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“I said I would get him and I will.�
“Look at it this way,� Jericho explained, “If you can eliminate the boy, then you’ll find the priests somewhat distracted by the news this emissary is carrying. It can only work in your favor.�
Mordecai grimaced. He was being insulted, but there was nothing he could do about it.
“I trust you have all the equipment you will need?� Jericho said evenly.
“In this very store I’ll find what I need. It will be a simple matter of taking it tonight while everyone is asleep.�
“I want no witnesses, Mordecai, and no evidence of what you’ve taken,� Jericho said. “If someone were to discover mountain climbing gear missing in a theft, then they might suspect something amiss and send word to Isaiah so that he would have his priests watching for the thief.�
“I’m not afraid of the priests,� Mordecai spat. “I trained half of them.�
“Nevertheless, I want no evidence left behind.�
“Not a problem,� Mordecai said.
The demon smiled unconvincingly and then faded into the shadows. Mordecai turned his attention back to the soldiers in the street and the sun now beginning to set upon the western horizon. Soon it would be time to journey into the Thornhill Mountains.
It was well after the midnight hour when Mordecai stirred from his daytime slumber. For the most part, he had been able to ignore the commotion caused by the Royal Emissary from Macedon across the street at Millertown’s Willow Tree Inn. While everyone in town slept, he would get his supplies and set off on his journey to the Temple. No one had seen him enter Millertown and no one would see him leave.
Mordecai stole down the side of the building and forced the lock on the back of the General Goods Store. He crept inside without a sound. Mordecai smiled. He watched the storeowner and his wife as they slept near a wood burning stove. They kept the room very warm this evening as a cold snap had descended upon the Thornhills.
The storeowner, an elderly man of good reputation, slept soundly beside his wife. She was well known for her delicious pies. In fact, people would mention those wonderful pies after her passing—not to mention the awful way in which she and her kindly husband had passed—such a tragedy.
A trail of lamp oil crept across the floor toward several hot coals which had been aided in their escape from the wood stove. The embers glowed red on the floor as the oil slid snake-like toward them. Beyond the spilt lamp oil were a number of powder kegs. Mordecai had shifted their location somewhat in the last ten minutes. It would be said, the old man was foolish to keep his black powder stores in such close proximity to his wood stove. Others would curse the day they placed their own businesses near the General Goods Store, even knowing the sort of volatile agents being sold there.
Mordecai slipped out the door to lay hold on the horse he had stolen along with the gear he had stolen from the store. The assassin-priest rode at a hard gallop, escaping Millertown completely by the time the flames bloomed from the lamp oil stain and leaped across the room to the black powder kegs. The General Goods Store blew apart in every direction at once, sending fiery debris onto the neighboring businesses located in the middle of town.
The explosion shook everyone staying at the Willow Tree Inn from their beds. The thunderous shockwave shattered every window in the Inn. The volunteer fire department of Millertown would later record it as the worst disaster they had ever faced in their eighty-year history. Moreover, the storage and sale of black powder would be prohibited in the Millertown for years to come.
The least realized effect, but perhaps the most important to the nefarious schemer who had caused the deed, was that no one knew a theft of mountain climbing equipment had taken place—equipment necessary for a deadly assassin to gain access to the Temple of Shaddai without its priests noticing. Mordecai ascended into the Thornhill Mountains. He still had a prophesied Deliverer to kill.
A DECEPTIVE CALL
Ethan stood among the target dummies at the end of the archery range, his body en guard in a traditional martial arts stance, watching his friend and mentor take aim. Almost four months of intense training had brought him to this point. Gideon refused to be specific, but he had at least been excited about the speed with which Ethan took to the training and ways of the priesthood.
Ethan had heard the other priestly mentors commenting about Gideon’s pupil being almost born to the tasks presented to him. He was glad for the attention surrounding his training, but Gideon had been especially clear to teach him to guard against pride. Ethan whispered a prayer of submission to the will of Shaddai, then heard the release of Gideon’s bowstring fifty yards away.
Ethan tracked two arrows—simultaneous—as Gideon was fond of doing. They were dead on target. In the blink of an eye, Ethan leaned to the side, snapping his right arm out and through both arrow shafts. These four months had trained speed into his body, nearly catching up with his unnatural speed of sight.
Gideon grinned at his able pupil, but did not let up the assault just yet. Six more shafts followed in lightning quick succession. Ethan snapped five in the same manner, then caught the last as he spun and came back to his original stance. Only this time, he curled his index finger at his mentor—ready for more. Gideon laughed and lowered his bow.
Just then, the cry of a falcon pierced the air. Both Gideon and Ethan looked up, as did priests all over the courtyard. They saw the large predatory bird pierce the cloud cover at the top of the chasm. “A message is coming in,� Gideon said.
The falcons had been trained to go directly to a perch residing in the walkway outside of Isaiah’s private quarters. By the time Gideon and Ethan ascended to the seventh level and ran around the circular walkway carved into the chasm wall, the High Priest was already reading the message. Joseph, another mentoring priest who kept the falcons and cared for them, stroked the bird, feeding it a plump, wriggling mouse as a treat.
Gideon stopped running when Isaiah’s eyes rose to meet his own. He could see it in the High Priest’s expression—Macedon had finally called for the Word. Gideon smiled, but Isaiah did not return it. Gideon became concerned. Were him and his star pupil not going to receive this assignment?
Gideon had honestly never considered the possibility. After all, Ethan needed the training, he was more than ready, and if he was going to accomplish the purposes of Shaddai, he could not stay here at the Temple forever. Isaiah’s expression beckoned Gideon to follow, but also betrayed his lack of enthusiasm for the argument about to come from his most valued priest and dearest friend.
When Gideon got to the chamber door, he turned, motioning for Ethan to remain outside. He smiled and closed the door behind him. Gideon walked into the dimly lit room where Isaiah stood beside the fireplace leaning upon the hearth on one hand. He looked tired.
“Are you all right?� Gideon asked.
Isaiah sighed. “I’ve not been sleeping well the past week. I see visions, disturbing images, and I have no explanation for them. If the Almighty desires to show me something, I have no idea what it means.�
“What sort of images?�
“Explosions, fire, and a man in black, but I could not discern the identity,� Isaiah said.
Gideon thought about it, but had no idea what any of it could mean. Isaiah had the gift of foresight. Often Shaddai showed him events that were going to happen. But usually the Almighty gave him discernment of the visions. The lack of understanding seemed to shake his mentor to the core.
Isaiah leveled his gaze on his brightest pupil. “I know you want to take the boy and carry the Word to Macedon.�
“Of course…I want to serve any way I can, Isaiah. The boy is ready for this and I truly feel he needs it.�
Isaiah smiled at his friend. “Gideon you are the
finest priest I have ever trained and a trusted friend, but I do not share your optimism about sending the boy to this task. Something is waiting, even wanting us to make a move—the wrong move. And I’m mystified as to the correct path. I don’t want to send the boy out before the time.�
“Isaiah, the decision is yours, but please pray about it further before you decide. After all, if it is the will of Shaddai for this boy to destroy Mordred then how can we undo it?�
Isaiah placed a hand on Gideon’s shoulder. It seemed like a weight lifted with his words. “Your wisdom is a gift from the Almighty, Gideon. Of course, you’re right. No one can undo the will of Shaddai.� The High priest settled into his chair. “I watched you test him on the archery field. I’ve never seen a student progress so quickly.�
“Ethan is like a sponge soaking up everything I can throw at him,� Gideon reported. “I’m trying to push him to his limits, as you did me, but I don’t know if I can find his limits. That’s one of the reasons I believe we should not contain him here any longer than we must.�
Isaiah poured them both a cup of tea and handed one to Gideon. “Allow me to meditate and pray about it this evening. Hopefully the Lord will give us an answer by tomorrow.�
Mordecai waited nearly a quarter mile away from the lip of the chasm. Jericho had been very specific with his instructions—that he not venture any closer else he would risk being seen by the angels guarding the Temple. The evening grew dim as the sun descended toward the west and the clouds hanging around the mountain captured the light, casting a reddish-pink hue over the entire landscape around him.
“It is time,� a menacing voice said from behind.
Mordecai turned to find Jericho there perched on a short outcropping of bare rock.
“I’m ready,� Mordecai said. He was dressed completely in snug-fitting, black clothing along with a hood, which tied around his face so that only the bridge of his nose and his eyes were visible.
“The attack is beginning,� Jericho said. He stood upon the rock looking up into the air. “You must be quick to the chasm and use the cover of the terrain as best as you can.�
The last glimpses of red sunlight began to fade as a shroud of darkness fell across the land. Jericho pulled a massive blade from a scabbard on his back and held it aloft. The final rays glinted upon its surface casting it blood red. “It has been so long since I have engaged my former brothers in battle!�
Mordecai watched as the demon smiled and howled a war cry, leaping into the air. Massive wings, with soiled feathers, burst from his back as he took flight. The demon shot away, becoming invisible to Mordecai either by will or sheer speed. “Go now, Mordecai!� he called back.
The assassin launched out of his hiding place among the rock and bolted through the trees covering the face of the mountain. He heard multiplied peels of thunder cross the sky, yet no rain. He imagined the fierce battle taking place in the atmosphere above while he ran for the edge of the chasm. This way would take him down into the heart of Shaddai’s Temple.
Mordecai finally reached the edge of the cliff. The massive chasm opened up before him like the maw of some giant monster. It looked as though it might be able to swallow an entire city. Faint lantern light shone to him from various places far below. Despite Jericho’s affirmations, Mordecai was surprised to get this far without encountering the Temple’s heavenly defense. The diversion, apparently, was working.
Mordecai removed the layered loop of rope from his shoulder and placed the grappling hook firmly in place on the rock. He wrapped the rope under his rear and took the other end in his hand. Mordecai backed off the ledge, beginning a quick, controlled descent into the mouth of the chasm.
It would be close, but this longest length of rope, taken from the General Goods Store in Millertown, would be just long enough to reach the highest level of the Temple’s many levels. The thunder continued unabated for another five minutes, until Mordecai had almost reached his destination.
When Mordecai came, literally, to the end of his rope, he stood still on the face of the cliff wall, watching a sentry patrol the stone walkway of the highest level with a lantern in hand. Each of the levels held a walkway running like a horizontal vein through the rock nearly three quarters of the way around the wall of the cylindrical chasm. Each walkway acted as a hub joining living quarters for the priests and other rooms and tunnels to the whole. From there, a series of terraces and stairs interconnected the twenty levels and the massive training courtyard below.
Mordecai hugged the wall with his body as the sentry reached the end of the walkway, searched out over the railing into the darkness of the chasm, then turned to go back the way he had come. Mordecai saw by the color of the young priest’s robes: that he was still a novice learning under a mentor.
Mordecai spotted his opportunity and thrust his body away from the wall. He sailed in a wide arc—a pendulum upon a rope—bringing him precisely to the place where the priest was walking. Mordecai released the rope, and his momentum carried him over the carved stone rail and into the young sentry.
Mordecai delivered a single deadly blow, while in flight, with enough force to break the man’s neck. The young priest never even saw the assassin coming. Now all Mordecai needed to do was get down to the first level where all of the priests-in-training lived. There he would find the boy and finish the job he should have completed in Grandee.
NIGHTMARE AWAKENING
Isaiah tossed and turned upon his bed. Sweat drenched his body beneath his blankets as a nightmare unfolded itself while he slept. He sensed urgency in this dream not present before in earlier dreams and the images pulled him in.
Isaiah viewed the Temple from above, saw angels in white apparel and golden breastplates guarding The Order of Shaddai. Demons of all sorts descended en masse against their heavenly defense. The angels rose to the fight and a battle of epic proportions shook the very heavens as blades and war hammers, battle-axes and whips, fist and claw clashed above the citadel of Shaddai’s priestly servants.
The_ORDER_of_SHADDAI
The vision warped to a man in black lurking in shadow, then to Gideon running across the courtyard stones as black pitch rose around his feet, steadily hindering his progress until he struggled to keep his head above the thick darkness. He saw young Ethan, then the man in black sprang from the shadows to attack the boy.
The High Priest burst out of the dream as suddenly as he had been dragged into the nightmare. He was awake, sitting upright in bed, heaving every breath in and out of his tight chest. His senses screamed to him that this vision was not merely part of the future. The danger was now!
Mordecai laughed at how easy they had made this assassination for him. There on the door was the boy’s name: Ethan. He knew the layout of these rooms as well as anyone. His own room, when he had been a trainee, stood just three doors down from this one.
Mordecai drew his blade and kicked the door in. The assassin shot into the room, heading for the teenage boy sitting up in bed. His blade sliced the air. Goose down exploded into a cloud around the bed.
Ethan crouched on the floor in the dark, trying to orient himself after waking up so suddenly. The attacker came again, but Ethan evaded, rolling across the cold stone. Sparks leaped after him as Mordecai whipped the blade back and forth against the floor, following his prey.
Ethan rolled up to his feet, facing his attacker. Mordecai was dressed completely in black, but Ethan could still see him, even feel the heat from his body. The edged steel whistled, cutting through the air. Ethan ducked beneath the strike. But he was backed against the wall already.
Mordecai made a quick thrust, which should have finished the boy, but his blade only bit into the stone. The boy had disappeared. Mordecai leaped back quickly, slicing the air around him as he did so. He had alrea
dy been informed of the boy’s power by Jericho. Ethan might be invisible, but he could still kill in the physical realm if he put the proper effort forth. One asset Jericho had equipped Mordecai with was the knowledge that any spiritual being, seen or unseen must become physical to affect the physical world.
This was where the rigorous training of a priest of Shaddai would either fail him or empower him. Mordecai closed his eyes and focused on his other senses. He shut out the need for physical sight, waiting motionless for the boy to make his move.
A spiritual blade, suddenly taking on physical characteristics, cut through the air behind Mordecai. He whipped his own sword over his head to his shoulders to block. His steel sang out, impacting with the boy’s unseen weapon. Mordecai’s skin tingled with expectation, every hair standing erect, waiting to taste the ripple of an air current when his invisible enemy moved into the physical world again.
“Come now, boy, let’s not play this game all night,� Mordecai hissed.
The glow of lamplight and the sound of rapid footfalls approached the open doorway. “The sentry…can you warn him before I kill him, Deliverer?� Mordecai asked.
Mordecai ran for the door to meet the unprepared priest who was coming to investigate the noise.
Ethan materialized in order to sound a warning. “Assassin coming out of my room!
Mordecai turned back when he heard Ethan’s voice, whipping his sword at the boy. Ethan sidestepped the weapon, as he had the arrows earlier, but caught the pommel as it passed. Now he had Mordecai’s sword and he went after him.
The sentry appeared in front of the open doorway with a sword in one hand and a lantern in the other. Mordecai kicked the lantern back into the priest’s chest. The glass bell shattered upon impact, spraying the sentry with fire. He dropped his sword as he tried to beat the flames out.