The Raid of Balvenie and the Maiden Who Survived

The angel Jabamiah was fighting above Castle Balvenie in the Unseen Dimension. He battled against the demon Zakun, contending for the eternal safety of his wards—the Keith clan—humans who dwelt in the corporeal world of Earth. His flaming quarterstaff crashed against Zakun’s barbed rod, sparking and booming with each blow. Jabamiah would use every particle of power he had to defend the humans in his care. If he could best Zakun and expunge him from the quadrant, he would attain a victory for good and diminish the influence of evil on the lives of his wards.

  With a powerful strike, Zakun crashed his rod down against the shaft of Jabamiah’s weapon and hooked it, wresting it from his hands. In one smooth continuous motion, Zakun hurled the quarterstaff away back over his head and sent it spinning end over end into space where it rapidly disintegrated into ash. A new flaming sword and giant shield materialized in Jabamiah’s hands as soon as the quarterstaff was gone.

  Zakun was a Watcher for members of the Gunn clan. He was driving their evil acts as they attacked the unsuspecting citizens below at the Keith castle who were innocently anticipating a happy wedding, a time of celebration. A ruthless ploy to strike in the midst of community and joy. Driving fear and grief into humans’ lives was a typical strategy of the Watchers. They’d do anything to destroy hope, to crush faith. Jabamiah parried an attempted hit by Zakun. He sliced to the left but Zakun blocked the blow with his rod.

  Hovering in the air, the pair slowly rotated as they lunged and thrust, blocked and dodged. Each time one delivered a solid blow, the other faded and shrank, losing strength and dominion.

  The demon landed a direct hit to Jabamiah’s shoulder. The angel weakened. He stifled a groan. He hoped he could hold out until reinforcements arrived. The carnage among the humans was growing. Even as he tried to match strike for strike, blocking many of the defensive moves with his shield, he sent word out again via the Celestial Chatter to call for more Pure to speed to his quadrant. His only advantage in the fight while he awaited help was that Zakun was using a fair amount of strength to possess one of the humans below. Zakun had only half of his essence in the Unseen Dimension where he fought against Jabamiah. The other half of his being was in the human world. His spirit was entangled with the soul of a human who’d surrendered his will to evil. Splitting his substance between worlds spent much of his energy and was helping Jabamiah gain a slight edge.

  Another demon suddenly appeared at Zakun’s side, fresh and ready to battle. And with his arrival Jabamiah’s advantage disappeared. Jabamiah responded with an immediate message to the leader of the army of angels.

  Of course Zakun heard Jabamiah’s plea. The thoughts of any Celestial were shared among all, both Fallen and Pure.

  “Michael have better things to do?” Zakun grunted snidely as he slammed his barbed rod against Jabamiah’s shield, holding one end in both fists like a club. The shield held but shrank in size and became as thin as parchment. Then the other demon moved before Jabamiah could react, slashing a hatchet into his unprotected side. The hatchet cut through the angel’s vaporous flank, draining power that Jabamiah could ill afford losing. He was smaller and his white glow dimmed. He moaned in agony but fought against the pain. He struggled to straighten up and focus his attention back on the battle. His clouded thoughts cleared enough that he heard the archangel Michael when he thought back to Jabamiah that he was himself battling in another quadrant and couldn’t come. He told Jabamiah to ask for help directly from They, the Creator of all things.

  Zakun laughed even as he struck his deadly staff against Jabamiah’s disappearing shield. Jabamiah faded more and knew that soon he’d be eliminated from the sector, banned and unable to intervene for his wards for a long time.

  “They won’t bother with something so trivial,” Zakun jeered.

  “Your desires are too inconsequential,” the second demon taunted as he threw his hatchet. Jabamiah somehow dodged it and it spun away just past his head.

  A human prayer suddenly shot through the Celestials’ shared consciousness. Jabamiah’s ward, Jean Dixson, was sending a frantic prayer for help.

  In one last attempt to postpone his inevitable obliteration, Jabamiah launched sputtering balls of fire at the two demons. The flame of each missal was weak and orange, but the maneuver gained him his needed moment. He could see Jean hiding beneath the table. A fiend reached down to lift the drape. Zakun wound up his swing to crash his weapon down on Jabamiah’s head. The second demon aimed his new crossbow at Jabamiah’s heart. They told Jabamiah how to intervene for Jean. Weak as he was, Jabamiah sent a miracle. Then with their final assault, the angel was extinguished from the sector.

  FIEND AND FIRE