Deborah and Walter hiked down the mountain to the valley below. They walked quietly past the dead and the dying. Hebrew soldiers were also walking across the battlefield, stabbing each Canaanite body to make sure he was dead. There were birds, pecking at the dead flesh.
Walter was the first to speak. “This is horrible”
“Yes, it is.”
“I wanted this. I wanted to experience this”
“You’ve never seen a war?”
“No. Have you?”
“I’ve seen news reports of wars on the other side of the planet. I’ve read about wars. I’ve never walked through a fresh battlefield.”
“I always visualized a war using modern weapons, which would vaporize people instantly. I did anticipate the bodies, the small, or the birds”.
"Go read Deuteronomy 28 verse 26. It's one of the curses. In fact, I might write that verse, 500 years from now. I wrote the vows of women. It never occurred to you that a war might be fought using guerrilla tactics, where each side kills a few people on the other side?”
“Well, yes, but I assumed that that would be used for a local insurrection.” Also,
“In my timeline, there were two superpowers, the United States and the Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics. Each side had nuclear and thermonuclear weapons that could be delivered by rockets and airplanes. It was a philosophy called ‘Mutual Assured Destruction’, and considering how much firepower we had aimed at each other, our relationship was remarkably amiable. However, a ‘low tech’ fighting force can be effective. The United States tried to intervene in a civil war in Southeast Asia, which took over a decade before we left - in defeat. The Soviets tried to conquer a nation called Afghanistan. They had the best troops, helicopters, and they still lost. At one point, some of the local tribesmen shot down a helicopter with rocks”
“Rocks?”
“That was all they had. They managed to get a rock to go into an air intake for an engine. That caused the engine to explode.”
They walked a little farther.
“It’s the smell. This place smells bad”
“That’s not in the books, is it?”
They came to a Canaanite soldier, laying in a pool of blood, groaning. He stared at them.
“We could beam him to the autodoc”, Walter said, “And save his life”
“That would be compassionate. However, I thought you were a war criminal - a man who advocated for war. This man is part of the army that lost the war”
“I was. I’m not sure any more”
An Israeli soldier walked up to them. He saw the dying man. The Israeli grabbed the Canaanite’s hair, pulled him up, and slashed his throat all the way to the vertebrae. A vapor of blood shot out from his trachea. The Israeli released his hair.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!”, Deborah screamed at him.
“I’ve killed an enemy soldier”
“YOU DID NOT HAVE TO KILL HIM!”
“What does a woman know about war?”, the soldier said.
“Deborah, in this time and in this place, the rules of war are that you leave no combatants alive. The women and children of the defeated country are carried off by the victors”, Walter explained.
“GO AWAY!”, Deborah yelled at the Israeli soldier.
The Israeli soldier turned and ran.
“Look at him”, Walter said. “He looks like a child”
“Yes, maybe 12-15 years old”
“I killed him. I trained the man that killed him. I commanded the man that killed him. I’m responsible.”
“I gave the inspiration to Barak. I’m responsible, too.
“If you recall, you were raped”
“It was an attempted rape, but that doesn’t justify the deaths of two thousand enemy combatants”
“You had that pipsqueak duke that started your World War I. How people died in that war?
“9 million”
“Your history is littered with war”
“Your history isn’t”
“And you are trying to set history back on a course of barbarism.
“If I had Unrar board us and kill us, or if we remained in orbit above Europa, none of the would have happened.”
“If we didn’t have this victory today, then King Jaban would have wiped out the Israelites. There would be tens of thousands of dead, including women and children. Today, there are two thousand casualties, all soldiers. You saved the Israelite people. There will be a Jewish people for the next three thousand years. There will be a Billion Christians and a Billion Muslims. Your history has been restored to you. However, I no longer understand why I am here”
“Since your future didn’t happen, you didn’t come to exist. And yet you are here. Perhaps the effect of time travel on history isn’t as great as we think it is.”
“Well, I want to go to your time and become an advocate for peace”
They walked on. They came to an Israeli soldier who had a massive stain of blood on his side. “Woman of God”, he stammered, “Help me”
Deborah whipped out her medallion. She pushed the button, and said “Adelle?”
“Yes”
“There is a man lying on the ground at my feet who has experienced considerable sharp point trauma and is bleeding to death. Been him directly to the autodoc and initiate treatment on him right away.” Immediately, the solder disappeared.
They walked some more. They came to a dead horse. Already flies were eating its flesh. The smell was awful.
“You know, Walter, with Jabin’s army destroyed, there is really nothing from preventing you from seizing power from Jabin. We could sign a mutual aid, non-intervention, and non-aggression pact. I don’t want our sons and daughters mingling with your sons and daughters. No mixed marriages.
“I’m okay with that. If you want religious purity, then I think you should have it”.
“I do”
“However, I want to go home”
“My orders are to maroon you in history somewhere where you will not be a menace”
“Here?”
“Well, history says that there will be 40 years of peace after this battle”
“Does that mean you have to stay here 40 years?”
“History doesn’t say. I’m really a minor character in history”
“So you say. My name won’t be remembered 3,000 years from now”
“You could seize the throne of Jabin and rule in peace for 40 years. You could run a war college, but not maintain a standing army. Nobody would care. Or you could attack your neighbors on the other side of your country”
“I like the idea of a bloodless surrender”
“I think we could arrange something”
“Oh?”
“I am acting chief of state. I go to Jabin and tell him that he has his choice: he can abdicate in favor of you, or I can kill him and his heirs and then put you in power as the local governor.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“I would”
“What are your plans?”
“According to history, there is supposed to be peace in Israel for another 40 years. I have a child to raise, and maybe I will have some more. So, I think I will stay here and judge Israel for 40 years, and then I will go home”
“Will you take me with you?”
“If you can live in peace with me for 40 years, and be a genuine advocate for peace, then I will take you home with me”