August 10, 1689
"No," Golgotha said weakly as they watched smoke rise from the edge of their defenses, what then followed were a series of explosions from the East, West, and South as the jars containing the black powder exploded, destroying the Boxing trees utterly after the exposed bits of Draco's fire burned through the wick on the jars and "detonated" the improvised grenades.
"NO!" I want Satyrs, Centaurs, Minotaurs and all the other creatures the God of the Dog hates!" Gomorrah almost whined.
Golgotha didn't answer.
"The Dog and her God..." Gaal sneered, "does he promise anything GOOD to the fools that worship him?"
"Likely only torture," Golgotha answered.
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Marie Cruz continued to recite as she and Vatican made their way toward Glendale.
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works," Marie recited, "And the Sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
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"What does all that mean?" Lilly asked curious.
"It is from the Book of Revelation, Chapter 20 verse 12 through Chapter 21 verse 4," Lawrence asked, "basically it tells how all those, living and dead, will be judged on what they did in their lives. Those who were evil were punished. Those who where good were rewarded. Anne could probably explain it better then me though."
Lilly glanced to her sister and then nodded.
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"Can the people still defend us?" Gomorrah asked after a few moments.
"They might try," Golgotha answered, "but at present, they might be easily distracted."
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"We must help the witches!" a child urged Monica as Monica took her into a room deep inside the dwelling.
"No," Monica said, and deciding to play it from a different angle as some of the people she contacted were Leomen, "the witches do not need our help, and these hunters will be armed. It will be safer for you to remain here."
"They'll hurt me?" the girl asked.
"I've been told they have no intention of doing so," Monica spoke, "they're enemy is the witches."
"We must help them," the girl said again.
"They don't need it," Monica answered, "it would be better that you stayed here and stayed out of the way."
"Okay, miss Monica."
Monica only sighed.
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Mal'akh only sighed as she looked at the chaos and bedlam before her. The two silver omegas, and a host of brightly colored Lupmen, all about the age of teenagers were struggling to control a host of pups which did everything that was counter to the heavily ordered lives Mal'akh had seen the Pack live when she accompanied her mother on hunting trips.
"This is all the witches doing," Mal'akh said, "they are doing this to you."
The two Lupmen looked at each other and then at the troubles that they could see.
"But what can we do? We must survive," the first spoke, "we must endure this. The pups will surely grow up eventually and all will be well."
"Not if the witches have their way," Mal'akh said, "they must be stopped."
"You ask us... OMEGAS to fight these witches?" the two asked together.
"No, they'd kill all of us in an instant," Mal'akh sighed, "but there are those who could face them... beat them... but they need our help."
"To do what?" the first asked.
"To clear a path for the hunters," Mal'akh answered, "make sure that the people of Glendale stay out of their way."
"That is all?" the second asked.
"It would give them the best chance possible of beating the witches," Mal'akh said, "once their gone, your Pack will return to normal."
Mal'akh then paused and looked around. Smoke was rising from the four cardinal directions, and Mal'akh thought she heard explosions coming from three of the directions. She then remembered that Rosa had said something about recruiting a human named Monica.
"I only need one helper," Mal'akh said weakly, "I'm sure this will be rough on you... but if the Hunters win, your Pack will be restored..."
"And if they fail?" both asked together.
"Then it'll only be a matter of time before we all die," Mal'akh sighed, "regardless. Having everyone be children will not make things better..."
The two then looked to each other and then the second stepped forward.
"I will help you, Leoman," the second of the two silver twins spoke, "If only to save the Pack. Where must I go? And will the people Glendale fight?"
"To the south," Mal'akh said, "you have the endurance to get there quickly. Try NOT to fight. Just move any people outside and tell them to go inside... or carry them in... but be gentle. We don't want to hurt them."
"Very well, Leoman," the second answered and was off at a sprint for the southern edge of Glendale, and making sure to avoid the witches' maze of thorns.
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"How many more vials of these black powder bombs do we have?" Vatican asked as he and Marie made their way toward Glendale.
"Two," Marie sighed as she looked into the pouch she was carrying. It had been heavily sewn to insure that each vial or jar was not jostling against one another and breaking open. "One we'll use to try and blow a hole in this "thorn maze" if it doesn't give us an opening, and the other will be used against the doors if these cannons the witches have summoned don't work."
"And if they do work?" Vatican asked.
"Blow a bigger hole in the thorn maze," Marie answered, "Linus and Draco were both clear that it'd be dangerous to leave them laying around once the real part of this battle starts."
Vatican nodded as they slowly made their way forward.
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Linus found it oddly quiet as he made his way into Glendale. They had made it deeper into Glendale then they would have earlier, but it was quiet. The streets were empty. No sign of any further defenses. He thought he saw a face or two in the windows of the homes he passed, but that was the only sign of life.
Now, from what Marie sensed, the next defense line was the maze of thorns, but Linus still half expected some form of opposition, so the silence either betrayed an ambush that could or would kill him... or much more good fortune then he expected.
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"We must do something!" Gomorrah said half desperately, "their army is coming."
She was watching nervously as the flames still rose from where the Boxing trees had been. The smoke rose higher.
"The Witch Pride has been reminded of their duties and what we expect from them," Gaal spoke, "they will destroy all who oppose us."
"Or at least most," Golgotha said from where she sat, "we must maintain focus. Without it, we will lose. Focus sisters."
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"Would this "focus" work?" Samantha asked nervously.
Marie shook her head.
"No," Marie answered, "The "focus" Golgatha mentioned was an attempt to try and speed up all of their plans. To try and accelerate what they had done previously and bring their plans to a strength where the wards that Marie-Cruz and her comrades wore would be overpowered and that all that had some partial immunity would lose it."
There was a slight pause for a moment. Marie-Eliza then continued.
"What the witches were doing was equal to pouring more water into a clogged toilet," Marie explained, "the rules their magic had to follow, made it go slowly, as a result it wasn't progressing as fast as the witches wanted. The rules was in a sense the clog. To undo the clog, they should have actually used the child familiars by placing them at various points around Glendale and had them channel the exact spells the withes were trying to cast... in a sense opening more draining pipes, rather then depending on one pipe..."
"But the witches didn't do that," Betty said.
"Yes, because it weakened their strength," Marie nodded, "by spreading out they would have weakened their manor's defenses against Marie and her comrades... despite the increased possibility of winning. Instead they in a sense tried to force MORE water into an already clogged drain. By the time that Marie and her comrades reached the thorn maze the "toilet" was overflowing, and by the time that Marie and Linus made it into the house, the "pipes" had burst and any hope the witches plans had off succeeding in 1689 vanished."