Blogtober 2021 Story Project
The sun illuminated the eastern sky in the rose glow of dawn, revealing the extent of the destruction around them. Lucius saw from the plateau of the Temple grounds that the Golden Gate and Lions Gate to the east were both blocked with rubble, but the Dung Gate to the south remained intact.
His hope rested on two points: that the garrisons that surrounded the city had deployed as expected, and that at least one horse was still alive. He knew the carts and wagons, loaded with weapons and supplies, should also be there.
“Kamali will project an illusion of herself,” Lucius explained to Simeon and Issachar, the strongest of the four Levites. “She will lure away the hooded men and their Roman minions to disguise our movements.”
“The hooded men do not come out in the daylight,” Simeon said. “Only the red-eyed legions.”
“So much the better,” Lucius said.
Kamali entered her trance, and her twin image appeared on the street below. As it headed north, the soldiers emerged from the ruined buildings to follow her.
“Let’s go,” Lucius said, and they hurried to the Dung Gate.
If Lucius believed in the gods, he would have thanked them. Five horses were tied to a post nearby, and Lucius hitched one to a cart still loaded with spears. The boys set Kamali in the cart, and Lucius drove them back through the gate to the Temple grounds.
“Get the others and the ark,” Lucius said. “We don’t have much time.”
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