The Unforgiven King by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0000000000000
Published: 2021-10-23T06:26:44+00:00

24

In which seduction and death are never closer

34 BCE

‘What does it mean?’ Herod pointed to the reports on his desk then looked up at his ministers. In the weeks since his return, the skies above Jerusalem have turned black and pitchforks of lightning have left one of the towers of the palace smoking and ruined. From Jericho there have been reports of hailstones, big as pearls raining down on the hot dry soil, and shepherds on the slopes of Gilead have told of tremors in the earth and the mysterious disappearance of healthy animals from their flocks.

Herod asked again, ‘What does it mean?’

The ministers eyed one another uneasily then the wisest of them declared, ‘Sire, these are not matters upon which we can speak with authority. You must call the priests.’

The priests were less circumspect than the ministers. They quoted Job and Proverbs and Leviticus; they remembered the grim words of Jonah and Samuel and the dark meteorological prophecies of Kings, all with the intention of proving a different point. And never had it held so true that the only things two Jews could agree upon was that there was nothing they could agree upon. They scratched their beards and shook their heads, arguing with each other over the perceived meaning so long that in the end Herod lost his temper and sent them scurrying from the room with imprecations that would have given the lowest foot soldier cause to blush.

He called for his brother then, and, together, they defied the elements and climbed the steps to the highest point of the remaining tower above the royal quarters. There, they stood watching the endless curtain of rain falling in sheets so that the hills seemed to move closer and the view of Lake Asphaltitus was obscured.

Herod was first to speak —he was always first to speak—. ‘You know what they are saying?’

‘Ignorant people will say anything.’

‘And what of the ones who are very far from ignorant, who sit on my councils and preside over the Temple sacrifices, and still say the same thing?’ His voice was rising, and Pheroras, always helpless in the face of violence, stood biting his lip and looking out over the view that was not there.

‘She has no power here,’ he said at last. ‘Were we not delivered from the great Aegyptus?’

‘Do you know what he did?’ Herod asked suddenly. ‘I stood before Mark Antony and he read the charges against me. Then he laughed. He said that in Rome the talk was only of why I had not done it sooner. They are many things Romans, but never accuse them of being hypocrites.’

‘Brother, did you— ’

‘O Pheroras.’ Herod shook his head. ‘You too? Let the Almighty strike me down if I speak an untruth, but I was not responsible for Jonathan’s death. That I have benefited from tragedy I cannot deny. But if that is to make me a sinner then so is every recipient of an inheritance. If the son becomes richer because the father is dead, is he now to stand accused? They said the same thing about Zael’s death.

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