Penult (The Liminality, Part Four)

Chapter 25: Outside

“Calm down, people,” said Olivier. “We have the means to defend ourselves. You have to trust us.”

We remained at the bottom of a deep crevasse. Kitt and Tyler climbed it first, securing lines and pulleys for hauling up the group’s baggage. Thus unencumbered, all were able to negotiate the steep wall of shredded root and rubble without much assistance.

There were faint lights in the sooty-grey sky, specks or radiance that I could not be sure were stars along the smooth, un-cratered blotch of glow that passed for the Liminality’s moon. For all I knew this could be just another larger bubble in the underground and these celestial bodies were just as artificial as those that Luther conjured across his domes.

The wind swept over the rumpled plains. Reapers roared in the distance. Those of us bearing wings undid their lashings and deployed them.

Soon Kitt and the boys were hovering over our little caravan as they regathered their gear and began plodding across the dark wastes. I lagged behind, still struggling to get my wings strapped on properly.

“Yo James. Get your ass up here,” said Kitt, circling back.

“I’m working on it.”

She landed beside me and helped get the cage-like harness fitted across my chest.

“What about Olivier. Where’s his wings?”

He’s gonna stay grounded for now. Make sure Petros doesn’t try any hanky panky.”

“Who are we exchanging him for?”

“Beats me. Some Frelsian, I guess.”

My wings finally on, I flicked my shoulders and away I went. I couldn’t help but feel proud of myself for being the one who had weaved them. But then again, the credit really belonged to whoever came up with the original design for the device. Compared to them, I was just a mere counterfeiter.

She came flying at me and I flinched away, thinking she was going to slam into me and we would go tumbling in a mass of membranes and harnesses to the ground below. But she pulled up, nimbly and hovered before me like a hummingbird.

“Tyler’s flying point to check for ambushes. Detmar and I will watch the flanks. How about you bring up the rear?”

“Um. Sure!”

I loved the idea of me being all the way back. I was a coward at heart, and had no interest in being the first among us to encounter trouble if I could avoid it. Of course, trouble could always sneak up behind us, but I tried not to think about that.

The ‘moon’ shed enough glow to reveal the overall lay of the land while many of the severed roots exposed in the upheaval blinked and flashed faintly, delineating the landscape in millions of tiny sparkles.

The ground party moved at a pretty decent clip over the rough ground, considering Petros was shackled and Bern was limping. Olivier was great at reading the terrain, even without the benefit of wings. He made sure they always took the path of least resistance, often diverging from our primary heading to favor ease of travel.

A dark blotch in the sky came hurtling towards me. I flinched away before realizing it was Tyler. Kitt and Detmar came in from the flanks to join us for a little conference in the sky.

“There’s a formation of Cherubim smack in front of us,” said Tyler. “Three, four hundred. They’re all kneeling on the ground. No Hashmallim or Seraphim about. Didn’t even look up at me when I buzzed them.”

“That’s how they sleep,” said Kitt. “I don’t think we need to worry about them.”

“We could really fuck them up if we wanted to. They’re sitting ducks,” said Tyler.