Noah Read Online Free

small whitish-yellow stones tumbled out and rolled across the dusty ground. They seemed to absorb the light around them and to glow with it, or perhaps even to pulse gently with a mysterious inner light of their own.
    Noah recognized the substance. This was tzohar, a rare and precious commodity. It was said that the Watchers had once been made of it before they fell from the heavens. It was said that it was thesource of light in the world of Man before the Creator provided him with the sun.
    “Take it,” the poacher said, gazing up at Noah beseechingly. “Take all of it.”
    Noah simply glared down at the poacher, his face hard.
    “
Please
,” the man begged. “Please. What more do you want?”
    Noah looked at the sprawled body of the hound, its back legs smashed, its flank bleeding from the spear that had penetrated its flesh.
    Turning back to the man he withdrew his knife from his belt.
    “What do I want?” he muttered. “One thing only. Justice.”
    * * *
    Ham helped his father wrap the body of the hound in a simple shroud made from the cloak that Noah wore to protect himself from the dust storms that blew frequently across the plains. They climbed to the peak of the highest ridge in order that the corpse could be as close as possible to the Creator. Noah lit a fire by placing a piece of tzohar on a flat rock and smashing it with the hilt of his knife, causing it to ignite.
    By the time Noah lifted the makeshift shroud and carried it across to the fire it was late afternoon and getting cold. Noah placed the shrouded beast almost tenderly into the flames and then the three of them stood back, watching it burn, Ham wrinkling his nose at the pungent smell of the smoke that drifted his way.
    They were silent for a time and then Ham spoke.
    “Father?”
    “Yes, son?” Noah looked at the small boy.
    Ham’s head was cocked to one side, a frown wrinkling his forehead. “Why did those men kill the hound?”
    “To eat it,” Shem told his brother.
    “Eat it?” Ham looked shocked and confused. He couldn’t conceive of such barbarity. “Why?”
    “They think it makes them stronger,” Noah said.
    Ham sniffed the burning meat, curious. “Is it true?” he asked.
    Noah scowled. “They forget. Strength comes from the Creator.”
    “Will more men come?” Shem asked his father.
    Now Noah gazed out over the ridge, beyond the valley below and across the plain to the horizon.
    He pointed. “Look there, Shem. What do you see?”
    Shem squinted, the dust stinging his eyes. Far away in the distance he saw strange spire-like constructions jabbing darkly into the sky, threads of black smoke curling upward.
    “I see… mountains?” he said uncertainly. “Mountains full of fire?”
    Noah smiled grimly. “They are not mountains. They are buildings, created by Man.”
    Shem gasped. “But there are so many of them!”
    “It is a city,” Noah said.
    “Do men live in the city?” Ham asked fearfully. “Like the ones who wanted to kill and eat the beast?”
    Noah nodded. “Yes. There are many men. So many. Soon they will be everywhere.”
    Ham’s eyes widened in fear.
    “What shall we do, Father?” Shem asked.
    Noah sighed. His gaze followed the threads ofsmoke as they rose toward the mute heavens.
    Finally he muttered, “We will pray.”
    Without another word he turned and walked away and began to descend the ridge. Shem followed.
    Ham stood for a moment, staring across at the distant city, fear and awe on his face.
    “Many men,” he murmured. He glanced at the blackening corpse of the hound in the fire, which was popping and crackling angrily as the fat in its body burned.
    Then, with a final shudder, he turned and hurried after his father and Shem.
    * * *
    A hazy red sun was setting over a distant, dormant volcano as Noah and his two sons walked toward a pair of small, domed tents close around the warmth of a blazing fire. Above the fire was suspended a bubbling pot of heavy black metal, yielding an aroma which,