Sword of the Gods: Agents of Ki (Sword of the Gods Saga)

by Anna Erishkigal

  Eligor

  Eligor leaned back in his bunk, his white wings flared carelessly behind him as he studied the tiny image being projected live to his hand-held personal data device. Every orifice on this ship had cameras embedded into strategic places, but nobody bothered monitoring the bunk room where Lucifer's wives lived. He'd taken to watching the goings-on in the room rather than disturb the women with his presence, especially since the deceased Colonel's wife had taken an intense dislike to him.

  He watched her now, a dark-haired beauty whose every move reminded him of Lucifer's mother. Oh, not that she was Asherah reborn or anything! No. There were differences, the biggest of which was Ninsianna was far more ruthless. It was one of the reasons Eligor watched her from out here, away from her mind control. He knew Lucifer could fuck with his mind and how to avoid it, but when you found a female attractive, it added a whole new layer of fuck-with-your-emotions. He'd learned the hard way it was better to avoid such drama.

  Lucifer's evil twin brother had held out the widowed beauty as an enticement…

  No. Eligor wasn't that fucking stupid. Whatever had prompted Lucifer to cross the galaxy and snatch the woman from his father's personal watchdog, it wasn't to give the woman to him.

  Or her child…

  The child of the last living full-blooded Seraphim…

  He watched Ninsianna get the women seated around the banquet table, looking every bit like a scene of normalcy. She'd even gotten them to use the silverware! What could he say to convince Ninsianna to try her mojo on the good twin? Healer, shaman, witch doctor or psychotherapist; he didn't care what she called it, the woman had a knack for reaching into a fucked-up mind and making them not so bat-shit crazy. He'd broached the subject with her several times, but the mere mention of Lucifer's name sent her off on a tirade, so he'd taken to watching her secretly, trying to figure out what the hell she did.

  Was it the words she said? Or the way she sang as she brushed the women's hair. He wasn't about to brush Lucifer's hair for him. Fuck, no! But physical touch seemed to be a part of her gift, unlike Lucifer or Zepar who could just beam shit directly into his mind like a radio antenna. Perhaps it was because she approached her enemies as if she was nice, though he'd discovered beneath her veneer of pleasantness lay a ruthless spine of steel that would give even Lucifer, the good-twin version of him, not the evil twin who was just plain psychopathic, a run for his money.

  His comms pin chimed and disturbed him from his musings.

  "Eligor," Zepar's voice said.

  Eligor clicked off the video feed and tapped his comms pin to reply.

  "Sir?"

  "Report to my office right away," Zepar said.

  "Yes, Sir," Eligor said.

  He tucked the device in his pocket, stretching his wings as he moved through the sterile, white corridors of the Prince of Tyre. He passed a delegation of Nephilim who chattered in their strange, almost silent language. He tucked his wings against his back and filled his mind with nonsensical ship's duties, all sorts of trivia, and an X-rated movie he'd gotten off on, before knocking on Zepar's laboratory door.

  "Enter," Zepar called.

  Eligor stepped inside, nearly crashing face-first into Pruflas' wings, pulling a cart that was covered with a tarp. Zepar's office was always pathologically neat, but where he'd been building the robot, his tools were strewn about and in the room lingered the scent of machine oil. The robot was gone, but the thing on the cart had the same general shape, only in pieces, dissembled for transport. Curiosity would get him killed, so Eligor schooled a bland expression.

  "You called me, Sir," Eligor said.

  "Yes," Zepar said. The dirty-winged Angelic turned to Furcas, the other goon who loaded up a second cart with what appeared to be the torso. "Be careful with that! That's the most important part!"

  Furcas gave his usual grunt. Had Eligor ever heard either man speak? Yeah, he had, but they spoke very little, as if the act of stringing together syllables was too much work.

  Zepar turned back to him, his expression annoyed. He shoved the familiar box into Eligor's hands.

  "Go inject the princess with this," Zepar said. "Don't wake him. Just jab him in the neck and wait for him to wake up on his own."

  Eligor frowned. The good twin kept receding deeper into the psychopathology that was the evil twin brother's personality. If he didn't draw him out at least once each awake cycle, he feared the good twin would one day disappear completely.

  "He does better if I fill him in on what's going on," Eligor said. "He always takes his shot. He just doesn't like to wake up and find that weeks have passed."

  The good twin had surfaced while they'd been down in the wormhole, negotiating with the Nephilim about some ancient artifact they believed was buried on Earth. Zepar had some explaining to do when the good twin had acted surprised to discover the Nephilim still even existed. Had he known they were headed to the wormhole bridge, he would have briefed the good twin. Lucifer, even disoriented, had become apathetic enough about his illness that he would have looked to Zepar to cover for him. Why was the puppetmaster trying to eradicate the good twin rather than simply explaining shit to him?

  Eligor felt the intrusion shove into his mind. Death. Dismemberment. Being turned over to the Tokoloshe to be devoured alive. His mind had grown strong enough to prevent somebody from reading his thoughts, but he was helpless to prevent such punishment, especially when he was supposed to pretend he wasn't aware his masters possessed such abilities.

  Eligor's hand shot up to squeeze the bridge of his nose.

  "Sorry, Sir," Eligor mumbled. "Not up to me to ask questions."

  Zepar flared his wings like a raptor and shoved his finger into Eligor's face.

  "His migraines have become unmanageable," Zepar snapped. "He doesn't want a repeat of the other day's fiasco!"

  "Sir," Eligor gave a noncommittal answer. He forced himself not to think about how he'd been decreasing the dosage, just enough so the evil twin could make his appearance, not so much that the good twin poked through and muffed things up like he'd almost done down in the wormhole. He hoped to find the correct dosage to get a good twin, without migraines, but so far that hadn't happened.

  Zepar shoved the box into his hand.

  "Make sure you give him all of it!" Zepar snapped. "Today's meeting is critical! We don't want a repeat of what happened three days ago!"

  "Sir," Eligor said.

  He felt Zepar's intrusion into his memories, but he'd become an old hand at thinking of things just risqué enough so the puppet-master would think that was what he tried to hide. It scared the shit out of him, the fact he was dealing with not just one psychopath who could read his mind, but two of them, three if he included both versions of Lucifer, no, four if he also included Ninsianna, though at least Ninsianna was sane.

  "What are you waiting for?" Zepar asked. "You're dismissed."

  "Sir."

  Eligor turned to leave and almost tripped over a long, bovine tail which trailed on the floor from beneath the tarp. He flared his wings to keep his balance, and then kicked the thing out of the way.

  "Pick up after yourself!" Eligor grumbled to Pruflas.

  The cold-eyed Angelic's nostrils flared, but other than that, it was the closest the goon came to acknowledging he'd even heard him.

  Eligor was unable to help but gasp for breath the moment the door shut behind him. He moved through the ship, passing lizard-people, mercenaries, broad-faced Nephilim dressed up in colorful religious garb, and a whole bunch of Angelics bustling around, readying the ship for its return to Earth. Any time now they'd be exiting hyperspace, and once they did, it would be up to him to fly Lucifer back to the planet.

  He punched in his encryption code and stuck his face into the lens so the security system could scan his iris. The door popped open. Zepar had kept Lucifer doped up ever since he'd woken up down in the wormhole, which was just as well because Eligor didn't like the way the man looked. When the evil twin was in res
idence, he had a way of making it look like Lucifer was virile, but the moment that illusion faded, the puppet prince looked like shit. Eligor was pragmatic enough to not wish his meal-ticket to drop dead and leave him unemployed.

  "Sir?" Eligor called into the darkened room. "Mister Prime Minister, Sir? It's me. Eligor. I'm here to help you get ready."

  Zepar had told him not to wake the man, but fuck him! Eligor flipped on the light and gently shook Lucifer's snow white wings. Lucifer groaned. Eligor opened the box and held the syringe up to the light. Motherfucker! Zepar had doubled the dose … again. Eligor's hand tightened on the syringe. Lucifer had been disoriented in the wormhole, but he hadn't been a raving looney-bird.

  Eligor pointed the needle up towards the ceiling and squeezed. He'd given him 45cc going into the wormhole. This time, he stopped squeezing when it got to 50cc. Just a bit more so he wouldn't go all good twin in front of General Hudhafah, but not so much that whatever remained of the good twin wasn't drugged out of his noggin.

  "Eligor," Lucifer groaned.

  "Sir."

  "How long have I been asleep?"

  "Three days, Sir."

  Lucifer pushed himself upright, his feathers crumpled from three days without preening. His eerie silver eyes reflected in the faint light from the bar, but he seemed coherent today, likely because he'd gotten sleep without anybody shooting him up with the concoction Eligor held in his hand. His coloring was a little better, but the man still bore the bluish cast that the elderly often got when they reached the end of their lives.

  "Where are we?" Lucifer asked.

  "We're about to exit hyperspace just outside of Earth orbit," Eligor said.

  Lucifer's eerie silver eyes trailed over to the trophies on the wall, some of them older, but a few of them new. The query which touched upon Eligor's mind was light, not overpowering the way it was when the evil twin was in residence. 'Where have I been, and did I do anything that I should know about?'

  "You've been asleep since you became disoriented in the wormhole, Sir," Eligor said. "You didn't sign any treaties, you didn't do anything to be ashamed of, and the Nephilim you blocked from your memory are old allies of your father, Sir."

  "The Emperor claimed they were extinct," Lucifer said.

  Eligor couldn't help but smirk, though he quickly suppressed it because it wouldn't behoove him to have his boss know he thought he was clueless.

  "You paid an emperor's ransom to get them to share the secret to operating the wormhole bridge," Eligor said. "And they agreed to finally give it to you because there is something on Earth they really want."

  "What?"

  "According to them," Eligor said, "it's just a religious artifact, but I don't trust them. They're religious zealots. And they're still pissed off at Shay'tan for driving them out of the galaxy. I wouldn't put it past them to double-cross you and stiff you out of the secret to the bridge."

  Lucifer sighed.

  "It would be better if I could remember these things," he said. He rubbed his temples, wincing as the crushing migraine pressed into his brain. Eligor was no empath, but he could almost feel how much it hurt by the way Lucifer took deep breaths, as if he might vomit even though he hadn't been drinking, and shielded his eyes from the light.

  Eligor considered telling him he might have found someone who could help him, but he didn't know how much the evil twin could eavesdrop on the good twin. The whole point of dropping the cc's was so the two sides of Lucifer would start talking to one another again, the ruthless politician and the softer side that reminded him of Asherah. Lucifer had always been a hard ass, even before he'd gone bonkers, but the side of him which had emerged since the Tokoloshe had joined their ranks made even him want to run off to join a nunnery.

  "Go ahead," Lucifer mumbled. He lowered his wing so Eligor would have easy access to the meaty tissue next to his neck. "Do it."

  Eligor glanced at the syringe. Yup. Just 50cc's. The dosage at which the evil twin seemed to keep control. He plunged the needle into Lucifer's flesh, noting the way the man didn't even flinch, and pushed the syringe until the vile, green liquid had been injected into Lucifer's nervous system.

  Lucifer stared at the trophy wall as they waited for the medication to kick in.

  "Last time we were here," Lucifer said, "I met a man. He was smart, like me, and I think we had a lot in common."

  "The angry young chieftain," Eligor said. "He tried to kill you, but you prevented him from doing it, and then you taught him how to shoot a pulse rifle."

  Lucifer stared at the fringed, linen shawl folded neatly on the shelf. Both versions of Lucifer seemed to be obsessed with the little chieftain, which gave Eligor hope that someday the two sides might reconcile.

  "All I remember is that I started to fall, and that he caught me," Lucifer said. His eerie silver eyes met his. "Why is it, that your memory and my memory of the event are so very different?"

  "It's not different," Eligor said. "What you remember is real. It's just out of context, that's all. I think by then you had won him over?"

  Lucifer's eyes glazed, and then the good twin was gone. The evil twin ran through his morning routine of stretching, as if his body was an unfamiliar suit, and then focused on Eligor with his icy silver eyes.

  "Good morning, Eligor," Lucifer said.

  "Good morning, Sir," Eligor replied.

  "What were we just talking about?"

  Eligor felt the intrusion into his mind, much more powerful and less subtle than when the good twin did it.

  "You asked me about the angry young chieftain."

  "Ahh, yes," Lucifer's lips curved up into a predatory smile. "I had plans for him, but General Hudhafah forced me to leave him behind. Quite a loss, really. I always did like the ones who were fearless."

  Eligor didn't dare ask 'what kind of plans.' It was none of his fucking business, but given what had happened with the last human male he'd pulled out of Lucifer's room, he had a pretty good idea.

  Lucifer's grin broadened, showing his perfect, white teeth.

  "When you've existed as long as I have," Lucifer said, "you find novel ways to amuse yourself."

  'You mean a pet…' Eligor thought to himself.

  Lucifer's smirk faded.

  "You woke me up before giving me my medicine," Lucifer asked. "Why?"

  His expression was watchful, a cobra watching a mouse. Eligor felt the intrusion into his mind. He told the truth.

  "Because I don't trust Zepar," Eligor said. "The dose he gave you is far higher than it normally is. Before I shoot up the Prime Minister of the Alliance with anything questionable, I want to hear it from his own lips that it's what he wants."

  Lucifer laughed, but it had a raucous, sharp edge. Not humor, but the laugh of a victor to the conquered.

  "Why Eligor," Lucifer said. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you cared."

  "Just doing my job, Sir," Eligor stated blandly. He forced himself to think menial thoughts and not pick at his fingernails until he felt the intrusion leave his mind.

  "Very well," Lucifer said. "Ready my shuttle. I'll meet you down there as soon as we exit hyper-space. Set a course for the Sata'anic Forward Operating Base."

  "Yes, Sir," Eligor said.

  Lucifer glanced at his trophy wall.

  "On your way down there, stop by engineering and procure two extra FTL cores," Lucifer said.

  "Two?" Eligor said. Warp cores were worth an emperor's ransom this far out in the uncharted territories. Carrying an extra as backup was prudent, but two of them? When they were just setting down on the planet?

  "Two."

  "Yes, Sir."

  Eligor left Lucifer to do whatever psychotic, mind-reading, split-personality Prime Minsters did to get ready to meet with one of their enemy's highest-ranking generals. He retrieved the FTL cores, and then headed down to the flight hanger to prepare the shuttle for launch. In the spot next to him, two Nephilim loaded whatever was on the carts onto a brown Nephilim shuttle.

 
The flight hanger grew deathly quiet as Lucifer made his entrance, white wings flared, dressed in an outfit suitable for addressing a head of state. He moved as though the entire universe was his plaything, and in a way it was, this man who had outsmarted not just one god, but two of them. The goons fell into line behind him, intimidating bookends, and joined Ba'al Zebub and his guards. The six of them tromped up the ramp and buckled themselves into the shuttle, the two highest-ranking officials from enemy empires, both now renegades, both of them eager to carve out a piece of the galaxy for themselves.

  "We're about to drop out of hyperspace, Sir," Eligor said. He flipped the switches to fire up the engines.

  "The moment we do," Lucifer said, "I want to be out of here. I've waited long enough to implement this plan."

  Eligor nodded, and then focused on his pre-flight procedure to fill his mind with nonsense. There were plenty of things to think of when taking off and landing, it was those lengthy shuttle runs which always worried him with Lucifer able to read his mind.

  The Prince of Tyre dropped out of hyperspace. The moment it did, Eligor announced to the Captain they were taking off. Within minutes, they had cleared the second set of airlocks and were free of the ship, floating above the prettiest blue orb of a planet that Eligor had ever seen. Its oceans were the same color as Asherah's eyes had been, and over the southern continent a hurricane had spawned off the coast.

  "Earth," Eligor said. "Refuge of the last bastion of humanity."

  The radio crackled, a challenge from the Sata'anic battle cruiser Jamaran orbiting the planet. "This is restricted airspace. Return to your ship or you will be fired upon."

  "This is Special Agent Eligor from the Prince of Tyre," Eligor replied in fluent Sata'anic. "We have Lord Zebub on this shuttle along with two of your men. Ba'al Zebub demands passage to meet with General Hudhafah."

  "Prove it, Angelic," the lizard hissed.

  Eligor glanced back to the three lizards in the passenger section. Ba'al Zebub hissed with irritation, and then leaned forward, causing his chair to groan in protest.

  "This is Ba'al Zebub," the corpulent lizard hissed. "Who is this? And who do you serve under?"