Martian walked away from him and passed by the cherubs unharmed. They were conditioned not to hurt her, but Gog had only the protection of his weapons and armor. Gog could almost have passed for one of the giants, but he did not smell like them. To the cherubs, he was an intruder; he was prey. Quickly they attacked. Gog almost decapitated the first one with his axe and cut off a paw from the second, but it did not deter them. They knocked him to the ground and viciously mauled him. Nimrod and his men ran to his aid. When he got close, Nimrod took a knee and shot one of the cherubs in the head, killing it instantly. Then in a rage, a cherub rushed towards him. Nimrod fired three times; all hit but they were not enough to stop the beast. Nimrod dropped his rifle, drew his new sword and raised his shield. The cherub crashed into him with great force. Nimrod was able to deflect some of the blow with his shield and remarkably stayed on his feet. He turned and attacked the wounded animal with his sword. He inflicted a mortal blow, but the cherub did not fall. The rifle wounds would eventual kill it, and the new wound only made it cry out. It was dying in pain and stared Nimrod in the eyes. The stare threw him. It was not like that of any beast. It looked through him, almost into his soul. Nimrod felt pity for it; for to him it seemed that the Martians had put a man into a beast’s body. With great skill, he wielded his sword and struck the final blow, quick and merciful.
The other men quickly reached Gog as the three footed cherub fled at their approach. Gog was barely alive. His shield and new armor were the only reasons he still lived. His ribs were crushed, and he had many broken bones; blood was oozing from every orifice. He would not survive the night. Slowly, they drug him back to the wall. The team formed a protective barrier around themselves with their shields, as the marksman on the wall detonated the explosives. The ground shook and the noise was deafening. When the smoke cleared, the tower was leaning, but it had not fallen. Part of the fence was destroyed by the blast, but the plasma torch still prevented them from entering the orchard. Nimrod and his fellow rifleman approached the fence. When they got close enough to it, they dropped to a knee and began to fire at the base of the tower. It took ten precious rounds to cause it to fall. Then he saw them. The three footed cherub accompanied by two smaller ones were charging towards them. Nimrod presumed the smaller ones were younger, but they were not cubs. These were still formidable beasts. Nimrod’s rifle was exhausted, and his friend had only three maybe four shots available. Nimrod dropped his rifle and readied his bow.
Nimrod let his first arrow fly when the beasts were within one hundred feet. He targeted the wounded cherub, while his rifleman took aim at one of the younger beasts. The best marksman on the wall was also provided fire. One of the young animals fell, while three foot and the other cherub continued their charge. Nimrod put his second arrow into the smaller beast, then he dropped his bow and readied his sword. Amazingly the cherubs did not attack but turned sharply and ran into the orchard through the opening in the fence. Nimrod was surprised by their actions. He walked cautiously towards the downed cherub. It was dead; the rifle projectiles had pierced its head and heart. One man stayed with Gog while the others joined Nimrod. They brought the Martian prisoner with them.
Nimrod observed the cherubs. They were eating the fruit that had fallen from the trees. Soon after they had consumed it, they began to heal from their wounds. Three foot’s paw was nearly healed over, and there was no blood coming from any of the arrow wounds. Nimrod sent four men into the orchard to gather fruit and cuttings. The plasma torch from the other tower tried to burn them, but they hugged the valley wall and were not in its range. The heat was still intense, but they were not deterred. The cherubs seemed content to roam the orchard and no longer gave any consideration to the human invaders. Nimrod and the Martian prisoner approached the fallen tower. Once behind it, Nimrod ordered his prisoner to disarm it and help him salvage the technology. She refused. He grabbed her hand and began thrusting it randomly into the workings of the torch. She screamed and agreed to cooperate. With her assistance, Nimrod was able to salvage both torches. He now had an energy source that he could use to charge his plasma rifles.
Nimrod ordered his men to collect as much fruit as possible and give it to the wounded. Gog was the first to consume some. His recovery was remarkable. Within two hours, he was able to stand. Some of the wounded were unconscious, so juice was squeezed into their mouths. Poultices applied directly to wounds were also effective. All the wounded were healing and were now likely to survive to fight again. After the men sent all the fruit, seeds, and cuttings they could collect over the wall, they hauled up the salvaged Martian technology and then the weapons and shields. The cherubs still seemed uninterested in them and spent their time on the other side of the orchard eating fruit. They sent Gog over the wall first, and then the rest of them followed. Nimrod left three of his archers on the wall and sent messengers to Edon for a battalion to be sent to secure the orchard. They loaded all their booty onto the Martian vehicle and their horses. Nimrod, Gog and the Martian prisoner drove off to Resen while the rest of the men followed on foot or by horse bringing the captured giants with them.
Days later, Jav heard of the fall of Edon and the loss of his orchard. He was upset, but thought he could win it back from Baalack sometime in the future. He was making plans to do just that when his spies informed him that it was Nimrod who had taken Edon and his orchard. Jav was enraged. Humans could not be allowed to have unfettered access to the Asherah trees and worse to the technology of his hidden bio-lab beneath the wall that protected the orchard. With that they could reverse the genetic modifications which made them easier to control and enslave. It would spell the end of Martian domination on Earth.
Jav attached a thermonuclear weapon to one of his survey drones. He remotely piloted it to the valley and detonated it above the wall. The wall, the lab, and everything in the valley was destroyed. The shock wave reached Edon, destroying its tower. The city’s walls held keeping casualties low. Other towns and villages within twenty miles of the valley were not so lucky. They were totally destroyed having no walls or fortifications to protect them. There was some radiation sickness in Edon occurring days later, but it was far less than there would have been if the bomb had been one of our modern day weapons with a fission detonator. The Martian antimatter trigger was much cleaner.
News of this catastrophe traveled fast. When it reached the ears of Nimrod, he was filled with so much rage at what Jav had done that he personally beheaded his two Martian prisoners. Now what to do about the giants. Four of them were convinced that Jav was God and that they would serve him all their lives. Nimrod had them killed. The others were more intelligent and realized that they had been deceived by Jav, so he let them go. One giant decided to join up with Nimrod and fight the “gods.” His name was Rapha.
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