David Ascendant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page A

saw black boils in his armpits. “They are also around his groin.”
    “Yahweh be damned,” grumbled Goliath.
    Lahmi groaned.
    “What can we do?” said Ishbi.
    “Pray,” said Warati.
    Ittai blurted out, “To which god?”
    They stared at him.
    He honestly did not know if they meant to appease the god who had struck their beloved Lahmi or their own god to undo the curse. He wasn’t sure which was greater.
    “Dagon, of course,” Goliath shot back. There was no other option for him. His hatred of the Israelites and their deity ran so deep that he would never entertain anything other than defiance to the end against such a malicious being so full of evil.
    Glaring at Ittai, Goliath noticed that Ittai was sweating and dizzied. He was about to ask him if he was all right, but Ittai beat him to the question. The youth fell to the floor in a dead faint.
     
    When he awoke, Ittai discovered he was being carried by Ishbi through the streets.
    His head swooned. He could barely understand what was going on.
    “Where am I?” Ittai croaked out. “Where is Lahmi?”
    “Goliath is carrying him ahead of us,” said Ishbi. “We are taking you to the temple to plead for mercy and healing.”
    In his delirium, Ittai’s thoughts were confused about which god was which.
    He sputtered, “May Yahweh have mercy on us all,” and he blacked out again.
     
    Ittai came back to consciousness for another moment.
    They passed by a long line of Gittites holding and carrying their sick loved ones.
    He heard someone call out to them, “Get in line like the rest of us!” And another, “Not fair!”
    They arrived at the head of the line. Ittai could see the grand stone pillars and cornice of the temple.
    He saw Goliath’s back, carrying Lahmi. He heard him say to a priest, “We are highly decorated gibborim, and if you wish to keep the skin on your body, you will let us pass.”
    Ittai saw them pass through the lead pillars and into the darkened interior.
    He blacked out again.
     
    Ittai did not awaken the rest of that day. He entered a comatose state, along with his friend Lahmi. Goliath and Ishbi feared they would never awaken.
    The temple was of standard Phoenician design, rectangular and made of stone. Priests entered a long walkway lined with pillars on either side, and moved past various side rooms of offerings and storehouses. This was where devotees were sometimes allowed. It was called the outer court.
    Behind the curtains at the end of the long hall was the sanctuary or Holy of Holies. Behind that curtain, only the priests were allowed. It was a smaller area, just large enough for a dozen or so priests to congregate. The centerpiece in the sanctuary was the “high place,” an altar raised about eight feet above the floor with ascending steps where the priests would offer sacrifices before a diorite image of Dagon, a replica of the one destroyed at Ashdod.
    Here in Gath, the Philistines did not place the ark in this temple as they had at Ashdod. They did not want another embarrassing power encounter to discourage their people. They hid the box in a non-descript home on the outskirts of the city.
    Goliath and Ishbi laid the two lads on the altar at the feet of the image.
    For the only time in his life, Ishbi saw Goliath weep. He knelt over his brother and let out a guttural growl of anguish.
    “Dagon, hear my cries. We captured the Israelite idol. We offered it to you as a sacrifice. We did for you what no other Philistine had the courage to do. We risked our lives for your glory.”
    Ishbi was a bit more honest in his understanding. He knew they had done it for their own glory.
    “I vow to you that if you heal my brother, I will devote my entire life to you. I will dedicate every ounce of my being to the complete annihilation of the Hebrews and their dog of a god.”
    “Dog” was a Semitic derogatory reference to male cult prostitutes. They were considered the weakest of all creatures because they were submissive males in a