FOURTEEN

Later that evening, Benaiah stopped to check his sandals for rips, trying to hold his shaking hands steady. He had been wounded by the lion’s claws worse than he was admitting to the others.

The city on the horizon was partially obscured by the heads of soldiers marching in front of him. His own head and shoulders were in such pain that he had sometimes wished, with all his heart, for death to take him. He’d even considered being dragged on a litter behind a donkey but had decided not give Josheb the pleasure of that joke. The whole army would have been laughing at him by evening.

Mighty Benaiah, killer of lions, hanging off the back of an ass.

Three days had passed since leaving Achish. They’d received no word yet of what was happening between the Philistines and the Israelites, but the further south they marched, the less the men cared about that battle and the more they worried about their homes in Ziklag. They inquired at each town they passed, but no one had heard of any raids.

The troops slept in the open each night, grateful to be without the burden of pitching tents. David had ordered them to move in fast-traveling formations, and he conversed with his officers on the trail to reduce the amount of time they would need to spend in camp.

At night, they slept in fighting positions dug into the ground with piled rocks bordering them, forming a tight perimeter, two men to a position. In enemy territory, one slept and the other lay awake, but as they were now in nonhostile lands, they were permitted to have only a fourth of their number awake at any time during the night. Each man carried his own provisions, so there was no need for a rationing staff.

Usually the perimeter of the camp was the ditch dug by the warriors who, to their everlasting ridicule, had slain the fewest men in the year’s fighting. In this ditch, the men relieved themselves. When a new man would join the army, the others would pretend they were being attacked and order the newcomer back to take cover in the ditch, and the hapless fellow would dig himself in and wait while sitting in excrement. Benaiah had seen foreign armies dig the ditch in the middle of the camp where it was safer, but David still followed many of the old laws about cleanliness.

No pranks were played on this trek, and the jokes snapped with less venom. Men coughed, waited, and spoke about their favorite games. The weather had remained cool and sunny. Grasslands and forests slipped along the horizon as they passed, blocking their view of the Great Sea, but they still felt its presence. Benaiah wondered, as he often did, why men sailed it and what was on the other side.

Benaiah finally recognized the upcoming town as Gath. The city of giants, of the family of Anak, capital of the hated Sea People. David had instructed them to march directly through each city, in plain sight, to cut down on rumors. They may have been dismissed from the battlefield due to the mistrust of the other Philistine kings, but Achish had staunchly defended them. David wanted to keep the alliance intact. He wanted to remain in good favor with King Achish as long as possible, while he learned the forging of iron.

That led Benaiah’s thoughts to Keth, walking next to him. Keth noticed his glance. “What?”

“What are your thoughts, foreign devil?”

Keth smiled. “Women and weapons.”

Benaiah nodded. That was about all of it.

Benaiah pulled at the collar of his tunic as he marched. Men walked ahead of him in monotonous motion, mesmerizing him and forcing him to look away to ward off dreariness. If it had been hot— and if much of his body had not been throbbing in pain — he might have fallen asleep walking.

At the front of the column was David, speaking with Joab. Josheb and Eleazar were with them. Shammah lagged a little behind.

“What made Saul become David’s enemy?” Keth asked.

“Saul was jealous of him, even after David won incredible victories for him. The giant you heard of was only the first. He and the Three led troops of men into battle after battle against overwhelming odds and never lost.”

“I am anxious to see the Three in battle. I have heard much.”

“You will never forget it.”

“What makes them so effective?”

“They call it the abir — a fighting art developed many generations ago. It is a powerful style, and I have learned much from them about it. But Shammah will tell you that it is Yahweh and his power that leads them. Josheb and Eleazar are more practical, but they agree.”

“Tell me more about Saul.”

“Saul has a son named Jonathan, and Jonathan and David were closer than brothers. In fact, they were brothers, after David married Jonathan’s sister Michal. She was given to David as a prize for killing the giant, but when Saul began to hunt David, she was given to another man. It wounded him, but he doesn’t speak of it. Despite all that, David stayed loyal to Saul because he was Yahweh’s chosen king for the people.”

And that’s why it’s better to let David worry about Yahweh, Benaiah thought. He bit his lip before continuing. “He ran from Saul into the desert. That was when we started showing up to help him. We spent time raiding enemies of Judah while convincing Achish that we were destroying Judah. Someone told Saul the same thing. The foolish man believed it.”

“You speak of your king that way?”

“He’s a wicked and foolish man. It’s the truth, so why would I say differently?” Benaiah knew the consequences would be steep if David heard him say it, but he no longer cared. “When the people in the town of Keilah in Judah were about to have their harvest stolen by lazy Philistines, David asked Yahweh if he should save them, and when Yahweh said yes, we attacked the Philistines.

“Even after that, after saving Israel’s lands from the pagans, Saul hunted David. The king threatened harm to anyone assisting David, and many turned on him then. And still David fought for them. Now, we have Philistines attacking our lands in the north and Amalekites in the south. We cannot be everywhere at once to stop it.”

“I still don’t understand why David has not assassinated Saul,” said Keth.

“He says that it would be revenge. That his time has not yet come. It doesn’t make sense to me either.”

“Where do the Israelites stand on David now?”

“Divided. We are folk heroes to some, enemies to others. We alone have stood between them and destruction at the hands of their king or raids from our enemies. But there will be a new king one day. David.”

Benaiah stopped, thinking he’d said enough. More than enough. But Keth waited expectantly. “What else?” the Hittite prodded.

Benaiah thought about it. “He killed a bear and a lion when he was a boy with only a shepherd staff. He has perfect skill with every weapon ever forged, more so than even the Three. He still loves his sling and fights with it occasionally. The men think he is odd, and for good reason. He speaks aloud with no one around. He raises his arms to heaven at strange times. He dances, alone, when no one is watching. He fights with the sword of the champion Goliath that he killed in his youth, and it terrifies his enemies.”

“Why doesn’t he carry it now?”

Benaiah grinned. “Traveling with the Philistines? No, he left it behind at Ziklag. Carrying it in front of Goliath’s people wouldn’t help our cause among them.”

“He took it from the field that day?”

“No, from the priest of Nob. Something else you should know is that David carries terrible guilt and goes into long periods of despair. For many reasons but especially about what happened at Nob. While David was running from Saul, Doeg the Edomite, chief shepherd of Saul’s flocks, spotted David in Nob and reported back to Saul, who flew into a rage and believed the priests at Nob were sheltering David. But no Israelite would obey Saul’s orders to kill an entire priestly household, so Doeg, foreign filth that he was, slaughtered the village. Innocent men, women, children. David speaks of it painfully.”

“I am having a hard time understanding your people,” Keth said. Benaiah nodded. “It’s my blood, and it makes no more sense to me.”

Benaiah had told Keth much about the Israelites on the days of march. He had described the tribal system: how Joshua had divided the land among the twelve tribes from the sons of the patriarch Jacob centuries before, how Benjamin’s small tribe had befriended the powerful tribe of Judah, and how Benjamin’s tribe was chosen as the royal line because it was the least likely to cause controversy. He had told him of the people’s desire for a king to unite them. He had explained the Hebrew Law and why hardly any of the people followed it anymore.

“Yahweh gave the Law to Moses after our people left Egypt, but after the warlord Joshua died, the people turned away from Yahweh. They wanted to be left alone in the land and not have to worry about clearing out the Canaanites. So, for many years, Yahweh raised up heroes to save our people from invasion. But now, after demanding a king, we are under Saul. I suppose we deserve our fate.”

Benaiah had thought about telling Keth his story. He felt like he was supposed to tell him, but when he tried, it would not come out. There was pain in his chest, and his throat closed, choking him.

They slept next to one another in the perimeter holes. Keth told him about his own lands and his own people and why he wanted to serve under David. He said a voice had told him to pack his things and join David’s army.

“A voice?” asked a skeptical Benaiah.

“A voice,” Keth had nodded, “a clear and strong voice. While I was up in the mountains. I can’t say who it came from. Perhaps your Yahweh. I have not heard from my own gods in many years. But I listened to it.”

Benaiah had not attempted to make sense of it. Each man came in his own way.