by James Somers
He jogged over in his light, sandy colored garments, sweat rolling off of his arms and forehead. "Master Isaiah, I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting a visit today."
"I'm sorry that I must make one, James," he said.
James' reaction was immediate. His smile dropped to a tense frown, his eyebrows knitted together in anticipation of what he was about to hear.
"Are your lion's well-fed and strong today?" Isaiah asked.
James nodded. "Of course, Master. They are always ready for whatever service you require. Is there trouble of some kind?"
Isaiah nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. An army is making its way beyond Broken Pass toward the Pine Forest."
James tensed. "An army? Mordred's men?"
Isaiah nodded again. "Yes, but they are not normal men. Mordred has managed to somehow transform these soldiers into brutes-as much animals as men. They will not be easy, even for the pride."
James stood confidently and smiled. "My lions are up to the task any time Mordred's soldiers are involved, Master. I was about to feed them their supper, but they'll feast in the forest instead."
Isaiah didn't appear as confident as James. He looked weary-he felt weary-as though he'd managed all his long years to hold time at bay and maintain his youthful vitality. But now, he withered more and more by the moment after hearing of Gideon's betrayal. "James, I'm sorry to have to tell you that Gideon-our Gideon-is leading this army-leading the enemy to our door."
James appeared as jolted by the news as Peter and the others had been. Isaiah pressed on, saying, "More than any of Mordred's soldiers, Gideon must not be allowed to leave the forest. Mordred's army will not be able to find the tunnel without him."
James nodded slowly. He looked back into Isaiah's tired eyes. "The pride will move at once to intercept these invaders."
He turned and sped across the hill toward the place where his lions usually congregated around a central reservoir which was fed by one of the mountain streams flowing through the valley. Isaiah turned back to Jason. "That is all we can do, besides pray and hope that it is not Shaddai's will to surrender this place to the enemy."
Sparse trees and brush yielded to a vast forest of pines. So many copper colored needles lay upon the ground, that it became impossible to discern how the trail wound its way through. Grimwald rode forward and came alongside Gideon sitting upon his horse gazing into the trees.
"How far does this forest stretch? How long before we come to the Temple?" Grimwald asked.
Gideon did not look at the General. He seemed to be summing up the way ahead. "The forest is several miles across and we must pass through in order to reach the tunnel and access the Temple."
"Anymore surprises I should be aware of before we proceed?" Grimwald said sarcastically.
"It's hard to say. There are many wild beasts that roam this forest, but most wouldn't bother an army marching through."
"Humph. Let's hope so for your child's sake," Grimwald said. He turned back toward the army of demonic hybrids and motioned them on. "Stay within sight of others. We'll need everyone to come through safely so we can take the Temple beyond!"
This news of the Temple's nearness seemed to rouse the beastly men. They were ready for blood, ready to come against the bastion of truth and its ministers in order to see it razed to the ground. No man would stand before them.
Grimwald motioned to Gideon. "Lead the way, priest…and no tricks."
Gideon leered at the General but said nothing. He goaded his animal forward into the trees. There was a definite way to go through the forest and many ways to become hopelessly lost. But Gideon knew what signs to look for-the landmarks set to guide the priests of Shaddai safely through. More than that, he also knew where traps had been laid in order to snare unsuspecting enemies.
Gideon considered what he should do. He could simply keep silent and hope a few of these monsters were destroyed, or he might inform Grimwald. If he were very fortunate, perhaps Grimwald would be one of the first to encounter one of the traps and be killed. Still, none of that really mattered. He was still a traitor despite anything that happened now.
Grimwald's demons fanned out behind him. They formed lines proceeding through the trees never more than an arm's length apart. A cool fog hung suspended in the air. Sound seemed to be stifled. No animals appeared to be moving anywhere.
The complete void of activity did not go unnoticed by Gideon. He perked to the silence, his ears seeking and finding nothing but a warning in it. This was wrong. Something was coming. Every living thing in the forest, except this army, knew it.
Gideon's horse grew nervous beneath him. Grimwald's seemed to grow anxious as well, but the General only barked at the animal, forcing it onward through the trees. Behind them, the demonic hybrids trudged on, some of them sniffing the air now.
"Something's coming!" shouted one. All along the front line, the soldiers drew weapons to the ready. The sound of scraping metal, as weapons were loosed, crossed the forest behind Gideon like dominos falling.
Gideon could think of only one thing that would cause all of this. He turned to Grimwald as the General watched the hybrids prepare for whatever lay ahead of them. "Follow me, Grimwald, if you want to live!"
Gideon kicked into his horse's haunches, "Hiya," sending the animal forward with a burst of speed. Grimwald waited only a moment, considering, before doing the same. He shot away from the bewildered hybrids in pursuit of Gideon.
The trees passed quickly on either side. Grimwald had nearly caught up, calling to Gideon in anger. "What are you doing, priest? There's nothing here!"
No sooner had he said it, before huge brown blurs shot away from the trees, roaring furiously. The beasts lunged and missed. "Lions!" Grimwald shrieked. Gideon pulled his body down over the right side of his horse as one of the beasts passed over his stallion's haunches and fell away.
Grimwald blanched as a lioness closed the distance. He pulled his sword from the sheath upon his saddle and made ready to strike. The lioness leaped as another appeared flanking her. General Grimwald, startled by the second lion, misjudged and swung too early. The lioness hit his arm after the blade passed before her face and caught him in her teeth.
The lioness wrenched Grimwald from his saddle back over the rear of his black stallion. He crashed into the ground, his arm torn and bleeding profusely. "Gideon!" he cried in panic.
Gideon pulled up to a stop as lions flooded into the area around them. Behind, the hybrids had surged forward in a roaring wave, flying into the lions, even as others were taken down and mauled upon the forest floor. Gideon looked back, searching for Grimwald and found him on the ground trying to fend off the lioness with a long dagger held in his good hand.
Gideon considered the matter. He could save Grimwald and be sure of his child's safety, or let him die and probably have one of the hybrids inform Mordred. The lioness circled, her muzzle pulled back, exposing her bloodstained teeth. She would charge in seconds.
Gideon spotted three carnivores closing on him. He bolted toward Grimwald's position and loosed his sword. He charged at the lioness slashing wildly. She backed away, but the other three on his trail joined her, surrounding the two men. "What do we do?" Grimwald said as he gained his feet again. He stood back to back with Gideon watching the lions. Gideon thrust his sword in every direction, while the lions looked for a way through.
"You're going to have to help, Grimwald!" Gideon shouted above the din. At least one hundred lions had scattered their army among the trees. Demonic hybrids lay dead everywhere mingled with the carcasses of slain lions.
Grimwald threw down his dagger and picked his sword back up with his good hand. "There are too many. We'll never get out of here!" Grimwald grew furious. "You've led us into a trap, and you can be sure our spiritual allies will get this news back to Mordred."
Gideon gritted his teeth.
"If I die, priest, then so will your son!"
Gideon screamed in fury, then lunged at the nearest lion. The beast tried to dod
ge away, but Gideon still landed a deadly blow. Another tried to lunge for Grimwald, his wounded arm still covered in blood. Gideon flung his sword back into the charging lion, striking it in the breast as it leaped toward the General.
He flew past Grimwald taking the General's sword and charged into the other lions. Gideon killed the first, but the second hit him hard, knocking him to the ground. He reacted immediately-instinctively. Gideon thrust two fast knees into the lioness' side to knock the wind out of her.
The lioness tried to maul him, but Gideon ducked his forearm below her jaw and thrust upward exposing her neck. He pulled a dagger strapped to his thigh and jammed it into the lion's neck. The beast recoiled immediately, gasped, and then fell dead.
Gideon rolled out and got to his feet. The fighting was dying down already. The battle had taken its toll on Grimwald's forces, but they weren't down for the count by any reckoning. The General surveyed the damage.
Demonic hybrids, many of them battered and bloody, began to regroup as the last of the attacking lions were either killed, or retreated into the forest to lick their wounds. Grimwald and Gideon walked back toward the others, hoping to find their horses. Gideon had seen these lions before. He had known many of them since they were only cubs. The Order of Shaddai kept them as a contingency plan in case the Temple was attacked-more than a match for any normal army, but not this one.
Most of the hybrids had survived. These toughest among Grimwald's host would be the same to take on whatever priests were undoubtedly preparing to meet them inside the Temple itself. Gideon surveyed the carnage regretfully. He couldn't help but wonder if he should have allowed the lioness to take Grimwald while he had the chance.
"So…it really is you."
Gideon turned to find a man mortally wounded-a broken spear protruding from his belly. "James?" He'd known the Lion Keeper well. It shouldn't have surprised him to see the man here on the battlefield. James had never let his lions out of his sight. He had always treated them all as if they were his children.
Gideon couldn't help wondering if having his lions scattered among the dead didn't cause him more pain than his own wounds. James' lifeblood seeped out onto a bed of dead pine needles around him. Still, he struggled for a few final words. "I've never doubted Isaiah before, but somehow I just couldn't picture you betraying us. I was wrong though, wasn't I?"
Gideon found himself unable to speak, unable to even try and defend himself from the accusations. He deserved this, only a thousand times more. James leveled his gaze on the battlefield. His face slackened, and his eyes closed as though he would rest. Then he stopped breathing altogether.
Gideon could only stare at the man he had called friend for so many years. Will it be the same when we get to the Temple? How many of my friends will I have to watch die today?
General Grimwald rode up behind him on his recovered horse. "So, one of the priests unleashed the lions. Then they know we are coming. We must hurry before they all escape. Get your horse, and let's keep moving. The priests must not get away."
Gideon closed his eyes. Even closed he could still see James lying there against the pine. Grimwald rode on past him as one of the demon soldiers pulled another horse toward him. He looked on to the end of the forest toward the place where they would enter the Temple. "If only they would escape," he sighed, "But that won't be their plan."
Gideon looked at the demon hybrid who released the horse's rein. It snorted at him indifferently, then returned to the reorganized ranks. Gideon hoisted himself sluggishly into the saddle. He dreaded what lay ahead, what he would have to watch. He prayed silently, again, that Shaddai might stop this army before they arrived.
CONFLAGRATION
It had only taken another hour to get Grimwald's hybrid army to the archway which led into the main Temple courtyard. Normally, Gideon would have expected a number of guard patrols to intercept intruders before they got this far. And he already understood what it meant that they had not.
The priests of Shaddai were preparing to face an army-one they knew was coming. This was why they had sent out the lion pride. This was why no guards had been waiting for them along the way-why no audible alarm had been sounded. A battle was going to take place, perhaps in moments and everyone involved knew it.
Gideon felt sweat evaporating upon his brow in the cool breeze which now reached them. As he and General Grimwald rode to a stop under the great stone archway, they surveyed the vast, empty training ground of The Order of Shaddai. Normally, priests by the hundreds would have been assembled in small groups, sparring with one another, training with bows or practicing sword techniques. But nothing at all moved.
His eyes darted across the expanse, but he could not locate one single priest. Gideon hoped that the priests had evacuated, but he couldn't make himself believe it. The priests of Shaddai did not run away from a fight. He supposed some would have certainly escaped with the parchment scrolls so precious to their Order; however, the majority would be waiting inside, somewhere, ready to strike.
Grimwald looked over at Gideon, a smirk on his face. He looked almost victorious. "I would have expected more from warriors of your caliber, Gideon," Grimwald said.
Gideon looked at him in disbelief as the General turned back to the hybrid army lined up behind them. "It appears the priests have taken advantage of our delay back in the forest and ran. Nevertheless, I want a thorough search of this entire complex. Any parchments are to be brought to the center of the courtyard. If you locate any stragglers, I want them brought to me alive." He turned back to Gideon. "We can find out where they've all gone, one way or another." Grimwald rode forward beneath the arch into the courtyard.
Gideon stared at the man as he confidently led his hybrids beneath the arch into the Temple. "Oh, I already know where they are," he muttered. Demon hybrids backed up behind Gideon's horse. "Get moving, priest. Don't think you're going to hang back and get away."
Gideon regarded the hideous features on the demonic face and then turned in his saddle. He rode on after Grimwald and his army as they began to fan out in the courtyard. As they passed several training stations on his right, Gideon noticed that all of the weapons were missing-in this case bows and arrows. Another station had an empty wooden barrel, which he remembered usually had been filled with swords.
Gideon's eyes ran across the courtyard, then beyond to the first sets of stairs leading upward into the higher levels of the Temple. He searched the terraces and walkways running through the rock face of the chasm. There was not a soul visible, but that didn't mean they weren't there.
He suddenly realized what was about to happen-what plan of action the priests would execute. He reached for the heavy shield attached on the right side of his stallion's saddle. Gideon turned around as the horse continued steadily forward with the flow of traffic.
All of Grimwald's army was now inside the courtyard-beginning to fan out toward the lower level archways on all sides of the field and the great stone staircases in order to access all of the higher levels of the complex. Gideon realized now would have been the time to-
Arrows fell out of the sky like rain, sinking into the flesh of hybrids all around him. Gideon barely managed to raise the shield above his head before several trembling shafts sank into the black leather bound to steel on the front side. Howls of anger and pain rose up from the army of hybrids as war cries echoed out from the terraces and walkways above the courtyard, on every side.
Gideon saw his fellow priests rise from behind the stone walls with bows-more than a hundred in all. Arrow shafts flew from quivers to bowstrings with dizzying speed as they continued the onslaught upon the hybrid army below them. Several arrows pierced his stallion, sending the animal into a wild panic. Gideon pulled his sword from its sheath on the saddle and leaped away with his shield as the horse tore through the crowd in terror. It plowed through hybrid soldiers before being cut down by the ever-falling hail of arrows.
The entire host of Grimwald's army had now scattered in search of
cover. Gideon ran among them, dodging here and there, bumping into demon soldiers, many of which had several arrows sticking out of their bodies like pincushions. Still, these otherworldly soldiers carried on, defiant of death despite what their mortal bodies cried out for.
Gideon had no idea what had happened to General Grimwald in the ensuing chaos down on the training grounds. It was every man, or hybrid, for himself now and the majority was running for cover to the arched tunnels on all sides. But as they grew near, more cries resounded from the darkened archways which led back into the rock.
Heavily armed priests streamed out onto the courtyard toward the fleeing hybrids. Gideon saw them and immediately spotted their first mistake. In the priests' attempt to keep the hybrids on the field under fire from their archers above, they had now mingled themselves with the targets. Just as he suspected, the hail of arrows ceased as the priests on the bottom level clashed with the first of the hybrids.
The demon possessed men with their greater strength had not been cut down in number nearly as much as was necessary for this company of priests to take them. The jutting arrows from their wounds only seemed to spur them on in fury. They hit the line of priests like a tidal wave and quickly smashed through their line. Now the priests were surrounded, mingled among the demons. With their otherworldly speed and strength they cut down many of the priests very quickly.
How many, Gideon wondered? How many of these warriors were still in training as apprentices. Their first battle, utilizing half learned techniques, would be their last. Gideon tried to stay out of the fighting with the priests, but several times he had to defend himself from sword attack. He never struck back at the priests trying to kill him, but they still didn't last long with so many demon hybrids on the field.
Gideon noticed that the archers, unable to continue the fight from the protection of the stone terraces, had come down to entangle themselves in the struggle raging on the courtyard. He saw some of the brutes from Grimwald's army falling, but not as many as he would have hoped. How he longed, right now, to join his fellow priests and strike down these abominable creatures, but the threat against his infant son remained foremost in his mind.