The Chronicles of Gan: The Thorn (12 page)

He trudged on for hours. The scene around
him did not change. More trees, dark walls of them. No sound except
his thunderous steps and the pebbles jumping before his toes.
Despair slithered across his heart. He stopped.

At that moment his attention was drawn to a
leather bag hanging from a strap around his neck. Pekah pulled the
drawstring open. Inside, he found a cloth-wrapped cylindrical
object, which he lifted from the bag. As he studied the roll of
purple cloth, he recognized the head of a serpent embroidered upon
it. Taking great care, he unfolded it to reveal a clear glass rod.
Engraved white gold knobs capped each end of it, and the glass held
a thin, gray object embedded at the very center.

Curious, he brought the rod closer for
inspection. The scene around him instantly changed, startling him.
No longer on the pine-bordered road, Pekah found himself in a
well-lit chamber, with wood-paneled walls and candles burning atop
multi-stemmed candlesticks in all corners of the room. To Pekah’s
surprise, Eli stood next to him, smiling.

Pekah lowered the glass rod in order to take
in his surroundings, and saw an ornately carved wooden chair at one
end of the room, empty, but flanked by two armed Gideonite
soldiers. They glared at him crossly, and pointed to the object in
his hand as if they wanted him to explain it. Pekah could not
identify what he held. He looked to Eli for help, but before Eli
could speak, another man entered the room from a door behind the
chair. He recognized the man at once.

Dressed in the finest green silk vestments
Pekah had ever seen, the man reeked of luxury. An almost gaudy
amount of white gold and other finery trimmed the silk, catching
every candle-flame flicker. A thick silver chain stretched across
his chest to clasp a shimmering gray robe, which flowed from his
shoulders like a mist.

His short brown hair was intensely dark,
though not quite black. A cleft chin and a sharp, long nose
dominated his clean-shaven face. His lips were pursed, his demeanor
very unhappy.

As Emperor Manasseh took his seat in the
wooden chair, Eli nudged Pekah and told him to show the object in
his hands to the Gideonite. Eli added three words to his request,
in a most serious tone: “Holiness, Honor, Humility.”

Pekah reluctantly did as Eli asked by
extending his arm forward, the glass rod resting atop the cloth in
his outstretched palm.

The very action of moving his arm forward
sparked a fire of warmth under his shoulder which traveled through
his arm, across his chest, down his back, and deep within his
heart. Every part of his body erupted into feeling, as if the hot
blast from a smelting furnace bubbled up molten iron within him,
causing the hair of his head to react with motion as if from an
unseen wind. At that instant of intensity, a flash of blinding
light emanated from the glass rod. The invisible power sent shock
waves through the room.

Chapter 11

Bodyguard

P
ekah jerked up from his makeshift pillow, his gaze flitting
around him. The morning was yet early, the twin suns making their
presence known with a tinge of color across the western sky. Eli
and Jonathan still breathed deeply.

Pekah’s heart raced. He rubbed his arms and
ran his fingers through his hair as the remnants of feeling from
his dream waned. He sat there amazed that it had felt so real, and
wondered at the meaning of it. He replayed the scene in his mind,
but could not make any sense of it. Unanswerable questions pounded
in his head.

Where was Jonathan? What was the glass
object? Why did the emperor meet with me? Where did the light come
from?

Asking did not seem to help. Each
supposition brought on harder questions, which left him even more
bewildered. This went on for some time, and before he knew it, the
suns announced their imminent rising by coloring the tops of the
hills around the camp. Eli and Jonathan began to stir. Eli sat up
first, and after a long, growly yawn, reached to hit Jonathan on
the arm.

“Jonathan!”

Jonathan sat up and rubbed his eyes, glaring
at Eli. “Ouch!”

“Look at Pekah. He seems spooked.” Eli
said.

Pekah turned to meet Jonathan’s gaze.

“What is it?” Jonathan asked.

“I had a very strange dream.”

Jonathan stood and stretched. He wandered
over to Pekah’s side of the fire and plopped down onto a nearby
log. “What did you dream?”

Pekah took a few seconds to consider what he
might say, and thought it best not to tell all he had seen. He
started by describing his walk under the light of the moons,
emphasizing the long dusty road and the endless trees that seemed
to close in on him.

“I noticed I was carrying a leather bag
around my neck. When I opened it, I found a purple cloth with a
serpent on it, and inside the cloth I found a glass rod, with white
gold ends, both of them engraved with writing on them. There was
also something embedded in the glass itself.” Pekah hesitated, not
wanting to give up too much of the dream just yet, but he did add
one other detail. “What do the words ‘Holiness, Honor, Humility’
signify?”

Jonathan and Eli threw glances at each
other, and Pekah noticed the exchange. He ignored it and
continued.

“One other thing that was quite peculiar—I’m
not sure where I was when I pulled the rod from the bag. I stood in
a room lit by candles. Eli was there with me.”

“Did you know what you had in your bag?” Eli
pried.

“No, I have never seen anything like it. Do
you know what it was?”

Eli again looked at Jonathan, who bit his
lip and frowned. Jonathan had an expression on his face as though
he was busy trying to come up with an excuse not to discuss it.

Pekah sensed something amiss. “You know
something you’re not telling me.”

Jonathan exhaled deeply and stood. He
reached into his tunic and pulled out a bundle of purple linen. He
stepped closer, then knelt down by Pekah and showed it to him,
unfolding the cloth to expose a white circle and red serpent
embroidered on it.

Pekah was stunned. “That’s what I saw in my
dream!”

Jonathan smiled and unrolled the cloth the
rest of the way. A glass rod lay in his hand. “This is The Thorn,
the scepter of Daniel. It belonged to my father.”

A shiver went through Pekah, making the hair
stand on his neck. When he leaned over to see the scepter more
closely, Jonathan motioned for him to take it. He picked it up,
turning it to see the engravings at each knobbed end. Closer
examination of the gray object embedded in the glass helped him
discern what it was—a long, discolored thorn; sharp, and perfectly
preserved. He turned the rod upward, exposing it to the first rays
of morning light. The two blue suns sent their shafts through the
glass, breaking into colors of a rainbow. Pekah could now clearly
read the engravings on the knobbed ends, exquisitely carved letters
spelling out the three words Eli had said in the dream.

Pekah’s mind began to race as he realized
that this was the object Sachar had been searching for in the
Council Hall at Hasor. “I . . . I . . .” Pekah stammered as he gave
The Thorn back to Jonathan. He could not finish his sentence.

Eli pointed to The Thorn. “The scepter of
Daniel will be passed down from father to son until the Great King
comes to claim the throne.”

Jonathan returned the glass rod to its
protective cloth and stuffed it into his tunic. “Did you see
something else, Pekah?” Jonathan asked as he sat down.

Pekah looked away at
first, worried about what the dream might mean.
Why wasn’t Jonathan there? Should I tell him?
Turning to Jonathan, he saw patience in the calm
gaze of his new friend. Although comforted by Jonathan’s reaction
to the situation, something held Pekah back. All he could do was
say, “I would like some time to think this through, if that’s all
right.”

“That’s fine. Talk about it when you are
ready.”

“Thank you for understanding.” Pekah stood
and stretched. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to the river to wash
up.”

“I could use a wash myself,” Jonathan
said.

Eli got up from his bedding and joined them.
When they arrived at the water’s edge, they found the river slower
and deeper than expected.

“We’ll probably have to cross soon before we
end up swimming,” Eli observed.

“Pekah, what do you know of this river?”
Jonathan asked.

“To my recollection, it does get wider
downstream. I think Eli’s right—it may be best to cross now.”

Jonathan agreed, and the three men returned
to their camp to gather everything. They kicked dirt over the fire
and returned to the river bank, where they stripped down to their
undergarments. Carrying their belongings high above their heads to
keep everything as dry as possible, they made several trips. Once
they had piled everything on the far bank, they took opportunity to
bathe more thoroughly than on the previous day. They had no soap,
but they did the best they could, hand-scrubbing and rinsing
several times in the frigid water.

The day promised to be a hot one, and the
morning air dried them quickly. They dressed, gathered their items,
and hiked back up toward the road, taking careful steps to avoid
making noise. Their route took them uphill.

When they reached level ground, Pekah
pointed to signs in the disturbed dirt which told of a medium-sized
wagon. Judging by hoof prints between the wheel marks, they could
tell the wagon was pulled by two horses. On either side of the
wagon tracks were the footprints of three men. Pekah and the others
readied their weapons. Taking care to scan their surroundings in
all directions, they advanced to a pile of manure and found it
still slightly warm.

“Not more than an hour old,” Eli said as he
knocked the pile over with his staff. “If we keep walking, we are
going to have company.”

“Should we re-cross the river?” Pekah
asked.

“I don’t think so,” Jonathan replied. “We
are less than a day from Ain, and I would like to know who these
travelers are.”

Pekah fidgeted. “And if they are Gideonite
soldiers?”

A sparkle in his eye, Jonathan said with a
sly grin, “We will take them as prisoners.”

Eli chuckled, grabbed Pekah by the arm, and
pulled him down the road toward Ain. “We don’t want to be
late!”

They kept an intense pace for a good hour
and a half. Because they had missed their morning meal, they ate as
they traveled, sharing some crusts of bread and dried fruit. Thirst
drove them to the river for a brief drink, but they returned to the
road, walking even faster than before.

Each bend in the road tightly hugged the
long tree lines, which had become far more dense. Less common now,
oaks were largely outnumbered by various types of pine. The thicker
evergreens offered them very little forward visibility, so they
traveled from outer edge to outer edge of each curve of the road,
straining to see ahead of them.

As they rounded one particularly large bend,
they were surprised to see that the horse-drawn wagon they had been
following had been abandoned in the middle of the lane, loaded with
food supplies and numerous casks marked as wine. No one was nearby.
Ahead of the wagon they could see another bend in the road. Pekah
and Jonathan drew their swords, and Eli held his staff defensively
with both his large hands.

They crept forward, straining to pick up
sounds around them. The two bridled horses were somewhat skittish,
stomping nervously as the men approached. Eli hushed them with a
gentle pat as he walked by.

As they rounded the bend in the road, they
found the body of a Gideonite soldier lying in the dirt to one
side. Pekah looked to his companions for their reactions, but they
were intent on continuing. At the start of the next turn, they
found another dead soldier dressed in green, wearing the Mark of
the Raven. Blood near the body had not yet congealed. The smell of
it offended Pekah’s nostrils, making his nose twitch. Jonathan
motioned for them all to hasten.

Almost jogging, they made their way to where
the road skirted a large pine. On the other side they found two
dead Danielites, over which crouched a Gideonite, very much
alive.

Startled by their sudden presence, the
soldier jumped up, nocking an arrow into his bow. His sword lay on
the ground at his feet, and he nudged it to the side with a gentle
kick.

Holding his hands and sword up in alarm,
Pekah yelled at the man, “Do not shoot!”

Both Pekah and Eli stepped ahead of
Jonathan, but Jonathan moved next to them, completing the line.

“You there! Why do you travel with a
Danielite?” the soldier hollered at Pekah.

Pekah glanced at Jonathan, then back at the
soldier. “We are traveling to Ain,” he said, his tone curt. So as
to not provoke the soldier, he instinctively lowered his weapon,
Eli and Jonathan following suit.

With obvious irritation, the soldier pulled
the bowstring back a few inches, pointing the arrow tip at Eli’s
feet. He appeared to recognize the coarse weave of Eli’s white
tunic, and the general features of Eli’s face, which all but
shouted “Uzzahite.”

“It’s very uncommon for the three tribes to
walk together,” the soldier snarled. He nodded at the fallen
Danielites. “These two surprised us from the trees and killed my
men. But they did not kill me, as you can see.”

The Gideonite spat on the ground. He kicked
dust into it as if daring them to start the fight.

With almost fatherly sternness in his voice,
Jonathan broke his silence. “Soldier, we have no quarrel with you.
Lay down your weapons.”

The soldier changed his stance, targeting
Jonathan’s feet. Eli took another step forward, raising his staff
to his chest, and with insistence said, “You had better listen to
the man. A peaceful surrender is far better than the
alternative.”