The Making of the Lamb by Robert Bear Read Free Book Online

time was too short to write back and ask you. I instructed the captain of my ship to depart from Caesarea and make for Acre. It will be easier to meet the ship there with Jesus. We will have to stay off the roads through Galilee as much as we can and avoid Sepphoris.”
    “Will he be safe once he crosses the border into Syria?”
    “Jesus may gain a short reprieve, at best. Acre is a den of intrigue, with Jews, Greeks, Arabs, and Phoenicians all suspicious of each other. Caiaphas is sure to have his spies among them. The authorities in Acre could very well send Jesus back if they get word he is wanted in Judea; the Roman legates do favors like that for each other all the time.”
    “Maybe you could take Jesus to Antioch or Damascus. As soon as my husband recovers, I can travel there from time to time to look after Jesus.”
    “I’m afraid, dear Mary, that you do not understand the Romans as I do. Beyond Judea and Galilee, your son would be directly under their authority. They tolerate religions that are native to the lands they conquer, if the followers refrain from criticizing their gods. But if Jesus is as willful on matters of Scripture as you say, he will find that the Romans care even less for those they consider blasphemers of their pagan gods than Caiaphas does for the blasphemers of ours. Nor can we count on the Jewish communities in those provinces to protect him; they look to the Sanhedrin for moral guidance. The next time Jesus gets in trouble, he would be far from any aid I might bring.”
    Mary collapsed on a cushion. “So, what is to be done?”
    Uncle Joseph paused. “I think it is best if I take Jesus with me beyond the authority of the Romans until he is fully of age. I will leave soon on a new expedition, and I do not expect to return for two years. He can accompany Daniel and me to the Isle of the Britons.”
    “The Britons?” gasped Mary. “But that is so far away. And aren’t the Britons savages?” Her stomach knotted.
    “The Romans tell many lies about them. In the regions where I travel, the natives have been trading peaceably for centuries with Greeks and Phoenicians long before the Romans extended their rule beyond their city limits. King Solomon himself used British lead and tin in the building of the first temple.”
    Britain? That was on the other side of the world. She resisted, but Uncle Joseph patiently convinced her that there was little choice; every alternative she suggested would be far more dangerous for Jesus.
    Mary woke her husband to explain that they must send Jesus away.
    He listened carefully. “Jesus is no longer a child,” he rasped. “He has insight into Scripture far beyond his years, and even ordinary boys become men at his age. This decision must be his.”
    Mary and her uncle walked outside. They expected to find the two cousins wrestling or engaged in some other rough play. Instead, what they saw made them hesitate at the threshold, momentarily dumbfounded.
    There was Daniel, down on his knees at Jesus’s feet, his hands clasped as if in supplication or prayer, gazing up silently at his cousin.
    Jesus met his mother’s eyes. “I didn’t do anything to him,” he said. “We were just chatting, and suddenly he stopped talking and knelt for no reason at all.”
    No longer was he acting the part of the audacious young teacher who dared to challenge the Sanhedrin. Once more, he appeared to Mary as the innocent child, shrugging, not knowing what to make of his older cousin’s strange behavior, a child caught helplessly in an awkward situation.
    “Get up, fool!” Uncle Joseph commanded his son.
    Daniel remained silently in his posture of supplication before Jesus.
    Then Jesus spoke in a shaky, awkward voice. “Listen to your father, Daniel. Get up.”
    At these words, Daniel emerged from his trance. Slowly, he rose to his feet.
    Once they were all back in the house, Mary explained to Jesus that for his own safety he should leave right away with Uncle Joseph