The Descent of the Gods

Trap

Threading his way through the dark unwinding squalor of Nod's less frequented streets, Enoch couldn't know exactly the route the kidnappers had taken. But he guessed that whatever their route, the river was their final destination. He hurtled through the dimness. The night air grew damp and cool as he neared the city's edge. 

He was suddenly faced with the torch lights of the wall construction area. Slaves worked night and day to build the wall of stone, but here things were not normal. Several Cainite soliders lay dead, blood dripping from fresh wounds. No slaves were visible. So this had been the kidnapper's exit point.

The section of wall before him was not quite complete, and without breaking his stride he catapulted himself up through the the waiting stones, reached the top of the still-incomplete wall.  

Below him, the Euphrates river gently lapped against the newly cut stones. Movement caught his eye on the water - a boat was slipping away into the darkness that hid the rest of the river from sight. He had been too late. No other boats were to be seen.

He looked around. A few hundred paces along the wall to his right was the drawbridge. Although still under construction, Enoch had heard it was functional already. If Azrael suspected that Naamah's captors were Herabites, he would surely go straight to the bridge. Enoch raced toward it across the top of the wall, sometimes leaping from stone to stone in unfinished areas. 

Archers appeared on the bridge above him, and Enoch shouted to get their attention, waving his arms frantically. Torches were tossed down and landed all around him, illuminating his face to them. 

Enoch was relieved when suddenly Azrael's head appeared above him, and he heard the words "Don't shoot!" He recognized Tubal's face next to Azrael, along with Sariel the angel and others.

"Where did they take her?" Azrael shouted down at him. 

"Just downstream! They are still close!" Enoch pointed across the river, and immediately Azrael disappeared from his sight. The drawbridges were being lowered.

Enoch leaped down from the wall and started making his way up to the bridge above him.

"Why Naamah? Why would the Herabites take her?" Tubal asked Azrael, quickly distributing swords to the angels who had been within range of Azrael's call for help to rescue Naamah.

"I don't know," Azrael replied tersely. Azrael led the hastily assembled band of angels and soldiers forward across the bridges, not even waiting for them to be fully lowered before crossing. 

Tubal came alongside him, offering Azrael his blade.

"My lord, you are unarmed! Take a sword, I beg you!"

Azrael looked around. Each angel held a sword. 

"We will not have the blood of any man on our hands." The angels following him nodded. He knew they would not use the swords against Herabite attackers - the swords were more for show than anything else. 

He knew that the Herabites did not know this - the Herabites had fled Nod out of complete fear of the angels. Angels with swords would be even more fearsome. But they were fast enough and strong enough to avoid mortal blows from human hands. 

Azrael hoped they would not face a situation where they would be in true danger. Would they spill man's blood to save their own lives? Azrael put the thought out of his mind - the implications for them were too grave to contemplate.

Three massive drawbridges had replaced the old rope bridge that the Cainites had strung across the Euphrates and had maintained in the centuries before. A few wagons could cross the old bridge, thanks to the strength of the ropes and the wide planking, but these new bridges were built for massive troop deployment when lowered and immediate defense when raised.