Page 28 of Ramiel

Ramiel wasn’t happy about being delayed, but they might have information he needed.“I have a lot of experience hunting,” he said and gestured at the bow and arrow one of the females was holding.“It’s best to hunt deer with bows rather than loud guns.They’ll be less inclined to flee to a different area if you don’t scare them away with too much noise.”

“Head back to camp,” their leader said.“I’ll go with him.”They nodded and he took the bow and quiver full of arrows from the female, giving her the gun in return.

“I’m Ramiel,” the knight said as he led the way back to where he’d spotted the herd.

“I’m Terry,” the human said.“Where did you come from?”

“Up north,” Ramiel said vaguely.“I’m searching for some friends.”

“I hope they’re not in Manhattan,” Terry said, shaking his head.“We all worked there at the same accountancy firm before the Rapture,” he explained.“I heard the Mad Prophet talking on my ham radio and convinced my friends to leave the city with me.”

“I heard some people talking about the Mad Prophet,” Ramiel said.“I’d like to hear more about him after I help you bag a deer.”

“It’s a deal,” Terry said, holding his hand out to shake on it.Much shorter than his companion, the male was in his forties.Ordinary and balding, he was forgettable in appearance, but he was brave enough to try to eke out a living in unfamiliar territory.

Ramiel heard the deer long before they came into view.He slowed down and motioned for Terry to follow him.“Do you know how to use that bow?”he whispered.

Terry glanced at it, then handed it over ruefully.“Not really,” he confessed, trusting his companion not to use the weapon on him.

The knight showed Terry how to draw the arrow back smoothly and whispered instructions about the best spots to aim for.He let the arrow loose and it hit his target directly in the eye.The buck went down and the rest of the herd scattered.

“What a shot!”Terry exclaimed quietly in amazement, unaware that his companion had never actually used a bow before.

“Now we have to carry it back to your camp,” Ramiel said.He could have easily carried the animal himself, but he had to hide his true strength.

They hurried back to the other humans with Terry grunting at the weight he was carrying.Cheers and claps came from his group and he beamed widely.“Ramiel here bagged the buck for us,” he said, clapping the much larger man on the shoulder.“We’ll eat well tonight!”

“Now we have to gut it and skin it,” one of the females said with a grimace.“Can you show us how to do it without completely butchering the animal?”

Ramiel gave her a regretful headshake.“Hunting is my forte,” he said.“Gutting, skinning and cooking aren’t in my skillset.”He didn’t eat, so he hadn’t needed to hunt animals before.

“Do the best you can,” Terry said to the female and her partner as they dragged the carcass away.“Take a seat and we’ll fill you in about everything the Mad Prophet has said so far,” he invited Ramiel.

Introductions were made, then the warrior took a mug of coffee someone poured him from a filthy saucepan.It had been sitting directly on the fire.He pretended to taste it, grimacing internally at the acrid smell.“Liquid heaven,” he lied.

Terry was eyeing him shrewdly, but kept his thoughts to himself.“I first heard the Mad Prophet right after the Rapture happened nine months ago,” he began.

Ramiel listened in rapt silence as his companions told him everything they’d heard the human oracle say.He was astounded to hear that so many secret details about his brothers and their enemies were now widely known.Rahab and his squad had infiltrated a city called Manhattan and had taken it over.They were gathering an army of militants and intended to use them to fight the Knights of Order.

“Hey, Ramiel,” one of the males said.

The warrior looked up to see a knife zooming straight towards his face.He snatched it out of the air and prepared to throw it back at his target.“I knew it!”the human said in triumph.“You’re the good alien who appeared in that gold comet we saw a few nights ago!”

“Don’t bother to lie,” Terry said with a grin.“We can tell you’re not from our world.”

“What gave me away?”Ramiel asked sheepishly.He tossed the weapon to its owner and the male tucked it back into its sheath.

“Pretty much everything,” one of the two females who was present said with a small grin.“You’re not like anyone else we’ve met since we left New York.We can tell you’re a good guy.”

“I can’t believe aliens really exist,” Terry said.“Have you met your female yet?”

“What female?”Ramiel asked blankly.

“We told you the Mad Prophet has been guiding your friends to find their mates,” Terry reminded him.“There’s got to be a woman out there for you, too.You just have to find her.”

Ramiel had ignored the comments they’d said about his brothers apparently blundering around chasing after females.The Mad Prophet was insane, after all, so it had to be a fantasy he’d made up.

The quiet hiss coming from the ham radio crackled, then a voice spoke.“Guess again, son,” a male said in an intense tone.“I’m never wrong about these things.Fate wants you to find your female and keep her safe until your boss finds you.”