James Somers - The Sword of Gideon

After a mile or more of steady retreat and fighting, the king's entourage found a few undamaged wagons. They all piled into them and took off at a much greater pace for the palace. Seth deftly leaped into one of the wagons and called back for Levi as he screamed furiously cutting down another hybrid.

Levi smiled at his fallen foe and then looked up at the sound of distant, closing hoof-beats. Wraith Riders, five or six dozen at least, charged hard up the main road after them. Levi turned and ran for the wagon as it started away with the King and all of his surviving personal guard. "Wraith Riders!" Levi yelled as he leaped for the speeding wagon.

Seth caught Levi's arm with one hand, his belt with the other and hauled him onboard. He shouted back to the driver, warning him of the threat. The wagon lurched away even faster. But the palace remained another mile away. At the rate the Wraith Riders were closing on them, it would be close getting inside with the king before they were overtaken. The Anakims may have been big and the hybrids brutally vicious, but the Wraith Riders were both, with the sort of fighting skill found in the warrior-priests of Shaddai added in.

Their wagons passed through the palace gates. Levi leaped from the back of his wagon in order to close the gates upon the Wraith Riders and give the King and his men more time to fortify. Devon followed and together they pushed the sculpted iron gates into place. Levi found the lever which locked them together and pulled it down. With a heavy click, the deed was done and only just in time.

The Wraith Riders, wearing their leather masks with devilish faces painted upon them and midnight black armor, raced through the streets toward the gates. They looked like a wave of beetles coming to claim a carcass. Levi and Devon ran back through the main palace courtyard, following the trail of the wagons.

As the two men reached them again, the King's entourage of soldiers and warrior-priests escorted Stephen inside the palace. Levi found Seth and they followed. Heavy wooden doors were shut and great cedar beams laid into place across the frame to seal them.

"Come, men," Stephen said. "We must retreat to the armory. It is well fortified and we'll have all the weapons we need."

The men followed him through the palace, rising level by level. Seth stopped and grabbed Levi's arm. He listened with his more attuned hearing for a moment. "I hear the riders. They've stopped at the gate." A moment's pause. "They're cutting through."

"Through iron bars?" Levi asked, but he already knew it must be true. After all, they weren't dealing with natural things, but unnatural. After all that Levi had witnessed in this war, he found his own seeming surprise moot. A moment later, as they started after the king again, Levi heard the renewed sound of many horses galloping upon the cobblestones of the main courtyard.

He knew already that the doors they had shut after themselves throughout the palace would do nothing to keep these riders at bay. Soon they would find them. Then it would be a fight to the death. He would do his best, but he wasn't sure how long they would hold out. At the very least, he was fighting side by side with some of the finest warriors he'd ever known and that might make a difference.

Suddenly Levi wanted very much to have Ethan with him. The boy had become separated from them during the fight at the front gate. He dwelt on it for only a moment as he moved on.

By the time they had all reached the armory, and were about to shut up its solid iron doors, Seth grabbed Levi's arm again. "They're in the palace!"

Gideon reached the palace in time to see the King and his men shutting themselves up inside. The Wraith Riders had reached the courtyard gate and had sliced through solid iron bars with little difficulty. Two of the riders launched their black steeds at the gate and kicked it down with their front hooves. The lot of them, more than fifty as far as he could tell, stormed across the cobblestone courtyard toward the palace rising above it.

Gideon ducked around the palace, looking for another way in. He'd managed to find a grappling hook from one of the fallen soldiers along his way and spotted a terrace several stories up that looked like a good place to enter. He threw the four pronged steel head up and over the stone rail; pulled it to make sure he had good purchase and then steadily pulled himself up the wall.

Ethan rode up upon the sidewall closing in the palace courtyard. His black stallion whinnied loudly when it saw the other horses and their riders assembled before the palace entrance while three of the Wraith Riders bashed the wooden doors in. Many of the riders looked up to find him there and pointed only to be shocked when he disappeared from the saddle.

Ethan flew out of thin air into the midst of the riders with his sword drawn and ready for action. He felt alive like never before, the spirit of Shaddai filling him to the brim with confidence and strength. Mordred became visible to him, his horned mask standing out now while the riders were still.

Sword outstretched, Ethan launched himself at the warlord only to have a dozen Wraith Riders intercept him. He battled toward Mordred screaming the man's name as the palace doors were smashed in. Mordred immediately launched his horse toward the doors. Ethan fought and killed many of the soldiers despite their prowess, but there were always more to stand between him and Mordred.

Ethan decided to bypass them altogether and shifted into the spiritual realm. But there, waiting for him, was a horde of demons and Jericho standing among them the most prominent. As the physical world and its inhabitants became only a backdrop, Ethan and the demon lord surveyed one another.

"So," Jericho said, "you have come."

There was menace and perhaps even delight in Jericho's tone. And yet, Ethan felt no fear.

"Of course, I'm here," Ethan said. "The prophecy must be fulfilled. There is no avoiding it."

Jericho did not move. Something about that statement had rattled him. Ethan could sense it even if he didn't see it. He looked around him, trying to take in the sheer number of wicked spirits present-waiting to pounce upon him. "I guess I shouldn't expect a fair fight from you," Ethan said.

Jericho smiled and drew his massive ethereal blade. "Do you really believe it would matter?"

Before Ethan could answer, a furious howl arose from among the demons surrounding them. In an instant, Ethan found that each and every one of the demons, other than Jericho, was now guarded by an angel. He hadn't seen them approach. They had just appeared in place, many with their weapons drawn to the throats of their particular demon. One move and they would be dispatched to wherever it was their wounded fled.

Ethan turned back to Jericho. Confidence shone brightly from his eyes, while the demon lord looked far less than pleased.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion!" he bellowed. But not one of the angels bothered to respond to him. Jericho looked about him. No one was coming to his aid.

"So be it," he said, disgusted. Without further reservation, Jericho launched himself at Ethan. With hardly a thought, Ethan's blade appeared in his hand. He blocked the strike from the demon and parried.

Jericho whirled and met his blade as another appeared in Ethan's other hand. He tried to use some of the techniques Gideon had taught him, but the demon was simply too powerful. Tricks that had allowed him to vanquish other spirits fell short with Jericho.

None of the other demons dared to interfere. The angels remained on guard, but did not try to help him beyond their mandate. Ethan knew the fight was his. He was the Deliverer of Prophecy. He would have to struggle through by faith.

For several moments their battle raged on. Had they been perceptible by human eyes at all, they would simply have appeared as blurs of color amid the clash of almost constant lightning.