Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Cliff Graham is an Army veteran and the author of the Lion of War Series. He lives in the mountains of Utah with his wife and children.

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Covenant of War

Zondervan

Chapter One

There were hundreds of men. Eleazar had difficulty counting them because they constantly shifted position. This, he knew, was being done deliberately because their commander wanted to disguise their size. This could only mean that their commander was experienced and competent. Moving troops without standard formations was a good way to hide the size of the force.

Eleazar clenched his jaw. Surely the commander for whom he scanned the enemy forces would not be leading a simple border-scouting company. His presence there was both dangerous and unnecessary — unless he knew he could not trust his own men, just as David did not trust Joab, currently standing on Eleazar's left.

"See him?" asked Shammah quietly, sliding a pouch from his side to his front.

"No," said Joab.

"He might not be there," Eleazar said.

"Abner would not miss a chance to take new ground. He is there," Joab replied, his eyes darting up toward the stone-covered ridge near the pool. "He might be scouting from higher up, but that would be unlike him. He will want to be in the middle of this."

Eleazar wiped his forehead, irritated. He was not a tall man, but he had a powerful chest and arms that were tightly knotted with muscle and twitched with nervous energy. Like the other warriors, his hair and beard were cut shorter than most men for freedom of movement in close fighting. His tunic was light and short, reaching only to his thighs. His back was crisscrossed with weapon scabbards.

His two companions in battle, Josheb and Shammah, were as different from one another as an olive from an ox. Josheb was the leader, slender and calm, quick with his wit and his blades. He possessed both blazing passion and calm contemplation, depending on the need. Despite his unassuming and ordinary physical appearance, his feats on battlefields and training arenas were so legendary that scribes had approached him about recording them. Josheb frequently sparred with entire companies — by himself. He moved so fast and had such endless reserves of physical stamina that to contain him was akin to containing a stampeding herd.

But he was best known among the fighting men for his laugh. Josheb knew well the value of humor to keep men moving when all hope seemed lost. If there was a laugh to be had at the expense of someone else, Josheb never failed to exploit it, and his most frequent target was Shammah.

Shammah was the largest and most physically imposing man in their ranks. His weapons were so heavy that only he could carry them. Somber, devoted to the Law of the God of Jacob, he was awkward and ill at ease when speaking to others — especially women. Even when presented daughters as war prizes he shied away and refused to marry them, offending many patriarchs in the process, much to David's annoyance and Josheb's endless ridicule.

The men considered him odd. He prayed much like David did, out loud and with everyone watching. He fell asleep at random hours of the day, sometimes even while standing up. His demeanor made it easy to overlook his extraordinary strength, both physical and spiritual.

They were known as the Three — the deadliest of all of the Lion of Judah's fighters.

"Maybe Abner will listen," said Josheb.

Eleazar nodded. The bloodshed must stop. Not even the most savage of tribal men, men such as Joab, wanted war between the house of Saul and the house of David to last forever. The bond of kinship that bound the tribes was nearly gone as it was. Early in Saul's reign there had been a brief period of eased tensions among the twelve tribes, but since the old king's death, the country had fractured between those northern tribes loyal to Saul and his line and the southern tribe of Judah with its new ruler, David. Neither liked the other, but all knew that disunity would eventually mean certain defeat at the hands of their mutual enemies.

The troops across the pool began to sit in ranks along the bank of the water, demonstrating a semblance of order for the first time as section leaders began to organize their men. There appeared to be about six hundred men with weapons, not counting their supply and logistics troops unseen at the rear.

Eleazar looked at their own force. Forty-seven of them. Good men, most of them. Joab was commanding the small force, but Eleazar, Shammah, and Josheb had been sent by David to keep watch over his nephew.

Three sons of David's sister Zeruiah were here — Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Joab was a capable leader — a brilliant strategist and brave warrior. But he was also vain and easily angered. Abishai, however, was respected by the Three. He was silent, brave, and humble, a stark contradiction to his brother Joab. Eleazar liked him almost as much as Josheb and Shammah.

But Asahel, Zeruiah's youngest, had every poor quality of Joab's and none of Abishai's admirable ones. He was foolish, pushed to heights of arrogance by his exceptional physical abilities. Asahel was the fastest runner Eleazar had ever seen, and his capacity for endurance during training sessions was seemingly endless.

The soldiers across the pool crouched together along the bank in a mass of wool cloaks and weapons. Even from this distance, it was clear that there were no men of Gilead, nor men of Ashur. Ephraimites, the largest of the northern tribes and the one most likely to participate in a maneuver such as this, were nowhere to be seen.

There was, in fact, only one tribe present, and this concerned Eleazar so much that he wondered if they should withdraw before anything tragic happened.

The men facing them were Benjamites.

Benjamin, the smallest tribe, was also the lineage of the dead king Saul. It had been hoped by those in Judah that the Benjamites would defect to David. If the tribe of the former king changed its alliances because Saul's son Ishbosheth was an ineffective and weak ruler, then the other northern tribes might follow suit.

This had not yet happened.

Eleazar and the rest of David's force were crouched among the rocks and spread out to give the appearance of size, hoping to fool the Benjamites into believing that they were just the scouting party of a larger force.

"Why hasn't he stepped out yet?" asked Eleazar.

"He's looking for David," replied Josheb. "He will come out soon enough when he realizes it's only us."

"David stopped coming on scouting missions last year. Abner knows that."

Eleazar blinked. He watched Joab from the corner of his eye. Wish David were here now.

The pool became quiet. Insects chirped. A few men cleared their throats. There were no taunts, none of the usual jeering or clanking as fighting men readied themselves. Neither side wanted to be standing opposite other Hebrews. And yet here they were.

"Who else do you see?" asked Joab.

"Baanah the Benjamite is to the right. Behind the archers. If he is here, then Rechab is here as well. Seems like an awful lot of...