Bryan Davis - Eye of the Oracle

“Judas?” Sapphira asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Elam is putty in my hands,” Samyaza continued. “Naamah’s song has broken his will, and his temptation to yield to Lucifer’s call is strong. The girl will soon be out of our way forever. Now we merely have to paint the proper portrait of our little oracle of fire.”

Sapphira kicked a pebble and shouted, “What are you talking about?”

Morgan pressed a finger over her lips. “Hush now. Fits of impatience are so unbecoming. Little slave girls like you need to learn their place. You’re just an overgrown plant, a freak of nature without a soul. You might as well get used to the idea” she smiled wickedly and poisoned her final word with sarcasm “ Mara. ”

Scorching heat surged through Sapphira’s body. The scroll burst into flames again, burning downward until it concealed her hand in fire, but she ignored it as she raged at Morgan. “I am not Mara! I am Sapphira Adi! I am not a freak of nature! I danced with Elohim, and he loves me!” The soothing warmth of the Ovulum caressed her thigh, calming her down. The scroll continued to burn, though not as brightly.

Morgan cast a glance along the trench. “It is time, Samyaza,” she said softly.

“Understood,” Samyaza said.

The scroll’s flames weakened further, and Sapphira’s mind swam in a spinning whirlpool of anger and confusion. “Time for what?”

“For you to learn the truth.” Morgan shook her head slowly. “Poor, deceived, little Mara. I personally planted your seed, Naamah watered you and sang to you, and I uprooted you and placed you in a growth chamber until you were strong enough to stand. I even helped you take your first step in the spawns’ mobility room. Shouldn’t I know that you’re just a mutant plant who has been created to battle against the sons of Noah? Didn’t you think it odd that I chose you over Acacia? You deserved to die in the chasm, but I sent Acacia to her death instead, because I had a special role in mind for you.” She took a step closer to Sapphira and extended a hand toward her. “Come back to the hovels with me, and we will continue our quest to eliminate what remains of Shem and Japheth. You were wise to turn Elam over to me so I could keep him a prisoner for so long. Now, let’s finish the job.”

Samyaza laughed. “You used Mara to imprison Elam? How clever of you!”

“What?” Sapphira glanced back and forth between Morgan and the aura. “What are you talking about?”

“But,” Samyaza continued, “by your own code, all traitors have to be cast away. If Mara would betray Elam, she would certainly betray you.”

Morgan stroked her chin. “Of course, you’re right, my love. I had forgotten about that.”

Sapphira massaged the Ovulum in her pocket. “But I didn’t betray Elam! You kidnapped him from his people.” The flames on her scroll vanished, leaving only a rising string of smoke.

“I did have him kidnapped,” Morgan continued, “but I would not have known about his trespassing into my room if not for the blossom you left for me to find.” She walked slowly toward Sapphira, her hands swaying hypnotically. “It is time for you to go now, Mara. Your life cycle is over. You betrayed a friend, so no one can trust you.”

Dizziness swirled Sapphira’s vision, and sleepiness weighed down her eyelids. “But I didn’t. . leave the blossom for you. . to find. I hid it. .”

“Under a bed? Come now, Mara. I found the blossom but never Enoch’s scroll. You obviously wanted me to find one and not the other.” Morgan grabbed Sapphira’s shoulders. Her icy fingers radiated sheer cold through her tunics, jolting the fog from her brain. Morgan turned toward the trench and smiled. “Did you hear our conversation, Elam?”

Elam stepped out of the shadows, but the pit’s dim light illuminated only his face. His lips were taut, almost invisible. “I heard it.”

Morgan shuffled Sapphira to the edge of the abyss. “Did you bring it?”

He glanced behind his back. “I brought it.”

“Now you finally know that the songs are true. Sapphira has lied to you and used you.” Morgan kept one hand on Sapphira and extended the other. “By giving me Enoch’s scroll, you will be signifying your rejection of this traitor and condemning her to the abyss. Agreed?”

Sapphira could barely breathe. Nothing she could say now could possibly outwit Morgan. She was too crafty, too devilish. Would Elam be able to see through her deception? The Ovulum kept getting warmer. Sapphira slid it out and tilted her head upward. Elohim! Give him wisdom!

“I don’t trust you,” Elam said. “I don’t want you to get close enough to grab me.”

“Very well. You may leave it there, and I will pick it up.” Morgan started toward him, pulling Sapphira with her.

Elam raised his hand. “No. Don’t come anywhere near me. I’ll throw it to you.”

Morgan halted, still near the edge of the abyss. “If you insist.” She held out her hand again. “You may throw it.”

An urgent call pierced Sapphira’s mind. “Run, child! Run!” She wrenched free from Morgan’s grip and bolted for Elam. Elam reared back and threw something at Morgan, something long and flexible that whipped around and around. As it flew, a pair of fangs glistened at one end. A thick, scaly body slapped Morgan across the face, twisted around her shoulders, and slung her down. She lay motionless inside a huge coil that pinned her to the ground, trapped by her own dead serpent.

The Ovulum pulsed in Sapphira’s hand, sending hundreds of red rings toward Morgan and the abyss. The halos built up into a crimson screen, a translucent divider that spread from wall to wall and floor to ceiling, separating Sapphira and Elam from the sorceress.

Holding the Ovulum away from her body, she let it pour layer after layer of red across the new wall. She draped her other hand over Elam’s shoulders and pulled him close. Sobs punctuated her cry. “I’m so glad you believed in me!”

“She’s a really good liar,” Elam said, “but I never really thought about getting the scroll. I just saw that pit as a good place to toss the snake and shut that demon up.”

On the other side of the thickening screen, Morgan threw the snake’s body to the side, rose to her feet, and kicked it savagely into the abyss.

Elam grinned. “I should have attached a message to it. ‘To the Watcher. With love, from Elam.’”

Sapphira laughed. “Too bad he can’t send you a thank-you note. I think we won’t be seeing him again for a very long time.”

As the Ovulum continued to pulse halos, the voice entered her mind again. “Perhaps you will not see him, child, but first you must send the abyss to the lowest of all realms. Prepare to generate the greatest portal you have ever made.”

Sapphira laid the Ovulum on the ground, took a deep breath, and lifted the scroll high. “Give me light!” she shouted. Flames instantly leaped from the top, jumping and dancing as they consumed the scroll. She waved it in a circle, slowly at first, then faster and faster as the flames expanded into a wide curtain that enveloped Elam and herself as well as the entire chamber. Within seconds, all they could see was the inside of a fiery tornado. The vortex spun so fast, the orange tongues blended together into solid streams of blazing light. The Ovulum’s red pulses mixed in, deepening the orange and tingeing the entire cyclone with bright crimson highlights.

The voice from the Ovulum shouted out loud. “Now, Sapphira Adi! Shine forth the light of love! Show Elam the joy that only Elohim can give!”

A rising tide of ecstasy rose in Sapphira’s heart, filling her mind with song, the same song the Eye sang when Elohim led her in holy dance. The words began to pour from her lips unbidden, more beautifully than she ever imagined she could sing.