All Living : A Seedvision Saga (9781621473923) (37 page)

“Hello, beauty,” whispered Kole in her ear, placing a hand gently on her flank. “It seems the Lord wants you and me to get to know each other.”

Her coat gleamed in the brightness of the setting sun, shimmering as if she were a mirage made from mother-of-pearl. Not a word was heard from the men behind Kole. Never had they seen such a splendid animal, and their baser natures were not so quick as to yet wonder if she might be good for food.

Without pausing to consider, Kole swung a leg up and over her back, settling himself comfortably astride. With the fingers of his left hand curled securely in her luxurious mane, Kole stared at the men, women, and children now all around him.

“I wish that I had more time to spend with you, but fortunately I must be going,” Kole addressed them with a shallow smile. “I thank you for your hospitality. Perhaps someday you will allow me to return the favor. Until then, remember that family is the Creator’s penultimate priority. Find forgiveness for one another and you will find peace with one another. As shocking as this may seem, your father Cain now has good reason to be a peaceful man. If this is in fact true, follow his new example, and do not neglect to honor your mother Kesitah. The Lord listens to her and her to Him.”

The men in the crowd were still too stunned by the entire turn of events to do more than listen, but they were beginning to stir. Kole heard murmurs scattering through the crowd.

“I will return if necessary, but I really don’t think any of us want that. Since I was unable to convince your father Cain to reconcile this city with the camp of our father Adam, from now on the river between here and there will be as a boundary between us. Do not cross it with evil intent or the hunger and thirst that you have suffered for the last three days will pale in comparison to the wrath that God will pour out upon you.”

“We will cross the river if we choose,” someone yelled out.

“In the day that you do,” Kole responded, “the Lord will set in motion events that will cause that river to rise so quickly that it will flood your city and destroy all that you know. You have been warned.”

Before any of the mob could react, Kole unconsciously tapped his heels to the sides of the single-horned horse beneath him, and she carried him away from the city of Enoch. From an upper window in one of the buildings, Kesitah watched him ride toward the setting sun. With the pad of one thumb she softly stroked the small, wooded bird that hung around her neck. With her other hand she wiped away her own flood of tears.

Suddenly music blasted out of speakers that had been cleverly hidden around the living room. Lester jumped and looked up, the journal falling to the floor.

“Sorry,” apologized Al, turning the stereo down. “I didn’t realize the volume was up so high.”

Lester shook his head and smiled. “No problem. I like this musician. Winner of the 2004 Guitarmageddon contest, right?”

“
Yep. His
instrumentals are my favorites,” said Al, “probably because I like to make up my own words as I listen to them.” Al laughed at himself.

“You’re amazing,” said Lester.

“Why? Because I make up my own lyrics?”

“No. Well, yeah that. But, you rode a unicorn, Al? You really rode a living
,
breathing unicorn?”

“Oh that. Ye
ah
, Chavvah. She was a good friend.”

“Chavvah?”

“Well, that’s what it sounded like she said when I asked her,” said Al.

“You asked a unicorn what her name was
,
” asked Lester in disbelief
,
“
a
nd she answered you?”

“Well, not with words, of course.
Unicorns are
still just animal
s
. But she chuffed out a
noise
and that’s what it sounded like. It was as good a name as any, I figured.”

Lester just stared, his mouth moving but making no sound. The music played
,
and it looked to Al as if Lester was singing the non
existent
lyrics to the instrumental song. It was funny
,
but he didn’t laugh. He walked over and picked up the journal from the floor, laying it almost reverently on the table.

“So tell me
,
Les,” said Al, sliding into a chair and nodding toward the notebook, “
w
hat’d you think?”

Lester looked from Al to the book and back again. “Well…if it were just a fiction story
,
Al, I’d be hooked. But seeing as how it’s your life, I’m speechless.”

“Come on
,
Les, I’ve never known you to be at a loss for words.”

“There was just so much
,
Al. I don’t know where to begin.”

“Start at the end
,
and work your way backward.”

“Okay, well for starters, I can’t believe you lost your true love.”

“I didn’t lose my true love. I lost my first love. I married my true love.”

“You did?”

“Yes. The drawing in the notebook, remember? Keziah.”

“Keziah, that’s right. Who was she
,
Al? How did you meet her? Weren’t you still in love with Kesitah?”

“To answer your last question first, no I was not still in love with Kesitah. I still loved her
,
but by the time I had met Keziah, Kesitah had already died.”

“Oh.”

Al smiled sadly. “It’s alright
,
Les. It was a long time ago. She was Cain’s wife
,
and the mother of his children. From the day he first knew her, you know, intimately, I
no longer
had
a
right to
love
her
that way
. I understood later
,
but it hurt for a long time.”

“Yeah
,
”
said Lester, taking a thoughtful sip from his hour old cup of milk.

“Yeah. She was my first love
,
and that is always a hard one to get over. But I kept my word to her. I did not love again for nearly a thousand years.”

Al’s statement was a
revelation equivalent
to
a verbal grenade. Lester gasped
,
and the milk went down the wrong pipe. It took several seconds of choking and coughing for him to get his breathing back under control. Tears ran down his cheeks.

“We’re not going to start that again, are we?
You s
pitting your drink all over me?”

“Sorry. I’m sorry,” said Lester, getting some paper towel
s
. “What do you mean you didn’t love again for a thousand years.”

“
Don’t get me wrong, women are lovely and fascinating and wonderful to watch.
I just wasn’t that interested
in being in love with any of them
. I had love
d
Kesitah. She was supposed to be my one and only.
No one else ever seemed to measure up to her. I thought about her from time to time, but it wasn’t until Cain died that I went to see her. It would have just been too hard for us before that.
”

“You went bac
k,
” asked Lester, astonished
, “to the city?”

“Of course
, Les, several times, even before Cain died.
I had to be sure the truce was maintained. Besides, no one really bothered me. Oh, Irad and I had a couple of run-ins. Him shouting and making idle threats but Cain nipped that in the bud real quick. Fingers and toes are pretty important to a man. I’ve
occasionally
regretted using that particular threat on Cain
,
but it was effective. First few times I went back, most people just ignored me, like I was invisible or something. But after a century or two, there were just so many people that no one cared who I was.”

“A century or two. Geez Al, I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to thinking in those terms.”

Al chuckled.

“And the violence? It really stopped?”

“For about eight hundred years there was very little violence at all. The two halves of the family kept mostly to themselves. The city of Enoch spread out to the east. The people from my father’s camp migrated north and south. The river boundary held, for a while.”

“What happened.”

“Oh, the usual. There were those who travelled back and forth between the major establishments, trading goods and gossip.
Misunderstandings and minor conflicts turned into major confrontations. Harsh words were traded for weapons, skirmishes became blood feuds, and before long the truce dissolved, and the world was at war.”

“World war?” blurted a wide-eyed Lester.

“World war,” confirmed Al. “We called it the War of the River. Not much of a war compared to the way men kill each other these days. But it decimated the male population. Thousands were killed. It set mankind back centuries.”

“What happened?”

“Well, after the initial shock, the few men that were left were pretty happy. Ten women for every man. Men married two, three, ten women at a time. But humanity certainly took a while to bounce back from it.”

“Why doesn’t the Bible mention anything about a war of such magnitude?” questioned Lester.

“Well, who’s to say why certain things were inspired to be recorded and others were left to fade in the memory of history? There is one allusion to it in Genesis chapter six,” said Al, pulling his laptop over to himself and bringing up an online Bible. Lester leaned over and read the scripture when it appeared on the screen.

“Genesis 6:1, ‘Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they
were
beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.’”

Lester looked up at Al.

“After several generations, mankind had grown numerous, but the War of the River wiped out most of the male population. Only the young, ill, or injured were spared, plus some survivors of the battle too, but not many.”

“Did you fight?”

“No. I was in mourning. My father had just died, and I had no stomach for it. Actually, it was the death of Adam I believe that triggered the whole thing. Cain was already dead, and his influence over his progeny was sorely missed. Enoch was very old and Irad thought that with the death of Adam he could unite the two halves of the family once and for all. Create a new order out of the chaos, whether by influence or force. He armed his men and crossed the river. But Seth, my brother, had proven himself a capable leader and gotten wind of Irad’s plan. He was ready for them.

“The two forces met in the Valley of Pride, and there they fell; less than a thousand survivors combined from both sides. Miraculously, Seth and his descendants were spared—Enosh, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methusaleh, Lamech. It was about fifty years after the war that Lamech had a son and named him Noah.”

“Noah’s ark?” asked Lester.

“Yes, the same Noah that built the ark, but that wasn’t for another six hundred years.”

Lester let out his breath. “This is crazy, Al. I can’t believe we’re sitting here talking about these things as if they happened.”

Al looked confused and his brows drew together in a perplexed frown. “What do you mean, ‘as if?’”

“Oh don’t get me wrong, I believe you, it’s just talking about this, things that I’d maybe heard about but never given much thought to, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. As if I could turn on the news right now and hear some reporter going, ‘Hi, this is John Smith, channel 4 news, here live at the Valley of Pride, where, despite peace efforts on both sides, war seems inevitable.’ It just boggles my brain cells.”

A slow smile crept across Al’s lips. “I think God chose you to be my friend, Lester. I know I couldn’t have chosen a better guy to dump this on.”

It was Lester’s turn to smile. He sat for a few moments as if in thought, then got up and got a spiral notebook and a pen from his kitchen junk drawer. Al watched him with bemusement.

“Keep talking, Al. I just want to write down a few questions I have, so I can save them for later but not forget them.”

“Sure,” said Al, as Lester started scribbling on his pad. “The War of the River killed thousands of men. It left humanity dangerously unbalanced. The women were desperate for husbands, and there just weren’t enough to go around. There was no one to provide for them and their children. They were left unprotected from wild beasts, from the natural elements, and from the worst forms of evil. Even men with no redeeming qualities were fought over.

“The vast majority of the men that were left were also hit hard by the devastation. Men quickly forgot what had led up to the bloodshed. Children grew up with no fathers, not even a poor excuse for a father, and thus had no moral compass from which to guide their desires and steer their lives. They degenerated into violence quickly once the prosperity of the past began to dwindle. They left themselves open to thoughts and ideas that were not from the Creator.”

“Whadaya mean?” asked Lester, looking up from his notes.

“I mean, the devil had a field day with them and guided them down a seven hundred year long path toward their own destruction. Demons found new homes in the hearts of men, and some even succeeded in evicting the previous owners before taking residence themselves.”