Sons of God Daughters of Men

Chapter 3 - Close Encounters

Samyaza noticed that ten of the angels were of the larger, more powerful warrior class. At about ten feet tall, they were larger and more muscular than the seven foot Guardians. Each of them was armed with silver open faced helmets adorned with red, blue and white plumes, depending on their rank. They bore knights shields on their left arms and six of them carried spears in their right hand while the others carried long broadswords. They wore bright silver breastplates embroidered with black straps to cover their chest and backs. Underneath, they wore shortened robes that extended to their knees, just above the long black laces extending upwards from their sandals. Half of the angels also carried long recurve bows slung across their backs.  

Since it was highly unusual for warrior class angels to be assigned to humans, Samyaza surmised that Noah and his family must be of some importance. They angels looked serious as they stood in a square formation around him. He was a middle aged man of about five hundred years with a thick, black beard speckled with gray. He seemed unaware of all of the angelic activity around him as he busily directed his sons and servants. The angels steadily perused the area for any sign of danger as Noah and his servants unloaded large clay jars of wine from a donkey driven cart. The smaller Guardian angels all but ignored the servants, but gave close attention to Noah and his sons to ensure that they were safe.

Although Samyaza was waiting to relieve the angel watching over his human assignment, curiosity got the better of him and he decided to approach the angels to get more information about their Noah. As he stepped forward, a familiar presence of evil overcame him, signifying the presence of powerful demons. Lucius perked up as he felt the presence and turned to Samyaza for direction. 

"Don't turn around Lucius. Just keep walking as if nothing is wrong." 

They were about one hundred feet away from the group of angels. Without turning around, they had no idea of how many demons were behind them and Lucius wondered if they could safely traverse the distance without being harmed. Samyaza sensed his concern and tried to reassure him. 

"What you do in the next five seconds will determine if you see today's sunset" Samyaza said as they cautiously walked forward. "Remember your training and follow my lead." 

"I understand." 

"When I give the signal, duck and roll to your left, then right. It will throw their aim off." 

"I got it." 

Samyaza and Lucius both felt and ever increasing presence of evil as the continued walking forward. Lucius noticed the angels ahead of them beginning to take defensive positions. One of the warrior angels, wearing a white plume on his helmet stepped forward from the group and looked directly at Samyaza. His sword in his right hand, but he managed to extend three fingers several times. 

"There are thirty three demons behind us" Samyaza muttered to Lucius, who began to feel nervous about the large odds. He had been trained in fighting multiple adversaries, now he was about to see how good his training really was.

The presence of evil continued to intensify, which signified that they were probably being followed. As they drew to a distance of about fifty feet away from the other angels, Samyaza yelled, "Now!" and rolled to the ground. 

Lucius followed him and dove toward the ground and rolled to his left, then immediately to his right with Samyaza. As they came out of their final roll, both narrowly avoided a volley of arrows fired from the group of demons trailing them. Lucius instinctively began to get up from the ground, but Samyaza grabbed his shoulder and slammed him back to ground just before the angels in front of them fired a volley of their own arrows at the demons. Several screams rang out from the demons who had just been hit, just before they exploded into ashes. 

"Now!" Samyaza yelled as he grabbed Lucius' arm and pulled him up off of the ground. Lucius was still in an open space, which was good, but half of Samyaza's body was inside of a small building and this partially obscured his view.

They were three quarters of the way to where the other angels were standing when Lucius noticed two demons charging at him with black maces with spikes protruding from the end. One of the demons was already several feet away with the mace raised and yelled loudly before swinging at his head. Lucius ducked his head in just enough time to avoid the blow and with one movement, drew his sword, spun around and decapitated the demon as he went past him. As the lifeless body fell to its knees, the demon's comrade behind him appeared stunned that his brethren had been dispatched so quickly by the young angel. Lucius quickly took advantage of the situation and raised his sword, let out a loud cry and struck the demon across the shoulder and chest, splitting the armor on his chest in half and fatally wounding him.

The first demon Lucius killed burst into black smoke and ashes next him, followed immediately by the second. His eyes, throat and nostrils were quickly filled by the smoke and ash, causing him to close his eyes and begin choking. Luckily, Samyaza, knowing that his trainee had never seen actual battle, quickly grabbed the back of his robe and propelled both of them across the marketplace to safety of the awaiting angels.

Lucius dropped to one knee and began trying to clear his eyes and throat. The remained demons withdrew and stood several hundred feet away watching the angels. When his vision returned somewhat o normal, Lucius saw that the rest of the angels stood waiting to see what the next move of the demons would be. As he stood up, a Guardian standing to his right with his bow still drawn made a remark. 

"Strike and then step away. Otherwise, you get a nasty shower of ash." 

"Yes" Lucius replied while still trying to recover, "I see now." 

"I'm Azazel. What's your name?" 

"Lucius." 

"Nice to meet you Lucius. You're lucky you were with Samyaza. He's one of the best." 

Lucius, having regained his sight, looked up at Samyaza, who was standing to his left with his sword drawn. Initially, he had resented his drill sergeant approach to training and constant corrections, but he was now thankful that his experience had saved his life. 

"I agree" Lucius replied. 

"When the other five demons following saw him, they turned and ran. There's only a few of us down here that can rout demons just by looking at them. Be glad that you were with one of them. Listen to what he says and you will have a long, happy eternity." 

Lucius stared at Samyaza, who stood stoically looking into the distance. It was obvious Samyaza was quite different from other Guardians. He had earned the respect of both angels and demons alike and that could not have come easily. Whoever this Samyaza was, it was apparent that he was destined for great things.