Noah (2 page)

“Sleep,” the man said gently. “You need to sleep.”

“Father?” Ila blinked and stared up at him. His face looked so different… so far away. “Please sing to me,” she murmured. “I want my daddy to sing to me.”

“Hush, little one.” The man reached out to stroke her hair. “The fever is making you see things. There’s a song that my father used to sing to me when I could not sleep. Would you like me to sing it to you?”

Ila nodded yes. Was this man her father? she wondered. She still could not tell. Or maybe this was Shem’s father, the man named Noah…?

She heard him start to sing softly.

The man rocked Ila back and forth.

He’s not my daddy
… Ila knew that now. The man was Shem’s father.

“I am also an orphan, little Ila,” Noah whispered. “I lost my father, too, when I was a child.”

Ila closed her eyes again. The man wasn’t singing any longer… Now he was quiet like her. His eyes were closed.

Maybe he’s dreaming too
, thought Ila.

* * *

Noah stood before his father at the ancient shrine. He had just turned thirteen—he was almost a man now. His father was blessing him.

“And so down to us the blessing passed… to my father, Methuselah and then to me… today that birthright passes to you, Noah, my son,” Lamech said.

Noah’s father took out a wooden box and carefully removed a holy talisman, a long snakeskin. He began to wrap it around himself.

“The Creator made Adam in his own image, and then placed the world in his care. This is the path we follow, Noah. This is your work now, your responsibility.”

Noah watched as the holy talisman began to spread up Lamech’s arm. It shimmered as Lamech spoke, glowing with a heavenly light.

“May you walk alongside the Creator in righteousness.”

Noah stared in awe as Lamech stretched out his wrapped hand, holding his index finger close to Noah’s finger. The talisman flickered and then began to crawl onto Noah’s hand. His father gave him a reassuring nod. “So I say to you—”

Loud sounds and cries erupted, cutting off Lamech. Noah’s father quickly yanked his wrapped hand away. “Men are coming! Hide, Noah! Now!”

Noah quickly ducked behind a rock. He peered past a stone, spying a group of miners who were guarded by fierce warlords clad in iron. In the distance, he could see the city. Smoke billowed from the spires of its tall
rough-hewn metal
buildings.

A brutal and powerful-looking man stepped toward Lamech. It was Tubal-cain. He jammed a giant auger into the ground and removed a whitish-yellow stone.

“Pure tzohar!” he declared.

Lamech marched toward the intruder. “This is the Creator’s land. What are you doing?” he demanded.

In response, Tubal-cain backhanded Lamech hard across the face. Lamech tumbled backward into the dirt.

“The Creator?” Tubal-cain thundered. “My mines run dry. My city withers and must be fed. And what has He done? He cursed us to struggle by the sweat of our brows to survive. Damned if I don’t do everything it takes to do just that—survive!”

Tubal-cain’s eyes suddenly landed on the snakeskin talisman, still glimmering on Lamech’s arm.

Noah heard him draw in a breath. “Damned if I don’t take what I want!” he declared loudly. Then he pulled the shimmering reptile skin from Lamech’s body. The holy talisman instantly lost its energy. Now it merely looked like dead skin.

Tubal-cain triumphantly tossed the skin around his shoulders, as though he had won it as a prize. “This relic belongs to Cain’s line now!” he gloated. “The line of Seth ends here.”

Noah gasped as Tubal-cain suddenly pulled out an axe and swung it hard at Lamech.

“Father!” Noah whispered. “Oh no… Father!”

Tubal-cain turned to his miners and gestured at the ground. “The land is ours. Now dig!”

Stunned, Noah raced out of the back of the ancient temple, tears streaming down his face. His kind, beloved father was gone forever.

* * *

Sometime later, Ila stirred. Soft voices whirled around her, but she didn’t know whose they were. Her eyes felt too thick, too heavy, to open.

Now someone was looking at her bandages. Ila moaned in pain. Was it Naameh…? Ila was so tired… so hot…

Naameh gently unwound the bandages to check the young girl’s wound. Noah watched his wife work.

“It’s an ugly one,” she murmured to Noah. “But if the fever doesn’t take her, I think she will live.

“But…” Naameh drew in a breath. “She is barren now. This girl will never have children.”

NEAR DAWN, ILA FELT HERSELF BEING LIFTED INTO NOAH’S
arms again. Whispering to one another, the family hurried after the Watcher named Og through a dark desert.

Ila was tired, but she felt better. Naameh had felt her forehead and said it was cooler now; perhaps Ila’s fever had broken.

The boys had to rush to keep up with the giant’s huge strides and so did Naameh, carrying baby Japheth.

“Why are you helping us?” Ham asked the Watcher.

“For many reasons,” Og explained as they moved along. “The Creator formed us on the second day, the day he made the heavens. We watched over the first humans, Adam and Eve, saw their love and also their frailty. When we saw their
fall, we pitied them. So we glided through the clouds, down to earth. We were not made of stone then, but of light.

“It was not our place to help or interfere with humankind. It was our choice. And for that the Creator punished us. We turned to stone and became bound to your world. Still, we taught humankind all we knew of Creation.

“With our help, people rose from the dust. But then they turned our gifts into violence and destruction. When we were chased into this dark land, only one man protected us.” He looked at Noah. “That was Methuselah.”

Ila remembered Shem saying this name… Was that the name of Noah’s grandfather?

“Most of us were killed—hunted for the light within us, known as tzohar,” Og went on. “We begged the Creator to take us back into heaven, but He stayed silent. And now…”

Noah shifted Ila in his arms as the giant went on.

“And now, you, Noah, claim to have heard His call. Our leader, Samyaza, cannot accept this. How could the Creator call to a man, when it is men who have broken this world?” Og’s voice softened. “But I look at you, Noah, and I see a glimmer of Adam—the man I knew, the man I came to help.”

Ila dozed as they walked further along. At last they came to the foot of a mountain. It was green, rising above the empty dark plain. Ila thought she could see a few caves at the very top.

Noah set her down on a soft spot on the ground and then helped Naameh set up their camp.

“Shem and I will go alone to see Methuselah,” Noah informed the others. “The rest of you will stay here until we return.”

Ham’s face fell. “Why can’t I go too, Father?” he asked.

Noah kneeled to talk to him. “I need you to look after Mother.”

Ham still looked disappointed. But obediently, he nodded. “I will, Father.”

Naameh kissed Shem goodbye and then tapped him playfully on the nose. “And you look after Father!” she said teasingly.

They waved goodbye and started toward the mountain. As they passed Og, Ila saw Noah lean in to speak to the Watcher. “Will you watch over my family?” she heard him ask.

The giant nodded and spread out his arms. Now Ila could see that the strange-looking Watcher had not two, but six stony arms!

“Yes,” Og answered with a faint smile. “They are in good hands.”

* * *

While Shem and Noah were on the mountain, Ila rested. Naameh brought her some food and water, and checked her wound from time to time.

“You are healing, little one,” Naameh said soothingly. “Soon you will be much stronger.”

Without Shem there for company, Ila played with Ham
for a while. They took turns telling stories to one another and building towers out of rocks and sticks.

Later, Ila tried to nap again. Nearby, inside the tent, Naameh was nursing the baby.

Ila watched Naameh hold the tiny bundle close to her.

Mother. Father
.

Grief cut through her, and Ila could not hold back her tears any longer. She could not believe they were gone.

Her family had always been working, wandering the land in search of food and grain and shelter. It was not an easy life.

But her parents had taught her to be strong.

There is too much to do for us to dwell on what is hard
, her father always told her.
Fill your mind with what is good, Ila, the things you love.

She rolled over and closed her eyes. She could easily picture Father’s dancing eyes and his strong arms… how his beard tickled her when he lifted her up to his face.

And Mother… her quick smile and easy laugh. She sang so sweetly to Ila and was patient when she taught her how to stitch clothing and gather food.

Now she knew what Father had meant.

These are good memories
, Ila thought.
I will keep my mind full of them.

Soon she rolled over to look at Naameh and the baby again. Japheth was very tiny, with dark eyes and wisps of hair. Ila liked to watch him kick his legs.

Naameh saw her watching and flashed Ila a smile.

Ila smiled back.
As Naameh says, someday I will be strong again
, she thought.

And perhaps then she could find ways to pay back this loving family who had rescued her.

* * *

“Father!” Ham had been playing with Og for a few hours, darting in and out of the giant’s legs, when he spotted Noah and Shem approaching the camp. Ham ran to Noah and hugged him.

Ila sat up. She felt relieved to see the two of them back safely from Methuselah’s mountain.

“We have much to talk of,” Noah began. “Let us eat and rest first and then we will tell you about Grandfather.” He gave Ila a smile. “Our new daughter looks well rested and healthier. Naameh, you are a skillful nurse.”

Later inside the tent, Ila waited for Noah and Naameh with Shem and Ham. Shem showed her some games the boys liked to play with string. And then she watched the brothers wrestle. Shem was clearly bigger and stronger, but Ila could not help feeling impressed with Ham’s persistence.

Ham doesn’t give up easily
, she observed.
Perhaps someday he will even be able to overpower Shem.

Soon Noah and Naameh came in with baby Japheth.

Noah settled himself on the floor. “My grandfather, Methuselah, lives,” he began. “He’s helped me to see what we’re here to do.”

“I fell asleep during our visit,” Shem announced. “But guess what… I like berries and so does Grandfather!” He glanced shyly at Ila. “And I told him about you and how we found you.”

Ila flushed. That made her happy for some reason.

Noah began telling his story. She had much to learn about him; he confused her sometimes.

“Men are going to be punished for what they’ve done to this world,” Noah was saying now. “There will be terrible destruction—not from fire but from water. But our family has been chosen for a great task. We have been chosen to save the innocent.”

“The innocent?” Shem echoed. “What do you mean?”

Ila was glad to see that Ham, and even Shem, were perplexed too.

“The animals,” Noah explained.

“Why are they innocent?” Ham wanted to know. “I don’t understand.”

“Adam and Eve sinned, and they were cast out of Paradise,” Ila blurted out. “But the animals live still as they did in the Garden. That’s why they are innocent and man is not!”

“Good, Ila!” Noah smiled at her and Ila flushed, happy that she had pleased him and knew something that the boys did not. “We need to save enough of the animals to start again,” Noah went on.

“But what of us?” asked Ham. “What will happen to our family?”

“Well…” Noah looked thoughtful for a moment. “I suppose we get to start again too. We get to start again in a new and better world. But first we have to build.”

“Build what?” Shem asked.

Ila was curious too.

“Methuselah gave me a seed,” Noah explained. “It’s from the Garden of Eden.” They all hurried after Noah as he stepped outside the tent. He pulled a brown seed from a small pouch in his pocket and then bent down and planted it in the earth.

He turned to face them. “A great flood is coming. The waters of the heavens will meet the waters of the earth,” he said gravely. “So we must build a vessel to survive the storm. We must build an ark.”

An ark?
thought Ila.
An ark to hold all those animals?
It would have to be enormous!

She glanced at Shem, who was grinning at his father’s words.

She knew why. Part of what Noah was saying, like the violent storm, sounded very frightening. But another part of his story sounded very exciting—like a brand-new adventure.

* * *

“You’re a traitor!” a voice snarled. “You’ve been helping them!”

Sometime before dawn, loud voices and sounds woke Ila. She got up from her bedroll and lifted the tent flaps to peek outside. A band of Watchers stood there, arguing.

Noah started yelling as some of them dragged Og away. “Stop!”

The leader of the Watchers, Samyaza, spun around and glared at him.

“There is work to do!” Noah added quickly. “Please help us.”

In response, Samyaza stormed over to Noah. Ila felt the earth tremble under his feet. She stepped back a little.

“Help you?” Samyaza repeated. “We tried to help your kind once. We lost
everything
because of you!”