Chapter 36

Standing at the top of the outer ramp, Noah surveyed the bare landscape before him, where majestic gopherwood trees once rose high into the sky. Most of them now made up part of the ark and only some of the stumps remained, littering the terrain beyond the harvested fields, now barren of animals. A dense forest still encircled them, but its borders no longer stretched so close to the expanded clearing that had served as Noah’s home for the past century.

The ground rumbled again, just as it had done multiple times throughout the week. Noah stared at the hill in the north, where he had encountered the guardians many years earlier. The evening before, as the family gathered outside the ark, Kezia had noticed flickering lights emanating from the area of the garden. Everyone discussed what might have caused the lights, and they eventually settled on the idea that the Creator had spoken to the guardians to inform them that, with the onset of the flood, their long appointment at the garden would draw to a close. The thought that nothing would ever look the same following the flood saddened Noah.

Stretching his arms, he descended the ramp, but stopped as Emzara drew near, guiding a pair of young keluks toward the door.

“I’m saving the best for last.” She smiled at him. “I didn’t want to put them in their cages any longer than necessary.”

“I’m sure they’ll appreciate that.” Noah quickly kissed her cheek. “After you lock their enclosure, send Japheth and Ham to the wagon. Looks like we still have room for more firewood.”

“Be quick. We don’t know when the flood will start. I’ll double check the cages to make sure we have all the animals.”

Noah passed Shem driving seven pairs of bleaters up the ramp. “Meet me—”

“—at the wagon.” Shem slapped him on the shoulder. “I heard you tell Mother. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Noah reached the ground and strode toward a woodpile near the north end of the clearing. The earth trembled again, and he instinctively glanced over his shoulder to verify that the ark remained steady. As the sun disappeared behind thick, dark clouds, he reached the wagon hitched to the pair of tuskers that had arrived in the glade a week ago. Patting one of them on the head, he said, “Looks like you two will be the last to board.” The tusker raised its short trunk and let out a whistle.

He led the pair to the woodpile and moved to the back of the wagon. As he tossed split logs into the cart, a light rain began to fall. Glancing up, Noah spotted his sons running toward him as immense, almost black clouds tumbled in from the west.

“Looks like it’s ready to start,” Japheth said as he grabbed two pieces of wood and threw them into the wagon.

“Mother wants you to hurry,” Ham said. “She’s checking all the animal stalls to make sure we didn’t leave any out here.”

“Yeah, she said that she found two open stalls already. One for the tuskers, but she was checking her list for the other kind.”

A gust of cold air blasted them, chilling the rain and driving it sideways for a moment. Noah rubbed his arms quickly before continuing to load the wagon. The anticipation of the coming judgment filled him with adrenaline, allowing him to work faster and harder. A sense of dread repeatedly attempted to invade his mind, but he pushed it back by focusing on his work.

“What’s that noise?” Shem asked.

“The wind,” Ham said.

“No, not that. Listen.” He pointed north. “Over there.”

As the gust died down, Noah heard cracking twigs and a snort.

“Maybe that missing pair of animals,” Japheth said.

Noah’s eyes grew wide as dozens of soldiers stepped out of the forest a few hundred cubits away. In the middle, two beasts similar to Captain Iradel’s towed a chariot with a female occupant. Despite the distance, Noah had very little doubt about her identity. Naamah! Another chariot pulled alongside her. “Get to the ark. Now!”

As he shouted, Naamah pointed a staff in their direction and yelled to her soldiers, who immediately broke into a sprint.

Ham jumped into the driver’s seat of the wagon and Shem encouraged Noah to take the other spot.

“No, you take it,” Noah said. “I’ll be right behind.”

“Come on,” Ham said.

Noah and Shem ran toward the ark, while Japheth took the seat near Ham. Glancing back, Noah spotted hundreds, if not thousands of soldiers pouring into the clearing to give chase. The tuskers clomped past him and Japheth and Ham urged him to hurry. Shem’s younger legs kept him slightly ahead of Noah.

The earth quaked again. Noah lost his balance and tumbled to the ground. As he clambered to his feet, he glimpsed the army and two chariots out in front, rapidly closing the distance. They would catch him soon.

Shem sped onto the ramp behind the tuskers and his brothers before he turned around. “Father!”

“Keep going. I’ll be right there!”

With a hundred cubits or more to cover, another shaking of the earth caused Noah to fall again. This time he heard a high-pitched scream behind him. The quake had knocked Naamah out of her vehicle, and her beasts sped toward him, as did the other chariot. Its rider lifted a spear and directed it at Noah. Noah knew the face that snarled at him. Nivlac!

“We need him alive!” Naamah staggered to her feet.

Nivlac spun the spear around to swing the blunt end at his target. “You won’t escape this time, Noah! And your whole family will be tortured before your eyes. I have another tree I’m going to sacrifice you in front of.” Nivlac steadied himself and reared back.

As Noah prepared to dart to the side, a deafening crack rang out. A fissure split the ground between Noah and Nivlac, with Naamah’s riderless chariot safely on Noah’s side. Unable to stop in time, the two beasts pulling Nivlac’s chariot attempted to leap over the gap. They barely cleared the opening, but the cart fell short. Nivlac leapt for Noah’s side of the fissure as the weight of the chariot dragged the poor beasts backward off the edge. Nivlac’s arms and shoulders landed above the newly formed cliff. Clambering for a handhold, he found only grass. He called for Naamah’s help just before his hands slipped. He shouted a curse at Noah as he fell into the darkness.

Naamah screamed and glared at Noah. They stood only 30 cubits apart, separated by the gaping crevasse. “Your God can’t protect you forever, Noah!”

“Naamah, the Creator is all-powerful and can do what He pleases. He told me before that I’ll survive this flood, so I know He’ll protect me until that happens. Turn from your evil before it’s too late.”

She turned and shouted for her army to hurry.

The ground shook violently and water rocketed into the sky from the far end of the crack between them. At the same time, the hill with the garden on it exploded and spewed ash and lava into the air.

Naamah staggered. “No! The tree!” She raised her fist to the heavens and screamed, with tears filling her eyes. “Nachash! Hear me. Don’t let the Creator win. Prove that you’re the highest of all gods!”

Noah pitied her. The most powerful person in the world stood powerless before him. “Nachash cannot defeat the Most High. Naamah, forsake your false god and cry out to the Creator while you still have time!”

Enraged, she balled her fists and faced him, her eyes burning with the most intense hatred he had ever seen. “Never! Nachash is the rightful ruler of this world, and I’m his goddess. You will bow to me before I kill you.”

Noah’s heart sank. How could anyone reject the Creator after seeing all that Naamah had witnessed? A jolt of energy ripped through him when he spotted her army drawing nearer. “You’re deceived. Call on the Most High before it’s too late.” He spun toward the ramp and stopped after a few steps because Naamah’s chariot, still hitched to the two creatures, stood in his way. I don’t remember seeing this kind of animal in the ark. He jumped into the cart and the beasts bolted for the ramp.

“No!” Naamah screamed as the first group of soldiers arrived at her side. “Make a way across this gap now! And get archers up here immediately.”

As Noah successfully turned onto the ramp, he looked back. Lightning flashed about the blackened sky, sending deafening thunder through the clearing. Two giants stood near the edge of the fissure, and each picked up a soldier and threw him across the chasm. The men landed hard, but they cleared it. Two more soldiers followed. Naamah ordered the huge men to throw her next and the other men to catch her. Meanwhile, groups of soldiers attempted to fashion a bridge with rope and wood. Moments later, Naamah stood on the opposite side and commanded several soldiers to pursue Noah.

Huge drops of rain pummeled Noah as he approached the top of the ramp.

Emzara raced out the door and stopped when she saw him. “Hurry up!” Her eyes grew wide as she saw the carnage below.

“Em, get inside.”

She nodded and then tilted her head to the side when she noticed the animals pulling the chariot. “Looks like we have a pair of those now. They were the only ones missing from my list.”

“I thought they might be.” Noah followed her into the ark and jumped off the cart. “Sons, quickly, the door.”

Emzara worked to unharness the beast closest to her. “Rayneh, get the other one.”

Moments later, Emzara and Rayneh led the two beasts out of the way as Japheth and Ham ran to Noah’s side.

Noah pushed the chariot toward the ramp. “Help me get this out of the way.” Japheth and Ham joined him, and they successfully maneuvered it up against the ramp’s railing and clear of the door’s path as Naamah and several soldiers appeared at the base of the incline.

Pointing to the rope keeping the door open, Ham said, “We have to untie it before we can close the door.”

“I’ll get it,” Japheth said as he headed toward the knot.

Another quake caused the entire ramp to vibrate and shift. Ear-splitting cracks of timber rang out beneath them and another blast of water shot into the sky from the middle of the clearing, launching hundreds of Naamah’s soldiers to their deaths. Many of the soldiers fled toward the woods.

Noah realized the ramp would not hold. “Inside!”

Ham shoved Japheth into the ark, and Noah leapt for the doorway just as the platform gave way and crumpled to the ground.

Noah looked at his sons.

“That was too close,” Japheth said.

“How are we going to close the door now?” Ham asked. “We can’t get to the knot.”

Noah poked his head out of the opening. With the rain splatting against his face and soaking his hair, he glanced first at what used to be the base of the ramp. Naamah shouted something at her soldiers, but the wind and thunder drowned out any hope of hearing it. One of them produced a torch and tried to light it. They’re planning to burn the ark. Looking back toward the door, Noah studied the top of it. “If I could. . . .”

“Father,” Ham said, water dripping off the sides of his beard. “I can climb out there and untie it. Then I can push it away from the wall and ride it back in here.”

“No, I’ll do it,” Noah said.

“I will. I’m younger and stronger.”

“Wait.” Noah scanned the room. “Kezia, bring that rope. We’ll tie it around Ham.”

Ham nodded. “Good idea. I’ll need a bit of a boost to grab the top.”

Kezia slipped the rope around her husband and several of them grabbed onto it.

They walked toward the edge of the opening as Ham searched for the best place to hold on to.

Noah pointed to the knot that held the door. “Wait. Look at that!”

“It’s coming loose,” Emzara said.

“How can that be?” Kezia said.

The knot unfastened and the door slowly moved away from the outside wall of the ark.

Shem held his arms out and gestured for the others to step away from the entrance. “Get back.”

“The Creator is closing the door,” Ar’yel said.

As the door swung toward him, Noah stared down at Naamah and her soldiers and shook his head as a sense of sorrow mixed with relief struck him.

She screamed something at him just before the door slammed shut with a thud that instantly dampened the sounds from outside. An array of animal sounds within the ark overpowered the muffled screams, wind, torrential rain, and thunder.

Noah quickly latched the door. He turned and stared in amazement at his family. Emzara leaned against him and he held her tight. Shem hugged Ar’yel while she let out a deep sigh. Kezia put her hand on Ham’s back as he loosened the rope around his waist and let it fall to the ground. Japheth watched Rayneh as she moved silently to the door, her face emotionless, as if she were in shock. She put her hand on it and fell to her knees, sobbing. Japheth hurried to kneel down beside her. She collapsed in his arms and wept.

No one spoke for several moments — the magnitude of everything that had just happened and what must have been occurring outside rendered Noah speechless. Another muffled blast of thunder along with barely audible screams registered in his ears. He imagined Naamah and her army trying desperately to escape the devastation. An image of Garun and Laleel popped into his mind. Had they survived until now? And what about Purlek and Evet? Jerah and Pivi? Misha and the rest of his siblings? Noah pulled Emzara closer as his eyes welled up.

An animal’s snort beside them grabbed his attention. One of the chariot beasts sniffed at Emzara’s feet and then gently brushed its long brown snout against her leg.

Emzara glanced up at Noah. “I’d better go and put these two in their enclosure.”

With a tip of his head, he gestured to the wagon full of firewood in the corner and spoke softly. “Those tuskers need to be put away, too. Shem, would you do that? Then we’ll all meet in the sitting room. We need to pray and thank the Most High for His provision and protection.”

Emzara lightly kissed his cheek and then gestured toward the rest of their family. “Look, it’s just as the Creator told you so long ago. The ark will be for you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives.”

Still hurting from the heightened awareness that everyone outside the ark would soon be gone, but thankful for God’s mercy to him and his family, Noah nodded and pulled Emzara close again. “Another reminder that we can always trust the Creator.”

And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him (Genesis 7:5).