They met in the center to counsel. "Have you fought Nephilim?" Mikael asked Methuselah.

Methuselah raised his eyebrow. "In my day, I was quite the giant killer. Now, I think I am just an archangel's irritant."

Everyone knew he was talking about Uriel. They all smiled.

Mikael said, "Well, then you should do well on this day."

"Will you lead us?" asked Tubal-cain.

"No," said Mikael. "You will. We archangels have G.o.ds to bind."

They could see the armies of the G.o.ds moving into formation on the dry plains before them: Phalanxes of humans, followed by battalions of falcon-headed, hawk-headed, dog-and wolf-headed soldiers. Behind them, platoons of Nephilim finished off a demonic army of genetically mutated beasts. They were twenty thousand strong.

Then the three lead generals of the G.o.ds came forward from the rear. They were Enki, Ninhursag, and Enlil, mounted on special harnesses on the backs of monstrous Nephilim.

Mikael mocked, "Three of them. Apparently, Uriel has more than made up for his sloppy guardianship of Noah. He has already bound Anu."

"He is relentless, that Uriel," smiled Methuselah.

"Let us pray he was successful in aiding Noah's escape," said Mikael with hope.

"Where are the other three G.o.ds?" wondered Raphael.

Nanna the moon G.o.d was with Inanna on her chase. None knew that Utu had fled from the city, like the coward he really was, leaving his armies without a leader. Utu had led forces with Inanna in the great t.i.tanomachy of the past. He had also fled that battle, when he had seen their forces losing.

Noah and Emzara, Ham and Neela, Shem and j.a.pheth, and Uriel halted their mounts on the outskirts of the city. They had commandeered some horses and slipped unmolested into the underground tunnels Emzara and Ham knew so well. They had not run into any other underground Nephilim, thank Elohim. They could see the armies facing off against each other for war on the desert of Dudael behind them.

A swirling black ma.s.s of funnel clouds churned directly overhead. It appeared that the wrath of G.o.d was truly upon them.

"I should be there leading them to battle," said Noah.

Emzara touched him lovingly on the arm.

He concluded, "Elohim's will be done."

"Now that is finally obedient faith," cracked Uriel.

Noah gave him a side glance, "Will you now finally leave me alone?" he retorted.

"Not on your life," said Uriel. They shared a smile, but not for long.

"Father, to the south," said Shem.

They all looked. An ominous dust cloud moved in their direction a few leagues behind them. Uriel's eagle eyes could see it was a company of two hundred chimera soldiers on horseback, a dozen pazuzu flying overhead, and a handful of Nephilim rumbling in the lead.

"a.s.sa.s.sins," said Uriel. He could just see the figures riding on the backs of the bull and lion aladlammu creatures. "Inanna, Nanna the moon G.o.d, and Lugalanu."

The earth trembled again. Lightning and thunder overhead gave a frightening emphasis to their impending doom.

"Elohim be with us," said Noah. "We are going to need him more than ever."

He yelled and kicked his horse into a race for the Zagros Mountains and the Hidden Valley. The others matched pace with him.

Chapter 31.

Each side weighed its options, observing and a.n.a.lyzing their opponents. It would be a full day before any a.s.sault would occur on the Dudael battlefield. The desert plain was framed in the north with the armies of man, and in the south with the armies of the G.o.ds. They stood arrayed for battle a mere thousand or so cubits distance from one another. The human tribes were on the higher ground so they bore an advantage. It was not much of an advantage, but anything would help in this hopeless cause. They did not want to lose this benefit, so they waited to draw their opponents uphill. But the G.o.ds were too smart for that. The armies of the G.o.ds were defending a city; they would not need to leave their defensive position.

A comparison of these two armed forces could not reveal a more imbalanced opposition. The armies of man that had come together in this emergency confederation wore animal skins, some protective leather. They carried axes, maces, and spears, and a pa.s.sion to worship Elohim against the G.o.ds. The cities had created professional armies whose sole purpose was to do battle. Their warriors were universally equipped with a new kind of armor to protect them in fighting. They wore copper helmets over leather caps to protect their skulls from fracture and blunt trauma. They draped leather capes over their bodies, with small bronze circlets attached to create a more impenetrable cloak. They were trained and disciplined to fight in a phalanx unit of eight men wide and six files deep, covering each other with leather shields and spears. Some units had even been trained with the newly introduced sickle swords. The humans faithful to Elohim were not only outnumbered by this standing army, they were out-armed and out-trained.

In spite of this military advantage, the G.o.ds would not engage in pre-battle negotiations. They would not risk getting too close to an archangel who could bind them and cast them into the earth. There would be no quarter asked and no quarter given. It would be a war of ultimate annihilation, winner kill all-to the last soul.

The soldiers did not want to fight at night, but it seemed they would be fighting in darkness anyway. The skies overhead were fast becoming blackened piles of storm clouds, shadowing the entire region.

The armies of the G.o.ds would not leave their position for an uphill climb. But the armies of man were not descending. It was a stalemate of strategies. The archangels and Noah's generals were in fact, deliberately delaying their engagement in order to facilitate Noah's flight to the Hidden Valley. Finally, after a second day of stalling, they had figured that by Elohim's grace, Noah would be close enough to his destination by now. They could wait no longer. They led their forces in a slow march downfield. They would conserve every ounce of energy they could for battle. They would not allow too far a run to tire them. The armies of the G.o.ds marched forward as well, in synchronized lock step.

When they were within a few hundred cubits of each other, they stopped. Mikael, Gabriel, and Raphael blew their trumpets. The armies of man shouted a war cry for all they were worth.

The armies of the G.o.ds shouted back.

The archangels blew their trumpets again. Methuselah shouted "A sword for the Lord and for Noah!" The forces broke into a run toward the enemy.

But the armies of the G.o.ds did something unantic.i.p.ated. Enki, Enlil, and Ninhursag blew their trumpets and the phalanxes of human soldiers on the front lines split apart. From behind them, came droves of bird-men and dog-men soldiers. The G.o.ds sent their elite squads out against the first line of humans. It would be a slaughter, a definite demoralizing tactic that would be considered risky for enduring battles. But in this case, no one expected an enduring battle. The mutant warriors were of such caliber, they would level the first human troops quickly and maintain enough strength for the second tier fighting. Against these numbers, the faithful human forces would be pulverized.

The charging armies met with a crash of bone and metal. Spear met mace, axe met sword, human met demiG.o.d. The G.o.ds on their Nephilim crushed their opponents with ease. The archangels plowed through their enemies like so much chaff. It would take some time, but the humans would ultimately be overwhelmed by the hybrid beast soldiers, who were created and mutated for just this purpose. They were soulless fighting machines.

Methuselah called down their second of three waves of forces. He had prayed that their previous fighting would weaken these elite chimera monsters. But it was not to be.

As soon as Methuselah made his call, the G.o.ds made theirs. A company of Nephilim dressed for war ran out to battle; a hundred of them. They were fierce, diabolical, unstoppable, and they hit the newly arriving human forces like a tidal wave. But these Nephilim did not just kill their enemies; these Nephilim killed everything in their path, including their own soldiers. They went mad on the bloodl.u.s.t of battle.

Suddenly, another huge quake shook the entire valley, throwing everyone to the ground. It split the battlefield down the middle with a huge crevice. Water gushed out of it from the fountains of the deep. It sucked soldiers of both sides into the Abyss to their deaths.

Then, from the enemy side came the sound of long horns. As suddenly as the Nephilim had charged, they returned to their own battle lines, leaving the human armies confused. Why would they retreat in a moment of sure victory?

Methuselah stood up on the height of ridge, trying to a.s.sess their options. Then he saw what the enemy waited for. From behind the enemy lines, a thousand men carried a very large ornamented box, one hundred cubits long and thirty cubits square, onto the field. It was made of cedar wood and covered with pitch, with large occultic spells and charms inscribed all over the sides of the box. When they set it down, water spilled out of its cracks onto the ground. It was immensely heavy. All the warriors stopped fighting, to see this monstrosity set near the battleground. Methuselah could not imagine what it might be.

But they would not find out for another half day, because the malice of the G.o.ds led them to draw out the inevitable and build a mounting dread in their human opponents before they would unleash their next wave of terror.

Noah and his family had pushed their horses to the breaking point as they fled to the Hidden Valley. The animals were frothing from the exertion. Emzara's horse had already died beneath her, so she rode with Noah.

An unstoppable force of evil, their hunters had stayed on their tail. They were close enough to the family to see them approaching the opening to the Zagros Mountains.

That was when the pazuzus finally attacked. A swarm of the hideous black flying h.e.l.lions had left the chasing party and raced toward Noah's band. They dropped out of the sky upon the fugitives in a rage, talons flashing and slashing.

Neela was the first under attack. A pazuzu lifted her off her horse. Ham hacked off its beastly legs, and Neela dropped back onto her steed. His back swing caught another one by its wing, sending it crashing to the ground to be trampled by the horses. Ham had worked with these creatures and had a good sense of their movements and attack patterns.

j.a.pheth did not. Three of the dog-faced creatures attacked him together. They gouged his head and shoulders with their razor talons. Blood oozed freely from the multiple wounds.

Uriel was just ahead of j.a.pheth. He grabbed a bow and quiver of arrows and spun around on his horse. Riding backward, he picked off pazuzus like target practice. With his superhuman speed and preternatural aim, he rapidly downed six of the flying fiends in quick succession.

Then he ran out of arrows.

Shem swung Rahab over his head like a twirling rope fan, slicing half a dozen pazuzus in half with ease. He was actually enjoying it.

Then, for no apparent reason, the remaining few pazuzus gave up and returned to the sky above them.

But the damage had been done. They had been dramatically slowed down. Inanna's a.s.sa.s.sin squad was almost upon them. Noah worried what they would do about Behemoth, who was surely blocking their path through the gorge.

Chapter 32.

The battle of G.o.ds and men resumed with the huge box towering behind the city lines. Yet another skirmish further weakened the human forces. Methuselah had sent forth their last battalion of soldiers. They were totally committed, and most were dead. The angels alone held their ground and kept the forces at bay. But they needed to turn their attention to their calling, that of binding the Watchers. When they left the human forces to do that, the tide of the battle turned fully against Methuselah's men.

Tubal-cain and Jubal fought near each other, comrades in battle to the end. Their tactics and skills were diametrically opposite. Tubal-cain bashed, crushed, and clobbered two at a time with his muscle-bound brawn, while Jubal danced a free flowing stream of slicing, dicing, and slashing. He had picked up the Karabu technique well and was quite good at it. They were a complimentary team. Jubal longed to be fighting next to his dear departed brother. He suspected he would see him soon. Tubal-cain wondered if he had already eaten his last meal, because he was starving.

Mikael zeroed in on Enlil and his Naphil. Mikael's agile sword matched the Naphil's swift axe, thrust for thrust. Mikael waited for the right moment. It came when the Naphil dodged an attack and fell off balance for just an instant. That was all Mikael needed. He dove in between the Naphil's long legs and rolled beneath him. He cut its heel tendons on both sides. Surprised, the Naphil fell to the ground, twisting and landing on his back, pinning Enlil.

In a split second, Mikael was upon the G.o.d. Enlil had been knocked dizzy by the fall.

Mikael swiftly cut off the Naphil's head. He pulled Enlil out from under the creature. Hoisting the groggy Watcher on his shoulders, he ran for the huge crevice in the midst of the field and jumped right in with his hostage.

Gabriel and Raphael teamed up against Enki and Ninhursag. But when Enki saw the fall of Enlil, he grabbed his horn and sounded a wailing call.

The large box on the field had five men up top. They wielded their sledgehammers in response to Enki's horn. They slammed out the large pins that held the hinges of the box front.

The door crashed open. A huge flood of seawater flushed out of the box and onto the battlefield. It washed away monsters and men. Lurking in that gargantuan box of salty brine was something else: Leviathan.

The sea dragon slithered out onto the field, a literal fish out of water - a gigantic and very angry fish, with multiple heads, monstrous teeth, serious armored scales, and a powerful tail. The writhing twisting serpent flipped around, crushing everything in its wake and dispersing all in its path. Its jaws snapped viciously, chomping chimeras and humans left and right, forward and behind. None escaped its fury.

Tubal-cain and five other warriors circled a Naphil. The giant's durability wore them down. Then Leviathan was released quite close to them. Tubal-cain could see its impenetrable armored scales, smell its decrepit fishy stench, and feel the heat of its fiery breath. Not only did the creature crush, chomp and slaughter, but it breathed fire from some of its mouths when out of the water and in contact with the air. One burst of flame burnt a company of combating warriors to a crisp in seconds. It would all be over shortly.

Methuselah saw the end was near. He released their final secret weapon to counter the monster on the battlefield: Behemoth. Behemoth was the monstrosity that killed his beloved Edna, and Methuselah had vowed to one day return and kill the monster. The creature had taken away the grace in his otherwise lonely life. But when Methuselah had faced the bitterness in his soul, he had realized that his redemption would be found not in killing the monster, but in capturing it and turning it into a benefit for Elohim's purposes.

Even though it was blind in one eye, the brutish beast required ten angels and thirty men to capture it in the mountains. The angels had used their supernatural binding cords to muzzle it and incarcerate it in a large cedar cage on wheels.

That cage now rolled wildly down the hill into the heat of battle, heading directly for Leviathan.

Warriors dove out of its way. Some did not see it coming and were crushed under its ma.s.sive wheels. The aim had been accurate. The cage crashed right into Leviathan. The sea beast's ma.s.sive tail swung around, exploding the wooden structure to pieces, releasing the roaring Behemoth.

A shiver of hope went through Methuselah. Behemoth was not as big as Leviathan, but it was at home both on land and in water. That should have placed its aqueous nemesis at a disadvantage. Perhaps it would match Leviathan's ferocity with its own bones of bronze, tail of cedar, and teeth of iron.

But it was not to be.

A wave of dread washed over Methuselah. It did not attack Leviathan. He watched the one-eyed Behemoth strike out for the easier prey, the last living soldiers on the battle ground. Now, two gigantic monsters smashed everything around them like a team of destroyers. Their gamble had not paid off. Their plan had failed.

It was all over, thought Methuselah.

Down in the battle, Tubal-cain saw his moment and charged. The Naphil had only a sword. It was unaware of one of the dragon's heads right behind him, turning in their direction. Tubal-cain knew they needed another few moments of diversion, so he burst out of the circle and engaged the Naphil one on one. It was a foolish action that only a man who knew that all was lost with no other chance would make. It was enough to divert the Naphil.

It turned to faced Tubal-cain. The burly metalworker's robust human size was like an infant in comparison with the demiG.o.d.

Tubal-cain managed a few good hits against the giant. Then it swung its blade and cut off Tubal-cain's arm in one clean cut.

Tubal-cain cried out in pain and dropped to his knees.

The Naphil looked down, planning an execution style finish to this courageous but failed little warrior. It did not realize that Tubal-cain had not dropped out of pain, but out of calculation. Behind the Naphil, two heads of Leviathan swiveled in their direction, mere cubits away.

The Naphil heard the deep guttural sound of air gurgling and metabolically interacting with chemicals inside Leviathan's innards, but he did not turn toward the noise. He raised his sword high to finish off the p.r.o.ne Tubal-cain. The wounded warrior fell prostrate to avoid the wall of fire that spewed from Leviathan's mouths. An inferno of flame engulfed the Naphil and others around him.

Tubal-cain may have lost his arm, but he had not lost his wits, thanks to the adrenaline of battle surging through his body. The burning blast flared just above where he lay, singeing his hair, and giving him a heat rash he would not care for if he lived until tomorrow. But he did not expect a tomorrow. He had only today. He raised the stump of the arm and allowed the flame to cauterize the wound, giving him more time to fight. It would be a bit more difficult with the lack of his sword arm. Oh well, he thought, Elohim can give me a new one when I rise to meet him.

Behemoth trampled and attacked downhill toward the last of the armies of the G.o.ds. At least now it was killing only the enemy. The writhing serpent Leviathan slid closer to the large chasm, closer to the battling t.i.tans of archangels and Watchers, its heads snapping up bodies as it went.

Enki and his Naphil were vicious in battle. Gabriel was taking a pounding. Enki did not see Mikael come up out of the crevice from behind him. Mikael had taken care of Enlil. Now he jumped Enki, leaping as Gabriel attacked. The two of them were a mighty team, but Enki was fighting for his eternity. Even though he was near the crevice, he was not going to let these two G.o.d-lickers ruin his future.

Tubal-cain and Jubal each saw the wrestling match of G.o.d and angels from their two different locations. Tubal-cain fought on foot, in spite of the pain of his newly cauterized wound. Jubal sat on the back of a horse he recently acquired from a now headless opponent. They were within distance of the match. They caught each other's eyes and nodded. They smirked in recognition, knowing what they had to do. It was now a personal contest between them, who could get there first.

Tubal-cain bolted forward on foot. Jubal kicked his horse and galloped for the divine beings in battle.

The grappling tangle of flesh that was Enki, his Naphil, Mikael, and Gabriel were evenly matched. The tie breaker came in the form of Tubal-cain and Jubal. They hit the tangled bodies almost simultaneously. Tubal-cain was sure he had reached the target a flash before Jubal. It was exactly the amount of force needed to throw the balance in favor of the angels. The whole lot of them tumbled over the edge and into the wide fissure.

Tubal-cain had enough breath left in him to shout to Jubal as they were plunging downward, "I BEAT YOU!"

Jubal had the last word, knowing where they were heading, "Let Elohim decide!"

Tubal-cain had the last thought, Yes, but you had a horse, and I was on foot.

The turbulent waters of the great deep swallowed them up.

Tubal-cain and Jubal were not the only ones who would not leave that creva.s.se. Mikael and Gabriel bound Enki in the depths of the Abyss with the Cherubim hair from their armbands.

Above, at the precipice of the rift, the snapping jaws of Leviathan moved closer to Ninhursag on his Naphil. The G.o.d fought with Raphael. The mouths of six of the seven dragon heads were full of soldiers. One of the heads started choking. It had swallowed a Nephilim and two soldiers whole. But one head focused on Ninhursag and his Naphil. It was ready for another bite.

Raphael had one chance. He took it. He leapt right up into the arms of the Naphil, jamming his sword into the creature's chest. It screamed in pain and fell backward, with Ninhursag still in the harness, right into the jaws of Leviathan. The jaws snapped shut on both Watcher and Naphil.