Star Rebellion

by Alicia Howell

  “Excuse me, sir!” I shouted as he was about to disappear down a hall.

  “Can I help you?” he asked in surprisingly fluent English, except his vowels sounded deeper.

  “You speak English?” Oh brilliant, Waterstar, truly brilliant.

  “Your surprise is understood, young one.” The man smiled at me and I didn’t even bother getting upset about his term for me. I guess it was an Earth thing. “I am the British Cardinal, so yes, I speak English.”

  I faintly remembered something in my history class about how the British were one of the first to colonize Calsh. Maybe we were related.

  “Cool, but have you seen a giant wolf along with two guys, one has fire red hair, and the other has pitch black hair?”

  “Yes, you could hardly miss them. I take it you two are from Calsh?” I nodded my head for the only answer. “I will take you and your friend to them.”

  I glanced behind me to see Icestar, standing silent as usual.

  We followed the cardinal through multiple halls and I wondered how he could memorize such a route. It was a tad disturbing. Finally, we ended up in a large room that seemed dwarfed by the wolf curled up in the center. It had rustled black fur with hints of burgundy, and when it opened an eye to see who had entered the room, the same burgundy color stared out at me.

  “Be sure not to frighten it, I have been told that the beast is peaceful, but you can never-” the cardinal didn’t have time to finish as I rushed toward the wolf, sliding on my knees the last three feet to its head.

  The wolf raised its snout at me and sniffed. He didn’t seem to be angry or anything and I slowly held up a hand and stroked his fur. As I scratched behind an ear, the wolf start panting and I swear if he could smile, he would.

  I laughed and gave him a kiss on the end of his snout before standing. “I will be back for more love! I must check on my friends.” I walked a few paces to where two beds were sitting before turning back to the wolf. “And thank you for keeping them safe.”

  The wolf seemed to nod his head before laying it back on the floor, eyes closed. Icestar edged around it, seemingly unafraid, but definitely not taking any chances by foolishly being off guard.

  I finished making my way to the beds and stood in between them. Both of my friends were asleep, Firestar snoring a bit through his open mouth while it appeared the slightest touch could wake Darkstar.

  “They’re alive,” I whispered to Ice. Out of the peripheral of my eye, I could see him nod. His silver spikes were back to perfection.

  I pushed some hair out of Firestar’s eyes before sighing. They were alive, and asleep. No time to swap stories yet.

  I wondered where Mr. Moscow was. The fact that they were here meant he was. We were Calshians, and wouldn’t have returned from a mission to sleep if it hadn’t been successful.

  I felt something nudge my back and turned around. The wolf was staring at me and it lightly took the sleeve of my hoodie between its teeth and pulled a bit before letting go and walking away, looking over its shoulder to see if I would follow.

  I caught up in no time and felt Icestar at my shoulder. We followed the wolf back outside where Arctic was still standing in wait for a messenger from the Divine. I wondered what was taking them so long, and if it was a good or bad omen that they weren’t here yet. The wolf left back into the building, probably going to stand watch over the guys some more.

  “How was China?” Arctic asked.

  “I’ll wait until they’re awake.”

  “Should’ve guessed.”

  “Anything happen here while Ice and I were inside?”

  Arctic looked down at me and smirked. “I really want to know what you did in China. Mr. Beijing was very excitable and happy with you. I had a conference with him and Moscow, and both seemed very agreeing to halting all possible attack on each other.”

  I nodded, not really paying much attention now. “That’s good.”

  Arctic looked away. “Maybe. Something might have happened to them, a threat if they didn’t comply. It concerns me more than alleviates my fears. We need every world power in control of themselves and their country.”

  I shrugged, not sure what to say. I wasn’t one for politics. I turned away from my commander and sat down on the fountain that was in the courtyard, tempted to see what would happened if I entered the warm waters. It really was surprising how warm it was for nighttime.

  Icestar eventually took a seat next to me. He pulled his knees up to his chin and sat like a tombstone standing vigil over a grave. I swear it had been like five minutes before he blinked.

  I looked up to the sky where everyone else was looking, though I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t think it would be the most brilliant idea if they fell out of the sky. I mean, yea, angels could fly and all, but I didn’t think Vladimir could, and I knew Forest definitely could not.

  After a few more moments, I started trailing my fingers through the water, already feeling the healing properties that water gave me. The sleep had helped, but this was even better. I kind of wished I could go take a nice long bath. God knows I was dirty enough to need one.

  It wasn’t much longer after that before the wolf returned with Fire and Dark. Firestar was still rubbing his sleep filled eyes while Dark looked like he could have been going to afternoon tea. Who the hell even drinks afternoon tea?

  Firestar landed with an oomph on the other side of me while looking quite gloomy and Darkstar started a muttering conversation with Arctic. I only faintly wondered what they were saying. Okay, a bit more than faintly, but I’m sure it wasn’t anything important else they’d share it with all of us.

  I looked back up at the sky, my hand still in the water. I fought back a yawn and splashed water up at Firestar. He gave me a pissed off glare but didn’t do anything else. Apparently he was too tired to even go along with our usual bickering. Or something had happened in Russia.

  I sighed and got up, stretching for a few moments before walking over to the Direwolf. He was already laying back on the ground with his eyes closed, but an ear twitched as I approached. I put my still wet hand on his head and scratched behind his ear again before petting him along his body, or as far as my arm could reach from where I was. I think the wolf was taller than me.

  This waiting stuff was really killing me. I wasn’t a patient person, as you well know by now. “Don’t they know the meaning of a schedule?” I asked to no one particular. No one responded.

  I rolled my eyes and leaned against the wolf. I put my face in his fur and inhaled. He smelled familiar, but I couldn’t exactly place where I remembered that scent.

  The wolf suddenly stood up and I fell to the side, unable to catch myself before my elbow kissed the ground. Funny bones aren’t that funny, in case you were wondering.

  I stood up, about to make some smart ass comment to the wolf when I saw the glow in the sky. I rushed to where all of the guys were standing. I didn’t have to ask the question. We all knew that was the messenger.

  The ball of light landed about twenty feet away from me. White wings unfurled from the sphere before it started to dim. A figured, also clad in white with long sword at his right hip, emerged from it and the rest of the light dissipated.

  “Greetings, who of you is the Commander Arctic of Star Rebellion from the world of Calsh?”

  I never knew Arctic had such a long title, but when you put it that way, it makes sense.

  “I am.” Arctic step forward, back held rigidly straight.

  The figured bowed his head to him. “Greetings, Commander Arctic. My name is Mercury, and I am the messenger of the Divine. I have word from King Vladimir of the Underworld and the War Angel Ares.”

  Okay, this man was a fan or titles. So formal. It made me kind of reluctant to go to the Divine, if I was ever even given the opportunity.

  Firestar stepped forward. Of course it was Firestar. “What about Foreststar? Of Calsh?” he demanded.

  “The human is well too.” The angel didn’t even seem slightly ru
ffled from Firestar’s quick interruption.

  Fire backed down and returned to standing next to me. There was something different about how he stood. He seemed more protective than usual, like he was trying to protect everything.

  “What word do you have, Mercury messenger of the Divine?” Arctic’s voice was true to his name.

  “My lord sends his apologies for being late. He and the Angel Ares are completing a few provisions to the treaty before traveling through the portal.” I realized then that the angel hadn’t moved even a feather. That was slightly scary.

  “And what does this treaty entitle?”

  I can see this wasn’t going to well. A treaty could entitle a thousand things, and I doubted the humans would be getting much out of it since we were the ones begging for help.

  “That is not for me to disclose. It will be within your favor as much as ours. Foreststar, Ambassador of Calsh, is quite adept at making his word clear without being rude.” I could have sworn Mercury looked over at Firestar.

  Arctic nodded his head once. “This does not surprise me. How soon do you think they will arrive?”

  “Soon enough. Little more damage will be done to your worlds beforehand.”

  Mercury furled his wings and walked over to the wolf. It appeared that his dealings with us humans were completed now. “Alvair, it has been long since you last roamed the Earth.”

  The wolf, Alvair, blinked, though I am sure he and Mercury were having a pleasant conversation as the world was destroyed by demons, mind my sarcasm. I really should learn how to speak to a Direwolf, though. The legends were full of them.

  Soon, more glowing balls of light appeared in the sky like a meteor shower. More than what would have been the Star Rebellion team that had gone up there. It was a cascade of falling light as the angels came down to Earth for the first time in millennia.

  That’s how I would describe it if I were writing a book. And mind you, I have no intention of doing that at all. It would take me forever and a year to do so.

  “Beautiful,” a thickly accented voice said to my right. I glanced over and saw a tall man, taller than almost anyone else I had ever seen, also surrounded by men who were almost as tall as him. I guessed that he was probably Mr. Moscow; it would make sense after all.

  He was right. I mean, there probably hadn’t been more than twenty angels that had come down, but it was still breathtaking. As they each emerged from their sphere of light, I had this eerie feeling that they were different, especially with so many of them in one place. All the angels here were male, though some held their hair past their waists, but nothing could hide the masculine sharpness of their faces and the hard glints to their eyes. Those cherub statues Foreststar had shown us pictures of were very misleading. These guys don’t look anywhere near that adorable and innocent.

  I could see Foreststar emerging from the same sphere of light as Vladimir, though his was nearly as black as the sky. Apparently he could fly in a way, and I wondered if his was black because of the demonic origin in him, or if he just chose to be that way. It would make sense for it to be genetic though. Ares was next to them, but all three stayed on the angel’s side of the plaza.

  One of the angels stepped forward and Mercury went to his side. The angel had hair black as night, though not quite as deep of a shade as Darkstar’s. He was about equal in height to Icestar and had a prominently sharp jaw bone. I couldn’t be sure, but his eyes almost looked pure white from where I was standing, adding even more to the eerie feeling I had. The messenger briefly whispered in the man’s ear and he nodded his head once.

  “Arctic, Commander of Calsh, I am Gweldion , nominated leader of the Divine for this century. We have heard your plea for help, Earth and Calsh alike. However, the Council of Angels do not feel like it is our place to step into the matters of humans and demons.”

  Arctic let a polite pause pass to make sure that was all Gweldion was saying. “I respect that, but your Messenger of the Angels, Mercury, said that you had been finishing a treaty with the ambassadors that had gone to the Divine.”

  Gweldion dipped his head once. “This is true. We will not directly come into contact with the demons; a fight on Earth or Calsh between us and the demons could very well eliminate your homes. The Council and I have decided that we will grant you a blessing for seven days and seven nights. In those days and nights, you will have the strength, the stamina, the speed, and the cunning of an angel. All of humanity will be granted this, along with the sense of justice. In those seven days and seven nights, you can choose to fight your battle with the demons. If you prevail or not is up to you and how you organize this, but we will not directly fight. You have our blessing, and my companions here tonight will fly across the world. We will have the blessing on every human by midnight in the land of Rome.”

  “And what does humanity owe you in return?” Arctic asked, suspicious. I could tell that this was not what he had been hoping for, but at this point, I think we would take what we could get.

  “Nothing. The young King Vladimir of the Underworld reminded me of a debt we have owed humanity for the past three thousand years. Foreststar, with the consent of King Vladimir, has agreed that the debt has been paid with this blessing. All three races stand on equal footing once more.”

  Arctic nodded once more. “It honors us that you will help us in whichever way you deem fit. I will leave you to your plans now; I must call our Council to order now. Foreststar, please come.”

  Foreststar jogged over to Arctic and he almost looked eager to get away from the angels. I wondered what it was like for him this past day. He must’ve had the most alien experiences from any of us on Team Purge.

  “There is something else that we must address, Commander. I know you are in need of time, but it is pertinent.”

  Arctic glanced up from a notepad he had produced from who knows where. “Yes, Gweldion of the Divine?”

  “There are two angels in question here. Ares, the Angel of War, and Simon, the Angel of Healing. They have both disagreed with the Council and created crimes in the eyes of an angel by abandoning the Divine for these past few days. These angels have been outcast, and you are the spokesman for humanity right now. Only with your consent will they be allowed to live, for they must stay on either Calsh or Earth. An angel would never make a home in the Underworld, not if it was the last place he could go.”

  “Of course they can stay, even if the men of Earth would not accept them. Ares and Simon have been the greatest help I’ve had this entire time on Calsh, and it would be the least I could do to house them on Calsh.”

  Gweldion nodded before a sphere of a light emerged around him. The entire plaza lit with their light of flight and the spheres shot into the sky, all scattering in different directions and a few disappearing altogether.

  Ares and Vladimir were standing alone where they had once been surrounded by the Divine. I studied Ares for a moment; I didn’t know him well, but I think he was taking the outing from the Divine pretty well. He didn’t look upset at all.

  Foreststar and Arctic had their heads together and were muttering furiously, Darkstar was looking off toward what I believed was the north while Alvair stood beside him, ears occasionally twitching, and Firestar was glaring at the ground between his beat up shoes.

  Loudly, I said, “Soooooooo, what now?”

  After a second, everyone looked over at me and I shrugged. “Well, it’s not like we can just sit here and be pissy about the lack of help from the angels. Yea, we expected more, but we got one of the goals accomplished. Russia isn’t going to start a nuclear war, right?” I hesitantly looked over at Arctic to confirm this.

  Arctic stepped forward again and motioned for everyone to come in around him. Vladimir and Ares finally moved from their spot, though my friend still didn’t approach me, which I found a tad peculiar. I would have to catch up with Vlad later.

  “Alright, so no nuclear war, thanks to our Earth team,” Arctic’s eyes flickered over each of us who had been
Earthbound, “but yes, the angel’s help is a bit of a disappointment. Earth, or at least Beijing, has not tried to count how many demons there are, and I know that us Calshians haven’t either. Too many for us to handle. From the reports I’ve been getting from Calsh, it sounds like at least a seven to one ratio, us being on the lesser hand. I need to call a World Power meeting to order, here in Vatican. Outside of the northern countries, basically just Russia, nowhere else is safe, so why not just stay here. Plus the Vatican is known for its holiness, and demons normally hate that, as legends say.” Arctic was speaking really quickly, and that was unusual for him. He never seemed nervous no matter how dire the situation was.

  “Legends are legends. Demons don’t care if it’s the backyard of some backwoods family or the Vatican City; they go as they please. Even the Divine can hardly push them away. If they want to go there, they will go.” Vladimir’s voice was hard as stone, a tone I hadn’t heard him use before. Not even when he was trying to scare the crap out of me when we had first met.

  Arctic looked at the Underworld king for a moment then nodded his head. “Either way, the Vatican is as good of a place as any. Foreststar, Snowstar is already in one of the rooms inside, a Cardinal can show you which. Tell her to get ready then personally escort each Council member here immediately. Not a ‘I will be there in my own time’ answer, immediately. I don’t care how much you need to threaten Washington.”

  Foreststar nodded, a streak of green hair from his bangs briefly hid his face and then he had turned around. I liked seeing what people looked like to judge how they were reacting to something, but Forest wasn’t giving me any clues. I watched his retreating figure. The ambassador walked with his back straight but his hands were shoved into the pockets of his dark denim jeans.

  “The rest of you can do as you please until the meeting is over. Ares, please come with me.” Arctic pivoted on his heel without another word and left us standing in the night. Ares followed him on silent feet, and I stay true to my earlier observation. He did not look upset about being kicked out of the Divine.