Chapter 7

The battle continued through the night. The Rahabim sent a small army outside the gates to push the demons back. A few demons had found a way into the castle, but they turned and fled when they realised they were out of their depth and the way they had come was sealed so the mistake could not be repeated.

Morning came and with it the full force of the night before hit the Rahabim. Rahab walked along the city wall looking down on the mass of bodies that lay on the outskirts of the city, demons and Rahabim warriors alike. Granted the demon corpses far outnumbered the Rahabim but still, Rahab knew them all. He had been there at every Rahabim vampire's siring. He had watched them grow into vampires to be proud of, they had devoted their lives to him and now they had sacrificed those lives to protect the city. They should all be brought back into the city and burned so the people could say their farewells, but he knew that it would be impossible to retrieve the bodies without risking losing more to the demons.

"It's quiet," one of the archers said quietly. Rahab stopped beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. The archers had stayed in their positions throughout the night and now remained their bows constantly at the ready as they looked out onto the enemy camp. "There has been no movement since they retreated," the archer informed his commander, "Maybe they're asleep?"

Their eyes met and they both shared a smirk before Rahab continued his morning walk. "My lord!" came Circe's shout. The vampire turned to see his first born running towards him, "My lord, it's Mioko…" Rahab's eyes widened, in the chaos of the battle he had forgotten about Mioko. It seemed almost ironic that Raziel sent Mioko to Rahab to protect her from any battle that may occur in Razielim. Nobody could have foreseen the change in events which put Mioko in the heart of the battle. Rahab smiled, expecting his daughter to tell him Mioko wanted to see him or Mioko wanted breakfast or Mioko had had a bad dream, instead she told him Mioko was missing.

A strange but pleasant smell wafted through the cave. In her sleep Meg inhaled the scent and smiled, opening her eyes she saw Dantess cooking some kind of meat over a fire. He was humming as he did so, completely engrossed in what he was doing, Meg had to nudge him before he realised she had woken up.

"What are you doing?" she asked, nearing the fire to warm herself. Dantess stoked the fire, and replied simply,

"Cooking."

Meg laughed and hugged the demon, "Thank you," she smiled.

Dantess shrugged her off so he could cook the meat to perfection. He turned it over on a makeshift spit, "What is it?" she asked.

"I don't know…I went into the demon camp and picked up some food." Meg looked up at him in surprise,

"Yesterday you killed about a hundred demons,"

"a hundred and twelve," Dantess muttered trivially.

Meg ignored him and continued, "And yet they still accept you into their camp?"

Dantess pulled the meat off the fire and let it cool, "of course. I only killed those demons because they were attacking us. I am still the greatest swordsman of all demons it is no wonder that I can wander freely through the camp. Meg sighed and watched him tear the meat apart with his teeth. She laughed when he offered a piece of meat to her, but she declined politely.

A loud shout came from outside the cave. Both Meg and Dantess froze, but soon realised the shouting was coming from the Rahabim city and not the demons who posed much more of a threat. "The hell?" Meg muttered, springing to her feet and rushing out of the cave. The demon encampment was spread out before her, very few demons seemed to be wandering around, not a single one of them was stopping to look over at the city from which there seemed to be a problem. Dantess appeared beside her, still eating the meat off the stick, looking lazily up at the palace.

"What's the matter with them?" he asked, curiously. Meg screwed her face up in concentration trying to catch glimmers of the whispers that were frantically passing between the Rahabim.

"Someone's missing?" she murmured, still trying to understand what they were saying. Dantess shrugged and continued to eat until Meg raised a hand to her mouth in shock. The demon stopped eating for a moment before he realised that Meg was sinking to her knees, she may even have been crying.

"By Kain, the demons took Mioko, they took Mioko," she sobbed, Dantess dropped down beside her and attempted to console her, though as he didn't have a clue what was going on he had little idea of how to do that. "Mioko," Meg sniffed, wiping her eyes, "She's still so young. The demons have taken her."

Dantess shook his head and wiped her tears for her, "They may not have killed her. I will go to the camp and find her for you."

"I'm coming with you," Meg decided, though she knew that he wouldn't let her.

"No," he said, immediately and she sighed, knowing that it was coming. "You can't. If I walk into the demon camp it is of no consequence, if you go in…well they'll kill you on sight. Now you go back into the cave and I'll go get this young vampire…"

"human," Meg interrupted, walking back to the cave.

"Human then, go."

Dumah and Raziel read and re read the message from the Rahabim envoy. Kain was sitting in the Razielim throne room, his expression unreadable but Raziel knew that he was probably shaking with anger inside. "Dumah," Kain called, quietly, the third born knelt at his sire's feet. "You will take your cavalry to Rahabim immediately. Raziel and I will follow. Move now!" Dumah bowed and started barking orders to his men, leaving the throne room he gave a swift smile to Raziel who knew his younger brother thrived on the battlefield.

"Raziel," Kain motioned for his son to join him, "Send envoys to Turel, Zephon and Melchiah have them all move to Rahabim. Have them come in different directions, the enemy have camped in front of the main gate, we can surround them and destroy them."

Raziel nodded and with a movement of his claw he summoned Azrael and Jade to his side. "Jade, send the envoys, Azrael, rally the men and prepare them for war."

Azrael nodded, and went down to the barracks. The Razielim army was already assembled, waiting in the huge training ground to see if they would be needed or not.

"Razielim!" Azrael shouted and with excellent discipline the entire field went silent to hear him speak. "the creatures have moved against Rahab. We will join with our brothers and defend the empire." There were murmurings of agreement throughout the gathering. Azrael smiled, "The army will gather outside the West Gate by dusk. From there we march!"

The army roared their approval, Azrael's smile grew wider, these little adrenalin rushing speeches were always exhilarating, although that speech was hardly as spurring as those given on the battlefield. The men started filtering through the door to the armoury and Maret joined his sire.

"You'd think they would have tired of fighting by now," Maret muttered, watching his men go with pride, "I promised them peace and now you offer them blood…and yet they take it in their stride." Azrael clapped his son on the shoulder,

"You must have taught them well." Maret laughed and joined his sire as they went to dress themselves for the battle.

Gogandantess slipped through the enemy camp. It wasn't as if he needed to sneak or anything, he just thought it would be easier for him to return to Meg if nobody noticed him, at least anybody of importance who had an ounce of sense. He didn't know why the demons would bother kidnapping a young human, though sometimes they had been known to take random people from battle but nobody could understand the reasoning…especially when they took that baby. Dantess rolled his eyes as he remembered the time the lower demons had taken a baby from her father and then panicked when she started crying and they knew not what to do with her or why she was emitting such a painful cry.

The demons swordsman moved silently passed the tents, wondering just where this human was, if she wasn't dead already. There was little chance she was alive but he knew Meg wouldn't rest until Mioko's death was proven…why was a vampire so emotional about a human anyway? Slightly uncharacteristic of a vampire to love a human, even more so for a human to love a vampire. This Mioko probably lost her family to the vampires, she was probably a slave of something…

"Give me the hat!" a childish cry came out of one of the tents, "Give me the hat or I will stab you! I will!"

Dantess stopped and looked back at the tent. Lifting the makeshift door open, he peeked in and saw two lower demons with a small child sitting on the floor. She was decked out in what could be considered armour for a child, she bore a Rahabim mark on her outfit and in her hand she had a tiny dagger.

"I want the hat!" she screeched, stamping her foot. Dantess stepped into the tent, both the demons realised who he was and made a feeble attempt to bow to him.

Dantess considered the child for a moment, the demons had done it again. He approached her, wary of the dagger in her hand, even a child could cause damage with one. "Hello little one…"

"I want a hat," she repeated, pointing at the little straw hats atop the demons' heads. Dantess immediately saw a way to calm her and obediently he passed her the hat she wanted. She smiled and put it on, it was far too big for her but she didn't care and she squealed with delight at finally having a hat. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity to rescue the child he lifted her up and with a smile to the demons, who grunted in thanks that he should take the girl away from them, he left the tent and found them a secluded spot.

"What are you doing here little girl?" he asked, curiously, "and why are you dressed like that?"

The girl looked up at him from under the hat, "I was up in the castle and then all these funny things came in and then they saw that they were in the wrong place so they grabbed me and some other people and ran off. I think they killed the others…" she broke off, "but no one can kill me!" Dantess sighed, Mioko was dead then. Meg would be devastated, "I'm the mighty Mioko!" the child laughed, drawing her dagger and pointing it at the demon, "en gad!"

Dantess was massaging his temples when he realised what she had said, "You're Mioko?" he asked. He looked down at her, the tiny girl of about seven human years was Mioko. Dantess laughed, when Meg had said young he had expected a teenager or a young woman….not a child.

Mioko looked up at him and looked almost scared, "How do you know my name?" she asked, warily. Dantess picked her up and hugged her out of relief, "Ah! Ah! Put me down!" she shouted, flailing in his arms trying to get free. Eventually he complied and placed her gently on the ground, "I want to go back to Rahab now, please?"

Dantess picked her up into his arms, "I can't take you to Rahab, but I can take you to see someone else who wants to see you."

Mioko shrugged, "Ok…as long as it isn't Turel…or Zephon…or Azrael…well Azrael wouldn't be so bad…he's ok I guess…but sometimes he can be-" Gogandantess rolled his eyes and picking the child up he carried her to the cave while she jabbered away merrily.

Elsewhere in Nosgoth the brethren had mobilised. Dumah's cavalry unit was fast approaching while the rest of his army followed a few hours behind him. Zephon and Turel were closing in on the East and West, Melchiah would be able to reinforce Zephon coming in from the same direction and Raziel was closing the gap from the North. By daybreak the brothers would have surrounded the demons while Nobunaga slept in his prestigious tent dreaming about the victory he would no doubt achieve with his vast army.

TBC