I thought about everything I’d seen since arriving: the gate blocking access to the house; a new oven, built indoors instead of in the courtyard where it belonged; windows sealed on a still evening; hot bread past nightfall; and the servants gone. My eye fell on a waist-high lump in the corner of the room, covered with a woolen blanket.
I rose from my stool. All eyes watched me go, yet neither Ovadia nor Batya hindered me. I lifted the edge of the blanket and peeked beneath, discovering just what I realized must be there: a stack of freshly baked bread.
Ovadia approached and took the edge of the blanket from my hand. “Your eyes are starting to open, Lev. That is good. You will need them in the days ahead. All our servants, as you must have guessed, are gone. Our hired workers were dismissed even before the wedding; that was one reason I relied on you boys so much. Now even our slaves have been sent away to work our land in the Jezreel Valley. No one can know what we’re doing.”
A lump rose in my throat. “How many are there?”
“Thirty prophets and disciples. Hidden in a cave outside the city.”
Batya gasped and clasped her hand over her mouth.
“As you said, Batya, they were sent by the Holy One. We must trust them.”
She nodded without removing her hand.
Yonaton stirred. “But why us?”
Ovadia raised his eyebrows. “Uriel sent you.”
“Not now—during the wedding. You said you dismissed your workers and depended on us instead.”
“Ah, yes.” Ovadia’s expression relaxed. “Even then I wondered if you would ask. Did it not seem strange to you that the King’s steward, with all the servants at my disposal, was relying on two unknown boys to do my errands?”
“You told us everyone was busy with preparations.”
“Indeed they were—like bees in the hive. But I still saw to the most important details myself, and as you know, I often needed help. I commandeered dozens of slaves and servants, but always kept them at a distance.”
“But why us?” Yonaton asked again.
Ovadia shifted his focus from Yonaton to me. I felt the challenge in his gaze to figure out this puzzle as I had about the bread. Ovadia dismissed his hired workers and relied instead on two country boys, both plucked from serving the prophets. The answer was suddenly clear, as though inked on clean parchment. “We were safe.”
“You were safe.” Ovadia nodded. “From the time of the engagement, the King was constantly on the lookout for anyone who could be disloyal.”
“But you weren’t disloyal then,” Yonaton said, “Were you?”
“No, I have always served my King loyally.”
“Until now.” I grinned.
“Even now.” Ovadia jerked out of his seat and strode to the covered window. “This is the Queen’s war. Her soldiers are after the prophets; the Israelite soldiers haven’t been brought into the hunt. The King is doing his best to ignore the Queen’s attacks, neither helping nor hindering her.”
“But if you’re not disloyal,” Yonaton asked, “Why dismiss your servants?”
“The very innocence of the question is what made you so valuable.”
“Why?”
“I’m known to have relations with the prophets. I’m foreign-born. I’m a natural target.”
“For who?”
“For anyone hoping to advance by setting me up for a fall. It makes no difference whether the accusations are true or not. I directed hundreds of servants, but I never let them get too close and never let them deliver my messages.”
“Then why us?”
“As Lev said, you were safe. Uriel told me neither of you had ever left home until you came to play for the prophets. You knew nothing of what was happening here in Shomron, and you were hardly looking to make names for yourselves in the court.” Dark circles of exhaustion stood out below Ovadia’s eyes in the lamplight. “But that was before. Then I had nothing to hide, and feared only lies.”
“What changed?” Yonaton asked.
“I don’t know. Something happened when the King went to Jericho a week and a half ago. He came back white-faced and silent. He told me nothing, just summoned the Queen to the throne room. Whatever she heard sent her into a rage, and she called in Yambalya. She emerged determined to kill the prophets and their disciples.”
“And no one knows why?” Yonaton asked.
Ovadia shook his head. “The King is keeping his hands clean of the blood of the prophets, but there is someone else he commanded me to find. I expect it is connected to him.”
“Eliyahu,” I said.
“Yes.” Ovadia’s eyes narrowed on me. “How do you know about Eliyahu? Did Uriel have a vision of what happened in Jericho?”
“He didn’t need to. I was there.”
“You were in Jericho?”
“Yes.”
“Then do you know why we’re hunting him? Did he confront the King?”
My face flushed at the memory of Eliyahu’s wrath, and of the King cowering under his fiery gaze. “He did.”
