by Summer Lee
He saw that Achava seemed confident with her plan. There was only one problem. She hadn’t told him what it was yet.
From the way she argued with Anthea, he guessed she hadn’t told her either.
“Hey, Achava!” he called out, hoping he could get a private word with her.
She turned to him with a warm smile. “Yes, Sam?”
“Are you going to let me in on this amazing plan of yours?” he asked nervously. “You realize that it is my butt on the line here.” He tried not to push her, knowing that if she intended for him to know what she was planning, he would have known by now.
She walked slowly over to him. Placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, she said, “Do you trust me Sam?”
He rolled his eyes. “Aw, come on! That’s not fair, Ach!”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Wh... what did you call me?”
Sam realized his mistake too late. He felt extremely comfortable around her, but perhaps that was being too comfortable. “I...” he started, but couldn’t finish.
There had been an unspoken agreement that he would never call her cute little shortened versions of her name. He never tried it before, but he knew that she preferred Achava.
Not only did he cross that line, but he couldn’t have picked a worse nickname for his wife.
“Ach?” she repeated in disgust. “I thought you knew me better than that, Sam.”
The moment was interrupted by Anthea’s incessant laughing mere feet away from them. “Ha ha! That’s great! Way to dig a deep hole there Sam!”
Sam and Achava ignored her as they remained fixed on each other.
“I’m sorry, Achava,” he said. “It was a slip of the tongue.” He had to humble himself before her, to prove he didn’t mean it.
Her smile returned. “That’s okay. Thank you.” Her demeanor returned to what it had been right before Sam’s verbal slip. It was as if she had traveled back in time and the incident never happened.
“So, we’re alright?” he asked, expecting a blowout.
She gave him a soft kiss, as her eyes sparkled. “We are more than alright. This was our first fight as a married couple. It was handled before it could turn into something bad and you apologized for making a mistake. I am pleased with the outcome. Thank you for your apology, my husband. I love you.”
His heart melted every time he saw her smile. “I love you too, Achava.”
She nodded. “It is safer this way. You do not need to know the plan, because you will know when it begins.”
She walked away, leaving him with his mouth open and with no more information than he had before.
He realized that they couldn’t go back to the Valley of the Shadow of Death until the giant was defeated.
“We’re going back to the Valley of the Shadow of Death,” Achava announced, much to Sam’s surprise.
“Uh... Achava?” he stuttered. “We found him here. How will I be able to fight him there?”
“Anthea will bring him when the time is right,” she answered with the utmost confidence. “Since I am now able to copy particular abilities of Anthea, I can now Soul Merge us to the valley. Are you ready to go, Sam?”
Not really, he thought. He knew it had to be done. Making sure his pack was on, he checked that the Sling of David was secured. He shrugged as he looked at it, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to use it against the giant anyway. It was good to keep it with him though. Just in case.
Achava touched Sam’s shoulder and they disappeared.
They reappeared at the bottom of the mountain with the narrow path.
Sam looked around, expecting the giant to be there already.
“You better let me hold your pack,” Achava said. It almost seemed like an order.
Sam took off the pack and then removed the sling. He held it up. “I shouldn’t let this go, until we’ve used it to find the ark again.”
She nodded in agreement. “Good idea.” She pointed to a small hill a short distance away. “I’ll be over there monitoring your every move. No matter what happens, I have your back, Sam.” She smiled reassuringly and kissed him.
Her kiss and smile reassured him that everything was going to be alright. He realized that he still had his human insecurities and paranoia, even after they got married. They were a team in every sense of the word, though, so he had to put his entire efforts into the marriage.
Just like she was doing.
Sam saw more confidence and a sense of peace in his new wife. He wondered why it didn’t come that easily for him yet. He put his arms around her. “You know I have a double-sized blanket in my backpack. I would sure enjoy spending the night under it with you.”
“Me too.”
“I want to spend every night with you.”
“Patience,” she said.
Patience never was one of his strong attributes, but he had no choice. He also could not worry about the giant, because Anthea and Achava would be there to back him up.
His thoughts were turned toward God, who was so great. He needed to know more of the holiness of God. While he was considering those thoughts, he thought about the Bible. He could never know truth unless he read the Bible. “I’ll do that when I get home,” he said to himself.
Sam had come a long way.
He was still curious about Al-Achsah. He needed to find out more about her before committing to trusting her.
Using mystic powers, Anthea Soul Merged into the area, with a look of panic. She stopped on the small hill. “He’s right behind me!”
Achava ran to where she stood on the same small hill that she had mentioned. The girls were in place.
Sam did not have time to prepare. The evil one was arriving. He felt the energy, as the air shimmered around a large cave close by.
He saw an anthropoid within the floodlit area. A large human-like shape. Sam knew who it was. He gulped, as he saw that the giant looked different than he had before. Someone was definitely helping him. As much as Sam could remember, the Nephilim had wizardly abilities when he followed Sam before.
Sam’s heart raced as he watched the giant coming toward him. He saw that he had no escape as he looked toward the small hill with Achava peeking over it. He saw her smile. Then he knew.
She had positioned Sam specifically so that he would be boxed in. The giant stood in front of him, next to the cave. He was within arm’s reach. Sam could not go in any direction, other than straight up.
As the giant came closer, Sam felt his chest tighten with fear; it was like he could not inhale. The giant stood right in front him, glaring, with an ugly grin on his face. The giant’s breath made Sam gag. It was the most putrid thing he had ever smelled. In that close range, Sam could smell the intense stench of an unwashed body. He could see how tall the giant was and measure himself to him. His head came up to the giant’s stomach.
There was something else that had been added to his large foe. The Nephilim had armor on this time. His legs were covered with metal plates, up to his knees. His arms were also covered in the same metal plates up to his elbows. It appeared to be made of some sort of flexible metal that bent as he did. His chest was covered with chain-mail. He also had a silver helmet with an arrow-like extension down across his nose.
Sam knew that mail armor had been around for thousands of years, but the giant had on an advanced form of metal that wasn’t introduced until a few centuries later than its original counterpart. That was the least of his worries. If he had any doubts about the giant being helped, they were gone now. Someone was in the background, pushing the Nephilim forward.
“So you want another beating, squirrel?” the giant asked, with condescension.
Despite the size difference, all Sam could think about was what he just called him. “Squirrel?”
Angrily, Sam gritted his teeth as the giant raised his hands. Once his massive hands were in the air, he interlocked his fingers, doubling up his fists. His eyes widened in a crazy manner, as he bellowed something in another language.
> As the mighty fists came crashing down, Sam dove for the exit to the mountain path. The resulting impact, of the giant’s fists on the ground, caused a tremor in the area around him.
The giant increased in energy. Whoever was behind it wanted to make sure that Sam would be in his last battle. Sam felt his strength being amplified as well.
He looked at the giant with disdain. Someone was in the cave behind him. “Really? You need help to defeat me?”
The giant looked shocked. “You... know?” Sam recognized the one in the back of the cave.
“I can see him.” Sam had no choice but to start laughing. “What? How can I not know? Seriously? Well, whoever is helping you didn’t hire you for your brains. They must like their employees without the ability to ask questions.”
The giant let out a primal utterance, as his anger increased extensively. “Argh!”
That was exactly what Sam was trying to accomplish. “Do you think you can keep up? Even with the help of Man, you’ll lose.” Sam recognized the one in the back of the cave. It was the one who called himself ‘Man.’ The two evil ones went deep into the cave and out of sight.
Sam knew why Achava planned it the way she did. She took to heart what Al-Achsah said about not fighting the giant the way they thought they should. He quickly glanced skyward for help and realized that if he didn’t time it right, the giant wouldn’t be the only casualty.
He gave a thumbs up toward the small hill where his wife was waiting, then started to work his way into the cave. He knew he couldn’t rush. That would tire him out and make him easy pickings for the giant. He had to pace himself. Strategy never played a bigger part in Sam’s life than it did at that moment.
He focused on the back of the cave and listened for the giant. The big guy was not making it a secret about where he was.
Sam went in about ten feet and looked toward the back. He saw that the clumsiness of the Nephilim was paying off in his favor. He struggled to stay on the narrow path deep that led deep into the cave.
Sam knew that he had to anger him even more, so that he wouldn’t think about what he was doing. He had to make him come after him in a blind fury. Sam gulped at the thought of that idea.
Meanwhile, the giant gave his full attention to the path, as he went to the twenty foot mark.
“Hey!” Sam called out. “If I make it to the back before you, I win! Then you’ll have to face your master with your tail between your legs!”
The giant huffed, as he glared at Sam with his face red with rage. He stumbled and fell. With a smirk on his face, he stood up and took a huge step on the path toward Sam. He then laughed a hideous sound.
Sam laughed too, as he continued on as the one with the advantage. He was trying to think of something that would make the giant lose his focus. But the Nephilim was slowly making progress.
“Hurry up, slow poke!” Sam yelled. “I bet your children could whip you!”
“What?” the giant exclaimed. He boomed that one word so loudly, that the very path where Sam was, shook. “How dare you mention my children!”
That’s what it took? His children?
The giant slammed a closed fist onto the path ahead of him. It cracked, as a large piece fell away. It was too large of a gap for Sam to jump over without losing his balance, but it was perfect for one large stride for the giant to cross.
Sam got his wish. The only problem was that there was no way back out.
Achava? If you can hear me, I’m going to need some help getting around this mountain after I defeat the giant. Just letting you know.
I love you, Sam. I have all the faith in the world in you!
Wow! I thought you lost our telepathic connection.
It appears to come and go as it pleases, Sam.
Sam smiled. Then he remembered where he was.
Something that felt like a vice grabbed his arm and lifted him into the air. He was too distracted. Now he was in the grasp of the giant.
“Where’s your big talk about my children now, little man?” the giant asked, while breathing heavily into Sam’s face.
Sam turned away from the odor. “Whoa! Get a breath mint, for crying out loud!”
The giant slammed him into the side of the mountain. Sam was lucky that his foe didn’t have enough leverage to swing at him with his full strength or the battle would have been over before it began.
Sam groaned as he felt a trickle of something wet making its way down his mouth. Blood. He took a mental inventory to make sure there was nothing broken. He sighed in relief, when he realized that he had no broken bones. His back felt sore, but that was about it. “I sure hope your children don’t get their looks from you.”
“Still you joke?” The words shook the area and caused several smaller rocks to dislodge and tumble down. The giant was in full fury. His eyes were red with rage as he screamed directly into Sam’s face. Spit and hot, putrid breath showered on him. He had to close his eyes and hold his breath. Sam thought he might vomit.
“Enough!” Sam shouted, as he felt a calming warmth where he had the sling stashed. “Let’s finish this!”
While dangling in the air with one arm pinned in the vice-like grip of the Nephilim, Sam braced one foot on the giant and brought the other one around to kick him full force in the knee. One of the few places on the giant that wasn’t protected by armor.
Sam kept kicking the same spot on the giant, as hard as he could. He took out all of his past rage on the Nephilim, remembering everyone always laughing at him and picking on him, when he was a boy.
His past flashed before him. Even after he partnered with Achava, the people they faced never gave him enough credit for anything. He had it with the jokes and underestimating him. He allowed the bullying to continue from his early childhood until high school. He thought that they would grow up and out of their need to hurt him.
The bullies of his past never stopped. No matter what he said, or how many times he asked them to stop. He kept it inside and only through his work with Professor Salinger, did he find a way to exorcise his demons.
Now he realized that whether it was a schoolyard bully or a Nephilim taunting him, it was the same story. Gritting his teeth, he remembered that he was the husband of a Biblical warrior. Sam was through being the nice guy.
He slowly raised his head to the laughing giant. He grinned, as he positioned his free hand in the air. The giant took no notice of Sam’s plans. That was his mistake.
With a quick jab, Sam poked the giant’s eyes. He had to poke each eye separately because of their size.
The giant released Sam as he screeched in pain. He fell to his knees and placed his hands over his eyes. “I can’t see.”
Sam lost his balance when he fell to the path. He slipped off the edge and grabbed hold of the nearest thing he could. The giant’s leg.
He pulled himself up, while trying not to get his foe’s attention. He made no sound, as he brought his leg up to give him some kind of leverage to pull the rest of himself up. He was working with about a 6-inch span of the path, due to the giant blocking the rest of it.
Sam gritted his teeth and finally managed to squeeze past his nemesis.
The giant reeled and was actually sobbing. Sam towered over his larger foe, but all he could feel was sorry for him. He knew the giant didn’t share in his sympathy, so he quietly moved onward and upward.
Once he got a good ten feet ahead of the giant, Sam looked back. “We’re not done. You and I. You represent everything I tried to overlook for my entire life. Nobody’s overlooking you now, giant.” Sam looked puzzled, as he realized something was different.
“You know what?” he added. “I don’t even know your name. I assume you do have a name?”
The giant stopped sobbing. He was silent and unmoving for several moments. Sam wasn’t sure if he was planning to pummel him some more, or if he possibly cried himself to death. Sam waited, but was ready to run at the first sign of trouble.
He tried to see if the giant was st
ill breathing. He could see his chest fall and rise with each breath and backed up another couple of feet. He glanced over to the small hill and then back to the giant.
The giant breathed in a deep breath and took his hands away from his eyes. He was crying in pain.
All of a sudden, Sam felt no hostility toward the giant. “Hey, listen. I’m sorry I egged you on. It’s the whole fight mode thing, or whatever.”
A huge grin appeared on the giant’s face. “It’s not that. I don’t mind battle talk. I was just surprised that you asked my name.”
Sam was taken aback. What he thought was a meaningless question, meant everything to the giant. “I just didn’t want to keep calling you giant or Nephilim.”
“Thank you,” the giant responded. His expression of gratitude looked sincere. “I am always judged for my size.”
“Aren’t you like a product of fallen angels mating with humans, too?” Sam asked nervously.
The giant rolled his eyes, as if he hated being asked that question. “Yes. That too. It’s not easy always being hated and taunted into battles. I am really tired and just want to live.” He stood up quickly, causing Sam to panic. “See? All I’m doing is getting up and there it is.”
Sam looked around, wondering where the conversation was going. He decided to ride it out and see where it took him. He was going to talk to the giant, as he would any other person. That’s what the giant seemed to want.
“I’m sorry... again,” Sam said, wondering how he needed to talk to him. “It takes some getting used to. You know? I’ll tell you what. If you can be patient with my jumpiness, I’ll be patient with your intimidation factor.”
The giant smiled. “I would like that. By the way, my name is Mordechai.”
Sam’s eyebrows rose. “Mordechai? Pleased to meet you, sir. My name is Samuel. Hey! They’re both good Biblical names!”
Even Mordechai’s chuckle was deep and somewhat menacing. “Pleased to meet you... Samuel.”
Sam held out his hand. Mordechai just looked puzzled at him. “I am sorry, Samuel. I don’t know this custom.”