The Boy Warrior - Season 1 - Episode 3

4 years ago

The Boy Warrior - Season 1 - Episode 3

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David gace the reins a little tug, urging the old mule on faster. The animal barely increased its pace, its rump swaying from side to side as it pulled the cart along the stony path.
He wiped the sweat from his face with the back of his hand, keeping his hold on the reins with the other. The noonday sun was blazing hot in the middle of the sky, and its heat literally stung his exposed skin. He was home from King Saul’s service. He had been at home since throughout the week on the instruction of the king so he could tend to his father’s flock. Now he was on break from that too.

He was supposed to be at the palace now, since he had stayed at home most of last week and just gone back for a few days, but King Saul had other pressing matters aside from listening to the tunes of his harp. The Philistines had come to attack Israel, and the King and his army had drawn up in battle formation against them in the Valley of Elah. The Israelite army was encamped between Socoh and Azekah, cities belonging to Judah.

David had a little skill at arms, the little bits and pieces he had picked up about the use of sword and spear while watching the soldiers at practice in their barracks. But he wasn’t going to war. David was a pro with stone and sling, and a smile came to his face when he remembered the countless pidgeons he had brought home for the family to roast and eat. But he wasn’t warrior material. Not yet, at least. And he was young. Too young to serve in the king’s army.
But his family had representation in the army. His three eldest brothers: tall, strapping Eliab, soft-spoken Aminadab, equally tall but lanky, and David’s favourite of all his brothers, Shammah. Bulky and short, unlike the first two, with a gruff voice and loud, barking laugh that David could swear he had heard once while tending to the sheep all the way from their house. Grown men, all.

And that was why David was here, on the road to Socoh and Azekah, sweating at the front of this wooden cart and bearing the full brunt of the blazing sun. His father had loaded him down with an ephah measure of roasted grain and ten loaves of bread, supplies for his brothers in the camp near the battle line at the Valley of Elah.

And there was something else in there too. Davd turned around to look into the cart, and he saw it and remembered. Ten portions of cheese, freshly made from cow’s milk just yesterday, for the chief of the thousand of the king’s army.
David’s rear was already starting to cramp from sitting on the hard wood for too long, and he shifted uncomfortably on the bench, trying to make the numbness he felt there a little better. There were trees on the sides of the path, and for a moment he considered taking another break to rest himself. But no. He couldn’t, not when he was this close to the camp. Just another hour or two and he would be there.

He felt sweat trickle down the side of his face, and he wiped it away again. There was the sound of voices behind him, and he turned to see two men talking and laughing. They both had their outer garments on their shoulders. Hired help. Plough workers, from the build of them. They were walking at a leisurely pace, and one of them waved to him as they passed. David waved back. They walked past his cart at the same leisurely pace, lengthening the distance between them and him.
They were onfoot, and David was on this old, sorry, sodden—

He gave the mule’s rear a lick with his palm in his anger, and the bony beast shook his head and snorted in pain and ran a few paces, before settling right back into its slow trot.

One of the men turned back, the same one who had waved to him.

“Easy on the beast, boy,” he called. “The poor thing is too slow, but he will give out if you overburden him.”
David nodded wearily and settled his back on the edge of the cart. The man was right. The worst thing would be for the mule to give out. He doubted if he could even carry a whole ephah of roasted grain for half a league. He resigned himself to the blazing sun and the cramps in his rear.

David tried to take his mind off his situation by thinking about the good memories he had in the palace of the king. Most of them had to do with food, actually. The king and his household consumed more bread, milk and cheese in each meal than his family did each week. And there were always platters of whole roast lamb with an apple in its mouth. Either that or a side of roast bull, sometimes fried deep in oil.

David almost always had his stomach full these days, but that didn’t mean he didn’t still enjoy bread and meat or just plain roast grain at home with his family. His brothers treated him like a child, but having seven older brothers meant that mealtimes at their home were always loud and lively.

And what young man didn’t have good memories with a girl he liked?

It was nearly impossible for Leah and himself to see each other during the day: he was in the king’s court, while she worked in the kitchens, but they usually got together at night. Leah was a gentle woman, and she usually asked him questions about his family. And about his annointing. David told her the only thing he knew about that, which was that he didn’t fully understand.

And Leah enjoyed listening to him play the harp. He had many songs he composed while tending sheep, and she enjoyed each and every one. Her favourites were “Sleep Well, Sweet Maiden,” which actually made her drowsy when he played it, and “Little Dancing Sheep,” whose inspiration he came by when once, for some reason, a lamb of the flock began dancing to a tune he was playing. Leah always laughed to near tears whenever he played that one.

If only she knew that she had been his inspiration for “Sleep Well, Sweet Maiden.”

Leah always said his harp made her sleep easy. Not only the king found peace in his harp, it seemed. He thought about the both of them, sometimes. They could get married when he was older, perhaps. Him a last son from a lowly family, and she a humble maidservant. They were a perfect match for each other.
David was distracted from his memories by the sight of the watchtower of Azekah and the guards standing watch on its parapet. The city was off to the west, and just beside its wall, out on the open field, were the tents. The city of Azekah was built up on the mountain, and the tents sloped gently downward, toward the valley. Across it, far in the distance, were the other mountains. Socoh was supposed to be somewhere to the east, though it wasn’t visible from where he was.

David urged his mule right through the broad way cutting through the tents, and he could tell as he passed the neat, orderly rows that no one was here. There was only an eerie silence.
That was when David heard it. A sound of steel rattling together, so loud that it was like a thunderclap. He listened, and he heard it again. And again.Boom-boom boom-boom. He stood up on the bench, and he saw rows upon rows of spears, bobbing up and down with the steps of the men who held them.
The Israelite army was marching to war.