Thorn
The Shepherd, Book III
A Novel by Jeffrey B. Linn
All Rights Reserved

Chapter XIV

There was a blast, as if the firmament had come unhinged and fallen to earth, and I was thrown backward and landed in the turf. There followed an eerie calm, and I noted light assaulting my lids. I opened them.

Blueness, beyond blue--fathomless. Presently a man stood above me. It was Bebaios.

"What! Dreaming the day away again, Nabi!" he cried.

"What has occurred?"

"Hah! What a time to close your eyes! If you know not I'll not give it you!" He cackled and stepped out of my ken. Oddly, my first instinct was to inspect the accusing shock of hair, still clenched tightly within my fist. But it was not at all the golden clump I had viewed under the torchlight. This thing was mottled and gray and seemed to have been rended from beard of a goat!

It had been a complete ruse, a well-aimed dart of the enemy which had almost felled me. I sat up.

I was facing away from the city. The valley was verdant and lush all the way to the foothills. It was a bright morning, roaring with life such as that when the world was made and yet uncorrupted. Dumbstruck, I turned to face the fortress. The Shepherd was nowhere to be seen. Close by the gatekeeper was being assisted to his feet by Bebaios and a youth. They draped his mudspattered cloak over his shoulders. Three mounted sorties, each comprised of several young men and ladies, approached him in rapid succession. He blessed them and as they sped away and shouted after them, "Heed the prophetess among you, brothers!"

Suddenly Nebiah was beside me. "You are well, young seer?" she said seriously.

"I appear unscathed," I said. "But why send out sorties? Why now?"

"There has been a breakthough in the realm of the spirit, and they go to seize the advantage for the Kingdom of the Shepherd." She hurried to the gatekeeper and curtsied gravely.

"The Mistress of the Hearth wishes to formally beg your pardon for being so forward as to--"

"So forward as to save us from utter ruin!" he finished for her. "Return and inform her that she has our leave at any such event to be so forward!" he exclaimed. Nebiah brightened appreciably, but continued, "She also requests your appearance at the apothecary as soon as you may have leave in order have your wound attended to."

"There will be no need." He turned toward her. Seeing him, her jaw fell open.

"You . . . are completely restored," she managed.

"But we'll need some stout men to retrieve the door and the smith and a couple of masons to see what can be done," he added.

Just then there was a piercing squeal, the sound of steel grating upon steel. All eyes turned toward the gateway. Thorn had hefted the great door aloft and slid it onto its hinges. Then, before our eyes, he straightened its rods and re-inserted them into the channels. Finally, he forced some of the supporting stones back into place by slamming his great fists against them . Satisfied with his work, he turned and strode soberly toward us.

Addressing the gatekeeper he asked, "Could your people ever forgive such malice?"

"You are already another man," said the gatekeeper. "As all here know. Besides, we are your tenants."

"No! You held my land at its time of greatest need, when it would have fallen beyond all hope! My line was restored through the Shepherd, but I am your servant. I beg you remain. Instruct me in the ways of this Kingdom."

"So be it," said the gatekeeper.

"So . . . it is!" said the giant, breaking into an earnest grin.

"I have have heard", he ventured, "that one who commits his way to the Sheperd testifies to this by immersing in a pond."

"You have heard aright," replied the gatekeeper.

"Where is this pool?"

"It is beyond that hearth. But the rite must be witnessed."

"Come then, brother!" He seized me by the shoulder and half carried me toward the pool. Then he turned back and inquired sheepishly. "By your leave, would you please summon the others?"

"There are none that would wish to miss it, I am sure," said the gatekeeper.

The End
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Word References

Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, Second Edition. Lehman, W.P. New York. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc. 1962, 1973.

New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries: Thomas, R.L., General Editor. Nashville: Holman. 1981

Roget's International Thesaurus: Third Edition. New York: Thomas J. Crowell Company, Inc. 1962.

The American College Dictionary: New York: Random House, Inc. 1963, 1964

The NIV Exhaustive Concordance: Goodrick, E.W. and Kohlenberger, J.R. III, eds. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 1990.

I would like to credit Biblical Archaeology Review with exposing me to certain terms used in Thorn.