by Brian Godawa
“Follow this to the bottom.”
“Thank you,” said Joshua.
“Spare me your niceties, Habiru. Remember what I said. When next we meet again, I will kill you.”
They split apart, Joshua and Rahab going down and Sheshai finding his way back to the city where he would gather his loyal soldiers to recapture the throne.
When Joshua and Rahab found the tunnel exit at the bottom of the rock bluff, Joshua stopped and pulled her aside.
“You are safe now. Find your way around to the front where the Israelite forces are aligned. You should encounter no Anakim. They are all inside the city.”
“What about you?” she asked.
“Tell Caleb I am going to kill the king within as he attacks without.”
“Joshua, no. You must not. You are needed by Israel.”
“Your husband is a worthy leader. He will do fine.”
“But he needs you. Caleb will never forgive himself if you die.”
“Then you must make sure that he does. Tell him to be strong and courageous.” He looked into her eyes. He wanted to tell her, but he knew he never could. “Tell him to cherish his wife and children. That he is the most blessed man on the face of the earth to have such an invaluable treasure of infinite worth and beauty.”
She knew by the look in his eyes what he could not say. And she respected him for not saying it.
She grabbed him and hugged him. She gave him a kiss on each cheek, the last, lingering with sadness.
Then she was off and on her way back to the Israelite camp.
Joshua returned to the tunnel for his ascent back up into the hornet’s nest of evil.
Chapter 60
Leviathan was the seven-headed sea dragon of chaos. It was king over all the sons of pride. Its scales were impenetrable armor to javelins and fishhooks. Even its underbelly was like sharp potsherds that seemed indestructible. It had a main head that guided the monstrous bulk through the waters, with massive jagged teeth the size of a man. But its six lesser heads were no less fearsome as they sought prey with equal ferocity. Some of them could even breathe fire.
Its massive double tail provided the power for accelerated speed that could overcome any sea creature or human vessel. So when it circled back to the Philistine ship it had just demolished, there was no hope for any of the human survivors to escape its jaws.
But not all the survivors were human. The four angels swam with all their might toward the shore a thousand feet away. They held off drawing their weapons until the last moment. They were at a double disadvantage because underwater they could not swing their weapons with enough force to cause damage. They would only be able to thrust into the skin of the beast upon contact. This made their situation perilous upon hazardous.
Leviathan passed through the sinking wreckage, snatching up a few bodies here and there, but instead of feasting on the human cargo, it kept moving, zeroed in on the swimming angels.
It became clear to them all what was happening. Centuries ago, when Ba’al was incarnate as Marduk, god of Babylon, he had killed Rahab the sea dragon, also known as Tiamat. His defeat of the dragon of chaos was the establishment of his mighty kingdom and therefore gave him alpha superiority over Rahab’s offspring, Leviathan. Now that they were at the shores of Mount Sapan, Ba’al’s priestly minions had called up the monster from the depths to attack his enemies.
Uriel was slower than the others. He was smaller and without the power of Mikael or the speed of Gabriel. He would be the first to be eaten.
They were still five hundred feet from shore when Leviathan caught up with them. It was moving so fast, they felt a strong water current push them forward before it struck.
Uriel turned and saw one of the heads target him and open its mouth wide. It happened so fast. He did not have time to even draw his weapon. The monstrous head swallowed him whole.
Gabriel was underwater and saw it happen. He screamed “URIEL!” but all that came out was bubbles and a distorted gurgle. That noise had drawn the attention of another head that swung around and chomped at Gabriel. He barely dodged it, pushing himself away from the rugged scaly head. He drew his sword, but turned to see another head snap down on him.
The suction created by the monstrous head opening its gaping jaws pulled Gabriel in before clamping shut. But Gabriel had held his sword upward, creating a wedge. The sword cut right into the roof of its mouth before it realized what had happened. It instinctively opened its mouth in painful retraction. But it was too late. The sword was embedded deep. And Gabriel left it there. He swam his way out and grabbed hold of the back of the confused head to ride it like a bucking stallion.
Mikael and Raphael dove deep to avoid the passing bulk of the wriggling twisting serpent. It had moved too fast in the water to catch them all in its jaws.
They jammed their swords into the mighty tail and held on for dear life. Raphael’s sword had to find the flesh between the scales, but Mikael’s steel sword was strong enough to crack through the otherwise impenetrable armor.
The monster felt the sting of the swords and instinctively rose from the depths. It broke the surface and curled back under like a snake, but writhing up and down instead of sideways. This created a momentum so that when its tail broke the surface, it snapped out of the water with a force so strong, it cast off the angels, their swords pulled from the flesh.
And that is exactly what they had hoped for.
They catapulted through the air several hundred feet before landing in shallow waters—mere yards from the shore. In trying to get rid of the annoying parasites, the monster had flung them closer to their intended destination.
They hurried their way to shore. But they did not anticipate Leviathan’s relentlessness.
It kept coming at them.
It broke the waters and wriggled up onto the shoreline, its heads snapping at the angels, who responded with powerful swipes of their swords, creating cuts and gashes that were mostly inconsequential on the serpentine colossus.
But just as one head was cut, another head would bite. They would be overwhelmed in seconds.
Mikael noticed that Gabriel was still riding one of the heads and yelling with gusto, “YAHAAAAA!”
Because of the distraction, Mikael slipped and fell in the sand.
One of the heads saw its moment to strike.
But Gabriel had seen the misstep and launched himself at the head just as it was pulling back to strike.
He hit the eye and caused it to bellow a stream of fire from its mouth in agonizing self-protection.
The flames reached Mikael and scorched him. He was wet and had his armor, but it still scorched him.
But at the same moment that Gabriel had jumped, another one of the heads had targeted Gabriel and had lunged.
It was not swift enough. Gabriel was already in the air, so the teeth clamped down on the neck of the other head. The scales of this monstrosity may have been impervious to human devices, but not to its own razor sharp fangs. The wounded head screeched. But the others fangs were stuck between the plates and could not shake loose.
Raphael had moved to the rescue of Mikael and pulled him back out of the way as Gabriel engaged in a Karabu dance of evasion. He did not have his weapon, but he had his training. And even though he was sopping wet, he dove, flipped and spun, drawing the snapping jaws away from his comrades.
And then Mikael and Raphael noticed one of the heads was not chasing Gabriel. Rather, it was jerking around violently as if choking on something.
That something was Uriel.
A sword blade suddenly burst out from its gullet and ripped an incision large enough for Uriel to burst out and fall to the ground with a groan. He had drawn a sword after being swallowed whole and had used it to stick in the monster’s throat until he could cut his way out.
He coughed, “It’s softer inside than out!”
But his sword was yards from his grasp, and he was stunned by the fall.
“Uriel!” yelled Gabriel, a
nd in a moment, Gabriel was by his side to help him, with the fallen sword in hand.
Another head lunged at them.
They rolled to each side as the jaws hit the ground in an explosion of sand. It swallowed a mouthful of beach, not angel.
Uriel had drawn his other sword. Gabriel had his ready.
And they simultaneously plunged their blades into the soft gums of each side of the creature’s mouth. It yanked back with a belch of fire and the angels fell back to the sand.
But then, without warning, Leviathan wriggled its way back into the waters to escape these heavenly sand flies and their troublesome bites.
The angels had done some real damage to the sea dragon of chaos. None of the heads went without significant wounds, from the slashed throat of Uriel’s nemesis to the head with Gabriel’s sword permanently stuck in the roof of its mouth. But its lacerations and lesions would eventually heal. It would take much more to kill this occultic monster of the Abyss than what these archangels could dish out.
“HAHA!” yelled Uriel. “Did we deliver or did we deliver?”
Gabriel handed Uriel his other sword that he had used to pierce the dragon. “You might want this. Thanks for letting me borrow it to save you.”
“Save me?” said Uriel. “I do believe it was my blade that entered its gums, causing it to skulk away back into the depths.”
They were back at it again.
“Seconds after mine entered its gums on the other side,” responded Gabriel.
Uriel had not realized what had happened in the fray. He sat back. Then he concluded with a grin, “I guess we saved each other this time, brother.”
Gabriel smiled and offered his hand to help him up.
“Gabriel, Uriel!” yelled Raphael, “I need your help!”
They turned to see Raphael tending to Mikael’s burns by the rocks on the beach.
They ran to their comrades.
Mikael had third degree burns over the left side of his body. He had tried to turn out of the field of fire and had been scorched over the side of his body left vulnerable.
He was moaning through gritted teeth, bearing the pain as silently as he could.
This was bad. Mikael was their leader. He was the mightiest of all four, but now he was impaired. Without him, their chances of overcoming Ba’al were slim. He would heal with preternatural speed, but it would still take days.
“I need something to wrap his wounds,” said Raphael.
They had nothing but the armor on their bodies. They had left their cloaks behind them in the sea when the dragon first hit them.
They looked fruitlessly around, but there was nothing.
Gabriel said, “Archons, we have company.”
Raphael and the others looked up on the rocks rising above shore that became Mount Sapan above them.
There were one hundred hair-shaven tattooed priests standing in the rocks staring at them.
Uriel said, “You are wrong, Gabriel. We have bad company. Those are priests of Ba’al.”
“You are dead wrong,” said Gabriel. “Those are armed priests of Ba’al.”
Uriel looked closer.
“We are all dead wrong,” countered Uriel. “Those are armed priests of Ba’al possessed by demons.”
Chapter 61
It was early sunrise when the gates of Kiriath-arba opened and a sortie of five hundred Anakim warriors flooded out onto the field before the city. They ran full force at the Israelite alliance.
By the time the Israelite watch guards alerted their soldiers, and prepared for battle, the Anakim were already upon them.
The giants swung battle-axes, chopping three and four men in half with each swing. Maces crunched bones and skulls, and iron swords cut through shields.
Before the Israelites and their Gibeonite allies got back on their feet and pushed back, several hundred of their men were already dead.
It took mere minutes.
But Caleb remembered the tactic against the Rephaim at Edrei. Their size was a disadvantage for one thing, easy sighting for archers. Normally, in such close quarter battle, archers were useless because they would just as equally kill their own men as the enemy. But because the Anakim were eight to ten feet tall, they towered above the five-foot Israelites, which made them easy targets for archers without fear of collateral damage to their own.
Caleb lined up a squad of archers who began filling their opponents with arrows.
The giants blew a horn of retreat and they immediately withdrew back to the city walls.
The Israelites chased them back to the city. But in such situations the defenders used a special tactic. Gates could not be opened to allow the returning soldiers entry, because their chasing adversaries would too closely follow them.
So walled cities had developed a technique used in these rapid strike raids that allowed them quick return to safety behind the walls.
The returning several hundred Anakim reached the walls, where hundreds of ropes dangled to the ground. The soldiers would grab hold of the ropes and would be hauled up with speed back over the walls by a line of fellow soldiers inside who pulled the ropes up with all their might.
It looked like an army of spiders returning to their webs, out of the reach of their pursuers.
They then responded with raining down a storm of arrows and javelins upon the attacking Israelites, who retreated to the edge of the forest.
Talmai smiled with victory. He had been watching the stratagem from the height of the city gates. Although he had his own significant losses, he had struck far more damage on his enemy. The morale of Israel had been shaken, and he had been successful with his first act of war as the new king of Kiriath-arba.
He returned to his control post, a confiscated tavern, with his bodyguard of five gibborim warriors.
As he entered the tavern the sight of Sheshai waiting for him accosted him.
Before he could respond, twenty loyal followers of Sheshai jumped the five bodyguards and overwhelmed them, slitting throats, piercing hearts, and bashing skulls.
Talmai killed three attackers before a battery of five gibborim held him down.
Sheshai walked up to Talmai, who pulled fruitlessly at his captors’ hold.
“Talmai, my brother, has it come to this? We are now reduced to fighting for petty control over one another? Whatever happened to our family legacy? Our dreams of dominion?”
Talmai looked back with burning eyes. “You betrayed our people long before you handed over those hostages. You have always been interested in your own legacy, your own “dreams of dominion.” Ahiman was your proxy and I have been the fly in your ointment.” Talmai stopped and smiled. “Or should I say, your wife’s ointment?”
Sheshai went flush. He suddenly realized that Talmai had been sleeping with his wife. That he had been a fool not to see the signs. It only angered him more. He had been stabbed in the kidney at the tumulus, but now he had been stabbed in the heart by his own brother.
“Get him out of my sight. I will deal with him after we wipe these Habiru off the face of the earth.”
The guards shackled Talmai and pulled him away.
“And bring me my wife.”
Outside the tavern, Joshua pulled back out of sight as the guards carried Talmai away to the dungeon. Joshua was disguised in the clothes of the dead servants from the sacred gilgal. He had found his way through the city pretending to be a lowly servant with a mission from his master.
He now knew that Sheshai was in control of the city again. He wondered how he would be able to get into that control post and kill the commander in chief. Of course, it might enable the rise of Talmai back into power, but he had to risk it because Sheshai was a brilliant tactician who had the experience to outmaneuver Caleb.
Joshua had to assassinate Sheshai.
Chapter 62
The four archangels formed a perimeter around Mikael, whose burns had incapacitated him in pain. Sand had rubbed into the burns and increased his agony.
The
priests of Ba’al were coming down from the rocks to attack them.
Raphael drew his sword. Uriel drew both of his and tossed one to Gabriel.
“Thanks,” said Gabriel.
“I want it back.”
“You’ll get it back.”
The angels noticed something about the priests. They jerked and twitched as if they were human puppets. And they did not move with coordination. They were erratic.
The eyes of the priests were turned up inward into their heads, showing only the white of their corneas. They growled with inhuman presence.
“They are infested with demons of the Nephilim!” shouted Gabriel. They had noticed this happening before, and it was becoming increasingly evident that the spirits of the dead Nephilim, those hybrid beings of human and Watcher killed in the flood and other judgments, were possessors. They were restless wandering mists that sought human bodies to inhabit. The worshippers of idols were prime targets. Once a human opened himself up to dark forces, the demons were allowed to enter and take control.
One of the advantages of having a Nephilim spirit in the body was the increased strength it gave. A possessed human could have the strength of three or four men and an uncontrollable wildness.
And they were harder to kill. A severely wounded human possessed by a demon could continue its villainy by the power of the evil spirit animating its body.
Those superhuman monsters now descended upon the three angels.
The uncoordinated frenzy of the demonic horde was countered by the trained Karabu discipline and synchronization of the archangels.
Uriel sliced and cut like a windmill with his one blade. Raphael hacked with angry protective moves over Mikael.
Uriel and Gabriel were belting out their kills with competitive zeal.
Uriel yelled, “Five demons sent to Sheol!”
Gabriel yelled, “Six!”
“Good for you. Can I have my sword back?”
“Have some patience.”
Uriel yelled, “Seven and eight! Beat that!”
Gabriel ducked and dodged a priest who swung a strange blade at the end of a pole. It was curved and sharp and very large. Within moments Gabriel had stolen the weapon from the minion and cut its head off.