"We will do battle with the best weapons and the speediest of horses.
"The gates are open. We are worthy to enter."
"LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO SAID TO HIS APOSTLES, 'MY peace I leave you, my peace I give you,' do not look at our sins, but at the faith that animates your assembly."
Chris knew that passage. It was similar to one used in the Catholic service.
"Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have pity on us," Valhalla concluded, untying the kerchiefs that joined Paulo and Rotha.
"You are free."
Then Valhalla approached Paulo.
The sting, thought Chris. Now comes the serpent's sting. It's the payment. She's in love. If the Valkyrie tells him what the price is, he will pay with pleasure. And I won't be able to say a thing--because I'm just an ordinary woman, and I know nothing about the laws in the world of angels. None of them knows that I have already died many times here in the desert, and been reborn so many times, as well. They don't know that I have been speaking to my angel, and that my soul has grown. They're used to me, and they know how I think. I love him. She is only enamored.
"Now, it's you and me, Valkyrie! The Ritual That Demolishes Rituals!"
Chris's scream echoed out over the sinister desert, bathed in the light of the moon.
Valhalla was expecting the scream. She had already dealt with guilt, and knew that what she wanted was no crime. Only a caprice. She was entitled to cultivate her caprices--her angel had taught her that such things took no one away from God, or from the sacred task each person had to perform in their life.
She remembered the first time she had seen Chris, at the luncheonette. A shiver had coursed through her body, and strange intuitions--intuitions she was unable to understand--had taken hold of her. The same thing must have happened to her, she thought.
Paulo? She had completed her mission with him. And, although he didn't know it, the price she had charged was high--as they had traveled through the desert, she had learned many rituals that J. used only with his disciples. He had told her everything.
She also desired him as a man. Not for what he was, but for what he knew. A caprice, and her angel forgave capriciousness.
She looked again at Chris, and thought, This is my tenth round. I too need to change. This woman is an instrument of the angels.
Never taking her eyes from Chris, the Valkyrie said, "The Ritual That Demolishes Rituals. May God tell us what our characters should be!"
She had accepted the challenge. Her moment for growth had arrived.
The two women began to walk around the circumference of an imaginary circle, like cowboys of the old West before a gunfight. Not a sound could be heard--it was as if time had stopped.
The other Valkyries understood what was happening because they were all women, accustomed to fighting for love. And they would do so through to the ultimate consequences, using every trick and artifice. They would do so for love, the justification for their lives and their dreams.
Chris's character began to emerge. She donned the leather outfit, and tied the kerchief around her head. Between her breasts shone the medallion of the archangel Michael. She had dressed herself as a strong character, as the woman she admired and would like to be: She was Valhalla.
Chris gestured with her head, and the two stood still. Valhalla felt as though she were standing before a mirror.
Looking at Chris, she could see herself. She knew the arts of war by heart, but had forgotten the lessons of love. She knew the five rules of victory, and had slept with every man she desired, but she had forgotten the art of love.
She regarded herself as reflected by this other person; she had enough power to defeat her. But her own character was emerging, taking form, and this character, although it was also possessed of sufficient power, was not used to this type of battle.
She had transformed herself into a woman in love, who marched with her man, carrying his sword when necessary, and protecting him from all danger. She was a strong woman, although she appeared to be a weak one. She was a person who walked the path of love, regarding it as the only possible road to wisdom. A path where mysteries were revealed through surrender and forgiveness. She was seeing it with such clarity!
Valhalla had assumed the character of Chris.
And Chris saw herself, reflected in the other.
Chris began to walk slowly toward the precipice. Valhalla did the same, and both approached the abyss. A fall from there would be fatal. But they were women who would recognize no limits. Chris stopped at the very edge, allowing time for Valhalla to do so, as well.
The floor of the desert was thirty feet below, and the moon was thousands of miles above. Between the moon and the desert floor, two women confronted each other.
"He is my man. Don't covet him merely out of capriciousness. You don't love him," Chris said.
Valhalla didn't respond.