John Jackson - The 9th Fortress

"Guilt." I said, feeling the butterflies pressing against the walls of my stomach. "If you ever want a good-nights sleep again Curtis, you should accept their forgiveness."

"You think I can't shut them out?" he said, stubborn and determined. "My mind is stronger than their demands on it. They forgive me? How…dare they." he hissed, before tittering.

"What you laughing at?" I asked, annoyed. "What's so funny?"

"Strange thing, Fox…Just strange."

"What is?"

"Well," he grinned; "the more steps I take from the 9th Fortress, the further I race from their reach. Thank-you for your advice, and thank-you for your intervention."

Surprising me, he stood now, brazenly clapping his hands to alert the rest. "I've got something to say! Hey! You all hear me?"

He received a tired and disgruntled audience, but continued with anew-found vigour. "What do you people know of Daniel Fox?"

"Sit your ass down!" I said, standing to pull on his rope. But with a temper, Curtis pushed me down then repeated. "Well? What do you know of him?"

"Enough!" exclaimed Kat. "Now sit!"

"Yes!" added Harmony. "Enough to trust Daniel with our lives! The rest is none of our concern!"

"Course it is!" he yelled at her. "It's our fault you're all here! Fox is rescuing me from the Hell I apparently deserve! Why is that?" he asked, raising his arms alongside the swarthy odours coming from below. "Why do the angels want me on their pedestal? And why do they drag you people into our business?"

"God works in mysterious ways." offered Harmony. "One couldn't possibly comprehend such thinking."

"So one shouldn't try?" he argued. "Has your faith brainwashed you so much angel, that you no longer think for yourself? Oh yes, and how that faith has repaid you!"

"Leave her alone!" I barked. "No-one here knows why God wants this or that! But whatever your importance to those above Curtis, whatever the reason, I promise you one thing — you'll live long enough to find out."

He scoffed then searched over the bridge's edge, his eyes coolly observing the millions and millions emitting a charge.

"Let me get this straight," he said, with a sanctimonious air about him; "if Fox gets me to the white Limbo then he swims with all the angels in Heaven? But what if you don't, Fox? What if you can't? What if I jump over this bridge right now?"

My hand wrapped around the rope slack.

"Why don't you be quiet!" cried Eddinray. "You silly, pointless man!"

"Yes," added Kat, glaring, "why don't you?"

He shrugged back at them. "I suppose a part of me wants to see this out, to discover the curious why. Yet another wants to spoil the party. I think I'll sleep on it…Yes, think I will."

We kept opinions to ourselves as prisoner 2020 crouched and turned over. Despite the smile on his face, I knew he was deeply afraid, and that unknown reason hung heaviest over his soul. I expected he would sleep at some point tonight, once more to battle his fading nightmares.

Kat laid himself to rest over Yuki's lap, whilst I meditated for the advice of my life support. Harmony settled her head over Eddinray's beaten breastplate, the pair waiting for that softly drifting raft to sleep.

"His head just popped off from the neck." he whispered to her. "Did you see?"

"I saw Godwin," she yawned, "we all saw."

"Yes." he beamed. "Positively victorious. I caught the fear in his eyes. Practically bulging out of his nog —"

"Godwin!" she interrupted. "You were extremely fortunate to survive the joust. I will hear no more of your trumpeting. No more of it."

The foolhardy Eddinray only now seemed to realise how inappropriate his bragging was. He had beheaded his fiancée's very own soul mate, and no matter how much the Emperor deserved that second death, Harmony's wound would never heal. "I am sorry." he said, sincerely. "No more from my mouth, and no more lies."

She smiled with a pair of sagging eyelids. "Lunacy," he added. "It must be. I'm having a better time in Hell than I ever did on Earth. Has anyone ever said that before I wonder?"

Disturbed, Harmony took a side-glance at him.

"It is true!" he declared back. "Indeed it is."

"If so," she returned, exhaling, "then I find that rather sad."

"It was my life that was sad, my dear. I have more here on this vile crossing than I've ever had, and I am far from sad about that fact. Can you tell me Harmony, I am curious — were you always an angel? A white butterfly in Heaven?"

"No, no." she said, shuffling her clasp comfortable. "I had my time on Earth too. A brief and…privileged time. "

Harmony took a few minutes, thoughts of the past erasing sleep from her head. "I…" she stuttered, "that life is all but a dream to me now. Can't even recall how old I was when I passed."

"I'd wager no more than twenty." guessed Eddinray. "Twenty five at the most."

"You flatter me knight. I would expect my age to be younger than yours, but my years older than Kat's. Dare you reveal yours?"

"I dare," he said, "and I have a very old face for a twenty one year old."

She giggled. "You are not twenty one! No, judging by the harsh lines under your eyes and the thoughts marking your forehead, I'd say you are at least thirty five Godwin."

Exposed, he held his hands up to yet another white lie. "Irrelevant," he said, "after all, memory seems only to store the significant details of ones earthly life. Will you share," he began, carefully; "what happened to you? Your…passing?"

"Oh, that was a very long time ago Godwin. I was a very prissy and proper French thing whose love for horses brought about my untimely end."

The angel cast her mind back, her bluest eyes recalling and soft voice recounting a sadder time. "Death came for me whilst grooming Benoit, my handsome black stallion. He was a magnificent creature Godwin, with a strong physique and a personality rivalling Kat for stubbornness. He was my best friend, my only confidante in the whole world. Evenings, with hindsight foolishly, I would open the barn doors and ride his energy off through the pasture, clinging to his coat for dear life as he leapt over the mire!"

Her smile was wide and her cheeks warm. Then, quite suddenly, that enthusiastic color died, replaced by a grief-stricken grey. "One night," she swallowed, "Benoit snagged his rear leg around the thorn bush. Alone, I attempted to remove it. Poor thing was in more pain than I realized. His leg kicked out when I removed the bush, and his…shoe thumped me in the head."

Eddinray also swallowed. "My dear, did you pass…right away?"

"No." she sniffed. "I lay on the grass until morning, feeling the blood drain out from my ears. I couldn't move nor call out. I didn't want to die there Godwin."

She closed her eyes and bit her lips, as if forcing this painful memory back to its vault.

"I woke on a slab in the Waiting Plain," she added, "later to ride Benoit into Heaven. My father took the sabre to him not an hour after discovering my body."

Eddinray appeared to choke. "By God! You…you rode the horse that killed you into Heaven?"

"I do not hold grudges," she replied; "especially over an innocent animal. Youthful naivety was to blame for my death. I love Benoit very much, and he waits for my return now, just as I waited for him."

Eddinray kissed his angel's forehead, and then the pair settled themselves to sleep — dreaming of Heaven, of horses, and of each other…

It took at least seven hours to cross that hypnotic sea, seven hours to an apparent dead end. Facing us was a wall of orange rock, perfectly smooth, perfectly flat, and glistening like wet ice as far as the eye could see. "Our toughest challenge yet." I said, lost for ideas. "Are we supposed to climb? Kat?"

"No-one could." he answered, rubbing the blisters on his feet.