Chapter 8
Zephon slammed his fist down on the table, "Dumah! We need strategy, the battle must be fought with the mind." He couldn't bear much more of his elder repeatedly telling them that they should just storm the enemy and destroy them. Dumah looked up at his brother and smirked, "Alright you fight with your mind, I'll fight with my sword and we shall see which of us fares best."
There were sniggers around the table, Zephon looked as though he could quite happily jump over the table and tear Dumah's throat out, but of course he never would.
Kain held his hand up, clearly amused at his third son's comment, "Zephon is right, Dumah. We could kill them all swiftly but it is always best to have a strategy." Dumah nodded respectfully, even though Kain had said exactly what Zephon had, it was easier to accept coming from the master. If Kain said it, it must be true.
"Rahab shall draw their attack," Kain decided, pointing to the diagram drawn before him and moving a counter with Rahab's crest on it to the front gate of the Rahabim city. "Turel you shall come in from the east, Zephon from the west and Dumah from the North. Raziel…"
"I want to lead a raiding team through the camp," Raziel spoke up from the side of the table. He was the only one in the room with a chair, as the others stood around the table Raziel sat to the side of his sire, his face buried in his hands shielding himself from the counsel. He looked up at his sire, his face was exhausted, "Let me raid the camp, please," his voice broke, he was practically begging, "If Mioko is still-" he broke off when Kain raised his hand.
"Raziel will take a raiding team…"
"I offer my cavalry, my lord," Dumah bowed to Raziel, "They will serve you well." Kain nodded,
"Raziel will raid the enemy camp, when they have cleared the entire camp, we shall move, Melchiah you will remain as reinforcements. If we encounter any problems you will move, you will cover all possible routes the enemy will use to escape, including the caverns to the North." Melchiah nodded, "We move at first light," Kain commanded and dismissed his men. They all filed out of the counsel room except Raziel who remained in his chair, his face dropped to the floor again rolling in his hands. Dumah looked back and with a sigh moved to comfort his brother.
He knelt beside Raziel and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Raziel, you must sleep," Dumah told him, "You need to rest before the battle."
"How can I sleep?" Raziel rasped, "How can I possibly rest when Mioko is out there with…with them!" Raziel rose to his feet and leant wearily on the counsel table. "She is my daughter…I sent her here to be safe and…I failed her…"
Dumah spun the firstborn round, "Raziel, no one could have foreseen this. You did not fail her and I'm sure wherever Mioko is she's giving them hell."
Raziel laughed despite himself and Dumah shook his shoulder, "Come Raziel, I will introduce you to my cavalry, you have met them before, they will be only to happy to help you find Mioko…I will be only to happy to help you find her." Raziel nodded and accepted his brother's invitation and left with him.
Dantess placed Mioko on the ground and showed her into the cave. The fire was still burning and beside it Meg lay sleeping. "Meg!" Mioko cried happily, running to the vampire and shaking her to wake her up. "Meg, wake up!"
Being shook so violently jolted Meg to the world of the waking and she bolted upright her sword unsheathed, looking for an enemy to strike. She looked down and saw her little niece smiling up at her, she was amazed and clearly amused by Meg's precision with a sword, "Cool!" she gasped.
"Mioko," Meg breathed, dropping her sword and picking the child up into her arms, "You're ok! You're ok!" Mioko's expression didn't change as she was lifted with astonishing speed and the air almost crushed out of her lungs as the vampire smothered her with hugs and kisses.
Dantess dropped down on the other side of the fire and took to polishing his sword, while Meg cradled the child in her arms, looking up at him thanking him repeatedly. He dismissed her thanks and smiled as he watched the reunion between the two.
"I thought you were dead," Mioko said suddenly, placing her hands on her hips and looking up at the vampire. Meg looked vaguely surprised but then realised that she had gone to Durnacht and had yet to return, considering a week had passed and she had had no contact with any vampire, it was no wonder they would think her dead. "Azrael was crying," Mioko told her, slipping into Meg's lap, this surprised Meg more than seeing her niece emerge from the demon camp alive and even more surprising unscathed.
"Azrael…cried?" she asked, uncertainly.
Mioko nodded, "Yup yup. He cried coz he thought you were dead and daddy was trying to cheer him up and it didn't work and he was upset and wouldn't stop crying. Uncie Kain tried to talk to him, he told Azrael that he was being stupid and that you weren't dead and that he was ashamed that the firstborn of his firstborn would think you so weak..."
Meg let out a surpressed laugh and fell backwards onto the floor, her grin reaching from one ear to the next. Dantess laughed, merely bacause Meg was laughing, this led to Mioko laughing and soon the three of them were laughing, before Meg stopped herself out of guilt, she had started laughing at the thought of her lover being reprimanded by Kain for mourning her loss. Normally she would be angered and probably more hurt that Kain had not grieved for her, but it inspired and comforted her that he thought her too strong to be killed by an overwhelming number of demons despite all evidence that she had been killed.
They stopped laughing and Meg moved towards the fire to warm herself while Mioko questioned Dantess on his lack of hat. They sank into a comfortable scene with the warmth of the fire adding a comely glow to the cave. The war outside was forgotten, there was nothing else but this moment of happiness, despite its oddity. A demon, a vampire and a human child sitting around a fire in a cavern, it was as if this was completely normal to them. The fire was reduced to embers by the time Mioko decided she wanted to sleep, she lay down beside Dantess and nestled herself comfortably against him, she was humming to herself, even to the point where she had fallen asleep. Dantess smiled at Meg over the sleeping child, he seemed to be becoming attached to the child, "She's lovely," he said, still smiling. Meg nodded,
"Enough to make you want to have kids of your own huh?"
Dantess laughed, causing Mioko to stir against him, Meg smiled inwardly when she saw that Dantess fell silent when he saw what effect his words had upon the child. He had looked after her, he had risked his life to save a child, he was now quite happy sitting in a cave with two should be prisoners of war...if not the next meal of the demons who seemed to lack a brain call between them, instead of sitting in a tent of the demon camp that his high status would demand. He was far from the demon she had expected judging from those who attacked her. They didn't speak again and they fell asleep, still happy in their blissful reverie.
TBC