"Yes, we're at war now. We're all soldiers. . .Is that a problem?"

The student gulped. "No. . .no."

"Good, because we're not staying here. We'll be going back."

When dinner was complete, most of them stretched out on the cave floor to sleep. Adryel sat at the entrance and gazed out at the plain, watching it turn colors, first orange, then deep blue, and finally black, as light faded.

Lucifer sat beside her.

"We're going back?" she asked.

"Yes." Lucifer stared into the darkness. "When we're ready, we'll go back, not to oppose the infernal plan, but to take control."

"Take control? What? How?"

"We are governed by imbeciles. They have proven it repeatedly in the past week-the Plan of Creation itself, the council's refusal to listen to reason, the use of force against the Inst.i.tute." Lucifer paced from one side of the entrance to the other and back.

"If those in control were competent, the plan would never have been written as it was, it would have been reviewed through the lens of logic, and the opposition would have either been ignored and allowed to die away or totally destroyed.

"The council is. . .ineffective. They govern because they are archangels, not because they have any innate ability. Most of them aren't even interested in governing. The most intelligent should be in control, regardless of rank or age. . .or gender. Me, you, those like us should govern. I've said it before. We need a prime minister, not a council."

"But Adonai. . ."

"Perhaps he's outlived his usefulness too."

Later, as she lay on the ground, trying to sleep, Adryel considered what Lord Lucifer had said. He was right, after all. He was always right. Chamuel had no interest in being on the council. Neither did Zadkiel. They were there because. . .because they were archangels. Jophiel lived beyond the mountains, and he complained about the trip every time he attended a meeting.

Michael was. . .Lord Lucifer never criticized Michael's ability, but she had seen for herself that he couldn't be trusted.

Adonai-she could not even imagine life without Adonai-but perhaps he should be replaced, as Lucifer had suggested. He had produced the plan, after all. He had allowed Ramael to be taken from her.

The most intelligent should be in control. . .Me, you, those like us should govern.

She smiled, Lord Lucifer's words drifting through her mind as Adryel herself drifted off to sleep.

Audience with Adonai.

Six months had pa.s.sed. Lord Lucifer's army had grown from the one hundred students who had eventually found their way to his encampment in the caves to almost a thousand. Some of the others had come from the areas beyond the northern mountains. Those angels had always been suspicious of the authorities in the city and they willingly embraced the idea of rebellion.

Still others were recruited by Beliel during a trip to the provinces beyond the western mountains. Adryel considered most of his recruits to be thugs. They all had been expelled from the city. They all harbored grudges and wanted to settle scores.

The army was not nearly the equal of Michael's. His army was composed primarily of powers, like her-warriors. They were professional soldiers, many with centuries of training. She had once heard Lord Jophiel ask Michael why most of his soldiers were powers, and he had replied that angels allowed logic to interfere with the need to follow orders, while if you could give a power a reason to fight, his emotions would propel him into battle, the only difficulty being that he would be reluctant to take prisoners.

Lord Lucifer's soldiers-she used the term loosely-were primarily angels. Even though they had trained for almost half a year, the transformation from student or street thug to combat-ready soldier involved more than could be accomplished in six short months. Lord Lucifer's army would be the obvious underdog in any fight, but Adryel hoped that with sufficient surprise they might be able to overcome Michael's force.

Their army had been marching across the plain, moving but a few miles each day, and was encamped a day away from the city, visible to guards on the walls.

"We have an audience at the palace," Lord Lucifer had informed her a day earlier. "I want you to present our demands."

"If Adonai meets your demands, then there will be no war?" She had glanced toward Beliel's recruits, all of whom had been promised three days in the city, with no restrictions, in return for their service.

"Of course not." Lucifer had smiled. "If he were to do that, there would be no need for a war."

Adryel had reluctantly agreed to act as his amba.s.sador, though, privately, she hoped for war-she had scores to settle too, with Michael and with Adonai.

One part of her insisted she should not feel as she did. She should want to avoid conflict. She should forgive those who had wronged her. But no.

Adryel shook her head. The rules had changed.

"No need for a war, Lord Lucifer?" Maliel shook his head in disbelief. "You surely don't believe Adonai will give you a single thing she will demand of him."

He watched as Adryel, accompanied by Beliel and four others, mounted their horses.

Lucifer chuckled. "Of course not."

"So why. . .?"

"We must demonstrate to the host of heaven, and especially to those in the city, that we are peace-loving angels who will only resort to force when no other means will work. She'll arrive at the north gate at midday. The streets will be thronged with angels going about their daily tasks. Our friends will tell them why she has come. By nightfall the entire city will know we sent an emissary seeking peace."

There was a brief moment of silence as they watched Adryel and the others ride away. Lucifer grinned to himself. The wheels were officially in motion. It wouldn't be long now. . .

"So then, what if she finds Ramael is alive?" Maliel c.o.c.ked his head to the side.

Lucifer faced Maliel, his grin not faltering even slightly. "Is he?"

"I've heard a rumor. He was injured, I'm told. He has just returned to his position. . .It's just a rumor."

Lucifer shrugged. "It won't matter. Her hatred for Lord Michael is deep-seated now. Ramael is just a half-remembered dream."

"And if you're wrong?"

"Wrong? Bah." Lucifer crossed his arms. "But. . .if she finds that he is alive and she doesn't return, we will, of course, announce that Michael has broken his word and is holding her hostage. If she does return, well, I will express my pleasure that our reports were in error and her pair is alive. For now. . ." He waved his hand dismissively. "Adryel is a brilliant philosopher. Her understanding of practicalities is rather limited. There will be no problem."

He turned away. "Break camp. By tonight, we should only be a few hours' march from the city. When our emissary fails, we can then approach at night and breach the walls in a surprise attack."

Adryel and the others stopped outside the entrance to the city. The gates stood open wide, but the wall was lined with soldiers.

"You are to proceed alone," Beliel told her. "Lord Michael has promised safe pa.s.sage to a single amba.s.sador."

"I don't trust Michael."

"Very wise. In this case, though, our supporters in the city have spread word of your visit. To allow anyone to harm you would make him a liar. It would destroy his credibility. You will have no problem."

Adryel had bathed that morning and donned a new robe, one so white it almost glowed. Golden threads were wound through her hair. She rode an unblemished white stallion, one any soldier would envy. Today she did not appear as a simple professor, but as the emissary of Lord Lucifer, an archangel who also commanded a powerful army. She held her head high. She was not coming to grovel before Michael. She was coming to negotiate as his equal.

As she entered the city, she found soldiers lining the street on each side, shields up, swords drawn. None spoke and none moved. Their eyes, though, followed her as she rode past.

At first, the reins trembled in her hands and her horse seemed to notice, rearing and whinnying. She almost slipped from her saddle, but she patted the horse's neck, spoke quietly to him, and rode on, ignoring the soldiers, her eyes focused on the road ahead.

A hundred meters away, Dariel waited with a squad of mounted soldiers, all in full armor. A smile played around his lips as if he were laughing at her. She continued to hold her head high, and glared at him. He turned his eyes. He did not greet her, but as she approached, he wheeled his mount about. The other soldiers surrounded her, whether to protect her or control her, she did not know. The group set off for Palace Square at a trot, but Adryel would not be rushed. Dariel scowled as he pulled on his reins to slow his horse, and he waited until Adryel caught up with him.

They pa.s.sed no one on the streets, and Palace Square was empty. She had never seen it so deserted, nor had she ever known it to be so quiet. Usually it was crowded with angels who were visiting the Chancery or the palace, or simply pa.s.sing through as they went from one side of town to the other. Their voices would mingle with the sounds of carts rolling across the stone pavement, the joyful exuberance of children playing, and the calls of the crier who announced the pa.s.sing hours.

Dariel dismounted at the foot of the Grand Stairway and motioned for her to do the same. She waited until one of the soldiers arrived to hold her mount and help her down.

"We had expected Lord Lucifer," he snapped. "He couldn't trouble himself to appear in person?"

Adryel stiffened. "He thought it might. . .He sent me to represent him."

"Follow me."

Dariel turned and led her up the steps. She attempted to talk with him as they climbed, but he strode ahead of her. Adryel refused to run after him-she was no trained goat being led to slaughter-and he reached the top and looked back, finding her only halfway up. He waited, standing at rest, but shifting his weight back and forth, from one foot to the other, reminding Adryel of child who was anxious to be finished with a boring a.s.signment.

They entered the palace through the small door beside the Great Gates, and followed a long hallway that took them into the south end of the palace, where Adonai lived, a section she had never before entered.

"Where are we going, Dariel?" Adryel's voice shook with worry. "Michael's office is not-"

"Lord Michael's office? Your audience is not with Lord Michael. Your Lord Lucifer has challenged Adonai. You will plead your case to him."

Adryel stopped abruptly, as if she had run into a wall.

"I can't. . .me. . .Adonai?"

Dariel stared at her, his eyes angry. "You will take up arms to depose him, but you will not parlay with him?"

Adryel began to reply, but no words came to her. Michael spoke with Adonai, certainly. Uriel, the other archangels, she supposed. But an ordinary power? Her knees began to buckle and she reached out to touch the wall, hoping to steady herself.

"You insult him by your rebellion. You would further insult him by refusing to meet with him?" He paused, seeming to be waiting for her reply.

"I. . .I. . ."

"I will relay your message."

He turned and strode toward a door at the far end of the hall, his boots slapping against the marble floor.

"No. Wait, Dariel. . .I mean no insult. I. . .was not expecting. . .I thought I would be speaking to Michael." She breathed deeply to calm herself.

As he reached the door, Dariel turned.

Adryel raised her head, pushed her shoulders back. I am the amba.s.sador of a great archangel, she reminded herself. She cleared her throat. "I was simply surprised."

"Come, then."

He opened the door and motioned for her to enter. "Adonai knows you have come."

Adryel drew a deep breath and crept through the door. Her heart was pounding but she refused to cower.

"Knock when you are ready to leave." Dariel left the room, closing the door firmly behind him.

Adryel gazed around the chamber. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, all were the same, covered in polished, brown wood. She could see her reflection wherever she turned. No windows, no candles, no lamps, or torches provided light, but the room was bathed in a soft golden glow.

The chamber was much longer than it was wide, stretching away deep into the palace. She was reminded of a box that might be used to hold some long, thin piece of equipment, a spear or a lance perhaps. She could not determine its length because a mist cloaked the far end of the room, making it impossible to see where it ended. She had no guess as to what she might find should she reach the far wall.

She crept farther into the mist and, glancing over her shoulder, she found she could no longer see the door though which she had entered. After a few steps, she spied a ma.s.sive archway. It rose almost to the ceiling and looked to be a meter or more deep. The floor beneath the arch was inlaid with colored stones, and Adryel gasped as she recognized the stones to be rubies and emeralds, pure white pearls, and even clear, sparkling diamonds. The band of color marked her progression from one room to another, much as a thin strip of marble separated the entrance hall in the house she had shared with Ramael from the private areas of their home.

As she stepped through the arch, the glint of burnished gold a.s.sailed her eyes, causing her to squint. She found no wood surfaces in this room, but every surface glowed, mirroring her image. Turning to her right she could see not only her reflection but the echo of her reflection from the opposite wall. When she looked up, she saw herself from both above and below. When she cast her eyes toward the floor, she found her image again. It seemed as if there were an infinite number of Adryels, all moving in concert.

The mist swirled about her.

Adryel hesitated.

What was she doing? What was she thinking? How could she possibly approach Adonai and presume to negotiate with him?

It took several moments, and several deep inhalations, but, finally, she resumed her trek. Just as she began to make out the rear wall, Adryel glanced at the floor, and her eyes fell on a square of dazzling sapphires. She jerked to a stop. The square was easily eight meters across, and reflected from its surface was light of the deepest shade of blue she had ever seen. The sapphires were set in sparkling gold and were surrounded by a border of luminous crystal, brighter and clearer than any she'd ever seen, clearer than the very air, if that were possible. Nothing was visible through the crystal and it seemed as if the square floated in empty s.p.a.ce.

Almost blinded by the brilliance, she raised her eyes and she started, surprised, as she recognized Michael standing behind the square, on the right side, his golden armor and his flashing sword now visible through the mist. She turned and found Gadriel, who had been one of Ramael's lieutenants, dressed as Michael's twin, standing to the left, his sword drawn, ready for combat.

She stepped toward Michael, but as her foot crossed the crystal border, his voice rang out.

"Stop," he commanded her. "Come no farther. The throne of Adonai is his alone, and no one else shall rest upon it."

As he was speaking, in the center of the wall behind him, a door swung open and white light began to filter into the room, a stark contrast to the soft yellow glow. Adryel held up a hand to shield her eyes as the brilliant, sparkling white light enveloped the entire s.p.a.ce in which she stood. The glare stung, and she dropped her head, covering her face with both of her hands.

A deep silence settled in the room. She lifted her head, and peered through half-open eyes.

A dazzling cloud, whiter than any cloud she had known, whiter than any angel's robe, a white brighter than any bleach could produce, rested upon the square. Inside the cloud, a light pulsated, expanding and contracting with a slow, even beat. Had its glory not been veiled, Adryel felt certain she would have been blinded when she first glimpsed it-this was Adonai himself.

The cloud rotated slowly and thousands of tiny lights, like strings of diamonds, orbited, it, without beginning and without end. Cherubim stood behind the throne, their long feather-like fans swaying gently. Six-winged seraphim hovered around it, two wings covering each one's eyes, two covering their feet, and two moving gently back and forth. Adryel's ears detected their chant, so soft she could not make out the words.

Finally, the cloud ceased to turn. Adonai hovered before her on his throne, shrouded within the cloud and the blinding light, and she fell to her knees, bowing low, her forehead pressed against the floor.

"Rise, my child." It was the voice of Adonai.

Her legs were trembling and she struggled for air, but she managed to stand.

"Why are you here?"