Sword of the Gods: Agents of Ki (Sword of the Gods Saga) (98 page)

"Already on it, Sir," Glicki said. "And now … some good news."

Raphael's wings perked up.

"I thought I asked you to give the good news to me first," Raphael said.

"Couldn't you
use
a little good news after getting that last report?" Glicki asked.

Raphael sighed. "Yes. But it better be
really
good. Because between disciplinary problems and now cannibals roaming around the uncharted territories, I'm ready to pluck out my feathers."

The hum of Glicki's under-wings changed, less ominous and a bit more mischievous. "You might want to wait to do that until
after
you see what Jophiel sent you in her needle."

"Jophiel's needle is here?"

His heart beat faster. It felt like he had feathers in his mouth. In a good way, of course. Ever since he and Jophiel had become a mated pair, it was all he could do to not crawl out of his skin to satiate the ache for how very much he missed her. Jophiel's needle wasn't due for two more days. There must have been some development on
her
end.

"I told the ATO to wait to unload it until you got there," Glicki said. "But you'd better hurry.
Your
needle is egging it to jump ship and go feed. There's no way to hold them if they decide to play."

Raphael was out of his commander's chair and fly-walking down the hall before his second-in-command could even finish her speech about the child-like habits of the marginally sentient living ships.
His
needle looked forward to his visits, but Jophiel's needle was much less committed to any one person or handler. He'd been making a point of training
both
needles to respond to him … and grow attached to Uriel … just in case he ever needed to send his son off in a hurry to ensure his safety.

"I already sent word down to Nanny Oomphala to bring Uriel down to the needle stable for your lunch break," Glicki shouted after him. "No doubt they are already there."

"Thanks!" Raphael shouted, increasing his speed. He glanced back and gave her a grateful grin. As one of his closest friends, Glicki knew him perhaps better than anyone. Any excuse to spend a spare moment with his son was a good one!

He caught up with the portly Nanny Oomphala waddling down the hallway carrying his red-winged son and trailed by Uriel's pet gorock, '
Gi.'
  The gorock's tail increased its thwapping the moment it saw him like some sort of ecstatic, deadly weapon.
Gi
did a happy dance and jumped up to slobber on him, the creature's perpetual state of being.

"How is he this afternoon, Nanny?" Raphael asked.

"He's been cruising all morning, Sir," Nanny said good-naturedly. "It's walking he'll be real soon, Colonel. Just you wait and see!"

Raphael greedily scooped up his son and hugged the gurgling toddler to his chest.

"Hey little guy!" Raphael buried his face into his son's neck and inhaled his scent, relishing the warmth of Uriel's soft skin and auburn curls.

"I'll be in my quarters if you need me," Nanny Oomphala said.

"Thank you, Nanny," Raphael said.

The gorock barked and wrapped its long, serpentine body around the portly Nanny's webbed feet, no doubt looking for a treat. The darned creature had increased in size
again
and was now so big it took up half the available free floor space of Raphael's cramped living quarters.

"Any chance I can get you to take
that
with you?" Raphael laughed.

Nanny Oomphala responded with an evil-sounding carroak.

"No such luck, Sir," she laughed at him. "He and Master Uriel, they're quite inseparable." She pointed at another Delphinium who came rattling down the hallway pushing a mess hall food cart. "I'll leave it to
you
to keep the little master from feeding
Gi
his
piseanna
and
cairéid
."

Her throat-pouch puffed up with a suppressed guffaw. As a civilian, he could not order her to take the gorock off his hands, nor
would
he because Nanny Oomphala was right. Uriel craved the pet's company as much as the pet craved
his.

"Okay, then," Raphael said. "You're off the hook. Thank you, Nanny. And have a pleasant lunch."

He waited until she lumbered down the hallway, and then spun Uriel around until he giggled. Uriel flapped his small, red wings, trying valiantly to fly, but it would be quite some time before the toddler would take to the air. First … he had to learn to walk. Raphael walked backwards with Uriel into the needle stable. Uriel toddled behind him using the support of just one finger, his tiny red wings flapping for balance. Uriel stepped eagerly towards his 'friends' the needles, shrieking with laughter as he let go of Raphael's hand and took  four frantic steps before losing his balance and plopping down upon his diaper.

"Hey! You just walked, buddy!" Raphael picked him up and hugged him. "Wait until we tell your Mama!"

Gi
raced towards the two needles and immediately bumped noses. The two needles herded
Gi
and Uriel into the middle, and then swirled around them, surprisingly graceful despite their seven-meter length. Uriel shrieked with laughter as
his
needle stood still and allowed the toddler to pull himself upright using the creature's tail-end as a support.

"Hello, Alpha," Raphael greeted Jophiel's needle by placing his palm upon its nose. "Thank you for waiting for me to get here."

Jophiel's needle rolled over so he could scratch its belly. He knew he could simply order the creature to open up its marsupium, but the more he played with them, the more cooperative the creatures became. Why
not
treat them like the sentient, playful beings they were?

"Okay, buddy," Raphael said. "It's time to hand over the goodies."

Jophiel's needle opened its pouch. While Uriel used
his
needle as a rudimentary walker, Raphael rummaged through the marsupium and handed over one package at a time to the ATO.

"These go to the various ship commanders," Raphael said. "Have Glicki's men censor them first for landmines."

At last he got to the device at the bottom, the one Jophiel used exclusively for
him.
It was blue, the same color as her eyes, and while outside it looked like a civilian flatscreen, it contained hidden security features which would make it impossible to hack.

"Thank you, Private Hk'kr," Raphael said to the Mantoid needle handler. "Could you please get these devices to where they belong?"

"Yes, Sir," the ATO saluted him. "Enjoy your visit with your son."

He waited until the needle-handler cleared the room before plugging Jophiel's flatscreen into the miniature holographic projector. While its image quality was rudimentary, it allowed him to see his mate in all of her three-dimensional glory. A small, egg-shaped ball of light materialized and in its middle a doll-sized image of Jophiel appeared.

He knew by the way she wore her wings tucked tightly against her back that the news would not be good. Her pristine features were hardened into the mask of the ice-princess.

"Raphael," Jophiel said, "the situation has deteriorated far worse than we feared. Shay'tan defeated our fleet in a stunning ambush at the border; Abaddon is missing and presumed dead; Parliament has blamed the Eternal Emperor instead of accepting responsibility for their own ill-advised incursion into Sata'anic territory; and outside of the palace the people have begun to riot
.
"

Her lip trembled with emotion.

"I swore I would forment no rebellion, but Abaddon is feared dead and I have come into intelligence that indicates things could be worse than we feared. The Alliance has fractured, the citizens are in revolt, and Parliament is eager to lay blame on anyone except for
them.
My presence at the Eternal Palace has only fueled the flames. Myself and a crew of loyalists have seized back the
Eternal Light
and are on our way to follow up on some intelligence we received about a missing Sata'anic armada."

"A missing Sata'anic armada?" Raphael asked. The hologram of Jophiel did not answer his question.
-If-
she'd wanted to give him specifics, she would have come right out and told him.

Jophiel's eyes welled with tears.

"I shall be incognito for a while," Jophiel said. "Tell Uriel that I miss him dearly, and know that I miss
you
, too,
mo ghrá.
This is the last communication I might be able to send for a while. I don't know if my needle will be able to find me where we are going, so if she returns to your ship and appears confused, please give her shelter and make sure she understands it's not her fault."

Raphael glanced over at Jophiel's needle, which had wrapped itself around Uriel and the gorock like a great, protective black playpen, nose-to-nose with her sister. In the middle, Uriel happily fed
Gi
his
piseanna
and
cairéid
exactly as Nanny Oomphala had warned he would, squealing with delight as the gorock gobbled up his vegetables.

Jophiel stared out of the hologram so realistically it made his heart ache. Her lips curved up into a small, secret smile.

"But in all this strife, we have one small blessing," Jophiel said. Her hand slid down to splay protectively across her womb. "I don't know
why
the test came back inconclusive the first six times I took it. Stress, perhaps, or some quirk of my genome? But She-who-is has chosen to bless our union with a child. Raphael ... we're going to have a daughter."

Raphael stared with hologram dumb with happiness. A daughter? Jophiel was once again with child? It was the best news a dying species could hope for!

Pushing the Tokoloshe murders soundly out of his mind, he picked up Uriel and cradled him to his chest, imagining as Uriel's small wings rose and fell in sleep that he could
feel
Jophiel beside them. He reformed the memory of Uriel taking his first, halting steps towards the needle. It was more a tactile sensations than words, but even without the gift of images, he understood the message Jophiel communicated back to him, a message which no amount of distance could prevent from traveling between the hearts of a mated pair.

"I miss you,"
her heart whispered to his.

"I miss you too…" he said aloud.

~ * ~ * ~

December, 3,390 BC

Earth: Village of Assur

Mikhail

The first rays of dawn cast tentative tendrils over the horizon and shone their light into the window which had been left unshaded so he could ascend into the heavens once he died. It crept into the room, past the unguarded spiderweb which had been abandoned once the weather had turned cold, and kissed his eyelids with its golden, effulgent light.

Breath streamed from his lungs and cast its warmth into the cold, winter chill. Alive. He breathed because he was still alive. And oh, by gods, it hurt, but he breathed anyways because he'd been given the gift of life by the spirit who lay ensconced within the shelter of his wings.

The sunlight grew bolder, shining through his eyelids so brilliantly it threatened to blind him. He realized he was colder than he should have been. He caressed her, the beautiful spirit who had made love to him in his dream. The same word rang in his heart over and over again.
Maité saoil
. He had found her. He had called for her and his one true mate had materialized into the flesh to heal him.

He tried to nestle the black-eyed Seraphim closer to his body, eager to share her warmth, eager to bond further so they could help each other heal. He realized her shape was too soft, too formless. There was something pressed against him, but it was not the slender body which housed the spirit he had searched for many lifetimes to find.