People of the Flood (Ark Chronicles 2) (5 page)

9.

Shem and Ruth spoke earnestly with Deborah, cautioning her lest she be the cause of hatred between cousins. Pretending to be intimidated, Deborah donned a shawl and did her chores downcast. What she wasn’t going to do was let herself be cheated out of a husband. How did she know who loved her best? More to the point, which one of them was worthy to be her husband?

On the third day after Noah
’s talk, she spied tall, handsome Gomer trooping in from the fields with a hoe over his shoulder. Deborah carried a basket of chicken eggs, slowly walking past Uncle Ham’s stone corral. A gray rag hid her tresses, and she stared at the ground, pretending not to notice sweaty Gomer.

“
What did you lose, Deborah?” he asked.

She stopped, but didn
’t look up.

“
You must have lost something,” Gomer said, “the way you stare at the ground.”

She shrugged.

“Are you forbidden to speak to me?” he asked, starting to sound forlorn.

“
I suppose not.”

Gomer stepped nearer
. “Won’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

She hesitated.

“Deborah!”

She looked up, delighted with his concern but concealing it
. “My parents blame me for what has happened.”

“
Nothing happened!” he cried. “What did your parents say happened?”

“
You heard grandfather.”

“
I did,” Gomer said, “and I don’t hate Kush. I told my parents that, too.”

“
You don’t hate Kush?” Deborah asked.

“
Why should I?”

She blinked, nettled
. “What if I told you that Kush kissed me?”

Gomer’s
jaw sagged. “Why would he kiss you? He never has before…has he?”

Deborah
looked down, with a tiny smile on her lips.

“
Has he kissed you?” Gomer asked.

“
Maybe.”

“
What?”

“
So what if he did kiss me? You don’t hate him, right?”

Gomer licked his lips, glanced about and took a step closer
. “You’re not going to let him kiss you again, are you?”

She shrugged, wondering what he would do about it.

“Because that isn’t really fair,” Gomer said.

Deborah
eyed him, and she noticed Kush in the distance dragging a sled toward them, although Gomer couldn’t see it because he had his back to Kush. She knew Kush was supposed to repair this corral with new stone. It was the reason she had been loitering here.

“
Are you going to let kiss Kush you or not?” Gomer asked.

Deborah
set down the egg basket and searched Gomer’s freckled face. Her heart beat hard. She wasn’t sure she should do this… But surely, Noah overreacted. She loved her grandfather, but she understood that he also had a flair for the dramatic, for the overblown gesture or story. How was a girl supposed to know which boy really loved her, was willing to take risks to get her, unless she put him to the test?

She asked innocently,
“Do
you
want to kiss me?”

For a
moment, Gomer did nothing. Then her heart thrilled as he pitched aside the hoe and brought down his head so his lips brushed hers.

She hugged him and peered around his shoulder.

Kush watched, and he whirled around and stalked from his sled as if angry.

Sudden fear filled Deborah
. Kush was moody, passionate, and the strongest among the boys. Had she gone too far? She backed away from Gomer and picked up her egg basket. “I’ve got to get these home.”

“
Will you meet me later?” Gomer asked. “Out by the woods?”

Deborah
glanced at his handsome, grinning face. Eagerness shone there, and something else. “Maybe,” she whispered.

Gomer picked up his hoe, whistling as he
walked away.

Deborah hurried home, wondering what she had unleashed.

10.

Ham shut the gate to the sheep pen, the bleating animals crowding one another
. Finally, he had time for a hot soak. He winced, his back tight from a long day of hoeing weeds. He looped the string over the gatepost and—

“
Father!”

Ham turned
. Kush seemed intent, his dark eyes hard, the muscles hinged to his jaws bunched.

“
Did you check the bull corral like I told you?” Ham asked.

Kush jerked his head in a nod.

“You refitted all the fallen rocks?”

“
I want to box.”

Ham scowled, glancing about
. “What’s wrong with you, boy? I told you never to speak about that unless you’re sure we’re alone.”

“
I want to learn how to break ribs,” Kush said.

Ham saw the hot soak slipping away, and his arms felt leaden from all the hoeing
. “Maybe tomorrow,” he muttered, turning away.

Kush grabbed
his elbow. “Dad!”

Ham recoiled when he noticed
—those weren’t
tears
in his boy’s eyes, were they? “Oh, all right,” he said, regretting it as they tramped over the forest’s moldy leaves and broken twigs and finally reached the hidden location.

H
am’s hip throbbed. A bottle of wine might help. Sure. Take a hike for a week, find some wild vines and replant them to make a hidden vineyard. There would be grapes in a year, some squeezing, fermentation and wine soon thereafter. Only…Noah made the rules even on this side of the Deluge.

Ham wrapped the boxing leathers tight across his knuckles.

“Are you ready?” Kush asked.

Ham blinked himself to reality, to the sward of grass in the sunlight, as Kush launched his attack
. Ham yelled, caught off guard, throwing up his arms. His boy drove in, head tucked, torso twisting and arms snapping straight. A solid jab to the chin snapped Ham’s head back.

Kush snarled, driving in harder, pressing his surprise assault
. Ham clenched his teeth and sunk a fist into Kush’s belly.

Air exploded out of the fifteen-year-old
. Kush’s eyes got huge, and his feet tangled. Kush fell heavily, rolled onto his hands and knees and vomited.

Ham
’s anger dissipated, even as a twinge in his neck told him it would hurt tomorrow. He began unwinding his leathers; the sparring was over less than ten seconds after it had started.

11.

Kush tossed and turned that night. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Gomer kissing Deborah by the corral. He had Cain’s luck, cursed, whatever he touched failed.

Before dawn, ten-year-old Menes shook him awake.

“Go away,” Kush said.

“
We’re supposed to hunt rabbits, remember?”

Stomach aching, sleepy, with a face full of bitterness, Kush stumbled after Menes into the chilly fields
. Menes twirled his sling in the millet field and hit two rabbits. Kush shot three arrows and missed each time.

“
What’s wrong?” Menes asked. “Why can’t you hit anything today?”

“
Let’s go to the next field.”

They did, getting their sandals wet on the dewy grass, the small, skinny runt in front, and the Brute, as Kush liked to think of himself, following his little brother. The barest smear of light now painted the horizon.

“When do you think father will make me a bow?” Menes asked.

“
I don’t know.”

“
How old were you when you got one?”

Kush shrugged.

“How old?” Menes asked.

“
I can’t remember.”

“
Wasn’t it three years ago?”

“
I said I don’t know.”

“
Was it for your eleventh birthday or twelfth?”

“
Will you shut up about bows?”

Menes glanced back at his brother
. “Are you angry?”

“
What did I just say? Shut up.”

“
Sheesh, Kush, why are you sore at me?”

“
I’m not.”

“
It’s Gomer, isn’t it?”

“
What do you mean?”

Menes faced his big brother
. “What will you do if Gomer pushes you again?”

Kush eased tension from his bowstring
. “Do you really want to know what I would do?”

Menes nodded.

Kush curled a fist under his brother’s nose. “I’ll hammer him into submission by using these like weapons.”

“
Your hands?”

“
No, stupid. Fists. I’ll box him until he pukes out his guts and then kick him in the stomach. Let him know I could kill him.”

“
If you killed him, you’d be cursed like Cain.”

Kush snorted
. “You ever seen Jehovah or even seen His footprints? He’s a fairy tale, Menes.”

“
Grandfather doesn’t lie.”

“
Listen. No one is going to kiss Deborah but me. If I catch Gomer doing it, he gets a boxing lesson.”

“
What’s boxing?” Menes asked.

Kush
squinted. “Can you keep a secret?”

“
Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Kush hesitated,
and then he told his brother how father had taught him boxing.

Menes
’s eyes shone.

Later that evening
, Menes and Aurora, Japheth’s daughter, went to the river with water buckets for their mothers. They chatted like monkeys until Aurora said, “Did you know that Gomer kissed Deborah?”

“
No he didn’t,” Menes said.

“
Did too,” Aurora said. “Gomer told mother about it yesterday.”

“
Gomer is a liar.” Menes scratched his head. “Unless Gomer is missing a tooth.”

“
Kissing doesn’t do that, stupid,” said Aurora.

“
I know that. But a fist in the mouth does.”

Aurora set down her pail and pushed Menes
. “What a liar.”

“
I’m not lying!”

“
Who would dare hit Gomer? You know he’s going to be a king someday.”

Menes finally remembered his promise to Kush and shook his head.

“Ha. I’m right,” Aurora said. “You’re lying.”

“
No, I’m not. I just don’t want to say.”

“
Hmm.” Aurora studied her older cousin. “I bet you’re talking about Kush.”

“
Can’t say.”

“
Oh, it’s a secret, eh? That’s no problem. I swear by my father’s beard not to tell anyone.”

“
Really?” Menes asked, wide-eyed. “You’d risk your father’s beard?”

Aurora made an easy gesture.

“He’ll beat you if his beard falls off.”

“
You don’t think I’ll keep my promise?”

“
Well…” Menes glanced about, then grinned and leaned near Aurora, telling her how Kush, as a trained boxer, would destroy Gomer if he dared kiss Deborah.

Aurora nodded sagely, drinking in the information.

“Remember,” Menes said, “you swore not to tell anyone.”

“
You’re worse than my brothers,” Aurora said. “Don’t you trust me?”

“
A promise is a promise.”

“
I know that,” said Aurora. “So why don’t you shut up about it already?”

“
Hey, you’d better watch it,” Menes said.

Aurora laughed, but before Menes could get angry about it, she said,
“Race you to the river.”

“
Go!” Menes said, leaping and running as hard as he could, the pail banging against his knees.

“
Hey! No fair!” Aurora shouted, who sprinted after her fleet-footed cousin just the same.

12.

A day later, the air seemed charged just as when storm clouds piled over Ararat. Wind rustled the leaves as the children marched to the river to fish. Deborah and Kush led the way, with Gomer hanging back and whispering with his brother, Magog.

The conversation between Deborah and Kush
turned heated. Finally, Kush said loud enough so everyone heard, “I’m warning you.”

Gomer looked up
. At the same time, they came upon a man-sized boulder where they usually stopped. Moss grew on the rock’s northern side. Gomer glanced at Magog. Magog nodded, with his eyes darting to a pile of leaves clumped at the boulder’s base. Some of the leaves seemed to have been overturned recently, maybe even pushed together.

“
What are you warning her about?” Gomer asked.

Kush stopped, turning, with his face like flint
. “I don’t remember talking to you.”

“
But I’m talking to
you
,” Gomer said, the other children jumping out of his way. “What were you warning her about?”

A terrible joy leapt upon Kush
’s blunt features. Gomer was taller, but he was broader, already with the heavier muscles of his father, Ham. “What do you care what I tell her?”

“
You know I care,” Gomer said. “What did he tell you, Deborah?”

Deborah
smiled as she brushed back her curls. “He said you can’t kiss me again. That he’ll beat you if you do.”

All merriment drained from the other children
. In silence, they watched the tableau. Only Menes, Aurora and Magog seemed eager.

Gomer forced a laugh
. “Oh, is that so?”

“
Yes!” Kush shoved Gomer and then raised his fists. “Or do you want to fight about it?”

Gomer blanched
. “So, it’s true. Your father taught you to box.”

Surprise swept over Kush
. He glanced at Menes. Menes blushed and opened his mouth to protest, then turned and stared at Aurora. Nine-year-old Aurora thrust her hands in her pockets, her gaze elsewhere.

“
It isn’t fair you know how to box, and I don’t!” Gomer shouted.

“
That’s right,” Magog said.

Kush glared at Gomer, who slid sideways toward the boulder
. “If you’re afraid to fight, just say so. But then you have to promise never to kiss Deborah again.”

“
It isn’t fair Kush knows how to box,” Magog told the other children.

“
You could wrestle instead of box,” Deborah suggested.

“
I’ll fight how I want to,” Kush shouted. “Unless you’re afraid, Gomer. Admit it. You’re afraid.”

“
I’m not afraid of you, and I’m not going to promise a thing,” Gomer said.

Deborah clapped her hands and then blushed when everyone glanced at her
. “I’m not saying anything. I didn’t start this.”

Kush wiped a fist over his mouth
. “You are afraid. That’s why you’re running away.”

Gomer stopped at the base of the rock
. “Afraid? When you’ve been training to fight for weeks. When you’ve bragged how you’re going to kick my stomach so I’ll vomit blood?” Gomer shouted, “Your wanting to fight here is unfair. You’re a cheater! But if you know how to box and I don’t, I’m going to even us up.” He brushed aside leaves and picked up a club. Then he roared and rushed Kush.

Kush
’s eyes went wide, and several of the children screamed. Gomer tripped over a stone, let go of the club and staggered, recovering himself near Kush.

Kush laughed brutally
. “Now we’re even again, cheater.” He advanced. Snap-snap-snap, boxing as taught. Blood spurted from Gomer’s nose, and he staggered back, dazed from the jabs. Kush kept coming, throwing straight-armed jabs and crosses, his knuckles cutting Gomer’s cheeks.

“
Stop!” the children screamed. “Stop it! You’re killing him.”

Kush snarled as Gomer dropped to his hands and knees
. “I told you to promise never to kiss her again.”

Blood dripped from Gomer
’s nose, and he panted. He seemed incapable of speech.

Kush kicked him in the belly
. Gomer flopped onto the ground, groaning. Kush kicked harder.

“
No!” Magog shouted, only a year younger than Gomer. He grabbed the fallen club. “Stop it, Kush! Stop it!” He rushed into the fray and the club whistled. With an awful
crack,
it connected with the back of Kush’s head. Kush’s eyes rolled up, and he dropped to the ground beside Gomer.

The children stared
, open-mouthed.

“
No, oh no,” Deborah moaned. “What if they’re both dead?”

“
I’ll get grandma.” And Aurora took off running for the tents, certain that the one who brought Gaea here would earn praise as the good child.