by Summer Lee
“Your theory makes me think that you could actually find it.”
“I have hope.”
“In Achava’s current state of mind, she might not be the best person to handle it, if she finds it. Hope could be destroyed.”
Sam thought he had found out where she was going to manipulate him. “So you want me to help you find it, and leave Achava out of the circle.”
“It is for the best.”
“So if I find it, you can grab it and run?”
“No!” Anthea went into a rage. He saw her eyes turn completely black. “Were you even listening to me? I can’t touch it, because I could possibly be one of those considered ‘in the wrong hands’ type of people! No! You’re going to grab it and then take it to a location that neither Achava, nor I, know about. You will keep it secret from the Antiquarians as well. You will make sure that no one ever finds the fleece again! Is that clear enough for you?” She got up and walked toward the same window that Achava was in front of when she prayed. “I can’t deal with this, Sam! If I have to babysit you, then we can forget I ever came here!”
“No!” It surprised him, when he said it. “I’ll help you. What’s my guarantee that you won’t kill me, after I find the fleece? You could spy on me while I’m trying to hide it.”
She turned around and faced him, with a questioning look. She then walked up to him and held her hand out. “That’s not part of my plan. We find it and then we separate. You do whatever you need to do to hide it and I’ll keep Achava busy, so she won’t follow you. You know how self-righteous she can be. She’ll want to do something noble with it, that will eventually get a lot of people killed. Look how easily she was willing to sacrifice all of those people on the plane when she pulled you and Salinger out of it. It crashed, killing hundreds of people. Did she mention something about the lives of the many in exchange for the lives of a few?”
Sam nodded. That was when they were looking for the staff of Moses, which was now safe in his home. He remembered that day, like it was yesterday. He never got over all of those innocent lives that were lost that day. He didn’t know how Anthea found out, but that didn’t matter. She was right!
“I’ll take your silence as a yes, Sam,” she said as she sighed. “Achava says that she is on a mission from God, but most of the time, she does something wrong. While serving what she believes to be God’s will is actually her own ideas. She has been doing this for so long, that she really believes she’s doing the right thing. I don’t have to tell you that. You already know what she’s like and have spent a lot of time making excuses for her. The time for excuses is over, Sam. You wanted the truth; well, there it is. I’m sorry that I’m not sugarcoating it, by telling you that her cause is a just cause.”
“Maybe it was... until now.”
“Wrong. On board or not?” She stood. “This train is leaving the station.”
“I’m on board,” he said, reluctantly. He hoped that he was not making his decision based solely on the way that Achava treated him earlier. Everything Anthea said had the ring of truth to it, though. “I’ll help you, but I want you to guarantee me that Achava won’t get hurt.”
Anthea’s eyes widened. “That’s a tall order there, Sam. I can’t guarantee that she won’t get hurt. I can guarantee that I won’t hurt her. Heck, I’ll even say that I won’t even attack her, unless she starts it. You can’t ask me not to defend myself.”
Sam nodded in agreement. “How can I trust you?”
“Have I ever lied to you before?” She laughed. “All kidding aside, I won’t hurt her unless she tries to hurt me. I may be a lot of things, but I still love my sister. I couldn’t hurt her. I hold no ill will for her. I have nothing but the greatest respect and admiration for my sister. I promise.”
Chapter the Ninth
ACHAVA FINISHED REMOVING DEBRIS from the entrance to the treasure chamber. She knew that the entire chamber was one floor lower, in the once secret underground cavern. Because there had been a cave in, she would have to proceed carefully. Especially since she didn’t have anyone to watch her back.
She couldn’t think about Sam now. She had a job to do. Even though that job would not have been possible, if it wasn’t for him. Large boulders lay on the path, which had fallen when the ceiling crashed. She continued to remove large pieces of the rock ceiling from her path. She knew she would find bodies, especially the body of Professor Salinger. She couldn’t think about that either.
She made her way to the edge of what was once the treasure room. The entire room had collapsed, making it impossible to reach the two hidden passageways originally revealed decades ago. There was a straight drop down into a pit filled with remnants of the floor, along with thousands of still-visible pieces of treasure. She hoped that the ram’s horn would be easy to get to. She knew, however, that getting to any bodies underneath all of that rubble, would not only be near impossible, but time consuming.
She stopped and prayed, “Dear Lord, I pray for Your guidance in search of the Fleece of Gideon. The Scripture reveals that trials precede triumph. Abraham left his home to follow God. Joseph was thrown in prison before reaching the palace. Moses lived in exile before leading Israel out of Egypt. David fled for his life to the Cave of Adullam before becoming king. Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt before settling in Nazareth. The apostle Paul spent three years in a desert until Barnabas convinced the apostles to accept his conversion. And the list goes on and on. Throughout Christian history, adversity prepared people for greater accomplishment. Amen.”
Time was not a luxury now. She felt, for some reason, she had very little time. As far as she knew, no one other than her sister and the Antiquarians were looking for the fleece. She did not feel that they were in a hurry to find it. Since Itai was the one who wanted it for his sick little museum, the urgency to find it was no longer there. Yet, something inside her told her there was a need to find it quickly. Achava felt it might be because every other mission she had gone on had been time sensitive. Perhaps the fleece was different.
After all, who wanted to attempt to put a soul back into a body? Only one person had ever performed a successful resurrection—Jesus. He even raised people from the dead. Those people in Bible days had stronger faith than she would ever have. Faith. That’s what the fleece was all about. There was a reason why no one had ever really tried to retrieve the fleece before. She thought that maybe it was not meant to be retrieved. That didn’t seem to matter either. If she had someone with her, she would be able to talk over her concerns. She knew that she was too hard on Sam. There was an intense void within her now that he was gone.
“Don’t you hate it when a floor collapses on all of your stuff?”
The voice came from behind her. It was familiar. She turned and saw Aharon Malka.
He had a pleasant smile for her. “Hello Achava. Would you like some help?”
Achava’s defenses went up and her demeanor hardened. “I am a descendant of Caleb’s daughter, Achsah. Our family has carried a gift of supernatural blessings, passed to us from Caleb, through Achsah. I need no one on my missions.”
“Name dropper! Pure pride,” Aharon exclaimed. “Your pride has gotten you thus far, child. Isn’t that one of the seven deadly sins?”
“Did you come to mock me?” she asked, while she turned her attention back to her task at hand.
“Say the word and I will leave and take my wisdom with me.” His smile faded. “You have nothing to fear from me or Sam. Was he that much of a threat to you?”
She became irritated. “Do not talk to me of Samuel Godfrey! He is of no consequence now.”
Aharon materialized on top of the rubble. “I prefer when people look at me as they speak to me. Maybe, you were jealous of Sam’s abilities. After all, he was the one who took my brother out of the game. He used his brain to do it, not magic!”
She jumped down to where he was and almost lost her balance when she landed. “You seek vengeance on Samuel for the loss of your brother. Is that why you a
re here?”
“Not everything is as cut and dried as all of that,” he said, as he picked up an ancient coin and started rolling it through his fingers. “Itai made some bad choices and he paid the price for those choices. If he had not been a complete idiot, then Sam wouldn’t have been put in the position he was. ‘Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.’”
“Do not quote scripture to me, brother of Itai!” Achava turned away and started to look through the rubble for the horn.
Aharon kept trying to step in front of her. “Why can’t you say my name, descendant of Achsah? Is it because you know I’m right?”
She smirked. “You’re a fool, old man.”
He grabbed her hand and twisted her arm behind her. His smile was gone. There was only rage left. “You are the fool, Achava! Stop this nonsense before you unleash something that you will have no control over!”
When she straightened her arm, she threw him to one side. “Go away.”
“You could cause a major catastrophe,” he said. “That is why I’m here! To stop you!”
She ignored him, because something caught her eye. She saw a horn sticking out from under a small piece of the floor. She pulled it out with ease, but noticed that sadly, the horn had a small piece chipped off near the mouthpiece.
Her attention was drawn back to Aharon. Both his hands were aimed in her direction. His eyes black as coal glared at her. He was hypnotizing her. She felt a burning sensation as she noticed her body was being engulfed in some sort of blue fire. She couldn’t move. “What the heck is this? Sorcery?”
“No, Achava,” Aharon said. “It is a special flame that traps only those who have an evil intent. Is it really a surprise that you cannot move?”
“I have no evil intent. God will help me.” That was when she saw her guardian angel hovering over her, setting her free. It felt like a physical phenomenon was running through her body. It was like electricity. It did not shock her, but it set her free.
Aharon squinted his eyes, as he stared at her. “There is something amiss in you, Achava. Something is...”
Before he could finish his sentence, Achava Soul Merged out of the fiery trap and reappeared right behind him. She picked up a large broken piece of marble from the floor with one hand and hit him as hard as she could in the back of the head. He fell to the rubble, unconscious.
Chapter the Tenth
SAM TALKED TO ANTHEA, mostly about nothing. It was a quiet time until she screamed. Sam jumped and yelled himself. “What’s the matter?”
“Something is wrong,” said Anthea hysterically. “I... feel it.” She doubled over as she held her gut.
Sam was almost in a panic. “What? What’s going on? Is it Achava? Has she been hurt? What about you? Are you okay?”
She glared at him as she managed to straighten up. “You really are the needy type. Aren’t you? I’m fine, but there’s something going on with Achava. Being sisters, we have a connection. We can feel when the other one is hurt or... something.” She looked as if she was trying to place in words what she felt.
“So she might be hurt?” Sam replied, anxiously. “What should we do?”
“First, you need to stop hitting me with all of your questions,” she said firmly. Anthea then had a look of realization. “She has found the horn.”
Sam lowered his head, as he too had a realization. “She really is over me. She found the horn without my help. She really didn’t need me.”
What Sam didn’t see, was Anthea’s excitement rising, as he became more desolate. “That’s right Sam,” she said mockingly. “She doesn’t seem to need you anymore.” She straightened up. “But I do.”
“Maybe you’re right, Anthea.” Sam felt totally abandoned. “She made her choice and now I have to make mine.”
“I’m afraid to say it, but my sister was never the kind of person who played well with others,” Anthea added. “In fact, she gets territorial and jealous when someone proves that they know more than she does. That’s why she tried to kill me.”
“What?” That woke Sam out of his stupor. “What do you mean she tried to kill you?”
She rolled her eyes. “I thought the statement itself was self-explanatory, but I’ll make it clearer. We were on a mission together underneath Solomon’s temple. We got there using my contacts, because as I said, she likes to work alone.”
Sam seemed confused again. “What about Saeem? They appeared to be lifelong friends.”
Anthea appeared to think quickly to counter his question. “And yet, you never heard of him until just recently. He only appeared to you and Achava after he had a death experience. Why was that, Sam? It was because she was responsible for killing him as well. But anyway, back to me. Achava was hateful and jealous of the fact that I made some headway on our mission. We came to blows and she collapsed the temple on top of me.”
“That can’t be true. The Romans destroyed the temple.” Sam did not know when to believe Anthea and when not to. He knew at her core, she was not a good person.
“Whatever.” She inhaled and continued, “I heard she has a habit of doing that now. Even when there are other ways out of the situation. Like I said, I’m no saint, but I’m not evil. I simply have my own best interests at heart. At least I’m honest about it. How honest has she been to you, Sam? I mean, really!”
Sam’s mind was clouded with emotions and what he realized was possibly the truth. Achava hurt him. He remembered all of the times they were together and everything she said about not being able to be in a relationship. He remembered how she treated people that were in the way of the mission. Why didn’t she mention Saeem before? Why did she let all of those people on the plane die? She was old enough to act mature, and yet he could not understand why she didn’t have a better control over her emotions. She proclaimed to do God’s work. When did it stop being about God and start being about Achava?
Everything kept pointing to one fact. She was done with him. It didn’t matter whether he trusted Anthea or not. She was right about Achava. He had no choice, but to believe that Achava would go on a she always had. Maybe even decades.
He had nothing to do, but accept the fact that they were no longer partners. They were no longer friends.
Aharon slowly materialized a few feet from them, with a small trail of blood trickling down from his head. “We have a major problem, folks!”
Sam and Anthea both jumped up in surprise. Anthea looked disgusted, as Sam tried to help his new guest. “Aharon! Are you okay? Did Achava do this to you?”
Aharon looked at Anthea. “The little cuss loves the questions. Doesn’t he?”
“You have no idea,” she said, as she placed her hands on her hips.
Aharon turned his attention back to Sam. “Achava has found an authentic horn! She cold cocked me and Soul Merged out of there, before I could stop her.”
Sam felt like he was going to be sick. “Did she find Professor Salinger and... put his soul back into his body?”
Aharon’s eyes darted back and forth between Anthea and Sam. “Uh... not that I’m aware of, Sam. But you bring up a good point! We have to stop her before she blows the horn and returns someone’s soul to their body.”
Anthea walked around the back of the sofa and traced her hand along the top. “Oh, I would say that it may already be too late.”
“What are you talking about?” Aharon asked.
She cocked her head to one side. “I don’t think that finding the fleece has anything to do with returning a soul to its body. Who could do that nowadays? Nobody. That’s why people think it’s so hard to find the fleece, but you have one big fact right. The whole story of the fleece is based on faith. Or the lack thereof. I think we may have been off track about the whole soul thing. I think it’s something else.”
Almost as if on cue, Sam was surrounded by a golden aura. He froze. “What’s going on? What’s happening to me?”
“It won’t hurt you, Sam,” Anthea said, confidently. “Just remain calm and let the process finis
h.”
Sam, Anthea, and Aharon waited patiently for another several seconds, before the golden energy seemed to be absorbed by Sam. He felt his arms and legs and looked up at Anthea. ‘What the heck was that?”
She sighed. “That is the second part to finding the fleece. It didn’t involve a soul as we had thought. What you saw, Sam, was Achava’s love being returned to you. The fire of love that you shared with her was rejected and therefore, returned to you.”
Sam was shocked. “What?” A lone tear rolled down his cheek.
Aharon lowered his head. “The ram’s horn was damaged from the time when the ceiling caved in. It was damaged when Achava found it. I don’t know what will happen if it’s used in its present condition, but it will soon be obvious. Since the second part of finding the fleece, occurred... she must have blown the horn.”
Chapter the Eleventh
ACHAVA LOWERED THE RAM’S HORN from her lips. Nothing happened. She looked around, as she stood at the base of Mt. Nebo. She didn’t care if anyone saw her with the horn. Those tourists that did see her, would think that she was part of the tour group. Looking on the inside, she saw the words Jericho march.
She expected something to change after blowing it. Nothing! She blew the trumpet again, and waited for a guide to come to her, A messenger from God would have to help with the second task of putting a soul back into its body. She received no guidance. Her expectations of where to go or what to do next, dropped substantially.
She looked up to the sky in frustration. “Father? What have I done wrong? Have I been mistaken about where I am supposed to be? I... cannot hear Your voice of guidance anymore, my Lord. I need to know what to do. I will follow wherever You lead.”
Several passers-by looked at her with a mixture of awe and confusion. She knew that they thought she was crazy. It didn’t matter what they thought. It didn’t matter what anyone thought. Her relationship with God mattered. That and the mission were all that counted. If she had no guidance, she would not move ahead on the fleece hunting mission. She tossed the broken horn into the cave.
