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Helena.
The Bastion on the water. A place I had not set foot in for some time, and where I was no longer welcome. Set into the side of a dormant volcano, on a remote island out across the water, it was almost the perfect sanctuary for our kind. Out of view of humans, and so far out even angels have trouble reaching it.
But I had to reach it because she was there. I knew it. I couldfeelher. Every fiber of my being drew me toward her. I had marched my entire army to Meridian to stop her from falling in to Medrion’s hands, but in the following attack I was so blinded by combat, so caught up in the adrenaline of the moment, and the blood on my hands, I had failed to see what was happening.
I lost her.
Kalmiya’s life had been saved, but I had lost Sarakiel in the process. So, I followed. Over the land, and across the ocean, on dark wings I went, suffering against hunger, and thirst, as was the intention behind Helena’s location; to weaken potential attackers before they arrived.
Finally, after two days flying across the ocean, I saw its bright beacon and steeled myself for the coming attack. To them, I was a shadow in the sky, a stain on the tapestry of thin clouds that clung low against the water. I dove beneath them to get a better look at their defenses and was not surprised to find them ready to receive me, weapons drawn, wings unfurled.
The first arrow raced toward me, zipped past my ear and went through the space between my wings.A warning shot.The second arrow, I knew, would graze me. The third would be a potentially lethal shot. I would not simply be allowed into Helena’s sanctuary unchallenged; I knew I had to get past their defenses.
Summoning my Light, I created a halo around myself bright enough to throw off their sharpshooter’s aim, if only for a moment. I only needed one moment. The second arrow whizzed past me, nowhere near close enough, but I knew the sharpshooter would adjust his aim quickly; the third shot would not miss.
I dove again, this time swooping directly toward Helena’s walls and flooding them with Light. Angelic eyes opened wide, scanning the brightness for the dark, winged figure at its heart, but by the time they laid eyes on me, I had already landed on their parapets with a hard thud.
The angel closest to me reacted first, lunging with his drawn sword. I had no weapon of my own, but I didn’t need one here. I had seen his footwork, I had identified his path, and I knew where he would strike. Lazily, I drew my body to the left, allowing his cutting thrust to go harmlessly past me. In one quick move, I gripped his withdrawn arm, slammed my fist into his hand, and forced him to drop his sword.
The angel stared at me, horrified at the ease with which I had disarmed him.
“Your sword should be part of your arm,” I said, “Disarming you should not have been that easy.”
“Stand back!” I heard another angel call out. This one was larger, clad in a rose-colored full-plate armor that shone brightly against the sunlight burning overhead. He was wielding a polearm and attempting to corral me away from thechildwho had engaged me moments ago.
I slowly moved my hands up and away from my body, hoping to signal that I was unarmed, and backed away from thepointy endof this armored angel’s weapon. Not for my safety, but because I had no desire to fight my way through the entire Bastion.
“I am here to see Helena,” I said. “I demand an audience.”
“You are in no position to demand anything,fiend,” snapped the angel. “You will surrender, right now, and submit to imprisonment.”
Fiend. There’s one I haven’t heard before.
“I did not come here to fight. I am here only to talk.”
“Be silent! Your poisonous words are falling on deaf ears.”
“Deaf, untrained ears. Are you truly the best defenders Helena has to offer?”
The angel inched the polearm closer to me. “I saidbe silent!”
I grabbed the polearm, snatching it deftly out of his hands, and turned it on him in an instant. I could have easily impaled him on his own weapon and left him there to bleed out on the wall…
I shook my head and tossed the polearm over the walls. “Fetch,” I said, dusting my hands. “And while you’re at it, get me Helena.I’ll wait.”
“That’s quite enough,Tyrant,” came a voice from behind me.
A warm trickle of excited anticipation moved through me. Slowly, I turned, and there she was. Not Helena, but perhaps this was better. The woman who had just landed on the parapetshad long, black hair, wings the color of deep coal, and eyes that looked like they were made of mercury. She, like theidiotbehind me, was wearing a suit of rose-colored full-plate, but she hadn’t drawn her weapon yet.
She didn’t have to; she knew she could draw it in the blink of an eye.
“Ah,Azrael,” I said, “Someone worthy of my attention.”
“You shouldn’t have come here,” she said, her voice as cold as steel itself.
“I am here to see Sarakiel. I know she reached you. Where is she?”
“Not interested in speaking withyou.”
