He was starting to think of what might lay ahead of him when the battle was over, and the paradox caught up with their point in the timeline. For the first time since he’d arrived on Ethos, he truly had no desire at all to go home. His life on Earth was behind him forever, it was time to look to the future, and where he could go, rather than the past he could never return to.
“Why are you grinning like a little boy with a new toy,” Sam asked suspiciously.
“Because someone gave me a new toy that I’ve wanted since I was a little boy,”
Gabriel laughed. “So, Sam, I never asked, do you have a family name? I think I heard you tell someone what it was, but I’m sorry, I don’t remember.”
Sam’s face blanked for a second before she shook her head. “I did, once, but
slaves and indentured whores aren’t allowed to have family names. It was taken away from me when my mother sold me. Usually I just tell people the first thing that comes to mind if I have to formally introduce myself.”
“What was it,” Gabriel asked.
“Two Moons,” Sam replied.
“Samantha Two Moons? That’s pretty.”
Sam punched him in the ribs. “I told you never to call me that! I hate being called Samantha!”
“Sorry,” Gabriel wheezed.
“Anyway, it’s just plain old Sam, no more Two Moons.”
“Well then, just Sam, how does Sam Reeve sound to you?”
Looking at him quizzically, Sam bit her lip. “Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”
“Depends on what you think I’m asking. If it’s something like together forever, man and wife, yada yada yada, then we’re on the same page.”
“I get that men aren’t exactly as romantic in real life as they are in stories,” Sam said, “but for a marriage proposal that was really lame. I may not be as girly as other girls are, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want something a little more . . . you know . . .?
Could you possibly put a little more effort into one of the biggest moments of my life than you would asking me to pass the salt?”
Shrugging, Gabriel dropped to one knee, taking her hand in both of his. “Sam, would you do me the honor of being my wife? Better?”
Sam kicked him. “Now you’re just making fun of me!”
Sighing, Gabriel stood and put his arms around her. “I mean it. I don’t care what world I’m on, so long as you’re with me for the rest of my life. I can’t live without you.”
“That’s more like it.” Sam snuggled against him. “I dunno, Sam Reeve does sound kinda funny.”
“I guess you’ll just have to start going by Samantha Reeve then. Sounds so much better.”
“I’ll marry you if you promise never to utter the name Samantha again,” Sam said with a nod.
“Deal,” Gabriel smiled.
“Well,” Sam said, letting out a deep sigh that sounded thickly of relief. “If I’ve got you chained to me like that, I guess it means I don’t have to get pregnant right now.
We can wait a few years, I guess. It was just finding someone so pure—I had to take advantage of the opportunity. I never expected to find a pure man so young. I mean, you’re like the Holy Grail. I expected to be searching for at least ten more years. You understand right?”
“Sam,” Gabriel said. “I don’t think anyone will ever understand half the things you say.”
She punched him in the ribs again, but her heart wasn’t in it, and she started giggling. “So kiss me already, and if my toes don’t curl I’ll make you try again, so get it right the first time!”
“Yes ma’am.”
Chapter 44: Betrayal
Stringing her bow, Kari looked out over the wasteland toward the Apostle’s army.
Knocking an arrow, she did not draw it. There was little point so long as the energy shield remained in place. She didn’t know why, but she had a feeling deep down that it wouldn’t be long before the Apostle found a way through.
The mutant army was more like an angry mob, rather than ranks of soldiers. They milled about around the outer edge of the shield without any semblance of order. There had to be tens of thousands of them around the shield, and still the column of those marching toward the Spires of Infinity stretched out toward the horizon with no end in sight.
Hoping that the energy shield was in better repair than the cannons on the walls, Kari thought even a blind man could see how serious things would be if it went down.
Though the walls were high, there was a shortage of weaponry, and ammunition would not last forever. Not to mention that the cannons didn’t appear to be able to fire at a much lower angle than they already were.
Barely able to make out most of the forms beyond the shield, Kari thought that the ones she could see would be able to flood over the wall like it wasn’t even there. If the shield went down, there wasn’t going to be much that a handful of soldiers could do against them with spears and swords. All hope rested on Gabriel. If he failed, things were going to get pretty nasty.
Sighing with the hopelessness of the situation, Kari scanned the milling mass
beyond the shield. The wall cannons fired continuously, disintegrating huge swathes of mutants with every impact, but space left by the dead was soon filled as the army pressed in. Thousands had to have been killed already, but it hadn’t even put a dent in their numbers.
The Apostle herself sat astride one of those strange cathor creatures. She was easy to make out because even her own minions were frightened of her, leaving a ring of emptiness around her. Hardly surprising, considering her past actions, but slightly unnerving as well.
“She sure has a lot of bad guys,” Michael leaned against the railing next to Kari.
“Indeed,” Jonathan agreed, leaning against it on her opposite side.
“Look at her sitting there all smug.”
“Like she doesn’t have a care in the world.”
“Well, really, when she’s sitting out of range, I can’t imagine she really does have a care in the world.”
“You think what that Gabriel guy said is true?”
“What? You mean about all that confusing, nonsensical paradox mumbo jumbo?”
“Exactly.”
“I dunno. I sorta spaced out as soon as he started talking. I don’t think I’ve ever met a more boring man in my life.”
“He certainly was boring.”
Tuning her brothers out, Kari studied the Apostle. She’d perfected ignoring them to an art. It was a necessary skill when your tolerance for stupidity was rather low.
Unable to help herself, Kari felt more than a little hatred as she gazed at the Apostle. For her many, many crimes, she deserved death a thousand times over. If they met on the field, the Apostle would die. There were questions to be answered, but killing her would remove the problem as much as bundling her off to their father.
“You’re really scary, sis,” Michael said.
Kari realized she was growling. Forcing herself to stop, she tried to brush a stray lock of hair out of her face, but found she’d driven her retractable claws into the metal railing. They were stuck hard and only a fierce yank dislodged them with a squeal of metal on metal.
“Don’t tell her that when she has that look on her face,” Jonathan cried. “She might kill you.”