Free Jesus Triumphant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 8) by Brian Godawa Page A

not many days ago. This time, he had help.
     
    Inside the holding cell of the stone dungeon, Gestas woke from his sleep, roused by the commotion just outside the door. He heard swords clash. He saw a head hit the bars on the door window and slide down out of sight. He heard the gurgling cries of death beneath a swift sword.
    He could only think one thing, Demas .
    The sound of keys fumbling in the lock was followed by the dungeon door opening up to Barabbas and his brother.
    Demas said, “We are getting you out of here.”
    Demas ran over to the cell door and opened it as Barabbas stood watch.
    The brothers embraced. Demas handed Gestas a sword. “This is not the stage, Gestas. Strike with surety or we will not get out of here alive.”
    Demas led them out the door and through the hall over the four bodies of the dead soldiers.
    Wait , thought Demas. There are only three. I thought we got them all .
    The three of them bounded up the stairway and arrived at the walkway out of the building.
    Demas whispered, “Hide your swords. You are my captives.”
    Gestas and Barabbas responded immediately.
    The guards at the entrance had seen them and were watching them approach. They were fifty feet away.
    Demas held onto Gestas by the gruff of the neck as if to pull him along in his charge. “We are under attack. I’m getting these two out of here.”
    They were almost upon the exit when the wounded soldier Demas thought he had killed arrived limping with four more soldiers.
    “That’s him!” yelled the wounded man. He collapsed to the ground. One of guards at the entrance sounded a ram’s horn.
    Demas, Barabbas and Gestas turned around and ran back the way they had come.
    At the end of the hall, they saw to their left an opening to a small courtyard, where ten other soldiers where bounding their way toward them.
    They entered the stairway to climb to the top, but they heard another dozen soldiers above them on their way down.
    Demas looked out and saw the eight bandits they had left outside the prison attacking the soldiers at the entrance.
    But they could not go back into the fray. It would be a slaughter. “There is only one way,” said Barabbas. They bounded down the stairs back to the dungeon area.
    They heard the soldiers exit the stairway into the hall, to fight the other bandits. Good. They were temporarily unnoticed.
    They ran back towards the cell. Demas stripped off his centurion garb.
    Gestas spit out, “It’s a dead end. We’ve run back into the bowels of hell.”
    “Precisely, Gestas,” said Barabbas. “So that we can be shit out of here.” He pulled them to the latrine room, lined with toilet holes carved in wooden covers over a long ledge built for a dozen men to sit upon.
    “We are going out the sewer system.”
    They pulled off two toilet seats. Demas was down to his tunic. “Hold your nose.” They were using Demas’ plan after all, only in reverse.
    They climbed into the portals and landed down in the sewage system, with a splash of filthy water.
    Gestas exclaimed, “Disgusting.”
    “It was your brother’s idea,” quipped Barabbas.
    “I must say, Demas,” said Gestas. “You always were an asshole.”
    Barabbas smirked.
    “Very funny,” said Demas. “This way.”
     
    By the time they arrived at the Zealot hideout, the waste had dried on them and was cracking off in pieces. They had stolen some horses and arrived shortly before the other brigands.
    When the others arrived, they were two men short, with several wounded. “We lost Daniel and Micah,” said the lead brigand.
    “Get these men’s wounds dressed,” said Barabbas. The wounded were helped off their horses and brought inside the caves.
    Barabbas turned to Demas and Gestas, surrounded by the men. “Well, Demas. What say you now of the cause?”
    Demas could not say much. Barabbas had risked his own life to help rescue his brother. Two men of this band of brigands had given their lives in the venture.
    “I thank you for your