They gathered their forces. Half of Durga stayed behind at the palace but the other half traveled with the others as the column of soldiers marched.  "The Hittites should be about forty miles west," The Ancient One commented, "in fortified positions that it would be very hard to dislodge them from even if I had three times the troops.  Go ahead and check it out, Durga. In order for those opposing us to succeed something will have to happen to the Hittites."
   Durga hurried off and returned an hour or so later reporting that the Hittites were right where they were supposed to be and well entrenched.  
   "I don't understand," The Ax Man asked, "What's going on here?"
   "We're in Ancient Israel," The Ancient One explained, "at the peak of its power, in the time of King David.  David saw my wife bathing and became infatuated with her beauty.  Though I have told him he can fulfill his desires if he wishes, he doesn't want to appear a sinner before the people.  So he sent me on a suicide mission, so that after I die he can claim my wife as her protector."
   "I thought he was a good guy!"  The Ax Man muttered.
   "He was," The Ancient One answered, "but like any man sometimes his emotions, his desires for a woman overwhelmed his reason. My wife will refuse him for a time, and then accept his pleasures.  She'll become pregnant, die in childbirth, giving birth to a son.  The same night another one of the King's wives will give birth, but the child will die.  They'll switch them, give her the living child and tell the surviving mother it's hers.  That child will grow up to become King Solomon, the last great leader of Israel."
   "And you've got to go along with it?"  The Ax Man asked.
   "We cannot change history," The Ancient One answered, "all of this has occurred before.  It is part of the fabric of time.  If we change one tiny fact we may destroy mankind!"
   "What does it matter?"  The Ax Man asked. "They're destroying themselves anyway.  They're determined to commit suicide."
   "That is not for us to decide," The Ancient One answered. "Ours is to guide and protect.  They must choose the right path by their own free will.  People cannot be saved eternally by force.  They must make the decisions that will make them a great race by their own desires.  You can't MAKE them believe, they have to WANT to believe.  I don't understand!  Something should've happened to the Hittites.  We'll have to keep checking on them.  They're still three days away."
   As they made camp that evening The Ancient One's sub subcommanders approached him.  "Sir," they announced, "sadly some of our men have deserted.  They are trying to cut around the Hittite forces and escape to Egypt."
   The Ancient One shook his head.  "I don't think we can blame them," The Ancient One sighed. "I do not want to waste men going in pursuit of them.  Let them go!  They will answer to God and their own conscience, a far worse punishment than we could give them."
   "Yes sir!"  the officers answered.  
   They made camp about an hour's march from the Hittite positions.  
   "Tell the men to sleep," The Ancient One ordered.  "We will attack at dawn.  The Hittites have a habit of being heavy drinkers before they go to bed.  If we have any luck many of them may be too ill to fight in the morning.  We will do the best we can for God and for Israel."
   "Yes sir!"  the subcommanders answered.
   About midnight Durga returned.  "You'd better come have a look," she remarked, "you're not going to have much opposition in the morning."
   The Ancient One and The Ax Man followed her.  The Hittites were in their positions but they were laying about, their bodies convulsed into grotesque positions.
   "What the blazes?" The Ax Man asked.
   The Ancient One knelt down and sniffed a handful of soil.  "Gas!"  he muttered, "Nerve gas!  Pretty potent but short duration stuff, long enough to kill these poor bastards!  There's enough power to neutralize it, however, and to restore them."
   "Restore them?" The Ax Man asked.  "All those people?"
   "This is the time," The Ancient One explained, "when the spiritual powers in the material world were at their greatest.  We could've done much more if the people would've let us.  And if it would've not, in the end destroyed them."
   He rose up into the air, stretched out his hand, and the blue beam spread out from it.  The twisted bodies straightened, their chests heaved, and they began to breathe again.  "Come!"  The Ancient One ordered, "I want to be out of here before they see us.  I don't want any reports that the gods aided them.  They'll just all think they had some terrible nightmares, prebattle jitters."
   "Sometimes," The Ax Man muttered, "it just doesn't make sense!  Sometimes what we do just doesn't make sense!  We should be using our powers to destroy these creeps, not restore them!"
   The Ancient One shook his head. They finished their tasks and returned to the Israeli encampment.  They had barely gotten there than    Yahweh appeared.