

  “Yup.” That’s all that she could manage to say.

  “Can you see him?”

  Alyx opened her Soulsight and scanned the area, looking for that single soul that belonged to her. For a single moment of dread she thought that she might have made a mistake. She thought that this might have been a trick and that Michael wasn’t at this Gate. But then her heart tugged at her. She spotted him, Israel, shining brighter than any other soul in this valley.

  She let go of her Soulsight, grabbed the set of binoculars at her hip and peered into the night. There looked to be nothing moving through the valley from the north and yet when she looked with her Soulsight, there they were, a small convoy and Israel approaching the mosque at the base of the valley, where the Hell Gate was located.

  “I see them. They’re headed to the mosque down in the valley.”

  * * *

  Hidden under borrowed MirageWeaver, Sparrow hid close by, listening to Alyx and Vix plan their path through the battlefield to the mosque down in the depths of the valley. He had made Piki promise to remain back at the castle. When the faithful swallow refused Sparrow tricked him into a makeshift cage with food. Piki had fluttered angrily against the bars as Sparrow promised to be back soon. He felt a little bad for tricking him, but he didn’t want his little friend getting hurt if he came with him.

  Now that Alyx and Vix had both disappeared under their mirage, he wished that he had let Piki come with him. He felt very much alone and deathly afraid.

  “When I became a man, I put away childish things,” he whispered to himself. He set out into the sky after Alyx and Vix.

  The battle raged like a storm across the valley and sky. Sparrow darted around clashing Seraphim, ducked aside from balls of magic and avoided falling bodies, all the while looking for the next gap between the fighters. It was slow progress but he edged closer and closer to the mosque.

  He trembled when the swing of someone’s sword got too close. But he stayed his path. He wished he could crawl into some dark, warm, safe place where there would be no swords or sharp objects, but he kept going. Because being a coward, was worse. He was the reason that Israel got caught. He had to make things right.

  Even if it killed him.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Tonight the valley rained. Droplets of blood fell upon the thirsty, dusty ground as the battle spread out across the valley and into the sky as well. Black and white clashed in the air, flying at each other at great speeds, blades spinning and glinting like glitter. Magic cracked across the air like lightning and burst against each other like fireworks. Every so often an angel would take a wound they could not heal and fall from the sky, landing, broken, with a final thud upon the sand. Vix stayed close to Alyx as they began to weave their way through the battlefield, both under a mirage.

  Alyx tried to ignore the cries of battle in t
he air. It was all around them. She tried not to think about who from her side were losing their lives in a sacrifice against evil. She tried not to think who would lose the love of their life today. She couldn’t think such things. They would render her broken and useless. And she had to push on.

  Finally the mosque loomed ahead, a large domed building the same color and texture as the sand around them, guarded by two domed towers, a shorter one to the right and a taller one to the left that pierced the inky sky. The entrance to the mosque was a huge central archway painted in elaborate symmetrical patterns with all the colors of the desert. Two entry doors blended almost completely into the archway.

  Inside Alyx could see Israel’s soul light. There was another light in there with him.

  Michael’s.

  There looked to be nobody guarding the mosque. But Alyx knew that to be false. With her Soulsight she could see the light of the warriors guarding the mosque entrance hidden under a mirage. Alyx grabbed Vix’s arm firmly and pulled her to the roof above the entry. They peered over the edge and Alyx leaned into Vix’s ear to whisper. “Israel’s inside, alone with Michael. But there are six guards stationed around the entryway under a mirage.”

  “Where?”

  Alyx pointed out the pairs. “Under my mirage I can see them with my Soulsight but they can’t see me. I can take them out one by one.”

  “We don’t have time for stealth. Israel doesn’t have time for stealth.”

  “What do you suggest then?”

  “I’ll distract them. You go in and kick Michael’s ass.”

  “Vix, there’s six of them. It’s suicide.”

  Vix grinned. “So, it’ll be a challenge for me. Go save our boy.”

  Before Alyx could protest, Vix flipped off the roof, disappearing under her mirage. With her Soulsight Alyx saw Vix fall silently behind one of the guards Alyx pointed out. There was a cry of pain and the guard’s soul snuffed out.

  Alyx dropped her Soulsight. Down below only the guard stood visible with a sword extending out the front of his stomach. It pulled back through his body and disappeared back under Vix’s mirage. There was a commotion as the rest of the guards, still under their mirages, scrambled to fight off this invisible opponent.