The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix (48 page)

“
You wouldn’t dare!”
Asotos boldly
spouted, though his countenance was faltering.
“You wouldn’t
dare...”

“I’ve nothing to lose, fool. Death is not so
bad. If that is my reward for taking your life, then the better for
it.” Trisha laughed, shouting,
“Beg for your life, slime weed!
Beg or die!”

“
How does the Maker of Worlds permit this
Travesty?!
Where is the Purveyor of Justice when law is being
thrown into the dust?!” Asotos’ voice carried far on the still,
late-day air.

Nothing...

Trisha laughed. “Call out to the true God.
Maybe you will receive a hearing ear.” She jabbed him again.

Asotos’ face reddened in anger, but the
dread of this monster’s intent forced him to do the unthinkable.
“Oh, Mother! Maker of all living things! Do not allow such folly
to continue unto death!”

After the longest silence, a cheerful voice
replied, asking, “Are you addressing me?”

“Yes!” Asotos squealed in panic as he felt
the blade cut ever so slightly into his skin. “Yes! I’m talking to
you.
Save me from this beast!”

Lowenah frowned. “How? You placed me under
oath to…”

Asotos shouted, shaking his head in
distress,
“I rescind it! I rescind it! You must stop this
folly!”

Lowenah urged her mount forward, stopping
within speaking distance of her field marshal. Asotos grinned,
looking down haughtily at Trisha. In just above a whisper, he
chided, “All this foolishness is for nothing. Now be off to tend
your camels...”

Trisha hissed, twisting the blade point as
she did, “Only a fool monkey laughs in a tiger’s face. Ask the
others… I’ve been known to disobey orders.”

The sun falling behind the distant mountains
suddenly cast a shadow across the company standing upon the lonely
plain, it catching up the wisp of a chill breeze. Lowenah looked
over at Asotos, warning, “A smart fly does not buzz while still
trapped in the spider’s web. There is still more than your
manliness in question here this day.”

She then turned her attention to Trisha, who
appeared not to be paying her any heed. “Commander, the prisoners
have been released. Why do you still linger here at this late
hour?”

Trisha growled, “We have not yet concluded
our business. I am come here to pay the Kriggerman, so that my
brothers may finally cross the River, knowing their murderer is no
more. The boatman’s charge of a ‘soul for a soul’ is all I
seek.”

Asotos howled in dismay.
“It wants to
murder me! It wants to murder me!”

Lowenah asked, curious, “Is that really so?
The death of this man for the souls of all your brothers
slain?”

Trisha sputtered angrily, “The death of
all
who follow this wretched thing is insufficient payment
for the evil done to my kind. No payment will ever be enough.”

Slowly shaking her head, Lowenah calmly
replied, “You know I will not permit this man’s death today. It is
a promise ordained for another at a future hour. It will come.”

At hearing this, Asotos began a tirade
against Lowenah.

She quickly shut him up. “
Quiet, you!
I am the Changer of times and seasons. I rescind oaths on a whim
for the likes of you, and I can change your destiny whenever I so
choose. Be silent and I may allow you to yet live - something you
would not have offered to my little child, Michael, had I allowed
you to have your way with her this day.”

Asotos’ angry expression instantly turned to
that of shock. Erithia knew of his secret plans? How? He had kept
matters quiet. Only a very few of his most trusted officers knew
his intentions.
How many were the traitors in his camp?
Should he live past this day, there would certainly be a thorough
inquisition to find out the source of the leak.

Turning back to Trisha, Lowenah commented,
“Since a soul for a soul will not pay the boatman, what, say, can
be done - something symbolic possibly, providing a token offering
to allow your kindred the River’s crossing?”

Asotos could feel the blade shaking as the
woman struggled with her personal desire to cut him to pieces and
her unfailing loyalty to Erithia. Her lips quivered as heated
battle raged between heart and mind. Never before had Asotos heard
the Boatman singing his name. His face paled as the realization
grew that his life might well end this day.

The impassioned struggle between desire and
duty was short-lived, but never had the time desperately dragged so
slowly for Asotos. Finally, in resigned obedience to her devotion
to Lowenah, Trisha called back, “Yes, I will accept a token
offering in exchange for this
worm
- something that will
permit my kind to gather to their rest across the River. It is of
far more worth than he, but it is what I demand, or I shall not
leave him go alive.”

Lowenah was quietly surprised, but said
nothing. Her new field marshal was serious, restraining every fiber
of her strength to hold back from killing this man. She could tell
that it was only love that controlled the raw savagery that burned
in Trisha’s breast. What had that caldron of evil from which she
and the others of her kind come really done to them? Whatever it
was, its creator, Lowenah’s oldest son, was now witnessing in all
its glory. What would an army of these ruthless creatures do if
unleashed in this universe? Lowenah asked, curious, “Is it I who
must surrender this treasure up so that you will spare him for me,
or…”

“
It is he!”
Trisha answered,
interrupting. “It is a treasure of his.”

“
Whatever you want!”
Asotos cried,
desperate.
“Whatever you want!
I give it to you! I give it
to you!”

Trisha squinted, stretching up on her toes,
pressing her face against Asotos’, snarling, “Have your
girly-whore
get me that big-jowled beast and delivered it
here...”

Asotos yelled at Legion to hurry and bring
the large guard dog, Legion resisting, railing at Trisha’s
reference to him. Asotos demanded, “Just shut your mouth and get on
with it!” sending Legion off grumbling. All the while, Lowenah sat
her mount, expressionless, quiet, bemused by their verbal
jousting.

Legion soon returned with a giant guard dog
that weighed at least six stone. He stopped a safe distance away,
still spouting complaints for the
abhorrent
treatment being
meted out against his people. Standing up straight while extending
the canine’s leash, he angrily muttered, “Here! Take this and go!
You’ve gotten what you asked for...”

“
Neuter it!”
Trisha demanded, never
taking her eyes off Asotos. “It’s far too
valuable
a trophy
for this trade the way it is.”

Legion refused to neuter the dog until
Trisha jabbed Asotos with the blade, threatening him, Asotos
screaming out for Legion to do as he was ordered. Finally, while
two soldiers held the beast, Legion castrated it, the animal
howling, forlorn. Lowenah continued silent, watching events
unfold.

When finished, two of Trisha’s lieutenants
took the wounded animal from Asotos’ soldiers. Returning to their
station, they stopped, awaiting further orders. Trisha, uttering
not a word, stared up at Asotos. Without warning, she jerked her
arms, cursing him as she did. Startled, Asotos snapped his head up,
throwing his arms high. Trisha jumped out of the man’s reach before
he could react, slowly backing away until rejoining her two
officers.

Trisha need not have worried about being
entrapped by Asotos - at least not at that moment. The man was so
relieved to see that he remained alive and physically intact, he
was giving no consideration to the prize that had escaped him.
Still, as the realization of danger passed sank in, he could not
but help to retort with bravado.

Shaking a threatening hand, in an angry,
self-righteous, condescending tone, he accused, “
Who are you to
come into our world playing the ruler over us, Trisha, daughter of
the dust and child of the dung heap!
Go back to your forgotten
world and be done with you! You’re not wanted here! Should not be
polluting our world... If not for the illegitimate powers of this
evil witch…” he pointed at Lowenah, “you’d be nothing at all! Child
of the lost ages!
Bastard
of the living dead! Return to your
forgotten past!”

Trisha leaned forward, squinting, her face
reddening in rage. “
Who am I
?!
Who am I?!
Man of
little sense, goblin-child of ignorance, your own seers spoke of me
long ago, warning the likes of you regarding secret laws buried
within the nature of this universe.” She pointed, shaking a hand at
SalakTaqadam. “Your girly-servant, the once revered AsreHalom,
wrote concerning me. In his
Chronicles of TRISHA
, he made
this solemn pronouncement: ‘Should the world lose its glorious
light and turn to the darkness of an evil age, Sharon will return
to life and birth a blood day upon the children of this universe.
And a sword shall arise that will turn the world red with rivers of
blood, the slain being uncounted.’”

Then wagging a finger at Asotos, she chided,
“So smart and wise you are, too wise to listen to your own
counselor. Do you really believe the Maker of Worlds would give her
glorious creation a camel-tender’s name? Fool! Listen to your
prophet and learn.
“
T
-Tithemi!
R-
Rhapisma!
I
-Isangelos!
S
-Sphazo!
H
-Hagiazo!
A
-Aphorizo!
Low, that evil day will bring with it
the Despoiler of Worlds, Maker of Death, Bringer of Darkness. But
that is not all! For I see that by the very laws of EbenCeruboam
there comes behind it the Bringer of Eternal Blackness. Yes! It is
but the harbinger,
Sphazo
, of the one to come, the
Hagiazo Aphorizo
, Wraith of Damnation, known as
‘
Shiloh’,
in the common tongue.”

Trisha thumped her chest with a fist,
thundering, “It is
I
, the
Sphazo
, who has come into
your world, High Lord over all the armies in the Heavens above and
the worlds beneath. You contend with me, not your little sister
whom you’ve toyed with for so long. I fear not death or your evil
intent, for
I
am the Evil of prophecy, long ordained to
bring your house down to dust. And yet I am but a harbinger of the
one to come who will deliver your soul over to you little sister to
do with you as she sees it fit to be!”

Asotos was aghast over these revelations,
but before he could make reply, Trisha struck again. “You do not
contend with God, but with
me!
The Maker of Worlds is not my
master, and I not her slave. I do as I wish and go as I please.
I
am the Maker of Law, and all these servants of Hers will
obey those laws, as they are sworn under oath to obey me.”

Without warning, Trisha yanked her
lieutenant’s sword from its scabbard, spinning about in a blur,
slamming it through the heart of the leashed dog. The animal yelped
in pain, falling over onto its side, dead, the sword’s crosstree
hilt sticking skyward.

Trisha stepped back as she turned toward
Asotos while the crowd stood there in shocked silence. Extending a
hand, her eyes blazing with rage, Trisha roared,
“A ruin! A
ruin! A ruin! I shall make it! And so the same will the manhood of
the League of Brothers become. ‘The hour of the crow is finished!’
Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore...’”

Jebbson grinned, quietly musing. “If Poe
only knew...”

Trisha put a hand to her throat, calling
out, “Bring it in!”

Everyone looked up to see a dark shape
appear to rise out of the western shadows. In seconds, the cruiser,
DusmeAstron, was settling down in the sands near the last of the
wagons, its ancient gun turrets turned in Asotos’ direction.

Trisha smiled sardonically at Asotos. “You
thought me left weak and defenseless, a dimwitted fool. You do not
yet know who opposes you.” She shouted over to her officers to
board the gunships and bring up the horses.

Asotos was stunned speechless, pondering
what he was really witnessing. He did not accept Trisha’s claimed
abilities, but was cautious enough to consider what she said. No
doubt about it, the woman was savvy, more so than Gabrielle in some
ways, but she was brash and over-confident, traits that could be
easily exploited. He would see to her another time, maybe send
agents to test her out...maybe.

While Asotos observed, the gun trucks
retired from the field, slowly making their way up the huge ramp
and into the belly of the DusmeAstron. Horses were soon delivered
to Trisha and her party. After mounting up, Trisha had called over
to Erithia, requesting her aide-de-camp be delivered to her.
Erithia nodded, smiling, while motioning to an officer standing
somewhere in the shadows behind her. At a bounding run, the man
made his way over and in seconds was mounted up, waiting further
orders.

Much to Asotos’ surprise, Trisha casually
bantered with her immediate officers while preparations were made
to depart, acting as if the day was little more than a casual
outing. When things were readied to her satisfaction, she ordered
the prisoners be released. As they hurried away from their captors,
the field marshal turned her attention back to Asotos.

Urging her mount forward until it stopped
beside the murdered dog, Trisha looked over and down at Asotos. “My
king has given to your kind all these treasures delivered here this
day, including the war horses from hidden worlds. I will not
rescind the will of my king. These things I leave behind as her
payment to your people for claimed deeds done.”

Trisha leaned forward in her saddle,
squinting as she snarled, “
There will be no more moots after
this day, in this world or those below. When we meet again, I shall
not be as kind. But for the love of my God, I would not have been
so this day. I am come to reclaim the honor of the Haudenosaunez,
and return the title of ‘Dragon’ to its rightful owners. This I
will do in a coming hour.”