Angelblood - Retribution

Chapter 25 - Where There Is Darkness, There Is Light (Draft)

The angel and her companions, Semangelof and Naamah, had been traveling for a few hours by now and though heavily armored she seemed to have no interest to rest. Without any sign of reaction she pushed through the battlefield and the hundreds of slaughtered and impaled brothers of hers. Only once did her eyes rest on one of them while they moved through the fog that covered the field and gave it a ghostly touch. Semangelof wondered at some point if, at any moment, he'd feel a grasping hand around his boot. Walking through so much death did not make him feel comfortable and the way Naamah pressed herself to his side gave him the impression that she felt no more at ease. Only their leader seemed not to care much. Maybe because she feels that she is no longer one of them anyway. Maybe never has been?

The moon had taken the sun's place hours ago and the darkness of the night began to wrap its cloak around them. Still no word has been spoken between them. Only Naamah now and then could be heard gasping when the motion of their trek caused pain from her wound.

"We need to rest." Semangelof directs his voice toward the woman leading them. The past hour they crossed a wide plain and it would not have been a good idea to rest there but now they are pressing through a light woodland.

"I will not rest. You can do so if you wish. I will press on. I will not loose any time." The angel replies without turning.

Semangelof expected this reaction and reaches for her shoulder to make her stop her walk and turn around.

"There is no use for you to march yourself to death. You need rest as we do!"

The angel pulls herself free from his grip.

"I need no rest. I will keep going. Stay here if you like."

"You stubborn beast! You know we are your friends. We will not let you go alone but we need a rest. You need a rest! The past days were exhausting. You have been separated from Myriel for such a long time. One day more or less will not change much anymore will it?"

The woman stop and sighs. She knows Sem is right. Slowly she turns around and indeed she looks exhausted. After thinking for a moment longer she nods.

"Let us rest then, but not for too long. We have no time to waste. I will take the guard."

Naamah, kneeling next to her owner, stares upward, then looks at Semangelof biting her lower lip with a worried expression on her face.

"This rest is pointless if you take the guard. You need to sleep." The man says. Seeing the look from the darkling he understands that she has the very same thought.

"I need no sleep." The angel replies and looks down to the slave next to her. She did not forget that they needed to have serious conversation between the two of them.

"Of course you do. You are exhausted." Semangelof growls but the angel shakes her head.

"I do not. I mean it literally. I do not need sleep."

"What do you mean?"

"I only need a few hours of meditation if at all. I never needed sleep in the usual meaning. I often only did so to avoid suspicion."

The man arches an eyebrow. "You mean you really do not need sleep?"

The angel shakes her head. "No, I do not, but we will rest. Find us some wood and make a fire, Semangelof. Will you please? I think I have to have a serious talk with this beast." She points to the darkling next to herself.

Naamah gasps in worry at the words, a pang of fear gripping her. She knows in the past days she did a few things she should not have done and also the revelations she made toward the angel's past and her role in it certainly would have made suspicion grow inside the angel. Semangelof looks over one then the other but sees the gravity of their expressions and turns.