Angels of War (Angels of War Trilogy Book 1) (36 page)

The archangel wasted no time. He seized Daisy by the arm and pulled her from the throne. They ran down the long pearl stairs and outside God’s Palace as trumpeters called two thousand angels to gather at the muster field. Cherubim brought the two angels warhorses. They mounted the golden armored beasts and joined the two thousand cavalry angels who gathered at Heaven’s First Gate.

The archangel Michael drew his sword. The First Gate to Heaven opened. The entire detachment poured from the gates like white thunderheads. They charged their warhorses from Heaven. Weapons and armor shimmered from the bright sun.
 

Daisy Lane rode next to Michael. She took in his strong determined face as he held his golden sword out before him. His silk robes flowed and rippled. Their warhorses galloped ahead tough and fearless. The mounts wide nostrils snorted in the cool air. Their hooves became a blur as the detachment rode towards the earth like eagles.

Michael lifted his blade. “Kill them all.”

Daisy Lane unsheathed her sword once they broke from the clouds and neared the two fighting armies. Joan continued to fight hard among silver armored bodies, surrounded by horrors dressed in black. The angelic detachment fell upon the black clad army. Horse archers fired their golden arrows into the black swarm, the cavalry cut into the enemy with their silver blades. Michael fought with a determined gusto until he routed the enemy.

Joan paused in awe. Michael thundered from Heaven with his angels. Elation swept through her once she spotted Daisy Lane next to him. With sword in hand, Daisy hacked into the defeated enemy mob.

The archangel Michael spun his massive steed and rode up to Joan. He pointed his bloody sword at her. “We’ll handle this rabble, Joan of Heaven. Stop the gate from opening. Do this now and alone to atone for me being here.”

Joan spread her white wings from her back. Her heart raced hard in her chest at Michael’s admonishment. She took to the air with two powerful flaps. Below her, the Black Army scattered in confusion, fleeing west into the Rockies. The Screamers tried to attack, but they fell from the golden bolts delivered by the mounted archers. Her eyes took in the entire battlefield littered with bodies from both sides.
 

The grim scene filled her heart with grief when she spotted several hundred silver gleams amongst the dead. She commended the Guardians for their sacrifice. One more fight loomed ahead.
 

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Joan flew on until she left the battlefield covered in death. To her front sat the Rocky Mountains, beyond the Rockies lay the flat plains to the west. Below her dust and black smoke rose into the air in thick plumes. Scattered fires from destroyed vehicles burned as the Black Army retreated through the mountains in their mad escape from Michael’s onslaught.

Joan turned her mind towards the door and tried not to think whether she achieved a victory against the Black Army. A heavier challenge lay before her with no chance of rescue if she failed. She pumped her wings until she arrived at the Garden of Angels.

She lighted on the highest sandstone seats. The two stone monoliths rose to either side like silent sentinels. The hole she opened in the stage waited for her arrival. She readied her sword and descended the amphitheater seats. The sun eased higher into the sky and drenched the area in red light.
 

Her eyes took in every shadow hidden behind rocks and sage bushes. The horrific tumult from battle no longer grated against her ears. Smoke and cordite blew its infamous stench from the east and filled her nostrils.

Joan folded her wings upon her back. The sun baked the blood and flesh stuck to her armor into a horrid crust. The reek became unbearable and made her nose water. She took the steps as if she traversed a minefield while scanning the hole like a wary tiger.
 

The theater sat in silence, the dark opening in the ground called out to her with its mysteries. Okura’s betrayal baffled her.
 

Joan stopped at the hole and peered into the dreaded darkness. Tiny rocks fell into the flat blackness beneath her feet, clacking against the tight walls she prepared to face. Her stomach knotted as she confronted the void. Time did not wait. Joan spread her wings and dropped into the abyss.

The angel of war experienced a mile long plunge. She fell through sticky cobwebs and into darkness blacker than tar. Her outstretched wings struck an occasional rock as she negotiated her way into the hole. Her angel sight kept the world bright around her.
 

She floated down the drop, and near the end, the hole opened to a massive cavern packed with stalagmites, stalactites and jagged ledges. Below this sat a pit with a stone floor and beyond the floor sat the door to Hell.

Joan moved like a ghost. She landed upon a rock high above the cavern floor. She crept forward, easing through the crags until she spotted three figures grouped near the thirty-foot tall door made from ironwood. The entire cavern glowed blood red from lit torches lined along the ancient walls.
 

The angel fixed her brown eyes on the three dwarfed by the colossal door. General Temeculus hovered over Lucia who remained on her knees. Okura stood behind her with his sword drawn.

Okura gazed at the huge general. Fear filled him as the Key remained silent. Okura wanted his family. He wanted to hold his wife and son again. Lucifer promised to deliver his family in exchange for the Key.
 

“Here she is.” He pointed his blood-encrusted sword at the girl. “All she needs to do is sing a tune and your door opens, general.”

General Temeculus regarded the Key with his cold red eyes. He blinked and turned his attention to Okura. “You’re a fallen angel now, Okura.”

“I don’t care. All I want is my family, even if I must burn down the gates of Heaven to find them.”

The general removed his helmet. He tightened his eyes, gritted his teeth and strained. Within seconds, two black horns pushed from his forehead. “You are fallen for betraying God, and that oath you took so many years ago.”

Okura stared at the door. A deep emptiness filled him. His heart ached for his family. “My love for my family burns brighter than the flames of Hell.”

“Your family is dead, Okura. Forget them and join us.” The general lifted a huge hand covered in a black armored glove. “We are your family now.”

Okura turned to the Key. Pain and sadness hung in his eyes. “Sing little one, get this done so we can start the Apocalypse.”

The general laughed, his heavy voice boomed and echoed throughout the cavern. “Sing or I’ll hack you to pieces.”
 

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Joan wanted to stop their drivel. However, an almost cold curiosity kept her riveted in place. The Key sat silent between the two monsters. Lucia’s tiny shoulders trembled before a delicate note rose from her throat. The tone arrived soft and hesitant at first. The harsh torch fires became a soft bloom within the chamber once her first lines played into the tepid air.
 

Joan’s eyes flicked to the door as the Key started to sing. The girl’s voice mesmerized her. Even the general and Okura paused their hateful gibberish. The delicious tune lifted into the air, high and tender, sprayed with pastel colors within the notes.
 

The song poured from Lucia’s voice like cream. The notes rose, lowered, and melted the tension-clogged air. Her song infused the musty chamber with roses and sugar-drenched peaches. The notes, too delicious to open such a horrible door, did its job.
 

The door cracked.

Joan swallowed. A throb rose in her lower belly and trembled to the soft spot between her thighs. A cold voice whispered in her ear. She wondered at Hell charging from its pit and upon the planet earth. Her mouth gaped open. The Key’s tender song broached the door another foot.
 

Joan’s dilated eyes caught movement beyond the door. Frenzied, violent movement, as if she beheld a long closed tomb filled with worms engorging themselves with dead flesh. A horrid stench exploded from the rent, sulfur and feces, the coolness within the cavern fled.

Man sized flies gathered at the door, too fat to fit through the two-foot space. Heat blasted into the chamber, beyond a human furnace ability to crank out, and this sudden assault jolted her from the music.

“Noooooo.” Joan’s voice erupted in a scream. She drew her sword and leaped from the shelf. Her wings deployed as she shot downward to land before Okura.

Okura blinked, still groggy and dazed from the honeyed voice, and too slow to react. Joan severed his left wing and delivered blows to each jugular vein on his neck. She cut him enough to bleed him into unconsciousness.
 

Blood spurted from the cuts. Okura slapped his hands against both wounds, his eyes fluttered in confusion. Blood seeped between the cracks of his fingers. Okura took a few steps away from Joan and crumpled to the ground.
 

Joan turned her attention to the Key and struck the girl on the head with the diamond butt of her sword hilt. The child flopped to the earth unconscious. Her voice silenced. The noise at the ironwood door rose to a fever pitch, driving sudden pain into Joan’s head like an iron spike. She lifted her hands to her ears and screamed.

General Temeculus yanked himself from his daze once Lucia’s musical voice came to an abrupt end. He caught Joan’s sudden lapse, unsheathed his blade, and raised the heavy weapon above his head to slay her.
 

More heat exploded from Hell. The hot shock pulled Joan from the pain wrecking her ears. She caught Temeculus with his sword held above his head ready to strike her down. Joan rolled away from the blow. Temeculus’s heavy sword hit the ground and split a five-foot rent into the earth.

Temeculus paused, his breathing heavy. He glared at the diminutive woman dressed in golden armor who escaped him. She stood, her wings spread out upon her back. Her eyes flashed white underneath her golden helmet. “Joan, do you think you can stop me?”
 

He pointed at the cracked gate. “Confront them yourself, the armies of Hell. They are ready to do battle against Heaven and earth. Drop your sword and I will let you live.”

Joan grunted. She approached the giant. “You will let me live. I think not, general. The likes of Heaven will never bargain with you.”

“Then my angel of war. You must die.” Temeculus released a lion’s roar from his mouth and shot forward. He moved fast for his muscled girth. With both hands he lifted his sword above his and struck down.
 

Joan parried his blow with her gladius. The general kicked her with his huge booted foot.
 

Joan caught the blow in her chest, her feet left the ground yet her wings shot out and caught the air. She pushed herself up and away from the general. Temeculus deployed his huge bat wings from behind his back and gave chase.
 

Temeculus lifted his hand. A fireball erupted from the open palm. The agile angel dodged the fiery missile. “You fight against the inevitable.”
 

Joan remained silent. She narrowed her eyes as another fireball blasted by. The terrific heat kissed her cheek. Despite the searing pain she attacked with fury. Her sword struck his in an attempt to gain an advantage. The power the demon welded reverberated down her arms like the thrum of a tuning fork.
 

Temeculus broke away, a feint before he drove his sword towards her face. He missed, freed a hand and backhanded the angel. Joan whirled to the ground like a dropped brick. “Failure, stand still and die.”
 

The strike to her face dazed Joan. She landed hard, surprised at Temeculus’s powerful skills. She spun to her feet and met Temeculus sword with hers. Sparks flew as the two engaged in battle.
 

She deflected his blows until their swords locked, their faces drawing inches apart. His red eyes burned with hate. He pushed her away. The monsters at the two-foot crack in the door exploded with mad fury. The plump flies tried to force their way through the small space until thick greenish-yellow ooze burst from their black skin.

Joan ignored the madness in Hell. She focused on Temeculus and threw herself deeper into the fight against Lucifer’s finest general. Sweat speckled her brown face. The white horsehair plume upon her helmet performed a wicked dance. Firelight from Hell spun off her golden armor in red glints.

General Temuculus struck Joan in the jaw with his armored elbow. He outstretched a hand, launching a fireball against her chest.
 

Joan took the painful blow. The hot blast hurtled her across the cavern. She struck a rocky wall smashing the stone to rubble. The angel landed hard on her face. She coughed up blood. Tears came to her eyes, fire burned her lungs, and the sulfur fumes overwhelmed her.
 

She struggled to her hands and knees. Her vision blurred as the general’s heavy footfalls reached her ears.

“Joan, you can never defeat me. Surrender now, and I will be merciful in killing you.”

The angel shook her head. She swiped syrupy blood from her mouth with her hand. She rose to her feet. Her knees buckled. She pressed her left hand against the wall to support herself. She pointed her sword at the general. “I’m still standing, bitch.”
 

Temeculus’s sword turned red, he slapped the hot flat side against Joan’s exposed neck. Her flesh burned, the crisped skin created a roasted pork stench in her nostrils. The angel screamed and stumbled away.
 

Temeculus pursued her and drew back his blade.
 

Joan spun to face him, stared up into the general’s cold eyes. He hefted his sword and brought the chipped blade down to cut off her head.
 

Joan slipped her head to the left. The general’s momentum threw him off balance. His sword crashed inches from her sandaled feet, his head positioned below hers. She gripped her jeweled sword hilt with both hands, lifted up her blade. Fear rippled in the general’s eyes. She made the cut and sliced off his head.