Chosen

by Ginger Garrett

  When Mordecai arrived, I threw my arms around him and wept again. To be reunited at last with my cousin, my only family, was sweeter than I had imagined it. Mordecai had aged much in these years apart. He was no longer a simple man, concerned with the affairs of a market and tending to his duties at the king’s gates. He, too, had carried the weight of the crown for too long. Together, we turned now to face Xerxes, and I fell at Xerxes’ feet. He extended his golden scepter to me, and I knew I could stand.

  “If it would please my beloved king, if I am indeed in your good graces, please let an order be written to reverse Haman’s evil decree to slaughter the Jews. I am your queen, and loyal forever to your throne, but how could I live content if I saw my people’s blood running in the streets? You are always eager to give me half of your kingdom, but I would not ask so much. I merely ask for this remnant of people.”

  Xerxes said the one thing I had not expected him to say, if my plan had carried this far.

  He said no.

  “My Star,” he said sadly, “no king of Persia has ever reversed himself, for it cannot be done. My word will stand.”

  What could I do, but nod in mute accord? I had asked and been refused.

  Xerxes looked at us and smiled softly. “I will do this one thing, however: Together with Mordecai, write whatever you decide on behalf of the Jews; then bring it to me and I will seal it with my signet ring. Perhaps you will find a way to do better for your people than reversing the decree. And Haman’s estate will belong now to you, Queen Esther. Dispose of it as you will, even as he’s being hanged on the gallows. No enemy of yours will stand while I have the strength to wear my crown.”

  Mordecai requested he be given time to pray before we wrote a new decree of our own. This pleased the king, who ordered him to be escorted to a fine room in the palace for as long as he wished. Mordecai left, and I was again alone with my king. He turned to me, walking slowly as he studied me. “Tell me, Esther my Star,” he said, “you have lived secretly as a Jew with a king who worshipped another god. Tell me what other secrets you have kept from me.”

  “My king, there is nothing more to reveal,” I replied.

  I could tell he didn’t believe me, but he smiled now. “There is always more to be revealed, my love.” His mouth turned up at one end, and his hands moved to the small of my back.

  [1] Hanging did not mean the form of punishment Western civilization has come to know. Rather, hanging involved impaling a man on an enormous pole and allowing him to hang this way until death.

  57

  Twenty-third Day of the Month of Sivan

  Twelfth Year of the Reign of Xerxes

  Year 3404 after Creation

  How quickly Mordecai has established himself within the king’s palace! He at once removed men who were under suspicion, including both servants and advisers. The eunuchs who care for me have proved an excellent source of uncovering intrigue. How loose their lips are, it seems, when they are at their chores and out of my sight! Mordecai has taken great pains to protect the king, and not further himself, so that Mordecai is a most-trusted adviser, having replaced Haman’s wicked counsel with earnest wisdom. The king brought his secretaries into the court today when he was on his throne and both Mordecai and I were in his presence. Mordecai had counseled me as to what we should propose to the king, and I instructed Mordecai on what would most please the king. The secretaries recorded my words as Mordecai dictated our new decree for the original day of slaughter set by Haman:

  To all satraps, governors, and officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia

  a proclamation from the Great King Xerxes:

  signed with his ring on this date, the twelfth year of his reign.

  No enemy of the Jews will stand.

  Every Jew in every province should be ready, armed and prepared with the king’s good blessing, to kill anyone who threatens their family.

  The Jews alone may decide who their enemies are, and who they must kill.

  And if an enemy of the Jews is killed, this enemy’s estate will become the rightful property of the avenging Jew.

  This order goes into effect on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

  When Mordecai had finished dictating this decree, the king summoned his scribes, who worked quickly to transcribe it into the native languages of the kingdom. Xerxes then summoned a hundred couriers, commanding them to ride the fastest horses from his stables, and ordered them to take these notices to every province in the kingdom. They were to be posted publicly for the Jews and their enemies to read and understand. A notice was promptly posted in the capital city of Susa, where the palace resided, as well. By nightfall the Jews would learn their deliverance was secure, and Haman’s accomplices would see clearly their doom approaching.

  Mordecai will then be a hero among his people, and their hearts will be merry and light when they learn their queen is a Jew as well.

  Xerxes then called Mordecai forward and waved the palace eunuchs toward him. The eunuchs began to dress Mordecai in a purple and white robe, with a gold crown and cape of softest linen.

  “May a thousand years of peace reign in my kingdom because of your great wisdom. May your people live in ease, knowing you will always stand before my throne” was the king’s blessing.

  Mordecai bowed low and lifted his hands, saying, “I give glory to G-d, who has been at work in this palace, and in our lives, long before we were aware of His movements. And I credit my fair cousin for her strength, the strength of ten thousand Immortals, to persevere and win the crown, your heart, and her people.”

  58

  First Day of the Month of Adar

  Thirteenth Year of the Reign of Xerxes

  Year 3405 after Creation

  In just twelve days, the king’s orders will come into effect. Hathach has brought me reports from the city, and Mordecai, who comes and goes freely from the palace into the city and back, has confirmed his word. The Jews, once exiles here who only sought quiet refuge and to be left alone, are wild with delight at the thought of war upon their enemies. They have been given a second chance, and they have been held under thumb for too long. The women in particular are ready for bloodshed. They have had many nights of nightmares now, having seen their children’s death warrants signed and posted, while wine flows freely in the houses where Haman’s men have been sharpening their blades. Now revenge is unleashed, even before the evil can be struck. And there is no vengeance as swift and terrible as a mother’s when she has seen her children held over the grave.

  Yet I long to see pure righteousness restored in the land. Neighbor is now turned against neighbor; passions so enflamed do not burn down so easily. Mordecai tells me that whispers now take the place of laughter in the market square. When the day comes for my people to attack the enemy, will we seek a final justice and peace, or a mad revenge that leads to more war? My people are on the brink of their divine moment, but will they lose their way? I fear for the vision of Persia that Xerxes holds dear. He had not foreseen a race war in his land. Wars have always been between kingdoms and crowns; now it is an irrational, ancient hatred of the Jews that forces the crisis. My people hold so much more in their hands than their own fates. For civil war could be unleashed here, and what Jew wants to die in exile from Jerusalem? Have they forgotten our call to return and rebuild?

  Nothing can bring back the lost years. We had been exiled by war, and by our own rebellious hand against G-d, from our Holy Land. This war in the provinces was not going to restore that blessing again. I began to wonder what the Jews would be fighting for, in their hearts.

  I fasted and prayed once more, as I considered the destiny before my people. Yes, a great victory might be obtained. But will they draw close to G-d now, return and be comforted, or will they reopen their wounds by their own swords, rush out without
G-d into their day of destiny? Do they still feel their need for G-d now that deliverance is theirs?

  Why, I asked Xerxes, why could he not reverse the decree? Why does he force us to meet the moment? It is true that the king’s word is law, a law that cannot be altered. Was it pride that kept him from breaking this tradition? But when I asked, Xerxes gave me a reason I had not anticipated, a wise reason that gave me pause.

  “If you loose a bag of feathers on a hill, how many can you retrieve, my Star?” he asked.

  “None, my lord,” I replied.

  “And so it is with the evil in men’s hearts. Haman’s law loosed a vile ambition that I could never have recalled. Your enemies have risen up, and you must kill them.” There was a sorrow in his words that moved me. He was not eager to see blood spilled in his land, to see a people governed peaceably turn against each other. “You must pray to your G-d that the Jews will find lasting peace with the peoples of this land.”

  59

  Thirteenth Day of the Month of Adar

  Thirteenth Year of the Reign of Xerxes

  Year 3405 after Creation

  Jews have gathered in every city in every province, to make war upon anyone who raises a sword against a Jew. Any known enemy of the Jews knows they will die today. Mordecai has been so honored by the king that people understand Xerxes to be well on the side of the Jews. I imagine by now they have heard that I am a Jew as well. I have heard reports that many people have converted just to escape the sword. Even Cyrus’s father, once so eager to assimilate unnoticed into the culture, makes a show now of his Jewish heritage. He greets the rabbis loudly in the marketplace, when once he would have hurried by and pretended not to know them. Cyrus has sent me this report. He confirms that my enemies are well-known to him and will meet his sword today. Cyrus’s letter also contained these words, which I wish he had either omitted or named the men more directly:

  The men who helped Haman seek the throne have fled. It is believed they left under the cover of night, as dawn approached our city. They were dressed as women, long veils of black covering their heads and faces. But it is not the custom in Susa to wear the robes down to the floor, and I wonder why the guards did not notice hairy ankles slipping by! Perhaps the darkness was indeed a perfect escort. I fear these men, my queen, I fear them. For we do not know where they run, or who is waiting for them there.

  Hathach, stationed near the King’s Gate, has also brought me reports every hour or so, and my maids and I sit in my chambers, praying and fasting. He appeared to me near dusk, his tired countenance telling me the fighting was, at last, over.

  “Five hundred men have been slaughtered in the palace complex alone, including the ten sons of Haman. The evil of that house is gone.”

  “And the women and children of our enemies?” I asked.

  “They are unharmed, and their worldly goods untouched,” Hathach replied.

  I leapt to my feet and embraced him, shouting for joy. Our enemies had sought to ruin us, to slit the throat of every child right up to every white-haired elder, and take our possessions as their own. But when my people had been given the ultimate power to inflict revenge, what had they done? Nothing more than justice. G-d’s steadying hand has prevailed. My people can be trusted with power.

  I knew what I must do next.

  My maids and I drank a cup of wine and rubbed a sweet oil on our faces to soften our complexions and give us all a glow of rejoicing. We broke our fast with a hurried meal of dates and fine white bread, but our meal was interrupted, as we anticipated, with a summons to appear before the king.

  My robes had been laid out early in the morning, and I was dressed and ready for my king before the moon was at his highest perch in the evening sky. I was anxious to be summoned for a detailed report of the battle, and I did not wait long.

  The king had a satisfied look when I approached him.

  “Good Queen Esther,” he greeted me with a smile, “consider what my messengers have even now told me: In Susa alone, here in the palace complex, five hundred men lay dead who would have raised a sword against your people. Haman’s sons lie in the street, and there is no one brave enough to bury them. There is no news yet from the outer provinces, but think of the enemies that are no more and rejoice! Now, what else do you want? Name it and it’s yours.”

  It is a bloody dowry I have brought him, I thought. My thoughts turned to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, how their evil had been suppressed but not eliminated, and the final judgment that leveled the city. Evil flourishes best when it has memories. Memories are roots that give rise to a new creature. Little else would matter in the future if we did not secure peace today. There would be no reasoning with our enemies, no ransom. When enemies are bent on massacring you, you must kill them all. It is simple, and true. I want to believe we could make peace with words, but because these men had already sealed our fates in their dreams, we must seal their tombs. We must finish the red chore and be done with it, once for all. And we will send a message to the cowards who had fled before dawn.

  “If it please the king,” I replied, returning now to our conversation, “have the bodies of Haman’s ten sons hanged in public display on the gallows, and let the birds dispose of the bodies as they may. Give the Jews living here inside Susa permission to extend the terms of the order another day. For I am fearful that killing Haman, and his sons, was not enough to dissuade anyone who would dare plot against you, or your throne. Haman’s bloodline has ended, but we must be sure his influence is dead as well. Perhaps G-d will yet allow me to repair the breach that King Saul created so long ago.”

  It took but a moment to summon the scribes of Susa and have the notices printed, sealed, and posted throughout Susa. I wondered about Mordecai and his involvement in the vengeance. He had now been given Haman’s position as Chief Adviser to the king. I was anxious to hear the accounts directly from him.

  60

  Evening, Thirteenth Day of the Month of Adar

  Thirteenth Year of the Reign of Xerxes

  Year 3405 after Creation

  Mordecai has reported to us that seventy-five thousand were killed throughout the province yesterday, and in Susa, an additional three hundred were killed today. Not a single Jew has died during the struggle. I was shocked by the numbers of enemies the Jews have in this land. And yet, how many Jews would have died if Xerxes had not allowed us to defend ourselves? The wind in the garden sounds as if it is sighing, and I wonder how my people feel, knowing now how many were set on their destruction. Throughout the province, Jews have begun celebrating the victory and freedom, and the Jews of Susa have planned a great feast for tomorrow. Mordecai will, no doubt, attend. At dinner tonight, while we drank the royal wine in a room that once saw the man feasting who would destroy us, Mordecai announced his first official act as Chief Adviser:

  “If it please the king, and his queen, let notices be written to every Jew throughout the provinces, that these two days will forever be remembered and celebrated in honor of these events, and the bravery of an orphaned girl. The fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar will be set aside for feasting and laughter, for sending gifts to the poor, and presents to their neighbors. Let the sureness of G-d’s hand in unsteady times be blessed forevermore.”[1]

  “Well done, Mordecai,” Xerxes replied. “Your people are indeed a remarkable lot. I could not keep my soldiers from lusting after a fallen enemy’s gold, yet your people had my blessing to pillage the enemy, and did not.” Xerxes thought on this for a moment before continuing.

  “How may I reward your leadership, Mordecai? As my prime minister, the wealth of my kingdom lies before you. What would you take?”

  Mordecai raised his palms to the king and shook his head no.

  “A woman, then?” Xerxes asked. “A woman from my harem, seasoned over a year before presentation?”

  Mord
ecai laughed out loud. Xerxes found his humble refusal perplexing but laughed as well.

  “A feast, then,” Xerxes commanded. “A feast that will be as eternal as your devotion to your people, and to Esther. And I proclaim that no one will pay any taxes to the throne in this season, and I will scatter generous gifts among the people. Nothing creates a legend faster than the sound of gold coins in a pocket.”

  Of course there was never a feast Xerxes didn’t love, and the notices went out that night. As Xerxes dictated and sealed the notices, I strolled to the balcony for a taste of the night air in the garden. I glowed with pride to see these two men of vision building a new Persia.

  The threat to the throne is gone. Cyrus reports through a note sent to my eunuchs that the will of our enemies is broken as they bury their dead. He does not believe anyone from Haman’s plot has lived to remember the vain lust for the throne; he believes the story of the men who escaped at dawn is but a rumor. And of Vashti and Artaxerxes, there is no news. They retreated to another land during the slaughter, and although some of the Immortals went with them, all remains quiet and well since they left.

  As I witnessed the night, the many stars brought to mind the many notices that had been posted during Xerxes’ reign: of his royal feast after inauguration, of Vashti’s banishment and the rule of men, of his call for all virgins to be brought to his harem, and then the destruction of the trapped Jews. And the notices my beauty bought for my people: the right to fight back and overpower an enemy, and to remember forever my name and these times. We had begun the story a distressed people living in borrowed land. How was it possible we now ride on its heights? I was an orphan who could not capture the heart of my first love in the marketplace—how was it I had captured a king, and ruled a nation?