lock up off her forehead. "I'm just stressed from all that's
happening, Z. There's so much unrest over in Nod," she said, baiting the pearl back to life.
"I don't know what to do. I know there's entities over there me and Carlos should go help, but who, where, we don't know where to begin."
A flurry of agitated bubbles hit the once still water's sur face. "Oh, please, please, you must go help Valkyrie!"
"I don't know how to find Valkyries unless they come to collect fallen soldiers in battles, Z," Damali said, watching the expressions of the gathered Neterus.
"No, no, my best friend, after Cain - Valkyrie. She is sooo good and honorable and beautiful," Zehiradangra said with pride. "I was so upset after seeing where Cain went after he left Nod, I retraced my energy back home to visit with her. She helped me put things into perspective. Her energy is gorgeous... I just needed to get away from here and go home ... but she's having trouble keeping her troops guard ing all the breaches. Can you help her? She's not mean inside like Cain."
"Yeah, we can help her, Z," Carlos said quickly, looking around at the others. "She's got troops, forces over there covering breaches?"
"Yes, and she's valiant. She now leads the resistance ... did you know she was named for the sacred race of angels that help the fallen - her father was a fallen soldier, I believe in Troy or was it during the Viking era ... she did tell me once, but I am so forgetful. Maybe it was Beowulf's era?"
"It's all right, baby, you rest," Carlos murmured in a deep, soothing tone . "You shoot me and D an image of what Valkyrie looks like, and we'll go over there, give her some reinforcement at the breach-points, all right?"
"Oh Carlos..." the pearl gushed. "It is so nice to have a real man around the house again."
"I love you, too, baby," he said. "I gotta go to work." Carlos quickly put a finger to his lips when Damali's eyes flared. He mouthed, I love you, too. But when Damali shot it to him as a silent message, he shook his head and pointed to the pearl.
"Oh, yeah, I love you, too, Zehiradangra." She withdrew her hand from the bowl and folded her arms. "Yeah ... I gotta go to work."
"Bye," the pearl said and yawned. "I'm still not one hun dred percent. Just that little bit really wastes me." Then the water went still.
The Guardians who'd brought the bowl in quickly retreated. Senior Neterus swallowed broad smiles.
Solomon chuckled quietly. "Let's get you both to Nod to see what can be accomplished." He gave Carlos a private glance and message as he and Adam stood to begin the power transfer. Just imagine my days with over three hundred beautiful ladies just like that... and you wonder why I'm chief counsel and negotiator? Brother, you just don't know.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The energy that pushed them through the veil was so sub tle that it felt as though an autumn breeze had kissed their backs. Both Damali and Carlos looked around. The en tire aura of the environment had changed. The dual discs of one radiant solar sun and one opalescent one fueled by an unseen source still loomed high in the sky, but a thin layer of gray seemed to darken everything like impregnable soot.
"It's almost like the heavy density of the earth plane is seeping in here," Damali said quietly, drawing her Isis into her hand as she glanced around the main square. Carlos nodded. "It's too damned quiet for me, too," he said, drawing the blade of Ausar into his grip. "The hair is standing up on the back of my neck."
"Get down!" a disembodied voice yelled from behind a monument. Both Neterus looked up just in time to see a large, dark orb break through the sky like a mortar round, its streaking approach whistling as it hurdled toward them. They dove in opposite directions and flattened themselves on the ground at either side of the wide boulevard. The hit was instanta neous and tore through the street, dragging several buildings down into the gaping hole behind it. Unable to do much else but hang on for dear life, they watched in sheer awe, holding on to the paved stones by digging their blades in and grabbing on tight as the buildings that got sucked into the abyss seemed to melt over the edge of the