Free Noah by Susan Korman Page B

hole in the hull.
    Shem had been determined to stop Noah, too, before he could hurt the babies. Not realizing what was happening between Noah and Tubal-cain, he’d brought down his spear on Noah’s head. But then Tubal-cain had come out of nowhere.
    “He’s mine,” Tubal-cain had snarled, desperate to reach Noah first. He tossed Shem aside like a sack of grain.
    Shem crashed hard into a beam, and Ham, who was hiding, saw his brother go down.
    Tubal-cain raised a rock over Noah’s head. “The Ark, the beasts, and all of your women are now mine,” he declared. “I will build a new world. In my image!”
    But before Tubal-cain could strike Noah, Ham attacked the warlord with the knife.
    Ham had turned to Noah then. “Her name was Na’el,” he’d informed his father. “She was innocent! She was good!”
    The story still filled Ila with grief. She never could have imagined how much her family would change, how violence and sorrow and blame would wrench them apart.
    Ila put the babies down on the blanket. Shading her eyes,she looked up at a cave carved out of the sea cliff. She could see Shem and Japheth enter the cave while Ham hung back, staying near the entrance. She saw him drop a small satchel near the cave opening, and then he turned and left.
    Above she could see, too, traces of Noah’s solitary life there—the remains of a cooking fire, a basin to collect rainwater, his battered winepress.
    She knew that they had gone to find their father. He would be in the same place he spent every day—on the floor of the cave, drunk and ruined.
    * * *
    “Ila?”
    Ila was washing a cup in the small stream they used for drinking water when Ham came toward her. Her heart sank when she saw that he was dressed for travel, a bag over his shoulder.
    She stood as he approached.
    “Ham…” she murmured. She wanted to say more, but there were really no words left. He’d been a fine brother to her.
    He smiled sadly at her. “For what it is worth, sister, I’m glad it begins again with you. Maybe we will learn to be kind.”
    He murmured goodbye and then moved past her.
    Ila watched him go, sadness filling her heart.
    He had to leave, she knew that. He had to make his own way. He’d never forgive Noah for what had happened to his Na’el, and the bitterness was destroying him.
    She glanced up at the seaside cliff again.
    It was time
.
    She finished washing the cup and then started up to the cliff.
    * * *
    Ila waited for him, sitting on a rock looking out at the sea. At last he emerged. To Ila’s surprise, his clothes and face were clean. For a moment they stared out at the sea together.
    “Ham’s gone,” Ila told him.
    Noah nodded. He seemed to know that already.
    “Will he come back?” she asked.
    Noah shrugged. “Some things cannot be unbroken.”
    Ila drew in a breath. “I have to know,” she began. “Why did you spare them?”
    Noah closed his eyes, looking pained. “I gazed down at those girls, and all I had in my heart was love.”
    “Then why are you alone, Noah?” Ila demanded. “Why have you shut yourself off and done this to yourself? I can see that you are in anguish.”
    “Because I failed Him,” Noah replied. “And I failed all of you.”
    Ila shook her head. “
Did
you fail?” she asked. “I believe He chose you for a reason, Noah. He showed you the wickedness of man and knew you would not look away. But when you looked, you saw goodness too. The choice was put in your hands because He put it there. He asked you to decide if wewere worth saving. And you chose mercy. You chose love.”
    Noah looked at her, surprised.
    Ila took his hand and held it for a moment. Then she went back to the hearth, where Shem and her daughters waited.
    * * *
    More days passed. Each day Ila looked up at the cliffside, waiting.
    Then one day, she took a bucket to collect some berries. Nearby, Naameh was chopping the dirt with a spade.
    “I’m planting a new herb garden,” she said.
    Soon they both heard