Before I could think, I wrenched my own sword up from the earth with both fists. My eyes blurred when Laban’s face appeared before me. I swung hard and our blades crashed together, the deafening sound of metal clanging wildly.
Laban gave a scream of agony. The glitter of his sword arced under the starlight. My bones reverberated from the impact, and the grip on my blade weakened from the force of the collision. I nearly dropped it, but his sword went flying.
Something wet spattered my face and Laban lurched toward me. Wheeling backward, I saw his hand was bleeding, blood flowing down to his elbow. Three fingers had been sliced off.
The night came back into focus. “Kadesh!” I shrieked.
I hefted my sword, ready to attack again, but Chemish and Asher tackled Laban to the ground. The Edomite kicked and fought, and Seth came to their aid. Soon Laban was pinned to the dirt.
Kadesh whirled toward me, his eyes wild when he comprehended what had just happened. “Jayden,” he said, panting as though he’d been running. “You took down his sword. You stopped him.”
My legs gave out and I dropped to my knees. “I saw him come at you. On your blind side. He was going to kill you.”
He staggered toward me. “Jayden, you saved my life.”
Laban continued to fight and struggle against the three men holding him down. Finally, Chemish punched him in the face, knocking him out. The Edomite king rose again and jerked his son close. “You’re fortunate I don’t knock you out cold, Asher. Now finish unloading Laban’s pack.”
Asher obeyed, shaking out the rest of the contents. A piece of correspondence written in Asher’s own hand was wrapped up in Laban’s extra shirt. Chemish scanned its contents and his face looked terrible. “How could you betray us? What did the man offer you besides money?”
“I never thought the letters were a betrayal!” Asher cried. “I’m sorry, father. Please forgive me.”
Laban clawed his way up to a sitting position, holding his bleeding hand against his chest. “We’re outnumbered ten to one,” he snarled. “Horeb was going to offer us wealth and safety if we surrendered.”
“You think you can sign a truce for the Edomite army?” Chemish’s laugh was harsh. “For the Prince of Sariba? As though Horeb wants peace, you idiot. He didn’t gather three armies, follow us for thousands of leagues across the empty sands just to sign a truce and give you bags of gold.” He turned to Asher. “I’ve raised an idiot!”
Shouting to Seth and Jabal, Chemish ordered rope to tie Laban and Asher up. “I can’t stand the sight of you,” he told Asher. “How can I call you son?”
“We could have ended this before any bloodshed—and walked away rich,” Laban yelled.
Chemish gave him a derisive glare. “Riches for you maybe—but death for us. You were a pawn in Horeb’s game.”
“Perhaps Laban isn’t an idiot or insane,” Kadesh said in a terrible voice. “If Horeb caught up to us out here in the Empty Sands, we’d be forced into signing whatever papers Horeb wanted us to—to prevent an outright slaughter. And then Horeb would take Jayden. And then,” he added, “he’d ride into Sariba with his army—with us as his prisoners, and declare himself king. End of the so-called war. But he wouldn’t stop there. The Assyrians, Maachathites, and Adummatus would plunder Sariba, forcing us into servitude while they controlled the frankincense and every trade route of the deserts.”
“I didn’t know what Laban was planning,” Asher said. “The correspondence was cryptic. He lied to me.”
“Your astuteness comes far too late,” I murmured, and Asher winced.
“Where were the letters placed?” Kadesh demanded, standing over the young man. “Which cities?”
“The Akabah port, the Fountain of the Red Sea, the city of Dedan . . .” Asher’s voice trailed off.
Kadesh looked incredulous. “Where was the first?”
“At the well south of the Edomite land.”
Kadesh ran his fingers through his hair with a groan. “He’s been able to follow us from the start. When the scouts came in tonight with news of Horeb’s army, I thought it was bizarre so much luck was on his side. It all makes sense now.”
“Jayden,” Asher said quietly from where he sat tied in ropes. “You must believe I never meant any harm to come to you. Laban said we would kill Horeb and I could take Horeb’s gold and make sure you were safe.”
I closed my eyes. He was soundly unprepared for a conspiring thief like Laban. “Once Horeb captured Sariba he would have cast you both off. Or had you killed.”
“All I wanted to do was to earn my own wealth, a place in the world. I wanted to take Edom out of our poverty. Finish building our city.” He glanced up at me. “I just wanted to save you, Jayden. I didn’t want Horeb to hurt you. I could have protected you.”
“You’re no match for him, Asher,” I said softly.
Kadesh’s voice shook with rage. “You thought you could protect Jayden by bringing Horeb closer—a man you know nothing about? The Nephish King vowed to take Jayden and keep her as a slave wife. Jayden is not yours to protect. You were her bodyguard—nothing else! An assignment meant to teach you to grow up to be a man and a leader.”
The words were harsh. Asher was shamed before me. Love had blinded him in incomprehensible ways. A foolish, naïve boy who had so much to learn. A boy who might never rule the land of Edom after this.
While Laban squirmed on the sand, Chemish spat into the fire pit now buried by sand. “A kingdom is hard-won through blood and sweat and protecting those you love at all costs. You’ve grown up sheltered in Edom. I brought you on this journey to learn how kingdoms, politics—war and peace—truly work. How we fight for the things we love: our families and country and faith.”
Jabal and Seth hefted Laban between them. “What shall we do with him?”
There was a pause of silence.
“He’s a traitor,” Kadesh said. “He’ll be executed before we leave. I won’t take any chance of him leaving his last missive of information. Destroy the rest of the tablets and papyrus, Seth. And destroy Asher’s scribe tools.”
Asher made a strangled sound. He dropped to his knees before his father and Kadesh. “My lords, please, have pity on me. I am your son, your brother. I’m not a traitor. I love my kingdom. I love Sariba. I didn’t know Laban’s plan. I would never have allowed Horeb to destroy us—or to take Jayden as his slave.”
Kadesh whirled about, snapping his cloak. “Horeb’s motives and actions are nothing you can stop or change, Asher.” To Jabal and Seth he said, “I’ll announce my judgment shortly. Punishment to be meted out before we leave.”
Without looking back, Kadesh left the perimeter of camp. He shoved past the salt brush growing up through the sand. Strode down a hollow into the emptiness of midnight. My heart ached for him. I wondered where he was going.
The two Edomites checked that Laban’s and Asher’s wrists and ankles were secure. “Guard them,” Chemish added, and he stalked off to see how the caravan was coming together.
It appeared as though we were ready to flee into the Empty Sands—the worst portion of the trip. Hotter weather. Fewer wells. And Horeb literally nipping at our heels like a mangy wolf.
I sheathed my sword, my hands still shaking. My stomach was ill; I wanted to throw up. I’d never felt this kind of sickening pain before.
Asher’s eyes pleaded at me. “Please, Jayden, you believe me? You’ll speak to Kadesh for me?”
“Don’t, Asher. Don’t beg me to do anything for you.”
Then I turned on my heel and followed Kadesh into the darkness.
I found him kneeling on the dirt, his back bowed over, his head in his hands. What terrible decisions he had to make. How horrific our trip had become.
I yearned for my grandmother. Seraiah would have wise words for me, for Kadesh.
With quiet steps, I approached and knelt in the warm sand. Kadesh’s shoulders tensed and I placed my hands on them. “Let me share your anguish,” I whispered.
> He raised his face to the heavens. Shafts of silver moonlight glazed the scarred side of his face. “I’m Prince of Sariba. Soon to be its king. And I don’t know what to do. How can I execute men I’ve known my entire life? Men who volunteered to fight with me? To die with me?”
“But they thought they could defy death. And defy you. They thought they had a better plan. A plan that would mean all of our deaths—or slavery.”
Rising to his knees, Kadesh pulled me against him. His face sank into my belly and his arms wrapped around my legs. I didn’t hear his sobs, but I felt them. “To order an execution so far from home. Years before I ever thought I’d have to make such a decision.”
I stroked his hair with my hands. “Laban is a traitor to you and his country and Chemish.”
“But Asher! Chemish’s own son! I saw him in Isra’s arms when he was three months old.” He glanced up at me and there was a moment of silence between us. “Asher is in love with you, isn’t he?”
I swallowed, scraping at the dryness in my mouth. “I believe so.”
“Has he divulged his feelings to you?”
“Not—not in words. But in deeds.”
“You should have told me.”
“You have so much more to worry about than a boy with an infatuation.”
“It’s not an infatuation for Asher. I saw the way he looked at you tonight.”
“Can he be forgiven? Can he atone for his stupidity and grave mistakes?”
“What he’s done to our army, to you, is not easily brushed aside. Atonement is another question altogether.” Kadesh’s arms loosened when he sat back on his heels. I knelt down to kiss his eyes, his forehead, and the scar running along his cheek. “Never have I had to make a more excruciating decision.”
“In one night, everything has changed,” I said quietly. “You are being called to the kingship right here, right now. Without your Uncle Ephrem to advise you.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready to be a king. Can I make these difficult decisions? Punish my best friend’s child? Isra will never forgive me.”
“A mother can never believe the worst about her own child,” I said, thinking of Judith. Holding Kadesh tight, I wept with him. “But Chemish knows. He is a king, too. He will forgive whatever you decide.”
“It has to be me, you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I must deliver the punishment to Laban and Asher. I can’t ask their brothers, or anyone else. There is no one else. This was a crime against me and my country and my mission. If I stand as witness and judge both, I must be executioner as well.”
We rose to our feet and embraced so tightly I could barely breathe. I clung to him, willing any strength I had left to seep into his soul. “I trust you to do the right thing for your conscience, for the good of your kingdom, and in the eyes of God.”
“You know I have to punish, Asher. Despite his ignorance and naïveté. The other men have to know we won’t tolerate any form of sedition or stupidity.”
“I know,” I whispered.
“You have more faith than I do, my love,” Kadesh said bitterly.
“For tonight I’ll have enough for both of us.”
It didn’t take long to organize the four companies of soldiers. They stood at attention for the verdict and penalty. Chemish’s face was haggard, his expression broken. I couldn’t begin to imagine his suffering.
Kadesh arranged to use Seth’s bow and arrow while Laban was brought before the tribe.
The rogue thief stood alone before his Edomite brothers. There were bruises on his face and a split lip from Chemish’s fist. His legs were tied with rope so he couldn’t run. Two Edomite men stood on either side and blindfolded him. I hid my face, not wanting to watch his shame. Laban begged for mercy, and when that didn’t come he screamed insults and rage.
Kadesh raised his voice so everyone could hear. “As Prince of Sariba and head of this expedition, and with full agreement from Chemish, King of the Edomites, I sentence Laban to death for crimes of treason and sedition, including regicide and the attempted assassination of his leaders.”
No one spoke a word. A grave solemnity hung heavy.
Chemish stood soberly, not speaking. My father was somewhere within the ranks of the soldiers and I couldn’t see him. When no one begged for Laban’s life or put forth evidence to the contrary, Kadesh walked across the campsite. For a moment he stood directly opposite the convict.
I hardly dared to breathe when Kadesh lifted the bow, notched the arrow, and took aim. When he pulled the string taut, I saw a faint shaking of emotion. A heartbeat passed, and then Kadesh fired straight into Laban’s chest.
The thief’s raging words abruptly stopped when the arrow punctured his heart. He staggered, but still stood. Kadesh quickly notched a second arrow and fired it again. Laban gave a soft grunt and then fell face-first into the sand.
He hit the ground with a thud. The shafts of the two arrows snapped with a crack in the silence.
21
The screams of Asher were lengthy and horrible. Kadesh ordered him down a hill and out of sight of the camp to administer the punishment of twenty lashes. The camp was deadly silent as we listened.
I cringed with each stroke of the whip that echoed through the air.
There was a breath of relief when the screams finally stopped. We all waited, and then Chemish appeared, carrying his son. Asher was unconscious, his clothing bloodied and shredded. Chemish placed him onto his horse, tied him to the animal, and then rode beside him.
When Kadesh returned, his chest was heaving, his eyes bleak. Not a word was spoken while we mounted our camels and horses. The company, taking formation by groups, galloped into the darkness as the moon sank below the horizon.
Kadesh rode on my left and my father rode on my right, but not a word was spoken by anyone until dawn. I felt protected, loved, but the deep sadness would take time to absorb. The events of tonight would stay with me forever.
All I could do was ride beside Kadesh, pushing my camel in a never-ending race into a barrenness far worse than any we’d experienced up until now. A desert fraught with misery, glaring sun, and death. A desert without shade and little water. And Horeb’s army breathing down our necks.
I wondered what Horeb would think when he came across our cold camp and found Laban shot through by two Edomite arrows.
The lands of the Empty Sands rolled in undulating waves on all sides of us—flatter and more desolate than anything I’d seen so far. So austere not a single tree stood in the endlessly unchanging terrain while dry riverbeds scarred the emptiness.
We dragged our camels through hillocks of deep sand. At times, my camel shied away or stopped altogether. She sensed death lay beyond those slippery dunes of gold.
The glare of the sun made my eyes hurt. For the first time in my life I beheld the sands that swallowed camels and men whole. A place as desolate as the moon.
“It’s easy to lose heart out here. A stark land tries men’s spirits,” Kadesh told me. “Men often lose their nerve before they lose their water skins.”
I tried to smile past my chapped lips. Even my eyelids were sunburned, and I often rode with my scarf wrapped completely around my face.
We ate raw meat since we had no wood for a fire. Kadesh prepared a special concoction of garlic and spices to sweeten the meat so it was edible, rubbing it on like a paste.
No scrub brush, no hidden wildflowers for our camels and horses. At night they bawled, hungry. We didn’t even have extra water to help fill their bellies.
Our water bags turned dry long before we reached each new well, even though we pushed the animals to travel late into the nights which were cooler and didn’t sap our energy as much. I only hoped Horeb and his army was having a worse time of it. That he was losing men to starvation and thirst. Getting lost in the sands.
Asher avoided me, and everyone else. From the corner of my eye I’d watch him tend the men’s horses, search for food for the camels, kneel for
hours at each well, drawing water, volunteering for every extra task. The sight of him made my chest ache, despite the fact he’d brought Horeb within reach of us.
After three weeks I was stuck in a never-ending dream of sand fleas and scorpions. Tightening my belt every day against hunger pangs. My bones so weary I was sure I’d turned the age of Seraiah. Even so, I tried to spend a few moments with my new sword before going to bed, practicing the moves Asher had taught me. I often caught him watching me, nodding his head. Then, when he knew I’d seen him, he’d slink away into the darkness.
We were so hungry and thirsty by the time we reached the end of the trail of desolation, even the Edomites didn’t show their usual joy at the sight of the well. There was only silence and exhaustion.
Wrapped in his dusty cloak, Kadesh studied the terrain surrounding the well. “The next well is home. We’re almost there.”
The next morning we learned Horeb’s army had been spotted. They were still behind us despite the terrible final stretch, but had dropped back several days, even close to a week. He was still there, still coming, with no other roads or trails to distract him if he maintained a due east direction. But at least Kadesh would have a chance to organize the army of Sariba.
Three long days later, a range of mountains came into view. The Edomites let out a wild series of echoing shouts. I was so relieved I cried over my camel’s neck but my eyes were dry from dehydration.
“The Qara Mountains,” Kadesh shouted. Joy lit his face as he beheld the range of his homeland for the first time in more than a year. A burst of excited energy engulfed the horses and they danced and wheeled on the sand.
“The hills appear so far away still,” I said, wishing we were there already, and safe behind the gates of Sariba.
“We’ll be there in half a day,” Kadesh replied, squeezing my hand in his.
My emotions were strangely mixed. At last we could stop. I would sleep in a real bed. There would be food and water. But melancholy washed over me as I realized I had a new home, strange people to meet, expectations I could barely imagine. And both my sisters missing.