Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One (90 page)

“We could always stay
another day.”  He nuzzled her cheek.  “Who would have thought life in an
agrarian society could be so hectic?”

Ninsianna groaned. 
Last night's urgent dream, while not a nightmare, had been a gentle reminder
that she must not impede the
real
mission She-who-is had sent him to
accomplish, organizing and training her people to address the coming threat. 
Yesterday, after sending his message, Mikhail's spirit-light had re-centered
here on
her
world.  Or more precisely, onto
her
.  She must not
indulge the temptation to make him cater to her every whim, as he seemed
perfectly happy to spend the rest of his life doing. 

“No,” Ninsianna gave
him a regretful smile.  “You must get our people trained.  And I promised Mama
I would help her bleed sap from the myrrh bush to make the paste that defeats
evil spirits in an infected wound.”

With a kiss, Mikhail
released his hold, allowing her to slip from the warmth of his downy wings and
sit on the edge of the bed.  As soon as she did, her stomach lurched.  She'd
been hiding the symptoms for weeks now, telling him she'd eaten something
disagreeable or that her sudden bouts of dizziness were merely the heat.  This
morning, however, she would have to tell him. 

The moment her body
became vertical, nausea overcome all other thoughts.  With a cry of dismay, she
jumped up and ran to the closet he referred to as a ‘bath room.’

“Ninsianna … are you
okay?”  He leaped up to follow her.

“Yes,” she choked out
in between dry heaves.  He gathered her hair and pulled it out of the way,
although there was nothing in her stomach to throw up.  This was her first
pregnancy, but she was certain her sickness was more severe than that of the
women she'd helped her mother tend to over the years.  Mikhail was a larger
than a human male.  It made sense that his child would put a greater strain
upon her body.

“Are you sick?”  With
her head in the urn he called ‘toilet’ she couldn't see his face, but she could
hear the concern in his voice.

“I'm fine.” Her voice
echoed inside the bowl, giving it a strange tinny quality.  “This is perfectly
normal.”

“No ... it's
not,” he said.  “You were sick last weekend too.  I'll fly back and fetch your 
mother.”

“There's
nothing Mama can do about it.”  The heaving subsided.  She risked sitting
upright so she could see his face as she broke the news to him.  “It’s morning
sickness.”

“Morning
sickness?  What is making you sick in the morning?  You never got sick
before.” 

Mikhail didn't
know what morning sickness was?  Subtlety was not going to work.  She would
need to spell things out for him.

“
You're
making me sick.  Or more precisely, you
did
something to make me sick. 
It's all your fault, you know?”

“-I-
did this to you?” A look of horrified
confusion crossed his beautiful, chiseled features.  “I'm so sorry!  What did I
do wrong?”

Ninsianna
giggled.  Seeing his anguished look, she started to laugh even harder.

“Ninsianna?” 
Her irrational behavior confused him.  His expression retreated into that unreadable
one he wore when he was not sure what to do.  “What's so funny?”

“Mikhail,” she
said.  “Haven’t you noticed that the first thing I do the minute I get out of
bed every morning is run for the urn?”

“Yes ... you
said it was nothing,” he said.  “Are you ill?”

“Mikhail ...
I'm pregnant.”

“What?”    

“We're having
a baby.”

“How did this
happen?”

“Oh ... I
distinctly remember there was lots of kissing and passionate lovemaking
involved.  Did you somehow ... miss it?”

“No ...
but...”

“And then
there was moaning and thumping your wings against the walls.  And that funny
little sound you make when you orgasm...”

“But...”

“And then
there is that really funny face you make when you're trying to control your
passion, just ... like ... this.”  She did her best impersonation of the face
he made whenever he reached ecstasy.

“I
don't
make a face like that,” he said as the reality of what she was saying sank in. 
“Do I?”

“Yes, you do,”
Ninsianna said.  “And I love it.  And I love you.  And now we'll have a baby to
love, too.”

“But...”  Her
words finally registered.  An ecstatic smile lit up his face.  He reached out
and pulled her into an embrace.  “Really?”

“Really.”  She
nestled her cheek into his chest.

“Wow!”  He led
her back into the sleeping quarters to crawl back into bed.  “I had hoped ...
but ... so fast ... I didn't see
that
coming!”

“Mikhail?” 
She curled into his side as he protectively curled one wing around her,
relishing the sensation of being loved by an angel.

“Hmmmm.....?”
He caressed her chin between his thumb and forefinger as he gazed into her
eyes, his expression one of utter contentment.

“Do you think
our baby will have wings?”

They decided
the warrior training and myrrh sap could tend to themselves for one day as they
snuggled and discussed their hopes for the new life growing in her womb. 
Ninsianna didn't, however, tell him about her dark premonition.  Pushing it out
of her mind, she allowed herself to enjoy the moment.

~ * ~ * ~
* ~ * ~

Galactic Standard Date: 152,323.09 AE

Zulu Sector: 

Command Carrier
‘Light Emerging’

Colonel Raphael Israfa

Raphael

 “Colonel
Israfa,” Major Glicki said, “I picked up a weak transmission from Zulu sector. 
It's a compressed data stream from Colonel Mannuki’ili.  I'm running it through
a decompression sequencer now and boosting the signal.”

“Put it on
screen right away!”  Raphael jumped out of his seat.  It had been seven
months.  Mikhail was alive!

“Raphael ...
my ship is toast … the Sata’an Empire has set up a
large base on an M-class planet at these coordinates ... Zulu three zero one
eight crackle crackle...”

“Boost it again!”
Raphael ordered.  “I need those coordinates!”

“I'm sorry, Sir,”
Glicki said, “I boosted the signal as much as I could.  There's nothing left to
boost.  That was all he was able to send.  With a signal so weak and our
position different than when we lost him, it's a miracle he got a message
through to us at all.”

“Sir?”  Sergeant
Sachiel, another Angelic, pointed to the petite, dark-haired woman standing at
Mikhail's side.  “I thought Colonel Mannuki’ili went on this mission alone. 
Who is the Angelic at his side?  She looks … odd…”

Raphael took a closer
look at the image frozen on the screen.  Mikhail had his arm around a pretty,
black-haired female, her features even darker than the unusual coloring
possessed by his friend.  He was also smiling, something Mikhail almost never
did.  Had he crash-landed on a planet with a surviving colony of the
dark-featured Seraphim?  Raphael thought they had all been wiped out?

“Magnify the image and
run the female through a facial recognition scanner of all known Angelics,”
Raphael ordered.  “Maybe we can isolate his position that way.”

“Sir?”  The quaver in
Glicki's voice was perceptible even through the mechanical aid of the
voice-booster.  She broadcast the magnified image onto the screen.  “You'd
better take a look at this.”

The reality of what
they were looking at dawned on them.

“Holy shit,” Sergeant
Sachiel said.

“Is that…?” Ensign
Zzz’lrr asked.

“It can’t be!"
another Mantoid said.

They all stared in
stunned disbelief at the magnified 12-foot high image of a wingless human
female standing at the Colonel’s side, filling the entire room with her
presence.

“Glicki!” Raphael
shouted.  “Get Supreme Commander-General Jophiel on the horn right away. 
Alpha-priority-one!  I don't care
what
she's doing.  Tell her I need to
speak to her yesterday!”

“Sir … she is
scheduled to meet with the Eternal Emperor,” Glicki said.  “What do I say to
get her out of that meeting?”

“Tell Hashem I found
his solution!” Raphael whooped with glee.  “Colonel Mannuki’ili just found the
godsdamned Holy Grail!”

~ * ~ * ~
* ~ * ~

Galactic Standard Date:  152,323.09 AE

Ascended realms

Eternal Emperor Hashem

Hashem

“You old devil!!!”
Hashem shouted as soon as enough of his consciousness had phased into existence
to form a mouth.  “How long have you been keeping the human root stock up your
sleeve?” 

“That's for
me
to know,” Shay’tan said congenially, a toothy grin on his dragon-like snout as
he sat in front of the galactic chess board.  “And for
you
to find out.”

“Goddess!!!” Hashem
shouted.  When
SHE
didn't make an appearance, or at least check in on
them, he called her again. 

The normally
even-tempered Hashem let out a rare stream of curse-words that would have made
a Marid pirate colony blush when he realized She-who-is was deliberately
ignoring him.  He'd been around the block enough times to recognize when
he
was
the chess piece being played in the eternal game between She-who-is and her
opponent, He-who's-not.  As soon as his laboratory assistant had burst into his
meeting with the news, he'd made all deliberate haste into the ascended
realms.  The ‘room’ where he and Shay'tan met wasn’t really a room at all, but
an artificial construct comprised of the consciousness of She-who-is.  There
was no way she didn't know what was going on!

“If you're looking for
someone to chastise me for keeping chess pieces up my sleeve,” Shay’tan
nonchalantly sharpened his claws.  “Then you're whining to the wrong deity. 
Everybody knows She-who-is is the biggest cheater going.  How do you think
she's kept He-who’s-not from destroying the universe all these years?”

Hashem looked at the
chess pieces splayed across the board.  In a heartbeat, the game had just been
turned upon its head.  Whoever gained control over the human homeworld would
get complete dominion over this galaxy.  Without a fresh infusion of genetic
matter, his hybrid armies would die out.  On the other hand, with unfettered
access to the root race, Hashem could breed a
new
generation of
super-soldiers and kick Shay’tan out of this galaxy once and for all.

Noticing the black
chess pieces surrounding his missing White Knight One, Hashem suddenly smiled. 
The human homeworld was
not
within the bounds of either empire.  It was
completely up for grabs!  Whoever’s armies got dominion over that world first
would win.  The only problem was, Shay’tan knew
exactly
where the planet
was and had a base there, while Hashem didn't.  He must
find
the
confounded planet and prevent Shay’tan from sending in reinforcements.