Chapter Fifteen — Part 3

. . . Until I shifted into angel form and tossed their oversized human bodies to the dirt. Like a switch, my body snapped into action, drawing on angelic reserves long untapped. The closest guard suffered most, my fist cracking his head up and back. He fell to his knees. Jumping past him, I snapped my knee into his face, extinguishing what little senses remained in his dense skull. He wouldn’t be waking any time soon. The other guard went for a knife, and lost his hand for the effort. I took my sword from the ground and lunged for him, my sword flashing in two crisscrossing strokes. He fell to the ground, holding his hand and trying desperately to put it back on. I slammed a wing out violently, capping his head and knocking him cold. With a quick touch, I restored his hand to his arm. I didn’t let him come back to consciousness, however, he would just be in the way.

My sword flashed again, cutting the trader’s pistol hand up the middle before he could safely draw his blaster. The sluggish man tried to run away, but I cut his clothes to ribbons, humiliating him as he fled to his ship. The only reason I didn’t chase him down was my concern for Tiffany.

Even a few moments might be too long with such a corrupt man. “Roan.” I yelled, “If you hurt her in any way I’ll force you to eat your own liver.”

I burst through the bushes, sword drawn, ready for anything, only to find Roan on the ground. I looked closer. Tiffany had caught him in the neck with a dart. From the looks of the bruise, she’d pegged him at point blank.

Tiffany smiled wickedly. “It’s about time you showed up.” Her armor hadn’t even been scratched.

“I’ll send these slaves into Otherspace, then we level Roan’s home.” I went back to the clearing; the trader had abandoned his slaves.

I touched each slave, and using what Genesis had taught me, zapped each child into Otherspace — and therefore back home. The child I had been sent to return didn’t cross over, and I knew instantly that Commander Barrot must be a corrupt man. It also meant he had no safe place to go to.

What are we going to do with this one?” Tiffany wondered. She smiled at the kid, trying to keep him calm.

“I don’t know what to do.” I said, stroking his head. The boy acted confused but unafraid.

Tiffany smiled and patted him on the head. “I would say he’s too young to be a pirate. He doesn’t look a day over five. That’s still nursing age on Friol.”

“I’ll take care of him.” A girl said.

I turned around, not having expected somebody behind me. A snake coiled around her left leg, writhing slowly about. A five-pointed star was painted in gold on her forehead. She looked like an ancient goddess. Her eyes were disks of darkened turquoise, her expression wizened far beyond her physical age. Her body, covered by a black sari, seemed young. Her fingers were thin and fragile looking, but she had an aura of authority about her.

“Governor, I ask only to be of service. I’m the Forever Child of Earth.”

I bowed slightly, because she was so short, and so cute. “What’s your name?”

I snapped the magnetic seals of my armor back into place. Roan and his guards had vanished with the girl’s appearance. The girl smiled, seeming to read my mind.

“Call me Lynette. Don’t worry. I sent them so far away that they probably wouldn’t ever find their way back here.” She took the boy’s hand in hers, “Would you like food, child? How about a planet all your own? We’ll need a Forever Child at about the time you’re old enough to be one.” The boy was either unwilling or unable to talk.

Tiffany looked anxiously around. “Are you sure Roan’s men won’t return? He’s a dangerous man.”

“The dangerous man is currently trapped in a glacier of ice in the Antarctic. I’m the only one who can thaw him out and revive him — and I’ve little intention of doing so until you and your daughter have safely left the planet. I was asked to give you something, and I want to ask you a favor as well.”

She closed her hand, then opened it, and pierced my remaining ear with a silver loop. The loop held a stone much like the one in my left ear. Only this stone was white as bone. Tiffany showed me a picture of myself in a mirror. I smiled because now my necklace had two friends.