“Why would you do such a thing?”
“Because there are serious matters that I need to discuss with you, and I needed a reason to come.”
The cave fell silent as the prophets pondered Ovadia’s words. Yosef cocked his head toward his guest. “Ovadia, you have come to us many times in the past. Why should you suddenly need an excuse?”
The King’s steward raised his cup to his mouth but returned it to the table without tasting it. “Everything’s changed since the King’s engagement. He knows that many oppose the marriage and fears that his servants will turn against him as well.”
“And this is why the wedding has been so rushed…?” Yosef posed more of a statement than a question.
Ovadia nodded. “He wants it over before opposition can be raised. He is constantly on the watch now for who is loyal and who is not. For me to meet with you there needed to be a reason, otherwise, it would arouse the King’s suspicions. He assumes that you are opposed to the match.”
“That still doesn’t justify taking our musicians to play before such a ceremony,” Yosef responded. “Uriel, you must agree with me?”
Uriel held Yosef’s gaze for a long moment, then dropped his eyes to his cup. “I’m inclined to let them go. Whether the request is fitting or not, King Ahav has the right to anything in the land. And now is not the time to make an enemy of him.”
Yosef scowled but didn’t respond. He turned to Tzadok. “We have given our opinions; it is up to you to decide.”
There was a pause as Tzadok shut his eyes to consider the issue. Opening them, he glanced at each of the masters, and then, without a word, nodded in Uriel’s direction.
“Very well,” Yosef said, “I won’t oppose both of you. The musicians may go. Now tell us, Ovadia, what is so important that you had to invent such an excuse?”
Uriel cut across Ovadia before he could speak. “Thank you, Lev, that is enough light for now. Please make sure the soldiers are fed and their horses looked after.”
Yosef surveyed me with his dark, unblinking eyes. Had he forgotten my presence, or was he simply annoyed that Uriel had allowed me to stay and listen? I turned away but felt Yosef’s eyes following me. I kept my expression blank as I walked toward the mouth of the cave. Once outside, though, I broke into a run. I had to find Yonaton. There was much to tell him—and we had to pack.
“What do you think they’re talking about?” Yonaton asked me for the third time as we gathered our things.
“I wish I knew, but I don’t think that we’re going to find out. Master Uriel seemed to want me to hear the first part, but not the rest.”
“My father always said my time would be better spent working the land than playing my halil. I wonder if this will change his mind?”
“What are you packing for?” Zim asked as he and Daniel walked into the cave. “Does this have anything to do with the King’s servant and the mysterious request Raphael was talking about? Lev, did you overhear anything when you brought them their wine?”
“Yes.” Yonaton’s voice cracked with excitement. “Ovadia came to get us to play at the wedding.”
“We’re going to play for the King?” Zim snatched up his drum with one hand and pounded it with the other. “I knew it! I knew my moment would come!”
Daniel sat down, his forehead furrowed in thought. “If that’s all he came for, we should be leaving already.”
“Well—” Yonaton began, but I cut him off.
“Yosef didn’t want us to go. They were still discussing it when I left.” Yonaton shot me a glance that the other two missed, but I’d overheard a private conversation; it wasn’t my place to tell Zim and Daniel everything that I’d heard. Somehow telling Yonaton felt different.
Zim turned to Daniel. “You don’t sound so excited.”
“I’ve played for the King before. As soon as he came out of mourning for his father, he celebrated his coronation and gathered musicians from around the land. But don’t think we’re going to play before the King as we play before the prophets. There will be many musicians there. We may not even see the King.”
“I’ve never even been to Shomron.” Zim tapped the edge of his drum with his fingertips. “The King keeps a small group of musicians to play in the palace.” He winked in my direction. “You never know what could happen…”
Ovadia spoke with the masters until the sun burned a fiery gold in the western sky. When they emerged from the cave, Uriel sent word that we would leave in the morning.
“I’m going to tell my parents,” Yonaton told me. “Do you want to come? They want to meet you anyway.”
I nodded and laid my kinnor on my sleeping mat, but when we stepped out, we saw one of the servants climbing the path toward us. “Master Uriel wishes to speak with you, Lev.” His tone was soft, with none of the brutishness of the cook I spoke to earlier in the day.
“Me?”
“Yes, he awaits you in his cave.”
I waved goodbye to Yonaton and followed the white-robed servant down the trail. As we turned on one of the switchbacks on the path, I noticed a puncture in his right ear; not a piercing of the lobe, but a hole in the ear itself large enough to see through. Only one thing could have mangled him in that way. I shuddered at the thought, a motion that was not lost upon the servant.
“You are staring at my ear?”
I turned red, but the man’s smile didn’t waver. “Does that mean—?”
“That when my first service was complete, I chose not to go free. Yes, I am a slave until the Yovel…if it ever comes. Forever, probably.”
“And your master…?”
“Master Yosef stood me up against a door and drove an awl through my ear, yes.”
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the mark of bondage. “But you could have been free.”
“Free to do what? Go back to being a thief?” His smile grew broader, showing no signs of shame. “We all serve, Lev. Before I served my appetites. Now I serve a worthy master.”
