Seal of the King (29 page)

Aurora was pressed up close to him as if seeking protection from the horrid sounds attacking them. They didn’t stop. They kept a steady pace until they reached the garrison.
When
they arrived their team came riding up to meet them. They all looked a little pale and at the same time alert for any surprises.

“What happened?” Jotham asked a little breathless “we heard a loud noise
and felt the ground shake.”

“The Lord delivered this city into
your hands as he promised. Now you must go and free the prisoners. Then tomorrow you need to find two men of faith to replace Aurora and me. Eustus will take charge in my place, and he will send you out in pairs to all the cities of the land. You will ride up to the main gates of the city stand tall, and proclaim ‘I stand for Jehovah’. When you do the Lord will liberate the city, and cleanse it of evil.” David said.

“We will do as you say.” Jotham said
, and the others agreed.

David turned to Eustus
, placed his hands on him, and said, “Eustus I appoint you in my place to lead these men, and if it pleases the Lord may he rest my blessing upon you. Bless the two men you find tomorrow, you will know them when you see them. Arrange to get the food from the city to the surrounding villages, and let them know that the Lord has provided for them.”

Eustus “I’m humbled
, and will do what you say.”

“Aurora
and I must leave tonight, but fear not because the Lord is with you.”

“
Will I see you again?”

David gave him a small smile
, and said, “I surely hope so.”

Jotham
and the others headed to the garrison except for William and Nathan who walked over to the three of them.

“Aurora, please be careful we don’t want to lose you again.” William said sadly
.

“No one else ever got the best of us like you did.” Nathan added with a sly grin
.

Aurora placed a hand on each of their cheeks
, and said, “I have missed you both too. Please give your parents my love, and stay out of trouble. If either of you get hurt, I will hunt you down and put you over my knee again.” The boys hugged her.

“Eustus we’re going to grab our things
and two horses then we’ll head out.” David said.

“I will do my best
while you are gone. Come on you two let’s go help the others.” Eustus said, then he turned and walked off.

David
and Aurora stood for a moment watching them leave, then Aurora said, “just us again.”

David put an arm around her
, and said, “That’s all I need.” She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed.

“I guess we’d better get a move on if we’re going to find a place to sleep sometime tonight.” Aurora said
.

“I suppose so. Do you mind grabbing our things
, and I’ll get a couple of larger quarter horses?”

“Sure, how much food do you
think we’ll need?”

“3 days
-worth should do it.”

Aurora looked at him a little puzzled
, and said, “But it’s a 2 week journey.”

“We can hunt along the way if we need to. These people are going to need every scrap of food they can get to make it through the winter.”

Aurora still thought it wasn’t enough, but she had learned to trust him. He seemed to know things without thinking about them. His confidence was always reassuring to her. She had gotten so used to having to rely solely on her own instincts and wits, that it was a relief to share the burden of always having to decide. She was used to being in charge, and yet she found it so easy to follow him. It was like a big weight lifted from her shoulders.

She quickly gathered up their gear, food, tent
, and weapons, and when David returned with the horses she was ready. He walked up with two large strong horses in tow, the moonlight illuminating the area. They could hear the sound of the men being freed from their chains coming from the garrison. The men’s rising voices filled with relief were coming even closer.

Standing there looking in the direction of the garrison David
said, “Come on. We should leave before they come this way.”

Aurora
quickly helped him load up their gear and mounted her horse. As soon as they headed off she asked, “Why didn’t you want the men to see us?”

David paused thoughtfully
, and said to her, “Because we didn’t free them. They need to reserve their thanks for God, and just as importantly, I need to remember that too.”

“I understand. Do you know which way we’re going
?”

“I saw a trail
leaving from the northeast end of the city when we scouted it the other day. What do you think?”

“I saw that too. I’ve never been beyond the northern border of the city. I only know what I’ve been told by others
; I’m not sure what we’ll encounter along the way.”

“Sounds like loads of fun, doesn’t it?” David said with a smirk.

“Oh I’m sure it will be.” Aurora said with a small chuckle “How long do you want to travel tonight?”

“Once we’re beyond the city we’ll look for the first large oak I guess. I don’t think we should go too far at night since the visibility isn’t good. We don’t want one of the horses to trip.”

“Or to run into anything unfriendly.”

“Yeah we’ve had a few of those already.”

As they made their way through the city, they could scarcely hear the sounds of the men they left behind. The rest of the city was as still and quiet as an empty field. There was a brisk breeze blowing that rattled an occasional shop sign or flag. The fading lights inside the buildings were unaccompanied by any sounds from within. Neither one of them spoke about what might be inside. They had heard what terrible deaths had taken place, and did not want to imagine what was left behind.

T
hey exited the northern end of the city and made their way to the trail through the forest. It was wide enough for them to ride side by side easily, and the tree canopy left enough room for the moonlight to guide them. The woods were damp and cold, and as they travelled along they began to feel the bite of the fall night on their skin. After a couple of hours, they saw the end of the tree line ahead of them and were relieved to be escaping its chilly grip. As they emerged from the woods they entered a large meadow filled with grass, and patches of fading wild flowers. A couple of hundred feet ahead they spied a large oak with an enormous canopy.

“It looks
as if we found our room for the night,” Aurora said.

“And the neighborhood looks
nice and quiet”

“
No pesky neighbors. That sounds good to me.” Aurora said with a smile.

As they approached the tree
, they dismounted so they could easily walk under the branches. Stepping under the canopy they felt warm air wash over them. They looked at each other with a smile.

“This beats sleeping out in the cold in a tent any day.” David said
.

“Look over here. There’s a pool of water bubbling up from the ground.”

They walked over to see some rocks with water springing up from between them, cascading down into the grass where a small pool of water had collected.

“God is good.” David
said, “I’ll tie the horses over here so they can drink and graze, and we can fill our canteens in the morning before we head out. Where does it look most comfortable to sleep to you?”

Aurora
walked around to the north side of the tree and said, “Here is a nice big mossy area that should be softer than the rest.”

“Great, I’m ready for some sleep
, how about you?”

“Definitely, this has been a long day
, and I’m sure we’re in for some long days to come.”

David began unsaddling the horses as Aurora unpacked the blankets
, and bedroll. As soon as the horses were tied up, and their bedding was in place they took off their boots and traveling coats, and lied down. David was lying on his back with Aurora on his right side, her shoulder tucked up under his arm, and her head on his chest. The moss was indeed soft, and lying there they could see the stars off in the distance, peering at them under the branches. The canopy of the tree was thick like a thatched roof suspended in the air.

“Hmm I could lie here forever,” Aurora said
.

“So could I” David
said, “It would be nice someday, when all this is over, to go camping together when we won’t have anywhere to go.”

“It’s a date. I love being outdoors.”

“I know some great places we can go with beautiful lakes, spectacular sunsets, canoeing down the rapids, and hiking in the mountains. You’d love it.”

“It sounds
as if we might need some rest first.”

David laughed
, and said, “I guess you’re right. Perhaps we should take a vacation when we get back.”

“
What’s a vacation?”

“Oh, a vacation is when you go somewhere
and relax, like maybe stay at a beach or something. You don’t cook, you eat out, and people come and clean your room. We could sit and do nothing all day or anything you like.” David said a little weakly not having gone on a vacation like that before.

“That sounds like a honeymoon.” Aurora said shifting a little against him
.

“Yes it does, would you like that?” David asked tentatively
.

Aurora squeezed him
, and said, “Yes I would. I’ve never gone anywhere, and just done nothing. I would love for us to have time together with nothing to do. I want to learn everything about you.”

“I want to learn everything about you too, although I have to warn you I’m not all that interesting
, so I hope you won’t be disappointed.”

"Never
."

They sat there quietly for a few moments
, David noticed Aurora was still, and her breathing had slowed. She had drifted off to sleep. He smiled to himself relishing the fact that this woman who was so strong and confident could find rest in his arms. It made him feel good about himself to know that she admired him as much as he admired her. He would do anything for her, and he knew that when the time came the only sacrifice he was willing to make was his own life. He would never sacrifice her life for his, no matter what she said or did. Hey just prayed that there was a way they could have a future together. He thought about them having a real wedding, and how exquisite she would look in her gown, and with that image in his mind he drifted off to sleep as well.

David awoke to Aurora stirring slightly in his arms. The sun was low in the sky
, and washed in under the tree canopy signaling the start of another day. He was stiff from lying in the same position all night, but feeling Aurora still pressed up against him, he pushed the idea of moving out of his mind. He could see the horses out of the corner of his eye, and all was quiet. There was no rush to disturb her, and he enjoyed the feel of her next to him.

Lying there admiring her, breathing in her fresh outdoors scent, his thoughts finally pulled him back to the task at hand. Just as he was accepting that he would have to wake her as if on cue, she turned up to look at him.

He said, “good morning,” in a soft voice.

She gave him a small smile “good morning. I was trying to be still in case you were asleep.”

“I was doing the same thing. Did you sleep well?” David asked as she sat up.

“Like a baby
and you?” She asked as she sat up too.

“
One minute I was lying here thinking about… you” he said a little sheepishly “then the next I was awake, and it was morning.”

Aurora smiled
, and asked, “how about something to eat? I’m starving.”

“Sounds great” David
said, “I’ll fill our canteens.” He got up, and grabbed the canteens taking them to the small pool on the other side of the tree. Then called out “don’t go crazy cooking a big fancy meal over there, I suppose we should try to cover as much ground during the day as we can.”

“I hope you don’t consider dried biscuits
and dried meat fancy.” Aurora laughed.

As David came back around to her
, he said, “You really didn’t have to go to so much trouble.”

“Just don’t think I’m going to slave over a meal like this all the time for you.
I don’t want you to get spoiled.” Aurora said with a sly grin.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. I’ll cook next time.” David said with a chuckle
.

They sat down
, and ate the little bit that Aurora had rationed for them. Neither of them complained that it wasn’t much. The unspoken truth was, in the end, it may not matter one-way or the other. This may well be a one-way trip for the two of them, and how full their bellies were in that final hour seemed a small matter.

They quickly packed up their gear
and saddled the horses. David checked the animal’s hooves for stones. He didn’t want to take any chances not knowing how long this journey would be. After topping off their water supply one last time, they each took the reins of a horse and stepped out from under the tree canopy. The cold fall air was like a slap in the face. They had forgotten under the comfort of their shelter what was in store for them.