Again Holofernes invited her to feast with him, and again she demurred.
“I must take more care than ever to keep the Law,” she explained, “Which means I must not chance eating or drinking that which is forbidden to my people.” She gestured at the bag that was still strapped to my back, and continued, “I have brought provisions for myself so that I might eat and drink without fear for our plan.”
Holofernes eyed the pack skeptically. “That hardly seems adequate to feed you and your servant for any length of time.”
“Not my servant, my Lord,” she said quickly. “Ku-Aya is not one of my people, and is not held to the Law. She is free to eat and drink anything that you, in your generosity, would have given me. And as for the length of time,” she dimpled charmingly, “I have faith that my God can work within any allotment.”
Holofernes snorted, but gestured for us to follow him, and we did so.
Had it been under any other circumstances, I might have moaned with pleasure at the sight and smell of so many of my favorite dishes from home, but as it was my nerves had turned my stomach to stone, and what little I did manage to eat tasted of ashes. More than anything I wanted us away from the general’s presence, away from all of them, that I might shake my Slayer and inquire just what, precisely, her plan was. But she did not appear to share my urgency, turning that silver tongue of hers to teasing and delighting all of the high ranking men that ate with Holofernes. Even the servants smiled behind their hands and veils, and I found myself admiring how well my Slayer mesmerized them all.
Well, not quite all. Holofernes smiled and laughed and returned her flirtations appropriately, but the depths of his eyes remained cold as the bottom of a river, and calculating. He was willing to play her game, for now, but he did not trust her.
This actually made me feel better, strange as it might sound. It is always reassuring to know that one’s enemy is not a complete idiot, because complete idiots are horrifically unpredictable, and therefore extremely difficult to plan around.
***
The next day we kept to our tent until the evening meal, when Holofernes once again invited my Slayer to sit with him. Not once were we left alone during that time, and so I could not satisfy my curiosity. My Slayer remained serene, however, calmly giving me the orders one would expect to hear from a noble lady to her old and perhaps slightly dim servant. We returned to Holofernes’s tent, where I ate fit for a queen and my Slayer at another of the cakes she had brought from Bethulia, and sipped delicately from a small flask of wine. I saw Holofernes’s eyes linger on her in what I thought might be approval- not so much at her beauty as at her restraint. The eyes of his officers also lingered, but for them it was undisguised lust, if not outright awe, that kept them captivated.
As the end of the meal neared my Slayer bowed deeply and asked to be excused to her ritual purification. Holofernes, who had been deep in discussion with one of this aides, nodded his permission distractedly, and gestured for one of less blatantly enraptured men to accompany us. I noted with interest the glares of jealousy that pinned that lieutenant's back, but my Slayer seemed oblivious as she gathered her robes about her and let the man escort us into the deepening twilight.
“I will need a source of water,” she told him, “The larger the better, for I must use it to purify myself.”
The man’s jaw twitched, but he said nothing, only nodding to indicate his understanding before leading us away from the tent. I thought he might be taking us to a small spring I knew to be in the area, and in a way I was correct: he did take us to that spring’s location, but it was no longer a small spring. It had somehow transformed itself into a vast, shimmering lake. No, not “somehow”- it was the Litanu’s magic, keeping the water here rather than allowing it to continue on its natural course, back into the ground, on to Bethulia. I marveled at the sheer unnaturalness of it- and as my eyes adjusted I realized that the water had not just spread out, but up, appearing for all intents and purposes to be held back by an invisible glass bowl.
“Incredible,” I whispered, impressed in spite of myself by Holofernes. His entire army had all the water they could ever need, while Bethulia slowly died of thirst. And if Babylon were any indication, he could do more than just hold this water- he could also direct it, should he grow tired of waiting for surrender. I swallowed and sent up a quick prayer to whatever deities might be in the area that my Slayer’s plan would work swifty.
“This will do nicely,” she said to our guard, as though she saw such wonders every day. “Now you must turn your back while I bathe.”
“If either of you tries to run, I will have to kill you,” he said, eyeing both of us sternly. My Slayer laughed, her voice like pealing bells.
“Foolish man, we have betrayed my people: where would we run to? Now turn around so I might begin.”
He gave a shrug and did as was bade, but his stance remained alert. I moved to help my Slayer disrobe, drawing her closer to the glimmering wall of water in the hopes that it’s sound would drown out my whispered words.
“Just what are you doing?” I hissed.
“Exactly what it looks like I’m doing,” she said. “Purifying myself so that I might spend the night in vigil. I hope you thought to bring something to occupy your time.”
“Have you gone mad?” I glanced back at the guard, but he gave no indication of having heard us. “How is any of this supposed to save your people?”
She fixed me with a stern look. “Have you not been listening, Ku-Aya? The God of gods will work His will through me. Now hush and let me pray.”
“Are you-” my voice started to squeak with outrage, but I wrestled it back into a hushed whisper, “Are you telling me that there is no plan?”
She smiled serenely and reached out to touch the vertical water as it danced in the moonlight. “Oh Ku-Aya, there is always a Plan. But it is God’s plan, not ours.”
