The
Chronicles
Of
Heaven’s War
Book I:
Sisters
of the
BloodWind
~Ava D. Dohn
The Chronicles of Heaven's War, Book I:
Sisters
of the BloodWind
Published
by Ava D. Dohn at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Ava D. Dohn
Smashwords
Edition, License Notes
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* * *
This book is dedicated to the silent sentinels who have sacrificed everything for us, the unknowing and uncaring, so that we may have a hope of a better future. Without their assistance and protection, I doubt any freedom would still exist for mankind to enjoy.
* * *
Table of
Contents:
Prologue
Section
One: Destiny's Road
Section
Two: Of Councils Great and Small
Section
Three: Legend's Heroes
Section
Four: Forges of Hell
Section
Five: Silent Tombs
My children, you have asked me why your mother walks in the shadows of your world, seeking the dark, quiet places. You say she prefers the songs of lament to the cries of mirth and joy. You wonder at her silence, her quiet moods, and her distant stare. Be patient, for her days of mourning have yet to pass. Though the ‘century comets’ have returned a thousand times, she has not come to forget the suffering. And should they return a thousand times more, she will still be haunted by ghosts from long ago. So, do learn from my story and come to understand.
To the days of long ago I will take you -
Before Shadow Walkers roamed the forest and hills,
Before the daughters of Tolohe danced beside the firelight,
Yes, before your people took a breath.
That is where I will transport you -
Into an age without light, filled with despair.
To a time when hope was little more than bitter faith.
You shall see things and you will become afraid.
Then you will comprehend.
And insight will grow in your minds.
Your mother, you will gain empathy for,
Your mother, you will begin to understand.
Your mother… you will start to know.
So journey with me, my children of innocence. I will teach you the way it was then. And if my children should fail to learn… the ‘darkening age’ may well come again. So be silent and listen. Gain wisdom and live.
~Section One~
“To reach the beginning, you must start in the middle,
and to attain the finish, you must comprehend all things.
Time goes ever forward,
but knowledge learns always from the past.” - ZoeStethos
‘The child has arrived and is hurrying on to an uncertain destiny. Today will prove to be the beginning or ending of all things...’
The person sat back, eyes aching from the haunted visions of twisted destinies, head aching because of the distorted musical uncertainty playing its disenchanting melodies, and a heart filling with dread concerning future days.
All life hung upon a thread - the choice of a moment, or the beat of a troubled heart… and little could the Maker of worlds do than trust it to the wisdom of a most impetuous child who drew now ever closer to this uncertain destiny.
Chimes of the great clock sounded in the person’s ears. How many times had it called out to the distress of nations? How many children could no longer hear the beautiful music it made? Was it ten million, a hundred million, or maybe more? This one, sitting back waiting for the arrival of a most precious child, did not recall. What the person did know was that the belly of hell was not yet satisfied.
With head shaking, the tears began. Should the Empire win this coming conflagration, even though the child may prove wise, many times those who had already gone to their deaths would fall to Wrath’s coming storms. Should they lose…? Well, that could not be allowed, even if it cost the lives of all the children of the Empire… the universe.
The person stood, walking onto a balcony, then looked down upon a jungle of greenery seen nowhere else but here, the lone remaining peaceful bastion in this tempestuous universe.
Sighing quiet remorse that no others were allowed to sense, a musical cry of dismay went out to the breeze, the cry of bitter lament from a ‘wanton heart that had sought only selfish cravings to never feel alone’.
“Lo, foolish dreamer, your wish come true,
To sense the world with heart imbued.
Doth now the vial of bitter brew,
Its caustic taste your heart renew?
And now Rhiannon in oath does take,
To bind her children to an evil fate.
For should the world be made anew,
It first must pass through this witch’s brew.”
The person looked off toward the sound of the great clock as it chimed its last refrain. Then, with head bent down in sadness, this Maker of worlds turned and slowly retreated into the darkness of hidden rooms to await the evils of the coming fates.
* * *
The speeder eased to a stop outside the opened entrance of an ancient blue marble wall. This pearl-white auto-car sat motionless, hovering just above the pavement, a subdued humming noise coming from the motor, its opaque windows keeping secret any mysteries hidden within.
From a cloudless sky, the heat of the morning sun was pressing upon the day. Steam from a late-night shower rose from the pavement bricks and surrounding stones, vanishing as a mist in the summer air. Shrubs and trees in the surrounding gardens dripped with the welcome deluge of the night, while little harvester ants scurried about, busy at their duties, as sunlight reflected off the glistening water droplets, creating the illusion of a world filled with sparkling diamonds.
A loud ‘click’ followed by the low whir of servos disturbed the silence. As if rudely awakened from a pleasant slumber, a covey of mourning doves rose from secluded perches. As they noisily passed overhead, a door opened in the side of the auto-car, slowly sliding back along an inner rail, revealing a shadowy figure hiding in the cool darkness of the idling machine.
A hand reached out, grabbing the roof rail, followed by a foot, until it rested on the pavement. Laboriously, like someone ancient and weighed down with burdens beyond their years, a woman slowly emerged from the shadowy depths. With a grunt, she stood. How strange it would have been for an observer, for this woman did not look ancient. She was young and stunningly beautiful in appearance.
Squinting, the woman shaded her eyes to view the surrounding landscape. The silent grandeur of the sights was vividly impressive. Giant leaved gates made from exotic, shimmering metal, delicately engraved with intriguing designs and runes, stretched outward like two great arms, beckoning one to come forward and receive their ever-opened embrace. Massive pivots, buried deep within the walls’ two opposing circular guard towers supported them.
These imposing gates paled next to the fortress towers and walled battlements whose marbled heights rose well over eighty cubits before reaching the open roadway traversing the wall. From there it was another sixty cubits to the roofed battlements of the towers. Black, polished onyx, inset with chrysolite and other precious jewels, crowned both the towers and imposing ramparts.
The woman sighed, unimpressed. She merely turned toward the machine and muttered a command. The door swiftly closed. The auto-car’s motor sprang to life and, speeding away, soon disappeared down the road, leaving the solitary figure standing there, staring into the distance.
Again, she turned her attention to battlements. Looking up, the woman could see the massive guard towers with their flags fluttering on poles far atop peaked roofs, recalling to her mind the grandiose beauty viewed from their ramparts. From these towers, on countless occasions, the breathtaking panorama of the surrounding countryside had unfolded before her eyes.
To the east were gently rolling hills and valleys covered with orchards, vineyards and pastures. Patches of woodland dividing fields of grain grew along the streams and brooks that descended to a broad plain below. These waters gathered together in force to produce a wide, serpentine river that sluggishly labored northward, fading from sight.
Beyond rose a wall of blue-green hills, dipping and swelling as though an army of shadowy giants were on the move, marching off into the distant haze, hiding the roots of rock-hewn mountains jutting above the clouds in snow-covered peaks. In the morning blackness, the sun would fill the sky behind these mountains with a dark glow as if orange fire were ascending from the depths below. As it struggled its way up the mountains, the colors brightened until a vivid red sun would suddenly erupt over the peaks, flooding the countryside with its yellow brilliance.
The fortress walls stretched north and south for better than two leagues. Long ago, tall forests had grown up around the fortifications, shading the blue river of marble with their wide evergreen boughs. Old growths of giant cedar, hemlock and redwood trees towered high above the greatest battlements, dwarfing the heights with their three hundred cubit spires.
Nor was beauty lost on the secrets hidden behind the marble walls. Ornate patchworks of courtyards, orchards and gardens nestled along the trails and broadways, a rainbow hue of bright, scented flowers scattered throughout the dark green mats of shrubs and bushes, exciting one’s emotions with its kaleidoscopic display. Flagstone roads of red, blue and green crisscrossed this expanse of luscious growth, sweeping in like the sea around the base of the walls.
“Enough of that!” The woman sputtered, shaking her head to clear it of ‘useless’ memories. She started toward the gates along the jasmine-lined roadway leading into Palace City.
Glancing west, the woman took little note of the dazzling imagery and beauty of the city’s center, nearly a league away. Had she bothered to look up while passing through the gates, she would have seen the splendor of this ‘Jewel of the Universe’…had she bothered.
This inspiration for poems and songs went unnoticed by the woman, her mind caught up with other pressing matters. Whether she chose to observe it or not was of little concern to the artists who created it.
The ‘Eternal City’, as the architects had named it, would always shine with breathtaking delight, for they had willed it to be that way. The gilded palace towers of jade, inset with gold and precious stones, and the palace proper, crowned in onyx and domed in diamond crystal, gold, and chrysolite made it appear as though the sun had descended from its home in the heavens and settled here. The Old Palace had sat its weathered butte long before this woman’s kind was born, and would continue to shine from it even if her kind should fail.
The woman smiled. She had chosen wisely this morning. As she expected, the streets were empty, and the guard towers? They never saw a guard… only occasional lovers seeking seclusion after a night’s merrymaking. This did not mean that her presence had gone unnoticed. Even now someone watched her, following her every move. But such knowledge was more reassuring than discomforting.
At Candletoe, a distant outpost, the woman first noticed the voice calling to her, beseeching her to journey here. She regretted abandoning the fleet at such a perilous time, but what else could be done? There was a tone of urgency in the request, a pleading on the part of the one making it. And to be called here... to the Royal Palace, could only mean the summons was of greatest importance.
The sound of hurried footsteps descending a hidden staircase in the North Guard Tower startled the woman. Reaching for the dagger at her side, she crouched in battle preparedness. Then, eyeing the tower’s opening, she listened and waited. The footfalls echoed from the passageway and off the metal gates, confusing her ears as to the number of feet on the stairs. An instant more and she would know if the approaching feet were that of friend or foe.
Laughter erupted from the doorway. In a sudden rush, a couple holding hands, eyes fixed on each other, sprang from the blackness. Paying no heed to their surroundings, they nearly bowled the woman over. At the last instant the man saw her and, pulling hard on the girl’s arm, twirled her around and into his.
Not having noticed the ‘stranger’ in their midst, the girl flirtingly cooed, “Why Zadar, has your hunger overcome you so quickly? Do you wish to revisit the tower lounge before we return to the others?”
A handsome man with thick dark hair, deep-set hazel eyes, bushy eyebrows, and a neatly trimmed beard pretended to clear his throat and pointed past the girl. “We…we have a visitor.”
The girl followed Zadar’s hand, her shining black hair dancing in the air as she spun her head around. She stared, the flirting smile still on her face, and then, when she recognized the woman standing there, cried out in surprise, “Mihai! My sister! What a thrill to see you safe and well! Oh, how I’ve missed you! Come! Share the wine and good times with me again!” Releasing Zadar’s hand, the girl lunged for Mihai, locking her in an iron embrace.
Mihai wheezed, “I… I’ve missed you, too, my darling Darla… Please… allow me a breath.”
Darla released Mihai, holding her at arm’s length. The two stared into each other’s eyes. Mihai pondered the wonders of her sister. ‘How beautiful she is, and still with the seeming innocence of a carefree little girl. Seeing her here, who would ever guess an evil madness lies hiding in her mind. She covers it well, with her finery of silk and gold, makeup and twinkling eyes. But I know…I know that this child has not seen even one day of peace in her troubled life.’
A spark of hope ignited in Mihai’s own troubled heart as she watched Darla’s placid face. She lowered her head, speaking wistfully. “This place has the ability to lift the darkness from the mind. May it also do the same for me...”
Zadar stepped forward, arms spread wide. “M’lady! It is so good to see you after such a long absence!” He gently pushed Darla aside and hugged Mihai.
“Harrumph!” Darla snorted, placing her fists on her hips. “He just wants you in the tower with him, that’s all!”
Mihai stepped back in mock surprise, grasping her dagger. “If I’d known that, I’d defended myself against your advances!”
Grinning, Zadar asked suspiciously, “Just like the way you did the night before you parted company for the fleet?” Not waiting for a reply, he snapped, “If I had known M’lady was gonna come sneakin’ around the back door of this place, I would have brought some brandy to welcome her… and possibly offered her an invitation to visit a spell.”
Mihai retorted, “I wasn’t sneakin’! I wanted some time to myself to clear the air in my head. Leave it to someone like you to spoil it for me... And stop calling me ‘M’lady’!”
Zadar wrinkled up his face in fake apology. “Oh, excuse me, your Lordship, but I didn’t give you that title. You did it to yourself. I’ve already heard rumors of a big change coming. I’m just getting a jump on the others, that’s all.” Sarcastically, he asked, “What name do you want me to call you by, ‘Mihai’ or ‘Michael’?”
Mihai soured. “You know few call me by that other name. ‘Mihai’ will suit me just fine.” Sadness grew on her face. “ ‘Mihai’ helps me forget things I wish not to remember.” She took hold of Zadar’s hands. “Please, my dear little brother, allow me please, to leave certain memories in the clouds for now. They cover the things I don’t want to see.”
Zadar squeezed Mihai’s hands, grinning, “Mihai it is, then.”
Mihai’s dark feelings quickly faded and her eyes began to twinkle. “I would have been grateful if you had brought that brandy with you.”
Darla pretended to clear her throat. Getting their attention, she asked, “So, am I just an abandoned soul now? Tossed by the wayside like a discarded toy?”
Mihai laughed. “Oh yes, we could cast you aside as easily as one does a winter tempest.” She looked into Darla’s emerald-green eyes, pondering, ‘A person could become lost in those fathomless pools and never want to return.’
Letting go Zadar’s hands, she reached out and held the girl in another embrace. “Oh, my dear Darla, I have missed your company for so long!”
They stood, locked together as one, sharing inner thoughts – memories from some long-forgotten time. There were few people Mihai loved and trusted more than Darla. In fact, she owed her very life to her.
Mihai kissed Darla on her lips and then asked, “How is it we chance to meet at this time? I thought you were doing sentry duty on Stargaton.”
Darla blinked in surprise. “The summons, of course! You are the last one to get here. Zadar and I, along with the others, have been here for several days. We were beginning to think you might choose to ignore it...like you have done in times past.”
Mihai denied that was so. “You know I have never ignored a summons. But there have been times when I could not possibly abandon my duties to come. This time is different. I could feel the urgency.”
Zadar piped in. “Well! If you’d let us know the time of your arrival, we’d come to the depot and gotten you.”
“That I don’t believe!” Mihai poked an accusing finger toward Zadar. “You?! Miss out on a sweet interlude with our most beautiful of flowers just to keep company with me? Please, don’t make me laugh.”
“That’s not so! That’s not so!” Zadar cried.
Pretending offence, Darla grumped, “What’s not so…that I’m the most beautiful of flowers? You weren’t shy about lavishing your attention on me last night in your attempts to lure me out here! Was it out of obligation you delivered your ‘innocent’ sister to the tower, saying ‘Let us watch the sunrise over the mountains’? And did you keep my glass filled with wine only fearing I might become thirsty?”
Zadar was shocked. “Lure you?! As I recall, you dragged me under the first mulberry tree we passed after leaving the others. As for the wine, you treated yourself to many more than I dispensed, including mine.”
Mihai stopped the teasing. “Enough of this! You’re both incorrigible! Should all the ‘children’ be as passionate, there would be no time for strife or war.”
She spread her arms wide, drawing both her companions close, and speaking in little more than a whisper, confiding, “I told no one I was coming. This council meeting is secret… at least it is to be for the moment. I believe my lieutenants are trustworthy, but…let’s just say not all secrets remain secrets. I didn’t dare trust the enemy finding out about my absence.”
Mihai changed the subject. Looking at Zadar and Darla’s attire, she commented, “It must have been some fancy gathering you two were at last night.” She was justified in the statement. The couple dressed in sheer, silky, ankle-length garments.
Darla’s was more feminine in cut, gathered at the waist, accented by a diamond-studded belt. It also had an opened bodice, with golden lace sweeping down from her shoulders and around her exposed breasts, which refused to be hidden under her knee-length cape of woven silk, gold and silver. A pair of white, laced sandals finished the woman’s apparel. Her braided locks, although disheveled, were festooned with rings of diamond-studded gold. With her dangly ear-fobs, three bejeweled gold necklaces, and jingling anklets, she made quite an alluring sight.
Zadar’s garment was more like a long robe, and his ornaments were simple, consisting of a finely braided gold chain necklace, and a black onyx ring on his right hand. He also sported a finely crafted timepiece on his waist-belt, while a jade brooch tied the two ends of his long, flowing cape together.
Zadar explained the party had been a reunion of sorts. Some close acquaintances recently returned from a long sojourn in the Outer Ranges were celebrating the successes of their expedition. Mihai then asked if the party was last evening, why were they still dressed in such garb so late the following morning?
Zadar leaned close, nuzzling against Mihai in a sensual embrace, and whispered romantically, “Because they make me feel sexy...”
Mihai pushed him away and laughed. “Feel sexy?! Zadar, you have never felt anything but sexy! From the day of your ‘coming of age’, you have chased the ‘ewe’. Your first lover surrendered you up to her sisters before your days with her were to end, worn out and in need of rest. She said of you, ‘But for necessity of food and drink, we would have grown to the bed.’”
Zadar looked abashed, then grinned. “That aside, these clothes can still make you feel...well...special.” He put his arm around Mihai. “The council isn’t going to assemble until evening. Do you want to come with us to the Winter Gardens? That’s where we are to join up with the others. I’m sure we could find some brandy there...”
The merriment disappeared from Mihai’s face. “It would be my greatest pleasure, but I must decline.” She took Zadar’s hand. “I have some business to conclude this morning. I need to change out of this stodgy uniform and freshen up first. May I walk with you to the palace? We can talk along the way.”
Darla wrapped her hands around Mihai’s arm, while Zadar did the same with her other. Darla made her ‘little girl’ face, grinning with satisfaction. “How sweet a walk it will be, too.”
Mihai thanked them both for their kindness and love. She glanced over at Darla’s dress and asked, “I know it’s such short notice, but can you manage to find me some clothes like yours for my morning’s business? It would make me feel…feel like a woman again.”
Darla giggled with pleasure. “For you, my sister, anything…anything at all.”
*
Mihai lingered with her companions until they reached the Winter Gardens, located at the convergence of four wide concourses. The ‘gardens’ were a grand expanse of exotic flowers, shrubs and trees, crisscrossed by dozens of walking trails. A bubbling stream with its own waterfall completed the scene. Of course, there were many hidden, secluded ‘corners’ where benches and tables had been conveniently placed for the wanderer’s benefit.
Indulging herself in the fresh, mist-filled air, Mihai sucked in a long, deep breath and exclaimed, “It’s always early summer here…like the after-breath of a late day shower.” Looking up at the high, domed ceiling, watching the cool white of day shimmer through the translucent stone, she happily sighed, “In this place time forgets itself. We are standing below the very center of Palace City, the North Concourse running directly under the ‘Old Palace’ that was constructed upon a butte of solid diorite.”
Darla and Zadar shot knowing glances at each other. Here it came, another ‘you’re so young, you won’t know this’.
Mihai’s eyes scanned their surroundings as she explained. “It is this part of Palace City that was said to have existed long before my kind were born. The remainder of the city, including the Winter Gardens and long concourses, with their hundreds of eateries, cafés, pubs and shops, was designed and built by the children of the First Age, countless millennia before my birth. How wel…”
Shouts echoed across the nearly empty building. Zadar waved his arm, calling back to the new arrivals. He excused himself and hurried away. Darla promised to find Mihai a ‘sensual’ outfit and offered to walk her to the tramwaiter.
Mihai thanked her. Glancing in different directions, she said with a shudder, “It’s such a long time since I’ve been here. Where are all the people?”
“Pay no mind to it, Sister.” Darla casually replied, taking Mihai’s hand. “This is still early morning, by business standards, anyway. Things will wake up around here by the lunch hour, and the dinner crowd will be pretty good. It’s always quiet this time of day, remember?”
Mihai nodded. She remembered all right! Long before Darla was born, long before the Rebellion tore her people apart, long before all the wars, when she was a youngster, still in her teens, this place was off-handedly called, ‘the world that never sleeps’. There was always a crowd here.
Mihai thought back to those long millennia passed. She could see the concourses packed with partiers and merrymakers, elbow-to-elbow, making their way from one festive event to another. There were the pools, spas, theaters, and gymnasiums that entertained the body and the mind. If food was to your liking, you could lose yourself in the hundreds of eateries, serving the palate anything from frozen chocolate crêpe to spicy, baked halibut smothered in clam sauce and onions.
And one must not forget the Palace Coliseum! Sometime during the First Age, architects hollowed out a cavern in the butte, directly under the Old Palace. Every technical innovation of that age was built into its design and construction, enabling artists to recreate their wildest imaginings in three dimensional sights and sounds, for audiences of over two hundred thousand. The Coliseum’s doors closed many centuries ago, its vaulted chambers now filled with silent darkness.
The intoxicating excitement of that day was gone. This day, Mihai only heard the quiet echo of a few footsteps on the polished marble floors, mixing with the lonely splashing of the garden’s waterfall. She smiled with sadness. “Yes, my dear one, I remember...”
Darla walked with Mihai down the South Concourse until they came to the tramwaiter. In a few moments there was heard the whirring of powerful gyro-motors, announcing the machine’s rapid approach. The whirring stopped, followed by a click and a hum. Double doors slid open, revealing the coach’s opulent interior.
A woman stepped out, offering her salutations, hurrying off, leaving the two alone. Mihai glanced into the empty car. “When the world was innocent, these things were always filled. It would be nothing to see several dozen riders queued along this wall, waiting for the next tramwaiter… and that was at this same time of day.”
Darla said nothing. She believed her older sister, but could not comprehend such numbers. Her memory of large crowds had been watching great armies on the march, or slaughtering one another on the battlefield.
Mihai had seen that look in Darla’s face before. She smiled and squeezed her sister’s hand. “The hour is coming, or so I’ve been told, that another great celebration is to take place here. It has even been said that the Palace Coliseum’s doors shall again be spread open. Then you will see for yourself what a wonderful world this place really is.”
Darla’s eyes filled with wonder and then question. “I have heard others speak of this ‘marriage of the lamb’. Are you revealing secrets to me about mysteries hidden, or am I being the fool, wishing for shadows and dreams?”
Shaking her head, Mihai answered, “You are no fool. Trust me, you are no fool. If it has been promised to us, then it will happen, but when and how I don’t yet know. My dear one, wishing for shadows and dreams is not a bad thing. At times it may be all we have to hold on to. As for the celebration that I speak of, it is something far grander than any of which you have been informed. It is part of the greatest mystery of all.”
“What is it, my lovely one? If you know what it is, please tell your sister.” Darla was nearly dancing with excitement.
Mihai tipped her head back in laughter. “You already know almost as much as I. For now we must both place it in our shadows and dreams, trusting in the One who has promised it.”
Stepping through the door and into the tramwaiter, Mihai turned and asked, “You will find me a lovely dress? I will have need of it soon.”
Darla assured her sister that she would deliver it shortly, said goodbye and started for her waiting company. The doors closed and the droning whir started.
Mihai sat down on one of the ornate, overstuffed chairs as the machine whisked her away. She relaxed to pleasant music as the tramwaiter snaked its way along hidden passageways toward her destination. Built by artisans of the First Age to compliment the growing expanse of Palace City, the coach line traversed its length and breadth, except for the Old Palace.
In short order, the woman found herself standing in an opened courtyard, untended and overgrown with summer greenery. A tiny apartment just across the way was her home during the early years of her youth. She inhaled the pleasant wisp of memories passed. This place was the ‘keeper of her innocence’… from its latticed balconies to its cool, shadowed walkways… the ‘protector of her heart and soul’. It was for that very reason she returned to this childhood residence, to forget for a moment the dark days of despair and the evil that almost destroyed her.
The sun was still blocked entry by the surrounding buildings as Mihai rambled across the deserted courtyard. There was something special about this shadow-world, full of life but still shaded in morning’s mysteries. Reaching the apartment door, she paused to watch the ghosts of happier times dancing on the multi-colored flagstone. She lingered there to capture the fleeting vision, lest her mind might forget it completely.
A robin’s song broke Mihai’s dreamy spell. She sighed, turned back to the door and opened it. Glancing over her shoulder, she wistfully hoped to catch another glimpse of those bygone days. The sun peeked over the roofline, flooding the courtyard with its yellow splendor, chasing away any hint of the past. Mihai frowned, slipping inside and silently closing the door.
*
True to her promise, Darla delivered a splendid-looking gown to her sister. Mihai grinned with delight, striking different poses for the mirror. Each movement caused the sky-blue silky cloth to dance this way and that. She stopped in a pose, standing at an angle, hands gracefully outstretched. She then curtsied. “Hello, my Lord PalaHar. It is such a pleasure to have your acquaintance this evening.” She laughed and turned, repeating her action. “Well, well, my Lord Ardon, does our wise councilor approve of my attire?”
Pretending she was arrived at the coming council meeting, Mihai offered her gracious salutations to several others she expected to meet there. The tingling sensation of the fabric on her skin and the way it floated up like a billowing cloud as she turned made the woman laugh with joy. As the feeling of sensuality grew, she began to slowly dance to a tune in her head.
A young, flirting maiden suddenly appeared in the mirror. “Why certainly you may not kiss me, you cad! When my lover hears of this he will thrash you with his scolding tongue!” She bowed again. “Yes! Yes, the dinner has been so fine. Never have I tasted truffles prepared so splendidly.”
Closing her eyes, the girl flung her arms out and head back as she gracefully twirled on one foot. She did not see the mesmerizing beauty in the mirror, nor the feminine charms she revealed. Firm, toned muscles, accented by the woman’s full, round features and milky-white skin enhanced her appeal. Her breasts bounced in rhythm to her moves while her buttocks rippled in tight little waves as she shifted her weight from one long sinewy leg to the other. What a sight! Oh, what a sight!
Spinning around one final time, Mihai stopped and with a lissome move, bowed before the admiring audience. She peered into the mirror, examining the face staring back. Most pronounced were the piercing blue eyes, accented by golden eyebrows crowning a strong forehead. The face was misleading for, at first glance, one could see the semblance of a child not yet out of her teens. A closer look revealed a sharpness like hewn stone, weathered by the ages.
High cheekbones, a long, straight-bridged nose and a determined jaw gave Mihai a hardened, proud appearance of a noble leader, while her full-bodied, rose-colored lips, and compassionate countenance suggested a guileless maiden. Whichever way a person chose to view her, there was no denying the breathtakingly handsome beauty this woman possessed.
Satisfied, Mihai stood upright and did a half turn, striking another pose. Laughing, she snapped her head around to observe her stance, making her golden tresses float high into the air, revealing hidden secrets. The laughter died from her lips when what she saw resurrected painful memories.
She slowly reached behind her back to pull the golden tresses aside for another look. The jagged scar started at the base of her neck and trailed to the right, across the shoulder blade, and down her rib cage. And what had she accomplished from the near fatal experience? Nothing! Her kidnapped sister was still not free, and now her traitorous brother was making a big diplomatic ‘to-do’ about it.
The Stasis Pirates’ ion trail had been easy to follow… too easy, now that Mihai thought about it. She followed it along the Outer Corridor, past the Trizentine and into the Frontier. Nearing hostile territory, she disembarked from the battle cruiser in her fighter, telling its captain to remain there on patrol. The fighter stealthily passed the Frontier, following the pirates’ trail far into forbidden territory.
The Stasis had made directly for ZemiaKone (The Lost Rabbit), the enemy’s westernmost territory bordering on the Frontier. It was believed to be little more than an outpost, at least that is what was agreed upon at the armistice. As Mihai drifted toward its surface, dodging radar and sonic detection, she felt there was way too much chatter on the communication channels to be coming from a few lonely outposts.
Her ship settled down in a desert canyon a few miles from where the fighter’s instruments indicated the pirates landed. Following the gullies and ravines, she gingerly made her way in the direction of a distant space terminal. About a mile away, she found a narrow draw, leading down to the plain far below. Soon the rocky walls stretched high above her head.
A sudden chill raced up the woman’s spine. Something was wrong. Instinctively she twisted away from some unknown assailant. Mihai’s prescience saved her from death, but not from injury. A plunging, razor-sharp claw from a guard droid caught her as she spun around, driving her toward the ground. She could feel its icy-cold blade tearing through the flight suit and into her flesh. Then came the sickening sound of cracking bones and snapping tendons as the beast ripped a deep gash down across her back, slamming her, facedown into the dirt.
Mihai rolled away to her left in a choking cloud of dust just in time to escape a second blow, the blade making a ‘swooshing’ noise as it passed her face. Still tumbling, she triggered her lanner, holstered on her left hip. There was no time to pull the weapon free. The raised arms of the droid were already dropping for the final thrust that would skewer her through.
In one violent kick, Mihai managed to roll right, reefing the gun barrel toward the metallic monster. She pulled the trigger, energy exploding from the muzzle, shredding the holster and sending a searing wall of fire down along the length of her leg into her attacker. After blasting a hole in the droid’s armor, she quickly pulled the gun from its holster and fired a second charge into its open rupture. The infernal machine belched acrid smoke and crashed into the dirt.
Mihai’s head spun with pain, but there was no time to take count of the injury. The guard droid undoubtedly sent a signal to the outpost. Soon the place would be swarming with others, and not droids this time.
She staggered to her feet, struggling to stand. There was a numbing ache in her back and her right arm hung limp and in pain. She could feel warm, sticky blood oozing down her back, and there were already large red stains in the dirt. Taking a step, the woman cried out in pain. She glanced down.
Pieces of the flight-suit were flaking away from her left leg, leaving gaping holes in the silver material. The air stunk with the smell of charred flesh. She fought back the dizzying sickness trying to overtake her. ‘They’ll know who’s been here when the blood’s tested.’ She shook her head. ‘No time to worry about that now.’ She needed to get away.
The whirring of servos alerted Mihai to the fact there was more than one guard droid. She didn’t even have the strength to lift her head and look in the ‘monster’s’ direction. There was nothing to do now but wait to die. Mihai remembered little else. The sound of metal smashing into metal filled her ears, and then the silence, no servos, nothing.
Mihai dreamed she was falling, only to be caught up in strong arms and carried aloft with wings, or so it felt. After an eternity of silent flight, the woman came to her fighter, floated through opened cockpit and into the seat. Just before the canopy snapped shut, a voice fell on her ears. “Be well, my Lord.”
The rest was just a painful blur in Mihai’s mind. When she woke in the stillness of the darkened room, she was looking into the distraught face of a woman with smoky-grey eyes and platinum-colored hair.
“Ga… my G…” Gentle fingers rested on Mihai’s lips.
“You’re safe, my darling. Your soul has returned to us once more.” The gentle voice continued to sing little songs of love in Mihai’s ears.
“When the summer grass turns to brown and the leaves die from the tree,
I shall call to you, my love, crying, ‘come back, come back to me’.
The river ever flows and the glade will never tell,
The depth of care our hearts do share and the pain of a fallen dove.”
For some time Mihai drifted in and out of strange and bewildering dreams. When she finally waked enough to fully comprehend her surroundings, the woman crooning the sweet tunes frowned and scolded, “It should be a blessing remembered and thankful you should be that the ‘Grave-maker’ happened to cross your path. If not for her, you would be hanging from a pike, drying in the breeze.”
The woman shook her finger in Mihai’s face. “If you ever attempt another stunt like that again, you may find me less forgiving than that droid!” She quickly turned away and left the room.
Mihai was saddened to think her actions hurt the woman so. For six thousand years she had acted like a mother to her… indeed… a mother to thousands, many who never returned from such adventures. And only once had she allowed anyone see her weep.
Other than a nuisance pain when moving her arm, the scar was the only evidence of the droid’s attack, but the lanner blast was different. Skin was now covering the burns that had eaten into the leg muscles, but the rejuvenating nerves itched and ached. She was well aware the pain would exist long after the red blotches had disappeared. Even with the use of healing machines, nerves took a long time to heal.
Mihai considered herself very fortunate. The weapon she carried that day - her design - was an energy gun. It activated a chemical compound ignited by an electrical discharge passing across the gun’s chamber, decomposing a portion of a stable agent suspending the very unstable mendelevium. The greater the voltage across the pellet, the faster the breakdown of the stable agent, thus the greater the energy delivered to the target. The power released could easily be controlled by adjusting the voltage capacitor. This lanner had a thumb lever for quick adjustment, giving its user the choice of stunning someone with a heat blast to instantly dissolving flesh from the bone.
Mihai gave a shudder. Had her leg been bent at the knee and received a more direct blast, surgeons would have been forced to amputate her lifeless leg. To regrow the bone, tendons, nerves and flesh could take years, even with the healing machines.
She sadly walked from the mirror, the little girl having been chased away by the gloomy memories. She sat on the edge of her bed, staring down at her hands. The woman became introspective, searching inside herself for answers to questions unasked… unasked out of fear… fear of what might be revealed. The time was now passed for such self-indulgence, for remaining in the world of pleasant indecision. Choices had to be made. To keep her sanity, changes were necessary.
She had been field marshal for too long. For over a thousand years she ruled the army as ‘lord dictator’. Her decisions were final. The greater the slaughter, the more willing the people were to follow her. They had obeyed her commands without hesitation…never once a complaint. The long war never really ended. The armistices only gave pause to it, allowing the enemy time to rebuild his forces. And what of the last war, the Great War? What had it accomplished?
‘Stargaton’… twenty thousand lost in one hour… friends and lovers. And what had they achieved? A miserable little rock floating in a forgotten part of the galaxy! ‘Memphis’… two corps destroyed because she had calculated the enemy incorrectly. Through four years of bloody conflict, she had sentenced over three million of her people to pour out their blood for this ‘holy war’. How much closer to the end were they now? Had the price been worth it?
Those battles were over fifty years ago and the dying was still going on. Oh yes, there was an armistice, but the enemy still found excuse for the occasional bloodletting. How much longer would death keep devouring those she loved so much? How many more would be butchered because she thought it necessary? Mihai closed her eyes and shook her head in despair.
What else could have been done? They followed her because she was their leader. Her people would have fought without one. At least they didn’t die for her or some imagined reward. Everyone was aware of what was at stake. Billions of innocent lives depended upon their success. The destiny of generations gone, present, and even those coming hinged upon the outcome of events.
But had the people not already paid the ultimate price? Was death really the supreme sacrifice? She thought not. The Age of Innocence was gone for them, destroyed forever on the fields of blood and betrayal. It mattered little the outcome. Her people would never be able to completely forget the death and suffering. ‘Like a maiden violated by her guardian and protector…’ Mihai nodded her head. ‘Except he has raped both the flesh and spirit.’
Mihai no longer feared her own death. In fact, there were times when death appealed, ending the guilt plaguing her mind. She could manage the daylight hours, but…but in the quiet of the night, when the rest of the world slept, accusing voices of all the slain would sing out in her head, their scolding faces passing in visions before her eyes. No matter how she made excuse or sought absolution, she could still see their blood dripping off her hands.
Mihai’s thoughts conjured up visions creeping from dark corners of the mind into this waking moment. There suddenly appeared heaps of bodies, torn and mangled. In horror she watched while her fingers went probing the open wounds, seeking bloody flesh to satisfy an insatiable hunger. While Mihai’s stomach churned in sickness, her lips smacked with anticipation, squealing, “Is this all there is?! Are these tiny morsels all you have delivered?! How are we to survive on such paltry rations?! We are hungry! We are hungry!”
Mihai shook her head violently to drive the ugly dream away. With many curses and outcries, the demon slowly crawled back to its hiding place, threatening a return. It would come again. It had promised. She dropped her head in dismay. How much longer could this continue on before the mist of insanity would completely envelop her? Did she have a day…a year…an hour?
A bitter chill swept the room, raising an army of goose bumps that marched across Mihai’s sweaty skin. She involuntarily shivered, more from the encounter with her ‘monster within’ than from the cold. There was no more wondering which of destiny’s roads she was to take. One and only one path lay open. It was no longer a matter of choice. The time had come for her to speak of this while a small piece of innocence still resided within her heart, while she still retained mastery of her own mind.
It was time to leave. No longer did this room…this little world of her youth… have the power to drive away the evil. She was the evil; it was a part of her living being. Until it was driven away or destroyed, it would be part of her. There was no longer any need to hide from it. No place could protect her. Mihai gritted her teeth. She was determined to become whatever she must in order to defeat this enemy.
Standing, Mihai reached for her officer’s cape and cloaked the beauty of the dress. She faced the door, willing to endure any storm that might come. Lifting her head high and throwing her shoulders back, the woman marched into the courtyard. No longer was she going to seek shelter from her fate. What tomorrow would bring, what battles there were to confront, no matter the results, they were going to be faced head on!
* * *
Fearing a ‘reuniting of friends’ if she returned to the Winter Gardens, the most direct route to the Old Palace, Mihai rode the tramwaiter to a more distant exit, to the north and east of her destination. From there it was a mile’s walk to the Eastern Portal, the ‘grand’ public entrance to the Old Palace, better known as the Upper Palace.
The path traversed a labyrinth of narrow streets and broadways, snaking through the artfully created mountains of tall and ornate buildings. Built during the Second Age, this ‘New Palace City’, better known as the Lower Palace, eclipsed the Upper Palace from view, except for its central domed spire and the four guard towers at the corners of upper battlements. Few were the feet on the street this morning. The echo of Mihai’s footsteps was often the only sound to be heard.
At the end of her walk through the city’s streets, Mihai entered a narrow, deep, tapering recess in the face of a high cliff. At a juncture where the two walls converged, she arrived at the ‘Majestic’ - a wide, winding staircase inlaid in the dolomite butte, crisscrossing its way up hundreds of feet to the palace proper. Each flight of hewn stairs ended in an immense grotto that spread out into a beautiful enclosed balcony carved into the mountain itself. Giant windows had been cut from the outer wall, providing a breathtaking view for the pilgrim journeying to the palace.
Said to have been built by the ‘Ones who came before’ as a gift to the children of the First Age, these stairs, like the rest of the Upper Palace, never needed repair nor did they weather with the passage of time. The Ancients, many of the oldest children of the First Age, called this place ‘the Home of the Living Stones’.
A person needed to see this ‘marvel of engineering’ to grasp the grandeur and beauty of the ‘Road to Heaven’, as it was often called. There were no visible construction marks or added building blocks or reinforcements, just one solid piece of finely polished obsidian, carved with intricate designs.
I believe it noteworthy to mention here that the Upper Palace was named ‘heaven’ by the oldest of the Ancients who first sojourned into the unknown beyond the outer walls. Out there, in the ‘eres’ (translated ‘earth’ in our tongue) the travelers had to fend for themselves or carry supplies enough with them for their journeys. The paved highway, beginning at the east wall and leading west toward what would later be called the ‘Majestic’, became known as the road to samayim (translated ‘heaven’ or ‘heights’ in our tongue).
Both words, eres and samayim, are said to be phonetic pronunciations from the language of the ‘Ones who came before’, as the oldest of the Ancients recalled from hearing the words spoken. Eres literally means ‘to go away from’, as in ‘going away from what is known’. Samayim has the understanding of ‘becoming satisfied’, as in ‘filled up with every good pleasure’.
So it was, when the first children of the First Age ventured into the ‘wilderness’, they spoke of going into the eres. After a long and exhausting journey, often filled with sacrifice and privations, the Eastern Gate, where the paved highway began meant they were close to the luxuries of home. Being on the road to heaven symbolized being near one’s reward for having succeeded in accomplishing the return journey. Now the riches of home were no longer a dream or hope, but a reality.
As the ‘children’ reached further into the ‘wilderness’, eventually leaving EdenEsonbar, the home planet, they carried the name ‘eres’ with them to symbolize their going into the unknown. When the Second Realm (Second Universe) was revealed to them as a place they would one day go, the name ‘eres’ was given to it. Later, the ‘sons of men’ on ‘earth’ were given that name for their home and, by the time of the Great Flood, were calling the land of the ‘children’s’ dwelling place ‘heaven’.
Mihai remembered little more about this morning’s journey up the Majestic than the day so long ago when her companions carried her up these same steps. The six millennia passed had not changed the sights, but she believed they would never impress her like they once did. Now these stairs were merely a conveyance used on her road to destiny, a means to an end. So little remained of the joy this world once basked in.
About one hundred fifty cubits above the Majestic’s threshold, the stairs made a sharp turn, tunneling into the butte, as it rose toward the Upper Palace. It finally opened into a towering vaulted chamber called ‘Raven’s End’. The chamber, like the Majestic, was built of polished obsidian, its finely chiseled pillars reaching thirty cubits to the shimmering black ceiling. Openings in the east wall allowed observers a panoramic view of the Lower Palace from twenty stories above the courtyard far below.
The sound of surging blood filled Mihai’s ears as she staggered up the last set of stairs before reaching the chamber. Her lungs ached and her heart pounded against her chest. Three times she had stopped on her ascent, a climb often jogged in her more carefree days. Wheezing, she stumbled forward, seeking a bench near one of the pillars.
After sitting, Mihai rested her head in her hands. The smell of hot sticky sweat filled her nostrils, making her stomach churn even worse than her headache had managed to do. She needed to take her mind off her personal concerns. ‘Think girl, think!’
Looking around the empty expanse, she began to ponder its name. ‘Raven’s End? Raven’s End? Oh, yes! Now I remember. It was told me that when the world was new… when the Ancients were still little more than children… sojourners beyond the distant walls would take birds along with them to send messages back to the palace.’
She stared at the windows. All around them were hundreds of tiny nooks. ‘Pigeonholes! That’s what they are. They say that at one time this chamber harbored thousands of birds of all kinds.’
Mihai could see and hear the excitement of that time, with multitudes of birds cooing and crying while others swooped to and fro through the air. ‘What a sight it must have been!’
The sound of a gentle footfall echoing across the empty expanse interrupted Mihai’s recollections of this place. She squinted, peering into the shadows. “Now who should be wandering out here at this time of day?” She muttered to herself.
Raven’s End was cavernous and dark, its only light during the day coming from the windows and open exits. The Majestic’s final staircase spiraled its way up the last sixty cubits to the Upper Palace’s outer courtyard from the far end of the vaulted chamber, it offering little light for Mihai to observe who was coming.
The approaching shadow spoke first. “Mihai! What a wonderful surprise! I had no idea I would be seeing you before tonight.” A woman of slight stature, medium build, and delightful appearance materialized from the shadows. She hurried over, taking Mihai’s hands, leaning down, giving her a gentle kiss.
Mihai grinned, asking, “Trisha?!” Then glancing at the woman’s light blue uniform, puzzled aloud, “General Trisha?! I thought you were commanding Hunter’s Brigade on Pilneser. What brings you here, I mean, so far away from your duties?”
Still gripping Mihai’s hands, Trisha smiled. “Oh, my Lord, I have been a busy, busy, person. I was called away from my duties on Pilneser some months ago, being given a temporary assignment in the Second Realm. Then, just three weeks ago I was summoned to Palace City. Been here ever since, waiting for tonight’s council.”
Mihai puzzled. “Who ordered you away from your post? I saw no request come across my desk.”
Trisha’s answer was upbeat and cheerful, but revealed little, as did her facial expressions. Her eyes, though, could not lie. They twinkled in a way a child’s does when hiding a secret. “My Lord, the day is young, and many a breeze must blow before its end. Rest assured, the powers that brought me here have also delivered my Lord to this same destination. The journey is long and may be dark, but the wind ever blows us home.”
Mihai attempted to pry more information from Trisha. She said nothing, which was very much part of her nature. If the woman chose to speak, all well and good, but no known force existed that could make her confess a word if that was her disposition. Mihai surrendered to what little she had been told, marveling at the woman’s solid constitution.
Mihai finally shook her head. “You’re hopeless. Just plain hopeless.”
“Thank you!” Trisha replied, grinning. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Better to look like a fool, I say, than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”
Mihai returned a toothy smile, nodding. “There’s a lot to you, General. Your youth confuses and intrigues me. I see eyes filled with wonder and excitement, but you speak with the wisdom of our councilors. The powers that delivered you to my world were wise and discerning.” Her statement stirred memories of this woman in her mind.
Trisha was not a child of this realm. She had grown up during an age of violence, when old ways and beliefs were being challenged, and new religions were forcing themselves into the lives of people around her. She had refused to compromise her values and beliefs, making the woman an outcast among her people. But that was all gone now. By the time she awoke from the ‘field of the minds’, her memories were all that remained of the world of that day.
Mihai remembered watching Trisha from her ‘secret realms’ during those long-ago years, marveling at this woman’s strength and integrity. Trisha had suffered much back then, from the death of children to abandonment by her husband, and so much more. Those experiences had hardened her. Her years here had not removed that hardness. How could it? Mere months after her arrival found Trisha at CoblinPort, helping in its defense against Stasis Pirates.
Standing and gripping Trisha’s upper arms, Mihai commented, “The storm-winds have swept your world all too often. Many people would have become bitter over their fate had they suffered such grief. How is it that you still carry such love and tenderness within you as I have many times seen displayed?” It seemed to Mihai that Trisha was always doing for others.
There was little change in Trisha’s expression. She softly replied. “My Lord, I am but a servant girl. You have lived from before the founding of my world. I have seen fewer than eighty summers, all filled with grief and despair. I think a starving man appreciates a dry crust of bread more than a king with a banquet of exotic dainties.”
She shook her head. “I do not have pity for my life. The hours of grief have taught me to cherish the moments of pleasure. My heart reaches out to your kind, for the children of this world have not yet learned to find delight in one lonely star on a dark stormy night. Your kind cannot yet see that these times of distress will become a treasure of great worth. In future days, you will pity the children born in times of peace.”
Trisha lowered her head, speaking as if to the floor. “I am but a babe newly birthed, surrounded by souls older than the oceans… yet I feel as ancient as the distant mountains.” Staring into Mihai’s eyes, she quietly pleaded, “Forgive me, my Lord, for I do what must be done… I have little more choice in the matter than a worm who grows into a winter moth. What must come… shall come.”