Fall of Lucifer (13 page)

‘His high command. I refused his intrigues, and five thousand of his generals followed me. We would have naught to do with his insurrections.’

‘But his high command is over ten thousand,’ Jether murmured, stunned. Jether felt sick to the pit of his stomach.

Raphael nodded.

‘It is worse than I imagined.’ Jether ran his palm across his temple. ‘Tell me, faithful Raphael, what reward does Lucifer offer that is so enticing to the angelic host as to cause them to forsake Yehovah?’

‘He offers them to be as a master race, milord, untainted by man. He offers them rule and power, the opportunity to be masters of their own angelic destiny.’

Jether stroked his beard. ‘He offers them . . .
glory
. They seek now their own glory save that of Yehovah’s. It is the sin of pride.’

‘There will be reprisals!’ Raphael exclaimed. ‘Christos was there – at Lucifer’s speech.’

‘Christos?’

‘Christos appeared in the upper portico. It is said He was there the whole time, listening.’

Jether stared at Raphael. ‘Have you been so long with Him, Raphael, and yet you still do not comprehend?’ he said gently. ‘Yehovah has allotted free will to the angelic race, and free will must be tested through the fires of temptation. A great sifting occurs as we speak, throughout the corridors of heaven – a sifting of motives and loyalties, of the hearts and souls of the angelic race. The fire of free will blazes in heaven, Raphael. And Yehovah allows it to rage. If He acts – if He brings the reprisals you speak of – He takes away the very free will that He endowed as His greatest gift upon the angelic.’

Raphael tried to assimilate Jether’s words. ‘But Lucifer . . . ’

‘No, Raphael, there will be no reprisals.’ Jether’s eyes held a deep sorrow. ‘The gift He has given He will not take back because it is misused, even when it is misused by those He loves most tenderly.’

‘I do not understand fully,’ Raphael said quietly, ‘but as ever I bow my knee to His infinite wisdom.’

Jether caught sight of Obadiah scuttling down the halls towards him. ‘I have given Lucifer my token, Raphael. He meets with me at twelve bells. I must depart.’

They embraced. ‘May Yehovah be with you,’ Raphael whispered.

Jether hurried towards Obadiah and disappeared through the gardens towards the winding sapphire corridors of the Tower of Winds.

Chapter Fourteen

Stone of Fire

Michael galloped across the vast meadows of golden bulrushes and drew to a halt in front of the grand, white columns – the entrance into the eastern Gardens of Eden, Lucifer’s cherished retreat. He dismounted effortlessly as Lucifer’s courtier, Sachiel, took the reins of his white stallion.

‘My brother is in the garden?’

Sachiel nodded. He looked shaken. Michael handed Sachiel his cloak and started to undo his sword belt, then hesitated and left it around his waist. Sachiel watched him intently.

‘That will be all, Sachiel.’ Slowly, Michael walked up the gilded steps. He surveyed Eden in wonder.

A flock of blue griffin-like birds with platinum beaks and talons flew overhead. The massive forests of ancient willows towered over cedars and mangroves. Oryx roamed the open spaces. Jacarandas bowed, heavy with lilac blooms, over beds of cycad, lupin, and foxglove, while vibrantly hued puffins, hoopoes, and birds of paradise flew across the gardens. Unicorns grazed on beds of cowslips. Sabre-toothed tigers and lionlike creatures lay sleeping alongside lambs. Luxuriant vines flourished, weighed down with luminous pale blue grapes and silver pomegranates. Nightingales, linnets, and turtledoves sang like the angelic host.

An intense, almost blinding white mist rose from the farthest corner of the garden. Three magnificent golden thrones were situated underneath the hundred-foot waterfalls of flowing golden nectar, lined by the ancient willows. Each throne was sculpted of pure gold but was individually crafted and embedded with sardius, topaz, diamonds, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphires, carbuncles, and emeralds.

Sprawled on the first throne, his ruby crown resting carelessly on his matted hair, was Lucifer. He held a silver pomegranate idly in his palm. To his left was the lifeless form of the black panther.

Lucifer gave Michael a dazzling smile. ‘Beloved brother, come and have fellowship with Ebony and me!’ He followed Michael’s gaze to the dead panther. His features suddenly clouded with concern. He looked at Michael earnestly for a moment, then cocked his head and sighed deeply. ‘You have been angry with me of late, Michael. I have sensed it. You are vexed?’

Michael shook his head and smiled tenderly at Lucifer. With his heart almost breaking, Michael threw off his cloak and sat down next to his elder brother, the one who had for so many years been his mentor, his protector.

Lucifer rose and ran in a full, clean stride across the pale gold meadow, his countenance shining, drawing Michael behind him.

They ran until they stood together, silent, at the very edge of the towering, pearlescent cliff face. The light from Eden’s pale eastern moons illuminated the endless white sand. Beyond, the amethyst ocean stretched, it seemed, into infinity.

Lucifer gazed in wonder. ‘You remember when we were young, how we used to ride the lightning bareback on the sea?’

Michael nodded gently. ‘I remember well, dear brother.’

Lucifer smiled. ‘And how Zadkiel the upright would chide us for weeks afterward.’

Michael tried to restrain a smile. ‘It is true, dear Luce, he would have us learn more discretion.’ Michael looked into Lucifer’s beautiful sapphire eyes.

Lucifer gazed back lovingly at Michael. ‘Michael, look!’ he cried, his face lighting up with exhilaration.

Michael followed the direction of Lucifer’s strong bronzed arm. He was staring at the western slopes of the Holy Mountain, its seven golden spires wreathed in mists and lightning.

‘The Holy Mountain,’ Lucifer whispered in awe.

‘The Holy Mountain,’ Michael echoed.

Lucifer deftly undid the ribbons of his shift and unclasped the heavy silver chain. In his palm sat a small, silver amulet. Slowly he opened it. Immediately the sky was filled by a blinding sapphire light. Michael and Lucifer hid their faces with their forearms, and Lucifer laughed in elation.

Slowly Michael’s eyes became accustomed to the shimmering glare. ‘Lucifer!’ he exclaimed. ‘No!’

But Lucifer only laughed exultantly.

Michael stared in awe. ‘A stone of fire – a sapphire stone from the vaults of the cherubim!’

Lucifer’s face was bathed in radiance, his mouth moving in worship. ‘From the sixth spire,’ he whispered.

‘When you were there with Jether?’

Lucifer nodded. ‘I was but seven moons when I walked up and down amidst the stones of fire. I could not bear to be away from Him even for a moment.’ Lucifer stared in awe at the stone of fire. ‘It is His presence.’

He refastened the amulet. The light and presence immediately disappeared. He sat and put his head in his hands, rocking to and fro inconsolably. ‘My mind – it pains me greatly, Michael . . . ’ Distractedly Lucifer ran his hand through his tangled raven hair. ‘He has abandoned me for this . . .
man
.’

Great, heaving sobs racked Lucifer’s imperial frame. Michael stared at Lucifer, visibly distressed. Lucifer grasped Michael’s hand and looked at him imploringly. ‘You and I together. We have always been together. Don’t let me do this alone.’ He looked blankly out at the Holy Mountain, disoriented. ‘You followed me everywhere, Michael, as a youngling . . . I was your protector . . . keeper.’

He swung around dramatically, his eyes flashing. ‘Follow me
now
, Michael.’ His voice dropped to a deranged whisper. ‘A third of the angelic force have sworn allegiance to me.’ He stared at Michael with a look of insane exhilaration. ‘With your third aligned with mine . . . ’ Lucifer looked fervently into Michael’s eyes, never breaking his gaze. ‘Brothers . . . for eternity!’

Ever so gently Michael untangled Lucifer’s hand from his own, stunned. He looked deep into Lucifer’s eyes, searching for some remnant of the mentor who had once been so zealous in his quest for truth and righteousness, who had loved Yehovah and even Michael himself with such fervency. ‘You would betray Yehovah?’ Michael uttered, his voice barely a whisper.

‘Yehovah!’ Lucifer hissed the name. ‘I pleaded with Him, “You have the entire angelic host at Your command, ministering to You day and night,” but still He wanted more. “Man will fail You,” I warned Him. “They will be Your great regret.” Then He turned to me. “Lucifer, Lucifer,” He tenderly admonished me, “I long for fellowship with that which is created in My image.”’

Michael watched as Lucifer paced up and down the lush blue undergrowth, his eyes flashing fervid with his ravings.

‘And then erupted a deep, dark fury in my soul. For out of His own mouth He had admitted it! I, the shining one, the daystar, second only to His throne, was not enough for Him. No matter if my whole eternity was spent loving Him, I could never be as this
man!
’

Michael stared at Lucifer, a terrible sickness engulfing him. He realized that he who had been so loved and adored by heaven was gone, and in his place was a cunning malevolence that made Michael yearn for the brother he so loved. Tears coursed unashamedly down his cheeks. ‘Brother, I cannot.’

Lucifer recoiled from him. ‘We were not enough for Him!’ His face contorted in a vicious mask. ‘
You
were not enough for Him, Michael!’

Michael’s thoughts raced. He fought for control of his emotions.

‘You fool!’ Lucifer raved. ‘Once He has this man He will tire of you!’ He strode over to the edge of the cliff and stared out at the blinding radiance of the Holy Mountain. ‘He has abandoned us,’ he whimpered.

As Michael watched, the darkness over Lucifer’s features shifted, and he became suddenly lucid. He looked up at Michael desperately. ‘Michael . . .
help me!
’ He clutched Michael’s face in his strong, fine hands, then crumpled like a child into his brother’s arms.

Michael clasped his brother tightly to his chest. His fingers gently stroked the matted blue-black locks. He eased Jether’s ring from a pouch and placed it gently in Lucifer’s palm, closing the jewelled fingers over it. ‘Jether bids you meet him in his private chamber at twelve bells.’

Lucifer muttered to himself, rocking from side to side inconsolably. Then slowly he caressed the ring. ‘Jether?’ he murmured.

Michael stared over Lucifer’s shoulder and froze in disbelief at what he saw – as Lucifer’s shadow fell across the glowing blue celestial lupins behind him, each one rotted and fell to the ground, dead.

‘Yes,’ Lucifer said, ‘I will go to Jether.’

Chapter Fifteen

Tower of Winds

You were perfect in your ways

From the day you were created,

Till iniquity was found in you.

Lucifer stood at the turret window of Jether’s monastic cloister, a tall and imperious figure watching the gales blow the twelve pale moons across the midnight sky.

‘You have my deep appreciation, Jether.’ He turned from the window, his long raven hair framing the beautiful alabaster face.

The old man was slumped across the carved wooden table. Dark purple blood ran from a wound on Jether’s head.

‘You were as a father to me . . . ’ Carefully Lucifer wiped his diamond-studded dagger on his mantle and replaced it in its sheath. He smiled down at Jether with his blazing sapphire gaze.

Jether stared through glazed, pained eyes. ‘You will lose, Lucifer,’ he whispered hoarsely. ‘You cannot hope to prevail.’

‘Never! You were like the rest of them . . . you never realized my full potential. I am the prince regent, born to
rule
.’ Lucifer looked at Jether with malice. ‘You more than any knew my genius. You, my mentor. So, you more than any
betrayed
me.’

He flung open the lofty turret windows, and the violent swirling winds blew his hair and cloak. ‘I
will
ascend into heaven. I
will
exalt my throne above the throne of Yehovah.’ A strange, evil fire burned in the blazing steel-blue eyes. ‘I
will
sit upon the mount of the congregation. They will worship me.’ He stared at the inert Jether with insane glee. ‘
He
will worship me.’

Jether struggled to raise himself. ‘For the sake of all that once was Lucifer, I
implore
you, repent . . . while you still have free will . . . ’ He slumped down.

‘Jether, Yehovah’s holy steward – the only one who knew my full intentions . . . ’ Lucifer bent down and placed his cold, alabaster face directly next to Jether, skin on skin. Jether shivered, and Lucifer smiled. ‘No one knows the intricate and complex workings of my mind like you do, old man,’ he hissed. ‘I know you speak to no one. Who would you have me believe knows of my designs? The malleable, tender Gabriel? He suffers from a malady of soul – he shall join me!’