“Our guardian angel has been busy saving lives and sending them to the hall,” the preacher said.“I left a note telling anyone who visits the building to return in a few days.”
“Good idea,” Dalt said with a grin.“You’ll all need to be careful.The doc and her knight have found a few bodies with missing heads.”
“The soldiers killed them?”Pastor Hogan asked, mood turning grim.
“Nope.It was a human sniper,” the cowboy said.He reached over to take the walky-talky and switched it to the channel they would be using.“Kochab warned us to stay under cover and to keep watch for anyone high up on the tops of the buildings.”
“I’ll pass the message on to my flock,” Larry said gravely.“I was thinking it might be a good idea to have a spy amongst the so-called cops who work for Mayor Giamano.”His lips twisted in distaste at the title the weasel of a politician had given himself.
“They’ll need to be very careful, sir,” Dalton warned him.“Rahab and his goons can use mind control.They can force people to tell them the truth.Your spy won’t be able to resist their power.They’ll spill their guts about your resistance, which will put you all in terrible danger.”
Heaving a sigh, the preacher took a sip of coffee.“I just feel like we should be doing more,” he confessed.“Qiana keeps sending the people she saves to join us, but we’re just ordinary humans.We aren’t heroes like the knights and cambions.”
“Giving people a safe haven as well as food and waterisheroic, sir,” Dalt argued.“Fate has plans for us all.We just have to listen to her hints and try to do our best to carry out her orders.”
“The Mad Prophet is our main source of information from Fate,” Larry said.“I suppose if she has instructions for us, she’ll either speak through him, or send one of Amaros’ people to fill us in.”
“From what I understand, you’re already doing what Fate wanted,” the rancher reminded him.“The doc and her knight are sending you troops to add to our army.Our allies won’t have to stand alone against the Soldiers of Chaos this time.They’ll have us to back them up.”
“You’re right, son,” the priest said with renewed zeal.“God’s working through Fate and her knights.I’ll do my part to help them win their final war so they can become our guardians.”
Dalt stayed with him long enough to drink his coffee and test their walky-talkies before heading back to the rink.
Chapter Thirty-Five
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XATHAN WAS IN THE POWERplant, talking to Kelvin Naylor when Judy let out a shriek in the staff bathroom.He raced to the door with one of his guards right behind him.The door opened and the female grinned at them in joy.“The water is back on!”she shouted, then threw herself at Xathan.
Hiding his look of distaste, Xathan glared at his fellow soldier when he snickered beneath his breath.He submitted to the hug, then gently eased her away.Water was flowing from a faucet that had been left on.He could hear water slowly filling the toilet tanks that had been empty for over three months.
Kelvin, Tad and Dustin crowded around them, peering through the open door.“This calls for a celebration!”Mr.Naylor announced.
“I’ve been keeping a bottle of whiskey for when the power or water came back on,” Tad said, shocking them all.“It’s barely eight o’clock in the morning, but what the hell?I’ll go and grab it!”
“I need to report this to my commander,” Xathan said, extricating himself from their revelry.He took his walky-talky out and left the building.“Lord?”he said into the device.
