House Of Fire

Chapter 11

War mates.

The two syllables rang around in Raven's head. Did she somehow end up in a war zone?

She looked at the other woman sceptically. She couldn't possibly hurt any one could she. Even when she was threatening Raven before, it wasn't out of viciousness but more out of fear.

"What do you mean by war mates exactly?" The question came out without any emotion. It was becoming hard to believe that she was still a part of reality at this point. A flying mass of blue stone in the sky was kind of hard to grasp if you didn't already have wings sprouting from your back.

"And while we're at it, if you live in a kingdom in the sky where are your wings? You are an Angel right?"

The answer wasn't what Raven had expected. Not in the least.

A gloomy expression appeared on Fern's face. The look didn't suit the spitfire at all. Raven got the impression that she would rather smile than spend her day worrying over issues that should have concerned her.

"An Angel, yes. But wings? Ha, I wish. No, only the males have the honour of moving between the islands. That's why we're at war. Our creator didn't want us to be able to escape, so in his kingdom with millions of floating islands, a creature without wings is stranded. Those creatures include all women, as well as me and you."

Fern turned away as Raven sat up. Crossing her legs she looked at Fern whom was staring out of the cave into the brightening day.

"There's more to it, isn't there?" Raven ventured to say in a soft voice.

"Yeah, it is the inequality and behaviour of the men that is causing us to rebel. For twenty years there has not been one matching. The soldiers' ranks are starting to tear and none of them are receiving anything from their females. And I mean that!"

Raven contemplated her response. She didn't seek to hurt Fern. The revelation of the longevity of the Angels was something that she stored in a drawer in her mind under 'further investigation'. Resting her chin in the palm of her hand she turned to watch the gathering of the same misty, humid clouds as the day before.

"Did you ever have a match?"

"Yes, but I ran away with the others. I've made it a long time without him, but I know he's getting ever closer to catching me. I can feel it. I don't think there's anything that can save me when he does. He's very proud, and I have hurt his pride."

The last sentence was spoken so quietly it was barely audible - like a whisper in the wind.

Raven reached out to place her hand on the woman's shoulder.

"It's alright. He won't hurt you, at least not when you're with me, that I promise you."

"Ah Raven, if that were only true!" Fern straightened up and pushed her shoulders back. It was of no use as Raven still caught a glimpse of the moisture in Fern's eyes.

Fern needed a distraction from the topic at hand so Raven asked something that had been playing on her mind for some time now.

"If you don't have wings, then how do you get from one island to the next?"

Raven sighed with relief when Fern's body relaxed again. A smile curved her lips and made her look more attractive than any girl Raven had ever seen before down on Earth. It was a natural beauty that couldn't be replicated even if some one tried.

"We use bows and arrows. We tie a rope to the ends of the arrows and attach them to the next float. It usually works but some times...well, sometimes it doesn't and an...accident happens."