Read Online The Crimson Cord: Rahab's Story by Jill Eileen Smith - Free Book Online

have. Take him to debtors’ prison to await his outcome.”
    Cheers erupted from the crowd as guards surrounded Gamal and lifted him from the floor. There was no time for apologies or goodbyes.
    Cala slipped an arm around Rahab’s waist as if to hold her up. “We must go.” She tugged again when Rahab did not respond.
    Cala shoved past and around shouting men and dancing women, until at last they broke free of the city’s town square. Cala stopped at last on a quieter street in the shade of a date palm, one of many lining Jericho’s boulevards. She released her grip on Rahab’s arm and put both hands on her knees, drawing breath.
    “We shouldn’t have come,” Rahab said, though her voice seemed oddly unlike her own. “I should have listened to you.”
    Cala straightened. “It is better to know than to wonder. No matter how bad the outcome.”
    Rahab nodded. “They will come for me soon. Dabir will make sure of it.” The memory of his pitiless frown would not abate, blocking every good feeling she had known for the man.
    “Then we will hide you from them.”
    Rahab stared at her. “There is no place Dabir’s arm does not reach.”
    Exhaustion lined Cala’s face, and Rahab suddenly realized it was her sister who needed to hide, to rest.
    “Come. Before I do anything else, I am taking you home.”

6
    W e can’t let them take her.” Cala spoke, arms crossed, before her husband and Rahab’s father and brothers. Rahab stood in the shadows with her mother’s arms pressed tight around her waist as though she would never release her. “It’s not her fault that Gamal ruined her life. She tried to stop him!”
    “What do you expect us to do, woman? We can’t stop the prince’s edict. She will be sold along with Gamal.” Tzadok glanced Rahab’s way but looked quickly beyond her, his guilt evident. If he had kept his mouth shut, Gamal would not have been taken into custody.
    “Gamal has brought ruin on his mother and father, his wife, and all of us.” Her father Sadid’s quiet words caused even the birds to still their chirping outside of the window of her sister’s house, where everyone had gathered.
    Tzadok turned to face Rahab’s father, his bearing tall and proud. “Gamal’s debt is his own. They can’t force it upon any of us.”
    “How foolish you are, my son, to think the king and his sonincapable of anything. They can do whatever they please.” Her father straightened, the lines of his face drawn into deep grooves, revealing a lifetime of work and worry. Rahab couldn’t bear to see him suffer so on her account.
    She squeezed her mother’s shoulders, then extracted herself from the woman’s frightened grip and came to kneel at her father’s side. “Abba, do not fear for yourselves because of me. I will speak to Dabir and offer him whatever he wishes to keep you out of it.” She patted his knee and smiled, despite the look of doubt that still lingered in his eyes.
    She stood and faced her brothers. “I will do all I can to protect you.” Dabir’s scowl flashed in her mind’s eye once more, and one glance at Cala told her they both doubted her ability to do as she’d promised.
    “When are they auctioning Gamal?” This from her brother Hazim.
    “At dawn.” Rahab glanced at the window. The sun edged near its setting place, its orange glow like a brilliant gem. Perhaps she could reach Dabir even yet tonight.
    “We must hide you, Rahab. Our men can keep you safe.” Adara’s innocent voice spoke as she quietly emerged from the shadows. She looked to their father. “Please, Abba, do something to help Rahab. This is not her fault.”
    Rahab glimpsed the quick flash of memory in her father’s gaze, the look of guilt he still bore. After Gamal had grown distant, even hostile, toward her family, her father had regretted his choice of husband for her. Though he had never voiced his thoughts, she knew it in every unguarded moment when Gamal was in his presence.
    She walked to Adara’s