TCC

TCC01: In the countryside nigh to Salem Lilith invited Hamon to come before her father King Melchiyahu and preach what he would. Hamon agreed to speak, but only  if the encounter was  open for any of the people to witness. So Melchiyahu ordered servants to prepare his throne room  to seat  as many  of his  subjects who would come. Lilith attended as well, dressed for  once like the Adanite ophan she was.i

These are the words Hamon spoke in Salem as the white and orange suns sank together in the west:

TCC02: The spirit  is fulfilled  by its  activity. The body is fulfilled by its substance. The people are fulfilled by living. The noble are fulfilled by good governance. The noblest king is fulfilled by being called the  servant of the people. But when the palace  is  splendid  while the  harvests  are  poor,  when noblelen gorge on meat and wine while the storehouses are spare, when the rulers of the city carry weapons because they fear the ordinary people, the city has fallen far from the way of Bat-El.

TCC03: Some seek long life because they fear death. Some seek an early death because they are reckless. She who embraces Bat-El neither fears death nor hates life. She knows when hellberries flourish it is impossible to  walk through them, and  when they store their juices  for  winter the  way  becomes clear  again. Flourishing is  not eternal,  retreating  is  not eternal,  but flourishing and retreating, taken  together, are  eternal. From the beginning all the  generations have come  and gone  in good order.

TCC05: The thralls of Shemhazai are said to be  superior to the animals because they can control their own environment. She who embraces Bat-El is superior to the thralls of Shemhazai because she can control her own behavior.

The thralls of Shemhazai  are famous. She who embraces Bat-El sets an example by her deeds and becomes influential.

The thralls of Shemhazai accumulate many riches but cannot keep all of them safe. She who embraces Bat-El has few  desires, so she retains all that she has.

TCC05: The thralls of Shemhazai  demand to see good  in others, and attribute the cause of a tragedy to a defect in morality or ritual. She who embraces Bat-El is too busy addressing the needs at hand to render any such judgment.

The thralls of Shemhazai can do what they will  to do, but they cannot determine what they will. She who embraces Bat-El makes her own awareness of injustice  the determinant of  her action. She diminishes the bounty of the corrupt to fulfill the needs of the impoverished.

TCC06: The thralls of Shemhazai put their  riches and knowledge on parade. She who embraces Bat-El does not tell all  that she has nor all that she knows how to do.

The thralls of Shemhazai  never admit a  single error. She who embraces Bat-El considers those who point out her  faults to be benevolent teachers.

The thralls of Shemhazai speak  only of the dead  traditions of their forefathers and  by coercion leave them in  force. She who embraces Bat-El cultivates the new as the coin to buy her way.

TCC07: The thralls of Shemhazai say they are willing to grow yet in truth they live only to quench their endless  appetite for a brief time. She who embraces Bat-El fulfills her  passions and becomes joyous.

The thralls of Shemhazai value only those things  which they do not have or  what they cannot have, things that  do not multiply when shared. She who embraces Bat-El empties her purse and finds her heart being filled. She seeks for herself only those things which are possible for her to obtain.

TCC08: The thralls of Shemhazai evaluate how much a yan is worth by how much  she possesses  and what  she might  do to  benefit himself. But she who embraces Bat-El  looks to what a  yan does for others and who that yan protects. That is what she is truly worth.

The thralls of Shemhazai find  yen ever falling short  of their old standards. She who embraces Bat-El extols  her sisters over all existing standards  because when  yen  do go  astray it  is always induced by the repression of those very yardsticks.

TCC09: The thralls of Shemhazai examine everything about who is speaking  except her  words, and  he  hears only  what fits  his prejudices. She who embraces Bat-El recognizes and sets her own biases aside so she may understand what is really being said.

When a Thrall of Shemhazai suffers an indignity he retaliates by committing another indignity. She who embraces Bat-El knows the greatest revenge is simply to not be like he who did the injury. The greatest conqueror is she who has conquered herself.

TCC16: Hamon concluded the Sunset Discourse by  healing many of the elyonim who came to hear him speak with salves prepared from fireweed and the  bark  of vogul  trees. One day  he knew  the artifacts and ointments he used would not be viewed as magic but as the mere tools of an artisan that anyone could master.

When all the sick received  care he  drew near to  the Cherub's seat at the bidding of Lilith who remained in the temporary role of her father's herald. The name Hamon was given but no title.

TCC17: Melchiyahu said, "You framed the followers  of Bat-El as feminine. Are len excluded from your teachings?"

"Not at all, Your Majesty," said Hamon. I wish only to convey an image. A lan who embraces Bat-El  will have a gentle  heart and see others around him as  another 'I',  yet he will  retain his strength and his male nature as he rightly should."

"My daughter Lilith has  a fierce  heart, yet  she has  come to admire your  teachings, and I  am not the  only one to  mark how this has gentled her."

TCC18: Melchizedek noticed Lilith was wearing an extravagant red dress and he could not recall the last time he had seen her wear one of any color. Looking more closely, he marked how her eyes seemed to be drowning in Hamon. In an instant he knew what was happening to  his  sister. "Who are you  really,  Hamon?" he demanded.

Hamon drew near and said,  "Your Royal Highness, for  years you were not to be seen in Salem  but only your father knew you were in the other world searching for a certain man."

TCC19: Melchizadek was stunned to silence.

King Melchiyahu said, "My son  was sent to  find a man  who was dissatisfied with any of the gods  believed by the men of Earth, and he did indeed find such  a one, called Avram, but loyalty to his own father's well-being exceeded  loyalty to what was to him an unknown  god. Melchizedek  found no  other man  remotely like him, and when he came home he reported failure."

Lilith said, "I was told nothing of my  brother's absence! What is this other world?"

TCC20: "Is it not some measure of who I  really am," Hamon said to the prince, "that I know what even your sister does not? Yet one more sign will I offer."

Bat-El was powerless  to open  a target  portal in  Kemen, only Shemhazai or El  could  oblige. But testing  Avram remained  a piece  of unfinished  business  between Bat-El  and her  father. Communicating directly with  Shemhazai, she  ordered a  link. A clear bubble grew to envelop Hamon and heat seeped through from the landscape of Harran seen within.

TCC21: Hamon stepped out of the spherical blur and said, "Prince Melchizedek, the father of Avram has died. Return you now to the other world and complete  the errand your  father laid  on you. Tarry not to take anything you may think you will need on Earth. I will provide them for you myself."

Melchizedek seemed  frozen in  place. His father said,  "Make haste, my son. Do as Hamon commands."

Melchizedek entered the ball of distorted oasis light and seemed to shrink as he walked towards Harran.

TCC22: Shemhazai did not  raise the  bubble before  snapping it shut, leaving the usual crater in  the stone floor of the king's audience hall. Lilith said, "Thus did Malphas take his leave of us, father."

"Thus also did Melchizadek  depart five years  ago. I  see now, Hamon, you are much more than a stonemason's son."

"Your Majesty, I am elyonim flesh in union with  the one called Bat-El. Your daughter has heard me say this."

"Lilith has also said she would become your  leading student if you will."

TCC23: Hamon frowned at this. "Sire, when I mentioned students in  the past,  I meant  all world-dwellers.  I never  thought to establish a school."

"And yet, Hamon, were you to tutor Lilith as she has in mind, I deem you would return to me  a daughter none could gainsay was a fitting princess of this city."

Hamon considered this for  a long moment,  then turned  to face her. "And would you, Ophan Lilith, be willing to part with your father for  years? You  might never  see him  again as  a living lan."

TCC24: "This I am willing to  do," said she, "and  much more: I would put  my Fallen  Angels at  your command.  But not,  let me assure you, as the pickpockets and thieves they are taken to be. You will  be astonished when  you discover what they  can really do."

Lilith's idea was  beginning to  grow  on Hamon. He had found willing allies in the  ancient dispute  with Shemhazai  and the more he thought about  it the more  he convinced  himself there would be much utility in having students who were also servants.

TCC25: And Hamon  too, like  her brother  Melchizadek, was  not blind to the adoration in the face of the princess. Many things were suggested to him there.

He came to a decision and  said, "Your Majesty, it  shall be as you propose. I accept your daughter Ophan Lilith as my disciple. She  shall be  the first  of  what I  choose to  call the  B'nei Elohim, the offspring of the gods."

Then he bowed deeply before Melchiyahu, a god-lan paying sincere tribute to a cherub-king, and the audience was concluded.

TCC26: Lilith and Hamon had flown by avatar to Anshar many times but never before  to the  city  of Adan  where Shemhazai  ruled directly. Hamon took Lilith to a park in the  heart of the city that marked the place where humans were first brought to Kemen.

A statue of a cherub with a flaming sword stood over the eastern entrance. Hamon showed Lilith the ridge where  the portal would open, and the field where  Hebel grazed his bison. Paths laced through the grove where Kayin committed the first murder.i

TCC27: "Was it always this beautiful?"

"More so, then,"  Hamon told  her. "A thousand years ago  the Deluge reached even these heights."

"What is your plan?"

"There is no  plan, Lil.  Even now  the Eyes  of Shemhazai  are moving to take me into custody."

"Your plan is to die! Have you forgotten that Malphas pronounced your doom?"

"It will not come to that."

"Could you not summon a bubble  as you did when  you whisked my brother to the other world?"

"That was a thing my father and I did together."

TCC28: "Get your mother involved."

"I see I have been remiss in explaining precisely why that must never be."

"Then in the absence of your plan  I say we go  forward with my plan."

Hamon narrowed his  eyes. "Lilith, don't do anything  stupid. Better yet, don't do anything at all!"

A squad of len surrounded them  just then. Lilith was known to the captain, at  the very least. He said, "Your pardon I crave, Your Majesty, but by the command of King Rimmon we must separate your companion from you."

TCC29: As he was led away Hamon called out,  "Lilith! Just drop it! Do you hear me?"

He was marched  through a  veritable museum  of torture  to the lowest levels of Rimmon's palace  and left  to shiver in  a wet cell. The next day Malphas paid a visit. He moved close to the iron bars to look directly into Hamon's eyes. After studying him quietly for a time he said, "Lord Shemhazai  gives his regards, Bat-El."

Hamon smiled. "I made no secret of the union,  yet you came all the way to Salem to deny it."

TCC30: "Lord Shemhazai has learned that you put on something of a conjuring  act just  before he  whisked Melchizedek  to Earth. Only Bat-El could have timed things so."

"Excellent, Malphas! So now that your master has come to believe what you condemned me to die  for teaching, why do  I remain in this cell?"

"Certain actions and non-actions will be required of you."

"Shemhazai knows I can choose to  end my life at  any time. The disgusting  instruments  of pain  you  arrayed  for me  have  no meaning."

TCC31: "A martyr is really the last thing we  want, Bat-El. But Princess Lilith has her mind quite  made up. Do you really think the Eyes are not aware of the preparations she has made for your rescue?  You will  be amazed  when  you see  it. Sleeper  cells, guards  taken out  with  a head  twist,  secret disguises,  body doubles, and safe houses from here  to the edge of the city! But it is doomed to fail. We will  catch Lilith in the act, scoop up key Fallen Angels and crush your whole movement in one night."

TCC32: "You are grossly  underestimating Lilith and  her Fallen Angels if you think you can just roll them up."

"The Lord Shemhazai suggests a better alternative. If you agree to be  paraded in a  cage from here to  Salem so the  people may witness the  humiliation of their  would-be god, Lilith  and her friends will have no reason to carry out their suicide pact."

"I will die the moment you display me in a cage."

"You must not refuse, Bat-El, because the alternative is Lilith, remember? Her plan?"

TCC33: "That  will  require  some backtracking  on  your  part, Malphas.  Have  you  forgotten   you  pronounced  my  death  for presuming to  teach I am  the living  avatar of Bat-El?  Now you would have everyone see I spoke truth after all."

Malphas curled his lips. "The rabble have short memories."

"I agree never to will myself to die," Hamon said, "void if I am ever put to torment." Is that all the Lord Shemhazai requires of me?"

"Your avatar must never again be seen in the lands ruled by King Rimmon."

TCC34: "I keep my avatar  far to the  north of this  city. Does your king's rule extend beyond the ice wall?"

"You quibble, Bat-El. By  'lands' the Lord  means that  part of Kemen that is free of ice."

"Very well. Is there nothing more he requires?"

"Finally, you must share with the Lord Shemhazai  the secret of merging with a living lan, as you have done."

"Very good! When my mother and father have sent  Lilith home to Salem I will comply."

"You are in no position to make demands of your own."

TCC35: "How unfortunate for you, Malphas. I will  now shed this container of  meat, and  when Shemhazai  makes his  inquiries he will be  dismayed how  close he  came to  learning the  trick of having  one of  his  own before  your  intransigence ruined  the negotiations."

"Hold! I will bring your request before the Lord himself!"

"No need, Malphas. It seems my father and I are suddenly back on speaking terms."

The rumble of Bat-El's avatar lifting skyward was heard even in the dungeon beneath the palace.

TCC36: At a tall cataract in the foothills east of Salem Lilith and a squad of  her Fallen  Angels refreshed  themselves before resuming their patrol. The waterfall completely obscured  the sound and vibration of onrushing hooves until it was nearly too late. Not even Lilith's  hypersensitive mare  gave warning  of Adanite  horselen  racing  up  behind them. Only at  the  last instant, by some odd instinct, did Lilith unlimber her blade to crash against a  mighty iron rod. She was knocked clean off her horse.

TCC37: Still stunned, Lilith witnessed another Adanite horselan decapitate Imriel, her chief lieutenant, with a single stroke.

Lilith's horse possessed the  discipline to linger  rather than bolt. Shaking her head clear and choking back her grief, Lilith mounted up  once more. Four surviving  Fallen Angels  rallied around her.

Lumbering after the assailants at a full gallop, Lilith and her companions loosed many arrows while standing in their stirrups. They felled the lan wielding the iron staff.

TCC38: Two other  weaving  len blocked  with  their own  bodies arrows fired at Imriel's  killer. This surviving attacker dove into a forest  glade guarded  by  a large  armed encampment  of Adanites. Contrary to her every wish Lilith reared  back on her reins to come to a stop and the other Fallen Angels conformed to her movements. This soldier they had chased turned to face them. Seeing the identity of the lan who killed  Imriel, the princess mouthed his name with all the bile she could summon: "Malphas!"

TCC39: The track of burning villages around Salem had led Lilith to believe Malphas was  ten leagues to  the north. She guessed Malphas dragged his army  here by  forced march  overnight, but that made her wonder how he knew to come to just this place. She took pains to keep her own movements equally mysterious.

As though in reply Demonstroke soared over the trees. Lilith was shocked to see the last dragon in Kemen had been brought to the fight, but he climbed high above and made no move to attack.

TCC40: At a signal the Fallen Angels gathered  close around the princess. She said, "Malphas pays for Imriel, life for life. You needn't follow me." She gestured at the horns that newly adorned her head. "Hamon says my death will not be my  death but he has made no such promise to you."

But the Fallen  Angels were  of a  single mind. The one named Raphaela answered for them  all when she  said, "Lead  us, Your Royal Highness. For Imriel!"

So heedless of the danger they all turned to face the enemy.

TCC41: They sped forward to attack directly and not one yan held back. But Malphas ordered the  canvas  covering a  cage to  be removed, revealing Hamon just as Lilith entered the range of the enemy's darts. She brought her horse to a halt once more.

Malphas said, "You can kill me from where you stand, Lilith, but Hamon would join me in death."

Lilith rode a bit  closer. Pikelen arranged in a  ring brought their forest of spikes to the horizontal, yet not toward Lilith, but inward, toward Hamon.

TCC42: "Don't sink to this, Malphas," she called out in disgust. "I expect this from Rimmon but not unpossessed Gerash noblelen."

She knew  her  words  were  empty. Hamon as  a  living  shield curtailed her actions quite neatly.

Malphas seemed to  read her  very thoughts. "Hamon is a noose around your  neck, princess, and the  closer you try get  to him the tighter that  noose will become. How easy it  is to make you dance with a simple threat to Hamon's life!"

Hamon shouted, "Lilith! Forget about me!"

TCC43: Lilith's eyes became moist as she shook her  head with a sad smile. "Did you not know, Hamon? That  is the one  thing I could never do."

Yet there was nothing more she could do on  the field that day. Goading her horse, she turned and led the Fallen Angels back to the city.

When the War of Salem opened Melchiyahu's army was the ordinary force while the Fallen Angels were throwers  of knives, cutters of throats, and fire setters. But Malphas' len perceived being swamped by leather-clad yen.

TCC44: On a grander scale, it was Melchiyahu's army that gained the victory in the first battle. But Malphas remembered only how Lilith got behind his left and assailed his  supply trains. His flank was turned and he was driven down a narrowing ravine whose walls grew taller and his greater numbers were of no advantage. Malphas saw his army was in danger of being defeated in detail.

Flags of truce unfurled and Lilith  rode into the lines  of the enemy to see if Malphas had come to greater wisdom.

TCC45: As Hamon watched from his cage a few paces away, Malphas said to Lilith, "Before this day, Princess, I never believed you were so valiant. Now I  would have you  working for me  and not against me. You  can destroy my army where we  stand, but I fear something unfortunate might happen  to Hamon during the scuffle. To keep him alive you will  dissolve your band of yen dressed as warriors, ride at  the head of my army, and  go wherever elyonim and nephilim and men hold the god of Kemen in contempt."

TCC46: "Would you really appoint me your  general while holding hostage a peaceful lan that I love? Shemhazai would do better to shun pretense  and send  his dragon  down to  finish me  and the Fallen Angels."

Malphas was delighted to hear  Lilith declare her love  for the prisoner. "Then are the wild rumors true,  Princess? Hamon must never fall outside of the watchful gaze of the Eyes of Shemhazai but he need not be confined to  this cage. At a word from Rimmon you could go to him this very night."

TCC47: "And at a word from  my father, " said  Lilith in reply, "every Salemite would flock  into his army.  Yea, the  old, the infirm, the  yen, even our dirks  and our dolls. This  war would grow so bloody that the whole  face of the land would stink with the uncovered dead, and no one would be left alive to bury them. This, Malphas,  must never come to  be." Then she turned on her heels and quit the parley.

Never was Hamon so proud of his first student. She had needed no prodding to do the right thing.

TCC48: When Lilith had departed and Malphas knew he  was not to die that day  he returned to Hamon's cage to  gloat. "She knows, Bat-El. The things you  love are always  used against  you. She knows!"

"Lilith does indeed know," Hamon replied, "but woe to those who turn love into a weapon and dare  to use it against the ones who do love. Beware, Malphas. Your doom comes into view.."

"Speak you in the role of my oracle, Bat-El?"

"It takes no divine foresight to guess this war  will end badly for you."

TCC49: Long before the war Lilith's grandfather old King Gordiel hitched a wagon to a nearby tree with a knot so elaborate no one could fairly begin to unravel it. At that time an oracle said (or Gordiel said that the oracle said) whoever untied the wagon would rule all of Kemen.

Malphas knew of this  prophecy, of course. When he was within sight of Salem he found  the wagon  and beheld what  the people called the Gordian Knot. For long hours while the army made camp he took his own turn at it.

TCC50: This Malphas continued to do until a hashmal of the Eyes of Shemhazai arrived on the scene. He looked askance at what he took to be a move to usurp the power of Rimmon himself.

Malphas took great offense at the insinuation. "Am I to believe the Eyes of Shemhazai give any credence at all to the babblings of local would-be seers and prophets?"

"What you believe or what the Eyes believe matters not one whit, Lord Malphas. What the rabble in aggregate believes is entirely another matter."

TCC51: "Then you may be pleased  to report to King  Rimmon I am thoroughly satisfied this knot is  secure and the wagon is going nowhere.  Have your  len lash  Hamon's  cage to  this wagon  and arrange the army on the slope along every side."

Lilith padded out her ample curves and applied false facial hair to offset the soft  yenish features that  belied her  status as commander of  the most fierce  brigade on Kemen. Also, with the change that came  with her  horns, she  could speak  in a  deep baritone at will.

TCC52: This along with an eidetic memory and other sundry skills were part of what Hamon  called the standard toolkit  for B'nei Elohim.

Lilith dressed as one of  the poor  farmers in the  vicinity of Salem who had  been pressed into menial service  at the business end of a whip but were not  made part of the  army. She drifted among the soldiers  ladling out  water and  calmly taking  much abuse. In the very center of the camp she noted the wooden cage that had been Hamon's drafty home for much too long.

TCC53: The cage was covered  with a  canvas to keep  Hamon from freezing to death. It would not do,  as Malphas knew  well, to break  the single  thread  keeping himself  and  his whole  army alive.

Lilith could swagger with the best of them. The guards permitted her to attend  to  Hamon. She climbed up  onto  the wagon  and appeared between  the canvas  and  the  cage with  a  stoneware pitcher of water. For light  she donned  a  lamp  on a  green head band made  by Bat-El  herself, a  gift from  early in  her discipleship.

TCC54: The brilliant white light of the headband  came from the body of  Bat-El  herself,  Hamon  once  told  Lilith,  down  an intangible  thread  finer  than  a  spider's  silk. The canvas covering his cage  was thick  enough that  no light  escaped to betray the princess. He was overjoyed to see her and willing to overlook the  beard. For the benefit of  the guards  nearby she grunted, "Here's your filthy  swill-water you  clutty bastard!" But she framed  her thoughts  to  say "THE  KETTLES ARE  SECURE ABOARD THE SHIPS."

TCC55: "Hold the ladle still you bafty  hoach!" muttered Hamon, getting into the spirit of their little game.

Again, Lilith allowed a set  of words  to stand clearly  in her mind: "THE SHIPWRIGHTS SAY THE KETTLES WILL TAKE ON SEAWATER AND TIP THE SHIPS SO FAR HALF THE OARS WILL  BE AIRBORNE." And such was her new  talents following  the Change  that Hamon  clearly heard this speech in his own mind.

He replied in the same mode, "YOU HAVE DONE  WELL. THE OARS AND THE LEN TO ROW THEM WILL NOT BE NEEDED."

TCC56: "Take the water or  leave be, you sputtering  ball bag!" Lilith grunted for  the benefit  of  the guards. To Hamon she handed over her head lamp and asked, "WHY MUST  I TO BRING THIS TO YOU?"

Hamon, somewhat surprised, explained once more he  could open a portal that leads to his body as  a living sun, but it takes two elohim to make a bridge. "YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS," he added.

"You smelly half a loaf!" she blurted, and mentally she asked the question again with a slightly different emphasis.

TCC57: Hamon took  the pitcher  because he  really was  thirsty and he  drank  half  the contents  while  marveling  that  even mind-to-mind communication  was subject  to  misunderstandings. Then he said, "THIS ARTIFACT  IS UNIQUE IN KEMEN.  NOTHING ELSE SAYS 'LILITH WAS  HERE' WITH NO MISTAKE. I WANT  MALPHAS TO KNOW YOU CAN GET TO ME AT ANY TIME.'"

Lilith nodded, now seeing Hamon's plan in full. For the guards she said, "Keep your stinky grabbers inside the cage!" She took back the water and climbed down.

TCC58: The city of Salem proper lay on a  rocky island across a narrow strait of  the Aramel Sea, which made it  such a hard nut for land armies to crack. At dawn twelve warships emerged from the seaward side. To the soldiers of  the Adanite army  it was evident something was wrong with them. They pitched in the water after the manner of toy rocking horses, and the sea behind them literally boiled, sending clouds of vapor  skyward. Their sails were all furled and their rows of oars remained idle.

TCC59: One of the ships broke  off from the squadron  and raced ahead to the shore. Just before landfall it heaved  back once more, and with a final burst of boiling water beached itself on the  sand like  one of  the aquatic  mammals of  Earth. The sea swirling around its immersed aft end slowly cooled.

Shemhazai chose to  make this  vessel  an example  for all  the others. His dragon Demonstroke flew low along the shore from the north and set the wreck ablaze  to the great joy  of the entire Adanite army.

TCC60: But something was amiss. The hulk was ablaze, to be sure, indeed the pyre sent up a great tower of smoke, yet the screams of any len trapped inside could not be heard. And it proved to be no deterrent  at  all. The eleven remaining  ships of  the Salemite fleet went on to beach themselves in like manner.

Then Malphas sent two of every  three len of his  army forward, but he kept a third part of them to  safeguard the cage holding Hamon. Boarding the ships, the soldiers found no crewlen within.

TCC61: Belowdecks each  ship had  two large  bronze tank,  with pipes leading aft, but none could puzzle out their purpose.

Hashmal Bezaliel said, "This has all the makings of a trap, sir. Melchiyahu invites us  to cross  over  to the  city where  some unpleasantness lies in wait."

Malphas said, "I deem your counsel to be good. We will not take his bait, but we will take his ships, and assail Salem at a time of my own  choosing, not that of the king." And he ordered many of his len to take the oars.

TCC62: One-third of the Adanite army stood  idle. Another third took to the ships. The final third heaved the vessels  off the sand with raw muscle power.

Two wings of  the army  of King  Melchiyahu emerged  from thick woods to the north and  south where  they had lain  hidden even from the dragon. The Salemite army and the Fallen Angels closed on the beach like the jaws of some huge beast.

The bronze kettles in the ships flooded and tipped half the oars of all eleven ships entirely out of the water.

TCC63: Some of the ships  tried to  paddle further out  to sea, others tried to return to the beach, most of  them just twirled in place. All of them caught  fire. Nothing restrained Bat-El after Shemhazai set a precedent with the attack  by his dragon. And this time screams were most assuredly heard.

But the Adanites on the shore had simultaneous attacks on their left and right flanks  to worry about. Malphas ordered len to cart Hamon  in his cage down  off the hill toward  the center of his lines.

TCC64: Yet the battle showed no sign of letting  up. Hamon as a shield was effective only against  Lilith as a weapon. And the dragon was no help on the field, lest Shemhazai destroy his own forces along with the Salemites.

Malphas scanned the chaos and  spotted Lilith fighting  her way toward the hill behind his  army where the wagon  remained tied up. A sudden fear gripped  him. Could Lilith solve the Gordian knot and inherit the promise of the oracle to rule all Kemen? He moved to cut her off.

TCC65: Alone on the summit they both dismounted and squared off with swords in hand.

"Have you come to answer for Imrael?" she taunted.

"I will never allow you to test the oracle of the Gordian Knot!"

"This?" She pointed the tip  of her  blade at  the wagon. "My grandfather was either half-mad or his knot is  the most famous practical joke on Kemen."

This only elicited a  flurry of  clashing swords. Lilith drove Malphas back and said, "I live in Salem. I could have tested the oracle at any time!"

TCC66: Lilith's logic didn't seem to penetrate. Instead, Malphas lunged forward. His blade slashed Lilith's bare midsection and he attained first blood.

She feigned shock at the  injury and slowed her  dance. Malphas saw that and let his guard wither for just a few heartbeats, but it was  enough. Seeing her  slim  opening,  Lilith let  fly  a ferocious kick  of one booted foot  to his face and  Malphas was laid out cold  with his  sword separated  from his  unconscious hand. Lilith tossed it out of reach.

TCC67: With her prey  lying helpless Lilith  briefly considered making an end of him Before she met Hamon Lilith would have done just that, to avenge Imriel. Far better to let Malphas live and explain this defeat to his god.

She glanced at the forgotten  wagon fastened  to a tree  on the hilltop and ran to it instead. She flipped the drawbar up to the seat. Like everyone who came before she made no headway with the knot. Adanite skirmishers, she saw,  were climbing the  hill to aid their commander.

TCC68: With no time to  lose Lilith  simply hacked at  the knot with her sword until it fell apart. The wagon was free, but she was certain grandpa didn't have  that solution in mind  when he created the knot.

Gravity made the wagon roll downhill. Lilith jumped up onto the seat and took the drawbar to steer it. The sound of her wheels drew the attention of  the Adanites. They gaped at  the horror rushing down upon them faster than any horse could drive it. All of the len fled as her gamble played out.

TCC69: Hamon saw what she was trying to do. He flattened himself against a side of the cage that he guessed would avoid a direct impact.

Lilith's wagon collided with enough  speed to shatter  both the cage and the  wagon to  splinters and  she was  unceremoniously dumped on her ass. But somehow they both survived the collision. Lilith was more bruised than she had ever been  in her life but Hamon was free of  the cage  and the  enemy was  scattered into isolated squads.

Raphaela came to Lilith's aid.

TCC70: When Raphaela  was satisfied  Lilith was  not in  mortal danger she said, "The enemy no longer has a  unified army. They are fleeing by platoons and squads. Shall we cut them off?"

Lilith said, "No, the king has left one route open, inviting the enemy to retire. The trickle  out the  back door will  become a flood.  We  must never  engage  in  slaughter  for the  sake  of slaughter dear Raphaela. It is enough that we have won the field today."

"Happy is the city that thinks of war in times of peace!"

Sarathiel rejoiced, and said, "Happy is the city that thinks of war in times of peace!"

TCC71: "Happiness has nothing to do with it, Raphaela. The clash of arms is the worst experience the dwellers of  Kemen can ever experience."

"And  Your   Royal   Highness,   what   of   the   vainglorious thrill-seekers who claim to love warfare?"

Lilith said, "They are either lying and have never tasted actual combat, or their mind has failed them."

But something more  pressing  weighed upon  Lilith's mind,  the well-being of her husband. She hobbled over to the big pile of sticks that had been his cage.

TCC72: "No more adventures for now," she told  Hamon while they each made  certain the  other  was  not seriously  hurt. "I've cracked a rib, for one thing. And I am thankful for the gift of shunting  the  pain  away.  But  this  battle  would  have  been unnecessary if you had just let me carry out my plan at Adan."

"You would have been killed."

Lilith touched the halo made  of horns  she now wore. "But you have changed me, and unleashed a warrior yan in  Kemen who does not blench at the thought of death."

TCC73: "I would unleash an army  of them. But tell  me, why did you throw away everything you've worked for since you met me?"

"I don't understand what you just said."

Hamon held up one end of  the wagon's rope. "I'm talking about the Gordian Knot.  I'll admit, cutting it was  probably not what the oracle  intended, but now  you are  destined to rule  all of Kemen. Fate! The unreformed Lilith must return."

"'Must she? Do you think Shemhazai will have his way forever?"

Hamon slowly shook his head.

TCC74: What if the oracle was  really saying the spirit  of the new Lilith will take over Kemen? The Lilith who changed --" her eyes brimmed with moisture and her voice broke, but she went on. "The one who changed on  that unforgettable day when  she first heard you speak."

The last word was a sob. She regretted the wasted years.

TCC75: Hamon ran his hand  over Lilith's side and  somehow took the underlying pain away. Lilith no longer had to use  her new talen tto dull her agony enough to breathe deeply.

Hamon straightened up from his examination of Lilith's injuries. He played the oracle just then, perhaps as a kind of postscript to the seer inspired by (or perhaps hired by) old King Gordiel. He said, "It will take many centuries to play  out, my beloved, both here  and in the  other world.  But you broke  through more than  just my  cage here  today. If  every person  in every  age becomes willing to do for each  other what you did for me today, then love won. Don't you see? Once and for all, love won!"