The Crimson Z

by Robert Cloud, Lee Rush, Richard Savage

  Zachariah stood and walked forward, his legs could barely support him as he came to Tobyas, “High Elder, I made the wager, I also felt the sting of the spike. I could have called foul. I did not. I chose to continue the competition. I ask you let the count decide the winner."

  With a look that could only be shock Tobyas stared at him, “But son, you have nothing to gain if you win, and everything to lose if you don't."

  "That is not true, High Elder. Whether I lose or win, if it is by the count I gain my self respect. If you declare the winner by fault because of cheating it will always be that I won because Tobiah cheated. If I lose I lose fairly, and respectfully. I held up as long as I could, and Tobiah will have to live with the knowledge that he aided in my loss. His self respect will be damaged, but mine will be intact."

  Tobyas took Zachariah's hand and said, “So be it.” Then he turned to his son and added, “From this young man you could learn a lot. If he loses, I know he will keep his debt to you, but I will disown you as mine and your younger brother will be the next leader of this camp. If he wins, you will go to his home every day and thank him that I have not disowned you, for it will be because he stood up against your treachery and won that I will keep you so you can learn something from him.” Then he turned his back on his son and walked back into the crowd of the villagers to await the count.

  Both counts ended within moments of each other fueling speculation that the contest was going to be close, perhaps even a tie. Tobiah yelled out to hear Kobas’ count first and since no one disagreed the man who did the count stepped up and announced, “Kobas’ baskets held 233 spikes."

  The crowd cheered for that was a tremendous amount of weight indeed, the yoke and baskets alone weighed a lot and then to have that much added weight. Kobas was a strong young man. However then the crowd began to chant out Zachariah's name, they wanted to hear his count. The man that had counted them had called some people back and they were counting his again. So the chant went louder yet, the man came forward and said to the crowd that he was sorry but he had to have made a mistake in his calculations he wanted to make sure and have another count made.

  The crowd would not be quiet. They continued to chant Zachariah's name. There were three men together handling the count this second time and they all shook their heads as they came forward and spoke to the man. He looked at them and his eyes got large then he turned to the crowd and announced, “Zachariah's count is 352 spikes."

  The cheers were wild; Zachariah's parents ran to him and hugged him hard. Then Tobyas shook his hand and said “Well done.” All the villagers filed past him and congratulated him and told him they knew he was a strong lad but not that strong.

  * * * *

  Zachariah paused in his tale and looked again to Melanie, “I know you are probably wondering how much weight that was, but remember it was all in the legs. A man can lift a lot more with his legs than he can with his arms.

  "The yokes weighed about 40 pounds by today's weights, and the baskets were sturdy leather and reinforced to hold a lot of weight, they each weighed about 15 pounds.

  "Each spike weighed a little over five pounds but for this we will say five pounds, so Kobas was holding 1235 pounds before his legs could not hold anymore."

  Melanie waited but it seemed like Zachariah was not going to tell her so she asked, “And you, Papa Zach?"

  "Do you really need to know?” he questioned.

  "My love, I do not need to know, and if you do not wish to tell me you can go on with the rest of the tale. However, I would like to know.” She smiled at him, and waited for his decision.

  "Before my knees buckled I was holding 1830 pounds."

  Melanie's hands clasped together in delight. “I just knew you were a strong man, Papa Zach, but it is not your physical strength that delights me. In your tale it is the strength of your character that shows me that I have chosen wisely in falling in love."

  He leaned over and kissed her lips tenderly and added, “There is still much of this tale to tell, and the time is running short. So I need to get back to it, precious."

  She smiled brightly when he called her precious, it was the first time he had used that word as a pet-name for her. “Please continue my love,” her heart sang as she spoke the words.

  Zachariah slowly closed his eyes and in his mind he returned again to that night so very long ago.

  * * * *

  After they were all done congratulating Zachariah they began heading back to their homes. There was one person that Zachariah sought out. He had to speak to Tobiah and settle things as best he could. He walked up to Tobiah and said to him, “I do not agree with your father belittling you in front of everyone, but it was wrong of you to put that spike in the yoke."

  Tobiah turned and nodded, “Yeah, I know, I just have this urge to beat you at something."

  "Why Tobiah? You already have."

  He looked at Zachariah with a look of bewilderment in his eyes, “What do you mean? I have tried to beat you since we were little kids at everything I could think of. You are smarter than me, faster than me, stronger than me; even when I get other people that I think can beat you, you beat them too. I have never beaten you in anything."

  Zachariah smiled. “You did when you were born in two ways. You are one day older than me, so you beat me out of your mother's womb.” Both young men began laughing at that.

  When they stopped Zachariah added, “But more importantly, you will lead this village someday. That is something I will never do. You have a future ahead of you that means you will govern our people. I will be a jeweler, and make the jewels for your coronation, that is the greatest achievement in life I can hope to achieve. You can guide our people to new lands, new dreams, and even new prosperity."

  Their eyes locked for a moment and then Tobiah raised his hand and took Zachariah's. “The competitions are over. I had never thought about my life like that. You are right. I should not have wasted our time in this silly competition."

  They parted, and went their separate ways. They never did become friends; the punishment of Tobyas guaranteed that. Even after Tobyas passed over, Tobiah would from time to time make life hard on Zachariah until he finally had no choice but to move away from the village. When he did he continued to write letters to his friends Samuel and Judiah until they passed away. His move however had had more to do with other things than Tobiah.

  After he had watched Tobiah walk away Zachariah looked up at the moon. There were still a few hours before the sun would be up and if he hurried he could still get the water and feed the livestock before the sun rose. He grabbed the kerchief his mother had left with him and placed it around his neck to protect the sore that the spike had caused. He grabbed a yoke at the gate and two large oaken buckets and placed the yoke on one shoulder. He tied the handles of the buckets off. If he ran at just the correct pace the buckets would bounce in time to his step and he could jog there and gain much of the time he had lost during the competition.

  Chapter Seven

  The muscles in his legs were sore, but that was from the strain of the weights. Running actually helped to stretch his muscles and he felt better for it. Normally he would have taken his time and enjoyed the air and beauty of the night but not this morning, too much time had been wasted. There was one point about halfway where he slowed briefly for he thought he had heard a wild animal struggling in the brush and had expected an attack but nothing had come so he continued on.

  It did not take long to fill the barrels at the river, but he did waste just a little time to jump in and cool himself off. The run, and the exertion from the contest had drained him, and he needed the coolness as well as a good cold drink to revive him. Carrying the water back would be slower for the buckets were near full and he wanted to spill as little as possible. He did not think today that his father would give him hell if he split a lot of the water but there was still that chance. There were times his father was hard to read.

  He still walked at a good pace
but it was no where near a jog. He was coming to the top of a rise and remembered that this was the spot that he had thought he had heard the wild animal rustling about in the brush. He slowed, his gaze alert. His eyes followed the line of bushes watching for the animal in case he had to defend against it. As he topped the rise he saw something that at first he thought was a fallen limb from a nearby tree lying partially into the road.

  As his pace carried him nearer his heart quickened. It was the slender hand of a young woman. Almost too suddenly he stopped. The buckets swayed upon the yoke and threatened to pull him off his feet as he stopped. As quickly as he dared he knelt and laid the yoke and buckets upon the path and then approached the woman. His heart was racing for he was certain she had been preyed upon by a band of brigands and left to die. What clothing she had on was tattered, it even looked like it had rotted away in places but that would be impossible, unless she had found it in the woods after having her own stripped from her.

  He was afraid to touch her; afraid she would be cold as death. Then he saw her back raise and lower slowly as she took in a breath and he nearly fell onto his ass in shock. She was alive! He slowly turned her over onto her back.

  Slowly his lungs filled to the point he thought they would burst. Before him lay the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. The garments she wore barely covered her but it was not her nakedness or her body that attracted him it was her face. The lines of her face were almost feline in nature, her eyes, though closed, would be large and symmetrical. Her lips were red and full and looked like they were begging to be kissed. He shook his head for in the twenty years since his birth he had never once thought of kissing a girl and here he was thinking of kissing one that was unconscious and unable to say yes or no.

  Her hair was black, the deepest black he had ever seen and even though it was filled with twigs and leaves it was the fullest and most luscious head of hair he had ever imagined a woman could have. His heart was pounding so hard from just the first few moments of gazing upon her that Zachariah knew that if this woman did not already have a husband that one day he would ask her to be his wife.

  Quickly and carefully he cradled her in his arms and out of the brush. Then as he looked at the yoke he tried to decide how he could carry the yoke and at the same time get the woman back safely. A solution came to him.

  As tenderly as he could he lifted her up and placed her over his shoulder. Wrapping his arm around her legs he held her in place. Then he knelt down and lifted the yoke to his other shoulder and stood. If he held all those spikes then this should be an easy task for him. Only thing now was he had to make haste and spill as little as possible on his journey. He dared not jog for he did not want to jostle and take a risk at further injuring the woman, but he walked as quickly and smoothly as he could.

  Zachariah had not had much time to think about sex during his almost twenty years. His mind now drifted to the few times that it had crossed his thoughts. His village had rules that kept the bodies of women covered from the sight of men in public. It was not as strict as may villages in that they did not require veils nor that their hair be bound or covered, but even so he had not seen many girls and sex had not entered his thoughts, until one day a little over a year ago when he had gone out to hunt rabbits for his mother. While out he had heard some laughter and thought he would see what all the fun was about. He had not intended to intrude upon the young women of the camp while they were bathing at a hidden pool that he had not even known existed.

  For the first time in his life he had been frozen in his steps. His eyes were locked upon their bodies for he had no idea how beautiful they could be beneath the garments that they had worn. Zachariah had only stood there for a few moments and none of them had noticed him but that next morning when he woke his manhood was hard and there was a wet spot upon his bed. Quickly he had gotten up and taken his bedclothes to the river and cleaned them himself. When his mother had asked about it he had simply said that he had an accident and had spilt something on his bed and did not want her to have to clean up his mess. He was thankful that she did not press him further for to that point it was not a lie. If she had pressed him further he would either have had to bear his shame to her or lie and he did not know which would have been worse.

  Each day for the next two weeks he had prayed for his sin and asked for forgiveness, but the biggest problem was he was not sure what his sin was. How could he be guilty of a sin when he was not aware he had committed one? Stumbling upon the girls was embarrassing but not a sin. Spilling his seed upon the mattress, if he had done it on his own would have been a sin, but was it a sin if he had done it in his sleep? Still he did not want to risk that it was.

  It had taken months before he could face any of the young women of the camp without turning brilliantly red. Rumors had even gone up that he had a crush on one of them and would be asking to speak to their father soon, but when it did not happen the rumors died down. Rumors that he was not interested in women started, for he was past the age that most of his peers had already married. Zachariah did nothing to affect the rumors in either way. The truth was not that he was not interested in women but that he was more interested in learning his father's craft. He did not have time to court, and since he was an only child his parents were not eager to see him spending his time seeking a girl's hand either. There was too much work to do.

  There had been one other reason Zachariah had never sought to court any of the girls of the village. It may have been distantly, but even so, every one of them was related to him in one way or another. Most were distant cousins, some not so distant. When he looked into the faces of any of them he saw either his mother or his father or one of his friends. It just did not seem right to him. He had planned that once he had finished his apprenticeship with his father he would go into a distant village to look for a bride.

  He had never expected to have a woman come to him.

  Now as he sped along with the nearly naked woman over his shoulder he could not keep his mind off of her body. All the feelings that he had kept under control for these many years were raging within him. He knew it was wrong to think of her in that way, for she could be seriously hurt. He had to get her back to the village and let his mother tend to her. Yet he found he was having trouble controlling his hand and it kept sliding up and resting upon the roundness of her bottom. He had never imagined how wonderful it would feel to touch a woman there and then suddenly he would struggle with his conscience and pull his hand back down to her legs. Yet even there it sent a thrill into his loins.

  Zachariah was very thankful that the moon had gone behind some clouds and the night was as dark as it could be as he entered into the village and headed toward the house of his father for anyone that would have seen him would have also seen that his manhood was pushing his loincloth out from his hips. Quickly he wove through the huts of the village to the farthest hut to the south. The home his father had chosen was secluded behind a small stand of trees. He had preferred his privacy and this time Zachariah was very grateful for his father's decision.

  The candles and lamps were burning so he was certain his parents had not returned to bed after the competition yet he hoped that they would not be in the main room as he entered. He pushed the door open and was relieved to see the room was empty. He hurried across the room and laid the woman on some sitting pillows upon the floor and then shouted for his mother.

  The tone of his voice must have alerted her that something was wrong for she came running out of the storage cellar with an anxious look upon her face. When her eyes saw the woman she gasped and ran over to her. Quickly she pulled a cloth over the woman covering her and for the first time since Zachariah had laid her down he took a breath. He had not realized that her beauty had so entranced him that he had almost completely stopped breathing until he could no longer see her near naked body.

  His mother looked up at him and he heard her cough then she said, “Zachariah, will you stop looking like you have gotten your tongue caught on
a spinning wheel and tell me what you know about this girl?” She turned her attention back to the girl; taking a wet rag she began to clean the dirt from her face. “Who is she, do you know? Where did you find her? Do you know why she is like this?"

  His mother rattled off several more questions before Zachariah interrupted, “Mother, please, excuse me, but let me answer the best I can.

  "I know not much more than you do.

  "I was on my way back from the river with the water for the livestock when I saw her hand sticking out onto the road.

  "At first I thought that maybe she was dead, or had been waylaid by brigands, but I could not see any bruises or harm to her, yet she was unconscious. I did not know what else to do so I brought her here."

  His mother's eyes turned toward him and he could see a look of rebuke in them. She was about to scold him for something, and he knew even before her words came out what it would be. “You did not bother to take your shirt off and cover her before you touched her, Zachariah. You shameful man! You know it is wrong for a man to touch a naked woman that he is not married to."

  Zachariah lowered his head, “Yes, mother, I know, but I did not stop to think of the laws, I thought only of her well being and knew she needed assistance. If she were truly hurt, it could have been that my taking the time to cover her could have endangered her life."

  "Zachariah! That is only an excuse so that you could touch her.” His mother stood up and handed him a scrub brush and a bar of lye, “Now go out and scrub the skin from your hands for your sin, and be thankful I do not have you scrub it from your eyes too."

  He took the bar of lye and brush and turned to head out but heard his mother say, “My son, the law is the law and I must uphold it, but in my heart I feel you did the right thing."

  When Zachariah returned his hands were red and sore from the scrubbing but his heart was filled with pride at the words his mother had spoken. As he walked in and his hands touched the door he winced at the pain. He was not one to take his mother's punishments lightly and he had indeed scrubbed at least the outer layer of skin from his hands, there were even places from which they bled.