In The Arms of an Angel - 37. Chapter 37 I'm Coming

Pasha gazed into the eyes of the man he loved, desperate to find some sign of life, but there was nothing. The white eyes were blank and unseeing. After uttering that one word Uzzy had been still and silent and no amount of pleading or urging had elicited the slightest response.

“Have you tried making a connection?” Gabri’el’s anxious voice asked at his shoulder.

Pasha turned and glared at him. “This is your fault. You did this to him. You’ve got no right to make suggestions; no right to be here.”

“This is my house,” Gabri’el pointed out.

“Thanks for the reminder. Trust me, as soon as we can we’ll be out of here and you’ll be out of our lives forever.”

“I deserve that, but—.”

“Too right you deserve it. Just get out and leave us alone.”

“He’s dying, Pasha,” Gabri’el said very softly. “Can’t you feel it?”

“No, I can’t, because it isn’t true.”

“You can’t because you don’t want it to be true.” Gabri’el’s hand fell onto Pasha’s shoulder and the world changed. Everything but the three of them seemed to recede into darkness and all that existed were him, Gabri’el and Uzzy. Pasha looked down at himself. He was glowing faintly with the same rainbow light he and Uzzy had called to them before. He glanced over his shoulder to find that Gabri’el was surrounded by the light too. Uzzy, however was dark, the glow just visible through some kind of black smoke with which he was shrouded.

“What does it mean?”

“It means he’s dying and if we don’t do something fast he will be gone.”

“No. No, I won’t let that happen. I won’t.”

“How do you think you’re going to stop it? He’s been dying since the moment he fell and you’ve found nothing so far.”

“And you have?”

“Maybe. Reach for him, Pasha. Hold on to his hand and reach for him. See what happens.”

“Nothing happens. Do you think I haven’t tried?”

“Try again.”

With a sigh, Pasha took Uzzy’s hand, shivering at how cold it was. It felt like a dead man’s hand. “No,” he whispered and closed his eyes, reaching out with all his might for something, anything he could sense of his love. Almost immediately pictures started flashing through his mind. A waterfall, a cave, a cage, an unicorn, chains, fire…and then the pain came. Crying out, Pasha staggered back and fell to his knees, holding his head.

“What did you see?” Gabri’el demanded.

Pasha couldn’t answer. He couldn’t speak. His mind was in a whirl trying desperately to make sense of what he’d seen.

Finally, he was able to look up at Gabri’el who’d stopped glowing.

“They have him in a cage, in chains. It’s suspended over a lake of fire and they’re torturing him. They want something from him, something he can’t or won’t give. He’s in terrible pain, Gabri’el. We have to find him. I have to go to him.”

Gabri’el nodded. His face was very pale, his blue eyes bright as chips of sapphire lit from behind with a burning light.

“What else did you see?”

“How do you know there was something else?”

Gabri’el ducked his head, letting his hair fall over his face.

“How do you know?” Pasha got to his feet and shook him. “Gabri’el please. If you know anything, please, you have to tell me. How do you know I saw something else?”

Gabri’el raised his head, licking his lips. He met Pasha’s eyes then flinched away. “Because I saw it too,” he said eventually.

“What? What did you see?”

“What you saw…and a waterfall, a unicorn, fields of purple flowers.”

“But…but how? How did you see it? Can you read my mind?”

“I don’t know. Look, are we going to stand here all day and argue over what I saw or didn’t see, or are we going to rescue Uzzi’el?”

“Rescue him? How?”

“I know where it is. The field of flowers. The grove where the unicorns live. The waterfall. I know where they are. I can take you there.”

“But I… I can’t leave him here. I can’t leave him here alone.”

“We can’t take him with us.”

“Why not?”

“Are you going to carry him? And when we get there, if there’s a battle, can you protect him?”

Pasha looked from Gabri’el to Uzzy. “No,” he said at last, slumping in defeat.

“I will post guards. He will be safe here. As safe as anywhere.”

“Whatever. Let’s get on with it.”

“We can’t go there alone. Give me time to gather the Host.”

“Time? We don’t have any time. Uzzy’s dying, he’s in pain. We have to—.”

“What? Throw our lives away trying to rescue him? End up in the cage with him? We can’t do it alone.”

“Alright. You’re right. Go, but please, don’t take long.”

Gabri’el gave Uzzy a long, intense stare then he nodded. “Not a moment longer than I have to.”

Left alone, Pasha was washed with wave after wave of panic. His lover was in terrible danger and he was sitting here doing nothing. At the time Uzzy needed him most, he was doing nothing but sit and watch his life ebbing by the moment. He could feel it now, the darkness that swirled around him like smoke, choking the life from him.

Desperately, Pasha clasped Uzzy’s hand and tried to concentrate on dispersing the smoke, but every time he touched it, it flowed towards him and almost found a way through his guard to possess him too.

“I’m sorry,” he sobbed. “I’m so sorry. I should have known there would be a trap. I should have protected you. I should have held you close and never let him take you. I should have saved you.”

“Pasha.” The voice echoed in his head. “Pasha, Pasha, Pasha.”

“I’m coming,” he whispered, too choked to speak more loudly. “I’m coming.”

Uzzy sighed and his eyes fluttered closed, leaving Pasha utterly alone.