by Turhan
“I’ll do it, but on one other condition,” We waited silently for him to continue. “She stays here until the sword is returned.” Heraclese was looking at Amber.
“Over my dead body!” I exclaimed.
“Mine too,” Kira said. One by one we all declared our objection to his demand.
“I’ll do it dad, whatever it takes to−”
“No, you can’t have her, but I’ll stay behind,” Qirvana interrupted.
Then we have a deal!” Heraclese slapped the table.
“You can’t,” Xenakaz was taken aback.
“I have to, I’m the one that has led this campaign against Sarine and Ophelexa,” Qirvana said. “If I have to put my life on the line−”
“You won’t have to put your life in jeopardy,” Xenakaz said.
“You have nothing to be concerned about,” Heraclese said. “Return Tulaqan to me and your precious Qirvana will go unharmed.”
“Touch her even once, and I’ll use Tulaqan to take off your head,” Xenakaz scowled. “I’m going to post a thousand of my guards, right here on Rock Island with her and she’s going to have her own private quarters−”
We could hear a commotion outside the door, then voices.
“Lord Heraclese!”
“Tell them to stay outside until we’re ready,” Xenakaz warned. His sword was brandished and at Heraclese’ throat.
“Stand your ground bellator!”
“Your move Xenakaz,” Heraclese said. “What next?”
After some debate the time came to enter the main atrium. We had all agreed that Heraclese would send out an emissary that would inform Xenakaz’ generals about Qirvana staying behind and that she would need a thousand of his fiercest warriors to stay with her.
Two of Heraclese’ guards were also allowed into the room with us and were ordered to inform the rest of Rockdom about our agreement with Heraclese.
“Anything else?” Heraclese asked.
“Blood sisters,” Sin-dy had walked over to Qirvana and touched her platinum hair. “This is for you, and I want it back when we see each other again.” Sin-dy took the knife they had consummated their pact with back at Sector One and handed it to her.
“Thank you Sin-dy, maybe one day we can talk about all of this−”
“Over a cup of coffee, in your townhouse!”
We didn’t know all the details of their pact, but it sounded interesting to say the least.
Amber pulled the door wide open and looked back at us, “Ready dad?”
I smiled, “Yeah, ready.”
Elektra and Kira stood by her side in the doorway and I couldn’t help but think that I was the luckiest guy in the world to have such an awesome new family, and it was kind of ironic because that’s exactly where I was, two miles down in the world, in Hell, and about to enter enemy turf.
We stepped out of the room, to a vast and loud army of savage demons. Heraclese had raised both arms and momentarily stood there as their roar became deafening. Making our way to the edge of the upper level walkway and looking down onto the main concourse, we could see the three statues and decoy sword below us.
“Be my guest,” Heraclese said, as he waved us forward. “Tulaqan awaits you.”
Elektra held Amber’s hand as they gently floated downward followed by the rest of us. Raising the decoy sword to the thunderous sound of his hordes, Heraclese turned to Amber and held it out to her. “Let’s see just how brave the child is,” I quickly grabbed his wrist. “Dad, it’s okay, I want to.”
“You’ll die first,” Xenakaz glared at Heraclese with fire in his eyes. “Be certain you choose the scabbard wisely, your fate is in your own hands.”
“Which one?” Amber asked, as she reached for the decoy sword.
“The center scabbard,” Heraclese smiled wickedly.
Amber floated up toward the center statue and there was complete silence as she steadied herself. With both hands wrapped around the sword’s hilt she plunged it down into the scabbard and was suddenly blown backward and onto the floor. Qirvana was there first and helped pick her up, at the same time there was a sound like lightening exploding, Tulaqan flickered and sparked as it appeared in the outstretched hand of the center statue.
Xenakaz flew up instantly, removed it, raised it high above his head and exclaimed, “The Sword of Retribution! Salvation to the Cambion virgins!”
At first the seven of us were the only ones celebrating, then slowly, and a few at a time the demons began cheering along with us. I didn’t know if it was because they took a while to realize that this wasn’t just about our quest, but that it also meant freedom for them, from Xenakaz’ forces. Before long, the whole of Rockdom’s demonic residents had produced iron rhythm sticks that they were beating together in a thunderous tempo that I’m sure must have echoed loud enough for Xenakaz’ forces to be wondering what in Hell was going on.
Xenakaz walked over to Qirvana, she looked at him. “You must leave right away, I’ll be here when you’re ready to return.”
Xenakaz turned to face Heraclese. “Treat her like your sister,” He gripped Tulaqan’s hilt which he had already placed in his scabbard. “There is no corner of Sheol that can protect you from me if−”
“Be true to your word Xenakaz, you know better than any other warrior the motto of our creed ‘Fly Fast and Strike Hard’ she will be here, safe, upon your return.”
Xenakaz turned back to Qirvana, “I swear by the three horns of our Sigil that I will return for you, Leviathan himself doesn’t dare stand in my way.”
“Go Xenakaz,” They briefly touched each others hands. “Fly Fast and Strike Hard.”
Xenakaz ascended with us close behind. We made our way out of Rock Island, the thunderous tempo of the iron rhythm sticks still beating and with the one temptation that could possibly draw Sarine out from behind her protective enclave long enough for us to imprison her in Sector One. Tulaqan was our only hope, but we were also running out of time.
Chapter 15
Glass Spiders
We Stopped just long enough for Xenakaz to update his generals camped outside Rock Island, then moved on and back to Sector Seven. It was such a relief to be back amongst such unfriendly faces. Yeah the demons that were stationed here weren’t exactly a picture of beauty in the traditional sense, but their mastery of the ways of war was unmatched anywhere in Hell and that made us feel extremely safe.
It was an emotional return with so much to explain and to catch up on, with each other. Kira and Electra were like teenagers talking as though one of them had just gotten back from a date and had to spill all the details. Jade and Jasmine were enraptured by Amber’s account of how she plunged the decoy sword into its scabbard and Coral was dancing around with Davina in her arms, happy that we were all safely back together again.
After eating and cleaning up in the spectacular spa waters of Sector Seven, my sisters and I, along with Sin-dy and Amber gathered together in the war room. Xenakaz had finished briefing his commanders about how much time we still had and gave them some provisional orders in preparation for our plan to tempt Sarine into letting her guard down long enough for us to imprison her.
“Xenakaz, none of us will rest until Qirvana is released,” Sin-dy said. “You know that, right?”
He nodded his appreciation of Sin-dy’s words. “Neither will I, thank you, but we have much to discuss and accomplish before that, even with Tulaqan in our possession this isn’t going to be easy.”
“We know we can’t get an audience with Sarine, ‘Her Royal Lowness’ ” Elektra joked. “But ‘lexa can.”
“How do we find the bitch?” Kira was looking at Sin-dy, who was holding her throat, remembering her last encounter with Ophelexa.
“I have an idea!” Amber said. “What if we get word to her that Sin-dy has Tulaqan and is going to make an attempt on her life to get revenge, maybe she’ll take the bait and set a trap for her?”
“I like it, we could counter-trap her trap, do you think it’ll wo
rk?” Sin-dy was standing beside Amber and had one arm around her shoulder and pulled her tight.
“It’ll work,” Xenakaz said, “and yes we could trap her trap, if we execute our plan with absolute precision.”
“There’s no way Ophelexa wouldn’t want to get the very sword that Sarine has wanted for so long,” Sin-dy said. “It’ll earn her a powerful position right alongside Sarine, but how do we get word to ‘Her Lowness’ .”
“She has to think she discovered Sin-dy’s plan,” I said. “What if she thinks . . . ?”
After brainstorming for a couple of hours, we finalized our trap, of the trap we knew she would set. Xenakaz sent a vanguard of his troops ahead of us to Sedah Hall. They were to spread some rumors that she could overhear about Sin-dy having Tulaqan and of her seeking revenge.
One by one everyone left the war room except for Sin-dy and I. She had her hand on her head, pushing back her hair and seemed to be thinking about something as she sat in the back of the room. I walked over to her and asked, “Hey Sin-dy, do you have something on your mind?”
“Kylar, I know this is bad timing but I wanted to talk to you about something,” She looked uneasy and started playing with the sash she had bound her wrist with, when consummating her pact with Qirvana. “It’s about, us.”
“What is it,” I placed my hand on hers to stop her playing with the sash and raised her chin until our eyes met. “You know how I feel about you, right?”
“I love you Kylar Silverblood,” Her eyes returned to the sash. “I’ve been telling you that since . . . ”
“Then what is it, you’re making me a little nervous,” I tenderly said.
Sin-dy gulped anxiously. “This, what we have, it’s more than just about how we feel about each other. Enya is my friend, I can’t betray her trust in me Kylar, I don’t know what to do, I love you so much but . . . ”
“I love you Sin-dy,” My hands were on her arms as I gently squeezed and said, “Enya means the world to me too, we’re lovers, but, she has another love too, her work. There’s always one more script she has to finish or one more flight she has to take to a movie set halfway across the world. The writing has been on the wall for us for a long time.”
“It still doesn’t make it right though,” Sin-dy looked up at me again, her eyes were slightly moist with tears. “She deserves better, from both of us.”
“Dad!” I turned to look at Jade, my eldest daughter, her strawberry blonde hair was a mess. I said. “Are you?”
“Yeah I’m fine dad, but you have to come and see this, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“No honey, you didn’t,” Sin-dy got up and was wiping the tears from her eyes as she walked over to Jade. “We were finished, right Kylar?”
Walking over to where they were standing I hugged them and said, “I love you both so much. Sin-dy, I want to talk again.” She nodded and smiled at me.
“So what’s going on?” I put my fingers through Jades hair, straightening out the mess it was in.
“Oh, my hair, that was just me and Jasmine play fighting, but quick, come with me.” She grabbed my hand and led us out of the war room, I took Sin-dy’s hand and we followed Jade.
As we walked into a room about the size of a large school assembly hall, our eyes were met by thousands of what looked like glass spiders, they were crawling around everywhere, on the ceiling too and in different shapes and sizes.
“Your friend Jasmine is remarkable,” Xenakaz said. “She apparently has the power over glass to shape it into anything she wants.”
“Hi Mister Kylar, look,.” With that comment Jasmine swept her hand and every spider crawled to the center of the room and turned into a giant lobster snapping its claws, then, moving her hands like a sculptor, she formed the lobster into a boy and girl dancing a waltz.
“Jasmine, how did you do?” I couldn’t form any further words.
“I just thought of something,” Sin-dy said. “Sedah Hall has glass windows, everywhere. Jasmine, how strong is the glass that you’re shaping?”
“I don’t know, what should I make?”
“Can you make a large cube, big enough to hold two−?”
“Demons?” Xenakaz cut in.
“Yes, exactly, but it’ll only work if the glass is indestructible, Jasmine?”
“I’ll try,” Jasmine moved her arms shaping the glass into a thick cube.
“Xenakaz, can you smash it?” Sin-dy asked.
My sisters were also in the room and so was Amber, we all moved away as Xenakaz approached it. He turned sideways a little and using his elbow he banged the cube, nothing happened, turning to face us he stopped momentarily then spun his body fast and rapped it with his tail so hard that it pushed the cube several feet away and made him stumble backward.
We walked over to the cube and, nothing, not a scratch. “Stand back,” Xenakaz warned.
He took Tulaqan out of its scabbard, raised both arms and brought it down onto the cube. Tulaqan bounced off and out of Xenakaz’ hands and the cube began to vibrate and ripple, its molecular composition had changed from glass into something entirely different, it really did seem indestructible.
Jasmine and Amber started jumping around the room excitedly cheering and skipping around each other. We were all amazed and tried to take it in, how could we use this new power of Jasmine’s?
“Xenakaz,” Elektra said. “This means we don’t need all your troops to imprison Sarine and ‘Lexa.”
“We’re less likely to be seen if just a small group of us were to go to Sector One,” Kira added. “Once inside Sedah Hall, Jasmine could trap them in a cube.”
“Jasmine?”
“You don’t have to ask mister Kylar, I can’t wait,” Jasmine faced the cube and turned it into a faceted ball, like a disco light that she then started to spin. Amber and Jade joined her as they began to skip and dance around it too. Enjoying her new found gift, it was fun watching them be kids for a while.
“Hey guys, can you take that over to Coral and Davina?” Kira asked. “I know they’d love to see it.”
After they left, we all sat around the center circular table. “We have to be under way soon,” Xenakaz said.
“Yes, but I have a question, If we release all the girls and take them to the gates, how are we going to get in touch with the Third Millennial Templars to take them back up . . . back home?”
“I have to go back home,” Sin-dy said. “I can only communicate with them from there, but I don’t like the idea of leaving you.” Sin-dy was looking at me, then after blinking and nervously gulping she turned to the others and said, “I mean, you all.”
“Will you be coming back?” Elektra asked. “How would you find us again?”
“I can talk to Kylar, remember? I just don’t know if I can do it from New York, but yeah, I have to come back to help trap Ophelexa.”
“Listen, I know I’ve been riding you,” Elektra got up and walked over to Sin-dy. “But you kinda deserved it.” She smiled, then continued. “Just kidding, we’ll take care of our brother, he’ll be here when you get back, and so will we.”
They hugged, then Sin-dy opened up her arm beckoning Kira to join them too. I was all kinds off screwed up. My face was flushed, my heart was racing as I walked toward them.
“I have to go, now, Kylar.”
“Yeah, um.”
“Thank you Sin-dy,” Xenakaz said, as he made his exit. “I’ll see you when you get back.”
“Can you tell the girls for me Kira?” Sin-dy asked. “I just can’t say goodbye to them too right now.”
“Of course, hey sis, shall we give them . . . ”
“Oh, yeah, we’ll go tell them right now,” Elektra said.
My sisters left the room, they wanted to give us a little time together.
Sin-dy put one hand on my cheek, her other hand behind my neck and pulled me toward her, she kissed me hard. We couldn’t stop, we kissed and hugged until finally Sin-dy had her lips against my neck and gave me a love
bite. “So you don’t forget me while I’m gone.”
“Please, hurry back,” I softly said. “I love you so much.”
“I’ll always love you Kylar, but it’s time.”
We walked out of the room together and back outside. Elektra and Kira were waiting for us, and as the three of us watched, Sin-dy flew above us, momentarily stopping to wave as she disappeared from sight.
“She’s a tough gal,” Kira said. “How about you bro, are you going to be okay?”
“Not until I see her again, but there’s a lot to do first, let’s go get ready.”
We walked back inside and after finalizing our plans and saying our goodbyes once again to Coral, Davina and Jade, we left Sector Seven. With only a couple of days before the Impregnation Ceremony was to begin, there wasn’t any time to waste.
While flying toward our destination my hand went up to my neck, it felt warm. Sin-dy’s love bite was a reminder of her love for me. I wanted nothing more than to be back with her in New York, soaking up the sun in Central Park and just hangin’ with my sisters and daughters. But the only thing certain about our destiny, was a confrontation with Ophelexa, and Lucifer’s daughter Sarine, and that promised to be, unforgettable.
Chapter 16
Sin-dy and the Secret
“Yes we need all of you, there are millions of girls, it’s the biggest secret ever to be held in all of Hell.” I was pacing back and forth in my living room, raising my hands in exasperation. “I left Kylar and his sisters because I had to tell you everything that was happening, they’re on their way to imprison Ophelexa and Sarine right now!”
“Why didn’t you tell us before?” ‘Templar’ Vulhanna kept arguing. “Maybe we could have−”
“What?” I cut in. “How many times do I have to repeat myself? If they discovered that you, the Templars, knew about their plans, then they would have just accelerated the date for the Impregnation Ceremony, I couldn’t risk that, why don’t you understand?”
