A Warrior's Redemption

by Guy S. Stanton III

  Chapter Eighteen

  Crumbling

  The rest of the day had passed rather uneventfully, except for the busy preparation of the city, which had gone according to plan. I sat with my back propped up against a quiet area of the wall, keenly grateful to be away from the pressure of the public’s eye, if for only a few moments.

  The sword I had been given lay across my lap and I examined it with interest, especially the little symbols that would flash up and then be gone. When they flashed again they were in different orientations and numbers than the previous set. I was pretty certain that the symbols represented a language. Whose language and what was it saying?

  Something else was of curious interest to me as well, the sword had changed ever so slightly in its shape and size. At first I had thought I was seeing things, but not now. It was slightly longer by at least three inches. The double blade was not as wide and, while it was still double edged, it had taken a slight saber curve to it along one cutting edge.

  The handle was also longer and some of the inset gems had completely changed in color. It was as if the sword was personalizing itself to me. I liked all the changes, it was more me somehow. It no longer flashed and glowed in a myriad of different colors, but rather only a select few. Colors that I found appealing, even soothing, as I sat there in the dark against the wall.

  Some technology of the past was clearly at play here, I was sure of it. Tadias, from what I had heard, had no place for enchantments or dark magic, which relaxed me as to the source of the sword’s uniqueness, but it still didn’t answer the questions that it posed. Was it right for me to have such a sword as this?

  Could it do more to win a fight than just parry a blow or deliver a killing strike? Was it just a pretty sword or did it have a bigger purpose? So many questions and no one to answer them.

  “Perhaps I can be of some help?” came a voice from a short distance away in a section of darker shadows near the wall ramparts.

  I leaped to my feet, the sword gripped in my hand, startled at hearing a voice so near to me, as I had heard no one approach. A robed figure separated out from the shadows.

  “Peace Roric, I mean you no harm.”

  Still holding the blade of the sword outward, ready to strike, I asked somewhat belligerently, “Who are you and where did you come from?” I asked my question harshly to cover up how unsettled I felt at the robed figure's sudden appearance out of nowhere.

  “I am a messenger. I have been sent from the presence of the Great I Am.”

  The sword clattered to the pavement on the top of the wall. If it hadn’t been for the supportive structure of the wall behind me, I may have fallen over backwards to the ground far below. The figure in robes stepped forward, stooped down and picked up the sword and held it for a moment. I recognized him as being one of the angels of the storm that day when I had watched the Kurt family walk into heaven.

  “This is a very good sword. It is right that you should have it. Take it back now.”

  The messenger extended the handle out to me and I took hold of it tentatively, in a sweaty loose fingered grasp.

  “Why have you come? Have I done something wrong?” I managed to choke out.

  The messenger shook his head, “The I AM has sent me on no such mission, and if He had, no sword ever created could keep me from completing my divinely inspired directive.”

  I didn’t doubt that and I felt only a slight relief at knowing that was not why this messenger had come.

  “I have been sent with some words of instruction and to convey a blessing to a beloved servant in his grave hour of need.”

  There was a short period of silence in which I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything, more out of fear of saying the wrong thing than anything.

  “Tell me Roric, do you want to win this battle?”

  The answer seemed to be obvious, but I hesitated, afraid I had missed something.

  “Yes,” I responded hesitantly, not sure where this was headed.

  “Have you asked the Creator for victory?”

  This I was sure of, “Yes!” I said firmly.

  “Then do you also believe that He will do for you even as you have asked, if you have asked what you have in accordance with His will?”

  I looked down as the question weighed down upon me and I warred within myself as to what to say in return. I looked up and responded, “I know the answer should be yes, but honestly I’m not sure.”

  I waited to be struck down dead, because I had basically said that I didn’t trust the Creator to do as He had said, that He would never forsake me.

  “Do you not see the problem with such faulty reasoning?” The messenger asked, not unkindly.

  I nodded solemnly and he continued, “In your heart you believe that God is who He says He is. He knows this as He weighs the thoughts of the hearts of men, but instead of acting in that faith, you let doubt cloud your mind and hinder your actions, keeping you ultimately from becoming the kind of man you were created to be.”

  “How do I stop doing that?” I asked honestly, admitting to my own weakness.

  “As it is written in the Holy Scriptures, ‘Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us…’”

  The messenger looked reflective for a moment and then added, “The more you experience the Creator at work in your life, the more you will come to trust Him. The more you trust Him with more of yourself, the more He is able to accomplish great things through you to not only benefit your life, but a multitude of others also. When the work that has been started in you is done, it will bring back glory to whom all glory and honor are due, the Lord God Almighty. It is God that will accomplish the work Roric. It is for you to agree to do His will and thus unlock the purpose He has for you in the plan of His making that He has set down since before time began. You worry now Roric, but you will be stronger tomorrow than you are today if you put your confidence in the Lord, for He is righteous and able to save. Your hopeful faith will grow as you see that He is always true to His word and never changes or diverts from it.”

  There was moment of reflective contemplation then, which I broke by saying, “Even as I believe what I do now, when tomorrow comes I can expect to believe no less than I already believe now as truth; and as God is able, I will see and do more tomorrow than I can today, because I believe that He can do the necessary work within me today in order to change what happens tomorrow.”

  The messenger nodded his head and smiled.

  After a moment he asked, “Is there anything else you wish to know? Perhaps the writing on the sword that you have seen and wondered about?”

  “Yes!” I responded quickly.

  “This sword, and others like it, were forged long ago by righteous men, who read the words of the Creator into their making, which are the words you see briefly flash. They are written in a more ancient tongue than is known on your world today. The sword is very powerful as a weapon, but not in any spiritual context. The Word of God is the ultimate two edged sword and it can divide the soul from the spirit. This sword will serve you well, for it has many unique properties crafted into its design that will be unveiled to you the more you use and possess it. But a word of warning on this matter: Beware the danger of becoming possessed by people, places or things, as all will lead to your destruction if you replace the love of God for something that was made by Him, instead of a relationship with Him. Now the time has come to part with you, but one last thing remains to be done, which is to impart the blessing that I was sent to bestow upon you. Roric, if you will humble yourself before your Creator and always be faithful to the accomplishment of His will above all else, then know this: The Lord will guard and watch over you jealously, as you are a rare treasure. He will establish your rule and no enemy will be able to stand before you for the Lord your God is mighty and He will fight your battles
for you. Do not worry for the precious ruby you have thought lost from you forever. She will return and become a crown of honor upon your head all the long days of your life and she will be called Blessed by her children. The Creator will bless you both with His loving kindnesses and you will have many children. If you are faithful, a long life will be yours too and you will see your children’s children and perhaps beyond. If you remain faithful, your children too shall be blessed. You have ruled a castle and an army, but they will rule nations and many armies. All this will come to pass if you keep your eyes upon the Lord and stay on the path that is straight and narrow and that has been laid out before you to walk. Always do what is right in the Creator’s eyes and abhor doing that which is evil and remember to love and it will go well with you. I will leave you for now, but I will return in the future.”

  The messenger was gone just like that. He didn’t even walk away. He just disappeared. I sank down to the pavement on the top of the wall. I looked down at the sword in my hands and prayed. Prayed that it would all work out as the angel had said, because I wanted to please the Creator and I certainly wanted His gifts and blessings too.

  As much as I wanted to just sit and think through it all, I had the distinct feeling that it was time that I rejoined the preparations and leadership of the army. Reluctantly I got to my feet and started down the wall, heading away from the eastern tower.

  A minute later I heard the snap of what sounded like a mighty tree being broken in half from the direction of the enemy encampment at the far bend of the pass. Moments later I was knocked off my feet as some unseen projectile slammed into the eastern tower, pulverizing its top into rubble that rained down onto the wall top. Coughing and hacking because of the dust enshrouded air, I pushed myself up and looked back.

  The place where I had been only moments before was completely buried in rubble. I remembered the urging I had experienced to leave the spot. I got the point being made here. Getting to my feet, I ran over the twisted jumble of debris towards the central tower complex. Several more cracks sounded from the enemy encampment and I subconsciously stopped to duck down.

  Several projectiles slammed into the lower base of the central tower and rocks and men went flying everywhere. Slowly, as if resisting the inevitable, the central tower started to sink and crumble downward, as most of its base had been shot away leaving it with very little support to remain standing. The upper stonework of the tower cracked hard and went in a fast slide over the city side of the wall in a stone waterfall that rained down on the pavement far below and anybody unlucky enough to have been standing there.

  Hoarsely I called out around me, “Get off the wall! Now! Take the wounded and get down!”

  I ran to where the central tower had once been and started helping those still living get out of the rubble. I saw General Sanjo picking himself out of the rubble several feet away and I rushed to him.

  He clutched onto my shirt front and I pulled him up the rest of the way, “You were right! Our wall is no match for these new weapons. The wall will fall and so will our cities and castles!” He finished, somewhat hysterical, as the implication of what was possible now fully dawned upon him.

  I shook him slightly, “Remember the plan, General!”

  “Yes, Yes, I remember! Forgive me, Sir! I’ll see to the evacuation of the wall!” he said as he quickly recovered from the shock he had been under.

  “Already in process General, I need you to go ahead and set up our troops in the city. I think they’re going to break through faster than we thought. I can’t lose you right now General! Get to the city!”

  He nodded and pushed past me and down the stairs to his assignment, abandoning the wall that he had thought could never fall behind him.

  Towers and fortifications all along the top of the wall were being blown apart. I pulled a warrior with a broken leg out of the rubble and passed him off to two others who were headed down the stairs. I grabbed up an unconscious archer, only taking the time to check for a pulse, before I slung her over one shoulder and started making my own way down from the wall.

  It was a miracle that this many of us survived. I watched the shock play across the faces of the warriors, who were huddled a safe distance away from the wall, as they watched the great wall shudder and groan while the wall top was systematically destroyed as if by a great unseen hand. I wondered if I had lost them and then one noticed me and stood to attention followed by the rest of them.

  “It’s alright to be afraid. It’s alright to be shaken by what you thought wasn't possible. But it is not alright, when faced with this new reality, to think that you cannot yet rise above it! Those of you who are wounded, prepare to be evacuated to the cities. As for the rest of you, report to your positions for tomorrow we will fight and make the enemy pay for this!”

  “Yes Sir!”

  I turned from the departing warriors and looked back at the great wall that still rose so high overhead even though its fine towers had been smashed. They had stopped targeting the wall top, having satisfied themselves with the level of destruction there. Now it sounded like they were focusing on punching two holes through the wall on either side of the remains of the central tower.

  They’d have their holes through by morning, which, sadly, was a good thing. It would speed up their assault to take the city earlier than anticipated, which was good, because our scouts had reported that the Attorgron army, coming up over the mountain passes behind us, was farther along than we had expected as well.