The Rebellion of The Angels, page 24
The companies that King Lagash requested went through the walls of the town, heading one towards the East and the other towards the West, in greeting of the kingdoms that arrived in the aid of them, and minutes later they returned escorting those who little by little entered the town.
Then, both the kings Pashishu, of the kingdom of Anu, and Ishaku, of the kingdom of Enlil, who came from the eastern region, like the kings Ishtar, of the kingdom of Kish, and Sargon, of the kingdom of Agade, who did the same from the Western region, met with the host, King Lagash, saying Ishaku, as the soldiers were distributed by different areas to clear the entrance:
—I am glad we arrived on time. Unfortunately, the other kingdoms were attacked and destroyed by the enemies, although we do know about people who were able to escape and who can now be hidden in any part of the continent.
—For that reason we had no choice but to leave our towns in the company of our friendly peasants —King Pashishu said, whose empire also belonged to the East region, looking at many of them who, close and frightened, hugged their children and grandparents.
—In Chacra there is room for everyone. General, opened the rooms to house refugees, and took all the peasants and people unprepared to fight there —The general left immediately making gestures, summoning many of his men to the task, while his king, Lagash, continued talking to his four colleagues:
—This day will be remembered as the day when men united as brothers in the fight for and to preserve their existence.
—Blessed is this day —said Sargon, king of Agade.
—I suggest we divide by different areas to deploy a more orderly and strategic battle. You —Lagash told his two colleagues from the western region, Sargon, from the kingdom of Agade, and Ishtar, from the kingdom of Kish—. take your men to the stairs of the west end and distribute them in that area, and you do the same with yours, but for the east area —He told the two remaining kings—. My people and I will protect the entrance. As for the cavalries, the most appropriate would be to wait for the enemy to approach the walls and then yes, deploy our attacks in a surprising way.
—Then let's divide now —King Ishtar of the Kish kingdom said, and while the peasants and their families and other people unprepared for war were taken to the rooms built for their protection, the kings and their troops were divided according to the agreed sectors.
The night fell serene and starry, but the moon that appeared behind the high hills on the North of the town, was intimidated by two columns that constituted two armies of demons, one more numerous and armed than the other.
The air, until then bright, was polluted and nauseating, and that smell travelled along the ground until it crashed against the high and strong walls that protected the town of Chacra. This was a signal for the soldiers working as sentries
One of the four friends of Abed who stayed in that nation at the request of him, and who served as archers on the walkway where the entrance to the town was, even without knowing if that was the moment when he should sound the horn, he blew it until the air in his lungs said enough, announcing the arrival of the enemies.
From their respective positions, the five kings went up the stairs that led to that walkway that extended along the main wall, without being able to believe the magnitude of the enemy armies that covered the high hills to the North, although they decided to camp in them and not to continue moving towards the town.
As if they expected someone's order, or a certain time to deploy all their fury against the men of the southern kingdoms who had not yet fallen under the weight of their weapons, and who secretly —only King Lagash and a few of his soldiers knew it— hid the Holy Grail, that sacred cup that the neutral angels led by Hope took from the Kingdom of Heaven after the celestial contest began, which ended with the fall of the angel Lucifer, or Satan, to the underworld.
Precisely, the Holy Grail rested in the king's office, protected by a forceful troop, which guarded the entrance and windows of the palace from outside.
Hours passed and shortly before dawn, a messenger demon appeared in the high hills before those who were responsible for leading the armies of demons that were going to attack the town of Chacra and that, by the way, Satan did not considered as his disciples.
That demon appeared making a hole in the floor —as they always did, since they were travelling underground— and saying, close to a campfire of the many that were around dozens of tents and armaments, that is to say catapults, bales of dry grass that would be thrown fire lit, thick trunks and stairs that would be used to cross the walls.
—Attack the town of Chacra. Find the Holy Grail. Once the sacred cup is found, make sure you do not left a soul alive. Eliminate not only men and soldiers, but also children, women and the elderly ones. Do not leave the town of Chacra until it burns in flames. When that happens, get closer to the nearest East Coast, there you will be picked up by our ships.
Communicate with us when your successful mission has ended —Saying all this, the messenger demon was lost again underground, and one of those who decoded his message shouted:
—Break camp... and prepare to attack... —There was then a great movement in the high hills that was appreciated from the watchtowers of the town, although until then no demon was advancing towards that place.
However, this manoeuvre did not take much longer... The demons covered the entire length of the high hills, which was something like twice the wall of access to the town, marching in turn many others in a single file, in a column that was wide and extensive, almost infinite.
Once the men saw the enemies approaching, Abed´s friend who announced with the horn the arrival of those demons during the previous night, blew it again but this time on more than one occasion, as a signal that the enemy was approaching with all its arsenal and apparently ready to make the town of Chacra disappear and to whatever soul it was in it, whether it was native of that kingdom or not.
The kings looked at each other fearfully, even before the courage that they, for being kings, had to aroused their soldiers, who were very concentrated and surprised by the deployment of demons, did not have time to observe the faces of those five monarchs who, by such action, could have ruined everything, maybe before time. Since that was not the attitude or image that the maximum leader of an empire should have. And when they realised, they had the demons positioned at a distance that was already asking for war. Then, the host king of the town of Chacra shouted at all men no matter what kingdom they belonged to, recovering the attitude and image of the maximum leader that a king should have.
—¡May the kingdoms of the South be united! Let's rise our hearts and fight to finish and throw these demons out of our territories, our lands, our continent —And they all agreed in a fervent shout that deafened the demons, who led by the one who received the message of the little demon that ordered them to attack, they responded in the same way after they circumstantial leader thought.
—My brother demons, we are perpetrators of the disappearance of men and we will get the Holy Grail back from this town, the sacred cup that the angels of God did not know how to protect —Without wasting more time to attack that kingdom of men after blowing the horn they possessed... After which they also heard the sound of the men starting from the walkway that extended over the main wall, where when they saw that some demons loaded the catapults while others approached with thick trunks at the entrance of the town to knocked it down, and many others with stairs to climb the high walls, after the order of the host king “Shoot”, the archers threw the first arrows but still they could not prevent the first debris thrown by the demons from falling close to them, exploding against the walls to weaken them.
Then the kings agreed in a shout: “Catapults”, and their soldiers approached as much armament of that type as they had inside that town, and also loading them with debris, they responded to the enemy attacks that in turn counterattacked again, including the archers demons using their bows and arrows.
The demons managed to position themselves near the main wall, because they were so many that the archery men could not throw arrows and prevent the first stairs carried by their enemies from being in contacted with the walkway on the top of the wall; so soon after, that high place was invaded by demons who drew their swords deploying all their fury against the archery men, among them the four surviving friends of Abed, who as quick defence used their arrows as knives or swords perhaps, being defended shortly after by other male soldiers, who with their swords went up the stairs in search of enemy demons.
But there was no doubt that these devil beings had several combat alternatives, since while many gathered with thick trunks next to the main door to knock it down and enter the town, that entrance was defended from the other side by dozens and dozens of men soldiers. Many other demons lit torches and with them, the bales of dry grass, which were placed in the catapults and that the demons did not hesitate to throw to the other side of the wall, trying to burn part of the town, and that those bales impacted against men, as it happened in some cases, setting them on fire... So the immediate response of the men to such an unforeseen attack was to run to take as much container as possible and load it with water from the nearby wells, trying to extinguish the fires that were produced by different sectors. They even tried to save the lives of many companions who threw themselves into the water wells without caring about the consequences, and in some cases, it was still too late to save their lives.
At times the water seemed not to be enough, so they did not hesitate to take old rags and also try to extinguish the fire, which in some cases prevented the use of certain catapults. But the remaining catapults continued throwing debris that, passing over the walls, hit the demons by burying them on the floor or sending them to hell itself maybe, and in other cases destroying their catapults falling on them.
But this happened and continued with the same fury only in one of the battle fronts that this immense war had, next to open a new combat front, a new fight that perhaps, would even be more relevant than the one mentioned, because it depended on the last one, that the battle recently initiated in the town of Chacra ended.
The caravel with Experience, Youth and their company was still travelling through the ocean, but all the occupants knew that in a few hours they would arrive at the island of the Valleys of Fire; not only because of the number of accumulated days of travel —weeks perhaps— but mainly because that was how the power of the cards of the wizard Suleiman described it. In fact, as the cards informed, the fleet of enemy ships that left from the Ghost Port, in which six of the leading demons baptized by Satan as such travelled in the company of the hostage Rahab, had already reached that island, and supposedly these were ahead Experience and Youth´s group for less than a day of travel.
It was late at night, which, like all of them, was cold and windy. And as they advanced, they were covered with large banks of fog, which could be a first sign that they were approaching land. Even so, nobody but the man who owns the caravel, the captain, as he wanted to be named instead of using his name, gave orders.
Experience and Youth remained close to the helm in charge of the captain, in the company of Light and Peace, who, knowing that they were close to the island, with greater reason took turns to use that spyglass, trying to discover land.
The rest was distributed by different areas of the caravel, which sailed fast in favour of the current. Eyes of Heaven and Hope remained near the prow as if wanting to see beyond.
Close to dawn and to step on the enemy island, Eyes of Heaven took Hope from her hands and without caring if someone saw them, sideways so as not to look forward and think about the future, he said without being able to escape from it:
—Hope, we both know there will be a war but neither of us know if we will live out of it, and if one of us should be alive, that will be you because while my heart beats, I will do the impossible so that nothing happens to you. But what I really want you to know is that from the depths of my soul I thanks that you were mine. I have no words to describe what you made me feel and there are no words of gratitude for such an act of pleasure that made me a man; stop being a savage man to become a man capable of love. I love you and if I die, I hope I will find you in the beyond, if God gives us another chance.
—I love you too, Eyes of Heaven —She said, kissing him, both of them interrupted by the energetic shout of Light, which attracted even the very whales that appeared curious.
—¡Island in sight! ¡Island in sight! —She acknowledged thanks to the dissipation of the fog banks in the surroundings of the archipelago.
Then, also the boat hurried as it happened to those whales, rushing in an organised way though, to change their clothes for a more propitious for war, collected their weapons and covered their posts.
—I will be near you protecting you —Eyes of Heaven said to Hope, after which he went for his uniform and his weapons, as well as after looking ahead, discovering the island now within everyone's reach, she did the same.
Light continued observing everything with the spyglass and she assured Experience, Youth, Peace and the captain of the caravel, now already aware in great detail of the dangers that might wait for them:
—I do not see enemies —Then she looked at her guardian angel that was resting in the pocket of her jacket saying:—. And my guardian angel does not contradict me.
—Even so, do not underestimate the enemy —Experience said—. We'd better get ready —She continued, and also the four of them went to their respective rooms.
Meanwhile, the caravel continued approaching the port of that island built by rocks as breakwaters and piers of such nature, which were joined together, allowing the fleets that arrived there to disembark.
Once many of the angels with the skin of men and women had changed their clothes, who now wore trousers, jackets made with a special clothing that had to receive more than one bowl of a sword to be pierced, and tunics, all those light—blue, they returned to their function of sailors, and as soon as the captain approached the port that behind him bordered on a bare and twisted forest, they threw moorings to anchor and the small bridges that connected with the pier to disembark, while others opened the cellar to go at any moment for the horses that rested in them.
Shortly afterwards they left the interior of the caravel, from the area of the rooms, which were reached by the long corridor that they had once hurriedly travelled. And by the hand, Eyes of Heaven and Hope seeking love; Experience, Youth, Light, Peace, Love, Compassion, Hope, Eyes of Heaven, Offer, Temperance and Kindness, differentiating themselves from the rest by wearing the same clothes but white, because these eleven were once and although six of them still were, the angels closest to God, his disciple angels, although one was missing, precisely the inverted angel, the now enemy called Satan before Lucifer, when he was in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Experience approached the captain of the caravel, which together with Suleiman were the only two who would remain in the ship waiting for the results of the war.
—Captain, if on the third day we did not arrive with the light of dawn, you must leave this island. If the war last longer, and some of us can survive, we hope that all, we will return with an enemy ship —The captain accepted the request with sadness, almost with tears in his eyes, while Suleiman told Experience:
—Thank you for saving my life, young lady.
—Thank you for bringing us here in the company of this good man — Experience said, in allusion to the captain of the caravel, who could not hide his emotion, since that could mean the last goodbye to the beings that he appreciated so much for fulfilling his dream.
—Horsemen, ride the horses and disembark. There are several lives to save —Experience said, followed by her closest friends, and in an organised way, each one went to the cellars of the caravel, so they went down a narrow and short stairs, going back up the ramp that was opened little before by some companions. Once they were already on the horses, passing by the short bridges, they slowly left the ship, arriving at the pier and continuing in a gentle trot towards the short beach, which quickly communicated with the bare and twisting forest, so shortly afterwards, they all gathered in the doors of the forest in a thick column made up of three hundred horsemen, among them Abed, the father of the hostage Rahab; and they began to ride up the island, following the footsteps left by the demons who arrived with Rahab as a hostage.
Those horsemen, who gradually lost on their way up the bare forest, were observed by the captain of the caravel and the wizard Suleiman, who remained in the chamber next to the ship's helm.
It was there that the captain of the caravel asked with great anxiety:
—What do the cards tell you about the results of the war? Will our friends be safe? Will they return on the third day? Will they win?
—I prefer not to ask. My anxiety could lie to me. The only thing I can tell you is that they have spirit and courage. They are strong carts pushing always forward. They have worked hard to be successful in their fight, but they will still need a big hand, a big hand that none of us can give them. They will need a supernatural hand, a hand of God...
Meanwhile, those horsemen continued advancing out of the bare and twisting forests, quickly, through a plain that rose beyond, with no vegetation.
The demons that those horsemen chased, arrived to the Valleys of Fire, located in the heart of the island and as its name indicated, in the middle of several valleys that joined, making a huge community that in its most distant end, let appreciate a kind of a great volcano that stood above them; but that shortly before allowed the demon soldiers to rise their base made of innumerable tents, that inside, apparently, had wells that as underground caves, led to underground galleries, since there was no other possibility to understand how so many demons inhabited those tents.
