Glorious Companions

by Summer Lee

  “You are not as troubled as I am?” Kenana asked.

  “I trust in my own strength to solve these problems. And I trust in Tyro’s ability to gather our warriors and direct them, should there be an attack. My spirit is not troubled, for most of all, I trust in El.”

  “Maybe you are right.” Kenana stared at him for a moment. Her lips tightened. “I’m also concerned about something else. Our daughter.”

  “Ah, and now we move our talk from the state of Mesopotamia to the state of our royal family,” he said patiently, as he pulled a tick from his stallion’s neck, crushed it between his fingernails and then flicked it away.

  “Please, Asher. We must discuss this. I fear for Rachael. We must always keep her safe,” Kenana said desperately.

  “There is so much fear in your voice, my queen. Do you feel she is not even safe under our own palace roof?”

  “I worry because she is beautiful. She is vulnerable. And most of all, I worry that she is prone to fanciful imaginings and will pursue a foolish and dangerous path in life if we fail to watch her carefully.”

  “Now who does that remind you of?” Asher teased, patting the horse’s neck.

  Kenana blushed. “Asher! She’s a pretty girl and before we know it, she will be a young woman with suitors lined up at the palace gate bearing gifts and wild promises. Each one will try to outdo the other for her attentions until it will become almost impossible for us to keep them all straight!”

  Asher laughed. “As well she should have them lined up for the privilege of asking after her hand. She is a princess—beautiful, well-born, educated and healthy.”

  “It’s too soon. She’s only fourteen and I want her to have the best possible husband. Someday. Not now.”

  “I agree. It’s wartime. When this is over, then there will be more time for us to sit down and choose a husband for her.”

  “Please, Asher. No arranged marriage for Rachael.”

  “I see the remnants of Prince Jubal’s abuse remain with you. I am sorry for your pain and lingering fear that you have now put on our daughter’s head when she is in no sort of danger like that, with me as her father. None would dare to harm her or mistreat her. If they should be so foolish, they should expect a king’s wrath to be unleashed upon them.”

  She nodded mutely.

  “Kenana, if anyone did something like that to our daughter, I would retaliate and El would be my swift sword. The world would never see such fury if anyone harmed one hair on Rachael’s head. She is my jewel!”

  “I know,” Kenana said quietly.

  “Our daughter is a great joy to me and I also want her to have a husband she loves. I am not without compassion for her sheltered circumstance. Perhaps she is bored within our walls and your well-intentioned but constant mothering. But above all, she knows that she is loved.”

  “As we love,” Kenana said, her anger burning higher.

  “Yes, as we love, my queen. I do not take your concerns about Rachael lightly, Kenana.”

  “Thank you, Asher.”

  “If you fear so much for Rachael’s safety, you should take her out to your country home to stay with your father and perhaps he will take her under his wing for a time. His land is so remote that I doubt our enemies could even find it. Or send her to stay with Tall and Sarah in Adah.”

  Kenana cried out, “Either way, it would be like banishing her!”

  “Oh, wife! Must your voice get so shrill to make your point? I am right here. There is no need for such hue and cry. Furthermore, we are on the same side, are we not?”

  “My apologies, husband. If my voice became shrill, it is fear that raises the pitch. Not anger.”

  “Yes.” Asher sighed. “I have much on my mind, so you must decide about Rachael, if she stays or goes to relatives or to Tall and Sarah until the war ends. The Nephilim travel across the hills about this time of the year. The giants are occupying more and more of the hill country, making it unsafe for people to travel. It will only be a matter of time before they could make their way into Alalakh. The town would then be in danger of burning to the ground yet again.”

  Kenana sighed heavily.

  “I know that sigh of yours, my queen, but right now, I must think of the many, and not the few. Our family is important to me, but I have a grave responsibility to serve El’s will and protect the well-being of all of our people.”

  “But what shall we do, Asher? I would miss her too much if I sent her away.” Her heart raced. “I can’t send her to stay with my father. She doesn’t care much for him. She says they have nothing in common,” said Kenana. “And worst of all, the joy would completely leave this palace with her gone!”

  Kenana put a hand over her mouth in dismay. She had said too much.

  “Agreed,” said Asher. “She’s just as safe here as she is anyplace else and she is the best part of my day, too.”

  There was disappointment on the queen’s face.

  “You know what I meant,” he chided her and clucked his tongue.

  “Yes, I do. Exactly.”

  “Consider it as a possibility, my queen, that she may have to leave if you express concerns that seem greater than any real danger. If only to make peace between us, I will allow you to send her away, but do you want to be the cause of her departure?”

  “No,” Kenana said quietly.

  “Good.” After a slight hesitation, he said, “We do not ever want to put Rachael in harm’s way. Her safety is of the utmost importance. She and Tyro are the future of Mesopotamia.”

  “I know.” She shrugged. “But what about the prophesied flood? Soldiers can’t stop that.”

  “Now, you want to make this about the flood? We cannot sit on our hands and wait for it to come, Kenana. We must run Mesopotamia as if it will always be here. Of course, I believe in the prophecy, but we have no idea when that flood will come. We might be very old or even gone by the time it happens.”

  “That’s true,” she replied. “I know you will do whatever it takes to keep us safe, in wartime, in flood, or when the many suitors are lined up for our daughter.”

  He stepped in front of her and lifted her face toward his. After all these years, she was still captivating. “I do not take the activity of the evil Nephilim lightly. I will keep you and Rachael safe, always. But I must serve El’s greater purpose and not only be concerned for my own family. How would it look if I served my own house and left our countrymen to fend for themselves while I attended to protecting one slip of a girl from anyone merely looking at her beauty?”

  “You are wise and good. And you are right. I am doing too much to prevent her from…growing up.” Kenana reached up and cupped his face. He smelled like horse sweat, but she did not care. “Thank you for easing my heart. You are a brave Goel. You were sent to me by El, the God of the universe. I will trust your wisdom. And your strength.”

  “Good. Then let me worry. You will make yourself quite ill, dearest, by fretting so much over our beautiful girl growing up.”

  “Am I still beautiful to you?” she whispered.

  “Always.” They looked in each other’s eyes, and despite his lack of passion, there was an abiding love for her in his eyes. It almost made her feel guilty that he loved her with such a pure heart, and not a lustful one. She was the one who was ungrateful for what they had. She was the one who lusted after kisses from fallen angels.

  “You are a good king and a good father.”

  Asher gently kissed her lips and she turned away.

  He watched her go, her blue linen robe sweeping the hard-packed clean dirt floor of the stable. She truly looked like a queen, her back regally straight and her hands soft and immaculate. She was different now, though. Her fresh joy of their former years was gone. And also gone was her passion for him.

  His heart ached at what they had come to as king and queen. They were no longer lovers, but worried parents, and joint caretakers of a country in deep turmoil.

  Chapter Five

  TYRO

&nbs
p; It was almost dark when Tyro reached the old palace in Adah. His heart raced as he prepared to see the young woman who he dearly loved.

  He would also talk to her father, Tall, who was head of one of the legions. Tall would help fight the most strenuous battle ever fought in the land. It was to be the battle against the army led by the powerful Nephilim. This time, they had to be destroyed. If not, all humans could die.

  Blocking the entrance into the palace was a locked iron gate. He rang the large bell, pulling hard on the cord. As usual, the gong was deafening.

  “Who goes there?” asked a sentry.

  “Prince Tyro, the son of King Asher and Queen Kenana.”

  “Ah, the fearless one.” He swung open the gate. “Welcome.”

  “So, you have heard of me?” Tyro rode his horse inside.

  “More than that, my lord. I remember when you were born.”

  “Is that so?” Tyro frowned, trying to remember the servant.

  “The name is Bo. I was once one of your mother’s personal servants.”

  “That’s right! I remember you now, Bo!”

  Bo reached to take the reins of Tyro’s horse. “I will take your horse to the stable for the evening.” Tyro handed his horse’s reins to Bo.

  A second sentry said, “I am Gauss. I served your mother as well. Come, I’ll accompany you to the palace door.”

  “Thank you.”

  Gauss walked him up to the oversized door and announced, “Prince Tyro, the future King of Mesopotamia, has arrived.”

  “Let him in!” Tall called out.

  “You may enter,” said Gauss, opening the door.

  Tyro, who was very tall, ducked his head so he wouldn’t bump it on the lintel when he passed through the doorway.

  “Are Sarah and Leah here?” Tyro asked Gauss.

  “Oh, yes. They would love to see you.” He pulled the cord on the discordant-sounding bell. “Prince Tyro has arrived.”

  “Enter! We are in here,” Tall called out in excitement.

  Tyro stepped into the large hall. The first person he saw was Leah. Her parents, seated nearby, stood to greet him. They exchanged greetings. And then he fixed his eyes on Leah. His heart skipped a beat. She was lovely with dainty yellow flowers woven into her braided hair. He noticed the flowers matched the color of her flowing gown, which must have been dyed with marigolds. With lips and cheeks tinted red by pomegranate juice, she looked like she was expecting someone. Someone else? He thought.

  For a moment, Tyro stood and gazed at Leah as if stunned by her beauty.

  Tyro addressed Leah. “Greetings, beautiful girl.”

  “Greetings, Tyro.” She smiled shyly and bowed her head for a moment. “You honor us with your visit.”

  He then sat down in the chair offered him, and carefully answered their questions about the kingdom and its safety. “The king has great concern,” he said. “The giants have a shortage of food and have been stealing from residents in Alalakh. The king wants you to be aware that the violent ones, who have already slayed a village and burned it to the ground, could attack our city soon.”

  “Should I go with you?” Tall asked.

  “Not now. King Asher just wants you to be aware that trouble may be brewing in the near future. Since you are one of the captains in the Mesopotamian army, you would be the first to be notified.”

  “What steps of precaution should I take?”

  “Start building your army.”

  “Will I have to go to Alalakh to fight?”

  “In time, you will. Our citizens are being robbed. The Nephilim are stealing vegetables from our gardens during the night. This drought has made the spiritual war into one that is also about survival.”

  “I have to settle some affairs here, before I can leave,” Tall said. “Sarah is going to have a baby.”

  “Really?” Tyro was astonished. The woman was his mother’s age.

  “Stand up, Sarah, and show Tyro.”

  Sarah stood, blushing and smoothed her garment over her round belly.

  “Congratulations.” Tyro smiled, pleased for both of them.

  “Thank you,” Sarah said.

  “So, Leah will be a big sister,” he said and laughed.

  “That seems to be the case.”

  Leah laughed as well.

  He walked over and picked up her hand. “It is so good to see you.”

  “You, too, Tyro.” She stood and put her arms around his neck.

  He hugged and kissed her.

  “How have you fared?” she asked.

  “I am well. How about you, Leah?”

  “As well as possible without you here in my arms.” They both sighed at the same time and then laughed again.

  Sarah asked, “Are you thirsty?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  Soon, they all sipped mint tea while they talked about past experiences when, as children, Tyro and Leah had romped and played together.

  “I’d like to have some time alone with Tyro,” said Leah. He looked at her parents for approval.

  “Go right ahead,” said Tall. There was implicit trust in his eyes for Tyro, a hero of Mesopotamia.

  “Shall we go for a walk, Leah?”

  “Please.”

  Tyro picked up her shawl and gently placed it around her shoulders, giving her a gentle kiss. With his arm around her waist, they walked out the door, away from the palace in Adah.

  “I have not been indoors much. I need to get some fresh air and keep my battle wits about me,” he said.

  “Then come away from the house,” she said. “I don’t want my mother to hear what I’m going to say. Since she’s going to have a baby, she does not need any more worries.”

  “Of course,” he said, starting to feel concerned. Tyro would walk to the sea and back for Leah.

  They cut across the front yard to the cobblestone road. They were alone on the road. One lone bird, a turtledove, crooned in a nearby tree. Normally, Leah was quite talkative but not this time. Now, she was quiet, unusually quiet.

  Once they were away from the palace, he asked, “Leah, what’s wrong?”

  “I’m troubled.”

  “What troubles you?”

  “I feel strange, as if there is a curse on me. It causes me to become restless in my soul.”

  “A curse, dear one? That sounds serious. What has happened that you feel this way?”

  Big tears formed and dropped down her cheeks onto her yellow dress.

  “Leah, you should have sent for me. I would have come right away. What is this sudden weeping about?”

  “My father says I have demons and that they attack me and risk my mother’s health, and her unborn baby’s health.”

  “Demons? That cannot be!” He was taken aback. “I do not see or feel anything like that around you. I don’t want to call it nonsense because you are the kindest, sweetest girl I know, but, are you ever ill with demons? Do you see them?”

  “No. I don’t see them. But dark clouds follow me and I feel strange, almost as if I was about to cry out but cannot. I smell strange smells. Sometimes, I fall down and bite my tongue and can’t arise without help.”

  “Oh, dearest! Like a fever? Or a fit?”

  “In a way. My father calls it demon attacks. And indeed, when it happens, I am quite undone and unable to feel like myself.”

  “It sounds like you have an illness. I have seen such things in my travels that were said to be maladies from drinking poisoned water or from eating spoiled meat, or even from a serpent’s bite, but not of demons.”

  “Whatever it is, I am very frightened. I do not want to leave my home. But Father fears for the coming child with me here. More than anything, I want to be the big sister and love it and rock it to sleep. But demon attacks will keep me at a distance from the family I love. Tall’s wishes are clear. I must leave. My heart is breaking. So, I weep as if my heart is breaking because it is.”

  He patted her hand, thinking about all of her words that she had blurted. “Do
n’t worry. You are not alone, Leah.”

  “Tyro, will you help me get past this?”

  “I’ll try.” Tyro squeezed her hand. She squeezed back. He felt her trembling. Her hand was so small in his. He would protect her.

  The air was still as well without a hint of a breeze, or a single dog barking. Tyro guessed that Leah wasn’t sure what she needed but felt it deeply. She kept looking upward to the sky with fear in her eyes. When he looked up, he saw nothing unusual. The blue western skies were clear as far as he could see. In the east, the sun continued to light the distant foothills in a golden glow.

  But then, out of nowhere, clouds appeared and quickly darkened the sky above their heads.

  “Look! That is it,” said Leah. “That happens to me all the time now. The demons come for me.”

  He grabbed her and held her tight. “I won’t let them attack you.”

  Leah’s shoulders drooped. She clasped his neck, squeezing tight. Fright, such as he had never seen, flooded her face. “The clouds are evil. What does it mean, Tyro?”

  Should he tell her that he had a similar experience? Not at this time. The story will wait. “This is a sign that our war is not just on Earth, but in the sky as well.”

  “I knew it,” she said with a trembling voice. “I could feel it coming. I’m cursed!”

  “Dear one! We must believe that El, our God, is in control.” He pulled her shawl tightly around her. “I’ll pray for you that evil won’t get the upper hand.”

  “Ask God to take away the strange shapes that cast shadows around me all the time. I am terrified. Sometimes, I cannot even open my eyes when it happens.”

  Her face was pale. He looked at her and saw just how frightened she was; her eyes were wide with terror.

  “Tell me about it.”

  “The shapes of the clouds look like demons to me,” Leah said, her voice trembling. “They are formed into the shapes of the fallen angels, and they stare straight at me.”

  “I will help.” Holding her close, he listened.

  “Cast them into the bottomless pit for me, Tyro.”

  “I would if I could, my love. But only God can do that.” Tyro thought back to when he was alone on the mountain trail and felt evil pressing all about him. The clouds had also been thick, black, and dark in the shape of fallen angels back there.