Prize of War by Carole Towriss

Author:Carole Towriss [Towriss, Carole]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Four Diamonds Publishing
Published: 2017-10-19T23:00:00+00:00

Enosh awoke on the roof of Jedediah’s house. He yawned and stretched his weary, aching limbs. All yesterday afternoon had been spent moving stones, and not one of them to be used on his house. Infuriating. Othniel probably kept his home out of the first group to be built just to irritate him. It had better be in the next group.

He glanced around—he was the last one awake. Not good. After he dragged himself up and rolled up his sleeping mat he climbed down the ladder. The women, including Dania, were in the courtyard, sitting around a fire and grinding grain. Jedediah and the two other men staying at his house waited at the gate.

“Finally up, I see.” Jedediah grinned.

“Don’t listen to him. We just came down ourselves.” The man named Joab, or Joed—he couldn’t remember—laughed.

Jedediah gestured south. “We’re going to work on the houses up the street until first meal. Then Othni asked us to meet him in the center of town.”

Enosh stifled a groan. And who put him in charge? Oh, yes—the mighty Caleb. That didn’t mean he had to stay in charge. Whatever Enosh could do to change that, he would.

They finished two more walls and part of a third before Deborah came for them. The smell of fresh baked bread and the sound of popping wood in cooking fires drifted toward him from every house along the road back to Jedediah’s house.

In the courtyard, the men took their places around a large mat spread near the fire. On the mat lay dried fruit, watered wine, and a towering pile of warm barley bread.

Jedediah closed his eyes and held out his hands, palms up. “Yahweh, Creator of all, we thank You for this food, and for this new life You have given us. Thank You for new friends. May Your name be forever exalted.”

Deborah passed the food around to the adults, then she handed the bowls to a group of children sitting in a circle behind them. Pointing at the tallest, she warned, “Make sure your siblings all get some, and make sure Eli eats something.”

The boy nodded as he accepted the food and passed it to the others. “Thank you, Imma.”

Enosh had noticed the children yesterday but didn’t know to whom they belonged. He counted quickly—seven children. “Are these children all yours, Jedediah?”

“One is mine.” Joab spoke through a mouthful of barley bread. “The youngest.”

That left six. Six? Who would want that much responsibility? A wife and children were not part of Enosh's plan right now. He had one goal, and children would only slow him down. “Six children. That must be difficult.”

“Children are a gift from Yahweh,” Deborah answered.

“I’m sure that’s true, but they must require a lot of time, and food, and clothing.” Enosh eyed the woman.

“Only a man without children would say that.” She spoke as if she were scolding him. Obviously she spent too much time with all those children.

Jedediah grinned. “Children can also be a great help in the fields, so it all works out in the end.

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