World Without Angels

by Campbell, Jamie

  Between rocks, leaves, and nettle.

  The battle to end all pain and sorrow,

  For once and all will finally settle.

  “We’ve been looking for the mortal, but I think we should be looking for this sword,” she finished, waiting for the reaction. She had been consumed with the lines for hours, racking her brain for what they could mean. Tiresias must have been talking about an actual sword, it was too blunt to have been a metaphor. Surely he couldn’t be that cruel.

  “But Hallows Gallows is a huge place, I think we have more chance of finding the mortal,” Jerome replied carefully, not wanting to crush her enthusiasm. He had considered the sword many times, but every time he pushed the thought aside as being impossible.

  Leila was surprised. “You know where Hallows Gallows is? I thought half the battle would be trying to find it. Like it was with Ronana.”

  “It’s a forest in the middle of Africa. A huge forest surrounded by a national park. We’re talking the size of a small country.”

  “With a sword buried there that is going to help the mortal save the world.” Leila wasn’t going to give up, not without a fight. “If Tiresias wants us to find the sword, then there should be enough information here for us to find it.”

  “Between rocks, leaves, and nettle? There would be millions of them in the forest. I don’t think it’s going to be easy.”

  “But we need the sword. The mortal and the sword. The mortal is only half of it.”

  Jerome couldn’t disagree. However he also didn’t feel like wandering around in a forest for the rest of eternity while they searched for a sword. Besides the rough conditions, it would also be dangerous. “Perhaps we should find the mortal first and then see about a weapon. They might not even agree to the calling. The prophecy says it’s a choice.”

  “We’ll make sure they meet the call. Please, Jerome, I don’t want to be in the city anymore. I feel terrible that people have done this to you. We should get away for a while.”

  Jerome’s resolve was fading. Just looking at the pleading eyes staring at him was painful. It was like she had some sort of power over him, a power of persuasion unrivalled by any other.

  “Please, Jerome?”

  He sighed, knowing it was only a matter of time before he completely gave in. Still, he didn’t want her to know she had that effect on him, she could exploit it for anything.

  “Jerome, you know I’m right.”

  She slid her hands into his, intertwining her fingers through each of his. She gave him one last look, a hopeful and begging silent plea. It was the final straw, he couldn’t hold out on her any longer. Not when his hands were tingling with the touch.

  “Fine. But we have to fly there and it’s a long way.”

  Leila didn’t care, she beamed with a smile. “We can go as soon as you’re healed. I’ll worry about the flying then.”

  Before she could stop herself, Leila threw her arms around the angel, holding him tight in an embrace she didn’t want to end. Jerome was momentarily stunned, he didn’t know what to do. Instead of thinking about it, he let his arms have free will. They wrapped around her, pulling her close against him. She was so warm and lovely, her hair smelt like fresh berries. He could have stayed there forever with her and nothing else would have mattered.

  But he couldn’t. He let her go and she sat beside him. “How much longer before you heal?”

  “Another day, I suppose.”

  “Then we can leave the day after tomorrow. Do you think you can handle that?”

  Jerome was sure he could but it sounded awfully fast. “How about we wait a few extra days, just to be sure?”

  “How about you get some more rest so we don’t have to?” She grinned, hoping he would get the hint. When she wanted something, she really wanted it. The city was oppressive now, Jerome’s injuries evidence the people were dangerous. Escaping to the middle of a quiet forest seemed like a good way of getting away from it all. Even if only temporarily.

  Jerome was too tired to argue, his whole body clock out of whack with his injuries. He let her push him down and shifted to get comfortable.

  “You need to sleep too,” he reminded her. “It’s a long flight and I doubt you’re going to be able to get some shut eye.”

  “Well, move over then.” She carefully stepped over him, taking the side by the wall so his wings could rest over the edge. She lay down, making herself turn away and face the wall. She knew if she faced him, she would never get any sleep. She would want to stay up all night and just watch his peaceful face again.

  Two days was all it took Leila to convince Jerome to leave. They locked the house in the early hours of the morning and headed for the nearest building. Climbing to the roof, they prepared for takeoff. Jerome could have taken flight from the ground even with the extra weight of his passenger, but it wouldn’t be as smooth. And judging by the way Leila was nervously wringing her hands, he needed it to be as smooth as possible.

  “We can always go another time,” Jerome said for the fifth time that morning.

  “No, I want to go. Just hold me and tell me that everything will be okay. Promise you won’t drop me.”

  He wrapped his arms around her, steering Leila towards the edge of the building. “I promised to protect you, remember? That includes all flights. No harm is going to come to you. Ready?”

  “No, but just go anyway.”

  She braced herself, holding every part of her stiff while he jumped off the ledge. In only moments, he was soaring high above the city and heading for the countryside.

  His shoulder had healed by the time he woke up the previous day, but he didn’t mention that to Leila. Instead, he had managed to hold her off for a full extra day. When he braced it now, high up in the sky, it worked perfectly. His elegant wings flapped against the wind, thrusting him forward at great speed.

  It was cold flying over the ocean, the breeze from the water creating an updraft. It didn’t worry him, but he made sure Leila was wrapped up tight. She never said a word for the entire flight, just nodding when he asked if she was okay. At least she was better than the first time he took her flying, her nails weren’t digging into chest this time.

  As the dark mass of the Hallows Gallows came into view, Jerome wondered where he should land. The forest was massive and he had no way of knowing where Cadmus’s sword would be buried. If he landed in the wrong spot, they could spend a lifetime searching for it. Although, a lifetime in the forest with Leila didn’t sound so bad. At least there would be no demons there. But for how long? No, he needed to stay focused. He couldn’t let his feelings for the human get in the way, it just wasn’t possible.

  Jerome finally decided that anywhere was going to be a good place to land. He flew to the middle of the forest and looked for an opening, they were few and far between. If he dropped too quickly then he was risking being caught up in the trees. They could rip at his wings and do damage that even his quick healing couldn’t undo.

  He spotted a small clearing and headed towards it, as he approached he saw the reason – it was a mound of rocks. It wouldn’t be the best place to land, but it looked to be the only option. He slowed his pace and stopped flapping his wings, letting himself sail onto steady ground.

  As he landed, Jerome tripped over one of the smaller rocks and almost fell flat on the ground, he steadied himself just in time. He loosened his grip on Leila. “We’re here, you can look now.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Jerome couldn’t suppress a laugh. “Of course I’m sure. You can feel the ground underneath your feet if you don’t believe me.”

  Leila moved her feet, sure enough they were standing on solid ground. She let go of him, daring to leave the embrace of his arms to stand alone. Her legs felt like jelly after being in the one position for so long. She stretched them, trying to get some proper feeling back again.

  They orientated themselves in their new surroundings. Dense trees were all they could see in every direction. The trunks were
as thick as a small car, the moss covering them as green as a four leaf clover. The rock mound they were standing on was about six feet off the ground, a pile of heavy boulders that must have come from somewhere millions of years ago.

  “Do you have any idea where we should start?” Leila asked, wondering if she had perhaps jumped the gun by nagging him to take her there. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine the forest would be so large, humongous even. The whole thing seemed so overwhelming now.

  “It’s going to be nightfall in a few hours,” Jerome said, looking at the sky. “I think we should find a safe place to make camp and then start when the sun rises in the morning.”

  Leila nodded in agreement, she didn’t feel like searching yet anyway. They would just be wandering around like lost babes in the woods. “So which way then?”

  Jerome studied the trees, trying to find anything distinguishing about a particular way. It all looked exactly the same. He remembered a rule his father always told him, if you were lost, then stay the course of north. It didn’t mean you would be found or get where you were trying to go, but at least you weren’t walking around in circles. “We should go north.”

  “Which way is that?”

  “This way,” Jerome started to make his way down the rocks, carefully placing each foot. “Be careful where you step, there could be slippery patches.”

  Despite his fears, they both made it safely to the forest floor below. The moment they stepped into the trees, the temperature dropped by five degrees as they were shielded from the sun by the thick cover. It was an eerie feeling, like they were walking into a different world. One where the only sounds that could be heard were birds singing in the trees and crickets chirping somewhere in the distance. The forest was so still it was like the rest of the world no longer existed.

  “This is creepy,” Leila commented. She stuck close to Jerome, not wanting to lose him in the foliage.

  “You’re not wrong.” Jerome had seen many strange things in his life, it was part of the job requirement. However the forest was something different again.

  The air was thick with humidity, even walking at a steady pace was enough to work up a sweat. It only took them half an hour to be tired with the whole thing and ready to settle down for the evening. Under all the heavy leaves, it was difficult to tell when the sun went down anyway.

  “What about here?” Leila asked, standing between two large trees. There would be enough room for them to lie down and lay their packs nearby.

  “As good a place as any, I suppose.”

  They didn’t have to prepare the ground for their makeshift home, it wouldn’t make any difference. Millions of years of leaves and moss could never be cleaned away. Instead, they would pretend they made a softer bed.

  Leila sat on the ground and looked around, wondering how many creatures were hiding in the trees staring back at her. They were probably just waiting until she was asleep and still. Then they would make their move, attack while she was the most vulnerable. She tried to push the thought away, remembering that somewhere in the forest was a sword they were meant to find. It would all be worth it, she just had to focus on the positives.

  “Are you hungry? Do you need to eat?” Jerome asked, staring right at her.

  Hearing his voice suddenly in the quiet startled Leila. She smiled at Jerome, imagining him as one of the creatures lurking in the dark. He would probably frighten anyone else that stumbled across him.

  “There’s food in the bag,” she replied. “I think I just need to sit for a while, I’m not hungry.”

  “Is there anything else you need? I can try and get anything.”

  “I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me so much. Is there anything you need?”

  Jerome shook his head. “I’d like an elusive sword that was taken from Cadmus’s hand. But I guess that’s going to have to wait.”

  “We’ll find it. Maybe even by tomorrow.”

  Her optimism was admirable, even if premature. They went to sleep as soon as they could, remembering that they would be up early the next day. Leila tried to ignore the noises in the forest, but they grew even worse in the middle of the night. Several times she put her hand out to lay it on Jerome’s arm, making sure he was still there. A tiny part of her was worried he wouldn’t be. If she awoke and she was by herself, she wouldn’t know what she would do. It would be like a waking nightmare.

  The next day brought with it a lot of walking as Leila and Jerome tried to search for anything out of place in the forest. But every tree looked the same and every rock was just like the others. If they didn’t have Jerome’s sense of where north was, then Leila would swear they were going in circles. She felt like marking trees just to make sure they weren’t.

  Evening was starting to approach again. It had been a long day of walking and Leila’s feet were killing her. She didn’t have the same stamina as the angel, he only had to take one step to her two. Plus, he had spent the entire day fussing over her. With every branch he stepped over, he told her to be careful. With each hour that passed, he asked if she needed food or water. With every sigh or sneeze, he demanded that she rest. Combined with the heat, she felt like she was being suffocated.

  “Careful of the leaves here, they’re slippery.”

  She’d had enough, it was one warning too many. “Just quit it. Seriously, I can see the leaves are wet, I get that they’re slippery. You don’t have to point out every single one.”

  “You might not see the one I don’t point out,” Jerome went on the defensive. His mood wasn’t great either, it didn’t make their endless journey any more bearable.

  “So I trip over, it doesn’t mean the world will end.”

  “So you’d rather get hurt?”

  “It’s better than being treated like a two year old.” Leila stopped, leaning against a tree. She didn’t think she could walk any further, not in the heat and humidity. She would have killed for the cold shower back home.

  Jerome went to snap back but stopped himself just in time. He shouldn’t be arguing with the human, it wasn’t his place. If she didn’t want to be protected, then he would just have to find another way to do it. He couldn’t help being a guardian angel, it wasn’t something he could switch off at will. Not that he wanted to. Leila was the most important thing to him, he wasn’t going to let her mood get her into trouble. Or danger.

  “So you’re going to sulk?” Leila stared at him, waiting for his reaction. She expected a snarky comeback, like anyone else would do during an argument. All she got was a whole lot of silence. “Are you not talking to me now?”

  “I’m letting you calm down.”

  “I don’t need to calm down.”

  “Then what do you need?” Jerome waited expectantly, wanting to hear the magic words that would make her happy.

  Leila crossed her arms, on the verge of tears and not knowing exactly why. “I need the war to stop. I need everything to be safe again. And I need my life back. That’s what I need, Jerome. But somehow I don’t think you can give me that.”

  Jerome didn’t reply, he didn’t have the words. He could feel the pain and anguish oozing from her. He took a tentative step closer, testing the waters. She didn’t move so he took another. And another, until he could put his arms around her and cradle her head in his hands. There was nothing he could say that would make her feel better, he could remind her that every day brought them closer to the end of their quest or he could reassure her that things would work out. But he didn’t know for sure they would and she knew that. The words would be empty, yet the actions would speak louder than anything.

  In that hug, he said he was there for her. That he cared for her and wanted to make things right. His arms screamed that he would protect her and his eyes told her it was the truth. There wasn’t an inch of him that wasn’t speaking to her without using any words.

  Leila let the tears flow, she didn’t really have any choice. She had been so strong, no matter how challenging every day had been. She
refused to cry every time she missed someone from her past and she refused to dwell on the things she couldn’t change. But those emotions didn’t go away, they purely remained bottled up until the pressure was too much. And sometimes that happened in the middle of a forest known as Hallows Gallows.

  Finally, Jerome let her go when he was satisfied she wasn’t going to cry anymore. “I think we should stay here for the night.”

  Leila nodded, wiping at her wet cheeks. She followed him towards a small clearing and sat on the ground, fishing some food out of her pack. She had brought about a week’s worth with her, however it didn’t seem enough considering how little progress they were making. She made a mental note to keep her eye out for something edible along the way. She wasn’t exactly an expert on the wilderness, but perhaps Jerome would know more. At least it would give her something to focus on.

  They waited for the sun to go down, the only definitive sign was the temperature falling. The nights were lovely and cool in comparison to the days. Sometimes even too cool, that’s when Leila would shuffle closer to her angel for some warmth. He was better than any blanket on the market.

  They lay on the damp leaves and tried to get some sleep. But it seemed like slumber was going to be as elusive as the sword. Leila couldn’t switch her mind off, it was determined to remind her of every horrible memory she had accumulated. Add to that the noises in the darkness surrounding them and it was a waking nightmare.

  Jerome seemed to be having the same problem, she lost count of how many times he fidgeted beside her. She rolled over to face him, his eyes springing open just seconds later. She decided the only way she was going to be able to sleep was to put her mind at ease. She came to the conclusion she had to ask the question that had been plaguing her all day. And she didn’t think she wanted to hear the answer.

  CHAPTER 12

  Leila took a deep breath, knowing she would never be able to un-ask her question. “Jerome, are you awake?”

  “Hmm.”

  She took that as sign enough, at least he was listening. “What happens when we find the mortal and the sword? What are you going to do?”