Manifestation: Wandering Stars Volume Two by Jason Tesar

Author:Jason Tesar [Tesar, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 4shadow, LLC
Published: 2014-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

THE WESTERN SHORES OF THE GREAT WATERS

SOUTHWEST OF SAHVEYIM

The sky was dark, but not yet black. The first of the stars were out, but their light was eclipsed by the glare from the flames in front of Sariel. He was lying on his side in the grass. The fire crackled, and he was instantly reminded of the evening gathering times with the Aleydam. The stories. The laughter. No sooner had the happy memory entered his mind than thoughts of Sheyir’s suffering and death began to contaminate it. There was a great hole through the middle of Sariel’s soul, as though he had been impaled by a gigantic spear. His breath escaped him for several seconds, and he was on the verge of breaking down completely before his training took over. Ages of warfare and loss had given him the emotional weapons to fight back. But Sheyir’s loss was different. He couldn’t fight this pain that threatened to strangle him to death. It was too powerful. The best he could do was run away from it. Deny it. Hopefully, in time, it would tire of the chase and let him go.

Enoch rose from the grass and poked at the fish that was suspended over the fire by a stick running through its length. “Almost ready.”

Sariel shifted his weight to relieve the cramping in his shoulder, but the movement caused a wave of pain to flow through his abdomen. He inhaled a quick breath through his teeth and kept absolutely still. It passed a few seconds later and he let out the breath he’d been holding.

“Are you alright?”

“Not really,” Sariel replied, carefully rolling onto his back.

“Do you want me to put you in the water?”

“No. Thank you. It’s good for me to dry out from time to time.”

Enoch nodded and checked the fish again. Then he lifted the stick off its supports and leaned it against a rock to cool.

Sariel took slow, shallow breaths as he looked up at the night sky. Several minutes of silence passed before he turned his head. “You don’t speak much, do you?”

“I’ve grown accustomed to being alone,” Enoch replied.

“Isn’t that odd for someone who speaks on behalf of the Holy One?”

Enoch just shrugged.

“How come you haven’t asked me again how I became injured?”

Enoch poked at the fish until he was satisfied that it was cool enough to hold. Then he laid it on a rock and began to peel away the skin and scales. “Because that knowledge isn’t a requirement for my obedience to the Holy One. He led me here to find you and help you recover. That is all I need to know.”

Sariel stared at him for a long moment, watching him separate the meat from the other, less desirable parts of the creature. “You are a very unusual man, Enoch.”

“You are a very unusual angel, Sariel,” he replied without looking away from the fish.

Sariel laughed aloud before his chest and abdomen seized up with excruciating pain. He clutched himself and waited for it to subside.

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