The Descent of the Gods

Dungeon

Enoch's prison wagon started moving again as the Cainites resumed their prayers to the statue.

"So much for finding hope in Nod," he sighed. The wagon proceeded only a little farther before veering off the main road and descending down into a tunnel that ran beneath the city streets. Darkness enveloped them except for the occasional torch on the rocky walls..

Finally, they stopped in an underground cavern where cells and cages were bursting with Cainite criminals and captives taken during the day's fighting. More were simply chained to rocks, as there was no more room in the containment cells.

The doors of the prisoner wagon were opened, and Enoch and his companions piled out, stretching their stiff legs. Cainite guards shackled the wrists of each prisoner and then led them to a dark corner of the cavern, passing hundreds of haggard faces as they went by. 

Enoch noticed the dark robes of the Edenites among the captives before he found Caleb's face in the shadows. A guard shackled Enoch to the stone wall opposite Caleb's huddled companions.

Just a few paces away sat a cage, clearly designed to hold one or two captives under normal situations - perhaps the worst of the worst that needed to be separated from the others because of misbehavior. But with the overcrowded state of the underground prison, it had been packed with five prisoners, wedged in so tightly that they could not even recline. 

"Are Seth and your father safe?" Caleb's words reached Enoch through the darkness. 

"I believe so," Enoch said. He rubbed his bruised head, where the side of Tubal's sword had smacked his skull. 

"And you got that bump on your head making sure they escaped?" Caleb said, his tone lighter. Enoch just nodded. 

"Some guide you are," Jehuda said, looking at him. "You led us right to them!" Enoch just looked down. He could not have known the Cainites had sent out their whole army onto the road that day. But he looked up as he heard a low chuckle from the Edenites. 

"What's so funny?" Enoch asked. 

"The funny thing is, we were a bit worried about how we would even get into Nod," Jehuda explained. "The Cainites have no love for anything from Eden. But we decided if we had been called to go to Nod, a way would be provided. And one was." 

"The Cainites were in such a hurry up the road," he continued. "They saw us in the way and simply sent us back with a small detachment. So we had an armed escort to the very place we wanted to go."

"To prison?" Enoch queried. Jehuda laughed, looking at his bronze shackles.

"These? We'll be out of these easily, as soon as this all blows over."

"We will see about that," Caleb interjected. "This all may be amusing to you, but I feel that a bloodbath is going to erupt over our heads tomorrow."

"Then we'll fight our way out," Jehuda replied. Caleb gave him a stern look.

"That may not be so easy," Caleb said slowly.

"I'm afraid the Herabites will not treat you any better than the Cainites will," Enoch said. "I have a feeling that Herab watched my village burn, not lifting a finger to help, until the Cainites believed us vanquished."

"And that was just the beginning of his final revenge against Cain for Abel's murder," Caleb said. Enoch nodded.

Just then, the prisoners in the center of the cavern began jeering and shouting. Enoch sat up, craning his neck to see, but could only see several guards heading their way. As they approached, more and more prisoners joined the catcalls as they saw a new prisoner being led their way. 

The guards passed Enoch, and he saw for himself the victim of the jeering - a girl dressed in white. Her dress was soiled and torn, but Enoch immediately recognized her as the girl that had tried to tear down Cain's image.

The guards muscled through the prisoners, pushing them back as they approached the over-crowded cage. One unlocked the cage, and began pulling captives out of it. Once the cage was empty, only then did they point the girl toward it, and once she was inside, locked it securely. She would be safe - for now.

"Keep your distance," a guard threatened the prisoners near the cage. The guards moved away, finding new places to confine the five prisoners from the cage. 

Naamah slumped to the hard floor to the cage, covering her face with her hands.