Kingmaker: Prologue

1. In the first days of God there was a Light upon the World and this Light was called into Terah to yield a son.
2. And The World made call upon the Son of Terah to be God Abraham.
3. God Abraham was cast in the eye and knew all of face and task. And he did prosper as man.
4. In the seventeenth year of Abraham he did take a wife and was spoken before by God to leave the plains,
5. “Bring all sons of the land into Egypt for there will be famine” God Abraham did say.
6. “Bring my many sons into the into the lands were the famine is past and the fruits and the sands and the seas are ripe,” God Abraham did say
7. And Abraham did take himself and his wife and all who wished to follow.
8. The wife of Abraham was tall and she had the eyes of shade in sun and night in day. And all who saw her did want her words.
9. In the land of the Pharaoh Abraham did lend his wife to the ruler for one half of a year. And the Pharaoh did lay with her upon all nights and his seed was fertile. Though she did not have child.
10. After the sixth month Abraham did came unto the Pharaoh and said he was done with his lend.
11. On this news the Pharaoh felt sorry to lose his consort and offered Abraham much in the way of silver and sheep.
12. “My wife is beautiful King of Egypt and I shall take her now,” he said.
13. With many slaves and livestock he and his wife and his nephew did leave for the north of Nagev. A journey of only two months.
14. The Pharaoh did send extra grain in gratitude, carried by camel northwards.
15. For less than three years Abraham traded in sheep and in slaves.
16. When the Perizite traders would barter Abraham always found the greatest price in his favour. Abraham would brag and boast that he could trade a young slave for an old cow, with any man, such was his face.
17. With his wealth he would call out messengers into all lands and they would say,
    
    "I am Abraham listener of God
    I have times to say what God does say.
    I am Abraham and my slave is the Many."
18. Many people would come and bring grain and palms and the lands of Nagev and Bethel did bloat. Dances and handmaidens were plenty around the villages of the valley. Ever told, in the growth of riches was the growth of conflict.
19. Abraham and is nephew would charge the division and they would take this charge upon the Many. In the summer they would take all into the caves and in the winter they would drive their tents around the valleys and groves.
20. Always they had followers who thought them great.
21. By the time God Abraham had been called a Prince there was fighting within his lands.
22. This strife was in heart between the slaves and it did not subdue. Daily it was fierce and blood was spilled every morning for many seasons.
23. Abraham and his nephew discussed this also each day. And when it was so that the land became threatened from inside its valleys, Abraham said to his nephew,
24. "Yours are too many and mine are many times more. We cannot keep in the valleys or share the same tents any more, nephew. We are brothers and we must not fight or have our slaves quarrel, such there is no other way."
25. The nephew was angry that it would be his kingdom that must leave, but such was the calm of Abraham that clear thoughts were placed before him.
26. In that parting was to be a Great Secret.
27. Abraham demanded that the tent was empty save for him and his brother. And then he demanded that all the tents in the valley were emptied and the slaves and the herdsmen and the wives and the children made pace.
28. “Ride to the Ridge of Gazikern and wait there until you see fresh smoke from this place,” he did say.
29. When Abraham saw the Many on the Ridge it was the day hence, for the sun was lighting them from the East.
30. And then he said unto his brother a secret
31. Abraham did make fire of the tent and remained as it burned. And his nephew did walk to his people and he said to them,
32. "My people and my slaves. We will not walk further into the valley with My Uncle’s people. We will walk East over the Ridge and thence we will pass through Jordan. We will not stop until we find a land that can succour us and our livestock. We must say goodbye to those who have travelled with us from here to Egypt and then returned."
33. And so there was a divide and only the peoples of God Abraham did return to the Valley.
34. When Abraham spoke again to his flock he spoke of how the riches and the fertility of the land was now theirs to milk and to husband.
35. There would be no quarrel, and all strife would be blown away from the setting sun, to land upon the departed.
36. And where the tent still smoked Abraham did have an altar built, the width three men and the length of a wagon and the height of a calf.
37. Before this altar Abraham had his people amass and he spoke unto them,
38. "My people and my slaves, we have been handed this land by God and He will make it rich. And to the South that land is ours. And to the North that land is ours and to the West, past the sea, that land is ours. And we shall plant and herd and become as the dust is in the desert."
39. And the people were happy with Abraham’s state. And then God Abraham did say,
40. "My people and my slaves, others may fight about us and I will calm them. Others may feel hate for our riches and I will calm them towards us. I will send a message to the Kings of Shinar, Alam and Gwoim that any metal against us shall divert our riches to destroy. And deceit amidst these tents shall divert our riches to destroy.”
41. And he did pick Yebel and Isla and Usler, brother of Isla, and sent them with this message and enough silver to cover a grain basket each.
42. After more than ten years Yebel ran into the fort of Abraham in Habran, for that is where he had lived for such years.
43. Yebel did not greet Abraham with hands such was his urgency. Yebel spoke how Anraphel master-king of Shina has struck the gardens of his departed nephew with more armies than all the mounts of Sodom.
44. Abraham had disbelief at the messenger Yebel and he sent him to walk South into the desert to die.
45. The wife of Abraham wept and asked of her husband why he sent Yebel into the sun where he would die. And Abraham spoke to his wife in front of all:
46. "Yebel is a deceiver sent by the Cities of the Plain. I know this because my nephew is far past Jordan and he is well."
47. “He has kingdom and riches and no quarrel inside,” Abraham said.
48. And all were calmed by the words of Abraham. All who listened knew that God must burn the Cities of the Plain into ash for their arrogance.
49. Abraham did seed no son with his wife and so he did lay with Hagar who was a new gift from the Pharaoh. With Hagar his seed was ripe.
50. Hagar had no blood for many weeks and hence she knew that she was with the child of Abraham. And Abraham did say to Hagar,
51. “Rest in the grove of Weq until you have born. And then bring me what you have born, if it is a son. I shall call him Yismal, for I have called God into him.”
52. “And if it is a girl child then bring her not to me but take her to your mother so she can watch over her,” Abraham did say.
53. When the child Yismal had no longer need to suckle, Hagar returned and said to her master,
54. "Master here is your first son, and he is called Yismal."
55. Abraham took his son and said his name to the sand and to the sky and he knew that his son had his Tone. For with Tone does speak Tone and with Tone does see Tone.
56. Hagar was happy that her master had found joy and Abraham did send to her a hundred slaves and three thousands of sheep and cattle to take with her to Egypt. And he did send word to his friend the Pharoah that the mother of his first born must be freed.
57. And so Hagar did leave and Abraham renamed his wife Sarah so that she could be mother of Yismal.
58. All had adoration for Yismal with deepness for he was calm and had the Tone of his seed.
59. Sarah was a mother to her husband’s son but she felt grief that she had not born. And Abraham did call on God to end the grief of Sarah.
60. When Sarah was aged beyond other mothers she bore Abraham a new son and a daughter and the son's name was Isaac and he as Yismal had the seed of Abraham.
61. Sarah, the wife of Abraham, did say to Abraham that now he had a son of wife and he had a son first born there was choice for his estate and nation.
62. And Yismal and Isaac did talk with their Father but not his wife upon this matter.
63. For two nights and as many days they did speak of this. And when all was agreed Abraham did say to his sons,
64. "You share what I share and my Father gave me. This is Few over Many and it is our Tone that leads.” And he did take a knife in his hand.
65. “And if I must choose which of you to lead by this blade then I could not choose my first born and I could not choose my wife-born. For either I choose would say in my head 'not me but the other'."
66. And they listened to their Father.
67. "And if my wife asks Isaac, her son, to love me more, then my first born will say into her head, 'not he but the other' and Sarah will listen and agree."
68. And they agreed with their Father.
69. "And so we must always stay as one but in the eyes of my wife and the ears of the slaves Isaac will be my first born. And in the eyes of my wife and the ears of the slaves Yismal will be lost. For Yismal shall take half of the kingdom and move in one direction,” Abraham did say.
70. “And this kingdom will be in quarrel, but beneath all will be calm,” God Abraham did say.
71. “And the kingdoms of Isaac and Yismal will be in quarrel, but beneath all will prosper,” God Abraham did say.
72. And then he did tell his sons the Great Secret he told his nephew and all was made as the stone and as the dust.
73. Yismal did take his sheep and his slaves West, after kissing his half brother and his Father.
74. Prince Abraham took others for his seed such was his desire to pass onwards seed. And he did marry Ketura who was the daughter of his brother and she bore him six sons.
75. Only one of those who shared his blood with Ketura also shared his seed and Tone. This son he sent East to his nephew who he knew was still alive.
76. To the other sons he gave riches save for Ishbak who he had slain by camel-tear for the reason that he had jealousy over Isaac.
77. When it was time to bury Abraham he had lived six score years.
78. Isaac, who had taken his kingdom in all and everything, said to the million at Machpelah,
79. "Today I bury my Father alone. But my brother is with us from the East and he sends his sorrows to me and I send mine to him.”
80. “And we say this, O Great and holy father - You have made us with your seed and made the land and made the cattle and the deer and the grain. And you have given all from slave to commander a greatness with your guidance and so we bless you and we bless us all."
81. And then did Isaac take dirt from the floor of Machpelah and cast it thrice upon his Father's chest and once more for himself.
82. And then the sons who stayed and the sons of sons did bury their Father.
    
    

(I have renamed book one of "The Final Chapters" to "Kingmaker")