Uriel: The Inheritance (Airel Saga Book Five)

Chapter X

Arabia—788 B.C.

QIEL FELT COLD AND lonely. Something was happening to him that had never happened before. He was no fool; he knew enough from talking with friends about what would happen when boys began to become men. But this wasn't that. This was cold. He felt truly ill. His mind was filled with visions of horrifying monsters, tentacled beasts, things with scales and fins, the creature Leviathan.

His captor had shackled him here in this dark cell. A blacksmith had driven the pins through the manacles that chained him to the wall. He didn't know what had happened to his mother. He had wanted to cry earlier, but now he withheld all these fears, allowing them to coalesce inside of him, hardening into hatred, fury, even vengeance. He knew from what his mother had taught him that vengeance belonged to El alone, but still. He needed something to get through this. He would not allow himself to cry like a child. It was time to close the book on those chapters of his life. It was time to move forward into manhood now.

He pulled against the chains. They were heavy; he could barely pull them taut against their own sagging weight. A rat ran across his naked toes, its little claws raking across his skin, and he managed to get enough of a piece of it to kick it through the air, its hindquarters and its tail straight out as it spun. He growled and pulled on the chains harder, but they were too heavy. He shouted out in rage, feeling the man, but the voice that echoed back to him was that of a little boy who was frightened. Alone in the dark with the rats and chains.

He wanted more than anything to call out for his mother, to see if she was all right, but he withheld that, too. He didn't want to hear what such a cry might sound like if it echoed back to him in this place.

He dropped his hands to his sides and stood, puffing his hair out of his face as he breathed. Qiel felt cold. He retched onto the floor. Something was happening. Something his mother hadn't told him about.

A noise came to him then. It was the sound of dripping. His chains felt cold and moist, and his breath became visible as mist in the darkness. Yes. This was new. This was dangerous. He wasn't sure how he felt about it.

***

WHEN URIEL FINALLY CAME back to herself, she didn't know what had happened or how much time had gone by. She only knew the scalding shame of regret. She had been fool enough to think that Anael wouldn't be able to find her, and worse, that if he did, he would allow her to live out her life with Qiel in peace.

But no.

Her passion for destruction, her capacity for boundless hatred, had dissipated into dust over the last few centuries. It was scant enough as to have become immeasurable. "Anael," she called out in the darkness, rising to a sitting position. A sharp pain in her temples followed this sudden motion, and she held a hand to her head in response to it. She sobbed. "Anael." She hadn't known the feeling of desperation in centuries. "Anael!" she screamed at length, bringing on fresh pain and dizziness. She pressed both hands to her head and fell to her knees, doubled over.

Then, a voice. "Ready now?"

She didn't need to look up to know who it was. She sobbed again. Qiel had burned all the rebellion out of her heart. She hadn't thought such a thing could ever happen. All the senseless hatred had fled from her since her son had come into her life, and she knew what love was by having tasted it. "Your servant will do whatever you ask of her," she breathed. She could feel the wicked smile that spread itself on the hideous face of her foe in response.

"I will be Seer. You will bring me the Bloodstone, or your boy will never be free."

"Your servant wishes to see her son," she pleaded, breathing raggedly. She called out for him. "Qiel."