As Sure as the Dawn (47 page)

Atretes was eager to find his people, but for reasons far different from when he had set out from Ephesus. He was on fire with the good news of Jesus Christ, anxious to impart it. He wanted his people to know Jesus, born of woman, declared the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. He wanted them to know God had poured out his life for them, that they could be one with his power and glory and might. If God was for them, who could come against them? Not even Rome could stand against them with God on their side!

“I will make them embrace Jesus!” he said as he walked alongside Rizpah.

“You can’t
make
your people embrace anything,” Theophilus said, seeing the way of sin.

“They have to know the truth.”

“And the truth they shall know. Have patience, beloved. Did you come to the Lord by force or revelation?”

“I’ll tell them how God raised Rizpah from the dead. They’ll accept my word.” It never occurred to Atretes that it might be otherwise.

Evenings, around the campfire, Theophilus nourished Atretes’ hunger by continuing to tell him all he knew. He told Atretes of Mary, the chosen one of God, a virgin, who was to bear the child Jesus. “She was betrothed to Joseph, a righteous man who was a carpenter. When she told him she was with child by the Holy Spirit, he had to decide what to do. By law, it was his right to have her stoned to death for impurity.”

“The Chatti have that in common with the Jews,” Atretes said. “We don’t tolerate impure women. Their heads are shaved and they’re driven out of the tribe or drowned in the bog. Only virgins marry.” He saw Rizpah look at him, eyes wide. “You are different,” he said firmly.

Different how?
She wondered. Was it because God had raised her from the dead that Atretes had felt he could marry her? She was afraid to ask, and doubt about his love tore at her.

I will trust in you, Lord. I will trust in
you.

Theophilus told of an angel appearing to Joseph and telling him that Mary was with child by the Holy Spirit. Joseph was to call the child Jesus, because the babe would save his people.

Caesar Augustus called for a census. As was the custom of the Jews, Joseph took Mary, who was heavy with child, and returned to his birthplace, Bethlehem, to be counted. Jesus was born there, but in a stable because there was no place in the inn.

Wise men from the east who had followed a new star came and gave gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the child. King Herod, well aware of the prophesies of the Messiah, tried to find Jesus also, but for far darker reasons. When he couldn’t, he ordered all children born in Bethlehem and under the age of two be murdered. An angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and warned him, so that he took Mary and Jesus and fled into Egypt.

When Herod died, an angel came again to Joseph in a dream and told him it was safe to return. Joseph brought Mary and Jesus to Nazareth in the region of Galilee. There, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. It wasn’t until a prophet named John the Baptist came along, a man who preached the repentance of sin on the banks of the Jordan River, that Jesus began his public ministry and proclaimed the kingdom of God was at hand.

“Jesus was thirty years old when he came to John and was baptized. John resisted, recognizing Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus insisted John baptize him in order to fulfill all righteousness. That’s why we follow his example and do likewise. Our lives are to be a reflection of him. We decide for the Lord and act in obedience. And therein comes the difficulty, Atretes—living in accordance with God’s will and daily sacrificing our own. It was after Christ’s baptism that Jesus was sent by God into the wilderness where he fasted for forty days. At the end of it, when he was weak and hungry and most vulnerable, Satan tempted him.”

Atretes’ brows rose in disdain. “But this was God, so Satan was no real threat.”

“Satan is the enemy of God.”

“An enemy without power. Can he raise the dead?”

“As a warrior, you know better than to underestimate an enemy,” Theophilus said. “It’s true we aren’t to fear anything or anyone except the Lord. But now that you are a Christian, the real battle begins. Satan is a master deceiver, Atretes. Remember the subtle lie he told Eve and the consequences of it? Sin and death. Adam and Eve walked with the Lord in the Garden. They spoke with God face-to-face. If they could be deceived under such circumstances, do you think it impossible that you or I or Rizpah could be deceived as well? Satan is an eternal being, like God. He may not know all things as God does or have God’s power, but he knows our weaknesses even better than we do. He knows us intimately. He knows the evil desires of our heart and mind. He knows where and when to attack to gain the best advantage. Satan schemes and plays upon those things in order to separate us from God and bring about our destruction.
Never
underestimate him. Without our armor, we’re vulnerable.”

Atretes felt the intensity of Theophilus’ warning and heeded it. “What armor have we against this being?”

“The truth, the righteousness of Christ himself, the gospel of peace, salvation, our faith. Remember the arena, Atretes. You weren’t sent in to face an opponent without training and practice, without protection and weapons. Likewise, God will not send us into battle without the tools we need to stand against the enemy.”

He smiled grimly. “Gird up your loins with the truth God is revealing to you. Put on the breastplate of righteousness, shod your feet with the gospel of peace, and wear the helmet of salvation. Your faith in Christ
is
the shield against Satan’s arrows, and the Word of God is your sword. Without faith, without the Word of God, we’re defenseless against the powers of darkness. The battle is for your mind; the goal, the destruction of your soul.”

“We must never forget the power of prayer,” Rizpah said. She took her husband’s hand in both of hers. “At all times, pray in the Spirit, for Theophilus, for our son, for me, for your people, for yourself.”

“I will do as you say.”

“Do as the Lord says,” Theophilus told him, seeing a reverence for Rizpah that was misplaced. He knew the Germans thought women had spiritual abilities above and beyond men. But the miracle of Rizpah’s return from death was God’s doing, not her own. “Walk in all his ways and love him. Serve the Lord our God with all your heart and soul, and keep his commandments. We must all be on the alert, Atretes, for we are going to a place of darkness, territory now held by Satan.”

“Then we’ll do battle for it!”

“Not in the way you think. We will
stand firm
in faith and love, so that God himself will battle for us.”

They passed several small villages and entered the country of the hercynian forest. The tree-covered hills ran on, sloping down toward the plains. Atretes led Theophilus and Rizpah around a swampland and through a forest of spindly pines with black trunks. It was an eerie place filled with the sound of frogs and insects, with shadows, and with the dank smells of decay.

“Do I smell smoke?” Rizpah said, wondering if it came straight from the fires of hell. The scent was brief, acrid, possibly imagined.

“Rodung,”
Atretes said and kept walking.

Theophilus fell into step beside her. “The Germans slash and burn sections of forest to release land for raising crops. The wood ash enriches the soil for several years, and then they let it go wild again.”

“We’re close,” Atretes said. “I know this place.” The familiar smells of forest, swamp, and burning brought back memories. He felt at home for the first time in over ten years. He wanted to run through the forest, framea in hand, shouting. He wanted to strip off his clothes and dance over the swords before the fire, crying out to the heavens as he had as a youth.

When Rizpah came up next to him, he pulled her close.

“Home,” he said, his fingers combing into her hair. “We’re almost home!” Laughing, he kissed her, opening her mouth, giving release to his excitement.

Rizpah gasped when he released her, falling back a step, her cheeks bright red. She looked startled and uncertain. Grinning down at her, Atretes took Caleb and sat him on his shoulders as they went on. “I used to hunt in those hills. Over there is swampland and a bog. Beyond that, just over that hill, is my village.” But when they came to the clearing, only charred and decaying remains of a long-ago burned village remained. Atretes walked out into the open, looking around. A portion of a huge longhouse remained, grass growing up between the broken-down beams and collapsed walls. Beyond, he saw the burned timber roofs of the
grubenhaus.
The sunken huts had caved in, leaving shallow hollows in the earth.

The old anger stirred in him. Rome!

Eleven years ago, he and his mother had laid his father in a funeral house not twenty feet from where he stood. Many other funeral houses had burned that night, but the village had been intact. A few months later, his people were scattered or dead, and he, a captive, had been chained in a wagon and on his way to the Roman ludus.

Several hundred people had once lived here. Where were they now?

Throwing his head back, Atretes gave a shout that reverberated. Frightened, Caleb started to cry. Atretes swung the boy down from his shoulders and half tossed him to Rizpah. Walking away from her and his son, he shouted again, louder, the sound of his deep voice carrying into the forest. If his people were anywhere near, they would hear and know he had returned.

The sound of his battle cry was so much like that of the attacking Mattiaci that Rizpah shuddered. Theophilus came and stood beside her. “I never made it this far north, but I can guess what happened.” He kicked at a burned and rotting piece of timber.

“I’m afraid,” she said. “And I’m not even exactly sure what frightens me.” She looked up at him. “Do you think Atretes understands, really understands, what it means to be a Christian?”

“No. But then, neither did I in the beginning.”

“Nor I. Did you see the look on his face when he walked into the clearing?”

“I saw.”

“O God, help us. I love him so much, Theophilus. Maybe too much.”

“He has given his life to God. The Father won’t let him go.”

“But what can I do?”

“Walk in the Lord’s way and pray. Pray, beloved, and don’t stop.” Leaving her, he walked toward the German. “Do you want to camp here for the night or go further north?”

“Here. And we build a big fire.”

Theophilus felt the German’s anger like a black force. “I’ll gather wood.” He removed his packs, took a small axe from one of them, and headed for the woods.

Atretes gave another shout.

No answer came.

A few minutes later, the sound of Theophilus chopping wood echoed softly. Swearing, Atretes turned.

Rizpah’s heart broke at the look on his face. All the years of dreaming, all the months of travel and hardship, and they came to this: a burned out, deserted village. She set Caleb down and went to her husband. “We’ll find them,” she said, wanting to instill hope in him. “We won’t stop looking until we do.”

“They’re all dead.”

“No. We smelled smoke. You said rodung, and Theophilus told me fire is used by your people to release forest lands.”

Theophilus strode across the clearing and dumped an armload of wood near the collapsed longhouse. “They wouldn’t leave their sacred grove,” he said with excitement, as though it had just occurred to him.

Atretes looked half startled. “You’re right.” Grabbing up his pack, he headed across the clearing, framea in hand. Rizpah ran for Caleb while Theophilus shouldered his share of the gear.

They walked quickly, weaving their way through the trees. The wind changed, and Rizpah smelled smoke again, stronger this time.

Atretes stopped beside a gnarled pine. A ring of black bark had been cut away and runes carved into the smooth surface. “This marks the boundary of the sacred wood. The grove is a mile from here. That way.”

Theophilus shrugged off his pack. “We’ll wait for you here.”

Atretes glanced at him in surprise. “You’re afraid of Tiwaz?”

“No, but your people wouldn’t listen to me about the Lord if I desecrated their sacred wood by entering it.”

Atretes’ respect for Theophilus grew. Even so, he knew the only thing that would keep the Chatti from killing the Roman would be God himself. Theophilus knew this as well. With a nod, Atretes left them. Rizpah set Caleb down to play. The child found an acorn and tried to eat it. “No, no,” Rizpah said, stooping. She took it from his mouth and tossed it away.

“No, no!” Caleb said, mouth quivering.

Rizpah brushed his hair back from his face and kissed him. “The fire is to the northeast of us,” Theophilus said, leaning against the trunk of the border pine.

Rizpah approached and looked at the symbols carved there. Wolves surrounded a three-headed man with breasts and distended male genitals. In one hand, he held a scythe, in the other, a sword. A horned male figure stood beside him holding a framea. Runes were carved between. Frowning, Rizpah leaned down and touched one. “Atretes wore a pendant with this symbol on it.” She had seen it when he removed his clothing beside the spring.