The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix (30 page)

At that moment, Asotos saw the person
walking next to Mihai stumble into her side. Mihai’s body language,
even from that distance, declared oh so much. The man laughed out
loud. He turned to Legion, who stood his side, pointing while
speaking in little above a whisper, “Right on the edge she is,
ready to trip the cuckoo bird, and whoever it is standing her side
is not her favorite this day. All the better for it...”

Legion laughed, agreeing.

The satisfaction of seeing the battle
already won filled Asotos’ heart with gleeful joy. Patiently he had
waited for these many years. The signing of the Treaty of Memphis,
thus ending the Great War, giving the appearance that the League of
Brothers accepted defeat, was little more than a ploy, buying
Asotos time to develop his greatest of battle strategies. Today he
would execute his ‘Coup de theos kenos’ (Lit:
To throw down the
vain [false] god into emptiness.
) Before the sun set upon
EdenEsonbar, his ships would be en route to that city, he preparing
for the upcoming grand coronation of its new and
rightful
king. Erithia would be long gone from this universe, hoping that
her departure would somehow save her little darling daughter.
Asotos laughed again.

Yes, for years this man had labored
tirelessly to deliver up the Fates to this very hour. This
grandiose campaign he had personally seen to. No one more capable
to do the job was there than he, so
he
must be the one to do
the job. Asotos smiled. From the remotest detail to the greatest of
panoramas he, himself, had directed with the laborious finesse of
an accomplished conductor orchestrating the finest of musical
symphonies. Nothing would fail him this day, for
he
had been
the
creator
of coming events!

A frown suddenly swept Asotos’ face,
carrying with it the tiniest wisp of uncertainty. He knew that
Erithia and her rabble had a moot, strategizing for this coming
day, they unable to anything without discussion and debate. He had
made arrangements to have delivered to him any important
information revealed there. Having been so absorbed in the final
details of this mission, he had given little consideration to the
matter until now as he examined the approaching host. Who stood
Michael’s side as herald? Although it mattered little in his grand
scheme, it should have not been left to him as a surprise. Maybe
there were
other
minor points he should have been informed
of. Someone had acted carelessly, or maybe there was treason
afoot.

Asotos eyes scanned the crowd. Yes! Yes,
there
was the culprit who failed in a most important
mission. The man’s anger grew as he pondered the possibility of
betrayal. This he would not, could not, permit to go un-addressed,
no breach of trust tolerated! Such an infraction was never too tiny
to be ignored… forgotten.

A sudden change of breeze sent clouds of
red, chalky dust drifting toward Asotos’ company. Soon silt-laden
clouds of crimson filth drifted in upon the assembly, delivering
irritation to eyes and throats. For Asotos, there also arrived
wafting upon the air a panoply of odors and scents revealing
secrets the eyes could not yet discern.

The sweat of the horses and teamsters rose
pungent in Asotos’ nostrils, but their power could not hide the
more subtle nuances drifting in upon his senses. Several of the men
- Ardon and PalaHar included - he could easily identify. He paid no
heed to unknown male redolence, having not gathered many of them to
his mind. On the other hand, Planetee, Anna, Michael and all the
other women carried individual scents long recorded in his
memory...all that is except of Erithia, which came as no surprise,
her witchery covering every part of her nature, and...and two other
women, their scents both strange and troubling to him.

Lifting his head to gather more of the
breeze, Asotos attempted to identify the source of those scents.
Studying the nearing throng, he eyed the woman walking beside
Michael, the same person she had recently contended with. Her gait
was peculiar, a swagger of certainty and… and… independent
defiance, an uncommon trait for most of the women in this world.
Lifting a hand to cast the sun from his eyes, he searched in vain
to recognize the woman’s face.

Who might this stranger be? Suddenly it
occurred to Asotos that this approaching officer must be the little
child who troubled him so with her constant baby jabber and
snooping, the little brat always under foot and getting in the way.
She had been a total pest, Sirion even allowing the child entry to
their bed during the late night hours. It might just be her all
grown up. He smiled at the thought of the hunt anew, the capture of
a young roe through beguiling prose, a game long ago abandoned, but
so enjoyed with the
charming, innocent babes - his personal
little toys
Erithia use to deliver to him.

The smile fled Asotos face when his nostrils
caught a wisp of a second unknown scent. Who would that person be?
Was it only the witch’s trickery creating it? Possible... He
strained to see off in Erithia’s direction, but the clouds of dust
hid from him any definitive sight. Only hazy shapes of the
advancing crowd could one observe behind the dust’s curtain.

The breeze shifted ever so slightly, chasing
away the haunting smell. At the same instant, the dust cloud parted
so that Asotos could clearly see Erithia seated her horse. He
clenched his fists, cursing under his breath. “Play your silly
games,
Witch Woman
, thief of stolen treasures! This day is
mine! I shall win it! I shall win it! Then watch and see my wrath
reserved for those who have honored your evil!” His hands relaxed
while a smile slowly crept across his face, thinking just how
futile the
Witch Woman’s
tricks would be this day.

A little dust devil whirled in from nowhere,
gathering up and scattering gritty sand into the faces of Asotos
and his officers. As suddenly as it appeared, the micro twister
vanished in the desert heat, spiriting away the daunting breeze and
all the womanly fragrances carried upon it. Before Asotos could
take notice of it, though, a harmonic symphony of mesmerizing,
chiming tunes crashed upon his ears. Surprise and consternation
filled an impassioned heart as wanton eyes searched the shadowy
forms hidden in the settling dust. As suddenly as the breeze had
died, it sprang back to life with intensified energy, swirling and
churning the dust skyward in thick, blinding clouds.

Troubling half-forgotten memories ripped
through Asotos’ mind like jagged lightning through a sky. His anger
flashed as ghostly visions of passions denied raced through his
body, bringing with them vivid recollections of stolen expectations
soon to be replaced with hopeless frustration as the crimson haze
blocked from his view those in Erithia’s van. He cursed the Queen
of Evil under his breath, believing she was orchestrating some of
her witchery at him.

Oh, but it was all too late for Asotos. His
mind released a tsunami of emotional tumult buried deep under an
ocean’s locker of sunken feelings. How his heart began to pine with
lonely desire for the one creature he ever wanted but had remained
ever elusive to his touch! Fists clenched in growing rage as he
thought of the woman’s
murder
before she could be brought
into his world. He was so close...

“
Damn her! Damn her!”
The man cursed
under his breath. To steal the
only
woman of Earth he had
ever taken a shine to and destroy her was unforgivable! The day
would come when Gabrielle would pay, and pay dearly for this and
the multitude of other atrocities she had fomented against him and
his fellow innocents.
Today!
Today was only the beginning of
his revenge.

Asotos relaxed as he dreamed of future hours
and coming days. Oh, the sweet anticipation of watching life slowly
ebb from this usurping wench, Michael, while her saving mentor
stands hopelessly by, impotent in her ability to even rescue
herself. He laughed quietly thinking about the new and wondrous
machines being developed in his laboratories at this very moment,
machines that may well keep a mind alive long after it has tired of
its wretched body.

For but a moment, Asotos regretted
Gabrielle’s absence at today’s prisoner exchange. Oh well, the
better for it. No need to risk the woman’s hidden powers. She was a
formidable foe. It had been an easy matter to get Erithia’s promise
to stay out of the proceedings this day. She was so weak in her
constitution when it came to her children. So much she wanted to
see them all safely home again, surrendering up everything in the
hopes of being reunited with them. Gabrielle was so different…
hardened… callous. She would accept no parley, except maybe in an
attempt to save her little darling, Michael. He frowned angrily.
No, it had not been worth the risk, not this day when everything
had to go just right. Things were better off left where they
were.

Smiling, Asotos quietly cooed, “It’s for the
best. Her hour will yet come, and soon.”

The breeze fell into subtle repose, its
becalmed breath little more than a memory. As its voice faded away,
the musical refrains of tiny bells drifted quietly upon the air,
playing their bewitching music in Asotos’ ears. With renewed
energy, the man again took up his search for the source of the
painfully alluring tune, waiting impatiently for the diminishing
dust cloud to unveil secrets within. Ah, finally, the person
leading Erithia’s horse, yes! He strained his eyes looking, as
though they might be able to rent the red curtain aside by their
sheer willpower to reveal to him the creature hurting his mind
so.

Just as the dust was beginning to part,
causing a smile to break across wanting lips, the lead team of
horses bringing up the wagon train moved between the person
creating the musical tumult and Asotos. Forcing back a desire to
scream his angry frustration, in a hush he cursed, hands shaking in
little tremors,
“You will regret this interference! Only the
worse will it be should you renege upon your oath to stand down
this day!”

Silence...no reply echoing in Asotos’ mind.
Then he saw them, scolding eyes glinting with laughter and the
message they sent was clear.
‘War is played on many levels. Can
you best me with your cunning, oh empty scarecrow of the
imagination? My daughter is not the only lone soul standing the
corn this day. As you, I also play for keeps. I throw the dice to
the Fates and shall gather up the gold. For me, I have the unknown
elements supporting my intrigues. What is in your quiver but empty
threats and hollow words?’
The laughing eyes faded from his
vision.

Asotos screamed out in his mind with
chastising rebukes and curses. ‘Be off with you, Witch of the
Damned! Today is my day. You have fated the destruction of your own
children. My quiver is filled with righteous indignation that shall
overcome any of your impotent machinations. Be off with you now,
before this fear-inspiring day fills your soul with anguish and
dread! Be off, before my arrows are unleashed against all the
abominations gathered here with you!’

Silence! Golden silence! But Asotos’ smile
soon melted away into a frown. No reply? He knew Erithia had heard
his declarations and threats, and she made
no
reply. The man
searched the harmonics for signs of emotion, reaction. None…
nothing! Erithia had disappeared from the very existence of the
universe. Suddenly, the man felt himself falling into immeasurable
emptiness, a vast void in which a very tiny universe appeared to be
little more than a pinprick of light in all the empty, cold
nothingness surrounding it, chilling his heart.

As he dumbly stood there, attempting to
understand the meaning of what he was seeing, a voice faint and
distant echoed upon his mind, “
My
world…”

The vision evaporated in forgetful mist as
the hypnotic music of the dancing bells intensified.

At that instant, a small gap between the two
lead wagons revealed the secreted source of the music. For only
seconds, Asotos stared, mouth agape, at the very image of
unfulfilled desires past. Could it be her?! Was it his very
dream of dreams
returned from the abyss to haunt this hour?!
There she was, exactly as his passionate mind remembered her,
or…

The second team plodded ahead, blocking
Asotos’ view. He swore an oath of damnation against Erithia and all
her children, shaking his head in disgust. “The dead see not, hear
not. What goes to the dust does not return from it. Her witchery
shall turn her bastardly abominations into dust. I swear!”

Attempting to check his emotions, Asotos
forced his attention back to Michael and her entourage. The nearing
throng was close enough now to allow keen recognition of people
approaching. Two men walked near and to the left of Michael in the
lead element. Although dressed in robes of state that hid suits of
armor, their uncertain gait and wonder-filled faces revealed the
truth that these fellows were new to such intrigues and
uncomfortable, feeling out of place being here. Peculiar...

There were few in Michael’s assembly that
Asotos did not know, other than the woman walking beside her and…
and that queer fellow far off to her left. The man was dressed more
like a Stasis Pirate and walked with a swagger that made him appear
as though he was looking for a confrontation. The man carried no
sword, but other weapons aplenty - weapons normally reserved for
the battlefield.

At that moment, the man’s stare caught
Asotos’ attention, locking the two in an intense gaze. A wicked
smile crossed the man’s lips, his eyes boring in Asotos’.
‘
Fool!’
Did this fool have no comprehension of who he was
contesting with? Asotos reached out to study the spirit of the man,
to search his soul and mind, to find out what he was about.