Banished (Forbidden) Read online

  Rough hands yanked at my arms, pulling so hard I let out a shriek. I barely had time to take a breath before I was pushed over the craggy overhang. When my feet tripped at the edge of loose rocks, I caught a glimpse of Asher. He stared into my face, his eyes filled with a strange light.

  And then I was falling through emptiness.

  10

  The crowd quieted and silence reigned above me.

  A moment later, I crashed to the ground. The impact knocked the air from my lungs. My bones shuddered, and a cloud of dirt rose up around me. Crawling to my knees, I gasped for breath, the sound raw and hoarse. My shins ached. I was sure I had bruises as dark as the ones on Asher’s face.

  How did I get to this place, this moment, to be stoned by my own people? All I had wanted was to be a part of them, to belong to the circle of women. To be loved by my aunts and cousins. A year ago, we’d danced and laughed, eating sweets, swaying to the drums of Nalla. I’d waited nervously in Aunt Judith’s tent, dressing for my special night to celebrate my betrothal to her son. What would my mother say to see her tribe treat her daughter like this? I’d lost the one person who could have fought for me.

  That betrothal night had begun a chain of events leading to this. My death.

  Under the hot sun the full force of what I’d done drove at my heart like a dagger. I’d turned my back on all of them when I loved Kadesh and not Horeb.

  But my execution was Horeb’s doing, murder done by his hand.

  I brushed at the sweaty strands of my hair and watched Asher slammed to his knees on the cliff’s edge, hands tied behind his back. He stared down at me, agony crumpling his face.

  My grandmother wept, her back bowed with age and grief, her tiny figure so slight it hurt to see her. A few women hid their eyes, but Aunt Judith pushed forward from the crowd. Hatred and revenge twisted her features into ugly lines.

  I returned her stare without guilt. She had a part in my death, but I knew I shouldn’t die with hatred inside. I tried to feel pity for her, remorse for not loving her son. But can one love a monster, even a broken one? Perhaps that had been my task. Horeb’s soul had been twisted by envy and greed, but also by fear. Fear of not being loved. Fear of not being important. Fear of being second place in his family. I could be sorry for that. He’d made gruesome choices, but I was paying the price.

  I didn’t want to cry, but the tears were coming anyway. I would rot here, stoned to a bloody pulp. After stoning, no one would mourn me. No one would speak my name again.

  I bowed my head, praying for strength to endure the looming horror—just as the first stone hit my arm. Even though I knew it was coming, I was shocked. My chin snapped upward, and a look of grim satisfaction crossed Aunt Judith’s features.

  The people on the cliff remained quiet, expressions hardened by the awfulness of my guilt, and their own guilt to stone the girl who would be their queen. How pathetic and tragic it all was.

  “Where are you, Kadesh?” I screamed into the empty blue sky.

  As though they had become one singular mind, the people of Nephish picked up a stone from the piles at their feet. Their fists curled tight. With ghastly cries, one by one, my people heaved the rocks at me, and I watched as they sailed through the air.

  The stones found their mark. My body was pummeled. My skin rose with instant welts. Dark red bruises formed on my arms. Two fingers on my left hand bent strangely at an odd angle when a large rock struck with a velocity and fierceness that dazed me. My shins were bleeding under my skirts.

  I put up my arms to shield myself, but my skin was soon streaked with ribbons of blood. I ducked and darted through the debris, trying to avoid a direct hit to my skull.

  I sought refuge but there was nothing except barren emptiness. Nowhere to run but a second drop into a deeper ravine. I’d be killed for certain if I attempted the jump. I wanted to live a little bit longer, even if it was only for a few more minutes.

  Scrabbling through the field of rocks and animal skeleton bones, I tried to cover my body with the debris of dead things.

  Above the jeering cries, I heard my grandmother’s feeble voice cry out. Covering myself with bones was useless. I needed to bury myself underneath a layer of it, like a second skin. A hole was what I needed. I found a low spot and dug my fingers into the dirt but my energy was waning from the injuries and hot sun.

  I was now in agony. Every moment death came nearer. A direct blow to my temple would kill me instantly. The pain was so intense I began to pray for my demise.

  I looked up to whisper a final good-bye to Seraiah. My lips parted and I saw my grandmother fumbling with something behind Asher. What was she doing? Nobody was paying attention. They were jeering and shouting and picking up more rocks.

  Seconds later, Asher staggered to his feet, his rope bonds broken. Astonished, I watched him throw them to the ground and jump down the cliff, darting around boulders, racing toward me.

  “Are you a fool?” I cried when he reached me. His right eye had swollen shut. His clothes were shredded, his wrists bleeding from the rough ropes. “Now they’ll kill you, too.”

  “I’m going to make sure you do not die,” Asher said softly. “That is the promise I made to Kadesh.” A fresh barrage of rocks rained down, and when I crouched, the young Edomite proceeded to coil himself around me like a snake, using his body as a shield.

  Asher grunted as the stones thumped his arms and shoulders, but I was safely cocooned in his arms, his head bent over mine, eyes closed tight as he withstood the blows.

  I’d never been this close to another man in my life except for my father and Kadesh—and not even Kadesh had ever sheltered me so completely with his body. I forced my mind to remember Kadesh holding me enveloped in his cloak, covering me with kisses. I dreamed of all the good things while my spirit left my body.

  “You’re not going to die,” Asher repeated in my ear. “I promised Kadesh. And now I promise you.”

  My eyelids flickered upward. We seemed to float in a mirage of pain. My lips moved, but nothing came out.

  “Stay with me, Jayden,” Asher said, holding me to the thread of life spooling away from me. “You’re in shock, you’re bruised, but you are not going to die.”

  “It’s not the end?” I sensed Asher’s heartbeat under the fabric of his tunic, saw the pulse in his throat, and heard each ragged breath he made.

  “Will you be all right if I rise to my knees for a moment?”

  “Don’t stand! They’ll kill you with one single blow.”

  Another rock skittered past in a cloud of dust. I cringed, grabbing onto the folds of his tunic, but he gently released my fingers. I watched his hands flicker at his waistline. With one single motion, he’d untied the slingshot hidden in his waistband. Swiftly he placed one of the large stones into the pocket of the sling. The next instant, the sling was whizzing in a circle through the air above us, creating a peculiar buzzing sound. Not more than three breaths later, Asher released the stone.

  I jerked my gaze toward the cliff, following the stone’s trajectory. All at once, Balzar dropped over the edge headfirst to the ground. Screams came from the women.

  “Got him,” Asher muttered. Before I could speak, he had a second stone whizzing in his sling. He was so swift I could hardly see his hands move. Another tribal council member slumped to the ground.

  The stones stopped raining down on us. The screams from the cliff grew. I watched my tribe scatter, dashing in all directions to escape Asher’s deadly slingshot.

  “What’s happening now?” The cloud over my eyes lifted. The noise of panic was split asunder by the sound of galloping horses.

  Asher let out a yell of relief and helped me rise to my feet. “Edomites on the cliff tops!”

  Dozens of Edom’s soldiers bent over their horses in full gallop, swords flashing in the sunlight. Nephish women raced back to the oasis, shrieking, although the Edomite army wasn’t attacking them. Just driving them away from the stoning cliff.

  “My fath
er and Kadesh are pushing them back.” The emotion in Asher’s voice was palpable.

  Holding me upright, Asher staggered across the field of bones. “I can walk,” I protested, but I kept slipping and falling.

  Before I knew what he was doing, Asher lifted me into his arms to wade through the pit of death. “You’re cold. You’re shaking.”

  The morning sun was a blessing of warmth on my face. “We’re alive,” I whispered into the hot skin of his neck while he picked his way through the death field of debris and bones.

  A horse approached, galloping fast. I flinched, afraid a member of the tribal council was about to mow us down with a sword or club.

  “Let me down! We need to run!”

  “Ssh,” Asher murmured. His hands brushed my bloodied hair from my eyes so I could see more clearly. “Everything will be all right. Trust me.”

  I touched the boy’s swollen skin. “How did you manage to get the ropes off your wrists?”

  “Your grandmother loosened them. I just wish I could have gotten to you faster.”

  The advancing horse wheeled up in a cloud of dust. I cowered against Asher, but it was Kadesh leaping off the animal, his cloak swirling, arms reaching for me.

  Raw fear laced Kadesh’s words. “Is Jayden alive?”

  “She’s alive,” Asher said. A wave of emotions crossed Asher’s face. Determination, pride, and relief. He truly loved Kadesh.

  Kadesh lifted me from Asher’s arms and placed his cloak around me. Fear of my death etched the features of his face. “I almost lost you again.”

  “I don’t think she’ll have any lasting effects from the injuries,” Asher told him. “She was able to bury herself and prevent the worst. No broken bones or gashes too deep to be healed.”

  Kadesh brought the young man to his chest in a brotherly embrace. I heard his choked tears of relief. “You have wounds to be tended as well. I’m surprised either one of you is still coherent.”

  “What happened out in the desert?” Asher asked.

  While Kadesh placed me on his horse, their words slipped around me in low, urgent tones.“We encountered a secret militia. We should never have sent you both in. I’m so sorry.”

  “Where’s the militia now?”

  “They’re dead,” Kadesh said flatly. “And so are the two men who sent you over the cliff to be stoned. Their declaration of capital punishment was unlawful. It meant nothing that you are Pharez’s daughter and were Horeb’s betrothed. Nobody in the tribe seems to care that your father has disappeared, either. Which is extremely baffling.”

  “So you heard he’s not here,” I said flatly. The sky overhead was too bright. “Seraiah said he went to the temple and never came home. He would never have left her by herself. Not on purpose.”

  “Especially with a rogue tribal council,” Kadesh agreed. “We’ll go to Tadmur ourselves and trace him.”

  “Hurry,” I whispered. When Kadesh reached down to take my hand, I flinched. I was horrified to see my torn nails, dirty and bloody. I cradled my hand in my lap, trying to hide the broken fingers.

  “You’re hurt, Jayden. You need to be tended before we go to Tadmur. I’d rather leave you at your father’s tent to rest.”

  “No, I’m going to the city with you. What if another tribal council member shows up to finish me off? I don’t trust anybody here.”

  “We’ll need to find a camel litter for the journey south, too. You’ll be recuperating and healing for several weeks. Nothing has gone as planned. We must leave no later than dawn. We’re not safe here.”

  Asher pressed a hand to Kadesh’s shoulder. “Don’t frighten Jayden.”

  Kadesh softened his voice. “Believe me, she’s my utmost concern.”

  Asher bowed his head. “I apologize for my familiarity, my lord.”

  Kadesh let out a small laugh. “Please don’t call me those high-minded titles. We’ve been friends since you were an infant and I held you in my arms, Asher. Without you, Jayden would be dead. We owe you her life.” He paused for a moment. “While Jayden is tended by her grandmother, we need to find a doctor for you, too, Asher. The city would be best.”

  “I don’t need a physician. You know my father knows how to use frankincense and herbs. I’m only grateful Jayden isn’t hurt worse.”

  Kadesh glanced at Asher when the younger boy spoke my name for the second time that day. We weren’t kinsmen and it wasn’t proper. Realizing his error, Asher glanced away, tightening the slingshot at his belt.

  When we arrived back at my father’s tent, Seraiah had hot water, towels, and medicine ready. Despite her frailty, her strength came alive when she was helping me. “What a strange day this has been,” she said, clucking her tongue.

  I lowered myself into the tub, wincing with each sting. My pulse raced with the need to find my father and Leila and get away.

  My grandmother poured hot water over my shoulders. “You’re freezing cold, dear girl. You’re in shock.”

  Images of my tribe’s hateful faces throwing stones in the hopes of killing me wouldn’t leave my mind. I sank deeper into the water, wincing at my broken finger. Every single part of me hurt so badly it was all I could do not to weep.

  “Sitting in this tub while you tend my wounds reminds me too much of the night when Horeb attacked me.” My voice was woeful, my spirit struggling to remain optimistic.

  The look on my grandmother’s face was scathing. “Both times at the hands of Horeb. So there is nothing else to say.”

  “Please come with us to the southern lands,” I pleaded.

  Her lips quivered. “I’m ready to leave this sad world, Jayden. Even though I’m disgusted with my tribe, I will peacefully return to my God.”

  “I hate the thought of you not in this world.”

  My grandmother smiled wanly and left me to soak. When the water grew cold, I dried off with one of my mother’s towels. My grandmother applied ointment to each wound and then wrapped me in a blanket to sit in a warm spot where the winter sun shone. Sitting knee to knee with me, Seraiah bound my bruised fingers together with a clean bandage and snugly tied the ends.

  “Asher saved my life, didn’t he?”

  “I knew he would,” Seraiah said calmly, not looking at me.

  My eyes flickered to her face and then away, not wanting to bring attention to her observation.

  Carefully, my grandmother folded the dress Chemish’s wife, Isra, had given me. The beautiful green gown was torn and filthy. “There’s no way to mend this,” she said, slipping a clean, soft dress over my head.

  “Isn’t this—?”

  “I retrieved it from your mother’s chest. Her dresses . . . well, your mother would want you to have them.”

  “Oh, grandmother,” I murmured. “I can still smell her perfume.”

  She placed a hand against my cheek and then fastened me up. The cut and style accentuated my curves when I tied the wide, red-trimmed belt at my waist.

  When Seraiah held up a mirror, a younger version of my mother stared back. I’d kept my head down during the stoning so my face held no bruises. “You are your mother from twenty years ago.”

  I lifted an aching arm to my necklace, touching the silver strands my mother had fastened around my neck on my betrothal night a year ago. There had been love and pride in her eyes. I couldn’t begin to imagine what she thought of me now, looking down from the spirit world.

  Grief burst from my mouth and my grandmother pulled me close. “There, there, sweet child. I know you miss her terribly. You faced death this morning with grace and a prayer in your heart. Your mother is near; I can always feel her here in the tent where she loved and served her family.”

  I nodded shakily.

  “She would have helped you with the betrothal. With your feelings for a man from a foreign land. Because, Jayden . . . your love of Kadesh is still dangerous and forbidden. Besides Horeb, there are those who will try to stop your union.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She tried to ign
ore my question, but I pressed her. “Who else would want to stop Kadesh and me from marrying?”

  “Kadesh is not the only one relieved you’re still alive.”

  I almost laughed. “Why would Asher stop us? He adores Kadesh and told me he’d do anything to help us forge a strong union for the throne of Sariba.”

  “That boy carries a secret torch for someone,” Seraiah said sagely.

  Her words startled me. Was she implying Asher secretly loved me?

  I glanced across the room and the boy’s shadow hovered at the tent door. “Is all well?” I called.

  He parted the doorway. Despite the bruises on his face, the young Edomite appeared in immensely better shape now. The grime was gone and he’d changed into a fresh tunic. “We need to leave for Tadmur. The guards of the city will help protect us from rogue Nephish tribal members.”

  It was time to say good-bye forever to the grandmother who had repeatedly saved me.

  Asher’s glance shifted between us. “I will do all I can to keep your granddaughter safe,” he vowed.

  Seraiah studied him as though she knew his thoughts. She understood people so well I often suspected God whispered directly into her ears. “Be careful of the swelling around your eyes,” she told him. “Put a salve on them and cover them as much as you can while they heal. Your horse can follow the caravan on its own.”

  Asher nodded, bowing awkwardly as he backed out of the doorway.

  My grandmother kissed my cheeks. “Horeb will be defeated, of that I’m certain, but be careful not to let anyone in Sariba defeat your spirit. Nobody can triumph over you unless you allow them to, Jayden.”

  “You’re speaking in a secret code,” I accused. “Who in Sariba wants to defeat me? I don’t know anybody there.”

  “In Tadmur we stand in awe and fear of the High Priestess of Ashtoreth. There are cunning idol worshippers in the frankincense lands and Kadesh grew up among them. Their beliefs could hold great sway among the citizens, and we don’t know Kadesh’s internal alliances.”

  “But his motives are worthy!”

  “I don’t doubt Kadesh. It’s the politics of his kingdom that’s uncertain. Nobody creates such a wealthy and powerful secret land like Sariba without making enemies along the way.”