Pearl in the Sand (24 page)

Rahab studied the scene about her and was struck by the miraculous quality of it. In one day, God had provided them with a new home and new friends. Hope filled her chest, like a spring leaf, unfurling with life. She laughed at something Karem said, even though she hadn’t heard what the words were. She realized that she was happy. When had she last tasted carefree joy, untainted with guilt or fear?

“You look much better than you did this morning,” a voice said in her ear.

She jumped and turned her head, finding her face a breath away from Salmone’s. For a moment she looked into his eyes, unable to move. She dragged in a gulp of air. “You scared me.”

“Did I?”

“We’re having a feast. We have guests and everything. Won’t you join us? There’s plenty of food.”

Salmone’s gaze shifted and he perused the gathering. “Thank you. No. I have little time. I came to say farewell. You should send the girls home too. Ezra and Hanani will be leaving with us tomorrow.”

“Farewell? Where are you going?” But Rahab already knew the answer.

“To Ai. We must finish what we began. Other men are being sent ahead of us this evening. The rest of us leave before sunup.”

In one moment Rahab’s fragile sense of happiness shattered. The thought of Salmone going to battle, facing arrows and swords and knives and violent men made her want to wretch. The specter of Hamish’s headless torso lying in front of her old inn rose before her eyes. She had had nightmares of that scene, could still smell the cloying scent of fresh blood in her nostrils, could still see the horsefly rising out of that gruesome gaping mouth. Could that happen to Salmone? The thought of never seeing him again clawed at her stomach like a wound that refused to be quieted. She felt shocked not so much because he was going to war as because it felt so gut wrenching that he was going to war.

She turned and rose, panicked that Salmone might see in her expression something of her churning horror. But as she began to stand he took her hand and pulled her back down.

His dark eyes bore into her. “What, no good-bye? And I came all this way.”

Rahab gulped. She feared if she tried to speak, she would burst into tears. Or speak words that revealed the state of her heart. She stared at him as dumb as her new sheep, unable to lower her gaze. “Good-bye,” she croaked. It was the only thing she could manage before pulling her hand out of his and rushing headlong into the family’s new tent.

As Salmone said his narrow-eyed good-bye, resentful of his own need to seek the Canaanite woman before going to battle, he was peripherally aware that thirty thousand of Israel’s best fighting men were commencing a stealth ambush on Ai. Under the cover of deepest night they made their way to the ridge of Jebel et-Tawil, out of sight of the watchmen at Ai or Bethel, but close enough to observe both cities. There they would hide in silence, unobserved, biding the long hours until battle began.

At first light, Joshua led a second, much smaller army toward Ai. It was to this force that Salmone belonged. There was nothing secret about this march. The men approached the city with brazen intent and settled themselves just north of Ai in broad sunlight. Unlike the men on the ambush mission who had covered their feet in tough canvas in order to mute the sound of their marching, Salmone and his fellow fighting men wore sandals with wooden soles. On the packed dirt of the rough countryside, their marching feet sounded like the beat of well-timed drums. Salmone’s heart beat with that drum until he felt that he was one with it—a miniature cog in a seamless battering ram. He was ready. He was ready to show the men of Ai what the Lord could do. Like a mobile wall, the small force moved behind Joshua until they arrived at the narrow valley north of the city. They camped on the hilltop with the valley between them and Ai.

When the sun began to set, Joshua went into the valley in plain sight of the watchmen on the city walls. He paraded right under their noses and waved a friendly salute to the soldiers. They heard him laugh as their arrows fell short of his heart by cubits. Salmone gave a hard smile as Joshua scrambled back up the hill and joined his men. They would have to scramble faster than Joshua in the morning when the real fighting broke out.

A few silvery green trees dotted the hilltop, and Salmone found one of these to lean against. Somewhere out of sight of Israel and Ai, he knew many of his friends lay hidden for a second night, awaiting Joshua’s signal. Like the night before most of the battles he had
participated in, Salmone was too tense to manage any sleep.

He thought of Miriam and her great hug as she had said her good-byes to him. His heart softened at the thought of her. He wanted to provide a safe life for his sister. Sometimes, he felt a chafing frustration with having to pace his plans according to God’s time. Sometimes he wished God would hurry up and establish them in security already. The thought made him go red, and he was grateful for the dark that covered his face. Beneath the layers of godly obedience and faith there still lay this unconquered chasm of self-will. He wanted to be his own master. He wanted to bend God to his own desires. Was it a wonder that Joshua had accused him of hypocrisy?

The thought brought Rahab to his mind. Or rather pulled her back to the forefront of his attention. He had hardly taken a step since their parting without a muted awareness of her filling his thoughts. When the call to battle had come from Joshua, Salmone had experienced a fierce need to seek her out. To etch her face into his memory. To say farewell, perhaps for the last time. He knew war could mean death. It was a reality he faced before every fight. Even those who vanquished sometimes fell in battle. You could win and still get injured. Still die. It wasn’t the possibility of dying that tormented him, however. It was the thought of leaving without seeing Rahab.

He told himself he had no business seeking her out. She was nothing to him, and she could never become anything to him. Yet he felt that if he didn’t go to her, see her, hear her voice, he would choke. And so he had trudged one unwilling step after another into her camp to find her laughing with his friends, looking like she had belonged to Israel all her born days.

He swallowed hard as he remembered her eyes when he had told her he was going to war. The beautiful golden eyes had filled with terror, and a possessive protectiveness came over him. Rahab was far from indifferent toward him. The realization offered an artesian well of satisfaction. The satisfaction merely vexed him more, and he growled under his breath. Ai was an easier enemy to manage than his own heart.

Before the sun had risen, the small force with Joshua was already falling into formation. With almost languid arrogance they made their way to a stretch of land overlooking Arabah. The location presented a poor choice from Israel’s standpoint. They were exposed on every side, and Ai’s warriors would have the advantage. Salmone knew they appeared like fools to a people who had already thrashed them once. Easy prey. Which was just as Joshua wanted it.

The king of Ai acted as expected. With the first faint rays of the sun he and his men charged out of the city, full of confidence and bluster as they shouted insults against the small army facing them.

Have you come back for more? You want more corpses for your collection?

Our pigeons fight better than your best warriors
.

Would you like a few lessons from our girl children?

There was no shortage of insults that morning. Salmone did not allow his expression to change, but remained stony before every word. Pride held no place in this plan. In a few moments, he and his brothers would seem even greater fools than this. The men of Ai kept coming. But just before the first wave of Ai’s army reached Israel’s defensive line, Joshua screamed the shout to fall back. Israel’s fighting men turned and ran toward the desert, away from the city. To the enemy, they looked like cowards, running away.

A great shout arose from the army of Ai. Some laughed, some whooped, twirling swords and clubs in the air. Salmone was aware that Israel’s rapid retreat filled the hearts of her foe with new bravado. Everything in him itched to stop, turn around, and engage this brash adversary with the courage that welled up in him. But instead he forced his feet to run faster, biding his time. Dust rose up from thousands of sandals pounding the wilderness terrain. Salmone tasted it with every breath, a dry earthy flavor that parched his throat and threatened to choke him. He swallowed, forcing himself to breathe rhythmically through his nostrils, keeping his lips locked
shut. Throwing a quick look over his shoulder he saw with satisfaction that even the watchmen on the walls had left their posts and joined the chase. It was doubtful that any men remained in Ai or Bethel. Every man had joined in this pursuit, confident of victory.

Suddenly, Joshua stopped and turned around. He held a sword in one hand and a javelin in the other. Salmone saw Joshua raise the javelin toward Ai. As soon as he did this, the huge force waiting in ambush rose up from hiding and rushed into the city.

Unaware of the disaster entering their city, the men of Ai caught up with Joshua’s smaller force and engaged them in battle. Swinging their swords enthusiastically they came against what they believed to be a vanquished and cowardly enemy. Salmone, ever in the front lines, found himself set upon by two men at once. The first was massive-shouldered and bulging with muscle. He wielded a broadsword, slashing it through the air with a manic flair Salmone couldn’t help but admire. The other was armed with a knife that he handled and twirled with ease, flicking it from hand to hand with a steady, graceful grip. Salmone raised an eyebrow. These two were no mere farmers playing soldier during an emergency. They had training and expertise. And they seemed set on sampling Salmone’s entrails for breakfast.

“Gentlemen, one at a time, surely?”

The man with the knife flicked it into the air and watched it twirl. “Says who?” he shouted, deftly catching it by the handle and pitching it straight toward Salmone’s chest. Salmone pivoted with a lightning-quick movement, barely avoiding the knife and bringing his elbow crashing into his other opponent’s broad back. The impact of bone on bone jarred the larger man, and he stumbled two awkward half steps—giving Salmone just enough time to run his sword through the man’s massive right arm. The blade cut deep, tearing muscle and sinew and reaching bone. Blood splattered across his chest, and he screamed with anguish and rage, but did not lose his grip on his sword. Demonstrating considerable self-control, he shifted the sword to his other hand and brought it down against
Salmone’s midriff with uncanny precision. Salmone barely saw the arc of flashing metal as it came toward him. He jumped back, bringing his own sword down to intercept the powerful strike. While this minimized the mortal force of the blow, Salmone could not completely escape its path and it ran across his abdomen, drawing a thin line of blood.

Salmone ignored the searing flash of pain, knowing the wound to be superficial. With his peripheral vision he saw the knife man pulling another weapon from his belt. “I’m as eager as you to finish this fight,” Salmone shouted above the battle noise, “but I think it only fair to warn you that your city is on fire.”

The man with the knife glanced over his shoulder, and then turned fully around to stare at the thick column of black smoke. But Salmone’s other opponent refused to be sidetracked. “Shut up you Hebrew scum! You can try your trickery on the dead because I’m going to pulverize every one of your little chicken bones,” he snarled. Raising his sword, he came at Salmone with a lunge. His skill was impressive, for despite his injury, the power behind each of his thrusts was undiminished. He was also better at wielding his sword than Salmone, though slower. While working toward the man’s injured side, Salmone dodged to the right to avoid a deadly thrust, then immediately feigned left. The broadsword followed left as he had hoped, and Salmone pivoted right instead, ramming straight into his opponent’s body. It took the man only a split second to shift the sword back toward Salmone, but the move opened an undefended region to the left of his body and Salmone brought his sword straight up into it.