A.D. 30(97)

And yet I could not stop myself.

I hurled myself at Kahil’s back as taught to me by Johnin in Egypt. His hand was drawn for a third blow when the crown of my head struck the small of his back.

Caught flat-footed, he roared in pain and arched backward.

I was weak from their dungeons, and the blow stunned me, but it didn’t dull my instincts. Even as he staggered, I clawed at his face with my nails. Found his beard with my fingers. Yanked my hand away with all my strength. Heard the ripping of his hair.

Kahil screamed.

Then my hand was free and I plunged to the ground before rolling back to my feet and spinning back to him.

Held upright by the two guards, Judah sagged, oblivious to the world.

I went again before Kahil could recover.

The Thamud prince was not prepared for such a scorned adversary. Despite my weakness, I would have torn his eyes from their sockets had the blow not struck me from behind.

One of the Nabataean warriors reached me before I could strike again. His sword struck my head broadside. A dull pain flashed through my skull.

I instinctively planted my left foot forward, then spun my right leg up and around, high, so that my heel caught the warrior on his jaw. He dropped to the ground with a soft grunt, sword clattering on the stone beside him.

But the distraction had gained Kahil his time. He grabbed my hair from behind and slammed me to my back. Then he was on me, gripping my face with fingers of iron.

I tried to free myself, but his weight was too great and his arms too strong. He held my face with one hand and slapped me repeatedly with the other, cursing bitterly. His fingers tore at my cheeks.

Kahil surely knew that Aretas wouldn’t allow him to kill me. So he did what came naturally to a brutal man. He set his intentions upon maiming me.

He snatched up sand from the floor and ground it into my eyes using his thumbs. His face was only inches from my own. I could feel his hot breath and his spittle as he screamed obscenities.

Pain such as I had rarely felt cut through my eyes, and I realized that he was trying to blind me. Yielding to panic, I flailed and struggled to keep my eyes shut, but no matter how tightly I clenched them, the pain spread.

“Enough!” Aretas roared.

Who pulled Kahil off me, I don’t know, but he went with a roar of indignation.

“The whore has ripped my beard!” he cried.

“Enough!” Aretas thundered.

“I have full right to take blood for blood!”

“You’ve already taken it, you fool! Was it not her child you killed?”

I lay on the ground, short of breath. When I tried to open my eyes, I could see light, but the world was only a fog.

I heard Shaquilath’s voice, soft-spoken and intrigued. “You are fortunate to be alive, Kahil. This one is a warrior. If she were not so weak, you would be dead.”

“By this dog? She is a woman who eats the bones of carcasses. Abysm!” Kahil spit to the ground. “The death of her son honors all men.”

“Be careful or she may crush your bones.”

The queen’s challenge hung in the room like poisoned smoke. Kahil was slow to respond, and when he did, there was no bottom to his bitterness.

“You dishonor me—”

“And you are servant of my queen,” Aretas said. “Are you so eager to die?”

Silence.

“Take the slave Judah to Dumah,” Aretas said to Kahil. “If I learn that you have maimed or killed him, I will cut your throat myself.” He let the command set in. “Do you understand what I have said?”

Kahil did not respond.

“Are you deaf?”

“No.”

“Then answer me! Do you understand what I have said?”

“Yes.”

“Leave us!”

I heard shuffling feet and I pushed myself up with my arms.

“Judah…”

My voice was weak, no more than a whimper from a dying dog. But I knew that he could not have heard me if I’d screamed.

Then the door was closed and Judah was gone.

For a few moments, no one spoke.

“The Thamud are mindless animals,” Aretas said.

He took a great breath, as if cleansing himself of his troubles before addressing me.

“You will remain three days to gather yourself. Then you will journey to Herod with Saba. Return to me as proposed and I will see you honored. If you have not returned within thirty days, then both your father and Judah will be put out of their misery.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO





JUDAH. MY mind was possessed with images of Judah. He, the lion, reduced to a sagging lump of flesh, chained by the same monster who had thrown my infant son from the window.

Judah, who had rescued me from my misery and brought his stars into my eyes. Judah, who’d held me tenderly and kissed me with abandon. Who had cut down Brutus before the beast could lay a hand on me. Who could walk through the Nafud and weather any storm, who could surely lead a thousand men into war and remain standing, who could shrug off the wounds upon his back and laugh at his torment so long as I was safe.