Noah’s hands were black with the pitch with which he was coating the ark.
A stone was thrown. It missed its mark and glanced harmlessly against the dark wood. Sandy and Dennys left the ark and walked with deliberate steps toward the mob of little people. Dennys did not put down the plank he was sanding. Sandy still held the stone he used for a hammer. Neither boy threatened in any way; nevertheless, the people drew back slightly. Sandy spoke in a commanding voice. “No stone throwing.”
Dennys stood as tall as possible, looming over the small men in the foreground of the crowd. “Go home. Back to your tents. Now.” His voice was a deep, man’s voice.
There were advantages in being taken for giants. Slowly, the crowd dispersed.
Yalith sat on her favorite starlit rock, huddled over as though for warmth. She was not aware that Oholibamah had joined her until the other woman put her arm about Yalith’s shoulders.
Tears sprang to Yalith’s eyes. “Twin Sand and twin Den—“ Her voice trailed off-
Oholibamah finished for her. “As soon as the ark is built, they will have to leave. To go to wherever it is they came from.”
Yalith choked down a sob. “Twin Sand has asked me to go with them.”
Oholibamah drew back in surprise. Said, “It is a solution I had not thought of.”
“Then—what do you think?”
Oholibamah looked at the sky, intently, listening. Then she shook her head.
Yalith, too, looked heavenward. “The stars have never told me wrong.”
Oholibamah spoke thoughtfully. “I do not know why it is not the right solution for you to go with our twins. I know only that I hear the stars, and I agree. There is some-thing here that we do not understand. But do you hear the stars? They are telling you not to be afraid.”
A soft wind brushed past their cheeks, murmuring, “Fear not. Fear not. The pattern will be perfected.”
“I wish—“ Yalith whispered. “I wish Grandfather Lamech was still alive. I wish that El had not told my father to build an ark, or that the rains were going to come.”
“And—our twins?”
Tears slid down Yalith’s cheeks. “I cannot wish that they had never come to us- Or that I had not become a woman.”
Oholibamah held Yalith, rocking her like a child. “I, too, am afraid, little sister. I am carrying my Japheth’s child, and I am afraid for the future. I am afraid of the terrible flood, and all the death and anguish it will bring. Sometimes I am even afraid of Noah, he seems so wild. But I trust Japheth. I trust the stars. I trust El. I trust that all this will be for good.”
As the stars slid slowly toward the horizon, the sky paled, flushed with soft colors. A burst of joyous birdsong filled the air around them, and the baboons began to clap their hands.
The ark was nearly finished.
The twins talked at night in the tent, whispering in the dark. During the day they were never alone, and not everybody slept at the same time in the afternoon.
“We haven’t seen any of the seraphim,” Sandy said. “Not for days.”
“Nor the nephilim,” Dennys added.
“I’d just as soon not see the nephilim. Particularly Rofocale.”
Dennys said, “Every once in a while I think I see one. Or at any rate, when I see an ant, or a worm, I get flickers of color behind my eyes, reds and oranges and blues and purples. But they don’t materialize.”
“I need to see one of the seraphim,” Sandy said. “I need to see Adnarel. I thought maybe the scarab beetle would come with Higgaion, but I haven’t seen him.”
Dennys said thoughtfully, “I don’t think it means that he’s stayed at Grandfather Lamech’s. The only time I’ve seen a seraph when there were a lot of people around was when Grandfather was buried, and they all came Otherwise, it’s been only when there are one or two people. And what with building the ark, and staying in Noah’s tent we’re always with a gang. Maybe somehow we should slip away for a little while tomorrow and go out to the desert, just the two of us.”
“Good thinking,” Sandy said. “But why wait for tomorrow? We don’t want to go in the heat of the day, and we’d be missed any other time. Noah and Matred are always checking on us. They’re afraid one of us might be kidnapped again. So why not go now?”
“Right now?”
“Why not? We’re both awake.”
“Let’s go.”
“Don’t wake Higgaion.”
“Or Selah.”
“Or—“
“Shh.”
They slipped out quietly.
But not so quietly that Yalith did not hear them. She felt a vague disquiet. Rose from her sleeping skins and followed them.
“Kkk. They come.”
“Hsss. This is what we’ve been waiting for.”
“Szzz. At last.”
The nephilim slid out of their animal hosts, raising wings turned dark by night, so that the stars were hidden.
The little mammoth woke with a jerk from a dream of being beaten by Tiglah’s brother. Nudged Selah, who nudged Higgaion, who reached toward the twins, and felt only sleeping skins. Snorting in alarm, he padded across the tent toward Yalith’s sleeping skins. She, too, was gone. He glanced toward Noah and Matred, both sleeping quietly.
Selah trumpeted, softly, so that only the mammoths heard, and pointed her trunk toward Higgaion’s ear. The scarab beetle was there, a small, bright jewel against the grey earflap.
“What should we do?” Higgaion’s eyes queried. Cocked his head as though listening. Then he gestured to the other two mammoths with his trunk, and they followed him as he hurried out of the tent and ran toward the desert.
The twins were nearly surrounded before they realized what was happening. The circle of nephilim was closing in on them, slowly, deliberately. The sharp odor of stone and cold filled their nostrils.
Sandy felt as though a hand was pressing hard on his chest. He shouted at Dennys, “Quick!” and flung himself out of the not-quite-closed circle.
Dennys followed, pushing through purple-dark wings that nearly stifled him. “Run!”
The twins’ reflexes were swift, but the nephilim were swifter.
Again the circle started to form around them, and it was as though the breath was being squeezed out of them. Sandy ran, head down, like a battering ram, between Rofocale and LIgiel. Dennys rammed Eblis.
But the twins were only two, and the nephilim were many, and sure enough of their powers to proceed with deliberation and without haste. In their rush to get free of the circle, the twins had run in the opposite direction from the oasis. Now they were too far away to think of making a dash back to Noah’s tenthold.
The circle of nephilim drew closer.
Yalith saw.
“Aariel!” she screamed. “Aariel!”
The golden lion bounded across the sand, past Yalith, until it was between two of the nephilim, keeping the circle from closing completely.
Came a strange pounding, and then Admael the camel galloped white as moonlight across the desert, inserting himself into the circle. A flutter of wings overhead became visible as a pelican, diving down, broke the circle again.
And three small grey bodies hurtled into the circle, blowing sand and water into the faces of the nephilim, who burst out of their formation in a rush of brilliant wings.
The lion, camel, pelican, with an upward leaping of light, became the radiant beauty of seraphim.
Sandy and Dennys ran to them, ran faster than they had ever run before. Alarid caught Sandy, and Admael held Dennys.
The nephilim sprang angrily into the sky, saw Yalith.
“Her!” Eblis cried. “I want her!”
But Aariel reached her before the nephil. Swift as Eblis was, the seraph was swifter. He enfolded Yalith in gilded wings.
The three mammoths, trumpeting joyfully, bounded around them.
Bronze flashed against Higgaion’s ear, and then Adnarel stood before them. “Go!” he commanded the nephilim in a bugling voice.
“Kkk. You have no right to take them from us,” Naamah said.
“And you have no right to them whatsoever.” Adnarel was fierce. “Go.”
From the four corners of the desert the other seraphim came, to stand with Adnarel, Alarid, Admael, and Aariel.
Then Ertrael, whose host was the rat, whined, “Tell us what is about to happen.”
“Do you not know?” Alarid asked.
“I assume,” Ugiel hissed, “that since Noah is building a boat, he must be planning to find some water.”
“Your assumption is correct.” Admael had his arm lightly across Dennys’s shoulder.
“Kkk. And then what?” Naamah asked.
“Rain,” Alarid said. “Much rain.” The seraph raised his hand skyward, seeming to touch a bright star. A flash of lightning split the sky, bolted to earth with a great crash of thunder.
“Now,” Alarid ordered the nephilim.
As the nephilim slipped, one by one, into their animal hosts, Sandy felt a drop of rain.
The seraphim gravely led the twins and Yalith deeper into the desert, not explaining where they were going. Sandy started to ask, “Where—“ then closed his mouth.