Eutopia - Apocalypse

Chapter 10

Petra literally lit up the dark woods outside the Wold’s forward-operating-base as she landed, scattering the dark shadows with the luminescent shimmer that radiated from somewhere deep within. Her thick, gleaming wings folded neatly upon her back and disappeared into the thin, gossamer silk of her tunic.

Blaze, who had been stationed outside and had been drifting in and out of conscious thought, straightened up at once as he caught sight of the sudden absence of darkness.

‘Where is Jinn?’ Petra enquired, her musical bell of a voice chiming through the soft, hushed sounds of the early evening. She beamed at Blaze as his yellow eyes raked slowly and deliberately over the sheer silk that draped her frame. Her long golden hair was loose around her, crowned with a ring of tiny daisies crafted from pearls, their delicate petals surrounding a centre of sparkling topaz and twisted together with stalks carved directly from web-like emerald slivers. The moon skittered out from behind a swift moving cloud and as the clear light fell upon her, Petra appeared fairylike, ethereal in the gloom that she put to shame with her luminosity. Blaze was in awe of the vision before him, his hardened features were slack.

‘Jinn.’ Blaze repeated the name, clearly incapable of comprehension.

‘Your Commander?’ she prompted, turning her face aside slightly to conceal the amusement that caught at one corner of her pretty mouth.

‘Ah. Inside, he’s inside.’

‘I will speak with him. I have something of great importance to his cause, to our cause.’ There was such an imposing urgency to her tone that Blaze didn’t pause for a moment.

‘Go straight ahead, he’s on the first floor.’ He stepped away from the doorway to clear the way for Petra.

With a slow smile that rose like the sun, soft at first but then dazzling in its brilliance, Petra slipped around Blaze and left him blinking in her wake.

‘Ah-ha, your guard said you would be here,’ she smiled as her cool, slim hands cupped Jinn’s eyes, even though he must have seen her coming – he never looked up. ‘Guess who?’

‘Petra, how positively delightful that you’re here.’

‘Where’s the girl?’ she asked. Even blinded by Petra’s hands Jinn could hear the petulant pout in her voice.

‘Dead.’

‘Yes, Uriel said she was,’ she said, unconcerned as she leaned over his expansive shoulder to peer at the document he had been reading.

‘Uriel?’ Jinn frowned darkly and ripped her hands away from his face, whirling immediately to face her. Although he was sat at his desk there was hardly any difference in height between them. ‘If you had to ask Uriel there was no need to ask me, was there?’

‘Well, no,’ Petra straightened up and glanced around the large, airy room. Jinn’s wide desk stood in the centre bathed by the clear moonlight that fell through the three windows that ran from floor to ceiling along one wall. The windows were so wide that there was hardly any space between each and they were open to the night, the glass panes that had been replaced a few years previously had been thrown open to let the cool air soak in. The black leather chair Jinn sat in looked comfortable, his dark blue cloak that singled him out as Commander was thrown over the back of it as he worked by candle light. ‘I just thought I’d ask you.’ Petra shrugged her statuesque shoulders, smooth and perfect as she turned with interest to inspect the otherwise unfurnished room. She twirled, her thin silken tunic circled her perfect legs and clung to every delicate curve of her body as she sat in the straight-backed chair on the other side of Jinn’s desk. ‘I was worried about you for a moment, we all were.’