Reign by Ginger Garrett

Author:Ginger Garrett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Jezebel, Ahab, Obadiah, Elijah, Famine, Idols
Publisher: David C. Cook
Published: 2013-03-04T05:00:00+00:00

11

Jezebel

Jezebel slept much of that day, until night returned and insects once again blotted out the sounds of servants who ran to fetch little comforts for her. She joined her priests at Baal’s temple. Inside the temple, the last of the mercenaries entered as oil lamps were lit and set high on perches all around. The tables were swept clean of food, holding nothing but amulets, powders, and the mysterious hoards of the magicians. The mercenaries stared at the strange piles of feathers, bones and sticks until a sorcerer threatened to hex them all and covered the tables with the magician’s cloaks.

Priests swept the room to the edges and placed bowls at every corner, every crack in the walls, to catch spirits that might enter unbidden.

Priests held their thumbs, the most magical finger, and keened quiet prayers as Jezebel took the throne she had placed here. It had winged lions for feet, polished gold, and her purple robes made the lions flash dark, as if shadows invested them with her thoughts.

The priests whispered spells over water and doused the mercenaries, moving through them, making sure each was anointed on his body, his sword, and his armor. Jezebel stood, and a priest sprinkled the water over her hands in a blessing.

In a corner, minstrels played the lyre, a sad song, Jezebel thought, of a lover lost at sea. She silenced the singer, and the musician played the lyre more carefully. She moved away from the throne, waiting at the altar for the priest to finish his blessing of night and of darkness.

A priest stepped forward to wash his hands over a clay bowl, careful to catch the water for his spell. Jezebel’s womb ached, and she rested her wet palm against the altar for a moment of support. When she lifted it, she saw that it had left a dark imprint on the stone. She smiled to see herself embedded with Baal. Then it evaporated in the dry, waterless air, beginning at the edges until the air had consumed her entirely. Her mouth grew hard.

Standing at the altar, Jezebel surveyed the power of her name. She had summoned mercenaries to do her will, and sorcerers who would conjure the unseen world. She could command men with gold and bribe the gods with plunder. Ahab had wanted to drink tonight with his commanders. It was just as well. She alone wanted responsibility for the murders. Some deaths were necessary. The people would see that she alone had saved them.

“Behold!” she commanded, standing and spreading her arms like wings so that the purple sleeves of her robe draped below her. “A curse has been called down on the people of Israel. One man, with one god, has caused us all to suffer. He has called men to his cause. The women of Israel will burn with thirst, their children will die at the breast, and there will be no food because the fields will be dead. Is this what a good ruler

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