Among the Gods (Chronicles of the Kings Book #5)

  He hesitated, seeing where Miriam was leading him. “The Assyrians were her lifelong enemies,” he said slowly. “She couldn’t have endured the thought of losing me to them.”

  “But I can?”

  He caressed Miriam’s cheek as if trying to smooth away the pain and anger he saw on her face. “Miriam, nothing is going to happen to me. I know because I can see God’s plan so clearly in all of this. King Manasseh is Assyria’s ally. Once we’ve driven the Assyrians back to Nineveh, Judah will be ours. We can all go home.”

  “We are home,” she said softly. Her eyes filled with tears. “Joshua, please—”

  “Don’t!” He quickly covered her lips with his fingers. “Don’t ask, Miriam. You know I would do anything for you, but please don’t ask me to stay here. I have to fight. I have to.”

  Her tears spilled down her cheeks. “But who’s going to take care of you this time? Who will watch out for you and save your life? I can’t come with you like I did all those other times.”

  “God will watch over me … and over you.”

  She closed her eyes and shuddered, then opened them again a moment later. “Maybe this is why my legs have never healed. Maybe God wants to keep me on my knees.”

  Nathan bristled with excitement as he hurried up to the barracks with his friend Saul. “They said our assignments would be posted this afternoon. I hope we’re together.”

  “Are you sure we’ll actually get to fight the Assyrians?” Saul asked. “Aren’t we too far south to be called into battle?”

  “Listen, I’m not supposed to know this,” Nathan said, “but I overheard Prince Amariah talking out in our courtyard last night and—”

  “You were eavesdropping?”

  “Yeah, so what. He said the Assyrians are pounding the Egyptians. Pharaoh’s troops are getting pulverized. They’re desperate, and they’re sending for every man they can get.”

  “So we’ll get to see some action?” Saul asked.

  “Guaranteed. They’re mobilizing all the troops, including our regiment.”

  “I was beginning to think we’d never be real soldiers. We’re finally going to get off this island and fight!”

  “We’ll chase those heathens all the way back to Nineveh!” Nathan vowed.

  When they reached the barracks, a crowd of soldiers had already gathered near the wall where the assignments had been posted. One by one, Nathan’s fellow recruits cheered as they read the listings, as eager as he was to enter the battle. Saul, who was a few inches taller than Nathan, craned his neck for a closer look.

  “Hey, your father has been given a commission. He’s the commanding officer of my regiment. But I don’t see your name here.”

  “They wouldn’t put me in his unit. Let me see.” Nathan elbowed his way to the front and quickly scanned the lists of names. Then he read them again. He couldn’t find his name on any list. “Hey, what’s going on?” he shouted.

  “I found it,” Saul said, “over here.” He pointed to a list that was pinned separately from the others. Nathan saw his name, then read the heading on the top of the page in disbelief.

  “Home guard! They can’t do this to me!” He unleashed a stream of curses.

  Saul tried to lead him away as everyone turned to stare. “Shh … calm down, Nate. If our commanders hear you, they’ll—”

  “I don’t care! What more can they do to me? They’ve already denied me a chance to fight! And I’ll tell you right now, I’m not going to take it!”

  “Nathan, wait. Don’t do something stupid.”

  But in his fury Nathan was beyond reason. He stormed into the barracks and tracked down his former drill instructor, taking the man by surprise as he confronted him.

  “Why did you assign me to the home guard? How could you do this to me? I don’t deserve the home guard! I’m every bit as good as the other guys, and you know it!”

  “We need good men to guard the home front. It’s an honor—”

  “I want to fight! Reassign me!”

  “Those are your orders, Nathan. A good soldier obeys without question.”

  “You know as well as I do that the Assyrians will never get this far south. I’ll never get a chance to fight. Change my assignment now!”

  Nathan’s angry demand seemed to push the drill instructor over the edge. He swiftly crossed the room and shoved Nathan against the wall, planting his hand on his chest to pin him there. “You watch the way you talk to me! Right now you’re dangerously close to a charge of insubordination!”

  Nathan barely resisted the urge to fight back. The man finally released him. “Just for the record, I had nothing to do with your assignment. In fact, I recommended you as a squad leader.”

  “It was Colonel Simeon, wasn’t it? I’ll bet he’s behind this. He never forgave me for what happened at the Feast of Pentecost. He thinks I’m a bad influence—”

  “That’s enough!” the man shouted. “Colonel Simeon had nothing to do with it, either.”

  “Then why won’t they let me fight like everyone else?”

  The instructor hesitated. “I like you, Nathan. You’re a fine soldier, but you have a rotten temper, and I don’t want you to get yourself into trouble over this. I’m going to tell you where the order came from, but only so you’ll see why you’d better drop it, understand?” Nathan waited. “Prince Amariah made the request.”

  Nathan felt as if all the air had been punched from his lungs. He knew then that Joshua had requested the assignment. He was so stunned, so furious, he couldn’t speak.

  “Are you okay, son?” the drill instructor asked. Nathan barely nodded. “As I said, it’s an honor to be assigned to guard the prince. He asked for you personally, and—Hey, where are you going?”

  “Home.” Nathan stormed from the barracks, jogging through the streets, his fury mounting.

  He found Joshua in the rear courtyard of their house, sharpening his dagger on a whetstone. To see him preparing for war, eager for it, made Nathan angrier still. Joshua looked up in surprise as Nathan slammed the outside gate behind him.

  “You pulled strings, didn’t you? You got me assigned to the home guard!”

  Joshua carefully slid the dagger back into its leather sheath before answering. “Yes, I made the request,” he said quietly. “They didn’t have to honor it, but even your commanding officer saw the wisdom in—”

  “Because I’m a rebel? A thief? Am I going to carry those labels around for the rest of my life?”

  “Calm down, son. Your past had nothing whatsoever to do with this decision.”

  “Like blazes it didn’t! You’re afraid I’ll ruin discipline and lead everyone astray or maybe damage your precious reputation again.”

  Joshua lowered his voice. “I asked for you to be posted here partly for Miriam’s sake. She’s raised you since you were a baby. If she lost you—”

  “She has Mattan. He’s too young to go. I want to fight!”

  “Nathan, I also asked for my own sake. You’re my only son. Who will carry on my name if anything happens to you?” He tried to rest his hand on Nathan’s shoulder, but he twisted away.

  “I don’t really care what happens to your stupid name. Either change my orders so I can fight, or else I’m leaving right now. I’ll join one of Pharaoh’s other regiments on the mainland. I’ve finished my training; they won’t turn me away. That’s your choice!”

  “Why does everything have to be a confrontation between us? Why can’t you try to understand me? Or understand why I asked for this?”

  “Why should I bother when you make no attempt to understand me? Now, thanks to you, I’m going to be stuck here on this stupid island for the rest of my life.” Nathan was angry enough to punch Joshua, but he knew from past experience which one of them would win that fight.

  “I used to hate it here, too,” Joshua said, “but once I saw that it was God’s will—”

  “Let me fight!” Nathan shouted.

  “You could be killed, Nathan. Many of our men w
ill be. The Assyrians are highly skilled warriors.”

  “I’m already dying here. Suffocating! Fighting is the one thing I’m good at. Let me go! I’m tired of living in your shadow. Let me have a chance to make my own name, to see who I really am.”

  “You already have a name and an identity as my son, as part of my father’s family and his father’s family. You’ve had that identity ever since I gave you my name.”

  “I’m not your son!” Nathan knew how much those words would hurt Joshua, but he took aim and fired them as his only remaining weapon. “You’re not my father! Change my orders or say good-bye to me.”

  Joshua gazed at him, his face creased with sorrow. “Either way I lose you, don’t I?”

  “That’s right. So decide how you want it to be.”

  Joshua sighed deeply, and for the second time in his life, Nathan had a premonition of him as an old man, dying. He had to remind himself that Joshua was barely forty years old.

  “You win, Nathan,” he said at last. “Come up to the fort with me. I’ll get your orders changed.”

  Miriam stood on the dock, staring upriver at the swirling water long after all of the troop ships had departed, long after all of the other soldiers’ families had returned to their homes. With Joshua and Nathan both gone, she had no reason to return to an empty house.

  How would she ever cope with the long, lonely months of waiting that stretched ahead of her? How could she stand the uncertainty and dread that would stalk the empty silences? She let her crutches fall onto the wooden pier, then collapsed beside them, not even caring that she had no way to pull herself to her feet again. She tried to pray but no words came. She felt utterly alone.

  After a long time, the pier began to rock slightly as someone walked out to the end where she sat. Miriam turned and was surprised to see Prince Amariah. He stopped beside her and stood with his hands on his hips, gazing silently into the distance for a long moment. Then he crouched beside her.

  “Mind if I sit with you?”

  When she shook her head, he sank down with a sigh, dangling his feet over the edge of the pier. The silence stretched comfortably between them. Miriam thought of all the memories they shared and how much time had passed since they’d first met. She knew the prince had been thinking the same things when he suddenly said, “We’ve been through a lot together, haven’t we, Miriam? It seems like a very long time ago that I paid thirty shekels of silver for you in Jerusalem.”

  “You paid fifty. Don’t forget the twenty you gave my mother.”

  “That’s right,” he said, laughing softly. “I forgot about that. But I’ve never forgotten how you helped me escape from Jerusalem.”

  “Dressed in women’s clothing.”

  “Yes, in women’s clothing.” He shook his head in mock dismay. “I violated the Torah shamelessly dressing like that.”

  “It wasn’t my idea, it was Joshua’s—” As soon as she said his name, Miriam’s tears were unleashed. She covered her mouth to stifle her sobs, but nothing could stem the flow of grief that washed down her cheeks. Amariah wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, allowing her to weep. She didn’t realize how much she needed the release, how badly she needed to be held, until her tears were spent and she sat quietly beside him once again. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  He hugged her gently. “Don’t be. Each of us is alone in some way, living with circumstances that no one else can understand.” He let his arm drop from her shoulders. “Do you feel like talking?”

  “You go first.”

  He exhaled slowly. “You know, Miriam, this royal blood flowing through my veins is such a mixed blessing. Today it kept me from going to war with all the other men—and it will keep my sons here, too, where it’s safe. But it’s flowing slow and heavy with guilt right now, like the Nile when it’s loaded with silt. I feel relieved that I don’t have to fight, but I feel guilty because I’ll be safe while better men than me have to suffer and die.” He glanced at her anxiously, as if afraid that he’d said the wrong thing; then he looked down at the river again. “But would my life have any meaning if I didn’t have King David’s blood? Am I being ungrateful when I despise this special gift from God? Sometimes I try to imagine how different my life would have been if I was just an ordinary man, but it’s hard to imagine something I’ve never experienced.”

  “And you can’t miss something that you never had,” she said softly. “You know what I’ve been thinking? It was better for me before—when Joshua didn’t love me. I had nothing, but I also had nothing to lose.”

  “You don’t really mean that, Miriam. Would you honestly give back these last ten or twelve years that you and Joshua have shared? Do you really wish you’d never known his love, just to avoid the pain you’re experiencing right now?”

  Miriam recalled Joshua’s tenderness and his passion, the peace and joy she felt in his arms, knowing that she was utterly loved and cherished by him. The memories brought fresh tears, then suffocating panic at the thought that she might never see Joshua or feel his arms around her again. She took slow, deep breaths to combat her panic.

  “I never wanted to play the part of a cripple,” she said shakily. “I never wanted to weigh Joshua down with the burden of my helplessness. And so I couldn’t tell him how much I needed him. I couldn’t beg him to stay or tell him just how alone and scared I feel sometimes, how terrified I am of my own helplessness. When his boat pulled away from shore I wanted to scream, ‘How can you go? How can you leave me all alone like this?’”

  Amariah rested his hand on top of hers. “He went for your sake, Miriam. He had to be the man you fell in love with.”

  “That’s crazy! He’s already a hero for marrying me, for loving me even though I can’t give him children. I don’t need him to play the part of a brave warrior for my sake.”

  “But he needs to play it, Miriam. It’s who he is. You’d lose him forever if you made him stay here. He was very concerned about you, though. He asked me to assign Nathan to the home guard for your sake.”

  “Nathan would have hated that. It would kill him to stay here while everyone else went to war.”

  “I know. And he and Joshua are very much alike, aren’t they?” She nodded slowly. “If you understand why Nathan had to fight, then you can begin to understand why Joshua did, too. He agonized over leaving you, but he did the loving thing, Miriam. It’s better for you to lose a whole man than to hang on to a bitter, empty shell.”

  “The darkness would swallow him,” she said, finally understanding. “I would lose him to his private darkness if he stayed home.” She looked up at Amariah as a sudden realization struck her. “I finally understand how Joshua feels. I know how he suffered all these years after God stripped him of everyone and everything that he loved. I know what it means to feel so alone and yet so afraid to trust God because He sometimes gives hard answers to your prayers.”

  “Miriam, you can trust God’s love. He’ll do what’s best—”

  “No. That’s the answer I’ve always given Joshua—‘Trust God; He won’t do anything to hurt you’—and now I can’t accept it any more than Joshua could. I’m still a cripple. I’ve lost Abba, Mama Jerusha, and both of my babies. If I lose Nathan and Joshua, I’ll have nothing left. And if I trust God and it’s His will to take them, then I might lose my faith in Him, too.”

  She saw the sorrow and understanding in Amariah’s eyes as he met her gaze. “I have no answers for you, Miriam. I’m sorry.”

  “Waiting will be the hardest part. Waiting and not knowing what will happen. That’s what Joshua always said—he was so tired of waiting for God to act.” She turned to stare into the dark river again, watching the reflections of the clouds on the water. “O God, I want Joshua to come back…. I need to tell him how sorry I am.”

  “For what, Miriam?”

  “For telling him he shouldn’t question God. For never really understanding the terrifying darkness that haunted him—until now.”

  “Miriam
, I promise you won’t be alone while he’s gone.”

  “I know.” She listened to the lapping water for a moment before asking, “How bad is this battle going to be? You’ve been through some life-and-death ordeals with me; you know I can handle the truth.”

  “You’re one of the strongest women I’ve ever met.” He smiled slightly, but it quickly faded. “The Assyrian army is the best in the world. That’s why they’ve conquered most of it. But none of their emperors has ever been able to annex Egypt.”

  “Could they conquer it this time?”

  “They’ve already advanced farther than they ever have before. They are career soldiers with the finest organization and equipment in the world. Our soldiers from Elephantine are probably no match for them. But David was an unlikely match against Goliath, too. In the end, the outcome rests with God.” He stood and offered Miriam his hand, helping her to her feet. “Dinah and I will always be here for you. Just ask.”

  “Promise me you’ll tell me what you know about the war, whenever you hear something?”

  He bent to retrieve her crutches. “I promise, Miriam. It’s the very least I can do.”

  22

  THE SUN BLAZED IN THE COPPER SKY, as pitiless and unrelenting as the enemy. Nathan doubted he would ever live to see nightfall. He was in Sheol itself; or if not Sheol, then certainly the valley of the shadow of death. He could never have imagined such unending horror.

  They were losing the battle. The Assyrians raged against them, as numerous as grains of dust in a sandstorm, burying them beneath their weight, blotting out hope like the sun. Nathan’s friends were falling all around him, cut down ruthlessly with sword and spear. He wondered why he was still standing. He gripped his sword as if his hand were welded to it and swung it until his arms trembled with fatigue, but still the Assyrians surged forward.

  As stinging sweat streamed into his eyes, blurring his vision, he thought of Joshua—forced to fight half blind, his perspective distorted, his field of vision limited. Nathan longed to be with him, to draw sanity in all this horror from Joshua’s rocklike strength and faith, but he doubted if he would ever see him again. More than likely they would both be dead before nightfall. Nathan wasn’t sure how he had survived this long.