by Summer Lee
“Don’t say that!” Sam said, showing emotion. “Don’t ever say that! Professor Salinger felt that way, but then ended up going out the way he always wanted to. He would have really regretted it if he just disappeared instead of going out in a blaze of glory. We have a choice in this world! Even the people on this timeline had a choice, but chose to be selfish and turn against their fellow man and Noah. They chose not to get on the ark.”
“Achava.” Anthea said. “Soul Merge us to where we are to go.”
Achava clasped Sam’s hand and said, “Listen to me, everyone. We have to get together now.” They all held hands. The storm was getting worse and visibility was horrible. The heavy rain and the waves were destructive. “Anthea,” Achava said. “We have to Soul Merge at the same time! The next time lightning flashes, think of home in the future!”
“I’m on it! Let’s do this!”
Since they were connected telepathically, it was fairly easy to Soul Merge at the exact same moment. Lightning flashed. They all closed their eyes and were gone.
They still had their eyes closed when they landed. It was as if no one wanted to be the first to open his or her eyes and find out where they were. Was it a better or worse situation?
It was beautifully quiet. No angry water. No heavy rain. They were all still soaking wet though. There was a brisk chill in the air, and it was cold. Achava slightly opened one eye and then the other. “Look guys. The ark.”
“What?” Anthea yelled. All of their eyes flew open. They were on top of the ark, which appeared to be on top of a mountain, covered in snow.
“Are we home?” screamed Khassima, with excitement. “Is this home?”
Everyone practically held their breath until that question was answered.
Sam noticed that the ark they were standing on was extremely old. The wood was rotting and missing in several places. It had been there for quite some time. Centuries. Millennium. “The ark! It’s old! That means we’re in a timeline far removed from where we just were!”
Anthea jumped down from the ark into deep snow and landed on a rocky surface underneath. She then fell on her knees and brushing away some snow, she kissed the surface. “I can feel the energy! We are home!”
They all started to laugh and celebrate. Tears came to Sam’s and Achava’s eyes as they embraced and kissed. The relief of being in their own time, was greater than any of them thought it would be. Khassima tried to climb down, but her legs were too short.
“Let me help you.” Achava placed an arm around her and took her to the bottom of the mountain.
Achava brought Sam safely to the ground at the foot of the mountain as well. Sam glanced at Achava. “Your eyes are still golden,” he said, with surprise.
She clenched her fists, as golden energy surrounded them. “I guess I got to keep something more than just a memory.” She laughed with excitement. So did the other two.
Amidst all of the celebration, Anthea was still kissing the rocky surface, where she had brushed off the snow. She then got up in surprise. “Uh, guys? I don’t want to ruin a perfectly good homecoming, but I think there’s something you should see.”
She pointed to the ground. Achava, Khassima, and Sam stopped laughing, when they saw what she was pointing at.
There were extremely large footprints in the snow leaving the area. Footprints of someone that would have to have been very tall.
Anthea looked worried. “I think we brought something back with us.”
Achava said, “No, but it may have come on the ark with Noah.”
Sam shook his head. “Not on the ark.”
“What about me? Why am I still with you people?” asked Khassima.
“There is a reason for everything.”
“God works in mysterious ways.”
“Khassima, you also had the amazing opportunity to see things over the centuries instead of just reading about them. Your knowledge must be astronomical by now. The things we could learn, just by sitting down and talking with you would rewrite history books!”
“That’s easy for you to say!” Khassima said, showing emotion. “Do you have any idea what immortality is like, when everyone around you that you start to care about dies of old age? Do you understand what it is like to survive war after war, only to see the devastation, and then still live? Maybe it’s really cool for the first hundred years or so, but we don’t have the stamina of the people of Noah’s time! They could live for almost a thousand years and be able to spread their wisdom, without seeing the corruption and disease all around them! Maybe they’re just stronger than I am! Nevertheless, I don’t want this anymore! Yes?”
Sam bowed his head and sighed. It was apparent that Achava and Anthea were willing to wait for him to make the first and final move. So he spoke.
“Maybe so, Khassima,” he said, calmly. “Maybe I don’t know what it’s like to be immortal, but I do know that you deserve a better death than to have been washed out of the first timeline with all of those unrighteous ones. You deserve the death of a warrior and one of God’s faithful. In God’s time.”
Khassima looked at him with confusion and then appreciation. She then smiled. “So you think I’ll get my chance, do you?”
“We all will.”
“I did learn that Jesus is my savior while I was with you guys. Yes!” She smiled.
“Yes!”
“But explain soul merging.”
“I can’t,” said Achava. “I do know that Phillip was transported after he baptized the Ethiopian in the name of the Lord.”
Sam removed a pad and pencil from his backpack, and said, “And I will have a record of it all.”
“Are you going to write a book?” asked Achava.
“You know it, baby.”
They all laughed.
The End
To be continued in:
The Coins of Judas
Return to the Table of Contents
THE COINS OF JUDAS
by
SUMMER LEE
A Guardians Adventure #6
The Coins of Judas
Published by Summer Lee
Copyright © 2015 by Summer Lee
All rights reserved.
Ebook Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Dedication
To Rachel and Frankie.
The Coins of Judas
Prologue
It all began when Aviela, a Jewish mystic worked for the Israeli government in 1963.
She went searching for one archaeologist, namely Eldad Ben-Tzion. While he was looking for The Staff of Moses, Ben-Tzion was killed on his final expedition by an evil Canaanite. Aviela never forgot the archaeologist. Many years later, Aviela’s daughter, Achava found Professor Salinger at the Zion School of Biblical Studies. She persuaded him to go with her in search of the famous staff. Like his predecessor, Salinger also died in the same cave while he searched for the treasured walking stick. Salinger’s pupil, Sam Godfrey, became a professor and taught until he retired. That was when Achava went to him and persuaded him to go with her in search of The Sword of Peter.
Because of her supernatural gifting, Achava had been guardian of both the state of Israel and the sacred artifacts. Being a direct descendant of Achsah in the Book of Joshua, she had a unique DNA to help her operate in the timeless spiritual realm..With Sam by her side, she found many Biblical treasures.
Being eager to team up with Achava made one wonder about Sam: Was he a partner or a lover?
The adventures that Sam and Achava had together are filled with intrigue, treasures, betrayal, loss and redemption. While searching for The Fleece of Gideon, The Crown of Christ, and The Ark of Noah, the team met up with some strange folk and situations. Without explanation, the team is sent in search of the Coins of Judas.
Chapter the First
PROFESSOR SAMUEL GODFREY had been through what h
e perceived to be a lot in his life. He was a middle-aged man when he teamed up with Achava the second time. She had been taking him on some wild space and time travel, which he enjoyed immensely. The hardest was time travel. He was still trying to take in everything that had happened since he and Achava went back in time—twice—looking for The Crown of Christ, and The Ark of Noah,
Back in time.
Just the thought was hard to believe. Now that he had returned to the twenty-first century, he needed to get back to reality, and thinking about Achava helped considerably. She was his reality.
She looked up and smiled. It was the kind of smile that a woman shared when she cared for the person she was with.
He stood back and looked at the ark, or what he could see of it. He was one of only four people alive, who knew what the ark looked like during the flood. He was also only one of four people, who actually survived the flood after being in the water.
Noah and his family were inside the ark. But that did not count. They were safe. Sam did not feel safe riding on the outside of a storm driven vessel.
The fact that Achava had soul merged, and he had gone back in time and seen Noah and his wife, was enough to fry his brain, so he tried not to think about it now.
Once his thoughts he came back into reality, he noticed something going on with Anthea and Achava. It appeared as if they were blurry. The only problem with that was, that they were standing still.
He could tell by their expressions, that they were just as surprised as he was. They became even more blurry, as Khassima ran over to Sam for help. Appearing to be in shock, the two warriors just simply disappeared.
“No! Achava!” Sam yelled in petulance. He would not be separated from Achava again. Especially since they were together and bonding when they went through time.
Tears streamed down his face, as Khassima held him back from running toward the place the ladies had vanished. “Sam! No!” she yelled. “You must believe that she will come back.” Her voice sounded hoarse. She started coughing, while talking at the same time. “We don’t know if there’s residual energy. It might suck us up too. Yes?”
Sam! The voice came from inside his head.
He perked up and started to look around. It was Achava. Her voice was inside his head. She was sending a mental message.
Achava? Are you safe? he returned with his own thoughts.
Yes, Sam. Anthea and I are both safe. We think that the time travel messed with our ability to Soul Merge. We are not sure where we are, but as soon as we figure out how to get back, we will return. We don’t know how long it will be, so if you need to look for food or shelter, then please do not wait for us.
Are you sure?
I promise, Sam. We will get back as soon as possible. Follow your gut. You will do fine, until we return.
Sam wiped the tears from his face. He felt much better, knowing that Achava was okay. “Achava contacted me,” he said, calming down.
“That telepathy thing; it freaks me out,” Khassima replied, as she continued to cough. “What did she say?”
Sam looked with concern at his traveling companion. She looked pale. “She said that she would try to get back as soon as she and Anthea could. Something messed with their Soul Merge. She also said that if we need any food, not to wait for them.”
She nodded. “Okay. I am hungry.”
He noticed she was shaking. “Are you alright?”
As soon as he asked her that, she collapsed onto the ground. He placed the back of his hand against her forehead. She was burning up with fever. He wrapped her in a soft coverlet that he found in the ark.
Sam quickly ran to the backpack and rummaged through it, looking for the first aid kit. Once he found it, he opened it and only found a couple of aspirin packages. That was better than nothing. He grabbed them and ran back to her. “Here’s some aspirin.”
He noticed that she was still barely conscious, but he didn’t know if she was dying or not. How long could she live like that. Maybe he should go for help. He needed to know how far that would be. Not knowing what else to do, he ran over to the edge of the mountain and looked down. After everything he had gone through, he still wasn’t prepared for what he saw. There was no sign of anyone or anything.
It wasn’t a very high mountain, because he could see the ground level in the valley below. Yet it was bigger than the mountain in Noah’s time. He started down the well-beaten path. The thing that surprised him the most was the farther he got away from the ark, the colder it got. The sides of the mountain were all covered in deep snow. In fact everything before him was covered in snow. Around the ark was different. Especially one corner of the ark. It was warm. That seemed odd, but he put the girl there.
Every place else was cold, too cold.
He looked with concern back to where Khassima was huddled by the structure in the snow. Somehow the area around the ark had stayed warmer than the rest of the area.
Something was mystifying in the area. It had to be the ark!
His thoughts were of Khassima. She needed help. He scooped up some snow and headed back to her. He placed the aspirin in her mouth and used the snow for water. “You must chew it,” he said of the aspirin. You have a serious fever. This is all I can do for now, but I need to do something more.
She struggled to chew. So, he grabbed a handful of snow and held her head back. Holding the snow over her face, and rubbing it with his fingers to make it warm, he cared for her. It quickly melted and dripped into her mouth. The aspirin was down. He said, “There you should feel a little better now.”
He found only one protein bar in his back pack. So he put it in her hand. He walked over and looked out over the ledge of the hill. A thought came to him, and he knew what he had to do. “I have to go out and try to find food, or maybe someone that can help. I have no idea where we are, but I know we’re not in Turkey.”
She gave him a puzzled look. She opened her mouth, but could not speak. She only coughed.
Sam did not know what to do. He moved her real close to the ark where it was warmer and piled some snow nearby.
“Noah’s Ark is supposedly on Mt. Ararat in Turkey,” he said. “I think it’s safe to say we’re not in Turkey. Anyhow, that is what I think.”
“I need help, Sam.”
“Okay, I’ll go.” Sam looked at her and realized he had to take a risk to help her. “If you need any water, just crawl to the side where the snow is thick and clean. Just grab a handful of snow and put it in your mouth. If it is too cold, bring it back to the ark. It should melt fast, once you bring it back near the ark. I’ll try not to be long, I need to…follow my gut.”
“Go then,” she whispered, as her coughing increased. “I’m a strong girl. Yes? I’ll be fine. God didn’t bring me through all of those centuries, just to have me die up here on a mountain with his ark. Ha ha!”
Sam smiled at Khassima and patted her cheek. Her temperature was already lower.
His wrists were still in pain from his last encounter, so he carefully and slowly put everything back in the backpack and put it on. He still had on his robe from Noah’s time. He hoped that it would protect him from the cold.
He then looked at the ark and had a brilliant thought. If the ark was keeping everything at a warmer temperature, while all around it is a cool temperature, then maybe it would work for them as well. Maybe it was magical.
Sam looked at the structure and knew what he had to do. “Sorry about this.” He walked over to the ark and took in a deep breath. He then grabbed hold of a piece of timber that was sticking out. He bent it until it snapped and then pulled with all of his might. Suddenly, he heard a loud cracking sound, as about a two foot piece of wood broke off of Noah’s ark into his hand.
He studied the piece of the ark that broke off. Sam could have sworn he saw a spark of electricity when it did, like magic. He smiled. It was probably just his imagination. But it may have power.
He took the wood and tucked it under his arm.
“
Nice,” Khassima said, with her hand over her mouth, acting nauseous.
“It’s physics,” Sam replied, trying to convince himself as well as her that he knew what he was doing. “I’ll explain it later.”
“No need.”
“I’m just glad you’re in good spirits and feeling better. I will do everything in my power to be back shortly.”
“Yes. Return soon.” Khassima tried to sit up.
“Just rest. I’ll return as quickly as I can. I have a feeling that Anthea and Achava should be back soon as well.” Sam hesitated. “Okay?”
“Hey! I know you’re feeling bad that you have to leave me, but don’t worry about it.”
“It seems best that I go.”
“It has to be the way it has to be. Yes? Besides, you might find a really good burger joint. Bring me back one with everything. Yes? Ha ha!”
Sam smiled and shook his head. He tossed her a couple pieces of jerky, and then flipped his backpack over his shoulder. Looking back, he waved.
***
Sam headed over the hill, down into the valley and up to the top of the next mountain. He did not know where he was going, but he felt drawn.
Achava. Hoping she could hear his thoughts, he attempted to send a mental message to her. If you can hear me, I’m going to try to find someone or something. Khassima has gotten sick very quickly and I don’t know what to do about it. I gave her aspirin, but it will wear off. I’ll relay what I’m doing as I go along, and I hope you get everything.
He listened intently, but there was no response.
I hope you and Anthea are alright. Wish me luck!
He hoped she was okay.
Sam’s descent down the mountain, wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. He found some slippery angled areas, where all he had to do was crouch down and slide with his shoes.
