Sons of God Daughters of Men

by Benjamin Reynolds

  Noah formed a nervous smile.

  "Noah. You’ve been busy,” Thoros said.

  Noah laughed. He had become used to the smell, loud animals, and years of shipbuilding, not giving much thought to what others may have thought about his home. “Yes. It took awhile, but we have about finished it,” he said.

  “Finished it?” Thoros asked curiously.

  “The ark,” Noah replied without hesitation.

  Thoros and his guards looked at the enormous wooden ship a thousand yards in the distance. A dozen workers on the top deck hammered and sawed on what looked like a large house.

  “So it’s almost done?” Thoros asked.

  “Yes, your majesty,” Thoros said humbly.

  “And you plan to put these animals inside there?” Thoros said, pointing to the ship.

  “Yes,” Noah said.

  Thoros looked to his guards. Together, they burst out laughing. After they stopped, Noah stood, with a bright smile.

  “Noah, you are always full of surprises. War is raging and you are concerned about a ship and animals. What does your wife think about your little project?” Thoros asked sarcastically.

  Noah sighed. “Well—”

  “Hah! I can see it in your face,” Thoros interrupted. He laughed and patted Noah on the back. “All right, when can I taste that famous wine?”

  “Of course your majesty. Please follow me.” Noah said. He turned and led the men to his house.

  Noah called to his wife inside the house, and made his way with his guests to a small house next door. “Honey, we have a guest. His majesty the Prince is here. Prepare a few lambs and have the servants bring some wine.”

  From inside the brown mud-brick house, Leah peered through a small window. She frowned after seeing men with her husband. She did not like Thoros or the Nephilim children. Local populations outside Bethyir lived under constant fear, violence, and oppression from them. Noah and his family fared better because of the favor and protection of Thoros. Still, Leah did not want the kind of trouble that Thoros might bring to her home. Several female servants ran to the window to get a glimpse of Thoros. Leah's three daughters-in-law laughed at the unmarried girls as they sewed extra clothing to store in the ark.

  “He’s so handsome,” one of the young servants remarked.

  “And tall,” one of the girls added as they giggled.

  “Girls!” Leah snapped. “Take this water, and wash our guest's feet, and then hurry back. This food isn’t going to cook itself.”

  “Yes Ma’am,” the three women replied in unison before hurrying off to their tasks.

  Noah led Thoros and his guards into a small building next to the main house. “Make sure to watch your head,” he said.

  Thoros leaned underneath the six-foot door entrance and squeezed through the doorway. The building served as a mess hall for Noah’s once large workforce, once at one hundred a few months ago, but now less than half that as the ship neared completion. Noah invited the guest to sit at a twenty-foot wooden table.

  “So Noah, I see that you really believe the world is ending,” Thoros said.

  “Your majesty, God spoke—”

  “Here we go again,” one of Thoros’s guards mumbled.

  Noah paused as Thoros shot the guards an angry glare, and then motioned for them to leave. He was clearly not pleased with the man mocking his friend in his home. “I apologize,” Thoros said. The guards left and stood outside.

  “Not to worry your majesty,” Noah replied humbly. “But, yes, everything is coming along fine. The ship will be finished this week. We have stored plenty of food, supplies, water and the animals are ready.”

  “Animals are ready?” Thoros asked.

  “God told me to collect animals from every species and bring them with us.”

  Thoros smiled and leaned forward. “So, your God told you to build this ship and fill it with animals?”

  Noah smiled. “Yes.”

  Thoros laughed. “If I didn’t see it, I wouldn’t have believed it. You serve an expensive God Noah. You must have spent a small fortune on all of this.”

  “Well, your majesty. God has provided all that I need.”

  Thoros leaned back and sighed. “That brings me to why I’m here.”

  A servant entered carrying a large pitcher of wine and silver goblets.

  “Ah! That’s what I’ve been waiting for!” Thoros said loudly.

  The girl giggled, then placed the goblets on the table and poured. Two more young women entered with basins of water and linen towels over their shoulders. They knelt next to Thoros, removed his sandals, and washed his feet. Thoros grabbed the goblet and downed it with one large gulp.

  “Ahh!” he said loudly, and then slammed it to the table. “Another!”

  The girls laughed as one filled his goblet. The smitten girls stared at Thoros, exchanging whispers and laughs.

  He drained the goblet again, belched, and then slammed it down. “Best wine in the kingdom!” he said loudly, then wiped his face. “More!”

  The servant poured again, staring at Thoros with flirtatious eyes. He returned the curvy brunette’s gaze with a silent smile, before Noah interrupted.

  “Girls, we have business to attend to. Make sure the men outside are taken care of,” Noah ordered.

  “Yes my lord,” the girls reluctantly replied. Each bowed with the same disappointed look before leaving.

  “How do you get any work done with maids like those?” Thoros remarked.

  “They are my servants!” Noah said, shaking his head.

  “I bet they are,” Thoros joked.

  “You were telling me the purpose of your visit Your Majesty?”

  “Yes, I wanted to tell you myself," Thoros said after sitting up. Noah, we are at war. Taxes have been raised for everyone, especially the nobility and wealthy merchants like yourself. The tax is now forty percent.”

  Noah leaned back and took a deep breath. “That’s a big raise.”

  “I know, but things are tough everywhere now. With that traitor Azazel’s rebellion, revenues are down. Egypt is lost for now and the provinces in the East have rebelled. We need revenue for soldiers, food, materials . . . you get the picture.”

  “Yes your majesty,” Noah said solemnly. "Raising taxes from twenty-five percent is going to take a toll on my family, but I understand the reason why."

  “I knew we could count on a good businessman like you,” Thoros.

  “How is the war going?” Noah asked.

  Thoros took a drink before answering. "We nearly had that traitor last month, but he escaped. Both sides took heavy losses, but most of his army was destroyed. With Egypt being the richest province, he has the money to raise another large army. With winter coming, we are going to postpone our next offensive until spring. After that, the war will be over.”

  The servants washing Thoros feet stood and left.

  Noah looked serious. “Thoros, I hear many people are still dying. Raids, kidnappings, seized ships . . . my servants say things are pretty bad.”

  Thoros sighed. “I won’t lie to you. Things are bad, but our next offensive—”

  “Always the same. . . another offensive and another war. When will it end?” Noah asked.

  “I know you hate war and violence Noah, but the same violence you hate keeps your family safe. Trust me, if Azazel ruled these lands, you would be slaves.”

  Noah held his hands up. “I am not trying to criticize Your Majesty. I understand if not for you and your father, our lives would be very different. What I am saying, and please do not take this the wrong way, but since you father and his brethren arrived, we have known nothing but war.”

  Upset, Thoros put his hand on his chin and thought for a moment. “Noah, we do what must be done for the sake of peace. Since we established the kingdom, humanity has been given science, astrology, seafaring, building, and farming. You have seen the cities and monuments we have built. The world is far better because of what we have done.”

/>   “And at what expense have these advances come, your majesty?” Noah asked.

  One of Thoros' guards looked inside and listened. He had never heard anyone talk to Thoros so frankly and was keen to see the response.

  Thoros pounded the table. “Why is this so hard for you to understand Noah?”

  Noah shuddered. “I am sorry your majesty. I will not mention it aga—”

  After a moment of silence, Thoros apologized. “No, I'm sorry. Speak your mind.”

  Noah sat silently.

  Thoros huffed and shook his head. “Forgive my temper. The children of the gods sometimes overreact.” He slapped Noah on the arm.

  Noah took a deep breath. “I am concerned for His Majesty. We do not have much time before this world ends.”

  “Then I choose to die fighting!” Thoros said and pounded the table again.

  “I still room on my ship for you and your family—”

  “Rooms for giants?” Thoros said sarcastically. “Where? Next to the pigs? At the first sign of trouble, Noah, I will come and find you.”

  “Your majesty, it doesn’t work like that. You have to—”

  Thoros waved his hand and grabbed the pitcher of wine. “Enough serious talk. Let’s have more wine.”

  _____

  “Do you want to see it closer?” Ham asked after watching Thoros' guards stare at the ark. The two men nodded. Ham peered inside the house and asked his father for permission to take the guards on a tour. Noah looked to Thoros, who nodded his approval.

  “Go ahead son,” Noah said proudly.

  Tyrus and Saul followed as Ham showed them the ten-block animal complex of cages, grasslands, and watering holes. The guards were awed by the hundreds of diverse creatures, well organized and separated by their species. One street contained different types of birds on each block; another street was filled with large cats, and another with different kinds of reptiles. The men had never seen anything like it.

  “It took us about five years to find them all, but we think we have every species on the planet,” Ham said proudly as they walked down a street with caged reptiles on both sides.

  “How do you keep track of everything?” Tyrus asked as they passed a watery pit with alligators, crocodiles and surrounded by a wooden fence.

  “Each block is mapped and stored in scrolls, Ham said. "The animals are separated by species, size, habitat, and eating habits. Lions with tigers . . . leopards with cheetahs, Cows, horses, and zebras can be put together. . . you get the idea. "

  “Your father put a lot of thought into this,” Saul remarked

  “A lot of time and a lot of money,” Ham said.

  “How much, if you don’t mind me asking,” Tyrus asked.

  Ham sighed. “A lot of gold . . . and that’s just for the trappers and middlemen. The hard to find animals are the most expensive. In addition, there are the monthly cost of food and caretakers. It's expensive, but the Lord has provided.”

  Tyrus and Saul looked at each other. "Do you really believe this end of the world stuff your father raves about?” Tyrus asked.

  “I doubted at first," Ham said. "I wondered if my inheritance was wasted. My mother and brothers chided father for years about how much he had spent. The weird thing is that the more people we hired and the more we spent, the more our vineyard prospered. After a while, when we saw how much God had blessed us, we slowly came around to father's beliefs.”

  “But you really don’t believe in just one god do you?” Saul asked.

  “And you believe Thoros, his father and the others are gods?” Ham responded

  “That could be considered treason,” Tyrus replied.

  Ham stopped walking. “Everyone, especially Thoros knows our family is loyal to the kingdom. That is why his majesty visits so often. Both of you know we do not have a treasonous bone in our bodies.”

  “Still, I would be careful if I were you,” Saul said.

  The guards looked up at the ark. Four hundred feet long, forty-five feet high and seventy-five feet wide, the ship was impressive. A steep, one hundred foot wooden ramp led up to a wide door attached to a fifty-foot square enclosure resembling a house. Shem, Ham’s older brother yelled down from the top deck. “Visitors?”

  “Yes," Ham said. "They are Prince Thoros’ bodyguards. I want to show them the ship.”

  Shem left off supervising the workers and ran down to greet the bodyguards. “From what I hear, his majesty does not need bodyguards,” Shem joked after meeting his brother at the bottom of the plank.

  The two guards laughed. “It’s just a precaution,” Tyrus said. “Lord Caelan does not want the royal family traveling without protection. These are dangerous times.”

  “I agree, and they are about to get much worse,” Shem said.

  The guards looked at each other, tired of hearing about the end of the world.

  “We still have room on board,” Shem said.

  “We’re okay” Tyrus responded sarcastically. “We have heard your father for a hundred and twenty years now. I’m sure we will be here another hundred years, waiting for the end.”

  “You see that,” Shem said, pointing to his brother Japheth walking up the ramp followed by two tigers.

  Tyrus and Saul gripped their swords as the animals came closer.

  “You don't have to worry," Shem said. "For the past month, the animals have become unusually obedient. They are less aggressive and more obedient. We discovered that we no longer have to use chains and rope to lead them; the animals follow us right into the ship or wherever we take them.”

  Annoyed, Tyrus asked, “Are you saying these animals can sense the end of the world?

  “We will see,” Shem said.

  21

  CAELAN’S SONG

  Angry and desperate, Caelan looked down from a porch high atop the palace in Bethyir. Below, there was only a watery grave where the city once lay. For seven days, endless thunderstorms emptied a furious tempest of rain upon every part of the world. By now, news from other provinces had stopped, and any hope of salvation. Stockpiles of food and freshwater were nearly exhausted. If the storms persisted, the royal palace would soon be flooded. He was haunted by the dream he had of drowning in overflowing rain. That and the warning Lucius had given him when he was in a coma to forsake vengeance and change his ways. All warnings he chose to ignore.

  The walls surrounding the palace were overrun and water was pouring into the second level. Caelan looked up, hoping, then praying for the first time in a hundred years that the storms would cease. The cold rain ran down his face, over his thick beard and down his white robe. Drenched, he continued speaking, hoping that his desperate prayer would be answered. Driving winds blew with such force that he could not hear his words, but he hoped God did. He thought about his decision to leave heaven. Its funny the warnings you remember as your life is ending he thought. His heart told him the rain would not cease, but his mind refused to give up.

  Occasional flashes of lightning brightened the dark and ominous sky. A few days ago, he prayed for daylight. Now, Caelan dreaded the light revealing his underwater kingdom. A flash of lightning brightened night sky for a moment, revealing large trees in the valley below full of men and women desperately clinging to branches. His heart sank. Many more struggled and drowned in the waters as they pleaded with passing ships and small boats to pull them aboard. None stopped and none helped. This scene had become all too common the past few days. As the light faded, Caelan could still hear their saddening screams and cries for help. An unusually loud boom of thunder made him flinch. As anger swelled in Caelan’s heart, he raised his fist and cursed God.

  “Father!” Thoros' called from behind.

  Caelan heard him, but pride would not let him turn around. His heart was filled with shame as tears filled his eyes. Powerless, he was a captive to the waters…a captive of his choices. The man who was once a hero, the leader of men and angels, gods and titans, could do nothing to halt the destruction of his empire. Cities and natio
ns trembled at his name and the approach of his armies. Tens of thousands built his temples, sculpted his statues, and fell to their knees worshipping him and his brethren.

  Thoros grasped his shoulder. “Father, the palace is flooded and water could reach this level momentarily. The ships are loaded and waiting for us. We must leave now.”

  Caelan turned around. His lips quivered as he tried to speak. “I . . . I am not going.”

  “Father, you must,” Thoros said.

  Tears stream down Caelan's face. He placed his hand on his son's shoulder. “No my son. I choose to die here. I choose to die with honor.”

  Thoros' hands trembled as tears filled his eyes. He flung his arms around his father and hugged him tightly. His head buried between Caelan's neck and shoulders, he let out a loud groan and wept.

  Caelan held Thoros by the shoulders and pushed him back. “My son, it is up to you now. Find your friend . . . find Noah and take our family to safety. He is our only hope now.”

  Thoros tried to speak, but could not. He wiped tears from his face and nodded.

  Caelan smiled. “I wish to see my grandchildren one last time.”

  Caelan walked into the throne room slowly. For the first time in a long time, he looked down and admired the smoothly polished marble floor, the lavish red carpet, and the twelve golden steps leading up to his elaborately decorated throne. He ran his hands over the two full sized gold lions on each side as he walked up the stairway. He sat in the large chair and looked down at his family as emeralds, rubies, and pearls on the chair glistened in the torchlight. “Come, gather around me,” he called out to his family.

  Caelan wanted to remember his last days. He leaned back and looked at the lion and bear skin rugs, then at the gold shields and scarlet cloths adorning the walls. As he thought about all his accomplishments, Carissa came and took her seat to his left.

  “What are you doing?” Caelan asked. “You must leave with—”

  Carissa took his hand in hers. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she shook her head. “No my love, my place is at your side,” she said.