Carpathian (2 page)

The onetime children’s tale raised its muzzle to the sky and the howl of triumph filled the blackened sky as the crown prince of Egypt was slowly torn limb from limb.

*   *   *

A half a mile away the old and weary man was assisted down from the island and eased into a small ark. His gray hair and beard were covered by thick robes as he bent his head in utter weariness.

“Is it over?” one of the Hebrew soldiers asked as the two men pushed the small dugout toward the eastern shore of the Sea of Reeds.

“This day the Lord has sent us the true deliverers of the people to do battle for us, and after this night you will see the armies of Pharaoh never more.”

The men saw the old man lower his head and cover his face with the fold of his robe. The killing was far from over and their flight just beginning and the awful truth of their situation was sitting before them weeping and forever crazed by events never meant for a human to experience. The old man rested for the years of fleeing ahead of them.

The men around him knew Moses the Deliverer was dying.

THE PLAIN OF MOAB, ISRAELITE ENCAMPMENT AT ABBEL-SHITTIM, 1520
BCE
—THIRTY-SIX YEARS LATER

In the fading light of the setting sun the elder stood upon the rise and looked to the west as a freshening breeze brought the smell of desert water to his nostrils. He slowly reached up and pulled the shroud from his head—the hair was once brown with strength but now it was colored gray with age and to the elder that translated to the color of guilt. If the tribal elder strained his aging eyes into the setting sun he could almost see the shimmer of the River Jordan many miles distant. He knew this to be wishful thinking on his behalf, as the river ran deep, cutting itself into the small valley beyond the hills and plain of Moab—thus impossible to see from this great distance. As he watched the sun finally set beyond the great sea to the west he saw the oil lamps of the city start to illuminate the desert surrounding the last obstacle standing in the way of a promised homeland for his people.

“The city seems to come to life after the setting of the sun. But the real truth be it never sleeps. The city is a live, breathing animal—an animal that stands between your people and their new home.”

Joshua didn’t turn at the sound of the deep voice behind him, instead he once more placed the shroud upon his head.

“The task before us is great,” Joshua said, “even more so than our flight from Pharaoh. The walls of Jericho are too thick, too high, and there are too many Canaanites defending them. I fear they outnumber the forces of our Lord five to one.”

“There will be no trick of light or mysterious plague that delivers the city of Jericho unto you. The walls must fall and it will take an effort unlike any that has come before, Joshua, son of Nun. As before, brother, you stand against the impossible.”

The smaller man finally turned and faced his visitor. The five-man bodyguard, men who were now Joshua’s constant companions, watched the much larger elder of the tribe of Jeddah. Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, tried to see the eyes under the many folds of the hooded robe, but the darkness there was as complete as the night sky.

“They have caught every man and woman I have sent into the city to gather the information I need. My forward elements tell me their heads are even now spiked to the front gates of that cursed city.”

The visitor to the encampment stood silent knowing Joshua had not finished what he had to say. Even after three years of separation the visitor knew Joshua better than all but one man.

Joshua ben Nun of the tribe of Ephraim placed a hand on the shoulder of his guest as he gestured with his other toward the open tent and the welcoming smell of cooking meat.

“Come, friend Kale, we will break bread and share the meat offered by our new homeland. It has been three very long years since we spoke, my friend. The tribes of man have missed your tribe and its brotherhood. Your rearguard action against our many enemies has brought us through the harshest of lands to this, the home Moses has led us unto.”

The large man hesitated as he saw the women of Joshua inside preparing the evening meal. He stopped short of the tent’s opening and refused entrance into the house of the man who had replaced Moses the Deliverer. The new leader of the chosen saw the fear in the women’s faces as they finally spied just who their guest was. When their eyes saw the robed figure next to their husband and father, they scurried from the tent, not waiting long enough to serve the master of the house. The women, with eyes lowered, were all careful to skirt past Joshua with heads bowed, but even more so in deference to the hooded figure next to him.

“Forgive them, old friend. Old fears never leave us, they just settle in like mud between your toes and harden like the hearts of men. And even if you remove that mud the stain of filth is still there.”

“The fears of women and children do not concern me, brother Joshua. You and the Deliverer before you have perpetrated the falsity of my tribe to the others, thus necessitating their fears. We are nothing but butchers and witches—nothing more than a tribe of magicians and tricksters to them. And it has been three years, two months, and eighteen days since the Jeddah have joined with other men of Israel.”

Joshua gestured for his guest to sit. Kale refused. When offered bread, another refusal.

“I will break bread with my people tonight,” Kale said. “The Jeddah have been on the march since the turning of the season. The treasure wagons are still months behind.”

Joshua finally removed his shroud and then shook his head.

“I am the most tired man on God’s great earth, brother Kale. We heard of your battle against the Canaanite charioteers near the plain of Deeab.” Joshua noticed the lowered head of his oldest friend and the greatest warrior he had ever seen in action for the Egyptians, or against them. “Did you lose many warriors of the tribe of Jeddah?”

“All told since the Great Exodus, the Jeddah have been sacrificed to the count of one thousand soldiers.”

The tent was silent as Joshua bowed his head in a silent prayer. He slowly raised his face to the highest part of his tent as if he were seeking wisdom from the highest of sources. Joshua took a deep breath.

“A heavy toll, brother, but a necessary one I fear, just as the task ahead will also take a heavy toll on the chosen,” he hesitated momentarily, “and of the Golia. Thirty-six years of wandering, Kale. Of never finding the home promised by our Lord. We need your soldiers and your animals this one last time.”

“We have lost all but twelve of the Golia. And there are only two females left to continue the breed. The remainder cannot be risked.” Kale softened his voice when he saw that Joshua was actually pained by not only the loss of the soldiers of the Jeddah tribe, but also because of the battle deaths of the magnificent animals that made their Exodus from the land of Pharaoh possible. The special breed of beast were slowly being killed off nearly to extinction for the benefit of the other tribes. “The Golia alone broke the son of Ramesses at the Sea of Reeds while the Hebrew army escaped and crossed the wetlands. An escape made possible by the loss of twenty of the most prized male Golia. And then last month on the plain of Deeab, eight more males and three of the remaining females were lost when they attacked the enemy of Israel as they lay in ambush of the relief army you sent searching for us—or more to the point, the people’s spoils from the conquests of Egypt and Canaan.”

“Old friend, we owe the Lord’s greatest creation our very existence. Without the Golia, we never would have escaped the two lands—”

“As Moses promised me many years ago and you agreed, Joshua, I am taking the Golia and the tribe of Jeddah out of this land God has given unto the people. I am taking them to the far-off lands of the north where the Golia and the tribe of Jeddah can once again grow strong.” Kale looked his old friend in the eyes. “We have done the bidding of the Deliverer, and that of our Lord God. We have done what was said could not be done. We have died for the people of Israel and we have been their host of war. It is time to allow the Golia to live free once more.”

Joshua touched the shoulder of the much larger man. “You have taken the Jeddah and camped far from the other tribes this night. I had prayed that you would be among the children of Israel after your long journey into the land of Canaan. You have not broken bread with the other tribes since the Exodus from the land of Pharaoh.”

“You and the prophet before you know the many reasons why the Jeddah cannot live among the people. It has been this way since the days of Joseph, and before that, Abraham. They too found it a matter of convenience to hide us and the animals away until needed.”

“Your people, your tribe—are they not part of the chosen? Are they not a part of the plan of Moses, and therefore of God? In essence the Jeddah are God’s people … therefore,
my people!”

“Do not overstep your bounds, Joshua. Moses found himself punished and banned from this land for far less arrogance. The Lord God of Hosts did not mean for us to kill off his greatest creation outside of man, the Golia.”

“Enough, Kale, I am not Moses! I do not have the gift of divine intervention. I am but a man—a very tired and worn man at that. No prophet.” He lowered his eyes, unable to meet those of Kale. “Some would even say no war general,” Joshua finished ashamedly as he finally looked up into the face of his greatest soldier. “We … no, I have need for the Jeddah and your—your very special kinship with the Golia one last time.”

“No!” Kale said loudly as he took a step back. “We have fought for the people since we fled Egypt. Now there are but two hundred men, women, and children left in the tribe of Jeddah, and half of those will not make it to see another summer.”

“It is your animals that are needed. The walls of Jericho must fall tonight.”

“The Golia are dying, dying for the tribes of Israel. They are dying, being killed off by the enemies of the chosen people. And what is the reward we offer them for their service to God and all of Israel? You offer the one thing the animals have come to hate, Joshua. They hate death. They hate their dishonor. They are sickened by what they have been asked to do against our brother man. You offer yet more carnage and then and only then can the Golia’s days of peace commence for an animal we turned warlike in nature. Only there will not be one animal left to cherish that peace, and their caretakers, my Jeddah, will not be far behind them in death.”

Joshua’s anger was legendary, but Kale did not flinch as the new leader of the Hebrews bound to his feet. The only movement Kale made was to lightly touch the bronze sword just under the folds of his large robe.

“Jericho must fall … it must fall tonight!”

“Then you had better marshal all your soldiers, old friend, because you take the city without the Jeddah and absent the Golia. I will not risk one more man of my tribe and not one more of the remaining animals will ever do murder for the people again.”

“Is it murder to kill for the sake of seeking a home for all of the children of Israel?”

“Find a home, but live among the people of this new land. Soldiers of the enemy may need to die, but not their women and children—a murderous task you have become rather adept at, Joshua.”

“Kale, after this night you and the Jeddah are free. The Golia will make the sojourn to the north with you. Take them and go as brothers.”

Kale stopped at the tent’s entrance but dared not ask the price of this surrender by Joshua.

“If you allow the Golia to accede to my battle plan, this city will fall tonight. After the walls of Jericho fall and the city burns you will be tasked with an even greater mission for the people of Israel.”

Kale allowed his shoulders to slump as he was now informed of Joshua’s true intent. The leader of the Jeddah knew Joshua as the most knowledgeable of men. Far more clever than even the prophet Moses when it came to the long-term plans of the children of Israel. Kale waited for the truth of his visit.

“After the fighting has finished in this land awash with water, tree, and fruit,” Joshua explained, “I fear the people will never have true peace even then. I fear it was not meant to be so.” Joshua went to Kale and touched the large man’s shoulder and the Jeddah leader turned to face his old friend. “The people’s treachery against God at Sinai has angered the Lord of Hosts and his punishment against his people for arrogance will be centuries of battle against the people and tribes of Canaan.” Joshua looked at Kale with pleading eyes. “Only two of the Golia will be risked for the chance at not only life for God’s beasts, but life for the Jeddah and a lasting chance for the people to have their heritage saved for them. In future battles we could lose our greatest treasures to the peoples of this land. After the fall of the city you will take that heritage with you and you will allow no man of any land and also no man of the chosen to ever know where our heritage lies hidden. That is your task. Leave us for your great stone mountains and I swear no man shall follow the Golia and the Jeddah. Two Golia and the casting of the spell—that is what I ask of the great Kale.”

“You swear on the stone tablets that you and the chosen will not follow my people and the Golia to the north?”

“After this night the Jeddah are free to take the Golia and Pharaoh’s artisans and engineers to erect the greatest temple in all of creation for the heritage of the people. Hide it well and you will never come to harm from the people of Israel.”

“What are you doing, brother? You are giving away king’s ransoms and our greatest gifts from God for what? So they will not be taken from the people when other greater armies come for you in the land of Canaan?” Kale stepped up to his old friend. “You lie to me, brother, why?”

Joshua turned away from Kale and removed his sword and then looked at it in the weak light cast from the oil lamps. “Because if we don’t hide away forever that which has been taken as spoils in battle and the gifts from God himself, the people will never become one with the land and we will be fighting the Canaanites for a thousand years to keep this land. As long as the riches of Egypt and the gifts from God remain with the people we will forever be fighting to protect that which is not important for life.”