Even Unto Death, page 14
“John,” Julius called out, “we need someone to check out the tunnel by the northern end. Jacob tells me there is another set of tunnels that they have discovered there.”
“I will get the others and check it out right away. Maybe we can get a few of the new people to accompany us there.”
“Ok just let us know what you find out.”
“We will Julius I have to get Thaddeus, he and Mary are helping to get the others settled in. It shouldn’t take too long to get to the tunnels.”
Chapter 14
(Enemy takeover)
No one saw the Galilean, sneak out of one of the tunnels and leave. Yet John was sure that he was in his own tunnel. This Galilean had been waiting for the right moment. He would now team up with his friends on the outside and make plans to return to the cave. While the others were away checking on the caves everything seemed to be going as planned. Everyone now began settling into the comfort of this new home. Yet no one was even aware of the trouble that would soon be knocking on their doors to join their ranks.
“Here is the tunnel John,” replied Jacob, “it leads to about thirty feet then forks to the left and to a series of tunnels. I believe it could be of real interest to us all.”
“You may be right about that Jacob’ let’s see where they all end up going.”
As they moved down the tunnel, they could see more writings carved into the walls, which seemed as though someone was leaving a message to any who would enter.
“That sure is strange; these same writings are on the wall of the cave. They seem to go all the way into the other tunnels. This could be how they marked the tunnels for keeping track of them.”
As they moved down the first tunnel, they found some old makeshift tools, along with what appeared to be weapons. A few spears a handful of swords and some tools for bludgeoning used in the roman games of long ago.
“This is an amazing find Jacob; look Thaddeus, could it be the Romans made their way into these caves before, in the past?”
“Possibly John’ but it could also be weapons that the early believers grabbed when all the revolt was going on during the civil uprising of that time.”
“You may be right I never thought of that, even so let’s report this to Julius. Then we should search all these tunnels first thing tomorrow. There could be plenty more finds. I am sure these are tools we can surly put to good use.”
On the outside of the cave one lone figure was moving about in the shadows, as he was accustomed to doing.
Leading away from the confines of the cave and heading to his hidden friends and their secluded hideout deep into the woods...about a mile from the cave entrance.
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The soldiers were busy checking every house searching for the escapees and trying to find any who might know their whereabouts. Rumor had it that they were hiding near the city so they focused most of the soldiers closer to the bordering towns and cities. The Emperor was busy lining up the events for the following days ahead. He would spend all his time ordering the capture of more prisoners or any who would disregard his decrees.
Meanwhile the Galileans were planning another surprise attack on the soldier’s compound and that by night again catching them off guard and asleep they hoped.
The doors burst open! “What the...”
“Hold it... it is I Amos! I have some great news for you my brothers.”
“Where have you been Amos? We have already been planning another attack on their compound tonight.”
“Forget that right now I have better news! I may have found the greatest place where we can hide and move freely throughout the area and beyond. You all know I was at the southern border looking to gather information on the soldiers. Well I moved in too close and I was arrested.”
“Some Christians also were arrested, and by some twist of luck, we all managed to escape and so I followed them to their safe haven. That is exactly what I found, a massive cave with tunnels running all through this city tunnels everywhere...I mean we could use these tunnels to come out and attack and then retreat back into them. Best of all it is the tunnels of the Christians what harm would they do to us’ they are too passive and are no match for our men.”
“Well won’t they try to stop us; we don’t want to harm women and children?”
“They are completely too kind, they never even asked me where I was from. We could pretend to be fleeing the soldiers and still move in and out among them. This here is our golden opportunity to strike a blow to the Romans stronghold and keep the uprising going.”
“It sounds like you landed a gold mine. Ok let’s do it then and let the Galileans rise to victory!”
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“Julius have you seen the new guy anywhere?”
“No, come to think of it I haven’t seen him at all, have you checked his tunnel out to see if he is merely taking an early nap Barnabas?”
“No but he has been gone since the others went to check out the tunnels. I think I will drop in on him to see how he is doing.”
“Do that and tell him we serve supper in two hours,” Julius replied.
“Julius! Look at what we found in the tunnels and there may be more.” John spoke as he hurried in with the others.
“These look like tools and weapons, John.”
“Yes and who knows if there are a lot more in the tunnels. We are going to search them all tomorrow, where is Barnabas? We had better tell him. We will need his help to search them.”
“John he is checking to see if the new guy you were worried about is napping or missing.”
“I knew it Julius! I just knew it! He looked to suspicious right from the beginning!” John snarled, “imagination huh?”
“Wait John we don’t...”
“He is gone Julius! He never even made it to the tunnel,” Said Barnabas. “His space is to clean and untouched.”
“Alright let us not jump to conclusions until we question him.”
“You mean if he doesn’t bring any soldiers here we will. Maybe it is a good thing we found these weapons they just may come in handy.”
“Now John please calm down we don’t know for certain if he is gone or just stepped out for a breath of air.”
“I am going to check in the tunnels right now Julius!”
“I will go with you John he just could have gone out by the eastern tunnel.”
“I don’t think so John I passed him through that one earlier. He was asking about the exits. I never told him anything but he passed me as though he was leaving. That is why I asked Julius where he was.”
“Julius let everyone know to stay alert. Just until we know for sure. Then we can all rest easier if all is well.”
Just then, to all their surprise the Galilean arrived back at the tunnel opening. He quickly showed everyone that he was back.
“Ok I would like to know where you have been this late in the evening,” John shouted!
“Well I was out, I didn’t think I needed to check in or out with anyone I am grown you know.”
“Well we all have to be careful and you are no exception my friend that is the rule here.”
A few minutes later, his group came into the tunnel.
“Who are these men with you?” Thaddeus grabbed one of the swords and handed one to Barnabas.
“Hold it their friends! We are just seeking shelter from the roman soldiers. We mean no one any harm.” They all shook their heads in agreement.
“So you brought others here without even asking? Look this whole thing sounds fishy to me who are all of you and where did you come from?”
“Please allow us to stay with you awhile we are simply fleeing the trouble that you also flee...”
“Your accent seems too rough to be Romans so where are you from?”
“We have traveled from Galilee brought here by the Romans when they attacked our small city and took prisoners. We are telling the truth all we are looking for is refuge and nothing more.”
“John we must let them stay we can’t condemn them simply because of our suspicions.”
“Thank you Jules...”
“That’s Julius! Furthermore, you will not be staying long. John is right we have too many lives at stake to trust just anyone. You can lodge here a few days then you must move on.”
“Show them to their tunnel Thaddeus would you?”
“Let’s go, it is this way.”
When they left John looked at Julius. “You know they are the ones causing all the trouble with the Romans don’t you?”
“I thought as much but they are here so we must not give them reason to report our cavern to the authorities. If they do we all will have to vacate these tunnels.”
“Julius they are the very ones who caused James to be killed. They did that crime and he took the blame. These men are too dangerous and now they know of our cave.”
“How many of them did you count John?”
“I don’t know Barnabas I guess there were around twenty maybe thirty?”
“Ok let’s get all the men together and arm them. At least we will have protection until we can rid ourselves of these evil scoundrels.”
“That is a good idea Barnabas; we will see just how many weapons we have collected from the tunnels. Let’s also hold a meeting to see who will fight if need be.”
“John do you really believe that taking up weapons is truly necessary?”
“Yes Julius to protect our group we should! Even if killing is not an option at least they will see we are ready to fight if need be.”
The visitors were also making their plans. “Well this looks like it is not what we expected at all. I thought you said they were too passive even to argue with us.” “They will come around once they see we are serious. Who knows they may even wish to join us in overthrowing the roman trash that has plagued us all.”
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Morning arrived at the arena as the crowd grew larger each day with the trials getting more and more exhilarating. The buzz about the prior day’s events caused excitement and wonder. As more prisoners were now being brought in with every arrest. The crowd was now clamoring over the different ways that these Christians were suffering. Now there would be even more of the suffering and death, as the crowd grew even more excited.
“Welcome my friends.” Glared the salutation they all recognized as the Emperors. This he would do each time he wanted to introduce a new event. As he muddled through his speech, they grew agitated with the long delay. Yet they held their peace as to not offend or seem too anxious for the day to begin.
“Today we will have a few traitors who have refused to keep the decree and have even refused the customary tax. They have been found guilty of treason against Rome and will pay with their lives. It is also time we revived some of the older ways. Some that will bring about torture and are quite effective in breaking the spirits of any man. Today we will have a flogging followed by death by asphyxiation-crucifixion by Roman tradition. The person will die by suffocating or they will die by the suns heat either way they will surely die!”
“If they are not dead by the end of the events today they will have their legs broken and they will hang there as long as it takes.”
The crowd stood and gave their applause to this message and looked forward to seeing such a horrific event...
With that, the Emperor turned to the guard and gave his approval for the events to begin.
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Those back at the cave woke early also with the changing of their lookouts they had set up. The residents of this now large group all banded together to face the newest arrivals. Many now carried the weapons they retrieved from the tunnels. Yet many were still untrained in fighting. They were farmers, builders, and even herdsmen, yet to now take up arms seemed to contradict their faith. John and Thaddeus were wide-awake and ready for whatever would happen. Barnabas was the last lookout and had hardly any sleep at all since the following day. The woman had gathered all the children into a safe tunnel far behind these intruders. This would keep them safe in the event of sudden danger. They prepared to finally face this wicked bunch of intruders and demand that they depart their home.
The standoff would now be set in motion to see what these men had in mind. The believers were praying that these rebels would simply depart in peace. As they made their way to the tunnel that housed the intruders, they spread themselves out as to be more efficient and show their strength to the intruders. Yet a sudden surprise left them all bitterly confused, the cave that they entered was empty.
“Where are they John? We had lookouts on them all night and now they are gone.”
“We had lookouts at the mouths of these caves Thaddeus however they could have left by another exit.”
They all turned to head back to the main cave. They were startled to find one of the men setting at the cave entrance.
“Are you men looking for me?”
“Where are the rest of your men Amos?” Julius replied.
“I will tell you in a moment. First let me just say we have come up with a proposition for you all.”
“We don’t want to hear anything from you. We just want you to leave this cave.”
“Not so fast! Do you know where your women and children are right now?”
“Thaddeus leaped forward to grab for him but missed by a few feet.”
“Do that again and your family will die for sure!”
“WHERE ARE THEY,” John shouted!
“Here is what we want. First, you surrender all the weapons and then move all your people to the tunnels near the end of the cave. We will take the tunnels in the front part and you have my word we will not harm any of you at all.”
“How then are we supposed to get in and out?
You know we have to hunt for food and being back there will cut off all the supply of water, and we are supposed to take the word of a killer.”
“You want them back alive?” he chuckled, “because my men are waiting to kill them all at my command. You have one hour then we will leave and you can bury them all.”
“Lousy pigs,” whispered Thaddeus.
Amos’ turned to leave and winked at Julius as he departed, “thanks Jules.”
“What if we decide to fight them John and try to rescue the others?”
“Julius you know as well as I do that cornered animals are more dangerous than fleeing from roman soldiers. We have no choice if we are to free the others.”
The group now decided to give into the demands of these invaders. John took a few of the weapons and hid them in the tunnel. The one in which they would be housed in.
“So you come to bargain for these people, huh! Well drop all the weapons and we will release them to you.”
John and Thaddeus gritted their teeth and reluctantly dropped their only means of protection.
“Glad to see you understood the terms correctly. Now take them and get to your end of the cave. We will be staying in the forward tunnels and do not try anything remember we have the weapons and we certainly know how to use them.”
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The arena doors opened with bright rays of sunshine flooding the passageway. None of the prisoners could see the atrocious death, which soon awaited them all. Four poles standing straight up as horrible visions of the past with unbearable torment.
To the right of them were chains with shackles attached to bind the prisoners to the ground. As the prisoners saw, the crossbeams laying on the ground they all began shaking. Before they shackled them down one prisoner was already pleading for mercy. He fell to the ground in panic and fear. The guards quickly hoisted him up to his feet and secured him to the ground. Their backs were to the crowd as instructed by the Emperor.
“One of them screamed please have mercy...please!”
“Why don’t you ask that of the ones you murdered!”
‘I am innocent’ of those charges, let me explain...I”
“Just keep quiet and get ready to pay for your crime, you coward!”
After their clothing was stripped from them, the beating began. Ribs were broken and protruding from their bodies and even ripped clean away with every blow of the flogging they received. Blood splattered everywhere and one prisoner even passed out. The guard poured saltwater over his body to wake him again yet he never even moved. “This one is dead!” He shouted. Then he ran his spear into his back, piercing his heart.
They were then nailed to the cross beams after the beating. Another guard hurried over and drove large spikes into their wrist. He finished attaching their wrist to the crossbeams and hoisted them to the top. Then he nailed their feet in place where the arch protruded from the bottom of the makeshift cross. They would now hang there until they were dead. The crowd cheered the guard as they mocked and insulted those who were hanging on the crosses. Some already seemed to be dying as they slowly bled out. While others simply had no strength to lift themselves up to even breathe in any air.
All the while, the crowd seemed to be in a kind of euphoria frozen in a state of awe. Waiting to see which one would be the first to die. The moaning of the prisoners was barely audible. As they waited with anguish and pain, for the death angel that now confronted them.
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Chapter 15
(The miracle deliverance)
As this group of men gathered all the weapons, the believers all started down toward the end tunnel. They knew that they would now have to find another way out.
“We are trapped in here like animals for slaughter John, now what?”
“Let me think of a plan Julius, there has to be a way out of our dilemma. As John spoke with the others of their next move, he remembered the weapons that he had stashed in the tunnel where they were now heading. Grab these swords Thaddeus and let us get to where we can come up with a plan.”
