Flood

by Brennan McPherson

  “Of course.”

  The boat master snorted. “No one can build a proper boat in so little time. Find work elsewhere.”

  Noah stood for a few moments, dumbfounded. “At least come see what it looks like.”

  “Go away,” the man said. “You don’t know anything.”

  Noah returned to Jade and told her what happened.

  “What?” Jade said, and she left without another word.

  A quarter sundial later she returned with the boat master in tow. The man nursed a bruise and flinched when Jade moved too quickly. But when he saw the boat, he dropped to his knees and ran his hand over the wood, examining its construction with the intensity of a careful artist.

  He stood and said, “Get it in the river.”

  They placed the boat on the water, and when the boat master stepped in, it did not sink.

  “Hand me an oar!” the boat master said, and Jade tossed one, though he flinched and the oar splashed into the water. After recovering, he just barely reached the oar and began paddling around.

  Finally, he drove it up the beach, stepped out, and shook Noah’s hand. “Meet me at dawn.”

  ...

  The boat master’s name was Kenan.

  Kenan’s first wife died giving birth to their first child—a stillborn. Kenan’s second wife was taken by the Others, leaving him childless and alone. In the wake of such suffering, Kenan was a simple man lacking in words, driven by one love and many hatreds. He offered few critiques and even fewer compliments. Though he had many workers, he kept Noah closest, until the others named him the boat master’s apprentice.

  Autumn gave way to mornings dusted with a fine layer of frost. Noah continued under Kenan’s direction from sunrise to sundown. From fishing vessels to ocean cutters with sails on high masts, the work remained varied and interesting.

  When Noah saw Kenan using a new woodworking technique, he asked to be taught, and Kenan took as much time as necessary to impart all the knowledge he had.

  Still, many of the hours were filled with repetitive labor. Into these moments Noah poured his prayers, and every night he returned home to lay with Jade and explain all he learned before listening to what Jade had learned in her trade as a weaver.

  Both excelled at what they set their hands to, and Barak, though quiet as ever, began to teach the locals how to build better nets and fishing tools. The strange little family slowly gained a place of influence in the surrounding areas, until late in the night visitors came to speak with them.

  The following spring, Noah found Jade looking out at the flowers in the morning. He was struck by how mature she looked, and couldn’t remember when the change had begun. Her eyes, though still sharp, had deepened. Her dark hair lifted in the gentle breeze, and a distance lay across her face. Noah approached and said, “What’s bothering you?”

  Jade sighed and placed a hand on her abdomen. “I thought that by now I would have become pregnant.”

  Noah noticed a bud severed and crushed underfoot. Had she been staring at it?

  “All I want is a child to call my own,” she said. “I see the women suckling their little ones and feel a sense of emptiness. As if a part of me has not yet come to be.”

  “I’m not sure how I feel about having a child in these times.”

  “I’ve known for nearly a year that we’re supposed to,” Jade said. “You’re not the only one who talks to God.” And she smiled as she used to when they were children before her gaze fell to the crushed bud, and her expression darkened. “I don’t understand why it hasn’t happened yet. Do you think I’m incapable?”

  Noah wrapped his arms around her. “Of course not. If it truly is the Almighty’s will, it will happen in his timing.”

  “What if he never gives me a child?”

  “If he planted this desire in your heart, he will fulfill it.”

  “Or use it to make me grow more patient.”

  “Either way, it will benefit you.”

  She pulled away and wrapped her arms around herself. “I should get going. And so should you. Look at how late it’s grown.” She pointed to the light of dawn tossing itself over the horizon, gathered up her clothing, and disappeared into their home.

  Noah stayed staring at that little crushed bud. He bent and picked it up, feeling a sudden rush of emotion as it rested dwarfed in the palm of his hand.

  ...

  Three years passed. Jade threw herself into her work, as Noah did into his.

  Noah no longer needed Kenan’s guidance, and nearly always worked alone or directed the other builders. Some days they repaired. Other days they built new. Still more days they spent selling boats to travelers, or driving finished pieces to a nearby port where merchants and workers bustled back and forth.

  After delivering a fishing vessel to an old, wealthy fisherman, he heard talk of aggressive expansion in the war. It seemed the God-King was trying to assault one final bastion far to the west, and one of the fastest routes was by river.

  A month later the Others arrived at Noah’s village and demanded a war vessel capable of carrying three hundred men be built and delivered by the end of the season.

  Kenan didn’t bother saying it had never been done. He merely nodded, turned to Noah, and said, “Start working on the design. We will need to recruit builders from the surrounding areas.”

  ...

  Noah didn’t recognize the shift until he heard others murmuring about Kenan not designing the vessel.

  As he watched Kenan plane a slab of wood, he felt a strange pride and love for the old man who had first denied him, then embraced him, and now stepped aside without comment. In a way, Kenan felt like a second father, and Noah was thankful, even as he felt the desire for his own father throb.

  He wondered what Lamech was doing. If he was thinking of Noah. If he was even still alive. The thought made Noah’s hands clammy. He turned back to the parchment on the stone before him and tried to focus, though his mind kept drifting back to Kenan and how their relationship had developed.

  Had Kenan always believed so much in Noah’s skill? Had that been why he had taken him under his wing? So that he would have a successor? A sort of son of his own?

  Noah purposed in that moment to take Kenan aside later that evening to tell him how much he appreciated the man’s help. But even as he thought that, and marked an angle on the parchment, the door covering parted, and the sergeant who had ordered the vessel entered and demanded to see the war vessel.

  Kenan showed him, but when the sergeant saw the boat half-finished, he drew his sword and rammed it through Kenan’s chest.

  Noah’s pulse stopped. Kenan coughed, splattering red on the sergeant’s arm, then crumpled as the sergeant kicked him off and cleaned the blade, sheathing it once more.

  Angry tears burned Noah’s eyes. Were he holding a tool, he would have attacked. The sergeant said, “Fool,” and the word was like a slap to his face. He knew retaliation would only risk the lives of everyone in the village, including Jade and Barak. He stayed where he was, and hated himself for his inaction.

  “Finish it quicker next time,” the sergeant said, “or I’ll kill you next.” And he pointed at Noah before leaving.

  Noah felt a tingle run from his scalp down to his toes.

  ...

  That day, after Noah and the other builders buried Kenan, they went home.

  Noah wept until his eyes nearly swelled shut, thinking of how his family had been shredded from his life, and of the possibility that he could be stolen away from Jade. He would not allow himself to be murdered for something as simple as angering a soldier of the God-King’s army.

  After all, he had faced the God-King and lived.

  In the days that followed, he returned to work and doubled his pace until the vessel was finished.

  He delivered it on time to a captain in the God-King’s army at the nearby port. The captain had silver-tinged horns, and an eye for shipbuilding. He examined the construction with wonder and demanded t
o know who had designed the vessel.

  Noah knew that to expose himself would likely mean more demands, so he said, “My boat master taught me everything I know, and he worked with me on the vessel.”

  “Where is he, then?”

  Noah paused, wondering how much he should say. But even as he vacillated, the Almighty warmed his chest with a deep confidence, and Noah spoke boldly. “He was murdered by the sergeant who came to see the progress last month.”

  The captain shook his head. “For work like this? That’s a crime. The sergeant will be executed within a week’s time.”

  And he left without another word.

  After that day, Noah never received another request from the God-King’s legion. And he praised the Almighty and offered him a burnt sacrifice.

  As the smoke rose, Noah heard the Voice a second time.

  “The evil ones destroy the flesh of living creatures with impunity. And the Watchers have taught many to eat the flesh of human beings. But never have I given the flesh of living creatures to men for food.”

  Noah spoke with Barak and Jade, and from that day on, they abstained from eating meat, and word of their way of life spread, until others asked in secret to be taught the Old Way.

  ...

  Years turned into decades that turned into centuries.

  Their village grew to a small port town bustling with activity, and all that time the Almighty sealed Jade’s womb so that she would not bear children.

  Because they lived far on the outskirts of the God-King’s kingdom, they had little contact with the Others, though from time to time they received word from abroad.

  The God-King successfully conquered the known world, and his servants combed more and more towns for women to be taken to the capital. Word spread that the Others grew more numerous, until they nearly outnumbered human beings.

  Still, Noah’s little port town was a strange haven far away to the south at the border of civilization. Many in the village had secretly converted to the Old Way, and Noah led them, for he was now five hundred years old and the memories of his past had turned to distant shadows better left forgotten.

  However, in the middle of the summer of Noah’s five hundred and fifth year, Jade interrupted Noah’s work with a smile. “It has happened,” she said.

  “What has?”

  Her smile deepened, and tears shone in her eyes. “I’m pregnant.”

  ...

  Nine months later, Jade gave birth to their first son, Shem. Two years later, they celebrated the birth of twins, the older Ham, the younger Japheth.

  It seemed for the next two decades that the family would live the rest of their days in bliss despite the suffering endured by the rest of the world. Shem, Ham, and Japheth took wives and started working beneath their father. Jade had never been filled with more joy or purpose, and Noah claimed it was the blessings of the Almighty.

  ...

  But in all those many years, Noah never forgot what the Man had shown him in that place beyond Time. Over the years, the Shrine had begun to seem more a dream than a reality, but his spirit knew all along that their simple lives would never last.

  Part VIII

  The Deep Breath before the Plunge

  “And God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’”

  —Genesis 6:13

  Chapter 65

  The end began with a dream. Noah knew he was lying with Jade, whose seamed fingers were intertwined with his, yet the dark of his closed eyelids gave way to Light filtered kaleidoscopic through shimmering blue.

  He twisted, bubbles bursting from his mouth, and realized he floated in water. Far below stood jagged peaks, the tops of many mountains. Birds floated past with broken wings. Cattle, splintered wood, men, women, children, and tools churned around him. Lifeless save for the current that swept them along.

  Noah blinked and found himself floating high in the sky near sparse clouds, gazing down at a curved mass far below.

  “That is the world,” the Voice said. “Tell me what you see.”

  Flames glowed red against the dark of night and the empty space above pricked by distant stars. “I see a world on fire.”

  “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

  A bright flash streamed past Noah from the heavens toward the earth, sending bits of ice dust shimmering through the atmosphere before smashing into the ground with a thunderous explosion.

  The ground rippled like the surface of a pond struck by a pebble, and cracks erupted in the surface, sending plumes of water high into the air. The earth tipped with the force of the blow, and mountains erupted in smoke and fire. Screams echoed distantly as the hills moved and jagged peaks rose while valleys shifted like woven flax. Ground smashed into ground, and water rose, spilling over everything, snuffing the flames.

  The world spun, and the sun and moon traded spots forty times as a haze of ash rose to separate the ground from the sky. The fountains of the deep continued spewing, and rain condensed and fell until even the highest peaks were covered.

  “Make yourself an ark of gophar wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.”

  “How should I make it?”

  “Make the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.”

  “What of my family?”

  “I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds and animals and every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind. Two of every sort shall come in to the ark with you.”

  “How could I ever find so many creatures and get them to obey me?”

  “I will command them to come to you when the time is ripe. But you shall also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up, for food for you and the animals.”

  ...

  Noah woke to darkness sweating and gasping for breath. He shook Jade awake and told her of the Almighty’s words, of the coming destruction of the world. They rose and offered a sacrifice to the Almighty, and praised him for promising them safety, for having mercy on their family.

  “But what about the rest of the faithful?” Jade said.

  Noah’s face chilled, and his throat hollowed. He’d been so overwhelmed by the vision that he hadn’t yet thought of them. “I don’t know,” he said, and looked again to the smoking offering. “I think that if God would have mercy on us, surely he would show mercy to any who remain faithful to the end.”

  “But to build such a vessel and fill it with so many provisions will take everything we have,” Jade said.

  “We have built up great wealth these many years.”

  “But it will be all-consuming.”

  “So will the Almighty’s judgment.”

  “It will take hundreds of workers,” Jade said, nibbling the ends of her fingers. “Builders. Materials carted from leagues away.”

  Noah took a deep breath as he, too, contemplated the organization necessary for such a massive task.

  “How will we feed them?” Jade said. “Such a construction would demand the expansion of our village. Bringing in tanners to provide leathers. Additional weavers to provide blankets for the cold season. New hunters, farmers, bakers. The scale of such a project is beyond anything that’s ever been done before.”

  “I know, Jade.”

  “I’m not doubting. Just thinking i
t through. It will take years. Maybe even decades.”

  “If the Almighty’s will is that we build it alone, we will do so, no matter how long it takes. But I believe he will provide the workers.”

  “We do already have nearly a hundred shipbuilders.”

  Noah nodded. “And the respect of many from the larger cities.”

  Jade bowed again before the burnt offering and let out a shaky breath. “Thank you.” She stood, faced Noah, and said, “I will bring the parchments for you to begin designing.”

  “Shem can contact the port downriver and purchase the first of our supplies,” Noah said.

  “And Japheth can speak with the village elders to bring in new workers and food. It will be more difficult to convince smiths and potters and tanners to uproot.”

  “Ham can labor toward those ends,” Noah said. “It will take visiting nearby towns and slowly working toward the larger cities. I’d be surprised if they didn’t understand what money they’d earn by aiding us.”

  Jade smiled. “We’ve remained in relative safety all these years, and now have access to everything we could need.”

  Noah smiled back and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s invigorating.”

  Chapter 66

  Noah spent weeks designing the vessel as Shem purchased materials and ordered them shipped downriver. Builders arrived day after day and began raising the scaffolding. Food arrived on heavily laden carts between shipments of raw materials pulled by oxen from the port. New workers arrived, and the builders had to erect new homes and buildings for smiths and tanners and potters.

  Roads were paved. Dirt pathways trodden smooth and hard from frequent use. Weavers arrived from nearby towns and followed Jade’s direction. The temperature was cooling, and at night frost began to creep into the homes, so they made blankets and thick tunics, and coverings for the doorways. They lined sandals with fur, and sewed pockets filled with goose down in the builders’ clothing so that they might continue building year-round.