Читать книгу Delilah - Eleanor Jong De - Страница 10

Delilah would have been happy never to see Samson again. As it was, their paths crossed again sooner than she could have expected.

It was a busy two weeks for everyone in the household, putting matters in order for the wedding. The preparations were made mostly by Phicol’s household as the ceremony was to take place there. Almost every trace of the betrothal to Samson had been erased in these new arrangements: the food, the drink, the dowry gifts, the flowers, the setting, even Hemin’s dress – the simple linen shift had been discarded in favour of a fussy red arrangement of pleats and folds, a gift from the groom – were all different from the first wedding. Delilah had the only remnant of that earlier day, insisting on wearing the orange dress, which Ariadnh naturally disliked now that it could be worn comfortably. Delilah had washed it herself four times, so that it would be soft against her skin.

With the focus almost entirely on the wedding, Delilah had managed to spend more time with Joshua, or ‘distracting him from his duties’ as her mother had put it with a raised eyebrow. He would come and go from the house with various deliveries, but Delilah made it her business to find out his movements, and would often be waiting for him as he returned. She found that from the verandah she could spy him as he stripped to the waist beside the well, and then ‘chance’ upon him before he was clothed again. She could tell he knew what game she was playing, and that shared knowledge only made the game more thrilling.

Inevitably, Ekron had been torn throughout the wedding between fawning over his employer and gazing wide-eyed at Delilah. The ceremony itself was a long and boring affair, with Phicol taking every opportunity to pronounce judgement on this or that, between introducing his new fourth wife to every one of the three hundred guests. People had come from as far away as Ashdod and other towns up the coast, and Achish had been required to meet many of them as well. His enthusiasm had never waned but the day had clearly taken its toll on him. The bruise beneath his eye had almost healed, barely noticeable in the dark smudges of tiredness. He was all but mute on the way back to the vineyard, and the stillness of the late afternoon air reflected everyone’s tired mood.

The cart was just through the stable gates when David, the chief clerk to the estate, came running out of the rear of the house.

‘What is it?’ asked Achish.

‘It’s Samson. He’s outside the front. He won’t come in but he won’t leave until he’s seen you.’

A wave of fear started in Delilah’s knees and spread through her limbs. She lifted herself up in the cart to peer at the house.

‘We’ll see him soon enough,’ said Ekron. ‘Anyway, you should keep your head down after the bashing you gave him with that jug.’

‘Wait here, please, everyone,’ said Achish, climbing out of the cart. ‘I’ll speak to him.’

But as soon as Achish had disappeared into the house, Delilah clambered out after him.

‘You should wait here with us,’ said Ariadnh. ‘That man is dangerous.’

‘Ariadnh is right,’ said Beulah.

‘But I was the only one who stepped in to rescue Father last time,’ said Delilah, disappointed at this show of unity between mother and stepmother. ‘I think Samson knows what threat I pose.’

‘Then I’m coming with you,’ said Ekron, jumping down beside her. ‘You shouldn’t be alone.’

It was easy enough to find them, for Samson’s voice was already booming through the house. Delilah and Ekron crawled into the hallway and crouched behind a pair of large terracotta urns that flanked the front door, taking in the unequal argument. Only half a moon had passed since the disastrous ceremony, but Delilah was quite sure that Samson was far bigger than she remembered. But perhaps it was simply his anger that had grown.

‘So you marry your daughter off to Phicol the Philistine?’ he said to Achish.

‘Please come into the house, and we can talk about this more comfortably.’

‘Comfort is irrelevant. You have broken the contract.’

‘Please, Samson. Let us not discuss it out here.’

‘The setting does not change what has happened.’

Achish sighed and shook his head. ‘I don’t wish to argue with you about this, but you must admit that it was you who took issue with the arrangements after they had been agreed. You rejected the dowry we had given our mutual consent to, you insulted my family, you threatened them, and finally you left the ceremony before its completion. I’ve known marriages to go ahead after a dowry has been resettled, but never after a groom has left the bride before the betrothal has been completed. What else were we to think but that you no longer wanted to marry Hemin?’

‘I thought we had an understanding,’ said Samson. ‘For all those months you courted me. You spoke such high words about making an example to end the petty squabbles between our peoples. Was that empty talk?’

For a moment, Samson’s anger seemed subdued.

Achish lifted both arms in frustration. ‘Of course not.’

‘Then she is still to be married to me.’

Delilah rolled her eyes. He was going round in circles!

Achish’s tone changed to that of a father speaking to an unruly child. ‘Not now that she has married Lord Phicol.’

‘Then you agree you have broken the contract.’ Samson pounded his fist into his palm.

Delilah winced at Ekron across the hallway. It seemed that the giant was exhibiting some self-restraint, but how long would it last? If anything, he was more terrifying than he’d been at the ceremony, for his rage was just below the surface now, dark and threatening like a late summer storm.

‘But surely you see that the marriage to Hemin could never have taken place after the way you behaved,’ said Achish. ‘You terrified her, you assaulted me, and the spectacle you caused disgraced my family in front of our community.’

‘Your miserable dowry disgraced me in front of my people too—’

‘It’s our custom!’ said Achish.

‘You must compensate me then for the broken contract. That’s your responsibility.’

‘I will not compensate you while we disagree about who broke the contract.’

Delilah’s fear gave way to pride. That’s the way to deal with a bully. Tell him straight.

It seemed to work. Samson softened his wide stance and took a deep breath. ‘When we first met, Achish, when we negotiated, you assured me that this match had your blessing, that it would bind our peoples together. Did your words mean nothing? You said the seeds of distrust were sown in the land our peoples share; would you now water them?’

Samson’s words were spoken in, if not a gentle tone, at least a reasoned one. And they took Delilah by surprise. Achish sighed, and let his hands drop to his side. He uttered a word, and Delilah could have sworn it was her name. Ekron looked suddenly pale. She strained her ears.

‘I will offer you my other daughter,’ said Achish. ‘Delilah.’

She was on her feet before her stepbrother could stop her, running out onto the verandah.

‘How could you do that, Father? How could you possibly offer me to this brute without consulting me first?’

Achish opened his mouth to speak, but no words came.

Samson glowered down at Delilah, then flicked at the air with his huge fingers. ‘You offer me this shred of a girl who tried to break my skull?’

‘You broke the jug with your big fat head!’ Delilah shouted back.

Samson’s face flushed dark with blood, and he ran a hand roughly through his braided locks.

‘Daughter, please—’ said Achish.

‘How can you possibly plead with me, Father, when you offer me up like a sacrificial lamb? I’d rather walk into the arms of Molech, God of Fire, than lie with him!’

‘Delilah, this is a business transaction—’

‘Is that what you think of me? Like a jar of wine or a bolt of cloth? I saved your life from this animal, and now, when he turns up his nose at your first daughter, you offer him your second!’

‘Lilah!’ Ekron pulled at her arm, but she shoved him back.

‘And you,’ at this she turned on Samson, ‘you’re probably used to people bowing down in fear and getting what you want. Well, I’m no girl: I’m woman enough to stand up to you and your ways.’

Samson shook with a deep, guttural laugh and poked his finger into Achish’s shoulder. ‘Your first daughter was a disappointment, but this one is an insult.’

‘Don’t talk about her like that,’ said Ekron, stepping in front of her.

Samson peered down and faced him full square. ‘Will you take me on again? Must I swat you like a locust?’

‘No!’ said Achish, moving Ekron out of the way. ‘I won’t have more bloodshed on my property.’

Ekron unclenched his fists but didn’t step back. ‘If you’re going to marry my sister,’ he shouted at Samson, ‘you should treat her with the respect she deserves.’

‘Ekron!’ Delilah turned to face him. ‘How could you take your father’s side?’

‘The girl is right,’ snapped Samson, ‘you know nothing of the ways of my people or our troubles in this land. You meddle with all the confident stupidity of youth.’

‘You’re nothing but an Israelite brute!’ she shouted.

Samson’s blue eyes were as cold as mountain snow. ‘You would rather lie with Molech than me, would you? Then you shall have your wish.’

Delilah held his gaze for as long as she dared, and every moment seemed to shrink her further, but just as she feared her nerve would fail her, he turned away and strode rapidly down the track towards the road.

‘Thank Ba’al he has gone,’ said Ekron. ‘Father, are you all right?’

‘I’m as well as can be expected – Delilah, wait. Wait, please!’

But Delilah was running off down the hill into the vineyard as fast as she could. The plaintive calls of Ekron and Achish fluttered at her shoulders but soon she was out of sight of the house and she doubled back across the rows, seeking out her childhood hiding place among the vines. Ekron would look for her at her father’s grave; he still didn’t know about this little burrow.

She paused in the cool, quiet leafy haven. Her nerves felt raw, her anger all-consuming. How could Achish have said those things? A business transaction! She knew that wives were listed by many men in the family accounts, and that when the time came she’d have to accept her place. But to be given up like that, without any apparent thought or consideration as to her feelings. It was too much to bear.

Thank goodness Hemin had not been there to witness the scene. She’d hear about it in time, surely. If not from Ekron, then via Ariadnh. And then she would gloat over how Delilah had been offered as second-rate compensation to the mountain thug.

Even after her fury had abated and she began to calm down, she couldn’t decide which was worse – to be offered to Samson or be rejected by him. Had Achish consulted her first, perhaps she might have agreed to be offered in Hemin’s place as a way of keeping face for the family she’d grown up in. Achish had been so good to her, and for some time now he’d let her help cut the vines and learn to blend the vintages. If he had only asked her first. Well, it would have been a way to show him she was grateful for all he’d done for her and her mother.

Her thoughts were disturbed by the rustling of branches in the next row, and Delilah peered out expecting to see Ekron. But instead she saw a number of small paws running swiftly between the vines, pale bushy tails with their black tips dragging in the dust.

Foxes!

It was unusual to see them so early in the evening, for sunset must be at least an hour away still. Delilah crawled out and stood up. Now she could see a haze hanging over the rows of vines nearer the bottom of the hill, and her nose wrinkled at the faint but distinctively sweet smell of burning vines.

‘Achish! David!’ she shouted. ‘Come quick! Fire!’

Delilah raced up the hill towards the house, desperate to get someone’s attention before it was too late. The latest crop of grapes was just weeks from harvest and to lose them now would be devastating.

‘Fire! Get water!’

Ekron was the first to hear her shouts and came running down into the courtyard. ‘The bell!’

Delilah hopped up on the bench in the corner and began swinging the rope to sound the alarm. The bell had hung there in the courtyard as long as she could remember, the portent of fire or flood, but she’d never once heard it rung. But in moments, Achish had appeared from the house, followed by servants, stable boys, Ariadnh and Beulah.

Ekron was grabbing buckets from a nook and handing them out to all the men and boys. ‘I saw the smoke from upstairs,’ he said breathlessly. ‘I was watching the fields to see if Samson was going to come back and I thought I saw him at the bottom of the hill. Then Delilah appeared over there and started screaming.’

‘Did Samson do this?’ asked Achish. ‘Are you sure?’

‘He is capable of it,’ said Ekron. ‘You heard him threaten us as he left.’

Molech, thought Delilah. This is all my fault. I mentioned the Fire God and now look what’s happened.

She snatched a bucket from Ekron’s hands and ran out to the well.

‘Delilah!’ called Achish, running after her. ‘You must stay here where it’s safe.’

‘Fire does not care what it burns,’ she shouted, hauling the pail up from the dark well. ‘But Samson has chosen us to fight it.’

They were lucky. That was all they could say about it. The lower half of four rows were lost to the blaze, but they had reached the flames before they could do serious damage to the roots of the plants. Shouts and screams of panic had given way to a determined, silent routine: a chain of women and men, boys and girls, Delilah among them, had quickly formed lines from the two wells to the burning vines. They had managed to put out the fire by the time the sun’s rim touched the horizon. The smoke from the blaze was now a dark stain drifting west on a light breeze, masking the stars.

When it was all over, and Achish was sadly pruning back the blackened wood by lamplight, Delilah slipped away from the crowd and went back to the house. Her hair was thick with the sickly smoke. Her beautiful orange dress was filthy, the hem heavy with wet earth, the bodice smudged with soot and water. It would perhaps wash out. She couldn’t wait to clean herself up. There was a small well round the back of the house, near the stable block, and she could rinse her hair there and wash her face before she went into the house.

She pulled up a bucket of fresh cold water, then plunged her head down into it, swirling her hair around in the water with her hands. Then she twisted it against itself into a thick coil and raised her head, blinking the water away and drawing the wet tresses over her shoulder. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and opened them to find Joshua right in front of her, leaning against the well.

‘I think you’re the bravest person I know, Delilah.’

‘We had to be,’ she said, deflecting the compliment. ‘The vineyard means everything to all of us.’

As he nodded silently she looked him over. The lamplight from the stable walls fell across the yard, glinting on Joshua’s damp skin, outlining his muscular arms against his grubby tunic.

‘I’m a mess,’ she said quietly.

‘So am I. We should clean up.’

Delilah held his gaze for a moment, then took a step towards him. She could smell the smoke and sweat on his skin, hear his breathing. ‘Then do you want to help me get out of these wet things?’

Joshua pulled her against him, and as her breasts pressed against his taut chest, she was sure she could feel his heart thudding. His cheek brushed hers, then his tongue began to lick drops of water from her neck, his breath drying her skin.

She heard her own soft moans, but she couldn’t quite relax. Her eyes searched the dark corners near the house, expecting someone – another slave, perhaps, or even Ariadnh, to step out. She eased Joshua’s lips away.

‘What’s the matter?’ he asked.

‘Not here,’ she said. ‘If Achish finds you …’

‘I’ll be banished to the salt mines,’ he smiled.

Taking her hand, he led her to a patch of ground behind the house, overlooked by no window. ‘Is this all right?’ he asked.

Her throat felt dry, and she nodded. As Joshua wrapped his arms around her once more, Delilah closed her eyes and tried to give herself to the moment. To her surprise, it was Samson’s face she saw, and his hands she imagined moving down her back. Why did he have to appear again now? She let her own hands touch Joshua’s shoulders, and saw the gooseflesh rise across them. At his waist, she felt his hardness press against her. Suddenly, the laughter with Beulah, speaking and laughing of Qadeshtu, seemed childish and hollow.

He kissed her softly on the lips, unclipping the shoulder clips of her dress. The material dropped over her skin, revealing the soft swelling of her breasts and stomach. Joshua backed away a little, his eyes travelling down her body. Her hands automatically went to cover her chest, but Joshua took her wrists gently and placed them on his own chest. In the light of the half moon she suddenly felt shy – she realised she’d been thinking about this moment quite often over the last two weeks, but now that it was here she wasn’t entirely sure what she was supposed to do.

‘There’s nothing to be afraid of,’ Joshua whispered.

He unbuckled his belt and drew his tunic off over his head, then laid it down on the floor. Shadows and light played over his smooth body, taut with muscle, and the only marking was a streak of fine hairs leading from his belly to the nest of hair from which his manhood stood proud but vulnerable against the patch of almost white flesh.

‘I’ve never seen …’ she said, letting her fingers trail across his chest and down. He groaned, and now kissed her deeply, giving way to his lust. She pulled him down beside her, and they lay side by side, his hand stroking softly at her buttocks, then gripping her flesh harder. The heat between their bodies spread across her skin. She arched her back as his lips moved to her throat once more and then to her breasts. She ran her fingers through his hair as his teeth plucked lightly at her nipple. Sensation fizzed across her skin, as if every tiny hair on her body were lifting as one.

Then his hands look the place of his mouth, and he moved lower still. His hot breath tingled on her hip-bone and she let her legs part for him. She gasped in surprise as his tongue found her sex. No one had told her of this. Their bodies seemed intertwined. The day had been one of endless thinking and shouting, and she was grateful to give way to touch and sensation.

‘Come to me,’ she said.

Joshua’s hair stood up where she had ruffled it, and he grinned, looking suddenly very young. He leaned to kiss her again, and instinctively, Delilah let her legs part for him. He moved his hips forward and she reached down to take his hardness in her hand. Their lips didn’t part as she guided him inside her. For a moment, there was a dull pain, growing sharper, but the next there was only softness, and their bodies came together and parted like the tide rolling up and down the beach. She pulled his body tightly against her, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and hooking her legs over his pale buttocks. His breath, on her neck, was a series of thin, quivering exhalations, and she abandoned herself to his rhythm. Would it be like this with Samson, she wondered, then felt guilty for letting her mind drift from the moment.

All at once, Joshua’s breathing became laboured, and his hips shuddered. She waited for the spasms of his pleasure to finish, stroking his cheek. His damp hair was stuck to his forehead, and suddenly the night seemed too warm.

For a while he lay inside her, and she felt her body sink from the height of their shared passion. The moon had moved over the house by the time they parted. Still dizzy from the new sensations Joshua had left in her, she said a simple goodnight. Joshua went back to the servant quarters first, checking to make sure the path was clear. Adjusting her clothes, Delilah walked lazily towards the darkened house, so engrossed in the novelty of what they had discovered together, that she failed to notice a small light hanging in the courtyard until she was close enough to see someone framed in the doorway. Ekron sat alone beneath the light, staring out. He hadn’t yet washed, and behind the streaked dirt, his eyes looked very white.

Delilah drew her dress more tightly to her body and walked slowly into the shadowy house. It was some time before she fell asleep, troubled as she was by the sadness and confusion she’d seen on Ekron’s face.