Battle of the Kingless – Ch. 4 | KT OLLA

ARRIVING at the camp downhill, Jephthah dismissed the army except for his own division.

Then he left that base with the departing soldiers while an envious superior addressed his men.

No, the warrior’s ride back home was a lonesome trot that afternoon. And he rode alone by another way through the mountains and valleys.

But Jephthah was accompanied by a pack of worries and concerns. He feared too many things now.

Indeed, as the brave fighter cantered to his house, the thrill of his gallant fight that afternoon was simply drowned in some uncertainties.

He feared what Elar his chief might be talking to his soldiers about. Yet he knew he couldn’t have insisted on staying behind…

Especially with his master’s insistence on addressing the men without him.

So, the hero of that day’s battle fell defeated now. It was by the dagger in the words of his chief commander, his own brother.

It was this sort of witty words that Jephthah had been afraid of for a long time. But just now he’d carelessly belittled that venom.

Jephthah was himself a man of few words. And to him words and talks were sort of things for the idle.

Often he’d quote his father who trained him in the art of war. He’d muster a line or two from the maxims he raised him with.

Words are but ornaments, he’d say. Delicate ornaments for the fair and comely.

But strong men, they simply do.

This, among so many, had been the young man’s creed all the years that Gilead his father trained him for battle…

Along with the years he fought beside the old man in the battleground.

But then several years back, when the lords of Philistia invaded the city of Gilead and started oppressing the people, a storm began like a small wind.

That storm… it soon blew strong and big, and gave Jephthah’s philosophy a huge quake. It was one that shook the stout man to his core.

That night several years back, Elar had a long talk with their father who was retiring from commanding the army.

That talk was about Jephthah and about his place in their regal family. And it lasted from noon till sundown.

But the sun didn’t rise the same way the next morning. For as the day broke, Gilead presented his second son Elar to his council of elders in that town. To be the chief commander of the army in his stead.

And that meeting was equally lots of talk that lasted from daybreak up till noontide.

Yet Jephthah was the firstborn son of that ruling family. He was the first of Gilead’s sons, and was eight years older than Elar.

Jephthah knew Gilead had reserved the commander position for him. Since the old man made it crystal clear that he was raising him to take on his sceptre and sword when he grew weary.

But this younger man was born to Gilead by a prostitute, when the man hadn’t married Elar’s mother.

Thus, Jephthah was the firstborn son of Gilead; and Elar was the first of his own mother in a line of five brothers.

So, when Elar and his siblings grew up, they feared that Jephthah would inherit their father. Rather than them, legitimate sons of Gilead.

But the valiant first son wanted his father’s sceptre and sword. And every time he went to battle he prayed desperately to return home alive.

For he wanted to hold that stick and wield that blade someday. But then his younger brother came and displaced him.

It was simply with words and talk.

Thus, Jephthah feared talkers now. Since the army of Gilead followed his lead before Elar came. But then with smooth talking, Elar won both the father and the army for himself.

And nothing the older one could say to Gilead and his army mattered anymore.

No, Jephthah feared talkers now.

So then, as the cheated fighter headed home, while his brother talked to his division at the camp, he became quite apprehensive that he’d lose his men also.

He’d had lost many things in the past year. He’d lost his father’s favour and approval. He’d lost his prospect as heir of the noble family.

But now he couldn’t help but fear he’d lose his hundred-man battalion. Even if he wouldn’t lose his valiant four…

That is, Baddok, Simone, Gilkar and Sham.

But then within a moment, Jephthah was comforting himself already.

He shook his head and charged his horse forward in a faster ride. He squared his shoulders and muttered some lofty words.

‘The ostrich is no mate for the eagle. Certainly, the ostrich knows his place where height matters.

‘The people know their hero, yes. So, let the talkers talk and Jephthah write history with the blood of his enemies!’

But no, those words… those heavy words wouldn’t suffice. To drown the young man’s fears.

As things were, those words were the same that the warrior spoke when he lost his father’s backing.

He spoke those same words still, the next morning when his brother was presented to the elders of Gilead.

Now those words sounded in his ears like empty reiterations. And he hated everything rhetoric, everything ornate and lofty.

For that small wind that shook Jephthah to his core was here again.

And even now he could feel its chill.

Copyright © April 2022 by Kayode & Tola Olla