“Thank you, Lord Erlik.” The prayers were ending.
“Thank you, Lord Erlik,” I hastily mumbled.
As the elders dispersed, Nelson approached me, smiling. Apparently his anger flashed hot and ended quickly.
“You know, I’ve been thinking,” he said by way of greeting. “Back on that day, when you came to our world.”
I winced, hating there had been spectators to our shock and vulnerable state.
“Grimshaw—the first one, who started this branch of the Church of Erlik—he was walking through the fields toward an afternoon service. I was just a young lad back then, a little wild, more interested in gold and power than pursuing faith. But I joined him, since we’d known one another as children. I came late. Your group was already gathering your wounded by the time I arrived.”
I had the barest flashes of memories. We’d been in the midst of a skirmish. Our blood was up, our senses heightened. We’d been using magic, and hitting the ground in the human world was not only painful with physical impact—I vaguely recalled pulling one of my sedgemates off a wooden fence post, blood and ayim gushing, screams echoing in the background—but losing our connection to our world and the magic woven through it was like severing a limb.
Dazed, disoriented, cut off from our most important senses, we’d staggered around, searching for safety. Our enemies, the Gar, also struggled to regroup. They’d flown away faster than us, and we hadn’t seen them since.
I hadn’t even noticed any spectators at the time. It was Gabriel and Haniel who’d realized a few people had stopped to stare.
Nelson continued, his tone light. “Grimshaw was fascinated by your leader, the one with pure white wings. But I was more curious why a whole group of Erlik’s Heralds were wounded and shocked to be here.”
I grunted.
He shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t matter now I suppose. We have you here to answer all our questions.”
I wasn’t interested in this small-minded human’s musings. I just wanted Lilith, to explain to her I loved her and never wanted to leave her.
“I assume you can’t stay forever. As much as we’d love to keep you with us, Lord Erlik will likely need you to carry out his will.”
“Erm, yes.” I glanced around, watching the other men file out of the sanctuary.
“Ah, well.” He chuckled, though his laughter had a hard edge. “More’s the pity. If Grimshaw was still alive he would be dragging you before the head of the Church of Erlik to prove his theology was right all along. You don’t seem to be the type to be dragged anywhere.”
I turned and gave him a cold stare. “No.”
He nodded affably enough, hands flexing on his cane. “Of course.”
“Excuse me,” I said, my patience running thin. “I must go patrol the skies.” Then I turned and left, watching out for a sign of Lilith.
I looked everywhere, but eventually found her at her house. Which I probably should’ve searched first.
Tired of all the watching eyes, I flew over the houses and landed in the Meadows’s garden. Carefully avoiding the dormant plants, I stepped to the back door and knocked. It was a small, low door. I eyed it grimly, already resigned to losing my dignity just to get inside and speak with her.
It wasn’t Lilith who answered the door, however, but her mother.
Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open as she looked me up and down. “Herald!” Her hand flew to her throat, trembling. “What an honor,” she got out. “Wh-why are you here?” Her face blanched as she glanced behind me to the vegetable garden. “Oh, goodness, forgive me. The garden, it’s not, well, it looks better in the summer.”
She glanced around, clearly unnerved by my presence.
“Did you come to see my Absalom’s things? He was a beautiful boy, a wonderful son.” She sniffed. “And the elders were so grateful to have someone like him join their ranks.”
Based on what Lilith and the other elders had said, I knew that to be a falsehood.
“I, uh,” I fumbled. “Lilith has been helping me as I settle into the community. I actually came?—”
She smiled. When she smiled, I could see Lilith in her. But life had been hard, and she did not wear her age well. It startled me to realize she’d likely been born after I’d Fallen to this world. And yet she seemed decades older than me. When I was fifty, my wings hadn’t yet molted and my voice was still a child’s.
“Ah, yes, Lilith. She’s so pretty, isn’t she?”
I nodded, since that seemed like the appropriate response. “Is she here?”
