The Valkyries

ep, they could look up at the stars and hear the howls of the coyotes in the distance.

Ever since the afternoon at the mine, Paulo had been practicing the channeling process. He was afraid that Chris might think that he hadn't really known what he had tried to teach her.

"I know J.," she said, when the subject came up. "You don't have to prove your knowledge to me."

"My girlfriend back in those days also knew the person who was teaching me," he answered.

They sat down together every afternoon, working at the destruction of their second minds; they prayed for their angels, and tried to invoke their presence.

"I believe in this new world," he said to Chris, when they had completed yet another exercise in channeling.

"I know you believe in it. Or you wouldn't have done the things you've done during your lifetime."

"But, even so, I don't know whether the things I do are really correct."

"Give yourself some credit," she answered. "You're doing the best you can--very few people would travel so far to find their angel. And don't forget, you broke the pact."

The pact he had broken in the mine: J. was going to be happy about that! Although Paulo was almost certain that he already knew everything, J. hadn't tried to argue Paulo out of this trip to the desert.

When the two had completed their channeling exercises, they talked for hours about angels. But only between themselves--Valhalla never again spoke of the matter.

ONE AFTERNOON, AFTER THEIR CONVERSATION, HE WENT TO talk with Valhalla.

"You know the Tradition," he said. "You cannot interrupt a process once you have begun it."

"I'm not interrupting anything," she answered.

"But soon I'll have to go back to Brazil. And I haven't yet accepted forgiveness, nor made a bet."

"I'm not interrupting the process," she said again.

She suggested that they take a walk out in the desert. When they reached a certain point, they sat down together and watched the sunset, and talked about rituals and ceremonies. Valhalla asked about J.'s teaching methods, and Paulo wanted to know what the results were of her preaching in the desert.

"I'm preparing the path," she said casually. "I am doing my part, and I expect to do it right through to the end. Then, I'll know what the next step is."

"How are you going to know when the time comes to stop?"

Valhalla pointed to the horizon. "We have to make eleven trips through the desert, pass through the same places eleven times and repeat the same things eleven times. That's all I was told to do."

"Your master said that?"

"No, the archangel Michael."

"And what trip is this?"

"This is the tenth."

The Valkyrie put her head on Paulo's shoulder, and they sat in silence for a long time. He had a desire to caress her, put her head in his lap, as she had done for him at the abandoned mine. She was a warrior, but she, too, needed to rest.

He thought about it for some time, but decided against it. And the two returned to the camp.

AS THE DAYS PASSED, PAULO BEGAN TO SUSPECT THAT Valhalla was teaching him everything he needed to know--but that, as Gene had done, she was doing it without directly showing him the path. He began to observe closely what the Valkyries did; he thought he might perceive some clue, some teaching, a new practice. And, when Valhalla called him to go with her at day's end--something she did every day now--he decided that he would discuss things with her.

"There's nothing that prevents you from teaching me directly," he said. "You are not a master. It's not like it is with Gene, or J., or even with me--people who know two Traditions."

"Yes, I am a master. I learned through revelation. You're right that I don't pronounce curses, and I don't participate in covens, nor am I a member of any secret societies. But I know many things that you don't know, because the archangel Michael taught them to me."

"Well, that's why I'm here. To learn."