Читать книгу Delilah - Eleanor Jong De - Страница 13

Samson appeared not to have heard her. ‘Your rescue will come at a price.’

So these were his men. All the heroic combat was nothing but a show! Delilah couldn’t contain herself, and why should she?

‘You rescue us to get our thanks,’ she hissed, ‘but now you hold us hostage until we pay our own ransom.’

‘Delilah,’ cautioned Achish. ‘We’re hardly in a position to argue.’

‘That’s exactly the problem,’ snapped Delilah. ‘Samson always makes sure he gets what he wants because no one ever has the courage to challenge him. And if they do, he sets fire to their property.’

‘I had nothing to do with the burning of the vines,’ said Samson.

‘So you say,’ said Delilah.

‘So I say,’ he repeated, his voice as cool and close as the night air. He was lit by a single torch that he held in his hand, his shadow heavier than the dark, his great braids glistening like an army of serpents awaiting his command to strike. ‘You are still several miles from Ashkelon and while I may hold influence over some of these more desperate men, I cannot guarantee your safety. You should at least offer these men something to appease them.’

‘That’s exactly what I mean!’

‘Delilah, please,’ said Achish quietly.

She slumped back on the cart bench. Her stepfather rarely had cause to use a warning tone with her these days.

‘You are a sensible man, Achish,’ said Samson, suddenly the peacemaker, ‘and a far more accomplished diplomat than your son-in-law Lord Phicol. So I know that you will understand when I claim some small compensation for your people’s harsh and unwarranted taxes on my people.’ He held out the torch and waved it gently over the cart. ‘This will buy off the men who attacked you, and word will go out that you have made a token gesture to repay years of theft.’

Delilah felt Achish sigh quietly in the dark. ‘I understand.’

‘The men will take one donkey, the remainder of the wine and whatever money you have.’ At this, Samson reached out into the dark between them and grabbed Delilah’s wrist in his fist.

‘Get off me!’ She wrestled against him, but she could feel her bones bending beneath his grip and she quickly gave up.

‘Seeing as you had already thought to buy yourself out of trouble, you can give up this necklace in your lap, and you,’ at this he grasped Achish’s hand, spreading the fingers out for inspection, ‘you will give up your rings. The sum of those items will buy off these men.’

Delilah looked at Achish, who nodded briskly as he removed the rings from his fingers, including one her own mother had bought for him. Delilah fingered the gold necklace regretfully then flung it at Samson who snatched it out of the air without a glance at her. He rammed the torch into a holster in the corner of the cart, then reached down and hauled up the still groaning bandit who had been so interested in Delilah.

‘Take these things and get out of my sight,’ he said, switching to Hebrew. ‘You are lucky I didn’t leave you bleeding in the dark for the wolves. But if I hear you have crossed my lands again, I’ll hunt you down.’

Delilah stifled her surprise. He didn’t know she understood Hebrew, so his threat to the bandits must be genuine. These weren’t his men after all, though clearly he held some sway over them. She watched as he dropped the jewellery into the man’s hand, then swiftly relieved Achish of his purse. He released one of the donkeys from its harness, then reached into the cart and plucked out the remaining jars of wine, two at a time, laying them down on the dirt. The men swarmed over the prizes, snatched them up and were gone as quickly as they had arrived. Almost instantly, the desert was still and quiet again. The remaining donkey brayed wistfully for its lost companion.

‘And now what?’ demanded Delilah, still enraged despite this confusing development. ‘I suppose you’re going to leave us here to struggle home with a single donkey.’

‘But your cart is now empty,’ reasoned Samson, ‘so the donkey will have less to pull. Besides, I’ll escort you the rest of the way to Ashkelon. Your driver is in no state to look after you.’

‘In the name of Ba’al!’ muttered Delilah, clambering over the cart to the driver’s bench. Saul was slumped to one side, breathing heavily. ‘I need light here.’

‘Is he badly hurt?’ asked Achish.

Delilah peered at the driver beneath the glow of Samson’s torch, her fingers working their way across his head and around his face. Saul winced as she found a spongy wound above his temple and her hand became wet with blood. She wiped her hands quickly on her stole. ‘I don’t think so. Just a nasty cut. Can you sit up, Saul?’

The driver tried to push himself up, but his arms seemed too weak to hold him. ‘He should lie down,’ said Samson. He lifted Saul easily and laid him with care in the base of the cart where the wine had been stacked. He fiddled around beneath the benches for a moment, then stepped back.

‘You can drive the cart,’ he said to Delilah.

Delilah glanced at Achish who shrugged. He could drive the cart himself, of course, but Delilah knew he’d suffered quite enough indignity for one night. So she felt in the shadows for the remaining harness, then gave a quick snap of the rope and the donkey hesitantly started forward.

They drove like that for some way in the silent night, Delilah concentrating on the movement of the donkey instead of trying to untangle all that had happened that day. They made an odd party, the quiet, brooding giant trotting along on the road beside them, a young woman of some wealth with reins in her hands, the silent Philistine with his Israelite escort. She felt the cart sway a little beneath her, and soon felt Achish’s quiet presence close at her shoulder.

‘We have been lucky,’ he murmured.

‘I don’t know how you can say that.’

‘We could be dead.’ His eyes passed briefly over her dishevelled clothes. ‘Or worse.’

Delilah didn’t have the energy to argue, but her stepfather’s timidity made her grip the reins tighter. Being in debt to Samson was surely a fate worse than death. She changed the subject.

‘Can you look around in the bottom of the cart for me please? Jered gave me a bowl—’

‘Did he now?’

Delilah smiled into the dark at Achish’s quick understanding of the gift’s significance. ‘It’s a very pretty one, from the south, rather expensive I’m afraid, and I suppose it’s broken. Or stolen,’ she added.

‘Your bowl is undamaged,’ said Samson from the shadows. ‘It’s tucked beneath the bench.’

‘What do you know—’ Delilah stopped herself. ‘I suppose we should be grateful you didn’t make us walk home,’ she said to him.

‘The donkey represents the Philistine tax on Israelite animals and the tax on vehicles,’ said Samson. ‘The wine represents the tax on farms and vineyards, food and drink. The jewellery represents the tax on imported goods such as gold and jewels, and the money is the tax on banking and lending. These are four of the main taxes made on the Israelite people. You’ll be pleased I didn’t choose to exploit the tax on families.’

Delilah fumed at the implicit threat. She did not wish to confirm his view of her as Philistine but neither did she want to reveal her own Israelite blood. That old sickness rose in her throat at the conflicting demands on her loyalty. Yet if he’d gone through with marrying Hemin in the first place, perhaps a solution to the troubles might have been a little nearer.

‘You’re not exactly doing your bit for peace,’ she murmured.

‘You don’t know what you are talking about.’

‘Then tell me,’ cried Delilah in frustration, ‘and stop being a pompous fool who treats me like a little girl—’

‘Delilah,’ warned Achish.

‘—And get down off your pedestal. You think you look regal, I suppose, but really you’re just as much a fool as Phicol. He’s got his fancy clothes and you with your silly hair—’