Heaven's Fallen

by Benjamin Medrano

  “I suppose you could say that,” Isalla said, her jaw almost hanging open. “I’ve never heard of anyone wearing armor like that before, outside legends.”

  “I have, but not for someone who isn’t a general or even more powerful than that,” Rose said, staring at the armor in obvious surprise. “I knew it was powerful from the beginning, but…”

  “Mother wanted to ensure you were safe. To almost any demon lord, you’d be an incredible prize, and she wouldn’t want you to be defenseless.” Kanae said, then offered the armor back. “Here you are. What of Ember? Is it in good condition?”

  “It is, thank you,” Rose said, smiling as she took the armor and set it on the table again. She pulled the sword out of the sack, and Kanae studied it for a moment. The sword was a little longer than her own, and was in a lacquered red and gold sheath reminiscent of flames, and the hilt was red leather, with a gold pommel and cross-guard each set with a ruby. Ember didn’t radiate as much magic as she expected it to, but she knew better, since the blade was dyed red and runes along its blade would light up with inner fire when drawn by its wielder.

  “Good. Now, then… let’s get some of this conversation out of the way. I give it half an hour before the locals come to investigate,” Kanae said, letting out a soft sigh. “And that’s if we’re lucky.”

  “Oh. Oh, I didn’t even think of that,” Isalla said, blanching. “You think they know that something happened out here?”

  “I heard there were soldiers on the road this morning, and all but ran home to check on you,” Kanae explained dryly, amused by the angel’s response. “So yes, they know. Most likely someone came out to check on what happened, then saw Mother’s guards and retreated. With any luck they won’t recognize that they were the royal guard, but we’re going to have visitors.”

  “Lovely,” Rose said, sighing softly. “I’d hoped to avoid that.”

  “You aren’t the only one, but… rural towns,” Isalla said, shaking her head slowly. “You know how it is.”

  “True enough. News travels through them like lightning,” Rose agreed, her worry seeming to ease slightly. She considered the armor on the table for a moment, then left it and Ember as she took a seat. “Alright, if we don’t have much time… what are we going to do?”

  “That is the question. From what my mother said, linking together events, it sounds like a faction of the angelic legions is trying to restart the war,” Kanae said bluntly, frowning as she tapped her foot slowly, nervousness rushing through her. “Between throwing Isalla into the hells and having Rose kidnapped, it seems likely. It could just be their way of disposing of problems, but I think they could have come up with more efficient ways of doing that which didn’t involve the hells.”

  “They had me kidnapped?” Rose asked incredulously, just as Isalla inhaled.

  “According to Mother, the group of mercenaries that captured you were hired by angels,” Kanae explained shortly, focusing on the discussion rather than her guests. “They wanted all the information you had, then for you to be disposed of. She asked Anna to coax all the information she could out of you, figuring that in your… illuminated state, it’d suffice for their request for disposal.”

  Rose scowled at that, murmuring, “Oh, those evil… well, it explains the conversations with Anna. I told her practically anything she wanted to know. I’d be annoyed, but at least I’m alive.”

  “It also explains what you meant, about people trying to start a war. I’d wondered why Rose got captured so soon after I was attacked, it seemed just too unlikely of a coincidence,” Isalla said unhappily. “Adding in the assassination attempt on me, and it starts leading places that I really don’t like.”

  “I don’t like them either. I don’t want the war to flare up again, even the skirmishes I hear about are quite bad enough,” Kanae agreed, shivering slightly as she folded her arms. “From what Mother said, you’d pretty much settled on two options. Going to investigate and finding allies among the angelic legions to break open the conspiracy, or taking Mother’s protection and letting her agents investigate.”

  “I do remember discussing that somewhat. Without Ember, I’d be hesitant, but… no, what do you think, Isalla?” Rose asked, looking over at her friend. “I don’t want to decide for you, not after everything you’ve been through.”

  “We’ve both been through a lot,” Isalla retorted, then fell silent, obviously considering the question. Kanae felt just a hint of surprise as she watched Isalla. She seemed much more focused than Kanae had seen before, and the sight was interesting. At last, Isalla spoke softly. “I can’t just sit back and watch someone else deal with this, Rose. Even if the command staff all but threw us out, the heavens are our homeland. The number of innocents who’d die if the war reignites in truth… I can’t imagine how bad it would become.”

  “I agree. While I’m not happy about the idea, we also have at least one thread of hope,” Rose said, nodding in approval. “Firewatch should still be there, and there had to be a good reason for me being ambushed while I was outside. I know there are people there who I can trust, and they should be able to point us in the right direction.”

  “Assuming they haven’t been replaced by people who’re more likely to do the bidding of whoever wanted you eliminated,” Kanae interjected softly, still sitting back.

  “Yeah,” Isalla agreed, then fell silent, looking at Kanae for a moment. Then she asked, “What about you, Kanae? What are you going to do?”

  “That is the question, isn’t it?” Kanae murmured, smiling thinly. “I’d like to help you, to be honest, but… you have each other, and having a demon in tow wouldn’t help your case. I would likely hurt it, in fact.”

  “Why would you hurt our case?” Rose asked, frowning.

  “Because she’s a demon. They’d probably think that she was controlling us,” Isalla said, frowning heavily. “I… is there some way you could change your shape, or look like you were human? From what you’ve said, you changed to look like you do now, and Estalia said you were taller.”

  “I’m afraid not. The method I used to change my appearance isn’t something done easily or in a short period of time. My unique mutations cause any shapechanging or other transmutation to wear off extraordinarily quickly,” Kanae replied, shaking her head. “Even permanent transmutations are undone within an hour or three. I had an unpleasant encounter with a medusa once, and that very much startled her.”

  “Well, drat,” Isalla said, looking even more unhappy.

  “Either way… we’ll have to figure out exactly what you want to do, and what I’ll do,” Kanae said, unfolding her arms and slowly standing. “At least I have a little more time to deal with the house and get my things situated. It appears that I’ve been rather unfair to my mother for all these years.”

  “Based on what you’ve told us, I don’t think I blame you,” Rose said, standing up more quickly. She was studying Kanae closely, far more closely than Kanae was entirely comfortable with. Finally, having taken entirely too long for someone of her background to notice, Kanae realized what she was seeing. Rose took a deep breath, then spoke. “Kanae, I wanted to apologize if I’ve offended you over the past few days. I kept seeming to make mistakes, when what I really wanted was—”

  “Rose… please don’t,” Kanae interrupted softly, shaking her head as her stomach clenched again, her emotions swirling into turmoil. “I should have realized last night, but I wasn’t paying enough attention. I was too absorbed by my hopes and fears to realize that you were attracted to me. Mother mentioned it, but then she distracted me with the rest of the conversation we had. However… I feel the need to keep my distance for now.”

  Isalla was watching them, keeping quiet as she tilted her head. Kanae could practically see how she wanted to interrupt, but was thankful that Isalla didn’t. This would be hard enough without multiple people interjecting. For her part, Rose looked somewhat disappointed and confused, with just a hint of annoyance in her eyes.

  “
May I at least ask why? You didn’t seem to object to getting close to Isalla,” Rose asked finally.

  “Of course. With Isalla, I didn’t know how long she was going to stay for. It took a fair amount of time before she approached me, and we’d had plenty of time to get to know one another. Despite my heritage, I don’t casually develop relationships anymore. I shouldn’t have told her I was interested at all, in fact,” Kanae explained, a hand reaching up to unconsciously rub her throat. “Now… you might note that I’ve left you and Isalla together ever since your rescue. I’ve deliberately avoided doing anything more because I knew that you were likely to leave soon.”

  “Kanae…” Isalla began, only to be silenced when Kanae looked at her.

  “No, Isalla,” Kanae said softly, shaking her head. “I don’t want to hurt you. I truly don’t, but at the same time, I also don’t want to hurt myself.”

  Rose blinked in surprise, then slowly frowned, looking quite unhappy, though about what was another question. After a moment, she spoke softly. “I don’t understand you, Kanae. You’ve gone through all this effort, and for what?”

  “That is the question, isn’t it? If you figure it out, please let me know,” Kanae said, then blinked as she heard what sounded like footsteps. “Ah, it appears that visitors are approaching, so we need to wrap all this up.”

  “We’d better take your things into the bedroom,” Isalla told Rose, quickly standing up. As she started moving to help Rose pick up the armor, Isalla suddenly paused and added, “I just have to ask… Kitty?”

  “I don’t know why she likes the name so much,” Kanae replied, sighing. “As she said, my original name is Kitania. Use the one you like. Now, I need to deal with our guests, preferably without letting them catch sight of Rose.”

  “Alright. Good luck,” Isalla said, the worry on her face easing slightly, and she quickly picked up several pieces of armor.

  Moments later, there was a hesitant knock at the door, and Kanae waited until the other two had moved into the bedroom with Ember and the armor before opening the door. On the other side were Deka and Manog, both of whom looked nervous. Deka relaxed slightly at the sight of Kanae, while Manog was just looking at her in concern.

  “Kanae, you’re alright! After we saw that group of soldiers around your house, we were concerned you might have been taken away or something,” Deka said, lowering his club as he reached up to run a hand over his leather helm, smiling in relief.

  “No, I’m here for the moment. That was just my past catching up with me, unfortunately. I thought I had more time to run, but I’m afraid not,” Kanae told them, deliberately not inviting them inside. She was sure there were signs of visitors, and she didn’t want them to think people were still inside. “Instead, I have a few days to deal with all my things, then I’m going to be taking an escort to Silken Veils.”

  “Oh. That doesn’t sound good,” Deka said, his smile fading.

  “Kanae… what is going on? Those weren’t normal soldiers. I didn’t recognize the armor, but I’ve seen expensive gear before,” Manog said, looking around nervously. “They had to be important.”

  “Well…” Kanae paused, pursing her lips for a long moment, then sighed and shrugged. “Suffice to say, I was not of low birth. After the War of Decimation, I faked my death for freedom, and it seems that my family wants me back. While I have some choice in the matter, there isn’t much I can do, not safely.”

  “What?” Deka yelped, his eyes going huge. “You’re a noble?”

  For his part, Manog blinked, then sighed and shook his head, his voice annoyed, but finally regaining just a bit of his usual, charming manners. “Ahh, I see why you were always so insistent on me learning how to assist you, Kanae. Might I at least hope that once you’re safely ensconced in the upper class that you’ll not forget us? Our town is ignored much of the time.”

  Kanae smiled and laughed, shaking her head as she did so. “Oh, I think you can safely assume that I’m not going to forget you. Now, whether or not I’ll be able to do anything to help is another question entirely. I’m not entirely sure what sort of situation I’m going to end up in.”

  “Ah, I see. Well, I do hope you end up in a position that’s appropriate for such a lovely lady.” Manog said, smiling and straightening. “May I ask what you plan to do with everything out here?”

  “At the moment, I was planning to give you the medical texts and what herbs and other supplies I have on hand. The alchemy equipment you can choose to sell, or you can try to find an alchemist who’ll move into town,” Kanae said, then paused and shrugged. “Beyond that? I intend to leave behind the key and command words for the door wards, and anyone who wants to move in, or split up what I leave behind is welcome to it.”

  “That’s kind of sad. I mean… you’ve lived here for years, and you’re just going to leave?” Deka asked, looking rather unhappy.

  “I have little choice, Deka,” Kanae replied gently, taking a deep breath, then letting it out as she looked at Manog. “That said, I need to start figuring out what to pack. I’ll come into town with some of my things tomorrow, alright?”

  “Very well. While I’d deeply prefer to discuss your situation more, I suppose I can wait for you to come into town,” Manog said, then he bowed. “Good day, Lady Kanae.”

  “And to both of you,” Kanae replied, then shut the door and locked it, letting out a soft sigh.

  Looking around, Kanae eyed the door to her bedroom and muttered, “It’s going to be a long couple of days.”

  Sighing again, Kanae went ahead and decided to get to work before Isalla and Rose could interfere. Much.

  Chapter 48

  Eziel glanced around, making certain she couldn’t see any of her companions. Despite the powerful winds around the hellhole in the middle of Hragon, she found flying quite easy. It was made still easier by the powerful thermal the portal to the hells created. Still, she couldn’t see any of her companions, which meant that everything was going as planned.

  Reaching up to her earring, Eziel channeled mana into it and murmured softly, “Descend through the portal, then head south.”

  None of the others replied, as they weren’t supposed to. While the chances of demons seeing through their invisibility or eavesdropping on their conversations were miniscule, it was still more than they were willing to entertain. Sorm had made it clear that their mission couldn’t be allowed to fail.

  Eziel’s feathers rustled in the wind as she began to descend toward the hells. She hated that she was going into the hells at all, as the horrific monsters that came from it weren’t worthy of living, but for their purpose she was willing to take any risk. Besides, the Assassin’s Guild had sent enough information for her to be fairly sure of where their targets were, coupled with a few divinations. If it turned out that Roselynn was as far from the palace as they’d heard, she’d even be able to send back most of the items they’d brought with them.

  As she approached the yawning abyss before her, Eziel murmured. “May the Lord of Light bless us, that we may purge all evil from the world.”

  “There you go,” Kanae said, nodding as she set the last crate in the cart. It clinked slightly from the glass inside, but she’d padded the vials enough that they wouldn’t break unless someone dropped the crate.

  She’d taken a full day to sort through her things and decide what she was keeping, which wasn’t nearly as much as Kanae would like. Lots of things simply lacked portability, like her bed or the spring, so she’d had to make some hard choices. Losing the mirror was going to be frustrating, but she rarely used it anyway. In fact, Kanae couldn’t remember the last time she’d had reason to use the mirror, which was why she’d reluctantly handed it over to Manog as well. It should help him in diagnosing injuries.

  “That’s it, then?” Madiel asked, the big man’s voice rumbling deeply. He had four arms and had been an enormous help in clearing out the alchemy shed. He also looked a little unhappy about Kanae leaving, but that was hardly unusual around
town at the moment. Kanae was mostly relieved that no one had spotted the guards Estalia had left behind. They’d certainly been keeping a lot of distance between them and the house, though.

  “Yes, that’s everything, at least for now,” Kanae said, dusting her hands off. “Thank you, Madiel. It would’ve taken a long time to get that to town if it weren’t for your help.”

  “I just wish you weren’t leaving,” Madiel replied, sighing as he grabbed the handles of the cart. “It’s going to make the Abyss a lot more interesting to visit.”

  “I know it will. I’d suggest telling everyone to take it easy and be careful,” Kanae told him, shaking her head. “I know I’ve helped pull people out of there when necessary, but I’m not going to be around for that anymore.”

  “True enough,” Madiel replied, then smiled, obviously trying to keep his spirits up. “At least we have a little more time before you leave. I’ll get this to Manog’s shop safely, don’t you worry.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. Unfortunately, I still have plenty to do inside,” Kanae said, glancing toward the house. “I’ll see you before I go.”

  “As you say, Kanae,” Madiel agreed, then started trudging forward, pushing the cart as he went. Kanae watched him go for a minute, then headed for the house.

  She opened the door and paused, seeing that Isalla had her armor on the table and was going over it closely, probably to make sure that it was in good shape after being in storage for a few months. Isalla looked up and blinked before asking, “Yes, Kanae?”

  “I was just thinking that if I’d had someone else with me, this would have been a very awkward sight,” Kanae replied, gesturing at the armor and closing the door behind her. Isalla’s decision startled her a little, but it didn’t surprise her much.

  “Perhaps so, but we noticed that you’ve been taking pains not to let anyone get a good look inside the house, lately,” Rose said, setting a box near the wall with a thump. “Isalla needs to refamiliarize herself with her armor and see if there’s anything to be done about the gaps for her wings.”