by Ava D. Dohn
* * *
The sound of hurrying steps alerted the camp to trouble. Chisamore jumped from his hiding place among the rocks to block the potential threat, his sword at the ready. It was Periste. She waved him off, rushing past him, her hushed voice sounding alarm.
“They’re coming!” Periste cried, casting her voice’s power toward the ground in an effort for her desperate words not to carry past the camp. Stopping short of the tiny group gathered around Darla, she excitedly panted, “It’s Legion’s Gestapo after us! Must be at least a hundred of them!”
Sirion looked up, her pale face stained with tears as she moaned in anguish, “My sister’s dying! We can’t move her!”
Periste could well see the gravity of the moment, Sirion and Depais holding Darla, while Gabrielle, semiconscious, lay atop the girl, mumbling incoherently. She shook her head, looking down at a sobbing Sirion. “Honey, if we don’t git right now, Mother will shed tears for more than one child.”
Tzidohn rushed into camp, hunkering down behind some boulders, warning Chisamore to seek protection. Periste watched him duck for cover then shouted to the others with Darla, “They’ve come for war! They intend to kill us all! We hafta make a run for it. We can’t stand against ‘em!”
Color was draining from Periste’s face as she searched the others for a response. Sirion looked into her frantic eyes and then reached out, taking Gabrielle by the shoulder and gently shaking her, echoing Periste’s warning. “Darling, we have to let go. Our girl is dead and we must save ourselves.”
Depais got to her feet in an attempt to assist Gabrielle. “C’mon, Honey, we have to go.”
Gabrielle struggled to break free of her blind stupor, pushing with her arms to sit, Depais helping as best she could. Sirion wiggled out from behind Darla, resting the woman’s head on a blanket. Seeing others assembling near the rocks, she called out for Depais to leave her charge and help with the defense. “It’s too late to run now. We need to hold this place the best we can.”
Pushing herself up and into a sitting position, Gabrielle told Depais to go, telling her she would be fine. Depais hurried off to help with the defense. But Gabrielle was still too weak to weather the storm by herself. She fumbled and slipped, her arms almost giving way. Shaking her head in dismay, she could do little more than fight off the cobwebs in her mind.
At that instant, Mihai and Planetee dove over the rocks, half dragging EhleenohrKalahnit, who suffered a jillson bolt through her middle thigh. She groaned as she hit the ground, but struggled back onto her feet, sword drawn. Sirion stared at the bloody arrow, its feathers half buried in the back of Ehleenohr’s leg, its point sticking two handbreadths out the front. No time to render medical attention, Sirion prepared for the coming combat.
“Get down!” Mihai shouted, as several jillson bolts sliced through the air and ricocheted off rocks or slammed into withered trees.
Periste was motioning Sirion and Depais forward when another bolt swooshed out of the thickets, punching Periste in the upper chest, just to the left of her heart, cracking bones and slicing through tendons before breaking out of her back, smashing the woman’s shoulder blade. Knocked off balance and spinning from the force of the blow, Periste pirouetted to her left, a punctured artery splattering Sirion’s face with blood as she crashed to the ground.
Everything was moving so fast now. No time to think, just do. Sirion scanned the underbrush beyond the rocks. The thicket was full of movement. She pulled her sword from its scabbard and took a step toward the rocks. At that instant, her mind picked up a faint disturbance in the harmonics. Another jillson bolt sped toward her…or near her. In less than a heartbeat, she had calculated the arrow’s trajectory, sighing relief that it would pass her by. From the corner of her eye, Sirion realized who the intended target was. Gabrielle still sat wrapped up in Darla’s legs, the woman unaware of what was going on. The woman screamed out Gabrielle’s name as she dove toward the streaking missile.
Sirion heard only a dull explosion in her head when the jillson bolt caught her at midriff just below her sternum, pitching her back and off her feet. She twisted heels over head in crazy cartwheel fashion, drifting as though forever weightless, a deafening silence filling her ears. The woman’s eyes watched in amazement as the world spun around her, feeling that time had come to a stop and that she, alone, was moving in the universe. ‘So this is how it feels to die.’ She pondered. ‘Not so bad… not so bad…’
‘Crunch!’ Sirion crashed hard on her shoulders, crying out in agony as her head hit the hard-packed ground, finally stopping on her side, curled up in a fetal position next to Periste. As quick as may be, she struggled to sit, pain from the shot not affecting her senses yet. Looking down to examine her wound, Sirion saw only the last inch of the bolt’s black feathers sticking out of the jagged cut. She could tell that the arrow had missed her spine, but it punched a hole through her stomach, just clearing her diaphragm.
Hiding behind a boulder, Mihai looked back in time to see Sirion take the hit. She cried out her name, watching helpless as the girl struggled to sit. After looking over her injuries, Sirion glanced up at Mihai, who was staring back in dismay. Sirion coughed, spewing hot, frothy crimson from her mouth onto her khaki fatigues. Sirion coughed again, fear of death growing on her face as she realized the danger of drowning in her own blood.
There was nothing else for it, nothing Mihai could do. This would not be the first close companion she had watched die while the heat of battle prevented her giving assistance. “She will do as she does.” Mihai cursed, turning her attention back to the matters at hand, hefting her sword for the coming attack. Three more times arrows flew and three more times Mihai deflected them.
Dozens of shapes were emerging from the thickets, advancing for the kill at seeing their opponents had nothing but blades to defend themselves with. A tall, muscular man suddenly appeared in front of the others, shouting orders while pointing at Mihai. “Don’t kill her! I want that bitch-worm alive… alive, I say! Don’t hurt her. Finish off the others and give their meat to the dogs, but death to any man touching my prize!”
The advancing horde stopped up short, waiting. No need to risk life and limb against these warriors, some the most renowned in the universe, and those blades - derker blades - a new invention of Erithia’s children, light as a feather while holding the power of the sun, with a burning edge sharper than measuring. No, they could wait until their full number was up before charging that line.
While the storm gathered itself to them, Mihai and the others studied the increasing throng. Former lovers and companions, trusted allies in life and intimate associates, that was what these depraved monsters standing before them once were. These servants of the Devil’s Keeper, Legion, were become little more than ravenous beasts, like the Stasis Pirates, only more vile and disgusting. There would be no quarter this day. All knew they would die, but they would not go quietly. The ground would run red with the blood of their enemies this day, their own mixing with it as they, too, fell.
These men - for Legion would tolerate no women in his private army - were all the servants of that man. The ‘Gestapo Extraordinaire’ they called themselves, they taking pride in every repulsive act of violence a person could dispense upon another. These men had fallen into the darkness long ago, having no memories of their former lives in peaceful times. Fear kept them in line - fear of Legion, he willing to deliver even greater malice upon those failing to obey his every whim. Murder and torture were the rewards for their loyalty, the opportunity for each faithful steward to share in others’ agony, pain being the only sensual feeling remaining to tell them they still lived.
There the enemy stood, in all their tattooed glory, the Cross of Damien etched on each man’s forehead, signifying him to be one of Legion’s elite guard, their helms and armor festooned with scalps of heads and pubic hair taken from living victims. Some carried pouches made of tanned breasts or
scrotums filled with amulets and totems to protect them from the ever-growing number of gods and demons possessing their world. One officer proudly adorned himself with a necklace of index fingers taken from hapless captives before they were dragged off to die, slaving in some rat-infested prison.
Off to the side, the archer who had been deprived his earlier target stepped into the open to again attempt his prize. The man’s mind raced with dreams of future rewards as though already received, for bringing down the Great Lord and Chief Advisor of Erithia, Witch of Secret Evil and Stealer of the Hidden Powers, Gabrielle, a most formidable warriors. Yes, he would be celebrated in the camp tonight, being seated at the great table, with Gabrielle’s head skewered on his pike, given any woman he desired… to do with however he pleased. Yes, sweet Carmelit! He would teach her not to spurn him! He could see it all now, a dream come true.
Gabrielle was still struggling to come to her senses, her mind-share with Darla draining. She could hear a commotion around her, but understood little of what it all meant.
The archer raised his crossbow, sighting it in with a smile while squeezing the trigger. “Ah, the moment! Square through the back and into the heart…” His words were no more than spoken when a painful crash erupted in his face, the broken crossbow ripped from his hands. Stunned, he turned to his left at hearing the sounds of horns and shouting. There, at the edge of a distant wood were two men, one who had apparently shot the crossbow from his hands, the other with another weapon raised at him.
Still a bit dazed, the man could see a black dot emerge in his vision. As if chained in time, unable to move, though it seemed such an easy thing to do, the man watched the speeding bolt slowly approach. The arrow began to take on a distinct shape, its four-sided spear points secured to a black shaft, guided along its journey by black eagle’s feathers. Ever onward it raced, the man’s feet frozen to the ground, he little more than an observer watching the pageantry of theater being played out before him.
Slamming the man between the eyes, the arrow’s razor sharp blades tore through bone and brain, splitting the skull as the bloodied point exited the back of the man’s head, its force breaking the fellow’s neck as he was knocked off his feet and sent crashing to the ground. Within seconds, a dozen more arrows flew, bringing down more archers.
“Send ‘em to Hell! After me…!”
Mihai turned her head, wondering what death awaited them on the flank only to see Captain Lonche charging the enemy, dozens of marines and sailors racing from the woods a few steps behind. He waved his pike, shouting, “Bring ‘em down! Bring the bastards down to Hell!”
Legion’s soldiers stared dumbly at this new peril hurrying death upon them, their archers ducking dozens more angry arrows coming from the shadows of the wood. Lonche and his crew only paces away, the enemy braced for the collision of steel, blade upon shield and mace upon helm, when a sudden blinding fireball of plasmatic energy exploded between the two armies, sending people reeling, stumbling and falling.
Before either camp could muster their senses to realize what was happening, a mournful groan rose from the tortured ground, rising into a pitched scream, as the world around them shook and trembled in its agony, sending giant oaks crashing from on high and tossing boulders around as though mere toys.
As suddenly as everything began, it abruptly ended. Both sides regaining their composure, they witnessed in the fading glory of the fireball a comely figure of a woman, the fire’s radiant energy drawing itself into the beauteous form. A voice cried out, “Erithia!” and several Pseudes fell to the ground, making signs upon themselves with their hands while calling out to strange gods and demons for protection.
At seeing the anger in the woman’s eyes, others bowed a knee in reverent fear to their Queen of Darkness, that is, all save Legion and a few of his bravest lieutenants. He stepped forward, about to utter angry curses against his chief protagonist. Ma-we stopped him up. In a raging voice like that of a she bear confronting her cubs’ tormentors, she roared, “How dare you interfere with my purpose while trying to bring ruin to my children! Are we at war at this moment?! This is my land! My property! Intruders! Trespassers! I should drive you from life this instant!”
While the others quailed about him, Legion dare not. He had not ruled among these murdering cutthroats all these years by showing weakness. Better off would he be to become dead this instant, to die a martyr, than to seek solace with the Witch of Damnation. He took a step forward, waving his arm in offense. “Do not try to impress us with stolen parlor tricks, you mother of the birds! How dare you, barren woman, bereft of suckling and youth! How dare you interfere with that which is not yours to meddle in!”
Ma-we’s anger flashed white hot, her eyes beaming like two molten suns. She spread her arms wide, screaming, “In my belly I formed you, a gemstone of gems, your beauty greater than the heavens. Now see the majesty that was shielded from you before the day of your birth. See the God above the heavens and give her glory!”
The surrounding trees suddenly burst into flaming torches, illuminating a darkening sky. Mountains around shook in torment, crumbling in fright, splitting open, delivering steaming clouds of molten ash and smoke into the heavens. Then, in hissing madness, streaking out of the gathering black clouds, burning missiles of meteors and comets crashed all around, tearing up the world in thunderous riot.
All the people fell to the ground, even Mihai quailing in fright, having never seen Mother in such a foul mood. What she might do was not hers to guess. Legion’s men wailed in fear, crying out to their gods to save them from this madness. Some got on their knees, begging for mercy from the Goddess-Maker of Worlds. Darla roused, semiconscious, looking into the raging storm, smiled at the tumult and faded away into dreamless sleep.
Sirion reached out, affectionately touching Periste’s placid face with bloodied fingers, weakly calling out to her, “The end of times is not so bad. The ever-world awaits us… Let us sleep until its dawning.” Her hand fell limp as the girl drifted into uncaring darkness.
In a voice of greater power than the surrounding thunders, Ma-we cried out to Legion, who remained standing, defiant. “Legion! Kneel before your Emperor God and worship me! Do this or be forever dead!”
Legion glanced up to see a burning missile explode from the clouds, crackling and hissing as it hurtled toward him. He dove on his face, landing right at Ma-we’s feet, the fireball smashing a giant hole in the ground where he had been standing. Instantly the storm subsided, filling the land with refreshing silence.
Shaken and unhurt, but covered with ash and dust, Legion looked up in a daze into Ma-we’s ridiculing eyes. She grinned, laughing derisively, “So! I still am your God! You giving me such glory has saved you to live another day.”
Ma-we called out to Captain Lonche in a voice gentle but urgent. “Son, if you hurry, my daughters may still live. Quickly, first to Sirion, she is the most damaged, the arrow opening a deep arterial wound. Quickly! Take your troop, for there is no longer any danger here.”
Lonche acknowledged Ma-we’s command, motioning for the others to assist with the wounded and injured. Sirion had regained consciousness enough to attempt to sit. By now, blood was freely oozing from her mouth and her raspy breathing labored. The woman’s head lolled from side to side, her eyes trying to focus on an advancing shadow calling her name.
Kneeling beside her, Lonche quickly realized the gravity of the moment. In seconds the ship’s surgeon was tearing away Sirion’s blouse while a medic assisted with the instruments. She busied herself with needed battlefield surgery, cutting a wide incision across Sirion’s upper belly and, with skilled fingers, probing deep to find the source of the bleeding. When she found the damage, she frantically went to work to halt the rupture. Captain Lonche remained close the entire time, holding Sirion’s hand while gently stroking her pallid face and singing to her a sweet healing song.
As Lonche and his team struggled to
save Sirion, others were busy assisting the wounded in any way possible. Ma-we looked on, satisfied, confident her children would survive. She looked over to EhleenohrKalahnit, frowning. “Daughter! Get that tended to before you bleed to death!”
Ehleenohr, standing on wobbly legs, stared dumbly over at Ma-we, all the color drained from her face. As her sword fell from shaking hands, two strong arms swooped the woman up as she collapsed. “Got ya’, my Lady!” Chisamore held her tight as he carried the woman away, shouting to some of Captain Lonche’s crew, “I’ve got an injured one here! Could use some help!”
By now, medical teams were busy with Darla, Gabrielle and Periste. Captain Lonche shouted, “No one dies today! Hear?! No one!”
In a few minutes a medic ran up to Ma-we, smiling, “All of ‘em accounted for, Mother. Snug as bugs in a rug.”
Ma-we thanked him and turned to Mihai. “The good captain’s ship is nearby. It’ll be here in a little bit to take us home.”
Mihai slumped, the energy draining from her face. She smiled back, fighting to hold in the tears of relief.
Coughing up dust and grit, Legion staggered to his feet, dusting himself off while attempting to show no fear or awe of Ma-we’s display of power he had just witnessed. After regaining his stance, he squinted and angrily rebuked Ma-we. “You have no right to interfere in police activities! These are the people who are in trespass! This territory has been claimed by my people for several millennia without any protest from you. Those…! Those…!” He wagged a finger toward Mihai. “Those criminals have destroyed property and murdered good, innocent citizens of this land. My people have only acted to bring these agents of wickedness to justice!”
“Oh stuff it, mouth boy, sissy-girl of your dark master!” Ma-we acidly retorted. “These people came here on my orders. And this is not your territory! Squatter! Thief!”
Legion cursed, arguing his case. “There, in distant thickets, lie two of your own children, murdered by that witch woman!” He pointed at Gabrielle, who was being assisted onto a stretcher. “And one of your own daughters was struck down by an archer’s bolt! She had no weapon to defend herself!”
Before Ma-we could respond, Legion assailed her further. “And that tramp!” He frantically waved toward Darla, still being cared for where she lay. “That tramp overstepped all the rules of diplomatic agreement, an agreement you swore an oath to long ago. That thing took materials from our world and delivered them into the worlds below. It has broken all the laws, natural and good.”
“Hold your tongue little boy, or I will!” Ma-we’s temper was rising. She pointed back toward Darla. “That… that little tramp will one day haunt your dreams, stealing away your very sleep! She is my Death Star, Angel of Madness! Her sword will rip apart the heavens! Today you have opened Hell’s gates to your own coming destruction. My daughter will drive your armies from the skies, burn your cities to dust and, in her raging anger, shall tear asunder your mightiest warriors!”
She wagged a finger in his face. “Her mercy! Her mercy will equal yours! ‘Demon of Darkness’ your people will call her, they quailing at the mention of the child’s very name!”
“And!” still shaking a finger, “What do you call those evil machines you make and implant in my helpless children in the Lower Realms in order to control them with pain, fear and suffering? Isn’t that as wicked a deed as any my daughter committed, and for much more sinister purposes?!”
Legion refused to publicly acknowledge Ma-we’s prophecies of doom. He answered ruefully to her questions, “You’re out of line! We may design our machines here, but if you took the time to search the facts, you would see how empty your accusations are. We use only the elements common to all worlds in their making. We do not wish to use them! Your creation leaves us no choice…rebellious bastards, no accounts. We need our machines to control those very creatures that you cast away.” He shrugged. “So, we are forced to rule as best we can.” then, angrily shaking a finger back in Ma-we’s face, accused, “Your children have overstepped their rights by forcefully intruding into our business and the way we govern those apish miscreants!”
Ma-we’s rebuff was equally accusative. “And I suppose your rape and torture of Ishtar, and the forced imprisonment of Cephas and the other innocents is also necessary to keep my castaways in control? Listen, you!” She poked a finger at him. “Those machines you used on my child pushed things over the line! You may claim rulership over the lands below for the moment, but my children are a free people. If you want to live another day, it will do you well to mind who of those apish miscreants you dabble with!”
Legion shrugged, pleading innocence. “Who am I? I can’t oversee everything. Things often happen that are beyond my control. I can’t be everywhere at once, don’t have palace magic to move about like you. Besides, as you said, that brattling is a free person. I can’t help it if she flirts her charms in front of desperate prison guards.”
He snarled. “Bratling got what she deserved! Besides, as your own chatterer once said…” he pointed toward Mihai. “ ‘Pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar.’ She lives in Caesar’s world and is one of his subjects. You have no part at all in the decisions of that lord, for he is one of my servants. Under law, I can do with my servants as I please.”
Ma-we’s retort was swift. “You have no hold on that child, for she is my child now! You sold her to me by the blood of my daughters here!” She waved a hand back toward the wounded being tended. “And besides, fool, her test is passed and you and your worthless god-king failed…”
Legion’s bewilderment was obvious.
Ma-we sneered, answering his unspoken question. “Loyalty purchased with bribes and threats must be ever watched. Lift the bonds from a slave and see his allegiance fade. Will he not spit upon his former master, once freedom is assured? The child is a free woman now. No longer can your threats or incantations hold her in servitude!”
His nostrils flaring hot with anger, Legion swore oaths and curses, jabbing a finger toward Ma-we. “The bitch-monkey dies today! She has broken the laws of her people! And I…!” He thumped his chest. “I am personally taking charge of her execution!”
Ma-we’s face clouded with remorse. She had expected nothing less from this rebel, but her heart hurt in hopes of seeing something more - a tiny spark of humanness still living within the breasts of this man, born of her flesh. She pleaded, “What is there to gain from the girl’s torture? You will not win her back…cannot. She is a changed creature and can never return to the darkness. Please! To the extent you show the child mercy, I will give it to you.”
“Mercy!?” Legion roared, “Mercy to that bratling!? Whore child! I will add seven times to the torments and humiliations she has already received. She will beg for death this day and I shall make it flee from her until she curses Cephas to his face!”
Flushing red with rage, Ma-we cursed Legion with word and prophecy. “Fool! You will not succeed! Look and see that my hand is already against you!”
“Now listen and become afraid! I swear: As I live, like your servant, Sisera, I will sell you into the hands of a woman - a virgin child - who will hunt you down like a wounded she-bear. Your mighty men, in her anger, she will rip apart. Their flesh she will hungrily eat, and their blood she will passionately drink. She will strip your land of inhabitants and burn your glorious city with ruination and fire. Your watchtowers she shall tear down and all your beautiful works she will burn to ashes.”
“Then you! Yes, you, this monkey child will tear from your living chest your beating heart, she watching with glee as life fades from your eyes. And your head she will remove from off you, making it into a bowl for excrement and urine. Upon the very gatepost of your resplendent city will my daughter of destruction hang your carcass until your flesh rots from off your bones. And… and my daughter’s offspring will write songs of derision concerning you, singing them as they dance upon
the mounds of your once mighty fortresses!”
“And Zeus will become a child’s…”
Legion began to offer rebuke. Ma-we shouted, “Shut up, you! Or I will give your tongue to the maggots of the dung heap this very moment! I am not done with you!”
“The child you cut down today - the child with the name of your sister whom you murdered upon your own bed and then lifted up to that of a goddess – ‘Ishtar’ will be the very name you will fear to speak in future days, it being too terrifying a name to behold. That child is the very weapon I will use to destroy you! She learns well… and what you have forged in the depths of Hell today will become the dragon-slayer of your own flesh tomorrow...”
“That child will come against you in all her vengeance. Like a maddened, horned beast, she will trample all that is yours. Two more times you will humiliate the girl, but upon her third return, when the King of Kings has been glorified, shall my Sword of Destruction come again, and she will strike down the Usurper King of Memphis and all that is his. And as you did to my children in days before, the bones of your people will be scattered across the Low Plain of Decision, never to see a burial or be given a remembrance.”
Those of Legion’s guard hearing Ma-we’s curses and pronouncements quailed, crying and moaning in fright. The few who had stood fell back to their knees, seeking solace from incantations and beseeching prayers to their gods, but none dared request mercy from their mother. Legion, afraid as he was, ordered them to ‘shut up, or be put to death’.
Ma-we pointed again toward Darla. “The flesh of my daughter will become more desirable to your master than that of his sissy-girl, he wanting her above all others. In the day your lover requests you deliver that tramp into his hand, you will know that the one you murder today has been lifted up to this world. Your sleep will flee from your eyes and you will dread the night. Her destruction will haunt your waking thoughts, but you will find no relief…only the sword of the Whirlwind, who will extinguish your world, leaving it desolate and naked!”
Terrified, but unable to reveal it, Legion screamed, “The bitch-child dies today! I will make her a sign for all who follow you!” He then pronounced his curses against Ma-we. “Today I will crush any who follow you, giving them deaths worse than death. Your prophets, puppets of this whore…” He pointed at Mihai. “They will feed my cats and light my arenas! Today! Today, before the sun falls behind the mountains, Cephas will bow and worship me!”
Ma-we’s face reddened with anger. “You’d better pray he does, for should he win in contest over you this day, no man will come to give you any worship. Look! If you lose, I will make your temples the haunts of the horned demons that fly on the darkening nights. No longer will men seek truth from you, nor give honor to you. Zeus shall no longer cause men to cower, but a tale for the suckling and sleepless child will be all that his mightiness will become.”
Legion shook his fist in defiance. “Cephas will worship me today! I will tear down my own temples if his glory does not escape your hand this day!”
Ma-we raised her hand, shaking a finger in rebuke. “You will not succeed! You are the most arrogant of fools! My hand will be against you! Already is! See! Your governor is no longer a slave to you!”
A queer expression filled Legion’s face, he not comprehending Ma-we’s statement.
Ma-we laughed derisively. “I thought not! You should have secured the barn before chasing my yearlings in the field. Your governor is freed of the machines you have so long used to control him. True, he does not know me, but he does recognize the feeling of being unfettered from evil bondage. Never again will he bow to your wickedness. Look, today, and see the servant spit in his master’s face!”
Legion’s face went white with rage, he stammering in an attempt to bring his own vile curses to birth. Just as the man was raising his hand to hurl another rebuke, a droning roar echoed over the treetops, warning of an approaching ship. As eyes looked skyward, Captain Lonche’s battle-frigate, Zoheret, came into view, it turning to settle down in the forest clearing.
Ma-we motioned to Lonche’s crew to gather up the wounded and board them as soon as possible. She then dismissed Legion offhandedly. “You’d better leave now, or I’ll have my captain order up his ship’s guns.” She turned and walked away.
Unleashing a torrent of vile curses that were drowned out by the Zoheret’s engines, Legion ranted on at Ma-we as she departed. Finally, after feeling he had shown sufficient bravery, the soldiers were dismissed. “We have more important matters to tend to! Leave these fools to their impudent chattering. Off! To other business!”
In a few minutes, the enemy had melted away into the thickets, taking their dead with them. Mihai settled her sword in its scabbard, her hands still a’ tremble at the realization of just how close she and the others had come to their end. She stared at Ma-we, eyes filled with thankful wonder.
Ma-we frowned motherly, shaking her head. “Even my own loyal children forget who I am. Why must you always believe the solution to problems rests only in your hands? Do I not have eyes? Does not the very moth send forth its secret messages to my ears, and does not the eagle tell me when the raven lifts its wings on the hunt?”
She pointed to Darla as the medics carried her up the Zoheret’s loading ramp. “Only my youngest remembered to call out to me for help. Because of her, I came. Because of her, I have the bodies of living children to take home with me this day. The child afforded me the time to find your hour’s savior.” Ma-we smiled. “It was fortuitous that Captain Lonche happened this way so soon.”
Mihai bowed her head to the gentle chastisement, resting a hand on Ma-we’s shoulder. She looked around for the others. Seeing them all at some distance, she frowned, looking her mother accusatively in the eyes. “You may fool the others, but you have not just happened upon us this hour. Darla may have saved many lives, but… but your hands have been a lot deeper in this mess than you let on. Have it your way. Is not your spirit in all things? And I’m so glad you have listened to the rocks cry out to you in our defense. Thank you for coming, for being here for us in our hour of need.”
Mihai fell upon Ma-we’s shoulder and began to weep, and being the gentle mother she was, cradled her daughter in her arms, patiently waiting upon Mihai’s heart as it released its pent-up emotions. In time, when all other things were finished, she stepped back, softly squeezing Mihai’s arms. “Come, my little one. The day has only started and yet there is so much mischief afoot.” She winked. “My mischief….”
Mihai laughed. “So, the mouse has not escaped the cat. When all hope is lost, when only despair wafts upon the wind, then you just happen along by chance, or by the cry of a desperate, little child. So much would I rather your rescue by accident than to have the navies of all the heavens seeking my deliverance.”
She pulled Ma-we close, giving her a tender kiss. Then, as she pondered the hour, frowned, asking, “What of the governor? How did we succeed today? Darla failed in her attempt to help Ishtar finish her test. What happened to turn this day around?”
Ma-we grinned. “My child, how little you understand...” Taking Mihai by the arm, she started for the ship. “Darla did not fail. I caused a deep sleep to come upon the child when her work was finished to keep her life within her.”
“You see, I could afford no help to come to Ishtar in her greatest hour which, by the way, will one day be made into song and legend. No, her test needed to match the glory she will eventually attain to. If I had not forced her lone stance, the torments I permitted this day would have been all for naught.”
Mihai puzzled over her mother’s words.
Ma-we stopped, smiling. “I needed to prove to all my children the mettle of this woman, for what I’m going to request of them concerning her. Oh, had she failed, I would not have held it against her soul, for the test was great…greater than most will ever face. But had she failed, her position of glory would have b
een forfeit. Now though, now, no one will ever be able to question my wisdom and choice in appointing this child upon the mountains to stand beside the others I have made into gods over my creation.”
“Mother!” Mihai groaned, rolling her eyes. “Do you always need to speak in riddles? And what position do you conjure before me as you speak?”
Ma-we gently poked Mihai in the ribs, offering a coy reply. “Riddle? Why do you think I always riddle with you? Oh well, whatever you may think. I… well, all I will say is this: There is a power that is yet to rise in this land, and that girl may one day rival you in glory and majesty. I will twist the minds and bend the hearts of all my children in all my realms. Look, I have fooled them even now into believing what they wish. It serves my purpose, you know...”
Mihai nodded, knowing it useless to probe for answers to Ma-we’s puzzles when the mood was upon her. ‘Better leave it go to the breeze.’ “What of the governor? What has happened to him?”
Ma-we looked toward the ground, contemplating. “Oh, yes, the governor. Um, I had a little chat with the fellow today. Explained to him how I felt about what was going on, suggested a change of attitude.” She looked into Mihai’s face, her eyes twinkling. “You know, he is really quite a reasonable man when he understands the issues. I think I can depend on him to do us well today.”
Ma-we changed the subject. She looked up to see that Captain Lonche had secured the injured aboard the Zoheret and presently he and some of the ship’s crew were waiting their arrival. “My dear, the good captain there wishes to rendezvous with his escorts and then offers to take us on another adventure.”
She pulled on Mihai’s arm, hurrying her along. “There’s mischief afoot! And I don’t want to miss a moment of it...”