The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix (65 page)

Apollonius laughed, wide-eyed. “Remember?!
How could I forget?! There we were, my traveling companions and I,
about ready to be skewered by a pack of half-drunk ruffians with
knives, all a shouting how great Artemis was. Then you walked in,
all dandified in that official uniform of yours, accompanied by the
finest dressed group of gentlemen soldiers such as I ever saw,
‘cept in a palace or something. When I saw you, I figured we had
just gone from a quick, bloody death to a nice, slow, torturous
one, maybe with a few months of starving in a prison hole first, to
spice things up a bit.”

“Then to the biggest surprise of my life,
after dragging us out of there, all the while hurling curses and
threats at us, you released us outside of town, telling us to take
our leave of the district by the north road, warning us not to
return. You puzzled me greatly, never did explain why.”

The man pointed an accusing finger. “You
cost me dearly that day! There were eight of us. We were in a
hurry, on king’s business, and had but a few minutes to catch a
bite or we would be late. Instead, I found you troubling the place
and had to make a quick arrest. By all rights, I should have taken
you along with us. Nice reward and all for the likes of you, but as
you know, I didn’t. That good deed cost me a week’s wages, to buy
the silence of the others with me!”

Apollonius leaned back, astonished,
laughing. “So should I buy your dinner this eve, as partial payment
for your good deed? It would please me to do so. Let me start it
off with a drink of Jem’s finest ale.”

The man thanked him for the offer, accepting
the drink, having already supped. At that moment, Suan arrived with
a large mug of malted brew. After proper salutations accompanied by
a tender embrace or two and several passionate kisses, Suan hurried
away, soon to return with a pitcher of same brew for the table and
a mug for the man. She left quickly, promising to return with
Apollonius’ dinner.

While they waited Suan’s return, the man
asked, “You say you wondered about my reasons for releasing you and
the others that day, but never asked me. Would you like to know the
reason I set you free? It may well surprise you.”

Curious, Apollonius leaned forward. “Please,
tell me, my friend. This is far too old a riddle to leave remain
hidden any longer.”

It was the man’s turn to lean forward,
replying in nearly a whisper. “It was your name...”

“My name?!” Apollonius gasped, surprised.
“Never in my life did I, would I, have guessed that my name was the
culprit. I always figured it was some sort of divine will, you
know, godly intervention and all. I was good for thinking that back
in those days, God’s fingers playing some prophetic symphony,
weaving a profound tapestry in the heavens. It was rather bold of
me to dismiss events like that as providence - that I had some
greater calling to yet answer to.”

The man smiled. “You were some kind of a
fanatic in those days, still were when we came to know each other
in later years.”

Slapping the man on the shoulder, Apollonius
exclaimed, “It’s an easy matter to start believing that God is
tinkering in your life when you get all religious and sincere,
failing to see the bigger picture. We were all children regarding
the true reality in those days, walking blindly on a road of
prejudicial faith. Who among our kind could have ever believed that
war and death were being played out here, the place to which we all
aspired?”

Clasping his hands together while resting
elbows on the table, he asked, “Why my name? Why? What was so
special about it?”

The man quietly laughed in a sardonic sort
of way. “You? Do you think you lived under a rug in those days?
Paul and Symeon? Sure, they were well known lunatics, leaders over
the unlettered and foolish. We paid them little heed, seeing them
as power-hungry rabble rousers and seditionists. You, on the other
hand, were to be taken seriously, possibly feared.”

He sat back, taking a sip of ale, frowning.
“Rumors were a rife about your Lord’s confession that he was from a
world above the stars, that he was going to return there, and later
would come back with his army to bring justice upon those opposing
him. Oh yes, we never talked openly about such tales, but the
gossip ever flowed in the whispering shadows. I was not taken to
such stories as were told by old men and faint-hearted women, that
is until news came to me about you.”

After sipping another drink, he continued.
“Apollos... Apollos... Were you come as the handsome, carefree god
to spread happiness and mirth, or were you the Destroyer come to
cast down any and all who opposed you? Or were you just a man born
of flesh as the rest of us? I was troubled over such things, but
even more so when my wife returned from a visit to her relatives in
Miletus.”

Apollonius bent forward setting down his mug
while resting his hands flat on the table, curious. “Yes?”

The man continued. “My wife and her sister
found themselves in the marketplace the very morning you took to
the pedestal and began proclaiming the tales of gods and demons, of
spirit wars, and how one of the gods had taken on human flesh and
was now returned to the heavens, seated upon a golden throne. She
said you spoke so forcefully and were filled with such conviction
that the soldiers come to arrest you stood back in fear at what
they witnessed. She knew not whether you, yourself, were a god or
not, but advised me to tread lightly should my path cross
yours.”

“I scoffed at the idea you might be a god,
but on the inside I wondered. My mother was devout to the extreme,
telling me when I was but a child that the gods would come down
from the skies to test men out.”

Gripping his mug with both hands, the man
slowly twirled its contents as he revealed more of his tale. “My
dear wife’s untimely death made me as godless as may be, that is
until that day we finally met at the tavern. While I stood there
eyeing you, her haunting warnings concerning the gods tingled my
ears as if she stood there beside me. Unnerved I was, to say the
least. So, you see, it was an easy matter to release you once we
were away.”

Apollonius sat back, slowly shaking his head
in wonder. “Well, well, that is certainly a tale to be told.”

Suan arrived with a delicious mutton stew,
dark rye bread, and some superb aged goat cheese. She lingered a
little longer in sweet, flirting conversation, playing her fingers
along Apollonius’ arm while cooing amorous refrains. Impatient
customers at a nearby table interrupted the moment.

Placing a loving hand on his shoulder, Suan
kissed Apollonius, and then whispered in his ear, “I’m off in less
than an hour. I’ll be waiting behind the fountain in the Winter
Gardens. Please don’t keep this child lingering for want of a
gentle touch, or she might be stolen away in another man’s arms.”
She winked at the man across the table and hurried away.

Blushing, the man turned to Apollonius,
apologizing, claiming that he did not know the woman at all, and
had no intentions regarding her.

Apollonius laughed, motioning the man away
with his hand. “No need to say a word. I’m sure my little darling
there…” He chanced a longing glance at Suan as she waited another
table. “has been wrapped up in many an arm since I left several
months ago. She is a looker though, isn’t she?”

The man smiled, agreeing. “The woman is very
comely, that is true.” He studied Suan a while and then mused. “She
reminds me of Sirion, my former mentor, but a little taller and
more fleshed out. Sirion was a wiry little one, tough and wiry, but
big br… Well, you know what I mean.”

Apollonius was curiously amused. “You were
never a man bashful in describing the beauty of a woman. What’s up?
Is it concerning Sirion?”

The man lowered his head, answering sadly.
“Yes. It bothers me when I think about her.”

“Why?” Apollonius asked perplexed. “The
girl’s safe, been rescued, and is on her way here, coming with the
king and all. They say you’ve been a real faithful steward for her
while she was away, went to the Silent Tombs every day in her
stead. Sirion will be so pleased to hear that. You should be
celebrating instead of moping about like this.”

The man smiled grimly. “I
am
looking
forward to seeing her again. That’s not why I trouble over her.
Report has come to me of the horrific torture done to the girl.
Even now, she barely hangs on to life, that fellow, Eutychus,
staying constantly by her side to tend to her needs, singing
healing songs to her. What a terrible ordeal to suffer through. And
to think…”

Apollonius peered into distraught eyes. “And
to think what, my friend?”

The man hesitated. “And… and to think I was
no less an evil bastard at one time. Violent rape - young virgins,
children, it mattered little. It was all part of a game to me back
then, seems like only yesterday. I cleaved many a breasts off the
outlander women during my soldiering years, especially those giving
suck, selling the skins to the tanner for drink money. The slave or
prostitute occasionally fell to the same fate, often just for the
sport of it.”

He sighed, staring at the table. “When I
think of the evil done to Sirion, I ponder the retched violence
I’ve committed against so many innocents. I’ve wondered why I live
here, in this place… let alone
live
.”

Apollonius set down his spoon, resting a
hand over his friend’s. “You are as close as a brother to me, have
been for a long time. It troubles my spirit to see you in anguish
over what lies buried in the past. Better to leave it rest there
until the day it can be fixed. You’re here because Lowenah wants
you here. Trust me, there have been others also delivered to this
place that have even greater bragging rights to evil done. Lowenah
sees things differently than we do. We have to trust her. Keeps it
close, she does...likes to be secretive about her purposes.”

Suan came by with a tray of drinks for some
newly arrived guests. She glanced over at Apollonius’ half-finished
food, frowning. The man suggested Apollonius be about his meal, or
he might find an empty nest when he went calling. While he ate, the
man returned to their earlier conversation.

“Please, I have not asked you about your
name, nor have I spun a tale from yesteryears to only tickle your
ears. Look, I feared you might be one of the gods come to test us
out, and when we were reunited long after, it took a powerful lot
of convincing on your part before I accepted you to be only a man
of flesh such as I am.”

He folded his arms, resting them on the
table. “You I gave honor and glory to, maybe out of fear, but honor
I still gave. But to the one my mother venerated to a fault, Diana,
I gave neither, only insult and death!”

Apollonius raised his spoon to speak, his
mouth filled with food. The man motioned him to continue eating.
“My grandmother told me all these wonderful stories about Diana to
the point that, as a little child, I would dream of being on the
hunt with the goddess. I often talked with grandmother about her,
saying how much I wished to meet the goddess one day. Grandmother
said it was possible, for the gods would come to earth at times and
live in the flesh as humans.”

“Well, as you know, my wish did come true,
or at least as far as I am concerned it did. Oh, and she was
everything a goddess should be, too. My friend, dear Apollonius,
even after all your efforts to convince me otherwise, I never did
come to completely stop believing that Ishtar was a goddess. I
still feel that way.”

Apollonius swallowed a mouthful of stew,
replying, “Many are the times we have discussed this. Ishtar was
young, a child. There was a purpose for what happened, and you only
played a part in it. If not you, it would have been someone else.
She’ll return someday, and then things will be set right with
her.”

The man agreed, and then replied in a
nervous hush. “So it has been as I have believed that someday I
could make things right with Ishtar - someday when she was all
happy and snuggled up with a strong man beside her and a little one
nestled up to her breast.”

He frowned, pushing his half-f mug to the
side, leaning forward. “But, o, the dread of it! Such a pleasant
fate the girl shall never have, nor I the time for her to revel in
blissful refreshment. The dreadful moment is already upon me, and I
don’t know at all what to do about it!”

Apollonius dropped his spoon, it falling
with a clatter, asking excitedly, “You mean the girl is to come
here, into this world, I mean?”

“
Do you not know a thing
?!” The man
anxiously responded.

Vehemently shaking his head, Apollonius
denied any knowledge at all about Ishtar. “I have been deep in the
jungles of EthoHule for these many months, only arriving here this
very day. After leaving my things at Symeon’s place, I joined
myself to old books at the library, studying up on bugs until
coming here. I’ve heard nothing at all.”

“Ishtar awoke several days ago...” The man
exclaimed. “right here, not far from Palace City! Symeon and Hanna
are out there now with the child. They say she’s the last of the
ones to come until this Rebellion is settled up here.”

Apollonius let out, “
Phew!
Ishtar
here? She’s so young. Do you know what this is about?”

The man apologized. “I didn’t know you were
in the dark about this. At the last council meeting, when Mihai was
introduced as king, she got up and talked about three swords,
saying two were here and one was soon to arrive. Then that Trisha
person, the same as did all the mischief at the Prisoner Exchange,
got up and made a whole bunch of prophecies. The gossip about it
got the whole city in a tizzy. Then, after the meeting, Lowenah
told Symeon that the girl, Ishtar, was arrived, and they say Sirion
uttered a warning to Legion about something from his past having
waked.”