He patted Ethan’s shoulder with a smile of gratitude as soon as he appeared. “Nice work, brother.”
Gideon began to run for the other end of the throne room. But Ethan hesitated the slightest bit. The acknowledgement gripped his heart. Gideon had never referred to him as brother before. He smiled and followed his friend.
General Hevas Rommil massaged the back of his meaty hand through the studded leather gauntlet. He savored the pain inflicted on some of his former soldiers-men who had failed him today. They had allowed Captain Bonifast to escape from the pirate’s ship still docked in the Macedon harbor. After facing Rommil’s wrath, his soldiers had faced the executioner’s axe.
Rommil peered through a brass spyglass toward King Nichol’s castle, nearly a half mile away, and smiled. He turned to his men lined up along the ridge and the new weapons they were preparing. A line of one hundred short, metal tubes stood propped at an angle on their own stands. A short pile of self-propelled explosive shells stood next to each mortar tube and the two-man team assigned to fire each weapon.
He paused to savor the moment. The pompous brat, Nichols, King of Macedon would soon breathe his last. Hevas had waited a long time for this. The charade of Nichols successful rebellion on Macedon had tarnished his unblemished record. Mordred had desired to use the man for exactly this purpose-a clever trap.
Now came the time to spring it and catch all the mice inside. Hevas raised his broadsword high. The men at each mortar station, along the ridge, prepared a shell at the mouth of the tube while their partners made any necessary adjustments to the angle of trajectory. “Goodbye, Nichols.” Hevas let the words roll off his tongue poetically. “King of Macedon.”
Levi breathed through his mouth, gulping at the air as though it might be his last. “Are you sure this is the only way into the castle?”
Seth crawled through the black slime in the dark tunnel ahead of Levi. He sighed. “Unless you want to assault the main gate, scale the sheer walls under fire, and battle through an entire battalion of soldiers.”
Levi thought a moment, shrugged, then pulled himself up the tunnel another two feet. “What is this stuff anyway?” He sniffed. “It smells like a sewer in here.”
Seth smiled in the dark. “It’s sewage.”
“It’s a good thing you can’t see the look on my face right now.”
“I have a good imagination,” Seth answered. “We do what we must in the service of the Lord, Captain, and to help of our friends.”
Levi sighed again. “True enough, but knowing that does nothing for the smell.”
The trip through the drain tunnel had been slow going over the last hour. Seth and Levi had to slog through the muck on their bellies almost the entire way due to the size of the tunnel.
Levi pulled his hand back suddenly. “Seth, I felt something wriggle across my fingers…what’s in this stuff?”
“Nothing harmful…other than that, I doubt you really want to know.”
Levi considered it. “You’re probably right.” He swallowed hard and then reached for the next handful of filth, pushing his fingers down several inches until he felt the slime covered grooves in the stones. These they used to pull themselves along inches at a time.
A draft of air filtered down the tunnel around them. Seth immediately stopped. Levi grabbed his shoe as he continued his progression. “Why did you stop, Seth? What’s wrong?”
“Listen.”
The ground shook with a sudden tremor followed by a bellow of air and a booming sound. Another quickly followed and another on top of it.
“What in the world is that?” Levi shouted. “Almost sounds like cannons!”
“Almost,” Seth said. Then he listened again as the thunder continued.
“We had better keep moving,” Levi said.
“Wait, there’s something else.”
Levi tried to discern what Seth was referring too. Then he heard it. Mad screeching from animals, only multiplied a thousand times and soaked with panic.
“Is that?”
“Lie down as flat as you can, Captain, and be sure your clothing is pulled tight to your back. Cover your nose and mouth with your hand and try not to breathe unless you absolutely have to!”
The thunder pounded through the tunnel walls even more oppressively. Levi wanted to be out of this hole now. The panic flooding down the tunnel only added to his own anxiety. He pressed against the walls, trying hopelessly to turn himself around. He had to get out of here now!
“Captain, do as I said and we may get out of this alive!” Seth pressed his body down flat into the slime and lay perfectly still.
The screeching grew in volume and intensity as the pounding continued. The pulses of air blasting through the tunnels carried the added stench of filthy living things. Things about to pour through the place where Seth and Levi lay trapped.
“Lord Shaddai, help me!” he cried and pressed his body down flat. Levi covered his mouth as Seth had instructed, shoving his face reluctantly into the disgusting mire. It squished between his fingers trying to reach his mouth. The filth oozed into his ears, muffling the screeching just before it reached him. Then it happened.
Thousands of tiny, clawed feet stampeded across his body in the pitch black darkness of the tunnel. Rats! Hundreds, maybe thousands, poured through the sewer drain in a panicked attempt to flee from whatever danger was producing all of the noise around them.
Levi fought the sensation to vomit into his hand. He knew it wouldn’t have worsened the conditions, but he still had to have a way to breathe. The tiny claws pricked his skin over and over again until he felt like he might go mad right there in the tunnel. He fought to keep down the urge to flail against the creatures in a vain attempt to kill them and escape the moment. Instead, he muttered a prayer into his grimy palm. He tried to focus on why he was even doing this at all. “Oh Lord, help me to rescue my friends. Please let them be all right. I can’t do this without you.”
He wondered if Seth might be holding his own private vigil ahead of him. The rodents continued to wash over them in a seemingly never-ending wave of terror. After an eternity submerged in the madness and filth, Levi felt a single tapping on his shoulder. The change of sensations almost startled him. Then he heard Seth’s muffled voice calling out to him in the darkness as he shook him with his hand. “Captain, are you all right?”
Levi raised his face out of the slime with a loud sucking sound and took a moment to breathe again. Compared to what he’d been through, the ever-present stench seemed like bouquets of fresh flowers. “I’m all right, Seth.” He puffed a few more times, taking in what little precious oxygen was present.
Seth smiled. “Then we’d better keep going. It sounds like your friends are in greater danger than we suspected.”
Levi nodded and the two men began their trek forward again.
EXPLOSIVE RESULTS
The demon-possessed soldiers hacked at the barred wooden doors behind them as Ethan followed Gideon. The priests rounded a corner and came into the throne room where they had originally been introduced to King Nichols. Ethan paused while Gideon ran ahead toward the archway where they had entered before.
Ethan searched the shadows. Something didn’t feel right. More demons? He couldn’t place the feeling of imminent danger on any particular source.
At the far end of the throne room, more of Nichols silver and blue clad soldiers poured through the archway. Gideon grinded to a halt then reconsidered and launched into them head-on. Ethan ran toward the fight to help Gideon.
The polished stone ceiling of the throne room exploded downward. Stone and fire fell upon Gideon and the soldiers. Ethan cried out for his friend, then saw the elder priest evade the avalanche only to be swallowed in a cloud of dust again.
Ethan noticed a low whistling sound coming from outside through the damaged ceiling. He saw several small projectiles arc through the sky toward the castle. He didn’t know what they were-only that they were extremely dangerous. He followed the path of one that would enter the throne room and reacted.