Each time Alan gripped a rough, worn sheet and tore it off, his heart skipped a beat. Despite the lack of light, weapons of expert artisanship, clearly supernatural in origin, gleamed and shone like far away stars. Blades caught what little illumination was available and intensified the effect a hundredfold. You can gawk at these things all you want at another time, Alan silently yelled at himself. Pick one and move!
His hand was drawn to a particular sword that rested on the wooden shelf floor. The weapon was sleek, all but yearning in its own unique voice to be held and used.
When Alan gripped the firm hilt in his hand, it felt expected. It felt as though the sword was meant for him. Lifting the weapon, Alan saw his arm trembling. The sword felt right, it felt good in his hands. There was no other way to explain the feeling.
Alan never held a weapon before let alone an ancient angelic blade created in the fires of Heaven. Despite this, he felt a sense of familiarity. The closest thing Alan could match this feeling to was a vague sense of déjà vu.
Slowly he walked over to the leader of the Death Angels who was once again struggling to her feet. Alan had no intention of killing her; however, he knew he had to come across harsh and menacing for her to take him seriously. He had to convince her and everyone else that piled into the museum cellar that he meant business.
Alan stood over Sera and brought the edge of the blade to rest against her fair-skinned throat. “Fight with us. Somewhere deep down you do care. Somewhere inside all the walls you’ve built over the centuries, you are as lonely as I was. You want to get back in this fight. You know you were meant for something more than spending the rest of your years tucked away in this museum. Keep the oath you swore to guard these weapons but do so by using them to defeat our enemy.”
Sera looked up at him from her prone position on the cellar floor. Blood trickled down from her left temple. Her red hair was a mess of tangles that fell down her face and cascaded at random angles against her dark wings. Alan had to remind himself to look fierce and not be taken with her beauty.
The silence lengthened as Sera thought through Alan’s words. Not daring to remove his gaze from her, he couldn’t help but notice the gathered crowed through the corners of his vision. Everyone, including Danielle, Jericho, Samson, Alexander and Deborah, piled into the small room. “I’d fight alongside any man, Angel or Nephilim that can strike as hard as you,” Samson said still nursing a swollen jaw.
“I’ve never seen anyone from this earth or any other that can take that amount of punishment and ask for more,” Deborah said.
“I just want to get out of this museum. It’s lonely in here,” Jericho added with a grin.
All eyes turned to Sera. A fire still burned in her eyes but Alan was glad to see that rage was not the only thing present. Respect was also growing for him somewhere deep within the female warrior. One of her eyebrows raised and her eyes narrowed as she spoke. “Well, it’s not often I find myself bested by a Nephilim. I will want a rematch and a closer look at those wings of yours. But that can wait until after we silence the uprising. The Death Angels are with you.”
Chapter 59
“I told you armor and weapons are pointless against them.”
“Yes, I know only celestial weapons can wound or kill a member of the Fallen race. I was just thinking that there are some of their demonic Nephilim who do not have the ability of healing or impenetrable skin.”
Michael took a moment to remember Jacob. Visions of the strong Nephilim and his stone exterior brought a twinge of pain to Michael’s heart. How could she have done that? How could Ardat not only have broken the treaty but do so by killing one of his own? “The battle will be chaos, Caleb. You remember what it was like the first time we fought them. I don’t want our Angels or Nephilim attacking beings they cannot defeat with a false sense of hope in weapons that will do no good.”
“Maybe hope is exactly what we need right now, Michael.”
Michael looked deep into Caleb’s solemn eyes. “Uniforms for everyone. It’s on you to make sure they have a clear understanding on our weapons. Ensure they know priority 1 is to obtain and use the enemy’s own weapons on them. Then get our men ready. I want to address them before this all starts.”
Caleb nodded with quick smile and headed out of Michaels makeshift headquarters. Since their arrival at the base of the cave Ardat was using to stage her coup, Michael wasted no time in setting up a command center. Their Nephilim had only just arrived with Caleb’s gear in tow. He stood now in his small tent starring at the gold and silver plated armor equipped with a long dark blue cape reserved for Angels of rank. It had been a very long time since Michael had prepared for battle. He hoped that he would never have to don a suit like this again.
Although the armor made of human metals would not dissuade a celestial blade, Caleb was correct to think it would give the men hope. An army in gold and silver armor with flowing blue capes would give them heart; it could even make the enemy think twice before attacking.
Michael’s fingers slowly traced the solid grooves and firm rivets of the armor. Lost deep in thought on what was to transpire in the hours to come, he almost missed the hint of sulfur in the air.
Michael’s stance straitened. Every muscle was coiled and ready to spring. If the enemy thought they would catch him unaware, they did not know the Archangel well. “Peace, Michael,” Ardat’s voice rang out soft and clear behind him. “I did not come to stab my lover in the back.”
Michael slowly turned, checking his emotions for her was the hardest thing he would ever do. This wasn’t just about him anymore; thousands of lives today and billions of lives tomorrow hung in the balance if they lost now. Completing his turn, he saw her standing behind him. The woman he spent a near eternity loving, the woman who sided with the Usurper and begged him to join her. She wasn’t alone.
A goblin of a creature hunkered beside her barring large fangs that made up more than half of its squashed face. “Amenhotep,” Ardat spoke to the creature. “I’m safe here. He won’t hurt me. Go back to the cave. Come for me in five minutes.”
The creature eyed Michael looking as if it had just tasted something rotten before vanishing in a light plume of sulfuric smoke.
They were alone. Michael could hear talking and passing footsteps outside his tent but no one else was aware of Ardat’s visit beside himself. He could have her arrested now he knew. Love and curiosity won over as he found himself starring into Ardat’s gorgeous eyes. “Why have you come, Ardat?”
Ardat’s gaze shifted to the floor. Before she spoke, she took a step forward. “No,” Michael warned with an outstretched hand. “That’s far enough. Explain yourself.”
Ardat’s eyes shimmered in tiny pools of pain and sorrow as she physically recoiled from his words. “Has it been so long, lover, that a hug cannot pass between us?”
Every fiber in Michael’s being pushed him to embrace the only woman he ever loved, the only woman he feared he would ever love again. Duty and responsibility held him back. “You left me. You left me.” Michael repeated himself slowly more to remind himself than to the woman in front of him. “You made the choice a long time ago that forbade us to ever embrace again. When you sided with him, you sacrificed our love.”
Ardat took a long breath that quivered in her chest. “You wouldn’t come. Why wouldn’t you come with me, Michael? I begged you. I very literally fell on my knees and begged you to come with me.”
Michael paused a brief second as memories of the paste invaded his thoughts. The conversation that separated the two Angels forever was a close memory that would always be easy for him to recall. It was a moment he would never forget. “Ardat, I couldn’t leave. You shouldn’t have left. The vows we took to uphold truth and righteousness, did they mean nothing to you?”
The sorrow in Ardat’s voice was slowly turning to menace as she too remembered their fateful past. “We were born into service without a choice. The Usurper saw this and gave me a choice—“
�
��A choice? Is that how you justify killing hundreds of thousands of our kind? Is that how you sleep at night? You rationalize your murderous actions with a false pretense of slavery, Ardat. We were never slaves. We were special. You—you were special to me.”
“And we can still be,” Ardat said risking Michael’s temper and taking another step forward. “Don’t you see? I’m doing this for us. With Heaven’s army destroyed, I will be in power and you with me. I have no love for my kind. Come with me. You and I will make our own home on earth. With no Angels or demons to pull us either way, we can finally be happy together.”
Michael was at a loss for words. The same woman he gave his heart to centuries before stood in front him yet she was not there at all. “You would risk all of these lives for us?”
“Michael, I would risk so much more to be with you again. Please, if you will not join me, stay out of this fight. When it is over, I’ll say I took you as prisoner. You can still have your reputation and me with it.”
Michael shook his head slowly. The pain he felt every day at losing her doubled in the pit of his stomach. Heartbreak tore through him clutching his heart until he thought is would burst under the pressure. “I don’t know if I can ever stop loving you, Ardat. Somewhere deep within you I still believe the woman I love exists. Maybe I’m a fool for this.” Michael licked his dry lips. Ardat leaned forward in anticipation of his next words. “I will not join you. I cannot kill you, God help me, but I will not join you. We will be victorious today. I’ll order you captured alive and maybe, maybe you can find forgiveness in the eyes of the Creator.”
“The Creator?” All signs of sadness and love from Ardat disappeared in an instant. “The Creator? Where is your Creator now? As you stand on the brink of extinction, where is He to be found? No, your Creator has abandoned you. When I stand over the field of battle as a victor, I will do the same for you, my love. You will be taken alive and I have faith that one day you will see things my way.”
Michael’s eyes refused to leave Ardat. It was his sense of smell that once again reminded him of another’s presence. The short goblin peeked around Ardat’s long black robe with a wicked stare. “We attack in an hour, my love. Rethink my offer to either join us or remain absent from the confrontation. Our numbers and superior weapons will make this a short, bloody conflict.”
With the smell of sulfuric acid in the air and a faint hue of smoke, both demons were gone. Michael released one last quivering breath before his mind turned back to the battle that would soon begin. Joining Ardat was never an option and he would die before be taken a prisoner.
Chapter 60
“Where were you, my mistress?” Dominic asked in a sly tone.
Ardat fixed him with a hard stare as she secured her breastplate. “That is none of your concern. Are the men ready?”
The dark Nephilim nodded in a series of quick successions. Ardat looked at herself in the mirror one last time. She was ready. Dark steel armor adorned her from toe to neck. In place of a helmet, she wore a crown. Her black robe draped over her armor and across her shoulders, enveloping her in yards of thick material. “Yes, my mistress,” Dominic said. “They are ready and in place, awaiting your command.”
“And the giants? How many were able to make the transition?”
“Six, only six Nephilim possess the ability of supernatural growth. They are armored and ready.”
“Good. Keep Kyle close with you and remember it is up to the two of you to deal with Alan Price when he makes his appearance.”
Dominic cut off his disrespectful scoff in a mumbled apology. “I am out of line, of course. Still I do not understand why you think so highly of the boy. I dispatched him single-handedly when I made him dinner at his home. Besides, I thought you killed him on the cargo ship as we raised the lost statue?”
Ardat’s eyes looked at the blank cave wall just over Dominic’s shoulder as she replayed history’s most recent events. “He sprouted wings. Wings like those that I had never seen before in my lifetime. I don’t think I killed him that day.” Ardat paused as she mentally recalled the image of the two blue wings that hummed with power. “No, I know I didn’t kill him. I’m not sure what he is capable of but it is your assignment to make sure we never find out.”
Dominic shrugged, “As you wish. I will be ready and looking forward to his visit.”
Ardat shook her head clear of the vision of Alan’s powerful wings. Her eyes focused on Dominic’s own outfit; dark armor like her own, a wickedly curved scimitar and dirty slippers on his feet. “You are going to wear those into the fight?”
“They’re like walking on clouds, my mistress.”
“Whatever you say. Signal the troops to advance out of the main entrance. The giants will form the front line. When we are engaged in direct battle with the enemy, and only when we are engaged in direct battle, give the order to spring the trap.”
Dominic Drencher licked his lips in preparation for the blood and gore that would soon cover him head to foot. In the ancient tradition of dark Nephilim serving the Fallen, Dominic repeated the words of servitude, “Yes, your will, my hands.”
Chapter 61
An hour. She had told him she was attacking in an hour. Michael knew Ardat too well to think she was bluffing. So sure of her victory, she didn’t care if he knew when they were coming. This gave him an edge. They wouldn’t be taken by surprise. Not today.
Michael stood on the edge of a slopping sand dune. A hundred yards in front of him a small mountain rose towards the heavens as if seeking to touch the sky itself. They found Ardat’s hideout at the base of this mountain. The entrance was wide enough for ten men to stand side by side and still walk comfortably through. She would charge from this point, and with superior numbers and weapons, hit them head on.
Michael turned his back on the cave entrance to address his men and woman. Sun just beginning to peek over the many sand dunes, the light reflected off his gold and silver armor like a bright burning star. The dark blue cape flowing behind him contrasted against the brilliance of his defensive covering perfectly. Caleb was right. He could see the admiration in the eyes of those looking to him, each one willing him to break the silence. They all stood at attention in tightknit rows. Wearing silver armor of their own, some equipped with swords, shields, spears, clubs, most relying on their own unique abilities to see them through the fight.
There was no differentiating the Angels and the Nephilim: they stood as one unit. Angels with large white wings folded at their backs stood next to Nephilim of all shapes and sizes. They all looked to Michael ready for direction.
The lack of noise in the company of such a large force was intimidating in its own right. No whispers muddied the pure waters of silence, heat beat down on them, adrenaline ran rampant through pulsing veins and hearts bore the weight of responsibility.
With the hour Ardat had given them to prepare all but passed, Michael began what could very well be his last speech. “My brother and sisters, chosen Nephilim and Angels alike, today we have been given a great privilege. Today our paths have all met together. As one, our fates have been intertwined and have led to this one single moment. Everything in your lives has prepared you for this final battle.”
Michael paused as a distant rumbling caught his attention. Glancing over his shoulder his eyes narrowed into determined slits. Ardat’s army was approaching through the cave entrance, a row of giants towering ten times taller than any man led the procession. Michael examined the enemy, in the time of a quick heartbeat. “And now they come. Those who would see us, our loved ones, our families, our friends either killed or doomed to a life of slavery. We all know they outnumber us and are equipped with celestial blades and armor. Still they do not have the strength we possess in here!” Michael pounded a gauntlet-clad fist to his breastplate. A shout rose to the throats of his men and came out so powerful that it caused his armor to vibrate.
“They will never have the strength we posses in our hearts, the strength that only justice,
duty, freedom and love give. I would take this side in a fight any day, no matter the odds. We will wrestle those weapons from their hands and use the very things they would seek to destroy our world to bring about their destruction!”
Another shout, this time louder than the first. Michael twisted his body still looking at his army but pointing his right index finger at the enemy. “Let us remind them united as one how frightening and brutal men and woman can be when forced to protect the things they love!”
Chapter 62
Michael was making one of his famous speeches on the sand dune just as Ardat knew he would. He was a gifted leader able to inspire on demand, one of the many qualities that made him so desirable to her. In the face of defeat, he was giving his soldiers an edge. He was giving them hope and that was something Ardat could not allow. “Full sprint head,” Ardat shouted from her position in the middle of the army. Those close enough to hear her passed the order along.
Alan Price and the Colossus of Rhodes (The Nephilim Chronicles) Page 18
