Read Online Caleb Vigilant (Chronicles of the Nephilim) by Brian Godawa - Free Book Online Page B

tumbling. His sword was no longer in his hands. It was by the pole. The wood and debris began to fall down upon them all.
     
    Salmon found his opportunity and followed his opponent’s swing until he knew his moment to strike. And he did, piercing the giant through the stomach. He screamed and backed up.
    Salmon did not anticipate that his strike, since it did not kill his enemy, would only make him angrier. The Anakite unleashed a fury of blows that Salmon could barely keep up with. His arm could not hold up. The hits had worn him down.
    At last the sword flew from his hands and he was up against the wall again, but this time unarmed before his towering menace.
    The Anakite smirked with satisfaction and swung his blade to cut Salmon in half.
    But before he could, a serpent wrapped around his arm —that is, a serpent blade—and sliced his arm off. The sword fell to the ground in a clatter.
    Salmon rolled, picked up his blade , and jumped upon the monster, jamming it into his sternum and up into his heart. No mistakes this time.
    The Anakite was dead.
    He looked up to see Caleb with his whip sword in one hand and the head of the hammer Anakite in his other.
    They were trying to catch their breaths. Their fight had exhausted them both.
    Rahab’s scream drew their attention to the bottom of the staircase.
    Jebir held Rahab from behind with his sword to her throat.
    He would have killed her immediately, but then he would have to fight his way through the two warriors who just slaughtered his Anakim, which was not a hopeful possibility. If he could just get to the doorway he could escape.
    “Back away!” he yelled.
    Caleb and Salmon did not move.
    “I said back away!”
    They started to move backward, but slowly.
    Rahab had one hand free. She slipped it beneath her own robe to pull the secret dagger she kept .
    But before she could do anything with it, Jebir saw it and knocked it out of her hands to the floor.
    He inched his way toward the door, watching the Israelites like a hawk.
    A few more feet, and he would cut her throat and run into the streets.
    Caleb stepped forward.
    Jebir tightened his grip on Rahab and stopped.
    Caleb’s hand tensed on his blade. The son of perdition was too far away. His blade would not reach.
    Salmon could not throw his sword because Rahab was in front of Jebir.
    They were not going to be able to stop him.
    And they did not realize that he was going to kill her anyway.
    He reached the doorway and smiled.
    But instead of cutting Rahab’s throat, he gritted his teeth in pain, released Rahab, and dropped his sword, trying to reach behind his back.
    Behind him was the small and stealthy young Yasha, Rahab’s sister. Jebir had completely forgotten about her. She had picked up Rahab’s dagger and slipped behind Jebir to the doorway, so that when he got there, she jammed the blade into his rib cage, puncturing his lung from behind.
    Jebir fell to his knees.
    Yasha cried in horror at what she had done.
    Salmon and Caleb ran to help Rahab.
    But Rahab was fast enough. She pulled the dagger out of his back and heard a gush of wind collapse his lung. He gasped for air.
    She pulled his head back by his hair so he could see her face.
    She said, “ I should have known you would try, you Canaanite piece of filth,” and cut through his throat.
    But she had surprised herself. She had called him a Canaanite, as if she were not one. She had already begun to see herself as one of these Habiru.
    Salmon reached her and they hugged with desperation for her safety.
    Yasha was frozen in horror at what she had done. She did not believe she could do such a thing. But when her beloved sister was in danger, she just reacted without thinking.
    Caleb held Yasha. She burst out in tears into his shoulder. She shook like another earthquake was hitting her, but Caleb held her tight until she calmed in his strong arms.
    He led her gently outside.
    They could see that the battle was already over. The Israelites had captured