Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One (67 page)

July – 3,390 BC

Earth:  Village of Assur

Ninsianna

Ninsianna awoke to the
sensation of something warm and firm pressed along the length of her back. 
Listening to the throb of blood whirring in tune with his heartbeat through the
firm bicep she'd been using as a pillow, she relished the feather ‘blanket’
he'd used to cover them.  Suppressing a yawn, she stretched and turned towards
him.  He was awake.  Probably had been for some time.  Watching.  Always
watching.  Adding up every move in that brilliant mind of his as though she
were an equation he needed to solve.

“Hey,” she smiled and
wiggled closer to his warmth.

“Hey,” he said, his
eyes serious. 

The mask was back. 
That serious mask he used to hide his feelings.  Ninsianna knew to ignore his
carefully schooled expression and listen to what his body said was
really
on his mind.  He'd been forced to kill.  Today he would honor those he'd slain
and spend a quiet day with his thoughts.  Perhaps tomorrow as well.  After that,
he would return to being the Mikhail who had integrated into her village.

Reaching up to touch
his cheek, she stretched forward for a kiss.  She decided not to tease him this
morning.  Right now, self-control was the only thing holding him together.  Instead,
she put her hand over his heart, feeling the reassuring beat beneath her
fingertips.  His expression grew less troubled.  They basked in their mutual
embrace until the sound of voices and pottery clinking downstairs intruded into
the silence.

“Breakfast will be
ready soon,” Ninsianna said.  “Would you like to eat downstairs?  Or would you
rather I bring something up?”

“You're my family.  We
shall eat together.”

“I'll go downstairs
and see who Mama has in so early?” she said.  “You're all covered in blood.  It
will give me a chance to bring water and some clean clothes so Mama doesn't
scold me for leaving you in such a sorry state.”

“You were
wonderful....”

Ninsianna silenced him
with a kiss.  “Let me do my job and you do yours.  Okay?  I'll be back in a
moment.”

Ninsianna knew Mama
wouldn't scold her.  Her real reason for keeping him there was to warn the
others not to question him until he was in a mood to
be
questioned.   
Pareesa was downstairs along with the three unknown women who had a strange,
exotic appearance, as though they had traveled from far away.  Ninsianna
marveled at their jet-black hair and almond-shaped eyes, even darker than the
Ubaid.

“Ninsianna,” Pareesa
said, “perhaps you could help.  We are trying to figure out where these women
are from so we can help them get home.  Nobody speaks their language.”

“They need to speak to
me first," Ninsianna said.  “Once they do, I'll be able to pick up the
thread of their native tongue.”

The three women
huddled together.

“Ninsianna,” Ninsianna
pointed to her own chest.  She pointed to her mother and fellow archer.  “Needa
… Pareesa.”  Ninsianna then pointed to the first girl and asked, “Who?”

The girl looked at her
puzzled for a moment, then said, “Seyahat.”

“Good … Ninsianna …
Seyahat … ” Ninsianna pointed first to herself, and then the girl. 

Turning to the second
girl, she did it again.  “Ninsianna … who?”

“Fatma,” the second
girl giggled as she realized what Ninsianna was doing.  Fatma turned to Sehayat
and said something in whatever language it was they spoke.  By the time the
third girl chipped in her thoughts, the language had come to her.  Ninsianna
didn't even know its name, but she could speak it fluently.”

“I'm Ninsianna,” she
said in their language.  “This is my Mama, Needa, and my friend, Pareesa.  You
are safe here.”

The girls burst into
an explosion of questions.

“How did you learn our
language?” Seyahat asked.

“She-who-is has given
me the gift to understand languages after hearing only a few sentences,”
Ninsianna said.  “We're trying to figure out where you live so we can get you
home.”

“We are Magian,” the
third girl said.  “I'm called Norhan.  We were captured from a caravan crossing
the mountains.  Three mountain ranges from here, I think.  We’re from Margiana
… on the other side of the landlocked sea.”

“Pleased to meet you,
Norhan,” Ninsianna said.  “I have never heard of this place, but someone in the
village must know of it.  Once we figure that out, we shall help you get home.”

“Ninsianna,” Pareesa
asked, “where is Mikhail?”

“Upstairs … in my
room...”

Pareesa lifted one
eyebrow and gave her a lascivious look.

“It's not like that!”
Ninsianna protested.  “He is wounded.  I sent him upstairs to rest so annoying
early morning guests tromping through the kitchen wouldn't disturb him!”

“Sorry,” Pareesa
said.  “It was just … unbelievable!  I've never seen someone take out that many
men!”

“I
have
seen,”
Ninsianna said.  “Please don't let him overhear you speak of it so gleefully.”

“But he did an
incredible thing!” Pareesa wriggled with enthusiasm.  “We all want to
congratulate him!”

“Mikhail is a moral
creature,” Ninsianna gestured for her young friend to lower her voice.  “He
takes no joy in his abilities.  You must respect his silence until he is ready
to rejoin us.”

“He helped the warriors
take out over 45 Halifians,” Needa said.  “And that was
after
the eight
he killed rescuing Pareesa.”

“Seven,” Pareesa
said.  “I took out the eighth one with his own bow.”

“He was trained by the
Cherubim, the guardians of the Eternal Emperor,” Ninsianna spoke low so her
voice wouldn't carry upstairs.  “That's the strange language he speaks when he
goes into battle.  But the Cherubim are not human, nor even Angelic.  What
Mikhail does weighs heavily upon him.”

“They deserved it!”
Pareesa said.  "They killed eleven of our people!"

“Yes, they did.” 
Ninsianna looked at the three exotic women who were so far from home.  “But he
will still bury his enemies with respect.  He will still pray to She-who-is to
convey their spirits into the dreamtime, whether they deserve it or not.  And
he will still mourn the loss of their lives even though it was necessary.  It's
what makes him … Mikhail.”

Pareesa chewed her
lip, deep in thought.  She still had a bit of an eager, awestruck air about
her, but Ninsianna could see she also understood she needed to be respectful of
her mentor's moral code.

“I understand,”
Pareesa said.  “I will try not to annoy him.”

“Oh, little fairy!” 
Ninsianna hugged the woman-child.  “That's what you do!  Just try not to do it
too much for a few days, okay?”

“Will we train today?”
Pareesa asked.

“Alalah will teach
today’s class, and perhaps tomorrow,” Ninsianna said.  “I think from now on the
entire village will be training.  We must pass along what we already
know."

She turned to address
her mother.  "Papa has gone to speak to the Chief.  Hasn't he, Mama?”

Mama grunted and
turned her attentions back to the porridge she stirred in the ceramic cook
pot.  It was best not to distract her mother while cooking or their breakfast
would suffer.

“You'd better teach me
to use that fancy weapon of yours, too, daughter,” Mama said, “in case some
Halifian decides an old hag like me is nubile enough for the slavers.”

As if!
  Ninsianna may have inherited her father's eerie
shaman's eyes, but her good looks had come from her mother.  At 36 years old,
her mother was still young … and beautiful … enough to be a target.  Ninsianna
gave her Mama a reassuring hug.

“Pareesa … could you
please take your new friends elsewhere for breakfast?” Ninsianna asked.  “If
they witnessed Mikhail under the spell of the killing dance, I don't think
they'll react well when he comes downstairs.”

“They were pretty
upset when he flew out of there,” Pareesa frowned.  “It took me hours to
convince them he was not coming back to kill
them
.”

“We forget because he
is our friend,” Ninsianna said.  “But he is different than we are.  I don't
think three women cringing in fear while he eats breakfast will sit well with
him this morning.”

“Of course.”  Pareesa
was young for one who had just taken her first kill, but she understood. 

Ninsianna turned to
the three exotic women.

“Pareesa will take you
to get some breakfast,” Ninsianna explained.  “I'll come visit later.  It will
take us a few days to clean up after last night's battle, but then we'll figure
out how to get you home.”

The three foreign
women thanked her and followed Pareesa on her way.

“Mama,” Ninsianna
said.  “After he has had to … well … you know … he is very silent for a few
days.  Just give him his space, okay?”

“I have seen this before,”
Mama said.  “With the other warriors.  Even with your father.  I know how to
act.”

“I know you do,”
Ninsianna hugged her Mama and gave her a peck on the cheek.  “I learned from
the best.  Now, I need to bring up some water for washing and clean clothes.  I
made him strip off his bloody shirt last night, but he is still covered in
blood.”

“If anybody comes to
the door to pester him,” Mama said, “I shall chase them away with this.”  Mama
shook her wooden spoon like it was a club.  “Since Mikhail took so many of the
raiders lives, your father will want to include him in the death rituals.”

“I think Mikhail will
agree … so long as nobody pesters him,” Ninsianna said.  “Just tell them that,
okay?”

~ * ~ * ~
* ~ * ~

July – 3,390 BC

Earth:  Village of Assur

Colonel Mikhail Mannuki’ili

Mikhail

A mortar exploded
next to them, spraying them in the face with dirt.  A man … no woman …
screamed.  Glicki!

"Fall back! 
Fall back!"  The order came over the radio.

Mikhail rushed to
her side, cradling her in his arms.  Her green, prayer-like grasping arms were
held close to her chest, trembling in pain.

"Glicki,"
he said.  "You're going to be okay."  He touched along her green
exoskeleton, which had taken the brunt of the shrapnel.  Green blood seeped out
of the joint of one of the four legs she used to walk.

"I'm
okay," she chirped out of the voice translator.  "Good thing we come
with built-in armor."

Another mortar
exploded, slightly further away.  He shielded her with his wings as debris rained
down upon them.

"Can you
walk?"

She tried to move
her leg and screamed in pain.  Mikhail examined the wound.  She was bleeding
profusely.  An artery had been hit.  If he could tie it off, she would make
it.  Unfortunately, insectoid physiology was notoriously difficult to
tourniquet.  He had to get her out of here before she bled out.

"Major
Mannuki'ili?" one of the other soldiers asked.  "What do we do?"

He looked to the
men and women in his special operations group, six of them.  One was Angelic
like him, the others were Mantoid.  All fine soldiers.  His sensitive ears
could hear the Sata'anic lizards creeping through the underbrush on either side
of them.  Shay'tan wanted this planet, and he was going to take it from them.

Mikhail looked
first to his wounded friend, and then to his special forces team.  Although the
same height as him and slender, insectoids were heavy.  -Too- heavy for an
Angelic to fly out of here, not even with the stronger wings granted to him
thanks to his Seraphim blood.  Although Mantoids had wings, they were more
suited to long flying jumps rather than the true flight Angelics were capable
of.  With her leg in such condition, Glicki couldn't fly.  The Sata'anic
lizards blocked their escape.  There was only one thing they could do.