“Have you always lived at home with Chemish and Isra?” I asked, feeling bold.
“Mostly. From the ages of ten to fourteen, my parents sent me to Salem to live with my uncle, who provided schooling for me.”
“So you know how to read and write?”
“Yes, I’m my father’s scribe when needed.”
“You have many talents, then,” I murmured.
Another Edomite rode up, wheeling his horse before Asher could say anything more.
“We leave now!” the man shouted.
Asher mounted in one fluid movement, grasping the reins of his horse in his fist. He shot a quick glance back at me and gave a nod of farewell.
Closing the door of the camel litter, I sank into the cushions, placing an arm across my eyes. So Asher was educated. The writing tablet he gave Laban was most likely his with a message written by Asher’s own hand. But I didn’t believe for a moment Laban knew how to read.
I glanced over at Seraiah to see how she fared. I would have sworn my grandmother’s eyes blinked closed as she pretended to be asleep.
Two hours later we set up camp on the south side of Dedan. Kadesh helped my father erect a shelter for Seraiah. She was barely situated when she began to develop a cough.
Chemish fixed a hot brew while my father paced in front of the makeshift tent.
I tended the fire, trying not to fret. Worry tugged at my father’s face, as though the weight literally pulled at his skin. He finally pulled me aside. “Chemish says her heart is failing her.”
Seraiah made a whimpering sound and I dropped to the rug next to her. “My heart is not failing me,” she said in a raspy voice. “My heart is failing my body. This pathetic, diseased vessel wants to return to dust while my soul climbs toward God.”
“You promised to see me married,” I reminded her. I didn’t want her to give up and leave me. I wanted her to see the frankincense lands, to see my wedding. “And wash my first baby at his birth.”
Her breathing was shallow. “I shall do everything I can to fulfill my promises, my dear Jayden, but life doesn’t guarantee us anything.”
“She needs to rest,” Chemish said. His eyes held sympathy when he took my father by the elbow to his own hearth so they could talk. The aroma of cardamom seeped into the air, the comforting smell reminding me of home.
Seraiah grasped my fingers. “I think that Edomite doctor dropped a sleeping potion into my tea.”
I smothered a smile. She was correct. “You must get your rest,” I said, tucking the blankets around her frail bones and lifting my voice in pleas to God to spare her. A brisk wind roared down the Hijaz mountains, snatching away my feeble prayers.
Later that night, the sound of shouts woke me. I sat up with a start, but my grandmother blessedly slept on.
Jumping up, I stared into the midnight blackness. The fires were out; not even glowing coals remained, which was odd. Had the fires been purposely stamped out?
The skin along my neck prickled. There was no moon. Even the stars were hidden by high clouds.
Before I could take a step forward, horses shot past my shelter, so fast I felt the wind they created. Crouching, I dared not call out. There was a flurry of activity up ahead, and the sight of men without faces, scarves hiding everything but their eyes. More shouting and yelling—and then silence again.
I snatched up my dagger, accidentally slipping a finger along the blade and drawing blood. What is going on?
I dared not leave my grandmother alone, but seconds later both Kadesh and Asher materialized out of the blackness.
“Jayden!” Kadesh said with relief.
I jerked at his shirt, trying to breathe normally. “You’re alive.”
Asher held up a candle stub, pointing to the blood on my finger. “Are you all right?”
“It’s nothing, just careless with my knife.” I tucked the blade back into its sheath and wrapped a piece of linen to stop the bleeding. “I heard shouts. Who was on those horses that just flew past?”
“A few of my scouts on their way to Dedan,” Kadesh answered, but he wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“What happened tonight?”
“Two of Horeb’s scouts infiltrated our camp.”
“No, that can’t be. Horeb will know where we are by morning.”
Asher shook his head. “It’s worse. Horeb is only a day north of Dedan.”
“H-How did they know where we were camped?”
“They followed us back after an encounter we had with them in the city.”
“We have to leave. Now.” I heard the panic in my own voice.
Kadesh rubbed my cold hands. His dark eyes glittered under the starlight. “Horeb’s scouts can’t confirm our location. They’re dead.”
My legs weakened. I sank to the sand, shivering.
“As soon as we knew someone was following us,” Asher added, “we raced back here, destroyed the campfires, and then confronted them in the desert. They tried to escape back to Dedan, but we caught up to them.”
Something about this didn’t make sense. Horeb’s army wasn’t supposed to have caught up to us so quickly. I looked at Asher curiously, remembering his last encounter with Laban. He’d given Laban a message—could it have been meant for this night?
“It’s almost dawn,” Kadesh told me. “We’re packing up now.”
I gave a nod, standing as he departed to organize the companies with Chemish.
Asher turned to follow, but I stopped him. “Prince of Edom,” I said, my voice stronger than I expected.
“Yes, my lady. Do you need help taking down your shelter?”
“No, I can manage. But I want you to answer a question. May I have your sworn word that your answer is the truth?”
He frowned. “Of course. I’ve pledged my allegiance to you.”
“I’ve seen you with Laban. A man I don’t trust to do anything that does not benefit himself.”
“You’re a good judge of character, then.”
“I’m sure you know the story of how he treated my family last year—and Kadesh, a sworn brother of the King of Edom. Why do you confer with him? Why did you give him a letter? I saw Laban hide it in his cloak.”
Asher’s eyes fastened onto mine. “You did?”
“I know you’re a trained scribe. Which comes in cleverly useful for writing correspondence.”
“Yes, I gave him a letter. A letter to take into Dedan for a caravan going north. The letter is for my mother to give her news of the journey and assure her all is well.”
“Why couldn’t you find a caravan yourself?”
“As your assigned bodyguard I wasn’t sure Kadesh would send me into the city.”
I gazed at the flurry of camp breakdown. “The raid tonight seems ill-timed. Horeb’s army wasn’t supposed to be so close.”
“He has good scouts.”
“No better than ours who know this land so well.”
Asher bowed to me. “I’m sorry, but we must hurry from here.”
“Yes, we must,” I replied.
When he walked away from me, I swore Asher was trying hard to hold himself in control. To not look back at me with guilt. Had he just lied to me—or only told half the truth?
I pictured the stops we’d made at Akabah, the Fountain of the Red Sea, the Midianite town, and now Dedan. All places I’d seen Asher with Laban. Every one of them a convenient location to leave directions for Horeb’s army to follow us.
Shaking off my irrational thoughts, I bent to wake my grandmother then gather our personal items. I jumped when Seraiah’s hand clenched my arm.
“Grandmother, you startled me. We must leave. Horeb is upon us.” To my horror, my voice shook.
“I heard your conversation with Asher,” Seraiah said.
I pressed my lips together. “I must be imagining things. None of it makes any sense.”
“You must tell Kadesh,” Seraiah said soberly.
“How can I cast doubt on a boy he’s known since a babe? Chem
ish’s own son?”
“We live and die by God’s will, not because of a secret Nephish spy.”
I merely nodded, fearful of what was to come if we didn’t leave immediately. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Asher and Laban as potential spies for Horeb.
16
It was still dark when our caravan raced away from the Dedanite city and its rich, fruitful oasis.
The weather turned hotter—and worse, humid. My clothes stuck to my skin, and there was no relief at night either. We weren’t as close to the beach any longer, but traveling a wide coastal plain of mudflats and barren soil, mountains a hazy dream far to the east.
The first two days south of Dedan we didn’t even stop at night to camp but pushed on with only brief breaks and water stops. There was almost no vegetation for our camels to eat and the wells were more brackish. Dragging buckets from the small, hand-dug wells took hours to water the animals, slowing us down even more.
When I napped in the heat of the afternoon I woke sluggish and ill, as though I’d been poisoned. I couldn’t imagine making this trek during summer. The heat, humidity, sand, and salt were almost more than I could bear.
Seraiah slept fitfully, waking at dawn soaked in perspiration. I cooled her face and neck as best I could with a wet cloth, but her strength was diminishing. I spent afternoons fanning her with palm fronds.
Occasionally, I glimpsed tents far off the main trail, flocks of goats or sheep picking the desert clean of greenery. A lone tamarisk tree here and there made a solitary landmark.
Beds of black lava rock stretched from eastern volcanic peaks until the flat plain dropped into the sea. Our camels complained bitterly, but there was no avoiding the sharp rock without going far out of our way.
“The mountains we have to climb will come soon enough,” Asher told me when I asked about the hard rock.
Shay swiveled her head with a grunt, as if she understood the trail would become progressively more difficult.
“How far?” I asked, using clipped words. I found myself impatient with him. I really needed to talk to Kadesh, but there was never the right moment, or a private place.
“A few weeks. The mountains are grand and majestic, but full of animals to hunt. My slingshot and I will provide for you, my lady.”
“I’m not yours to worry about,” I reminded him.
He gave me a sober glance. Asher was my guard and stayed close at my side, but often a flash of Horeb stalking me crossed my mind. Did Asher remind me of Horeb? This harmless boy was nothing like him, but Horeb was never far from my thoughts. By now, he would have discovered his dead scouts at our Dedanite camp.
“We’ll make it to Sariba first,” Asher assured me. “They don’t know the trail like Kadesh does. They’ll have to stop more often and longer for supplies. As his army grows, so does his need for camels and water bags and food.”
“As his army grows . . .” I echoed. Fingers of alarm snaked down my throat. I was exhausted. “I’m going to check on my grandmother.”
“Have I said something to offend you?”
“Of course not,” I said irritably. “It’s Horeb. Everything always comes back to Horeb. We’re exposed here in the open desert. I’m being hunted every day.”
Asher unhooked the slingshot from his waist. The sling was woven of black and white goat hair just like our tents. Two straps came together in the middle with a pouch to center the stone. The sling had been used so often it had become soft as fine, supple leather. “You’ll feel better if I can capture some game tonight.”
I gazed at the flat land with its poor, brackish water. “All I’ve seen for days are scorpions and spiders.”
“We’re getting close to the Shazer oasis. There are birds and locusts.”
I stared at his sling, picturing it dyed black. “That looks just like—” I began, pairing the sling with another image. Kadesh’s eye patch. I glanced up, but Asher didn’t say anything, although I was certain he’d deduced what I was thinking.
“I think I need another sword lesson,” I told him. The hour practicing on my own each night wasn’t enough. “Chemish, your Edomite brothers, my family—their deaths will be on my head. All because I ran away with Kadesh.”
“We made choices, too. Loyalty and friendship to save those we care about.”
“If I’d married Horeb, my family would be safe. King Abimelech would still be alive. Horeb killed his father because Abimelech formed an alliance with Kadesh—grounded on my union with Kadesh, and not Horeb at all. Don’t you see?”
Asher shook his head. “I see it completely differently. You saved Kadesh’s life. He would have died in the desert if you and your father hadn’t taken him in and healed him. Sariba would have lost its prince. That country might already be in the process of being destroyed. At least you have freedom and peace.”
“That’s ominous. What do you mean?”
“There are forces at play that want to rid Sariba of its royal family.”
“What sort of forces?” I asked. Kadesh had never mentioned any of this.
“Kadesh knows if he doesn’t agree to certain stipulations, he will never be king—”
“You’re speaking in riddles.”
“I can’t be much clearer. These are things Kadesh needs to tell you himself. But know this, if he doesn’t marry you—the girl he loves—Sariba will not be the land everyone has loved for so long. A darkness will come over it, one that can never be erased.”
I glanced up and found Kadesh staring at us. Startled, I asked, “How long have you been listening, Kadesh?”
Asher shifted uncomfortably on his mount, as though he’d been caught spreading gossip.
Kadesh guided his camel closer. “When I met you, Jayden, I knew that I loved you. I also knew my homeland had a chance again. Before I found you at your mother’s grave, I was dying from thirst and the wound in my belly. I started hoping I would die. Because death would save me from having to make terrible decisions—even though those very decisions might save my country.”
“Kadesh, what do you speak of?” I began. “I thought we were running toward light and peace. But now . . . we have death behind us in Horeb’s army—and death waiting for us in Sariba?”
Kadesh pressed his face against my palm. “Jayden, we have enough to worry about to stay ahead of Horeb’s army. He’s the imminent threat right now. But Asher is correct because when I formed an alliance with Abimelech, I knew Sariba had been given a second chance.”
My mind trembled with a thousand questions. This was the most Kadesh had ever said to me about his homeland and the problems he was facing upon his arrival. “I’ve doubted the choices I’ve made. Fearing I’d brought death to you all.”
“You made the best choice, Jayden,” Kadesh said quietly. “For my family, for my kingdom—and most of all for me. While I was recuperating in the caves of Edom, I was devastated to think Horeb had you in his possession. That I’d lost you forever. You are our hope for a brighter future.”
“But can I be when I don’t even know what you’re talking about?”
“I promise all will be clear when we get to Sariba. I’ll tell you everything.” But Kadesh’s voice dropped. He was still reluctant. Almost as though he were afraid to tell me.
“I believe you,” I finally said. “But Horeb is still after us. War is coming.”
“Yes,” Kadesh agreed. “War is coming from many fronts.”
“I won’t stand back and see those I love slaughtered.”
“We’re not going to be slaughtered—”
I held up my hand to stop his words of appeasement. Shifting in my seat, I stared behind me at the empty desert. It was almost as if I could feel Horeb reaching out to me with an unerring vengeance for blood.
17
Before dawn while Seraiah slept, I practiced with my sword. The various thrusts and swings Asher and Kadesh had taught me. After Asher had drunk his morning tea we parried together. He showed me how to improve my stance and use various str
ategic steps during a fight.
“You once watched a fight between Kadesh and Horeb,” Asher said. “Try to remember the moves and strategy he used to get the better of Kadesh.”
“Horeb tried to cheat.”
“Then learn how to be a better cheater,” Asher said with a quirk of his eyebrow.
“Easier said than done,” I snorted. “He tried to cut down Kadesh when he was turning and recovering. Going for his shoulders, even his back.”
“Being quicker and smaller will give you an advantage.”
“It’s true Horeb is larger, heavier. He does move slower.”
“Remember,” Asher said soberly. “During a fight for your life you must use every skill and maneuver—and cheating—to stay alive. Horeb and his men won’t give you a second chance.”
Fighting Horeb would not be a regular game of parry. It would be life-and-death.
“Next lesson I’ll teach you how to disarm your opponent.”
I liked the sound of that. While the men loaded Seraiah into the litter and strapped the bull camel and our possessions into place, I spent a bit of time learning how to use the slingshot of soft, brown deerskin Asher had created for me. The straps were the perfect length for my arm.
A stream of birds flew over the waters of the Shazer oasis. Grouse and swallows twittered in the trees. I spied a population of pink and white flamingos standing in the far reaches of the spring waters.
Holding the laces between my fingers, I spun a small stone in the pouch to launch it. I was oddly proud to wear my sling on my sash belt and my dagger in its sheath. No longer did I strap it to my thigh hidden under my dress. I needed fast and easy access.
Rocks crunched behind me just as my stone hit a small hare. As I felt his arms slip around my waist, I leaned back against Kadesh. “An excellent shot. Jayden, princess of the northern deserts, I do believe you should be a queen someday.”
My lips twitched with laughter. “Is that a marriage proposal, Prince of Sariba?”
“A proposal a thousand times over,” he said in his distinctive accent. The familiar longing coursed through me. “I wish you weren’t so keen on swords and slings.”
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