Army of God

by Dennis Bailey

  No sooner had he finished praying, then Ariel resumed humming. It was a beautiful sound, however inappropriate to the morning’s mood and circumstances. He found it difficult to fathom how someone with such a sour personality could possess such a beautiful voice.

  “What are you so cheery about?” Ham said.

  “No reason. Just looking forward to another day.” She took a bite of bread and grinned at Shiphrah’s vacant place.

  Ham’s nostrils flared. He glared at her through steely eyes. “Sure. And Shiphrah being gone has absolutely nothing to do with it?”

  “Look, I wish her no ill will. But am I sorry she’s gone? No. She was, after all, an outsider.”

  “How can you say that about someone you’ve lived with for forty years? Is she not as much a part of this family as you?” Ham looked to his father. “She didn’t even say good-bye.”

  “See, that’s what I mean,” Ariel said. “We took her in and gave her a home, and she didn’t say so much as a thank you. What an ingrate.”

  “Enough, Ariel,” Japheth said. “You’re probably the reason she left.”

  Her mouth dropped. She looked to Shem for support.

  “Don’t look for me to defend you. Japheth’s right. You picked on the poor girl from the day she got here. I’m surprised she lasted this long.”

  “She didn’t seem unhappy,” Elisheva said.

  Knowing that Shiphrah’s leaving had nothing to do with Ariel, Noah came to her defense. “I doubt Shiphrah would have stayed as long as she did if she were feeling persecuted. Clearly, she had her own reasons for wanting to go.”

  “But what were they, Father?” Ham said. “And why now?”

  “I don’t know, son.”

  “You didn’t try to talk her out of it?

  “Vehemently. But she’s her own woman, and it was clear she’d made up her mind. I’m afraid all we can do now is pray she finds happiness.”

  “We can do a whole lot more than pray. Somebody needs to go after her.”

  “It’s what she wanted, son.”

  Ham leaned forward, a sparkle returning to his eyes. “I’ll go.”

  “And what will you do if you find her, force her back against her will?”

  “Maybe just tell her how much we all love her.”

  “She knows, son. She knows. Besides, with her gone, we need all hands working on the ark.”

  Ham slumped back against the pillow at his back.

  “Well, whatever her reason, I wouldn’t be so smug about it, Ariel,” Miryam said. “Shiphrah was a hard worker, and it will take the three of us working together to make up for her loss.”

  Elisheva nodded, but Ariel frowned.

  Following the meal, Ham passed by the food preparation table, pausing to dip his fingers in a small dusting of spilt flour. He smiled and manipulated the flour between his thumb and fingertips, then brushed his hands and headed out the door. Outside, he sprinted up the hill to the ark before disappearing inside.

  “Ham seems anxious to get to work today,” Elisheva said.

  “I don’t think that’s it,” Miryam said.

  Ariel waited for the others to leave before approaching Noah and Miryam. “This may sound cruel, but you should be thankful she’s gone, especially after what happened at the ark yesterday.”

  “And you should be thankful you’re Shem’s wife. Otherwise, Ham might have smacked you.” I was tempted.

  Ariel stormed away.

  Chapter 25

  Just past midday, Malluch, Shechem, and Bohar led a company of mounted soldiers through Eden’s north gate. They were followed by more than five hundred citizens on foot. Shechem turned for a last look before entering the walls. On a hill in the distance stood a statue made of bronze, with the head of a lion and the body of a man.

  Lamech and the elders of Eden observed the troops passing through the gate.

  Malluch raised his arm to stop the procession. “Ah. Fathers of Eden. Your absence from the dedication ceremony this morning was deeply felt.”

  “By what right, Malluch, do you blaspheme the name of God by placing an idol outside our city?” Lamech said.

  “Blasphemy? I hardly consider it blasphemy to erect a statue in his honor.”

  “He who existed before time began, the God of our fathers, the God of Adam, Abel, and Seth, He who they called YAH, was not made with human hands. He is spirit.”

  “By spirit, I take it you mean invisible? I prefer to worship a god I can see, one I can touch. But to your first question, ‘What right have I?’ By my right as ruler of this city.”

  “You may be the governor—”

  “Prince. I have chosen to take the title of prince. It has a more regal sound to it, don’t you think?”

  “Prince or governor, it matters little what you call yourself. But you would do well to remember there are still a great many people here who remain loyal to the ways of the fathers.”

  “Yes, that is proving to be a bit of an inconvenience.” Shechem, Bohar, and some of the soldiers within earshot chuckled. “But then time has a way of changing everything, doesn’t it?” Malluch said.

  Lamech pointed to the statue. “I see you’re still determined to make Eden over in the image of Enoch.”

  “And why not? Enoch is the richest, most powerful city in the world. Her armies are feared from east to west. And she has the blessing and protection of the gods that look down from the hills surrounding her.”

  “Idols of wood, stone, and bronze have no power to bless or protect.”

  “Don’t they? Since the time Cain first built her, has Enoch ever been defeated? Has she even been challenged in nearly sixteen centuries?”

  Shechem didn’t have any more faith in the god they’d just erected than the One his fathers worshipped. But being Malluch’s right hand, he was obliged to act accordingly.

  Methuselah stepped forward, shaking his staff. “Cain did evil in the sight of the Lord when he murdered his brother and carried that evil with him when he fled east. If there is a power that protects Enoch, it is the power of Satan.”

  “Then I will invoke his power.”

  Collective gasps poured from the patriarch’s mouths. Methuselah raised his staff in front of his face, as if protecting himself from the man’s words. “You invite the wrath of God.”

  “Invite it. I welcome it.” Malluch pointed to the hill with the idol. “You see, I have more faith in that god than in the one your fathers followed.”

  Methuselah turned to walk away, but Lamech stopped him. “What about the killings?”

  “Yes, what about them, Prince,” an elder said, a mocking tenor in his voice pronouncing the title.

  “Killings?” Malluch said.

  “There have been three murders in the city in the last two weeks, two men, one woman,” Lamech said. “All with their throats cut.”

  “Four,” another elder said, his voice cracking. “My son was found at the base of the wall near the north gate last night.”

  “What do we know about this, Commander?”

  News of the killings had come as a surprise. And while the number of murders committed each year had risen since Malluch assumed power, they’d never experienced a series of slayings of this magnitude. “Other than the manner of death, we didn’t have any reason to suspect the killings were related,” Shechem said. “The first two men were found at opposite ends of the city, while one of the women had recently been caught in an act of adultery. We suspect her husband, only he has since fled the city. A third man was found in the rear of a brothel, an apparent casualty of his own vices. But with the discovery of these last two, it looks like a pattern is developing.”

  “I should say so. I want this killer found, do you hear?”

  “Yes, my lord,” Shechem said.

  “Believe me my friends, we will get to the bottom of it. We’re not going to allow the citizens of Eden to be murdered indiscriminately in the streets. I want troops patrolling inside the city, along the outside perimeter
, and on the north and south roads, starting immediately.”

  “Yes, my lord,” Shechem said.

  “And double the patrols at night.”

  “It will be done.”

  Malluch softened his gaze for the elder who’d lost a son. “Please accept my heartfelt sympathy for your loss. You have my solemn promise we will do everything possible to capture this madman and bring justice to the families of Eden.”

  The grieving elder did not answer, but Lamech snorted. “We shall see.”

  “You question my sincerity?”

  “Until forty years ago, there hadn’t been six people murdered in more than seven hundred years I’ve lived here. Now it seems they’ve become all too commonplace, so commonplace, in fact, that it took an outbreak like this to merit the government’s attention.”

  Malluch sneered. “I know there’s a point in there somewhere, but I’m having difficulty grasping it.”

  Lamech gestured first to the wall, then to the mounted soldiers. “Tell me, Prince, in spite of all these measures, has Eden become a safer . . . or more dangerous place to live?”

  The governor grit his teeth, slapped the reins, and drove his horse away. The other soldiers followed, forcing the elders out of the way to avoid being trampled.

  Back at the palace, Malluch remained resolute. “Shechem, use every resource at your disposal to locate this killer. I don’t want the people living in fear, or have that fear turn to panic. This kind of thing, if it gets out of hand, could stir an insurrection.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “Why all the concern?” Bohar said. “So a few chumps get their throats slit. And the fact that one of them was the son of an elder should be cause for celebration. Good riddance.”

  Shechem shook his head. You wouldn’t be so crass if you were the one lying there with your throat laid open.

  “Every life has value, my friend,” Malluch said.

  Shechem had to keep himself from laughing at the insincerity of that remark.

  “Even if you don’t recognize it,” Malluch said. “Each of those six people contributed in some way to the delicate economic and social balance of Eden.”

  Bohar smirked.

  If he hadn’t known better, Shechem would have suspected Bohar. He’d seen his work. He was good with that knife. But four of the six victims had been men, and his pungent friend was too much a coward to test fate against more powerful adversaries. Sneaking up from behind was his only advantage, one easily countered by a target with sensitive ears. Or a sensitive nose. If he got caught, he’d be the one getting his throat slit—with his own knife. What’s more, Bohar wouldn’t do anything on his own to bring Malluch’s rule under scrutiny. Otherwise, he might find himself on the lion’s menu during their next visit to Enoch.

  Chapter 26

  Noah joined Japheth outside the house to enjoy the last glimpses of dusk, the sound of Ham’s pounding mallet floating down from the ark. “Listen to him up there,” Japheth said. “He’s been working since dawn without a break. He won’t quit.”

  “And when he does, he’ll be up all night standing watch because he can’t sleep.”

  “Isn’t there something we can do to get him to eat? You could put your thumbs in the hollows of his cheeks.”

  “He snapped at your mother just for asking.”

  “Not eating. Irritable as a mad hornet. Standing watch outside the ark all night because he can’t sleep. This is more than just a brother missing his sister. You want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “He loves her.”

  “Of course he loves her. We all do.” Japheth humphed. “Except for Ariel.”

  “Not like we do. He’s in love.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “You’ve seen them together. Haven’t you noticed anything different lately?”

  “I thought that was just playful banter between siblings.”

  “Like the banter between you and Ariel, or Japheth and Elisheva?”

  “That’s different. We’re married.”

  “And so, too, have they become—emotionally.”

  “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “You were their teachers. Growing up in a house of married couples, they learned not just sibling love, but spousal love as well. And now that they’re coming of age, each yearns for a companion, the way you and your brother did when your time came.”

  “Well, what are you going to do? Shiphrah’s only been gone a month, and look at him. He’s a mess.”

  “I’ll talk to him.”

  Japheth went back inside. Noah walked up the hill where he found Ham at the far end of the ark holding a leaf. He cocked his ear at the sound of his father’s approach but remained with his back to him. “Did you ever notice, Father, how green Shiphrah’s eyes are?” Ham twirled the leaf by its stem. “More brilliant than this leaf.”

  “I noticed.”

  “I love her, you know?”

  “I know.”

  “Is it wrong for me to feel this way?”

  “No.”

  Ham faced his father, the dark circles above his cheeks just visible in the fading light. “Even though I’m supposed to be her brother?”

  “But you’re not.”

  “We shouldn’t have let her go.”

  “I could do nothing to stop her. She was determined to leave, although—”

  “Although what?”

  “I was wrong to have deterred you from going after her.” Noah watched Ham’s eyes fill. “But I made a vow.”

  “What vow?”

  “It’s not important now.”

  “What do you mean it’s not important? We have to find her.”

  “I’ll find her.”

  “I want to go with you.”

  “No, my son.”

  “Why not?”

  “To begin with, you’re much too weak to travel. Stay here and regain your strength. I have an idea of where she might be headed. And it will be less conspicuous for me to travel alone.”

  “But—”

  Noah clasped Ham by the shoulder, searching his face. “There’s another reason you must remain here. We can’t afford to fall further behind by having two of us away and unavailable to work on the ark. We must all remain vigilant, for we know not the day or the hour of the coming judgment.”

  Ham let out a big sigh, threw the leaf down, and moved away to the edge of the hill.

  “Ham.”

  He slowly spun around. “All right. I’ll stay. But I don’t know how you expect me to keep my mind on my work after being kicked in the stomach like this.”

  “You’ll manage.”

  The next morning, Noah’s eldest helped him pack a donkey with supplies. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Japheth said.

  “To be honest, I’d prefer to have you along. But I need someone responsible to take charge of things around here.”

  Japheth nodded.

  “Keep an eye on Ham. See that he eats. He’s lost too much weight the past month, and I don’t want him passing out and falling through a deck or something.”

  “I’ll ask mother to make succotash. It’s his favorite.”

  “You know your brother. Keep him away from the wine. He’s depressed enough already, and drinking will only make it worse and give him an excuse to get out of working on the ark. Get Shem to help you if need be.”

  “We’ll put pinholes in his wineskin.”

  * * *

  Shechem grimaced at the sight of blood coagulating around the head of the ninth throat slashing victim. He’d been found on the floor of his bedroom. Shechem had seen men fall in battle, but something about the volume of blood here and the gaping neck wound turned his stomach. Not quite equal to the smell of a child’s burning flesh, but disturbing still. In an opposite corner, family members attempted to comfort the man’s sobbing widow.

  Two soldiers entered the room and approached Shechem. “Sir,” one of them said.

  “Your report.”

>   “No one saw a thing, Commander. Apparently, the man’s wife had taken their two children to visit her mother in another part of the city early last evening. She found him like this when she returned.”

  “Did you find anything outside?”

  “There are footprints outside the bedroom window, which would seem to indicate the killer may have entered there. But the footprints lead out to the main street, where they disappear amongst the hundreds of others.”

  Shechem lamented the five additional killings that had taken place in the last seventeen days, three women and two men, the last, the man at his feet. Since Malluch’s pledge to catch the killer, the number of murders in and around Eden had risen. This latest killing had been committed in the heart of the city, in a house located in a densely populated area.

  Lamech and the victim’s father entered the room. “Well, Commander, anything to go on?” Lamech said. The young man’s father knelt beside his son’s body.

  “There weren’t any witnesses, if that’s what you mean. And the footprints found outside the window could be anybody’s.”

  “Anybody’s, Commander? I doubt that. A somebody I would think. A somebody with a purpose as yet unknown to us, but a purpose nonetheless.”

  “What purpose has insanity?” Because of the random nature of the killings, Shechem was more inclined to adopt Malluch’s theory of a madman killing without conscience or reason.

  “You think your killer insane?”

  There’d been no connection between any of the victims. Two were only remotely acquainted. None had been robbed of their person or, for those found inside, had anything taken from their homes. None of the women had been violated—which once again, ruled out Bohar. “What else?”

  “Would you happen to know what part of the day these killings are taking place?”

  “Only one victim, a woman, was found in the afternoon. The rest were all discovered in the late evening or early morning hours.”

  “How do you suppose, Commander, an increase in patrols has resulted in an increase in the murder rate?”