The Descent of the Gods

Decision

In Naamah's family apartment, adjoining the citadel, Naamah peeled back a bloody bandage from Maori's tender shoulders. A plain, middle-aged woman wrung out fresh cloths in a steaming herb broth and handed them to Naamah to replace -- Naamah's step mother Adah.

"Which tribe do you come from, child?" She asked gently. Maori didn't answer.
"You don't have to be afraid of us," Adah continued. "We will not treat you like the rest of Nod will. We follow the old ways."
"The old ways?" Maori asked, confused. Adah smiled.
"That tell us how to live in peace with God and our fellow man," Naamah said, replacing yet another blood-stained cloth. "Before she died, Cain's wife taught us as she was taught in Eden many, many years ago. Not many listened to her. My step-mother and I did though."
The girl was silent for a long moment.

"Your father has two wives?" Maori asked. Adah smiled, a little sadly.
"Lamech, my father, married Adah when they were both very young," Naamah replied coldly. "They had two sons."
"Grown and gone now," Adah continued.
"And then father took another wife, my mother Zillah," Naamah said flatly.

"Zillah's presence in Cain's court brought my husband closer to Cain's ear. Now he is Cain's top adviser, and many believe he will be Cain's successor," Adah said. "That was Lamech's gain by marrying again. My gain was a daughter!" Adah smiled at Naamah.
Just then, the door opened and Lamech strode into the house. He saw them, and walked past to the low table surrounded by cushioned stools. In the middle of the table, a clay pitcher and cups waited for him. He poured himself a drink, stood and approached the women.
"Your mother told me of your outburst in the market." He said, his voice brimming with frustration.
"If you call saving a girl's life an outburst," Naamah replied hotly. "I'm guilty." Her face hidden from the others in the room, Maori grinned at that, just a little. Lamech did not.
"Never again, Naamah," he said. "Promise me you will never do that again!" Naamah simply lifted another bloody cloth, exposing Maori's bruised and bleeding flesh.
"Can you promise me that this will never happen again?" Naamah replied. Lamech turned angrily and poured another drink.
"If the tribes do not supply us with food, Naamah," He said. "We will starve. You realize that, don't you?"
Naamah didn't reply. This wasn't the first time this topic had been argued in this house.
"Trouble with the tribes will soon be a thing of the past," Lamech said. "Your brother will teach them a lesson they'll never forget."

Naamah strode through the citadel and descended a passage that led down to the forges. If her brother was not away gathering tribute, he was either training for war, or preparing weapons of war.

The dark cavern under the citadel was alight with the orange flickers from a score of forge fires. A steady supply of weaponry was key to Cain's stranglehold on the region, and Tubal-Cain was the best smith in the forges.
As Naamah had guessed, he was stripped to the waist, a massive hammer in his fist, banging out yet another bronze sword on an anvil. He tossed the blade into a bin piled high with others. He noticed his sister standing there, but just grabbed another sword blank and began forming it.
"Please don't do this Tubal," she said.
"Herab means to starve us," he replied.
"And your orders are to stop Herab alone?" She asked. He lifted the blade, examined it.
"My orders will make sure this island is safe," he said, finally. "And that all recognize Cain as they should."
"You'll kill them," she said. He returned to his hammering.

"As many as it takes," Tubal replied. "I will not see our people beg to anyone. They will beg to us, for food, for mercy, and for life. Not to some ancient superstition."
"You're a brute," she said.
"Don't be foolish," he said. "If it's not them, it will be us starving and dying without hope. This is the world we live in."
"It doesn't have to be," she said, as she turned and made her way up the steps.

As trumpets sounded across the island, it seemed that all of Nod had come to see their army assembled around the altar of Nod. Cain's statue and its defiant pose stood tall as the masses of warriors thronged around it. They stood waiting, eyes peeled for the man himself to appear above them.
He did appear. He strode onto the massive rock slabs jutting out over the basin and waved them on. These stones were always his place to view any public event or punishment meted out in the basin below. The dirty citizens of Nod swarmed around the ridge, cheering on the warriors gathered below.
The warriors took turns touching the feet of the statue, kissing their dusty fingers, and then saluting Cain. Women and children carrying pots of paint passed through the ranks. The soldiers dipped their fingers into the deep reds, purples, and black paints and then proceeded to form a rough version of Cain's mark on their own faces, and on their shields and breastplates.

With that, they formed a disorderly column behind Tubal's horse and strode out of Nod, crossing the bridge and entering the forest on the other side.

Nod's future would never be the same.

As Naamah watched the troops leaving with a heavy heart, Azrael watched her.
Naamah shivered suddenly, rubbing her arms together. Azrael knew that could only mean one thing.
"Still you remain," Abaddon's voice said from behind him. Azrael turned to face him.
"Are they worth more shame?" Abaddon continued. "Leave them to me, Azrael. What happens next will be difficult for you to watch."
"There are still those who believe here," Azrael replied. "I will not fail my promise to them."
"You know you have nothing left to hold me back," Abaddon laughed. "What was yours will be mine, and where will you go then? You've done everything you can." With that, his enemy faded away, but his glee remained.

Azrael looked afresh at the girl standing in front of him - so young, so beautiful. He couldn't bear the thought of what Abaddon would have done to that object of goodness and innocence.

Semyaza approached.
"I heard," he said. "What do you want to do Azrael?"

Azrael only stared at Naamah. He saw how she fought within herself as the troops left Nod. He knew how much she hated the world she was apart of and was powerless to change. An idea was forming in his mind.
"Azrael!" Semyaza interrupted his thoughts. "Now will you listen to me? We must act if the city is to be saved!"
"You have so little faith in them?" Azrael snapped. "I'll show you, I'll show you all what they are capable of!"