Chapter 25

It was just after 4:00 that afternoon when the radio broke the silence.

"Attention all O'Connell teams! We have just received word from the Intelligence Corp that the Persians have landed a short distance down river from Frankfurt. Keep a sharp lookout for their arrival. That's all for now," Grandfather Mark finished.

Pat and I used the small pair of binoculars that we had been issued to search the area west of the city, but could only make out the top masts of several ships down the Main River. We searched the approaches to the enemy camps north of the city, but saw nothing approaching them at present.

It was some two and a-half hours later that we saw several coaches quickly approaching the enemy camps from the southwest. This was followed shortly by the sound of trumpets, as the coaches rolled into the main enemy camp. We advised Grandfather of their arrival.

It was later that evening, after we had all returned from dinner, that we saw the lines of Persian Infantry marching into the camps to our north. We had been warned over the radio a while earlier of their approach by Aunt Edana on the west side of the city. It took a long time for the last of them to arrive, as there were a lot of them. The Guardsmen on the battlements with us had been very nervous.

The arrival of the Marshal and part of his staff to observe their arrival had not reassured the Guards at all. Neither the Marshall nor any of his staff said much, as they observed the arriving Persian Infantry. The expressions on their faces though conveyed their fear and determination. The sun was setting by the time the Marshal and his staff departed.

"We need to maintain two of us up here on watch all night," Pat told us after the others had cleared the area.

"Yes, I believe you're correct. How do you want to do it?" I asked.

"The O'Toole Sisters together on watch. The O'Connell Sisters together, and you and I together," Pat suggested. "That way the one pair of Sisters can signal the other pair inside if they suspect trouble," he finished.

"Plus there are the Guardsmen here on watch also," I pointed out.

"Yes. I had forgotten about them for the minute," Pat said before asking, "How long are their shifts?"

"We are on two hour shifts, Master. We change on the even hours when the town clock sounds," the Guardsman there on duty informed us.

"That sounds like as good a plan as any," I told Pat. We could hear the town clock just then sounding 9:00 PM. The sun was just setting then also, and dusk was settling in on the surrounding countryside.

The moon had risen about mid-afternoon, and was well past its high point by now. The Guardsman saw us looking at it through the clouds that were blowing into the area with the coming of night.

"The moon will set shortly after midnight, Masters. It will be a dark night tonight without the moon, and with those clouds moving in," the Guardsman pointed out to us from his long experience at the tower.

"Yes, I'm afraid it will be, which is not conducive to keeping an eye on the Persians," Pat remarked.

"Oh, they will have plenty of fires lit tonight, if they follow what they have done in the past," the Guardsman told us. "There is always a lot of activity when new bands join them, or there has been in the past," he corrected.

Pat and I took the watch until 10:00 so the women could wash up and change clothes. Clare and Cathleen were then on until midnight. Shannon and Sheena would take over then until 2:00 AM when Pat and I would come on again. We would be relieved by Clare and Cathleen at 4:00 AM. Sunrise was expected to be at around 5:15 according to the Guardsmen, who were very familiar with these things.

Nothing of significances had occurred by 4:00 AM when Pat and I awakened Clare and Cathleen for their second shift. The large campfires and movement around them had declined around midnight we were told. Which was normal according to the Guardsmen.

"There is something... !!" Clare said, as soon as she came up on the battlements.

"Something? What?" I asked, as I could sense nothing unusual going on.

"I don't know!" Clare said in confusion, as Cathleen joined her.

"Can you feel anything, Cathleen?" she asked her twin. Cathleen closed her eyes, and turned to the left. She turned back through better than ninety degrees to the right, as if looking for something, before she opened her eyes again.

"Yes. There is ... something. I can't tell what it is, but something is definitely going on. I am also not sure of where it is," she told us. Pat had rejoined us by now.

"Do you feel anything unusual, Pat?" I asked. He too closed his eyes and turned his head, but soon opened his eyes again.

"No. Nothing unusual," he said. "Why?"

"Clare and Cathleen said that they could feel something, but they can't identify it, and aren't sure where it's coming from," I told him.

"Has it changed any?" I asked the two blond Sisters after that.

"No. Whatever it is, it is very vague," Clare told me, while her Sister nodded in agreement.

"If the feeling changes, or you sense anything else, alert us at once," I reminded them before Pat and I returned to the lower level to get some more sleep.

It was shortly after 5:30 when we were all awakened by Clare and Cathleen's screams along with the summons from the Guardsmen on duty. Pat and I re-tightened our clothes and put on our shoes, as we roused Shannon and Sheena. We quickly raced up to the battlements then to see what the problem was.

We stopped short on reaching the battlements, as we could instantly see the cause of the womens' screams and the Guards' alert.

Spread out across the plain north of the city, we could see the Persian Infantry with rebel units to each side of them. Becoming visible now, and in the very center of the Persian formation and centered on our tower, but closer than their units were, was a raised platform made of heavy timber. It appeared to be about sixteen feet wide and about twelve feet deep. It rose about six feet above the surrounding ground. On top of this platform were two altars made from slabs of black stone.

"Why didn't you call us sooner?" I asked a very upset Clare.

"Nothing was visible until after the sun came up. First the outer edges with the rebel units became visible, and then slowly, the visibility spread inward to the Persians. It was like ghost were becoming visible. Finally the platform began to become visible," Clare told Pat and me in a shaky voice.

In fact I could now make out a naked body tied to each altar. In a few more seconds, it became apparent that they were females tied to the altars - pregnant females!!

"OH no!!" Clare and Cathleen screamed together in agony, as the women became more visible in the growing light of dawn. "That's Gretchen and Petra out there!!" they added. Pat immediately raised our pair of binoculars and gave a gasp in shock.

"My God!! They're correct, but how did Gretchen and Petra get out there? We left them in the Grand Master's Palace. He is supposed to be keeping them safe!" Pat exclaimed in rage. While he was saying that I was raising the radio to my mouth to call in.

"Control, control. This is Mike in the north tower. We have a major problem here on the north side. The enemy is preparing to attack, and they are already in position. They got there invisibly. There are also two altars in front of them, and Gretchen and Petra are tied to them. Something is very wrong here!" As soon as I finished talking, reports could be heard from each of the other towers also. They, however, only faced rebel forces, but apparently there were similar platforms and altars in front of both the east and west walls of the city.

Even as we watched in horror, four tall Persian Wizards dressed in black robes mounted the platform from the far end, and took up positions on both sides of the altars. The Eternal Flame appeared above the Eschenheimer Tower, as the Wizards moved into position.

"They have used a mixture of Sex Magic and Blood Magic to achieve this surprise. Both types of Magic are forbidden here, and their use of them together is an even greater violation of the law," the voice told us. "Their weak version of a defensive shell around the platform will not keep our justice out." We had not been able to see their defensive shell, but the Eternal Flame somehow tinted it a light gray to show it to us.

While It had been talking and doing this, the four Wizards on the platform had taken up their positions. One was near each girls head on the right side of each alter, and the other was on the left side of the alter near each girl's belly. They all now removed curved knives from their waist belts, and raised them over their heads in their right hands as they chanted a spell in an unknown language.

"Oh gods!!" Clare and Cathleen screamed in unison, "they're going to kill Gretchen and Petra, and their babies too!!" It was then that the voice of the Eternal Flame blared out instructions on our radio and all of the others.

"This is the voice of the Eternal Flame. All O'Connels activate your Power Rings this instant. I will guide your beams. These people WILL NOT be allowed to succeed with their 'Forbidden' Magic," the voice told us over our radios.

It was then, as I activated my Power Rings that I realized time for those of us on the battlements of the Eschenheimer Tower, and probably for our relatives, had slowed to a crawl. I could plainly see that the knives of the Persian Wizards had descended barely an inch or so during this time, as if they were in slow motion - very slow motion.

My arms came up on their own and my Power Rings both started to shoot out beams of Magic energy. I could actually see the individual beams of Magic energy leave not only my Rings, but the Rings of Pat, Shannon, and Sheena as well. I could actually watch the beams travel to their targets. The beams tore through the weak defensive shell around the platform and altars as if it wasn't there. It collapsed as soon as they touched it. Our first targets were the raised hands and knives of the four Wizards.

I actually saw my beam cut through the wrist of the Wizard at Gretchen's throat, and the hand and the knife that it held begin to fall away from her body. It had been deflected by the following beams from my Power Rings. A quick glance around showed that the beams from the others had done the same thing to the other Wizards.

Once the knives were disposed of, the beams returned to the Wizards and cut through them lengthwise. The two parts of each Wizard began to slowly fall to the floor of the platform. Blood had splattered everywhere from this, but it was all still hanging in the air.

"Go to your women. I will direct the others in what they must do," the voice of the Eternal Flame told us. We all instantly transferred from the battlements to the now blood soaked platform with the bodies of the four dead Persian Wizards on the floor.

We immediately moved to the raised black stone altars that Gretchen and Petra were tied to after pushing the bodies of the dead Wizards over the edges of the platform. I went directly to Gretchen as Pat did to Petra.

Gretchen was frozen in place from fear, and tears were running down her face. I leaned in and tenderly kissed her eyes, her nose, and her left ear. I then moved to her mouth, and brushed her lips with mine. Her mouth was slightly open, and I slipped my tongue into her mouth. I could taste her terror and her fear, as I kissed her. She was still deathly afraid, but I hoped that my presence would alleviate some of that.

I kissed down her neck to her breast. There was splattered blood there from the Wizard that I had dispatched, and I quickly cast a cleaning spell to get rid of all of it. I had time to notice how nicely Gretchen's breasts had increased in size with her pregnancy, and that they would soon be full of milk to feed our twin Daughters.

While I kissed and licked her breasts, my left hand moved down to her now considerable baby bump. I could just detect the two small Talents there and moved to kiss her extended belly. All that I wanted right then was to take Gretchen back to our Reality, to keep her and our Daughters safe so they could grow up to be bright Talented young women. I realized, however, that to do that, we needed to rid the Union, and this world of these people who had threatened my loved ones, my relatives, and the Union itself with their unnatural and forbidden Magic.

While I was distracted with these thoughts, things had continued to happen around us. Shannon was urgently calling me, and I realized that only a few seconds had elapsed as we were still in slow time, but not as slow as when we had been up on the battlements. I looked up to see what the problem was, and saw that four more Persian Wizards also dressed in black robes, but with more gold decorations than the other's had, were slowly, to us, mounting the steps to the raised platform that we stood on.

These were tall, dark haired and dark complected men. They had the stench of Blood Magic and Black Magic about them, and I could see that they each carried a bowl of blood with them. I realized then that it was blood from all of the pregnant girls that had been abducted from the Palace. I prayed that they were not dead, but didn't have time to worry about that at present.