The Children of Eternity (44 page)

The general nodded to two of his lieutenants who made their way to the stack of chests. From one of them, the lieutenant produced a handful of ankle and wrist shackles. He cast them on the ground, even as the other lieutenant opened another pair of chests. Both were brimming with gray, tattered rags.

“Loincloths,” said the lieutenant as he pointed. “These are for the men, and these over here are for the women.”

“Once your people arrive in this place, they will disrobe and pile their clothes over there to be burned. Then they will put on these clothes, which are more appropriate for the humans condemned to Hell. After that, they shall put on their ankle and wrist shackles. Thus fettered, they shall be taken away one at a time by my soldiers to their new home.

“But don’t worry, your people will not be separated for long. We will be taking all of you to the same place, a very appropriate place where you will cause the master no further problems.”

Tim surprised the general by laughing out loud. “You disappoint me, general. I thought you were going to propose something more original, more interesting.”

“My terms are not negotiable,” said the general. “You will begin to comply with my requests immediately, starting with you and your lovely female. Take a good look at her beauty now—she will not remain beautiful for very much longer.”

The demon lieutenant pulled from the chest a tattered gray loincloth and a top. “These are for you, my dear,” he said, glaring at Megan. “Disrobe yourself and put them on.”

He was surprised when Megan didn’t show the slightest sign of emotion.

“They’re not my color,” she replied. “Do you happen to have anything in a nice shade of beige?”

Some of the others in the delegation chuckled mildly, which further angered the general.

“Counterproposal,” said Tim. “If you apologize to my wife and leave now, I’ll forgive your little indiscretion. You demons still don’t get it, do you? The days of torturing people for your own pleasure are coming to an end. We have as much right to live free of fear and pain as you do. If you insist on wiping us out, then I must insist upon expanding our domain.

“Leave now or face those consequences. After all, your master wouldn’t be pleased if your actions here today lost for you the graveyard at Katlisa, the altars of Vendikar, and the plunge at Sarai. These are the things that I will take from you if you do not back down.”

“I’ve heard enough!” roared the general. “I’ll teach you some manners.” The general reached for his sword.

Tim smiled. “Oh, is that the way you want it to play? So be it.”

The demonic general seemed surprised when Tim drew out his own sword from beneath his cloak. “How about you and I do battle? You win, and these people are yours. I win, and you surrender to us the places I just mentioned and the lost souls imprisoned there.”

The rest of the delegation looked on in utter shock. They looked around at each other as if seeking guidance. Only Lilly seemed unfazed by Tim’s wild challenge.

However, no one was quite as surprised as General Kang. He glared at this human who was surely no more than half of his size. “I would vanquish you within twenty of your seconds.”

“Do you want to add that to the terms?” asked Tim. “I survive in a fight against you for twenty seconds and I win?”

Kang took two steps forward, his sword drawn.

Tim looked to Goliath. No words were exchanged. Goliath then jumped over to Megan’s shoulder beside her guardian, Cindy. Then Tim calmly removed his cloak and handed it to his wife. “Hold this for me, would you? I’ll only be a few minutes.” He kissed her on the cheek. She was trembling. “Don’t worry,” he whispered, “have faith in me.”

“I do,” she said, a tear coming to her eye.

“Be strong for me,” Tim said as he stepped away from the group. “No one interferes,” he added, looking about at the others, “not on either side.”

The demon general smiled an evil smile. “This will be so easy.”

Tim didn’t reply. He simply motioned with his hand for the general to step up, which he did.

The general thrust his sword forward at lightning speed, as if to end this fight with a quick kill. Tim slid out of the way, never so much as losing his balance.

Kang swung around. There was fire in his eyes. He advanced again, his sword swung low and swift, yet Tim leaped above the hurtling blade. Then their swords clashed three times in rapid succession. The sheer force of the blows drove Tim back several steps. A fourth blow from Kang’s sword found only empty air.

“Oh, you’ll have to do better than that,” taunted Tim. “I’m not some shackled and helpless human whom you can strike down without fear of reprisal. I’m your worst nightmare.”

Kang let out a yell of rage as he thrust forward toward his adversary once more. Megan gasped as the blade swept within an inch of her husband. Yet Tim was quick to pivot about and drive his blade through Kang’s right wing, drawing blood. The demon hoards gasped in collective amazement.

Kang roared in rage, turning his sword on the human in a fit of total demonic power. Five times the blades clashed amid bright blue sparks. Each time Tim was driven back. He seemed off balance as Kang continued his mighty offensive. Tim retreated to the right, only to come under still more attacks. Then Tim was on the ground struggling to get up. Kang moved in for the kill. Tim tumbled out of the way and found his way back onto his feet as Kang’s sword struck the ground.

“Twenty seconds,” cried Tim. “I win!”

“You win nothing, you human worm!” yelled Kang. His sword was thrust down upon Tim. There was a splash of blood, then a scream. It all happened so fast. The demon was on top of Tim. Then he rolled to the side—Tim’s blade clean through his heart.

Tim stumbled to his feet and thrust his blade into the general a second time. “That’s for threatening my wife,” he said. He gazed out at a million demon faces. “Who’s next?” he demanded. Only silence answered his challenge.

He looked to one of the demon lieutenants, “Take your boss with you and leave.” He sheathed his sword and walked back toward the human delegation. “Too bad there’s no real death in Hell.”

Several of Kang’s lieutenants rushed toward their commander. After a moment they helped him to his feet. The dazed and bloody demon looked at the human in amazement.

By now Tim was arm in arm with his wife and had turned once more toward the general. “Now, leave—all of you. We’ll discuss the new territorial arrangements at a later time.”

“No!” roared Kang. “Do you think that I would honor the whims of one such as you?”

“No, I didn’t,” said Tim, “I just thought that I’d give you one more chance. It was the human thing to do. This negotiation session is over.”

Tim took his communicator in hand and spoke into it. “Plan A. Now.”

A strange whining sound that echoed off the canyon walls all around them commenced, as a dark cloud began to rise out of both the east and west. The children of eternity formed a tight circle in the midst of this valley of death.

“Take them!” ordered Kang, his voice full of pain. “Destroy their city—bring these people low!”

The demon army advanced on the ground and took to the air, rapidly outflanking the children. Yet the children showed no fear.

“This is what we came here for,” said Jonathon, gazing out at the encroaching demons. He focused on a group of six demons that was closer than the others. A few seconds later, one of the demons was attacking the others. Then another joined him.

A second later, a rock that surely weighed two tons was hurtling through the air into the demon ranks, scattering many and crushing others. Christopher looked to Jonathon. “May the force be with you,” he said.

Jonathon only smiled as he focused his thoughts on yet another group of demons. They too began to fight among themselves.

A fireball cast by a demon’s sword and then another hurtled toward the children. The balls were deflected by a sphere of force, 20 feet across, which now surrounded the humans.

From the canyons more than 20 daggers roared out of their hiding places, visible only as faint distortions against the canyon walls. They fired their particle cannons into the ranks of the demons, destroying and scattering them across the valley, even as clouds of millions of ACs attacked the demons’ flanks.

The pulse cannon ground batteries hammered at the flying demons, filling the skies with blinding flashes of light and the crashing of thunder, which shook the very ground they stood on.

“Begin to make your way back toward the canyon,” said Lilly, as one fireball after another struck their protective sphere. “We are too exposed out here.”

“There is war in Hell,” said Christopher, stretching out his hand and turning a flying demon into a trailing ball of fire that vanished into a cloud of dust before hitting the ground.

“And this is only the beginning,” promised Lilly. “Blood will flow and go on flowing, for there is no death to stop it. As long as hate and vengeance rule this place, blood shall flow.”

By now particle weapon fire from the cliffs to the south erupted as the ground forces from both Heaven and Hell emerged from their hiding places and joined the fight. The daggers roared overhead. The children were no longer the primary focus of the demons’ attention. The evil hordes had bigger issues now.

Nevertheless, large numbers of demons were closing in around the children. Lilly’s field of protection continued to deflect all projectiles and all enemies who came against them, but clearly that protection was limited.

Quite abruptly, beams of intense power seemed to emanate out of nowhere and ripped a path of destruction through the advancing demon ranks. A loud whining sound with no visible source thundered overhead. Less than ten seconds later it returned, only this time coming from the other direction. Again it ripped a path of destruction through the demon ranks that stood between the children and the entrance to the canyon.

“Only one person I know could turn a dagger around that fast at that altitude,” said Christopher.

As if confirming his suspicion, a familiar voice came over the communicator attached to his belt. “Just looking out for you, little brother,” said the voice. “I’ll plow the road between you and the canyon entrance…you folks just keep moving.”

Christopher picked up his communicator, a broad smile on his face. “Got you, Jerry. Thanks for the help.”

“No problem,” said Jerry. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m here for you.”

An army of several thousand human defenders emerged from the canyon before them and into the valley, joining the fray and moving toward the children. The sound of the battle had become deafening.

Christopher looked up in alarm as a shattered dagger, its cloaking device destroyed, plunged toward the demon ranks not far away. He focused all of his Holy Spirit-born power upon that battered ship. It nosed up and was carried as if in a child’s hand to another part of the valley where it gently touched down. He was relieved to see the pilot and the navigator escape safely from the craft and reach an advancing column of the Monrovian military. Thankfully it wasn’t Jerry’s dagger.

The battle was complex and confusing; thousands upon thousands of individual struggles were overlapping into a montage of chaos and destruction. Still, the initial momentum of Tim’s army was slowing. Hordes of demons swarmed into the valley and focused fireball barrages against their pulse cannon emplacements, one of their most effective weapons. One by one these powerful batteries were going silent. In other places demon fireballs were directed at the clouds of ACs sent against them, sending thousands of the tiny creatures plunging to the ground in flames.

Swarms of demons so dense as to block out the sun were descending upon the valley. Half a million fireballs rained down from the sky, directed at the 2,000 or so human defenders near the mouth of the canyon. The fireballs were met with thousands of particle beam blasts, which unfortunately detonated only a small fraction of the incoming rain of fire.

The entire area exploded with the intense heat, leaving parts of the canyon floor and walls glowing with radiant energy. Christopher, Jonathon, and Lilly looked on in horror. Even from here—hundreds of yards away and through their shield—they could feel the searing heat. In the middle of that firestorm, human bodies would surely have been reduced to little more than bones. Despair filled the hearts of the children of Heaven.

Then the glare and smoke cleared to reveal the army unit a bit singed but still intact. Each member was surrounded by a glowing, blue bubble. The children looked on in amazement, and then they turned to Tim. Strangely enough, he nodded in approval.

“I guess those personal shields work well enough,” Tim said. He paused, looking at the others. “What? Do you think you have the only shield technology in town? These were a gift from the Knights of Zion. They developed them a bit too late to be used in the War in Heaven, but just in time for us. I’ll need to send Don Kelly a thank you card.”

“We need to keep moving,” urged Lilly.

Tim looked at Lilly and nodded. “Generating this shield around us is a real effort for you, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” replied Lilly, her tone of voice a bit strained.

“Yeah, I can understand that,” confirmed Tim. “That’s the whole problem. Shields like these require huge amounts of power to maintain. Those shields over there are the only thing protecting my troops from the raging heat all around them. I’m very much afraid that those shields may not stand up to another attack.”