by Misty Moncur
“If they’re not our men?”
“Capture if possible. Death if not.”
I nodded and fell back.
“Oh, and Ket?”
“Yeah?”
“You don’t have to call me Captain, just because…you know.”
Oh, but I did. It reminded me that he was no longer my Gideon, but my captain. He was still my friend, maybe my best friend at that time, but that was even more reason to remind myself who he was and what he was not and never would be.
I didn’t answer him, just turned, gathered my men, and ran into the trees, knowing they would follow me.
The forest wasn’t as dense as it had been near Cumeni, and the places to hide were not as plentiful. When we were away from the column, I turned to consult the others who fell in around me.
“I saw a man,” I informed them hastily and indicated the area he had disappeared into. “He was headed south.”
“Was he alone?” asked Lib.
“I don’t know. I only caught a glimpse of one man in the trees.” I turned to Jarom and Darius. “Where could he have gone?”
“There’s a trail up this way that leads back to Manti,” said Jarom, and he and Darius were already moving in that direction.
Lib, Reb, and I followed without another word.
Chapter 8
I didn’t like the idea of being on one of the back trails again, but thankfully this one was carpeted with moist, soft earth and fallen leaves instead of jutting rocks and roots.
We ran swiftly and silently with our eyes watchful and our senses attuned. My brother and Zeke’s brother, just twelve years old when we had left Melek, ran through the wilderness now with the ease of seasoned scouts, knowing the way and leading us down it. I thought as I ran that I could resent this. I could choose not to trust them because of their youth and their imperfections. Others of the world would say it was foolish to let them lead me. And I might have thought so too if not for the warm feeling inside me that told me they would not lead me astray nor into danger, for God would not let them.
Suddenly I saw three men moving through the trees and undergrowth. Definitely Lamanite.
I wanted to be sure the others had seen them without alerting the enemy to our presence. I sounded the shrill call of the margay and when Darius and Jarom slowed and looked back at me, I pointed and held up three fingers.
If this trail led to Manti, then the men, probably spies, were headed there. I knew they had seen our small column of men. They were moving swiftly, hoping to give their men at Manti as much warning as possible. I thought they would have been moving much faster if they supposed our force to be a great threat. That didn’t bode well for us when it came time to take the city from the Lamanite army, but it did provide us with the opportunity to overtake these three.
They were swift, but we were fast and light. God was with us—and we all knew it.
God made our footfalls silent as we approached the spies from behind.
We didn’t have a plan, but one fact was obvious. We outnumbered them. Jarom, in the lead, leapt through the air and landed on their slowest man, taking him easily to the ground. Darius was only a second behind him, pinning down the next man, and Reb was on top of the third just as he turned to see what had caused his companions to cry out.
Lib helped strip the spies of their weapons, though they did not put up much of a fight, and I stood with my bowstring taut and my arrow trained on them. Jarom, Darius, and Reb tied the prisoners’ hands together at the wrists and forearms.
The boys yanked their prisoners up and we continued on toward Manti. We would meet our column there.
It wasn’t long before we could see the city below us. We had arrived before Teomner and Gideon so we waited for them under cover near the trail.
When they came into view on the road below us, I reached for the blade on my arm—I kept it shiny for just this purpose—and I signaled Gideon of our position. His return signal came a moment later.
“Gid says to wait here,” I told the others. “He’s coming to us.”
In a few moments I saw Gideon jogging up through the trails toward us. I heard the call of the margay and Darius returned it before I could.
The prisoners glanced at each other. They remembered hearing it.
Gideon hid his pleasure well when he saw that we had cut off the spies and taken them prisoner, preventing them from reporting our troops to the men at Manti. But I could see it in his eyes and in his posture.
He came forward and spoke to the men in a completely foreign tongue. The spies’ eyes widened and they looked at each other as one of them hesitantly answered Gideon.
Gideon nodded. He seemed to adjust the way he spoke when he replied to the man, adding more guttural sounds to the words.
After a short conversation Gideon turned back to us. “They said the greater part of the army marched out. There remains only a heavy guard of approximately two hundred men and they are young. They have yet to experience a battle.”
“And you believe them?” asked Jarom, throwing a mistrusting sneer toward the prisoners.
“I offered them their freedom in exchange for the truth. If we find this to be true, we will let them go, and they will make an oath to come against the Nephites no more.”
Did he have the authority to do this? We all stared at him, and I was still waiting for Reb to say something funny to break the silence when Gideon went on.
“Stay with them here. Bring them to the gates when the battle is over. I’ll signal you.”
He waited for Lib, who was of the highest rank among us, to nod his assent, accepting the command, before he turned on his heel and jogged away.
“Is it just me, or did Gid just kick us out of the battle?” asked Reb as I watched Gideon disappear into the forest.
“He kicked us out,” Lib affirmed, already resigned to it.
All four of them turned to look at me.
“It’s not because of me,” I said. Gideon knew I was having trouble keeping my mind on the enemy, but he had faith in my fighting skills.
“Yes, it is,” Reb said.
“No, it isn’t. Gid is led by the Spirit.”
Reb glanced at the others. “Gid is led by his heart.”
I shook my head and took a step back. Hadn’t he just sent me headlong into the wilderness after the spies, not knowing what danger lay beyond the trees? Hadn’t he trusted in my word even though he hadn’t seen the man himself?
People saw what they wanted to see, what they expected to see. Reb and the others had been observing the relationship between Gideon and me for over three years by then. They didn’t know that Gideon had made his decision to leave it behind—to leave me behind.
And now I could see why he had to. No soldier would ever take his commands seriously if he thought Gideon’s motivations were compromised.
Still, Gideon could have wanted us out of the battle for any number of reasons, not the least of which being that someone had to guard these prisoners.
Finally, I said to them, “Every good man is led by his heart. Can the Spirit guide him in any other way?”
They all looked uncomfortable, but they considered what I said. Darius frowned in confusion, and Jarom looked into the distance at the place where Gideon had disappeared.
“Can I be any less than honored if he protects me out of love? Can you? Do you not think Gid loves those he commands? Perhaps he saves us for one of your sakes. And do I dishonor my country to guard these men until the battle is won?”
Nobody had anything to say to that.
My own words echoed through my mind. I had actually said that one did not need to be on the front line of the battle to be a necessary part of it, and I believed it with all my heart.
We stood with our prisoners and watched from our vantage point in the hills as Teomner and Gideon led their troops against Manti.
The watchmen in the towers must have been feeling comfortable in the absence of Helaman’s army, because Teomner was up
on the gate before the Lamanites even tried to close it against him. Their complacency was so great the gate had been standing wide open!
It was a futile attempt and the four hundred Nephite troops poured through the gates without even breaking their column. But instantly upon clearing the gates they fanned out in every direction. Every man seemed to know where to go and who to subdue. There was resistance, there was fighting, but it was over very quickly.
Our three prisoners talked quietly among themselves, and it surprised me that they did not sound angry or resentful. I recognized their word for home several times and wondered if they were planning to go home once Gideon released them.
I thought of Zerahemnah, how Darius had loved that story. When Darius next caught my eye, I smiled at him and he placed his arm over my shoulders. It was tanned and heavy, though I knew he didn’t rest the whole weight of it on me, and it was well-muscled, something I still had not achieved. My arms were strong but ever willowy and slender.
“They are going home,” I said. “As soon as Gideon sets them free.”
We waited there together and kept our eyes on the city of Manti until after perhaps an hour we saw Gideon’s signal flash.
They were in, and they had taken control.
The men whooped like boys, but I turned into Darius and hugged him tight. I felt his other arm come around me. My little brother was so tall now, and he smelled like such a boy—like leather and camp smoke and sweat.
“Come on,” said Reb. “Don’t want to keep the captain waiting.”
We marched our prisoners to Manti with our swords drawn, but it wasn’t necessary. They went willingly enough. The gates, now manned by a unit of Seth’s men, were shut tight, but when we hailed them, they hefted them open and waved us through.
“Where’s Gid?” Lib called out.
“The main square securing the prisoners,” called a guard.
The people of the city had been instructed to stay in their homes, and the invading Nephite army was busy to a man preparing to defend the city. Men raided the stores of supplies and redistributed the weapons they had taken from the prisoners in the square. They manned the guard towers and lined the tops of the walls with their bows at the ready.
We made our way to the main square where we found Gideon speaking to the Lamanite prisoners. They were indeed all young, as the spy had said, and I thought that perhaps Gideon was offering them their freedom as well.
I marveled at his gift with languages as I listened to him speak. It sounded like yet another dialect he spoke to these young men, no older than us really. I knew it was a dishonor that they had been left behind and not allowed to go out to battle. Perhaps that was why they listened so closely to Gideon and looked on him not as though he were their conqueror, but their own commander. The kindness Gideon appeared to be showing them, speaking to them in their language and offering them a chance to know their God, had destroyed their fighting spirit—if it had ever existed. Perhaps Ammoron had compelled these men to invade our country with the lying and deceit he and his brother, Amalakiah, were so famous for.
No wonder Gideon showed compassion for them.
When Gideon was done, he turned and strode toward us. He spoke in the more guttural dialect to the three prisoners that stood with us, and they went to join their young brethren.
One of them turned back as he went and spoke to Gideon with a smile.
Gideon nodded and waved him on.
“What did he say?” asked Jarom, glancing with suspicion at the prisoners’ retreating figures.
“He said to thank you for your decency.”
We all looked at each other.
“But we captured them and took their weapons,” Reb said.
Darius glanced over his shoulder at the prisoners. “We tied them practically up to their elbows.”
“And we made them watch while we took their city,” Lib added.
Gideon grunted and folded his arms. “That’s apparently better treatment than they were expecting.”
The capture had gone rather easily, and I wondered if the Lamanite spies had possibly wished it that way. I wondered if perhaps they were as tired of this fighting as we were.
“There are many tasks yet to complete before the army arrives,” Gideon said.
I prayed the army that arrived first would be ours.
Gideon spoke briskly, with authority, and he was very unlike the boy who had camped and eaten with the rest of us for the past years. Leading men. Planning attacks. This was what he was good at, what he was meant to do.
“The city is well-fortified, better than we imagined. She should be easy to defend.” He was walking us toward the outer city. “I’ve got men guarding the prisoners, securing the weapons, scouring the army tents for soldiers, seizing the government buildings, and manning the fortifications.”
“And what are your orders for us?” asked Lib.
“Rest up. You’ll man the gates tonight.”
With those words, he left us so he could see to his other duties.
We looked around at the warriors running through the streets to fulfill Gideon’s orders. I could see striplings on the tops of the walls and in the guard towers. Resting didn’t seem like the right thing to do.
Darius stepped toward me. “Gid says Jarom and I can return to the outer terrain to scout for the incoming armies. We will bring in the advance notice he needs,” he informed me as he checked to be sure all his gear was tied on tight.
I nodded and let my eyes rest on Jarom. He had been staring curiously at me for much of the afternoon. It was all that talk of Gideon following his heart. He didn’t know what to make of it.
It took him a moment to realize I was watching him, but when he did, he gave me a slow smile.
“Be careful,” I told them both.
Darius was already moving away, but Jarom stepped close to me and held out his closed palm.
“Here,” he said. “It’s from one of the swords we took at Antiparah.”
I stretched my hand out, and he dropped a small shard of obsidian into it. It was rough and shot through with white, very unlike the obsidian from our swords.
“It was chipped off a sword during battle. I picked it up as a kind of souvenir I guess.”
I inspected it more closely. It was flaked and broken and sharp and surely had come from the battle. It was a good gift, and a meaningful one because it held meaning for him.
“Thanks,” I said.
Our custom said I must return his gift with one of my own. It was a common custom and meant little more than a hand clasp of greeting or parting. But it was like a hand clasp each person could take with them. And while it was a common practice among all ages, it could take on a different meaning during the courting years.
I reached into the leather bag at my belt and withdrew a smooth, rounded stone and held it out. It was kind of a pretty stone, if a stone could be pretty, and its smoothness was in complete contrast to the shard he had given me. It was a river stone, made smooth by water and time.
I was aware that Reb and Lib waited for me a distance away now. Darius waited for Jarom in the other direction, and all three of them watched us exchange these small gifts.
Jarom took the stone and ran his thumb over its smooth surface, clearly pleased with it.
“Bye, Keturah,” he said and when he might have turned to go, he lingered and stared into my eyes with that lazy smile playing at his lips. Then he slowly began to walk backward, holding my gaze.
“That stone is in no way a promise,” I said.
“I didn’t think it was,” he replied and finally did turn to catch up with my brother.
“What do you think it is then?” I called quickly, for I did not know when I would see him again.
“A stone waiting to be slung!” he called back over his shoulder.
Then what was this stone I felt sharp in my hand? This broken stone that he had picked up in the aftermath of a fight and saved.
I stared after him for a
s long as I dared. He walked next to Darius with confident, easy strides. I turned my eyes to Lib and Reb, both waiting, both wearing speculative looks.
“You can wipe those dumb looks off your faces,” I said as I approached them.
“But what would we replace them with?” Reb asked.
“That does present a problem,” I laughed.
We walked together in the direction Gideon had directed us. As we passed through the camps of the Lamanite army, I couldn’t help staring at all the tents. Their army was huge, and I knew that if they overtook Helaman, the striplings could not stand against them.
Joshua and Zachariah made the evening meal out of spoils we took from among the Lamanite provisions and then, as our captain had commanded us, we settled down to sleep. I slept deeply, despite all the unknown scenarios that had been racing through my mind, until the first watch when Lib called from outside my tent.
“Are we on all night?” I asked him as we walked through the city.
“The first and second watches.”
We waited and watched half the night in a weighty kind of silence, but our army did not arrive. No spies came through the gates, either.
“You worried?” Corban asked me.
I spit out the nail I had been gnawing off. We were next to each other, leaning back against the wall of the city.
“I don’t mind being outside the gates,” I said. “It doesn’t bother me.”
“I meant about your brothers and, you know, Zeke.”
“Yes,” I said simply, and we left it at that. They were out there running from a large and angry army, and I had no way of knowing yet if they would return to the city safely or go to their eternal glory. I couldn’t think about them, but not thinking of them on that cool, dark night seemed like a dishonor.
The watch passed uneventfully, and when our replacements came, we made our way back toward our tents inside the city. Teomner and Gideon had established guards to enforce the curfew for the residents of the city, and we waved to the guards as we passed. There were also soldiers manning all the towers and watch posts. At least half our army was awake, but all was quiet as we walked through the city.
