Army of Sin - Season 3 - Africa and Her Secrets

Episode IV - Called Into Service

Location: Ethiopia…

Rescue missions were not on the list of things the angel Moraika; Power and Guardian of the African subsection’s to-do list.

To remain unseen - Check.

To watch over this sector of Herto and protect the secrets of Creation - Check.

Transport an unconscious chieftain of the San tribe… Nope, certainly not on my to-do list, she thought.

 Now, thanks to this human’s actions, she would not only have to explain her involvement to her superiors, but she also had to transport his now floating form back to his settlement. The alternative of losing him was unacceptable… she already had that negative mark in her performance ledger about the previous chieftain.

“How very reckless of you,” Moraika addressed the unconscious man, “Do you and all of your lines have a recessive gene of stupidity that flares at the most inopportune time?” Shaking her head, knowing him currently deaf to her words; his ability to discern the realm of the spiritual temporarily paralyzed, Moraika’s lashes swept down. Reaching out, she touched a hand to the floating body at her side, bringing the image of the tribe’s sprawling community to her mind’s eye.

 Reopening her eyes, they took form just outside the high walls shrouded in all manner of leaves. To the untrained eye, it looked like another part of the great mountain standing silent behind. Still maintaining contact, the pair proceeded undetected past the fearsome looking warriors performing their sentry duties. She felt just the slightest twinge of discomfort as the spiritual barrier hanging like a dome over the entire compound reacted to her foreign presence.

 Halting her advance, Moraika waited for the sense of some alarm or response; knowing she would be forced to leave the chieftain’s body in an effort to escape undetected. Imagine the shock on the warriors’ faces were their chieftain to appear out of thin air. Feeling the discomfort trickle away, she restarted her walk, taking this moment to look around the compound. In all the years since being stationed as Guardian of Ethiopia, this was the first time Moraika had ever physically entered the camp; usually content to look on from her post, allowing the tribe to carry out their existence free of divine input.

 The houses were sporadically spaced, with no clear arrangements; some houses constructed closer together than others with a cluster of four flats standing at the heart of the sleeping compound. Minus the two warriors they passed at the entrance, a quiet hush hovered over community.

 The door to the chieftain’s quarters, the most central of the four flats was open – the heart of the tribe always accessible – trappings of a good leader. Striding over the threshold, Moraika removed the spiritual shawl she previously cast to allow for undetected travel. Assuming her human form; clad in brown leathers and a matching top that left her midsection bare; she brought the chieftain to rest atop his bedding. Placing the back of her hand against his forehead to reaffirm his healing; she turned only slightly in greeting.

The sharp point of a blade rested between her shoulders right where her wings would have been in her true form.

➖➖➖

“Move again and you die,” said a low feminine voice over her shoulder.

Just great, Moraika sighed inwardly, feeling the material at her back give way beneath the blade. So much for undetected, “You must be Odinga,” Moraika greeted, turning her neck to gain a gander of her would be attacker.

True to form, Moraika felt the blade begin to press in response to her movement.

Closing her eyes once more, Moraika slowed time.

Odinga never saw the strangely clad woman move, recalling only attempting to make good on her promise to kill the woman should she attempt to move. Now she could do nothing but watch as the spear simply disintegrated to fall in flakes of ash over the woman’s bare feet.

Feet that made no contact with the ground.

Grabbing the hunting knife strapped to her thigh, Odinga surged forward.

She never made it past her first step. A thunderous clap of sound blasted through her mind; the blade falling useless as she fell to her knees; dots of white filling her vision.

Enough, the stranger said, her words projected through Odinga’s mind; seeming to echo continuously, growing softer with each repetition. Tend to your father. You will need his strength for what is to come.

The stranger disappeared as if she had never been, only the residue of ash an indication of her presence.

  

 

END OF EPISODE