The Undecideds Chapt. 7

Chapter 7

                The council chamber was surprisingly full.  The room itself was enormous.  It had to be to accommodate any type of spirit beast might accompany the diverse council members.  White fluted columns held up a domed ceiling.  The room was built in a semicircle so that all present would be facing the Head Councilman.  In their case there were two, Saul and Claudia.  A few High Chancellors from the Angel’s Guild often sat behind the pulpit, along with a transcriber, and occasionally a delegate from one of the five major Guilds who was presenting a new law to be voted upon by the council.  Today, there were representatives from all factions of all the guilds.  Saul wondered why everyone decided to be here today.  There weren't any major laws being discussed, and none of the councilmen were presenting any new laws to the council that he knew of.  It was strange to see half this many council members on a day like today.  A flutter of worry tickled at his stomach that somehow everyone knew that the daughter of the two head council members had run away the day before.  He didn’t know how it could be so, but it seemed that everyone was watching him as though he were a bug in a box.

                Claudia was conducting herself as usual.  She didn't seem to be bothered in the least that everyone was in attendance.  The meeting had started as they all do.  Everyone announced themselves and which province they represented.  Of course, that part took longer than usual as there were four to five times more council members present than usual.  The council’s irrevocable law was stated and each representative gave their oath to uphold the time tested ideals on which the council was founded.

                After the last member gave their oath, Claudia began to move on to the issues placed before the council for that morning.  She was halfway through thanking everyone for being there when the head of the Demon Guild interrupted her.  “And what of the Head Councilwoman’s oath?”

                “Excuse me, Chairman Charrander?”

                “Excuse me for interrupting Madam Head Council Woman.  But shouldn't the heads of the council also give their oath, as all of us have,” the tenacious councilman said with an air of contempt.

                To her credit, Claudia didn’t even bat an eye.  She calmly stood, raised her arm to the square, and repeated the oath, “For peace, for love, for harmony, for all, I swear my oath to the laws of the ancients passed down through the generations to allow all to live in peace and harmony.” 

                As she lowered her arm, she looked meaningfully at Saul.  He immediately stood and gave his oath; staring down the Demon Guild’s chairman the whole time.  Saul’s angel didn’t like the man, nor his spirit beast, and she was not afraid to make it known.  The blue flame of justice ignited around her, and her flaming sword appeared in her hand. 

                Councilman Charrander was an older man.  His hair was gray, except for a small patch in front and to the left of his head, which was stark black in contrast to the rest of the thick, curly, neatly kept hair.  His spirit beast was a large demon.  Larger than most.  It stood about twenty feet tall, had goat legs with a humanoid torso, a long red tail which ended in a spade shape, two long horns made of flame protruded from the bull-like face of the creature, and bat wings with a twenty-foot wingspan.  His demon had a giant warhammer which could ignite with hellfire.  Neither the councilman, nor his beast reacted to Saul’s angel’s outburst.  Saul supposed they were used to seeing the female angel on the brink of battle when in their presence.  She had little tolerance for them.  It was easy for Saul to see why the ancient war burned on for centuries.  The opposing beasts could scarcely bear to be in the same room with one another.

                Claudia gave Saul a tight smile of appreciated and returned her gaze to the incorrigible councilman.  “Thank you, Councilman Charrander, for reminding us.  It is good for us all to remember the reason we are all here in peaceful talks and negotiations instead of in arms trying to destroy one another.”  Her lips smiled at the man, though her eyes did not. 

                Claudia addressed the rest of the council, “Now, there have been reports of bandits in the lands North of…”

                “So, do you mean to say that you truly do intend to keep all of the dictates of the ancient law,” the Demon Guild’s chairman interrupted again.  When Claudia looked at him, there was a hint of fire behind those kind blue eyes.  Her cheeks mantled a bit.  Councilman Charrander spread his arms out helplessly and said, “I mean, really?  No matter what?  You will obey all of the dictates of the old law, will you not?”

                Claudia took a calming breath.  “I have given my oath, along with every council member here.  I and my husband know better than most how important those dictates are, Councilman Charrander.  Perhaps if you had to solve every petty dispute between the different guilds, you too would understand that the law is irrevocable.  Those in ancient times came to the dictates of the law after centuries of war, death, and suffering.  I’m sure many of them signed the peace treaty standing next to those very men and women who had murdered a loved one.  You are mistaken if you believe I would waver on even the smallest point of the law.”  Her glare became cold as she locked eyes with the man.

                Again he held his arms out helplessly, “I wouldn’t dream of saying you wouldn’t, Madam Head Chairwoman.  And I can quite understand the difficulty you speak of.  Why, I have difficulty enough just trying to appease the different factions within my own guild.  I couldn’t begin to imagine how difficult it must be to uphold peace between overtly opposite guilds.”  It was all an act for the other council members, Saul knew, but the man had a silver tongue.  “I just mean to say, that there are times when upholding the law must be difficult.”

                “I cannot imagine a scenario where difficulty upholding the law would outweigh the pain and difficulty of returning to the savage days of war,” Claudia said, flatly.  By now, her angel was not sitting at ease behind her.  He too had materialized his weapons.  The sight of the silver trident and shield in the large male angel’s hand were enough to make the council members in the front row lean back to put some distance between themselves and the powerful spirit beast.  Unlike Saul’s angel, Claudia’s was slow to anger.  At home, Claudia was all business and ran a tight ship, so to speak.  The children probably feared her more than he.  His angel never seemed to be angry at home.  Her greatest pleasure in life was the children.  She had never shown them anything but a smiling loving face.  At work, the two switch roles as easily as one would change shoes.  His angel became a heated fireball at the smallest hint of opposition, while Claudia’s angel always sat relaxed in the background.  He was ever watchful, but rarely provoked to any reaction aside from feigned indifference.  Those in the council knew he was anything but indifferent.  His eyes never stopped moving when they were in council.  The male angel was always on guard, but never let those around him know it.  To see him in arms alarmed even Saul. 

                “That is good,” Councilman Charrander said.  He turned to face the rest of the council, “because I have learned that there has been a bit of disharmony in your home, of late.  It seems that not only have you lost your oldest son, but now you have lost a daughter.”  He turned back towards Claudia with an evil grin.  Her angel was ablaze now, with an angry orange flame.  Some of the council members gasped audibly.  Councilman Charrander did not.  “I would hate to lose faith in our beloved Head Councilwoman because she was more worried about her daughter than the ancient laws.”  He pretended to think, and then added, “I just wonder what is happening in our most trusted leaders’ home that would cause not one, but two children to run away.”

                This time Claudia didn’t try to hide her displeasure.  “You tread a very dangerous path, Samuel.  I will not abandon the laws of peace to save one person.”  Her voice cracked a bit.  “Even if that person is my own daughter.  It’s true that she has run away.  There was a fight at her school, and instead of handling, her principal called us in to deal with it.  We told her to handle it herself.  I can see now how that must have appeared to our dear daughter.  She must have been hurt, thinking we didn’t care.”  Her voice regained a bit of its strength.  “Most of you here are parents.  You understand that we were acting in Rachel’s best interest.  A parent can’t always rescue their child.  Children need to learn to work out their own problems at some point in their lives.  We wouldn’t be good parents if we solved all of hers for her.  Just as we don’t solve all of your problems when you bring them to us, we can’t solve our children’s.  The must grow to be strong, just as each of your factions have grown stronger when you figure out how to rule yourselves.”  She turned again to Councilman Charrander.  “I will not break the laws and go to rescue her.  She has made the choice to leave our protective care.  It is written in ancient law that she must be free to choose.  Even at her tender age, she must be free.  I will not take that freedom from her because it would be precedence for others to do the same, and we all know that sometimes children leave because they are in danger. Sometimes they fear that they are endangering their families.  We can’t know.  We are linked to our beasts, but only once that union has been solidified can control be established.  If not control, then understanding.  It breaks my heart as a mother to think of my child out there alone in a dangerous cruel world.  But I would not risk the lives of countless others who run away because they fear for the lives of their spirit beast, or because they fear for the lives of the spirit beasts of their families to save my own daughter.  For all I know, she could have left for one of these reasons.  Perhaps her beast has turned into a demon, perhaps a predator and she fears it will maul those of her siblings.  I don’t know her reasons, but I’ll not break the law to go find out.”

                Councilman Charrander turned to face the rest of the council.  “So she says.  A mother who drives not one, but two of her children from her own house can hardly be trusted, can she?”

                In a flash an orange flame vaulted the pulpit and first two rows of chairs and council members.  Councilman Charrander was on the third row, he now had a flaming trident against his neck.  Before Saul could react, a giant hammer was crashing down on his wife’s angel.  He heard a sickening crushing sound and the hammer made contact with the stone floor of the council chambers.  The councilman’s giant demon had crushed his wife’s angel.  Saul heard a scream.  It took several minutes to realize that his throat was sore.  It was him who was screaming.  His angel vaulted the pulpit.  Blue flame was all he could see as she streaked across his plane of sight.  A mighty swing of her sword threw the giant demon across the room.  It managed to get its warhammer up in time to block the blow, but the force was such that it took him from his feet, and one hundred paces across the room until a giant marble pillar stopped him.  The demon stood on unsteady legs.  Saul’s angel backhanded Councilman Carrander, sending him soaring across the room to land next to his spirit beast.  The female angel had tears streaking down her cheeks.  She was beyond reconciliation.  There was nothing Saul could do to stop her.  Nothing short of the blood of both the councilman and his spirit beast would soothe her anger.  Saul ran to stay close to her.  If she ran too far, she may sever the link between them and kill them both.  As he ran, he saw something moving in the rubble left by the giant hammer.  He didn’t have time to stop, though.

                Saul was only halfway to his angel, and she was in pitched battle with the giant demon.  Council members were scattering in every direction, most falling over themselves trying to get out of the way.  None dared to try to interrupt the two powerful beasts.  The giant war hammer came crashing down on Saul’s angel, but her sword met the swing.  The floor under the angel cracked with the impact, but her arms didn’t so much as tremble as she pushed the hammer up away from her.  She heaved up mightily, and the demon lost its footing almost tumbling backwards.  In a flash, the sword slashed through its closest leg.  Blood splattered across the pure white column of the council room.  The horrible beast cried out in pain.  The fire around the sword seared the flesh and hair of the goat legs, filling the room with a shock of metallic smelling blood along with a pleasant aroma of cooked meat.

                The councilman came to his feet just has Saul cut the remaining distance between him and his angel.  He snatched the irate Charrander just in time to save him from his angel.  If he tried to interfere with the battle, she would cut him down as surely as if he were his demon.  Saul struggled to hold the old man’s arms behind his back.

                With a whoosh of air, his angel took flight.  The giant demon was still teetering, trying to catch his balance and keep from falling backwards.  With a quick flap of her wings, Saul’s angel darted at the demon’s chest.  The blow not only knocked him back, but threw him another twenty feet back.  The large demon’s wings snapped as they made harsh contact with the unforgiving floor.  Before he even settled fully on the floor, she was standing on his chest with her sword poised for the kill.

                “Enough!”

                Saul jumped at the powerful authoritative voice coming from the pulpit.  There stood Claudia, unharmed.  He looked at the rubble where he thought her angel was smashed, only to see him standing there with his trident ready to throw should the battle turn against his love.  There was a large hole in the ground next to him.  He must have got his shield up in time to block the blow, but the impact drove him into the ground.

                Saul’s angel stood panting on the great demon’s chest.  The fire in her eyes faltered at seeing her love alive and well, but she wasn’t willing to back off just yet.  He had tried, that was all that mattered.  Saul knew well her character.  He had tried to kill her love.  That threat was worthy of death, in-and-of itself.  The demon lay on its back, the war hammer having been knocked out of his grasp lay a goodly distance away.  His wild eyes were wide open, looking at the angel on his chest poised to kill him.  Saul wasn’t sure, but it looked almost as if the great demon were surprised beyond reason that a creature one third its size could so easily overpower him. 

                There was a reason Saul and Claudia were Head Council members.  Their spirit beasts possessed powers beyond just outward appearances.  Saul’s angel was many times stronger than any giant-type monster.  Claudia’s was tougher than even Saul knew, apparently.

                “Enough, I said,” Claudia repeated. 

                Saul reluctantly let go of Councilman Charrander’s arms.  His angel was less forgiving.  She looked at Claudia, then at her angel, then back at the monstrous demon.

                “It’s okay,” Saul said.  He urged her through their bond to back down, but felt only anger and resistance.  She did not want to let a possible threat go unpunished.

                “Cindell, please,” Claudia begged.  “Let’s not spoil the sanctity of peace these halls have enjoyed for thousands of years.  Especially over petty words of hatred.”

                Saul’s angel looked back at Claudia.  Saul could feel her frustration.  She wanted nothing more than to end the life of this wretched beast who had so often brought out her ire.  She took a step closer to the demon’s face.  She stomped her foot, and her weapon dematerialized. 

                Just as she turned to walk off of the beast, it laughed.  Saul groaned inside.  His angel turned in a huff.  In a flash she reached out and grabbed the golden ring through the bull nose, and tore it out with a powerful yank.  The demon howled and covered his bleeding nose.  Sauls angel smirked and took wing, landing gracefully at Saul’s side.  He still had his face buried in his hand.

                “You’re not fit to rule this council,” Charrander yelled.

                “It seems we’re the perfect pair to rule this council,” Claudia retorted.  “We’re the only ones strong enough to keep you, and those like you, from getting it in their heads that they can overthrow the ruling power of this council.”  Councilman Charrander was about to sputter off a harsh remark, but Claudia held up a hand, silencing him.  “Don’t try my patience any farther Samuel.  It’s taking all my resolve to keep my angel under control.  He wants to tear your demons arms from his body and beat the two of you to death with them.  Don’t test me any farther Councilman.  Just don’t!”

                The man reluctantly stepped down, face red, and shaking with rage.  His spirit beast was having difficulty getting up.  Its wings were both broken, and the shin of the leg Cindell had cut was bleeding profusely.  The poor creature was holding its nose in agony, and couldn’t decide which wound hurt worse. 

                Saul’s angel was in the arms of her love; Claudia’s angel.  Saul wanted nothing more than to do the same to his dear wife, but he knew it wouldn’t be appropriate.  Instead, they shared a loving look.  Claudia gave him a tight smile then turned back to the council.  Council men and women were all pressed against the far walls of the great room.  Spirit bests were hiding in open terror of what they had just witnessed.  Even the predators were trying to stay out of the sight of the two powerful angels.  The demons were cowering like the worms they were.

                “That’s enough of that,” Claudia announced.  “Get back to your seats.  We have business to conduct.”  The council members reluctantly returned to their seats.  Apparently the upheaval they were promised in session today was not what they had expected.  Saul couldn’t help but be a little perturbed.  They all wanted to see the Angel Guild fall from power.  They didn’t seem to realize that it was the Angel Guild which kept them all safe, and war at bay.  Saul supposed that it was natural to want change, and the Angel Guild had been in charge for close to three thousand years now.  But those three thousand years had been peaceful.

                Councilman Charrander looked considerably humbler.  His demon had finally made it to its feet.  The demon studiously avoided the gaze of either of the angel, or their masters.  At least there was that.

                “I will see to it that my daughter is treated equally as any other runaway,” Claudia continued.  “She will get no special treatment, though I wish I could because of my love for her.  If she is to come back to the family, it will only be if she develops an angel spirit beast.  For now, she will be an outcast.  She will have to find her true place in Qualia duo, as do each of us.”

                Saul felt tears well up in his eyes with the finality of it all.  He had hoped nobody would find out, and they could take their daughter back with no incidents.  It appeared that the Demon Guild was watching them closer than they had thought.  They were always vying for power, like vultures circling an animal in the desert, the slightest hint of weakness and they would descend upon the carcass of what was now the council.  Nobody knew, but the balance of power was more precarious now than ever in the last three thousand years.  There was talk of real revolution.  Saul feared what such a revolution would do to their society.