“Come on, ox!” Shem said. “Get up there.” He slapped the reins against the backs of the animals, their feet slipping against the strain of the load. At last, the section gave way, slowly moving the pile. Two thirds of the way down, it struck a pocket in the rubble, causing its weight to shift in the opposite direction. With their legs and backs buckling, the oxen cried out.
“Cut the ropes!” Noah yelled. “Quickly! Before their backs break!” Shem and he pulled knives and cut the tow lines. The structure tumbled away, crashing apart when it hit the ground.
“So much for the salvage,” Shem said. “At this rate, we’ll need to harvest all new timbers.”
“We need something stronger than the oxen.”
“Stronger? What would that be?”
“I don’t—”
“Father, look.” From his perch on a heap ninety cubits toward the stern, Ham pointed across the plain to where two elephants slowly made their way toward the ark. “How about these?”
Shem’s jaw fell open. “Father, I know the Lord said only two of every animal for the ark, but do you think He might lend us a few more to help build it?”
“It sure wouldn’t hurt to ask.”
“Sooner, rather than later, would be nice.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Noah used his knife to point toward Ham. “Just as soon as we get your brother there married off tomorrow.”
Ham fumbled the plank he was lifting, dropping it back onto the pile. When he turned, his father, Japheth, and Shem were staring at him. “What?” Ham said, his eyes blinking rapidly.
His father and brothers chuckled loudly.
Ariel’s fidgeting throughout the late meal told Noah she had something on her mind. Afterwards, when the others went for a walk, she declined the invitation and approached him and Miryam. “I can’t believe you’re going to allow your son to marry a woman from Enoch.”
“It’s not our choice,” Noah said. “It’s Ham’s. Just as it was Shem’s choice to marry you.”
A frown crossed her brow. “You could forbid it. Ham might not like it, but I’m sure he wouldn’t disobey you.”
“Why would we forbid it? You’ve seen them since Shiphrah’s return. They’re in love.”
“Doesn’t it bother anyone you may be giving your son to a woman who isn’t pure?”
“Who told you she wasn’t pure?” Miryam snapped.
“No one had to. But it’s fairly easy to figure out, isn’t it? Remember why she was brought to Eden in the first place?”
“Of course,” Noah said. “But seeing she escaped with us before the end of that first night, I hardly see how her virginity could be questioned.”
“What about the Marauders? Do you really think she was able to maintain her virginity all that time in the company of those animals?”
“Well, you heard the story. And I think it would be an extreme contradiction for them to be bowing at her feet one moment, then defiling her the next.”
“Tell me, Ariel,” Miryam said. “Aren’t you even the least bit pleased Shiphrah has returned home safely?”
“That she’s safe, yes. That she returned, no.” Ariel crossed her arms.
“And what about what Ham wants? Do you despise Shiphrah so much you would deny your brother-in-law a chance to be happy?”
Ariel’s gaze dropped. “No. I guess not. I just wish he could have found a woman from Eden to marry.”
“We’ll settle for a woman he loves.” Noah stepped closer. “And I’d keep that talk about her not being pure to yourself if you know what’s good for you.”
Ariel lowered her chin. “Yes, Father.”
The last rays of sunlight bathed the grass and the backs of Noah’s several hundred sheep. For reasons he couldn’t explain, walking with them at this time of the day always brought him a sense of peace. It was a perception evidently shared by the sheep, for they paid little attention to the lioness at his side, nor did she show any interest in them. Behind him, the sounds of a wedding celebration drifted through the air from a window of their house. Ham sounded more than pleased to have the rest of the family join him in a recreational drink. Even Ariel seemed to enjoy herself.
Last night, after the rest of the family had retired, Noah, Miryam, Shem, and Japheth stole up to the ark site for a special project. The men constructed the frame for a makeshift shelter out of some shattered timbers and covered it with several tent canvases made of goat’s hair. Miryam added blankets, pillows, lamps, and a few soft frills to make the place more appealing.
What followed today was an amazing display of creativity while the family struggled to keep Ham and Shiphrah away from their wedding nest. Noah found it particularly amusing.
First, Ham spent half the morning looking for his sandals, which Shem had hidden. Then, when Ham went to dress, he found Miryam had given Elisheva all of his clothes to wash. Ham made quite the picture standing in the middle of the room, naked from the waist up and complaining to his mother. “You picked today to wash all my garments? What am I supposed to get married in?”
Later, when a nervous Shiphrah announced she was going outside for some air, Elisheva unexplainably sliced through her finger with a knife just as her sister reached the door. This prompted Shiphrah to help administer first aid, after which Miryam asked her to take Elisheva’s place in kneading bread.
Now, walking the pasture, Noah was reminded of a conversation he had here forty years ago and dropped to the ground in gratitude.
“God of our fathers. Who am I that I should be blessed this day to see the marriage of my third son? And that through this joining You have revealed Your will for this woman, who You predestined for salvation and protection from the floodwaters to come. Thank You for Your mercy and for giving ear to the pleas of Your servant.”
In his customary manner, he remained with his face on the ground for some time after making his supplication, waiting to hear from the Lord. Tonight, He was silent.
Noah rose for another glimpse of the mountain of wood covering the hill. How long before word of the rebuilding project would reach those who had failed to thoroughly destroy the ark the first time? And how swift and formidable would their response be? Would he and his sons alone be able to repel another assault? And even if they could, how much would it cost them? God never promised there wouldn’t be casualties among them.
Chapter 40
In the 542nd year of Noah . . .
Two years later, Shechem squatted for a closer look at the 111th, 112th, and 113th throat-slashing victims of Eden’s self-appointed executioner. A year ago, he’d stopped showing up at the murder scenes discovered during the night, preferring to wait until morning to be notified. But last night, unable to sleep because of his recurring insomnia, he chose to respond after overhearing two guards discussing the discovery of the bodies. He arrived two hours before sunrise.
He was glad he did.
All three men had been found on their stomachs together in the rear of a brothel in the city’s north end. He rolled the first man over for a look at his face. I know this man. He then rolled the second and third men onto their backs, recognizing them as well.
He quickly scanned the murder scene. In just a few parts, everything he’d seen and heard over the past two years concerning the murders coalesced in his mind. He let out a huge sigh that sputtered across his lips in a horse’s snort.
Intuition or insight, he had a feeling these three would be the last victims of Eden’s slasher. He replayed the events that’d brought him here.
Malluch’s offer of gold two years ago hadn’t generated the information they were hoping for. The killings continued unabated. If anything, the killers had become more resourceful.
One evening, someone set fire to a grain storage facility located in the western end of the city. Shechem redirected over two hundred soldiers from the east to assist with the fire suppression effort. It had taken most of the night to get it under control. In the morning, six people were found murdered in the area
left unguarded by the diversion of troops.
On another occasion, a woman who’d discovered a male murder victim said she saw a man dressed in black riding hard out the south gate. Shechem immediately dispatched more than a hundred soldiers to pursue the alleged assailant. When they returned in the morning, the woman who’d reported it and four others were found with their throats slit.
Fortunately, such diversionary plots were rare, and he learned to be more circumspect about committing his forces. There’d been additional pauses in the killings, but often these were followed by multiple victims in a single night. Overall, the killers had remained consistent, averaging just over a murder a week over the two-year period.
At the patriarchs’ request, Malluch had increased the reward from fifty to a hundred, and finally to two hundred pieces of gold. Still, no one came forward.
Shechem had mixed feelings following the unearthing of one victim. Six months ago, the rich elder’s son—one of several candidates he’d suspected of being his wife’s lover—was found murdered like the others. Upon hearing the news, it brought him more than a bit of satisfaction. But when he told his wife, her reaction wasn’t what he’d expected.
“How awful,” she’d said, but showed little more emotion, even after several days had passed. If the man had truly been her lover, he was convinced she would have been unable to conceal the shock so easily.
Even so, guilt bothered him at having wrongly suspected a man now dead.
The night before last, the thirty-first son of an elder and his wife were found murdered in their home. Their three young children, asleep in another part of the house, were unharmed.
Now, studying the evidence at his feet, suspicions Shechem had denied for months could be suppressed no longer.
All three men were dressed in dark clothing, hoods attached to their tunics. Two of the men were over four cubits tall, the third somewhat shorter. All three carried knives. Half a dozen empty wineskins littered the floor around the bodies. With no signs of a struggle, it appeared the men may have been asleep or passed out when attacked. He recognized the men as longtime associates of Bohar.
It was time to go see Malluch.
* * *
While Miryam and Ariel prepared the early meal, Noah stared with anticipation out the window at the ark. It had taken every day of the past two years to complete the demolition, reclamation of wood, and the harvesting and preparation of new timber. Today the rebuilding would begin, and the excitement of a small boy whose father had given him his first set of tools overcame him.
During the first of the two years, five more species of large cats had arrived: tigers and leopards in spring, jaguars and cheetahs during the summer, and two sleek charcoal panthers at the onset of fall. Noah was confident they’d been sent to provide additional protection for the ark, and their behavior confirmed that suspicion. As if by instinct, the new arrivals never strayed far from the area, with each species establishing its own nesting area within the construction site. Even when leaving to forage for food, they would return each evening before sunset. Much to Miryam’s chagrin, the lions refused to join their kindred at the ark, and so remained unwelcomed house guests.
He turned from the window to the sound of a frustrated Miryam. “All right, where are they?”
“Where are what, my wife?”
“I put two bunches of bananas here on the table, and now they’re gone.”
He looked at Ariel, who spread her hands. “Are you sure you put them on the table?”
“Well of course, I’m sure.” Miryam searched under the table and around the food preparation area. She pulled two more bunches off a larger cluster and placed them on the table. Ariel returned to kneading bread.
He swung back to the window. After a few moments, her agitated voice again seized his attention. “What’s going on?”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand, my dear.”
“Look.” Miryam pointed to the table where a single bunch of bananas lay. “You saw me put two bunches there. Now there’s only one.”
“Well, I sure didn’t take them,” Ariel said.
Noah searched the area, including under the table. He and the two women looked at each other and shook their heads. “I don’t know what to—”
A long, gray snake-like body entered through the open kitchen window and snatched the bananas from the table, prompting Ariel’s scream. Noah moved to the window, motioning for the women to join him. Outside, the two elephants feasted on the bananas, their mouths slowly munching on the yellow crescent fruit.
“I hope you both get bellyaches,” Miryam said.
Later that night, Noah awoke to the sound of men screaming, their shrieks fading away in the distance. Although the ark’s destruction had forced his family to move back into their house, the cats’ presence obviated the need for them to stand guard. He met his sons in the main living area of their home and the four men headed up to the construction site. They found donkey tracks and a single torch smoldering on the ground on the starboard side of the ark. “Shem, you and Ham take a look on the other side,” Noah said.
A short time later, his sons came running up from the stern.
“Did you find anything?” Noah said.
“No tracks, if that’s what you mean.” Ham said. “And no torches.”
“The tigers are gone,” Shem said.
“The tigers?” Japheth said.
“Yes,” Shem said. “All of the other cats were nested down in their usual spots, but the place near middle of the ark where the tigers have been staying was empty.”
“Where do you suppose they went?” Japheth said.
Their father raised his torch and looked out toward the east. “Hunting.”
The next morning, Noah and Japheth returned to the ark to find the tigers back in their improvised den, grooming themselves. “What do you think?” Japheth said. “Just bathing or—”
“Or what, son?”
He grimaced and swallowed hard. “Washing up after a meal?”
Watching both tigers carefully lick each paw, Noah had the same thought, even though there was no evidence to show their prey had been human. “I don’t know, but whoever our visitors were last night, I hope they had fast mounts.”
Chapter 41
Teeth clenched, Shechem stared at Malluch’s outstretched arm. “Please, Commander, have a drink.”
He reluctantly took the cup from his hand, drank its contents, then slammed it down on the table. “So it was you, all along?”
“Of course. Well, to be precise, it was Bohar.”
Bohar sat at the table, again using a dirt encrusted fingernail to pick his teeth.
“And you let me run around for two years trying to find a murderer you were controlling?”
Malluch poured more wine into his cup. “Forgive me, my friend, for using you. But hard as this may be for you to understand, it was necessary. To protect you.”
Shechem’s eyes widened. “To protect me?”
“Yes. You remember that night in my bedroom I said you had to remain above suspicion? Well, keeping you in the dark was the only way to accomplish it.”
“How did keeping me in the dark help me to remain anything but a fool?”
“Not a fool, my friend. Ignorant. Once I began to take my vengeance against the cowards of Eden, I knew there would be inquiries from the patriarchs. I had to have someone to convince them we were doing everything possible to apprehend the killers.”
“And you felt I couldn’t be trusted with the truth?”
Malluch handed him the cup. “Believe me, it wasn’t so much a matter of trust as it was strategy. I couldn’t risk the patriarchs being able to see through the facade of your trying to cover for what I was doing. They had to have someone they could believe was telling them the truth about the investigation. And that is exactly what you told them—the truth—as you knew it.”
Shechem couldn’t believe it. His closest friend, a man he’d been loyal to all his life—a m
an he’d killed for—had manipulated him like a potter fashioning clay. For two years, he’d done little more than chase his own tail. But he didn’t mind being branded a fool nearly so much as being branded a liar. Despite being tied to Malluch’s government, his investigation into the murders had earned him the trust of the patriarchs, or at least Lamech. Now that trust would be destroyed, and his integrity along with it. And what about the more than one hundred innocent victims? Heat rose along both sides of his neck. He took another drink. “So you had over a hundred people killed to cover up the murder of twenty-one?”
“You saw me that night, Commander. Imagine having to endure that several times a month for the past sixty years. I would have killed a thousand to rid myself of that torment. Whether you believe it or not, I do regret the innocent were made to suffer in order to repay the guilty.”
Bohar threw his feet on the table and his hands behind his head. “I don’t.”
Shechem nodded slowly as realization after realization swept over him. He gestured with a head tip toward him. “His bathing. Part of the ruse?”
“Excellent deduction, Commander,” Malluch said. “I knew you would immediately recognize our friend’s, shall we say, distinctive aroma, should you come across it in your investigation. So I asked him to bathe prior to each of his nighttime forays.” He chuckled. “Not that it was without protest. As you know, Bohar and water are only passing acquaintances.”
Bohar snarled.
“But in the end, he agreed it was the best way for him to protect his identity.”
“Spring’s over, Commander,” Bohar said. “Guess you’ll have to get used to the old me again.”
Cursing. I should have run you through years ago when I had the chance. Shechem was besieged by guilt. Could he have saved the lives of all those people had he acted upon his first instinct and killed Bohar years ago? It would have been so easy to accomplish under cover of one of their raids. Then on the other hand, maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference at all. Malluch was right. The look in his eyes the night in his bedroom was the look of a man unwavering in his desire for vengeance. He would have simply gotten someone else to do it. “And the three we found last night?”
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