The Scarlet Cord Read online

  THE SCARLET CORD

  Carlene Havel and Sharon Faucheux

  Copyright 2014 Sharon Faucheux & Carlene Havel

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Cover art by Joan Alley

  Edited by Beverly Haynes

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are the product of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded, or distributed via the Internet or any other means without the permission of Prism Book Group. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version.

  Published by Prism Book Group

  ISBN-10: 1940099811

  ISBN-13: 978-1-940099-81-1

  First Edition 2014

  Published in the United States of America

  Contact info: [email protected]

  http://www.prismbookgroup.com

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  THE SCARLET CORD

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FORTY

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  POSTSCRIPT

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  FOREWORD

  In the Bible, the eleventh chapter of Hebrews deals extensively with faith. It begins with the words:

  “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (King James Version)

  Examples follow this definition, in what is often called “the roll call of faith”. It is no surprise to find Abraham, Moses, and Noah listed among the faithful. Yet who would expect a harlot to be one of only two women whose names appear?

  “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” Hebrews 11:30-31 (KJ)

  Some historians maintain the Rahab in the lineage of Christ was not the same woman who survived the fall of Jericho, while others insist the opposite. Compelling arguments can be made for either point of view. The authors have worked from the premise she was one person.

  Most of the information about Rahab is contained in the book of Joshua, although this fascinating woman—or someone by the same name—is mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments. The Rahab of “The Scarlet Cord” is an imaginary character. We took the slender details we know and used them as the departure point for a work of fiction. For a strictly factual account, we recommend reading the Holy Bible.

  The authors do not claim to be theologians. We are merely servants who love to spin yarns.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Jericho

  Approximately thirty-one years after the slaves escaped from Egypt

  “Bilda, take care to be inside the city walls before sunset,” Karmot warned. “Children, stay close to your mother. There is to be no straying or straggling. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, Father,” the youngsters answered in chorus.

  “No slacking, either. Work hard. Steal what you can so long as you do not get caught. Yassib, you are responsible for your mother and sisters. Guard them from thieves and takers.”

  “I will do as you say, Father.”

  “Go, then.” With an upward thrust of his chin, Karmot dismissed his family and crumpled across his sleeping mat.

  “One of the girls could stay behind,” Yassib suggested, “to look after the baby.”

  Swatting the air was Karmot’s only response.

  Ignoring toddler Masula’s whimpering, Bilda gestured toward the one-room dwelling’s doorway. Yassib, tall for fourteen, ducked his head to pass through the low opening to the street. Kemil followed, his steps not as quick as those of his brother. Rondar, the oldest girl, dragged little Sanda along. Finally, the seven-year-old identical twins Rahab and Rohat emerged into the first promise of dawn.

  “I am hungry,” Sanda said.

  “We will eat when the sun is high,” Rondar replied.

  Bilda silently herded her brood past dwellings similar to their own—one or two-room windowless hovels with walls formed from small stones, entrances covered by sturdy, weather-beaten wooden doors. The children walked with Yassib in front and Bilda behind, doing their best to keep some distance from other groups moving toward the city gate.

  “It is cold,” Sanda complained.

  “The sun will warm you soon enough,” Rondar said.

  “Why did Father not come with us?” the four-year-old asked.

  “Be quiet and keep up,” Rondar hissed, “or I will give you to the takers.”

  “Father is weak again,” Rahab said.

  “Hush!” Kemil warned.

  At the city gate, sleepy knots of workers waited to go to the fields. Peddlers also stood ready to depart, their donkey carts loaded with merchandise. Here and there a prosperous businessman and his armed guards held themselves apart from the crowd.

  Jericho’s legendary walls had only one main opening. Huge oak trees smoothed of their bark, fireproofed with pitch, and fastened together formed the enormous gates. The outer barrier was flush with the outside of the thick city wall, with an equally massive gate within. Any army foolish enough to attack Jericho and persistent enough to breach the outer gate would find themselves trapped inside a pocket of death, or so the old men said. In reality, no enemy threatened the city’s security. The imposing fortifications served to direct the attention of warlords and marauders toward cities with weaker defenses.

  Along with everyone else, Bilda’s family stood back while teams of soldiers slowly pushed the pair of outer gates open. Merchants sprang forward to claim prime commercial locations, where anyone entering or leaving the city passed near their stalls. Three finely dressed men rode away, each with his own entourage of bearers and bodyguards following. Next the donkey carts, then the mass of farm workers surged forward, through the gates an
d down the dusty main road leading away from Jericho. In every other direction, fields stretched as far as the eye could see.

  After a long walk, Yassib used his hand to signal a stop. Working in the gardens and orchards near the city walls was safer, but paid less than toiling in outlying flax fields. Waiting in the road, the children clustered around their mother while Yassib approached a man seated under a shady tree. Pushing her fists into the small of her back, Bilda stretched her neck left and right.

  “When will the new baby come?” Rondar asked.

  Bilda sighed. “Perhaps one more change of the moon.”

  After speaking with the foreman, Yassib beckoned to the family. One by one each of them filed by to pick up a large roughly woven bag for collecting weeds while the overseer sipped from a jar. “Only one bag each,” he said, though no one had taken more. Bilda was the last member of the family to pass by the man’s watchful eye. “How much for a girl?” he asked her.

  “They are not for sale,” Bilda replied.

  “Why not? You obviously have more than you need.”

  “Maybe next year.” Yassib smiled at the man. “They are still young.”

  “The younger the better, as I see it,” the man muttered before drinking from his jar again. “They are pretty,” he yelled after them. “Especially the twins. You will get a good price for them someday.”

  When Rahab turned to scowl at the man, Kemil pushed her toward the field. “Behave, sister,” he admonished. “Boldness will cause nothing but trouble in your life.”

  Settling into an unoccupied section of the field, the family set to work. Rahab moved as far from her mother and brothers as she dared, followed by her twin Rohat. “These plants still have growing to do,” Rohat said while pulling weeds. “Perhaps we will have steady work here until the harvest.”

  Removing unwanted plants carefully to avoid disturbing the tender flax, Rahab spoke without looking up. “I never want to come back to this place.”

  “Soon Father will be in the fields with us. Then we will have nothing to fear from anyone.” Rohat pushed soil over the exposed root of a young stalk. “It is difficult to tell the wild flowers from the flax.”

  Rahab brushed stray curls of raven hair from her forehead. “Father’s strength will not return soon. And before then, birthing will keep Mother inside our home.”

  “We are here to work, not talk,” Kemil said.

  “Why are you sneaking up on us?” Rahab demanded.

  “Yassib and I have to make sure you earn your wages,” Kemil replied.

  “We will do well today.” Rohat deftly used each hand independently to fill her bag. “Weeds have not been pulled from this field in some time.”

  When the sun was directly overhead, workers filed by the overseer. He poured the contents of each weed bag into the bed of a large, wooden-wheeled cart to be taken away and burned. “You destroyed my flax,” he announced occasionally, holding aloft a stalk or two pulled from among the tangle of weeds. “Only half the morning wages for you.”

  Yassib distributed a barley cake to his mother and each of his sisters. He gave Kemil two cakes, keeping the remaining two for himself. The family took turns gulping from the single jar of sour wine provided by the overseer.

  Late in the afternoon, Yassib collected everyone’s wages for the day and the family set out for home. “He cheated us,” Kemil complained when the group was a short way down the road to the city.

  “What do you expect?” Yassib asked. Reaching inside his tunic, he pulled out a weed bag. “I took this to help balance the accounts, along with enough flax seed for our evening meal.”

  “You would have done better to take the gold earring the overseer wore,” Kemil said.

  “What did you get, Brother?” Yassib asked.

  Kemil walked ahead without answering.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “When Mother came with us we started for home much sooner,” Rondar murmured.

  Yassib continued to scan the horizon. “Well she is not here and we did not do so. Now move along quickly, or I will tell Father you gave me trouble.”

  “The rocks hurt my feet,” Sanda complained.

  “Stop whining and I will let you hold the new baby while we prepare the evening meal,” Rondar said. “The faster you walk, the sooner we will be safe at home.”

  Though the sun had not set, its light began to fade beneath gathering clouds. While Jericho’s walls rose higher and higher into the darkening sky, three women dressed in bright clothing walked past the family. Their ankle beads tinkled with every step. “They are going in the wrong direction,” Sanda said. Tugging at Rondar’s tunic, she persisted, “Do they not know the gate will close at sundown?”

  “They are zonahs,” Kemil said.

  “What does that mean?” Sanda turned to watch the women gliding away.

  Rondar jerked her little sister forward by the hand. “May you never know.”

  “Quiet!” Yassib hissed. “Your voices will attract attention.”

  Rahab had taken only a few more steps when a hand clapped roughly over her mouth. She felt herself being dragged away, helpless even to cry out. Nearby, Sanda’s piercing scream split the evening air. The sounds of a struggle surrounded her, but clouds of dust obscured what little visibility remained. Managing to get her teeth around a finger, Rahab bit as hard as she could. When the arm’s grasp loosened slightly, she felt herself falling. She scratched and kicked wildly. With her teeth still sunk into the finger, she flung her head left and right until she tasted blood. Everything was a swirl of confusion, noise, and grit.

  It seemed the fight went on forever yet lasted only an instant. Chaos melted into the sight of two men running away.

  “Are you all right, little brave one?” One of the zonahs leaned over Rahab. Beneath the thick makeup, the woman’s face was lined with age.

  “Yes,” Rahab said. She looked around to clear her head and also to account for her siblings. Yassib lay in the road, moaning and holding his arm. Nearby, Kemil held Sanda while Rondar clung to his torn tunic.

  Rohat ran to her twin. “Oh, Rahab,” she said, “the takers almost got you.”

  “And would certainly have done so but for these women,” Rondar added.

  “Why did you help us?” Rahab asked.

  The woman extended a braceleted arm to caress Rahab’s face. “Believe it or not, we too were once young and innocent.” With those words she rose, motioned to her companions, and disappeared into the deepening dusk.

  “We must get home,” Yassib said.

  Bilda stood outside their house, nursing baby Rima under a loose scarf. “We have been worried,” she said as the bedraggled children filed silently through the doorway. When she put a hand on Yassib’s shoulder, he moaned. “What happened, my son?” she asked.

  “Takers,” Kemil answered for his brother. “But we fought them off.”

  “Takers?” Karmot’s voice sounded from within. “Where are the girls?”

  “They are all here,” Kemil said.

  When everyone was inside, Bilda closed and bolted the door. She then sank to the floor, her back against the entrance as if to secure it further. Still holding the newborn Rima, she put an arm around the twins. Rondar sat weeping, sharing her father’s lap with the toddler Masula.

  “Explain,” Karmot said.

  “Takers attacked us just before we reached the city gates,” Yassib said. “They tried to snatch Rahab.”

  “We saved her,” Kemil chimed in.

  Bilda pulled her twin daughters nearer, kissing first one then the other.

  “I have been afraid of this.” Karmot drew a deep breath. “Are you hurt, son?”

  Yassib released his arm, but quickly grabbed it again. “There were two of them, and they were very strong,” was all he said.

  “Your arm? Let me look at it while the evening meal is prepared. Did they get today’s wages?”

  Yassib hung his head, while Kemil nodded affirmatively.

  The old
er girls and Bilda sprang up at the mention of food preparation. Sanda sat cross-legged on the floor as Rondar took the baby from her mother and placed the infant in her little sister’s arms.

  In the small courtyard behind the house, Bilda stirred a smoldering fire.

  “Do we have to go to the fields tomorrow?” Rahab asked.

  “Your father will decide,” Bilda replied, beginning to knead meal cakes. “More oil, Rondar.”

  “There is no more oil.” Rondar demonstrated her point by holding a crock upside down.

  “Water, then.”

  “Yassib and Kemil are acting as if they were heroes,” Rahab said. “In truth, women of the night chased the takers away.”

  “Um,” Bilda grunted.

  “Yassib stole a water jar for us today,” Rondar said. “But it was broken in the fight.”

  Rohat began to cry. “They may be waiting for us tomorrow. What if they come back and take all of us away?”

  “Perhaps we will make a sacrifice to Baal, asking for protection,” Bilda said. “It may be he will cool his anger.”

  “What did we do to upset him?” Rahab asked.