"Where
are you?" She whimpered.
Reaching
down she shimmied the rope that was supposed to be binding her to the
tree back up around her waist. She’d had to do it several times,
and it was getting extremely annoying.
Chaz
had been in a hurry, neglecting to fasten the line properly. Not that
it mattered. She only needed to give the appearance of subjugation so
that, after triumphantly defeating the villain, her hero, Roberto
would feel even more heroic as he released her.
The
problem was it had been hours. It was going to be dark soon, and
there was no sign of either of them. If no one showed up soon she was
going to be alone in the wilderness, in the dark. That was
unacceptable, and definitely not the way this was supposed to play
out.
She
listened, hoping to hear the approach of someone, anyone; at this
point she didn’t care who. But there was only the incessantly
chirping birds, and the occasional rustle of a foraging squirrel to
break the silence.
No
one was coming. All was lost!
“Dear
heaven,” she exclaimed. “Save me!”
A brassy trumpet fanfare echoed through the woods, and a pillar of
light thumped onto the forest floor, causing the rope to give up even
the suggestion of holding her captive, landing in a limp pile around
her feet.
Screaming
she tried to back up through the tree trunk. It resisted, though a
few leaves came loose and floated down upon her head.
“Behold!”
the light thundered. “You have called upon heaven, and heaven has
answered!”
The
world spun, taking her with it into darkness.
*
“Hey,
come on! Wake up!”
The
voice was exquisite, rich and musical. Nonetheless, it was annoying
in its insistence on bringing her back to consciousness, forcing her
to realize she was lying on the ground, and a stick was trying to
gouge out one of her kidneys.
Shifting
to one side to relieve the pain, she opened her eyes and found a
being of radiant luminosity returning her gaze.
If
pressed she would not have been able to describe what she was seeing,
if it was male, female, clothed or naked. But the impression of great
beauty was aided by soft, ethereal music emanating from nowhere and
everywhere, filling the area with a sound that transcended the
senses, wrapping around her like a sheet of finest silk.
It
was so wondrous, so breathtakingly beautiful, so awe-inspiring…
until it burped. No, not a burp, a belch of monumental proportions
that actually made her hair whip around as if caught in a wind
tunnel.
“Shorry
‘bout that,” the vision slurred.
“You’re
drunk?” Krista’s awe turned to disbelief.
“No,
no, not drunk.” The angel denied, then staggered to the left before
it catching itself by spreading what she assumed were its wings.
“Jush had a few drops of th’ old ambrosia. Good stuff!”
Disbelief
became outrage. She scrambled to her feet, glaring into what she
assumed was its face.
“I
was kidnapped, tied to a tree and left to possibility be mauled by
tigers in the night,” she yelled. “I
was supposed to be rescued by a handsome prince!”
“Yeah,
about tha'. Shorry,
but it's your fault. We were having a l’il
party, and the fridge landed on ‘im.”