by Brian Fuller
“Buying time until dusk,” Helo said. “How much longer?”
Shujaa checked one of the watches on his wrists. “Thirty minutes. The bastard. I will fry him the minute we get back. We’d better do this double-time.”
Following Shujaa and his long legs proved challenging as they worked their way along the edge of a gently sloping plateau, gradually rising. The onset of evening invigorated the wind, which rushed by, then roared by in turns.
Helo caught Admah’s red aura first, a sharp contrast with the trees, followed quickly by Faramir’s, Argyle’s, and Goliath’s. They had all hunkered down in a little hollow, Admah at the center, Goliath pointing a Big Blessed Rifle at him. Faramir sat on a log with a ruggedized laptop, Argyle peering over his shoulder. Aclima had morphed her hair into little more than fuzz, and she sat on a nearby slope, arms limp on her knees and face pointed at the ground.
They jogged in and all eyes turned toward them.
“I found a lost puppy in the woods,” Shujaa said. Helo smiled, shock widening every eye. Aclima’s expression went from hard, to disbelief, to brimming with tears—and she was on him in a heartbeat, nearly knocking him over. Helo slid his arms around her waist, and she squeezed him back.
“Helo,” she whispered. “I prayed for you. Actually prayed. I haven’t done that in a thousand years. Thank God.”
Desecration filled the clearing, and Faramir yelped. The hole Ashakaz had torn in his gut should have flamed to life with crippling pain, but as Avadan had said, the desecration didn’t work on him anymore. Helo released Aclima. Admah had a meaty arm around Faramir’s neck and was using him as a shield. The Loremaster put his back against a tree. Argyle struggled to get to his feet from where Admah had apparently pushed him. Shujaa and Goliath sighted down on the Dread Loremaster.
The desecration field spread wide. Helo knew maintaining it would drain the beastly Loremaster, but Admah had to know there was no escape. The resignation on his face said as much.
“Let me go,” he said in his broken, heavily accented English. “I’m not problem for Ash Angels.”
“Faramir’s got the detonator to the explosive we put inside him,” Aclima explained. “Let him go, Admah. You’re dead. You know it.”
“You need me,” he said. “I know prison.”
“I can get you there,” Helo said.
“Ah, little Helo. No fun. Then I make trouble,” he said, a ruthless grin distorting his face.
Helo Hallowed the ground, the white aura pulsing out of him, driving the red away. As soon as it reached Admah, the desecration field vanished.
Admah let go of Faramir and bolted. He hadn’t gotten two steps before Shujaa’s massive rifle boomed and split his head down the middle. He dropped to the forest floor in a heap. Hands unsteady, Faramir dug a small device out of one of his pockets and clicked a button. A half second later, Admah was a pile of dirt inside an empty jumper.
“Good riddance,” Aclima spat.
“Amen,” Faramir said.
Helo closed his eyes and settled himself. Another one gone. Aclima took his hand and threaded her fingers through his, leaning into him. This was a much better reception than he had imagined.
Goliath marched over after strapping her rifle on her back. She regarded him speculatively, a smile on her lips. “So, another Bestowal. Really?”
Helo shrugged. “Can’t get enough.”
“That’s five,” she said. “Five!”
“Forget about the number,” Faramir said, running a hand through his dark hair, expression awestruck. “He just used a Bestowal in a desecration field. That’s impossible.”
“We can discuss it later,” Argyle said, shouldering his pack. “If we’re close to the mine, that gunshot will attract attention. We may have blown our chance for surprise. We’ve got to get clear of here.”
“You can relax,” Helo said. “The prison is miles away to the south. I’ve been hiking away from it all day.”
“Admah was playing us,” Shujaa added. “Playing us for fools.”
“I’ll lead you to it,” Helo said. “But I can’t do it in the dark.”
Argyle relaxed. “The road’s not far back. We need to get you extracted. Can you show me where it is on a map?”
“I don’t know. I doubt it. But there’s more.”
“Yeah,” Faramir said. “Like how you used a Bestowal in a desecration field!”
“Later,” Argyle said. “What do you mean, Helo?”
Helo unzipped his prison jumper down to his navel and retrieved the heart lodged inside his belly. He tossed it to Argyle.
“Ashakaz,” Helo said. “She helped me escape. Says she wants out from under Cain.”
Aclima grabbed his arm. “You didn’t believe a word she said, did you? Ashakaz is Jumelia’s wretched little puppet, a liar and a seductress without peer. Check the heart for tracking devices. Maybe they were hoping to track your location.”
“I don’t think she was lying,” Helo said. “She gave me her heart knowing full well I could burn it and end her. She seemed to be Avadan’s little slave—or pretending to be.”
Aclima shook her head. “Ashakaz would win the Oscar every year if she worked in Hollywood. Burn the heart now. This has got to be a trick. She is loyal to Jumelia, and Jumelia is loyal to Cain.”
“Burn it,” Shujaa agreed.
“She might have intel we can use, like Admah,” Goliath argued. “I say we hear her out. We’ve got her covered here, and we can work back to the road and have her shipped off for interrogation.”
“I agree,” Argyle said. “Let’s work back to the road, get her extracted, then proceed to the prison.”
“That’s the plan. Everyone get geared up,” Goliath said.
Aclima folded her arms. “This is a mistake. She is the most conniving, coldhearted—”
“Were you any different?” Faramir interjected. “You wanted out, got a chance. Why can’t she?”
“Do you actually think she wants to be an Ash Angel?” Aclima said.
“Did you want to be one?” Faramir shot back.
Her face was torn. Helo put his arm around her shoulder.
“I . . .” Aclima began and then paused several moments. “I didn’t think it was possible.”
Helo nodded. “Neither did she. She said she wanted what you had now, wanted to figure out how to do it. It won’t hurt to hear her out. Nobody here trusts her, and if she pulls anything, we’ll burn her.”
Argyle stepped forward. “There’s no debate. Goliath gave the order, and we will follow it. We detain her and ship her off like we did with Admah. Permission to check in with command.”
“Yeah,” Goliath said, sitting down on a fallen log. “We should probably tell him.”
“I leave that to you,” Argyle said. “Faramir, get me comms.”
“Tell me what?” Helo asked. Their tone didn’t make it sound like a good thing.
“I’ll tell him,” Aclima said. “I need to speak with him in private about something. How long till dusk?”
“Five minutes,” Goliath answered.
Aclima caught Helo’s eye, and Helo followed her into the trees away from the rest of the team. Her gaze seemed miles away, lips set in a straight line. When they had gone fifty yards, she turned and took his hands in hers, eyes on the ground as if the thing she wanted to say was in the leaves somewhere.
“It’s Tela, isn’t it?” Helo said before she could open her mouth. “They got to her, didn’t they?”
“No, no,” Aclima said, looking up, face earnest. “That’s not it. She’s . . . okay.”
“What do you mean okay?”
“It’s the dreams, Helo,” she said. “They’ve been bad. Corinth and Sapphire told us Tela hardly sleeps anymore. It’s the same dreams, from what I can gather. You’ve got to go see her again. They’re hoping your presence will settle her down.”
Helo closed his eyes for a moment. Her connection to him and her gift as an Attuned were making her life a living hell
, and he couldn’t see a way to stop it . . . besides dying.
“But that’s not what you’re supposed to tell me,” he said.
“No, it’s not,” Aclima said. “But before I get to that, I want to let you know I am not leaving you. I have made it very clear to the Archai that my staying with the Ash Angels is contingent on me staying with you.”
“Not tired of slaughtering me at Go Fish?” he joked, though the way she said it felt warm.
She grinned. “No, but I hope we can take our gaming to the next level someday. Look, Helo, Goliath had to tell them you were a Visionary. You know what they do to Visionaries.”
He knew, but he wouldn’t let them bury him somewhere. “I’m not going to sit in some hole waiting for a vision, and I’m certainly not going to let you waste your afterlife sitting in a hole with me.”
“I figured you’d say that,” she said. She took a step forward and put her hand on his arm, dropping her voice to a whisper. “If you want to run, you know I’ll go with you. If we have to hunt Cain by ourselves, we’ll do it. If you want to forget this mess and pull an Admah and get lost in some wilderness paradise, I’ll do that, too.”
Did that ever sound good at the moment. He hardly knew what to say, and the way she looked at him . . . well, it was miles away from the anger he thought he would find when he returned. Maybe she would get used to the idea that he wasn’t going to let Cain have her if he could help it.
He nodded. “A wilderness paradise, huh? As soon as Cain’s burned, we go. Deal?”
He extended his hand and she shook it. “Deal.” One more step, and her arms were around his neck, lips by his ear. The buzzed hair on her head tickled his skin. “Remember when you stood up for me in the Hammer Bar and Grill? I told you it had been a long time since anyone had done that for me. Well, what you did by taking my place . . . no one has ever done something like that for me. Ever. I won’t forget.”
Ash Angel hearts didn’t beat. Blood didn’t course through the veins of their immortal bodies. But with his arms around her, the senses dulled by immortality seemed to flare to life, a pulsing glow he’d never felt in his afterlife filling him. Not so much a physical rush but a recognition of her sincerity and determination burning into his body like an iron weld melding them together. It was foreign but sublime. He didn’t understand it.
“I know you won’t,” he said. And he did. He knew it to his core. It was strange. “And I won’t let Cain have you. I just won’t. I’ll do whatever it takes, so just, you know, accept it.”
She stepped back, eyes wide, trembling hand on her chest. “What . . . what was that?”
“What?”
“You didn’t feel that?” she asked. Were her eyes tearing up?
“I felt it.”
“What is it? I’ve never . . . but it was wonderful.”
Helo shrugged. “I really don’t know.”
“You’re supposed to know this Ash Angel stuff,” she said, taking his hands, her awestruck face close to his.
The initial fire had faded to a faint ember’s glow, but it was still there. Still warm.
“We could ask Faramir,” he joked. “He’s full of facts—among other things.”
“I’d rather not. That was for you and me. I don’t want to understand it. I don’t think I need to.”
Helo nodded. Maybe she was right. There was something private about what had happened. Maybe private wasn’t the right word. Secret? That wasn’t it either.
He smiled and rubbed her buzzed head, the pricking sensation tingling his palm seeming stronger than it should have been.
“One minute!” Argyle shouted from camp.
“Dammit,” Aclima said, her eyes hardening. “She does it again.”
“Who? Ashakaz?”
“Yes, Ashakaz,” Aclima said, turning away and putting her hands on the back of her head. “She has misspent a good deal of her afterlife trying to ruin mine. Something just happened to us, Helo. Something good. Now here she comes. She’s going to ruin it.”
Helo frowned, grabbing her arm and spinning her around. “Don’t let her, Aclima.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Why?”
Aclima closed her eyes, lips tightening. “You’re about to find out.”
Chapter 26
Angel Born
When they rejoined the others, everyone had a weapon pointed at Ashakaz’s heart, which was nothing more than a lump on a fallen log. Argyle Hallowed the area around it, Virtus bleaching the leaves, dirt, and bark.
“We got fifteen seconds,” Faramir said. “So, Helo, want to share that little Bestowal-in-a-desecration-field trick with the rest of the class?”
“It’s gonna have to wait.”
Along with dusk came Ashakaz’s body draped awkwardly over the log. She straightened up to a sitting position. Her heart travel had deprived her of the copious jewelry she had worn in the prison. While she wasn’t as shapely as Aclima, there was no doubt she could play the seductress as aptly as any woman who had ever lived. She took in all the guns pointed her way, and her hands slid up defensively.
After a full-body shiver, she fixed her eyes on Helo. “No need for the hallow. How did they find you so fast?”
“Irrelevant,” Argyle barked.
“Oooh,” Ashakaz said teasingly, sliding off the log and throwing Argyle a sultry look. “The one in charge, I see. Oh, and there is Aunt Aclima! I hardly recognized you without your hair . . . and your aura. I guess you weren’t quite good enough to get a proper Ash Angel aura, either.”
“What game are you playing, Ashakaz?” Aclima said, eyes narrow and arms folded across her chest. “I don’t believe you want out, like you told Helo, not for one moment.”
“Don’t be cruel, Aunt Aclima,” Ashakaz said, mimicking her aunt’s stance. “I’ve just met all these nice people and you’re painting me to be the liar to turn them against me. Hardly polite. But, Helo,” she said, strutting toward him, face sweet with gratitude. “Thank you for your help.” She leaned in as if to kiss him, but Aclima shoved her back.
“That’s it, Ash,” Aclima said, bringing up her BBG.
Ashakaz’s hands went up again. “Oh, I see. You fancy this one, huh? Kind of like how you fancied Odreded and Milmar?” She tapped her lips and put on a mock pensive expression. “Hmmm, what happened to them?”
Helo swore he could hear Aclima’s teeth grinding. Ashakaz seemed like a completely different person than she did in the prison. This was no ditz. This was no damsel in distress who wanted to change her life. This was a tease, a manipulator, a fiend.
Argyle stepped forward, his Big Blessed Rifle pointed right at her heart. “Tell us right now why we shouldn’t burn you right here.”
“Well,” she said, “of course, I know some interesting things I’m sure I could tell. But for the record, I did want out. I was just as much a prisoner in there as Helo was.”
“Why?” Aclima pressed.
“Cain. He’s been trying to use us as usual. Really ticked about you leaving and all. Anyway, he wanted me to collect Vexus for him. I refused. So he broke me up, sent me to Avadan, and told him to keep me there with his little pack of Shedim until I was more cooperative. But here we are! I don’t suppose you would let me wander off . . . to be sporting?”
“No,” Argyle said. “You’ll get your chance to talk to the AAO interrogators just like your brother.”
“So that’s how you found this place! Broke Admah, did you?”
“Burned him,” Shujaa growled. “She’s useless. Let’s cripple her until they come get her.”
“Wait, wait, now,” Ashakaz said, sitting on the tree trunk and crossing her bare legs. “Let’s not be hasty here. I assume you plan on hitting the prison. I can help. I know the layout, the security.”
“We’ll manage,” Shujaa growled, raising his gun.
Argyle raised a hand to stop him. “Tell me something useful and we can talk. Otherwise we drop you here and wait for a squad of friendlies to c
ome haul you off.”
“You are a liar,” Ashakaz said, throwing her hair back. “I know very well you wouldn’t take me with you. I’d be a liability, right, Captain, or Commander, or whatever they call you?”
“I’m the commanding officer here,” Goliath said. “It’s Captain Goliath.”
Ashakaz laughed. “Now here’s a lady I like. Big name. Big attitude. Running around with her harem of big boys with big guns.”
“You’ve got about five seconds to stop running your mouth and say something useful,” Goliath said.
“Okay, okay. Here’s a freebie: there are thirteen Shedim guarding the prison. You packing enough sanctified weapons for that? You aren’t, are you? They aren’t powerful Shedim, but if you can’t kill them, well, they don’t need to be.”
“Thirteen?” Faramir said skeptically, his first words since she had appeared. He looked everywhere but at her body.
“Yes, thirteen,” Ashakaz said. “So good luck. But I will help you. You want to pack me off somewhere. I don’t want to go. You need practice fighting Shedim, so . . . Hagathaath!”
She rolled off the log, yelping in pain, as Shujaa and Aclima fired their guns. Almost immediately, Helo could feel the subtle torching effect of a Sheid’s presence. Was that what she had done? Summoned a Sheid?
The injured Ashakaz bolted toward a shadowy figure emerging from behind a tree a few feet outside Argyle’s hallow. Shujaa fired another round from his heavy gun, but the effect was wiped out by a powerful torching blast of red meant to sink them into the despair of dark memories and awful guilt.
Since his vision of Rachel Ascending, torching had had only a tenuous grip on his soul, one he could easily shrug off with the exercise of his will. But now, even the tenuous grip was nonexistent. The torching glare bent around him like he imagined the Red Sea had arced away from Moses’s staff. He was aware of its awful power—and it was as powerful a torch as he had ever witnessed. But it was as if he were merely a spectator, detached and untouched.
Aclima wilted under its power, stumbling and falling backward. Shujaa dropped to a knee. Faramir staggered back into a tree trunk, eyes shut, one hand clutching a branch. Even Goliath and Argyle, the oldest and most experienced, flinched, arms slack and faces stunned. Argyle’s hallow failed completely, and the Sheid ended the torch and desecrated the ground.
