Covenant of War Read Online Free PDF Page A

nodded. “Abner didn’t say it, but I think he recognized my name. They don’t wish to fight.”
    They stood quietly, watching Abner and Joab confer with their troops. The Benjamites across the pool were talking and pointing again. Eleazar realized they were pointing at them.
    “Must have figured out who we were.”
    “We’re the only three standing apart from the others. We need to think of a better name. Something more terrifying than ‘the Three,’ ” Josheb said.
    “I like our name,” Shammah said.
    Eleazar rubbed the back of his stiff neck. During the night his head had slipped off the bedroll and he’d slept with it bent at an awkward angle. “I would love to know Benaiah’s thoughts about all this.”
    “As would I,” Josheb said. “But if he were here, Joab would be even more irrational than he already is.”
    “Where is Benaiah?” asked Eleazar.
    “In Philistia with Keth. Making the kings feel comfortable.”
    “Do you think he gets tired of the traveling? Hard to be David’s bodyguard when he’s always gone.”
    “No choice. He and Keth are the best with foreigners. Benaiah spent time with the Egyptians, and Keth was a Philistine mercenary.”
    Shammah turned. “I never knew Keth was with the Philistines.”
    “I didn’t either until Benaiah mentioned it not long ago. Easy to understand why he kept it a secret. Walking into David’s camp with tales of being paid in Philistine gold to kill Hebrews would tend to make one unpopular.”
    “Good man. Beautiful wife. Did her father ever make his peace with her marrying a foreigner?”
    “It’s hard not to like Keth. Although I think her father would prefer that he go by Uriah rather than his pagan Hittite name.”
    “I think he feels as though he is still unworthy to have a Hebrew name,” Shammah said.
    “Hopefully we’ll see them soon.” Eleazar said. It was understood by all of David’s elite troops that the less they knew about one another’s movements the better. Each would be sent here or there for purposes known only to their leader. If one of them was captured, he would be unable to give the complete overview of David’s movements. The Thirty were rarely ever in one place together; their appearances all over the kingdom kept the population uneasy.
    Across the pool, twelve Benjamite fighters had been selected and were standing in the clearing awaiting their opponents. They had stripped to the waist and wrapped their tunics around their hips. These were obviously the choice warriors among the Israelite ranks, their bodies shaped by well-defined muscles and marked by scars from previous battles. They stretched their arms and legs, jumping up and down.
    “Joab is untrustworthy,” Shammah said, cracking his knuckles.
    “Nevertheless, we have to wet-nurse him for David’s sake,” Josheb said.
    Joab had been conferring with his brothers, but now he walked through their troops, his head sweeping back and forth, searching for the fighters who would represent them. One by one, he pointed, calling them out.
    “He’s picking the new men. Do you know them?” Eleazar asked Josheb.
    “Just what I’ve gathered since we have been out on patrol. They keep to themselves. They paid close attention to their
abir
instruction, though, so this should be easy for them.”
    The
abir
was the ancient fighting method of the Hebrew tribes that the Thirty had mastered, instructed by the Three. Josheb had studied it as a boy from the old scrolls his father had kept; then he taught it to the other two. It was based on the movements of the animals in their lands: the lion, the bear, the eagle, and others.
    Joab had appointed twelve men, and now they were assembling at the front of their lines and preparing themselves.
    Joab strode toward the Three’s position. He spoke under his breath so the troops could not hear him.
    “You three need to be available in case something goes wrong.”
    “Nothing will go wrong unless your troops stir up trouble,”