* * *
“Gabrielle… Gabrielle...” Sirion gently shook the woman’s shoulder. “It’s time.”
As if drifting in some drunken stupor, Gabrielle pushed herself up on her arms. Shaking her head, she muttered something incoherent and slumped back over Darla.
Sirion shook the woman’s shoulder again, growing anxious. “I’m sorry, but there is no more time. Mihai sent me back to tell you that we must go now or it will be too late. The enemy is on the move!”
Gabrielle struggled to sit, more alert this time, but still determined to keep Darla where she was. “I am not finished! I fear she will die if we move her.” She sighed, “I have had too little time to heal the child’s massive injuries. A doctor must have time to finish a cure.”
Darla stirred, laboring to speak, but Gabrielle hushed her. She bent low, close to the girl’s ear and whispered, “Not now, my Dear. Don’t try to talk.” Raising her head and looking around, Gabrielle asked where Mihai was.
Sirion pointed. “We found a good location. Mihai sent me back to tell you to get ready, said she’d be back momentarily, leaving the others to secure the site.”
Gabrielle looked in the direction Sirion indicated and nodded. “Tell me when she’s back.” She returned to her healing song.
Sirion was frustrated and worried. Mihai had impressed upon her the need to move as soon as possible, but Gabrielle wasn’t cooperating. Gabrielle was in command, but Mihai was the newly appointed marshal en force of the army, a position Gabrielle held until recently.
It had been at Mihai’s request that Sirion and Darla were included in this dangerous and very important operation. Gabrielle had protested, feeling there should only be highly trained and experienced personnel on the team. She finally surrendered to Mihai’s opinion after Anna and others of Mihai’s new council assured her of the security measures that had been put in place. She had even accepted responsibility for Darla’s and Sirion’s safety when Lowenah had questioned the validity of taking them along.
Now, with everything in shambles and Darla at death’s door, Sirion did not know who would decide their final destiny. Mihai still leaned heavily on Gabrielle for support and guidance, she being among the oldest of all the children, and Gabrielle was in charge of this mission. On the other hand, Mihai was accountable for the success or failure of said mission, being its chief architect and having personally chosen the team to execute it.
Sirion said nothing more to Gabrielle, fearing a scathing rebuke. She began to nervously pace, all the while fidgeting, afraid of Mihai’s response for her failure to obey orders and equally afraid of Gabrielle. The sound of snapping twigs alerted her to Mihai’s return, the woman questioning Sirion with a wondering look. Sirion nervously shrugged and pointed, indicating her attempt to persuade Gabrielle of the need for haste. Mihai walked over and rested a hand on Gabrielle’s shoulder. “Please, Honey, we have to go.”
Gabrielle did not move, mumbling, “I’m not taking her there. She’s too hurt.”
Mihai’s face went ashen. “You must! The enemy may be upon us at any minute. We cannot dally! Darla needs to be taken to Ishtar.”
Slowly, Gabrielle sat up, gritting her teeth as she forced strained muscles to obey her will, staring at Mihai, repeating, “The child is too hurt! If we take her, she will die!”
The woman could not believe her ears, sputtering incredulously, “You can’t mean that! If we don’t take her, she will die anyway! It was her request, and I will honor it!”
Laboring to stand, groaning in discomfort while stretching to get the blood flowing again, gripping Mihai’s arm and pulling her along like a mother with an unruly child, Gabrielle snarled, “Let’s talk!” leading Mihai some distance from the group.
In no mood to play lieutenant to a bratling sister so much her junior, she released Mihai, putting her hands on her hips, glaring into the woman’s eyes, wasting no time mincing words. “Darla is not in any condition to be moved, let alone be taken an hour’s walk and then made to sit for who knows how long. The child has three broken ribs, rupturing her lungs. Darla has a severe brain hemorrhage and two vertebrae in her neck are fractured.” She paused for effect before stating her final intentions. “I will not accept responsibility for her death. I am taking her to the ship!”
Mihai was furious. “You have no right to decide her fate! She has made clear her desire. If you prevent her from carrying it out, she will never forgive you, forgive me,” she poked Gabrielle in the chest with her finger. “…or forgive herself!” then pressed her face close to Gabrielle’s, snorting, “What has been asked of you is not to decide her life or death! You have been requested to channel your power through her to assist Ishtar!”
Gabrielle pushed Mihai away, growling, “This is not a question of feelings! If she dies, we will have accomplished nothing except the loss of a child I could have saved. That will be too much for my conscience to carry!” Turning away, the woman muttered, “She is my little sister, too. I promised Mother I would care for her. She would have never allowed the girl on this mission if she had not trusted me with her care.”
Spinning around, fists clenched, Gabrielle stood defiant. “I’m taking Darla to the ship!” Mihai spread her feet and, reaching across her waist, grabbed the hilt of her sword. “You will have to go through me to do it! If you choose to abandon this mission, we will accept that! But you will not stop us!”
Although shocked and surprised, Gabrielle did not lose her composure and shot back with a fiery retort, “Mihai, do not think yourself my equal! I can cut you down before your sword is drawn! And for what purpose? To feed more blood to this soil? Look! Death is what I am trying to prevent!” She began to advance, motioning Mihai away. “Now stand aside!”
Mihai clenched her sword, her left hand taking hold of its scabbard. “I mean it! This is no threat!”
Gabrielle’s face clouded with anger as she took a battle stance. “Don’t make me…”
Sirion, approached unnoticed. Already the girl’s sword was drawn, its radiant green flame dancing along the blade. With tears in her eyes, she cried, “You may kill one of us, but can you best the both of us?!” brandishing her blade, threatening, “Darla has a right to die for the cause she chooses! My blood shall soak this ground before I will allow you to steal that right!” Tears gushed forth as the girl choked out, “You cannot take away her freedom to pacify your soul! Death’s reaper comes to us all. It chooses who it will take.”
Gabrielle stared in disbelief, glancing first at Sirion and then Mihai. “Are you two insane?! Look! If Ishtar fails her test because it is too great a thing, it will be overlooked. It’s happened before when our mission’s failed. She’s but a child. Her age will give her pardon.”
Sirion and Mihai refused to be swaged. Gabrielle pleaded, clenching her fists in desperation, “It’s not worth Darla’s death!” as she cast a glance in Darla’s direction, groaning in dismay when she saw Tzidohn and Depais busy assisting Darla onto a litter while Chisamore, having heard the commotion, was hurrying over to give Mihai assistance. “Is the whole world against me?!”
A hand still on her sword pommel, Mihai retorted, “It is not an issue of forgiveness! Ishtar was promised she would have help! On my soul, never have I failed to carry out a promise! As God lives, I will do this duty! Should it bring death to us all, it is a small price to pay for our success!”
Gabrielle protested anew. Mihai stopped her, eyes pleading. “Sister! Please listen! I do not believe Darla will survive this ordeal, but I swear, as I live, her blood and mine shall soak this ground together before I allow her to fail! I owe it to her! For God’s sake, I owe it to Ishtar! And you do, too!”
Desperate, Gabrielle searched the camp for someone to offer support. Her eyes darted from one face to another. All were as resolute as Mihai and Sirion. She muttered under her breath, “There is no logic to this folly! No one need die!” then c
ried aloud, “Mother will understand! She will understand! Look! Who’s to say that our girl will not prove herself without our help?! Others have many times!”
No one spoke. Mihai, Sirion and now Chisamore, too, stood a wall against Gabrielle’s protest as others in the camp busied themselves with Darla or preparing to move out.
“What is wrong with you?!” Gabrielle shouted. “This is not an issue of the mind with you! Your hearts tell you tales filled with deceit and trickery! How can you fall prey to such seductive reasonings?! You do not listen with an opened mind! Mihai, do not let your newfound glory go to your head! Think things out!”
Mihai glared, her lips curling in anger. “Should I be a titmouse before an eagle, I would not stand down in this instance! If your heart yearns to regain the glory of marshal en force, it’s yours with my blessing, but I shall not stand aside if you were king of the Cherubs!”
Gabrielle was frantic. “A fool falls upon his own sword, or threatens the life of a companion and ally! Can you not see the hopeless folly of your actions?! If we depart now, Darla will survive. If she dies, how will I ever face Mother again?! I promised her the child’s safety!”
Rleasing her sword, Mihai pointed an accusative finger. “So, the truth is revealed! It is not your mind that speaks for you, but a heart filled with fear of failure and rejection. Is your resistance really based on logic of the mind, or have you filtered it on the dregs of emotional fervor, playing Judah’s fiddle to gain food for your heart’s belly?! You are more pitiable than I because I am jealous over my sister’s feelings while you think only of your own!”
“It is not so! I speak only for the child’s…” Gabrielle choked silent as her mind recalled an ancient warning. Her thoughts flashed back to a long-forgotten age, beyond the edge of time, to a mystical planet of fire and ice. With but naked flesh, she stood upon the mountain peak, staring into bottomless canyons filled with raging rivers of boiling sulfur and brimstone.
As she teetered on the brink of doom, searching for a trail down, her companion and mentor warned, “Your heart is the window through which you see and interpret all things. It will show you what you wish to see, making excuse while it induces you to drink the sweet wine that dulls a wary mind. It ever seeks your well being, encouraging you to take the easy path, but for sinister reasons. If you give ear to it when hope wanes, all that is good will be lost and all that is evil shall overcome you. The easy path, my daughter, is rarely the wise path.”
Her mentor, a prince from the Beginning Days, added, wagging a finger, “Do beware of the heart’s treachery should the darkness overtake your race and the Incubus rises from the smoldering abyss. It will seek solace from duty, musing that one will succeed avoiding the inevitable, whispering its haunting refrain, ‘be good to yourself, for this calamity need not befall you’. The light you must force because the darkness never wearies.”
But it was her duty to protect her charge… or was it? Gabrielle knew in her mind that statement to be false. Darla was no babe, innocent and unknowing. Many a battle had the child contested, bloodying and being bloodied. Had Gabrielle been there for her during those moments? No! And had she not volunteered, without Mother’s request, to protect the child on this mission? Yes, it was something new for Darla – but not the dangers accompanying it. Then why was she so adamant about her need to protect the child?
Logic! That was it! Logic! But Gabrielle could find none except that crying from her heart. So carefully she had analyzed the moment, believing it wise to abandon the mission to whatever the Fates permitted. Was that logic or… or was it guilt… guilt at having failed Darla for missing the appointed rendezvous? Was she attempting a way to find absolution for her own failure?
Gabrielle’s head spun with doubt and confusion. Had only the others chosen Fate’s course through the emotions of their hearts, or was her heart also manipulating the moment? That thought alone was tormenting the woman’s mind.
“Well?!” Mihai intruded into Gabrielle’s pondering. “Do we die as enemies or allies?!”
Gabrielle lowered her head, mourning, “What do I do?! It is better for me to never go home than to return with a dead child who was in my charge! How could I ever face Mother again? Mihai, I have never failed in a promise given to her! It is better you destroy me now than to make me live forever with that torment!”
Mihai’s pent-up tears burst forth as she made rebuttal. “Do you think Darla’s promise less worthy than yours? You… you have the power to choose your own destiny, but that child does not! Indeed, without your assistance, she has little hope of succeeding, yet she will not die alone. If our Mother’s disapproval is all you fear, then go! I command it! Tell her that it was upon my order that you abandoned your charge. You are absolved of all obligation.”
Mihai’s fiery retort struck like a burning missile. Shocked into seeing her own selfish reasonings, Gabrielle wailed, “Does a dog not return to its master after it is beaten?! My Lord, do not strike your foolish servant again by sending her away! Please! Allow me a chance to prove my worth.” She stepped forward, arms beseeching as she pleaded, “If we are to die this day, it will be as one soul not a house divided. My shame is too great for me to carry alone! Allow me, please, to attempt a healing on our sister, so that she may succeed in helping Ishtar. Here I have wasted so much precious time thinking only of myself. Allow me to make amends.”
Mihai also stepped forward, arms reaching for Gabrielle. In tears, the two women embraced, wailing and moaning as if reunited from death. At length, Gabrielle pushed herself away, taking hold of Mihai’s arms. “Sister, we must go now or be forever late.”
The women turned, slowly making their way back to Darla, Sirion and Chisamore following up closely. In a few minutes the litter-bearers were ready, Gabrielle quietly talking to Planetee when Chisamore glanced around and called her name. “Your blade still lies in the dust, my Lord. You might need it if trouble is afoot.”
Gabrielle stuttered, “Th… thank you.” while staring down at her empty scabbard. ‘How brave the wolf when it sees no hunter with the flock’. Retrieving it quickly, she hurried assisting Darla. Taking the girl’s hand while gently caressing her forehead, she ordered the litter bearers away. “Be off! Quick now! The Devil is not a patient person.”