TCC1

When the words of the interloper, Hashmal Zadkiel, reached the ears of King Melchiyahu through his officers he was summoned to appear before the cherub. Zadkiel found he didn’t rate an audience before the actual throne. He met Melchiyahu in his salon and was announced by the majordomo.

Zadkiel found the lack of pomp striking, but he was too stupid to discern what it really meant. No armed guard was present to protect the Cherub save his son Melchizekek, who bore no visible weapon, yet he was in truth armed with a small, powerful artifact forged by Bat-El herself.

The Cherub said, “Lord Zadkiel? I have heard of a Hashmal in the city of Adan who goes by the name Zadkiel. And yet you did not obtain leave from Prince Melchizekek to preach in our realm. You did not even ask my daughter Princess Lilith. Ophanim, both of them.”

“Sire, I say this all due deference, Were I the get of a lowly craftsman like this glassblower’s son Michael, I would still have leave to preach in Salem. For Samael himself commissioned me, and your kingdom still lies, no matter how uneasily, within the Middle Lands.”

“Were Lord Samael himself to come to Salem he could not pronounce death even for a glassblower’s son. That is my power, solely. The giving of the scepter is without repentance.”

Zadkiel said, “Then sire, at the very least, I counsel you restrain this Michael by fetters if not by death.”

“Not in haste, self-described Voice of Samael. My own daughter admires this young prophet and puts hyz words into action, which gladdens my heart in a way I cannot begin to tell you.”

“Your Majesty, the ideas admired by your daughter spread through the land like a plague. Already the river of pilgrims who flow to Adan seeking absolution ebbs. The priests had to raise rates across the board! Michael is a dagger pointed at the heart of the state.”

Melchiyahu looked at hym with a mixture of pity and amusement. Abruptly Zadkiel realized the Cherub’s purpose in limiting the audience to just two noblelen in this private setting. Grandstanding was impossible. In a raw state his words sounded insane even to himself.

The Cherub said, “I will listen to the words of Michael with my own ears and judge whether they are a threat to Lord Samael’s greater--” “Have a care, Melchiyahu!” Zadkiel dared to interrupt. “I solemnly assure you the Lord will not hesitate to bring an errant cherub to heel through war!”

Melchiyahu did not grow visibly angry at the affront, though his son knew from long experience that his father concealed great wrath. The cherub only rose to his feet and said, “This hashmal I leave to you. Remember, son, that you will one day rule Salem.”

When his father departed Melchizedek reached into his cloak and brandished a unique weapon given to him by the avatar of Bat-El herself. He called it the Killing Relic. In appearance it was like a gold ingot, or the handle of a blade. It was small enough to fit in Melchizedek’s hand. With a firm squeeze a hissing black shaft emerged from the hilt to grow as long as an angel was tall.

“Say no more words in my presence,” the ophan warned, shouting over the noise. “You would be cut in twain even as you spoke.”

To affirm the truth of what he said, he sliced the corner of the massive and ornate stone table before Zadkiel as though it were made of bread. The severed piece fell to the floor with a solid thump and did not bounce once. Melchizedek had not felt the call to demonstrate the Relic since returning from the other world after his failure with Abram.

Melchizedek allowed the black rip in reality to fully retract and he continued, more quietly. “A horse shall be given to you with comestibles to see you to the first outpost thirty leagues east of Salem. Tarry you there. A herald shall follow after Cherub Melchiyahu has heard this Michael preach.

"But you, Hashmal Zadkiel, must never return to this city. If your master inquires, tell him the Lord of Salem will gladly receive an ambassador who comports himself with the basic rudiments of court etiquette in the presence of an Adanite cherub.”

After that Melchiyahu sent his daughter Lilith to bid the prophet Michael to visit the court in Salem and preach what he would, yet it was no sovereign decree, and Michael agreed to come only if the encounter was open for any of the people to witness. So Melchiyahu prepared the amphitheater where he thrilled visiting nobles with exhibitions of combat.

Lilith attended as well, dressed for once like an Ophan. These were the words Michael spoke in Salem as the white and orange suns sank in the west. In years after the sermon was remembered as the Sunset Discourse. “Thralls of Thaumiel are said to be superior to animals because he can control his own environment, but the Student of Bat-El can control her own behavior.

Thralls of Thaumiel are called famous, but the Student of Elyion sets an example by her deeds and becomes influential.

Thralls of Thaumuiel accumulate many riches but cannot keep all of them safe. The Student of Bat-El has few desires, and so holds on to all that she has.

Thralls of Thaumiel demand to see good in others, and attribute the cause of a tragedy to unbelief or a defect in ritual, but the Student of Bat-El is too busy mercifully addressing the needs at hand to render judgment, and she does not live for yesterday or tomorrow.

Thralls of Thaumile can do he wills to do, but he cannot even determine what he wills. The Student of Bat-El makes her own awareness of injustice the determinant of her actions. She diminishes the overflowing bounty of the corrupt to meet the needs of the impoverished.

Thralls of Thaumiel put their riches and knowledge on parade, but the Student of Bat-El does not tell all that she has, nor all that she can do. '

Thralls of Bat-El will never admit error, but the Student of Bat-El considers those who point out her faults to ber her greatest teachers.

Thralls of Thaumiel speak only of the dead traditions of their longfathers of old, and by coercion leaves them in force, but the Student of Bat-El cultivates the new as the coin to buy her way, and she knows that fully half of a dialogue is listening.

Thralls if Thaumiel may refuse to grow or merely say that he is willing to grow, yet in truth he lives only to quench his appetites that he might feel sated. But the Student of Bat-El does not remain idle; rather she grows, fulfills her passions and becomes joyous.

Thralls of Eluyon value only that which he does not and can not have, and which do not multiply when shared. But the Student of Bat-El empties her purse and finds her heart being filled. She contents herself with those things which are possible for her to obtain.

Thralls of Thaumiel evaluatea how much a yan is worth by considering only how much she possesses and what she might do to benefit hymself. But the Student of Bat-El looks to what a yan does for others and who that yan protects, for that is what she is truly worth. Thralls of Thaumiel consider yen vile and always falling short of his ancient standards. The Student of Bat-El extols her sisters over all existing standards because when yen do go astray it is always induced by the repression induced by those standards.

Thralls of Thaumiel examine everything about who is speaking except her words, and hears only what fits his prejudices. The Student of Bat-El recognizes her own tendency to have a bias and tries to set it aside so that she may understand what is really being said.

When a Thrall of Thaumiel suffers an indignity he mindlessly retaliates by committing another indignity. The Student of Bat-El knows the greatest revenge is simply not to be like he who did the injury. The greatest conqueror is the yan who has conquered herself.”

Michael concluded the Sunset Discourse by healing many of the angels who came to hear hym speak and it was his sincere hope that one day the instruments and medicines he used would not be viewed as magic. King Melchiyahu sent word bidding Michael to come before the throne. D1

After he entered the castle and drew near to the Cherub's seat Michael was announced by Lilith, who at her father's command was still in the temporary role of herald. No titles were given. It was known that Michael was a lan of the city, the commoner son of a glassblower. Melchiyahu said, “Your sermon refered to the Student of Bat-El as feminine. Are len excluded from his teachings?

“Not at all, Your Majesty,” said Michael. 'When I speak in those terms I wish to convey an image. A lan who embraces Bat-El will have a gentle heart and sees others around him as another 'I' yet he will retain his strength and his male nature, as he rightly should.”

“My own daughter has always had a fierce heart, yet she has come to admire your teachings, and I am not the only one to mark how this has gentled her.”

Prince Melchizedek raised his eyes to take in Lilith's red dress and he could not recall the last time he had seen her wear one. He noted how her eyes seemed to be drowning in Michael and in an instant he knew what was happening. He asked, “Who are you really, Michael?”

Michael drew near to Melchizekek. “Your Royal Highness, for years you were not to be seen in Salem but only your father knew that you were in the other world searching for a man who was not content to worship the gods of his fathers.” The Ophan was stunned to silence. Melchiyahu said, “My son found a man named Abram, but Abram's loyalty to his own father's well-being exceeded any loyalty to what was, to him, an unknown god. Melchizedek found no other of his like, and when he returned he reported failure.”

Lilith said, “I was told nothing of my brother's missing five years.”

“Is it not some measure of who I am,” Michael said to the prince, “that I know what even your sister does not? Yet I will offer one more sign.”

Michael had no power to open a space-time bridge in Kemen, only Elyon or Elchemah, but the Abram case remained a piece of unfinished business. Communicating directly with Elyon, Chokhmah demanded a link. A bubble grew to envelop Michael and through it Earth could be seen. Desert heat seeped through the wormhole into the Cherub's throne room.

Michael stepped out of the spherical mirage and said, “Ophan Melchizedek, know that the father of Abram is dead. Now I bid you to return to the other world and complete the errand your father solemnly laid on you, tarry not to take anything that you think you will need on Earth. I, Bat-El, will provide them for you myself.”

Melchizedek seemed to be frozen in place. Hy firt glanced at Michael, then at his father, and had nothing to say. His father said, “Make haste, my son.” So Melchizedek entered the ball of distorted desert light and seemed to shrink as he walked away towards Harran. Belial, as he had one once before, did not raised the bubble before snapping it shut, leaving a crater on the floor.

King Melchiyahu approached Michael and dropped before hym on one knee, but Michael bade hym to rise. 'Truly I am in union with the holy one you call Bat-El. Your daughter has heard me say this. But for my part I call you the Students, not our thralls as Samael would have you be.”

Hearing this Cherub Melchiyahu rose and said, “Lilith has expressed to me a strong desire to become your leading student, Michael, if you were willing to receive har. I deem that you would return to me a daughter none could gainsay was a fitting princess of this realm.” Michael replied, “When I used the word Students in the past, Your Majesty, I always had in mind all world-dwellers in general. I never thought to establish a school. Such would demand greater labor than just a few hours away from the castle every day. Would you, Princess Lilith, be willing to part with your father for years? It might be you would never see hym again as a living lan.”

“I am willing to do so, Lord Michael, and much more: I would put the Fallen Angels at your command. But not, let me assure you, as thieves.”

In that moment Michael needed no more persuasion. Hy had found willing allies in the ancient dispute with Samael and Beliel, and he saw the utility of having some students who were servants as well.

Michael said, “Sire, let it be as you say. I accept your daughter Ophan Lilith as the first acolyte of what I shall call the B'nei Elohim, the offspring of the gods.” Then he bowed deeply, a god-lan paying sincere tribute to a cherub-king, and the audience was concluded.

Before House Gerash was riven with strife and Salem knew a season of peace the prophet Michael, in the role of tutor rather than preacher, took Ophan Lilith the daughter of King Melchiyahu under instruction as his disciple.

Lilith asked, “Teacher, why are angels, nephilim and men never content?"

Michael replied, "It is because they have let their ego grow to become so great that even their capacity for enjoyment has largely been displaced. But if you diminish the self, like emptying a cup, there will be room for joy to enter. Renounce your greater passions, indulge your lesser passions, and you will be content."

Lilith went on to ask, "Why do they suffer so much?"

Michael answered, "Because they have let their ego grow to become so great. It is the ego that experiences pain and loss. Diminish the self, like emptying a cup, and your capacity to suffer will vanish."

Lilith asked, "If I adopt this attitude, will it prevent tragedy and ensure good fortune?"

Michael said, "No. But when you can accept gain and loss with equal poise, people naturally look to you as a leader, and they will judge you to be of good character." Lilith asked, “Do all your teachings taken together have a name?”

Michael replied, "A child is given a name because there was a time when she did not exist, and then a time when she did exist. But there was never a time when the way of Bat-El did not exist, so it cannot be given a name.”

Lilith said, “Yet you call it ‘the way of Bat-El’. Is that not a name?”

Michael said, “The path I follow leads from confusion to clarity. It is a lane of emptiness that permits me to travel through impassible clutter. Because it is not a thing, it cannot receive a name. If you try to give it a label, it will immediately fall off."

Lilith said, "You call it a lane? Does that mean your path is long?"

Michael said, "No Lilith, it has no discernible shape at all. It is like a statue buried under centuries of dust. If you brush the dust off to try to make out the face, you only succeed in totally obscuring everything with a room full of dust. Thus it is with words as I try to teach you about the way of Bat-El."

Lilith said, “The way seems to defy reason." of Bat-El

Michael replied, "Reason is for cutting away truths and filtering out truths, so as to arrive at the truth you are looking for. Reason is useless for growing and nourishing truths. That is why the one who embraces Bat-El relies instead on her inner agreement with the truth."

Lilith objected, "But reason is the foundation of our system of justice!"

"Exactly, Lilith. That is why our society's righteousness is based on cutting and filtering, on refraining from doing evil things instead of accomplishing good things now, in this moment, and letting the past be the past."

Lilith asked, "Is that because reason demands absolute standards?"

Michael said "To those who reject the way of Bat-El and embrace the world's idea of justice, angels, nephilim and men are always falling short of the ideal standards demanded by reason, which only serve to oppress the people.”13 Lilith said, "When there is a tragedy, such as a deluge or a pestilence, the people are always blamed for offending the gods." Michael said, "Unrestricted reason, which is never satisfied until it finds an answer. Those who worship at the altar of reason cannot accept the capriciousness of nature. They must have an explanation for everything. So they say the gods are angry and sit back in moral judgement of the people."

Lilith asked, "What do len put a premium on ruling others?”

Michael said, "Len cannot rule something as minor as a cold, yet they endeavor to rule all of Heaven. But Heaven contains infinite complexities. To harness them is to spoil them. The days are bright, the night is dark. Winds blow, floods come. The seasons are hot and cold. These things exist beyond any lan’s puny attempts to control them."

Lilith said, "Even so, Teacher, len often do succeed in their way, and take pride in their cleverness."

"Nature laughs at monuments to the cleverness of len, attacking his walls with moss and erosion and crumbling his cities to dust."

Lilith asked, "So instead of revering tradition it is better to let go of things when they age?"

Michael said, "Yes, my dear disciple. Instead of disdaining inexperience it is better to welcome things when they are new. Only the ever-renewing patterns of life are permanent."

After that Michael took Lilith on a seven-mile walk in the woods. They descended four thousand feet along a mountain stream that doubled and redoubled in size as other streams joined it.

The stream plunged over a staircase of innumerable cataracts and divided into islands as it formed stretches of white rapids alternating with deep quiet pools.

After a long time of contemplative silence Lilith said, "This place is beautiful, Teacher. I had no idea all this was up here. I find myself deeply moved."

Michael asked, "Why do you find it so beautiful, dear disciple?”

Lilith said, "I think it is perhaps the simplicity of the water's purpose, always seeking the lowest place."

Michael said, "What if you saw it raining on the sea of Thalury? Surely, as the simplest case, you would find that exceedingly beautiful." Lilith said, "No, Teacher it would seem such a waste of fresh water. Maybe I'm thinking of the complexity of this landscape along the valley floor, of the cliffs and hillsides and gravel bars."

Michael said, "Then what of that recent rockslide two miles back? Surely you found the jumbled, random complexity of the boulder field gorgeous beyond compare."

Lilith said, "No, Teacher I found it to be an ugly scar on the land. I'm sorry I have failed you. I cannot tell you why this place is so beautiful."

Michael smiled gently at Lilith’s discomposure and said "You have not failed me, dear disciple. Words have failed you."

Even as Elyon and Belial aided Bat-El to establish a covenant people on Earth they were bitterly opposed to her doing the same thing in Kemen. The interloper named Michael had made Salem and the surounding country a lost cause in Elyon’s view but troops were sent to contain the plague.

Ophan Lilith and her Fallen Angels had proven remarkably efficient at shielding Michael from being abducted, but as a consequence Salem been sliced out of intercourse with the rest of the Middle Lands.

Michael wished to bring these things to a head and allowed himself to be taken to the Adanite capital, where he was made to stew for a number of days in a dungeon cell before receiving his first visitor, the Hashmal Zadkiel.

The noblelan moved very close to Michael’s iron cell to look directly into his eyes. After studying hym quietly for a time he said, “The Lord Elyon sends his regards, Bat-El.”

Michael smiled. “I made no secret of the union, yet you came all the way to Salem to deny it, and pronounce death upon me for having the audacity to claim it,.

“The Lord knows that you put on something of a conjuring act just before he opened a fold-door in Salem to whisk Melchizedek away to Earth. Only Bat-El could have timed things so.”

“How wonderful. Now that you and your god have come to belief, what is next?”

“Certain actions and non-actions will be required of you, said  ” Zadkiel, “and you must obey. ” “Elyon knows well I can choose to end my life at any time. No threat of death or torment can compel me to do his bidding, let alone the whims of one of his thralls.”

Zadkiel smiled and said, “Oh, a martyr is really the last thing we want, Bat-El. Lord Elyon has a far better idea. Your sentence of death will be set aside. Instead, we shall parade you captive in a cage through every settlement from here to Salem. The people must see the humiliation of their would-be god, Bat-El dressed up in the body of a helpless captive.”

“That will require backtracking on your part, Zadkiel. Or have you forgotten your Lord Elyon’s decree of my death for presuming to teach the angels of Salem a ‘lie’ that I am the living avatar of Bat-El? Now I am to live so that everyone may see it wasn’t a lie after all?”

Zadkiel curled his lips. “The rabble have short memories. Lord Elyon also demands you reveal the secret of merging with a lan as a living avatar, as you clearly have done.”

“When my mother and father have brought Ophan Lilith here for, let us say, a week of final instruction, in somewhat more comfortable surroundings than this cell, and after they have sent her safely home to Salem once more, I will conform to the demands of Elyon.”

Zadkiel chuckled. “Bat-El, you are in no position to make any demands of your own.”

“Very well, Zadkiel. I will now shed this container of meat. After that I will let Elyon know, through the more direct means that are always available to his daughter, how close he came to learning the trick of having a meat sack of his very own before your intrasigence ruined it.”

“Hold! I will bring your request before the Lord himself.”

One of the farmers who dwelt outside of Salem drove to the lines of the Eyes of Keter ringing the city. The farmer and three sturdy dirks removed a box from their wagon and bore it toward the city gate using two staves threaded through brass rings on the box.

One of the Eyes of Keter barked at the yeng carrying the box, 'What yang of you are the loadmaster?' The three dirks lowered the box to the ground and edged fearfully away from the oldest yang, who said in reply, 'This shipment be mine, milord. I am Sibiel of Odargas.'

'Do you pledge troth for whatsoever goods you bear in the box?'

'I do, milord.'

'Yet I would see within.'

Crestfallen, Sibiel ordered the dirks to open the box. The Ophan Lilith tumbled out, dazed by the sudden light. The three dirks feigned outrage at the sight of har.

The Eye of Keter said, 'Stand apart from this Sibiel, if you value your lives! Contrary to the will of Keter hy bears aid to the fugitive daughter of King Mel- chiyahu to enter Salem.'

But Ophan Lilith was not cowed by the pretensions of this uncouth lackey of Lord Zadkiel. Sha cried out in a loud voice, 'May Chokhmah send down fire to slay you and your companions!'

At first the Eyes of Keter thought the princess was mocking their speech, but only a few heartbeats after sha spoke brilliant orange bolts of fire shot down from the clear sky. So bright and hot was this fire that Sibiel and the three dirks thought their eyebrows had been burnt off. The immolation left only smoking grease spots where twelve Eyes of Keter stood an instant before. None remained to hinder Lilith from proceeding to the gates of Salem.

When Samael, the now living avatar of Elyon, learned what happened hy knew the attack was direct interference from Bat-El. It was the first such meddling that hyz daughter had dared to do in Kemen.

Samael spoke to hyz prophet Zadkiel of two dilemmas now confronting hym. 'The people must not come to believe this yang Michael is in union with an eloah. Otherwise my controversy with him will lead angels to hold the eloah Chokhmah in contempt. That is the natural impulse of world-dwellers when dealing with enemies among your own order. Also I have encouraged the people in their belief that yen are unwarlike, and to be treated as mere property. The Ophan Lilith and har so-called Fallen Angels, who are without peer in Heaven, contradict this tradition every day. This cannot be permitted to continue. Yet when it comes down to it, who is really worthy to confront them?'

Zadkiel snorted at the mere thought and said, 'Surely my Lord makes a ridiculous joke.'

Samael continued to explain things to Zadkiel as though his prophet had not made hyz interruption at all.

'Lilith has exactly one weakness, and that is Michael hisself. So I am willing to tolerate the human incarnation of an eloah being caged like a beast, because I assure you that is the only thing staying the annihilation of your expeditionary force by the Fallen Angels. When you put the city under siege you must keep Michael in full view of Ophan Lilith at all times, with pikelen ready to run hym through at the slightest provocation from her Fallen Angels or the forces of Cherub Melchiyahu. Your victory will hang upon that slender thread.'

In the days of King Melchiyahu when war was come to the city of Salem and Michael was captive of Hashmal Zadkiel, Ophan Lilith instructed her chief lieutenant Imrael in what Michael said was ‘War the Way Water Flows’.

And Imrael said, “Your Royal Highness, I know you have fought in countless battles. How did you survive all of them?”

Lilith replied, "A coward thinks only of his personal survival. Thus he endangers himself and his entire force. But a yan of war advances on the battlefield already reconciled with death. She goes into battle as though she were certainly doomed to die.

Lilith went on to say, “When the thought of dying has already been accepted, this frees the yan of war to focus only on fighting. Thus she retains her life. Keeping her life, she gains victory. Gaining victory, she preserves the life of the people she protects."

Imrael asked, "Your Royal Highness, why have you ordered the Fallen Angels to make camp this plain, and thereby allowed Zadkiel to seize the high ground that is nigh at hand?"

Lilith said, "In the battle that will be fought here, Imrael, we are only the guest, and Zadkiel is the host. Therefore I yield the hill of honor to him and accept this lower station."

Imrael objected, "But he can see our entire force at one glance, while we cannot know what strength he has hidden behind the ridge!"

Lilith said, "Ah, but Imrael, that would only be important if we were the attacker. In that case we would tire ourselves fighting uphill and possibly be surprised by hidden forces waiting to ambush. Instead, my army is like water, dwelling in the low places considered of negligable value."

Imrael shook her head. "I fail to see the advantage in that, Your Royal Highness."

Lilith said, "Is not water itself vital if the people are to live? Do the people not seek it out in wells and rivers and even swamps? It is certain Zadkiel will come to us. By our mere continued presence on this plain Zadkiel will begin to covet this plain."

Imrael said, "But Your Royal Highness, we are ringed by hills all around. When Zadkiel attacks, we will not know from which direction he will come!"

Lilith said, "Yes, Imrael, but his forces are spread like a ring all around us while we have interior lines of communication. Anywhere he attacks I can order reinforcements within minutes, and anywhere I counterattack he will be weak. Do you see, dear disciple, why we humble ourselves by keeping to the low land?"

And Imrael said, “Excellent.”

True to her foretelling Lilith carried the day. The Fallen Angels drove off the Adanites and there followed a brief season of peace. But none yet dared to hope Elyon had put the conquest of Salem out of his mind.

At a beautiful cataract in the mountains east of Salem, the Ophan Lilith and a squad of har Fallen Angels refreshed themselves. Afterwards they resumed their usual mode of riding slowly on their horses while patrolling all of the land approaches to the city for in- truders. The waterfall completely blanked out the sound and vibration of onrushing hooves until it was nearly too late. Not even Lilith's hypersensitive mare gave warning.

Undetected, Adanite horseyeng raced up behind Lilith, har chief lieutenant Hashmal Imriel, and the other yen. At the last instant Lilith's sword was unlimbered only to crash against a mighty iron rod. There were sparks and Lilith was knocked clean off har horse.

Still stunned, Lilith witnessed another horseyang decapitating Imriel with a single stroke and choked back har grief. Har horse possessed the intelligence to linger with Lilith rather than follow her equine instinct, which was to bolt. Shaking har head clear, Lilith mounted up again.

Poor Imriel was dead but four other Fallen Angels survived the assault and they rallied around har. Lumbering after them at a full gallop, Lilith and her companions loosed many arrows and felled the one wielding the iron staff.

Two other weaving horseyeng were slain blocking arrows fired at the one who killed Imriel. Hy had a swift horse and far too much of a head start. Hy dove into the safety of a vast forest glade guarded by a large armed encampment.

Contrary to har every wish Lilith reared back and brought har horse to a stop. The other Fallen Angels conformed to har movements as the soldier they had chased turned to face them.

Seeing at last the face of the yang who killed Imriel, the princess mouthed hyz name with all the bile sha could summon: 'Zadkiel!'

Yet every indication Lilith had gathered from the path of burning villages told har Zadkiel was yet twelve to fifteen leagues to the west. Sha guessed that Zadkiel must have dragged hyz army here by forced march overnight. But that led har to marvel how hy knew to come to just this place. 'Elyon,' Lilith muttered, answering har own unspoken question.

As though in answer, Demonstroke soared over the trees. Lilith was shocked to see the first and now last dragon in Heaven had been brought to this fight, but he orbited far overhead and made no move to attack. Then sha understood Demonstroke was brandished only as insurance against any more interference from Chokhmah's avatar.

Lilith signaled for the Fallen Angels to gather close around har. Sha said, 'Zadkiel will pay for Imriel, life for life. You needn't follow me.' Sha gestured to the back of har head. 'Bat-El has said my death will not be my death, but she has made no such promise to you.'

But the Fallen Angels were of a single mind. One of them named Raphaela answered for all and said, 'Lead us, Your Royal Highness. For Imriel!'

So heedless of the danger Lilith turned har horse to face the enemy. Sha sped forward to attack Zadkiel directly, and not one yen held back. Then Zadkiel ordered the canvas covering Michael's cage to be removed, revealing hym just as Lilith entered the range of the enemy's darts. Sha brought har horse to a halt once more.

Zadkiel said, 'You can kill me from where you stand, Lilith, but Michael would join me in death.'

Lilith stared at Zadkiel with narrowing eyes and rode a bit closer. Then moving in a well-practiced dance, Elyon's best pikeyeng, arranged in a ring around Michael's cage, brought their forest of spikes to the horizontal, yet not toward Lilith, but inward, toward Michael.

'Don't sink to this, Zadkiel,' sha called out in disgust. 'I expect as much from Samael but it is not worthy of an unpossessed Gerash noblelan.'

But har words were mere bluster. Lilith was shocked how efficiently the use of Michael as a living shield curtailed har actions.

Zadkiel seemed to read har thoughts. 'Michael has become a noose around your neck, and the closer you try get to hym the tighter that noose will become. How easy it is to make you dance with a simple threat to Michael's life!'

Michael shouted, 'Lilith! Forget about me!'

Lilith's eyes became moist as sha shook har head with a sad smile. Sha said, 'Did you not know that is the only thing I could never do?'

Yet there was nothing more sha could do that day on the field. Spurring har horse, sha turned and led har Fallen Angels back to the city.