QBLH
The King of Swords
Ability to think critically,
reason logically,
and make sound decisions
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Chapter LXIV
Gone Fishing
Intellectual power and authority
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Jim and Idiot continued their discussion as the green shores of what would one day be called Greece rose on the horizon. Rather than make landfall immediately, Jim chose the cover of night so Genie could alter the form of the Dutchman. After dusk, Genie folded the vessel, wrapped itself about Jim’s waist, and he swam ashore. In the process, he lost one sandal.
With his belt, Jim could generate gold pieces as needed—sufficient to barter for supplies and information. It would be natural enough for him to enter the local cities and inquire of their kings, learning their fears and ambitions.
Rather than trouble the reader with the particulars, suffice it to say that Jim soon found himself aboard a ship built by a craftsman named Argos, sailing with a motley crew of Greek athletes toward Colchis, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. Jim had found his Jason and persuaded him to pursue a Golden Fleece. The local king, incredulous yet tempted, promised Jason his throne should he accomplish the impossible.
The quest was born partly of Jim’s calculated provocation—and partly of intimidation.
Jim declined command. The leader, he insisted, must be a man of the age. He allowed another, Tiphys, to assume the role of navigator. Though Tiphys knew little of navigation at first, he proved an eager student. Jim taught him the constellations and the motions of the heavens. The idea that Earth was spherical struck Tiphys as unlikely, yet it explained the rising of the sun and the shifting of the stars more convincingly than any myth he knew.
The straits were treacherous. Currents pulled unpredictably, winds shifted without warning, and none aboard had ventured so far before. Fear ran through the crew. The Trojans who controlled the narrow passage offered no aid. When the Argos failed to pay tribute, fortifications atop the cliffs hurled massive stones from catapults, intended less to strike than to force the helmsman into disaster.
Jim showed no fear.
The catapults were inaccurate, meant only to panic the steersman. Tiphys, however, feared Jim more than the falling boulders. To steady the crew, Jim calmly commanded Genie to disintegrate one of the stones mid-air. His mind wandered even as he guided Tiphys—considering the twenty-first century to which he must one day return, and the unfinished work awaiting him there. Idiot corrected the ship’s course as needed.
Jim never lost sight of his true mission.
Go, tell this young man,
said the other angel,
that Jerusalem will one day be so full of people
that she will have no room for them all.
Many will dwell beyond the city walls,
with their cattle—and yet they will be safe.
For YÁOHU UL Himself will be
a wall of fire around Jerusalem;
He will be her glory.
“Flee from the land of the north,
from Babylon,” says YÁOHU UL.
“I scattered you to the winds,
but I will gather you again.
Escape to Zion!”
For YÁOHU UL of Glory has sent me
against the nations that oppressed you:
whoever harms you touches
the apple of His eye.
I will strike them down,
and their slaves shall rule over them.
Then you will know that YÁOHU UL Tzavulyáo,
Commander of Heaven’s Armies,
has sent me.
Sing and rejoice, Jerusalem!
For I have come to dwell among you.
Jerusalem at this time belonged to the Jebusites. Jim resolved to visit it soon. Once it had been ruled by Melchizedek, and he wondered what sort of people now occupied it. Whoever they were, their hold on the city would not last. The invading Israelites would eventually claim it.
What struck Jim most was how little difference he sensed between the needs of this era and those of the twenty-first century. In the privacy of his cabin, he surveyed the city remotely using Idiot’s mobile satellites.
He saw that Isis had established several temples there—under different names. Each city adapted its own feminine deity, but the reverence was unmistakable. Amazon-trained priestesses staffed the temples, ensuring constant ritual devotion. Fertility bulls were commonly idolized, and local kings were rewarded for enforcing the laws of Artemis.
None of this surprised Jim. The world was steeped in paganism, and Egypt’s pharaoh had recently attempted to exterminate the Hebrews in a brutal purge.
Tracing the sailors’ beliefs back through Phoenician lore to Egyptian origins was not difficult. A new dynasty in Egypt had arisen—hostile to monotheism. Isis, it seemed, had been less sincere than she claimed in honoring Jim’s belief in one God. By endorsing paganism, she had enabled atrocity: the massacre of thousands of infants.
She punished Egypt by placing a woman on the throne and forbidding any man to rule. She knew Jim would be enraged—but as always, she would never admit error. Instead, she permitted him to remove her from the stage gracefully.
Xuang remained behind the scenes, appointed High Priest of Isis, coordinating Amazon activity as he moved among the temples. Transportation was arranged via Pegasus. Public conveyance was rarely used.
The Jebusites drew strength from their alliances with the Hittites—who even now hurled stones at Jim’s ship—and with Egypt, ruled by the aging Merneptah, son of the Rameses who had failed to capture Moses. Merneptah falsely claimed the Israelites destroyed; in truth, Joshua was beginning his campaigns from the hills while Egyptian forces clung to the plains.
Over time, Egypt’s influence in Canaan waned, and Israel would settle.
The Amazons controlled the Hittites through brothels and temples spread across Anatolia. They were not truly contemporaneous with early Israel; Qblh would withdraw them before Israel’s consolidation. Rituals would persist briefly, but Artemis herself would no longer answer.
The Amazons’ departure—and the fall of Troy in 1184 BC—would close a legendary era. Jim would use Helen to bring about the destruction of imperial Ilium, the city that dared attack his ship.
Once the Argos cleared the Hellespont, no pursuit followed. The Greeks had not expected them to survive.
The crew hailed Jim as Hercules, despite his refusal of the title. Reputation clung stubbornly once earned. Without it, he would never have assembled such men.
The next strait was wider, less fortified. The crew marveled at the vast sea beyond—spoken of in rumor, never seen. Colchis lay several days ahead.
For now, Jim allowed himself a moment of rest.
He took up a fishing line.
