7

They had found Telem, but if this recluse was an ally, why did he not show himself until they were wrapped in total darkness with scouts in pursuit? At least he had answered with a word and not a weapon. When her mother had spoken of Telem, a gentle assurance clung to every remembrance. Adah trusted her mother’s wisdom, so for the moment she would trust her mother’s mason.

She shushed Telem’s raucous laughter. “We are the daughters of Shallum. Our mother Elisheba sent us to find you.” Adah babbled to the ceiling, for Telem’s voice echoed above all of their heads.

“What could an official’s wife need with me? I have not resided in the city for years.”

“Some help.” Judith’s voice was but a squeak.

“Your stone craft.” Othniel spoke as if this were common knowledge.

“Both.” Adah swallowed to provide her parched throat with an oasis of water. “The governor of Judah has petitioned the people to rebuild the wall of the city. My father has no sons to labor on our section. He has two daughters. We need your expertise to rebuild and also to find a way out of this cave.”

“Nehemiah is here?” Telem asked.

Was Telem ignoring their plight? “Yes, the governor arrived with the king’s cavalry a few days ago.”

Telem scuffed closer. “Then that explains why those half-breeds scout the city. They are threatened by the governor’s arrival.”

Othniel’s head shook. “Nehemiah did not bring an army to fight all of Samaria. He has a small escort.”

“Doesn’t matter—”

Rocks skittered along the path they had recently traveled.

“Can you run?” Telem’s inquiry was close to her ear.

“Yes,” she and Judith answered in unison.

Othniel stepped in front of her and Judith, guarding them like a sentry. “We will hurry after you.”

“The path ahead is well traveled,” Telem said. “Trust your footing and stay close.”

Adah trailed after Othniel, nearly breaking into a run, her hand practically stitched to his garment. Judith’s grip was a constant vice on Adah’s shoulder. How could Telem see to bank left and right in pure darkness? His form was almost a vapor. Adah blinked, but her eyes were useless.

When they finally stopped, Adah’s chest heaved for want of air. “Are we safe?” She exhaled.

“No one will find us now. And if they light a torch, bats will swarm them.”

Telem’s confidence calmed her worries.

Judith’s forehead rested upon Adah’s shoulder. “Did he say bats?”

“Do not think about the rodents. Be strong and courageous.” Adah stroked her sister’s hand. This darkness was no different than the black abyss their mother lived in every day. They would emerge from this gloomy cave soon enough.

“Are these the only foreigners you’ve seen?” Othniel asked.

“Besides you?” Telem chuckled.

Adah did not laugh at their guide’s humor. Her knees grew unsteady at the thought of meeting soldiers. “We are not foreigners.”

“True.” Telem’s tone sobered. “I do not see many men in these hills. A bandit or two. But if the governor is serious about fortifying the city, other enemies will come.”

Warmth flooded her cheeks. How could this recluse question Nehemiah’s determination? She had seen the cupbearer weeping over the wall. “The governor is steadfast. Timber from the king’s forests has been arranged and Nehemiah has been granted a leave of his duties at the palace. Families have committed to rebuild sections of the wall.”

“That is why we seek you.” Othniel’s charge held no hint of their dire need.

Telem scoffed. “I am no relation.”

“No you are not, but my mother spoke highly of you.” Adah swore the thump of her heart could be heard in town. She prayed Telem would honor her request for she needed his skills to uphold her oath to Nehemiah, to her people, and to her God. “Why would an official’s wife send us to you if you could not help?”

“I can only guess.” Telem’s tone was as dull as the rock he hid under.

“My mother saw you in a dream, a vision. She said you owe her a debt.”

“Why else would we be in this pungent tomb,” Judith snapped.

Adah’s chest burned as if she had forgotten to breathe. “I know my mother. She would not have sent us if she did not believe you would honor her request. Bevakasha, please come with us. My father is old. My mother is blind. We are young and emboldened, but we have never built anything. Not a wall that can withstand war.”

Nothing came forth. No explanation. No assurance. No excuse.

“Leave him,” Othniel snapped. “He prefers to wallow in filth.”

Was there ever a time Othniel hurled curses? She could not remember an incident.

Othniel stiffened under her touch. “Will you at least assist me in escorting the women back to the city?”

Back to Jerusalem? This couldn’t be the end. She needed Telem’s expertise. She had come all this way upon her mother’s urging because God had sent a vision. Or a thought. Or something. What would she do without a master builder?

Adah’s chest tightened, but not from Judith’s pull on her cloak. Darkness shrouded her desperation. For once, not being able to be seen wasn’t a curse.

An odd clicking noise came from where Telem hid. “I’ve numbered more than a dozen men. We cannot go out the way we came.”

“Isn’t there another way?” Her voice was too high pitched even for her own ears. “Do these caves join together or something?” Anything? Tiny sparks blurred Adah’s impaired vision. How would she get Judith home? And Othniel?

“You may thank the Jebusites, daughters of Shallum, for they built tunnels under the city that allowed David and his fighting men into the bowels of Jerusalem. This one goes just north of the main gate before it collapses.”

Praise God. “My mother will fret if we’re delayed past night fall.”

Judith gave a weary sigh. “How long is this journey to freedom? I am covered in dirt.”

Shuffling noises came from where Telem loomed. “Then I will light a lamp to carry.”

“You’re only doing that now?” Othniel’s huff sounded like a storm wind.

“We were too close to the opening before. Should I have invited the bandits in for some wine?” Telem made striking noises.

“The lamp will not draw creatures?” Judith fluttered a hand above their heads as if they were already under siege.

“We won’t carry an open flame.” Telem chuckled.

Trying to diffuse tension and keep in Telem’s hospitable graces, Adah asked, “Where do you get the oil for the lamp?”

Clitch, clitch. “I trade.”

“With what?” She hadn’t seen jugs or vessels in the cave.

“Meat.”

Judith wrapped her arm around Adah’s waist with a force that could have burst her waterskin.

A small blaze erupted in the tunnel. Flames consumed dried grass.

Finally some light.

Adah clamped her eyes shut from the brightness and slowly opened them. Her guide, mason—this stranger—crouched on the tunnel’s dirt floor, his hair dangling awfully near the embers. His face was shrouded by his mane. The lamp wick sucked in the fire. Telem stomped on the smoldering grass and then held the oil lamp high.

Was Telem a man or a beast? She would have sworn he peeked from under a bramble bush. Telem stood a hand taller than Othniel and, from the looks of the man’s tunic, he may have bartered for oil, but he didn’t own a wash basin.

Othniel stepped backward pressing Adah and Judith closer to the cave’s wall.

Telem regarded Othniel with interest. He smirked at his young challenger.

She blinked at Telem and tried to behold him in the dim halo of light that banished the dark. The scent of fire pit ash irritated her nose. With a nod, she tried to show respect to the man her mother recalled with fondness.

Judith peered around Adah’s loosened veil, still gripping her sister like a vice. No complaint came about being the one farthest from their host and wedged against juts of dirt and clay.

Telem gasped. “Tabitha!” He leapt like a startled lion, dodging Othniel, and closing in on Judith. “Elisheba has returned you to me.” He stared dumbstruck at her sister like he beheld a medium’s ghost.

Adah straightened. Her heart may have broken a rib, for pain shot through her chest. “This is my twin sister, Judith. Oldest daughter of Shallum.”

“’Tis true.” Judith’s voice warbled. “I do not know a Tabitha.”

Telem’s gaze intensified.

Othniel grasped Telem’s wrist. “Show us the way to Jerusalem, or give us the lantern and let us be on our way.”

Adah fisted her hands. Size of a beast or not, this man would not harm her sister.

“Truly.” Judith recoiled further from Telem. “I am not your Tabitha.”

Telem stepped backward, cradling the lamp to his chest and mumbling words Adah could not decipher. In a stupor, he swaggered down the tunnel on the way to what Adah hoped was the city.

What haunted this man? And why did her mother send them to find him? Was this a work of God or foolishness?

Othniel turned to them, eyes wide. “If he tries anything, I will detain him. Run back the way we came.”

“Bandits or a crazed recluse?” Judith’s words were barely audible. “Do we have another choice?”

Adah’s temples pulsed. Did she trust her mother’s intuition about Telem? Did she trust her own? She grabbed her sister’s hand. “I do not believe this man to be dangerous. Seeing you nearly brought him to tears.”

Judith tilted her head. “I could say the same.”

Adah marched after Othniel, who trailed Telem at a distance. Her feet ached for a rest, but she would not stop until she saw the sun set high over the temple. Not two words were uttered by their leader. He remained speechless on their journey. Telem lumbered through the tunnel like a complacent bear, dodging low hanging ceilings and boulders without a misstep.

Why did he seclude himself in these caves? He did not seem mad. He caught game and traded for his needs. He conversed in Hebrew and understood a foreign tongue. Was this Tabitha to blame for his isolation?

They followed Telem’s determined stride until rays of light from an opening in the ground shone into the darkness. Adah would have sworn an angel hovered above the tunnel. Oh, if that were true and a legion of God’s messengers waited to right the wall.

Telem squinted into the sun. “I will give you a foothold so you can climb out.”

Othniel shouldered past their guide. “I will go first in case those scouts ventured closer to the city.” He cast a glance at her and Judith for a silent approval.

She nodded.

“As you wish.” Telem laced his fingers and, as soon as Othniel balanced himself on one sandal, Telem thrust him upward.

Othniel grabbed hold of the ground and scrambled through the hole. In an instant, he reappeared and watched Telem’s every move. “Send the girls up.”

Judith raced forward, dug her sandal into Telem’s palms and reached for Othniel’s hand as if it were made of gold.

Telem hesitated.

“Push me up,” Judith demanded. Her onyx-eyed glare bore into Telem.

Adah cleared her throat. Telem eased Judith toward Othniel as if she were a fine alabaster vase.

Once her sister was safely above the tunnel, Adah faced Telem. Desperation crept over her like an infectious rash. How could Telem refuse to return to his own city? Where was his loyalty to Jerusalem? To her mother? She had agreed to set stone upon stone, and she would uphold her vow, with or without Telem.

She whipped her head back and met the stare of the wayward Israelite. “What shall I tell my mother? Does she not matter to you? Did she ever?”

Telem’s lips became as thin as thread. He shook his mane. ”Maybe you should ask her why she tried to trick me by sending a daughter into my presence that resembles my wife.”

How dare he insult her mother? Wife? No woman lived here. Heat flashed through Adah’s body from her toes to her temples. Did this man not listen?

“My mother is without sight.” The statement flew loud and fast from her lips. “She has not seen her daughter’s face in more than a year. If anyone is a trickster it is you, Master Builder, creeping around in your cave.”

“Adah.” Othniel encouraged her to grab his hand.

She waved off her friend. Telem went rigid like a statue with eyes. “Our God has given the governor the resources to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall. I for one, will answer the call no matter if I break my back doing it. Go ahead and hide out here in your hole. Maybe you’ll find your Tabitha.”

Telem yanked her close. Every bone and muscle in her body tensed.

“Go ahead,” she said. “Betray me and my mother. But how will you explain your betrayal to God.”

He placed his hands on her hips and thrust her toward Othniel’s waiting arms. The force of Telem’s push and Othniel’s pull, sent her crashing to the ground.

Othniel knelt beside her. “Are you hurt?”

She didn’t answer. She half-crawled, half-ran to the opening. Telem would not treat a daughter of Shallum this way.

The tunnel stood empty. Telem was gone, along with her hopes of having a skilled craftsman lead her team and uphold her family’s reputation. Remembering Nehemiah’s challenge from the words of David, she yelled into the pit, “Be strong and courageous and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged for the Lord, God is with us.” She turned and caught Othniel and Judith staring at her as if she had heat sickness.

Adah sprang to her feet, dusted off her dress, and adjusted the beads of her necklace. “I tell you the truth,” she said, a fist resting on each hip. “With or without Telem’s help, Jerusalem’s wall will rise again.”