“I don’t care if I have to fly down there and face them all by myself, I will not withdraw until I have no other choice.”
Perklet stared at Birch in fear and even sorrow. He’d always looked up to Birch, and now suddenly the man he respected most was losing himself in an inhuman display of irrational anger driven by well-concealed desperation and despair. An Erelim crashed into the wall above them and tumbled to the ground. He landed a few yards away, then immediately got to his feet and jumped back into the air. Neither Perklet nor Birch spared the immortal a glance or thought.
“Is this even about the war anymore, Birch?” Perklet asked sadly. More than anything, he thought it was the sorrow in his voice that brought Birch up short. The Gray paladin stared at him with his burning eyes, but was silent. His wings ceased to flicker and disappeared entirely, but Birch’s fists were still wreathed with crimson flame.
“You know better than to think you can hold this fortress, Birch, I know you do,” Perklet pleaded. “Those demons hurt you, I know, and I understand the temptation to want to stand up to them and even hurt them back. It’s agony giving in to those who’ve hurt you before, but think of the men and the angels who look to you for leadership. Are you going to drag them down into hopeless battle and sacrifice them for your bruised ego?”
“It’s not about ego, Perky,” Birch began with some heat, but Perklet cut him off.
“But it is, Birch, it is,” Perklet said. “You said it yourself: you crawled from the deepest pits of Hell. You’ve slain more demons than any ten men, and you’ve perhaps done more than any mortal in the history of man. You even survived death! There’s nothing you can’t do, you’re invincible. That’s how I looked at you for a time, and I even wanted to be like you, so strong and capable.
“But your anger is feeding a dangerous self-righteousness that’s poisoning you,” Perklet said passionately. “Maybe it’s the demon growing inside you, maybe it’s just a natural result of everything you’ve been through. Whatever it is, it’s not who you are, and you have to see that. There are countless men, both alive and dead, who are depending on you right now to see them through to safety, but they trust you so much they’ll die for you if you give the order to hold this fortress. If you give that order, you sentence them to death and destruction, and there is no other possible outcome. They’ll follow you, and so will I, but deep down you know that ordering us to stay even a moment longer is a betrayal of that trust. Fighting a battle that’s already lost isn’t courage, it’s foolhardiness, and a Red paladin should know that better than a Green.”
Perklet locked eyes with Birch, but for once he didn’t break eye contact. Instead, he bored in, allowing the images of pain and torture to wash over him, granting him some measure of understanding to what Birch had gone through.
“But you’re not just a Red paladin anymore, Birch,” Perklet said, his voice trembling as the barrage of torturous images continued. “You were a White paladin of beauty, the pinnacle of our virtues, but I’m afraid you’re losing yourself in being the Gray paladin. Have the courage to face when you’re wrong, and strive for justice over your need for vengeance.”
Flames seared flesh in a memory of agony. “Temper your hatred with wisdom and the knowledge within you, and trust in your faith as a man of God.”
A black tower appeared, and the tower meant pain, worse than anything he’d ever imagined. “Above all, you need to love the men in your command more than your own desires.”
At last, the images stopped and Perklet slumped wearily. He looked earnestly into Birch’s eyes, and there were no further images of anguish.
“You once stopped your nephew from descending into the pit of hatred and becoming a Black paladin,” Perklet whispered. “Let me do the same for you now, Birch. Please listen to me and believe.”
Birch clenched his eyes shut, and his face tightened as though fighting some inner pain. When the flames disappeared from his hands, Perklet began to hope. Finally, some of the tension fled Birch’s body, and he opened his eyes to regard Perklet.
“God bless you, Perklet,” Birch said wearily. “You may have just saved my soul.”
He closed his eyes and shuddered.
“You’re right, of course, Perky,” Birch said, opening his eyes and regarding the Green paladin calmly. He was once more the self-controlled man Perklet had grown to admire so much. “I don’t know how I lost sight of my duty, but I’m grateful you had the courage to face me with it.”
He reached out and drew Perklet into a rough embrace.
“Thank you, my brother.”
They parted, and Perklet smiled shyly as Birch looked past him out toward the ongoing battle.
“Why did they suddenly change tactics?” Birch asked in frustration, and Perklet saw a flare of fire deep in his eyes. His anger was not completely gone, just controlled. “What’s different?”
“They had to change sometime, Birch,” Perklet said simply. “Even I understand that much about battle. Nothing’s absolute.”
Birch’s face abruptly drained of all color, and he whispered, “Absolute” with the voice of someone who’s just realized something momentous – or terrifying.
“What is it?” Perklet asked, concerned.
“Get back inside and get everyone moving,” Birch said hoarsely. “I’m giving the order to retreat. We need to get out of here, and I need to go see Kaelus immediately.”
Perklet had never seen such an expression on Birch’s face, and he didn’t have the words to describe it. Despite everything he’d just seen and experienced in confronting the Gray paladin, Perklet was far more disturbed by what he was seeing now.
Chapter 30
The final test of a leader is what he leaves behind him.
- Orange Paladin Janek jo’Baerth,
“A History of War” (969 AM)
- 1 -
Strike, then fade away. Those were the orders given to Shadow Company, and they followed them carefully. With a platoon of angels providing air support, Garnet led his denarae warriors in a carefully coordinated attack on the advance wave of damned souls. The second, larger body of foes was some distance behind, and the denarae unit’s rapid withdrawal looked as though they’d suddenly realized there were more foes than they could handle, so they beat a speedy retreat. Angels swooped down and lifted them to freedom and safety.
They deposited the denarae unit near a small village of tents built around one large, central command tent, and they immediately disappeared inside as their heavenly escort flew back to the skies above. Another flight of angels was already in-bound, and they landed to take up defensive positions around the tents while their brethren formed in careful lines in the air. The angels drew their bows and nocked arrows of shining power, waiting only for the order to attack.
Clouds of winged demons and damned souls rose from the ground and swooped forward, eager for the attack. On the ground, tens of thousands of monstrous creatures charged with reckless abandon. They surged forward like a tide of evil, ready to crash down on the vastly outnumbered angels before them.
“Aerial archers, strafe the ground ranks, disrupt their lines,” a flying Power called to his aerial archers as he drew a bead on a drolkul lumbering behind a platoon of damned souls.
On the ground, another Power spoke to the land-based archers. “Bring those infernal hellions out of the skies. Work together, pick off clusters, and drive them into each other. I want chaos up there!”
Angels drew back on their bows and took careful aim. Together, the two angelic commanders shouted, “Loose!” and hundreds of gleaming arrows struck with perfect aim, crossing in the sky as ground attacked air and vice versa. Creatures plummeted from the skies and crashed into the ranks of their fellows on the ground, further disrupting the charging horde as demons and damned souls fell to the angels’ first volley.
“Draw! Loose!” Another volley. “Draw! Loose!” Another. Another.
The demons’ ranks began to thin drastically as they surged forw
ard, and only a fraction of the original force reached the angels to press their attack.
“Charge!” the Powers commanded, and the two forces of angels surged forward to meet their immortal foes.
Moments before the two armies clashed, a storm of black-fletched arrows fell from the clouds above and sliced through the ranks of the angels with lethal efficiency. The angels’ charge faltered, and then it was too late as the demons swept over them in a wave of infernal fury.
Concealed in a nearby cave, Uriel watched the surprise attack and started swearing, a habit he’d recently acquired thanks to the mortal company he’d been keeping, he was sure. He glanced at the Power crouched next to him.
“Camael, take half the Archangels and find those archers,” Uriel ordered. “I’ll follow with the rest if you need reinforcements, but if you can handle it, leave me free to act elsewhere.”
Camael nodded and leapt skyward, Archangels trailing in his wake.
Labored breathing brought Uriel’s attention to the cave behind him, where Garnet was leaning on his father as the two men approached.
“Twisted my ankle,” Garnet said in response to Uriel’s questioning glance. “We’re all safe, if a little winded. Nobody lost during the strike.”
“Good,” Uriel replied, pleased. “And Mikal? The plugs?”
“He pulled them while we were still on our way out,” Garnet said as a Parasim knelt at his side to heal his ankle. “We had to run to keep our feet dry.”
Uriel chuckled in spite of the gravity of their situation. Their trap was perilous, but if they were fortunate, it just might bring down a demon prince.
“And your men, Garet?” Uriel asked.
“Ready to strike when you give the word,” the Red paladin replied. “They’re mounted and ready to go airborne at a moment’s notice.”
“Excellent. Now, if we can just…”
“Dear God, what in San’s name is that?” Garet asked, pointing over Uriel’s shoulder.
Uriel spun and stared mutely as a winged monstrosity broke through the clouds. Nothing so huge could possibly fly, and yet the thing moved ponderously through the air under its own power and wreaked havoc on the airborne angels. There was no discernable head, but a large, bulbous body made up the bulk of the creature, and four massive wings spanned over a hundred yards on each side. The whole thing was encased in black-steel plating, and waves of arrows bounced off the mammoth without any noticeable effect.
Hundreds of tentacles – easily more than half a thousand – each forty feet or more in length, snaked out and attacked any angel unfortunate enough to fly too near the thing. Flights of demons swirled around the creature and herded angels closer, where they were easy prey to the flying behemoth.
“It looks like Arthryx left us a memento before he died,” Garnet said grimly.
“We can’t fight that thing!” Garet whispered.
Garnet turned to his father. “Get the paladins ready, they’re taking Shadow Company airborne. Get us up there, dad, and we’ll find a way to bring that damned thing down.”
He glanced at Uriel.
“Go, and God be with you,” Uriel said. He turned back toward the battle, and a voice suddenly sounded at the edge of his consciousness. Kaelus was contacting him directly. Uriel felt a freezing sensation in the center of his chest as he absorbed the demon’s words.
- 2 -
Birch led a small force away from the main body of his army, which he’d placed under the command of Tristrael, a Dominion who often commanded the angels when Uriel’s duties took him away from the army with his Archangels. Tristrael led the survivors on a retreat toward Medina, moving only as quickly as he dared to stay ahead of the demons snapping at his heels. Move too quickly, and it meant that much more ground lost before Uriel returned to erect a new fortress, bringing the demons that much closer to the holy city.
In the meantime, Birch detoured to Kaelus’s command tent, which had finally moved on from Dem’s forge and was now in the middle of nowhere. Of course, as Perklet had wryly suggested, that pretty much described most of Heaven. It took them only two days to reach the mobile command post, thanks to the distance-shrinking abilities of a pair of Erelim Birch had commandeered temporarily. When Kaelus’s tent was in sight, Birch sent the pair off to rejoin the main body of troops.
“We need to talk, Kaelus,” Birch said as soon as he saw the demon commander. The demon took one look at the determination on his face and didn’t bother asking why the Gray paladin had left his post. Birch nodded a greeting to Siran, then followed Kaelus into his tent. Perklet followed quietly, and a stone-faced Siran took up guard outside their tent alongside two armored Cherubim already in place.
“The attack at the other site is about to begin,” Kaelus told them, gesturing toward a map. His frustration was evident from the circle of azure flames winding around his horns. “I don’t think I’ll hear much once it begins, so for the next while all I can do is sit in agony waiting to hear the outcome. I hate being so far removed from something so important.”
Kaelus bared his sharpened teeth in frustration, and the flames that wreathed his ebony horns moved a bit more rapidly. He finally turned from the map and looked inquiringly at Birch.
“But I welcome your company here. What was it you need?” the demon asked.
“An absolute,” Birch said intently. Kaelus regarded him silently. “There is an absolute determinant of good and evil, separate from God and Satan, isn’t there.” To Perklet’s ears, it really wasn’t a question.
“You came here to discuss philosophy?” Kaelus rumbled incredulously. “Now?”
“Just answer me.”
“Yes,” the demon replied, “they are separate. Satan Himself once asked me where evil came from, and the answer that finally satisfied Him was, ‘nowhere, it just is,’ and in time I came to realize the truth of it. The same is true of goodness.”
“An act, thought, or intent is evil or good in itself, not because God or Satan condones or condemns it,” Birch said.
“In so many words, yes,” Kaelus answered. “A few minds have speculated along those lines over the eons, but by and large everyone believes this is not so, that whatsoever things are good, they come directly from God, and vice versa from Satan.”
“Then what is the determinant of that morality?” Birch demanded. “Why is one thing evil and another good? What force, what will, sorted every act and thought into these two categories? Who or what conceived of the moral concepts?”
Kaelus stared at him, and the blue flames on his horns raced about furiously as the demon’s thoughts churned. Perklet could almost see the workings of the demon’s mind spinning about as he pondered Birch’s question. Finally, in a moment so obvious and profound Perklet wondered that the earth didn’t shake, Kaelus’s eyes widened and surmounting flames stilled and blazed fiercely.
“That’s the answer,” the demon rumbled in an awed whisper. The blue flames in his eyes flared, and Perklet instinctively threw a hand up as though expecting to be incinerated. “That’s what He was leading me to understand. Now I remember.”
“What’s the answer?” Birch demanded intently. “You see something; you see some truth. Tell me.”
Instead of answering, Kaelus asked, “Where did mortal souls go before the Epiphany?”
“What?” Birch asked, nonplussed. “What does that have to do with…”
“Everything,” the demon said, cutting him short. “That is the answer to your question, Birch.” He looked up at Birch, their eyes of blue and crimson flame locked on each other. “Think back to the Barrier War and those damned souls that were captured. They didn’t want to fight, they were trying to avoid the war, and you defended them. And then what happened?”
“I don’t know exactly,” Birch said in frustration. “You took control of my body, and I was all but devoid of my senses.”
“The souls disappeared,” Perklet answered quietly. Eyes of azure and crimson fire turned to regard him, and Perklet swallowed
heavily before continuing. “I saw it from a distance. Kaelus came out of you like a red smoke, and he bellowed something in the immortal tongue. Ghosts came out of the damned beasts then, ghosts in the shapes of men and women. They vanished, and the bodies crumbled to dust.”
“Those were the true forms of their immortal souls,” Kaelus said, smiling in obvious pleasure at Perklet’s recollection. “I acted on instinct, and I myself didn’t understand what I did that day, not until now. You know our original way of communicating was pure thought, and even the immortal language carries more meaning when spoken between two immortals as their thoughts convey depths and breadths beyond mere words. I spoke in the immortal tongue and conveyed something more than the words I spoke. I spoke of choice and of freedom, and of another existence that awaited them if they could only believe in their own free will.”
“You freed them to Heaven?” Perklet asked.
“No, Green paladin, I freed them to something beyond both Heaven and Hell,” Kaelus responded intently. “Mark this well, both of you – this is something so important it seems Shaitan Himself had a hand in helping me to understand it, but yet hid the knowledge from me. This place, this thing… it is everything and nothing all at once, a form of existence so far beyond our comprehension there are no words or thoughts to truly describe it in any language. It is the source of all creation and the end to which everything returns. It is neither good nor evil, and yet it encompasses both of these polar opposites in perfect harmony.
“In the beginning, before the Epiphany, mortal souls did not simply vanish into nothingness, they rejoined the Absolute from which all creation sprang,” the demon said. “It was only after the Epiphany that mortals began going to Heaven and Hell as an afterlife, and only because they believed that it should be so. The power of mortal free will is so strong, it lasts beyond death and carries your souls to a place they were never intended to go. Were it not for that belief, the damned souls would be free of Hell, Heaven would be barren of the blessed dead, and souls would be free to rejoin the Absolute. The origin of all existence, even God and Shaitan.
Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3) Page 42
