The Crimson Z

by Robert Cloud, Lee Rush, Richard Savage

  Zachariah let go and the boy fell. The boy looked like he was going to cry but when he looked at the others he climbed back to his feet and tried to push Zachariah down, but even though Zachariah was about the same size his feet were planted and the other toddler could not move him at all.

  Another boy began helping the first, and still Zachariah remained firm. Then a third, and though Zachariah's feet began to slide along the ground they were not knocking him down. It was then that Zachariah's mother showed up and picked him up and carried him back over to where she and his father were.

  It was nearly eighteen years later and the challenges between he and that boy had never stopped. That boy, now a young man, had galvanized most of the young men of the town around him because Zachariah preferred not to cause problems and would not resort to name calling or other slander tactics.

  Yet the thing that made things even worse was when he tried to lose. The others were so much outclassed by him that it was impossible for him to lose without it being obvious that he was trying to throw the competition. He had finally realized he could not do that, he had to either compete honestly or do what he was doing now and avoid the competitions entirely.

  He was out of bed long before them and got his chores done then went to his father's shop where he was apprenticing, all before they even opened their eyes. For three weeks he had managed to succeed in avoiding them, but tonight the moon was full and every one of his hiding places was within its brilliant light.

  They had become wise to his tricks and he could hear them searching for him. If he could just get past them and on the road to the river he would be fine. Today was a light day for chores. He only had two. Haul water to the livestock and feed them; then he could go and begin smelting the silver for today his father was going to begin teaching him to be a silversmith. It was the first of the many levels he would go through on his way to becoming a master jeweler like his father.

  Zachariah rounded a corner behind the hut of the camp's leader and could see the road to the river clearly. The moon shone down upon Samuel and Judiah who were standing at the gate to the village and blocking his path to the river. He could jump over the fence and cut through the briars but his legs would be torn to shreds. He backed around the corner and cursed himself, trying to second guess their actions. He knew he should have tried to stay in the shadows away from the moon, but he had taken the path that had been loyal to him for three weeks. Tonight however, his path had betrayed him into the hands of his peers.

  Suddenly he heard Tobiah's voice, and lifting his eyes he saw his arch-rival walking straight toward him. There was nothing to do but stand and accept their challenge. He might as well face one challenge and get it over with for the day.

  "Well, well,” Tobiah said tauntingly, “I see we have finally managed to catch the rat who has been trying to avoid us."

  Zachariah rose up and looked Tobiah square in the eyes. He easily stood two hands taller than Tobiah. Even so his rival had always tried to make Zachariah angry, but he held his temper. Not only was it not a good thing to lose your temper when you were strong enough to hurt someone without even thinking about it, but to hurt the grandson of the village leader would have been very bad for his father as well. “Tobiah, you have found me, make your challenge and be done with it."

  As the others in Tobiah's gang gathered around Tobiah sneered and laughed, “So now you want the challenge. Hasn't it been you that has been avoiding a challenge for these last three or four weeks?"

  "It has been twenty days to be exact Tobiah. Had I gotten past you today it would have been three weeks, but your cohorts barred my path.” Zachariah took a step forward and every one of Tobiah's crew including Tobiah took a step backwards, even in their numbers they knew his strength. “Now you have caught your rat, as you have called me, so make your challenge."

  Tobiah whistled and a large young man that was about four hands taller than Zachariah came walking out of the shadows. He lumbered forward and stopped several feet away from the group. Zach looked at him and then at Tobiah, “You could not find someone of the camp to beat me so you went elsewhere?"

  "Shut your mouth, Zachariah, son of Zakarias the jeweler. This is Kobas, my cousin from two villages to the south of us. He is blood to me so he is eligible to compete.” Tobiah crossed his arms and smiled.

  "Fine by me, I care not if you change the rules to suit your needs,” Zach said. He saw Tobiah stiffen at the accusation and knew it was true, “Now go ahead and make your challenge, I have chores to do, as do all of you."

  The other young men nodded to one another, many of them had more than once gotten in trouble because of Tobiah's vendetta with Zachariah. Yet they continued to stay at Tobiah's side and risk additional punishments in their vain hopes to also see Zachariah fail.

  Tobiah lifted his hand and motioned for his cousin to come forward. “Kobas here is strong, stronger than any man I have ever seen, and I think he is stronger than you Zachariah, son of Zakarias."

  Zachariah just looked at the new arrival, it was indeed possible. He definitely had the build for it, and Zachariah did not really try to build his strength it just came from working hard and doing his chores like his father had told him to do. There were no other children in his household so if Zachariah wanted to learn his father's craft he had to do all the chores and do them fast and efficiently. He'd had to learn to do them at a very young age. When he was as young three he was carrying the baby goats by himself, at four he was carrying the adults, at five he was carrying two. It was a matter of need not choice, yet he never really grew much in bulk like many did, he just did what had to be done. Sometimes he would pay for it with aches and pains that night, but his mother would rub a liniment into his muscles and sing him a soothing song to help him relax.

  Sadly he often had to return the favor. Many times he would hold his mother after she had lost another child before it was born. She would cry bitterly for it was her deepest wish to give her husband, his father, another child. Yet for some reason it was God's plan that Zachariah would be their only child.

  Now this only child of Zakarias looked at Kobas and actually prayed that indeed he would be strong enough to win the competition for maybe then this silly game of Tobiah's would stop. Yet something inside Zachariah also told him that he could not let Kobas win if it was not a true win. He had to give it his all for it would be less than honorable for his father if he lost willingly. He turned to Tobiah and asked, “What is the challenge?"

  "We go to the blacksmith shop. He has just made a large amount of iron spikes to be shipped to the coast. We will place a yoke across Kobas’ shoulders and then a basket on each end. Jacob and Michael will load the baskets with a spike at the same time until Kobas cannot stand. Then if you can lift the yoke you win,” Tobiah pushed his finger into Zachariah's chest and added, “but if not you loose."

  "Well,” Zachariah said, “to me that does not seem quite fair."

  Tobiah laughed and turned to his buddies and said, “See I told you he was a coward."

  However Zachariah ignored him and continued his train of thought, “Kobas will have been standing there with that weight getting heavier and heavier, draining his strength. By the time he collapses I will be fresh and have not been tired at all, I will be able to lift more than he was able to hold up even were he and I equally matched to start out with, or even if I were a little weaker."

  Tobiah stood with his mouth agape. Zachariah looked at him and added, “After all, we do want the competition to be fair, don't we?"

  For a few moments Tobiah stood still as if he did not know what to say then he said, “Okay, then what do you suggest."

  "Kobas and I both get yokes with baskets. You have enough friends to load the baskets for both of us and besides it will help the blacksmith get his delivery ready, so we are doing him a favor too. Then there will be no counting, they keep loading until both of us go to our knees. Once to our knees, they count into the shipping crates the number of spikes. The
winner of course is the one who has the most spikes."

  Tobiah looked at Zachariah and said, “Agreed.” Then he waved to his buddies and they headed towards the blacksmith shop but before he could take a step Zachariah grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him up short.

  "There is one more thing, Tobiah."

  Tobiah turned angrily brushing Zachariah's hand off of him like Zach had some form of disease. “What is that?"

  "This is the last competition. We are getting too old for this childishness."

  "Who are you to decide this?” Tobiah glared at him.

  "Then I make you a wager."

  "Wagers are a sin, you know that Zachariah.” Tobiah sneered. “Perhaps I should tell the priest of your attempt to get me to sin."

  "Pride is a sin too, Tobiah, and your constant attempt to beat me at a competition is nothing more than something to appease your pride."

  Tobiah growled under his breath, “What is your wager?"

  "If I loose, I will take every bit of profit I make above what is needed for me to survive under the basest of means and give it to you for the rest of my life, if you stop the competitions."

  "And if you win?"

  "You simply stop the competitions."

  Tobiah looked at him, “You mean you don't want anything else?"

  "Nothing."

  Zachariah held out his hand and waited for Tobiah. From the look in Tobiah's eyes Zachariah could tell that he did not have to think long. After all, ending the competitions really was not that big a deal, and the prospect of having all of his money for the rest of his life was easily enough to tempt Tobiah into accepting the deal. Tobiah's hand grasped Zachariah's firmly. To Zachariah, even if he did loose the end of the competitions would really be worth him living on the edge of poverty for his entire life.

  Tobiah turned and headed toward the blacksmith's shop and Zachariah followed. By the time they had arrived Kobas already had the yoke over his shoulders with the two empty baskets dangling from the ends. Jacob and Michael were ready to begin loading the baskets for him. Samuel and Judiah, the two that had blocked the path to the river were holding the yoke for Zachariah. He suspected that they would also be loading two spikes at a time to make him stumble to his knees sooner even though it would come to a count and not who actually fell first.

  He walked up and let the two position the yoke, and immediately felt a pain in the back of his neck. The yoke had been tampered with but if he complained it would look like he was trying to back out. So he kept his mouth shut. If they wanted to cheat and he lost, at least he did the best he could, and their dishonor would be on them, not him.

  Tobiah walked to stand between the two young men and gave the command to begin. With a clank the spikes hit the bottom of Zachariah's basket. He had been right they were tossing in two at a time. The first ones into Kobas’ basket had hit quietly.

  As more spikes hit the sound of the spikes reverberated throughout the camp. It sounded as if the blacksmith had opened his shop well before dawn. People lit torches and candles in their homes and some came out to inspect what was going on. A crowd began to build around the two young men with the yokes upon their necks as they continued to take more and more weight into the baskets.

  One man shouted out that there was blood running down the back of Zachariah's neck, and a woman pushed her way through the crowd. It was his mother; she came to him and wiped the blood. “Zachariah, what is going on?"

  He whispered to her, “They put something on the yoke, but they will not leave me alone. They always challenge me, but I made a wager with Tobiah and win or lose the challenges will stop."

  "Then why not give up, you are hurt, my son,” she said as she wiped away more of the blood, “and they are cheating."

  "Something deep inside me will not let me dishonor my father by giving less than my all, mother,” Zachariah said, “besides if I loose, which if I can keep from doing it I will not, I will live in poverty the rest of my life."

  She frowned at him, “You gave so much in your wager? What do you gain if you win?"

  "Just an end to these childish games."

  She wiped his brow, “Oh my Zachariah, always the noble boy, never have you done a thing for yourself. Neither do you think ill of anyone. Do you not see that not all people carry truth the way that you do? When will you learn they will not honor their bet to you, but they will be sure you honor yours?"

  "In truth mother, I know. I also know that at least for a while they will cease. It may not be long, but it will be for a while, and when they come to me I can for a short time ask Tobiah why he reneges on his wager. I know he will pretend he never made a wager but some of the young men who know me will know I do not lie and they will stop following him. He will lose his control over many of them, and for someone that hopes to be the leader of the camp someday that will not be a good thing. I may indeed be able to make him keep his part of the wager."

  She stood on her tiptoes and could barely reach his chin to kiss him then she added, “You are wise beyond your years, my boy, perhaps you will win this time indeed, either way. I should let you do what you must.” Before she left she wrapped her kerchief around his neck and then returned to the crowd where she joined his father. Zachariah could see her talking to his father and then saw him nodding. The look upon his father's face told him that he was proud. Even if he lost today nothing that could happen would take away that moment of comfort that filled his heart.

  He turned and focused his energies again upon the weight that was building within the baskets, they had switched tactics now. Samuel was loading two spikes but Judiah was only loading one, so one basket was getting heavier a lot quicker than the other. Whatever it was that was cutting into the back of his neck had begun to slide along his neck as the weight shifted. He turned his gaze to Judiah and whispered to him, “If you do not play this fair, I will let the girl you are courting know about the time you fell in the ditch and cried like a baby. It was I that found you and rescued you, Judiah. When we came back, what did Tobiah do? For a week he pretended you did not exist, and yet you are cheating for him now."

  Judiah's eyes widened, he did remember the time. He began to throw three spikes in for a while until Zachariah nodded and let him know the weight was even again. Then he returned to two. He whispered to Zachariah, “I am sorry, and I should never have befriended Tobiah again. When this is over can you forgive me, and once again we be friends?"

  "Judiah, there is nothing to forgive. I never saw you as anything but a friend. You are always welcome at my door and my table.” Zachariah smiled at him then he heard a whisper from Samuel.

  "I too am sorry about all of this Zachariah. I hope I too can be forgiven."

  "Samuel, as with Judiah, I see no sin, you too are welcome wherever I may be."

  On that day the three became friends, and their friendship would last until Samuel and Judiah were laid to rest. Those two would be the two that would stand firmest against the wrongs that Tobiah would from time to time try to inflict upon Zachariah, and even though Zachariah needed no support they would rally around him still, confirming their bond once again.

  Even though it was obvious that Tobiah was routing for Kobas, his cousin was a stranger to the rest of the villagers except for his direct family. So all the villagers were shouting out Zachariah's name, even Tobiah's own father, Tobyas was cheering on the favored contender. Then suddenly Zachariah began to stumble under the weight, it was obvious he could not handle much more. The crowd cheered him on stronger yet for all they did he could not hold up more and he went to his knees.

  Another ten minutes of silence except for the clank of spikes hitting steel continued before Kobas could not handle his weight and he too fell to his knees. It was then that the counting began, but two of the men of the village who had watched it decided they had seen too many things that made them think the counting would not be fair so they stepped in and told the young men that they would be the judges.

  Shipping crates
were brought out, and as the stakes were counted they were loaded into the shipping boxes as Zachariah had suggested be done. The crowd remained silent, and those doing the counting did so silently and without talking to each other so that a full count would be taken. It was only fair that both young men be given full credit for what they accomplished, for it was obvious that no matter who won or lost both had accomplished an amazing display of strength.

  While the counting continued Kobas walked over to Zachariah and for the first time saw the blood. He then looked at the yoke and pointed it out to his uncle. There was no doubt in any of the villager's minds that Tobiah would be in severe trouble for his deed. Then Kobas told everyone about the wager and that all Zachariah had requested win or lose was the end of the competitions that Tobiah kept insisting upon. He told them how Zachariah he had offered all his earnings if he lost, just to get Tobiah to agree.

  Tobyas was furious as he looked at the spike that had been driven through the yoke so that just the point stuck out. It was not enough to cause severe damage, but it was enough to cause severe pain. He grabbed his son by the ear and led him before the entire village and announced to the listeners, “My son, the greedy ingrate that I have the shame to have to call my offspring, tried to rig this contest so that he would win.

  "The yoke that Zachariah used was tampered with to cause him pain and make him give up early.

  "We have all seen how hard of a worker Zachariah is. There are times he has gone out of his way to aid others when they have needed help and he gets his own work done as well. Yet it seems that my offspring has harassed him and hounded him to compete in one form or another for years.” Tobyas looked at his son and then smacked him across the back of the head.

  "There was a wager made on this competition, and since my son cheated, I call it in favor of Zachariah no matter the outcome of the count."