Jezebel

Part Two: 2

Happiness was a distant memory, and some days it felt as though Ahab had never known the feeling. The more he achieved, the deeper he sunk into despair. Excitement came once in a while but the feeling was fleeting at most.

He sensed it the moment they rode past the border of Israel. The air turned harsh and thin, and the sun burned without mercy. He sighed and sunk deeper into the cushioned seat of his carriage, shifting when his cloth grew sticky with the rising heat.

Curse Elijah.

Ahab had searched lands far and near for that prophet. The man had disappeared like the rain, it was almost as if he imagined that brief moment at his garden. The fact that no nation had brought war to their gates was still a surprise to Ahab. Jezebel claimed it was the sacrifices, and he had no strength to think differently.

The power of Baal and Ashera was so real it could be seen. The way Rasaque and Maina killed with the touch of the hand, and their unbelievable physical strength. It was a thing of awe to watch them. But the servants were...lifeless. Their eyes, being their most harrowing asset, was completely black and soulless, and they never showed facial expression. Once he had seen Rasaque grin but it hardly looked human.

Pushing his fingers through his hair, Ahab leaned forward and sighed. If he were to grade himself as a king, he would score poorly. But Jezebel, she did so well. She was strong and possessed the fear of the people. He on the other hand... Ahab sighed again.

It was hard to submit himself fully to her methods. He had chosen to be ignorant about most of the things she participated in, allowing her to be popular at court and sit over most legal cases. Since the people were still in check even in the face of the brutal drought they faced, he surmised Jezebel was doing well.

His paranoia about war coming had pushed him to seek alliances and marry foreign women, but that had not calmed his fear in any way. Jezebel had not reacted well to his choice and her incessant complaint had made him deliberately avoid her. If he were to be honest, a part of him was scared of the woman but he never showed it.

Leaning against his seat, Ahab shut his eyes in a bid to calm himself but it was useless. Nothing he did was able to shake off the feeling that something terrible was coming. Looking out the window and taking in the stretch of dead brown land, Ahab feared the time of war was indeed upon them.

***

Harel carefully wound the strip of cloth around his palm as he watched his brother.

"You think this is a game?" Jehu lifted a brow, looking all smug as he observed him. "One battle and you would be dead—cut into tiny Harel-pieces."

"I am just a storehouse guard," Harel replied in a dead voice, then returned his gaze to his covered palm. "If war comes you would be off fighting and I would be at my post, guarding the storehouse. But—"

He looked up just in time to see Jehu charge at him like a man possessed. He swung the wooden sword.

Harel jerked away, narrowly escaping what would have been a brutal whack.

"Are you crazy?" Harel backed farther from his elder brother.

"Yes—" Jehu paused and drew a breath "—I am crazy." Then he charged at him again.

Managing to grab a long stick, Harel deflected another blow at the last moment. "Stop."

"Is that what you will tell the enemy?" Jehu asked as he lunged forward and attacked once more. "You are going to cry for them to stop?"

Harel scowled and shifted when Jehu made a swipe for his neck. "I am not going to join the army," he all but shouted as he parried another blow with his stick.