CHAPTER 10

Contrary to his first thought, the addition of the robe did nothing to diminish the girl’s beauty. It clung to her wet body, accentuating her curves.

As the women helped the robed girl toward the shore, he quietly slid from his tree into a large bush, where he peeked out through the branches while peeling an orange with his Swiss-army knife. He was hardly aware of what he was doing—he certainly wasn’t hungry—but his fingers dug into the fruit instinctively, finding something to do while he watched.

Jimmy had just popped a segment into his mouth and bit into the ripe flesh when the horses across the crater began to neigh and stamp their feet. Startled, he dropped the fruit, and looked up in time to see them break from their leads and run into the woods. The man beside them jumped to his feet and yelled, and just as quickly collapsed into the water, the shaft of a long spear protruding from between his ribs.

The women panicked and ran for the grass, and Jimmy’s fingers clenched on his knife’s metal handle.

One woman fell almost immediately, victim to another spear, and clawed at the shaft until her hands went limp in the water. A second made it onto the bank, but a man in a gray shirt and loose pants leapt out of the bushes, caught her around the waist, and slashed her throat with a short knife. Her eyes flew open in pain and fear, and the man dropped her onto the ground, where she gurgled her last breath.

The third woman pushed the girl toward the shore, screaming as she ran, and was caught by a second man clad like the first. Barely flinching at her kicks and cries, he seized her, slung her over his shoulder, and ran off with her into the trees.

Jimmy stifled a cry just in time for the girl to run behind his bush.

She froze, her wet robe clinging to her perfect body, and began to open her mouth. Frantically shaking his head, Jimmy covered her mouth with his hand and pulled her down into the branches. She struggled briefly, but stiffened as she saw the legs of the first soldier walking toward them, holding a bloodied crescent sword.

Before Jimmy knew what was happening, the girl slipped free of his grasp, then bolted toward the orchard, but the soldier grabbed her legs and tackled her, swiftly pinning her beneath him. She screamed, and the soldier almost smiled as he drew his knife and brought it toward her face.

“Hey! Hey, you!” Jimmy yelled, and the soldier looked up, instinctively turning at the noise. He began to speak, but was cut off when Jimmy threw his knife into his throat.

“My lord.”

Amnon stared down at the carnage, not comprehending what had just happened to his seemingly perfect plan.

“My lord,” Laban insisted, pulling on Amnon’s shoulder, “her warriors are near.”

The boy looked up, dazed. “What?”

“Her warriors, my lord!” He pointed out through the vines at the horses thundering toward the pool. “Run!”

The girl’s breath hitched, but she managed to roll the soldier’s body off of hers and regain her feet. She studied the fatal wound, then pulled the knife from his neck and turned to Jimmy, speaking rapidly and pointing to the trees.

He shook his head. “English. Know English?”

She frowned, then nodded once, curtly. “Thou must fly, sir! My warriors approacheth, and they will want thine eyen!”

“Huh?”

“Hide, fool!” she hissed, pushing him behind another bush. “If thou want to live, conceal thyself!”

Jimmy crouched in the foliage, too flustered to think straight—had he really just killed a man? With a pocketknife? “Oh, my God,” he muttered, standing again. “He’s dead, I just…”

“Please,” she begged, pulling her soaked robe more tightly around her body, “thou canst remain here. If they find thee, thou’rt dead!”

“Dead? Why? I just…he was going to kill you, I was trying to save you!”

She cocked her head toward the growing thunder of the hooves, then replied, “Thou hast seen…seen my nakedness, which no man can see and live. Run, I beg of thee, run!”

He saw the horses hesitate on the edge of the crater, then nodded and turned to go.

“Wait,” she called, catching his wrist before he could leave. “Here, good sir, take thy blade,” she said, pressing the bloody pocketknife into his hand. “Much good may it do you.”

Jimmy stared into her dark eyes, watching her study his face, then realized his cap was cockeyed and hastily straightened it. “Will you be alright?” he asked.

“Aye,” she whispered, but held his wrist a moment longer and asked, “Art thou Solomon, come again amongst us?”

“Jimmy,” he whispered.

“Jimmy,” she repeated, feeling the word in her mouth.

“Yeah, Jimmy. And you? What’s your name?”

“Tamar.”

“Tamar,” he smiled. “That’s really pretty.”

“Princess Tamar,” she added, and released him. “Now, run.”

Before he could dash for the cliff, the first of the horses ran into the pond, and Tamar hissed, “Too late! Quickly, hide here,” she insisted, and drew him back into the bush.

Jimmy stared out through the leaves and watched as four muscular women in dark orange silk leapt off their horses. One pulled the eunuch’s body from the water, while another dragged the speared handmaiden out to join the woman with the slit throat on the bank. As he watched, he realized Tamar was shaking beside him, and cautiously wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered. “They won’t find us…”

She shook her head. “Because they have not begun to look. There—oh, my poor Miriam,” she murmured, seeing another warrior escort the abducted handmaiden to the crater. Two of the warriors helped her into the water and coaxed her into the depths, where they began to wash the blood from her face. The others, speaking quietly to each other, unsheathed the swords hanging from their hips and started back into the forest.

“She’s alive?” Jimmy asked.

“A soldier of the High Priest, or of his son,” Tamar interrupted, her jaw clenched as her eyes began to water. “He defiled her,” she whispered, and then added, “And she wouldst be happier dead…”

A high, blood-curdling scream echoed across the crater, and Jimmy looked at Tamar in alarm.

“They found the snake,” she replied, wiping her face with the back of her hand. “He will never know a woman again.” The man screamed anew, and her lips pursed. “Or see.”

She looked back at him solemnly. “He took that which was most precious unto Miriam, her honor and her chastity. Surely he merits no kinder mercies from those whom he would destroy.”

Before he could formulate a response, she pulled him deeper into the bush and pointed out at the crater, where the two returning warriors washed their hands and their weapons in the tainted water. “Their vengeance is had,” she continued more urgently. “They will search for me. Thou must leave while thou mayst.”

“But I didn’t hurt you, I wouldn’t…”

Tamar covered his mouth with her fingertips and shook her head. “’Tis for naught if thou stayst. I shall go unto them, and when their minds are fixed on me, then must thou run, and ne’er be seen. Understand?”

“But…”

“None may look upon me and live,” she insisted. “None but my maidens. And thou…” She flicked her worried eyes to the warriors and back. “Thou wilt die if thou dost remain here.”

Jimmy nodded, but clasped her hand before she could pull it away from him. “When can I see you again?”

“Art thou deaf as well as foolish?” she whispered. “Never!”

“Where, then?”

Tamar stared at him for a few seconds, then bent to his ear. “Ridest thou half a day up the river toward the city of Sheba. Go then unto mine uncle, who is called Ezra the Scribe.” She broke away in time to see three warriors approaching their bush, then touched his cheek and stood. Tamar called out to the warriors and ran toward them, and they cried with joy to find her alive and whole.

While they led her toward the horses, Jimmy slipped from his hiding place and ran for the cliff.

The three bodies were laid across two horses, while the princess and her surviving servant each took a mount. When all was secured and the women were clothed once more, two warriors led them into the safety of the woods, while the other pair remained by the shore, slowly scanning the trees for signs of life.

Above the crater, Amnon continued to watch, slowly grinding his teeth.

“Your majesty,” said Laban, again daring to touch the prince’s shoulder. “Please, your majesty, it’s not safe. We must go.”

Amnon made no response, and Laban raised his voice a notch. “My lord, if they catch you here, they will know, and they will remove the sweets of your life. Is that what you want?”

“The sweet of my life,” Amnon muttered, “is Tamar.”

“And what good are the sweets if you can’t pluck them?” Laban asked, pulling the boy deeper into the cave. “The back tunnel, take it. I’ll wait until they give up, and I’ll follow you.”

Amnon reluctantly turned to go, but paused at the mouth of the exit tunnel. “I will have her, you know. This is only temporary.”

The women called to each other across the crater, nearing the rock wall.

“But their vengeance isn’t,” said Laban, and shooed the prince on his way. “Run now and live another day, my lord. There is no shame in wisdom.”