failure to Shaddai.
HOPE REMAINS
Ethan, Levi, and Seth remained behind the dunes, watching as General Rommil’s men broke away the lock securing the scroll chest where it sat next to a large fire roaring on the beach.
“They’re shredding the scrolls,” Ethan hissed through clenched teeth. He couldn’t take it any longer. He tried to surge forward from the protection of the dunes. Levi and Seth caught him and held him back.
“No!” Levi urged him. “You can’t.”
Ethan pulled against them, but he didn’t have the strength to break free from their grip. He still couldn’t realm shift either. Instead he had to sit and watch the soldiers destroy the Word of Shaddai meant for Macedon’s people. Tears began to stream down his cheeks in anger.
Seth tried to reason with him. “Ethan, Levi is right. You can’t just march out there for Rommil to see you.”
Ethan slumped down behind the sand dune with them. “But they’re burning the scrolls-the Word of Shaddai, Seth-burned like so much garbage.”
Seth considered it.
Levi watched The Razor through a small spyglass. “I believe I see Gideon aboard that ship. Rommil’s men have him. He looks pretty beaten up, but there’s no chance of getting to him right now.”
“At least we know he’s still alive,” Seth said, hoping it would improve Ethan’s outlook.
“I’ve failed, Seth,” he said. “I was charged to guard those scrolls with my life, and now the real hope of Macedon has been reduced to ash before my eyes.”
“We had better get busy working out some way to follow The Razor,” Levi said. “It will take a fast ship to even hope of keeping up with her.”
Seth clapped Ethan on the shoulder. “I think I need to show you something before we go.”
Seth got up under the cover of the dunes and walked back into the underbrush. “Come on, men. I believe we can find a ship to suit us on the other side of the island. And maybe, just maybe, I can restore your faith in Shaddai.”
The group walked for miles. Even Dung the rat came along, though it was unclear to everyone, but Ethan, why the beast bothered with them. Levi kept a suspicious eye on the giant rodent the entire way across the island.
Seth led them through the jungle, until they were deposited inside a small village at the edge of an ancient lava flow. Ethan wondered if the entire island was perhaps the product of some old volcano pushing its way through the surface of the Azure Sea, long ago.
The villagers gave cautious stares, until they noticed Seth leading them. Evidently, he was well known to them, which piqued Ethan’s curiosity all the more. Some of the people called the blind priest’s name, to which he obliged them with courteous waves and shouts. By voice alone, Seth apparently identified them all correctly.
Ethan also noticed that no one appeared to be threatened by Dung the rat. Where was he? The giant rodent had disappeared from their ranks. He scoured the tree line and found Dung hiding beyond the edge of the village away from the people. Ethan tried to coax him forward, but Dung apparently wanted to remain hidden from view. Perhaps, he doesn’t want to alarm the people, or maybe he just knows something I don’t.
Ethan carried on after Seth. The blind priest brought them to a particular thatched hut, among many, and knocked. Someone peeked from behind the door. Then, seeing Seth, they opened the door wide. A stocky man with bushy black hair stepped out and embraced Seth in a bear hug.
“Whoa, Bombil, you’ll break me if you don’t stop,” Seth said.
Bombil gave an inquisitive look at Seth’s two companions. Ethan and Levi looked like street urchins in their tattered, stained garments. The reek of sewage and lizard dung still wafted off Levi’s clothes-fire being the only way they could be purged of the foul funk now.
“What have you brought us, Seth?” Bombil asked.
“This is Captain Levi Bonifast. And may I present Ethan, priest of Shaddai and the promised Deliverer.”
Bombil was clearly stunned by the revelation. He looked back at Seth as if the blind priest might be playing a prank on him. “Truly, Seth?”
Seth smiled, even though he couldn’t see the expression on Bombil’s face. “I understand your doubts, my friend. I too found it difficult to believe the prophecy had come true. However, if we could get out of the street and into some suitable clothing, then perhaps Ethan would be willing to enlighten us to the journey that brings him to Macedon.”
Ethan felt as though he were on the spot now. “I, uhm, I guess I could do that. But we mustn’t delay too long in chasing down the ship with Gideon onboard.”
Bombil stepped aside in the doorway, beckoning for the others to come inside his home. His wife and two sons were seated at a small table inside with only four chairs.
“Gentlemen, this is my wife, Ella,” Bombil said. “I wonder, dear, if you would fetch some clothing for our guests.”
The children sniffed the air at them. Levi looked away, embarrassed.
“Certainly,” Ella said. “I’m sure the boys and I can scrounge up something from around the village. Come along, my sons.”
The children got up from the table with their mother and followed her out the front door. They paused and sniffed again as they passed Levi, then wagged their hands before their wrinkled noses, giggling.
“Come along, boys,” Ella called from outside. The boys scrambled obediently after her.
“Come and sit,” Bombil said. “We have much to discuss.”
“Seth said he had something he wanted to show me,” Ethan said. “Perhaps we might take care of that first?”
Bombil looked at Seth for approval. “It’s all right, old friend,” Seth said. “Show them our treasure.”
This piqued Ethan’s interest all the more. Even Levi had perked up at hearing of a treasure-the pirate blood in him no doubt. Ethan watched Bombil go to a corner of the main room and move aside a barrel sitting there. He knelt in the floor and used a small tool, he had produced from his pocket, to loose one of the floorboards.
A segment of wood popped out of place to reveal a handle beneath. Bombil pulled the handle and a trap door raised. He motioned for Ethan and Levi to follow him. “Come on then, if you want to see it.”
Bombil climbed down the ladder beneath the trap door. Ethan and Levi both followed. They descended into a subterranean cavern. The walls had been carved out to suit the purposes of the villagers, and the ceiling had been reinforced with sturdy cedar beams.
The sounds of the sea echoed along the wide chamber from the far end. Ethan noticed weapons and food, stored against some unforeseen calamity. Bombil proceeded to a small antechamber and pulled back a thick leather curtain. Ethan couldn’t believe what he saw.
A silver chest sat in the middle of the small room on top of a wooden table. Ethan rushed to the chest, caressing it to see if it was real. “Is this-?”
“It is, Master Ethan,” Bombil said.
“But we saw the scrolls and the chest on the shore with Rommil’s soldiers,” Levi said. “They tore them and burned them right before our eyes.”
Bombil laughed. “A fake my good Captain. When Seth rescued you from your ship, we followed after and secured the scroll chest from your cabin.”
“But how did they get another scroll chest?” Ethan asked.
“That chest was brought by Seth when he came, with the Word, to Macedon years ago. The King of Macedon arrested him and had his eyes darkened. Then he was left to rot in the castle dungeon, until he managed to escape. The chest had been emptied and left behind. We took it, hoping Shaddai might one day send us his Word to fill it again.”
“But who are you people, anyway?” Levi asked.
