Tamas had his hand on the green team's flag when all in the Bastion heard the horn's voice. That shrill, dying voice of the bull's horn. Tamas joined Caleb and the other sentinels on the Bastion's battlements in an instant. Khol climbed the stairs and stood behind his father.

“Keep your head down,” said Tamas.

“Aye, Pa.”

The Berknot Militia now stood on either side of the Bastion, and there were far more of them than last time. On the eastern side of the Bastion there stood a middle-aged woman in ornate robes, not unlike those of the Agalmite clergy. Except that she had steel pauldrons over her shoulders and gauntlets upon her hands. The symbol on the front of her robes was the many-pointed star of the Agalmite faith, but seven eyes surrounded the star. Next to her stood a tall, bulky figure covered in a sheet.

The woman in clerical robes called out to the sentinels. “My name is Tovah. I'm a priestess of the Agalmite Church, a geomancer, and the leader of the Berknot Militia.” She grasped the end of the sheet covering the large figure beside her. “And the faithful should already know who this is.”

Tovah tore the sheet away from the large figure beside her, and there stood an angel. Light shimmered through its crystalline body, but the figure was far wider than most angels. Broader shoulders, stronger arms, and a much wider wing-span, once the wings were spread wide. Upon its face were four eyes, each a different color. There were also two eyes upon its wings, and one golden eye in the center of its chest. Etched all over the angel's body were letters in the Ancient Script.

“The Law is written upon his body, and he watches you with seven eyes,” shouted Tovah. “The archangel of archangels, Adon.” The Berknot Militia all knelt before the angel. Even Tovah took a knee.

Adon raised his hands, and though he had no mouth all could hear his voice. Tamas could swear the archangel of archangels spoke right beside him when he heard the voice. To his surprise, the voice was gentle, even soothing. “I've come to bring true peace, and true peace can only be achieved through victory. The time has come when angels will rule over the people of Erets, and those ungrateful for God's gifts must be put to the sword. Those who plot even now to end Erets must be stopped! Those who consort with demons will only bring destruction. Heed the call! If you are loyal to your God and to your people then I command you to stand with us.” Adon pointed an accusing finger at Tamas. “A demon stands amongst you even now. Don't fall for his deceptions, he was sent here to destroy Erets, and that will always be his life's mission.”

A long silence followed Adon's speech. Tamas' mind was a sea of questions. Just over a decade ago he'd met the Agalmite God face to face and they'd come to an agreement. Now the highest of angels was against him. Tamas glanced around at the sentinels surrounding him and Khol. His fingers curled as he got ready to reach for his sword if any of them turned on him.

But the expressions on their faces revealed that they were all just as confused as Tamas was as to what exactly was going on. Khol looked like he was already looking for a path to escape this situation, but their options were limited. Neither he nor Tamas could get to the nearest staircase and get back down the walls, there were sentinels between them and each staircase. If they wanted to get down they'd have to jump, which would surely break their legs, and then they'd be totally incapable of escape.

He'd not been this vulnerable in so long. His life, and even the life of his son, depended entirely upon the decisions of others. He could conjure daemons to fight for them, but that would only buy him and Khol a few more minutes to live.

Caleb broke the eerie silence. “We need some time to decide. May we have some time? I think we all need to really talk about it.”

“Talk about it?” the bald man shouted. “What's there to talk about? You just received a direct order from the mouthpiece of God!”

“That's exactly what we have to talk over,” said Caleb. “This has never happened before. Well, not in our lifetimes anyway. I'm sure you understand.”

The bald man pointed his spear at Caleb. “We will lay siege to the Bastion and slay every last-”

Tovah placed a hand on his shoulder. “Kefa, silence, please.”

Adon spoke again. “You have one hour to decide. After that we will tear the Bastion apart if we need to.”

“One hour?” Caleb bowed. “Most generous of you, my lord. Yes, surely in that amount of time we'll be able to decide if we'd rather commit treason or blasphemy.”

As Caleb turned to descend down the stairs and meet with his lieutenants in the main hall, Tamas grabbed his arm. “Please...don't turn us in.”

Caleb leaned in close to Tamas and whispered. “I have no intention of turning you in. I just want to make sure all of the lieutenants are on the same page before I go telling Adon himself to sod off.”

“I want to sit in on the meeting,” said Tamas. “Let me plead my case.”

“Better if you don't,” said Caleb. “Stay here. Keep your boy close to you. The sentinels won't act without my command.”

In a short moment Caleb and all of his lieutenants met in the main hall. All of them sat around the dinner table, all with befuddled expressions.

“We cannot refuse such an order!”

“But we must! If we turn over our emperor to them...”

“We're committing treason!”

“And breaking the fragile peace we've formed with the Nihilite people!”

“But that is the highest of all archangels out there! We cannot disobey!”

“What's more, if we fight back we will not survive!”

“I agree. And what's the point of giving our lives for someone who will die anyway?”

“Nothing we can do here matters, it's the same outcome either way.”

“Better that we give up Tamas and Khol and survive than refuse and die.”

Caleb sat in silence, waiting for each of them to say their peace. They sure loved to talk, all of them. One had not even stopped to take a breath before another spoke up.

One of the lieutenants took notice. “Caleb, why are you silent? You're the one who called this meeting. Say something!”

“Yes, Caleb, weigh in on this.”

“We'd really love to hear what you have to say, commander.”

“Why aren't you saying anything? Say something!”

When all were silent Caleb said, “I was always taught that it was impolite to interrupt.” A few of the lieutenants chuckled at this, others gave him baffled looks. “So, let me make sure we all understand the dilemma before us. On the one hand, we have in our custody the emperor and his heir. Without the two of them the whole empire will come crashing down, and the wars with the Nihilites will start all over again. On the other hand we have our God's own messenger, the one who is supposed to bring peace to all the world, telling us that we need to do exactly that; renew war with the Nihilite people until they are all dead. Does that sound like a fair assessment of the problem?”

The lieutenants in the room all murmured, some nodded.

Caleb continued, “And part of the reason we care so much about this angel's opinion is because he is the incarnation of the Law, am I right? Well, what does the Law say about cold-blooded murder?”

“You shall not murder, but rather shall respect life, and work to protect others.”

“Interesting,” said Caleb. “What does it say about loyalty?”

“Loyalty is held as one of the chief virtues.”

Caleb nodded. “Yes, but that still leaves the question of who we're supposed to be loyal to.”

“To whom we are supposed to be loyal.”

“Shut it!” Caleb snapped at him. “What does the Law say about peace?”

“Peace is the greatest goal for which the people of God must strive. We are commanded to seek peace.”

“And do you believe that peace can be achieved if we turn Tamas over to Adon?” Caleb asked. “Don't bother to think about it, the answer is obviously 'no.' Peace cannot be achieved if we turn Tamas over to them to be killed. And, as for Khol, I'll be damned before I let anyone take a child's life! God spent the past few thousand years trying to get us to do right. The prophets taught us the Law so that we would live by it and do right. Now, suddenly, an angel who is supposed to embody the Law appears and wants us to violate the very commandments of God simply because he says so?”

Some of the sentinels began to nod in agreement with what Caleb was saying.

“I don't know,” Caleb continued, “Maybe this is a test. Maybe he wants to see how much we've really been paying attention, how much we truly follow the Law. There is a hierarchy in the commands of God. Some commands are more important than others. Doesn't it stand to reason that the commands to respect life, work for peace, and show loyalty to those close to us are more important than the command to 'obey?'”

“What if our souls are forfeit over this?”

“They won't be,” said Caleb. “If we're wrong it will be a lot easier to explain to God that we erred on the side of peace than if we erred on the side of obedience and war. The Law teaches us to love all people, even our enemies, yet Adon commands us to kill our enemies, mercilessly?” Caleb shook his head. “You know what, maybe it doesn't matter if our souls are forfeit. If because of this we don't get to enter Heaven...well, a Heaven built on murder is not a Heaven I want any part of anyway. I suggest we do what's right, what we know in our hearts to be right, in spite of what Adon or anyone else tells us. If God shows up in person to command us to execute Tamas and Khol then we answer 'No!' Because that is the right thing to do!”

One of the lieutenants nodded. “What you're saying makes a lot of sense, Caleb. If God wanted us to follow every order blindly without questioning it first why did he give us free will and the ability to reason?”

“You do realize we won't survive this, yes?” asked another lieutenant.

“We do have one hope for survival,” said Caleb.

Tamas and Khol were both on edge the entire time the lieutenants were gone. They could feel the fear in the hearts of every sentinel in the Bastion. All around the fortress the militiamen seemed to be moving in ever so slowly, as if they were children readying themselves for the moment they were told they could have at all the sweets they ever wanted. In the distance, from the west Tamas spied another battalion approaching, though this one seemed to be better armed. No banner visible yet, but he already had the sinking feeling that the soldiers of Muri approached the Bastion. He couldn't bring himself to hope they were there to help him and not the militiamen.

Caleb and the lieutenants strolled out of the main hall, all with solemn expressions. Caleb ascended the staircase, his nerves as calm as could be. He rose to the battlements to stand beside Tamas. All watched as he whispered something in Tamas' ear. Tamas nodded and leaned in close to Khol to whisper something to him. Khol pushed past the sentinels and descended the stairs. The lieutenants opened the main hall's doors, allowing Khol entry.

Caleb looked out at the militiamen that surrounded the Bastion, and he looked down into the four eyes upon Adon's face. “God's own mouthpiece has come in person and given us an order. In such times, there is only one answer we can give.”

Caleb drew a knife, whirled around, and slashed Tamas on the shoulder. With blood pouring over his arm, Tamas doubled over. Caleb caught him and, with his back to the militia thrust the knife low, towards Tamas' gut. Tamas cried out in pain. Caleb wrenched his arm back and forth, and Tamas crumpled onto the ground at his feet, just behind the battlements.

The militiamen cheered, but only for a moment. From beyond the Bastion's wall they heard a collection of hisses, roars, and growls. Claws reached over the battlements, and pulled along creatures with grotesque bodies. Beasts with wings like hawks and forms out of the militiamen's nightmares took off into the air high above them. Sparks of white and blue light the size of a grown man's head drifted upwards to meet the breeze blowing through the mountain pass.

Caleb turned to Tamas, who lay holding his bleeding shoulder and smiling up at Caleb. “Stay down,” Caleb said. “Less chance that they can get to you.” Caleb turned his attention to the sentinels, who stood gawking at the demon army growing with each passing second. “Hold the Bastion at all costs! Defend the emperor! Defend the prince! And defend the peace of Arx!”

“Show no quarter!” shouted Adon. “Slay them all, leave no man, woman, beast, demon, or child alive!”

The militiamen all roared and began their charge at the Bastion. As the amateur soldiers slipped past her, Tovah waived her hand at the gates of the Bastion. A fine dust that shimmered in the sun's light flew forward and tore the gate to shreds in an instant.

“Diamond dust...” said Caleb. “Damn clever!”

Adon spread his wings and took off into the air to meet the demons above. They tore at him with their claws and snapped at him with their teeth, and in turn he cut them to black, bloody ribbons with his crystalline wings.

“Draw!” Caleb shouted, his archers having already knocked arrows. Caleb watched and waited as the militiamen drew closer and closer to the Bastion. Those in the front had abandoned their shields for the sake of the charge, while the smarter members of the militia hung back with their door-shields in hand. Those in the front brandished wood-axes, meat cleavers, and hammers. Each of them shouted their war-cry as they approached. Running as fast as they could and shouting the whole way? Caleb couldn't help but laugh a little at what a poor strategy that was. They'd be out of breath long before they even reached the gate.

“Aim low!” Caleb shouted. His archers adjusted their aim to down just before the now-open gate.

Down below, just on the other side of the open gate, stood twenty sentinels with long spears in hand. The lieutenant shouted, “Hold the line! You will not break!”

“Loose!” Caleb shouted. Arrows rained down upon the charging militiamen just as they arrived at the open gate. Those few who squeezed past their companions met the heads of the sentinels' spears on the other side.