Space Angels: find the Gift (complete)

ЄD0Ɲ: Ŧhe Ɗ£Ş£ŔŦ ~ Chapter Forty-Six

ЄD0Ɲ: Ŧhe Ɗ£Ş£ŔŦ

46 – the debrief (1852)

"Can you see it, Fereshte?"

"Umm... oh, yes," Fereshte said, finally locating the lone vulture with her Far Sight. It was heading north, a league ahead of them. She could tell its flight was urgent; its wings flapped hard and it never landed.

They flew faster when kindled and would soon gain on the bird. And, with the advantage of their invisibility, the vile creature living inside the vulture would never know of its imminent cleansing until it was too late. Kaleb had murdered Ishmael's parents and enslaved the young boys of the village to fight his cruel war. Fereshte looked forward to finally vaporising him.

On hearing Borak's debrief, she knew she'd be disappointed. The game had changed. Their mission priority remained – to retrieve the three parts of the Gift and return to Kaelestia – but now they'd uncovered Stygien's infiltration into this world there was a secondary mission parameter: find out how deep the corruption went. It was already pretty deep. Even the galaxy guardian, Malik, had been enchanted, along with his space Seraphim. But their cadre leader, Vetala, was Stygien's servant, a traitor and the main link between the Dark Lord himself and his forces on Edon.

Their Throne had dealt with him, but Stygien would contact Malik in 36 Edon hours, according to Borak, and he would also expect Vetala to communicate with him at the same time. Borak had devised a plan to fool Stygien. It was complex and it involved her. She was excited about that.

The heat was less intense now and the sun had arced low in the sky. Fereshte guessed night would soon fall, judging by the creatures she noticed emerging from their sandholes or from the shadows of large boulders. The air came alive with the sounds of their cries and buzzing and she was glad Sofiel hadn't used her Wall of Cleansing on Kaleb, for the rodents and the rabbits, the lizards, snakes and insects would have perished with him. The bird whose body he'd stolen still hurried towards its destination, ignoring the other vultures it passed, never joining their number to gorge on the carrion at the roadside. Kaleb was getting the most from the vulture's wings, squeezing every drop of life from the creature.

The Lǽrans' had relayed Borak's debrief into one half of a cloud while still allowing the Seraphim to track Kaleb with their Far Sight in the other. Fereshte had already digested the images and memories of the Cherubim's mission so far, and could follow their current progress in her cloud. They had battled with more of Stygien's servants than she and Sofiel had – two Imps and a couple of dangerous demons – but they had defeated them, with Borak's help.

Humble as ever, Borak apologised for his presence on Edon.

"You may be thinking it is strange for a Throne to intervene in an on-world mission, Seraphim."

"Well, no, Borak I think we're all grateful for your help," Fereshte said.

"I wish it were always so, Borak," Sofiel simply added.

Fereshte wondered what Jango thought about Borak's sudden appearance. She knew he was taking the canis that was once Ecad somewhere. She tapped into his cloud feed with her mind. He was busy attaching a red leash to its neck before checking a healing patch on its leg. She knew he was connected to the debrief by his Lǽran but he was strangely silent. Fereshte had seen his pain at losing Ecad and his shame when Picky had manipulated him. She wondered if the Iblis Imp had used a glamour on Jango – they were good at mind correction, her narrator said – but she felt little sympathy for him. She hated how rude he was to Cylvah and remembered how he'd acted on the journey to Edon. Jango had said the planet was a harmless place and that its people were inferior. Jango was wrong. Edon was plagued with Imps, demons, at least one commander and probably Minions too. They could steal the life of an innocent Edon and make them do terrible things using advanced enchantments, and they could kill Kaelestians with terrible weapons. They had probably been here for centuries, unseen but influential, slowly destroying the planet's population with diseases, war and poverty they had created.