by the command of He Who Must Be Obeyed, take her away for punishment.”
One of the Erelim escorting Onniel moved forward. “I am Abszin-Lan-Azrael. By Order of the Great Father Of Us All, I command you to yield Maion to our custody.”
“I am sorry Lady Maion. Ordered in the name of The Most High, I have no option but to obey. Please go with them but be sure, I will tell Michael of this and he will see to your safety.”
Maion stepped forward and the guards seized her, hustling her and Onniel out of the building. Behind her, Ephom shook his head sadly and went to find Michael and Lemuel.
He met them coming the other way down the corridor. Both were stained with the white and silver blood of the angels who had been in the building. There were no survivors from the League of Divine Justice, Michael’s private orders had been very specific on that point. Ephom knew that the members of the League here had been told that if they didn’t fight too hard, they would simply be detained and released. But, they had all committed a capital crime, they knew too much and since they were not part of the core conspiracy, they would have to go. By the time they had realized they were fighting for their lives, they had already lost them.
“Ephom-Lan.” Michael’s voice was tired but exultant. “have we found Maion yet?”
“Yes, Mighty General. Maion was safe and well. But a group of The One Above All’s guards arrived with Onniel. She ordered them to take Maion into custody and they did so, in the Name of He Who Must Be Obeyed. Onniel was dressed in fine robes and ornate with jewelry. When she spoke, the guards treated her with great deference and obeyed her in every respect.”
“Why did they take her away?” Lemuel’s voice was agonized.
“They did not say. Only Onniel spoke and she said that Maion was to be punished for her crimes. I know of no such crimes, Greatest of Heaven’s Generals.”
“Perhaps she has committed the most serious crime of all.” Michael spoke with solemn gravity. “She may have offended one upon whom The Great Father Of Us All smiles.” Inside, Michael-Lan was exultant. My little play had gone off to perfection. Ephom-Lan and Abszi-Lan have performed correctly and now it seems to everybody not in on what really happened here that Onniel has caused Yahweh’s guards to take Maion away for some unspecified punishment. We’ve even managed to get Azrael implicated and linked to Yahweh.
“Michael-Lan, was everything we have done here for nothing?”
“Of course not old friend. Maion is out of the hands of these brutal terrorists and safely in the hands of He Who Shall Not Be Named. There she will be safe for who can doubt the everlasting mercy of His Peerless Self You, for a start, by the time this game is finished. “Once we have cleared up here, we will go back home and I will inquire at The League of Holy Court. They will tell me where Maion has been taken and we will rescue her from her plight. I fear Onniel was a more spiteful and vindictive ex-wife than you realized old friend.” And if she is, then it will make her fate even more deserved. By now she will be dead and her body will never be found.
Michael wrapped his wing comfortingly around Lemuel’s shoulder. “Come, old friend, we can leave the final work to our comrades here. We have our wounded to care for and Maion to find. It’s time for home.”
Chapter Sixty
Headquarters, League of Holy Court, Eternal City, Heaven
“Ephom-Lan-Sezotah. You were in charge of the party charged with the rescue of Lady Maion-Lan- Lemuel?”
“I was, Mighty General. Until, as I told you, the servants of The One Above All took her from us.”
“Do not be impertinent Ephom. If I require you to repeat a story for a thousand millennia, that is what you will do. Who led the servants of The Most High?”
“He did not give his name, but I believe it was Abszin-Lan-Azrael.” Ephom-Lan spoke the desired sentence with just the right degree of reluctance.”
“Azrael?” Lemuel-Lan gasped the name in shock. “But we know Azrael-Lan was behind the terrorist groups responsible for the bombings. Does his treachery reach so high?”
“That, we shall find out.” Michael-Lan’s voice was grim and foreboding. “Find Abszin-Lan-Azrael without delay and bring him here. And find out where Azrael-Lan is.” You won’t. I’ve got his badly-injured body tucked away in my private estate a long way from here.
Lemuel watched as Michael-Lan started pacing impatiently around the main room in the League of Holy Court temple. He wished that he could do the same, but the weight of misery and fear for Maion’s safety that weighed down upon him seemed to crush any effort he might make. Instead, he just sat there, watching the bright white light of Heaven and trying to pray for Maion’s safety. Suddenly, he realized the sheer futility of what he was doing. Maion had been taken on Yahweh’s orders, she was being held somewhere at his command. Prayers would do nothing to save her, it was Michael with his strange team of angels and humans who were his only chance of seeing her again. With anguish in his heart, Lemuel realized that he desperately wanted to be with her again.
His descending spiral of misery and despair was interrupted by the doors banging open as Ephom-Lan-Sezotah returned with Abszin-Lan-Azrael. He leapt to his feet, the cry of “Where is she?” echoing around the temple.
“Quiet Lemuel.” Michael-Lan’s voice was calm and controlled. “Abszin was just obeying orders from his master as was his duty. Abszin-Lan-Azrael, what happened after you took the Lady Maion-Lan-Lemuel from the temple after we freed her from her captors?”
Abszin-Lan took a deep breath, ostensibly to steady himself, actually to make sure that the story he had been given by Michael-Lan was properly presented. “We took her to the Ultimate Temple Mighty General. There, we were met by other guards who were charged with taking her to the place of her imprisonment. They left to the east and returned within an hour.”
“Why was she taken? Were you told this?”
“The other guards said that she was charged with treason and associating with those committing treason against The One Above All and His most trusted followers.”
“Very well Abszin-Lan-Azrael, you may go now.” Michael waited until Abszin had left then turned to Lemuel. “There you are old friend, your beloved is quite safe. Half an hour to the east suggests that she is in the detention camp set up by The Great Father Of Us All for those who were conspiring against him. I think this is just an error, that nobody realized there would be innocent prisoners at the headquarters of the terrorist group. Maion is in the Ever-Merciful Hands of Our Father, all we need to do is go there, explain the situation and she will be released, I am sure.”
Lemuel was both doubtful and relieved. “Then why was Onniel there to condemn her? No, Michael-Lan, there is more to this than you think. Have you ever been to this detention camp?”
“No, there is no reason why I should. It is He Who Must Be Obeyed’s own project. Since Hell is no longer available as a destination for those who conspire against him, He had to find another solution. But, I know roughly where it is. We should not take too long to get there. Come, old friend, we are nearly at the end of the quest.”
Belial’s Concentration Camp, Heaven.
“What horror is this?” Lemuel was aghast at the sights below him. There was a giant rectangular encampment, surrounded by what appeared to be gray stone walls on which angelic guards were patrolling. Inside were angels, obviously the prisoners of this truly Hellish creation, dragging themselves around. The inside of the camp had been churned into thick mud that had spread to smear and stain everything in its path. Worse than the sights was the dreadful stench that rose into the air, it was obvious that there were no sanitary facilities within the compound and the angelic waste had blended into the mud to form a dreadful ooze. Even that failed in sheer awfulness to overcome the sounds of despairing wails and moans from the prisoners within.
“I do not know.” Even Michael-Lan was genuinely shocked by the camp below. He hadn’t realized how thoroughly Belial would create a fair imitation of the Hellpit here. Still, all for the best. This is the one critical part of the scheme and the worse this place is, the better. “I had no idea that Yah-Yah would create something like this.” He stole a sideways glance at Lemuel but the deliberate blasphemy had been ignored, overwhelmed by disgust at the sight beneath.
“Why do the prisoners not just fly over the wall?” Lemuel was having difficulty speaking so great was his shock at the sights below.
“I do not know that either.” Michael looked down and picked out the main entrance. “Lemuel, I do not know
