Cavalier

Chapter Twenty-Six

He's relieved. So unbelievably relieved.

They don't get all of the Amalekites, about four hundred or so escape according to the men on point, but David lets them go. They recover everything that had been taken—none of it is gone or missing—and there's almost a spot of trouble when the ones that had been left behind at the Besor Ravine rejoin them. Some of his men seem to think that, because they did not join in on the fight, they do not deserve their share of the plunder, that they deserve to be sent away, but he puts that quickly to rest.

"We can't pick and chose what we do with what God's given us," he says. "He protected us and handed over the forces that came against us—it wasn't any of our own effort. Everybody will share alike."

If there's any more grumbling after that, he doesn't hear of it.

They go back to Ziklag when everything is accounted for and settled down, setting up a tent city around the ashes of their small town. David takes care to distribute the plunder of the Amalekites with the people who'd sheltered him when he was on the run, Jael and Abiathar's family and the family that his parents stay with in Moab, among others—as well as his friends in the government. "I'm sending you a present," he tells them as he calls each of them individually, and when they ask what it is he refuses to give them more than, "It's courtesy of our good friends from Amalek."

Abigail smiles at him as he makes call after call. As he watches her his smile can't help but widen in return, and he once again thinks of her in a way that he has never thought of Michal. He thinks, I love you.

When he is finished with the phone calls, Abigail says, "What now, husband?", leaning against the doorpost with her arms crossed and a small smile still playing on her face. David puts the phone down before he gets up and crosses the room to her, gathering her in his arms and kissing her on the nose.

"I can think of a few things," he says, and Abigail laughs before she kisses him properly.

-

David doesn't think he's seen his men this relaxed before. There's still a sense of a threat hovering in the air—there will always be a threat—but there is laughter and music and relief. Families are clustered with other families, and even though the children may stray and play the adults stay close to their spouses. Abigail and Ahinoam are here, but David is still missing one— Michal, whom he learned that Saul had decided to give away to another man, like declaring David his enemy was enough to make the ceremony and paperwork null and void. He'll have to work on getting her back, too, but right now is the time for celebration and relaxation, and as David looks out over his men and he sees Uriah with his arm around Bathsheba his thoughts aren't tempted by her.

The celebration lasts for two days.

-

On the third morning, David wakes up to Abigail looking down at him fondly.

"Your hair is a mess, husband," she says, stroking some rogue strands of said hair away from his face.

"No more than yours is, wife," he replies, and she shoves him lightly. He wraps his arms around her and pulls her close and she settles against his chest. "No news from Saul's campaign?" he asks, more of a passing thought than a burning question, and Abigail is about to answer when somebody clears their throat outside of David's tent.

"Uncle?" Joab says.

David looks down at Abigail, who shrugs. He sighs. "Is it important?" And then, when Joab doesn't reply right away, "Joab? Are you still there?"

Joab's voice sounds, quiet even without being muffled by the tent fabric. He speaks so fast that David doubts he'd be able to tell what his nephew had said if Joab were in the tent with them. "You're gonna have to speak up, kid," David calls, and it hits its target.