Dragon Knights: Resurrection

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Here is another excerpt from Resurrection.

 

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17: 11-19)

Acanthus was traveling back to Jerusalem after another tax collecting assignment in Samaria. He had brought the new slave girl, Gavrielle to tend to his needs while on the road. His daughter had quickly tired of the Samaritan slave and had even had her tongue cut out, because the girl had spoken back defied her when she told her to do a particular disgusting job.

Gavrielle stumbled behind the warhorse. Her sandals were worn and torn and her feet and legs hurt. She dare not complain or her master would punish her, but she so wished he would stop and rest, maybe  let her eat and drink. She spied a crowd of lepers on the side of the road. Acanthus saw them too and moved as far to the opposite side of the road as he could to get away from them. Gavrielle looked down the road as Acanthus dragged her to a nearby oak tree. There was a group of men coming in their direction. As they neared you could hear one of the men talking, he seemed to be teaching the others and they all were listening quite intently.
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Just then one of the lepers yelled, “Jesus, Master have pity on us.”

The group stopped and the leader, the one they called Jesus, Master responded, “Go show yourselves to the priest.” She watched as the lepers all got up and walked back toward the town they had just left.  As they walked it seemed as if their skin lesions were healed.

Acanthus smirked and grumbled. “Stupid lepers, should not be here. Should not be anywhere near decent folks. And that man, what did they call him Jesus, Master, who is he but a Jew? Should not even be out here  stirring up trouble. “

He got down off of his horse and pulled some fruit and bread from his saddle bag. He grabbed his water skin and took ab big swig of water, before putting it back on his horse. Then he tore off a piece of bread and ate it. Gavrielle’s mouth watered. It had been a while since she had had anything to eat. Her stomach grumbled so loud the centurion heard it and looked at her. He tore off a miniscule tidbit of bread and threw it at her. When she bent over to pick it up from the hard packed earth where it had landed, he grabbed a handful of her long black hair and pulled her upright. “What are you doing girlie, that was for the birds.”

Before she could respond, one of the lepers came running back, shouting. He fell at Jesus’ feet, thanking him.

Gavi wondered where the other nine were. She was sure if she had leprosy and this man or any man had healed her, her response would be just as this man’s was. She would be willing to do anything for the man who had saved her.

Just then Acanthus put the bread away and mounted his horse. “Come on girl. There’s been enough of a show here. We had best get on our way.” He kicked his horse and they cantered through the crowd of men. “Out of my way you Jewish scum. Go home there is nothing to see here.”

As he cantered past Jesus dragging Gavrielle behind him, she looked at the man who had just healed the lepers. He looked back at her and smiled. Her hunger and thirst seemed to fade and her feet did not hurt so much. She watched him turn and walk away, but felt better than she had in days and wished her brother were here to see this man and feel this way.

Dragon Knights: Resurrection

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10646699_710439319031614_7692693758538826121_nI am once again working on my Dragon Knights series. With the recent death of my father I have felt a renewed desire to work on the series.  My father had been curious about what I was writing and even loaned me a book to help with the writing of the series. So now I think I owe it to him and myself to finish the series no matter how long it takes. First drafts are completed for the first, and fourth books. The second book is my current work in progress. The third and possibly a fifth book are slated for writing at a later time.

Going forward I am going to be posting excerpts from the first and fourth book. The first book, working title Resurrection begins with the ministry of Christ and follows a Samaritan boy as he faces the consequences of his conversion to be a follower of Christ. It also follows his sister who is taken by a Roman Centurion and during her captivity becomes a follower of Christ. After her rescue she and her brother join up with the apostles and some dragons who are messengers of  God to spread His word and grow through the consequences of their life. Here is the opening scene:

The woman said to him, “Sir I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain: you people say that the palace to worship is Jerusalem Jesus said to the beloved me woman the hour is coming when you will worship the father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. Your people worship what you do not understand we worship what we understand because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when true worshippers will worship the father in spirit

A dark shadow covered the cloud sun as Naftili went to the well. He could not believe that mother was making him do this in the middle of the day when everyone else was in their cool houses avoiding the heat of the day.

As he neared the center of town where the well was he heard a commotion. Could the Romans have returned? They had just been through Sychar yesterday and disrupted the Sabbath. He heard loud voices and as he came around the corner beside the temple he saw a large crowd of people.

He breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that it wasn’t centurions, just townspeople. They all stood around the well and at the center one man with several more men and women standing behind him. In front of him that woman. Imma and Abba had told him to stay away from her. She was a bad woman, almost as bad as the Jews. The man was holding her hand, accepting a cup of water from her. Well he had just made a big mistake. The woman was unclean, now he would be unclean. He wondered why anyone would do that and risk the wrath of God. He has to get closed hear what the crowd was saying. They must be trying to warn him to get her out of town before she made anyone else unclean.

Naftilil went and stood behind the Rabbi Jacob. He could hear the strange, now unclean man speaking, but he was not condemning her. Instead he was forgiving and telling her not to sin anymore. And the people were not stoning the women or chasing the man out of town.
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In fact and Naftili thought it strange, but they were welcoming the strangers inviting them into their homes, offering him food. This made no sense. He needed to get home to tell Imma and Abba what happened. Would not mother be surprised. After the crowd left with the stranger and the woman Naftili filled his buckets and rushed home trying not to spill the water as he ran through the door to their small home.  Mother was by the fireplace preparing the noon meal when Naftili came through the door.

“Naftili, where have you been? I sent you for water over an hour ago.” Your father is anxious to eat and be on his way. Ever since your sister, Gavrielle was taken by the Romans there is more work for the rest of us and no time to dawdle. Now get cleaned up so we can eat.”

Naftili went back to the animal shelter and washed his face and hands. He thought about the man at the well and then he thought about his sister.  The memories of the previous month came flooding back. It had been tax collecting time and the Roman centurions decided to make sure that Rome received her due tribute or as Abba said to make sure the people were robbed properly.  Abba had been ill and not able to do the stone cutting he usually did to feed the family. The family consisted of Imma, Abba and sister /Gavrielle, until last month. The tax collectors did not care. All they worried about was getting their taxes, Roman taxes. If there was no money then they took anything they could. Livestock, foodstuffs, even people girls like Gavrielle.

Mother and Gavrielle had sewn some things to sell in there market, but it had not been enough. When the Romans came there had not been enough denarius to pay the taxes. That Roman centurion, Acanthus had decided that since they did not have enough money that something else needed to taken. All the sheep where in the high pasture and the milk cow along with her calf seemed a good alternative to the Romans but then Gavrielle had come out of the house. Acanthus saw her and how pretty she was. Somehow he seemed to recall right at that moment that he had a daughter who needed a companion, really a slave and decided to take his sister. Gavi tried to run back into the house, but the man rode his big horse right through Imma’s garden and to the front door. He picked Gavi up by her tunic and threw her on the back of his horse. Then just to make sure we got the message, when Imma screamed he reached down and smacked her across the face. Imma’s lip bled as the centurion rode through the garden, knocking over the fence and laughing.

Naftili had rushed out of his hiding place to try and stop them, but his father had grabbed his arm and pulled him back, forcing him to stand behind where he could not be seen. Then he just stood there and watched the Romans ride away with his sister crying on the back of the horse. He had felt so useless, so helpless.