The Angel's Humanhood

21. White Lies

"Is this really necessary?!" Wahag was being swayed left and right on Sal's shoulder.
"Just let me focus, will'ya!" Sal protested.
Every guard in the golden building was coming after Sal. Even with his power over inanimate objects, Sal was having a hard time pushing ahead. He held some inside Wahag's cell. And from the ruckus they were hearing, probably a dozen were behind a gate that Sal was holding shut. And yet, Sal still had to engage in a not-very-flattering hand to hand combat with a few guards whose weapons were rendered useless by his powers.
Sal was swinging around a rod that he epically broke out from one of the cell gates, but he was depending solely on the bad luck of the guards and channeling immense energy into the rod making the slightest tap fatal.
Amidst the disgraceful swaying, Wahag noticed that two guards snuck from a secret door which Sal didn't seem to notice and more unfortunately, they were holding spears and closing in very quickly.
"Sal! Sal!" Wahag tried to alert, but the guards were already less than few steps away, and Sal seemed to have misunderstood Wahag and instead of turning, he threw him off his shoulder, "Don't you dare get barf on me!"
Wahag was suddenly standing face to face with the two guards.
One of them launched at him and he dodged but not quick enough, his shoulder got grazed by the very sharp spear.
Wahag's heart was beating in his throat. Breathing hurt and his mouth tasted of metal. Memories of the time he spent on Earth started to flash before his eyes; the second guard launched and Wahag could barely lift his foot to dodge. He felt the body's fear taking over and the world slowed down.
God, I tried, forgive me. Wahag closed his eyes almost surrendering to the blade coming straight to his heart, when suddenly the body moved on its own out of the way. The blade hit the wall behind him with a loud screech.
Wahag felt like his was floating. Something in the body took over and he moved smoothly between the two guards. He was ducking under the arm of one of the guards and threw a punch from below right to his lungs causing him lose balance. Turning to the guard who had an arm extended trying to grab Wahag, he took the guards arms and blew a strick to the back of his elbow which made a loud crack sound followed by the guard screaming.
Wahag was about to grab the first guard again, but Sal yanked him from the back of his shirt and started running for the main entrance. The gates were automatically shutting, Sal ushered at it the closing doors slowed down just enough for them to be able to escape right before it closed up against the army behind them.
Outside, it was deep in the night and there wasn't much light. Sal dashed to the street where a vehicle very similar to the one that brought him in stopped in front of him and he boarded. Wahag was ready to turn and run when Sal fished him by the shirt and dragged him in.
"What's going on? Who are these people?" Wahag attempted to whisper when he found that the vehicle empty except for a driver and a man that sat with his back to them.
"You'll know when we get there," Sal was busy assessing the damage that happened to the rags he was wearing. He murmered in anger about how long it took him to harness the right magic into them. But Wahag's mind was also busy wondering how he could fight the guards.
Not all memories are stories. The voice said.
The vehicle came to a stop.
"There is a secret door in the ground about five minutes walk from here. It's shaded under a large tree. You can't miss it. Madame Balqis will meet you at the other side," the man next to the driver said in a formal voice.
"Sure. Sure," Sal ushered on his way out, still grumpy over his rags.
Wahag and Sal walked next to an immense wall that seemed to never end in the darkness of the night. The walk was simple, but Wahag's grazed arm burned against the cold air. They found the tree covering a trap door that led to a tunnel. Wahag, as a fire being, found walking in the darkness of the night to be novel and a bit uncomfortable, but the tunnel was even worse, it was pitch black. The only way they could walk forward was by holding on to the dirt wall; it made him miss his jin form. They quickly bumped into each other at the end of the narrow tunnel.
"Now, what?" Wahag grew antsy.
Sal used the metal bar that he kept from their battle to test the walls around them. The sides and front only released dirt that made Wahag cough, but the top sounded hollow.
"There it is," Sal sounded satisfied.
They heard someone on the other side of the door moving things around and eventually opened it.
"I didn't know you would get here so quickly," a face popped through blinding bright light coming from the hatch, "I will bring the ladder," the woman added.
"Madame, let us do it," A man's voice said.
"Get out of my face!" The woman commanded.
Sal and Wahag climbed the ladder one after the other. Wahag's eyes adjusted to painful light and he could finally see the woman that oddly looked familiar.
"Madame Balqis," Sal greeted the woman respectfully with a slight head nod.
"Sal," she nodded back and turned to Wahag who felt awkward under her gaze. She was a small woman with a commanding presence. Her hair was long, black and well attended to. Her skin was light chestnut and she had deep green eyes that filled him with ease, and oddly sadness.
"Jonah..," her voice was filled with longing that suddenly snapped Wahag out of his trance.
"I am not..." Wahag was interrupted by Dow and Prince bursting out of a small door in the humble room they were in.
"Wahag!!" Dow's voice finally made something click in his head and he realized the reason behind the odd sense of familiarity. Madame Balqis was the woman in Dow's vision.
"Dow... How did you guys get out?" Wahag and Dow both took quick steps towards each other. Wahag found himself holding back an odd desire to touch Dow's hand for reassurance that she was really there and safe.
"Wahag? Who's Wahag?" Madame Balqis turned to Sal, "What is this?"
Sal turned his gaze sheepishly towards Dow, who in turn suddenly looked guilty.
"We might have missed a detail or two," Dow managed through her teeth.
"I see that my daughter has picked up a few bad habits from living with thugs," the green eyes turned from warmth to something a little poisonous.