Incarnation: Wandering Stars Volume One (16 page)

“This is Enoch, a prophet of the
Shayetham
.  I met him yesterday
on the south
ern
slopes
of
Murakszhug
.  One of the smaller
Kahyin
tribes was
trying to
offer him as a sacrifice to
the Akila Lena Lahaema
.  You can see as well as I that he is different
from
any other human.  And when I asked him what he was doing so far away from his people, he told me he had been given a message
from the Holy One
—a
message to the
Wandering Stars of Heaven
!
”

The angel upon the throne suddenly leaned forward.

“
…t
he ones who
shaped
creation,” Ananel
clarified
.  “Isn’t that right, Enoch
?
”

Enoch nodded, then looked to the angel on the throne.  He
couldn’t be sure, for he was not yet familiar with these beings, but he
felt
some tension between Ananel and the one on the throne.

The
large
angel
slowly
turned
his
fierce eyes from Ananel to
Enoch.  “Come here
,
little one
.”

Enoch obeyed immediately, but slowed his pace as he neared the
steps
.

“What is this message?”

Enoch swallowed.  His throat
now
seemed too tight to allow the passage of air. 
But he tried to ignore it.  This was the moment he’d been meditating on since he left
Sedekiyr
. 
All those weeks of reflecting on the vision he
had been
given, had eventually turned into words in his mind.  Words that he knew, without a doubt, had been placed there by the Holy One. 
He
also
knew that this message was
currently
keeping him alive
in city that seemed to be forbidden to humans
.  And he feared that when it was delivered, he’d no longer be
needed
.  But
stronger than any of these realizations was the knowledge
t
hat his duty was to obey the voice of the Holy One, so he continued.

“
The Holy One gave me a vision of what you have done, what you are doing, and what the result will be if you continue on this path.”  The words coming out of Enoch’s mouth were filled with conviction, though he was inwardly paralyzed by fear.  “
I saw the
stars
, the angels of heaven
,
descend to the earth and
transform
it to keep it from dying by the poison of the
D
ark
O
nes.  When their work was finished not all of them returned to their home. 
Some stayed behind and inhabited the earth. 
They were no longer doing
the work of the Holy One,
but
they continued to shape creation as they saw fit. 
T
hey were deceived by their own pride.  They took wives from among the children of men
and from the creatures of the earth.  To these were born abominations that filled the earth with evil
—
”

“What is he talking about?” 
Ananel, whose eyes had been fixed on Enoch,
glared at
the angel upon the throne.

The other simply held up his hand in protest.  “Continue,” he said to Enoch.

“Then I felt His heart breaking.  I saw His tears of sorrow fill the whole earth.  And everything was destroyed.
  Everything.  If you continue in your wickedness, none of us will survive!
”

When Enoch was finished, his words seem to hang in the air. 
Silence filled the stone chamber
for what seemed an eternity.

Finally, Ananel broke the silence.  “You set us up.  You used us, then you betrayed us
!
”

“I did nothing of the sort,” the other replied
calmly
.

Ananel cocked his head slightly.  “He spoke nothing of you or your soldiers. 
ONLY THE MYNDARYM
!
”

The other remained silent, while those near the throne turned to face Ananel, obviously positioning themselves to protect their superior.  The tension in the room was increasing and Enoch wished that he could leave, now that his message had been delivered.

“…taking wives?”

“That’s none of your concern,” the other angel replied.

“It’s absolutely my concern!” Ananel shot back.  “Since you couldn’t do it without our help. 
This was not the plan we agreed on.  Who is helping you?
”

Suddenly, all of the angels looked up as if they’d heard something.

Enoch followed their gaze and saw a winged
angel
silently descending through the open air of the tower above.  It came from the shadows, the firelight barely illuminating its massive wings until it was almost on top of them.  Enoch cowered in fear.

The angel landed
quickly and
gently upon the floor of the throne room
,
while the fires moved erratically and threatened to blow out from the sudden rush of wind.  Instantly, the dark angel
faced the throne and
knelt
, pulling his wings around himself like a cloak
.  “
Minn
Rada
.  A
g
afsokun fyrir a truflun
. Vi
d
hafa nagra ovalkommet gestir ved a
ost
hlidid.
”

“
Som ar den
?” the one on the throne asked.

“
En
Hauta-Lara
av a
A
matru
,
med ti es
k
ort.  A
Hauta
-
L
ara
leitar r
ad
et
me
d
a
Pri
-
Rada
.”
the winged angel replied.

“What’s happening,” Enoch whispered to Ananel.

The angel inclined his head to the human without taking his gaze from the one on the throne. 
“A
Speaker
of the armies of
H
eaven is at the gate, seeking council with
Semjaza
.”

Semjaza
looked
past the
winged angel.  “You see, Ananel. 
It is not just the
Myndar
y
m
.  In fact, He sent only a prophet to you, while he sent an army for me.
”

“
V
a
d
skal ag ger, minn
Rada
?” the winged messenger asked.

Semjaza
looked slow
ly from the messenger to Ananel, then to Enoch and back.  “
Se
gja da, ag ar senda en mann
,
e
n spaumadurinn ad tala pa minn rakning.  Vanta ved a hlidid til han kemur.”

“
J
a
, Rada m
i
n
,” the angel replied.  Then he rose, unfurled his massive wings, and leaped into the air.  As his wings thrust downward, several of the fires set into the walls blew out.  In an instant, the angel disappeared into the shadows above the chamber.

“What’s happening?” Enoch asked again.

Ananel kept his eyes on
Semjaza
and only held up a finger to Enoch, indicating that he should wait.

“Little one,” Semjaza said.  “Since you claim to know the voice of the Holy One, and have shown faithfulness in delivering His message, you will now deliver a message for me.”

Enoch looked quickly to Ananel, whose face was
now
unreadable.

“
Go to the
Speaker
at the gate.  Tell him that I repent of my disobedience.  I will need time to meditate upon my actions, but I will take council at the break of daylight.  Then I will be ready to accept whatever terms he is offering.  Do you understand all of this?”

Enoch nodded.

“Good.  Ananel will escort you to the gate.
”

Ananel
’s
face still
showed no emotion
as
he
descended the steps through the doorway in the floor.

Enoch
looked once more at the angel upon the throne and his guards, then
hurried to catch up
to Ananel
.

Once outside, Ananel’s pace quickened and Enoch was running
again
to keep up.

“Who is this
Speaker
?”

Ananel stopped and turned around.  Kneeling, he looked straight into Enoch’s eyes.  “Prophet
, y
ou’re going to have to do this on you
r
own.”

“Wh
—
  You’re not going with me?”

“No.  I’m afraid not.  I have more pressing matters.  Just follow the road the way we came in.  When you get to the gate, announce yourself as the prophet who speaks for Semjaza.  They’ll be expecting you.”

Before Enoch could reply, Ananel’s form began to dissolve into a multitude of embers, drifting into the air.  When they converged, they took the shimmering form of a four-legged animal.  Then the radiance subsided and a massive wolf stood in its place.  “Good luck,” it growled, then burst into a run along the land bridge, moving faster than at any time
during
the previous hours.

When Ananel was gone, Enoch looked up to the sky.

What have I gotten myself into?  Holy One of Heaven, I am beyond my capacity to understand what
Y
ou’ve laid before me.  Give me
Y
our wisdom and
Y
our strength to discern what is right.  Give me the words to speak, for fear holds my tongue captive.

With a deep breath, Enoch
put one foot in front of the other and
began to make his way back in the direction he’d come.

When Sariel crossed the shallow stream, dozens of the Chatsiyram were gathered on the shore.  His leaving to investigate the cursed valley was an
unusual
event in the life of the tribe, and now they waited eagerly to hear what he
’d
found.  Unfortunately, Sariel didn’t have good news to report.  In fact, between what he found at the lake and his conversation with
Tarsa
e
el
, he was deeply troubled about the way events were unfolding.  He must have worn this concern on his face, because when he caught Sheyir’s beautiful gaze,
the smile drained from her face
.

Once across the
knee-deep pool, Sariel headed straight for
Sheyir’s father
who stood in th
e
shade of a nearby tree.

The elder looked
Sariel up and down, then leaned from side to side, inspecting him.  Apparently satisfied, he
raised
his
eyebrows
, but remained silent.

“We have much to talk about,” Sariel said.

The man nodded.  “We will go to
the
place of meeting and talk about what you found.”  Without another word, the elder turned and began to walk toward the village.

Sariel followed in silence, trying to avoid the stares of the other tribe members.

The
place of meeting
turned out to be one of the large hut structures
located near the center of the village.  Without walls, its columns of thick tree trunks supported a massive thatched roof which could easily shelter one hundred people from the heat of the day.  On this day however, it seemed that every man, woman, and c
hild in the village was present and there wasn’t enough room for everyone.

At the center of this crowd, Sariel sat on the ground, across from Sheyir’s father
and the other senior members of the tribe
.  Looking at the eager faces of the men around him
and the women behind, Sariel was reluctant to start.
  “Is there somewhere more private that we can talk?”