The Thorn tcog-1

by Daron Fraley

  Jonathan returned the glass rod to its protective cloth and stuffed it into his tunic. “Did you see something else, Pekah?” Jonathan asked as he sat down.

  Pekah looked away at first, worried about what the dream might mean. Why wasn’t Jonathan there? Should I tell him? Turning to Jonathan, he saw patience in the calm gaze of his new friend. Although comforted by Jonathan’s reaction to the situation, something held Pekah back. All he could do was say, “I would like some time to think this through, if that’s all right.”

  “That’s fine. Talk about it when you are ready.”

  “Thank you for understanding.” Pekah stood and stretched. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to the river to wash up.”

  “I could use a wash myself,” Jonathan said.

  Eli got up from his bedding and joined them. When they arrived at the water’s edge, they found the river slower and deeper than expected.

  “We’ll probably have to cross soon before we end up swimming,” Eli observed.

  “Pekah, what do you know of this river?” Jonathan asked.

  “To my recollection, it does get wider downstream. I think Eli’s right-it may be best to cross now.”

  Jonathan agreed, and the three men returned to their camp to gather everything. They kicked dirt over the fire and returned to the river bank, where they stripped down to their undergarments. Carrying their belongings high above their heads to keep everything as dry as possible, they made several trips. Once they had piled everything on the far bank, they took opportunity to bathe more thoroughly than on the previous day. They had no soap, but they did the best they could, hand-scrubbing and rinsing several times in the frigid water.

  The day promised to be a hot one, and the morning air dried them quickly. They dressed, gathered their items, and hiked back up toward the road, taking careful steps to avoid making noise. Their route took them uphill.

  When they reached level ground, Pekah pointed to signs in the disturbed dirt which told of a medium-sized wagon. Judging by hoof prints between the wheel marks, they could tell the wagon was pulled by two horses. On either side of the wagon tracks were the footprints of three men. Pekah and the others readied their weapons. Taking care to scan their surroundings in all directions, they advanced to a pile of manure and found it still slightly warm.

  “Not more than an hour old,” Eli said as he knocked the pile over with his staff. “If we keep walking, we are going to have company.”

  “Should we re-cross the river?” Pekah asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Jonathan replied. “We are less than a day from Ain, and I would like to know who these travelers are.”

  Pekah fidgeted. “And if they are Gideonite soldiers?”

  A sparkle in his eye, Jonathan said with a sly grin, “We will take them as prisoners.”

  Eli chuckled, grabbed Pekah by the arm, and pulled him down the road toward Ain. “We don’t want to be late!”

  They kept an intense pace for a good hour and a half. Because they had missed their morning meal, they ate as they traveled, sharing some crusts of bread and dried fruit. Thirst drove them to the river for a brief drink, but they returned to the road, walking even faster than before.

  Each bend in the road tightly hugged the long tree lines, which had become far more dense. Less common now, oaks were largely outnumbered by various types of pine. The thicker evergreens offered them very little forward visibility, so they traveled from outer edge to outer edge of each curve of the road, straining to see ahead of them.

  As they rounded one particularly large bend, they were surprised to see that the horse-drawn wagon they had been following had been abandoned in the middle of the lane, loaded with food supplies and numerous casks marked as wine. No one was nearby. Ahead of the wagon they could see another bend in the road. Pekah and Jonathan drew their swords, and Eli held his staff defensively with both his large hands.

  They crept forward, straining to pick up sounds around them. The two bridled horses were somewhat skittish, stomping nervously as the men approached. Eli hushed them with a gentle pat as he walked by.

  As they rounded the bend in the road, they found the body of a Gideonite soldier lying in the dirt to one side. Pekah looked to his companions for their reactions, but they were intent on continuing. At the start of the next turn, they found another dead soldier dressed in green, wearing the Mark of the Raven. Blood near the body had not yet congealed. The smell of it offended Pekah’s nostrils, making his nose twitch. Jonathan motioned for them all to hasten.

  Almost jogging, they made their way to where the road skirted a large pine. On the other side they found two dead Danielites, over which crouched a Gideonite, very much alive.

  Startled by their sudden presence, the soldier jumped up, nocking an arrow into his bow. His sword lay on the ground at his feet, and he nudged it to the side with a gentle kick.

  Holding his hands and sword up in alarm, Pekah yelled at the man, “Do not shoot!”

  Both Pekah and Eli stepped ahead of Jonathan, but Jonathan moved next to them, completing the line.

  “You there! Why do you travel with a Danielite?” the soldier hollered at Pekah.

  Pekah glanced at Jonathan, then back at the soldier. “We are traveling to Ain,” he said, his tone curt. So as to not provoke the soldier, he instinctively lowered his weapon, Eli and Jonathan following suit.

  With obvious irritation, the soldier pulled the bowstring back a few inches, pointing the arrow tip at Eli’s feet. He appeared to recognize the coarse weave of Eli’s white tunic, and the general features of Eli’s face, which all but shouted “Uzzahite.”

  “It’s very uncommon for the three tribes to walk together,” the soldier snarled. He nodded at the fallen Danielites. “These two surprised us from the trees and killed my men. But they did not kill me, as you can see.”

  The Gideonite spat on the ground. He kicked dust into it as if daring them to start the fight.

  With almost fatherly sternness in his voice, Jonathan broke his silence. “Soldier, we have no quarrel with you. Lay down your weapons.”

  The soldier changed his stance, targeting Jonathan’s feet. Eli took another step forward, raising his staff to his chest, and with insistence said, “You had better listen to the man. A peaceful surrender is far better than the alternative.”

  The soldier ground his teeth like a horse chewing on its bridle, but did not stand down. He pulled the bowstring fully back, now pointing at Jonathan’s legs.

  “If he decides to fire,” Eli whispered, “we will not reach him in time.”

  The tension in the air was palpable. None of the four men moved.

  Pekah decided to try negotiating with the Gideonite soldier. “I don’t know your name,” Pekah stated with an outstretched arm, “But I do know that you would probably like to know mine. If you drop your weapon, I will tell you who we are, and why we are traveling together.”

  Very briefly, the situation seemed to improve. The soldier relaxed his pull and let the arrow-point fall farther toward his own feet. But then one of the fallen Danielites, whom Pekah had assumed to be dead, let out a groan of pain. The Gideonite started to aim for the wounded man.

  His face full of anger, Jonathan advanced, his crystal sword sparkling in the daylight. Just as quick as a lightning flash, the Gideonite swung his aim back around and up at Jonathan’s chest. Pekah reacted out of pure instinct and jumped in front of Jonathan just as the arrow was let loose. It struck Pekah squarely in the breastplate, knocking him off his feet. Eli had already charged, and with all his strength, he connected his swinging staff with the side of the Gideonite’s head, producing a splitting sound like a melon falling off a farmer’s cart. The soldier dropped like a rock into a heap upon the ground.

  Jonathan knelt at Pekah’s side and lifted his head from the ground. The arrow lay in the dirt beside him.

  Pekah wheezed. “I can’t breathe,” he said, nearly choking on the words.

  Jonathan yanked the breastplate st
raps loose, and Eli helped Pekah sit up. Jonathan pressed his finger against the small wound to stop the bleeding. “Pekah?”

  Pekah gasped, still fighting for air. He groaned. “Ohhh… that hurt!”

  “Not as much as it hurt him,” Eli added gravely as he pointed to the fallen Gideonite.

  Once he could breathe without gasping, Pekah inspected his armor to find that the arrow had not completely pierced the hardened leather. Only the very tip of the arrow-point had made it through. The wind had been knocked out of him, but he was alive, and grateful for it.

  “Can you stand?” Jonathan asked.

  “Yes. Help me up, please.” He leaned on them for assistance. “Much better.”

  Jonathan patted him on the shoulder, then motioned to the Danielite soldier. “He is still alive.” Jonathan led the way to the soldier’s side.

  As they approached, Pekah knew the Danielite would not live. He had been cut through the belly, and the amount of blood loss indicated that his time was short.

  “Can you hear me?” Jonathan asked as he knelt on one knee beside the man’s head.

  The man groaned but did not answer right away. His head tilted toward the voice, and then upon opening his eyes, there came a moment of recognition as if he knew who Jonathan was.

  “Do you know him?” Pekah asked Jonathan.

  “No.”

  The soldier tried to lift his head, but fell back to the ground. Eli retrieved a wineskin, and Pekah assisted in holding the man’s head up while Eli dripped some of the liquid into the man’s mouth.

  “Thank you,” the soldier said with difficulty. He coughed, wincing at the pain. With wide eyes and the force of a driven purpose, he choked, “The emperor… is in Ain.”

  The Danielite then lost all of his strength, groaning as his last breath left him.

  Jonathan laid him to the ground with care, and arose from his kneeling position. Emotions welled in Jonathan’s eyes and dripped down onto his beard, and Pekah’s own eyes misted. Eli was no less somber.

  The companions stood there together in respectful silence for almost a minute until Eli suggested they take a closer look at Pekah’s wound. It had stopped bleeding, but still needed attention. Eli pulled a small bandaging cloth from Pekah’s supplies, and Pekah tucked it into his shirt and pressed it to the wound, wincing at the pain. Eli grabbed up the breastplate and examined the small hole, pressing the indentation back out the best he could. Pekah strapped it back to hold the bandage in place.

  “Did you see where the arrow hit your armor?” Jonathan asked.

  Pekah peered down to see the arrow mark, precisely at the raven’s eye, and right over his heart. His knees suddenly felt weak as he realized that without the armor, he would be dead, just like the Danielite soldier.

  “Are you sure you are well enough to travel?” Eli asked, concerned.

  Distracted by what the dying Danielite had told them, Pekah only nodded.

  Eli studied Pekah, but Pekah averted his eyes elsewhere.

  “What’s bothering you?” Jonathan prodded.

  Pekah sighed, but still did not answer.

  “Did you know the emperor was going to be in Ain?” Eli asked.

  “Yes.”

  Jonathan stepped into Pekah’s line of sight. “When did you learn he was there?”

  Pekah touched his leather breastplate, right at the tender spot on his chest, before looking up again at his companions. “In the dream I had last night, I didn’t know where I was, but Eli stood with me, and we talked to Emperor Manasseh. I don’t remember what we said.”

  Jonathan grabbed his beard and twisted it in his fingers before tucking his hands under his belt.

  Recognizing Jonathan’s pensive reaction, Pekah felt it best to tell what he was doing in his dream, and so with soberness he added, “I had the scepter with me. Eli told me to show it to the emperor.”

  “I wasn’t with you?”

  “No, but now that I think about it, I didn’t feel you were absent by accident-you were absent intentionally.”

  Jonathan reached into his shirt. He handed the purple cloth and rod to Pekah, forcing them into his hands, clasping them both with his own. “Then you will take it. Show it to Emperor Manasseh,” he said in a kind, yet stern, tone.

  Pekah gaped at the scepter in his trembling hands as Jonathan released him.

  “Pekah, you saved my life today, and I will be forever grateful. I’m giving this to you in hopes that it may be used, perhaps as an instrument in your hands, to convince Manasseh to end his aggression toward our peoples.”

  “Will you not need a leather bag to carry it in?” Eli winked in Pekah’s direction. Pekah shrugged his shoulders as he followed Eli’s gaze to a small leather sack around one of the dead Danielite’s shoulders. Eli stepped over to the man and recovered it, opening it where Pekah could also see the contents. The bag held a severely damaged wooden spyglass. The ocular was broken, and the cylinder cracked. Noting that the item was rendered useless, Eli discarded it, then shook all the remaining fragments from the bag, and handed the pouch to Pekah.

  “Here. Is it just like you remember from your dream?” Eli asked.

  Pekah examined the bag and tested it by placing the wrapped scepter within. He drew the strings together and hung it over his neck. “Perhaps,” he responded with uncertainty. He felt a little strange that everyone was playing along with the dream he had related.

  Jonathan stepped closer and gripped Pekah’s shoulder. “When we get to the city, I will stay behind on the trail and find a place to conceal myself.” He cleared his throat and with a wry smile added, “That way, you won’t have to throw me into the river to be rid of me.”

  Eli laughed heartily. Pekah couldn’t help but smile, glad to have found friends who were genuine and trusting. Even though he still felt immense apprehension about taking The Thorn to the emperor-a man known for his cruelty-he knew now his dream was real, undoubtedly a gift of prophecy from the Great King.

  The men counseled together about the horses, the wagon, and the men lying dead on the road, and decided that Eli and Pekah would take the wagon and team into the city as a gift to the emperor so they could gain an audience with him. They walked back to the horses and calmed them with soft words, patting and rubbing their necks. Then they led the cart to where the dead soldiers lay.

  Jonathan located a soft piece of ground in the woods where they could dig graves for the fallen men. Using a shovel they found on the wagon, they turned up the rich soil beneath two overhanging oaks. They took turns digging until Eli became frustrated. With characteristic teasing, he used his bear-like strength to finish the last two holes on his own. The bodies were retrieved and laid to rest in the fresh burial pits.

  “I want to find their families,” Jonathan said as he cut a lock of hair from each of the two Danielite soldiers.

  One man had a ring, to which Jonathan tied the corresponding lock of hair, and the other had a narrow lace ribbon attached to his quiver strap, surely placed there by a loved one. Jonathan removed it, wrapping the hair within it. He tied it off in a small, rolled package, then stuffed both objects into the pocket previously occupied by The Thorn.

  After covering the bodies, Eli spoke a word of prayer, and the somber men returned to the road to fetch the cart. None of them spoke as they resumed their journey. Only the sounds of the horses’ hooves and the grinding of the wagon wheels filled the air. Like the low-hanging smoke from a doused fire on a cold morning, Pekah once again felt the heaviness of war in the air about him. Conflict, death, burial-Pekah suspected the pattern would repeat many times in coming days.

  Although expecting to find additional soldiers at some point along the road, their travel during the last of the morning and the rest of the day remained uneventful. They did not stop to eat their mid-day meal, but ate most of their own supplies as they traveled. During a momentary rest, they also raided a few of the supplies they hauled in the wagon. They found dried meats, a cheese softened on account of the h
eat, and a skin filled with water. Markings on the casks in the wagon indicated that they held wine, beans, spices, fruit, and olives. A few of the casks were marked for the emperor, which assured the three companions that the Danielite had been correct about Manasseh’s presence at Ain.

  They traveled the rest of the day with nervous anticipation, discussing how they might best enter the city and what they might say to the emperor, disagreeing about how Manasseh would react to seeing the scepter. Although it would be difficult to convince him to end the war, they placed their faith in one distinct hope: Pekah’s dream was meant to tell them what they should do. Trusting that effective and convincing words would be given by the Spirit in the proper moment, they stoked the embers of faith within their hearts, confident they could provide, or produce, the environment and situation in which the Great Creator would work out His purposes.

  And so they marched on, well into the early evening, when they came to a place in the road which led sharply downhill. It descended by way of a few switchbacks and continued a mile more into the outskirts of the walled city they now saw in the distance. The thinning tree line still provided enough cover to make them unnoticeable to anyone near the city who might happen to gaze their way.

  From their new vantage point, they could see they were in the high hills east of Ain, bordered on both the north and the south by small mountains. Far to the west of Ain where the sister moons would later rise, an immense mountain range with high, snow-capped peaks and rugged valleys formed a jagged horizon. This range ran in a southeasterly direction, behind the small mountains on their left, toward the lands inhabited by the Gideonites. Between those distant mountains and the high hills on which they now stood was a beautiful valley, filled with numerous orchards and farmland, all of which lined the road to the city of Ain.

  The three of them searched the immediate area for a place of refuge and saw that the tree line north of the road led to some rocky outcroppings, which promised a remote, and yet high, observation point.

  “I’ll go up there to wait for your return,” Jonathan said.

  Pekah handed Jonathan the remainder of the dried meat and cheese from the wagon. “Take the rest of this with you.”