Incarnation: Wandering Stars Volume One (32 page)

“What are big men children?” Sheyir asked quietly, just noticing a man with a spear yelling at a group of women on the opposite side of the enclosure.

“
God children very big.  Mothers every die.”

Always die?
“
The mothers die giving birth because the children are too big?” Sheyir asked, trying to make sense of the women’s words.

“Yes.  Every die.”
9

Someone screamed from across the enclosure and Sheyir
turned to see a section of the fence
now
resting
open, with
two massive creatures standing in the
gap. 
A few months ago, she would have been
confused and
terrified
all at once
.  Now, after knowing Sariel, she was
only terrified.
 
These creatures were
several feet
taller than Sariel as he had first appeared, but
they didn’t have wings
.  Their complexion and hair were a light earthen color, and they wore odd loincloths that hung down to the middle of their upper leg
s
in both the front and back.
  But even with their different appearance, she could tell that they were
Baynor
.

Are they here to save us?

Just as she began to hope,
s
everal men with spears quickly rushed over to the
imposing figures a
nd knelt in front of them.
  The
Baynor
had not come to save anyone.  They
were the leaders.

A shadow
suddenly
moved
across the ground.

Sheyir
instinctively
look
ed
into the sky.  Hundreds of feet above, a winged c
reature circled and descended.

S
ARIEL
!

The winged
silhouette grew in size as it
banked
, eventually dropping
gently
int
o the grass inside the enclosure.  Pulling its wings inward, it walked toward the other
Baynor
and began to talk with them.  It stood a couple feet shorter, but looked to have authority over them by the way it carried itself.  In form, it looked much like Sariel, but with dark brown skin, black hair
,
and black
,
feathered wings.  After it spoke with the other two, it walked slowly around the enclosure, occasionally point
ing
at a woman.  When it did so, the human guards wade
d
into the group, untie
d
the woman, and drag
ged
her to the center of the prison.

A
s the trio of
creatures
made their way toward her group, the last and most recent to come to this terrible place
, Sheyir realized that her fingernails were cutting into her own skin
.
  Her fists were clenched and shaking.

“
D
etta
a
r
a
n
y
jasta
hopur
,”
one of the
taller
creatures said to the dark one.

“
Hen
e
,
og
hen
e
,”
said
the
winged
one, pointing to two women a few yard
s
away to Sheyir’s
left
.

As the screaming women were untied, the
dark one
’s disinterested gaze swept over the crowd, then
rapidly
doubled back toward Sheyir
.  Now
his fierce eyes lock
ed
onto hers
and he slowly
took a step forward.  “
…
og
du,”
he said, lifting his upturned hand toward her.

Sheyir
couldn’t take her eyes off the creature.  She was horrified and mesmerized at the same time.  Its
red
eyes
held a fascinating intensity, and she could only guess at the emotion behind them.  Was it anger?  Was it lust?  As the rope around her neck dropped to the ground, the violent motion of being jerked to her feet brought her abruptly out of her thoughts.

“
Taka
d
essa kon
n
ur a
d
Semjaza
,”
he told one of the wingless creatures
, pointing to the women that had been
selected
from the crowd.

The men dropped Sheyir to the ground in front of the dark one.

The towering beast looked down to the human males.
“You
.  G
o get more
,” he said in a language that sounded very close to Chatsiyr.

The men nodded and backed away in fear, finally turning and running away when they’d put enough distance between themselves and this fearsome giant.

“And you,” he said, turning back to Sheyir.  “You will come with me.  Semjaza will want you for himself.”

Sheyir flinched
as the dark one reached down and lifted her from the grass as if she were a child.
  Holding her with one arm, he stretched out his wings and jumped into the air.

*   *   *   *

The wind rushed by Sariel’s face
and blades of g
rass
whipped by
only feet below him.  His great wings propelled him forward, requiring just the occasional downward thrust to maintain his speed. 
With both hands he gripped the primitive spears he’d taken from the Chatsiyr village
;
their fragile weight balanced in his palms
, adjusted
for wind resistance.

Rising slowly over a low mound, he banked slightly to the west and rounded a stand of trees
to
obscure
the
sight of his approach.  Under different circumstances he would have enjoyed feeling the air move across his wings
;
the graceful way his body cut through the air above the fields of grass
;
the way his wings expertly flexed to maintain lift as he banked.  But he was not flying for pleasure.  It was
revenge
that fueled him now.  A desperate need to bring a
violent and swift
end to any
one
who would dare harm
Sheyir
.

The stand of trees slid to the right and out of his vision leaving an empty field with a crude circular
fence
at its center.  The
two hundred foot diameter was only sufficient to enclose fear-stricken human women, but its height failed to shield the
upper body of the
single
Anduar
sentinel standing guard in the middle.  Sariel straightened his heading and dropped lower until the blades of grass
struck
his chest and arms.
  He covered the expanse of open field in just a few seconds, unseen.  At the last possible moment, he adjusted his elevation to
glide
just over the rim of the fence.  In the blink of an eye, the
Anduar
guard was visible and Sariel
thrust the
stone
-
tipped,
wooden spears
downward
. 
The
impact rip
ped
the
weapons
from his
hands
and
he
had to tilt his wings to keep from being pulled down.  J
ust as he passed o
ver the opposite rim of the
fence
, he started to bank to the left and glance
d
backward to see the
Anduar
fall.

Completing his turn, he now approached from the north and could see that Tamael and the others, still in their animal forms, had torn down the south end of the
enclosure
.  The human captors ran in fear from the
broken structure
and into the fields, leaving their captives.

Sariel slowed his speed and dropped his elevation until he came to a gentle landing in the grass
on the south side of the prison
.  Though he wanted to take the lives of the human
men running in retreat
, he restrained himself
.

They’re onl
y acting out of fear of Semjaza!

“I’ve never seen a
n
Iryllur
kill a
n
Anduar
before,” Tamael said, now wearing his
angelic
form.

Sariel walk
ed
passed Tamael and into the prison without a word.

Scanning the groups of women tied to the perimeter of the wall he could tell in seconds that Sheyir wasn’t among them.  With a sigh, he stooped to the nearest woman and began to untie the rope arou
nd her neck.

She
flinched
;
her eyes wide with
horror.

Sariel let go of the rope and put his hands up.  “
I’m not here to hurt you.  You’re safe now.”

Tamael, Jomjael, and Batarel followed his lead, walking around the
prison and untying the women.

As Sariel moved from woman to woman, he asked, “Do you know Sheyir?”  He only received blank stares, but he kept working, freeing the women and repeating his question in as many human languages as he knew.

When all were freed, Sariel
walked
to the center and looked down at the dead soldier. 
He lay on his side with his legs splayed.  One spear had gone through the middle of his chest, while the other hit higher toward his neck.
  His blood darkened the earth and grass beneath him.
  It was the first time that Sariel had ever killed someone other than a demon.

“You were looking for someone in particular?” Tamael asked quietly as the others joined him.

Sariel
nodded
without looking up.

“And she’s not here,” Batarel stated
.

They stood in silence for a moment as Sariel considered what to do next.

“Semjaza
?
” a quiet voice
asked
from behind.

Sariel turned around
quickly
.  “What
?
” he replied in the Chatsiyr language
, only now realizing that none of the women had
left
the enclosure
.
  They remained huddled around the perimeter of the wall. 
Most
were standing
while
a few
were
still
sitting on the ground.

“Semjaza,” a woman repeated.

Sariel now saw who spoke and recognized her from his time at
Bahyith
, though sh
e probably didn’t recognize him in his angelic form.

“A
d
ark
o
ne came.  He had wings like you,” she said, pointing.  “He took Sheyir and said Semjaza will want her for himself.”

At once, hope and
rage
collided in his
heart
. 
Sariel closed his eyes and clenched his fists until he composed himself. 
“Thank you,” he
finally
said to the woman
, then
turned back to the Myndarym.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Tamael said quickly.  “And it’s not possible.”

“Why?” Sariel probed.

“Because
he has an army and a fortress.  And you’ll never get to her.  Y
ou don’t understand how dangerous he is.”

Sariel
remained silent and let the words hang in the air for a moment.  There were so many responses running through his mind.  But only one that would bring him closer to the one he loved.
  “Then take me there and make me understand.”

“He’ll kill
us before we get within miles of the place
,” Tamael countered.

Sariel nodded slowly, and could feel the skin on his forehead tighten.  “
Does he ever leave the safety of his fortress?”