“Gatekeepers.” Ethan said. “One of the duties here in Empyrean.”
“That job must suck.” Dani commented. “Does anyone fall off?”
He shrugged. “Some, but they can fly so it’s not an issue.”
She wondered if he was kidding, but couldn’t tell.
As they approached, she noticed the pedestals weren’t the only defenses. A row of archers lined battlements above the gates.
They sailed through the large yawning. The fiery chariot fell towards a filled, open square of various things; a large ball of light, a horse with six legs and man in a floppy wide-brimmed hat, even a large raven the size of an elephant. More psychopomps, Dani assumed.
“Hang on.” Ethan advised. “Hermes comes in hot.”
The carriage hit wheels-down brutally, nearly sending Dani and Nathaniel into the roof. Hermes bellowed from up front and the horses braked, their hooves sparking up embers along the stone floor. The creatures brayed loudly, skittering to halt. The whole coach lurched sideways, with its passengers screaming bloody murder. They slid a few dozen feet and finally came to a stop with a hard lurch. Behind them, twin burn marks scorched across the bricks where they touched down.
Hermes smiled through the window. “Houston, the eagle has landed!”
“Don’t be impressed.” Ethan opened the door. “He says that every time. He’s just upset that the mission was named after Apollo.”
Dani never before wanted to be out of a vehicle so badly. Around them, high cliff walls formed a kind of entry cloister behind the pearl gates, with steps leading up to a large stone archway and heavy wood-and-steelbraced doors.
Gatekeepers helped the guides with new arrivals. Hermes stood by, offering to help her out. His head wings, which upon further look were not coming from the hat but his actual head, flapped as she took his hand. She didn’t say no, since she was so wobbly she might fall on her face.
The gates swung shut with a loud, resounding clang. Through the clouds beyond, she could see that despite the glowing daylight above, the lights of L.A. dotted the dark world below; somehow impossibly hidden from this amazing mountain in the sky.
Ethan argued with Hermes in low voices.
“What’s that?” Dani asked.
“Nothing.” Ethan responded automatically.
Hermes shook his head. “Stop lying. She deserves to know. And no, I won’t do that.” He told him, before addressing Dani. “Ethan wants me to tell the Gatekeepers that he forced me to take you here.”
“Why?”
“Because when they see you, they’re going to arrest us all and he wants to protect me.”
She almost asked why again, but a trumpet groaned in the distance. All at once, everyone was in motion. Gatekeepers turned towards them, swords and spears coming to bear. The archers at the top of the battlements turned and faced inward, bows drawn.
A small contingent of heavily armored Numen appeared from the archway and darted down the steps. Most were Gatekeepers. The exception was the man in front. His tunic was snow-white. He wore silvery armor, a helmet adorn and laced with gold, and a visor down over his eyes. In his hand was a long, curved blade. A scimitar. He pointed it at her as he came to the bottom, the soldiers at his back fanning out.
“Hold there!” he demanded. His skin was olive colored and his black beard fanned down his jaw but didn’t meet at the chin. Other than that, Dani could see none of his face. “Hold there! Declare yourself!”
Ethan held his hands raised. So did Hermes. Nathaniel followed. But everyone looked at Dani.
Slowly, she raised hers, but she was unsure why she had to do it.
“I said declare yourself!” the man in white demanded.
“Elder Asaph—” Ethan began.
“Silence Guardian! Protect your charge!” the man named Asaph ordered. “Guide, what is the meaning of this? Who is this outsider? We do not allow gifted or any beings in without permission.”
Hermes wings flickered nervously. He glanced at Ethan. “Do you want to take this one?”
“Elder Asaph,” Ethan said louder, “please, put up your weapons. She is not a threat.”
But the man didn’t listen. He took two long strides, separating from his men, sword still held towards Dani. “I demand you declare yourself, or I will strike you down where you stand! Do it now, girl!”
Dani knew better than to mouth off. After all, only a lunatic would be stupid enough to get mouthy with men pointing swords, spears and arrows at her. No sense in getting everyone riled up.
“My name is Dani,” she said, “and I’d really appreciate it if you stopped calling me girl and outsider, your ignorant morons.”
Yeah, that was better.
Chapter Nine She was in shackles. Shackles! At least, that was what Elder Asaph called them; a pair of polished steel-like handcuffs that went around her wrists and linked by chain to a belt they strapped around her waist. Not like that was demeaning or anything.
Ethan looked helpless. Nathaniel looked worse. Hermes was sympathetic, especially since Asaph ordered him placed in shackles as well for bringing her to Empyrean. They took his serpent staff. It hissed and nipped at the Numen who tried to hold it.
Six armed guards surrounded her and lead her into the city like some kind of criminal. Numen in black, red, purple, green, and blue all stared as she passed. Others in more modern clothes, all teenagers, stood beside them. Some looked confused, others smirked, and others just stared, but no one helped her.
With three soldiers on either side, hands on their swords, they led her up the steps through the massive stone archway past the large doors. Hermes followed up behind. Asaph himself stood with Ethan and Nathaniel, barking orders to one of his men to run to the Throne Room to gather the Council.
“Inform them that an intruder has been brought to the city.” He warned.
Intruder. Outsider. Girl. Sweetness. She’d been in the supernatural world less than a day and the names were getting old, fast.
The city was much bigger than she thought from the air. The trees towered over her. Steps would trace around the trunks, each of which went at least six or seven stories up. Their foliage create green, luminescent streams of light. Buildings made of white stone bled into them. Stone walkways connected buildings or oaks dozens of feet above Dani’s head. Numen drew water from aqueducts and fountains, gathered food from the very trees they lived in, or assembled on platforms above the street. Where the forest ended and where civilization blurred.
The buildings themselves were strange. There weren’t steps or entryways to all the upper levels, as if people didn’t need to climb stairs to get to them. She spotted pod-like rooms through the upper branches. How did they get up there?
As they walked, Dani noticed it wasn’t just men in the crowd. There were women; little girls and boys even. Hadn’t Ethan said there were no women here? Yet, there they were. Their eyes looked different; like some of the patrons of the Hellfire Club. Dani didn’t ask why she was arrested, when clearly women existed in Empyrean. She kept her mouth shut.
The city stretched to the rim of the crater. Even from here, she could see what looked like a drop-off to the left, with the huge river valley she had seen expanding outward. Waterfalls, sheer cliffs, and untamed woods filled it to the edge.
The soldiers led her quickly through the throngs of gawking Numen. Take a picture. It’ll last longer, she thought wryly. Then she realized cameras might not exist up here.
They took her to the large building she’d seen from the sky; the palatial castle. The massive tower stretched into the sky above it and from the peak, Dani could see what looked like shimmers of air wisping out over the clouds. The soldiers led the way up the massive steps towards large double-doors. More red clad soldiers formed a line and blocked the way of the pursuing gawkers. Just under the overhang, double two-story high polished wooden doors opened and they pushed her inside.
If Empyrean was impressive from the outside, the Throne Room dazzled.
The first thing Dani saw was the pool. It took up most of the massive chamber. Like a sea of glass, it’s mirror surface reflected the many torches and sun from the skylight above. It didn’t move or ripple, perfectly reflecting its mirror image. Rows of chairs and balconies rose up the sides of the main floor like box seats to the weirdest show on Earth. Or, rather, not on Earth.
And then, opposite the double doors, were thrones. They sat back from the mirror pond with seven large bowls, each one the size of a car and blazing brightly with fire, in front of them. The thrones themselves were not anything impressive; twenty-four of them, situated on a raised dais in two rows with one above the rest. A man dressed in white robes filled each seat. They didn’t wear tunics like other Numen; not even like Asaph’s under armor. Not soldiers. Instead, they looked more like priests. Each man was in their mid-to-late years; some elderly in their sixties or so, some as young as thirty. They each wore a floor-length robe and what looked like a crown around his head. Not kingly crowns, but simple bands of silver and gold, drawn with the same strange symbols as Ethan’s tattoos.
But she couldn’t focus on them. Instead, her eyes went to the rainbow. Like a glittering, solid wall, it surrounded the empty throne above the rest; hanging in the air like a magic barrier. Dani didn’t have to guess whoever sat there was someone important, but the throne remained empty as her escorts led her up to the seated men.
Asaph moved to the front as they came to stand before the seven fires. Dani could feel their heat. The men waited. Asaph approached and bowed.
“Elder Asaph,” said a man with a grey and white beard, “what is the meaning of this? Why did you summon us?”
He removed his helm. Asaph looked all of forty or less, with lines of grey leaking into his black beard. Strangely, he looked kinder with the helmet on.
“Fellow Elders, our borders were breached.” He announced. To his men, he ordered, “Bring her forth!”
Her guards pushed Dani to stand on the other side of the lit torches, revealing her to the men. Immediately, there was an intake of breath and a flurry of murmurs and whispers.
The one who’d spoken banged his hand on his armrest, his voice magnified somehow. “Fellow Elders! Order!”
One of the men, sitting next to the first, stood. His hair and beard all perfectly matched the pure-white color of his robe. His eyes were the strangest blue Dani had ever seen; the color of clear morning sky.
“Silence!” he called.
Immediately, every other white-robed man became quiet.
The Elder looked down to Dani. “I am Castus, Consul Lord of the Elder Council.” He said it like it meant something to her, but since it didn’t, she didn’t speak. “Who are you? How did you get here?”
Dani swallowed down her sudden cottonmouth. “I, well, my name is Dani—Daniella. Daniella del Lucio. And I was brought here.”
“By whom, young lady?”
She let the young lady comment go since the last time she got lippy, she got arrested. She glanced back at Hermes, who didn’t at all shrink away from her.
“I did, Elders.” He announced. “It is my sworn duty as guide to bring all Numen to Empyrean.”
“She is not a Numen!” Announced one, a brown-haired man with olive skin. “She cannot be!”
“She is.” This came from Ethan, who was silent until now. He advised Hermes to keep quiet, but apparently ignored his own advice. “I can verify that she is an Earthborn.”
“That is impossible!” another Elder cried. “She is female. There has never been a female Earthborn in existence!”
“But is it possible?” asked a younger Elder.
The thrones erupted into louder conversations. Castus called for silence. Once he got it, he turned to the man on his right, the grey-bearded Elder who’d spoken first. “Jeduthun?”
Dani recognized the name. This was the Elder that Judah told her about. Unlike his fellow Elders, Jeduthun was not arguing or whispering to other Council members. He watched Dani, his hands folded in his lap. He rubbed his thick, bearded chin.
“Jeduthun?” Castus repeated.
Startled out of his reverie, the man grumbled. “Well, I certainly never heard of one. I do not believe one has ever existed, though I’d advise Elder Heman to consult the Book of Metatron before stating it as fact.”
The one who said it was impossible reddened in shame.
“Still, quite curious is it not? A female Numen. Daniella,” he leaned forward, “these people behind you say you are a Numen; an Earthborn. Elder Asaph calls you an intruder. Do you have any evidence to support which one you are?”
Dani couldn’t think of any. She brought nothing with her, but remembered what she did have. “I’ll need to be uncuffed to show you.”
Asaph stifled a grunt of disgust, as if she’d suggested something lewd. She gave him the stink eye.
“It’s my mark.” She told them. “My halo.”
Jeduthun nodded. “Asaph, unshackle her.”
The Elder opened his mouth to protest, but shut it. Scowling, he took a key from his belt and went to undo the binding on her right wrist.
“My left one.” She corrected.
He frowned. “Your left?”
“My halo is on my left arm.”
Asaph didn’t act disgusted now. Now he looked a little afraid, as if touching her bare skin might burn him.
He undid the binding and stepped back so she could show them. Peeling back her sleeve, she held out her left wrist. If being a woman made these guys get a knot in their shorts, the halo on her left arm made the knot twist. Immediately, they burst into whispering argument, some so loud they really weren’t whispers at all. Only Castus and Jeduthun didn’t join in.
“She is an abomination!” Cried one of the Elders. It was the same one, Heman, who spoke up before. A chorus of agreements joined him.
But Elder Castus brought them to silence again. “Elder Heman, I will not have outbursts like that in our Council!” The ja b was enough to silence not only the man he was speaking with, but his supporters as well. Castus returned to Dani. “Thank you, Daniella. You may lower your wrist.” She did. “Can she see beyond the veil?”
Ethan spoke up again. “Yes, Council members. She was able to see the wraiths for what they were when they attacked her and my charge, Nathaniel. She could smell the brimstone.”
“So she is not your charge?”
“No, Elders. Nathaniel Cadell is my charge, as was written in the Book of Metatron, for whom the first throne is left unfilled.” The last part sounded like a recital of some kind. It also explained why, other than a seat for Asaph, the only empty chair was the rainbow throne.
“Again, I say,” Heman called out, “that not only is it impossible for her to be one of us, but now we see that is the only explanation.” He stood. “All one hundred and forty-four charges have been brought to Empyrean, with the addition of Nathaniel Cadell. All Novices are accounted for. Do we accept that a woman is somehow the one hundred forty-fifth? There hasn’t been a gifted born on Earth for centuries. She clearly isn’t a mandanus. This,” he pointed at her, “is nothing but deception and lies! It is an evil omen and a bearing of ill tidings that should be destroyed!”
Some Elders gave another chorus of agreement.
Dani’s stomach rolled in disgust. This? She didn’t even have a name. She was an object to him. A this or a that; not a person.
Plead your case, not plead. Judah’s words.
“I am not some evil omen!” She yelled suddenly, stopping every man in attendance. She strode forward, keeping her chin up, staring them all down. If they expected her to keep quiet, they were going to be disappointed. “I am not an intruder and I am more than just a girl.” She glared at Asaph. “And I am certainly more than a pronoun.” She pointedly glared at Heman, who seemed more shocked she spoke than speaking to him. Then she turned to Castus defiantly. “I didn’t ask to be brought here. I didn’t ask for some kind of demon to try to kill me. I certainly didn’t ask to b
e put into handcuffs from the last century,” she held up her shackles, “because I’m a woman, left-handed and not on your enchanted guest list. But I’m here. I’m not evil. I’m not some imposter trying to sneak into your clubhouse. I’m me. I’m human, or Numen, or whatever that means. I was brought here for the same reason as everyone else. I was chosen. I don’t know what that means. I don’t care. So unless the person doing the choosing is here, which I gather he is not, then you’d better accept it.”
The whole chamber went silent. Most were too stunned to speak. Jeduthun, however, seemed almost comically entertained. A soft smile hid in his whiskers.
“I don’t know what you want from me.” She announced. “I frankly don’t care. I’ve lost my family, I’ve lost my home, and for some reason I’ve lost my own freedom, but I’m not going to stand here while you call me names. I’d rather die. So if you are going to kill me,” she made sure to throw her best shade at both Asaph and Heman, “then get it over with. I’ve got stuff to do.”
Judah said show them her humanity, but now she was just showing them where to stick it. Asaph looked ready to draw his sword again. Heman’s face contorted with pure fury. She chanced a glance at Nathaniel who, despite being utterly terrified, looked somewhat proud of her. Hermes even smirked a little. Ethan gave his best poker face, or whatever the equivalent Numen expression, and waited.
Castus stood once more, clearing his throat. “Daniella, I must say, in the two millennium I have sat on this Council, I have never heard anyone speak that way to us.” She didn’t know whether to be proud or say her prayers, so she said nothing. And two millenniums? Two thousand years? He looked old, but not that old. “Showing respect for your Elders, pardon the expression, is essential here; however, you do call into question our judgment of you.” He glanced at Heman. “I do not speak for everyone on this Council, but I do not see any darkness within you, other than youthful spite. I see no reason to question your position here.”
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