Chapter 13
Saul ~ continued from Chapter 13 | The Wicked Ninth
The priest sat up straight.
“These visions are not to be understood by us, they just are.”
He looked at the four young people before him.
“Maybe we should stop and put the game away.”
Torches were being lit in the cold hallways and a servant came in to light the torch in the room and build up the fire that had burned down to a few coals.
“But somewhere these are peoples’ lives,” Michal said.
“Yes and their hopes and dreams and heartbreak.”
“And they have no meaning in our lives?” Jonathan asked.
“Only what you take with them,” the priest said.
“But we can take wisdom from many places,” David said slowly. “We learn from fools and kings.”
“We learn about the community and how to live,” Sarah said.
“Yes,” the priest agreed.
“We should continue the game,” David said.
“Yes, we should,” Jonathan said as he wrapped his tunic around his shoulders for warmth.
The two ladies pulled a bearskin rug from a great chest at the end of the bed and pulled it over them as they sat in front of the game.
“It’s my turn,” Sarah said as she looked at the group.
She smiled and threw the knucklebones.
“Into the wild,” she laughed and her brown hair fell around her face. She winked at David.
The priest motioned to her as she landed on another square that was black.
“Lady Michal,” a voice called. “Saul asks you and your guest to sup with him tonight.”
“Yes,” Michal said. “Tell him yes.”
“Lentil stew,” Sarah whispered as she stared at the board game.
“Roughly chop the cilantro. Scrub the carrots then cut them into chunks. Cut celery into chunks, including the leaves.”
She breathed deeply over the game as if it were a deep pot.
“I remember my mother’s recipe,” she recalled.
She drew her hand over the game and then smelled the stew.
She began again, “Chopped cilantro, carrots, celery stalks, olive oil, onion, garlic, red lentils, pearl barley, stock, cumin, hyssop or parsley, sumac and bay leaf.”
The others drew near and breathed in the magical ingredients that held them all spellbound.
“I’m ravenous,” David said.
He and Sarah looked at each other.
“Just for lentil stew?” Jonathan laughed.
“For many things,” David said.
“Then we go,” said the priest who bent to stretch his calf muscles.
Sarah began to cry, her long, brown hair falling around her shoulders as she held the bearskin rug against her.
“What’s wrong?” David asked.
She wiped her eyes and stared at the board game.
“We can be so cruel to each other,” she sobbed and David held her.
Michal and Jonathan also came to her side. The soldier appeared in the hallway.
“I fear your father is not well,” he said as he fidgeted with the sword at his belt.
He bent closer to Jonathan.
“He has limped for days after the battle and talks of strange things.”
“Thank you,” Jonathan said as he walked with Sarah toward the great staircase that led to the floors below.
Saul emerged from the darkness dressed in black and limping from his battle wounds. The four stopped and watched him half in pity half in disgust as he walked past them and into the larger sitting rooms.
“Welcome, my friends,” he bellowed with a voice larger than usual. “Welcome to this game over ancient earth and sky.”
“Father,” Michal said, “You have been drinking.”
She came to him and put her hand on his shoulder.
“Welcome, the very trick of the tale, welcome players black and white.”
Saul threw back his head and laughed wildly.
“Come inside, come inside.”
He walked past and into the hall.
He turned on David as more guests arrived in the hallway.
“Are these the sweet faces that will calm my soul like harp music?”
He laughed and beckoned the men into the room. “Or do they cut me down like lambs to the slaughter?”
“You are the anointed one, my King.”
David looked at the other guests entering.
“Yes, yes.” Saul drank deeply from his wine goblet. “Raise a cheer and damn the blood-soaked ending.”
He drank again and some men cheered as they walked into the hall.
The King bent low and put his bony fingers to his lips, “I say welcome the battle twixt light and dark but now as we sup I request one favor.”
He drank from his cup again and shook his finger at David.
“Let us not play these games but rather drink and be damned to hell.”
Michal went to Saul and sat down beside him helping to arrange his tunic and sit regally.
“You drink too much,” she whispered.
“Not enough, my sweet one, not enough.”
A young girl sat down and picked up a lyre that she began to play, the soft notes soothing the troubled guests.
A young boy who stood beside her, started to chant slowly:
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, hearken to what I say: I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.”
Servants brought plates of figs and dates while others carried large jugs of wine and placed them on the wooden table.
The soldiers sat on one long bench while the officers sat at another and watched as more plates of food including lamb and beef were brought in.
“My sevenfold,” Saul whispered while watching the boy sing. “To his seventyfold.”
He shot the simple child a dangerous look.
“You mock me even in my house,” he turned to sit up but was held down by Michal.
“Try the lamb, Father.”
She broke off a shank bone and placed it on his plate.
“Dear lamb,” he looked at her. “You know not what burns me, what haunts me.”
“Not tonight,” she said.
He seethed and watched the boy continue his lament:
“If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold,” the boy sang sweetly.
“My seven to his seventy,” Saul bellowed as he drew his dagger and buried it in the wood table.
The boy looked up as Saul looked down at his feet. A few soldiers stood up but then quickly sat down.
“Please, please,” Jonathan stood up. “The boy’s song rang true and we feel deeply.”
There were whispers of appreciation for the song and the men went back to their enjoyment.
The boy huddled in the corner while the girl began to stroke the lyre’s strings once again.
“He did not tell us of The Ark until the priest went to him,” Saul began.
Jonathan and David sat across from Saul where the generals and chieftains were also engaged in their entertainment.
Saul eyed David as wicked thoughts rummaged around his wine-soaked head.
“He kept it from us, from me, for his glory.”
He tore into a piece of lamb. As he did so he felt for his dagger beneath his tunic. The touch of the cool bone handle and sheath calmed him somewhat.
“I could give him everything and he would still take more.” He bit deep into the lamb. “He kept The Ark for his glory.”
“Father,” Michal said. “How is the lamb?”
“Yes, yes, my lamb, fine.”
His eyes were glazed.
“Father, are you well.”
“Dear sweet lamb, yes, of course.”
Continue reading… Chapter 13 | All Will Be Well
[…] Chapter 13 Saul ~ continued from Chapter 13 | Dear Sweet Lamb […]