The Migdal Eder was an 800-year-old watchtower that had been built from the stones of the pasture during the days of Aba Gvoha.
Standing on top of the flat roof of the Migdal Eder, Zorek Avnim could watch his sheep by the light of the moon. Beneath that flat roof was the room where the lambs were born.
The lambs of the Migdal Eder were the lambs of The Day of Escape.
When Zorek Avnim was 17 years old and the sun had risen and the lions were dead, he walked into the cool shade inside the Migdal Eder. He needed to get some sleep.
He walked into the Migdal Eder to get some sleep.
Three hours later, when the darkness of sleep was deep upon him, Zorek Avnim leaped to his feet knowing that he must run to the Valley of Shadow, fifteen miles away.
Zorek Avnim took a deep breath.
He lifted his chin and closed his eyes and asked the maker to protect his lambs while he was away. Two hours later, Zorek Avnim stood at the rim of the Valley of Shadow and saw the army of his people on the hillside below him.
Across the valley was the army of their enemy.
In the bottom of that valley stood a monster man whose arms were longer and thicker than the whole body of Zorek Avnim.
If Zorek were standing in front of him, his head would reach only to the bottom of the monster man’s rib cage.
The shouts of the monster man echoed back and forth between the hillsides.
He laughed and cursed the people of Aba Gvoha.
He screamed and said their maker had dropped them into the dirt like a pig drops a pie.
A smelly pie.
Then the monster man got down on his knees and began begging for someone among the people of Aba Gvoha to come down into that valley and kill him.
And each time he did this, the Valley of Shadow would echo with laughter as the descendents of Aba Gvoha stood motionless and afraid.
No one noticed narrow Zorek Avnim as he walked down to the babbling brook at the bottom of the hillside.
He drank a little of the cold, clear water, then selected five smooth stones from the bottom of the brook.
He selected five smooth stones from the brook.
He removed his leather strap from the pouch on his belt and placed four smooth stones where the strap had been. He placed the fifth stone into the center crease of the long leather strap.
Zorek Avnim began to swing the strap in a circle as he walked toward the monster man.
The monster man saw a narrow boy walking toward him swinging a leather strap above his head.
A narrow boy swinging a leather strap.
The monster man stood up to his full height and began to laugh.
The whirling strap of Zorek Avnim began to sing in the air.
The monster man turned sideways so that he could look at his laughing army while he pointed at Zorek Avnim.
The strap was now singing a note so high that dogs began howling in the distance.
When the monster man turned back to face Zorek Avnim, a deep red spot appeared on his forehead and the back of his skull exploded.
A red spot appeared on his forehead and the back of his skull exploded.