Incarnation: Wandering Stars Volume One (39 page)

“Is that where the Myndarym
are
?”

“No,” Sariel replied with a smile.

Enoch rushed along the twisting corridors of
Aragatsiyr
.  Though their creations were beautiful, they seemed to appreciate beauty
more than
functionality and he had a difficult time learning his way around.  By the time he reached
Kiyrakom
,
Ananel
and the others were already assembled.

Pressing through the circle of angels, like a child trying to participate in the conversation of adults, Enoch saw a Myndar standing at the center
near the pool of water
.  He didn’t look familiar.  But the gigantic
, striped
cat
lying dead at his feet looked somewhat like the form
a Myndar might take. 
Suddenly, Enoch realized
what he was witnessing.

The one standing had blood oozing from a severe wound in his left shoulder.  He had cuts and scrapes all along his arms and a deep gash that cut across his cheek from his mouth to his temple.

“…there were four of them,” he was explaining.

Enoch was upset with himself that he’d missed the first part of the discussion.

“They were spying the location of our city.  Tamael and I attacked them.  We thought, with the advantage of surprise—
”

The room was silent as he composed himself.

“I went after the last one and caught up with him before he could deliver his message.”

“Surely there are more.  Perhaps he already knows where we are,” one of the Myndarym suggested.

“
Perhaps
,” the stranger
replied.  “Perhaps those were
only
the first spies.”

The crowd murmured with fear.

“But I do know something else.  As much as we’d wish to forget about him, he will not forget about us.  I saw the look in the eyes of the
Anduar
ym
.  …their blind obedience.  Semjaza must be dealt with sooner rather than later.”

“How can we possibly—
”
someone began from the back of the room.

“But they’re soldiers—
”
another interrupted.

The stranger held up his hand.  “
I know.  I know.”

“Batarel,” a voice rang out clear among the chatter.

Enoch looked up a
nd noticed Ananel who now stepped forward from the gathering.

“You killed
several
Anduar
ym
, so it is not impossible.
”

“They outnumber us three to one,” someone shouted from across the circle.

“Sariel has gone to address that issue,” Batarel argued
.

“But the
Amatru
cannot be trusted,” someone else suggested.

Batarel shook his head.  “I think they would say that we are the one
s
who cannot be trusted.  And who can argue with them
?
”

At this, the gather
ing of angels
quieted.

Batarel continued.  “I see now that Semjaza will not stop until he owns everything.  I was blind to this while under his authority.  I wanted to believe that he would honor our agreement once our duties were completed.  But we will never have our freedom while he sits enthroned in his fortress, growing stronger every day.  If the
Amatru
agree to
this plan
, I will be the first to join in.”

“Who is this Sariel?” someone asked.  “Perhaps he is a spy of Semjaza.”

Batarel made a low noise that Enoch thought sounded like an animal.
 
“He is a
n
Iryllur
who has come to this world for his own reasons.  He is not working for Semjaza.  I can assure you of that,”
he
answered.

One of the Myndarym
with a female form
stepped forward.  “I suppose
any more discussion
is pointless until we hear whether the
Amatru
agree
.”

“No
!
” Batarel almost barked.  “I say, decide for yourselves whether or not you are willing to fight
!
  Reach this conclusion before the
Amatru
agree.  Then you
will
know in your spirit
where you truly stand
.”

*   *   *   *

Sariel approached the Myndar city from the east, finding it exactly where Tamael
had
said it would be.  Circling around to the south, he observed it from the
afternoon
sky, marveling at its construction.  Though far from finished, it had a gracefulness to its design that seemed
directly opposed to the functional battlefield structures he’d left behind in the
E
ternal
R
ealm.
  A low trumpet sounded and Sariel smiled.  Not only were they sounding his arrival, but they were doing so with instruments.  It seemed the Myndarym couldn’t help themselves when it came to creating things.

Sariel
glided
slowly
toward the
fields to the south of the city.  As
soon as he touched down, he
allowed himself to feel
the fatigue in his wings
and chest muscles
that he’d been denying for days.  Only once had he ever journeyed so far, and the soreness in his muscles confirmed it.

Batarel
, who had been waiting as planned, came walking
through the grass
.  His face bore an odd
and unreadable
expression
as he extended his hand in the human greeting
that Sariel
had
used on their first meeting
.
“Welcome.”

Sariel looked over his shoulder.  “Where’s Tamael?”

Batarel stood motionless and closed his eyes for a moment. 
When he opened them, tears spilled down his face.

Sariel
opened his mouth, but
suddenly couldn’t think of anything to say.

“We came across some of Semjaza’s spies, but we took care of them
,”
Batarel said finally.

“Spoken like a true warrior,” Sariel replied, placing his hand on Batarel’s un
-
bandaged shoulder.  “And Jomjael?”

“He made it here with the women.  They’re all fine.”

Sariel nodded, not knowing how to offer his condolences.

“The rest are waiting to speak with you.  Come on,” Batarel said, nodding toward the city.

As they began walking, Batarel turned his head.  “
B
efore we get in there, how did it go?”

“As planned,” Sariel replied, enjoying the walk through the soft, short grass.

Reaching the city, Sariel was now able to compliment his aerial understanding of the
city with a
different perspective,
appreciating it all the more. 
Inside the
wide, arched
passage
, the trees seemed to be intertwined without any cutting or destruction of any kind.  It was as if they had simply grown in
to
this configuration from seedlings, seamlessly woven together like threads of a tapestry.  In certain locations, leaves formed a decorative ornament or served
some
functional purpose,
like providing light to a dark corridor with their luminescent veins.  It was as if
the trees had agreed to provide their foliage for the whims of
Myndarym
design.  Sariel smiled at the beauty
, realizing
that the Shapers would always find some way to exercise what they were
created
to do.

“What do you call this place?” he asked.

“
Senvidar
.”

Twisted Trees
, Sariel thought to himself, interpreting the name in the angelic tongue.

The winding hallways
eventually
opened into
a
central courtyard
where
the massive trees created a partial canopy around the perimeter, while their roots snaked out across the ground toward a large pool of water at the
center.

The
Myndarym
were
already gathered and waiting.

Out of habit, Sariel quickly
assessed the threat level of any new location he entered, starting with the number of other individuals—a q
uick estimation
that
revealed a discrepancy.  “They’re not all here,”
he
noted.

“When we left Semjaza, some wanted to take their chances on their own.  The rest of us thought it safer to stick together, at least for a while.”

“I see,” Sariel said,
still
counting in his mind. 
Thirty nine, forty, forty one
…

Walking to the center of the courtyard, Batarel turned to the gathering of
Shapers
, while Sariel knelt and dipped his hands into the pool and brought the
cold
liquid up to his face.  The water was refreshing on his
hot
skin and seemed to wash away some of his weariness.

“I present to you, Sariel of the
Iryllur
ym
,” Batarel announced.

Sariel stood, water dripping from his face.  He was exhausted, thirsty, and hungry.  But he could see that these angels were
anxious to hear what they’d been
waiting
for.  So, he ignored his tiredness and addressed the gathering.

“
My friends, I’ve just returned from a long journey—
”

“Who do you think you are?” someone shouted out.  “
…s
peaking for us.  What arrogance
!
”

Sariel scanned the group
of angels
, but couldn’t tell who spoke.
  Most of them appeared in the forms which were the natural equivalent to their
eternal
bodies.  But some obviously
preferred
the forms that had been
given to humans, wearing muscular bodies with beards and other male attributes. 
“If you have something to say
to me
, step forward
and say it openly
.”

A
n angel stepped carefully out of the crowd.  It wore a
female
body and looked decidedly different than the rest.

Sariel laughed
at the sight
,
but his weariness was too great to prevent the swell of anger that followed it. 
“I’ll tell you who I am. 
I am a Myndar.”

Gasps could be heard all around, while the female took a step backward.

“And the fact that you wear the form of a female human only confirms what I already know to be true. 
You,” he pointed to the woman, “
…
and all the rest of you.  You want to live in freedom.  You want to take forms of things without answering to anyone.  You want to roam this world without fear for your lives.  You desire a world without Semjaza.”

The crowd was silent now.

“
I
met with
Fer
-
Rada
Danduel
who commands a division of
Anduar
ym
for the
Amatru
.  He’s been trac
k
ing
Semjaza’s progress for a long time.”

“How long?”
asked
a colorful Myndar in the front.

“Ever since he left the
E
ternal
R
ealm.  And lest your own arrogance rival that of Semjaza’s,
he k
now
s
all about you as well.  The
Amatru
were
not fooled by anything
Semjaza did to cover your tracks.  We are all
their
enemies now.”

“Then why would they let you leave?” a tall one in front asked.

“Because I am a
lso a
soldier and I understand how they think.  We have leverage in this situation.”  Sariel couldn’t say the word
leverage
now without hearing the repulsive way it fell from Semjaza’s tongue.  “Semjaza is their primary target and we have information and resources they need.”