by Brian Godawa
This was a pinch.
She snapped it forward. The blade wrapped its coil around the serpentine abomination just below its head and cut through it like a stalk of wheat under the scythe.
Lamech dropped to the ground with the falling head of Ningishzida. Betenos ran up to him and pulled the coils off him in tears.
“Lamech! Lamech, my beloved!”
He was unresponsive, pale blue, not breathing.
“Please, Elohim, please,” she pleaded to the heavens.
Lamech coughed and gasped for air. His face filled with color.
Betenos hugged him for all her life, but he stopped her.
“We have to find father and grandfather. They need us.”
Chapter 28
Ohyah ascended the last distance to the Anzu nest with as much stealth as he could manage, to avoid detection. He peeked over the edge of the nest. The Anzu bird lay inside, asleep. The fierce looking creature had a body size twice that of a Naphil and a wingspan of about four times that. Huge and powerful, its leonine face included sharp incisors in the jaw.
He climbed closer. It snored. He suppressed an involuntary chuckle. Every creature on the face of the earth, no matter how frightening, had to sleep just like every other creature. Therein lay its fleshly weakness. This massive intimidating bird of prey snored like a giant kitten.
Ohyah sprang. He slipped his prepared rope bridle over the monster’s mouth as he landed on its back.
Startled awake, it snapped open its wings at the weight of the Naphil. It opened its mouth in a roar. Ohyah pulled tight on the makeshift bridle, asserting control over his wild quarry.
The bird reacted instantly. It leapt into the sky. It quickly realized that it had to release this smelly agitating creature from its back or suffer the fight of its life.
First it flew upside down, then it zigzagged. It plummeted, it shot up, it jerked left and right. The nasty little parasite would not let go.
Ohyah was breaking this bucking Anzu.
• • • • •
Down in the depths of the hideous tree, Enoch nocked an arrow in his bow and aimed.
Lilith held a stone sacrificial dagger raised above her head. She sounded an incantation over Edna’s supine body. Enoch saw that the physical features of the women had become decrepit. Their beauty was falling off their faces. These succubus demons drew their life force from the slaughter and cannibalism of infants. Enoch marveled, appalled. What kind of abominable deity would demand such a thing?
He released his arrow.
The arrow pierced Lilith’s hand, pinning it against the wall behind her. She dropped the blade to the floor.
Methuselah threw a javelin. It penetrated Lilith’s chest, puncturing her lung simultaneously with Enoch’s arrow in her hand. A howling shriek of agony, such that neither of them had ever heard before, filled the chamber.
Enoch realized that these were not mere creatures of flesh. They were demons.
Lili and Lilu pulled the projectiles from Lilith’s body. They cackled in unison. Large leathery wings unfolded from behind Lilith, materializing from nowhere.
Methuselah realized the piercing shriek did not come from Lilith, but from the three hyenas near the altar. They howled in agony when Lilith was struck. Some kind of connection ran between the animals and the demons.
“Hit the hyenas!” he yelled. He launched one of his javelins into the air.
It caught one of the hyenas in the thigh. It yelped again. Simultaneously, Lili grabbed her thigh in pain. The other hyenas scrambled for cover.
Enoch for another target. A rumbling overhead halted him. The vibration felt as if an army on heavy mounts was arriving just above them.
He looked around.
The night hags and their animal avatars were gone.
Methuselah ran to the altar and took Edna up in his arms. She gazed up at him in a drugged state of mind and simply uttered, “My Poozeydoodoo,” before passing out altogether.
He kissed her with weeping tears. “I will never take you for granted again, my dear, dear Pednapoodlums.”
Chapter 29
Enoch led the way back through the maze of twisted roots. Methuselah carried the unconscious Edna, holding her close. Halfway to the surface, they met Lamech and Betenos. A group of strangely clad desert nomads accompanied the pair. Enoch drew his dagger.
“Stop, grandfather!” Lamech called out. “These are the Thamud.”
That did not reassure Enoch. He held himself ready for battle. He remembered what he had heard about these savage killers. They skinned their victims alive.
Lamech pleaded with hand raised, “Please, trust me. They have come to rescue us.”
Enoch and Methuselah traded glances. How could this be? They looked back at Lamech. He was not under duress. They could tell if he was lying, and he was not.
Enoch relaxed.
“Well, they might have gotten here a bit earlier,” complained Methuselah. “We could have used their help.”
The lead Thamud, tall, gaunt and handsome with closely cropped beard, stepped forward. “Forgive me, Enoch. I am Diya al Din, prince of my people. We need to hurry. The storm is increasing.”
“Can we not seek refuge inside the tree?” asked Enoch.
“The storm and tree are one demonic entity, and that entity will draw us alive into Sheol if we do not leave promptly” said Diya.
Methuselah protested, “My wife is with child. She needs medicine.”
Diya looked at her pale face. He understood exactly what had happened to her.
“Follow me,” said Diya, “or she will die.”
They followed him.
The fury of windblown sand that had surrounded them earlier now descended upon them.
Diya’s team of fifty warriors on dromedaries led Enoch, Methuselah, Edna, Lamech, and Betenos out into the whirlwind. Methuselah thought they were going to be suffocated as before, when they came upon a small canyon carved out of the rock.
A cave entrance rescued them from the immediacy of the tempest outside. It was a tunnel pathway, not merely a respite from the weather.
They traveled through the tunnel for a couple of leagues before ascending back onto the desert plains.
When they came out of the tunnel, Enoch looked all around him. There was no sign of the sandstorm. It was as if it had never been there. And there was no thousand cubits high Huluppu Tree connecting heaven and earth.
Diya could see his confusion. “I will explain later. Our first concern is to get your pregnant woman some help.”
Methuselah raised his eyes from Edna’s face to an amazing sight. They were close to some rocky buttes that seemed to burst out of the ground. He could see rock carvers chiseling facades of huge buildings into the faces of the rocky bluffs. It was a small city of buildings carved out of the rock.
Methuselah saw a large figure standing out a distance away from the rock faces, looking their way like a dog awaiting the arrival of its master.
It was the giant Ohyah on an Anzu bird.
This should be interesting, thought Enoch as they rode toward the stone city.
Chapter 30
This was the second time Enoch learned that his preconceived notions of a people were completely wrong. He had thought the Adamite cave dwellers were primitive ignorant natives, only to learn they were a spiritually profound elite who taught him the secret ways of Elohim. Then he had believed the rumors and gossip about the Thamudi being a savage clan of barbarians, only to be sitting in front of them now in their homes of incomparable architecture having his own ignorance enlightened by their compassionate explanation of current events. Even the interiors of these rock palaces were exquisitely designed and carved.
The Thamud had heard of Elohim through the trade route that spanned their area many generations before. They had concluded that the very god that Lilith and her Earth Goddess brood of demons hated would be the very god whose side they wanted to be on.
Methuselah could barely listen
as Diya al Din explained everything. All he could think about was Edna. The healers and midwives were treating her in their special room set aside for such matters. Would she be all right? And their growing child in her womb? He would never forgive himself if anything happened to either of them.
Lamech and Betenos listened intently as everything came clear to them.
“At first, we made our battle call and mounted up in preparation to fight Oyhah. He is a Naphil after all.”
Ohyah sat a bit away from the others. He never wanted to impose his presence or overshadow anyone in the room. He did not need to be near to hear. He had eagle ears and could hear a centipede crawling at ten cubits.
Enoch turned to face Ohyah. “How did you do it? How did you tame the Anzu bird?”
“It was not easy,” said Ohyah. “He nearly threw me to my death a thousand cubits in the sky more than once. But after he broke, I could lead him with the bridle as we do any beast of burden.”
“But how did you know we were in danger?” asked Lamech.
“I am a Naphil,” Ohyah said simply. “I am attuned to the spiritual world. As I climbed the tree, I connected with it, with its soul, or should I say with the myriads of souls it had devoured to sustain its life.”
“That is not all it devours,” said Diya. “The desert you have now become so unhappily acquainted with was not always a dead barren wasteland. Before the Earth Goddess grew there, it was a fertile land every bit as lush as life along the Euphrates. Even more so. Mountains, rivers, forests and meadows, wildlife of every kind.”
“How could that be?” exclaimed Betenos, speaking for everyone’s wonder.
“The Earth Goddess is a parasite,” said Diya. “Her roots burrow deep into the earth, and her branches seek the heavens as she sucks the life out of the environment and atmosphere around her. That is what she has done to create the desert that covers this peninsula.”
“Abomination of desolation,” blurted Enoch.
“Someone should destroy it,” offered Lamech.
“That would be very difficult,” said Diya. “It would take a gibborim.”
“How did you find us, then?” asked Enoch.
Diya replied, “When Ohyah flew the Anzu bird to our humble city and pleaded for your lives, he offered his neck to me. I could have killed him in an instant. Something I had never seen a Naphil do. And because he tamed the Anzu, the watchbird of that wicked tree, I knew we had a common enemy. Without your giant friend and the Anzu, we would never have found you. Its black magic comes from the depths of Sheol and the witch demons use sorcery of all kinds to remain obscured and undiscoverable.”
“Well, I hope to never discover that vile wicked tree again,” said Betenos. Everyone laughed.
Lamech blurted out, “And the story Lilith told us about being the first wife and daughters of Adam?”
“Lies from the pit of Sheol,” said Diya. “That She-demon knew that the best lie is patterned after the truth. You conquer a people by conquering their narrative — subverting it. It has been her goal all along to control the world.”
Betenos felt a fool for being taken in by the trickery. A wave of repentance washed over her. She stood up to proclaim to the group, “I repent for worshiping the Great Goddess Earth Mother. I am ashamed of my idolatry. And I am grateful for the patience and loving help that Lamech has displayed with me during my travels with your family. It took a large black serpent to awake me from my spiritual slumber, and push me into the arms of my Creator, Elohim.” She was done. And she was crying, her tears flowing from a cleansed soul.
Lamech, bleary-eyed, hugged Betenos.
Enoch got up off his chair and approached her.
Lamech pulled away to see what his grandfather would do.
Betenos felt a bit afraid, since Enoch had not trusted her throughout their journey. Would he doubt her now?
Enoch stared at her. She felt her spine tingle.
“Betenos,” he said, “slayer of Ningishzida, you are my family.” And Enoch hugged her with complete acceptance.
Lamech’s smile went so wide it hurt his mouth.
Methuselah felt some happiness despite his own painful fears for Edna’s safety.
Even Ohyah was moved. Could this god Elohim be so powerful as to redeem the most cursed of all creatures?
Betenos wept more. She had so longed to be accepted by this great patriarch, the grandfather of the man with whom she was desperately in love.
“Betenos bar Barakil,” said Lamech on bended knees, “I have prayed for this moment from the second I set my eyes upon you. And now my wildest dreams have come true. Will you be my wife?”
Betenos could not contain her happiness. But before she could express it, they were interrupted by two midwives entering the room.
Methuselah leapt to his feet and ran to them.
One of the midwives simply whispered, “I am sorry, we lost the child.”
Methuselah broke away from them and ran to the healing room, to the bedside of Edna.
She was barely conscious, drifting off into sleep. Methuselah sank beside her and gently held her.
“My Peedlums, I thought I lost you.”
“Poozy,” Edna whispered. “I love you.”
“I love you,” he replied, “with all my heart and soul.”
“I was waiting for the right moment to surprise you,” she managed to murmur. “I should have told you sooner.” She began to cry weakly. “I am so sorry, Methuselah. I have failed you.”
“Pednanoonypoo. You have failed no one.”
She did not believe it. She had spent all her life transferring her purpose from one person to the next, as if her significance were founded in giving other people significance.
Edna protested, “I have failed to bring forth your seed.”
Methuselah was almost angry. “You listen to me, woman. Your worth is not in satisfying my purpose, it is in obedience to your Creator. And if my memory serves me, you have obeyed Elohim far more than I ever have. It is from you that I have come to understand Elohim’s ways, his compassion, his mercy, his grace and his love. You have not failed me. I have failed you. I have failed to be the leader worthy of your submission. I have placed my trust in this earth and not in the promise of Elohim’s seed. Can you forgive me, my love?”
She looked up into his eyes. He knew just how to get through to her, and she to him.
“There is nothing to forgive, Poozey,” she said with a weak smile. “You are the finest, truest man I have ever known.”
“You are the only woman I will ever know,” he said.
He caressed her sweaty hair. “Do not fret. Elohim has our little one in his arms.”
“Yes, I know,” she whispered and fell asleep.
Methuselah kissed her on the forehead, and settled her back on the bedding. He then rose and crossed over to the water pail and birth rags. He opened a bloody towel to behold the tiny little body of his miscarried son. He was no bigger than a mouse, all curled up in a tight sleeping position, red with uterine blood. But this was his son. He whispered a prayer to Elohim and turned to one of the midwives come into the room.
“We would like a burial for our son, Adam,” he said.
“Yes, my lord,” said the maidservant and left the room to prepare.
He softly laid the edges of the towel back over the little body in his hand.
He could barely contain himself. He knew the reason his son was dead was because of their experience with Lilith and her evil offspring. He blamed himself. He thought that if he’d only kept his mind on Elohim, he would not be so easily deceived by the flesh. If he was as godly a leader as he ought to be, he would have seen the trap earlier, and saved his wife sooner. He would have saved his son.
Betenos gazed into Lamech’s eyes as they waited for Methuselah to return from the healing room. Their situation was bittersweet. In the face of death Betenos now saw new life.
She spoke with conviction, “I have been so afraid to lose what I could not hold
onto. I have seen that I am far worse than I ever imagined, and more loved than I could have ever hoped. I will be your wife, Lamech ben Methuselah. I will bear your seed. I will bear Elohim’s calling.”
• • • • •
The burial ritual for little baby Adam was brief and simple. They laid him in a small carved box and rubbed red ochre on him, just like his forefather. They even had some desert flowers to cover him before they prayed and filled the grave with dirt. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Enoch said a prayer to Elohim. They all filed back into the rock-faced buildings. Edna had returned to health and was able to mourn with Methuselah. It was not the same as losing an adult child like Havah had with her Abel, but it was still a sacred little life created in the image of Elohim taken too early.
She was sure Elohim knew their pain, and knew that someday he would put all things to right.
Chapter 31
“You cannot be serious!” Edna cried, staring at Enoch, in one of the meeting houses of the Thamud city.
Ohyah remained silent and listened from the back of the room, as usual.
Methuselah added, “God wants us to go on a suicide mission?”
“Not you, me,” said Enoch.
“God wants you to go on a suicide mission?” said Methuselah. For once, Methuselah wished he could see whatever it was that Elohim showed Enoch. How did he know these dreams were actually from Elohim and not mere self-delusion? Hallucinations from greasy sand rats not cooked well enough before eaten? Or too much wine?
“Not suicide, obedient faith. Young man, have I taught you nothing in this life? Have I failed as a father?” said Enoch. “When Elohim commands, we obey. He will bring about the results that he sees fit.”
Enoch told them of his latest dream-vision. Uriel had visited him again and taken him up to Mount Hermon in the presence of all the fallen Watchers, not to fight them, but to pronounce Elohim’s word of judgment. No actions, just words. And this was Enoch’s final journey to make.
This vision gave one new piece of information they had not heard before. Enoch had been told that there was a Chosen Seed to come from the line of Seth, through Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech, one who would bring an end to the reign of the gods and bring rest from the curse of the land.