Enmity

by Paul J Fowler

  “Whom shall I fear?” Seth said to himself. He repeated it in his own mind as he suddenly moved forward.

  “My Strength! My Shield!” Seth cried out as he lunged at his enemy. The angel was undoubtedly surprised that Seth could move at all. Expecting to devastate their senses with its unseen power, it had hoped to grab the young girl again and leave. Now it was defending itself against a skilled, and apparently fearless, son of Adam. The angel raised his arm in defense as Seth’s war club struck again. The blow was partially deflected but still impacted the Fallen’s head. What little evidence of surprise the creature allowed in his expression was gone. The creature stepped back and changed its posture, settling into a combat stance, his wings whipping slowly behind him.

  Seth knew help was coming. He also knew he could lose his life or his niece in the space of a few seconds. The dark creature had only partially deflected a blow to its head. But it was unable to continue the emanation of fear without concentration, so the fight was now on. Seth crouched and positioned his weapon low and behind his body, ready to strike. Seth watched as the angel clenched his fists and opened them, his fingernails suddenly enlarged, transforming into jagged claws. The solid black eyes of the creature radiated hate at Seth, and the evil being hissed aggressively. Seth responded by taunting the angel with his left hand, motioning for him to come forward.

  Seth and the Fallen now faced off with the river to the angel’s back and the city to his. A few feet behind Seth, the young ones struggled to regain themselves. Long ago, Adam had taught Seth where to find the inner strength to overcome the weapons of their enemies, both physical and those other-worldly. The younger ones had never faced this dark power before.

  Even as the combatants squared off, Seth was taking a mental inventory of the creature’s appearance and attributes. He knew that if he survived, his Father would ask questions and press him for every detail. This Fallen was slightly taller than Seth and nearly wholly human in its appearance, apart from being winged. The broad wings were bird-like and had feathers of white and gray. It wore a white sash and waist coverings, comparable to what Seth wore, of excellent workmanship. A thick leather belt engraved with letters and symbols was around its waist. His body was slender but well-muscled. Upon becoming infuriated, its hands became enlarged, growing thick, jagged, fingernails sufficient to serve as sharp claws. Lush, golden-white hair crowned its head. His face was beautifully formed, human in appearance, but his features seemed cold and reptilian. Set within what should have been a handsome face were utterly black eyes that looked at Seth with both raw anger and condescension.

  Then Seth saw a blur on his left.

  Seth instantly dropped to the ground as the second winged trespasser flew over him. He felt a stinging in his back, and he knew from experience he had just been cut with a blade.

  Two against one. One combatant partially grounded by wounds but far from defeated. One new and unharmed, utilizing his wings to a significant advantage. But Seth was back on his feet in an instant.

  The Fallen immediately before Seth had lunged toward him as he rose, hopeful of gaining an advantage. But the angel underestimated his human opponent. Seth opened his grip on his club, dropping the handle until the head of the club rested just above his hand. Bringing the clubhead upwards, he drove the heavy top of the weapon into the angel’s jaw.

  Another blur of motion to Seth’s right.

  As the angel before him stumbled backward, stunned from the blow, Seth readied himself for the other attacker. The natural reaction would be to turn to the right to defend, but Seth spun to the left. As he moved, Seth returned to his standard grip on his club. Years of training and experience, not luck, determined the success of Seth’s strike. Spinning to his left created more momentum and power in the attack, the clubhead struck the Fallen’s temple as it flew towards him. Seth then dropped low as the Fallen, armed with a long and heavy knife, rushed over him.

  Seth felt the success of the weapon’s impact by the shock of the blow in his grip.

  Arrogant! You underestimate me because I’m human...

  Seth had little time to reflect on the pride of the Fallen as he pressed his attack. He had to capitalize on the last blows he landed. The first angel was a few steps in front of him, holding his jaw and trying to gain his feet. The second had crashed to the ground, momentarily unconscious from Seth’s blow to his head. Neither would stay down long.

  Seth took two steps forward and leaped, driving the heel of his foot into the Fallen’s jaw, knocking him back into the earth.

  To his left, the previously airborne attacker was coming to his feet. Seth turned to that Fallen, closed the distance between them, and brutalized him with a series of club strikes. The first two blows caused the Fallen to drop his weapon. The third and fourth blow fell against the head and upraised arms. Seth quickly grabbed his club in both hands and drove the fifth blow underneath upraised hands into the Fallen’s abdomen. Doubled over in pain, the angel clung to Seth, still desperately attempting to grab Seth’s weapon. Seth saw his advantage and brought his left knee crashing into the side of the stooping creature’s face. The blow was considerable, and the dark angel dropped to the ground, disoriented.

  Seth stepped back, now able to watch both attackers. All three combatants knew that only a few seconds would likely determine the outcome of the encounter. Still resolute to grab their prey, the Fallen rushed forward to sweep around and even over Seth. Keeping himself between the creatures and the young girl just a few feet behind him, Seth would answer with a blow from his club or grab the creature’s belt and drag it back to earth if it tried to go over him. When they chose to directly attack, Seth dodged or parried closed fists or sweeping claws. Voices were growing closer behind him, but Seth could not afford a backward glance to determine when help would arrive.

  Seth knew frustration was mounting in the Fallen trespassers. Now visibly angry and frantic, they could not get past him or over him. Seth was bruised and slightly torn in places. He knew the knife wound in his back bled freely and felt its sting, but instinct told him it was not severe. The first winged-being was bleeding from the shoulder and the left temple. The other had taken several blows to the head.

  Instinctively, Seth watched for the Fallen to make a mistake born of desperation. As if on cue, the second creature, who first cut him, rushed forward. Seth defended against the winged trespasser’s grasping arms with his club. Undeterred, the monster closed with Seth. Sensing the power of his opponent’s charge, Adam’s son grabbed the angel’s arm and twisted his body, flipping the creature over him and into the earth.

  Another blur, now behind Seth as his orientation had changed, the other kidnapper swiftly moved towards him. He brought his club down once, slowing the angel before him as it tried to take its feet. He saw Jathan, and the girl still stunned by the telepathic attack and bearing vacant expressions.

  Fearing the attacker behind him, Seth twisted to defend against him. He wanted to tell Jathan to stay with her but protect himself as best he could.

  “Hit him Jathan!” Seth cried out. It was all he could say before the other combatant was upon him.

  The first Fallen had dropped low then rushed forward propelled by legs and wings, seeking to overwhelm Seth and take him off his feet. Seth stepped aside and allowed the monster to bypass him on his left. As it passed, he grabbed the angel’s left forearm with his left hand. The creature expected impact but did not find it; the pair spun a half-circle with Seth at the center still holding the creatures’ wrist. As their momentum stopped, Seth raised his club and brought it down on the monster’s left shoulder joint. It tried to pull free from Seth’s grip on its forearm but could not, at least not until Seth brought his club down two more times.

  Jathan, almost paralyzed, saw his brother swing his club into the angel before him and turn to face the other winged attacker. Jathan had never been so scared in his life, a paralyzing fear that he beli
eved he would never escape from. Seth’s verbal command jolted him from his paralysis, at least a little. For Seth was not only his brother, he was also Jathan’s military commander.

  “Hit him Jathan!” Seth’s words echoed in Jathan’s mind. Lessons from his training suddenly became alive in his memory.

  Obey your commander in battle – it will save your life!

  A spark of anger burned in Jathan. And with that anger, fear gave way to resolve.

  Jathan felt like he was watching himself from afar as he leaped on the Fallen in front of him and rolled the creature onto its back. Jathan drove his knee into the trespasser’s chest, pinning the angel, and began beating the handsome face with his fists, blow after blow...

  As Seth Raised his club to deliver another attack, the Fallen lunged again. Arm raised high to strike, Seth was exposed, and the creature rushed in with devastating speed. The blow never landed, and Seth was now tumbling backward, his club lost, and he was taken to the ground. The Fallen had now pinned his left shoulder down with his knee. Raising its clawed right hand to tear him open, it momentarily looked again to the girl a few feet away.

  A moment can change everything.

  Seth could not move his left hand with his shoulder pinned by the creatures’ leg. In fact, he could barely breathe as the Fallen pressed down on him. His right hand, however, was free.

  When the fallen angel looked away at his lost prize, he shook in murderous anger at the human who thwarted him. Armed humans from the city were closing in, the virgin girl was now beyond their reach. Killing a son of Adam would be his only prize today.

  Or so he thought.

  The Fallen looked down just in time to see Seth draw a thorn from his tunic and drive the weapon into his left thigh. The dark angel screamed in pain as globs of black blood pulsed out his leg wound. Seth viciously twisted the thorn.

  Another hideous scream.

  Seth released his grip, and using his open palm like a hammer, drove the thorn deeper into his enemy’s leg.

  The angel’s murderous intent vanished, and the Fallen now attempted to retreat. Bleeding in three places, and desperate to escape, he twisted his body to flee. Seth grabbed the leather belt on his combatant’s waist. As the angel rose to retreat, he brought Seth to his feet with him. The angel flailed desperately with his right arm as his left arm hung useless. His cry was not human, it screamed like a wounded animal.

  Adam had told Seth long ago, “There is a moment when a battle is won. A moment when your opponent is broken even before he may know it. At that moment, ask yourself what you seek in victory.”

  Seth grabbed the creatures flailing right arm. He joined both hands on its wrist, twisting the arm inward towards the creature’s body. Left-arm useless, bleeding heavily from the thigh, the angel used its only assets, its wings, to push back against Seth’s hold. Seth twisted the wrist, further driving the angel to one knee. Their faces inches from each other, the Fallen looked up at the child of Adam who had beaten him. Seth was now peering into two black orbs devoid of compassion or humanity. Looking into the face of evil, Seth knew, given the opportunity, this once-holy being would tear his throat open with absolute delight.

  The creature spat at him, and his voice spewed hate.

  “Curse your father, Adam. Curse your whore mother, Eve, and all her seed!” It then screamed in agony and hate.

  Seth screamed back in anger and rage.

  Face to face. Anger to anger. Seth’s defiant war cry was heard across the lower fields.

  Adam’s third Son, his countenance flush with anger, further twisted his opponent’s wrist. There was an audible crunch when the bones fractured. Seth then brought the top of his head, crashing into the angel’s face. Blood sprayed from the Fallen’s nose and mouth. The headbutt was devastating, but not fatal. The Fallen dropped to the earth. Seth released his grip and backed away slowly, picking up his war club. There was a rush of wings behind him. When Seth glanced back, he saw Lyssa, traumatized but whole. Jathan stood in front of her, his fists bloody and face defiant.

  “I broke you Fallen, the Seed of the Woman broke you,” Seth said coldly, pointing with his club. “Bruise my heel, but I will crush your head!” Seth declared in a low voice.

  “Go!” Seth commanded the defeated angel, now being brought to his feet by his companion. “Just know that Adam’s sons follow you. And know when we find you, we will kill you.”

  The Fallen, both faces bloodied, wore momentary expressions of stunned unbelief. Then in a rush of wings, they cleared the stream. Seth’s first combatant flew awkwardly and poorly, but he could fly. As they crossed the river, the second winged creature circled back, grabbed his companion, and steadied its flight. They raced away at a much quicker rate, both sets of wings beating furiously.

  Seth stood staring at them, mentally tracking their movement and distance. He paced slowly like a jungle cat along the river’s edge; cataloging direction and landmarks as he plotted his pursuit. Seth heard heavy breathing and realized it was his own. He now slowly became aware of the sound of crying, rushing feet, and familiar voices drawing near behind him.

  Chapter Six

  Anger and Purification

  “Son, your back is bleeding, do you have other injuries?” Seth heard Adam’s voice behind him.

  “Seth, answer me,” Adam called out again. Seth nodded in reply and dropped to one knee. Adam quickly inspected him. “The cut on your back needs attention. Have I missed anything?” Adam asked as he finished examining Seth’s body.

  “Superficial...just the back,” Seth returned.

  “I’ve seen you worse,” Adam said as he applied pressure to the wound, covering the injury with cloth torn from Seth’s tunic and binding the makeshift bandage with his sash to staunch the bleeding.

  Adam had been careful not to touch his son before he saw Seth acknowledge his questions. Combat takes time to leave a man’s psyche. Seth had fought many times and knew how to contain his emotions as they settled.

  “You’re bleeding – but it seems he bled more,” Adam said as he surveyed the ground. Adam was smiling as Seth glanced sideways at his father.

  “I expect he still is...Good work, Son,” Adam wryly continued.

  A small grin broke Seth’s face as he finally made full eye contact with his father. Adam’s gaze left Seth, and he was observing the blood on the dirt as Seepha bounded close to the men. Nose to the ground, she had taken the scent and was now racing between the blood marks yipping and barking with both anger and excitement.

  “How did your younger brother acquit himself?” Adam asked Seth. “Jathan was beating an Earthbound with his fists when we reached the top of the fields.”

  “He was brave. They both were. They bought me time. Thank the One God, just enough time,” Seth said.

  Seth stayed on his knees, breathing deeply. Pondering the loss of his people’s daughter was more crushing than the blows he had received. Adam quickly tore a part of his own linen tunic, shaping it into a crude bandage, and replaced the original bloody cloth. Seth winced when Adam tightened the binding again.

  “Breathe, Son. We’ll talk in a moment,” Adam said as he looked at his son. He knew Seth’s every expression and its meaning, the gift of over five-hundred seasons together. He knew Seth’s mind and the burden he carried to protect their people. Adam brushed back Seth’s hair in fatherly affection before stating, “I must attend the young ones.”

  Mica and Enosh, Seth’s firstborn son, were comforting Jathan and Lyssa. They both held stunned expressions of profound shock as they struggled to even find their voices. Lyssa cried out as she saw Adam. In his presence, the last effects of the dark angel’s power left her. As her mind cleared, the full realization of what almost happened overwhelmed her. She fell into Adam’s arms, nearly hysterical again.

  “Father Adam, if Seth had not...” Lyssa continued, her words broken by sobs. Adam s
troked her hair and soothed her, speaking in low tones with fatherly compassion.

  “Listen, Daughter,” Adam spoke, commanding her attention, forcing her to look up as he addressed her. “You will sleep in your parents’ house tonight. Your mother will be next to you. Your father and his sons will watch over you. You will sleep in a city atop a hill with strong walls. An army watches those walls. God has been merciful to us all today. We must defy the evil of these arrogant Watchers, now is the time for strength.” Lyssa nodded in response and forced her posture fully upright. She shook slightly still but stood stronger.

  Lyssa hugged Adam again, then left him and threw her arms around Seth’s neck as he joined the group. The sobbing returned slightly as she thanked him. Seth always found it hard to speak when his emotions were high. He almost lost his composure himself as he held her. Considering what had nearly happened to her shook him severely. Before emotion overtook him, he took her hands in his and kissed them gently.

  Seth looked at her and said. “You were brave. You fought back. Lyssa, the One God lent His strength today,” Seth shook his head and pulled back, fighting the tears. Lyssa again stood her full height as Enosh took her by the shoulders and gently led her up the hill towards the city.

  “Father,” Enosh called to Seth, a few paces uphill with Lyssa. Seth could see the concern in his eyes. “I will return after I get Lyssa to her mother and father. I will join you for purification.”

  “I’m well, Son. Give word to your mother that I’m whole,” Seth stated. “And tell Eve both her sons are well.”

  Enosh nodded in reply. He continued taking her towards the city. They would stop outside the city walls at a fountain fed by the city’s water system. There, her mother and other women would take her through prayers of purification after she was washed with soaps and anointed with oils blended for this purpose. Following this, Enosh or another city leader would pray for her and pronounce her clean. Then she would be allowed to enter the city. Her clothes would be burned. Anyone who came in direct contact with the Fallen would go through the same process. Enosh would return to the riverside and go through purification with Seth, Jathan, and Adam, as well as anyone who touched someone in contact with the Fallen, would also require cleansing.