People of the Flood (Ark Chronicles 2) (6 page)

13.

Kush lay unconscious in his parents’ tent. On the back of his head rose an ugly knot. He breathed shallowly and, at times, his eyelids fluttered.

The flap brushed aside and Gaea entered, followed by Ham and Europa.

Rahab already knelt by her son and dabbed his cheek with a damp cloth.

Europa hugged herself, her eyes wide, and she turned away.

Rahab sat back on her heels. “That was a dirty trick, your boy using a club.”

Startled,
Europa faced her. “My son’s face is cut up, and he complains of stomach cramps. Kush might have killed him if Magog hadn’t thought fast.”

Gaea looked up from where she studied Kush
. “None of that matters now. We must save Kush and patch up this quarrel.”

Rahab couldn
’t match Europa’s imperious stare. She wilted, turning back to her unconscious son.

Gaea rolled back her sleeves, exposing strong forearms
. She pulled back one of Kush’s eyelids. Her frown deepened, making her worn features even more wrinkled.

“
What’s wrong?” Rahab asked.

Gaea laid a hand on Kush
’s forehead and mumbled under her breath.

“
Are you praying?” Rahab whispered. “Is it that bad?”

“
Shhh,” Ham said, kneeling behind his wife, putting his hands on her shoulders.

Rahab peered over her shoulder
. “Why did you teach him boxing, Ham, why?”

Ham
kept his face impassive as he studied his son.

“
We can’t worry about that now,” Gaea said. “Europa, do you have any bellegarde in your tent?”

“
No,” said Europa. “Should I?”

“
Rahab?”

Rahab shook her head.

“Neither do I,” Gaea said. She pursed her lips. “Ham, tell Noah I need bellegarde.”

“
What’s that?” Ham asked.

“
Hurry, child. Do as I’ve said.”

Ham ran from the tent.

“What is it, Mother? What’s wrong with him?” Rahab asked.

“
It could be a number of things.” Gaea touched the knot on the back of Kush’s head. He twitched but remained unconscious. Gaea bared her teeth. “I need chicken broth and bits of bark.”

“
What kind of bark?” Rahab asked.

“
Europa,” Gaea said. “It’s the same bark I used when Magog was sick.”

Europa silently departed.

Gaea put her hands on Kush’s shoulders and prayed. Then mother and daughter-in-law held hands. “Hatred and battles are upon us,” Gaea said. “I had hoped it could be different this time. I’m afraid that was a dream.”

“
It’s a good dream, Mother.”

“
But just a dream,” Gaea said.

“
Maybe not. Maybe we can all learn from this.” Rahab turned thoughtful. “Help me make peace with Europa. I don’t want a feud.”

Gaea patted Rahab
’s hand. “I’m glad you married Ham. He needs you. He’s hard-headed at times and too quick with his notions.”

“
I’d wish for no one else as a husband,” Rahab said.

Gaea smiled sadly
, as she set Rahab’s hands on her oldest son. “Come, let us continue praying.”

Later that evening, Gaea mixed bark with chicken soup and crushed bellegarde into it
. She spoon-fed Kush, having Rahab hold her son’s head. He gagged and coughed, but other times his throat convulsed, as if he drank.

“
I’ll give it to him again tomorrow,” Gaea said. “Rahab, you must speak with him during the night. Try to get him to wake up.”

“
What if he does?” Rahab said. “Then what?”

“
Keep him talking, and get me.”

“
I’ll do that,” Ham said.

“
Good,” Gaea said. She took her leave.

Rahab and Ham glanced at one another
. “We’ll talk about it later,” Ham said. Rahab looked as if she would speak, then she nodded and they attended to their son.

14.

The bellegarde worked. Both boys survived their blows, although Kush was laid up for over two weeks and had headaches for over a year. It embittered him against his cousins. He vowed to pay Magog back one of these days when they were alone, when he had a good reason, so no one could accuse him of vengeance. The fact that he might have kept on kicking Gomer until…no, he would have stopped. That stubborn mule Gomer, who thought he was so smart—laying clubs along the trail to cheat—he could have simply promised never to kiss Deborah again if he didn’t want to get beaten to death.

Soon after the incident, Shem, Ham
, Japheth and their wives talked. Noah and Gaea did, too. It had been fifteen years since they left the Ark.

“
We should spread out,” Japheth said. “Move apart so we each have more elbow room, and so our sons don’t have to bump into each other on a daily basis.” They spoke in Noah’s tent, at a table. Outside, in the darkness, an owl hooted.

“
No,” Gaea said. “That’s too drastic.”

“
I think Japheth is right,” Ham said.

“
Here is a first,” Japheth said. “My youngest brother and I agree, even if it was his boy that started this.”

“
Mine?” Ham asked. “Yours was the one hiding clubs.”

“
I see,” said Europa. “He should have submitted to a trained killer?”

Ham stood
. “Boxing isn’t killing. Braining others with clubs…” He glanced at the others. “Isn’t that attempted murder?”

Rahab plucked at Ham
’s sleeve, urging him to sit down.

“
Should I fashion clubs for my boys then?” Ham asked. “For protection against Japheth’s schemers?”

“
Ha!” Japheth cried, while slapping the table. “A schemer is anyone who plans not to be bashed about by a thuggish brute.”

“
At least mine don’t slink about with shifty glances,” Ham said, “plotting how to murder their cousins.”

Noah rose, with a stern glance
. “I didn’t call you here to bicker.”

“
Please, Ham,” Gaea said. “Take a seat.”

Ham finally noticed Rahab pulling at his sleeve
. He scowled at Japheth drumming his long fingers on the table, Europa whispering into his ear. Ham sat hunched-shouldered, refusing to look at his oldest brother or his wife.

In the silence
, Noah cleared his throat. “One thing is certain. Despite the accusations—on both sides—Gomer and Kush must stay apart. I’ve talked with each of them. They hang their heads, but the hatred is deep-rooted. Nor have you, my sons—either of you—done well in some of your family policies.”

Japheth opened his mouth to retort, but Europa put a restraining hand on him.

Ham licked his lips, not allowing himself to speak. That Gomer had tried to attack with a club… It showed the others feared Kush, a man that had sprung from
his
loins.

Ham wasn
’t aware that Europa had told her boys how proud she was of them in using their brains to overcome Kush’s brawn. “You don’t square up against a trained fighter,” Europa had said. “You even the odds. You better them if you can. Which was exactly what you two did—but don’t tell anyone I said that. This is a family matter, strictly among ourselves.”

“
I think the issue now is who will marry Deborah,” Rahab said.

“
Yes, exactly,” Gaea said.

“
I think Deborah should have some say in the matter,” her mother, Ruth, said.

Noah agreed
. “But Deborah must wait before she shows a preference.”

“
Is that wise, Father?” Ruth asked. “My daughter’s blood runs hot. Marriage is what she needs to keep her from sin.”

“
She’s only fifteen,” Gaea said. “That’s too young to be married.”

“
This is a New World,” Ruth said. “We’ve all said that many times. The Earth needs filling.”

“
The problem,” Noah said, “is that when Deborah chooses one, the other might become enraged enough to murder his rival.”

“
Father!” Japheth cried. “Perhaps…” He glanced at Ham. “Perhaps others would stoop to such base deeds, but you can’t believe that my boy would—”

“
Enough!” Noah said. “Listen to me. Murder is the consequence of hatred. That most brutal, vicious act lies very near the surface once the powerful emotion of hate has been unleashed. Perhaps there was nothing we could have done to banish it forever. Mankind lies awash in sin, after all. It is the consequence of Adam’s fall in Eden. What we must do is ensure against murder by realizing that it may happen over Deborah’s marriage. Either boy is capable of it. They’ve both shown so. We must give the boys time to cool down.”

Japheth drummed his fingers on the table
. He wore a fine gold ring with a ruby stone, fashioned from the Antediluvian world. “Whether all our boys are capable of murder or not, I won’t argue. But we must move apart, at least move the tents several leagues from one another. We need elbow room, as I’ve said.”

“
Must you move?” Gaea asked. “I hate to see the family broken up over this.”

Her answer was s
ilence. Ham brooded, while Rahab fretted, stroking his arm from time to time. Europa kept whispering advice to Japheth, while Shem and Ruth watched, wide-eyed.

“
Yes,” Noah said, “perhaps moving the tents is a good idea. It will be a pledge of earnestness, of our future splitting as we carry out Jehovah’s plan of filling the earth.”

It was soon agreed that Noah and Gaea would remain in their location, while Japheth and Europa would move downhill, Shem shift his clan west and Ham settle several leagues to the east.

As they left the tent that evening, walking home by starlight, Ham asked Rahab, “Did you see Japheth grinning?”

Rahab cast him a worried glance
. “When do you mean?”

“
When they spoke about the coming marriage to Deborah, he grinned like he knew a secret.”

“
Are you sure it was a grin? Maybe he thought you’d leap across the table to clutch his throat, and he tried to brave it out.”

“
Do you know what I think? He learned somehow that I’d trained Kush. He knew that even if his boys could box Kush would thrash them. He probably counseled them to hide clubs.” Ham stopped. “The sly fox. I bet that’s exactly how it happened.”

“
Ham, how can you say that? How awful to even think it.”

“
No. How awful to be brained by a club.” A wolfish grin spread across Ham’s face. “He means to see Gomer wed to Deborah. But I’m not going to let that happen.”

“
That isn’t our decision. You heard Noah. Deborah is to choose.”

H
am grunted and resumed the march home, with Rahab hurrying beside him. As he entered the tent, he decided that it was time to teach his sons how to fight with a quarterstaff. Fists were good, but not when a man might pick up a rock or hide a club in a pile of leaves. But a quarterstaff now…

15.

As Deborah debated her choice, Noah, Ham and Kush took a trip to Lake Van to replenish their salt stores and, as Noah told Gaea, “To separate the contenders and let tempers cool.”

So they loaded two donkeys with packs and supplies, while each man took one as a mount
. Beside them loped shaggy hounds. They traveled through fields high with wild grass and over forest-covered hills, marveling all the while at the abundant animal life, the lions, wolves and bears, and antelope, deer and aurochs. Eagles soared in the blue sky. Ravens scavenged, while larks trilled in the tall pines that grew on the mountainsides and the oaks and beeches that filled the valleys.

The three men seldom spoke and often dismounted to trudge beside their small mounts
. At Lake Van, Noah decided to take a new route to the salt lick. He had found it several years ago and came thereafter once every six months. Whenever the urge to explore bit him, he started talking about fulfilling Jehovah’s commission to fill the earth, which he did now as they took this long route around the lake. “We have to know what’s where if we’re going to take Jehovah seriously about replenishing it with people.”

They fished along the shore, sometimes wading knee-deep in the water to cast their lines
. Afterward, they built a fire and ate their fill. Then one morning, as they rode beside the sun-sparkling lake, Noah noticed a fist-sized rock on a gravel shore. He slid off his donkey and hurried to it, returning with a green stone.

“
What is it?” Kush asked.

“
Malachite,” Noah said.

“
The way you ran, I thought it was legendary gold.”

Noah grinned
. “This is better than gold. It’s copper ore.” He tossed the stone to Ham, who examined it.

“
We’ll camp here today and look for more,” Noah said.

“
What about salt?” Kush asked.

“
Today, copper ore trumps it,” Noah declared.

So
, the rest of the day Noah, Ham and Kush wandered the gravel shore looking for green stones. “And blue, if you find it,” Noah said.

Kush brought him stones with bright yellow pyrites that sparkled in the sun, asking him if this was gold.

“Fool’s gold,” Noah said. “Worthless.”

Kush twisted his mouth at the word
“fool.” He went back to searching for malachite, clattering the green stones into a growing pile.

That evening
, Noah stretched out, smiling, telling them to keep their eyes open tomorrow for small black stones, tin nuggets. The next morning, the search continued, with each of them becoming more discriminating as to the amount of malachite in a stone that he bothered adding to the pile. Finally, Noah said they had enough. He went through their finds, tossing the best stones into a new pile.

“
Load those,” Noah said.

Ham and Kush did, until the saddlebags bulged.

On the way home, Noah explained the art of smelting.

“
Melting rocks,” Kush said. “I don’t understand.”

On their return, Noah began to dig a pit outside the stone fence surrounding his tent.

Kush and Ham evaded questions about, “Where’s the salt?” by taking their rhyolite axes, heavy stone tools, and going into the nearby forest to fell trees. The fresh shittim trunks they splintered into logs, and with wedges, they chopped them into forearm-length chunks. By ox-drawn wagon, they carted the firewood to a large clay enclosure, putting the chunks into it, lighting them and sealing the enclosure. The shittim wood partially burned in the absence of air and turned into charcoal. Because it was shittim wood, the charcoal was hard and slow burning. They took the pieces from the oven, filled the wagon and hauled it to Noah’s pit.

With a granite hammer and a big granite
“anvil,” Noah smashed the malachite into smaller chunks. These chunks, he ground down with a mortar and pestle to the consistency of gravel.

An open campfire couldn
’t reach the needed temperatures, so Noah lined his newly dug pit with heavy stones, fitting them together as closely as possible. He kept adding stones, building the circular fireplace to about knee-height. Then he lined the inside of the fireplace with baked clay.

“
We’ll build a proper furnace later,” Noah said. “But for the amount of ore we have now, this will work just fine.”

Noah filled the clay-lined pit with charcoal and pieces of malachite
, about two-thirds full. Pots of water stood, along with three long blowpipes of rolled hide-strips fitted with ceramic ends. Noah lit the charcoal and handed out the blowpipes. The three of them raised the fire’s temperature by puffing steadily into the furnace through the blowpipes. It was hot, sweaty work, and each of them often dipped a wooden ladle into the water jugs to quench their thirst. From time to time, either Noah or Ham sprinkled handfuls of gravelly malachite over the red-hot coals and then added more fuel. In alternating layers, they filled the furnace until it brimmed.

Kush wiped his sweaty brow
, and his eyelids drooped with fatigue.

“
Careful!” Noah said, startling Kush. “Don’t inhale through the blowpipe.”

“
I know.”

“
If you do, it will scorch your throat.”

Later, when they were all out of breath, Noah motioned them back
. “That’s good. The metal should have separated from the rocks by now.”

In time
, the fire died out, leaving the furnace with heaps of slag: blackish lumps.

“
That doesn’t look like copper,” Kush said.

“
I suppose not,” Noah said. He and Ham went at the slag with hammers and chisels, prying out black lumps. These lumps they took to the granite anvil, smashing them to rubble, extracting a pea-sized pellet of copper from each.

“
These,” Noah said, “change everything.”

Kush blinked, watching the copper pellet
. When Noah put it in a leather pouch in order to help Ham clean the furnace, Kush twisted his lips.

Twenty-four hours later
, Noah shouted at Kush while the boy hoed an onion field. Kush dropped his hoe and sprinted after Noah, walking with him back to the smelting pit. Ham was already there.

“
I thought we had already smelted all the malachite,” Kush said.

“
We have,” Ham said. “This is step two.”

Noah had a charcoal pit ready and filled
. In it sat a ceramic pot, a crucible. In the crucible lay the copper pellets. As before, when the charcoal was lit, they blew through the blowpipes, making the charcoal glow. Kush’s eyes widened when the copper began to liquefy. In his surprise, Kush dropped his blowpipe and tried to snatch it back, yelling when his fingertips touched the red-hot charcoals. With his fingers in his mouth, he watched as Noah and Ham picked up soaked, green branches—a modest form of fireproofing. Working in tandem, they pried the ceramic crucible out of the fire. Carefully and moving in unison—one slip could mean agony—Noah and Ham stepped to a stone with a chiseled-out axe outline. With their lips compressed, Noah and Ham tipped the crucible and poured the liquid copper into the mould.

Noah and Ham glanced at one another
. Noah nodded. They dropped the branches and the empty crucible. Ham took out a rag and wiped sweat from his neck.

“
Now what?” Kush asked, watching the mould with the golden copper.

“
Now we wait,” Noah said.

“
How long?”

“
A few minutes,” Noah said. “Here, let me look at your fingers.” After a quick inspection, he sent Kush to Gaea, who tended to the burns with cooling salve.

Kush returned with bandages wrapped around
his fingertips.

“
During the cooling, the copper has shrunk slightly,” Noah said. “By doing so, it’s detached itself from the mold.” He turned the stone mold over so the copper piece fell out. He handed it to Kush.

“
It’s shaped just like an axe-head,” Kush said.

“
That’s right,” Noah said. “And without the chipping and the worrying that it will break like a stone axe sometimes does.”

“
This is amazing,” Kush said, turning the copper axe-head over.

“
Come back in a day,” Noah said, who took back the axe-head.

Kush did exactly that
. By then, Noah had ground the copper axe-head, smoothing out the irregularities. By hammering, he had toughened the edge, and with sandstone had given it a razor’s sharpness. He had also fitted it onto a wooden handle.

“
Be careful,” Noah said, “or you’ll cut yourself.”

“
Don’t worry about me,” Kush said.

“
Test it with your thumb then,” Ham said.

Kush ran the edge of his thumb over the blade
. He yelped, with a bright spot of blood oozing from his thumb. He regarded Noah with awe. “You made this out of stones that you burned.”

“
Smelted,” Ham corrected.

Kush hefted the axe
. Then he grinned. “Let’s go back and look for more ore.”