Page 77 of Sacrifice
“No,” he said again, and his anger turned toward the daggers that surrounded her body. He ripped each one from its pointon the star and cast them aside, breaking the connections and destroying the web of dancing light.
She gasped as the last was wrenched from the floor. Michaels’ desperate gaze snapped to her face, and he reached out to touch her with gentle fingertips. Could any of the quintessence remain? He closed his eyes and searched her body for a trace. Faintly, at the very edge of his perception, life force stuttered.
“Eve! Eve? Can you hear me?” Michaels leaned in to gaze directly at her face. He placed his hands on her body and allowed the healing energy from his core to flow freely.
Her eyelids did not flutter.
This was no earthly wound. The agony of loss and desperate hope clashed within him. He threw back his head in despair. The reaver could not win.
The sun was high in the sky now and its warmth bore down upon them through the window. Golden light glinted on the crown Eve still wore and Michaels’ gaze fell to the eight-pointed star affixed to its center, and then to the rune scored into Eve’s bloodied chest.
Venus was still in transit across the sun. He was not a child of Venus, but he was still a celestial being. He realized with a jolt that Eve’s life could yet be in his hands.
He plucked the star from the crown and laid it gently against the wound over Eve’s heart and pressed it down to make full contact. Blood oozed between his fingers and Michaels shuddered. The cold aura of death was creeping around her, trying to take hold.
Not on my watch.
Hand on the star, he lifted his face towards the sun. He would make himself the conduit for her and use the quintessence to reach out to the Shamash. If Eve had already done it the linesof communication were still there in the viscous rays that burst through the sky from their location.
“Effunde ex sole remedium tuum,
Effunde ex sole potentiam tuam,
Nam indiget robora hodie,
Ut mortem certam avertat.”
Bring forth from the sun your healing light,
Bring forth from the sun your power and might,
For I have need of strength today,
To save this suffering one from certain death.
Heat seared his throat as he spoke the words. He had no right to ask Shamash for power. He was not of the House of the Sun. He was not built to channel its energy, but he might manage just enough to snatch Eve back from the brink of death before his body was incinerated.
A ray of light fell on his face and sank into his flesh. Heat and power flowed through him as the connection was made. More of him needed to be exposed to the sun; more surface area meant more transmission. He tore off his shirt to reveal more skin and extended a hand towards the gods.
Power surged within him. The heat on his skin intensified, and the celestial energy welled up in the core of his being. Light enveloped him. He opened his mouth and drank it in, picturing the Akkadian throne room where the Sun God, Shamash, sat in judgement, scepter in hand. He called out to him and begged for her life in the only way he knew how.
“Oh solis gloria maxima,
Hanc vulneratam doloribus sanabis,
Lux tua et calor illi circumdabit,
Eam ad vitam rediges iterum.”
Oh sun in all its glory,
Heal this one of her wounds and pain,
Let your light and warmth surround her,
Bring her back to life again.
Heat built beneath his palm, the star of Ishtar hot with the power of the sun to sear his skin. Every instinct told him to release it, but this was a sacrifice he had to make. He must not let go.
