Triad. But she had not asked for her release, merely put forth conjecture and asked hypothetical questions.
After the silence had grown almost interminable, the solar spoke again. 'Do you wish to be free of your agreement? It is your choice to make, though you know the consequences of your decision.'
Aliisza shook her head. 'No, damn you. I cannot.' Her voice was tight, breathy, and Tauran could see that a single tear ran down her cheek, but her eyes then hardened in some form of resolve. 'For whatever reason, the human side of me has decided that I must protect my baby against such a fate.' She drew in a long breath and at last said, 'I freely and willingly submit to your judgment and sentencing. Spare me so that my child may be born and live.'
Tauran wondered at her determination. He suspected that she still sought a means of outwitting him, of escaping her predicament. He knew her nature, her cleverness, and expected that she would fight him for quite some time before realizing she could not break free of her own oath. By then, of course, it would be too late. She did not know what was coming next, but he did. He dreaded her reaction when she learned.
The solar waited a moment, letting Aliisza's words echo through the chamber. Then he spoke one last declaration. 'It is the decision of this court that your conscious mind shall be divorced from your body and imprisoned within a dimensional sanctuary. Your body will be placed in stasis while the offspring comes to term and is born. At that time, the child will be taken elsewhere to be raised and your body will return to the dust from whence it came. Your spirit will remain in the dimensional sanctuary for a period of one year, where you shall reflect upon your wicked ways in the hope that you find a conscience and a desire for forgiveness for your crimes. If, after one year has passed, you are found worthy of redemption, then your mind shall be set free and given a new form, one that is more suitable to your glorious nature. If not, then your consciousness will be cast into merciful oblivion as due punishment for your unrepentence. In no event shall you have any future contact with your child. So sayeth this court.'
Aliisza made a strangled sound, and her eyes blazed in fury. That fury turned to horror as she realized what she had been sentenced to. Her terrified scream echoed through the chamber, making Tauran's ears ring.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Aliisza's chest ached. She couldn't breathe. The words of the celestial judges' decision sent shivers of horror through the alu, made her heart pound, made her gasp. It took her a moment to realize that the ear-splitting shriek was her own voice, wailing in dismay. They intended to deny her from ever seeing her child. The whole judgment had been one big trap.
Aliisza could not understand why such a condition would anguish her so, but the thought was pure anathema. She could not be parted from her body, from her child. It must not happen! The notion sent roiling panic through her, made her contemplate dropping to her knees and begging for mercy. That consideration stunned her. She named herself coward for it, but it didn't change a thing. She would do whatever was necessary to remain with her unborn.
Before the alu could draw breath and plead her case, the surroundings changed. She and Tauran were no longer standing in the Great Hall with its cavernous space and echoing sounds.
She suddenly felt very alone, disconnected from everything. At first, she thought she had closed her eyes, but she couldn't make them open. Yet, she could see. Everything around her was a gray void again, limitless, bereft of any distinguishing features. The alu could sense no up or down, as before.
But it was different. She was a part of the void, not just within it, but also distinct from it.
At least, for a moment.
Then the sense of existing, of being, faded.
When next Aliisza became aware, she was in a cool place, dim but not dark. She seemed to be floating on a bed of air, staring at nothing. She tried to focus on her surroundings, to gain some perspective on where she was, and in that flash of mental desire, she was lying in a room very much like the one she had been sequestered in when she and Tauran had first arrived at the Court.
Initially, Aliisza thought she was there again, for the place was familiar, yet some things seemed vague to her. Images at the corners of her eyes were indistinct, fuzzy, fading to nothing whenever she looked away. And it seemed objects were missing, things she couldn't quite remember but knew should be there.
After a moment more, Aliisza understood. She was creating the chamber, forming it from her memory. She was manifesting a reality, but her memories of the room were imperfect, incomplete, for she had not spent much time there. With that realization, the whole of the place began to waver, to shimmer and disappear.
'Easy,' came a voice nearby, all around. It was Tauran. 'Give it another moment.'
Another moment for what? the half-fiend wondered.
Then she felt a sense of vertigo. The inexact, incomplete chamber spun. Somewhere, somehow, she sensed Tauran take her hand in his, and a surge of relief went through her, a feeling of stability, and all at once, they were standing together in the fully formed chamber.
Aliisza was in her natural form, dressed in black leather armor that molded to her curves in a most provocative way. Her sword hung on her right hip, the magical ring that protected her from physical blows was in its familiar place on the third finger of her left hand, and the ring that had belonged to Pharaun encircled the fourth finger of her right hand. Her other trinkets and the pouch of magical components for spells were there, too.
Tauran watched her intently, wearing that faintly wistful expression again.
Aliisza pulled her long sword and sliced through the celestial before he even reacted. She watched him flinch but was dismayed to see that the sword passed right through him without affecting him.
'Bastard!' she screamed.
The alu raised her hand, pointing at him. She uttered the words of a common spell, conjuring a trio of magical glowing darts that shot from the tip of her finger. The darts streaked directly at Tauran, but they vanished as they struck him. The angel didn't flinch.
'You can rot in the Abyss!' she screamed, furious at feeling so inept.
She spun away and ran toward the balcony. She charged through the opening and launched herself up in the air. Her wings spread wide, Aliisza took flight, soaring up into the heavens, which were filled with billowing puffy clouds glowing orange in the late afternoon sun. She pumped her wings rhythmically, gaining altitude, putting distance between herself and her tormentor as fast as she could.
As before, there was no ground, only an endless expanse of clouds. She kept the Court, resting atop its flattened mountain, behind her, setting a course directly away from it.
I did it, she thought. I slipped away before they could imprison me, before they could separate me from my child.
The alu wondered if she could escape the plane entirely. She had no idea how, and she wondered how long it would be before Tauran sent pursuit after her. She didn't care. She was free, at least for the moment, and she would never let them take her captive again.
She glanced over her shoulder and nearly stopped flying in dismay. The great structures of the Court were still there, no farther away than they had been. Somehow, she had failed to put distance between herself and the mountaintop.
She snarled and went into a dive, plummeting into the cloud cover, which stretched away in every direction as far as her eye could see, like an endless gossamer plain. Deeper and deeper she went.
Aliisza pulled up and hovered for a moment, listening.
There was no sound. She could see nothing except the gray glow of the cloud all around her. The coolness of the moisture chilled her skin, made her shiver. Slowly, she began to descend again, under control this time, swooping at a gradual rate.
The clouds did not end.
Frustrated, Aliisza began to climb. Almost immediately, she popped through the top of the billowing haze into open air. She had not traveled far at all.
No escape, the half-fiend realized in a panic. Trapped here forever. No!
Aliisza launched herself upward, folding and unfolding her wings for all she was worth, climbing higher and higher, soaring as far above the glistening stone of the Court as she could. Still she climbed, afraid to look down,
