The Children of Eternity (16 page)

“They couldn’t do that,” objected Jerry. “If these women you speak of are of Heaven, they are sanctified, washed by the blood of Jesus. The Father wouldn’t possibly allow it.”

“He hasn’t moved against the demons up to this point,” observed Jonathon.

“Except through us,” observed Christopher. “Still, this dream doesn’t make any sense. The General Washington I know about was a general in the American Revolution. He went on to become the first president of the United States. But that was two hundred and fifty years ago.”

“True,” confirmed Jonathon, “but remember where you are. People’s purpose and their duties in Heaven often mirror those on Earth. His experiences on Earth may simply have been in preparation for the purpose he was destined to serve in Heaven. He is one of the most important leaders of the human resistance movement.”

Christopher turned to Lilly. “Can you be sure this wasn’t just a dream?”

“I can,” confirmed Lilly. “I even know where they are being held: below the Hall of Angels within the City of Sarel. That city is right here on the fourth level.”

“So what are we supposed to do?” asked Jerry.

“You’re to set the captives free,” said Grandma Gladys, stepping out from the kitchen and into their midst. “Don’t you see? This is why the Father called you all together. This is what you’ve been training for. The battle in the forest happened to show you that you can do this—no, you
must
do this. It will be hard to do…I’ve been to Sarel. I know what sort of place this Hall of Angels is—it’s a fortress, and the prisoners are probably being held in the deepest part of it. But the four of you must go there, and you must do it alone.”

“So…we’d need to gate into this dungeon in the Hall of Angels and release the captives, even as we fight off the several thousand demons who try to stop us,” deduced Jerry. “That should be easy enough.” There was a definite tone of sarcasm in his voice.

“Not that easy,” cautioned Jonathon. “If they are truly being held within the Hall of Angels, the building is surrounded by a field of energy that prevents us humans from gating in. All of the Halls of Angels have one. It insures their privacy. I read it in a book in one of the libraries in Zion. If it prevents us from gating in, it will probably keep us from gating out.”

“OK,” said Jerry, “so we’d not only need to know where within the building they are being held—but we’d also need to know how to get there.”

“Right,” confirmed Jonathon.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where we could find a floor plan to the building, would you?” asked Jerry.

“Actually, I would,” said Jonathon. “It is in the library straight across from the Great Hall of Records in Zion. “I looked through that book once. That’s how I knew about the force field.”

“You’re talking about the library that was totally destroyed during the battle for Zion,” noted Christopher.

“Yeah,” said Jonathon, “that one.”

A look of dismay swept across the faces of everyone at the table. Jonathon looked over to where his great-grandmother had been standing, but she was gone.

“The Holy Spirit of God might guide us,” said Lilly. “I’ve been guided by His Spirit before.”

Jonathon nodded in agreement but said nothing. Indeed, silence dominated the room for the better part of a minute.

“Look, we have to do this,” said Christopher, “and I think we need to do it real soon.”

“The Hall of Angels in Zion has no doorways or windows on the outside,” noted Lilly. I think it can only be entered from the roof. I wonder if all of the Halls of Angels are that way.”

“The Hall of Angels in Sarel has an entrance from the street level,” said Grampa Bud, entering the dining room at his wife’s side. “It is one of the few halls that does.” He placed a large book upon the table. “Is this what you were looking for?”

The golden colored book’s title,
The Angelic Culture
, was imprinted on the cover.

“That’s the book!” said Jonathon excitedly. “Grampa, how’d you get it?”

His great-grandfather smiled broadly. “When you told me about this book about a year ago, I got curious. Your great-grandmother and I went into Zion to have a look at it. Your great-grandmother went ahead and materialized a copy of it for me. I never cared much for sitting around in a library reading books…so here it is. As I recall, there is a floor plan for the angelic hall in Sarel. The author used it as an example of a typical angelic hall. I assume that it’s accurate. As I remember, it is quite detailed.”

“Lilly, did you see where the demons were holding the human prisoners?” asked Grandma Gladys.

“No, I’m sorry, I didn’t,” replied Lilly.

“Did you get a look through the bars and into the corridor?” asked Grampa Bud.

“A quick look,” said Lilly, who went on to describe what she had seen.

Grampa Bud opened the book on the table and went to the pages that described the layout of the building. The map went on for several pages. It was the better part of 20 minutes before he made a determination.

“From what you told me, I think what you saw was here.” He pointed to a series of corridors in a subbasement of the structure. “If you’re right about the dimensions of the cells and the layout of the corridors, this has to be the place. You see, the angelic halls are used mainly as a place for angels to rest and meditate. The individual rooms need to be larger than eight feet square to accommodate an angel’s wings.

“These rooms here were used as storage rooms. Apparently, the shackles and bars were added later—by the demons. Problem is, these corridors will be tough to get to. It will be a long walk from the one and only entrance. Who knows how many demons you may run into along the way?”

“But we have to go,” insisted Lilly.

“But you can’t go it alone,” insisted Grampa Bud. “I could go in with you. I’ve got over three hundred well-trained soldiers we could bring along. They’re mostly World War Two and Korean War veterans, strong and fit as the day they left boot camp. A bunch of them are former U.S. Marines—pretty tough characters. Armed with particle rifles, they’d be a practically unbeatable force. A number of them lived right there in Sarel before this whole thing started. They already know the lay of the land. With less than a week to prepare, we could be ready. We could gate right into the center of the city. I suspect that we could get in and out of that prison in twenty minutes—rescuing the prisoners and taking a lot of demons down in the process.”

“Grampa, I don’t think we have that long,” said Jonathon.

“We don’t,” confirmed Lilly. “If we don’t get Christa out of there within the next two days, it won’t matter.”

For hours they made their plans. They plotted the shortest route to the place where they assumed the prisoners were being held. It was a truly torturous route through the maze of passageways, and fully 300 yards. In addition to that, they had to consider what the purpose of this facility was: a resting and meditation place for the angels. Along most of the corridors were resting and meditation cubicles. Suppose the demons now used it for the same purpose? There could easily be tens or even hundreds of thousands of demons in those cubicles. If the alarm were sounded, they would be hopelessly outnumbered.

This rescue mission was looking more difficult by the minute. But before they could consider their options further, they would have to get a look at the place, size up the demon troop strength, and look at their defenses.

That afternoon Grampa Bud and Grandma Gladys accompanied the children into the City of Sarel on a reconnaissance mission. They gated into a place that had once been a park near the center of the city. The trees here were mostly burned, leafless hulks, and the city that surrounded the park was beaten and battered. It seemed even more badly damaged than Zion.

There were still plenty of people here trying to clear the rubble and rebuild their lives. But plenty of demons were here as well—more than the group would have liked to see.

The group made their way to the Hall of Angels. They were dismayed to discover that it was surrounded by demonic guards, while great numbers of the bat-winged warriors patrolled the skies above it. The humans of the city seemed to stay clear of the area.

“Well, so much for blending into the crowd,” noted Grampa Bud, as he gazed about at the demons. “We couldn’t even risk gating in here. The demons would open fire on us before we could even draw our weapons. If we gated into the park in force and marched on the Hall of Angels, they’d see us coming a half mile away.”

The group had nearly completed a circle of the building when Jonathon came to a stop. “Wait here,” he said, making a beeline toward a demon guard some 100 feet away.

“What’s he doing?” asked Lilly.

“Just hold up,” said Christopher, “I think I know what he has in mind.”

Jonathon boldly approached the demon, which abruptly turned in his direction. Three other demons saw the young human approaching and moved to intercept him. Everyone was surprised when a smile appeared upon the first demon’s face.

“Jonathon,” said the demon in a pleasant tone, “it is nice to see you again.” The demon extended his hand and Jonathon accepted it.

“Hello, Zurel,” said Jonathon, using the common language of demons to address him. “As my people say, it can be a small Heaven.”

“Indeed,” said Zurel. “What brings you to Sarel?”

“Exploration,” said Jonathon. “I’m trying to keep up with the goings on in Heaven. These are historic times; I want to experience them.”

“That could be dangerous,” said Zurel. “The war still rages all around us.”

“My friend,” Jonathon continued, “exploration is usually hazardous to one degree or another…but the firsthand knowledge it yields is priceless.”

Again the demon smiled. “I shall not debate you on that issue. What have you learned?”

“I’ve learned enough to realize that your kind are very methodical and organized. I’ve met many of your fellow beings, like you, that I can honestly say I like. Though sometimes I’ve found your kind to be a bit rash and impulsive.”

Zurel nodded in agreement. “Nor shall I debate that. Be patient with us.”

Jonathon smiled broadly. “Oh, I intend to be.”

“Is there a problem?” asked the first demon guard to intercept Jonathon.

“Not at all,” assured Zurel. “This is my good friend Jonathon. He is one of the few humans I have met that I can actually call a friend.”

“I hope I’m not trespassing,” said Jonathon. “I just saw Zurel over here, and I had to say hello.”

“No,” said the second demon. “We welcome humans who accept us. We will win this war, and when we do, we will serve the humans of Heaven.”

“I believe that,” said Jonathon.

The second demon waved off the third. “I will not interfere further with your reunion. I appreciate your attitude, young Jonathon. I wish unto you a pleasant day and look forward to serving you in the future.”

With those words, Jonathon found himself alone with Zurel. “You folks seem a bit tense. Is something wrong?”

“No, not really,” assured Zurel. “There are rumors that the angels under the command of Michael and Gabriel are planning an offensive. The human resistance is helping them.”

“I’m not surprised,” replied Jonathon, shaking his head. “I heard in my travels that you have some of the rebels right here in the Hall of Angels.”

“We do,” confirmed Zurel. “After all, we can’t have them going around stirring up the population.”

“No, I guess not,” said Jonathon. “How many have you captured anyway?”

“The last number I heard was three hundred and twenty-six,” replied Zurel.

“That is sure a lot,” said Jonathon. “Where do you keep so many of them?”

“In the lowest level of the Hall of Angels for the moment,” replied Zurel, “in a place that was used for storage. We have the most dangerous ones here. Some of them are little more than children, but they can be just as dangerous as the adults. We have to shackle them tightly to the wall to contain them. After all, these are not like the damned souls of Hell. These people are far more difficult to control. That is why we keep them here in a place where they cannot gate away.”

“That’s curious,” said Jonathon. “What keeps them from being able to gate away?”

“Well, as long as they are tightly shackled, they can’t gate,” continued Zurel. “After all, they must walk through the tunnel they create, and if they can’t walk they can’t escape. But there is another thing. These angels of Michael and Gabriel liked their privacy, so they created a bubble of nerloft around this place.”