Tim continued to observe the troops within the demon-created hot zone. Several people dropped their shields in order to return fire. Yet those who did paid for their mistake by being baked by the radiant heat around them. Tim turned away in frustration.
“Blast it!” he cursed. “I hadn’t figured on such a huge fireball bombardment. My troops in the canyon are caught in a catch-twenty-two.”
“Catch-twenty-two?” asked Christopher.
“Yeah,” confirmed Tim. “They can’t fire at the demons unless they drop the shields first. But if they drop their shields, the heat around them will just about bake them, so they won’t be able to get off more than one shot. But if they don’t drop the shields and fire, the demons will. In the end their shields will be depleted, and they will suffer the consequences.”
Tim was on his communicator again, barking order after order.
From the ridge, soldiers concentrated their fire upon the demons that had launched the original volley of fireballs, which now had his soldiers in the canyon pinned down. The problem was that there were so many of them.
The two remaining pulse cannons also concentrated their fire upon that hoard of demons in an attempt to break their attack. A second volley of fireballs was launched at the troops in the canyon, though not as powerful a volley as the first. Then that demon contingent scattered.
Still, it became clear that the situation was deteriorating. Whole legions of demons had turned their fire upon the ACs, the one element of Tim’s defense on which he had placed so much hope.
The pulse cannons went silent as the demons took out the last one with a massive fireball volley. The daggers continued their attacks; yet under the weight of such overwhelming numerical odds, even they were slowly succumbing as more and more demon reinforcements streamed in.
As for the children of Heaven, they had become trapped. The intense heat surrounding the mouth of the canyon prevented a ground retreat to Monrovia, and they were surrounded on the other three sides by the demons. It might be possible to teleport back to one of the rings within the city, but then what? Most of Tim’s forces would be unable to follow them, as they would eventually be captured by the demons. Those few who did make it back would end up in a fighting retreat through the tunnels. Eventually, there would be no place left to run.
They had come so far. Tim’s radar operator had estimated the strength of the demon army at nearly 30 million. They had, perhaps, destroyed half of that army—an astounding feat—but now the other half would destroy them.
“It can’t end this way,” lamented Tim. “There has to be a way to win this.”
Megan took her husband’s hand. “It isn’t over yet. I know…I feel that there is still hope.”
A mighty roar came from the salmon sky as a luminescent column of red, shimmering light 200 yards wide descended to the far side of the valley, then vanished. It generated a mighty blast wave radiating out in all directions amid a high speed cloud of dust.
“What the…?” exclaimed Tim, as a second column like the first hit the ground half a mile farther up the valley.
A third and a fourth column quickly followed, both hitting the demon-occupied side of the valley. The shock waves were bearing down on the children at frightening speed. In a few seconds, Tim was once more on his communicator.
“Everyone, find cover, get your shields up!” yelled Tim, even as the first shock wave reached the force field surrounding them.
The visibility reached zero as 100-mile-an-hour winds swept around them. Still, the force field held.
The airwaves were filled with overlapping communications between Tim’s troops, yet they quickly vanished into the growing static. Again and again the children heard the thunderous roar. For three minutes it continued. They could only assume that still more attacks from on high were under way. What was happening? Would these beams of destruction soon be falling upon them?
Silence fell upon the valley. It was then that the communicator on Christopher’s belt became active once more.
“This is Captain Smith of the
Intrepid
calling any ground station, come in.”
Christopher picked up the communicator. “This is apprentice first class Christopher Pace calling
Intrepid
, I read you.”
“Good to hear from you, Mr. Pace,” replied the captain. “Can you confirm that our plasma cannon barrage was on target?”
“The first few shots were right on,” confirmed Christopher. “After that, visibility dropped to zero.”
“I’m sorry that we had to fire so close to your position without warning, but we had no choice,” continued the captain. “Between your troops and the daggers, targeting the demon forces without hitting friendly forces was like threading a needle in the dark—but we did it. We’re showing the demon forces in full retreat.”
By now the dust all around them was settling to reveal the troops at the entrance to the canyon rushing away from the still very hot ground. Some had received pretty serious burns in the process, but they remained an effective fighting force.
In the distance, the rain of plasma energy from space continued to pound the retreating demon forces. It was clear that the battle had been won.
“When it became clear that the forces of Satan were concentrating their full force on Monrovia and not on Refuge, we moved the
Intrepid
over to this side of Hell,” continued the captain. “I’m here to tell you, it was one hectic ride to get over here in time.”
While Tim listened intently to the conversation, he seemed deep in thought. Then he acted. He spoke into his own communicator. “Come on, folks, let’s get organized. I need a ‘go’ or ‘no go’ for Plan C within twenty minutes.”
“Plan C?” asked Jonathon. “What’s that?”
“Someone once told me that the best defense was a good offense,” replied Tim. “I warned the demons about this, but they wouldn’t listen. Now they’re going to pay. If things look good, we’re going on the offensive. We’re going on the attack, starting with the great city of altars at Vendikar. It’s a place where helpless men and women are chained to horrible black altars, and they become a meal for huge birds of prey bred to feed specifically upon human flesh.
“The birds reduce their victims to little more than bones and indigestible organs, only to watch them regenerate and then feed on them all over again. That is worse than what happened to us here. It is relatively close—about five miles. We’re going to defeat their demon sentries and set the captives free. There must be over ten thousand people there.”
Both Christopher and Jonathon looked at Tim skeptically. This guy had to be kidding.
“We barely got out of this battle with our skins intact,” objected Jonathon. “Now you want to step out on a limb and attack?”
“Sure,” confirmed Tim. “We’ve got them on the run. There’ll never be a better time.”
“We never discussed anything like this,” objected Christopher.
“You never asked,” countered Tim. “Look, we’ve got to expand, spread out. This means more soldiers and workers. The next time Satan moves against us we’ll be ten times stronger.”
“Smith to Pace,” said the voice over the communicator.
“Pace here,” replied Christopher.
“Look, we’ve drained our capacitors to nearly the limit,” replied the captain. “I think you’ll be able to handle things from here. We should be back within a few days. Stay in touch with us by telesphere; we’ll keep the line open.”
“Roger,” confirmed Christopher, “and thank you.”
“Glad to help,” replied the captain. The channel went silent.
The airborne dust within the valley continued to clear. The demons that remained were grounded and badly wounded. Already the ACs had begun their assault upon them. Another radio dispatch order from Tim sent several thousand of his people into the valley to seek out the wounded demons.
“What will you do with them?” asked Christopher.
“What we’ve done to all of the other demons in the past,” was the response.
Now Christopher was really confused. “I don’t understand.”
Tim seemed increasingly frustrated. “I really don’t think that this is the time for an explanation.”
“I disagree,” said Jonathon. “I’m also curious. Do you haul them in front of a particle rifle firing squad and destroy them utterly?”
Tim only laughed. “OK, let’s discuss it then. That may work in Heaven, but it doesn’t work here. If you destroy a demon’s body in Heaven, it may not reconstitute there, but the sewer flows downhill. You destroy the body of a demon in Hell, and you’re already at the bottom of the hill. Its spirit has nowhere to go, so it wanders about for a time. Eventually it comes to rest and begins to reconstitute somewhere else.
“They’re like cockroaches; you never seem to be able to get rid of them. All of these demons we fought today will be back—just give them some time. Similarly, all of my people will be back too. It’s just the way it works. In Hell there is no birth and no death; you just get recycled. But I have a way around that.”
“Which is?” asked Christopher.
“I keep them in Monrovia,” replied Tim.
“Wait a minute,” objected Christopher, “I didn’t see any demons wandering around in Monrovia.” Christopher glanced over at Megan, who quickly looked away. Then Christopher turned back to Tim. “What have you done?”
“Nothing more than they have done to us,” snapped Tim. “There is a place in the very deepest depths of Monrovia, a dungeon, cut off from the rest of our great city by hundreds of feet of rock. It’s a dungeon from which there is no escape. The only way in or out is through a single teleportation ring. There I’ve imprisoned them—hundreds of them—bound in chains.
“And to keep them company, my guardians, my ACs if you will, visit them on a regular basis.” A slight smile came to Tim’s face. It was strangely disquieting. “ACs have to eat to survive. In Refuge, Abaddon keeps millions of them in a sort of hibernation, so that they don’t eat him out of house and home. I have a more practical solution. Need I say more?”
“You feed the demons to your ACs?” deduced Jonathon.
“Very good,” replied Tim. “My guardians know where the food is, and since the demons continually regenerate, the food supply is endless. Still, I will need more demons if I am to grow my army of guardians even bigger.” Tim looked over at Goliath, who sat upon his shoulder once more. “Isn’t that right, my dear friend?”
Goliath nodded.
“This is nuts,” objected Christopher. “In doing this, how are you any different from the demons?”
“Because they did it to us first,” objected Tim. For the first time there was anger in his voice. “I watched them do it to my beautiful wife. They did it to me. They are the lowest creatures in God’s creation, lower than the foulest beast that swims or crawls on Earth. You’ve never experienced their cruelty. Don’t lecture me on morality.”
“I have experienced their cruelty,” objected Lilly, turning to Tim even as she discontinued the field of protection surrounding them. “I experienced it during the War in Heaven. You accomplish nothing by descending to their level.”
“Except revenge,” said Megan, in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Then hear these words from the Lord of Hosts,” said Lilly. “Your vision and struggles shall in time make you and your people into a mighty nation. Word of your victories shall spread across this globe. The demons will tremble at the sound of your name. Whether that nation shall be a great nation or not depends upon you. Mighty nations fall, but great nations endure.”
Tim crossed his arms and glared at Lilly. “What is that supposed to mean, child of Heaven?”
“That is for you to determine,” said Lilly. “Understand and embrace its meaning, and your empire may yet endure. Ignore it, and you shall stumble and fall. There is a new Hell coming, Tim Monroe. It is up to you what form it shall take.”
“Up to me?” asked Tim.
Lilly only nodded.
“OK, then answer me this,” asked Tim. “Will I win at Vendikar?”
“Yes,” replied Lilly. “You’ll be victorious at Katlisa and Sarai as well. You will set the captives free. You will in time become Timothy the Great.”
“Timothy the Great,” laughed Tim. “I love that; it has such a nice ring to it.” He turned to Megan, yet she looked away.
A few seconds later Karl’s voice was heard over Tim’s communicator. “Lord Monroe, your army is intact and ready. I’m here to tell you that the people are really psyched. We’ll follow you wherever you lead. God is surely with you.”
Tim hesitated, then he replied. “Then let us proceed. We shall do it just the way we planned. We begin in five minutes.”
“Yes, my lord,” confirmed Karl.
“It’s time for us to leave,” Lilly said in a soft voice.
“Yes, I suppose it is,” said Tim. “I do thank you all for what you’ve done. Perhaps we do not see eye to eye on all things, but I do assure you that I hold each of you in the highest regard.” With those words Tim walked away toward a group of his soldiers heading in his direction.
“Goodbye,” said Megan, following her husband.
Christopher just shook his head. “What did we just do?”
“What we had to do,” said Lilly.
“Hey guys,” Jerry said over Christopher’s communicator, “the other daggers are bugging out; I don’t know to where.”