The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix (95 page)

Again, no one accepted its Siren’s path.
Lowenah grinned with pride. What mettle did these children possess?
What inner strength of will and might beat in their hearts? No
whispering voice chanted sweet refrains of future promised. No
mystic’s call induced the children’s choice. Here, in the darkness,
self-will proved to be greater than all the magic of the immortal
Heavens. Here, in this room, came the deafening roar of loyal
children to counter the charge of the Chief Evil Agent who declared
that no one served Lowenah for other than selfish reasons.

Again, the doors slowly closed and the
lights came up. Lowenah waited until her heart released her voice
to speak. She then choked out, “How do you say, then?”

The room was silent. Like a flooded dam
about to burst, the forces straining to be released were waiting
upon the one drop of water that would fracture that silence and
cause the flood.

“
To victory or a quick death!”
Someone shouted out with boldness.

All eyes were cast in the direction of that
shout. Surprised, Chasileah found that everyone was staring at her.
Had she really made that proclamation? Her mind had thought it and
her heart had supported it, but did her mouth declare it? Before
she could fully comprehend what was happening, as if from a single
mouth came the uproarious cry,
“To victory or a quick
death!”
The floodgates were broken, and everyone wept.

After giving pause, Lowenah lifted her hand
and called out in a tongue both beautiful and profound. Words never
spoken on the mortal breeze filled the ears of all with wonder.
Then came a sudden rushing upon that same breeze, filling the room
with static flames of fire darting all about until settling down
above the head of each person there.

“
Ko’rak To’uah!
” Lowenah called out
while lowering her hand.

A sound like that of an eagle’s cry
resonated through the chambers as the flames made reply to the
command given. With that, each flame gradually settled down upon
the head of the person it was above, slowly sinking and
disappearing into them. For a little while, an inner strength
enveloped each child. Darla was able to cast her sickness aside and
stand unaided, her headache slipping away into hiding.

When the excited commotion of those events
eventually quieted, Lowenah explained their significance. “To each
of you has been given a Cherub of spirit and glory, so that power
beyond what is normal may become your gift. Yet not for strength of
mind or power of might are these Cherubs given. Let me warn you,
not for your protection or increased wisdom were these tools
created, but to assist you with fending off any weapon your enemy
sends against you that may destroy both your mind and heart. I do
this so that for each and every one of you there shall be a
multitude of counselors for you to place all you trust.”

She wagged a finger. “Sealed you are. No
treacherous act or lying deceitfulness shall the least of you be
able to commit. Look about this room and see your trustworthy and
loyal comrades at arms. Their blankets you can share with freedom
from care, their lips speaking only truth in your ears. This is the
gift of Po-San-Touah I give to you, the gift of unwavering
loyalty.

Shaking a hand, Lowenah then further warned,
“Please gather to your bosom these loyal brothers and sisters of
yours. Give your trust, your heart, soul, and mind to them.
Traitors still walk the darkened halls of your worlds. Yes! Like
the scorpion hidden in the bed-sheets, they wait upon a moment of
ease to strike. And strike they will! Stolen from you not has been
your will to speak and act freely. A careless word may still rain
destruction down upon all my children.”

She swept her hand about the room.
“Remember, please, be wary! Here are your trusted companions.
Confide in them your deepest secrets. The others… well…the loyal
will understand. Others will remain uninformed.” Lowenah glanced at
Mihai. “So, do be careful,
very
careful with whom you
dream...”

Lowenah’s face saddened, her eyes filling
with tears as she confessed, “I have failed you, all of you. For
you see, I built a universe in my foolishness, ignoring Whispering
Voices warning me of a possible rebellion that true freedom might
bring. No! No, indeed! The voices shouted out to me that in the
construction of the very building blocks of your worlds, what you
call ‘Cherubs Stones’, I had designed a flaw, threatening their
existence should discord enter within.”

She lowered her head, folding her hands in
regret. “I did not listen, wishing, instead, to believe that such
evil would never arise, this despite the fact that the very
mathematics found in the laws of freedom promised such a future. So
I did not fix the fault, ignoring the mathematic certainty given
endless time, the damning factor to my precious equation, for time
assured that evil discord would eventually arise. And so I dreamt,
breathing in the sweet opiate while hiding in my wonderful fantasy
universe, refusing to see the growing darkness gathering on the
horizon.”

“Now the storm has struck, leaving ruin in
its wake, and I am forced by the very laws coming from my mouth to
make my children save for me this universe until again a Great
Juncture arrives when all things can be made new. Upon you, because
of my foolishness, falls the responsibility to hold the line until
that day. You must bleed for me to heal, you must suffer for me to
become well, and you must die for me to see my life fulfilled. I am
sorry, so very, very, sorry.....”

Covering her face with shaking hands,
Lowenah began to weep like a mother bereft of her unborn child. In
her mind’s eye, she watched the judgment court fill with the
Watchers over her universe, they pointing accusative fingers while
howling out their condemnation. “Failed you have, wicked bird,
wicked bird, mother of the jackals’ lair, queen over the serpents’
pit! How dare you act ever so righteous when the blood of all the
living and the dead are crying out a proclamation against you? The
playground you created to satisfy a prurient heart, built upon a
charnel house of lies and self-deceit. For your ingratiating
indulgences, you impatiently constructed upon the shifting sands a
world that may soon dissolve into nothingness.”

A dark, hooded figure arose from the throng,
standing, while pointing a bony finger, its black breath roiling
with putrefying stink. “Our counsel you rejected, feeling us the
fools
so much to be pitied. ‘No souls have you!’ you cried
in disdain as we beseeched you to give pause and wait upon a
moment, to mend what was not yet torn asunder. But, no! Your wisdom
of a restless heart shouted denunciations out against us, calling
us weak in understanding and feeble of thought.”

Turning toward the great host seated in the
courtroom, the figure swept its arm wide. “Did she not see
wickedness afar off? Did we not repeatedly, with immortal outcries,
ask her to display her own wisdom? And now, what does this evilest
of Raven Mothers do but slaughter her own children to make
recompense for her vile improprieties!
Rhiannon! Rhiannon! Eat,
please, the flesh of another of your precious children. No! No! Not
but one! Feast upon a hundred, a thousand, a thousand thousand!
Show them just how valueless they stand in your eyes. Gorge
yourself upon their fleshy parts until you belly becomes satisfied
with their rotting corpses!
”

It spun about, shaking it finger in
Lowenah’s face. “Oh, for love, for passion - for the touch! Oh, for
the donkey cock you surrender up all that was good so that for but
an instant you could feel.
Yes! Feel!
Feel like a woman
wrapped in the arms of someone you loved, surrendering your
immortal being to experience the touch of another on the outside of
yourself. Were your lovers from long ago insufficient to satisfy
your lusting emotions? Oh, pity the heart, for only a fool can
wield it as recklessly as you have yours!”

Sitting, the accuser folded its arms in smug
satisfaction. The courtroom became silent. Was there anyone willing
to speak in Lowenah’s defense, or did she stand guilty as she had
been charged?

When all appeared lost, the jury about to
cast their verdict, the doors to the courtroom creaked open, a
little boy squeezing his way through them. Timidly approaching
until stopping in front of Lowenah, the boy lifted his hands to
reveal secrets within. Beaming from ear to ear, he cried out with
joy, “Mother! Mother! Look and see what I have discovered.”

Opening his hands, he declared, “A bird
flying so high in the crystal blue sky lost this feather to give me
a quill to write my tale with. And look, see! The tree has
surrendered up a giant leaf for me to write my tale upon. Now see
what I have learned from the bird and from the tree. The bird gives
to me this fine gift, not knowing it will grow another feather, yet
gives it freely anyway. The tree provides me the paper, caring not
whether it shall produce another leaf. Like you, they give the best
they have without consideration for self or future cost.”

He wrapped his arms about Lowenah. “Mother,
with labor pains you birthed me, and in sleepless nights you nursed
me. By day, your hand has guided me and by night you passionate
love has lighted my path. Does a moth that lives but a day regret
that it has lived at all? Look! Whether it is but a day or a year,
or a million tomorrows, it is from you that all life has come, a
feather and leaf beyond measure. And if it can be enjoyed for but a
day or a year, what of it, for without you it would not have been
at all. You have blessed us with life, with life!”

The courtroom suddenly vanished, Lowenah
feeling someone tugging on her arm. Opening her eyes, she stared in
Sirion’s beaming face, the girl’s eyes filled with tears. Through
quivering lips, she cooed, “Mother, please… please don’t weep so
with sadness. An innocent heart has nothing to prove. To us, you
have given your very life and breath. Spent, you have, your energy
to form us in your likeness so that we might become one with
you.”

Lowenah looked out to see dozens of faces
nodding in agreement. Then, as though with one voice, the children
present began songs of praise for their mother. Lowenah’s tears
burst forth anew, this time being those of joy. Long into that hour
she wept, her children continuously wrapping her in their melodious
arms of endearing song.

A warrior, later turned poet, observed the
events of that day, and penned the words, which when translated
say:

“
Should a man live twice, what value is his
soul,

If he listens not to the heart within?

Though all things be lawful, few things are
right,

If the heart hasn’t warred ‘gainst the darkness of
night.

Our mother did weep, her heart broken through,

As she asked of her children to carry the day.

To march into battle, to kill by the sword,

To surrender no mercy and offer no stay.

‘
How say you, my darlings? Will you listen to
me?’

So cried our mother while her heart broke in
two.

And we stood there in silence, and gave no other
reply.

‘
To the field of honor lest we should live or
should die!’

To our mother, Rhiannon, our voices we raised.

‘
You give to us the glory by freeing our
hearts.’

She heralded us the warning of the price to be
paid.

And we laughed at the terror, the carnage, the
rage.

‘
We are the ‘stone of Rhiannon’, our faces harder
than flint.

Cast us into the sea and watch the tumult we
rent!’

Our mother did pitch us into the oceans below.

And the seas riled up to the stars and the moon.

Finally the blood settled down on the rivers and
tides.

Then hope in death smiled on victor and slain.

And the seas stopped their fury, forever in peace to
reside,

While our mother’s heart healed from loyal love she
beheld.”

In the end, when the tears had dried and the
children were returned to their seats, Lowenah declared. “Who are
my children?
You
are my children. Any who oppose you are no
longer my children, but abominations of breathing flesh! Their
blood rests upon their own heads, and their possible salvation not
of my concern. They...
any
who oppose you...are no longer
children of mine!”

At that, Lowenah excused herself, suggesting
they all take a short break before continuing.

* * *

Lowenah allowed adequate time for everyone
choosing to refresh themselves, and to gather up some foodstuffs
and tasty beverages before calling them back to assembly. Dried
were the tears of joy she had shed witnessing the unchained love
and devotion of her children, leaving heart and soul filled to
overflowing with motherly pride. Still beaming in the afterglow of
earlier events, Lowenah must now change times and seasons, readjust
the very culture so long and deeply ingrained in her children of
war, to take from the new king her power while retaining her
majesty and glory.

When all was quiet, Lowenah lifted her
hands, pointing toward Mihai and calling out. “Michael Morning Star
rules these heavens with majesty and glory. I have placed in her
hands for all time the kingdoms above and the kingdoms below, the
kingdoms that have passed and the ones yet to come. To my child
does all praise for a virgin queen go, and forever and ever shall
her light radiate forth upon all men and nations.”

Everyone stood, shouting joyful support
while filling the chambers with deafening applause. Lowenah smiled
quietly. This was what she hoped for. When the room became quiet,
she went on. “To my kingly daughter, Michael, all knees shall bend.
Wherever the sole of a foot should trod, now or in long future
days, all such kingly recognition belongs to this child of mine.”
Again there was thunderous applause.