Free Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice Page A

the Temple was.
    The men had made Cleopas get onto one donkey, and Aunt Mary was told to ride on the other. Both of them held babies in their arms. Cleopas was talking under his breath.
    And on went the caravan.
    Yet it seemed a wrong thing to me to leave Jerusalem in this way. I thought of Silas, and what he'd said. It did feel wrong to be going. It felt wrong to be hurrying away from the Temple in the hour when the Temple was in need of care. But then there were hundreds of priests, priests who knew how to cleanse the Temple, and many of them lived in Jerusalem, and so they couldn't go away. And they would
    stay—they and the High Priest—and they would cleanse the Temple the way it ought to be cleansed.
    And they would know what to do with our dead man. They would see to it that he was washed and wrapped and buried as he ought to be. But I tried not to think of him because I knew I'd start crying again.
    The hills closed us up. Our voices were echoing off the sides of the mountains. People began to sing, but this time they sang mournful Psalms of pain and affliction.
    When riders came through, we pressed ourselves to the side. The women screamed. Little Salome was asleep on the donkey with Cleopas, who slept and talked and laughed to himself and they were slippery bundles.
    I started to cry. I couldn't help it. So many riders passing us, and so quickly and no more Jerusalem.
    "We'll be there again next year," Joseph said to me. "And the year after. We're home now."
    "And maybe there will be no Archelaus by next year," Cleopas said under his breath without opening his eyes, but James and I heard it. "The King of the Jews!" he scoffed. "The King of the Jews."

7
    A DREAM. Wake up. I was sobbing. The man went down, the spear through his chest. He went down again, the spear through his chest. Wake up, they said, more voices. Something wet was against my face. Sobbing. I opened my eyes. Where were we? "Wake up," said my mother. I was in the middle of the women, and the fire was the only light, except that something out there was lighting up the sky.
    "You're dreaming," said my mother. She held me.
    James ran past us. Little Salome was calling to me.
    "Jesus, wake up!" said my cousin John, who'd never spoken a word until now.
    What was this place, a cave? No. This was the home of my kinfolk here—this was the house in which John and his mother lived. Joseph had been carrying me by the time we got here.
    All the women were wiping my face. "You're dreaming." I was coughing from so much crying. I was so afraid, afraid and never never would I ever be not afraid as I was now. I clung to my mother. I pushed my face against her.
    "It's the royal palace," someone shouted. "They've set it on fire!"
    There was a loud noise, the sound of horses. A darkness fell. Then the red light flickered on the ceilings.
    My cousin Elizabeth prayed in a low voice, and one of the men said for the children to get back from the door.
    "Put out the lamps!" said Joseph.
    Again came the noise, the noise of horses rushing past, and screams outside.
    I didn't want to see what they were talking about, all the children screaming and shouting, and the prayers of Elizabeth running underneath. The fear swallowed me.
    Even with my eyes closed, I could see the red flashes of light. My mother kissed the top of my head.
    James said: "Jericho is burning. The palace of Herod is in flames. All of it's burning."
    "They'll rebuild it," Joseph said. "They've burned it before. Caesar Augustus will see to it that it's rebuilt." His voice was steady. I felt his hand against my shoulder. "Don't you worry, little one. Don't you worry at all."
    For a moment I slipped back into sleep—the Temple, the man rushing towards the spear. I gritted my teeth and cried, and my mother held me as tightly as she could.
    "We're safe, little one," said Joseph. "We're in the house here, we're all together, and we're safe."
    The women who'd been right beside me got up. They went to see the fire.