Chapter 1

Flamefall

Daniel peered carefully over the lip of rock then slid down again. “What is he doing?” he asked curiously.

“I think he’s waiting to die,” Shem replied in a practical voice.

Daniel blinked. “Then .. shouldn’t we do something? Shout a warning, maybe?”

Ruth scrambled up to join them and peeped quickly over the edge down to the gully. “Is he mad?”

“Maybe he doesn’t realize he’s in danger,” Daniel continued.

“He does realize and he isn’t mad. At least, I don’t think he thinks he’s mad. I have other views on that matter. He just doesn’t care.” Shem settled his spine against the rock and let the warmth radiate thru to his muscles. “He’s one of that new sect. The scholars.”

“Really?” Daniel and Ruth both peered over the rock again. “I’ve not seen one of them before. They look just like us.”

Shem, older by ten years, laughed quietly. “We look like them, you mean. He is just an ordinary man, Daniel. We are more than ordinary men, and women,” Shem said, nodding at Ruth. “The Lord laid His hand upon our ancestors and charged us with a holy duty.”

“Then we should warn that man. He’s defenseless,” Ruth pointed out as she sank down again. “We know the demon is close. We can smell it. He obviously can’t.”

“What does he want to do here?” Daniel asked.

“Beside die, you mean? Maybe he wants to ask it questions,” Shem replied with a shrug. “That’s what scholars do, isn’t it? Question things? Maybe he wants to ask it what it eats for its breakfast. He’ll soon have the answer to that one.”

“But – ”

“Daniel,” Shem interrupted, “The Lord laid upon us a sacred duty to fight evil wherever we find it, not to intervene in the affairs of other men. We are not the Lord God. It isn’t for us to decide how a man will die or when, unless his soul is black and rotten. It isn’t for us to tell others how to live their lives. We try to keep them safe by killing those who prey upon them before they get the chance to feast – ”

“Exactly. So – ”

“We fight out here, in the desert. We stop the devils and demons invading our towns and cities. That’s how we keep people safe. If they want to wander out here and put themselves freely into danger, that isn’t our responsibility.”

“I feel it’s wrong,” Ruth commented. “It’s like .. we’re letting that man be bait in a trap. Once the demon kills and starts to feed, it won’t expect an attack. It makes our job easier.”

Shem shrugged as he picked at his teeth. “You want to shout a warning, go ahead. See what difference it makes. At least, you’ll feel better for it.”

“You’ll alert the demon,” Ruth cautioned. “And that will make our job harder.”

“I’ll go down there,” Daniel muttered.

“Not alone,” Ruth said, scrambling up. “I don’t want to lose my brother to a demon’s breakfast.”

Daniel hesitated for a moment. “Come on then,” he said.

Shem slowly shook his head as the two younger Flamefalls set off down the rocky slope. He’d heard of the scholars. They hadn’t been around very long – five or six years, not more than that. He’d heard they’d originated in Babylon, or it could have been Egypt. They liked to study things. They liked libraries. They considered questions and attempted to answer them. Shem had no quarrel with philosophers or scholars. Wise men, men of learning often made wise decisions. They thought long and pondered hard before choosing a solution or suggesting a course of action. Shem wasn’t so sure that this group of scholars was wise. For one thing, they were bringing their studies into the desert. And that was suicidal.

Towns and cities were comfortable. Much better suited for people. There was shade. Water. Out here, it was hostile and that was just the environment. There was precious little shade. No water. The rocks could cut flesh, could slice a finger clean thru the bone if you weren’t careful. No one came into the desert unless they had to. Yes, caravans traveled thru the desert from town to town, city to city, but they went by established routes, they went prepared with water and shelter, and a guide or two. No one went off the paths. And no one came out here alone.

The scholars did. One of them was below, in the gully, right now. Mad ..? Shem couldn’t say. Possibly it was the heat. It could do that to a man. Fry his brain so he saw water where there was none, or make him think there was a great, flat plateau so he’d run joyfully over the edge of a cliff. Shem thought Daniel and his sister Ruth were a little mad for attempting to warn the scholar. Up till now, the Flamefalls had left them well alone.

Daniel finally reached the base of the long slope and ran to the gully’s entrance. Ruth was right by his shoulder, keeping an alert gaze raking the stones and clefts. The demon was close. The stench was turning her stomach.

He peered around the wall of rock. “Hsst!” he said as loudly as he dared. Daniel wasn’t scared of the demon hearing him, he wasn’t scared at all. He was trying to avoid the demon noticing the man.

The man either didn’t hear or ignored him. He seemed to be staring closely at the gully wall.

Ruth bent down, selected a small stone, and threw it. It landed about two feet from the man and he jumped, his concentration broken. She nudged her brother.

“Hsst!” he said again and the man looked toward the sound, his face creased in an abrupt frown. Daniel beckoned to him. “Come here,” he urged but the man was already moving.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

Daniel stepped back. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“This is no place for young people like you, nor you,” he added sternly to Ruth.

“We know – ”

“Then leave. Now. Before it is too late.”

“Listen to me!” Daniel said in a firm voice. “This is a dangerous place – ”

“I know.”

“Then .. do you want to die?” Daniel asked, wondering if Shem had been right the first time.

“Of course not!”

“Then why are you here?” Ruth inquired.

“I’m studying the writing on that rock wall. It is either – ”

“I don’t care what it is,” Daniel cut in. “Come back tomorrow. It’ll be safe then. If you stay here, you could get hurt. You could die.”

“I know full well the risk I am taking, young man.”

“You’ll get in our way,” Ruth declared.

That made the man fall silent. His frown returned. “Why are you here?” he asked, his voice now heavy with suspicion.

“To warn you. Please, leave now,” Daniel begged.

“There is a demon here, from the Pit,” the man announced. “The writing on that wall either forms a gateway for it, or, properly spoken, forces it back from where it came.”

“Then study it tomorrow!”

“It may not be here tomorrow. The nature of esoteric writings – ”

“I won’t argue with you,” Daniel interrupted, his voice hard and sounding strange coming from one so young. “I’ve done my best to warn you. If you want to ignore that warning, the consequences are yours.”

“Is that a threat?” the man asked.

“It’s a promise,” Ruth corrected. “Come on, Daniel,” she muttered, tugging at his sleeve. “It’s out of our hands now.”

“Who are you?” the man asked.

“Someone with your welfare at heart,” Daniel replied. “Someone disappointed that you wouldn’t listen. Someone who will regret that you died. Who are you?”

“I am a member of the Legacy,” the man replied.

It was the first time a Flamefall had ever heard that sentence. It would not be the last.

*****

Ruth straightened and brushed gritty sand onto her dress. “What do we do now? Should we tell someone?”

Daniel was angry. “Why wouldn’t he listen to me?”

“He’s a scholar. I told you,” Shem replied. “They live in their own little world. They think they know what’s best. They don’t. As for telling someone .. they’ll know when he doesn’t come back. Maybe it’ll jolt them enough to give up finding answers to all the mysteries.” Shem raised his eyes from the grave and stared into the distance. “Leave them alone. They’re only trouble. Daniel, you warned him. He ignored you. He was killed. The demon is dead. You did what you could, then we did our job. Let’s go.”

“Was it because I’m young?” Daniel asked.

“He was stubborn. The scholars .. are like dogs with a bone.”

“Not likely to give up then,” Ruth remarked.

“If enough of them die, they’ll give up,” Shem commented. “Stubborn isn’t bad. We’re stubborn. We don’t give up. We can’t. It’s our sacred duty to fight or die trying. But we have a purpose. They don’t .. unless it’s to get in our way. Let them examine the mysteries – I don’t have a problem with that. But let it be the stars or the seasons. Geometry. Mathematics. The deep questions. Keep them out of the mysteries of why demons want to corrupt and steal and feed. That’s my area and I don’t need anyone interfering.” He looked sternly at them. “And neither do you.”

Shem set off, his head bowed under the blistering eye of the sun. Daniel gazed down at the grave they’d dug and shook his head. It was unnecessary. A waste of life. Daniel was twenty two and he’d seen and dealt out more death in his days than any public executioner, and that was why he loved life. This man need not have perished, not in the way he had. The grave was small – there hadn’t been much left to bury.

Ruth touched his shoulder. “Come on. Shem’s right. We did all we could.”

They followed the older Flamefall into the desert. Sweat ran freely down spines and soaked dark patches at their armpits. They walked for about an hour until they came to their camp.

“Did you kill it?” greeted Elohim, holding out water skins.

Shem nodded wearily. “Sent it back where it belongs.”

“We saw a scholar there,” Daniel said and Shem scowled.

“Really. What was he doing?” Elohim frowned.

“Getting killed,” Shem replied. “They tried to warn him. He wouldn’t listen. He paid with his blood.”

Elohim shrugged, dismissing it. “If men want to die, we can’t interfere.”

“He didn’t want to die,” Daniel burst out. “He wanted to study the wall. It had writing on it.”

“Daniel, we tried,” Ruth pointed out. “Dragging him away by force .. that would have been interfering. Don’t dwell on it.”

“He was a fool,” Shem commented. “Writing on the wall indeed … ”

Daniel sat down in the shade of the tent. “They don’t call themselves scholars, although they do study things,” he told them.

“Oh?” Elohim grunted, not really interested.

“They say they are members of something called the Legacy.”

Silence met this as each digested Daniel’s words. Elohim, a tough, wiry Flamefall of nearly fifty years of age, snorted slightly and dismissed it. Shem, at thirty two, was a little slower to give the same reaction. Ruth, however, frowned.

“Hark at them. Legacy indeed,” Shem muttered. “Not been around two seconds.”

“Maybe they mean to be around a long time,” Ruth suggested. “Legacy .. means inheritance, doesn’t it? Birthright? What they cannot discover in one lifetime will be passed on to those who follow.”

Daniel shifted. “All things start somewhere, Elohim. Why are you so sure these people won’t last? Why do you dismiss them so quickly?”

“Daniel, you’re young. A good warrior, but young. When you get to nearer my age, you will come to think the same way,” Elohim replied, squatting down before him. “I am nearing fifty. In our history, it’s nothing. One grain of sand in a desert of experience won fighting this war. We have forty times fifty years of experience. Two thousand years, the Flamefalls have existed.”

“I respect our history,” Shem went on. “I respect all men and their right to live how they want. But. We are like the spirits of men, yes? Living shades. We walk in the shadows, in the darkness. We don't push our way into people’s lives, Daniel. We keep it close. Secrecy. I hear that anyone can join the scholars, and that leaves them wide open to corruption from the inside. Legacy … ” He shook his head. “Six years .. and they think they have earned the right to ignore warnings. When they have a hundred years, five hundred years of experience .. then they will have earned that name.”

“I’ve heard differently,” Elohim said and Shem was surprised. “Not everyone can join. There has to be .. not a test exactly but it is by invitation. To earn that, I suppose there is some kind of examination.”

“But it doesn’t run in their blood, does it?” Shem countered. “It isn’t .. something they are born into, as we are. An invitation can be refused. Examinations can be failed and they can be faked. They leave themselves open to exploitation from within. I know I can trust everyone here. Can they do the same amongst their own?”

Elohim shrugged. “It is of no importance to us. We have enough to do. We’ll rest till later then head back to town and bring this to the attention of the others. Then we put it aside. Daniel, you did what you could to save that man. The Lord will see to him now.”

“Amen,” Daniel breathed.

*****

Japheth opened the door. “The Lord be with you,” he greeted. “Did you kill the beast?”

Shem nodded as he slipped inside. Ruth entered next, followed by her brother. Elohim brought up the rear. He smiled at the faces he knew so well. Thirty Flamefalls were crowded into Japheth’s house. Husbands, wives, small children, older children. All with a telltale white streak in their dark hair.

Japheth, whose hair was more white than dark, nodded as he closed the door. “It is good. The shepherds will bless us without knowing it was us who saved them and their flocks.”

Daniel embraced his mother and then his father, and took a seat on the floor by his father’s feet. Ruth performed the same ritual and sat beside him.

“Elder,” Daniel began, “forgive me but .. it wasn’t as straightforward as it seems.”

“Were you hurt?” Japheth inquired sharply, more in concern than anger.

“No. But .. we were not alone in the desert today.”

“A shepherd?”

“A scholar,” Shem explained.

Ruth was fascinated at the ripple of disgust and aggravation which spread across the expressions of the people facing her. She felt her mother shift position and heard her father sigh shortly. Even some of the children looked irritated.

“Do we see them as some kind of threat?” Daniel asked into the low muttering.

This question provoked uproar.

“No, Daniel,” Japheth replied after order had been restored. “We do not see them as a threat, only as a dangerous nuisance.”

“Elder, my brother and I spoke with the scholar today,” Ruth said. “He did not seem dangerous to me. Stubborn, yes, but we could see that as dedication, couldn’t we? Are we not dedicated by blood and by fire to a holy cause?”

Japheth smiled at her. “It is true. And I am sure the man would not have attacked you. There are other, more subtle dangers in the world.”

“Temptation?” Daniel frowned.

“That is one, to be sure. What I mean when I say the scholars are dangerous is that .. in so many ways, they are as innocent and guileless as children. They do not understand the danger into which they walk. They may know it to be hazardous but they do not understand exactly what it is they are doing. What they risk. And the danger to us is that they can get in our way. We are forbidden to harm the innocent. In attempting to avoid hurting them while we hunt and kill our prey, we could be hurt by the prey as it uses the scholars as a shield. And, if we do harm one of them, even kill him, we break a sacred trust and we will be punished.” Japheth leaned closer. “Do you understand now, Ruth?”

“Yes, Elder. Thank you.”

“And they are a nuisance because they wander into areas which should not concern them,” Japheth continued. “For many centuries now, the Flamefalls have stood as the bastion against evil. To an extent, it is our right. And, now, the scholars have emerged. A new sect. Apparently, they study the mysteries. If they kept themselves to purely studying them, it would not be such an irritation to us. But they don’t. They are becoming more bold and they risk usurping our rightful place. We will not allow them to do that. In Beersheba, it was very close. We managed to divert them before they could do damage. If they are now moving into the desert … ” He sighed. “It won’t be long before there is a confrontation between us.”

“Can’t we run them out of town?” Shem asked. “Suggest they go back to Babylon or Egypt?”

“It would save a lot of future .. misunderstanding,” Elohim agreed.

“If I went to them and said that, they could easily ask us to leave,” Japheth responded. “Tell me, Daniel, what was this scholar doing?”

“He was in the gully. We had tracked the demon to the area and we knew it was close. The scholar was attempting to read some writing on the gully wall. He told me it was esoteric. It could have been a gateway for the demon to use, or they might have been words of power, banishing the demon back to the Pit.”

“And what happened to him?” Japheth asked, although he already suspected the answer.

“The demon killed him,” Daniel replied. “And then we killed the demon, gathered up what remained of the scholar and buried him.”

“You see? As innocent as children. The scholars lack our ability to fight. They lack our weapons. So they rely on their studies. Their words. It is entirely possible the writings on the gully wall were words of power but it is easier and quicker to kill than to banish.” Japheth rested a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “When you spoke with him, did you try to warn him?”

“Yes, Elder.”

“And he obviously ignored you. How often do we see children who believe they know better than the parent? It is not your fault, Daniel. You tried. The scholars think, believe, the words they read are stronger than the swords we wield, but we know action is more powerful than word, yes?”

Daniel nodded, then looked up. “Elder?”

“Yes, Daniel.”

“Shem says we should leave them alone. Avoid them. How can we?”

“The truth is .. we can’t. However, we can watch them. Divert them, as we did in Beersheba. Their sect will fade, as have others before them.”

“Elder,” Ruth said and he turned to her. “I don’t think it will.”

“Why do you think this?”

“They have given themselves a name,” she replied. “They call themselves the Legacy.”

Japheth frowned. “That does suggest, to me as well as you,” he said, nodding at her, “that they intend to stay.”

“What they cannot answer in this lifetime, they will pass on to the next generation,” Ruth agreed.

“That could be difficult for us all, Flamefall and Legacy,” Japheth remarked in a sad voice.

Daniel shifted slightly. He felt uncomfortable with the idea because he saw nothing but trouble coming from it, a turbulent, uncertain future, but he had to speak.

“Elder.”

“Yes, Daniel.”

“Could we not learn to .. work with them in some way?”

A stunned silence fell on the room. Daniel looked at the floor as he felt accusing eyes beat on him.

“Explain yourself,” Japheth commanded.

“If we are concerned, and rightly so, that the scholars present a risk to us, can we not .. encourage them to .. do what they are good at doing and leave us free to do what we do best? If we discover a mystery which is beyond our purpose, can we not give it to the scholars? And ask, in turn, that, if they learn of a demon or devil, they let us kill it. Two paths, parallel, yet toward a common goal – to make the world a safer place.”

“I cannot ever see it happening,” Shem muttered, running a callused thumb along his jaw. “It’s a fine idea, Daniel, but you heard the scholar today. He wouldn’t listen. None of them will listen. They’re too stubborn. They already think they know better than us.”

“And they’ll die in droves rather than bend to older and better wisdom,” Elohim added.

“Then we’ll have to show them they’re wrong,” Daniel declared. “If we have to come to understanding thru blood, so be it. It won’t be the first time peace was gained thru war.”

*****

Ruth shivered slightly. “Daniel, are you still awake?

“Yes.” His voice drifted out of the darkness.

“Did you mean what you said? About war?”

“Not in the way Japheth obviously imagined.”

He sounded bitter. Japheth had snapped at him, told him in no uncertain terms that war was not to be considered, and he should forget the entire idea.

“Then explain it to me,” Ruth requested.

“Why?”

“Because … ” She lowered her voice. “Because I think you’re right. Not completely right but .. going in the right direction. Japheth is the Elder. Eighty years if he’s a day. People get set in their ways, Daniel. Elohim and even Shem aren’t so different. Two thousand years … ”

She stared up at the ceiling. “It’s a lot of experience. And it’s a lot of nothing much changing. What they do now, our ancestors were doing at the start. Japheth doesn’t see a need to change .. but change comes to everyone. Our ancestors didn’t live in towns or cities. They were nomads. They lived in tents, traveling around to where they were needed most. We live in a house. Our methods haven’t changed but we have. Our lives have. And, to survive, we may have to change again – not how we do it, nor even what we do, but all the other things. The day to day living. We do not own this land, we have to share it with others. So, please, explain it to me.”

She heard a rustle as Daniel rolled onto his side.

“I’m not sure I want to even think about it,” he confessed. “That man today … If they are all like him, I can see nothing but trouble ahead. But the risks are too great for us to pretend the Legacy doesn’t exist. If we should kill one of them, by accident … ” He sighed. “I can see it happening. It could have happened today, if Shem hadn’t held us back. I wanted to help that scholar, to save him from death.”

“I know,” she whispered. “It isn’t evil to feel compassion, Daniel.”

“It just seems to me that we have to find a way to make allowances for the Legacy. If we can’t work side by side, we have to draw a line and tell them they cannot cross.”

“And war?” she frowned.

“You’re thinking like Japheth,” he accused. “There are many ways to fight a war but you see only one. The one we fight every day and have done for two thousand years.”

Daniel shifted again. “I know the Lord didn’t give me these hands just to spit lightning or throw fire. I eat with them. I hold tools with them. And, if I have to, I can punch someone in the face with them and give him a bloody nose. That’s what I meant by coming to understanding thru blood, Ruth. If they are too stubborn to listen with their ears, we make them listen with pain. A war of words – we can shout at them, scorn them, humiliate them if it’s necessary. A war of example – let them see what we do. Let them think – as thinking is what they’re so good at – about what it would feel like to get between us and our prey. And a war of physical punishment. We’ll beat it into them if they give us no choice.”

She heard him rustle again as he rolled onto his back.

“How can they hope to understand us when they know nothing of us or what we do? You saw him today, Ruth. The way he looked at us. He believed we were there to worship the demon, that we’d come to pay it homage. And we could tell him nothing. We have to learn about them, and they must learn about us. Or one of us will end up in Hell suffering eternal damnation thru no fault of their own. I will not see that happen.”

Ruth was staggered by the simplicity and the brute force of the idea. It made sense to her on every level.

“Tomorrow,” she said. “We’ll talk about it more tomorrow.”

Daniel grunted.

“Right now, we have to go to the dark place and practice.”

“Am I wrong to have these thoughts?” Daniel asked.

“No, Daniel. I think you could be the Legacy’s salvation,” Ruth replied.

*****

Daniel straightened, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, and he squinted into the glare of the mid morning sun beyond the shadows of the workshop.

He was glad the ancestors had foreseen this day, and all the days to come. They had been wise indeed. To be able to stand ready, to be able to fight as and when needed, they had realized that the Flamefalls, these elite warriors who were so focused, almost blinkered in their precise concentration, these mortal angels, must be free. They could not work for others. The nomads had traded as they traveled. Wealth had begun to grow. When they were numerous enough, some remained while others moved on. They established businesses, accumulated more wealth which allowed more Flamefalls to settle and work for themselves.

Daniel was, like many, a carpenter and he worked for his father. Today, his father was in the desert, accompanied by Daniel’s mother and several others. His mother was the trueborn, his father had acquired the power and had embraced the life.

Jacob employed only Flamefalls in his workshop. That happened a lot. They segregated themselves because they were shrouded in such secrecy, yet they lived full lives amongst their chosen community. If an outsider also worked there, questions would be asked. Innocent questions no doubt but questions which weren’t needed. So only Flamefalls. It was a widespread practice among God’s Warriors.

“Is that one of them?” Esau breathed.

Daniel switched his gaze. By the well stood a decently dressed man, a merchant by his garb, but there was something about him. Some .. quality in his eyes. They were searching.

Daniel shrugged tautly. “I can’t tell them from anyone else, Esau. They look like ordinary men because they are ordinary men. But he’s certainly a stranger in town.”

“He’s coming over,” Esau warned, and turned back to his work.

Daniel, in his father’s absence, went to meet the man.

“Can you help me? I’m looking for an associate of mine. A fellow scholar.”

Daniel’s mouth dried at the use of that word.

“He should have returned home to his family last night but failed to arrive. This tall, slightly heavily built, a well spoken man. Learned. I have been told he passed by this way.”

“To where was he going?” Daniel inquired. “It’s possible he decided to stop there.”

“Not in the desert.”

Daniel felt a trickle of sweat start to wander down his brow and he wiped it away. “With respect to you and your associate, if he went into the desert alone, he was asking for trouble. He should have taken a guide with him, at the very least. I was not here yesterday so I did not see your friend.”

“Is it possible he was waylaid?”

“Certainly,” Daniel agreed, his heart heavy. “But, even if he wasn’t, the desert is a hazardous place for scholars. It is a cruel, unforgiving landscape.”

“I understand. Do you know where I could engage the service of a guide? I must find him, or take back to his family what news I can.”

Daniel would have offered to escort him but he caught sight of Japheth on the other side of the street. “On the edge of town, in the Street of the Weavers, there are several men who have flocks of sheep and goats. The shepherds can guide you.”

“Thank you for your help,” the man said with a slight bow of his head and he left.

Daniel went back to work. Several minutes later, Japheth entered.

“What did he want and what did you tell him?”

Daniel put down the knife. “Am I a suspect, Elder? Are all my actions to be observed in the future? Am I not today worthy of the same trust you placed in me yesterday?”

“You spoke of dire things last night. It was obvious to me that your blood was running hot. I apologize, Daniel, if I seemed harsh in rebuking you in front of so many others,” Japheth replied. “You are a fine warrior, but young. You have seen much of death but not very much of life. Of course I still trust you. It is the scholars of whom I am wary.”

“Elder, will you take a mug of wine with me?” Daniel invited. “My heart is heavy and I must speak with someone. My father is not here and his ears are stopped up anyway.”

“It is a hot day. Gladly, I accept.”

“Esau, mind the shop,” Daniel ordered and led Japheth thru to a small, shaded courtyard out back.

Daniel carefully watered the wine because the hour was not yet noon. Then he sat at the feet of the old man.

“He asked of his friend, Elder. A fellow scholar. I told him I had not been here yesterday so I had not seen him, then I told him the desert is no place for lone travelers and that, if he’d gone there alone, I doubted he would return. He then asked where he could find a guide. I told him to go to the Street of the Weavers .. but I would have taken him myself if I had not seen you.”

“Why?”

“Because they are a threat to us. Maybe not in the way Shem and Elohim think but, if they pose a danger, even in all innocence, they must be a threat and we cannot ignore them. We cannot .. allow ourselves to believe that, one day, they will surrender and fade. What if they don’t? I would prefer to get closer to them, Elder. Watch them and, perhaps, educate them without telling them any secrets. Guiding that man into the desert would have been a chance to learn more of this .. Legacy.”

“You are not invited to be one of them. They will tell you nothing.”

“Maybe not in words, yes. But in the way they talk. The way they use words. In their attitude. And, similarly, they might learn about us.”

Japheth was silent for a long moment. Then he looked up, his dark eyes keen and shining like black pebbles.

“You spoke of war, Daniel.”

“Yes, Elder, I did, but not the war we have fought for two thousand years. We are forbidden to harm the innocent with our weapons. No one has said we cannot simply use our hands. Yesterday, in the gully, I could’ve punched that man, knocked him out, kept him safe until we had dealt with the beast. Shem wouldn’t let us protect him. He died. He has a family who anxiously await his return. Elder, we are strong. Are we not also compassionate? Merciful? Is our sacred duty so narrow?”

“It is.”

“Then we must do something to protect ourselves. We cannot allow the Legacy to threaten us. If they will not listen to sense, they must learn to listen to other things. We have to draw the line and tell them they cannot cross it .. or lives will be lost.”

“Our lives,” Japheth remarked.

“They do not know that,” Daniel commented. “We lie all the time to protect our secrets. We can lie to save our lives.”

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