The Children of Eternity (20 page)

The position that Lilly found herself locked into was becoming most uncomfortable. Although her toe had fully regenerated, and the pain associated with the loss was now but a memory, she remained troubled. She had experienced only a taste of the torments of Hell. But it had given her a heightened sense of the fate of those sentenced to that terrible realm.

During the past several hours, she had come to know her cellmates better. Clearly, two of them were guilty of the crimes that the demons had accused them of, but the rest were only guilty by association or guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Zachary, the young man who hung from the wall directly across from her, fell into that category. He was only 20 years of age, and had been taken by the demons for simply living next door to a home in the City of Zion where particle rifles for the resistance were being made.

Nevertheless, guilty or innocent of participating in the revolt, they were all children of God. The demons had no right and no authority to treat them as they had.

After their deliverance from those horrible rats, the group had more hope than ever before. Yet as the hours passed, Lilly became increasingly concerned. She had hoped that her stay here would have been a brief one. She still exuded hope on the outside, yet deep within her soul her fears were growing. Those fears were multiplied when she heard footfalls coming down the steps beyond the door. She heard someone grab the slide over the cell door window. A moment later it slipped to one side, and she was looking into the face of a demon.

The demon scanned the room. He seemed shocked to discover the condition of the four dozen or so rats, whose bodies lay bloodied, crushed, and contorted throughout the cell. His eyes passed from prisoner to prisoner until they focused on Lilly. Their eyes met and locked. It was only then that Lilly realized just who this demon was—Zurel. The tension within the room was almost unbearable. If he sounded the alarm, the entire operation was compromised. Lilly was surprised when the slightest of smiles came to his face.

“I’ve seen you before,” he said in a soft, calm tone. “You are Jonathon’s friend, are you not?”

There it was. Should she tell the truth? “Yes, I am,” she finally said.

Again Zurel scanned the harvest of death before him. “Very good, little one.”

Zurel closed the slide. A moment later Lilly heard his footfalls fade into the distance.

“What now?” asked Zachary. “He’ll certainly tell the other demons what he saw in here.” He pulled on his shackles with only too predictable results.

“He almost seemed amused by what he saw, not angry,” noted Christa. “How do you explain that?”

“I don’t know,” replied Lilly. “We’ve dealt with him before. I truly don’t know what will happen next.”

Twenty minutes passed. The group listened intently for any noises from beyond the metal door, but there were none. All was quiet.

“I would have thought that something would have happened by now,” said Christa.

“I would too,” agreed Lilly, “unless he didn’t tell anyone.”

“Why would he do that?” objected Cindi, the young woman on the far side of Christa.

“I’m not sure,” admitted Lilly. “Unless…” she stopped in mid-sentence.

Suddenly, all eyes were upon her. Her expression seemed so far away. In the back of her mind she heard a voice, a calm and reassuring voice. A smile slowly came to her face.

“My knight in shining armor has arrived,” she said, in a voice that almost seemed dreamy.

Less than ten seconds later a blue mist filled with sparkling stars formed in the middle of the room. From it stepped Lilly’s three knights in shining armor.

Jonathon scanned the room, then turned to Lilly. “You were right when you said that you’d made a mess.” He walked over to her and attempted to free her right wrist.

Christopher took up a position at the cell door, while Jerry picked up a small communications device from his belt.

“We’re in,” Jerry spoke into the device, before returning it to his belt.

All the while Jonathon worked with the shackle around Lilly’s wrist. Then it released.

“Oh, that’s it,” said Jonathon. “It doesn’t need a key. It’s easy enough to open, so long as you’re not wearing it.”

Jonathon released Lilly’s left wrist in a matter of just a few seconds. Within a minute, she was free. Lilly collapsed into his arms. She started to cry.

“I was afraid I’d never see any of you again,” she wept.

“Come on, Lilly, be strong,” said Jonathon in a quiet tone. “We’re here now, and we’re going to get out of here. Just have faith.”

“I have faith,” she said. “I wish they hadn’t taken my shoes.”

“No problem,” said Jerry, focusing his attention upon the floor in front of Lilly. It took less than ten seconds before a pair of very sensible shoes materialized.

“Thank you,” said Lilly, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Jonathon and Jerry set to work releasing the others, while Lilly turned to help Christa out of her restraints. Inside of two minutes they were all free, and thanks to Jerry, equipped with new shoes.

Jonathon opened a large satchel filled with particle rifles and pistols. “Does anyone here know how to use one of these?”

“I do,” said Christa, picking up one of the rifles.

The three men quickly followed suit.

“I didn’t make the weapons, but I did learn how to use them,” said Zachary. “Now what do we do…fight our way out of here?”

“If we have to,” said Jonathon, “but we’re not going alone. We’re leaving no one behind.”

The others agreed. It took about ten minutes to bring the former prisoners up to speed on the plan. They were ready to go. The group moved to either side of the door. Jonathon nodded to Christopher who reached for the handle. Miraculously, it wasn’t locked. Then again, it didn’t need to be locked, did it?

Jonathon scanned the stairs and saw a figure standing at the very top. It was Zurel. Zurel quickly placed a finger to his lips to warn the group to be silent.

“Don’t fire,” said Jonathon to the others.

Zurel looked up and down the corridor before coming down the stairs. “I suspected that something like this was going to happen. I assume that you’ll want to free all of the prisoners.”

Jonathon only nodded.

“Yes, I suspected as much,” said Zurel. “That is why I asked for this duty tonight. Rank has its privileges.”

“You knew that we were planning this?” asked Jonathon.

“Yes,” replied Zurel, “at least I suspected it from our conversation. I gave you all of the information that you’d need.”

Jonathon looked on in stunned amazement. “You’re helping us?”

“Yes, my friend,” confirmed Zurel. “My fight was with the angels of Michael and Gabriel, not with the children of God, and not with the Father. I will be a party to Satan’s plan no longer. I will not raise my sword against the Father or His children. I am not so foolish. You may find it hard to believe, but I still love the Father. And how can I love the Father but hate His children? It is I who unlocked the cell door for you.”

“I’m glad to have you with us,” said Jonathon.

“You’re actually trusting him?” asked Christa.

“I am,” said Lilly. “He could have sounded the alarm when he saw all of the dead rats in the cell, but he didn’t.”

“Based on what my friend Jonathon told me yesterday, I assumed that you were searching for a way to gate into this place,” continued Zurel. “That could only have been accomplished if the ring were active.” Zurel paused, then smiled slightly. “Yes, Jonathon, I too knew the only weakness in the hall’s defenses. Most of my fellows did not. I found an excuse to activate the ring for a sufficient period of time to allow you to enter. I assumed that you had determined a method of detecting when that occurred. That is how you are here.”

The group looked at each other in astonishment. To be befriended by a demon seemed an impossible concept, yet the evidence was before them.

“There are few guards on this level,” continued Zurel. “I can distract them long enough for you to make good your escape. Wait here.”

Zurel headed up the steps and gazed into the corridor. Then he headed off to the right, out of sight. The group waited in silence, not knowing what to expect. After about a minute he returned and motioned for the others to follow. Jonathon started down the steps to the cell on the far side of the corridor, yet Zurel stopped him.

“That one is empty; only the six of you were deemed so vile as to deserve the rats. I’ve sent the other sentries off on a meaningless task. It will be some period of time before they return. Indeed, they are unlikely to return before the changing of the guard. Follow me.”

The group followed Zurel down the corridor to the place where all of the other human prisoners were kept. The presence of armed human resistance fighters accompanied by a demon lieutenant drew more than a few amazed looks.

Zurel pulled a small, black cylinder with a small, green crystal embedded in the end from a pocket in his leather armor. “This will unlock the cell doors,” he said, handing the key to Jonathon. “Just pass it over the crystal in the lock from left to right. I assume that you already know how to release their manacles. I’ll take up a position at the end of the corridor and detour any of my kind that happen this way. You’d best make haste—we are less than one of your hours from a changing of the guard.”

Jonathon nodded and Zurel made his way to the end of the corridor some 70 feet away. Jonathon wasted no time in opening the first cell. The lock disengaged with a resounding clunk when he passed the crystal across it. The sound was a bit too loud for his taste, but there was nothing that could be done about that. He went from cell to cell as the others proceeded to release the captives within.

All the while, Jonathon weighed his options. He was only too aware of the passing of time as he made his way along the corridors, which took the shape of an X. Three legs of the X led to dead ends; only one leg of the X led to another corridor and inevitably to the exit. That would be their escape route of last resort. Their best route would be to gate the entire group to the Ion Desert. If the ring were used again, the window of opportunity would open.

But that window would close once the ring shut down. It would take time to get all of the captives through the gate they formed between here and the Ion Desert. Only he, Christopher, and Jerry could open the gate; the others would have to follow behind them. Suppose the ring shut down while people were in transit? What would happen to them? Jonathon wasn’t sure. There were just so many unanswered questions.

There were 124 cells in this cell block—124 cells and 327 prisoners, including Lilly. Jonathon counted them all as he unlocked them. Zurel had been right. The releasing of the prisoners was occurring at an ever-accelerating rate as the number of freed humans increased.

Jonathon was shocked to discover just how many children were among the captives. Some were certainly no older than 6 or 7. The barbaric nature of their imprisonment was bringing his anger to the boiling point. These demons had to be made to pay. No, that was wrong thinking. He had to be practical. An out-and-out battle against the demons within their own fortress was a very bad idea. The humans were ill-equipped for a fight. The available weapons, eighteen particle rifles and six pistols, had been distributed to those prisoners who already had experience using them. That wasn’t very many weapons if Zurel’s estimation of demon strength was accurate. Of the 330 humans, only 27 of them were armed.

“We’ve got everyone loose,” said Christopher, rushing toward Jonathon. “What now?”

Good question. Jonathon recalled a story of the Earth conflict known as World War II. “Christopher, did you ever hear of the World War Two Battle for Stalingrad?”

Christopher had to think on that one. “I think so. It was the turning point of the war, or something like that.”

“It was the turning point on the eastern front,” confirmed Jonathon, “but that wasn’t exactly what I was referring to. During that battle, rifles were in such short supply on the Russian side that not every soldier could be issued one. Although all of the soldiers were supplied with ammunition, during an advance against the German lines only the first few rows of men in an advancing column were actually equipped with weapons.

“As those soldiers fell, it was the responsibility of the men in the columns behind them to pick up those weapons and continue fighting. Perhaps we will need to resort to a similar strategy here. In these narrow hallways, fighting in close quarters, it just might work. At least it would have the effect of evening up the odds.”

Christopher looked at Jonathon incredulously. “You’re kidding, right? I mean…that isn’t a solution.”

“I sure hope it’s not necessary,” said Jonathon, heading back toward the growing crowd in the corridor.

Jonathon turned to the first and best option. He focused on forming a gate back to the Ion Desert. It didn’t work. The ring was not active and the field of force, the nerloft as Zurel called it, was still in place. They’d have to wait. Jonathon left the group and approached Zurel, who stood at the junction of the corridors.

“You don’t have very much time,” warned Zurel. “I don’t believe that the ring is scheduled to be used again tonight, certainly not between now and the time of the changing of the guard.”