by Overton, Max
"What happens then? The men are not up to another pitched battle."
"I hope there will not be any more fighting."
"But what is going to happen?"
"I don't know."
"Does that have anything to do with it?" Jesua pointed out over the sparkling sea. Far to the north a tall column of black cloud reached to the heavens. "It started just after dawn. Is it another plague?"
"I don't know. Go and see to your men, Jesua."
They waited. A few of the men found a fisherman plying his trade by the Lagoon and bought a basket of fish from him. Soon the smell of roasting fish filled the air, and everyone ate. Meanwhile, a lookout was posted a thousand paces or so to the southwest to watch for the arrival of the king with his legion. The sun passed its zenith and slowly slipped toward the sea when a swirl of dust raised the alarm. The Shechites kicked sand into the fires, looking to Jesua and Scarab for guidance.
"Where to, Eye of Geb? Along the shore of the Lagoon or inland again?"
"Along the shore."
Jesua started to move his men toward the landward side of the Lagoon, when Scarab stopped him.
"The other side. Along the spit."
"What?" Jesua signalled his men to stop and he came over to Scarab and leaned close so none of the men could hear him. "Are you mad? We'll be trapped on a narrow strip of sand where we cannot manoeuvre. And what if there is a channel from the Lagoon to the sea?"
"This is what the gods tell me to do."
Jesua stared toward the fast-approaching legion. "I just hope your gods know what they are doing." The ground beneath him trembled and shook and a flock of seagulls took to the air screeching. Jesua paled but shrugged away his fear. "As you say." He turned and shouted for his men to change direction. "The gods are guiding us. Don't keep them waiting."
The Shechites ran for the spit of sand between the sea and the lagoon. It was no more than a hundred paces across, wet packed sand on either side rising to mounded soft sand in the middle with wiry grasses and broad-leaved herbs giving some stability to the structure. They quickly found it hard going on the soft sand and moved down to the beach strip along the sea, running as fast as they could. The sand spit stretched out before them, curving gently to the right, enclosing a large lagoon, but it narrowed steadily.
Scarab looked back and saw that Horemheb's chariot, at the front of his legion, had reached the camp and were starting down the spit after them. As she watched, she saw the soldiers stagger and stop, and felt the ground beneath her shiver. The Shechites called out in alarm, but at Jesua's urging, started running again.
They could hear the cries of the following soldiers now, but concentrated on the way ahead. The sand spit curved more and abruptly narrowed, the dry sand interior vanishing and being replaced by a thin strip of pebbles. Up ahead, Scarab saw the fleetest members of the Pillar come to a halt and stand staring. A few moments later she saw why they had stopped. The sand bar came to an end, though it continued again across a narrow strip of deep water where the lagoon connected with the sea.
"We might have to swim across," Scarab said.
"I doubt more than one in twenty of us can swim," Jesua said. "Is this what your gods have brought us to?" He looked back but the pursuing Kemetu were not yet in sight. "We have no option but to stand and fight. Can your powers protect us all?"
"If fighting were required, we would be better off back at the camp with more room to move. The gods must have..." A god swung a hammer at the earth beneath their feet and they were all thrown to the ground. The sea groaned and the calm surface dimpled and spat droplets into the air. The sand beneath their bodies shivered and water spurted up between the grains and they sank into it half a hand's breadth.
One of the Pillar shouted in alarm and pointed at the sea. Scarab stared, but for a moment could not see anything amiss. Then she noticed the water was receding from the shore, pulling back to reveal wet sand. She heard a rushing, gurgling noise and saw the water in the connection between the sea and lagoon racing from right to left, rushing out after the retreating sea.
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Chapter Forty-Eight
"One hour, Khu of the Khabiru," said King Elab-Gil. "Then I take everything."
Khu withdrew with his men and called a meeting of all the Shechite warriors and Chemosh's young men. They gathered round but also cast many glances at the Moabites who had dismounted and were sitting in the shade of some trees a few hundred paces away.
"We are outnumbered," Caleb said. "Fifty Shechites and what...seventy inexperienced Khabiru? We will get slaughtered."
"What are you saying?" Chemosh demanded. "That we just give up and offer our virgins to be violated and our young boys to die on the altars of a false god? I will not do it, and neither will any Khabiru."
"That is not what I am saying at all," Caleb replied angrily. "I am merely pointing out the odds."
"I think we all know the odds facing us," Khu said. "What we have to decide is how we are going to win this battle. In light of the Moabite terms, surrender is not an option."
"What does Mose say?" Chemosh asked. "He is Yahweh's prophet and God told us to come this way."
They sent for Mose and waited patiently until he arrived, aware of the hour slipping away from them. He came, with a half dozen of the self-appointed priests, and stood staring at the distant green strip of vegetation along the river and the Moabite force so much closer at hand.
"That is the land promised to you by Yahweh," Mose said. "Go down and take possession of it, for the Lord God has given it to you."
"Easier said than done," Caleb said. "You might have noticed those Moabites in the way. They dispute our passage."
Mose turned and looked at the Shechite tribesman. "It is time for you to give up your beliefs in pagan gods and embrace the true faith of Yahweh. Then Yahweh will carry you to victory."
"Mose, has Yahweh told you we will be victorious?" Chemosh asked.
"To doubt the word of God's Prophet is to doubt Yahweh himself," a priest said primly.
"And punishable by death," said another.
"No-one doubts either Yahweh or Yahweh's Prophet," Khu said. "We seek only an assurance that God will give the victory into our hands."
"Yahweh has given you the land of the Moabite. Smite the enemy and take his lands, his fields, his fruit trees, his oxen and his women."
"Does Yahweh say how we are to do this?" Caleb asked. "I do not doubt him," he added hurriedly as the priests glared at him. "It is just that we are outnumbered."
"You are not outnumbered," Mose said, "For the heavenly ones who praise God eternally will fight alongside you. Have faith, take your swords in your hands and strike the unbeliever down."
Khu shrugged. "The Prophet of God has spoken and now it is up to us. Mose, if you would please retire to the safety of the column, we will endeavour to do the Lord's work."
"I am going with you," Mose said. "Both I and the priests of the Lord."
The priests looked unhappy but said nothing.
"We cannot put you at risk," Khu said.
"Yahweh commands it," Mose replied simply.
"Very well." Khu turned and looked toward the Moabites. "God is on our side, but we still need to fight bravely and intelligently. How are we to successfully carry the fight to the enemy?"
"When you fight a man who is bigger than you, you must use trickery," Caleb said.
"Or speed and mobility," Salom added. "Camels are all very well if you are charging an enemy, but if attacked by men on foot, they can be hard to control."
"Yes, but if we charge them, they will see us coming and have time to mount up," Khu objected. "And they will not let over a hundred armed men walk over to them."
"That's where trickery comes in," Caleb said. "If the Moabites thought we were giving in to their demands, they would let, say, twenty men bring the maidens and young boys over, wouldn't they?"
"I don't like where this is going," Chemosh said
. "I thought I made it clear..."
"What are your boys really good at when they herd the flocks?" Caleb interrupted.
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"How do they protect the flocks?
"With slings. What does that...ah..."
"And your women? What skill do they have?"
"What? Ah..." Chemosh thought for a minute. "It might work," he mused.
"It may well indeed," Khu agreed. "It is our best chance so we do it."
Chemosh and several of the Khabiru men disappeared back into the crowd of families, and Khu picked out twenty of his most skilful warriors. Minutes dragged by and at last a man hailed them from the Moabite ranks.
"Time's up, Khabiru. What is your answer?"
"Give us a little more time," Khu shouted back. "We are selecting the maidens right now."
Coarse laughter issued from the Moabite line. "You have two more finger breadths of the sun, Khabiru, but I want an extra ten maidens for my lieutenants for making us wait."
Khu turned away with a grim smile on his face. "Excellent. Now, you all know your parts?"
Women started streaming out of the Khabiru crowd, both young women and older ones. The young ones had been chosen for their looks, but each wore a determined look on their faces, though as little else as modesty would allow. One girl fixed Khu with an angry look as she approached.
"You should be ashamed to make me flaunt myself like this."
"We will soon be able to wash away our shame with Moabite blood."
The girls lined up, each with an older woman, thirty pairs, and fifty young boys stood to one side. Khu and his picked warriors started the group moving toward the Moabites. Some of the girls started weeping loudly and the older women wailed and tore at their hair. Khu counted off the paces and as they came close to where the Moabites stood, their king stopped them with an imperious command.
"Who are all these old women?" Elab-Gil demanded. "Do you think to mock me?"
Khu stepped out in front. "These are the mothers of the maidens, come to bid them farewell."
Elab-Gil cast his gaze over the women and young boys and nodded. "Where are the herds? Half of all you have, remember."
"I have not forgotten, King of Moab. You may choose what you will. Do the women find favour in your eyes?"
The king roared with laughter. "I will tell you in a month."
Khu looked quickly along the Moabite line and saw that while the king and his lieutenants were standing by their camels staring lasciviously at the young women, many of the Moabites on either side were mounted and alert. He nodded grimly and turned to face the Khabiru, raising his voice so everyone could hear him.
"Lift up your faces, women and young boys, for you have been chosen to render a great service to your people. Here you see your Moabite masters..." Khu gestured towards the two wings of mounted men. "Go to them gladly, for the Lord God is with you. I and my men will meantime abase ourselves at the feet of their king." He clapped his hands above his head and the Khabiru contingent erupted into activity.
The boys snatched hide slings from their loincloths and whirled them, loosing a barrage of pebbles at the Moabite riders, knocking several off their camels and sending their mounts plunging and kicking. The women, both young and old, drew daggers from the old women's clothing and ran forward into the thick of the camels, slashing at the tendons of the animals. The camels collapsed, screaming with pain and sending their riders flying, or bolted, throwing their riders, whereupon the women turned their attention to the fallen men, stabbing and slashing.
As the women ran forward, Khu and his twenty men charged the Moabite king and his lieutenants, rapidly overwhelming them. The other Shechite and Khabiru men raced over and joined in the melee and quickly reduced the surviving Moabites to small groups of struggling men. Seeing their king captured, they threw down their arms and surrendered.
The main Khabiru company advanced and the bloodied women clothed themselves more modestly again before joining their families. A handful had been killed in the attack and these were mourned volubly by the whole company.
"Where is the enemy king?" Mose demanded.
Khu escorted him and the priests to where King Elab-Gil sat with his back to a dead camel, his hands tied in front of him, and a very glum expression on his face.
Khu made the introductions. "King Elab-Gil of Moab, Prophet Mose of the Khabiru."
"That was an underhanded trick and dishonourable," Elab-Gil grumbled. "Using women and children in battle is unheard of. Untie me and give me my sword and I will face your champion willingly."
"You have already faced our men," Khu observed. "Only your warriors succumbed to women and children."
"Elab-Gil sighed. "Well, what are your terms then, Khu of the Khabiru? Name the ransom and my people will pay it."
"Blood price for our fallen," Khu said. "Also peace between..."
"There can be no terms between God's people and the demon-worshipping Moabites," Mose cut in sternly.
"We do not worship demons," Elab-Gil said indignantly. "Our god is Ba'al of the hilltops."
"Yahweh is the only true god," Mose thundered. "All others are false, including your Ba'al who is a demon."
The Moabite king shrugged. "All people have their own gods. I do not suppose it really matters. Certainly I am in no position to force my god on you. So, what are your terms? You said blood money?"
"What you have we will take if we so desire," Mose said. "All you have left is your life and that too is forfeit to the Lord."
Khu stepped close to Mose and lowered his voice. "What are you talking about? The Moabite king surrendered himself and his men."
"They must all die."
"It is not necessary," Khu said. "If you are worried about future behaviour, we can take hostages. We used to do that in Kemet, remember? The Nubian princes at the court as surety of their fathers' good behaviour?"
"This is not Kemet. The Moabites are pagans and must die."
"It is dishonourable to kill a foe who has surrendered."
Mose pushed past Khu and raised his arms and his voice as he addressed everyone. "The Lord God has delivered the Moabites into your hands, and given their land and their herds for your use. Yahweh commands that the Moabites be put to the sword, man, woman and child, so that their demon Ba'al may vanish from the earth and the filth of their false worship may disappear from under the sun."
Except for the agonised bellowing of the hamstrung camels, a complete silence greeted this exhortation. Men looked at each other and then down at the ground. At last, one of the priests snatched a sword from a warrior and strode forward.
"Let the will of Yahweh be done," he cried, and plunged the sword into King Elab-Gil's throat. The king struggled and blew droplets of blood over the priest before collapsing. The priest yelled, "Thus die all enemies of God," before turning aside and vomiting.
The act spurred others to action, and amid screams and pleas for mercy, the other captured Moabites were put to the sword. The hamstrung camels followed, and then the Khabiru people moved past the place of slaughter and onto the road that led down to the river they called Yarden.
"That was ill done," Khu told Mose.
Mose shrugged. "It was the will of God." He moved away with his priests in attendance.
The mass of people descended to the river plains and spread out over the green grassy fields, their animals ripping into the fresh vegetation, and the people splashing in the shallows. They happened on a village and burst in through its flimsy gates, indulging in an orgy of killing, pillaging and burning, leaving only a single old woman alive. She revealed, through her agonised weeping, that the village was not a Moabite one. The Khabiru men looked guilty and started to creep away, but the priests of Yahweh declared the massacre a holy work.
"These people were as guilty as the Moabites and deserved to die. Let no-one oppose Yahweh."
The land on that side of the Yarden River was green and pleasant, but the people there lived only by t
heir small herds and fishing. Across the expanse of water, the Khabiru could see other people, farms with tilled land and orchards, hillsides covered in olive trees.
"There is the land Yahweh gives to you," Mose declared. "Cross the river and take it."
The Khabiru poured across the river at a natural ford not far upriver and the native Kanaanite inhabitants fled into the hills from the invaders. A captured man revealed the presence of a city a half day's walk away, called Yariho.
"You will not capture it," boasted the man. "It has stone walls and many men inside it. They will kill you or drive you away."
The priests had the Kanaanite man executed for his prideful boasting and then offered up large numbers of captured sheep and cattle as burnt offerings to the Lord. As the smoke ascended to the heavens, the earth shook and a nearby sheep byre collapsed. People drew back, arguing the portents but Mose reassured them.
"Yahweh accepts the sacrifice. See how the sweet smoke of sacrifice is received in the heavens by the Lord. The earth shakes as a warning to the enemies of God."
The priests ate the ritually sacrificed thigh of every animal sacrificed and the people cooked and ate the rest of the meat before starting out on the journey to the city of Yariho. Khu felt sickened by the excesses of the Khabiru priests, but he saw it as his duty to lead the migration until Scarab returned or the people dismissed him. He had an idea that the priests intended to capture Yariho and slaughter its inhabitants, so he ordered ram's horns brought to the front of the column and had the men blow them lustily and everyone shout the name of Yahweh. The priests were pleased and Khu hid a smile, knowing the noise would give the people of Yariho time to lock the gates of the city against the invaders.
An hour into the march, the earth moved violently, throwing many people to the ground. Rocks tumbled from hillsides and the animals stampeded, only being brought back under control with difficulty.
"Yahweh shouts his warning to the evildoer," the priests said.
The Khabiru picked themselves up and started their march again, but more quietly. After a while, under Khu's encouragement, they started blowing the horns again and raising shouts of praise to their god. However, Khu's efforts at warning the people of Yariho were not necessary. As they neared the city, they saw a pall of smoke rising into the sky and when they finally came in sight, they saw the stone walls and cedar gates lying in ruins. Rather than help the stricken people of the burning city, the Khabiru descended on them and slaughtered the survivors, though some of the young women lived for a while as captives.