“Say that once more and I’ll have you assigned to washing out bedpans.” Grace smiled to take the sting out of her words. “Look, we can handle this. It’s no big thing really. Anyway, Maion, don’t worry about this great lummox, we’ll take care of him as well. When we get time that is, we’re getting overworked with all the concentration camp victims coming back from Heaven. You’re not alone here any more, there are more than a dozen patients just like you here. Some of them worse. If it’s any consolation to you, everything we learned treating you is helping us look after them better.”
Maion lifted her head again and looked carefully around, feeling the strain on her neck and shoulders as she did so. There were three other angels in her ward, all surrounded by the same equipment as hers, all with human staff looking after them. She also saw her own wings stretched out within a wooden frame.
Grace caught her glance. “The surgeons operated on your wings. They managed to repair the damage to the bones between the joints. You’ve got titanium screws in there to hold the bones together. The joints? Well, they’ve done the best they can but the damage was very severe. We had experts come in from Ireland, that’s a place thousands of miles away, to help fix the damage but whether they did any good, we just don’t know.”
“Will I fly again?” Maion was almost desperate, trying to imagine a world when she couldn’t fly any time she wanted.
Grace hesitated. There were times to lie and times to tell the truth and it was hard to know which applied here. In the end she settled for the truth. “I don’t know, but the doctors think the chances are not good. We’re not quite sure how you fly, but the surgeons think those wing joints will be very stiff and hard to move, even when they’re healed. If they heal. That’s all for the future though, we can cross that bridge when we come to it.” She switched her attention to Lemuel. “As for you, you look pretty sick too. Lack of sleep, no food and withdrawal symptoms. Get some rest. That’s an order.”
There was a racking groan from the other end of the ward. One of the other angels was coming around. Grace reinserted the clipboard into its holder at the end of the bed and took off in the direction of the sound. Overhead, the roof of the tent shook as Bethesda’s Mi-26 brought another angel in for treatment.
Chapter Sixty Seven
Headquarters, Incomparable Legion Of Light, Heaven.
“Oh man, can’t we all just get along?”
Raphael-Lan covertly raised his eyebrows in despair. “I really wish we could, especially after all the work you put in with the humans a couple of millennia ago. Michael-Lan really admires that, you know. The sheer patience and concentration needed to control that carpenter for so many years, well, it was an achievement he really respects. A pity it all turned out so badly. Anyway, we, or rather you, have a job to do. He Who Must Not Be Named wants you to lead the Incomparable Legion and its human levies against the army invading Hell.”
“Oh crap. Why don’t we just sit down and talk this out with them? Anyway, which one, man? There are human armies all over the place.”
“The nearest one will do.” Which, just by great good fortune happens to be the one best fitted to kill you and wipe out Yahweh’s personal bodyguard. “In any case, The One Above Us All has a personal interest in them. The prison used to hold those who betrayed His Holy Will has been overrun by humans and it must be recaptured. Immediately. Such are the unquestionable commands of The Most High.”
Raphael-Lan watched the figure the other side of the table shake his head. “He really needs to mellow out and smell the roses. My Unspeakable Father has palaces all over Heaven, what’s one more or less to Him?”
“I think it’s the angels within His Omnipotence is worried about. They defied His Holy Will after all.”
“Ominpotence? That’s a joke. What things I could tell you. Still, if the Old Man wants it, I guess it must be done. Keep Him chilled out. Where?” There was something subtly different about the last word, one that made Raphael-Lan look sharply across the table.
“Here. I suggest you take the entire Legion and hit this point just opposite the camp. There’s only a thin skin of human forces there, most of the rest are spreading out to secure their base area. When the Incomparable Legion breaks through here, you can spread out inside and collapse the whole area. You will earn yourself much glory in the eyes of He Who Is Above Us All.”
The snort of laughter surprised Rafael-Lan. “Like sure, man. Like My Eternal Father is going to be cool with anything I do. Thank you, Rafael-Lan, for your wisdom and insight. Pass word to He Who Must Be Obeyed that his Dutiful Son will lead the Incomparable Legion to victory.”
Raphael-Lan made his obeisance and left the tent to fly back to the Eternal City. That was getting more dangerous now there were human aircraft in the skies over Heaven. Their fastest and most powerful could sweep down and take out their target before there was any sign of their presence. Things in Heaven were already changing fast. Less than a week since Lemuel and Maion had opened the doors and already Angelic control of Heaven was slipping.
Back in the headquarters, Enatenael-Lan-Elhmas was staring at the map spread out on the table. “Eternal Lord, do we do as Raphael suggests?”
“Like hell man. Raphael and Michael are good people but they just don’t know humans the way I do. We throw in an assault at the point he suggested sure, but it’ll be a feint. The humans will have to respond to it, they have hordes of human civilians helping out at the hell-hole My Auspicious Father created. They’ll want to protect them, so they’ll pull in units from all around to stop us. Enatenael-Lan, take one cohort of the Incomparable Legion and its human levies. That’ll give you 10,000 angels and five times that number of levies. Keep pushing at the forces the humans throw at you. Once they’ve stripped the rest of their perimeter to stop you, I’ll lead the other nine Cohorts and their levies in. They’ll punch right through the thinned-out human lines. It’ll be rough on you and your Cohort but it’ll cost us less overall.”
“Very good Eternal Lord.” Enatenael-Lan crossed his wings in front of his face and swept out to gather his forces.
Far, far overhead, beyond the ability of Angelic eyes to see or ears to hear, the RQ-4 Global Hawk turned at the end of its reconnaissance run and relayed its pictures of the ground below back to the surveillance center.
Headquarters, Human Expeditionary Army, Heaven.
As a command center, Heaven beat Hell any day. It was, well, heavenly just to be able to open a window and let fresh air enter the building. After almost two years spending most of his time in Hell, General of the Armies David Petraeus appreciated the simple virtues of being able to breath fresh air, unprocessed by filters and electrostatic precipitators.
“Well, they’re on the move at last.” It surprised Petraeus that it had taken the Angelic Host so long to react to his invasion. He didn’t regret it, the most crucial hours of any invasion were those as the first units started to arrive. At first they had been too few and too spread-out to offer a solid defense but the delay in Angelic response had made them miss the opportunity. He had an entire Army in Heaven now with additional portals opening up daily. The Russians and Chinese were pouring in as well, doing the same as he was, establishing a perimeter and making sure it was secure. Back in Hell, Fourth Army Group was ready to move as soon as any news of an Angelic incursion on to Earth was reported. The possibility that the Angelic Host might try an end-run and suck him out of Heaven by threatening Earth had occurred to Petraeus and he had made preparations to allow for it. With Fourth Army Group ready to portal to any point on Earth and human leg infantry and militia there already, Earth was as secure as he could make it.
“Splitting their force too.” General Sir Michael Jackson looked at the displays that dominated the wall of the command center.
“That’s a feint.” Major-General Asanee tapped the smaller of the two forces. “It’s heading for Belial’s concentration camp. I guess the enemy commander knows us well enough to realize we have to protect the civilians there.”
“And he thinks we’ll strip the forces we have on the rest of the perimeter to do so. He doesn’t know us as well as he thinks.” Petraeus thought for a second. “We do need to move up some reserves there though. Michael, where are our First Demonic and Caesar’s Third Legion?”
Jackson flicked through the sheets on his clipboard. “Well-placed David. We can have them up there quickly enough to set up a good defense.” He hesitated briefly, “are you sure you want them to take this on. Neither unit is
