The Ark of Apocalypse

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Westphalia

Philip, who spoke German fluently, was talking with the elders and former government officials of Germany to help them establish a new government. Even the former German General who fought against him was present and cooperative. He showed them his Constitution and offered all his help if they adopted it as the primary law of the land. Considering that he was offering financial help to get started, permanent protection and no other interference with their country other than the Constitution, they were more than willing to adopt it. To everyone present there seemed no other alternative to peace.

Simon entered the room looking at Philip, “Philip, I need to talk with you privately.” They moved away from the elders to a corner of the large room. Simon sat down so that they could talk face to face as Philip stood.

“We have a call from the President of the United States. He says that Iran is planning to come to Europe and attack us.”

“What do we know about their plans?”

“Nothing yet, but Israel agents in the Middle East and on the coast lines of Europe are watching out for them and will report to us. They will not come by air. They have no fuel.”

“No fuel? They have 20% of the world’s oil reserves.”

“Yes! Lots of oil but no fuel! They have no oil refineries. We are not sure they could make it by ship.”

“We will have to prepare for them no matter what. We must pick the battle ground and not them. Arrange to bring the Twelve to me at once.”

Philip finished his conversations with the elders and set up a central government and smaller governments all over Germany. He arranged for them to give him budgets and promised all the start up money, especially for police forces. The former General who fought against Philip was one of the elders and very helpful in bringing Germany back to a functioning government. He was a good man and only wanted to protect his people and his country.

It took a few weeks, but finally the Iranian plans were known. They boated up to Trieste with two thousand very well armed men. They spread out into bands of twenty men and made there way towards Germany. Scouts went out ahead to find the location of Philip. They were after Philip and the Holy Grail and nothing more. Even the Moslems were afraid of the Holy Grail. They hoped to catch him alone and hit and run out of Europe. They planed to destroy or steal the Holy Grail.

“We need to pick the place of battle,” said Philip. “As long as we know they are coming they have no chance, but we want to loose as few lives as possible.”

After a two hour meeting it was decided to hold up in Westphalia and let the Iranians know it. The Cathedral was a perfect trap for them because was filled with many small rooms in which to hide. The city was almost deserted, and the rest could be moved out, so civilian casualties would not be a problem. In order to set the trap, Philip would use very few Knights that Simon would place in strategic hiding areas. Philip would wait in the Cathedral with the Holy Grail as bait.

Philip’s Twelve Commanders knew that the Moslems would come stealthily from all sides of the city. They would not attempt to battle his army in open warfare. Philip kept nothing in the city except Knights and trained-armed fighters. They hid in buildings all over the city and prepared a trap for the Moslems.

“Philip, a Moslem dressed as a priest looked into the Cathedral to see you and the Holy Grail and then left,” said a Knight dressed in priest’s clothing.

“They will come soon. I will pray at the altar and let them see me. Do not let more then five or six get through the doors.” Philip actually seemed unafraid and for the first time, courageous.

The Knights knew that they would come into the city in groups of twenty but would gather together at least in the last few blocks around the Cathedral and on only three streets. It was on both sides of these three streets that the Knights were prepared for war.

The Moslems came dressed as farmers but carried machine guns under their coats and they came in groups of from two to twenty. Just as the Knights predicted they started meeting up in three locations three blocks from the Cathedral on three different streets. In all there were only two thousand of them but they were all prepared to die for Allah.

At the entrance to the Cathedral they stopped spread out down the three streets. They were very silent. The Knights knew that the Moslems had hand held bombs but they had orders not to attack until at least they opened the doors to the Cathedral.

Suddenly the Moslem soldiers threw off their coats and raised their machine guns. Two stood by both doors of the Cathedral waiting for orders to swing them open. At the moment the doors were opened the Knights opened windows and doors on both sides of the three streets all at once up to three stories high and opened fire into the streets. The Moslems were hit on six sides all at once but ten Moslems made it into the Cathedral.

Above the main floor of the Cathedral, on both sides, were four balconies and on them eight Knights with modified semi-automatics holding special shells. The first shots exploded on impact spreading copper strips of wire in every direction. The Moslems lay dead at the door. These special bullets killed even if they missed.

Philip was praying in front of the Holy Grail and the first he knew of the fight was the blast of the doors and less than a second later the sound of eight blasts that sounded like thunder and then a string of explosions. Philip stood there not turning around. He just waited for a bullet or bomb to hit him. He listened to the sound of bullets and bombs outside. Almost a minute went by but he was still afraid to look behind him and stayed praying. Finally all sounds stopped and it was silent. He realized that he had not been hit and gave thanks but was not in any hurry to look back.

Slowly he turned only his head and the first thing he saw was one of the eight Knights that were guarding him from the inside. The Knight was standing there just looking at him. By the time he turned all the way around all eight Knights had come down from the balconies to the ground floor right behind him and were all looking at him.

Philip was embarrassed at his fear, but said nothing. He looked down the long main isle of the Cathedral. The doors were open and the light was making a 45% angle over the entrance. Philip could see a pile of debris and blood, shining red in the light, covering the floor. Philip swung his eyes away from the sight towards the Holy Grail. He wanted to cry over the dead and he wanted to be angry at God for making him involved in the deaths. He was about to curse God when a voice or a memory came to his head. It was the words of the great Pharisee, Gamaliel: “But if it be from God, you cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps you be found even to fight against God.” (Acts 5:39) He lowered his head, ashamed of his anger.

He turned around facing the eight Knights who were next to him. One of them pointed to a side door. The small group left the Cathedral with the Holy Grail. Outside was a battle ground with blood and bodies everywhere. There were only two thousand deaths but it was so concentrated that it seemed like millions.

Not one Knight was dead or injured. The Knights called in the citizens to bury the dead and clean up the mess. Germany was at peace and had a government again. American satellites watched the entire thing live. President Thomas was relieved and it appeased his feeling of guilt for not helping. He made up his mind that Philip was on his side and from that moment he would help Philip in anything that he wanted. President Thomas sent a letter to Philip offering his help and backing for everything he did to bring peace, justice, law and order to the world. He even published this letter causing much anger from Protestants, Moslems and Mystics. If Philip was not who he seemed to be, Thomas would not remain President for long.