A.D. 33 by Ted Dekker Read Free Book Online Page B

Thamud. Then at the elders.
    “We have no problem here. You may throw your sword on the sand.”
    He turned to me again, eyes wide, breathing hard.
    “I heard there was to be trouble—”
    “And yet there is none. Do as I say.”
    Sitting tall and with a stern face, he took one last look at Saman, then tossed his sword into the sand.
    Saman chuckled. “Some Thamud blood at last. Give me a hundred like this one and I will rule the world.”
    “We do not lack heart, mighty sheikh,” I said. “We have more courage than all who stand before us with swords at their sides. Ours we leave behind.”
    This gave him a moment’s pause. His eyes shifted to the horizon behind me and he sighed.
    “I too grow tired of war.” Eyes back on me. “So then…” He shoved his chin in Maliku’s direction. “Make peace with her.”
    Maliku prodded his camel forward three strides, then stopped, eyes on me. Clearly, he’d come to play this role.
    He bowed his head and when he looked up at me again, I could see only fear in his eyes. I’d rendered him powerless once before, in Petra. He had no appetite to engage me again.
    “It is true that you come in peace without any desire to retake Dumah?” he said in a soft voice.
    “Where is Judah?” I asked.
    “Judah is alive and well. But you must speak to me now. Speak from your heart so all can know the truth. You have no desire for Dumah?”
    “When did they kill our father?”
    He hesitated. “Surely you know that there can be only one ruler. Think of his death as proof that the sheikh too desires peace.”
    In the Bedu way, it made sense.
    “We have no desire for Dumah,” I said, calming my anger. “The desert is rich enough for all true Bedu.”
    “Then demonstrate your sincerity by leaving this place, never to return, and you will be protected by Saman so long as no one raises a sword against him.”
    “We require compensation!” Fahak croaked.
    Saba grunted a warning.
    I let Fahak’s statement stand.
    “This is impossible,” Maliku said. “But peace, you can have. This very day. I beg you, accept this offer from them for the sake of your children.”
    Them? He spoke as one who did not want to be associated with the Thamud.
    Seeing my reluctance, my brother motioned to the rear.
    The warriors parted and a single camel plodded through their ranks. A body dressed in a muddy tunic was tied facedown on the camel’s hindquarters. His head was bound by swaths of cloth.
    My father’s body?
    “You cannot expect repayment,” Maliku said, “but Saman will offer you life.”
    The warrior dismounted, untethered the body, and let it fall heavily to the ground.
    Only then, as the tunic pulled free of his arm, did I recognize him. My heart seized in my chest.
    “Judah!” Saba was already on the sand, rushing forward.
    “Back!”
    I don’t know who barked the order, for my eyes were on Judah’s body, which lay unmoving on the ground. I could not speak. I could not move. I could scarcely form a thought.
    Saba pulled up at the command, breathing hard.
    “Keep your distance,” Maliku said. “He is senseless but otherwise unharmed.”
    “Judah?”
    The voice was my own. I felt myself slipping from Zahwah’s back. Landing on the sand. Hurrying forward.
    The warrior who’d brought him stepped into my path, and without a thought I grabbed his arm, shoved my knee behind his left leg, and slammed him to the ground with enough force to knock the wind from his lungs. And already I was at Judah’s side.
    Saba seized my elbow and pulled me back. “Not now, my queen.”
    I was trembling. But Saba’s voice, which had guided and comforted me through the desert, brought me to reality.
    “Leave her,” Maliku snapped, motioning the stunned warrior back to his camel. “Or would you die today?”
    The man scowled, then drew his camel away.
    Kahil folded his hands. “So you see, Maviah…My word is also true. Judah is alive and well, and he is yours if you agree to Saman’s terms.