Gideon screamed in fury, then lunged at the nearest lion. The beast tried to dodge away, but Gideon still landed a deadly blow. Another tried to lunge for Grimwald, his wounded arm still covered in blood. Gideon flung his sword back into the charging lion, striking it in the breast as it leaped toward the General.
He flew past Grimwald taking the General's sword and charged into the other lions. Gideon killed the first, but the second hit him hard, knocking him to the ground. He reacted immediately-instinctively. Gideon thrust two fast knees into the lioness' side to knock the wind out of her.
The lioness tried to maul him, but Gideon ducked his forearm below her jaw and thrust upward exposing her neck. He pulled a dagger strapped to his thigh and jammed it into the lion's neck. The beast recoiled immediately, gasped, and then fell dead.
Gideon rolled out and got to his feet. The fighting was dying down already. The battle had taken its toll on Grimwald's forces, but they weren't down for the count by any reckoning. The General surveyed the damage.
Demonic hybrids, many of them battered and bloody, began to regroup as the last of the attacking lions were either killed, or retreated into the forest to lick their wounds. Grimwald and Gideon walked back toward the others, hoping to find their horses. Gideon had seen these lions before. He had known many of them since they were only cubs. The Order of Shaddai kept them as a contingency plan in case the Temple was attacked-more than a match for any normal army, but not this one.
Most of the hybrids had survived. These toughest among Grimwald's host would be the same to take on whatever priests were undoubtedly preparing to meet them inside the Temple itself. Gideon surveyed the carnage regretfully. He couldn't help but wonder if he should have allowed the lioness to take Grimwald while he had the chance.
'So…it really is you.'
Gideon turned to find a man mortally wounded-a broken spear protruding from his belly. 'James?' He'd known the Lion Keeper well. It shouldn't have surprised him to see the man here on the battlefield. James had never let his lions out of his sight. He had always treated them all as if they were his children.
Gideon couldn't help wondering if having his lions scattered among the dead didn't cause him more pain than his own wounds. James' lifeblood seeped out onto a bed of dead pine needles around him. Still, he struggled for a few final words. 'I've never doubted Isaiah before, but somehow I just couldn't picture you betraying us. I was wrong though, wasn't I?'
Gideon found himself unable to speak, unable to even try and defend himself from the accusations. He deserved this, only a thousand times more. James leveled his gaze on the battlefield. His face slackened, and his eyes closed as though he would rest. Then he stopped breathing altogether.
Gideon could only stare at the man he had called friend for so many years. Will it be the same when we get to the Temple? How many of my friends will I have to watch die today?
General Grimwald rode up behind him on his recovered horse. 'So, one of the priests unleashed the lions. Then they know we are coming. We must hurry before they all escape. Get your horse, and let's keep moving. The priests must not get away.'
Gideon closed his eyes. Even closed he could still see James lying there against the pine. Grimwald rode on past him as one of the demon soldiers pulled another horse toward him. He looked on to the end of the forest toward the place where they would enter the Temple. 'If only they would escape,' he sighed, 'But that won't be their plan.'
Gideon looked at the demon hybrid who released the horse's rein. It snorted at him indifferently, then returned to the reorganized ranks. Gideon hoisted himself sluggishly into the saddle. He dreaded what lay ahead, what he would have to watch. He prayed silently, again, that Shaddai might stop this army before they arrived.
CONFLAGRATION
It had only taken another hour to get Grimwald's hybrid army to the archway which led into the main Temple courtyard. Normally, Gideon would have expected a number of guard patrols to intercept intruders before they got this far. And he already understood what it meant that they had not.
The priests of Shaddai were preparing to face an army-one they knew was coming. This was why they had sent out the lion pride. This was why no guards had been waiting for them along the way-why no audible alarm had been sounded. A battle was going to take place, perhaps in moments and everyone involved knew it.
Gideon felt sweat evaporating upon his brow in the cool breeze which now reached them. As he and General Grimwald rode to a stop under the great stone archway, they surveyed the vast, empty training ground of The Order of Shaddai. Normally, priests by the hundreds would have been assembled in small groups, sparring with one another, training with bows or practicing sword techniques. But nothing at all moved.
His eyes darted across the expanse, but he could not locate one single priest. Gideon hoped that the priests had evacuated, but he couldn't make himself believe it. The priests of Shaddai did not run away from a fight. He supposed some would have certainly escaped with the parchment scrolls so precious to their Order; however, the majority would be waiting inside, somewhere, ready to strike.
Grimwald looked over at Gideon, a smirk on his face. He looked almost victorious. 'I would have expected more from warriors of your caliber, Gideon,' Grimwald said.
Gideon looked at him in disbelief as the General turned back to the hybrid army lined up behind them. 'It appears the priests have taken advantage of our delay back in the forest and ran. Nevertheless, I want a thorough search of this entire complex. Any parchments are to be brought to the center of the courtyard. If you locate any stragglers, I want them brought to me alive.' He turned back to Gideon. 'We can find out where they've all gone, one way or another.' Grimwald rode forward beneath the arch into the courtyard.
Gideon stared at the man as he confidently led his hybrids beneath the arch into the Temple. 'Oh, I already know where they are,' he muttered. Demon hybrids backed up behind Gideon's horse. 'Get moving, priest. Don't think you're going to hang back and get away.'
Gideon regarded the hideous features on the demonic face and then turned in his saddle. He rode on after Grimwald and his army as they began to fan out in the courtyard. As they passed several training stations on his right, Gideon noticed that all of the weapons were missing-in this case bows and arrows. Another station had an empty wooden barrel, which he remembered usually had been filled with swords.
Gideon's eyes ran across the courtyard, then beyond to the first sets of stairs leading upward into the higher levels of the Temple. He searched the terraces and walkways running through the rock face of the chasm. There was not a soul visible, but that didn't mean they weren't there.
He suddenly realized what was about to happen-what plan of action the priests would execute. He reached for the heavy shield attached on the right side of his stallion's saddle. Gideon turned around as the horse continued steadily forward with the flow of traffic.
All of Grimwald's army was now inside the courtyard-beginning to fan out toward the lower level archways on all sides of the field and the great stone staircases in order to access all of the higher levels of the complex. Gideon realized now would have been the time to-
Arrows fell out of the sky like rain, sinking into the flesh of hybrids all around him. Gideon barely managed to raise the shield above his head before several trembling shafts sank into the black leather bound to steel on the front side. Howls of anger and pain rose up from the army of hybrids as war cries echoed out from the terraces and walkways above the courtyard, on every side.
Gideon saw his fellow priests rise from behind the stone walls with bows-more than a hundred in all. Arrow shafts flew from quivers to bowstrings with dizzying speed as they continued the onslaught upon the hybrid army below them. Several arrows pierced his stallion, sending the animal into a wild panic. Gideon pulled his sword from its sheath on the saddle and leaped away with his shield as the horse tore through the crowd in terror. It plowed through hybrid soldiers before being cut down by the ever-falling hail of arrows.
The entire host of Grimwald's army had now scattered in search of cover. Gideon ran among them, dodging here and there, bumping into demon soldiers, many of which had several arrows sticking out of their bodies like pincushions. Still, these otherworldly soldiers carried on, defiant of death despite what their mortal bodies cried out for.
Gideon had no idea what had happened to General Grimwald in the ensuing chaos down on the training
