KOLBRIN'S BIBLE Chapter 6 - Dadam and Lewid

CHAPTER SIX

DADAM AND LEWID

Maeva fled for her life and many kinfolk went with her. But Dadam was unable to follow, being laid low with the sickness. This loosened his tongue, so it became uncontrollable, making him babble like a child, and the sickness covered his body with red sores from which came an issue. Lewid also departed for a place far out in the wilderness.

Those with Dadam, who looked back towards the place of the garden, saw bright tongues of light licking the sky above it, the whole being interwoven with flickering flames in many hues. Those who sought to return were repulsed with a tingling ache over their bodies which increased into severe pain as they approached, so they were driven away.

When Dadam recovered so he could stand, only a few remained with him and they all moved further into the wilderness to a place where there was water and pasture. There Dadam left Herthew, his son, and the boy's mother, with Habaris the Learned, and set out to find Lewid.

After many days Dadam and those with him came upon Lewid and his Yoslings who were full of sickness, and slew many, but Lewid was not slain though mortally wounded, and he lay against a great rock. When Dadam came near, Lewid raised an arm heavily and said, "Hail to the victor and benefactor who was come to terminate our wretchedness". While Dadam stood sternly contemplating him, Lewid said, "To kill me now is your prerogative, for even we lesser being who are far removed from godmen have the law of husbandly pride. What I did has been done before and will be done again, but I erred by crossing an unknown barrier which could not be discerned, for we, within ourselves, are no more contagious to each other than are your people. If then I must die, let it be for my part in spawning the cankerworms of disease which have stricken both our peoples". 

"Back in the dreaming time, when the Great Gods strove among themselves for dominion of the sky spaces, and the wide expanse of Earth was rent apart by unearthly wildfire, Bemotha was cut apart by the bright arrows of Shemas. Then this land was given to my people as their dominion, while yours was in another unearthly place far distant. Our domain was a pleasant place and though you teach that because of this we remained as we are, yet we were content. We know of no great design, nor of any

barely attainable objectives to which men must aspire. Such striving as you know is to us no more than purposeless vexation".

"I have my God and you have yours, and as they strove one against the other before times, so will it always be; but now there is a new battleground with new battle chiefs. I will go to my appointed place and you will go to yours, and from thence, as leaders of the fray, we shall wage a never ceasing war. Such is fated and must be, but who will win the fair prize of Earth for their king? We shall not strive with clubs and lances, the hurling stone and flying dart, but with more subtle weaponry. This thing is not our choice, we are but playthings of fate. That you and I should head the fray is not because of our qualities but because we were where we were, when we were. Now we are but two precarious points of life in a hostile wilderness, but what might we be in a hundred generations?"

Dadam said, "These things I know too, for my eyes have always been opened. I too have looked out into an endless plain without any horizon, but I shall lead those who have grown strong through seeking and striving, while those in your ranks will be weakened through indulgence in the fleshpots and pleasure places of Earth. We are the disinherited but not the disowned, we have the seeds of victory within us. You and yours were never more than you are, sons of the easy path, followers of the downhill road".

Then, when these things had been spoken, Lewid died and Dadam and those with him burnt his body. Dadam and those with him wandered the wasteland for many days, then turned southward towards the mountain. Then it happened that one-day Dadam was seated apart, in solitude among rocks, with chin on chest, and a hunter of the Ubalites came upon him from behind. The hunter slung a smooth stone as the man turned, and it struck out his eye. Then the Ubalite slew him by smashing in his head with a stone.

The hunter was the son of Ankadur, son of Enanari, king of the Ubalites, by Urkelah, daughter of the Chaisites. This is known because those who were with Dadam came out of the barren places and learned the ways of builders, becoming great among the Ubalites and raising cities along the rivers. Among them was Enkilgal who built Keridor, which stands between the two great rivers, and Netar and Baletsheramam who taught men the ways of writing, setting the letters upon a pillar in Herak.