Rising Darkness (38 page)

“Writing on the wall?” asked Kara.

“Theatrical but effective,” said Pellecus. “Daniel told the king that the words meant his kingdom was to be overthrown by the Persians. There is always a prophet nearby when disaster looms.”

“At any rate, Rugio shall be prince over Persia,” said Lucifer.

“I have studied their king,” said Rugio. “Cyrus is benign and tolerates other faiths in his domains—as does Darius, his soon-to-be-ruler in Babylon.”

“That is certainly discouraging,” said Kara.

“But,” continued Rugio, “there are some ambitious men within that government who I believe will be very useful in dealing with Daniel and these other prophets.”

“And when will Cyrus arrive with his army?” asked Lucifer.

As he finished speaking, an alarm went up in the city. Shouts of panic were relayed through the great streets. Lucifer glanced outside at the commotion. Tower signals were being lit. Trumpets sounded. People within the palace began rushing about. The city was under attack…and the gates were being thrown open to the enemy!

Lucifer walked back to the table with the map of the empire. Next to the parchment, on the table, was one of Belshazzar’s wine cups, half-filled. Lucifer knocked it over, spilling the red wine across the map of Babylon from north to south.

“Well, Rugio,” said Lucifer, smiling, “I would say Cyrus has indeed arrived!”

Chronicles of the Host

The gathering of newly appointed administrators for the new kingdom had been a glorious event. Darius, who was ruler now in Babylon for the Medes, had overthrown the previous government and established 120 districts, each ruled by a capable man called a satrap. The men bowed low as Darius greeted them in Nebuchadnezzar’s reception hall.

Taking his place on a dais provided by his chief minister, Darius congratulated each of the men for their service to the kingdom and for having the king’s confidence. He then made an announcement that took some of the men by surprise:

“And I must say,” Darius continued, “that Daniel, formerly called Belteshazzar, has proven himself time and again to the kings of this land. For this reason he shall be the third man in this trio of administrators who shall govern over you all. He will do well by you, as he has for the kings of Babylon and for his present king.”

Daniel stood silently as 120 men nodded to him in homage. As the assembly broke up, the 120 satraps came by and congratulated Daniel one by one. Most of the men were sincere in their praise of Daniel—but there were several who were quietly enraged.

“There,” said Kara, pointing out a man in a deep blue cloak who had just spoken with Daniel and was now meeting with a small group of men on the other side of the room. “That man—who is he, Rugio?”

Rugio smiled.

“You have a good eye for discontent, Kara,” said Rugio. “That is Kezzar-mar. He is an ambitious man of subtle nature. Quite bent on advancing in Darius’s government. But he has an obstacle to promotion—the prophet Daniel.”

“Ah yes,” said Kara. “The human lust for power. Soon we’ll turn that ambition into hate.”

“The hate is there already,” said Rugio. “I visited him last night and made him dream of bowing low before Daniel in front of all the important men in the kingdom. He woke up infuriated!”

“Has he some accomplices?” asked Kara. “It will take more than one voice speaking against Daniel to bring him down.”

“Of course,” said Rugio. “I have not been idle these few months since Darius has been in Babylon. I suggest we look into the conversation he is having right now. I believe he is talking with some of the other like-minded men.”

Kezzar-mar smiled and nodded as one of the satraps walked by. He then turned his attention back to the three men to whom he was speaking.

“These are not satraps,” he continued. “They are cattle—cattle led by a religious zealot who has imprisoned the king’s mind.”

“Might I suggest that we discuss this elsewhere?” said Berza, whose satrapy was near the old city of Nineveh. “It might be more prudent.”

The others agreed.

“Very well,” said Kezzar-mar. “Tonight at my apartments we will meet to discuss this rather delicate problem that is facing us. At that time I will relate to you a very interesting dream that I had.”

The group of men broke up and each left separately. Only Kezzar-mar remained behind. He looked up at Daniel, who was still receiving the congratulations of the other satraps. How could so many be beholden to one man? It must be sorcery. And yet Daniel would never bow to another god, much less a king. If only some sort of charges could be brought up against him, he muttered under his breath.

“Charges,”
came a voice.
“Now that might prove interesting.”

Kezzar-mar smiled as a thought came into his mind. In his mind’s eye he saw Daniel on the docket, with the great men of the kingdom leveling charge after charge of corruption against the man.

“Of course Daniel is a man of integrity. The charges must be unique…”

Kezzar-mar felt hatred for Daniel rising in him as he thought about the possibility of trapping the man legally. Yes—that just might work! But how?

Daniel will never be brought up on charges of corruption or abuse of power,
he thought to himself.
One must be cunning…subtle…but Daniel is above reproach.
“There are no charges that can be made,” he caught himself saying.

“Then you must find charges against this holy man that have to do with the law of his God whom he worships, not with the law of men which he respects.”

A sly smile came over Kezzar-mar’s face. That was it! What he could not do outside the law, he could manipulate within the law! He walked over to Daniel and congratulated him once more. Daniel looked deeply into his eyes and thanked him. Kezzar-mar bowed his head, and excused himself, thinking that very soon Daniel would be meeting his God face to face!

“Excellent work, Kara,” said Rugio, after Kezzar-mar left the room.

“I’m sure that Gabriel will be particularly shocked when Daniel’s integrity is the basis for his destruction,” said Kara. “I merely hinted to Kezzar-mar that when one is undermining a holy man, one should take advantage of his holiness.”

The meeting in Kezzar-mar’s apartment was attended by humans and devils. The humans had come to hear Kezzar-mar’s plans for dealing with Daniel. The devils had come to make sure the proper atmosphere was established to ensure compliance on the part of the others. The men seated themselves around the low table in the center of the room. Kezzar-mar dismissed his servants and then turned to the others.

Kara and Rugio remained off to the side, listening with interest to the intricacies of the human mind when involved in something sordid. Pellecus had joined the other two demons for the meeting when he heard that Daniel would be the subject of the discussion.

“Reminds me of those grand days in Heaven,” said Kara, “when we too dreamed of greater days…meeting in Lucifer’s house…speaking of the future…”

“Yes,” said Pellecus with a sneer. “I only hope that their plans turn out a bit differently than ours have.”

Kara glared at Pellecus.

“I should wonder what Lucifer might think of such talk?” said Kara self-righteously. “After all, Pellecus, we are Lucifer’s greatest rulers.”

Pellecus looked at Rugio’s vacant stare and Kara’s usual stupid arrogant smirk.

“That, my dear elder, is what frightens me.”

Just as Kara was about to respond, the devils realized that the men were beginning to discuss frankly the issues revolving around Daniel and the need for his immediate, albeit discreet, removal. Kezzar-mar began by underscoring his utmost loyalty to Darius and the kingdom.

“I love our king as all of you do,” he said. “But he has a blind spot when it comes to governing these foreigners. He is much too compassionate and accommodating.” He stood as he continued speaking. “But our kingdom was won with blood and not with compassion. Brothers—these Jews view Cyrus as a liberator. But why shouldn’t they? He has turned over the artifacts from Solomon’s temple that were taken by Nebuchadnezzar and given them to the Jew Zerubbabel for the rebuilding of the temple!”

“Astonishing,” said Berza. “We send the Jews back better trained and with greater knowledge that when they arrived years ago.”

“We will have to fight them eventually,” added Sheshbar, sipping his wine. “Why send them back to fortify that rebellious city once more?”

“I had hoped that Darius, who rules in Cyrus’s name here in Babylon, might show a different spirit,” said Kezzar-mar. “But that hope was lost when he appointed Daniel over the rest of us.”

“Thus our meeting,” said Berza. “And the question: What to do with Daniel?”

“The question, Berza, is not what,” said Kezzar-mar, “but how?”