The War In Heaven by Theodore Beale

Author:Theodore Beale
Language: eng
Format: epub

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Jami was worn out from their long flight, and she was amazed when Khasar pointed out it was only noon. She preferred riding with him instead of with Jhofor, who could only be persuaded to talk about serious things. As the sun reached its peak, a small city appeared on the horizon. It was basically a walled village, but it wasn't the limestone walls or the tall spires of its temple that caught Jami's eye. What grabbed her attention was an army of men that surrounded those walls, a large army nearly twice the size of the one she'd seen destroyed at the Crystal Tower. Khasar muttered something about the demons that accompanied it, and though she couldn't see them, she could feel their invisible, oppressive presence like a heavy weight on her chest. It was a feeling she was really learning to hate.

"Can you see them, Holli?" she shouted over her shoulder.

"Oh, Jami, there's so many of them, so many!" Sure enough, the Lady's gift was real. "And they're ugly, just so ugly. I hate them, I hate them!"

"Hold tight," Khasar said abruptly, and Jami alertly grabbed a firm hold on his mane.

"What are you- ulp!"

She didn't finish her sentence as the Archon pulled in his wings and dove towards the ground. A hail of arrows arced through the air, passing just over her. Horrified, she whipped her head around and was relieved to see that Jhofor and Holli had evaded the attack.

"Khasar, where did that come from?" she shouted.

"Matraya's men," Khasar growled shortly. "Shooting at us."

"So make us invisible or something!"

"I can't."

"What?" Jami didn't believe him. "Of course you can. You're an angel!"

"Prince Gabriel told me not to. It isn't in the prophecy."

The prophecy? What prophecy? She would have asked him, but he banked suddenly to the right, taking her breath away and nearly throwing her out of her seat. Three arrows flew past her ear, inches wide of the mark, but one slammed into the Archon's left shoulder with a meaty 'thunk'.

"Grrraauuuwlll!" Khasar snarled, but Jami saw the embedded shaft didn't slow him down as he kept flying towards the city. Because of his dive, they were flying very low now, below the level of the city's thirty foot-high stone walls, but as they came closer, the Archon redoubled his efforts and began climbing higher into the sky.

They were close enough now that Jami could see the hurried activity of soldiers rushing about behind the walls, and she suddenly realized that the arrow that had hit Khasar came from the city, not the enemy army. She watched with horror as an archer wearing a conical helm lifted his weapon and drew the bowstring back to his cheek. She saw him close one eye as he took aim at her chest, and knew he was too close to miss.

"Khasar, watch out! He's gonna shoot me!"

"Just hold on," came the terse reply.

Jami screamed hopelessly as the archer released his shaft, but before it flew off the bow, Khasar threw himself upwards, placing his body between Jami and the arrow.

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