Crusaders Part 42

15

Present

I never deny that flying is not really my cup of tea, but given the opportunity again, I may just try it again. When I was up there, I thought I was with the Angels. But now we are on icy cold land and without the proper coating. But help came sooner than we thought in the form of small wagons drawn by a droves of dogs. Soon we were wrapped in the thick furs and settled on the small wagon for a bumpy rough across the icy cold ground. We taken to a small settlement of the local natives known as Inuit. They are the descendants of the people who cross the land from the New World continent to here and have settled down here. They stayed near the sea and lived off it as the land is too cold to plant anything.

We put up there in the bright lights as the sun here does not set before the horizon on some period of the year. Our host is the chief of the settlement and we were offered as before; food and shelter. The Chief told us passage has been planned for us by the missionaries who came some days back.

"Who are they? And how did they know of our plight?"

But the missionaries came to our view and I was surprised to see the leader.

"Gabriel, you are the one who came to assist us." All four of us stood up and bowed before the messenger of God. "I was advised to bring you all back to London. So prepare yourself for the trip." Gabriel raised his hands to the skies and from the direct light of the sun, a dark speck was seen. The speck grew wide and its soon showed a golden chariot pulled four magnificent golden horses.

"Behold the Chariot of the Gods." As the chariot pulled up besides us and Gabriel offered us to stand on it. But he said we are to stand close to him so his wings can covered us during the flight. "It would be a swift ride and for some of you it would be an experience of a lifetime. So if you are not prepared, just close your eyes and let me protect you with my wings."

All I remembered was I close my eyes as I feared what I would experienced may be too much for a mortal like me. Just as my thoughts was to end, I heard that we have arrived. Its back to the place where we met Gabriel for the first time.

We dismounted on our unsteady legs and the chariot took on the skies again. We took ourselves to inside of the Church and bow before the image of God.

"Gabriel, tell me of our mission which you have sent us on a long trip across the continents. We have done it but we have not come any closer to our target. Instead we were made to face demons who challenged us, allied our side with one whom we found to be not trustworthy. Something tells me, while we been doing the round, there are more to this rescue task. Please enlighten us, our trusted messenger." I looked at the angle whom we have entrusted our life on for these works.

"My four trusted warriors, I am here to tell you that you have all been deceived on this mission on a false trail. The angel who impersonate me at the forest, is one of ours, but works for his own agenda." Gabriel surprised us with his statement.

"An Angel who impersonate another? Am I hearing right?" I was taken aback that we been send on a wild goose trail by this impostor.

"There are four of us in the Archangel; Gabrielle, whose name means, 'God is Mighty', Michael, whose name means, 'Like God', Raphael, whose name means, 'God Heals, and Lucifer, whose name means, 'Light Bearer'. You know that Lucifer defies God and took one third of the Angels with him as the Fallen Ones. He whom you seek to rescue is needed in need of rescue as your task dictate but I did sent you on the task. I was called away to Heavens and also led on a false trail fo my own. When I realized the trap, I rushed back but I could not seek you at all. When Baal travels with you, he hid your trail from me with his foul demonic scent. But he made a mistake to seek the Man of Nowhere, which is undoing. He did not expect the Man of Nowhere to expose his ways." I stopped the Angel there.

"But why the round trip, unless Baal had another thing going here in this side?"

"Baal did and without your presence and also mine, his minions trap Lucifer with the help of Morgana. When they had succeeded, Morgana joined up with her lover when she learn of his injuries. But she saw the sword on Helmut and she forgot herself. Its not only her who wants the sword, but also Baal. Behold the sword of Helmut is not an ordinary sword, but its the Excalibur. Its one of the few weapons in this mortal world that can harm the Devil. Baal seek to destroy you all by battle or deceit. If you all perished in the quest, he would had retrieved the sword to kill his own father."

"So where do we go now? The Devil is indeed capture by his own son and if he asked me for the sword, I would had loaned it to him if he is to kill his own father." Helmut replied to Gabriel.

"True, my warrior. But what the Angel said to you was also partially right. If the Devil is removed, the balance of light and dark would be jeopardize by it. If we were to looked at the current situation, then we are going to be the loser. Baal has not only the demons on his side but other angels. Its with the Devil alive could we restore the balance."

"So how do we complete our task? Take another trail on Baal to new worlds again, or wait for his strike." Micheal is feeling the discussion lead them to nowhere. "Where is the Devil so we can rescue him?"

"Micheal, like your namesake Angel; you are a man of action. The Devil is here in England but not in London. He is kept imprisoned in the place which holds the magical properties to hold him.' Gabriel raised his hands and showed an image for us.

"Stonehenge!".

It did not take us long to reach there, and although it was dark, but the place around the circle of stones is lighted up like in the morning sun. We found more to our sight beside the stones; a parade of demons and man. Or in the later, what was used to be living flesh but now reincarnated beings of demonic powers or taste.

"Welcome back, Warriors of Light. I hope you enjoyed the educational trail to the New World. I know its not the same as your previous experiences but we still get vanquished despite where we come from. But your presence away for here was enough for me to trap my father." Baal point to the shape of the Devil as he's been held on the mid air by the powers of the stones.

"Oh, you met one of my other team; Morgana or Morgan Le Fray. She was kind to entice my father to the trap and secured him there. The one standing next to her is Modred; Morgana half brother and rightful King of this land but Arthur cheated him of the right. Next to him is Samael, the angel who deceived you as Gabriel. He made himself to look like Gabriel and led you on your voyage." Then from behind the four of them a dark shadow appeared looming over them. "My pet the 'Questing Beast', or the 'Beast Glatisant' ." The creature reared up itself up on being introduced by Baal. It has the head and neck of a serpent, the body of a leopard, the haunches of a lion and the feet of a hart. Form within its belly come the noise of barking like those of the hounds.

"These are the High Lords of Evil." Baal proclaimed to us. "But we all have our minions."

Soon we find marching up from behind the High Lords outside of the lineup of stones are assorted demons from ogre, Lycan, vampires and also the ones from the Spanish occupied colonies. I counted not less than two hundred of them and they all looked menacing.

"Our prize for today, the soul of Lucifer." The roar of the demons and allies of theirs ripped the plains of its silence. "But I added in some extras for Warriors of Light. Behold your loved ones as their soul are trapped by myself."

"Mother!" All four of us sounded out in sync on seeing the four departed souls of our loved one held suspended in mid air by the demon.

"Lose this battle and their souls would be mine to decide. Win and they would returned to their rightful realm.

What Man....pardon me, I am not of Man but a Demon so I bear no such emotions of care for them. They are to me a prize to be grabbed by the victor." Baal let out a deep laugh from his own dark soul that shrieked across the plains.

"High Lords of Evil, have you spoken your fill of the night. If you have, I would like you to meet the warriors of Light." Gabriel shouted out his words to be heard by all in the plains.

"Gabriel, I met your warriors. They are the ones which shared my presence at their campsite. Unless you tell me you have others hidden from me?" Baal mocked the Angel on his strength. "This is a battle on the mortal world, and you may not invoke in your warriors from above. You know the terms we spoke of here."

"Baal, your foresight is as narrow as your mind. You think that in this world, there is only me who acts as his messenger. There are four of us but only one of fell off, and he is your father. Besides me, there is still Micheal and Raphael. While I seek the appointed warriors, they have been busy recruiting the new warriors. You made one big mistake in your plan, Baal. You fought on the land which Arthur used to rule. He ruled not alone but with his twelve knights of the Round Table. They ruled not alone but with a vast Kingdom they ruled with a hundred and fifty knights all over England. Each of them send their descendant here to day to battle you. You claimed on Arthur's sword; you claimed your rule on his land, and above all, you side with his dreaded traitor and enemy, Modred. They would defend their land as their ancestor did and for God they would fight you to the their last breath of life."

The sound of drums and trumpets could be heard as the new Army of Light come forth with a number of a hundred fifty knights descendants. Not all of them are knights anymore, but they ply different task in their daily lives. But they lived with one oath which is to defend the land on such event. For this, the descendants of the knights have been secretly trained in the arts of fighting as their ancestors did in their days. Now riding to the forefronts are the descendants dressed in the armor of old knights but their blades are as sharp as it was before.

"Bah! An army of misfits as I see of them." Baal arrogance showed in his face but he was soon to re-think his words when Gabriel tells him of the warriors.

"The Army of Light does carry the weapons of mortal but they are blessed with the power to kill with each of their weapon on any demons or Man. The same blessing which Excalibur have on its own blade." That cause the army of Evil to be nervous and some are seen to be questioning their fight here now. They were promised a massacre of the warriors but no one told them it could be theirs if those mortal weapons are able to kill them.

"Enough of the gloating and boasting from your end. We do battle now and end this charade." Baal raised his hand to command his Army of Evil. But the marching of his army was to be halted by the appearance of a dark entity.

"There would be no battle on my children today. This I command." The entity who intervene was no other than Lilith, the mother of all demons. "Who dares to ignore my order would be dis-owned by me as its Mother?"

The entire army of Evil stepped down to their knees and bowed before her.

"Go back to your realm and do your efforts there. This is not your battle but of theirs." Lilith points to the High Lords. "Baal, you are as what your father had expected of you and he is proud of you today. But you cannot command the rest to do this among ourselves unless you are proven to be worthy to replaced your father. Challenged the Warriors of Light to the duel and be warned; lose and I would claim your dark soul. Win and you may become my Lord."

"So shall it be, Mother. The High Lords would battle the Warriors of Light. My Lords and Lady, select your opponent. I would take on Sir Black myself."