The Bronze Bow - Elizabeth George Speare [55]
"Why?"
"Oh—it's a custom. To wish her a fine family. And everyone sang songs and shouted and clapped their hands and stamped their feet."
He stopped at the alarm in her eyes. Even the mention of noise terrified her. She could not imagine that noise could be merry. He got to his feet and began to clear away the meal. But Leah did not move, only sat brooding over what he had told her.
Finally she asked, "Will Nathan's bride live in his house with him all the time?"
"Of course. Just as our mother and father lived in our house."
"Daniel," she said slowly. "When you bring a bride here to live with you, what will happen to me?"
He was completely taken aback. "That's a silly question," he snapped. "I'm not going to marry."
"Why not?"
"Because I have no time for such foolishness. Not till the last Roman is gone from our land."
"Is Nathan foolish because he has a bride?"
Daniel felt his good humor sliding away. "It is another matter for Nathan. I have taken an oath. I live for just one thing—to rid us of our Roman masters."
His voice sounded loud in his own ears. Was he shouting at Leah—or himself? Angrily he began to pull on his cloak. He felt sore, as though she had unexpectedly probed a wound he had not even been aware of.
"Are the Romans our masters?" she asked, her soft voice sounding puzzled.
"Don't you even know that?"
She sat silent. But as he opened the door of the shop he saw that another question was beginning. He did not intend to listen. He had had enough for one morning. But the words caught him like a suddenly flashing net.
"That soldier—the one who comes into your shop sometimes—the one who rides on the horse? Is he a Roman?"
"Yes. May his bones rot!"
"Is he your master, then?"
"Ask him! He would say he is!"
"Oh Daniel—how silly! He is only a boy, not half so big and strong as you. And he is homesick."
A fury of impatience seized him. "What does it matter how strong he is? He carries a sword. He has the whole Roman army to protect him!"
"Daniel—why are you so angry at the Romans?"
In a rage of frustration he glared at her. Because they did this to you! he wanted to shout at her. Because they robbed you of your parents and a decent life and a chance to drink out of the marriage cup like that girl last night. Because they robbed you of everything—all but one thing. A brother to avenge you!
Suddenly all he wanted was to get away from her. He felt choked. A heavy weight he could not understand dragged at him. But as he stumbled through the door he turned back.
"What made you say he was homesick?"
Her eyes looked up at him, misty blue. "I think he is homesick," she said. She bent and began to roll up the mat.
Furious, he slammed the door behind him. Homesick! That stiff-necked son of a camel!
But where had she learned the word?
He could not put his mind on his work. His head throbbed. Without warning, Leah's childish questions had unleashed all the rebellion he had kept so carefully chained. All day at the forge he thought of the mountain. Twice he laid down the hammer and went to stand in the doorway of Simon's shop, looking up at the line of hills shimmering in the heat against the unbroken blue of the sky. Up till now he had been able to deal with his restlessness, push it down out of sight, hammer it out with great blows on the anvil. Today it seized him with the strength of a hundred demons. All day he stuck to his work, trying to hammer out his longing on the metal, frying to keep his eyes from the distant hills. In the late afternoon he laid down the hammer, banked the fire carefully with earth as for the Sabbath, and bolted the door of the shop.
"I must be away tonight," he told Leah. "There is food and water, and oil enough to burn all night."
"You will come back?" Could she sense the demons that were driving him?
"Of course I'll come back. Bar the door when I have gone."
He took the road toward the hills. With every step the