Redemption of Light (The Light Trilogy) (31 page)

Blood drained from Jason’s face. “Where did they get weapons?”

Qery lifted his hands helplessly. “They used two vials of hypinitronium to convince the engineering staff to turn over their guns. Now they have a stockpile of rifles and pistols, along with the vials.”

Jason rubbed a hand disbelievingly over his face. “Who are they?”

“Unknown. They demand to talk to you, sir.”

Jason started across the floor. “Set up a visual come outside of Engineering. Organize a security team and a special forces unit. Have them meet me there in fifteen minutes.”

‘Aye, sir,” Qery saluted and pivoted to race away at full speed.

Jason wet his lips, pulse pounding like a kettle drum in his ears. He noticed Calas watching him intently as he strode out of the hospital.

Zadok slowed his steps as they neared the gray hole. The utter blackness of the Void swam and eddied around him. The opening seemed wide enough for two. Would Epagael allow him to leave for the first time in over a decade? His blood surged with excitement as he hurried forward. Carey Halloway followed behind him and stepped through the hole onto the grassy plains of the first heaven.

Zadok lifted his arms in relief and triumph as he inhaled deeply of the springtime air. “I’m through!”

Halloway came up beside him, her cool green eyes surveying the place as though searching for enemy soldiers. “Why do you think Epagael decided to let you pass?”

“He must need me for something.”

“Something to do with Horeb, I’d wager.”

Zadok’s dark eyes narrowed. “Perhaps.” The terrifying things she’d told him on their journey through the Void had left him deeply worried. But could they be true? A holocaust on Tikkun? Mass murder on Horeb? Gamant rebellions sparking across the galaxy as people frantically tried to hide from Magisterial tyranny? He could believe the latter. He’d led enough of those rebellions to know what desperation did to Gamants. But he couldn’t quite believe the rest. Epagael would have told him. Epagael would have shown him how to guide Mikael to avoid such brutality. And if He hadn’t—God had reasons.

Zadok examined Halloway again. Though wary, She seemed intrigued and delighted by everything. Her gaze caressed the splashes of orange poppies fringing the meadow, the gigantic oaks waving in the cool breezes, the fluffy clouds drifting through the azure skies. Her formatting black battlesuit highlighted her tall feminine body and auburn hair. A hard, calculating glint shone in her emerald eyes.

Zadok tugged her black sleeve. “Come. Let’s get to the gate and find out what’s really going on.”

He hobbled along a dirt path through the wildflower strewn meadow. Epagael’s reasons for allowing him entry must revolve around her. But what could this tall, athletic woman have to do with the survival of Gamant civilization?

They walked past a jumbled pile of rocks and she said, “Zadok, would you mind if we sat down for a short time? I’d like to talk to you more before we challenge the gatekeeper.”

“I wouldn’t mind at all. These blasted knees have been bothering me for centuries.”

He waddled over to a low boulder and sat down heavily. She stood beside him, propping a boot on a rounded rock and bending forward to brace her hands on her knee. She inhaled deeply of the fragrant flower-scented breeze.

“My God, it’s beautiful here. More beautiful than I’d have ever dreamed. Providing, that is, that I’m not dreaming.” She smiled wryly.

A white-tailed deer with two spotted fawns trotted out of the trees in the distance. Bounding through the tall grass, they paid Zadok and Carey little notice.

“You’re not dreaming,’ Zadok assured her. “And all the heavens are beautiful. Each has its own sort of splendor. Wait until we get to the seventh heaven, Arabot, you’ll be amazed by the majesty of the music.”

“How do we get through the gates? Doesn’t the potential entrant have to prove his or her worthiness by answering some obscure questions?”

“Yes—often, very obscure. I’m sure Sedriel is thinking up something ridiculous at this very moment.”

“Well, I’m certainly grateful to have met you, Zadok, because I don’t know any of the secret signs or words to gain entrance.”

Zadok rubbed his wrinkled throat and grimaced. “Yes, I’ve been wondering about that.”

“What?”

“Why the angel who spoke to you didn’t simply pass you through to the seventh palace. Certainly he had the power to do that. I’ve had to do it the hard way for years because the angels are crotchety enough not to have wanted to help me. But you. … I don’t understand. Why did he bring you through the Void of Authades?”

She ran fingers through her auburn hair. A cool gust of wind rippled across the meadow to flap their sleeves. “I don’t know. Unless he knew you were there and wanted you and me to talk first. You’re one of my husband’s greatest heroes. Many times over the past twelve years I’ve heard Jeremiel lament that things would have been different if you’d lived. Maybe the angel thought you could help Jeremiel through me.”

Zadok forced himself to smile. “Perhaps. How is Jeremiel?”

Carey’s face tightened and Zadok could see the love and fear for her husband. He reached out to touch her forearm sympathetically and together they watched an eagle lilting on the wind currents high overhead; its flight was a silent symphony.

“Jeremiel is fine. He almost died on Tikkun twelve years ago, but—”

“Almost died? What happened?”

“Oh, it’s a long story, some of which I’ve already told you. You’ll remember we talked about how Cole Tahn scorched Horeb? The attack had set off a series of devastating fire storms that rolled over the planet, killing everything in their wake. After Jeremiel took over the
Hoyer,
he struggled to rescue as many of the survivors as he could by bringing them aboard the cruiser. Later, the
Hoyer
was ordered to go to Tikkun to aid in suppressing the riots that had flared across the planet. Jeremiel had no choice but to comply, or he’d give away the fact that Cole Tahn was no longer in control of the cruiser. In the meantime, Jeremiel found out that the Magistrates had grown suspicious of the situation aboard the
Hoyer
and had dispatched five cruisers to surround the ship when it got to Tikkun. He knew his only hope of saving the Gamant refugees aboard was to put them down safely in the remote regions on Tikkun. But he had to check out the situation on Tikkun before he felt secure in doing that. At gunpoint, he forced Tahn down with him to examine one of the ‘research installations’ the Magistrates had set up on the planet. Jeremiel was captured by Major Johannes Lichtner and severely tortured. Lichtner made him run between two lines of soldiers with flame wands. One of the witnesses claimed that Jeremiel’s skin seemed to boil as he staggered to the end.” She hesitated as though the telling gave her pain. “Jeremiel received third degree burns over eighty percent of his body. Had it not been for the fact that Cole and Rachel went down to rescue Jeremiel, I’m sure he’d be dead.”

Zadok clenched a fist. Jeremiel had been fighting nearly his entire life to protect Gamant people and culture. And Zadok remembered all too clearly how tenderly, respectfully, Jeremiel had held him as he’d died on that long-ago rainy day on Kayan. His desperate hatred of the Magistrates grew.

“I thank Epagael that you and Cole Tahn joined the Underground.” Affectionately, Zadok reached out to squeeze her shoulder.

Carey smiled and patted his hand, then her brows lowered in thought. The arching branches of a maple waved behind her, silhouetting her still form. “I don’t know how to ask this without offending you, Zadok.”

“Oh, I’ve been offended by the best. I’m sure I’ll survive. What is it?”

She tilted her head back and frowned at the lacy puffs of cloud sailing over the tops of the trees. “It’s about Epagael. Why would he condemn you to such a terrible fate? Confinement, alone, in that dark void must have been horrifying.”

He expelled a long breath. “It was. Sometimes I thought I’d go mad. But it gave me the chance to talk to my grandson. You see, with my body dead, Epagael couldn’t send me home again. I had no receptacle to return to.”

“But if God is all-powerful, couldn’t he have fashioned a new receptacle? If He’d truly wanted you to guide the Gamant people, why—”

“I’ve wondered that myself.” Zadok brushed the grains of sand from his coarse brown robe. “In fact I’ve been thinking about it for centuries. I think the answer lies in the definition of omnipotence. I don’t think it means God can do anything He wants. I think it means He has control over all the power that’s available to Him.”

“And what isn’t available to Him?”

“Oh, for example, that infinitesimal part that we possess. I don’t understand it either, really. But I do know there are some things He cannot do. In the last Gamant Revolt, for example, Epagael could not have stopped the war Himself. That’s why I had to travel through the heavens to talk to Him face-to-face to learn the victory strategy.”

She smoothed her boot sole over the gritty rock and the lines in her forehead deepened. “Does that mean, as well, Zadok, that Epagael only has a limited amount of goodness, truth, and beauty?”

He lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. Shall we go and ask Him?”

“Do you think He’ll tell us?”

“He’s always been honest with me. I have the utmost confidence in his desire to help Gamant civilization survive.” Zadok grunted to his feet and affectionately took Carey by the arm. “Come, let’s go wrestle with the demon so we can be on our way to the second heaven. There’s no telling what sort of foolishness Sedriel will use to delay us.”

They tramped through the sweet smelling grass of the meadow and climbed a low tree-covered knoll. Birds chirped and fluttered in the boughs that curved over their heads. When they broke over the crest, Zadok heard Carey’s low intake of breath. He looked up to see the enormous rapier-thin arch of the first gate gleaming gloriously in the sun. Against the arch, Sedriel lounged in lazy disarray. Dressed in a champagne-colored robe with a regal crimson sash around his waist, his crystalline features glimmered like polished golden teardrops. His brilliant white wings stroked the air to fend off the iridescent swarm of gnats that clouded around his head.

As they neared the gate, Sedriel haughtily declared, “You’re late, as usual, Zadok.”

“What do you care?” Zadok taunted. “You don’t have anything else to do.”

Sedriel’s magnificent amber eyes narrowed. “Careful, Zadok, you’re in enough trouble as it is. That wench, Rachel, is playing with fire and doesn’t even know it.”

Zadok felt suddenly hot. He looked up in horror at Carey. “I—I don’t understand. I told Jeremiel to kill Rachel Eloel.
He didn’t?”
Rachel—Aktariel’s handmaiden, the promised Antimashiah of legend. He’d read her name on the sacred Veil that stretched before the throne of God, the Veil where all events of creation were recorded.

Carey’s eyes turned steely. “No. He believed at the time that Aktariel was fighting on the side of the Gamants, against the Magistrates.”

Zadok closed his eyes in utter despair. “Oh, my dear God.”

Sedriel smiled lecherously at Carey. “Oh, I can’t wait until you tell Epagael that. Not that you’ll have the chance. Neither you nor Zadok can pass through the gate.”

“Why not?” Zadok demanded. His voice echoed around the hills, startling the birds into silence.

“Because Epagael hasn’t called you, that’s why. I can’t even ask you any questions unless He approves and He hasn’t, so the issue is closed. Go back to Authades.” Sedriel shooed them away and rudely turned his back.

Zadok lapsed into infuriated silence. He turned to Carey. “See, I told you he was insufferable. Now, look here, Sedriel, this woman was sent by an angel. You may refuse me passage, but she certainly has the right to enter!”

Sedriel made a disgusted noise and glowered over his shoulder.
“Which
angel, Zadok?”

“Well, I—I don’t—”

“He didn’t give me his name,” Carey interrupted. “But he looks very much like you.”

Sedriel flapped his wings indignantly. “We all look alike to you ignorant humans. You can’t even tell each other apart. How can you expect to distinguish between angels?”

Carey propped her hands on her hips and whispered conspiratorially to Zadok, “You’re right, he is an arrogant sonofabitch.”

“
I heard that!”
Sedriel snapped. He spun around. “After this, I’ll never let you through this gate again, Zadok, I don’t care how many questions you answer correctly!”

Zadok grimaced at the angel’s stiff stance. “This is a new style for you, Sedriel. You look like you swallowed a broomstick.”

Sedriel’s gaze darted questioningly over the landscape, then he scowled. “Was that a comment on my allegiances!”

“What? Oh, I get it. Witches and all that. I simply meant that—”

“It’s immaterial to me what you meant! Now, go on, get out of here before you really make me angry and I call fire and brimstone down from the heavens to burn you to a crisp—or …” He scratched his neck uncertainly. “Or something equally colorful.”

Zadok mumbled an ancient profanity about angels’ mothers and threw up his hands. “I’m sorry, Carey, but if Sedriel won’t allow us to pass, then—”