Once there was Darkness

Chapter 10

Part 1

Kol went outside to let the sun beat on his face. He couldn’t spend another second looking at words. Along the path through the garden were tiny purple flowers. He sat on the ground stroking the flowers small petals with his fingertips.

“Wasn’t that fun?” Kessa asked.

“Our trip to Kepta was uneventful, so no.” Max answered.

“We mustn’t think that way. Not every trip is going to be filled with danger and excitement,” she laughed. The comment was more for her benefit than his.

They stopped by the River Teak to make camp.

A woman was bathing in the river. Kol watched her with keen interest. Her long black hair trailed down her back stopping at her waist line, outlining perfectly the curvature of her behind. Kessa watched him watching her.

Kessa moved her horse closer to him, “I cannot protect you from that one, King David.” Kol was raging mad but kept his composure in front of the soldiers. There was a wild look in his eyes when he made eye contact with her. Kessa pointed at the woman, “Bathsheba; King David from the Bible.” Once she clarified her comment, his anger subsided. 2 Samuel Chapter 11

The soldiers had made camp by the river. She gave them leave to water their horses and bathe themselves in groups of five. She also told them about the woman and how she was not to be harmed.

The next morning as they were resting, she left the camp. Kol thought about following her when her reason for leaving came into view. Two riders approached the camp on horseback.

“It amazes me how she does that.”

Kol’s attention was pulled to a guard at his left. He was sitting by a fire eating a rabbit’s leg. “Do what?”

Another soldier walked out of a tent from behind the guard. “She has this sixth sense about her. She can read nature like a book. I bet the grass told her those two were coming. Or maybe it was these tiny purple flowers that are everywhere. When I go to battle, I want her by my side.”

Kol looked in the direction of the meeting. Even from this distance he could tell that one rider was a woman. The other, a man. She talked to them for only a few minutes before they turned and rode away. She waited until they were out of sight before she headed back to camp.

General Marcus stepped from the side of a tent that was behind Kol. “Where’s she going now?”

Kol almost jumped, “General.”

The general was watching her just as intently as the soldiers were.

Kol couldn’t stand the tension any longer. He jumped on a horse and went out to meet her. “What was that about?”

“That was the woman from the river and her husband.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

There was that sideways grin. She shook off the thought, the feeling. “Yes, her husband came to thank us for not harming his wife. I cautioned her about bathing in such a public place alone and next time the visitors to this area might not be so – pleasant.” She raised an eyebrow.

“Why could you not protect me from her?”

“Not all things are for your enjoyment.”

“God told you I couldn’t have her?”

“She is the wife of another man. She was never yours to have.”