Angel Blessed (Angel Caste Book 5)

by K S Nikakis

A hand rested on his shoulder and he looked up into Prime-archae’s Mirek’s weary face. ‘Rest, Kydane. You’re exhausted.’

  ‘I need to finish these scrolls, Prime-archae,’ said Ky. ‘How many remain?’

  ‘Four,’ said Mirek, and smiled dryly. ‘Perhaps that itself is significant.’

  ‘I no longer know what’s significant,’ admitted Ky.

  ‘You study two, and I’ll study two, then we’ll both rest,’ said Mirek.

  Ky unrolled the next scroll and struggled to focus. The words were clearly Senquar-archae’s but his tired brain made no sense of them. ‘I’ve found something, Prime-archae,’ he said hoarsely. The Prime-archae was suddenly beside him and Ky read slowly. ‘Red mountains rise, red mountains fall, a home for bears and angel Halls. The Great Beyond, a gift is given, the sacred lake must not be riven. The journey in, will still suffice, be thankful for the fold of ice.’

  ‘The sacred lake again,’ murmured Serith, ‘and another clear warning.’

  ‘Could it be another lake entirely?’

  Mirek shook his head. ‘We know Thrisdane transited from The Wheel, and arrived in the centre of the Bokos wet. Given the importance accorded to symmetry, we assume he transited the lake rift. But this writing contains more than a warning, Kydane which, were you not exhausted, you would have noticed.’

  Ky rubbed his eyes. ‘Red mountains rise, red mountains fall, a home for bears and angel Halls … It sounds like Redice Fold.’

  ‘Indeed it does.’

  ‘Why would Senquar-archae speak of Redice, with its blood-red ice and foul-smelling bears?’

  ‘Because it’s also a home to angel Halls. Be thankful for the fold of ice,’ read Mirek slowly.

  ‘It’s a gift from the Great Beyond,’ said Ky suddenly. ‘To use Redice Fold instead of the lake. But use for what?’

  ‘We have parts of a puzzle that some sought to hide but Senquar-archae fought to reveal.’

  ‘Thris might know more, given his time in The Wheel.’

  ‘If only he were still here,’ said Mirek regretfully.

  ‘Ash can tell him. He passed messages from Archaes Kald and Dejon to us before. It’s as if he speaks into your head.’

  ‘I see,’ said Mirek softly. ‘Then he should communicate Senquar-archae’s words to Thrisdane as soon as possible. I fear that time is short.’

  * * *

  Thris stepped from the rift, relieved the fold was in its dark cycle. He was in a valley like the one where he and Ky had searched for Viv. He knew he needed to be higher in the fold to see the lake but he daren’t take to the air. It was how he’d been injured then captured by the human caste last time.

  He set out on foot and hadn’t gone far when he sensed a second rift, and was surprised it also exited into the fold. He hadn’t come across such rifts before but it was helpful and he stepped into it. The fold had cycled to light when he exited, but the rift had opened into trees, which made him feel safer—until he noticed their branches were full of birds.

  He stowed his shirt and jacket in his pack and set off upslope. Its steepness told him he was nearer the peak and he toiled on, sensing for rifts. The light ebbed and the birds quieted, which was a relief, but the trees grew more sparsely too and he was considering whether to wait for the fold’s dark cycle, when Ash’s voice sounded in his head.

  Senquar-archae’s words were astonishing. It could mean … Birds thrashed from the trees but before he could move, he was hurled to the ground, and a blade pressed against his throat.

  Chapter 27

  Baraghan and the Syld stopped as birdcalls exploded ahead, and the Syld flicked his fingers. It was obviously some sort of signal and Viv longed for the tunnel’s concealing darkness. The Syld slipped away and Baraghan placed his finger on his lips and gestured her to the lee of a broad-trunked tree.

  He took up position in front, knives drawn, and Viv slipped off her pack and unbuttoned her jacket. Time dragged and then she heard others coming in their direction and Baraghan’s muscles bunched. It was the Syld, and he dragged someone with him. Viv strained into the gloom. God in Heaven! She leapt from her hiding place and was to Thris in an instant.

  ‘I needed him to know friend from foe,’ said the Syld, and slashed his bonds.

  Thris’s arms came around her and she clung to him, drinking in his scent. ‘You shouldn’t have come back,’ she whispered. His face was bruised and there were cuts on his neck and chest.

  ‘I pledged to guide you to your mother, Viv, but it’s not the only reason I returned. Ezam’s in danger.’

  ‘What—’

  ‘We need to go,’ interrupted the Syld. ‘Speak later.’

  They went on, the Syld leading, Baraghan bringing up the rear. Horse Zadic came and went, and Viv grew weary, but she didn’t care. She held Thris’s hand and leaned in so his body brushed hers. It sated her hunger for him and she took all she could, knowing he might soon disappear again, next time, forever.

  Ataghan led them down into the thick darkness of a narrow ravine but he needed no light to find his way. He’d been fourteen when he’d last been here and the tunnels under the detritus a lot bigger. He smiled ironically, both at the notion of tunnels shrinking, and the desperate bravado of his fourteen-year-old self.

  It was icy in the ravine and they’d need a fire, but the thick roof of twig and leaf-fall masked fire smoke and they’d be safe. He cleared a large area and Baraghan collected enough wood to last the night. The elddra sat beside the Angellus on the fire’s other side, oblivious to her surroundings, and Baraghan exchanged looks with Ataghan, as he mixed a batch of urrut-sa.

  ‘The Astraali had him?’ he asked softly.

  Ataghan nodded. ‘And now the mercats have them.’ Baraghan’s eye-brows rose. ‘There was an active den nearby.’

  Baraghan glanced across the fire. ‘They could be seed-brother and sister,’ he murmured. Baraghan was right. They shared the same face shape and curly hair, although Thrisdane was dark. The elddra’s long curls shone like molten metal in the firelight and her expression, as she gazed at the Angellus, was the same as Ithreya’s when she’d looked at Sehereden. The elddra had human blood, Ataghan reminded himself, but Thrisdane’s reappearance was a complication he didn’t need.

  ‘Why’s he here?’ asked Baraghan.

  Ataghan thought the reason was obvious, but he kept his thoughts to himself. ‘We’ll let him explain,’ he said instead.

  Ataghan listened as Thrisdane described the connection between The Wheel and Ezam, the instability of water rifts, and the dangers to Ezam if the sacred lake’s rift were disturbed, but his attention was on the elddra. Her pallor told him she hadn’t recovered from knocking herself senseless, and that she’d just realised the full consequences of what the Astraali would force her to do.

  ‘Do you think the Angellus used the sacred lake to return to Ezam?’ she asked, when Thrisdane had fallen silent.

  ‘We don’t know they came from Ezam,’ said Thrisdane. ‘Ky’s found no scrolls that speak of their home fold, but Senquar-archae’s writings suggests they went to Redice Fold when they left here.’

  ‘Senquar-archae?’

  ‘He was a blue angel who appeared in Ezam with Anasdane and Paendane. They disappeared but the scrolls don’t speak of them ascending.’

  ‘A threesome, like you, Ash, and Ky,’ muttered the elddra, and Ataghan saw her dread deepen. ‘What did Senquar-archae’s writings say?’

  ‘The Wheel the way, the Wheel a knife; the way of water, the way of strife. The rift can give, the rift can take; do not disturb the sacred lake. That was the first writing discovered. The one Ky discovered after I left says: Red mountains rise, red mountains fall, a home for bears and angel Halls. The Great Beyond, a gift is given, the sacred lake must not be riven. The journey in, will still suffice, be thankful for the fold of ice.’

  ‘The warning’s pretty bloody clear,’ she muttered. ‘But do you believe the Angellus went to Redice Fold when they left here?’

 
; ‘Senquar-archae doesn’t speak plainly, but Prime-archaes Mirek and Serith believe it, and they’re learned. Ky believes it too. I’m not sure about Ash.’

  ‘Is Redice Fold like Ezam?’ asked Baraghan.

  Thrisdane shook his head. ‘It’s icy and has dangerous bears. Their fumes are corrosive to angel caste.’

  ‘Not the sort of place the Astraali will clamour to visit,’ observed Baraghan.

  ‘Is there a rift to Redice Fold in Astraal?’ asked Ataghan.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Thrisdane. ‘Rifts open and close. They can be open for eons, then shut for eons, or open and shut in an instant. But if the Host of this fold went to Redice Fold, there must have been a rift.’

  ‘If,’ murmured the elddra. She looked about to drop.

  Baraghan noticed too. ‘You need to sleep, Violet Iris Vacia, unless you want your headache back. She suffered an injury on our journey here,’ he added, in explanation for Thrisdane.

  Thrisdane’s concern was immediate. He cradled the elddra’s face between his hands and breathed over her. Angellus breath was healing; Baraghan used it subtly in his work as a surgeon, and Ataghan had used it when he’d fought for the elddra’s life after Esh-telin, but Thrisdane’s scent was potent. Her face regained its colour but also a longing so intense it was painful to see, and she struggled to her feet, took the Angellus’s hand, and led him away into the darkness.

  The fire cracked as Baraghan added more wood, and poked it into position. ‘Easy to see the main reason Thrisdane en-Ezam returned,’ he said, ‘but I’m unclear why you’re here, Syld. You’ve never expressed any affection for Violet Iris Vacia, or was that a feint to throw me off?’

  ‘Ithreya en-Verra-ril’s offered me Sehereden’s seed-child, but there are conditions.’

  Baraghan’s breath hissed. ‘Which are?’

  ‘Bring the elddra to live in my sett.’

  ‘Stinking Soaich.’ Baraghan laughed mirthlessly. ‘I rarely feel sorry for you, Ataghan, but this is one of those occasions. It’s a pity you didn’t pretend kindness for her earlier.’ He laughed again. ‘Although you do have one thing I’ve never been able to trump, and that’s a little girl called Fariye. Violet Iris Vacia will even put up with your company to be near her.’ He paused. ‘What would you have done if Violet Iris Vacia had chosen me?’

  ‘Whatever was necessary.’ The silence stretched. ‘As it is, the elddra wants to see if her mother’s in Astraal and accepted my offer to guide her.’

  ‘She knew of Ithreya’s offer?’

  ‘She does now.’

  ‘And now the beautiful Thrisdane en-Ezam’s turned up. Hardly a welcome development for you, Syld. He’s a bit hard to compete with.’ Baraghan emptied the dregs of semna into his mug and downed them in a single gulp.

  ‘The danger extends beyond our personal wants, Baraghan. The elddra was always going to be a rich prize for the Astraali, but Thrisdane exceeds even her worth. He’s fresh from the fold they believe is theirs by right of inheritance, and he knows how to take them there. The elddra’s said she’d only meet the Astraali’s demands if they threatened us, and would leave The Wheel rather than risk it. But she’s far more valuable to the Astraali now. Thrisdane would do anything to save her, and she to save him.’

  ‘It’s best they keep clear of the Astraali’s stinking walls then.’

  ‘But they won’t. You heard what he said. He’s bound by a pledge to find her mother and now his fold’s threatened. I imagine those higher in the Angellus hierarchy direct him too.’

  ‘He won’t need much directing if he fears for those in Ezam,’ said Baraghan. ‘I spoke with his friends Ashdane and Kydane. The three are akin to lein.’

  ‘What’s your plan, Baraghan? You always have one.’

  ‘That we all turn around and go home, and a very sensible plan it is too, except it’s too late to expect sense from Mad At, especially when he has a pressing reason to stay.’ Baraghan’s teeth flashed in a smile. ‘We’ll need to speak to the Council, so subterfuge is pointless. I suggest we roll up at the gate and demand to be taken to them. We’ll tell them about Redice, if we get the chance, and hopefully either Violet Iris Vacia or Thrisdane en-Ezam will find them a rift and they’ll go there. Then we’ll explore the empty city at our leisure and enjoy our old haunts.’

  ‘And if they insist on being shown the rift to Ezam?’

  ‘Then I hope our beautiful visitors will talk them out of it. We won’t be there, anyway, At.’

  ‘No. They’ll separate us as soon as possible. Have you planned for that?’

  ‘I’ve planned to continue to enjoy my usual good fortune, and your ability to dodge Soaich is legendary, Syld. Together we make a good team.’

  ‘Or a dead one.’

  Astraal looked like an extremely fancy wedding cake, thought Viv, except the happily-ever-after plastic man and woman on the top had been replaced by guards who escorted their little party up a street carved in the cake’s side. The street ascended in a series of steps and terraces that gave a spectacular view of the city.

  Soaring arches, domes as delicate as eggshells, and fretwork rimmed windows; all picked out in white stone. It wasn’t marble, but the duller stuff of underfoot. Viv stared at the snow-capped peak at the city’s back and the immense aqua lake below. She could see why angels had been drawn here but she sensed no rifts. She just hoped there was one to Redice, and it was nearby.

  Smaller streets snaked off to either side, not nearly as ordered as the one they followed. It wouldn’t be easy to find a way out if she had to make a run for it, unless she used this central street. She could fly, of course, presuming they didn’t have darts to bring her down.

  ‘Lots of elddra here to welcome us,’ the Syld said softly, as they walked. ‘You should keep a look out for your mother.’ Viv didn’t know why he’d positioned himself next to her at the gate, and Baraghan next to Thris, except they’d have had good reason. ‘Your movements have been known for some time. Those with Angellus blood have flooded in from the Vales in happy anticipation of joining the glorious Angellus in Ezam.’

  ‘Redice Fold,’ corrected Viv softly, but he was right. The crowd’s gazes held a hungry expectation although the men were clearly antagonistic to Baraghan and Ataghan.

  ‘They’ll lack any interest in going to Redice and it would be wise if you feigned a similar lack of interest in Thrisdane. They’ll use your love for him to force your cooperation, or his love for you, similarly.’

  Viv gazed at the grand building ahead, its pillars reminiscent of Ezam’s Halls.

  ‘Behold, Astraal Hall,’ he said, and Viv’s tension sky-rocketed as she thought of Kald.

  ‘The rift to Ezam could kill every angel in Ezam,’ she murmured, ‘or the people here.’ The city rose above the lake in terraces but an upheaval could flood the lower ones.

  ‘I know the Astraali,’ he whispered. ‘They’ll believe you’re wilfully denying them the splendours their ancestors enjoy. Whatever happens, Ilris, know this: I won’t abandon you.’

  Viv looked at him in confusion. ‘You’ll be with us.’

  He subtly shook his head. ‘Baraghan and I will be escorted to the gate, if we’re fortunate. We’ve prepared as best we can.’

  Viv’s dread deepened as they mounted the steps to the building’s portico and sure enough, muscular guards smoothly cut her and Thris from the Syld and Baraghan. She screwed her head around for one last glimpse of him, and then heavy doors clanged shut behind her.

  Ataghan descended the Hall’s steps steadily, Baraghan by his side, the guards hard on their heels. Then as he reached the street, he flicked his fingers, and they ran. Their explosion of speed took the guards by surprise but they didn’t take long to recover or other men to join the chase.

  Ataghan let Baraghan lead and they passed three streets to their right before he threw himself around the fourth. They raced down its narrow way, took a second turning at breakneck speed, and pelted on. The streets became alleyways, and the alle
yways rat runs, their pale stones stained with refuse.

  Their narrowness reeked of a trap but Baraghan sped on and Ataghan followed until they were confronted by a sheer wall of stone. Baraghan skidded to stop. The pound of feet grew closer, but the wall had a drain at its base. ‘Stinking Soaich,’ gasped Baraghan. A heavy metal grate was bolted to the top and they seized it in a vain attempt to wrench it free. ‘Who’d have thought they’d repair the Daen sector?’

  ‘Still feeling fortunate?’ panted Ataghan, as the first of their pursuers appeared. They were armed with cudgels to keep them out of knife-range, and as they moved in, Ataghan and Baraghan took up position back to back.

  ‘It’s all relative, Ataghan. I’m fortunate to be with you, here at the end.’

  Chapter 28

  Astraal Hall was even grander inside, its white stone polished to a high gloss, its ceiling cavernous. Built to impress, thought Viv acidly, as they were marched past its soaring columns. Doors were set to either side, their guards’ uniforms decorated with silver braid. They’d be elddric, given their age, but deemed worthy of staying, unlike the Syld and Baraghan. Her stomach clenched. The punishment for returning wouldn’t be a slap on the wrist.

  Heavy double doors loomed ahead and she kept her eyes on them, despite yearning to grab Thris’s hand and run. The Syld was right; coming to Astraal put them both at terrible risk, and risked those in Ezam. Thris had been brutalised in The Wheel before and she wanted him anywhere but here. Denying her need for him last night had left her with a longing as brutal as pain but she was determined to remove any reason for him to stay.

  She clutched her amè as they were marched past still more stony-faced guards. At least she had Thris’s feather safe inside with the locks of Fariye and Sehereden’s hair. He was more vulnerable than her despite being eons older. He’d answer the Astraali’s question honestly, compelled by his angel blood, but she’d learned to dodge and weave, to withhold key information, to paint misleading pictures. She was also experienced in dealing with arseholes and, as the heavy double doors swung open to reveal a room full of Kald and Dejon clones seated at a gleaming table, she knew exactly what to do.