The next two days until they docked in Alexandria were very strange ones for Judah. All the surviving prisoners, including Kallendra and her children were kept shackled hand and foot, presumably destined for the slave market, while Judah was separated and brought back to the pirate ship. There, once they took all his weapons, he was allowed to roam free. At times he was given scut work to do but at others he was allowed to take part in comradely bouts of drinking with the marauders. One night, when the marauders got rowdy, he even participated in bouts of wrestling to discern who on the ship was the strongest. In general they seemed to treat him as one of their own and didn’t really question that this was their leaders will. In point of fact, no one seemed to question their leaders intentions, except Judah himself, who constantly fretted over the Marauder chiefs opaque intentions. From what Judah had already seen, the man seemed to almost relish being an unpredictable maverick. Judah couldn't stop himself from wondering whether the initial favor he was shown was just a trap.
Finally, that last evening before they were set to arrive in Alexandria, the marauders leader called Judah into his private cabin to hash out his fate.
“Tell me, were are you really from?” the Marauder leader demanded from where he was sitting on cushions and sipping wine. Judah decided it would be best to tell the truth.
“I am a Judean, though I haven’t been there in near thirty years. I left home as a teenager never intending to look back and joined the Roman Auxiliaries. I have served with distinction in Gaul, Achaea and where ever it has been demanded. Eventually I found my way to becoming a proper legonairy after I found the favor of a young Roman noble. Much later when he became governor in Achaea I followed him there as his chief officer and managed the nearby legion attached to his position. However, I recently had a falling out with him and I split from him to head off on my own. I up and left by ship in the wee hours of the morning; in truth unsure of where I was ultimately heading.”
Though a bit condensed, Judah decided to spit out the truth even though he had no idea where that would get him. He was about to find out if his brethrens reputation was as bad as the cook had told him. The Marauder chewed on his lip for a bit, pondering what he’d been told, before deciding he didn’t care about Judah's nationality and that actually it gave him an idea of what their course would be going forward. "Your brethren will pay a fortune in ransom, they always do,
“But don’t let my men know about it,” he warned, “the Judeans are hated around here and we have had many run ins with those fleeing your country, who are truly fiends and horrid people. It will only bring trouble for those who are less sophisticated than me, to know where you are from.”
Judah was thrilled that the marauder leader on his own had seen the same solution that Judah himself had been hoping for. After that they sat together for a while, hammering out a plan forward with all the details. When it was all done Judah was much relieved and both of them were happy with the result. The Marauder was going to get rich while Judah was to receive his life (for which the marauder leader reminded him he must be ever grateful for). They even worked out what would happen to Kallendra and her family in a way that, while not leaving Judah entirely happy, at least let Judah live with himself. Kallendra was going to be spared but Judah strongly suspected she would not thank him; she was going to have to face a terrible choice. Given the circumstances it was a great deal; the best Judah was going to be offered. Beggars couldn’t be choosers.
The next day found Judah, more than a bit battered, sitting locked in the quarters the marauders leader had claimed as his own. Just moments earlier, the Marauder Leader had made a big show of beating Judah in front of his men before finally placing him in chains and dragging him off to his private quarters. It was actually part of the plan, seeing that Judah was nolonger getting preferential treatment would help put the rest of the marauders of the scent that something fishy was going on. Soon Kallendra was supposed to join him.
Sure enough, eventually, Kallendra was dragged in together with her daughter, kicking and screaming and throwing up a crazed ruckus so that it took four men to restrain her.
“My Son,” She howled, “where is my son?
“Where are you taking me,” she demanded, eyes darting in all directions like a crazed woman, clawing at her capters for all she was worth, despite the four men and chains holding her back.
Her daughter followed behind her, coerced by a single man, a look of petrified incomprehension plastered across her face as she watched her mother completely fall apart. As the escorting marauders exited, slamming and locking the door behind them, Kallendras crazed eyes fell upon Judah’s glum face.
"You," she spat, setting upon him with a vengeance. “This is your doing is it not? You are the source of this evil! This terrible evil too tear a child from his mothers grasp.”
Nearly frothing at the mouth in her agony, and having no other victim to vent her impotent wrath on, she turned the full force of her venom on Judah, ranting over his theft of her child. Glumly, he just sat there, through the whole rant, his conscience forcing him to face her brutal assault. She may not have understood exactly what part he had played in setting this in motion but somehow she had intuited that he had a part in whatever the marauders were now doing. And she was right. So Judah just stood their taking it,listening stoicly to her acusations. Mentally he’d walled himself off from the realities of his choice and it wouldn’t hurt his humanity to let him feel her pain just for the moment.
Eventually the little daughter got her mother calm down enough to make her own desperate inquiry as to what was going on. “Whats happening to us,” the little girl asked, her eyes bleeding her panic. “Everyone else was led off to the dock, while we were separately taken here. Whats, happening?” She was also frantic about her brother, “Where is he, where is he?” She repeated again and again. “Shouldn’t he be here with us, shoudn’t he be?” she wondered, growing more and more fretful with each passing moment.
When the Kallendra finally responded in her forlorn voice, the terrible truth looked them all in the eye
“The rest of the prisoners are being taken to the slave market where they were going to be sold, that’s whats happening” Kallendra told her young daughter, bitterly.
The little girl looked back wide eyed. “Like the slaves we used to see in back home in Achaea?"
“Yes being a slave everywhere is mostly the same. Lets hope our future owner treats us as nicely as we used to treat our own slaves. Not like the owners you sometimes used to watch at the slave market beat their slaves.” Kellendra, sighed, “Also your brother is in chains below deck and I don’t know why were separated from him and brought here.”
Judah took in this new nugget of information together with the little girl, a bit surprised for just moments ago she seemed as if she knew exactly what was happening and blamed it on him. There was no point in keeping the details from her so he spoke up to fill in whatever he knew about their situation that she hadn't yet intuited.
“We are going to be sold, just like everyone else” he admitted after an agonizing moment, “the only difference is that if our luck continues to hold we will be sold to the man I have chosen who will then set us free. Of course this assumes everything goes as planned.
I can’t guarantee that the man I have in mind actually makes the purchase at the exorbitant overprice he will be asked. I can’t guarantee he frees us as I intend. And I certainly cant guarantee that the rest of the marauders don’t notice that they have been swindled by their leader out of their money. He intends to keep our inflated sale price, entirely for himself.”
Kellendra, glowered back at him stony faced and he saw that what she really wanted to know was what he had left out. Kallendra's daughter asked the question for both of them
“but what are they doing with my brother, Arasis?“
The silence hung in the air as Judah desperately wished for something that would save him from having to answer this question. Reluctantly, he finally explained to them the terrible price of the deal, he’d struck.
“Arasis, has to stay here. That was the terms of the deal he insisted upon.” Judah put all the venom he could into the word he. It was all his -the maureders- fault, Judah told himself again and again. “He wouldn’t give us all up-“
“Don’t worry,” Judah hastened to explain, upon seeing the blanche in Kallendras face. “He wont become a slave. That’s not what they want him for. They want him to stay onboard the ship as an errend boy. Eventually he will grow up to join the crew of the ship.” Judah saw the pain his words caused and wished there was something else he could do; but there wasn’t. “It was the best I could do,” He apologized even though he knew no one was open to his words. “And so now his fortunes are tied in with these men.”
Kallendra started sobbing.
“Oh joy!,” she muttered bitterly through her tears. “Arasis wont be a slave! instead he’ll be snatched away from family and friends and grow up to be a ruffian and marauder; every mothers dream for her young imp. And this man thinks he did me a favor?”
A bitter silence fell and they all stewed in their own misery waiting for the Marauder Leader to return. Finally towards the evening, he came, dancing into the room oblivious to the misery of those all around him.
“Judah you brilliant brilliant person. You will always be remembered favorably by me,” he said, fervently, with a pat on Judahs back “I went to the Judean sector and found just the fellow you described. Solomon the olive trader. Upon hearing who we were holding, he jumped at the chance to make your purchase. At first he was only interested in you alone; it took a lot of cajoling to convince him that he must purchase you all. That stingy fellow didn’t believe me at first, that you yourself wanted it that way and even after I convinced he wasn't going to go along with it. He hurled every invective in the world my way, when I insisted it was all or nothing. But eventually he capitulated. Now I'm rich."
The marauder captain looked so overwrought with excitement, Judah wondered if he had taken a celebratory drink. The marauder held up a sack and grabbed a fistfill of coin which he held up grinning, all the while expecting the others to share in his joy. “This is only the first half of the payment. Truth be told,” he continued jubilantly, “I have never before done such a good deal, with such profit! I think I will be doing much business with Jews going forward.”
Judah cringed, terrified he'd turned his fellow countrymen into choice targets. “You may have to temper your expectations a bit,” he hastened to warn. “He knows my family after all; you can't expect he would do this for anybody.”
While the marauder chief led them personally from ship, they were forced to remain in their chains. “I’m truly sorry,” The marauder leader apologized, with the hypocrisy only a marauder could manage. “Judah you have truly earned all of your friends freedom, the rest of my shipmates can’t know about what's happening, or who I’m selling you too. Pretenses must be maintained.”
Without further word, he marched them passed the watching eyes of his crew and off the ship, down into the streets of Egypt. He herded them along as one herds cattle -or slaves. After what felt like an eternity, endless walking and twists and turns through unfamiliar streets, they finally stopped in front of a mansion of moderate size.
The marauder knocked and almost instantaneously, an elegantly dressed manservant swept back the door, peering down his nose at them. The marauder, declared brightly that he was there with the masters’ new purchases. The manservant pursed his lips for a moment and looked them over, before herding them in. When the marauder was about to follow, he held up a hand, abruptly stopping him in his tracks.
"My master will be right out shortly, to finish the deal" he intoned, over the marauders protests, "wait right here.". The manservant turned and called out to someone in the back. A short stumpy woman shuffled forward and shepherded the new slaves away into a sort of back room cellar with barely a look or a care.
“Don't worry, I said don't worry, you will get the rest of your money,” Judah heard the manservant repeatedly reassuring the marauder, from over in the other room, “My master came back from the Market in rather a hurry, he said I should call him right when you came, so just give me a moment.”
Judah and the others were left in their chains – the household staff seemed unapprised of the fact that they weren’t actually to be slaves. He found himself staring across, at Kallendra, who in a frantic whisper was back on the attack. “Where are your promises now,” she moaned, “did you not promise we are being set free? Do you even know master of this house, or was your whole story a lie?”
Judah could only shush her and shake his head; he was as confused and in the dark as she was.
“I never actually knew this man personally,” He admitted, “Only that he was a friend of my fathers In the olive business. I gambled everything on the hope the man would honor that friendship and help us out of our predicament.”
Kallendra fell silent, seemingly in awe of how much he’d gambled on so little a basis. Internally Judah himself was truly beginning to worry. He didn’t recognize anything about this house or its owner, he simply had provided a name he’d always heard in his childhood. Despite what the marauder had told him of his conversation with Solomon, Judah had no way of telling if it even was the right Solomon. Even if it was the right fellow, he had no way of knowing as to how he would be received. Or how the man felt about the large sum of money Judah had cost him. It was always possible the fellow would laugh at Judah and announce he was keeping them in slavery after-all.
After what felt like an interminable wait, in which they were each preoccupied with their own tense fears the manservant came over and led Kallendra out by her chains. “Come along now,” he said. “The master is ready to see you.”
With a forlorn glance at her daughter who was not being taken with her, Kallendra allowed herself to be tugged along compliantly without protest. Whatever was happening in her meeting with the master, it took a while; Judah and the daughter waited and waited before someone else finally came. This time it was a young maidservant who came bustling in clucking, “Ohh ohh, you poor poor child.” Judah could only assume Kallendra must've said something about her daughter. The serving girl tenderly began to fuss over the chains binding the lass, removing them and rubbing sensation into her little charge's hands.
“It seems there's been a mistake and the master says you are not slaves. That you were captured by Marauders.” She clucked, “Ohh Ohh what a terrible time you must've had.”
All the while Kallendras little girl looked nonpulsed by the sudden, confusing attention, and Judah knew she was just miserable and wanted her mother.
The little girl actually looked over to him, for confirmation that she should follow as bid. Judah nodded that it was alright, so she allowed herself to be led from the room; presumably to be reunited with her mother.
Eventually someone came for Judah himself. He was led into a small but splendidly decorated dining hall where the master of the house was reclining on cushions while enjoying a small snack of figs. For a long while the man focused on his snack, totally ignoring him. At long last the man motioned for a houseslave to come forward and remove the small table, only then did he finally turn his full attention onto Judah.
“ So I am Solomon, the man who purchased you. I’ve been told by the marauder who sold you that while you appear to be my legally purchased property, I ought to free you. He says you told him you are a child of a dear friend of mine and business partner, from Judea. Now after having talked to your lady friend, I am not so sure. What would a good Judean man be doing with an Egyptian woman, I wonder? In truth, I am beginning to doubt your story. I am inclined to retain my rights. However when I mentioned this to your lady friend she surprised me by insisting that since you are a Jew, Jewish law demands I free you.”
The man scowled, “its hardly amused to find an Egyptian woman telling me about Jewish law, however I will give you a chance." Solomon shook his head dissatisfied, “Personally, I find myself a bit confused and am this close,” -here he held his fingers a nails breadth apart- “to proceeding in this matter not in the way you would like. However since the lady has spoken kindly in your favor, I first will deign to give you one chance to tell your version of your story. Who are you and how did you end up here?”
Judah grimaced at the imperious tone the the man took, yet at the same time understood he was in no position to complain.
“Well,” he began, “I’m Judah the son of Shimshon who always told me he was a close friend of yours as well as your business partner.”
Judah searched the mans eyes for some signs of recognition but though the man nodded in confirmation of what he was saying, there was no softening of his expression or friendly encouragement. If anything the mans features hardened and his lips tightened betraying traces of anger. It was strange, but Judah had no choice except to go on.
Slowly Judah traced his whole story from the beginning, starting with how he’d left Cullius without a clue as to his final destination, through his being captured by the marauders. He explained how, while desperate, he’d remembered his father telling him that if he ever needed help in Egypt he should seek out his old friend. based on this, he’d manipulated the marauders to sell him precisely to this Solomon.
The man on the cushions nodded, “It cost me quite the pot of gold to pry you from the marauders grasp, though that’s hardly relevant. What does matter is that I am skeptical of the whole story.
Judah opened his mouth to protest, but Solomon waved him off, “Yes yes, Shimshon was indeed my business partner however I never met Shimshon' son. Last I heard from Shimshon about his son, “it was in a letter I received from him twenty five years ago pouring out his woes. About how his wayward son was off gallivanting around Gaul, waving a sword. Why should I believe you are him. A man traveling from Achaea to Egypt? I challenge you now, give me one good reason why I should do what you want and free you?”
“I am him,” Judah sputtered indignantly, “I left Gaul years ago, soldiers are always on the march. Nearly three years ago I was sent off to Achaea until I left, as I told you. What can I possibly do to prove myself.”
Judah was beside himself to come up with a way to prove his identity to a man he had never met. “Ask me something about Shimshon,” he suddenly demanded, “something that only a son would know?”
“What was Shimshons dying words?”
Silence. Judah was in shock. This man knew his fathers dying words? Judah certainly didn't, he hadn't been there for his fathers death.
“What was Shimshons plan for his Olive grove, that he hadn’t been able to fulfill? I was his business partner he shared the whole plan for the future, by way of letters he sent to me before he died?”
Silence from Judah.
“Who was Shimshons favorite character in the Torah?
“Jeremiah” Finally one Judah knew from his father. Personally Judah found it difficult to relate to the prophets words at all, however his father loved it.
Solomons face was purple with the effort the strident tone had cost him. Grudgingly he had to give his acknowledgement that Judah had proven his identity.
“Well you are his son.
"But out of curiosity, did you even know he died?" Judah cringed at Solomons belligerent tone, stung by how acutely .he was attacked.
“I..I did know he died.” But not for a long time afterwards and not any of the details. “I am just not used to thinking about it. I I find it painful”
They had been estranged. Clearly the stranger knew that.
It was strange, the longer they spoke, the more the frostiness grew, Judah felt the vestiges of hope in his plan slipping away. He hadn’t expected that his identity would be confirmed yet there would still be a difficulty.
Yet, clearly, Solomon remained no friendlier. Could the olive merchant possibly believe he was so estranged from his father that Shimshon wouldn’t want him to save his son? What was going on here, there had to be something he was was totally missing.
Solomon sat up and leaned forward a slightly disgusted look on his face. “What I don’t understand here,” he snarled, “is, whats between you and that woman? What's your connection to that Egyptian woman? I told you already, It makes me question your whole story!”
“whats wrong I was Just trying to help a defenseless lady?” Judah was bewildered, earlier Solomon had seemed well inclined towards her, merciful; yet he referred to her as if she was poison? “There's nothing to her, I’ve told you everything already, I took pity on her story after having already befriended her kids?” Why was the man being so difficult; as if he was looking for something to challenge?
“Whats wrong? Whats wrong, you ask?” the merchant sputtered, “ A Jewish man with an Egyptian woman and you ask whats wrong?”
In a flash Judah understood. Solomon had gotten the wrong nature of their relationship.
“NO. Not that at all. I have nothing to do with the Egyptian lady beyond a merciful feeling pushing me to save her from a terrible fate amongst the marauders. I will tell you plainly, I intended she should go back to her family in the heartland of this country while I move on. Did I mention yet that I think to return to Judea.”
Judah, looked around desperately. Not sure what to make of the situation. If the man thought him a Jew taking up with an Egyptian Woman, breaking their laws religous laws, then he would never help him. Judah needed to dispel that notion and show he wanted her far away
“Please tell me, you did send the woman home already, yes? You believed the story when she told it, yes? So why is your attitude towards me any differant than her?” Judah brought the conversation back to the truth of his story. If tha man believed him then free him already? He was growing frustrated and could match anger with anger. Truth be told he was not sure what held him back in the first place. Until now it was as if the chains around his neck and hands gave him a slaves feeble mentality.
Finally the man changed tack and dropped all pretenses.
“You want to know what this is all about. Fine, I do believe you. You are definitely Yehudah ben Shimshon. Well guess what, I never met you, but your father told me all about you. You’re the son who broke his heart. I happen to have a letter your mother wrote to me, after he died, saying that your probably the one who caused his death! You left your nation to run off with the Romans. You exchanged your peoples books and laws for a weapon of murder. Well along with the multitudes I’m sure you killed you also killed your father. That’s my issue!”
By the end of his tirade, the man looked nearly apoplectic, his anguish over the destruction of Shimshons family which he was apparently privy to, was written all over his face.
Judah didn’t know what to do. He’d been estranged from his mother and surviving sisters on the otherside of the world and until now he had no clue of the accusations his family laid the fault at his feet. He definitely had no way of knowing if any of the terrible accusations had any truth to them.
Deep down at his core he knew it definitely could have been true. His final years at home were fifficult enough, it very well could have done to his father what was being claimed. Back in the time when he’d first learned his father had died, he had buried his head in his own self righteous anger at his father that he’d never fully thought about what happened to his family from their perspective. From where he was parsa’os away on the other side of the world, clinging to his own inner thoughts had been easy.
On a personal level his accusers arguments began to sink in. Also, to his horror the surreal conversation he was having – he in his chains the imperious man on his cushions – appeared in new light. All the visible animosity and vitriol this man directed at him in their different arguments, were all distractions for what was truly bothering Solomon: The man blamed him for his father's death. Even worse, that was now going to dictate his fate, whether he was going to be let free.
Judah held his face in hands, terrified by the stark accusations in front of him and internally grappling with his own previous conviction he’d done nothing wrong.
“Your worse than a Ben Sorer U'moreh. You killed your own Father,” Solomon hurled the accusation in revulsion.
“So that’s what you’ll do? Judah demanded, “pay back your Friends son for killing his father with more heartache, by leaving the son to rot as a slave? Is that what your friend- my father- would want?”
The question seemed to call back the man from the brink of his anger.
“No it's not and I don’t know what to do. I suppose I have to free you.”
Judah realized it was now or never. He had to make his case once and for all. Convince this man to show him a shred of mercy. Summoning up his own conviction, he marshalled his arguments.
“Is this really what you want to do? We are talking about things I did years ago? I am a different man standing in front of you, though I won’t sit here telling you I am completely changed. I have much anger leftover from my youth and truth be told I will easily admit that I still have barely any deeper an understanding of my father now as I have aged. That being said I am wiser and humbler. I have until now lived a life far away from my people, estranged. Now I tell you I want to return to Judea. I want to return and start again, I just need a chance. Surely that’s what my father would want for his son, a chance for me to die more Jewish than Roman.
“Besides,” Judah added, “You and I both know the situation in our country. I may be wayward but g-d knows I can wield a sword. This is the one opportunity I have to go back and do something good for my countrymen. I ask that you remove these chains and just give me an opportunity?”
When Judah finished pleading his case, silence fell. The man contemplated Judahs words, the hard edge of his expression softening as he seemed to grow more mercifull.
Finally Solomon rang a bell for the servants. When they came he ordered them to remove Judahs chains and to bring food.
The chains fell away and Judah stood up rubbing at his hands and feet where they ached. Solomon informed him that Kallendra was already on her way towards her home in the Egyptian heartland and that Judah would likely never see her again.
To Judah, the man still seemed a bit suspicious of his relationship with her.
"Thank g-d," Judah replied, I was just trying to help her.
“She was very thankful towards you,” the man admitted, “without her clear devotion towards you and her demand that that I save you too, I’m not sure what I would have done. She clearly thought you were a good person”
It made Judah glad to hear she’d stood by him especially because he’d worried for a bit, that her anger about what happened to her son, was hiding her from the truth that Judah had saved them all. It was good to know she still perceived the big picture.
Solomon said he had to leave now on other business.
“I will not say I like you any better now,” he said, dryly, “but your fathers face would haunt my dreams if I acted any different. I will give you lodgings for the week at the end of which I will help get you up into Judea. I know not whether you truly intended to go back there or whether your speech was a farce meant to fool a doddering old man into mercy. Regardless, it matters not, because I don’t intend to give you choice. If you are smart you will start planning now how you will be a different man in your country this time around.”
Over the next week, planning for his return to Judea, Judah felt like he had a new lease on life. He found that he truly was curious what it would be like to make his way back to his people in Judea and he was happy now that he was committed. His memories of the country from his youth were garbled ones and besides he suspected he would see things differently now. He wondered whether that meant he would like it any better now. Would he still fit in with other Jews after all his years in the legions? It had been along time since he was around a lot of his native people. At the same time he was excited by new hope he held, that he might find he could build a home there and settle down.
He couldn’t believe he - a lifelong nomad - was finally thinking of settling down. He even had to remind himself that in truth that wasn’t the reality. He was returning to a country enmeshed in another war. Any settling down would happen afterwards.
The time passed in a whirlwind of planning and preparation. he had to get himself ready for a trip across the Sinai desert and also find out how things stood in the war with Rome. In the end, after the week finished Solomon had to leave on unexxpected business and nobody in his household cared, when Judah ended up extending his stay a bit longer. During those weeks, He spent a lot of time in the Jewish quarter of Alexandria sifting through the rumors that came out of Judea about the state of affairs. There was total confusion as to who was actually leading the rebellion and it was vital he figure that out. He sent a letter to his old friend Abba, who he knew was some kind of leader there, in the war movement. He announced that he was coming and inquired as to how he was to find him when he got there. Abba wrote back giving him instructions and saying he was excited for them to get together again. We will do great things together Abba predicted in the letter.
Judah switched tactics and also hung around a bit in areas inhabited by aging retired legionnaires. He posed as an aging Roman soldier himself - which he really was- and was happy to find access to all the rumors flying around among the legionnaires. He collected every scrap from the rumor mill that he could.
Vespasion was smashing those rebels in the Gallilee with ease, he heard.
It was unbelievable that a Roman Legion had actually lost their eagle to these same rebels at the beginning of the war.
Vespasion was easily sweeping through the Galilee.
What ever difficulties the Romans had in the beginning of the war seemed to have disappeared. Another important piece of news he obtained was that Vespasion intended to pause at the end of the summer and leave the attack of Jerusalem for after the winter months. That was good news, it would mean, he actually had free reign to traverse the south and arrive safely at Jerusalem.
He listened to all his former Roman comrades crow about their eminent victory and told himself he didn’t care about what they thought of the Jewish prospects. He would enjoy a good fight no matter what and it didn’t disturb him a bit to be considered the underdog. He looked forward to actually being useful to his nation,, with his fighting skills, more than a bit bemused by this foreign feeling of nationalism stirring in his breast that he had never felt before. This was an opportunity and if and when things went bad he would simply melt away into the Judean hills and take up living in the land under Roman rule as always. He didn’t think beyond that. You couldn’t really plan for something so unpredictable anyways. It was how he always did it. The prospect of danger only made him relish it all the more.