The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix (86 page)

Chasileah wished to make a caustic reply to
drive this intruder away, but the softness of Trisha’s pleading
words carried a sensual refrain that stirred more than just her
heart. It was a spell being cast, that was for sure, but the opiate
was too powerful to be completely ignored. A ‘very small promise.’
Wary she was, but curious, too. Could she live without knowing if
she walked away now?

“What promise?” Chasileah asked in a voice
both sour and wondering.

Trisha drew closer, her lips almost touching
Chasileah’s, her eyes opened wide with desire. “Only this…” Again
the sweet sensuality softly brushed across Chasileah’s cheek.
“Three days hence, Zadar and I will be at a council in the Upper
Palace. Promise to ponder your decision until that hour and then
come to me there. Tell me, face to face, what your decision will
be. I, for my part, will not argue or attempt to dissuade you
should you choose not to accept my offer.”

She reached out again, gently holding
Chasileah’s lower arm. “Please, my sister, I beg that you do only
this one thing for me.”

Chasileah’s heart pined for more than a
gentle touch. ‘The witchery of Anna!’ She thought, troubled, but oh
so much more desirable, for Trisha’s music was sung not only to the
flesh, but to the spirit - oh so much more addictive! “I…I…will
come.” She promised while seeking to find the lips of the woman
singing such hypnotic melodies to her heart.

Trisha stepped back ever so slightly, her
eyes twinkling, revealing the hint of reward only if Chasileah
delivered upon her promise. Placing an opened hand over Chasileah’s
heart, she cooed, “I long to see you then. Please remember this
heart that pines so for your company. The man we both love shall
also be waiting there by my side in that hour.”

Chasileah’s body trembled with chained
desire. Not since Tolohe’s loving touches so many eons ago could
she recall such wild, beastly passion welling up within her
breasts. Trisha had gotten into her head, casting an unbreakable
spell over her. This was
impossible
for a child of…

“I will be there.” Chasileah answered
longingly, her spirit hoping for more than conversation. She
stepped back on wobbly legs, reaching for the tower wall to steady
herself.

Trisha smiled, her face reflecting a cooling
passion. “Tell me, please, in that hour what our fates are to be.”
She placed a finger upon Chasileah’s lips. “Tell me then of choices
made. Keep my heart in suspense until that hour. I will be
waiting.”

Chasileah dumbly promised, she falling on
Trisha in a lingering hug. Eventually, she stood back, offering her
parting salutations, walking away from the tower wall, fading into
the blackness, appearing momentarily on the street below.

Trisha watched silently as Chasileah made
her way across the street and hailed down a lorry heading for the
spaceport, quietly contemplating the evening. How much she wished
Zadar could be with her tonight! She wrapped her arms about herself
in lonely desire.

At that instant, a shadow moved out from the
blackness of the tower opening, a voice whispering, “Full of
surprises you are. To use your erotic charms in forcing the battle
was not expected, and to witness the mastery at which you wielded
them was even more so, your witchery being greater than I
perceived. Successful you will be, we will be. Our girl will come
around, of that I can assure you, if not for our patriotic cause,
then for the cravings for a flowered bed of juniper down.”

Trisha shrugged sadly. “My witchery is only
that taught me by my inner voice.” She looked out into the night.
“Your kind are so strange to me. Dirty I feel for seducing the
woman, seeing I have sold my flesh for a promise. So strange...so
strange that I do not understand it at all. You see, while I detest
such sexual trickery, at the very same moment, I shake with excited
desire to deliver up the price I have offered.”

The shadowy figure replied, reaching out and
taking Trisha’s hand, “Seduction? Prostitution? The selling of the
flesh? I wonder? Do the flirtatious acts practiced to gain the bed
of another not also constitute wanton acts, the selling of emotion
to gain the flesh of another? Yet my people make an art of that
game, we revel in it. My touch, now, is suggestive, wishing you
will satisfy my passions. Though I offer you a gift, it is my
lustful
desires that cause my heart of offer such an
exchange in the hopes that I may buy your romance by my
request.”

Trisha reached out, running her fingers
through long wavy hair. She grinned. “You need not seduce me, ever.
Are we not already like one flesh in heart, soul, and mind?”

Stroking Trisha’s hand, the shadowy figure
encouraged her to climb the stairs to the tower’s top chamber. “My
Lord, the world is such a beautiful place when the morning’s sun
casts its first light upon these battlements. You have not sold
your flesh for a promise. No, by your very words I could feel your
honest desire growing for that woman. So now, while the heat still
warms heart and soul, come with me and refresh your spirit. Let me
be your
Zadar
for this eve.”

Trisha swooned, purring with delight. “Oh,
my lovely one, my lips are yours to caress, my breasts yours to
devour. Give to me your sweet milk and I shall give you my sweet
dreams. Where is there another like you? I say there is no one. No
one at all...”

Silently, hand in hand, the two women
disappeared into the blackness of the tower entrance, their gentle
footfall on the upward steps gradually fading into the night.

* * *

The sun was setting beyond the western hills
as Zadar eased the autocar to a stop along the shoulder of the
road. Opening the window, he called out cheerfully to the woman
standing near. “I had not expected to see you here. Are we still
on, or can I give you a lift somewhere?”

Darla leaned down, resting her hands on the
door of the machine. “My dear little brother, I fear your visit is
not a social one. Before you bring the storm, I wish for you to see
the fruits of my labors. Now leave with me on foot for the village.
There’s someone I must have you meet.”

Zadar hopped out of the carriage, reaching
out to give Darla a hug and kiss. Darla stopped him up short,
holding up a hand, palm out. “Whoa! We’ve got other things to
do!”

Throwing his hands up and jumping back a
step, Zadar expressed his surprise.

Grinning, Darla pointed to a small duffle
bag slung over her shoulder. “Get out of those things and into
these. I need you to look presentable for my girl.” She grabbed the
bag and pushed it into Zadar’s arms. “Hurry up!”

As Zadar dumbly stood there, astonishment
growing on his face, Darla, her eyes twinkling, reached out and
pulled him close, placing a tender kiss on his lips. She cooed,
“Please hurry. The child’s not ready for our world yet. I need you
to slip into hers for a while.”

Zadar obliged his sister, good-naturedly
carrying on about the sacrifices he was making, how uncomfortable
and uncomely the clothing was, and the need to leave a
climate-controlled machine to go for a laborious walk on such a
hot, humid evening. By the time he was finally ready, Darla was
nearly in stitches with laughter, the fellow’s ranting usually
affecting her so. At length, the two headed down the road, hand in
hand, Darla all a chatter, describing her darling prize to this
trusted companion.

When they came near their destination, Darla
stopped, the illumination from the mellow glow of the street lamps
revealing serious concern. She warned Zadar, “The child is a
delight to be sure, but please do be careful.”

Holding up a hand to show a healing wound,
she explained, “I do bleed, I don’t have wings, I can’t fly, and…
and there are so many other things I can’t do that the child
believes I should if she is truly in Heaven. Do be careful or you
might get stuck to see if you bleed, too!”

Zadar was concerned. “So the girl is
dangerous. Not mean, is she?”

Darla shook her head denying it was so. “My
child is innocent of heart, and she cares greatly for me, but I do
believe her carelessness with the kitchen knife was not entirely
accidental. You see, she has not yet come to fully accept that
she’s…she’s died and come back…back to a world far from her old
one. All the time, she’s putting things…me to the test, trying to
satisfy a curious mind, I suppose. Ishtar does not understand our
physical limitations yet, that we’re ordinary mortals and can be
damaged. She so much wants me to act like the angels of her fable
tales.”

Zadar asked cautiously, “So…?”

“So…” Darla pulled Zadar close. “I want you
to be careful and on your guard. Drorli is the only other male of
our kind that she has come to know well at all, and he has kept his
distance for the most part...out of her reach, sort of. I want you
to get up near to her, touch her and let her touch you, but do be
careful.”

Zadar puzzled. “Why? I won’t let her stick
me with a knife.”

“No. That’s not it at all.” Darla fussed.
“Look, she and I have… well, we have been
close
. She knows
what I look like, feel like, my touch and smell. Drorli informed me
that the girl’s manly feelings have not yet waked, won’t for some
time. Still she’s very curious, and might well… you know… wonder
what’s under your clothes. I leave it up to you to decide what
limits she’s allowed. But please don’t think she has any amorous
ideas. If you respond to her assumed advances with flirtatious
actions, well I just don’t know what might happen, but I doubt it
will be pleasant. She doesn’t speak highly of men at the
moment.”

Zadar promised that he would be careful to
act only in a
properly noble
manner.

Darla thanked him, and then added one
additional warning. “Oh, and she has tired me out pressing to have
an audience with God. Please don’t give her any false hopes, or
fill the poor child’s mind with any whimsical tales that have no
place in reality. I doubt she will be able to separate fact from
fantasy.”

Zadar chuckled. “Mother warned you about
this one! Said you’d have your hands full. If I recall, she said
the girl reminds her a lot of you. I guess she’s getting her
revenge.”

Darla smiled, taking Zadar’s hands. Looking
into his face, she confessed, “I’ve shared with her in the
celebration of the blood.”

Frowning, Zadar was surprised and troubled
by Darla’s revelation. “So unpredictable it is! We’ve been warned
about doing such a thing with our new arrivals. You know how little
control a person has over the dreams of a blood share - dangerous
to flood her unlearned mind with our overwhelming knowledge and
life’s experiences. Are you sure the girl wasn’t struck dumb by the
dreams she witnessed?”

“Please, little brother.” Darla rested her
hand on Zadar’s chest. “You know I would do nothing with my charge
until conferring with Mother. Indeed, I believe she put me up to it
in a way, or at least encouraged it by reminding me of the blood
grape wine curing on the dregs in the caves deep under Palace City.
Both Drorli and Eurawha thought it an acceptable thing to do,
considering…”

“Considering what?” Zadar asked,
curious.

“Considering the child’s obstinate refusal
to accept where she is and the things that have happened over the
ages.” She sighed, glancing down while slowly stroking Zadar’s arm.
“We’re running out of time. Gradian’s Clock has already struck the
midnight hour and there is no returning. War is upon us as I speak,
and that child of mine must be ready for the part she is to play in
it.”

She looked back into Zadar’s face. “You need
not have worried about that child’s mind being overwhelmed. It is I
who was nearly bowled over from the vision she pummeled me with.
Mother has revealed secrets to Ishtar that few, if any, other than
the most ancient of our kind have knowledge of, let alone crystal
clear dreaming visions.”

As a flirtatious smile grew on her face,
Darla added, “One day I may share them with you if you’re a good
boy and tease me properly.”

Zadar assured her that he would do just so,
a dark shadow of guilt covering his heart because of the
evil
he feared Darla must pass through if he was to succeed
with his current plans. He said nothing, regretting his
mission.

They walked on until arriving at their
intended destination. Looking down the walkway toward the humble
building, Darla sighed with longing dismay. “I love her like no
other soul I’ve known! My heart burns to be at her side as it does
for my Lord Euroaquilo. We now share one blood, one heart, and one
mind, but…”

“But what?” Zadar asked, curious.

Looking back into his eyes, she mourned
softly, “But I know we must part soon, for I have seen it in
dreams, dark and foreboding. When we do meet again, we both shall
have been changed, into what I am not sure, yet the restless
Spirits warn me that this night is the last hour of our sweet
innocence. Tonight you shall see to the murder of my heart, and
before I return from my dying days, the child will have grown into
the demon monster of prophecy and I forever changed by my monster
within. Then, at a future day, on the blistered plain in front of
Legion’s City, shall we both join ourselves together in our demon
love, drinking up the blood of the king of Memphis.”

She placed a finger over the lips of a
distraught Zadar. “I knew of your coming arrival earlier this very
day. As I lay wrapped in the arms of the child I love so much, the
Whispering Spirits came to me in my dreams, asking me to obey your
voice. Those same Spirits have shown me the dark and troubling
distress that awaits me should I obey you, but there is nothing
else for it. You bring the light by causing the darkness. By your
foreboding revelations shall the universe be saved, shall our
mother regain her honor.”