The Archangel's Search

She never told her love - W. Shakespeare

They were travelling again and Michael was beside Seraphina. She had been ignoring him the whole morning; relying on another soldier to take her place while she did the rounds and inspections. Slowly, he grew to regret his actions last night, which wasn’t harmless at all in his opinion. After all, it was Seraphina who held the dagger and tried to stab him with it. Next time I will just start off with a song to signal my arrival…like a daft choir angel, Michael hissed to himself.

The soldier that Seraphina left in her place looked at him strangely before he shrugged and continued flying. As they flew, the wind became colder and less forgiving. Some of the angels at the frontline, Michael noted, started to go red at the nose and he realised that they were very close to Juno’s stronghold...and closer to Moses. Back when Michael was commander, Juno was a minor warrior angel who happily took on missions that most angels would do reluctantly.

When Adam and Eve was banished from Eden, Michael watched over them while most angels, including Juno had abandoned them, believing that they should suffer the harshness of the new world. When Noah was told to build a boat and Raphael was sent to select a pair of each animal, Juno volunteered to flood the earth.

When the first sons of Egypt were to be killed, Juno took the mission without any reluctance while Michael watched from the hills overlooking the destruction below with a pain that tore at his heart. Death himself had appeared next to Michael that day and sighed heavily.

“Waste of little souls”, the old man in black robes said as he held tightly onto his staff. Michael said nothing. He didn’t want to appear weak and nodded to the destruction before, signalling for the old man to get on with his job.

Michael was never close to Juno and he was pretty sure their relationship will not improve any further.

Finally, Seraphina ordered the party to rest while she sent three soldiers ahead to notify Juno of their arrival. Still, she ignored him and agitated; he followed her to her wagon. There he blocked her, preventing her from escaping until he had his say.

“Seraphina”, he said softly and grabbed her hands in his while ignoring her protest. “Please allow me to apologise for last night. I merely wanted to keep you warm and nothing else.” He looked deep into her green eyes, admiring their beauty and strength.

She remained silent but the anger in her eyes faded out into warmth and she smiled slightly. They stood like this for a while until a cough sounded from his right.

Raphael looked between his daughter and Michael before a questioning glance looked down at their joint hands. Before he left, he said cryptically and almost sadly, “Moses is a loyal soldier.” Immediately, Seraphina removed her hands out his own and started gathering fur from a trunk.

After a few minutes of silence, she said, “The other archesses will get cold. The High Mountains will be snowing around this time of the year.”

Michael nodded and took the bundle of fur out of her hands. Together they walked in silence towards the other archesses, while he cursed his brother’s interference. They had a moment just then and from that moment, Seraphina was beginning to trust him.

Michael released a heavy sigh. His mind and body were in despair and lost. He felt a connection to Seraphina and he hadn’t been able to convince her to break off the ridiculous marriage to a lesser soldier. But of course, he was more experienced than this Moses of the High Mountains. He could use the tactics the mortals used to steal lovers. Despite his moral side lecturing him on his status as a righteous being, Michael was determined to do whatever it takes to win his bride.

Looking over to his mate, he could see that she was troubled and he smiled at the idea that maybe Seraphina was having second thoughts about her marriage. Oh how he wished he could shake some sense into her and force her to accept her fate by his side.