“Look, O great Michael!” she bellowed. “The future of your clan at the tip of my sword! Your prophet, your only hope of removing the Hebrews from this land, in the belly of an Egyptian girl! What would you give me for her life?”
“Terathel, release her, or I’ll send my armies!”
“What kind of torture are you preparing for me?” she mocked. “Are you going to exile me, like you exiled the angels who opposed you? Are you going to erase my memories and chain me to the door to paradise? Are you going to imprison me in the rings of fire so their light burns my feathers? I don’t fear you, Michael!”
“What do you want, traitor?”
“Revenge! I want to see you humiliated in front of your armies! I want to see you on your knees, begging for my forgiveness! If you beg nicely enough, maybe I’ll show you mercy!”
“I will not bow to a traitor.”
“Then you leave me with no other choice...”
She pressed the tip of her sword against Soromeh’s abdomen. The princess tried to push it away, but it was so cold she burned her hands on it.
“...I’ll just have to start a war,” muttered the angel.
The western side of the Nile shone with a golden light, as if the sun had risen on the wrong side of the river.
A fleet of Netcheroo warships appeared over the trees, their sails emblazoned with the symbols of the kingdom of Egypt. At the head of the first ship was a man dressed in gold, wearing on his brow a disk that shone like the midday sun.
He spoke with a voice that resonated to the other side of the Nile.
“How dare the angelic armies trespass on Netcheroo territory? I am Ra, king of this clan and ruler of these lands, and I demand that you explain yourselves!”
An angel to Michael’s right removed his helmet. “I am Raphael and will speak on behalf of this army.”
On the main ship, Ra gestured, and Thoth, the ibis, stepped forward.
“I am Thoth, eternal scribe, voice and letters of the Netcheroo clan. Speak, Archangel.”
“We came to protect what belongs to us,” said Raphael, pointing at Soromeh. “This human bears the son of a Hebrew.”
“Ha!” exclaimed the angel on the ice, bringing everyone’s attention to her. “He’s not telling you the entire truth! This human bears in her the future savior of the Hebrew clan, the one who is fated to accomplish miracles that will kill thousands of Egyptians!”
The Netcheroo clan started shouting over each other.
“You dared soil the princess of Egypt for your plans?” shouted Thoth. “Blasphemy! The royal line is sacred!”
“She bears a future clan chief for the Hebrews,” said Raphael.
“She bears a prince of Egypt!” answered Thoth.
Set, the aardvark, pushed Thoth aside.
“You have no rights over this land or these people!” he shouted. “You trespass on our territory, you hide spies in our palace, and now you want to steal the daughter of a king! She bears an heir to the throne. Touching her is a declaration of war!”
On the ice, Soromeh tried to move without catching the attention of her captor. The angel clucked her tongue, as if she were facing a scared animal.
“Calm down, your highness,” she muttered. “This is all according to plan. If everything goes well, I could get what I want without having to kill you. But if you attract their attention, I will need to improvise.”
Soromeh stopped moving and swallowed her tears.
Over them, the conversation went on.
“You have exterminated a generation of Hebrews!” Raphael said, losing patience. “We have proof that this genocide was your doing! You will need to answer for your acts!”
“These humans live on our lands!” yelled back Set. “They eat the food of the children of Egypt. They steal their women! You brought them here so they could expand like a swarm of insects, invading the streets, the palace, the bed of the princess!”
He notched an arrow and pointed it at the angel on the ice. Both armies turned towards her.
Set pulled the string. “You sent her to spy on the human king!”
The angel blinked. “Oh no,” she muttered. “I think I am left with no other choice, your majesty.”
In the sky, the shouting went on.
“You’re not denying the presence of your spy on Netcheroo territory!”
“You’re not denying your responsibility over the massacre of Hebrew children!”
The angel pouted and went back to Soromeh.
“They could argue like this until the end of days and never realize that they share a common goal. Both clans need you alive, your majesty.”
“No—Naími, no…” cried Soromeh.
“I have nothing against you,” said the angel. “But some things have to come to pass, and to do so, I need to pierce you with this sword.”
“No!”
She stabbed the blade into Soromeh’s entrails.
Her scream pierced the storm. Both armies fell silent.
Then, a howl of rage.
“Murder!” yelled Set.
He shot an arrow through the angel’s burned wing. She let out a yell of pain. Something acidic started to eat her feathers.
“The Netcheroos attacked an angel!” shouted Raphael.
“The angels killed an heir to the throne of Egypt!” shouted back Thoth. “This means war!”
Set shot another arrow towards the angelic armies. Michael raised his sword and ordered a charge. Both clans clashed over the Nile in the scream of war trumpets.
On the ice, everything was eerily calm. Soromeh placed a trembling hand on her belly. She felt warm blood slip through her fingers. Her breath was short, the pain was paralyzing, and the cold of the ice seemed further and further away. She tried to pray, but nothing came to mind.
“Look, princess, what you helped me accomplish,” muttered the angel, leaning over her. “Centuries of a fragile peace that no one dared to break. Admire the gods fighting over you, princess of Egypt. There will be thousands of deaths in your name. Aren’t you proud?”
Soromeh couldn’t feel any warmth. There was only the blood under her hand and the tears on her cheeks. She could barely see the angel's silhouette against the light of the combats above her.
“Sadly, neither clan will notice your departure,” said the angel with amusement.
Chapter 22
The Island in the Middle of Nowhere
Soromeh woke to the sound of waves. She automatically placed a hand over her face to protect it from the sand, but the storm was over. She sat. The surface under her was not the cold, white one that had covered the Nile, but solid grey stone. The sky was heavy; rain fell in fine droplets. There was wind, cold and humid, different from the wind of the desert.
Looking around, she saw rocky shores and the sea, dark and angry, all around. She was on a minuscule island.
She heard crying and almost fainted from relief. The child, naked and cold, laid on the stone. She ran over and cradled him delicately against her chest.
“I’m here, my son. I’m here,” she whispered into his ear.
His wailing slowly calmed down to sad whimpers. Soromeh kissed his brow.
“About time!” shouted a voice behind her. “I was this close to throwing him to the sea, just to get some silence!”
The burned angel stood at the end of the island, examining one of her wings. There was a wound, horrible and black, the feathers eaten by acid. She poked it with an air of detached curiosity.
In her other hand, she still held the sword.
Soromeh looked around, but the sea was everywhere. There was no escape from the island.
“Mortals don’t know of this place,” said the angel. “Neither do the gods. No one will come to your rescue, princess.”
“What—what do you want from me?” asked Soromeh.
“Me? Nothing. I took what I needed.”
Soromeh placed a hand over her belly.
There was a hole in her tunic. The skin undern
eath was scarred, as if it were an old wound. But she could still feel the cold inside of her.
“You—you killed my child!” she yelled.
The angel rolled her eyes. “There’s no need to be dramatic. You didn’t even want it in the first place.”
Soromeh whimpered.
“I can read the hearts of humans,” said the angel. “Sometimes better than they know themselves. You escaped your responsibilities, you ran away with a forbidden lover, and you finally had freedom! Why would you want to immediately settle down and have a litter? Don’t make me laugh. You never wanted it. I actually helped you.”
“That choice was mine to make!” howled Soromeh.
The angel shrugged and turned back to the sea. Soromeh, more furious than afraid, stepped forward.
“You pierced me,” she said, searching her words, “with a blade so cold—”
“It’s called ice,” corrected the angel with a sneer. “Don’t worry, princess. Ice melts, eventually. You’ll have other kids. Dozens, if you want to.”
“...Are you going to let me live?”
“Why not? You can still be of use to me.”
“And him?” she asked, holding the child closer.
This caught the angel’s full attention. She turned back, eyebrows raised in amusement. “Don’t you understand, princess? All this ordeal was to keep this thing alive.”
At that moment, a white light pierced the clouds. The angel made an expression halfway between a smile and a grimace.
“Of course, that idea wasn’t mine to start with. I would have been subtler.”
Soromeh stepped back and tried to hide behind a small outcropping of sharp rocks.
A second angel landed, this one wearing a resplendent armor and impeccable wings. He removed his helmet, letting long red hair fall over his shoulders.
The burned angel opened her arms. “Michael!” she shouted. “Brother!”
“Lucifer,” he said in a dark tone. “You lost the right to call me brother.”
“Still mad, I see. It’s been thousands of years.”
“You committed a crime against the Lord—”
“And I paid for it a hundredfold!” shouted back Lucifer. “My real body is still burning from your flames! I am stuck in Hell, unable to leave the ice, forced to negotiate access to lesser bodies! You took my face, my wings, and my voice, Michael!”
“You can only blame yourself! Your pride and treachery destroyed everything we built in the name of the Almigh—”
“Your god does not exist!”
Michael was ready to shout back, but Lucifer raised a hand and went on. “We searched,” he spat. “For millennia. We built an army in His name. We built temples. We prayed. But no one ever answered, Michael.”
“You lost your faith, you took control of our armies, and you turned our people against His light!”
“When will you get into your head that there is nothing above us? We are the most powerful beings in existence, brother! The other Celestials were created to serve us, the humans to worship us!”
There was short silence, enough for them to hear the child crying. They turned towards Soromeh.
“Let’s not debate this now,” said Michael. “I don’t have much time before I have to go back to my troops.”
“Did you leave them to face the Netcheroo fleet alone? What a general you are.”
“We agreed to a truce, with the end of the storm. We will fight far from human populations.”
“You should raze everything and take their lands,” said Lucifer. “Get rid of the Egyptians like they tried to do with the Hebrews.”
“We don’t have enough Hebrews to rule over Egypt. We will stick to the plan.”
“That’s a lot of hope to place on a creature that still crawls like a worm,” said Lucifer with disdain. “Humans almost never survive their first years. How can you be sure this one will?”
Michael looked at Soromeh. She stepped back, holding the child closer.
“We’ll place him at the palace,” said Michael. “He will grow up safe and healthy.”
“Oh, I did right by not killing the girl. I think I have an idea or two to make it happen, but I only have until the end of the day. This body is borrowed.”
Lucifer stepped towards Soromeh but stopped halfway and turned back to Michael, stretching a wing. It was not the one wounded by the acid arrow. Lucifer pointed at the burned feathers.
“I was admiring your work. This is almost delicate, for you. She must have committed a smaller crime than I did. Did she grow too powerful for your tastes, like Uriel? Or did she ask too many questions?”
“This does not concern you.”
Lucifer laughed. “You still don’t get why half your troops followed me, do you? How many more will question you? How many more will you punish? They escape your grasp like so many grains of sand!”
“Just do your work!”
Lucifer lost his smile. “You’d be smart to remember that I’m not your subordinate. We’re just sharing the same goals, for now. You can save your people, remove them from Egypt, and win the war against the Netcheroos. And you’ll have my help every step of the way. But never forget why I do it.”
He stretched his wings.
“Never forget that, despite all your efforts, I am still an angel. We are still linked, you and me. The more powerful you grow, the more powerful I become.”
He strode to Soromeh, grabbed her by the waist, and placed a hand over her brow. She immediately lost consciousness.
* * *
The Lotus Flower, Princess Kamilah’s private ship, had almost reached the capital when the sandstorm fell upon them. They had to lower the sails and spend most of the day inside, waiting. The weather calmed down in the evening, and the crew quickly went back to work.
Someone frantically called for the captain.
There was an unconscious young woman in the water, grabbing onto an oar. A basket floated at her side, strapped by a leather rope.
They pulled her on board and had to try several times until they managed to wake her up. She was disoriented for a moment and then, in a panic, threw herself at the basket. To everyone’s shock, she pulled a crying child out of it.
The captain knelt at her side, wanting to help, but her only reaction was to crawl back and hold the child tighter.
“...Princess Soromeh?” muttered the captain, incredulous.
She growled, her shoulders raised, almost curled around the child. The captain gestured to a member of the crew, who disappeared into the cabin.
A moment later, Kamilah walked on the bridge. Soromeh saw her, sublime and authoritarian, and burst into tears.
Slowly, Kamilah knelt and placed her arms around Soromeh. She let her cry for a moment and then helped her to her feet and led her inside, to her private quarters. Soromeh sat, in a daze. Servants brought food and dry towels. One of them offered to take the child, but Soromeh bared her teeth. She was left alone.
It took her a while to understand her surroundings. The luxurious cabin, full table, and colored fabrics seemed surreal after the chaos of the Nile.
Kamilah held over a gourd. “Milk, for the child.”
Soromeh nodded and started feeding him mechanically.
“Whose is it?” asked Kamilah.
“Mine,” muttered Soromeh. “Her mother gave him to me. I promised to get him out of the city to… Well.”
“I have received news of this new law,” said the eldest with displeasure.
Soromeh said nothing.
Kamilah could talk to the king, could make him change his mind, but it was too late. The children were dead, their small bodies thrown into the Nile. Soromeh thought of the Celestial armies fighting above the river, the feeling of lying on ice, the cold blade piercing her guts. None of that mattered anymore. There was only this child in her arms.
“I don’t want to go back to the palace,” she said in a small voice. “Please, don’t make me go back.”
“Soromeh, you we
re found in the river after a storm. You need to see the physician.”
“Sethy tried to kill me.”
For once, Kamilah was shocked beyond words.
Soromeh went on. “I… I think he… I don’t know if it was really him. I don’t know what to think. Do you believe in our gods?”
The Celestial Conspiracies Page 33
