Draft83


 * 1) The Great Sea of the West Lands is divided in twain lobes by the penin- sula of Magodon, as large as Florida and anchored to the mainlaind on the west. But sheer cliffs rising as much as four hundred feet guard ev- ery approach to Magodon by sea.
 * 2) This natural wall is made of soft sand- stone and could not be scaled by any army. At the feet of these bluffs all around the peninsula lay impas- sible swamps that would swallow horses and trap the wheels of chari- ots.
 * 3) Also none could pass by land around the Sea to the north or the south. There roaring waves ran nigh to the very Ice, and often vast slabs of ice would melt and slide into the sea with great thunder. No permanent road could be carved, no tunnel bored, to permit passage east or west.
 * 4) And that was why King Arman had thought Lord Kirodiel to be a big fat liar for suggesting House Antero was preparing to invade Magodon from across the water.
 * 5) For only at the uttermost pointy eastern tip of the peninsula of Magodon could armies pass, but this was guarded by the Nine Mile Wall and also several small islands bristling with forti- fied settlements, whose chief city was Rumbek.
 * 6) So it was that the Bellon capital at Rumbek had long been the chief bul- wark against any Gerash incursion, protecting not only the Brown Beard's lands in Magodon and beyond, but also the lands of family Antero and Larund far in the west.
 * 7) As for the other invasion route, assuming House Gerash could subdue House Sala, their army would be stopped by the Wall of God in Haaretz blocking any further travel east.
 * 8) The day after the Council abruptly ended with Kirodiel and Joy depart- ing on Demonstroke, Talishi whisked King Brogan by her avatar to Jela- ket, where he organized the immedi- ate deployment of the greater part of the forces of House Antero to ride with all haste to the east to come to the aid of House Bellon.
 * 9) The mobilization would take a number of days yet Princess Khondiel deemed this was the only hope that Rumbek would survive the impending on- slaught of House Gerash.
 * 10) The following day the onslaught ar- rived. A well-orchestrated ballet of Gerash sailing craft, guided by lights on the shore of Sealiah Is- land, concentrated at nightfall in the three mile-wide gap between the tip of the Isle of Sealiah and the village of Gurtus on the mainland.
 * 11) The tiny settlement of Surat at Sea- liah's tip, including the ferry landing, were taken by Eye of Maste- ma commandos and then many of the new Gerash ships traversed the nar- row strait.
 * 12) Five battalions of Gerash troops went ashore unopposed, led by Eye of Mastema officers. The boats had to be driven well up on the beach to avoid the omnipresent man-eating flora in the waters of the Eastern Sea, which also afflicted the West- ern Sea nigh to Salem in the Middle Lands.
 * 13) Lord Kirodiel's ships then turned southwest down the Tala Strait to- ward Rumbek. In this crucial time Kirodiel accumulated his forces as quickly as possible so a credible penetration into Bellon territory could be attempted.
 * 14) At daybreak the southern-most two battalions of the amphibious inva- sion force linked together and marched across Sealiah Island. They began taking it house-to-house.
 * 15) This was accomplished with little resist- ance and only scattered bow-shot. Likewise, the village of Surat in the north fell quickly to the end- less troops pouring over the beach- head.
 * 16) Soon the residents of both towns regretted surrendering so easily, for the Eyes of Mastema be- gan obeying Kirodiel's orders to kill male Brown Beards on sight.
 * 17) Meanwhile three other battalions erupted from the beach and cut southwest across the island to join up with the first two. But Khondi- el's Amazons issued forth from Cas- tle Brys to hit them on their left flank. Princess Khondiel herself, however remained in the castle to defend Talishi.
 * 18) Finally all of Sealiah was awake and began putting up the first real re- sistance of the new war. Movement ground to a halt as a pitched battle developed along a front that crept south down the Isle of Sealiah. But the army of Mastema slowly gained the upper hand.
 * 19) In the Tala Strait the defenders of Rumbek answered Kirodiel's incur- sions with a wall of ships. In this arena alone did the House of Bellon gain a clear victory. By the end of the first day no Gerash ships were left to threaten Rumbek, for all the surviving ships were pulled north to defend the beachhead.
 * 20) On the second day of the war as the fighting drew near the subjects pro- tected in Castle Brys began leaving on foot. Khondiel and Talishi fell in with them, and King Arman as- signed a squad to guard them led by one Hashmal Binyiel.
 * 21) But Talishi objected, saying, 'Hashmal, please return to the King, for I have Khon- diel with me, and the people of House Bellon need you and your men far more than we do.'
 * 22) But Hashmal Binyiel said, 'Even so, the King himself charged me never to depart your side. And in her presence he produced the King's own ring, embossed with the seal of the House of Bellon, which the King used to imprint documents sealed with wax to assure their authenticity.
 * 23) Now to Talishi the Hashmal gave the King's ring, and Talishi mourned, because she knew this as a token of the King's premonition that he would not survive the coming attack. But Ta- lishi accepted the ring and also Hashmal Binyiel as a companion.
 * 24) Even as they made their way down from the top of Sujelah Hill the road to Mandakar along the west shore of Sealiah fell to the Army of Mastema. They watched a massive bridge sunk by Bellon engineers with black powder as a final defensive measure.
 * 25) But on this day the Bellon navy pre- vailed in a large sea battle. They won through to demolish Kirodiel's pontoon bridge and set fire to his remaining ships, thus cutting off the only Gerash line of supply to Sealiah.
 * 26) 'The whole north of Sealiah is occu- pied,' Hashmal Binyiel said to Ta- lishi. 'Even Kelang is under as- sault. Only here in the extreme south does Sealiah remain free.'
 * 27) Over the shoulders of Mount Memalek and to a seldom-seen natural bridge trudged Khondiel and Talishi, es- corted by Hashmal Binyiel and two other officers. They moved by secret paths in the steep wilderness ter- rain until they were come to the village of Olivus snuggled in the hills along the southern shore. Then Talishi said, 'Khondiel, I am unwar- like, and a weakling woman, and I am about to swoon from this march. Per- haps I could rest for a while in that cottage hard by.'
 * 28) 'What do you say to that, Hashmal?' asked Khondiel. In answer, Hashmal Binyiel ap- proached the nearest cottage and pounded on the door. 'Open in the name of King Arman!' The man who answered the door didn't look happy.
 * 29) He barked, 'What do you want?' 'Lodging for these two travelers. They go with the blessing of the King himself.'
 * 30) The owner was irritated, and said, 'How much did they pay you to say that, soldier? Do you think in this confusion the blessing of the King' are the pass words to help yourself to the bounty of any subject of the realm?'
 * 31) So Binyiel produced the King's ring, and the hospitality of that cottage improved markedly. Talishi and Khon- diel were welcomed for the night, while the soldiers stood guard out- side.
 * 32) As the night of the third day passed, King Arman Bellon stood his ground in the walled city of Manda- kar as it came under attack by cruel flaming catapult rounds from the surrounding lands of Sealiah Island captured by Kirodiel.
 * 33) This was the beginning of a merciless siege by fire that would end only when the city lost the battle to put out the flames and succumbed three days lat- er.
 * 34) Meanwhile, at the city of Rumbek on the Isle of Liban, Count Zelus Bel- lon, who ruled the city in the stead of the king, learned the enemy suf- fered a shortage of boats, so he ordered the bridge to Fanon island to be deliberately sunk.
 * 35) The easy victories of the House of Gerash up to the middle of the fourth day were explained by their fanatical willingness to die for Mastema. However the resolve of their Bellon foes stiffened as the slaughter of King Arman's innocent subjects continued.
 * 36) Faced with no alternative but to die the people made their final stand at Rumbek.
 * 37) Princess Khondiel and Lady Talishi made it to the southwest tip of Sea- liah, the last unconquered piece of the island. There Rumbek was taking refugees off Sealiah by boat.
 * 38) Khon- diel and Talishi got in line with the rest of the crowd while their personal squad of soldiers joined others to hold off the overland Ger- ash attackers in a desperate fight for enough time to allow the refu- gees to escape.
 * 39) Hashmal Binyam said, 'And now, Lady Talishi, I must spend the remaining moments of my life in disobedience to the strict commandment of the King, and leave your side to win time for you to escape, but I deem it the greater good.'
 * 40) Talishi was too emotional to say any words to him in reply. He left her then, and Talishi never saw him again.
 * 41) Suddenly there was an orange flash, and the boat which was being loaded in front of Khondiel and Talishi caught fire, for a catapult round of flaming tar had struck home. Many people, screaming in agony from their burns, desperately dove into the water to quench the flames of the sticky tar that licked their clothes and skin.
 * 42) But they were im- mediately devoured by the hungry life native to Barlelo that lived beneath the waves, and it was a ter- rible sight to behold.
 * 43) There were six catapults on Sealiah that lobbed rounds over the heads of the city's defenders to reach the refugee boats, but in a single mo- ment the six catapults themselves all caught on fire.
 * 44) A streak of rushing fire appeared in the sky overhead, followed by two bursts of sound so loud it seemed to Khondiel she would be knocked to the ground. The fire streak, Khondiel could see, formed behind a small dark object that raced across the sky almost too quickly to follow.
 * 45) Before she could point it out to Talishi it was al- ready many leagues away and curving back up higher into the purple skies.
 * 46) When Khondiel had her heartbeat un- der control and could find the words, she asked, 'Was that your avatar?' Talishi answered, 'Indeed it was, Khondiel, though I imagine Mastema is growing very tired of my inter- ference by now.'
 * 47) Suddenly room in another boat was found to be available for Talishi and Khondiel to step aboard, because many of the people weren't certain all of the catapults were destroyed, but Khondiel knew Talishi was metic- ulous in what she set out to do.
 * 48) The avatar of El Shaddai had already made its appearance at Salem two years before, killing twelve Eyes of Mastema, yet Mastema had long idled his own avatar to carry out the sham of having a dragon under the thumb of the Antero Princess, and Mastema could do nothing to avenge the af- front.
 * 49) Talishi suspected that the dragon would make a belated appearance soon in the skies over Rumbek to level the odds, and that would be a terri- ble thing to behold, but she said nothing of this to Khondiel.
 * 50) In the heavily fortified city of Rumbek, after hours of confusion as the refugees were sorted out, Count Zelus learned that Talishi was bear- ing the King's authentic ring. After she surrendered the ring to him, Zelus welcomed Khondiel and Talishi into his castle.
 * 51) Talishi realized the King intended this very thing, for the count would know by this sign that the King wanted him to rule in his stead. Guessing King Arman to be certainly dead, Talishi thanked the sovereign in her heart.
 * 52) Count Zelus bade them to stay with him for a few days to see which way the war would turn. 'For Rumbek is as secure as any place in the West Lands are these days, said he. 'And no army has ever breached the Nine Mile Wall.' And indeed the count had turned the forces at the Nine Mile Wall inside out like a reversible jacket, such that they were defend- ing the peninsula of Magodon in the event Rumbek fell to Kirodiel's at- tack from the east, rather than de- fending Rumbek from Antero attacks from the west.
 * 53) In the very chamber where Queen Aur- ra had convened the Council, the surviving royals met once more again to speak with Talishi about her of- fer to whisk the noble ones home again in her avatar, even as many of them had been brought to Rumbek.
 * 54) Baron Kerresh was taken west to meet up with the Antero army and take command of the Bellon forces which marched with them.
 * 55) Queen Aurra Sala, her Consort, and Countess Ayani wereto be taken home to the lands of the Gold Beards, and the queen thought to take both of her serving girls as well.
 * 56) But Baron Bayard declared that he would stay behind to aid Count Zelus, and he said, 'The servant wench Aliwe Halil must stay with me.'
 * 57) Luzea Cedarbranch howled in greatly dismay because she would be parted from her best friend and lover, pos- sibly forever. Aliwe tried to assure her it would turn out well, which made Luzea feel a little better, but when she was pressed to give a rea- son for her confidence Aliwe could give none.
 * 58) Queen Aurra narrowed har eyes. 'Am I to believe my son cannot set aside his . . . hobby . . . for the dura- tion of one battle for the life of the Brown Beard capital?'
 * 59) 'I know what it looks like, my moth- er and queen, but the girl has luck bordering on the supernatural. One might even suspect Aliwe is more than human.'
 * 60) The queen sighed. 'Say what you would have me do, Lady Talishi.'
 * 61) 'You see the problem, of course, Your Highness. People naturally gather themselves into large settle- ments, driven by simple economics. After that, they attempt to protect their cities with walls, but walls are no defense against the avatar of Mastema and stone dwellings are no protection from his dragon.
 * 62) The so- lution is as obvious as it is sim- ple, but it will require a mighty hand and much time to overcome thou- sands of years of tradition. Instead of a few large cities and towns dot- ting the land, the people of House Sala must live in many small settle- ments of no more than fifty souls.
 * 63) These must be spread evenly across the land as well as hidden under the land, with leagues upon leagues between each one.' 'Such a drastic change! Is there no alternative?'
 * 64) 'None for House Sala, since only a single ice bridge stands between your land and the invading armies of House Gerash. And there are forces that can overthrow an entire city of stone in a single moment when men learn to harness them, as they inev- itably will someday.
 * 65) When that time comes, only a radically decentral- ized House Sala will be able to withstand them. At that time attack- ing you will be like trying to dig a hole in a lake of water.'
 * 66) And so the queen and her entourage embarked for Saharad after many tears of parting between Luzea and Aliwe. The avatar then whisked back to Rumbek with certain officers of House Sala possessing skills unique- ly honed to fend off attacks such as the one presented by Lord Kirodiel.
 * 67) Of the Red Beards, Count Berek, his wife Losna, and Baron Priam remained in Rumbek to aid House Bellon, but at the count's request his wife Los- na was taken by the avatar of El Shaddai to Gerazan.
 * 68) Raddai the Bold, Count of Belen, remained behind to help defend the city, and despite the extreme danger Lady Irus stayed behind with him. But the rest of the Black Beard con- tingent went home with King Garand in Talishi's avatar.
 * 69) For a number of days Lord Kirodiel completely bypassed the hard target of Rumbek. He destroyed the villages of Teal and Olivus, then fanned out through all the hills. By the end of the third day Mandakar lay in smok- ing ruins, and all Sealiah Island belonged to family Gerash.
 * 70) At Mandakar the Gerash forces brought up a prefabricated bridge and swung it out on a pivot to con- nect Fanon Island to Sealiah once again. # Supported by many small boats the bridge was swung across during a lull in the naval engagement when the forces of Rumbek had pulled back many ships to reduce the alarming losses from suicide commando swim- ming parties.
 * 71) The bridges from Fanon Island to Krone Island, and also to the main city on Liban Island were sunk by Count Zelus to limit their losses. This new intensity was a set piece put on for Lord Kirodiel, who was now physically present on the bat- tlefront rather than leading from behind as was his custom.
 * 72) Princess Khondiel stood long on the ramparts of the city Rumbek, and to her martial mind it was apparent that Gerash was steadily gaining the advantage against Bellon by sheer dint of numbers, and the hate by which the Gerash warriors flung themselves into battle.
 * 73) So Khondiel bade Talishi to immediately journey west beyond the Nine Mile Wall while the route was still clear. She said, 'I perceive the siege of Rumbek will soon grow strait, and the Brown Beard navy will be tasked to defend the city itself, letting the invin- cible Nine Mile Wall, undefeated in war, defend the rest of Magodon.
 * 74) But should Rumbek fall and Lord Kirodiel besiege the wall, none will find their way through it, be they friend or foe.'
 * 75) Talishi agreed with Khondiel asked leave of Count Zelus Bellon, which he granted, and she left with these words: 'King Arman is surely dead, or captured, as you have surely guessed, and that is a grievous loss, my Lord, and if we had time I would mourn with you and the people as is fitting. Yet King Arman's sac- rifice was not wholly in vain, I deem.
 * 76) The house of Bellon does not stand against Gerash alone, and the king may have won for you the time you needed for the house of Antero to march to your aid.'
 * 77) And Zelus said, 'I thank you for the spirit in which you intended to say those words to me, Lady Talishi, but if Rumbek is destined for a dark and bloody fate, I consider it my duty to share in that fate full-willing, and false words of hope are worse than none at all, I deem.'
 * 78) Talishi said, Count Zelus, it was the furthest thing from my mind to throw you a line of hope and fail to tie off my end. Little do you know of my labors to bring aid of the house of Bellon. If Rumbek can hold out for yet a little while, then Lord Kirodiel may find he has stepped into a trap. Then all who crave peace might win through to the day when King Arman is laid to rest in honor, and you are crowned king. Farewell!'
 * 79) Princess Khondiel had judged well the time of their departure, for mere hours after she and Talishi departed Rumbek and took the bridge to the strip of land foot of the Nine Mile Wall, the Bellon navy ral- lied all their ships around the Isle Liban.
 * 80) This left Lord Kirodiel free to pull all his troops off Sealiah except those directly involved in the Rumbek siege, and those troops were ferried across the channel to the narrow bench of land that lay below the Wall.
 * 81) The beautiful dwellings and public buildings of Krone Island, isolated now from Liban, were burned to the ground in a blaze kindled by Lord Kirodiel himself. And after the fire had consumed everything and the flame was abated, in the sight of the defenders of Rumbek across the strait Kirodiel scattered the embers and sprinkled the ground with salt.
 * 82) 'For even so shall Rumbek be wasted utterly,' he cried in a loud voice. And the hearts of the Rumbek folk fell.
 * 83) The peninsula of Magodon was ringed on three sides by cliffs of sand- stone which rose from the sea four hundred feet, but at the Nine Mile Wall men had erected masonry that made that tall cliff purely verti- cal, slotted in many places with holes for observation and to shoot arrows or pour boiling liquids.
 * 84) The wall was erected much higher than the face of the cliff, so that it could face west as well as east, as the need might be.
 * 85) Between the face of the wall and the face of the natural cliff that it enclosed were many platforms and stairs and catacombs filled with weapons for the bane of besieging armies, and stores to supply defend- ers for many days.
 * 86) When Princess Khondiel and Lady Ta- lishi were admitted through the Wall they climbed many steps and ramps until they arrived on the plateau of Magodon at the top, where they be- held the banners and ranks of count- less troops from the House of Antero and Talishi knew her long labors had born fruit.
 * 87) For she had kept her avatar at a remove, lest Mastema force the tangle with his dragon too early, and so Talishi had not known of the presence of the Red Beards until she saw the host with her own eyes.
 * 88) Bellon troops who had rallied to the aid of Rumbek from across the land of the Brown Beards had come to Rum- bek along with the forces of the House of Antero. Already many of these were manning positions on the Nine Mile Wall to turn back the Ger- ash invaders.
 * 89) But there in the sight of every man and woman under arms Demonstroke arrived from the east. The beast released from it's left claw some- thing like a star that fell from the sky burning like a torch.
 * 90) It struck the ground near the center of the Nine Mile Wall with great vio- lence, such that it dug a deep pit.
 * 91) And Demonstroke released from its right claw another projectile that fell into this new pit, and there was a blast under the ground such as had not been seen on Barbelo since the fall of the asteroid that brought the second world flood, and never in living memory.
 * 92) Then the bottom half of the Nine Mile Wall nigh to Rumbek blew straight out, and the masonry of the Wall above the blast collapsed in ruin, and in place of a sheer wall there was a ramp of sand, but many besieging Gerash troops also died, or were buried alive by the debris.
 * 93) Lord Kirodiel paid no mind to his own casualties. He commanded his remaining generals to charge up that ramp with their divisions to the Magodon plateau above, and they im- mediately began to comply.
 * 94) Then Demonstroke himself dropped from the sky and crashed to the bat- tle plain behind the wall, and smoke rose from its black carcass like the smoke of a great furnace, and the orange sun was darkened by reason of the smoke.
 * 95) And the dragon rose again out of the smoke glittering with black armor as smooth as glass, and its teeth were rockets which were loosed against men, and the sound of its wings were like a great waterfall.
 * 96) And Demon- stroke had a flexible tail like a scorpion, and there was a gun in that tail which could kill men with rounds as thick as a thumb.
 * 97) Demonstroke came among the ordered ranks of the allied families like a storm, killing men at will, and scattered them in disorder before they could make a counter-charge down the ramp in the Nine Mile Wall.
 * 98) When Khondiel saw this she held Ta- lishi's hand, and squeezed it, and Talishi said to her, 'Alas, our ene- my Mastema is come.' And Talishi knew the dragon had the power to snatch her victory away when she was on the cusp of attaining it, and that was reason enough to summon her own avatar, but she found that nei- ther victory nor defeat meant any- thing to her now.
 * 99) A new thing had come to dominate Talishi's consciousness. When she looked upon Khondiel she saw her anew, as though gazing upon her for the very first time. Talishi found that Khondiel had suddenly become the most important thing in creation to her, and she was desperate to get Khondiel away from the field of bat- tle.
 * 100) A living star had fallen in love with a planet-dweller.
 * 101) Demonstroke lighted near Lord Kiro- diel on the battle plain, and Joy dismounted the beast. She came be- fore the Gerash Patriarch, and bowed deeply. After she paid obeisance they both witnessed the avatar of El Shaddai landing on the plateau of Magodon close to them, and Kirodiel said to Joy, 'Your orders are to destroy the avatar of El Shaddai immediately!'
 * 102) 'Yes, my Lord!' Joy bowed her head in acknowledgement and ran back to- ward the waiting dragon.
 * 103) Khondiel guessed the time was very short now. She said, 'Speak plainly to me now, Talishi. What do you want me to do?'
 * 104) And Talishi said, 'My avatar will take you far away from this place. I want you to go. No, I need you to go. Something happened to me just now. Khondiel, youb&are now the most important thing in heaven or Barbelo to me.'
 * 105) But Khondiel said, 'If I leave in your avatar, House Bellon and House Antero will have no defense against the dragon. Forget about me, Ta- lishi!'
 * 106) And Talishi recalled Khondiel's own words at the Battle of Salem, when she saw her naked in a cage and Ta- lishi told Khondiel to forget about her, and Talishi repeated them here for Khondiel now, tearfully, 'Don't you know by now that's the one thing I can never do?'
 * 107) And Khondiel open wept, because for the first time she knew her undying love for Talishi was truly being reciprocated at last. Yet they were mostly tears of happiness.
 * 108) Talishi told her, 'All those things I preached to everyone about love were so much straw, because I didn't know what love meant until now, nei- ther as Talishi nor as El Shaddai, neither as human nor living star.'
 * 109) Khondiel still wanted to protest, but she could see the dragon start- ing to rise above the battle plain, and she could see that Talishi des- perately needed her to do this thing. So she kissed Talishi and climbed inside the avatar of Binah like she had done several times be- fore.
 * 110) Then the avatar of Binah immediately leaped in to the sky with fire and smoke and noise, and Khondiel felt herself to be too heavy to move, and once again she was deeply terrified, which was an extraordinary thing, for Khondiel led the Fallen Angels. But her terror was not rooted in her own safety, but that the love that had been acknowledged by Talishi would never take root and flourish. Such a good thing! And it wasn't going to happen. No. Khondiel of a surety knew that now.
 * 111) Demonstroke lumbered into the sky after her and smote the avatar of El Shaddai with a fearsome white flame from the heart of the orange sun that poured from its open mouth, and the avatar was destroyed, which was no small feat, for it had been made in the belly of Sol. And Princess Khondiel, riding inside, instantly died and was lost forever to Ta- lishi.
 * 112) Mastema felt the fold-line that had linked El Shaddai to the avatar re- tract through the fold-door that he kept open in Canterwood, never to return again.
 * 113) In that very moment Talishi knew Khondiel was dead, and the world seemed to turn empty and gray to Talishi. She refused to speak a word until long afterwards, for she was utterly lost in her grief. In a daze, Talishi fell in among the forces of House Antero as they re- turned to the west, fighting with the stragglers of Bellon a rear- guard action against Kirodiel.
 * 114) And when Joy returned to her master Kirodiel he praised her for removing the thorn of El Shaddai's ancient avatar from Barbelo, but he also lamented, 'There remains a second avatar in the Land of Menkal called the Ark of the Covenant, and it would be no difficult thing for El Shaddai to enlarge his link with that avatar, and cause the seed of one or more avatars to pass through it and unwrap, and thus attempt to hinder me yet again.'
 * 115) And Joy was astonished, because she discerned that Kirodiel did not know a thing that she was free to reveal. She said to him, 'It may please the Lord to learn that since the concep- tion of Bat-El, El Shaddai is no longer free to construct an avatar within her body, nor may Bat-El con- struct an avatar within hers, for the life of both Elohim share a sin- gle sun, and to build an avatar now would kill one or the other.'
 * 116) Then Kirodiel was literally rubbing his hands in glee. 'The Ark of the Covenant is the only remaining ava- tar of El Shaddai, and if we destroy it, neither El Shaddai nor Bat-El shall have the means to antagonize me on Barbelo again!'
 * 117) Talishi stumbled west with the de- feated forces of House Antero, Bel- lon and a regiment of Fallen Angels for days before she shook off her own self-pity over the loss of her precious Khondiel and realized there were injured people around her who needed the knowledge and skills of a healer.
 * 118) So she began to carry her own freight long before reaching the first major Antero city of Jelaket. As Talishi walked without the bene- fit of riding in her avatar or even on horseback she learned directly in the muscles of her legs and in the soles of her feet what a large pla- net Barbelo truly was.
 * 119) Baron Bayard Sala told his serving wench Aliwe Halil to walk close to Lady Talishi and that her smallest whims were to be taken as direct commands. The two women seemed to quickly develop a language of their own and spoke of many things that were incomprehensible to the Baron when he happened to catch a word or two, tales of swarms and moons, of things called micros and other things called macros.
 * 120) And after Aliwe's first words with her the Baron and soon everyone else noticed that Talishi had begun to smile again and seemed to shed all ves- tiges of her grief at last.
 * 121) The forces of House Antero had horses, yet they used them only as beasts of burden to carry supplies, and walked beside their horses that they might stay and protect Talishi. Baron Priam Antero had fallen in battle, but King Brogan and Count Berek yet lived.
 * 122) None of the House of Larund walked with them save Lady Irus, for her husband Count Raddai had also fallen at Nine Mile Wall, yet Lady Irus never showed the level of grief that had afflicted Talishi with the loss of Khondiel.
 * 123) For Irus and her hus- band had freely come to aid the Brown Beards, and when she saw Rad- dai consumed by the fire of the dragon her heart was salved against the pain of losing him with the pride of knowing he fell after a most valiant stand.
 * 124) At Jelaket the ranks of the strag- glers began to thin, but the rest pressed on across the heart of the West Lands to the Antero capital of Vaska. As they drew near the sub- jects of King Brogan sent trains of supplies to aid their march, includ- ing many horses, for Jelaket had none, having sent nearly off of them with the forces that had come to aid Rumbek.
 * 125) In Vaska when King Brogan and Count Berek had been welcomed home by the people of the city, Talishi was bid by the king to stay and rest for as long as she would like. But Brogan lamented the faithlessness of his daughter Keri, which had brought all of this grief.
 * 126) 'Or so Mastema would have you be- lieve, Your Highness,' said Talishi. 'Mastema takes pleasure in turning the things we love against us, King Brogan. In time the shame you feel over your daughter will be trans- formed into anger against Mastema.
 * 127) And after that, perhaps your anger will be transformed once more, but into pity. For Mastema is well em- barked on a path toward his own dis- solution and is indeed to be pitied. Great has been his fall heretofore, and greater still the depths he has yet to fall.
 * 128) Mastema might succeed in gaining direct control of all of Barbelo one day, but the one who controls the world, whatever it is, will not be of the Elohim or any- thing like us.'
 * 129) 'Then what do you council for House Antero?' the King asked.
 * 130) 'House Antero is unfortunately in a most precarious position, for there exists no natural barrier except distance between your city of Jela- ket and fallen Elketz in Magodon. Next year Lord Kirodiel will arrive demanding tribute.
 * 131) He will begin to build garrisons throughout your land and Demonstroke will darken your skies to protect them. Behind him will be the combined might of House Gerash and House Bellon in a newly- doubled army of Mastema. You have no hope of succeeding if you offer re- sistance.
 * 132) So I council that you do not resist. Pay the tribute. Aid Kirodiel in building his garrisons, as he will demand.''And the honor of the Red Beards will never be retrieved again.'
 * 133) 'Yes, King Brogan, that is true. But in return, you will preserve the lives of your people and the lives of House Larund beyond yours. You will find that the Law of Mastema has prepared the White Beards to assail any resistance until it breaks.
 * 134) But after it breaks this law flounders, and when presented by no resistance at all, the death culture it fosters slips into the inactivity of confusion, which is why I was not pursued after the war. You see, the one thing Mastema cannot teach the people to do is to simply live.
 * 135) So lay down your self-respect, King Brogan, and live, that you may know a deeper victory over your foe.' 'It will be made so. And yet, Lady Talishi, there remain tokens of the shame of House Antero I can no long- er bear to have in my keeping.'
 * 136) The King unrolled a rich black cloth on his table so Talishi could behold the glittering broken shards of Dragonthorn. 'Take these far away from my kingdom, I beg you.' 'It will be as you say, King Brogan.' And Talishi committed the relics to the keeping of Aliwe.
 * 137) After a month in the house of the king, Talishi and her dwindling group rode to Gerazan to winter over. Then together with Aliwe, Lady Irus, Baron Bayard, and a brigade of Fallen Angels, Talishi crossed the ice bridge that led from the far west of the West Lands to the far east of the East Lands.
 * 138) They were almost precisely on the other side of Barbelo from Mastema's capital city in the center of the Middle Lands. For all their journey they were never assailed by Demonstroke as Talishi often feared they would be. Mastema had essentially forgot- ten all about Talishi.
 * 139) Bereft once more of horses, the par- ty spent the entire (albeit short) planting season on the move, so Ta- lishi knew nothing but bitter white cold for the better part of a year. But harvest time was unusually warm, almost hot, and she was in good spirits as they came down off from the ice to the outskirts of Belen. Here was the very source of the Riv- er Bandar, emerging from the face of a melting glacier.
 * 140) Every hour or so, a portion of the ice melted, releas- ing a boulder, sometimes the size of a house, into the vale below. But the stream was too wild to survive in a raft. The journey, by necessi- ty, remained by foot, parallel to the river.
 * 141) At length, Talishi's group arrived in the city of Locotin in the center of the Black Beard lands. They had come to the end of their walking travels.
 * 142) Lady Irus commissioned a barge and floated with Talishi down the River Bandar to the capital city of Peshast, where the people mar- veled to see the wife of Count Rad- dai returning from a battle beyond the end of the world.
 * 143) The Black Beard commitment to the war had been relatively meager, so King Garand bore no resentment to Talishi. And Talishi said to the King, 'Of the three houses that re- main opposed to Mastema, House La- rund has the best disposition.
 * 144) You have flown in the avatar of El Shad- dai, King Garand, so you know Barbe- lo is in the shape of a ball, and the lands of House Larund are fur- thest from the Middle Lands. On the west you are protected by a great natural wall.
 * 145) On the east are two ice bridges and a friendly House. I do not think you will be subject to invasion, but for a time, I believe you might face raids from the dragon controlled by Joy.
 * 146) Therefore I coun- cil that you convert all the dwell- ings in the land of the Black Beards into houses of stone.' 'Certainly Demonstroke will be able to flatten even these,' the King objected.
 * 147) Talishi replied, 'What you say is true, King Garand, nothing can with- stand a direct assault from the dragon, not even the fabled Nine Mile Wall was proof against it.
 * 148) Yet your cities as they are presently constructed are little more than so much stacked dry timber to be kin- dled by Demonstroke in a single strike. Why make it easy for Joy?'
 * 149) 'Your council is good, Lady Talishi. You have traveled far. I offer a wing of the castle to be a home for yourself and your Fallen Angels, if you would abide here in Peshast.
 * 150) Many of our people have assigned their loyalties to El Shaddai rather than Mastema, and here you would have much to teach and do. Your rep- utation as a healer is well-known.'
 * 151) 'I thank you deeply for your offer, King Garand, and indeed I will avail myself of it for a little while. Peshast will not be my final home. I have summoned a B'nei Elohim named Victoria to come to our aid, and I must wait here until she arrives.'
 * 152) Baron Bayard was bid to stay in Pe- shast as well. This had been his home when his mother Queen Aurra had exiled him in punishment for his taste in women of low station. And the baron's servant girl Aliwe was fully occupied, but more often than not her task was simply trying to keep Bayard's hands away from her slender body.
 * 153) Mastema had a dragon, sure, but Bat- El had a woman who could fly. Her name was Victoria and she was a third-generation B'nei Elohim.
 * 154) Yeshua got the idea of a flying wom- an from that one time when he de- parted from his followers in Jerusa- lem and ascended into the sky.
 * 155) On the summit of Mount Olive he had summoned a worm-tunnel mouth, stepped into it, and had remained entirely visible to the disciples as he physically moved the bubble into the air, riding along with it.
 * 156) The same mechanism was used to allow Victoria to fly on Earth and also on the moon, the only difference was that Bat-El handed full control of the position of the worm-tunnel mouth to her.
 * 157) Talishi asked to borrow Victoria after learning of her existence dur- ing her long talks with Aliwe. And so Victoria had immediately come to Barbelo through the Sacred Pool. She dropped to one knee before Yeshua and said, 'Command me, Lord.'
 * 158) For it was written by Paulus that every knee will bow at the name of Yeshua and every tongue confess that Yeshua was Lord. The B'nei Elohim considered themselves the greatest servants of Yeshua.
 * 159) 'I need you to kill an errant drag- on,' Yeshua told her, and not for an instant did Victoria blanch. 'Such a simple thing, Lord? I would love to whack a dragon for you, of course, but there is one small hitch. I can't fly on Barbelo.'
 * 160) Yeshua then ordered the Ark of the Covenant to be brought out and propped just above the dark wooden decking that surrounded the Sacred Pool. Then he told Victoria, 'Touch one of the cherubim on the cover of the Ark.'
 * 161) For the Ark, as the only remaining avatar of El Shaddai, was also a receptacle for the end point of a one-dimensional fold-space line. El Shaddai used the physical structure of the Ark as a reference to keep the end-point of the worm-line posi- tioned within. But after Victoria touched the lid of the Ark, that worm-line began to track on her body like an invisible piece of string cheese she could never shake loose.
 * 162) Now Victoria was the Ark. For the time being, the original Ark was just an inert piece of gold-covered wood, with no connection to El Shad- dai at all.
 * 163) Yeshua said, 'The fold-line cannot act as a tunnel, that requires a continuous flow of dark energy and El Shaddai is only budgeted for the one that connects to this pond of water.
 * 164) But the end of the fold-line you now possess can balloon out like a pod, big enough to contain you, and of course you can now control where that pod takes you, in the usual way.' 'Which is to say, Lord, I can now fly on Barbelo. Where shall I go?'
 * 165) 'Talishi is waiting for you in the King's castle in Peshast, the capi- tal city of the Black Beards, east from here and over the Wall of God. There she will give you the weapon you will use to kill Demonstroke.'
 * 166) Victoria bowed and said, 'Thank you, Lord Yeshua, for giving me this op- portunity to bring glory to our God.'
 * 167) 'El Shaddai doesn't need glory, Vic- toria, he just needs the dragon dead. But I will say to you that you are entirely welcome for this oppor- tunity to have more fun than any B'nei Elohim has ever enjoyed be- fore.'
 * 168) The demigod Victoria, daughter of Ariel, granddaughter of Robyn, ex- ulted as she flew in the violet sky of Barbelo. Victoria soared over the River Armak, which flowed west from the place where it was joined by the river Arhena.
 * 169) She continued to fly along the Arhena east, always east, as the awesome Wall of God began to loom as a barrier before her.
 * 170) Victoria looked down and saw trees with leaves of many colors, red and green, yellow and gold, such that the land looked to be perpetually in the full glory of autumn as it was known on Earth.
 * 171) Yet Barbelo's trees were never bereft of leaves, for there were no seasons as there were on Earth. Instead the leaves fell from their trees individually after a span, and were replaced by anoth- er.
 * 172) The source of the River Arhena was a perpetual rain that fell as a mist in the center of the Wall of God. Victoria became thoroughly soaked as she flew through this heavy drizzle.
 * 173) A little more than halfway up the dark Wall of God, at 10,000 feet, the mist became a solid white sheet of falling water. This was the greatest cataract known to man.
 * 174) At 19,000 feet Victoria flew over the rim and turned horizontal once again, now following the chief wa- terway of the Black Beards, the Riv- er Bandar, east through high hills to the city of Peshast.
 * 175) The guards of the castle saw Victo- ria alight and nearly fled in their fright. She said, 'I am Victoria of the B'nei Elohim. I was summoned here by Talishi herself, gentlemen, so please take me to her.'
 * 176) Victoria was brought to Talishi in the council chamber, and as she had done in Canterwood she knelt in wor- ship, for B'nei Elohim were much more aware of the awesome difference of the Elohim than most other humans were. Talishi welcomed Victoria and told her to rise.
 * 177) 'My Lady,' Victoria said, 'the Lord Yeshua told me you have a weapon to kill Demonstroke.' 'Aliwe, please do the honors.'
 * 178) Aliwe unwrapped the black cloth from around the broken pieces of Dragon- thorn, the blade Kari Antero once used to command Demonstick.
 * 179) Talishi said, 'This is the only heirloom we possess with which we can hope to even the odds against the dragon and it is nothing more than a pile of sharp baubles.'
 * 180) Victoria stepped forward to gather up the diamond shards. The one still attached to the hilt could serve as a long dagger, or very short sword. She said, 'I think I can fly behind the dragon and ram this into his brain.'
 * 181) The covenant says she who wields Dragonthorn must be a virgin woman,' Baron Bayard declared. 'Otherwise the dragon will not be mortally wounded.'
 * 182) Which was the Baron's way, of course, of saying he was interested in Victoria and wanted to know more about her. He wasn't sure where a B'nei Elohim female fit on the spec- trum between commoner and noblewom- an.
 * 183) 'I have never known man,' Victoria declared in turn, with a wink at Talishi. She didn't mention the crazy lesbian sex she once had with Chayn. Maybe that skirted the intent of the virginity requirement, but it was the Elohim, after all, who made their demigod servants such utter horn dogs.
 * 184) After Victoria officially joined Talishi's group they rode down the river Bandar to the town of Vesa, where the Fallen Angels camped out- side the city. The royals reserved an inn.
 * 185) There, after supper had fin- ished, the conversation turned to strategy. Victoria asked the first, most obvious question: 'Where, actu- ally, is this dragon located?'
 * 186) Baron Bayard asked the innkeeper if there was a map of Barbelo at hand. When servants posted it on the wall of the dining hall, Baron Bayard walked up to it and said, 'Behold the Wall of God.
 * 187) The woman Joy is said to keep Demonstroke in an aerie high above the Valley of Ten Thou- sand Creeks that come together to form the Alnitar river, approximate- ly here. You can see this is the wildest region in Haaretz.
 * 188) No roads issue forth thither from Nath or Hamar. Yet we must start from Fatho because it is the nearest city to the aerie.' 'Hell. In the morning I can find this aerie myself and dispatch the dragon as I have been commanded,' Victoria said.
 * 189) 'That will not do,' Talishi coun- tered. 'I have no doubt you can do precisely as you have described, but it's no good if you just kill the dragon in secret. People have to see you do it. That's what this is real- ly about. People have to see that we are resisting Mastema.'
 * 190) Victoria bowed her head. 'As you say, Lady Talishi.' The Baron said, 'Some of you might have surmised that I intend to use the Catwalk to reach Haaretz from here.' 'And what dear Baron is this Catwalk of which you speak?' Victoria asked.
 * 191) 'The Catwalk, Lady Victoria, is a path carved into the stone face of the wall which drops four air miles in one hundred Catwalk miles. But it is precarious beyond belief.
 * 192) There are places where the Catwalk is no wider than one of your feet is wide.' 'M'lord Baron, please tell me this Catwalk comes with a safety rail,' said Aliwe Halil.
 * 193) 'The Catwalk comes with no rail. We must take our own precautions. Oh, did I mention that one part of the Catwalk entails a rope traverse? 'Naturally I do not fear this Cat- walk,' Victoria said, 'but have cau- tion.
 * 194) If anyone falls, I will not be able to stave off your death. I can carry little more than this blade which I intend to use to slay Demon- stroke.'
 * 195) 'I do not doubt the courage of any- one in this company to continue,' Talishi said, 'but it may be the case that not everyone will be men- tally prepared to negotiate it, as the Baron describes it.
 * 196) Let everyone turn it over in their mind as we ride to the rim tomorrow, for it shall be there that whoever freely elects to end their part of our quest must remain behind while the others go on.'
 * 197) An awkward silence fell as everyone contemplated how they would react when they saw the Catwalk. Talishi turned to the commanding officer of the Fallen Angels who was also present at the inn. 'Tell the girls what they're facing tomorrow and make the same offer.
 * 198) I am not ordering any of them to accompany me to Haaretz.  But if they elect to stay behind here in the lands of House Larund they must disband as Fallen Angels, and not even form veteran societies.
 * 199) I will not have King Garand troubled by the presence of a regiment of foreign troops in his realm.'
 * 200) Baron Bayard led Talishi's dwindling party west through a maze of foot- paths that wound around the hills that bordered the Wall of God.
 * 201) With the baron went his commoner servant Aliwe, and from time to time Bayard would stoop to pick up an agate and hand it to the girl. Vic- toria noticed that his fingers would linger on Aliwe's hand as she took the stone, and the expression on the girl's face was hard to decipher.
 * 202) For the first time since joining Talishi's group, Victoria looked at Aliwe very carefully and was sur- prised to see that the girl's face had features that strongly reminded Vic of her own.
 * 203) But there were also things in Aliwe's appearance that reminded her of Baron Bayard. Vic didn't know what to think.
 * 204) The quest moved at the pace of the oldest and slowest person among them, Count Berek Antero, who was entirely aware that he was holding everyone up. He also missed his wife Losna who had stayed behind at Gera- zan.
 * 205) He was not entirely sure he was prepared to endure the Catwalk as Bayard had described it. Yet he was a thoroughly honorable man who wanted to aid Talishi in every way that he could. So he was torn by an internal debate as he trudged along.
 * 206) Victoria looked at Talishi and saw how her legs had become muscled and wiry. The walk had aged her a dec- ade. Talishi was more handsome now than beautiful. Victoria and Talishi knew full well that beauty has a sell-by date. Talishi regretted only that she would never grow old to- gether with Princess Khondiel.
 * 207) As El Shaddai she had war-gamed ev- ery scenario that he and Bat-El could imagine to determine whether Khondiel could be extracted before she died and in every case Mastema won all of Barbelo and their own cause was irretrievably lost.
 * 208) Behind them went a single company of Fallen Angels, about two hundred forty women. Two of every three had elected to stay behind in Peshast and disband, and gloomy Berek warned Talishi that some of the women who elected were certain to fall. The law of averages would claim them and there was little anyone could do.
 * 209) At length Baron led them south on a footpath that gently climbed up a long wooded ridge. It looked like a simple trail, but Baron Bayard as- sured them it would become the Cat- walk when they walked a bit further. They all looked back down the way they had come.
 * 210) They were at an alti- tude where the trees were stunted and sparse, so the views east were unobstructed and spectacular. But at the summit of the ridge the view west was absolutely beyond belief.
 * 211) Nineteen thousand feet below them lay the land of Haaretz in it's en- tirety, even to the sea known as Thalury. In one glance they could take in both the Northern and South- ern Ice, walls little higher than the Wall of God itself, racing west and drawing together until both they and Thalury slipped over the hori- zon. Nowhere else on Barbelo was the spherical shape of the world so ap- parent.
 * 212) To the south the ridge trail slipped below the ridge which became an ice- carved wall almost concrete smooth, and they could see the trail became the infamous Catwalk, a lip only three feet wide where the cliff jut- ted out and fell once more.
 * 213) All of this was far too much for Count Ber- ek Antero. 'I am deeply sorry,' he said. 'I have already delayed the quest, but now I see I cannot go on.'
 * 214) 'I would say that you have made a noble decision, Highborn,' Aliwe said, and not a few Fallen Angels came to the same wisdom as Count Berek. Talishi's party had been whittled down to some one hundred fifty souls.
 * 215) Talishi commanded that they make camp and embark on the Catwalk in the morning when everyone was well fed and fully rested. But rest would not come. In the morning there was little speech, for the enormity of the task ahead had weighed in every- one's mind all night.
 * 216) As Count Berek had feared, the law of averages began to take its toll. About once an hour the silence of the trek was broken by the terrified scream of a woman somewhere far be- hind Talishi slipping off the Cat- walk and falling to her death.
 * 217) Wait- ing for the next one to fall became a constant and living horror that none would ever be able to banish from their memories.
 * 218) There came a moment in the quest when Baron Bayard made a move to fondle Aliwe, and Aliwe tried to back away from him. The problem was there just wasn't much backing-up room on the Catwalk, and she, like some of the Fallen Angels behind her, slipped off the face of the Wall of God.
 * 219) There was no scream but Victoria saw everything and flew down after her, not even taking the time to think that Aliwe's weight would be too much and there was no saving her. Hadn't she said as much before they embarked on the quest?
 * 220) Below the Catwalk the Wall of God was not perfectly vertical. Victoria could not stop Aliwe's fall but she could push Aliwe out of the way of any stony outcroppings as she ap- proached them. Aliwe told Victoria to let her go, and reluctantly, Vic- toria had to arrest her own descent and let Aliwe slip away to impact the broken talus at the base of the cliff.
 * 221) Victoria continued down at a smaller pace, trying to estimate where Aliwe's body bounced so she could attempt to bury her. But when she found her, Aliwe was smiling, none the worse for wear.
 * 222) She was standing in a small woody glen at the base of the Wall of God. They were at least three thousand feet below the Cat- walk where the rest of the party waited for any sign of them.
 * 223) Victoria finally guessed that Aliwe was a B'nei Elohim like herself, but one she never knew. 'I'm the daughter you haven't had yet,' Aliwe explained. 'Mom.' Victoria smiled back. 'It makes sense. I thought you had my cheek- bones.'
 * 224) 'And I have Baron Bayard's eyes.' She knew the implication of that statement sunk in when Vic stopped smiling. 'Sorry I slipped' off the Catwalk, but I had to get Bayard to turn his attention to you. Otherwise the ick factor would have been too much and I wouldn't be born in this loop.
 * 225)  Besides, as you can see, my own particular talent is indestruct- ibility.''Like Del?' 'Similar. I can heal myself with supernatural speed but I can't heal anyone else. Aren't we superheroes all supposed to have a weakness, like Kryptonite? And even Del can only fix so much.'
 * 226) 'You are here so it means we win, right? Bat-El and El Shaddai sur- vive?' 'We win, they live, Mastema dies. This quest is important. Mastema has this weird passive-aggressive thing going on with his dragon.
 * 227) He can assail any city or army on Bar- belo and it's all Keri Antero's fault for getting laid and breaking the Dragonthorn. After you kill the dragon he has to decide whether to use his first avatar in the same way, and either way, he loses.
 * 228) If he uses it, people stop following him because he's a violent and malevo- lent god. If he doesn't, then there's peace on Barbelo. Win, win, for us.' 'So why are you back here?'
 * 229) 'Yeshua wanted me to improve the outcome for Talishi's group. It's already paid off to an extent. On the original loop Kari killed Kiro- diel with Dragonthorn. With no need to escape with her lord still alive Joy simply had the dragon burn down everyone at the Council.
 * 230) That means of course that I was the only survi- vor.' 'So who is that Joy woman? I've nev- er seen her up close.' 'Joy is really your aunt Chayn, killed in the Moon War and living out her afterlife here. She's not doing very much to impress Yeshua, if you ask me.
 * 231) Joy has been pos- sessed by Jill, and even before that Jill went completely over to Maste- ma, so don't hesitate to kill the dragon even if it means Joy dies too, which she will, and when she does she's basically screwed because Yeshua won't give her a third chance.'
 * 232) 'A long as I don't fuck Bayard be- fore it happens. Rules you know.' 'That whole virginity thing was part of Mastema's scam all along. It's all lies. You could fly straight out of a week-long orgy and still kill Demonstroke with that shard.'
 * 233) 'One thing still bothers me,' Victo- ria said. 'You said on your loop Joy killed everyone at the Council ex- cept you. So if she killed your fa- ther, where the hell do you come from?'
 * 234) 'I should have said she killed ever- yone who came to the council chamber when the Queen summoned us. Dad was still in his own chamber having sex with Luzea. I don't blame him for that, actually. Luzea ain't one of the B'nei Elohim but she sure has a natural born talent!
 * 235) On your time- line I interrupted them because Lu- zea is mine, and Dad went back to see Gramma Aurra. All this this was before you got here, but you've heard the accounts so you already know I saved Kirodiel's life by in- tercepting the diamond blade with a metal tray.
 * 236) On my timeline Dad was the only surviving noble on the pla- net, outside of the Middle Land. He became something like a renegade while House Gerash started to take over the world.'
 * 237) 'So how did I meet him on your time- line?' 'Pretty much the same way you did this time around, Mom, except the quest was just you and him. You took the Catwalk, went to Menkant, the dragon shows up, and you fought Joy pretty much the same way you will again.
 * 238) As for how you fell in love with Dad I don't really know, and do you know what? I don't even want to know!'  'I find it impossible to believe that you will result from our union again, when there must be a trillion factors that will be different this time.
 * 239) The timing is crucial. This sperm and not that sperm, fifty- fifty you're a boy instead of a girl and very few of the events that formed your memories on your time- line will be present again in this timeline.'
 * 240) 'You are absolutely right, Momma, but even if you and Dad have nothing but boys that will have nothing to do with me, because you did have me on my timeline. But all I want to do right now is get back to the talent- ed Luzea. Now this next part is go- ing to seem strange to you, because I know you but you don't know me, but here goes.' And Aliwe pulled Victoria close for a kiss and a hug.
 * 241) 'Love you, baby,' Victoria said. 'Will we meet again when it's all over?' 'I hope so Mom, but this is a new loop. It rhymes, but it's not the same.'
 * 242) Then Aliwe left to pick her way down the river, a trip that would kill a less hardy person. On the coast she would try to find someone willing to take her to Saharad.
 * 243) Victoria soared directly into the sky along the face of the wall to return to the Catwalk. Everyone sat around looking sad, except for Baron Bayard, who looked guilty.
 * 244) Victoria would tell them only, 'Aliwe is in a better place,' which considering the nature of the Catwalk was absolutely true. Besides, it would keep Bayard from trying to hit on her at least until they got down off the face of the Wall of God.
 * 245) Talishi's party had nearly completed the descent of the Wall of God on the Catwalk. Only about a thousand feet of vertical distance remained. But no one let their guard down just yet. That thousand feet was still perfectly fatal.
 * 246) On the final afternoon they arrived at a section of the Catwalk that Bayard called 'problematic'. It had been damaged somehow, perhaps in a quake, and for nearly a mile it had become no wider than a toehold.
 * 247) But there were steel pitons already pounded into the rock ready for them to snap brass carabiners and sling ropes.
 * 248) By some quirk of fate or baronic contrivance Victoria was next in line after the Bayard. He said to her, 'Talishi calls you one of the B'nei Elohim, yet I know almost nothing about them. Can you tell me more, or is it some sort of divine secret?'
 * 249) 'There are some things about us we may never reveal,' Victoria said, 'but what I can tell I will. The most important thing is that we are a family, one big unruly but mostly loving family with the usual family squabbles.'
 * 250) 'Then are you noble born?''Not in the way you are royalty, Baron, as the son of Queen Aurra. In a real sense we would be considered nothing more than common folk here.'
 * 251) Victoria did not know that was pre- cisely what she needed to say to raise Bayard's interest level in her to eleven. Still, Bayard wanted to test that. 'And yet you can fly. Some say you are demigods, which would make you far greater than roy- alty.'
 * 252) 'I can fly, that is true, but it's not on account of something innate to me, to my body. For all practical purposes, it's nothing more than a magic trick.'
 * 253) Applause and cheering broke out on the line ahead of them on the Cat- walk. Lady Talishi had successfully traversed the broken portion to safety on the other side.
 * 254) 'And our foe, this woman Joy, is she also B'nei Elohim?' 'She is one of us, and that is what I alluded to when I mentioned family squabbles. Some of us have removed themselves to the camp of the enemy.'
 * 255) 'And the way she controls the drag- on, is that another magic trick?' 'More trick than magic,' Victoria said. 'Neither we nor the Elohim that we serve hold the supernatural realm to be real. So call it a holy deception.'
 * 256) 'The House of Sala has also dabbled in the same sort of thing,' Bayard said. 'When the gods of Earth first brought people to live in Haaretz, the Gold Beards feared that many of them would sail west across Thalury and make their homes in our ances- tral lands.
 * 257) We sought to discourage that, so we spread a tale among them that the world was constructed like a stair, and the Wall of God was but the second of many such awesome bar- riers. We told them another wall existed to the west, and Thalury tumbled over this step in a bottom- less cataract.
 * 258) After everyone had survived the rope traverse the Catwalk became much wider and safer, but their journey began to be slowed by the presence of many blown-down trees which had been knocked over recently in a storm and lay directly across the trail. Sometimes they could roll over them, but other times they had to crawl under them, which was ex- hausting work, and they could not avoid getting their clothing soiled.
 * 259) The fearsome cliff under the Catwalk came to an end, and became a normal slope. The company entered a small stand of fat virgin trees that draped the slope down to the bottom, and here the character of the journey changed dramatically.
 * 260)  Victoria thought it was a magic place that had escaped the ax in the first, second, and third waves of cutting from Wazol, as though by an oversight.
 * 261) After that they reached a large out- cropping of stone that Bayard called Picture Buttress. It offered a mar- velous view to a forest glade below. Victoria thought it was beautiful but still dangerous. The trail actu- ally wrapped around the parapet here, and a thoughtful person, prob- ably Bayard on his journey long ago, had provided a rope for each of them to hold on to.
 * 262) They passed a large duckpond so se- rene that it reflected the sky and the branches of the trees above the water like a mirror. The trail skirted the edge of this pond with a small but calm diversion before re- suming its course.
 * 263) 'It's going to be a little rough going here,' Bayard said, plowing through prickly Mastema's Club and bidding Victoria to trust him. The route was flagged with orange and black ribbons. 'Not many people know about this trail.
 * 264) Those of us who do know of it use it and we maintain it but we don't fully connect it any- where.' And finally the Catwalk ended igno- miously in some poor old man's back backyard in the city of Wazol.
 * 265) He was tending his garden and shrugged as one hundred forty people tramped through his property and went out the side gate to the front of his house to reach a city street.
 * 266) 'Where do we go next?' asked the Baron. 'Victoria knows,' said Lady Talishi with a smile revealing her awareness that Vic had spoken to a living Aliwe. 'Menkant. Then Joy and her dragon will come to us.'