Noah grabbed Naamah’s wrist. “Who are you?”
Her eyes flew open, and her voice trembled. “I am Naamah, your servant.” She clutched her baby closer to her chest. “I am the wife of your son, Ham.”
“No, I mean who are you really?” Noah tightened his grasp. “Where did you come from?”
“My father is Lamech of the line of Cain, and my mother is Zillah.” As she stared at Noah’s fierce grip on her arm, tears welled in her eyes. “Why do you ask me about things you already know?”
Noah jerked his hand away. “Don’t take me for a fool,” he shouted. “I have watched you ever since you boarded the ark with my son, and I know when someone is hiding a secret. Last night, as drunk as I was, I saw you bring him into my tent. You enticed him to take Chereb from me, and I want to know why.”
Naamah lowered herself to her knees, her eyes pleading. “I am a servant, Father Noah. Ham asked me to be his wife, and I accepted. Since he rescued me from death, I serve him with all my heart. So when he commanded me to help him steal the sword, I obeyed, as any obedient wife should.”
“He mocked me!” Noah shouted, shaking his finger. “He was pleased to see me shamed! And you saw it all.”
“I do not pretend to know my husband’s motives, Father Noah, nor do I know why he gazed upon you, but I am a chaste woman, and I assure you that I turned my head. I know what is forbidden to my eyes.”
Noah’s brow slowly relaxed, and he gestured for her to get up. As she rose, Noah looked at his two sons. “Should I believe her?” he asked.
Shem nodded. “You warned me not to be a merciless judge, Father, so I advise compassion. I know what Ham would have done to her had she disobeyed.”
“I agree,” Japheth said. “I have watched how she cares for Canaan. I guess I have a soft spot in my heart for mothers.”
Noah sighed. “As do I. Perhaps too soft.” He extended his hand toward the baby and caressed its cheek. “I still sense a dark secret in your heart, Naamah, but I will forgive your transgression.”
“Oh, thank you!” Naamah rose to the balls of her feet and kissed Noah. She pulled Canaan’s arm out of the blanket and guided his hand across Noah’s beard. “Say thank you to Grandfather!”
Japheth leaned close, his jaw dropping open. He nudged his brother’s ribs. “Shem,” he whispered. “Six fingers!”
Shem shoved his way between his father and Canaan, grabbed the sleeping child’s hand, and spread out his fingers. “Father! Look!”
Noah seemed perplexed for a moment, his lips moving as his eyes numbered the five fingers and thumb. “So that’s your secret!” he yelled, his face flushing scarlet. “You have carried the demon seed into our refuge!”
Naamah backed away, her whole body shaking. “No. I am a woman. I carry no seed but what my father has passed on to me.”
Noah’s eyes flashed, and he pushed his hand through his white hair. “How can this be? Only a demon or a Naphil can pass on such a seed, and Canaan was born eleven months after the flood began, so Ham must be the father.”
Stepping slowly backwards, Naamah gave him a quick bow. “Then by your leave, Father Noah, if you are convinced that my son is of the devil, I will go now and cast both of our bodies into the sea. Far be it from your servants to bring corruption back into our new world.”
“No!” Noah gestured toward his sons. Each of them laid a hand on one of Naamah’s shoulders, stopping her. “The boy must live,” Noah continued. “You have spoken truly about his fate as a servant. He is cursed, and he will be a servant to Shem and Japheth.” He pointed outside. “Naamah, you must leave us. Take whatever you need for travel and sustenance, and may God have mercy on both of you.”
Shem and Japheth released her. Naamah glared at both of them, clutched the baby more tightly to her breast, and backed out through the tent flap.
Shem jerked the flap closed. “She is a deceiver.”
Noah sighed, nodding slowly. “I know. Yet, God will use even her to glorify his name. From the harvest of Canaan’s crop will come a great evil, but the soil for his seed will carry another seed the gardeners do not expect. The crop God raises up will be as tares to the enemy’s wheat, one that sets the entire field ablaze.”
“A prophecy, Father?” Shem asked.
“Yes, Son.” Noah lifted his gaze upward. “A prophecy. . and a promise.”
Chapter 6
Mara held open the bottom of the scroll with her elbow and ran her finger along a line of text. The light from her lantern flickered across the page. She squinted in the dim glow, nearly swallowed by the shadows of the stony cavern, yet bright enough to read Mardon’s handwriting. The story filled her with wonder dragons, elephants, monkeys, and hundreds of other wonderful creatures all loaded on an amazing floating vessel long before she was born. She rubbed her hand along a sketch of a dragon, admiring the image of a world she had never known. What she wouldn’t give to have been there!
She glanced at the hourglass perched on her worktable next to her elbow. Only a few grains of sand remained at the top. As she rolled up the scroll with its heavy wooden dowel, pain throbbed in her stiff shoulder. She grimaced at the ache. The soreness was worse than usual, but no surprise, considering all the digging she had been doing.
She hugged the scroll to her chest and closed her eyes. As a tear trickled down her cheek, she wagged her head back and forth, trying to chase the beautiful images out of her mind. Seeing all those wonders was just a dream. There was no way an insignificant slave girl could ever hope to visit such a paradise, much less live there, so she might as well get back to reality, the reality of hard work, sweat, darkness, and pain.
Breathing a big sigh, she opened her eyes and admired the tall, arching alcove she had excavated in a massive wall, her rocky workplace for the past several days. Although it was fairly shallow, only about as deep as the fireplace cavities up in Shinar that she had read about, it still had taken a long time to chisel out.
She knelt at the ankle-high hearth at the base of her alcove and pulled out three loose bricks, making a low, wide cubbyhole, perfect for hiding away the scroll for a while. As she pushed the scroll inside, a clicking noise made her swing her head around. She gazed into the dimness that shrouded the massive chamber. It was probably just one of the timid rock mice that sometimes skittered through the air vents. Then again, maybe it was Mardon coming to inspect her work.
While giving her shoulder a one-handed massage, she slid a lever embedded near the bottom of the hearth, opening the magnetic field. A chorus of low hums sounded from the wall, each with a slightly different pitch that slowly rose in volume.
Taking a step back, she surveyed the bricks that lined the border of the alcove. The magneto brick at the top of the arch glowed green, just as it should. The three on the left glowed blue, indigo, and violet, while yellow and orange emanated from two of the bricks on the right. A third one remained dark.
Mara wrinkled her nose. What was wrong with the red one? The magneto should have energized by now. She leaped onto the hearth and pushed on the end of the malfunctioning brick, budging it just enough to align it with the side of the alcove. It pulsed red, then glowed steadily, adding its hum to the chorus. She brushed her hands together and smiled. Finally! The last magnet was working!
Stepping inside the alcove, she pressed her back against the rear wall. When she reached forward, her hands didn’t quite pass the point where the wall was before she chiseled it away. Stretching her arms to the sides, she could barely touch the magnetized bricks with her fingertips. Finally, she reached as high as she could, but the arch was still more than twice her body’s length over her head. It was perfect.