The Valkyries

accept for ourselves the love of God.
    “Show us our love for ourselves.
    “Require us to seek out the love of others. Even with fear of rejection, of severe glances, of thehardness of heart of some—do not permit us ever to give up our quest for love.”

Chapter 43
     
    O NE OF THE V ALKYRIES HELD OUT A TORCH to Valhalla. She lit it, and held up the blazing torch to heaven.
    This is the third element: Fire.
    “You say, Lord: ‘I came to set fire to the Earth. And I am watchful that the fire grow.’
    “May the fire of love grow in our hearts.
    “May the fire of transformation glow in our movements.
    “May the fire of purification burn away our sins.
    “May the fire of justice guide our steps.
    “May the fire of wisdom illuminate our path.
    “May the fire that spreads over the Earth never be extinguished. It has returned, and we carry it within us.
    “Prior generations passed on their sins to succeeding ones. Thus has it been, down to our fathers.
    “Now, though, we will pass forward the torch of your fire.
    “We are warriors of the light, this light that we carry with pride.
    “The fire that, when kindled for the first time, showed us our faults and our sins. We were surprised and frightened, and we felt ourselves to be incapable.
    “But it was the fire of love. And it consumed what was bad in us when we accepted it.
    “It showed us that we are neither better nor worse than those who frowned at us.
    “And for this we accept forgiveness. There is no more guilt, and we can return to paradise. And we will bring with us the fire that will burn on earth.”

Chapter 44
     
    V ALHALLA INSERTED THE TORCH INTO A crevice in the rocks. Then she opened her canteen and spilled a few drops of water on Paulo’s and Rotha’s heads.
    This is the fourth element: Water.
    “You said: ‘Whoever drinks of this water will never thirst.’
    “Well then, we are drinking this water. We wash away our sins, for love of the transformation that is going to shake the Earth.
    “We will hear what the angels say, we will be messengers of their words.
    “We will do battle with the best weapons and the speediest of horses.
    “The gates are open. We are worthy to enter.”

Chapter 45
     
    “L ORD JESUS C HRIST, 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