The angel Suriel tends to all the plants in the Garden. He particularly loves the flowers of the Garden (though not so much the ever-rutting He and She), yet soon he finds himself in the most horrifying of situations when the On-High commands him to carry out the murder of the firstborn sons in Thutmose II’s kingdom “which sprawled the length of the ancient and dusty Nile” (though he is not to enter the houses which are smeared with lamb’s blood). Compassionate Suriel, who simply wants to look after his flowers, cannot bring himself to carry out this most terrible of tasks, and yet the On-High cannot be disobeyed. A compelling and thought-provoking story, my heart went out to Suriel.
First published in Interzone #280 Mar-Apr 2019
A Personal Anthology 