“Blot us out! You are mad puny human to think to overcome us! We have the strength of god’s and knowledge so infinite that your weak minds could never grasp a hold of it! We are superior in every way to you! We are the new order of the day and there will be none to stop us! We will leave this prison and reenter the world above and increase in number once again, until we overrun the planet and have consumed all of humanity, even as we corrupt them with the temptation of dark knowledge as in the days of old. We are the Rephaim, the seed of old, and our hunger for revenge has never been greater!”
“And yet I say unto you that you will be driven out as your kind was driven out of the Promise Land. God uses the weak things to confound the mighty and those who think themselves wise. The beginning of wisdom is to fear God, and yet you mock His Divine Authority. Even as you are proud and of a haughty spirit so you will be cast down to suffer an eternal ruin without any hope of a resurrection. Behold you are dead and you shall not rise!”
The giants roared in a display of hellish hatred as all mirth at my direct confrontation of them was gone.
The leader spoke, as he took a big step forward toward me, “It’s time that I feasted on your impudence little man!”
A shadow fell over the beach obscuring the orangey glow of the overhead shifting clouds for a moment. Everyone looked up to see a dark moving cloud that buzzed. Hornets. Seemingly millions upon millions of them.
They slammed into the giants like they were avenging a hive of larva that had been stepped on. The giants beat at themselves as they screamed in agony, but the stings just kept coming.
The giants stumbled and fell. They rolled on the ground and knocked their heads off tree trunks, but there was no respite from the teeming horde of winged stingers that stuck to them like glue. One by one the giants became still as they lay on the sand of the beach.
I still stood where I had been when the hornets had attacked. Not one hornet touched me or any of the former slaves still gathered on the beach behind me. Our deliverance had been a God thing and not accomplished by any act of man.
I looked among the contorted bodies that lay swelling grotesquely on the beach. Where was the leader?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keturah stared in open faced wonder from the deck of her catamaran. She’d seen it all now!
To think such a thing could be possible. Little pesky hornets that she could squeeze to death between two fingers had taken down giants and her man had stood firm right in the midst of it all. Pride swelled in her for the man she was blessed to belong to.
Her pride filled moment however was brutally interrupted as a giant hand came out of the water to grasp her around the middle tightly. She started to scream, but abruptly fell silent as her head smacked hard off one of the pontoons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I turned to face the giant covered in sting welts that trudged up out of the sea triumphantly as he held Keturah unconscious in the cruel grip of one hand. The giant looked upon his fallen brethren for a moment before glancing to me with a look of cunning.
“Think you’ve won haven’t you? You’ve won nothing! I have the power to make you question the very belief that you have in your God by simply squeezing the life out of your mate and leaving you with her mangled remains. Now that is victory! You’ll hate your God and I will have succeeded in achieving my master’s purpose of the destruction of your eternal heavenly state.”
I shook my head in denial of the giant’s words and said, “Your master is a fool to have forsook the seat of excellence that he was given in order to be as God, but you are a fool in this moment for picking the wrong girl to hold hostage.”
A tidal wave erupted behind the giant leader, but before he could turn to discover its source he stared downward transfixed in horror at the huge tusk that had gored through his middle. He screamed out in a sudden agonizing fear of death and dropped Keturah to the wet sand as he grasped at the firmly rooted tusk.
The Orlanis Star necklace pendant was pulled from his neck by an unseen hand. The central crystal that wouldn’t crack for Captain Rogers shattered into nothingness within the grasp of the unseen hand. Meanwhile the surrounding metal ring inscribed with dark thought heated up to a cherry red.
The giant’s horrified face abruptly clamped shut in terror. His mouth was yanked open by unseen forces and the red glowing metal was thrust inside as the giant’s jaw was then shut beyond any ability to ever be opened again.
The giant’s eyes bugged out of its head in a desperate plea for mercy almost too terrible to comprehend, but no mercy was given. The giant’s feet left the ground and then he went sailing out into the ocean as Dimbo twisted his snout in a hard jerk that was reminiscent of the time I had witnessed the whales playing catch with the snake head dinosaurs.
I rushed up to Keturah and kneeling down I lifted her head into my lap. Her eyes blinked open and she mumbled out, “What happened?”
“Nothing you need to worry about honey. You’re safe!” I said, as I held her close to me cradled in my arms. Her eyes fell back closed as her cheek rested against my chest.
She was safe! Thank God she was safe!
“Thank you Lord!” I whispered over and over even as I felt peace overwhelm me. I’d come so close to having to relive the past again and yet my worst fears hadn’t been realized. God is good!
Dimbo looked to be thoroughly beached, but with some twisting and wiggling of his large rubbery mass he managed to worm his way back into the water with the help from some gentle nudging of a second smaller whale who looked to be a female.
I got up with Keturah in my arms as Dimbo slid the rest of the way free of the sand. He headed out for deeper waters with his mate close to him, even as I held mine to me in equal protectiveness.
“Sir?”
I turned to see a large group of people come from the trees and advance onto the beach. By their dress I took them to be plantation owners.
It was a woman who had spoken. She spoke again in the cultured voice of a southern bell, “May we come with you? With the Whale People?”
I paused for a moment as to what to say. I wanted to deny the request, but where was the forgiveness in that?
“There will be no slaves where we roam or any man or woman esteemed higher than another.” I cautioned.
“We want no less than that ourselves. We never wish to return or remain in the mistakes of this place. We welcome equality, as it was always meant to be and should have been.”
I nodded, as she finished talking and then I said expansively, “Find a spot then and come along if you want. There is always room for more out on the open ocean.”
I turned then and walked out into the surf holding Keturah above the waves. Some of the former slaves and Whale People held Keturah’s boat steady, as I lifted her up and onto the netting. I pulled myself up with some helpful pushes from those gathered around and I went about seeing that Keturah was first stable and as comfortable as I could make her before I went about the business of getting under sail.
If felt good to be free of the land again, especially the land of the fabled Atlantis.
I had wanted treasure initially when I’d come to the island of Atlantis, but I’d received a Divine calling on my life instead. Now I was leaving the island for the mysteries of the sea instead and I had the greatest treasure a man could ever ask for in the form of a woman lying asleep on the forward netting. I was a blessed man and glad of it!
The Polly was offshore by itself and instinctively I knew what that meant in regards to the USS Nathaniel. I’d known something was up even before we left the lagoon when I’d seen Matt’s crew stealing extra gunpowder from Flynn’s ship.
When traveling through the forest with Mandy I’d heard the explosion that was larger than all the others and intrinsically I’d known that I’d just lost a good friend in a very noble way. That was Matt for you. Few have the choice of how they exit life, but I think Matt got his wish in that he go
t to go out in the flames of glory, so to speak, just as the fabled characters of history’s past had that he had studied and lectured about to classrooms of students either too bored to listen or too unimaginative to comprehend that the answers for the present can often be found in the deeds and mistakes of the past.
I pulled in beside the Polly and Jim peered down over the side at me. I wanted to be free of people and the responsibilities of leadership for a while. A honeymoon if you will, as well as the first vacation I’d had in a very long time.
“Throw me some tools down Jim.”
He nodded and disappeared for a little while. Coming back to the side he threw down to the netting just what I needed. There went Jim reading my mind again.
I glanced up to see him smile and say, “Have fun boss.”
Serena came to the railing to link her arm with Jim’s and I smiled in return, “You too, Jim.”
I shoved away from the Polly then and headed out away from the flotilla of little boats in the shadow of the ironclad that was now headed for the distant lagoon.
Soon it was just me and Keturah. The fantasy of several days ago that I’d had was coming to life in an even more vivid reality.
Chapter Twenty One
I Burnt It
Keturah was starting to stir where she lay on the floating board and trepidation filled me at what lay ahead of me to convince her to come off of it. What I was about to attempt could go so badly and I almost backed down again from attempting it, but Keturah needed to be free and I wanted to help her become so. I just wished my methods weren’t so brutal.
Her eyes opened and she abruptly sat up and looked around in fright.
“Where am I? Where’s my boat?” She exclaimed in question her eyes frantically imploring me for answers.
“You’re on a little island off by itself with its own little lagoon.”
“My boat?” She broke in accusingly.
She was clearly panicking and I regretted my decision to enact this strategy all over again, but there was no going back now. I had to commit to the task, because if successful the prize would be worth it.
“I burnt it.”
“You what!!!” She screamed coming up to her knees on the tiny raft I had made for her.
I’d tied three small logs together. The raft was barely big enough for her to lay down.
“Why?” She screamed out hysterically, as she visibly unraveled before my eyes emotionally.
She didn’t wait for my response but continued with, “You marooned us on this island? You’re a fool!” She screamed out as tears started to fall.
“No Keturah, I am not a fool.”
I pointed to a pile of tools further up the beach near the tree line, “Look Keturah. See those are tools. In specific there the tools we need to build a bigger and better boat than your old one and we have all the timber we need to do it right here on this island.”
Her eyes went from the tools to the trees and the level of fright in her eyes went down a little.
“I need you to help me Keturah. I need your help to build a boat that both of us can share and be proud of, but to do that I need you to get off the raft and come ashore.”
She immediately glanced down to the shallow two feet of water that the raft floated on and said, “No!”
“Keturah honey I need your help. Please come ashore.”
She looked up with misery showing clearly in her eyes, “You don’t understand!” She screamed out with raw emotion.
I kept my voice calm and loving, “What don’t I understand honey? Talk to me darling.”
She gazed down at the raft and said, “You know that I was offered by my own people as a sacrifice to the water gods when I was a child?”
“Yes. Elizabeth said they tied you to a board and sent you out to sea.”
Keturah nodded and said, “I floated for a long time and then there was a storm. A terrible storm!”
I could well imagine the kind of storm she was talking about as I’d lived through one.
“When I woke up the board was gone and I was laying on the beach of an island even smaller than this one.”
She paused for a moment and then with her voice raw she said, “I was marooned on that island for two years. I was six years old! I didn’t know how to do anything like build a raft or successfully fish. The island had one fruit tree on it and that was how I survived along with whatever I was lucky enough to catch in the water. I couldn’t take it! I went crazy or at least I lived in fear of going crazy. Finally one day I decided to end it, because I couldn’t take living on that miserable little island even one more day! I swam out of the lagoon and into the sea. I swam till I exhausted myself too much to be able to return to shore.”
She stopped talking and gently I interjected, “That’s when Dimbo found you isn’t it?”
She nodded, “I thought he was trying to eat me instead of save me. I don’t know why it mattered as I was trying to kill myself anyway.”
She looked up at me miserably, “Do you think I’m crazy?”
“No honey I don’t think you’re crazy.”
She looked back down as she said, “So now you know why I can’t come ashore with you. Every time I’ve tried to go ashore it overwhelms me and all I can see is the island I was so miserable on as a child. I’ll stay on this raft while you build the boat.” She finished in a small voice.
I wasn’t letting her get off that easy. “Do you know how my wife and two girls died Keturah?”
She glanced up looking surprised that I would bring that up at a time like this.
“Matt said they died in a bad accident and that there wasn’t anything you could do.”
“That’s a very mild way of putting it Keturah. We were at Matt’s house for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a holiday up on the surface. When the day was over we left in our car to go home. A car is like a box on wheels that goes very fast. It’s how a lot of people get around on the surface. We were driving along and another car came along and hit us. Its driver was drunk. My car flipped over a bank and tumbled down a ravine and landed on its side. The engine came back into the car and had my legs pinned against the seat. My back was thrown out as well and I couldn’t move my arms. I was helpless. My wife’s head had been hit in the crash and she was unconscious. She was hung up above me by her seatbelt. For hours I felt her blood drip down onto me, but there was nothing I could do. She regained consciousness briefly and we talked for a little while before she died. My oldest girl’s neck was snapped at the moment of impact, but my youngest girl was alive and crying. I listened to her cry all night long as I told her everything was going to be all right. It was very cold that night and she died of shock and exposure an hour before the rescue crew got there. I went crazy Keturah. I was in a psych ward for six months under constant surveillance to keep me from taking my own life. For the next seven years up until recently I’ve been in a prison in my mind every bit as bad as the two years you spent alone on your island Keturah. I know what it’s like and I don’t want you to stay there any longer! For years I’ve fought to keep the memories of my family both good and bad fresh in my mind because I thought that if I lost the connection that I’d lose everything and really go crazy. I lost my faith the night of the accident and it’s taken me over seven years to get it back. Seven years of my life that I’ve wasted and can’t get back. It wasn’t until I came to this inner world that things began to change and I actually started to notice that I was breathing. You have been a large part of that change in me Keturah. More so than you know. You have helped me so much and I am so grateful to you! I want to help you Keturah. I want to help you like you’ve helped me. I want you to be free to experience life like I am right now. Keturah, honey, get off the boat and come to me.”
I held my hand out to her. She was crying and her head was jerking in a negative rhythm to my spoken request.
“If you won’t do it for me then do it for yourself. The sand is warm. I know you’ll like it.”
For t
he first time I saw her waver a little and I pressed with more encouragement, “I know how hard it is to face your greatest fear Keturah, but let me tell you there’s fresh air on the other side. It’s worth it. For me a future spent with you is worth letting go of what’s long since been gone from my life.”
She then looked up at me and before she could let herself think otherwise she slid off the raft to stand in the shallows of the lagoon. I could see it then, her immediate knee-jerk reaction of panic with contact of the sand beneath her was to get back on the raft.
“Keturah stop! Look at me! Look over here!” I said, as I clapped my hands loudly and the sharp sound seemed to jar her enough out of the panic of the moment to glance at me.
I stepped to the side and pointed up towards the tree line to something I had been blocking from her view.
“Do you see that Keturah?”
She glanced to what I pointed to and then back to me puzzled looking, “A bed?” She asked.
“That’s right a bed. I’m going to make love to you on that bed, but first you have to come to me right where I’m standing and then I’ll carry you the rest of the way, I promise darling!”
She looked from me to the bed with such a look of longing that it was heartbreaking to behold.
“Don’t you want to make love with me Keturah?”
“Yes!” She screamed out striking the water with a fist.
“Then take a step forward honey.”
She moved. I’m not sure you could call it a step, but it was movement. Any movement as long as it wasn’t backward was a good thing.
I kept my voice warm and even, while inside I was panicking with the lack of what to say next to keep compelling her forward. I never broke eye contact with her though, “You know you were right about something Keturah. I’m a man experienced by the love of a great woman and thus you have the assurance of just how lovingly I’m going to treat you all the days of your life, because I understand just how rare truly great women are in this life.”
She took a step forward and I rejoiced inside, but kept talking as my brain scrambled for what to say next.
“Some may call you wanton for the way you’ve offered yourself to me ever since we met each other, but I don’t. Sure you want to experience my touch and possession of you, but it goes deeper doesn’t it?” I asked rhetorically.