The hoofbeats stopped as the patrol came to a halt just a few meters away from Deker and Elezar. The four Reahn soldiers were close enough for Deker to see the emblem of Jericho emblazoned on their breastplates: a six-pointed star exactly like the one on the flag of Israel.
"What's with the Star of David?" Deker whispered to Elezar.
"It's the Blazing Star of Remphan," Elezar told him. "Quick, pull out your IDF tag so they can see it."
Deker removed his hands from the dagger behind his back and made sure his dog tag was on full display over his tunic. "But it's Jewish."
"A six-pointed star could never be Jewish," Elezar chided him. "Six is the number of man. Seven, like our menorah, is the number of God. The Blazing Star is Egyptian in origin. It represents the star god Saturn or Molech."
"Molech?" Deker had heard the name back in Shittim.
"God of the Reahns and the name of the idol secretly worshiped by the Israelites in the wilderness. Moses had his Levites slay three thousand Israelites because of it. The six-pointed star was never a symbol of Judaism. It was Solomon, David's son, who made it a symbol of the state." Despite the circumstances, Elezar seemed to enjoy lecturing Deker on Jewish history once again.
Deker said nothing more as two of the soldiers dismounted and walked toward them, one wielding a scythe-like sword and the other carrying an axe. The commanding officer remained on his horse. The fourth Reahn, meanwhile, rose up in his stirrups, bow and arrow trained on them.
One of the stone-faced lieutenants barked in ancient Arabic, "Open your satchels for inspection."
Deker glanced at Elezar and understood that these thugs wanted a piece of whatever they might be carrying before they got to the main gate, which in itself suggested bribes and corruption were not tolerated within the city walls.
Deker wordlessly offered his satchel to the soldier, who ripped it open with his sword. Several pieces of jewelry fell to the ground.
"We are tradesmen," Elezar said as the sparkling gems in the dirt fixated the soldiers. "We were going to deposit these at the treasury in Reah."
"No you're not," said the commanding officer from his horse. "You're going to deposit them with us, and then I'll decide if I'm going to kill you and fertilize these fields with your flesh."
Deker watched the soldier closest to him bend over to pick up a piece of jewelry, revealing a full view of the bowman with his arrow ready to strike.
He glanced at Elezar, who seemed to be thinking the same thing he was: The whole mission will be shot to pieces before it even gets started.
As the Reahn soldier bent over again, Deker saw his opportunity. He gave the soldier a knee to the face. The soldier snapped back upright, and Deker used him as a shield to take the arrow from the bowman. Then he grabbed the soldier's sword and hurled it at the bowman, catching him under the chin. The bowman grabbed at his throat and fell off his horse, dead.
The second dismounted soldier came at Deker, swinging his axe, ready to bring it down on Deker's head. Deker reached back and grabbed the two knives at the small of his back. Bringing both blades out in a flash, he plunged them into the soldier's gut, just beneath his breastplate. Blood gushed out as Deker withdrew the blades and the soldier fell forward dead.
He turned to Elezar, who had sliced the captain on his horse but failed to bring him down. Now the horse and its rider were taking off, and Deker couldn't have that.
Deker picked up the dead bowman's bow and arrow from the ground, drew back the string and aimed. The arrow wobbled through the air and overshot the horse. But his target was still within the one-hundred-meter range for one more shot. He picked up another arrow and pointed, aiming a few degrees higher for loft, and let go.
The arrow missed the rider but hit the horse, and down it went.
Deker ran with an axe in hand as the captain struggled to get out from under his mount. The man's leg was pinned painfully below the fallen horse. It took only a single blow to crush the captain's helmet and the skull beneath. Still the Reahn fought, striking out at Deker with his fist even as blood seeped out of his smashed helmet.
Deker brought up his axe to finish him off and felt a sharp pain as the Reahn thrust a dagger into his leg. Deker shouted and brought the axe down again on the captain's face, and the Reahn's limbs flopped to the ground, his thick fist opening up until the dagger fell from his lifeless fingers.
Deker's shout faded away over the field until there was only the whinnying of the wounded horse.
At the sound of the cracking of a stalk behind him, Deker spun around to see a bloodied Elezar pulling the two live horses he had captured. He was dressed in a Reahn uniform, which hung on his lean frame. Beneath the bronze breastplate he had on a red tunic, belted with leather and cinched up to keep the tunic from falling below his knees. His brown leather boots were part sandal, part shin guard. And the breastplate's six-pointed star shone brightly in the sun, as if the body armor's owner had polished it daily. But the bronze helmet was tipped too far back on his head, and Elezar had missed the smudge of blood on his chin strap.
"Change of plans," Elezar said, and stopped suddenly as he took in what was left of Deker's theater of war.
Deker stood there motionless, his fist loosening just enough to let his Reahn battle-axe hit the ground with a thud.
Elezar stared down at the dead rider and dying horse with a look of horror and fascination. Deker watched his superior officer's eyes drift up his blood-soaked body until they locked on his own.
"Maybe I was wrong about you, Deker. You might make a good Jew yet."