The Fifth Mountain Page 0,24

ask to put aside hatred. But He is deaf to those who would flee from love."

THE THREE OF THEM supped together every night. As the Lord had promised, meal had never been wanting in the barrel nor oil in the vessel.

They rarely spoke as they ate. One night, however, the boy asked, "What is a prophet?"

"Someone who goes on listening to the same voices he heard as a child. And still believes in them. In this way, he can know the angels' thoughts."

"Yes, I know what you are speaking of," said the boy. "I have friends no one else can see."

"Never forget them, even if adults call it foolishness. That way you will always know God's will."

"I'll see into the future, like the soothsayers of Babylon," said the boy.

"Prophets don't know the future. They only transmit the words that the Lord inspires in them at the present moment. That is why I am here, not knowing when I shall return to my own country; He will not tell me before it is necessary."

The woman's eyes became sad. Yes, one day he would depart.

ELIJAH NO LONGER cried out to the Lord. He had decided that, when the moment arrived to leave Akbar, he would take the widow and her son. But he would say nothing until the time came.

Perhaps she would not want to leave. Perhaps she had not even divined his feelings for her, for he himself had been a long time in understanding them. If it should happen thus, it would be better; he could then dedicate himself wholly to the expulsion of Jezebel and the rebuilding of Israel. His mind would be too occupied to think about love.

"The Lord is my shepherd," he said, recalling an ancient prayer of King David. "He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me beside still waters.

"And He will not let me forget the meaning of my life," he concluded in his own words.

ONE AFTERNOON he returned home earlier than was his wont, to find the widow sitting in the doorway of the house.

"What are you doing?"

"I have nothing to do," she replied.

"Then learn something. At this moment, many people have stopped living. They do not become angry, nor cry out; they merely wait for time to pass. They did not accept the challenges of life, so life no longer challenges them. You are running that same risk; react, face life, but do not stop living."

"My life has begun to have meaning again," she said, casting her gaze downward. "Ever since you came here."

FOR A FRACTION of a second, he felt he could open his heart to her. But he decided not to take the risk; she must surely be referring to something else.

"Start doing something," he said, changing the subject. "In that way, time will be an ally, not an enemy."

"But what can I learn?"

Elijah thought for a moment.

"The writing of Byblos. It will be useful if one day you have to travel."

The woman decided to dedicate herself body and spirit to that study. She had never thought of leaving Akbar, but from the way he spoke perhaps he was thinking of taking her with him.

Once more, she felt free. Once more, she awoke at morning and strode smiling through the streets of the city.

"ELIJAH STILL LIVES," THE COMMANDER TOLD THE HIGH priest two months later. "You have not succeeded in having him killed."

"In all of Akbar there is no man who will carry out that mission. The Israelite has comforted the sick, visited the imprisoned, fed the hungry. When anyone has a dispute to settle with his neighbor, he calls on him, and all accept his judgments, because they are just. The governor is using him to increase his own standing among the people, but no one sees this."

"The merchants have no wish for war. If the governor finds favor enough with the people to convince them that peace is better, we shall never be able to expel the Assyrians. Elijah must be killed immediately."

The high priest pointed to the Fifth Mountain, its peak cloud-covered as always.

"The gods will not allow their country to be humiliated by a foreign power. They will take action; something will come to pass, and we shall be able to grasp the opportunity."

"What kind of opportunity?"

"I do not know. But I shall remain vigilant for the signs. Do not provide any further truthful information about the Assyrian forces. When you are asked, say only that the proportion of the invading warriors is still four to one. And