Chapter 10
Journey of the Goddess Queen, Part 3
The remaining Sisters of Unity gathered at the closed gate. Death and decay no longer bothered her. The time for such a thing had long since passed. A gust of wind charged through the valley. The Goddess's maroon satin dress shimmied in the mid-day breeze. Her left hand kept the small fedora styled straw hat on her head. Bones. They were all around the troop. Bones and the ooze of decay covered the area. She briefly looked at the ground.
Her matching satin shoes were stained. One of them was here. A human, possibly, a demon. The demon they... She sought. He hid? How dare a human do such a thing. These sisters felt this man-thing deep into their bones. It was here. How could it think that we do not know?
She looked down. Oh, my shoes are dirty. Yuck. The dead really should know better. Hum, I've been here before? Oh yes, there were humans here once. Did I let them go? "Who knows?" She blurted out.
She calmly and effortlessly lifted her right hand. She placed her hand on the gate. She slowly caressed the metal. The sisters experienced the cool hardness of the ancient alloy. A human? It hides here. Where would it hide? Her words were more of a command than a question. All of the sisters looked to the high peaks.
Unity delivered her silent wishes to her sisters. Find the one who hides. You know where to search. She slowly caressed the ancient gate. The sisters experienced the cool hardness. Yes, she had been here before. But this was no longer her trouble. A greater burden was coming her way. No, she would not cross the gate. She would not seek a way around. The rumbling of distant and obsolete memories faded away. Unity had no interest in what existed there. It was somewhere else. It was not her.
Be kind. She addressed the parts of herself that hunted the human thing by the old gate. If she remembered how, she would have laughed. She pressed her body against the gate. A stranger may have believed that she was attempting to cross. She seemed to melt with the gate in an attempt to push herself through. She pressed her face against the cool metal. She enjoyed the heat wicking from her body, and she knew the metal did this. This knowledge may have been important once. But much of the old knowledge went the way of everything that was not Unity.
A weaving slithering silence surrounded the loan human as the creatures worked their way up the earthen walls on each side of the gate. He could not see the gate. He had no clue that a goddess-queen existed. Even if he had seen her, he would not have believed. No human had ever escaped her. All who witness her beauty, glory, and love become... even the ones that are lost. Unity is all, love, beauty, and bliss. What need is there for another?
His breathing grew faster. He had blocked the path to his perch. Hundreds of creatures covered the ground below. Most of them looked human. This didn't mean that the old gray ones weren't around. And it didn't mean that any of the others would act human. It wasn't long after they were changed that they stopped acting human. Fear had been with him since he replaced Samuel on the rampart. Why should this moment be different? He leaned back against the mud embankment. So, a one day stay over, turns into a last stand. Well, at least, there are more of them than I have ammo. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could enrage them enough to kill him. Death was better than letting them take him.
All things paused, and Unity's mind moved to another place.
Abruptly! She moved...They turned. The cool calming gate fell off into a distant sensation. They... She was no longer at the gate. Her mind was no longer there. Her mind swirled as her focus was pulled to a distant place. Fire. Fury. Anger. Hate. Pain. These raw powerful emotions overwhelmed her... their senses – thoughts and feelings. It was him! Her beloved! The demon. "Please wait? Mercy?" They spoke. She asked. Silently, all the sisters begged and pleaded for their demon to hear them.
Bits and pieces of her... Bits and pieces of them fell away as she strained to focus. One good look, one clear picture was all she wished. Pop-Thump rang out as one sound. Pop- Thump. Shots from the rifle sang out. A brief pause. With each 'thump' came a moment of sharp exquisite pain. Then a sister fell, and Unity was less. The emptiness was fleeting. Any void was quickly filled by the others. Pop- Thump. Pop- Thump. Pop- Thump. Closer. Closer, we must see. We must be near... Pop- Thump. Pop- Thump. Pop- Thump. Pop- Thump. He was behind her. He was where she had been. We must see. Touch. Hold. We have no more eyes? No more touch? Scent? Sounds? What did my demon say? I must go... We must go to the burnt city? No! He is gone? Traveling. Moving? Coming? Going? Coming this way? We will find him.
The scene shifted. Samuel and the girl child were alone. The creatures which scavenged the last city were gone. Ended. Dead. Two humans were the only ones left alive. He had heard them say, "Please wait? Mercy?" No creature had spoken these words before. He remembered answering the creature, "No."
He had to get the girl to safety very quickly. The creatures are changing. Change meant danger. They would have to move quickly and quietly. He knew the creatures would hunt harder. They were running out of prey, and he felt like prey.
The scene returned to Unity's world view. In her despair, she sloshed down in the muck and ooze that had been at her feet. A brief tingle or wave of freedom flashed through the Sisters of Unity. But before the Goddess Queen had noticed, the sisters returned to their normal duties. Only the Goddess Queen was given the luxury of pouting or freedom. And she wasn't even aware of doing it.
But for now, she must... they must return to the business before them... her. Our demon is gone, but we will not miss him. We are all. He will come to us. The sisters resumed the search for the human thing by the gate. Find it my sisters. I wish to speak to this thing.
He decided to wait. He had seen them turn away and change paths before. They had done so without warning or reason. Maybe they would do so again. And if he took action now; they would know where he was. They would come for him.
The goddess queen sat. Her breath felt heavy on her chest. The demon was real. Where he went, she ended. It was true that some humans lashed out at her? Anger? Fear? Whatever? No human can be responsible for the loss of so much of me. No, they are not capable of taking so much from me. I took that power from them. I made sure they understood that they were just things.
She scanned the area around the gate. Bones? Decay? Sisters? Here? My demon? He was here. He took my things? My demon stole my humans from me? This was done before. Oh, he is evil. Demons have no use for humans? He's playing with me. My demon loves me. Everyone knows that demons have no real use for humans. Oh, I will take this demon and show him what it means to be loved. The goddess queen looked around. She did not understand why she had such thoughts. Humans were not alive. Only the sisters had value.
If you faced the gate, he was on the left side. His hole was on the highest protected place below the flat cliffs. The cliffs were straight and tall. Once, the man had wondered what god or magic could make such things. A wall too tall to climb. Rock that would chip a steel hammer. Without the secret of the gate, only a bird could reach the path beyond. No defender had such secrets. The risk was too great. He held no great secrets. His life was the only thing the sisters could steal. It had been six hours since they moved. He heard them stir, now. Someone else might have thought of running. He knew that they were watching. Eye's everywhere, all of the time. They watched even when they were frozen.
The old gray creatures were much more agile than they appeared. The farther they moved from sanity; the less pain they felt, and the stronger they became. Also, the more reckless and dangerous they became. The Defenders were taught these things. But really, no one had to be taught. The creatures, in all their forms had been part of life as long as anyone could remember. Something new scared him now. It felt like the words, warning, Samuel and Jon had given. He thought; what comes next will be worse. He could almost feel them. He could hear the movement. They were close. Next time, I'll listen to Samuel. Always, have a back-up plan. Have a way out. He had no way out. He smiled. Well, I can make the next hoard smaller.
They all stopped. All at once. The creature goddess queen's world view shifted. This shift was not physical in a geographical way. It was internal, and it was only about the goddess queen. Somehow, she did not notice? Why? How? That may never be answered. Anyway, the answer may not be of any importance. The change that came after was tiny, almost insignificant. There was a brief pause. Then Mercy the Goddess-Queen repeated her orders out loud. "Be kind. Find the human who hides. Deliver me... Deliver us to him. We wish... I wish to speak to him." Sarcasm and mockery were absent. None of Mercy understood kindness very well. They had not done it before. There was no reason to treat an inanimate object like it was alive. But they were determined to try it anyway. It was a means to an end. A way to reach a remote and elusive goal.
It was too late. It was all over, now. He watched them. They had found his hiding place. The dirty red-haired creature with the human face smiled. Other heads bounced up and down as they surrounded him. Fear subsided. He did not fire his weapon. He had no reason not to fire. He just didn't.
The redhead creature spoke, 'Please wait? Mercy? Do not end?" It said this like he had already fired the weapon. She lifted her hand in the air. Her palm faced the man. It was a sign of peace. It was an empty hand.
The gesture seemed futile to the man. The creatures did not use weapons. He faced the creature. Looked into its eyes. It would have been a very pleasing human once. But now, nearly all of its humanity was gone. He spoke, "What makes you speak like a person, Creature?" He moved the weapon. An old grey creature sprang out of the mud above his head. It moved to pounce on him. Three shots rang out. Pop, pop, pop. The old grey creature fell at the feet of the other creature.
The redhead creature spoke again, 'Please wait? Mercy? Do not end?"
The defender peered over the edge of his perch. Every creature faced him. Each one with a raised hand. A path had opened. A sea of creatures divided. Only one creature stood in his path. The empty eyed creature with red hair blocked his path. He repeated himself, "Why do you speak to me like a person? What do you want?"
"A barter? Trade?" It spoke like it was using the wrong words. "Peace? Truce?"
Thousands of empty sick eyes stared through him. Confusion and terror had replaced ordinary fear. "What do you want to trade?"
She spoke, "Existence. You are here. You are not the one. You have little value. We seek the one. Our beloved. Our precious. The one we hate. The most feared. My demon. My love. It must feel my love. The one who has taken my things."
Suddenly, he realized that they all spoke and moved in unison. All of them standing in the same position making the same gestures. No living human had ever seen this. "You want me to find this being?" He asked anxiously.
"Yes. No. My beloved... Our beloved is known? We have traveled a long way to find it... him. We have come a long way..." They paused. "My most beloved demon will find you. It comes this way. You must agree." The creatures froze.
He resisted the urge to attack. He wanted to kill all of them, but he had to gather information. They changed. No creature had been this close to a human without fondling pawing or attacking. The others would have to know. "Yes, truce. Let us have peace. So, you can find your friend?"
"Friend? What does that mean? Oh, yes. Yes. You are wise for a human thing." They replied. "To exist speak these words to our beloved... my beloved... 'Truce. Peace for words.' Do you understand?"
The man inquired, "You want me to say, 'Truce. Peace for words.' to your friend? The Sisters of Unity want to talk to your friend who is coming here? Right?"
"No." They responded. "The message is from me... us. The Sisters of Mercy sends the message. Truce. Peace for words. Agree to this and your existence does not end."
"Sure. You all go, and I'll wait here for your friend."
"No, go to the tower." They pointed in unison at the next southern tower. "You will meet."
"And how do I know your friend when I find him or her? At the tower?" He wondered.
"Our most beloved will appear to you as a human male traveling with a small female human. It has no mercy. Oh, to be close to it. To touch..."
The man grew anxious, "I'll agree, if you answer one question."
All of the creatures froze again. The dirty hallow-eyed redhead creature spoke. "Ask."
"What happened to The Sisters of Unity?"
"Sisters of Unity? We do not know of the existence of the sisters of unity. I... We cannot answer this question. I... We. The Sisters of Mercy are all. There is only us? Oh, but they may be the demon. It may be another? It will love me. He will learn to love me. To exist is to love Mercy. Human thing. You are very silly. We do not know this 'Sisters of Unity'."