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    The Man in the Cistern
    The Man in the Cistern
    The Man in the Cistern
    Ebook78 pages55 minutes

    The Man in the Cistern

    By Richard Abbott

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    About this ebook

    Set about ten years after the conclusion of the full-length novel In a Milk and Honeyed Land, this short story follows Damariel and Nepheret, seers and priests of the town of Kephrath, as they tackle a new challenge to the four towns. A group of migrants has set up an encampment just down the trackway towards Shalem. What are their intentions? Do they come in peace or war?

    “They are more of a threat to themselves just now. But two things might happen. One is that men might join, and stay, who have some weapons and some real aggression. Then they might start to intrude on surrounding towns including this Kephrath. Or, and maybe more likely, they could bring a plague of sickness into the area. These are not men who know how to live outside, not for the most part. A few have been slaves, but most of them are workers who have always been told what to do. They are used to living in houses. The main thing that protects Kephrath is that they do not know how to act in concert as a group. They are just like a rough heap of gravel. But perhaps someone could turn them into a rock and start to pound others around them.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRichard Abbott
    Release dateJul 12, 2013
    ISBN9780954553548
    The Man in the Cistern
    Author

    Richard Abbott

    Richard Abbott lives in London, England and works in IT on professional technical contract quality assurance. He also develops mobile/tablet apps with a focus on the ancient world. His first book, 'In a Milk and Honeyed Land', explores events in the Egyptian province of Canaan at the end of the Bronze Age, around 1200BC. It follows the life, loves, and struggles of a priest in the small hill town of Kephrath. A follow-up, 'Scenes from a Life' is in progress. The short story 'The Man in the Cistern' is set in the same location but around ten years later. The short story 'The Lady of the Lions' is set in the same location but around one hundred and fifty years earlier. 'Triumphal Accounts in Hebrew and Egyptian' is the ebook version of his PhD thesis which, for those who want the technical details, supplies academic underpinning for some of the ideas and plot themes followed up in fiction. See the website http://www.kephrath.com for more details and background information. When not writing words or computer code, he enjoys spending time with family, walking, and wildlife, ideally combining all three pursuits in the English Lake District.

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      Book preview

      The Man in the Cistern - Richard Abbott

      The Man in the Cistern

      Divider

      Richard Abbott

      Copyright

      © Copyright 2015 Richard Abbott.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

      Publication details

      ISBN numbers

      ISBN: 978-0-9545535-1-7 (Kindle mobi)

      ISBN: 978-0-9545535-4-8 (general epub)

      Matteh Publications

      mattehpublications.datascenesdev.com/

      www.kephrath.com

      Matteh Publications logo

      Dedication

      For Roselyn, for family

      The Man in the Cistern

      They are more of a threat to themselves just now. But two things might happen. One is that men might join, and stay, who have some weapons and some real aggression. Then they might start to intrude on surrounding towns including this Kephrath. Or, and maybe more likely, they could bring a plague of sickness into the area. These are not men who know how to live outside, not for the most part. A few have been slaves, but most of them are workers who have always been told what to do. They are used to living in houses. The main thing that protects Kephrath is that they do not know how to act in concert as a group. They are just like a rough heap of gravel. But perhaps someone could turn them into a rock and start to pound others around them.

      Also by the Author

      Historical Fiction set in the ancient near east

      Novels:

      In a Milk and Honeyed Land

      Scenes from a Life

      The Flame Before Us

      Short stories:

      The Lady of the Lions

      Science Fiction

      Novels:

      Far from the Spaceports (November 2015)

      Cover information

      Cover artwork © Copyright Richard Abbott

      Original Matteh Publications logo drawn by Jackie Morgan.

      Original photographs taken in Israel and elsewhere.

      Preface

      This short story takes place about ten years after the end of the full length novel In a Milk and Honeyed Land. Most of the characters in this story - and of course the setting of Kephrath itself - will be familiar from the novel. A small glossary at the end will help readers who are not familiar with the novel to orient themselves in this world.

      Briefly, Kephrath is one of four towns linked by custom, tradition, and a common religious and cultural leadership. Local stability in the village is in the hands of Damariel and Nepheret, serving their community as priests and seers. Similar couples fulfil this role in the other three towns. The towns are grouped together in the hill country, close to one of the main routes down into the lowlands. Overall leadership in both peace and war used to be provided by a chief from one of the families in the towns. One of the changes brought about by the events described in In a Milk and Honeyed Land is that this leadership is now in the hands of the Ibriym, a formerly nomadic group now settling in the hill country to the north of the four towns.

      Maps

      The region

      The Region

      Kephrath in the time of In a Milk and Honeyed Land

      Kephrath

      Contents

      Title

      Copyright

      Dedication

      Preface

      Maps

      The Man in the Cistern

      In Kephrath

      The scout's report

      The camp

      Ramoth Hurriy

      In Kephrath

      About the author

      About Matteh Publications

      Background and Glossary

      Specific glossary for this story

      The background

      Short glossary of words and customs

      Poetry

      Towns

      Later history of the Gibeonites

      The Man in the Cistern

      O Highest One, restore us,

      shed the light of your face and set us free.

      In Kephrath

      The Mitsriy were withdrawing from their outpost up at Ramoth Hurriy. Damariel the seer had first caught rumour of the move nearly a year ago, but had waited to see if there was real substance in it before taking the news seriously. These days, there were always stories of this place or that being abandoned, and so many of them were either scare-mongering or wishful thinking, depending on who was talking.

      Now, for sure there would be little impact on Kephrath and her three sister communities, the four towns Damariel cared for. Ramoth Hurriy was south of Shalem, up on the heights overlooking the southern edge of that town, and Damariel was not sure he had ever met anyone who lived there. So far as he knew, there was only a shrine to the goddess Hathor served

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