FIC: "Sinking", continued (In Nomine)
Nov. 16th, 2004 03:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalNote: No warnings this time
The Caves of Adventure were Christopher's deepest remaining connection to his origins in Stone. There were a variety of ways to get there, cave entrances, hidden passages in a the Cottage, a mysterious trap door in the Cottage's cellar. The only consistent point in them was that they were not obvious. They were something for a Blessed Soul to stumble across, the cave entrances hidden by brush, the secret passages hidden in the back of a closet, the trap door only located after finding a strange map folded inside an old book that mentioned it obliquely.
Curious Souls entering the Caves would find mysterious, twisty, dim (but never truly Dark) passages leading to hidden treasures, strange puzzles, and perhaps an illusionary dragon or two. The Caves combined the fun of exploring, touched with a bit of mystery, leavened with a few learning puzzles to boot. And like everything in Christopher's realm of authority, it was harmless to the truly innocent.
So why was it, Zadkiel wondered, as Elsa led her on, that she felt such a feeling of apprehension and forboding? The silent Malakite led her down a passage, through a twisty maze, up over a rope bridge that spanned pitch darkness, and through a cave filled with golden treasures and a sleeping reliever in the guise of a dragon. Though the journey, the dim cavern walls grew darker still, until Zadkiel found the need to sing up illumination for both herself and Elsa.
"Almost there, Milady," Elsa said softly. They came to a rock wall at the end of a dead end passage, like any of a hundred that they had already passed. Elsa spoke a word, and the rock flowed aside like water, revealing another passage.
That was a Stone Attunement, Zadkiel thought. But Elsa had only served Christopher since being abandoned by Eli. If David knew that his old servitor was handing out Stone attunements without asking formal permission, the old Malakite would not be pleased.
They entered the passage, and Zadkiel had to pause as the wave of warning and obscuring Songs washed over her. This was a place that Christopher had gone to considerable lengths to hide from Infernal eyes. No, from all eyes. Heaven does not know of this place either. Who by the Lightbringer was here? Eli?
The passage was short, only thirty paces, but it was twisty at odd angles that Zadkiel recognized easily from the castles that were part of her Word. This was meant to be a place of last ditch defense. An attacker would have to round corners blind and leave themselves vulnerable for critical moments. It was a level of tactical sophistication that she didn't… well, that most angels didn’t credit Children with.
And it ended in a thick iron door set in the walls of the cave, held fast by double locks fashioned by a Superior's will.
"Elsa," Zadkiel said flatly, suspicion and anger boiling within her, "tell me that Christopher does not hold an angel here against their will."
"Not against her will, Milady Zadkiel," Elsa answered Truthfully, "but by her own request. There are locks equally as heavy on the inside of this door as well."
"I don't understand."
"You will." Elsa drew two keys from her robe, and used them to unlock the door, singing down the warding Songs on the door itself as she worked.
From within, a soft, barely audible voice asked, "Who is there?"
"Elsa of Creation, in Service to Children," Christopher's seneschal answered.
"Zadkiel, Archangel of Protection," Zadkiel answered as well.
"Zadkiel…? Elsa, where is Christopher?!" the voice asked in confusion and fear.
"Christopher is gone, captured by the forces of Hell, and I have been made Seneschal of his Word until his return," Zadkiel answered, before Elsa could. "Elsa, through no fault of her own, made me aware of your prescence, though not of your nature. I ask you to open this door so that I might see you, and know what secrets Christopher has haboured even against Heaven's eyes."
"Christopher… in the hands of Hell?" There was a low, keening wail from within the cell, a cry of despair deeper than the wailings of Christopher's servitors when she'd made this terrible pronouncment to them. Deeper because, Zadkiel quickly realized, the person with the cell was now truly, utterly alone.
"Please, whoever you are, open this door!" Zadkiel called out.
The wailing stopped, stifled in a single, heartbreaking sob. Then the two inner locks clicked back with authoritative thumps, and the door opened inward to darkness. Zadkiel's eyes adjusted in a moment. She saw a single, female aspected Mercurian clad in plain white robes, head bowed. Her Heart floated in the room's center, which was bare of any manner of furnishings, beyond a single candle in an alcove of the wall. It was cell, not in the manner of a prison, but of a monasterey, Zadkiel believed, meant to foster contemplation. Or at least she hoped this was True.
"Who are you, Mercurian, that you are kept in such a terrible manner, cut off from your brethern?"
The Mercurian raised her head, eyes empty of hope. "I am Reztel, Angel of Parental Love, in service to Children, once in service to Creation."
"And what Superior do you ultimately serve?"
"Andrealphus, Mercurian Angel of Love.
TBC
The Caves of Adventure were Christopher's deepest remaining connection to his origins in Stone. There were a variety of ways to get there, cave entrances, hidden passages in a the Cottage, a mysterious trap door in the Cottage's cellar. The only consistent point in them was that they were not obvious. They were something for a Blessed Soul to stumble across, the cave entrances hidden by brush, the secret passages hidden in the back of a closet, the trap door only located after finding a strange map folded inside an old book that mentioned it obliquely.
Curious Souls entering the Caves would find mysterious, twisty, dim (but never truly Dark) passages leading to hidden treasures, strange puzzles, and perhaps an illusionary dragon or two. The Caves combined the fun of exploring, touched with a bit of mystery, leavened with a few learning puzzles to boot. And like everything in Christopher's realm of authority, it was harmless to the truly innocent.
So why was it, Zadkiel wondered, as Elsa led her on, that she felt such a feeling of apprehension and forboding? The silent Malakite led her down a passage, through a twisty maze, up over a rope bridge that spanned pitch darkness, and through a cave filled with golden treasures and a sleeping reliever in the guise of a dragon. Though the journey, the dim cavern walls grew darker still, until Zadkiel found the need to sing up illumination for both herself and Elsa.
"Almost there, Milady," Elsa said softly. They came to a rock wall at the end of a dead end passage, like any of a hundred that they had already passed. Elsa spoke a word, and the rock flowed aside like water, revealing another passage.
That was a Stone Attunement, Zadkiel thought. But Elsa had only served Christopher since being abandoned by Eli. If David knew that his old servitor was handing out Stone attunements without asking formal permission, the old Malakite would not be pleased.
They entered the passage, and Zadkiel had to pause as the wave of warning and obscuring Songs washed over her. This was a place that Christopher had gone to considerable lengths to hide from Infernal eyes. No, from all eyes. Heaven does not know of this place either. Who by the Lightbringer was here? Eli?
The passage was short, only thirty paces, but it was twisty at odd angles that Zadkiel recognized easily from the castles that were part of her Word. This was meant to be a place of last ditch defense. An attacker would have to round corners blind and leave themselves vulnerable for critical moments. It was a level of tactical sophistication that she didn't… well, that most angels didn’t credit Children with.
And it ended in a thick iron door set in the walls of the cave, held fast by double locks fashioned by a Superior's will.
"Elsa," Zadkiel said flatly, suspicion and anger boiling within her, "tell me that Christopher does not hold an angel here against their will."
"Not against her will, Milady Zadkiel," Elsa answered Truthfully, "but by her own request. There are locks equally as heavy on the inside of this door as well."
"I don't understand."
"You will." Elsa drew two keys from her robe, and used them to unlock the door, singing down the warding Songs on the door itself as she worked.
From within, a soft, barely audible voice asked, "Who is there?"
"Elsa of Creation, in Service to Children," Christopher's seneschal answered.
"Zadkiel, Archangel of Protection," Zadkiel answered as well.
"Zadkiel…? Elsa, where is Christopher?!" the voice asked in confusion and fear.
"Christopher is gone, captured by the forces of Hell, and I have been made Seneschal of his Word until his return," Zadkiel answered, before Elsa could. "Elsa, through no fault of her own, made me aware of your prescence, though not of your nature. I ask you to open this door so that I might see you, and know what secrets Christopher has haboured even against Heaven's eyes."
"Christopher… in the hands of Hell?" There was a low, keening wail from within the cell, a cry of despair deeper than the wailings of Christopher's servitors when she'd made this terrible pronouncment to them. Deeper because, Zadkiel quickly realized, the person with the cell was now truly, utterly alone.
"Please, whoever you are, open this door!" Zadkiel called out.
The wailing stopped, stifled in a single, heartbreaking sob. Then the two inner locks clicked back with authoritative thumps, and the door opened inward to darkness. Zadkiel's eyes adjusted in a moment. She saw a single, female aspected Mercurian clad in plain white robes, head bowed. Her Heart floated in the room's center, which was bare of any manner of furnishings, beyond a single candle in an alcove of the wall. It was cell, not in the manner of a prison, but of a monasterey, Zadkiel believed, meant to foster contemplation. Or at least she hoped this was True.
"Who are you, Mercurian, that you are kept in such a terrible manner, cut off from your brethern?"
The Mercurian raised her head, eyes empty of hope. "I am Reztel, Angel of Parental Love, in service to Children, once in service to Creation."
"And what Superior do you ultimately serve?"
"Andrealphus, Mercurian Angel of Love.
TBC
