Incarnation: Wandering Stars Volume One (25 page)

How can I—
?
  Oh
!
  That’s what he did to me at
Haragdeh
, when he saw through my eyes!

Ananel’s
eyebrows
narrowed
.  “
Do you have another message for us?”

Enoch pushed himself away from the tree and stood straightened. 
“No.
 
The s
ame message.
”

Ananel made a low noise in his throat, like a growl, but quieter.  “
Your presence here
is troubling
.
”

Enoch remained silent.

“Very well. 
Come
with me
.  I’ll take you to the others
,” the angel replied.  Again, his body began to shimmer as he
s
haped
himself
back
into an animal.  When he was finished, he crouched low to the ground.

Enoch
recognized the cue and climbed onto his back.  Within minutes, they had descended the hilltop and entered the misty forest below.  Even at Ananel’s easy pace, he
still managed to cover incredible distance compared to Enoch’s slow wanderings. 
Quickly
settl
ing
into the rhythm of Ananel’s trot, Enoch
’s
mind
began to wander.  His thoughts returned to the difference
s
he
had
noted between Ananel and Semjaza
.

“This thing you do—changing into an animal; can all angels do this?”

“No,” Ananel replied.  “But the Myndarym can.”
  There was hint of amusement in his voice.

“Semjaza and his followers had different forms
, some with w
ings.  Are they
Myndar
, as well?”

Ananel chuckled
now. 
“
No.  But
I will forgive the insult because of your ignorance
.”

Even though he already suspected the answer,
Enoch
still felt
embarrassed.  “What are they?”

“The winged ones are called
Iryllur
ym.  Semjaza and the others without wings are called
Anduar
ym.  And there is also a third kind under his rule.  They are called
V
i
d
irym
.  They live and move beneath the water.”

“
Hmm
,” Enoch
mumbled
.  After a moment of silence, he
worked up the courage to ask the question that had been running through his mind since that fearful day in the
Haragdeh
. 
“Why did they attack the
Speaker
and his
angels
?”

“
It seems a rash move,
I know.  B
ut Semjaza is no fool.  There is strategy in everything he does.”

“
Oh.  Um.  What I meant was,
I don’t even understand the reason for their conflict
.
”

“Ah.  I see,” Ananel said, gracefully side-stepping a tree.  “
Semjaza
is a soldier.  He was
a
Pri
-
Rada
in the
Saman
.  In your tongue, th
at would be
Third Rule of
Joint
Operations
, which is like
an elder who is in authority over men who fight with other tribes.  When he came to this world, he did so in violation of the laws that govern our kind.  Not only is his presence here forbidden, but to establish his own kingdom in this realm is
willful disobedience of the highest order.  T
he
Speaker
came to make it evident that the other elders are aware of what Semjaza is doing here.
”

Enoch noted the hypocrisy in Ananel’s explanation, but decided
not to speak of it yet.  “
But wouldn’t his actions only anger the elders eve
n
further?”

“Perhaps.  But Semjaza knows that the
y
are too busy fighting other wars.  So he sent a very clear message.  He will not go without a fight.  And that fight will be costly to the elders.”

“
Is t
here much fighting where you come from?” he asked
the angel
.

“Yes.  It has been that way from the beginning.”

Enoch
paused for a moment, trying
to make sense of all that he heard. 
Watching the trees pass by in the afternoon light, he was struck with the beauty of his own world.  Yet, somewhere invisible to his eyes was another realm that sounded
both amazing and sad at the same time.
  When these thoughts passed, Enoch
decided it was time.

“And what about you?  If you know it is forbidden to be here, why did you come?”

Ananel didn’t answer right away.  In fact, Enoch wondered whether or not he had heard the question.  But Ananel’s canine ears seemed capable of hearing much more than his own, so he remained quiet.

“
The Myndarym are not
soldiers
,” he said finally
. 
“
We are
— 
Do you have people among your tribe who make things
—craftsmen,
builders, and such?”

“Yes,” Enoch replied,
amused
at the thought
of
an angel of heaven trying hard to relate his world to that of a human.

“
And do you have people among your tribe
who make things, not
just
to be used, but simply for the pleasure of others?”

Enoch thought hard to find the equivalent among the
Shayetham
.  “Sometimes, my wife puts flowers in her hair.  There is no purpose in this other than to give me pleasure when I look at her.”

“Yes,”
Ananel
replied
. 
“Among the Myndarym, we build many things
, including those which only serve to give pleasure.  In this way, we understand your world and
your kind
far better than Semjaza and his soldiers ever will.  But a short while ago, at least by our accounting of time, some of us were placed under his leadership.”

“I see,” Enoch replied.
  The sun was almost set now and he
wondered how Ananel could see where he was going.
  “How far must we travel before we reach the others?”

“We’re nearly there now,”
he replied.

Enoch couldn’t see anything
ahead
, but
trusted that
Ananel told the truth.
  “
So, i
s your disagreement with Semjaza due to your different tribes?” Enoch asked, trying to make sense of the
conversations
and actions
he
’d
witnessed
.

“I suppose that is one way to explain it.  It is not only our tribe
s
,
as you say,
but our very nature
s
.  The Myndarym see the beauty in creation.  We enjoy making new things and fixing things that are broken.  We take pleasure in
seeing and knowing
how something is constructed.  Soldiers tend to see things differently.  I suppose it is to be expected, but Semjaza and his
angels
have learned to see creation in terms of leverage, in terms of power.”

“What do you mean?” Enoch asked, embarrassed again that he was unfamiliar with these terms.

“All of Semjaza’s relationships to others have been defined by authority.  Who has authority over me?  Over whom do I have authority?  And because of their purpose,
their relationship to the enemy is defined by the power to fight.  Who is more powerful than I?  Whom can I conquer?
  These are the questions they ask themselves.
”

“And
the Myndarym
resent his authority?” Enoch asked.

“Yes.” 
Ananel
leaped
effortlessly
up a short bank of rocks.

“…because
he
misuses it?” Enoch probed further.

“We are here,”
Ananel
announced, abruptly ending the conversation.

The trees opened
to reveal a shallow, wide
valley
in the western foothills of the mountains that they’d been paralleling.  A gentle river wound its way from the higher elevation and emptied into a larger body of water to the west. 
In the fading light, Enoch
could barely make out a tall
forest of trees that seemed unnatural among the otherwise grassy valley.

A moment later, Ananel’s long strides brought them close to the forest and
Enoch realized that it was no ordinary stand of trees.  These reached higher into the air than any others he’d ever seen.  And what appeared unnatural from afar was now simply breathtaking.  The trunks and limbs were intertwined with each other, as if
they were threads making up a cloth. 
But there were no signs of
splintering
or breakage among the branches.  It was as if they had grown this way from seedlings. 
Above the towering wall of interwoven branches, the upper portion of the
forest
was thick with leaves and flowering blossoms.  It was the most beautiful thing Enoch had ever seen.

“It has only been a few months and already you’ve created this?” he asked in amazement.

“As I said,
we are builders.”

As he stared, a question came to Enoch’s mind and he couldn’t resist asking it. 
Though he already knew the answer, he wanted
Ananel
to ponder it further. 
“You said my presence here troubles you.  Why?”

Ananel stopped and crouched low, while Enoch climbed to the ground.

Shaping
to his angelic form, Ananel continued toward a doorway formed by the meeting of two arched tree trunks
.  Moving now on two legs, he looked back at Enoch without stopping.

“
This is what we must discuss in the presence of the Myndarym.  Come with me.”

Since leaving
Sedekiyr
, each day had brought Enoch something different
.  Whe
ther it was new food to eat,
large and vicious creatures
, or dangerous tribes of people
, each new experience forced him to adapt.  But this moment was different.  Instead of danger or fear of something new, he took pleasure in everything his eyes touched. 
The inside of the
Myndar
city was even more extraordinary than the outside. 
The bending and weaving of trees was a theme throughout, only now he walked through the beautiful complexity, beneath
covered passages that led from
one
gigantic room to
another.
  The ceilings seemed impossibly high,
and were
thatched
so tightly that
neither the
stars
n
or
the
moon shone through.  But this didn’t impede
travel
through the city, for the interior was illuminated by the glowing stalks of some unknown vines that wove through the other structures
.
  In his mind, he named it
Aragatsiyr
, City of Woven Trees.

Ananel
led Enoch to the uncovered center of the city where a gentle pool of water was gathered, fed by
a
diverted
stream
from the nearby river.  Everywhere Enoch looked he saw such extraordinary sights that his mind reeled
from the effort of comprehension.  Those things that he did understand caused him to think of how to
incorporate them into
his village.  Slowly, the growing presence of Myndarym entering the uncovered area
from passages around the perimeter
, and the
ir
skeptical stares began to erode his fascination.  Finally, a powerful voice cut through the murmur of the crowd.

“Fellow Myndarym
.  O
nce again I bring to you Enoch of the Shayetham.
”