The Chronicles of Gan: The Thorn (32 page)

“Well, we cannot wait for others to be
built. Keep them rolling.”

Now twitching with anger as he thought of
the approaching united army, Rezon turned back to the messenger who
had not been dismissed. His ire boiled over.

“Get out of my sight or be flogged!”

Looking confused, the messenger ran off
without saluting.

Rezon stepped out of the hut to kick a
helmet lying on the ground near him, sending it into a nearby
trench that stretched up to the front lines.

Gad approached the hut, and Jael passed on
the orders.

“Get those rams ready to advance!” Gad
shouted to the front line.

* * *

Puffs of white smoke rose from the Rock of
Sacrifice as the remains of an offering finally surrendered to the
flames below. Boaz and Uzziel both knelt before the altar, heads
bowed in reverent prayer. They had been there for quite some time,
but their knees were not uncomfortable as they rested upon white
cushions. Other priests serving at the temple went about their
duties, but none of them disturbed the two aged men praying before
the altar.

As if they sensed the sacrifice was
complete, Boaz and Uzziel opened their eyes at the same time.

“What do you feel?” asked the High Priest of
Uzzah.

“Uzziel, I had the
strangest thought,” Boaz answered “I had the distinct impression
that Jeremy needs to assemble the Host of Uzzah in the streets of
the city. They need to be ready right now. I think something is
going to happen soon that will make the enemy more vulnerable to
us. I don’t know
how
it will be done, but we need to be ready.”

Uzziel thought for a minute, recognizing
that his own feelings were similar—to muster the army right away.
“I will send the message to Captain Jeremy at once,” Uzziel said as
he stood up from his prayer and brushed his white robe free of
wrinkles.

“The temple priests will be armed, and then
we’ll join you.” Boaz retrieved the cushions, handing them to
another priest who came to assist.

“Meet me at the inner gates. I think we
should be assembled within the hour.”

“I agree.”

With that, the High Priest of Uzzah trotted
off toward the archway that led to the markets of Ramathaim.

* * *

“What do you see?” Amon whispered as he
stood behind Captain Mehida and Jonathan, who were using their
spyglasses to observe the enemy assembled on the hills of
Ramathaim.

“There are about four thousand men with
Rezon,” Jonathan replied.

“It may even be nearer to five thousand, and
they have several siege weapons in position,” Captain Mehida
added.

Amon shook his head with a sigh. His heart
felt like a heavy stone in his chest. “We are outnumbered almost
two to one.”

Arms crossed in a defiant
manner, Eli loudly cleared his throat to get Amon’s attention. “No
disrespect, General, but Uzzah is behind those walls. Our numbers
are
at least
equal, and we have an advantage—our people defend their
homes. Rezon will not stand.”

Amon didn’t take offense at the comment. “I
apologize. You’re right, Eli—Uzzah will fight as no other warriors
can. This is your home. My only worry . . . I’m not sure how to let
your people know we’re here. We will need their help.”

Eli and Tavor both regarded each other, and
then laughed.

“Oh, they’ll know,” Tavor said. “Eli’s
father is the High Priest of Uzzah. He will be ready to help.”

Amon wasn’t sure how the priests of Uzzah
would know, but he thanked the men for their confidence. Motioning
the captains to gather closer, he bent on one knee and used a thin
rock to draw in the dirt. He started with marks for the enemy.

“Rezon’s army is here. We need to give the
appearance of numbers. Place your men along a line from here to
here. This will also give us more room to fight. Ezra?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Take a rear-guard position and keep the
women with you. I would like the balance of your horsemen to act as
messengers. If the front line falters, send groups of ten and fifty
as required to strengthen it.”

“And if the battle goes poorly?”

Amon paused. “Take the women to safety, back
to Hasor or Saron.”

“I will keep them safe.”

“Very well. We still need to get a little
closer before we can plan our attack. I want to see if I can figure
out how Rezon plans to protect the siege engines. Are each of you
in agreement?”

All captains present supported the decision.
They quickly dispersed to retrieve their horses and gather their
men. Amon gave orders to advance. Vigorously waving the banners of
the Three Brothers, the army lurched forward, dust and the rumble
of thousands of feet floating skyward.

As they closed on Rezon’s position, Amon
gave the order for the bowmen to be at the ready for a volley into
the enemy’s ranks if they charged. Spotters at the perimeters of
the advance signaled that the way remained clear before them. The
march slowed, but they pressed on until they came to a halt just
outside of bow range for Rezon’s army. Companies of fifties and
hundreds stood in their ranks and waited for Amon’s command to rush
the enemy. Jonathan and Mehida dismounted and again stood at the
front to observe the enemy Gideonites. Amon took the time to
retrieve his own spyglass. Pekah saw it and commented on the
workmanship.

“My field-scope and Jasher’s were made at
the same time, by the same craftsman,” Amon noted. “They were
presented to us by the emp . . . I mean, Manasseh, when we embarked
on this . . .”

Amon could not find the word he wished to
use. “Adventure,” came to mind, which had been used by Manasseh
himself. But the idea that this unwarranted aggression was an
adventure now seemed a poorly chosen description.

He did not finish his sentence. Instead, he
peered earnestly through his field telescope, hoping to discover
some apparent weakness in Rezon’s organized ranks. Seeing nothing
obvious at first, his gaze finally settled on one area of the
battlefield. Trenches had been dug all around the hills, but the
siege weapons themselves were stationed in a wide, central pathway
between the trenches.

“Do you see where the siege weapons are?”
the general asked.

“Yes,” Mehida answered. “They have prevented
themselves from moving the engines in any direction but north and
south.”

“I think we may be able to use those
machines to prevent the army from assembling in a large body. Their
own machines and trenches block the way.”

Jonathan tapped the general on the shoulder
and pointed to a spot just past a wooden hut. “General, look—Rezon
is pushing battering rams into position near the front gates, and
sustaining considerable losses from the bowmen of Uzzah.”

Amon looked again and saw the advancing
rams. Gideonite captains shouted, shields were lifted, and most
arrows were deflected, but some were not. Amon’s gaze fell on the
hut. He recognized Rezon and Jael standing with the others. Rezon
continued to watch the rams, even though many of his men turned to
look back at Amon’s army. Amon was surprised.

“Rezon seems to be
ignoring us! Does he think we will
not
attack?
”

Disdain in his voice, Mehida said, “Rezon is
arrogant. He knows we’re here. Perhaps he feels you’ll wait until
he makes the first move. Or maybe he’s trying to cause us concern,
making us wonder what he’s doing.”

“Perhaps you’re right. I’d wager he has
other weapons we haven’t seen,” Amon replied.

Rezon did seem overly calm for being caught
between a united army and the city walls. If Amon were in that
position, he would turn and attack immediately. Rezon’s behavior
made no sense. Amon shook his head.

“We should rush the location of the siege
weapons before they can formulate a counter-attack,” Mehida
suggested. “Then we’ll have a way to defend a central location from
Rezon’s army—the machines and trenches can provide cover for our
men.”

“That’s a good plan,” Amon readily agreed.
“Pass the word among your men. Then let’s ride!”

Amon returned to his horse and watched as
his captains immediately rode from company to company with specific
orders for each group. When they returned to their places, Amon
gave the signal. The Army of Brothers charged forward with swords
glinting in the suns-light. Their unified shout turned to thunder,
causing the Army of Rezon, many of whom had pretended to ignore
them, to turn completely about to meet the charge.

“Bowmen at the ready!” Amon bellowed as he
rose in his stirrups, his steed in a slow trot behind running foot
soldiers.

The front line of footmen closed the
distance by half.

Amon yelled for the bowmen behind the
rushing soldiers to release, and a volley of arrows arced over the
charging men toward their intended targets. Just as the arrows
began their hurtling descent, the front line of Rezon’s men jumped
into the trenches and pulled large shields above their heads. Very
few arrows met their mark, but instead, bounced off the protective
covers that had been deployed. Rezon’s soldiers then clamored out
of the trenches again. They too charged with weapons swinging.

The two armies met, and the clash was
deafening. Yells of anger, pain, and exertion shot up from the
crowd amidst the clangs, pops, thuds, and booms caused by colliding
weapons. Like the explosive spray from a high wave slamming into a
sea cliff, the front lines furiously collided, the severity of the
sudden encounter rippling outward into the ranks of both armies
until all were engulfed.

Amon’s men pushed forward, trying to gain
access to the war machines of Rezon, but were repulsed. They fell
back momentarily, only to push forward again. Their second surge
was even less successful than the first. Rezon’s men strongly
leaned into Amon’s army, causing the line to break against a wall
of resistance. The Brothers fell back once again, and Rezon’s
troops rushed forward with their might. It was then that General
Amon realized he had made a critical error in his planning.

The Gideonites of Rezon tumbled into the
host of The Brothers like the boulders of a rock slide, and when
they came to a standstill, only a careful observer could still
distinguish them from the similarly armored Gideonites in Amon’s
army. Chaos ensued. The battle slowed considerably as the soldiers
hesitated at each confrontation to determine if the potential
opponent was friend or foe. Captains on both sides continued to
shout their commands, and in some cases, the differentiation
between Rezon and Amon was determined solely by which command each
man would obey.

It was at this point of great confusion that
Captain Mehida lifted his sword skyward and yelled with all his
vocal strength, “For Daniel and Uzzah!”

“FOR DANIEL AND
UZZAH!
” came the thunderous echo from
Amon’s army. They again charged forward, pushing Rezon’s troops
back with such fury that the Gideonites who had been pledged to the
service of Rezon and the late emperor began to melt before
them.

Amon raised himself high in the stirrups so
he could better see the battering rams near the walls of Ramathaim.
He realized that all the Gideonites who had been moving the siege
weapons toward their intended goal had abandoned their posts—now
running down the slopes to join the raging battle below. To Amon’s
great surprise, the unsuspecting soldiers of Rezon were being
followed. Both the front gates of the outer wall and the sally port
on the western end of the stone curtain gaped open, coughing up
hundreds of Uzzahite warriors who gathered into tight groups. Amon
sat back down in the saddle and called some horseback messengers to
his side.

“Tell the captains to prepare a charge!”

The messengers rushed on their errand while
Amon scanned the slopes. Wanting to be sure he kept track of
Rezon’s whereabouts, he again scrutinized the center of the field.
There he found the target of his own indignation.

His back to the hut placed there for his
protection, Rezon stood next to the catapults, Captain Jael at his
side. Both shouted commands at the rate of a flash flood. Rezon’s
captains turned their troops from flank to point as if they were
the spiked iron ball swinging from the end of the general’s
long-chained flail. This change in direction caused Amon’s men to
fall out of ranks.

Amon anxiously searched for the messengers
and found one of them who had navigated his way through the sea of
soldiers toward Captain Pekah. When the messenger arrived, he shook
a signal flag in the air. This initiated another battle cry, echoed
by the entire host.

“For Daniel and
Uzzah!
”

To the obvious surprise of
Rezon’s army came the roar of fifty silvered horns. The blast of
sound bounced back and forth between the shouldering mountains of
the city and rolled down the hillsides to the ears of everyone
below. All heads turned to see the gates of Ramathaim open. A
united voice of over two thousand Uzzahites then punctuated their
sudden arrival with, “
For UZZAH and DANIEL
and GIDEON!
”

Amon’s heart swelled with joy as he
witnessed the brave men of Uzzah charge into the fray. He pulled
his spyglass up to his eye in time to see a third of the Gideonites
of Rezon turn back to protect their leaders. They clashed with
Uzzah just as both parties reached the war machines. Amon trained
his sight on the war hut.

At the center of the battle, Captain Jael
seethed with hatred. In great sweeping arcs, Jael swung his large
sword back and forth, clearing the ground before him as if he were
cutting wheat with a scythe. Rezon remained protected from the
battle, his most trusted and deadly servants bringing a sudden,
painful end to the lives of all who opposed them. The fury that was
visible in their faces caused Amon to catch his breath and look to
his own men.