Finding Heathcliff

Thirty-One

The wind carrying their balloon south morphed fast from helpful to dangerous as they approached the coast.

Despite his great skill, all that Rigel could do to coax the balloon into changing direction was to lower the flame that was still burning, by some miracle, under the air-filled pouch. But Astrid knew that it was useless, it was too late, they would be carried into the sea and die...

Her despairing thoughts came to an abrupt standstill when she spotted the two dark-clad figures waiting for them close to the tip of the rocky promontory. She stood still, staring at them, hands gripping the edge of the basket as surprise and fear filled her mind in equal measures, submerging all other thoughts, while Rigel and Orion kept moving behind her in a panic, unable to decide whether they should throw their luggage overboard, and gain altitude again.

They didn't notice anything out of ordinary until the balloon apparently stopped obeying the wind and started acting on its own will, steering itself towards dry land, touching ground without the slightest bump.

Without paying any attention to her companions, or Stella's words about not trusting demons which her mind whispered as she kept looking at the two fallen angels, deciding that after having spent her entire life by listening to other people it was high time to start thinking for herself now, she lifted the skirt of her dress up to her knees and clambered out of the basket, then walked towards the two strangers as if she couldn't resist the pull of the familiar scent of burning incense, the cloud of smoky, amorphous darkness that seemed to hover around them, or their magic, like the balloon before.

She stood in front of them before either of her companions, still shaken by the flight that could have cost all of their lives, noticed that she was gone.

"Are you Michael? I need to find Michael," Astrid whispered urgently, not wanting Orion to hear.

Her eyes flickered between the two men, one of whom, as she had hoped, wasn't a complete stranger. Her breath caught, and her heart started to race when he looked into her eyes, his irises the same colour as the sea foam floating on the water behind him, penetrating deep into her mind.

She doesn't even know your name, Ramiel thought, and that thought, accompanied by certainty that he would laugh out loud if he could, made Azrael want to destroy something. Or at least make his friend fly into the cold water for a very long swim... He sent that image into Ramiel's mind before he took a deep breath and focused on Astrid, who was still eyeing them expectantly.

"No, Lady. This is Ramiel, and my name is Azrael. But if you are here because of the new treaty, then we will have to take you to Michael."

"Azrael..." Astrid breathed.

She could not concentrate on anything that he said after he had introduced himself, her eyes were glued to his, asking, searching, guessing, until Ramiel, unable to help himself, chuckled, making Astrid blush furiously and drop her eyes.

"Astrid! Come back here, what are you doing over there?!"

Orion's alarmed voice pierced through her confusion, making her realise that... "He can't see you... and neither can Rigel..."

Only now did she notice that the two fallen angels didn't look entirely substantial-- they were there, in front of her and yet there were not, as if they would vanish like a dream should she touch them.

"No, Lady. Not unless we allow them," Azrael said, and as on cue, the angels seemed to flicker into real existence then, the tendrils of moving black fog which enveloped them vanishing.

Astrid heard the men gasp somewhere close behind her and turned around in time to see Orion taking a step back.

"Azrael, Ramiel, this is Orion, my fiancé, and my friend Rigel. And I'm Astrid," she said, remembering her manners.