Unholy Empire: Chronicles of the Host, Vol 2: Chronicles of the Host, Book 2 (48 page)

“My question is a simple one, Moses. Why? Why have you set yourself above us? Are you any better than the rest of us? Am I not a Levite? Have I not duties to our Lord as well? Do you truly believe that only you and Aaron are holy?” He shouted loudly for all to hear, “This entire nation is holy to the Lord! Every man here! And all of them are separated to the Lord and the Lord is with them!”

A great cheer went up from the people as Korah moved over to allow Moses to speak. Dathan patted Korah on the back and spoke laudatory words in his ear. The rowdy crowd finally settled down as Moses waited for silence.

Like spectators in an arena, the Host of Heaven and the fallen angels watched the confrontation with great interest. Since the assembly was taking place in front of the holy Tent of Meeting, the devils stayed clear of the area and watched instead from more heavenly perches.

Crispin observed the hesitancy on the part of Lucifer’s angels, and called to them, inviting them to come in for a closer viewing. They responded with profanities that caused Michael to look at Crispin with a “Why did you do that?” sort of look. Crispin smiled.

“It is amazing how Lucifer dismisses the Lord with one hand, but calls his angels back from His Presence with the other,” Crispin said to Sangius. Sangius, who had once been close to Lucifer, agreed.

“Lucifer shall never attain to such a Presence,” said Sangius. “He hates the presence of God because he shall never have it.”

“Yet these poor, simple humans are making accusation of the Lord’s chosen right under the shadow of the tent of His Presence. At least the devils have the sense to respect the Lord’s Person. Korah has no idea what he is courting.”

Moses walked up and down the rows of men who stood to accuse him. Some stared back at him with intense vigor; others avoided his eyes altogether. He then stood upon a small platform brought for the occasion and addressed the crowd for what he hoped would be the last time on this issue.

“You have tested the Lord once more, and now the Lord will test you,” Moses began. “I am weary of your accusations. You don’t accuse me in this…you accuse the Lord! Therefore the Lord will prove who shall stand before Him…”

Watching from his vantage, Lucifer suddenly said to himself, “Watch out now…”

“My lord,” asked Pellecus.

“There is something sly going on here,” said Lucifer.

“Don’t worry, my prince,” said Kara. “Korah has set quite a nice trap.”

“A trap has certainly been set,” said Lucifer. “But for whom?”

“Tomorrow,” continued Moses, “you and your followers are to bring censers and incense before the Lord. Whomever the Lord chooses will be holy.”

He then looked at one group in particular—Korah’s group.

“As for you Levites, you who were chosen by God to enter into His service in the Tabernacle…isn’t it enough that you have been so honored? You who rushed to the Lord’s side when the golden calf was destroyed—do you now covet the priesthood as well by attacking Aaron?”

He then turned to Dathan and Abiram, who had been with Korah.

“And you two—you also accuse me?” said Moses.

Dathan, unaccustomed to being thrust into the light, suddenly found his voice and began hurling offenses at Moses.

“You Moses! You said you were taking us to a land flowing with milk and honey. Instead, you brought us out of such a land to die in the desert. Yes, I accuse you—of deceiving your own people and betraying their trust.”

“Tomorrow, Korah, the Lord will judge between us,” Moses said. “I pray He will have mercy upon you!”

“And I pray that the people will have mercy upon you, Moses,” said Korah, dismissing the assembly. Dathan followed him, giving Moses a proud look as he left.

That evening Kara met with Berenius and instructed him about the upcoming contest. Because Moses had picked censers as the weapon of choice, Lucifer had ordered that Korah’s censers must light. Berenius was given the task of manipulating the censers and creating a flame to demonstrate for the people their fitness to lead. And so he organized his lead demons into pairs—each assigned to a censer. The demons assured Berenius that at the proper moment the censers would burn brilliantly and prove that Korah was indeed chosen by God.

“Has it really come to trickery?” asked Rugio. “I mean all these censers and smoke and nonsense. How low must we sink to prove our power?”

Pellecus, Rugio, and Kara, who made up Lucifer’s inner circle of leadership, were meeting in summary of the latest events. On the whole, Lucifer was satisfied with the way things had been going. The people’s blatant opposition to Moses, and therefore to the Most High, was a gratifying development. If the war must be fought by grinding everything to a creeping or halting progress, then so be it—anything to delay the Seed.

“Trickery?” asked Lucifer. “You believe that trickery and deceit are not viable weapons for us?”

“Yes, of course,” said the warrior. “But at some point we must exercise our power to destroy these people outright. I am weary of their existence!” Rugio’s aura began manifesting as his anger grew. “I hate Israel,” he snarled.

“Don’t we all?” said Lucifer.

Pellecus and Kara smiled at Lucifer’s disarming statement.

“I am simply saying that I am tired of rule by deception. I crave force!”

Lucifer stood from the rock on which he was seated, overlooking the camp of Israel. He indicated the many fires below and said:

“Do you see all of those flames of light?”

All of the angels looked down at the camp, dotted with thousands of small fires in and around the many tents.

“Each of those flames represents something that might destroy us. What began as one man and woman has become a nation that threatens our very existence. You talk of deception as if it is not a weapon. I maintain that it is our greatest weapon. What we cannot take by force we can influence through the minds of men. We shall never be able to confront the Most High directly—we saw that! But we can destroy His plan through His people. Thus, whether it’s smoking censers or idols that speak or familiar spirits of dead relatives makes no difference to us. It is the hearts of men that must be destroyed. And it is only through deception that this will happen!” He looked intently at Rugio. “You’ll have your opportunity to strike at Michael. I know that you are storing a great amount of hate for him. That is good. Hate is a great motivator. But in due course, my warrior. In due course.”

“Besides,” said Kara pointedly, “the last confrontation by force that you had with Michael saw you and your greatest angels bested. I would not be in such a hurry to…”

Rugio screamed an angry curse at Kara and drew his sword. Kara backed down in terror, shielding himself with his arms and calling upon Lucifer to put a stop to it. Pellecus remained impassive, wondering how they were ever to win a war with such leaders.

“Rugio! Put your sword away at once!” ordered Lucifer. “Save your anger for the field of battle! And you, Kara. Make certain that the censers light up on cue. Do not fail me in this.”

He began walking away.

“I must visit the other four members of this council in their domains. I shall return when the contest begins.”

He looked over the camp, still blazing with fires.

“By tomorrow these lights will have moved on…towards Egypt. And Moses and Aaron will be buried under a pile of bloody stones!”