REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR

Chapter 14

*****

The darkness of the cell started to glow slightly. Like a warm wave it washed over Jasperrepeatedly as he slept, and it kept at bay the dark memories and insecurities that wanted to intrude into his sleeping mind all through the night.

“Jasper.”

“Yes, mother?”

“Time for your study of the Holy Words.”

“Mother, can’t we do that later?”

“Jasper, you will find out that in life you can’t always put things off to a later time and have everything still work out right.”

“Then maybe we can skip study time for a third time and that will be once and for all! Ouch! Alright, I’m ready!”

“Sit down over there, Jasper. As I’ve told you before, we only have remnants of the Book that the Creator wrote, but those remnants that we do still have can help us to live a righteous and pleasing life. A life that honors our Creator and that serves His purposes.”

“It always seems like we have to do everything for the Creator. What does He do for us?”

“He did everything for us, Jasper. When Adam and Eve sinned in the beginning, on the first world, He could have washed His hands of us and we would have all been doomed to everlasting death. But He didn’t leave it like that. He gave us His Holy Word and even sent His Son to die for us that we might have life forevermore, if we believe.”

“I don’t understand that part.”

“You have to take it by faith, Jasper. Until you actually believe in the Son of God and what He did for us, you aren’t saved.”

“Well, I guess He’ll just have to make Himself real to me, for me to believe.”

“Oh, He will Jasper. In His good time He will make Himself real to you in a powerful way. He will use you greatly in some great endeavor to the benefit of His everlasting kingdom.”

“How do you know He’ll do that?”

“I have faith that He will, even as I ask Him for it every day in my prayers, Jasper. The Creator has done everything for us and not the other way around. Simply trust Him and have faith, and with the passage of time all will be made right, you’ll see.”

*****

“Wake up, tiger bait!”

Jarred awake by the kick to my side, I jumped to my feet. The memory of my mother quickly faded as the reality of my current situation set in. I was quickly outfitted and shoved through the tunnels of my old haunts. I could hear the noise of the crowd, roaring in anticipation of the coming bloodlust. Protesting loudly, the rusty arena door slowly rose upward. I stepped out onto the sand of the arena, not waiting for the push from behind.

The sandy floor of the arena stretched out before me and I advanced into it. The dusty tan color of the sand was mottled in places to a dark red, which helped mark the spots where mortal life had been lost. Casting my gaze upwards, I took in the crowd assembled in the bleachers rising on all sides above the arena walls. They were shouting, as they usually were, in a mixture of anticipatory excitement and blood lust. They were eager to see suffering and bloodletting.

All the old memories came flooding back to me now. Mentally attempting to shake them off, I remembered my dream from the night before. I hadn’t dreamed about my mother in years, but her lessons of yesterday were very real today too. Emboldened by the need to survive, and the belief in my new-found faith that I could, I stepped into the center of the arena boldly. I stood there, patiently waiting for what would come next, as the crowd of onlookers shouted obscenities and jeers.

A sense of excitement rippled through me as it always did when the fight was about to start. I didn’t have to wait long. Seven arena dungeon doors began to creak open and through the half open doors, seven starved Attorgron tigers clawed at the dust in eagerness to get into the sunlight. They sprang into the open arena, at first giving each other cautious looks. Not liking the roaring of the crowds or their exposure to an unknown situation, they slunk around the arena as they got their bearings.

One tiger, maddened by the need to get free of the exposure and noise of the arena, tried to climb the arena wall, but it was too high and he slid back to the arena floor, to the tune of jeers from the crowd at its failed escape. I had seen it all before many times, except I had never faced so many tigers at once. Usually I had other companions to help whittle them down, or to at least be chewed on, while I took care of my own skin and, when I could, that of my friends. I had no armor this time either, just an arena short sword and a small round shield.

Soon the inevitable happened; they noticed me in the center of the arena and their first instinct to escape was taken over by their second great need, hunger. They approached me from all sides their eyes glowing with the intent to rip me apart. I had to admit, faced with these odds it was an extremely likely scenario. The crowd’s anticipation was a palpable sensation in the hot, still air of the arena. Sweat coursed down my back in rivulets under the tunic I wore. I couldn’t win this one! If there had only been three or four maybe, but seven! I remembered my mother’s words and her belief that her Creator could do anything. I really couldn’t win this one. The sword dropped from my hand to plop into the dust of the arena floor. I took the shield off my left forearm and dropped it too. Spreading my arms wide I looked up into the blue sky overhead.

“Creator, it’s all yours. Thy will be done.”

I waited with baited breath, as did everybody else in the arena, for what would come next. The husky roars of the tigers intensified. It wouldn’t be long before they attacked. I heard the scramble of claws scraping on dirt behind me and I couldn’t help but flinch, as I waited for the subsequent impact of fangs and claws ripping into me; but it didn’t come.

“I Am mighty to save and intercede on the behalf of those who put their trust in Me. My creation knows My authority and obeys.”

I heard the words as clear as day, as if they had been spoken against my ear and yet nobody stood with me in the arena. The roars of the tigers were gone and all I heard was a choked whining.

I opened my eyes, which I had shut reflexively when I had heard the scramble of claws behind me, and looked for the tigers. They were all slinking away from me as fast as they could go, each heading to their respective dungeon chambers. The crowd watched in stunned disbelief, as the tigers disappeared back into their holding cells.

The crowd broke out into angry muttering, which was only a façade to mask their unease at what they had just witnessed. The governor stood up in the royal pavilion and screamed, “Seize that man at once!”

The main doors of the arena burst open and a group of thirteen horsemen spilled into the arena. Turning to face this new threat I watched the guardsmen sweep across the arena toward me. They weren’t guardsmen! I recognized Seth first and then the others. Seth broke from the bunch and reached his arm out to me. I grabbed it and using momentum I flung my body up onto the back of the horse behind him. The other riders formed a protective shell around us as we wheeled around to race toward the still open doors of the arena.

We peeled through them in a cloud of dust, as we headed into the city at large. I could hear shouts of dismay ringing out behind us as the crowd reacted to my unexpected escape. Chaos ensued in the marketplace, as we rode down merchants and merchant’s wares alike in our mad scramble to get free of the city before the street gatehouses were closed.

Approaching the eastern gate at a full gallop, I saw that it was still open. The guards were still laying at ease to either side of the street. We made straight for the open gate. The hooves of our horses pounded hard on the cobblestoned street surface, announcing our approach to the guards. Halfway to the guards, we charged through a flock of chickens, that parted before us in a flurry of feathers as they squawked madly at our sudden disturbance of them.

The guards hesitated in the face of our head on charge toward them, unsure as to what was taking place. They seemed to come to a consensus of the minds and threw themselves to the sides of the alley to avoid the hoofs of our horses as we streamed out of the street gate into the glorious freedom of the countryside. After several miles were behind us, we pulled up to check for signs of pursuit. No dust clouds were visible in the shimmering heat waves of the plain. The escape had been such a complete surprise that they hadn’t even yet been able to mount a chase. Leisurely, we rode on through the day until we stopped to camp early that evening.

I got down from the horse and greeted my old companions warmly. The hulking form of Olaf was the last to come forward. Gruffly he held up one huge hand that grasped three chickens and asked in his deep gravelly voice, “You hungry?”

I laughed, knowing his gesture of food was his simple way of saying ‘Welcome back, I missed you.’ “Yes, Olaf now that you come to mention it, I’m starving!”

The rugged terrain of his battered face creased up in an expression I knew to be a smile. “Good!” he said, with a voice like thunder that fairly rocked me back on my heels.

Everyone laughed and we began the preparations of making camp, all the while talking and catching up on what each of us had been doing since we had parted company. “Seth, what happened back there at the swamp base? It was a wrecked mess when I passed back through it.”