Deborah Calling by Avraham Azrieli

Author:Avraham Azrieli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-07-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

They rode into the barren hills until the main road was far behind and the sun was halfway down to the western horizon. The armor rubbed against Deborah’s wounds, worsening the pain. The horses were tired and thirsty, and a few hooves were bleeding from the rocky terrain. Soosie showed his age with an occasional wobbly step. Deborah scratched his neck and whispered words of encouragement.

Sallan pointed to a level spot, and they stopped for the night. The Edomite men gave the horses water and tended to their hooves. Deborah took the saddle off Soosie and untied her sack. Inside it, she found Vardit’s old travel robe, which had been in the sack since the night of her escape from Shiloh. Deborah walked around the curve of the hill until she was out of sight, took off the armor, and put on the travel robe. When she came back, Kassite took out a jar of his medicinal paste and applied it to her back, as well as to Sallan’s injured hand and the boy-servant’s ears.

Deborah collected twigs and dry weeds, took her father’s fire-starters from her sack, and started a small fire next to a boulder.

Sallan drew a map with a stick in the sand, just as Zariz had once done. Deborah recognized the Samariah Hills, with the watershed line along the peaks and the Jordan River running parallel to it in the valley, passing Jericho at the bottom, where it entered the Sea of Salt.

Sallan indicated with the stick. “This is the main trade route through Bethel, Jerusalem, Hebron, and Beersheba, where merchant caravans enjoy a sort of immunity, and the tribesmen of Judah punish robbers harshly. Unfortunately, that’s where Orran’s soldiers will be looking for us once they learn what happened in Emanuel. They’ll ride south at high speed with swords at the ready, perhaps with some help from Zifron.”

“You mean Seesya?” Deborah’s voice quivered, and she cringed with embarrassment.

“Not him. That swaggering brute will be lying down on his belly and moaning for a week.”

She didn’t share Sallan’s optimism. Seesya’s enthusiasm for violent expeditions should not be underestimated.

“Judge Zifron,” Sallan said, “will provide reinforcement for Orran’s soldiers, maybe ten of his own soldiers, to help in the search.”

“Why would he bother?”

“Because he’ll be furious to learn that he was tricked by an Edomite slave, who pretended to be a prince, into releasing his own Edomite slave, who made him lots of money.”

“But you gave them the formula for the Reinforcing Liquid,” Deborah said.

“We humiliated him,” Kassite said. “We made him sentence his own son to flogging.”

“He might not be so upset about that,” Sallan said. “That son was getting too arrogant. He needed a good beating. The real reason to hunt us down is you.”

Deborah was surprised. “Why me?”

“Palm Homestead represents a fortune for the house of Zifron. They can’t afford the risk of you coming back with a husband to claim your father’s inheritance. And if Kassite isn’t a real Edomite prince, then you’re no

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