Lone Ranger Chapter 51

51.

It was generations ago when Major Lambert Bernard, Senior stood there on the steps of the church looking at the 

scattered tombstones inlaid at the right side of the building. It was an old cemetery that went back generations but with recent tending by the caretaker that had lined the boundary with daffodils there. The flowers were covered with the early morning dew but that was not on the Major’s mind. He was thinking of the events inside the church. The call for his re-entry to go in broke his thoughts.

“Come in, Major.” The officer was greeted by the assembled of five members standing before a slab that was once the altar. He stepped towards it.

“The Councils members have agreed to appoint your family as the guardian. It is an extension of your obligations here. This is the tomb of named Aamon.” The leader of the Council spoke up. “He was once the trusted aide of Lucifer before he was banished for his swing of the alliance. He lies here and will soon awaken.”

“Major, you will witness his resurrection and served him as your Master. He has other tasks for you to do. You will be the next Lone Ranger.” Major Bernard shrugged his shoulders when the chill ran up the spine. He was given the designation as the Lone Ranger; an honored rank among the servants of the House of the Lord.

The Rangers were the first militia appointed by the settlers to safeguard them from the savage natives as claimed then. They worked than before the proper militias were formed. In those skirmishes, there was a threat that the fighting could spread to the House of the Lord. So the named individual was appointed to guard the Houses where the Lord was worshipped.

The Lone Ranger worked alone and beyond the boundaries of the law. He used the militia to guard the places of the Lord, and then he was overseeing it himself.

“He is to take on the mantel of the task.” The task given to Bernard was soon to pass on the responsibility to their children. His great-grandson also named Lambert was the last Lone Ranger. Such was the way of the Lord then. It turned out the Lone Ranger had the tenacity to survive and overcame his pursuers.

“Lambert Wayne Bernard II was supposed to die at Arizona although his body was never found.” Vlad took a break on his lengthy explanation of his version of the task there. “Your father however did die at the last battle, and he is probably here. They do invite the naughty ones to here.”

“Now the major part of your role believed to be given by the one named Michael.” Vlad smiled. “I for one was given by Lucifer when he pulled me here. I will detest stating my presence here as similar to the others. I have a higher role to perform.”

“Tell me on my task here how I can vanquish your Master.” Lance snapped back.

“Do you know of Hades? Hades the name given by the new King. It was known as Gehenna then but with the arriving departing souls from the earthly dimension displeasures him when they howled the word Hell to denote it on arrival. Hence the name stuck soon after the arrivals after the first one-third of Fallen Angels that were banished here. “

“Revelation 12:4; a third of the stars being swept from Heaven, and approximate that a third of the Angels; to be exact in numbers 7,405,926 demons were among them,” Tonto recalled his earlier learning on the book before he was shown a different path.

“Yes, the third that govern the ten folds that migrated here non-voluntary although they had their chance to redeem themselves earlier. We are the bastard of that breed.” Vlad smiled. “A miscreant on our upbringing or was it transference of the tainted soul? I cared not. We are at home although we have many restraints here. Anyway, the restraints do not bind us well for we rejoice in outwitting it.”

“Spare us the rhetoric. Tell me where is Lucifer? I will be not had my task ended without meeting him.” Lance was getting agitated.

“Amuse me please.” Vlad smiled. “And thank you for I was buying time for this.”

Lance then saw the arrival of the harpies on the horizon. The earlier two must have flown off during the intervention to summon more of the others. He counted more than a dozen of them.

“Pardon me but I needed to keep you occupied then.” Vlad smiled. “Lucifer wants you taken there. I will leave before you do.

It was then Vlad reached for the bloodied pike end and pulled it when he moved forward. Quasimodo screamed out in pain and then fell onto his knees when the pike left his body. His surviving demons rushed forth to assist but Vlad had jumped into action. He swung the pike at them and he got one on the bloodied pike. The blunt end of the pike smashed into the demon's face. The once princely foxy snort was disjointed and shown some torn flesh. The Prince of Darkness had then moved on to thrust the sharp end of the pike into a raging bear-like figure in the back.

“That took care of the odds.” Vlad dropped the stuck pike and then looked to the skies. The harpies have swooped down and taken on the ones on the deck. Lance had his guns out and shot at the fleeting harpies. It was the rocking deck that spoiled his shooting once more. Tonto was with better balance took his stride with the rifle. He had shot three and brought them down with their wings disabled for flying. The fallen harpies were not helpless for they fought well on deck as well as the skies. The harpies were dressed like before and were armed with the short-handled trident. They stabbed or swung with it and they were taking on victims although the demons were short on the weapon used their acrobatic skills to the limit. The hare look ferret demon dressed in what may appear to be a coyote coat had lent on the use of its nimble leaps. It leaped onto the railing to use it to propel its body in dive towards the flying harpy. They clashed and went down on the deck. The ferret demon recovered fast and grabbed the wings on the back of the harpy and pulled hard. Its effort paid off when it caused a tear there before it scuttled off to seek another. It did not fare well for another harpy had swooped at it like a hawk on its prey. The ferret was slammed by the second harpy against the far deck. It tried to get up but the slower than needed recovery earned it the thrust of the trident into its face. The harpies were mean and vicious in their kills.

Lance had crouched down with his right knee bent and his aim improved. He had brought down two harpies before he saw the harpy that slew the ferret. He shot with both guns and the harpy keeled over with its arms around its face. He was to shoot another bullet but Falstaff had intervened. The man with the pike had skewered the harpy in the back and tossed it over his head like a piece of filth. Lance saw the cowardly attack and hid his opinion of things. He shot at another harpy who was to remove the soul of the demon when he heard the shrill noise.

It was the call of the harpies to retreat and they were down to eight still in flight. They carted off Vlad and flew into the horizon. The sea had then calmed down and the dark skies were seen to emit streaks of red rays of light.

“We are blessed!” Falstaff called out. “We are near Hades.”