by Ciaran Nagle
'Yeah. It is. I keep fighting him off. But he's so persistent.' Mel looked towards the door. 'Hey up, Nancy. There's some trade approaching.'
Nancy looked up to see some silhouettes outside the travel agency's front door. There were three of them, nervously hesitating before coming in.
'It's your turn Nancy and…' Mel continued to scrutinise the faces outside '…guess what, your luck hasn't changed.' She turned away with a renewed grin on her face while Nancy composed herself once again to face the public.
The door opened. Three young lads stepped into the shop and looked around. They surveyed the eight agents in front of them and glanced at the racks of brochures on the wall. They seemed to have no idea what to do. Behind Nancy, all the chatter among the older agents ceased and there was the sound of several telephones being picked up and numbers being dialled.
Nancy looked the three youths up and down, taking in the un-ironed shirts, baggy jeans and scruffy trainers. Yep, Mel was right. They were her sort of customers. The old magnetism was still working.
‘Yes, can I help you?’ she asked brightly.
‘Thank you, well, maybe,’ began one youth hesitantly. He coughed. ‘We’re all first-year archaeology students and next term we’re doing a project on Roman temples in the Middle East. I was wondering if you could help us find a cheap flight and a place to stay in Israel for two weeks. It needs to be in or near Eilat. We’ve looked at Thomas Cook but everything they had was too expensive.’
Nancy drew in a breath. She loved a challenge but this could be a tough one indeed.
‘Well, let’s give it a whirl shall we?’ she replied, flexing her fingers. ‘Come over here and we’ll see what the travel genie can find.’
Behind her, Nancy could feel, rather than see, her office colleagues snigger as they gave each other knowing looks. Nancy’s got herself a classic this time, they winked to each other. Already they were thinking of ways to tease her later with jibes like ‘You could always send them by camel, Nance’ or ‘Why not rent them a campervan?’ followed by ‘At least that won’t be ruinously expensive’.
But for the moment Nancy ignored the smirk-filled silence behind her and concentrated on her new clients.
‘That’ll be three of you, I guess. What’s your budget for the two weeks?’ she asked.
‘Actually four of us,’ replied the speaker. ‘Andy’s cousin is coming with us too. That’s Andy,’ he indicated the young man standing nearest the door. ‘I’m Martin and this is Pete,’ indicating the third member of the trio.
Mel appeared pulling three chairs after her and placed them in front of Nancy's desk. She too couldn't resist a knowing look at Nancy. It was the only reason she had made the effort to bring the chairs over. Nancy grimaced back with one side of her mouth uplifted. The boys sat down. Mel departed.
Nancy smiled again and made eye contact with all three boys, in order to make them feel welcome. Martin had cropped hair and wide shoulders, Andy was freckled with red hair and Pete was tall and thin. Brawny, tawny and scrawny. Would they be treble trouble or a trio of harmless train spotters?
The boys had turned on the charm and were trying to give Nancy their most beatific smiles. But instead of looking angelic they seemed rather impish.
‘Come and sit closer, all of you,’ she said. ‘I can see you’ve got big wallets. You'll clearly be wanting a private jet with a full crew, right?’
They laughed as she broke the ice, then shuffled their seats forward.
‘Now let’s see,’ she said as she began to write onto a pad. ‘Israel. Two weeks. What time of year do you want to travel?’
Thirty minutes later, Martin, Andy and Pete stood up and said goodbye to Nancy.
‘Thank you,’ said Martin as he shook her hand tightly, almost making her wince. ‘You’ve been most helpful. I’m sorry we’re not able to spend much but you’ve certainly won my loyalty for the future. When I’ve got more money, I mean.’
‘That’s great,’ said Andy. ‘I didn’t think it was possible to get an apartment and flights on a student budget, but you’ve been brilliant.’
Pete was equally grateful. ‘Fantastic. I’m going to send all my classmates to you. None of them have got any money either. You'll never be out of work looking after them.' He added a wicked grin. Nancy smiled.
She showed them to the door. ‘Let me have your final confirmation tomorrow, once Andy’s spoken to his cousin and then I’ll need your payment by cheque. Good luck lads.’
She returned to her desk and awarded herself a square of chocolate as she finished logging the quotation on the triplicate booking form.
Behind her, phones were melting with over-use, typewriter carriages were returning furiously and pens were circling over villas in brochures, which meant that luckily for Nancy all her colleagues were too busy to give her any of the expected teasing. Except one.
'Those boys have got arses you could put on your toast and lick all the way to New Year,' said Mel with a wistful stare at the door.
'Mel, you're the man-hungriest woman, I've ever known,' said an exasperated but secretly pleased Nancy. 'If you were a chap I'd tell you to take a cold shower.'
'Don't tell me you didn't notice.'
'Actually, I'm a consummate professional who never mixes personal life with business. You would do well to learn from me.' They exchanged sidelong looks and burst into giggles.
Nancy looked behind her and scanned the faces of the other agents. Her face lost its smile and became purposeful. 'I'll see you in a minute,' she said.
She stood and walked slowly to the back of the shop between the two aisles of desks. Some of the agents looked up and smiled at her good-naturedly. Nancy walked even more slowly as she passed David's desk before continuing into the little kitchenette. She switched on the kettle, reached into the cupboard, casually plucked a tea bag from the caddy and placed it into a cup. She heard footsteps behind her and half-turned her head towards the door.
'Hello Nancy, how are you today?' David stood in the doorway smiling. He looked Nancy up and down slowly before closing the door behind him and pressing back on it with his weight. Nancy heard the latch click closed.
'You've been with us a couple of weeks now, haven't you?
'Yes,' replied Nancy, with a nervous smile. 'Just over two weeks actually.'
'Good. I'm sure you'll get on very well here.' David looked down quickly at Nancy's legs again.
'I want you to come out and have dinner with me, Nancy. I like to get to know all of my staff. And there's rarely a chance to chat. You know, socialise. During the day. There's an excellent restaurant not far away. It's attached to a hotel. I think you'll like it. They serve all kinds of good food. Anything you like. How about this evening, just you and me?'
Nancy looked away as her smile rapidly waned. She glanced at the coffee pot. The sugar bowl. The upturned cups. She put her hand to her head and scratched a sudden itch on her cheek. Then she breathed in and out quickly. But when she next looked back into David's eyes her gaze was direct.
'How's Elizabeth?'
'What?'
'How's Elizabeth?'
What? How do you..? How do you know Elizabeth?'
'Your wife. Elizabeth. Is she well?'
'Yes. She's fine.' David's face was all confusion. A silence ensued. Nancy continued looking at him. Waiting.
David spoke first. 'Why did you ask? How do you know about her? Do you know her?'
Nancy paused before replying, keeping her gaze steady.
'Will Elizabeth join us tonight? For dinner. It would be good to meet her too.'
'No. It wouldn't be good.' David was rushing to get his words out. 'She has no reason to meet you. She doesn't work in the business.'
'Oh, I thought she was the company bookkeeper.'
'How do you know that?'
'I make it my business to know things like that.' Another pause. 'So, will Elizabeth join us tonight?'
'No, she can't come. She's busy.'
'Oh.
That's disappointing.' Nancy was anything but disappointed. She could have been interviewing a candidate for a job, such was her composure. 'Well, in that case, I can't go either. Sorry. Oh, do you have a piece of paper on you?'
'A piece of paper?'
'Yes, a piece of paper.'
'I don't know.' David began searching his pockets while Nancy waited. His smugness was gone, replaced by worry. He found a company business card in his top pocket. 'I've only got one of these.'
'That'll do. Thank you,' said Nancy holding out her hand and taking the card. There was a cheap ball-point pen lying on the kitchenette worktop. Nancy picked it up and wrote on the back of the card. Then she stepped forward purposefully towards the door, forcing David to move aside.
As she turned the handle and pulled the door open Nancy stopped and turned to her boss. Her face was only a few inches from his.
'By the way,' she said quietly. 'Mel doesn't want to go out with you either.' She slipped the business card back into his pocket and then pushed past him through the door and back into the office.
As the sound of her footsteps retreated David plucked the card from his pocket and looked at what was written on the back.
It was his own home telephone number.
As Nancy returned to her desk at the front of the shop, victory in her stride, she noticed heads turn to follow. Her close confinement with David behind locked doors in the kitchenette had not gone unremarked. They all wanted to know what had happened and, more importantly, who had come off best.
Nancy answered their unspoken question with her body language. She plucked an abandoned phone from a paper-strewn desk, heard the dial tone in the receiver and snapped it back in its cradle with a flourish. She scooped up a male agent's pencil sharpener and tapped it playfully on his desk a couple of times before returning his smile with a wink. She rescued a pair of scissors from another desk that were about to fall on the floor and handed them to their grateful owner along with a grin. Her senses were on high alert as she skipped along on her high heels noticing and enjoying all the curious glances.
But there was something Nancy didn't notice.
She didn't see the short figure with the Asiatic features that followed her, just a pace behind. She didn't see its red eyes that never left her for a moment. She didn't see the unusual curved sword that hung from its side. Or notice its military bearing.
No-one did. Even if they had looked straight in its direction they would not have seen it.
When Nancy regained her desk and sat down, the soldierly figure took station just behind her. It continued its watch. It noted her every move and word. It smelt her blood and heard her pulse. Its Leader would want a complete report.
Heaven's Shore
On an outcrop of the last shore on the fringes of Heaven, far from friends and nearly beyond the Music's reach, Jabez watched as Nancy's image faded from view. He closed his hands together and the globe reduced to the diameter of a marble. He replaced it at his side.
Jabez looked out across the divide before him to the blasted land beyond. He had not been here before. Few angels came this way. But after he had finished his mission, win or lose, this rugged, beautiful coast would forever be remembered as the outpost where the battle for Nancy took place. A contest such as this for the immortal soul of a mortal woman mattered greatly and it would matter greatly for ever.
Jabez turned to look behind him, down the long pathway he had flown. A wide prairie of dunes and emerald grasses rolled back to become meadows of beautiful wild flowers and scented forests before giving way to hills and valleys, lakes and ice caps. Far in the distance were golden villages, seaborne cities and airborne farms.
Paradise was neither flat nor round, instead it was wide and deep and there was as much bustle and light in the lands at its core as there was at its peripheries. He looked at a point a couple of seconds of light time away, deep within Heaven's interior where a huge range of snowy mountains raised their craggy peaks in praise. Lower down, below the snow line, venerable villages with marble streets and high-vaulted houses made of slow-aged timber nestled between the mountains' knees.
As his eyes searched them out, the villages grew in his sight, transporting themselves towards him. Soon he could see each and every angel going about their day's work, outside or in, planting and sawing and analysing and project managing. All of Heaven was dear to him, but one of these villages especially so for he had known its people since before he died and came to life. They were his clan.
He watched each one of them, relatives close and far. He saw them in their fields and he saw them at their globes. He knew every smile and welcome, every nod and wave.
At the same time, the Music reached him and washed over him. Jabez's lips opened and his head went back as the Music of Heaven struck every cell of his body, exciting his senses and uplifting his heart. The Music was a constantly renewing, constantly changing, soaring, falling harmony of drumbeats and voices, instruments and rhythms that delighted the soul and fed the imagination.
The Music spoke with its own voice and shouted you're special, you're wonderful, you are so welcome here. And all of this was true for every angel in Paradise had earned their place.
Some of those he watched soon began to feel his presence and raised their eyes to look for him. They missed him and yearned for news of him. They had heard that he had been given a difficult quest. Soon they would perceive him and call out to him across the vast distance in between. He didn't want that, it would only magnify the heartache he felt.
Jabez sighed heavily as he forced himself to return to the present. His home village rapidly retreated to a speck within a dot within a wisp and was gone. The Music faded to a whisper again as if someone had turned down the volume. For he was on the edge of Heaven and the Music must not go beyond its border.
Jabez's breath came shallowly and rapidly and he was afraid. He plucked the globe from his side and expanded it. The starswirl inside reached out to his mind, learning his will. Soon a face came up and looked into his eyes.
'Luke,' said Jabez, softly. 'I'm glad you're in. I've never felt so alone.'
'So you've arrived Jabez. I was wondering if you'd call.' Luke removed his Stetson in greeting before replacing it on his head. 'As for being alone, I think that's the whole point. It's to help you focus.'
'But why am I here Luke? I mean, why me? I'm a galaxy-building angel. An engineer. I'm not a guardian angel. I've spent the last few hundred years designing a planet fit for human habitation. What do I know about Infernal schemes and plans? It's not what I've trained for.'
'There's always a reason, Jabez, you know that. There's something about you that means you're right for this project, despite appearances.'
'Thanks. But I still don't see it.'
'No, really,' continued Luke, whose black face sparkled with humour. 'I mean, you're not that quick on the uptake. And you're lazy and vain. But the powers upstairs know what they're doing. You just have to trust them.'
'I knew you'd have an encouraging word for me.'
'Don't mention it. I graduated top of my Friend In Need class. My tutor said I was a natural.'
Jabez tilted his head, deciding to ignore his friend's dry wit. 'But seriously Luke, I've been arranging cosmic storms and releasing them onto the entire palette of chemical elements made by the Creator long ago. I was putting a new moon through field trials when I got this appointment. I've never intercepted a charnel imp or confronted a satyr squadron. I know as much about a storm sprite's spear-spell as a new-born deer does of a hunter's arrow. I'm in construction. Not warfare.'
'Hmmm.' Luke removed his Stetson again. His African eyes sparkled like watchfires in the night. But it was a time to listen, not talk.
Jabez's anxiety was dominant.
'Luke. You know who I'm up against, don't you? You know her reputation?'
His mind dizzied and he staggered briefly under the weight of his care, losing his balance. His right wing flared and pushed down, feathers fi
rming, lightening him for a moment and allowing him to regain his step.
Then Jabez looked in front of him across the divide to the fire-blasted plains of Inferno. Nothing grew in that wasteland. But here and there he could just make out a soul walking in hungry pain, unable to die, lamenting that death had been such a cruel cheat.
'She's out there, somewhere, Luke. It hurts just to look at the place. But beyond that desert is the centre of Inferno and that's where she'll be.'
'Yes,' replied Luke, heavily. 'I know who you're talking about. Bezejel. I've been looking her up. She's a former chieftain of the Pecheneg tribe in Eastern Europe. She seized the crown after outwitting all the senior commanders in her kingdom. Quite a feat for a woman, in those days. Very smart. Cruel too. They called her Orphan-maker, She-spite and Queen Crusher at various times. She was extremely beautiful. She liked to taunt captured enemy soldiers by flaunting her femininity over them and then once she'd got them interested she gave the word to her men and the poor guys were tortured, cut to pieces or bouldered on great machines. If you happen to get close to her and she smiles at you, Jabez, probably best to walk on by.'
'I'll remember that. Though I wasn't planning to get anywhere near her.'
'The thing is, Jabez, what you're forgetting is you've got friends. Me among them. That's our strength. You're not alone. You're only out there on Heaven's shore so that you're not distracted.'
'Thanks Luke, I knew I could count on you.'
'Find out who you need and build a team. That's my advice. A team of specialists. Don't try to work alone. Find yourself a good crew and they'll support you as well as work for you. They'll give you encouragement when you need it, strengthen you when you're weak and stick by you even when you fail. Which you will. From time to time. Though ultimately you'll succeed.'
'I wish I had your confidence.'
'You've got all the confidence you need. It's right that you should be a little apprehensive. But you and Bezejel will fight the battle in different ways. Remember, you are not equal. She will use all the dark arts of her cunning and her knowledge of men and women's weakness. She'll play on fear, desire, greed, loneliness, lust. She knows about them. She specialises in human weakness. But you have friendships, Jabez. And you'll have many more by the time this thing is over. That's the difference between you.'
