Until the very moment the huge wooden gates to her small town of Bethulia closed behind them, Hanla had doubted whether her mistress, the honorable and deeply religious widow Judith, were actually going to go through with her plan. But now the lady and her slave were making their way carefully through the warm night down the grassy mountainside. Hanla carried all they'd brought from their home: a large canvas sack of food � roasted barley and dried fig cakes, and loaves of bread baked in accordance with Jewish laws; a skin of wine, and a small jar of oil. Neither woman spoke as they descended the mountain. Only insects and their own cautious footsteps made any sound as they walked down into the valley below, toward the camp of the Assyrian army that had been holding Bethulia under siege for over a month.

Before they reached the camp, they were met by a large patrol of Assyrian soldiers. Hanla stared at their weapons: long, curved knives and swords that glistened in the moonlight. Her stomach iced over with fear at her first personal encounter with the enemy.

The Assyrian men stared at the two Israelite women. Hanla and Judith stared back. For a moment they considered each other. The first words spoken between them were by a man who must have been the patrol leader. He said, "I place you under arrest!"

Hanla turned to Judith, wondering if this were part of the plan, but Judith's face remained calm and set and she looked the patrol leader straight in the eyes. He actually took a tiny step back.

"Who are you?" the man asked in a snarling tone. "What is your nationality, where are you coming from, and where are you going?"

Before answering, Judith pulled the shawl she wore back from around her head, exposing her face to the men. Now the whole front row of them stepped back, stunned by her remarkable beauty. Her thick black hair made waves around her face, and her large mournful eyes nearly matched the night in depth and darkness. Her face was a perfect oval, her olive skin still young and smooth, with its first traces of wrinkles appearing only within the last few years. She was also wearing an elegant dress and all her finest jewelry. Hanla lowered her head and shrugged her shoulders, letting out more of the rough material of her own shawl, so that it almost covered her eyes. She bent her back some, to appear an old woman. She had to hide herself from these people, even more than she did from the people of her own town. Hanla was not nearly as beautiful as Judith, but being a slave, she would be subject to whatever rape or other sexual attentions the men could force on her. And if everything went according to plan, they would be staying in the camp for at least a few days.

Judith answered the soldier's questions in a calm voice. "I am a Jew, but I am running away from the Israelites because our God is going to let you destroy them. I have come here to see Holofernes, your widely acclaimed general, to give him some valuable tactical information. I know how this army can advance into the mountains and take control of this entire region, and all without a single casualty."

The soldiers all gaped at Judith � Hanla suspected more for her beauty than her words. Before the patrol leader could answer her a man to his left stepped forward and said in a shaky voice, "Brave lady, you have saved your life by coming to us. Some of our men will take you to the general's headquarters at once."

Another man added, "Do not be afraid of him. Just tell him exactly what you have told us. He will treat you well."

Finally the leader shook his head, as if shaking off a trance, and reasserted his authority over the other soldiers by assigning a hundred men to escort Judith and Hanla to Holofernes.

* * *

News of Judith's arrival spread quickly from tent to tent once the two Israelite women and the hundred soldiers entered the Assyrian camp. The men took Judith and Hanla to the tent of Holofernes, which was twice as large as any of the rest, and richly decorated. They stood outside it, waiting to be presented to the general, and many more Assyrian men gathered around to stare. Again Hanla thought it was more for Judith's beauty than for her strangeness. She heard fleeting comments in the crowd: "Who can hate such beautiful people?" and "We had better kill all the Jewish men fast, or their women will be able to charm the whole world!" Hanla loosened her shawl some more.

Some of Holofernes' bodyguards came out of the tent, followed closely by men dressed in servants' livery. They led Judith and Hanla inside. One of the servants caught Hanla's eyes past her shielding cloak, and she looked away quickly, her cheeks pinkening. The servant, a tall, handsome young man, looked away as well.

The men halted in the outer chamber of the tent. Weapons hung from the inside walls. Holofernes' servants went back into the inner chamber to announce the arrival of the two Israelite women. A few minutes later the general himself came to the outer part of the tent, where they were waiting. Two servants carried silver lamps ahead of him, and the warm light shone onto Judith's face, making her appear even more beautiful. Hanla heard several men gasp. Judith lowered her face out of the light and bowed down to the ground before the general, and five or six servants quickly moved in to help her back to her feet afterward. And the servant who'd caught her own eyes before stole another glance at Hanla.

Holofernes spoke. He said to Judith, "There is no reason to be afraid. I have never harmed anyone willing to serve my illustrious master Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the world. Of course, had your people up in the mountains not insulted me by refusing to surrender to me when I demanded it, I would not have declared war on them. Any insult to me is an attack on my master. They brought their trouble on themselves. I will treat you well, though. You may stay with us as long as you wish, beautiful lady, and no harm will befall you. So tell me why you have left your Jews and come instead to me."

All eyes focused on Judith, and Hanla admired the way she kept her voice steady as she answered. "I have come to speak to you, my lord, and please listen. If you follow my advice, God will be with you, and you will become famous and revered, a brilliant hero admired by all the world. You will not be able to fail. This is the truth � I swear it by the life of the great Nebuchadnezzar, king of the entire world, who sent you to bring order to the unruly subjects of his vast kingdom." Smart, Hanla thought. Swearing would make her words all the more believable, and of course an oath on the life of Nebuchadnezzar meant nothing at all to a faithful Jew.

"Because of you," Judith continued, "Nebuchadnezzar and his whole kingdom will prosper. Even living up in the mountains I've heard of your cleverness and skill. The entire world knows that you are the most powerful, competent, and accomplished general in all the Assyrian Empire..."

Judith went on flattering him awhile longer, and Hanla hoped she weren't overdoing it, but Holofernes seemed to enjoy it all. The young slave woman listened from behind her shawl as Judith described how the siege had left Bethulia without food or water, and how the townspeople, starving and dying of thirst, had decided to solve the problem by killing their livestock and eating foods that God's Law forbade them to eat. How they'd decided to eat wheat set aside from the early harvest, and oil and wine reserved as tithes for the priests in Jerusalem. This would incite God's anger.

She told Holofernes that God had sent her to the Assyrians to tell them when to attack: on the day her people actually ate the sacred food. Then God would allow the Assyrians to destroy them for their sin against him. She said that she would leave the camp each night and go out into the valley to pray, and God would let her know when they'd done their evil, and she would in turn tell the general.

Holofernes was plainly excited by Judith's proposal. Hanla could imagine that he now admired her for her wisdom as well as her physical beauty. From back among the soldiers she heard an awed, "She must be the most beautiful woman in the whole world!" Another voice asked, "I wonder if she is married," and a third responded, "Does that matter?" Beneath her shawl, Hanla shook her head a little in exasperation.

Holofernes answered the Israelite woman, "I am glad you have come here to bring us victory and help us destroy those who have insulted the exalted King Nebuchadnezzar. You are wise for a woman, and beautiful as well. If you do as you have promised me, one day you will live in King Nebuchadnezzar's palace and be rich, powerful, and famous through all the world!"

Judith's only response was to bow her head submissively, not looking anyone in the eyes.

Next Holofernes commanded his servants to take Judith to the dining table in his tent and to serve her some of his own special food and wine. Judith refused.

"I am sorry, sir, but I cannot eat your food," Judith reminded him. "If I did, I would be violating God's laws myself, and I am a religious woman. I will eat only what I have brought with me."

Holofernes shrugged and let her be. He gave his servants a new set of instructions on where to bring the two women, and they then led Judith and Hanla through the dusty camp to a tent. One handed Judith a lamp, and they all left.

As soon as they were gone, Judith let out a dramatic sigh. Hanla agreed wholeheartedly. It was an immense relief to be able to let up their act, though Judith had performed remarkably well. Perhaps that was because God had been with her, Hanla reasoned. Or perhaps it was because a good amount of what she'd told Holofernes and the Assyrians had been the truth. She'd only changed a few minor details and left out a few major ones. The only part of her story that had been completely false was her description of her motives for coming. For Judith had not come to this army's camp to run from her people's troubles, but to save them.

"You were wonderful, my lady," Hanla told her, not just trying to soothe her but meaning it. "Everyone trusts you completely."

"They are fools easily blinded by physical beauty." Judith's voice was cold and tired. No doubt she was thinking of her husband Manasseh, departed for over three years, the only man she'd ever before permitted to look at her the way all those Assyrians had.

Hanla sometimes worried about Judith, though she never expressed her fears. Judith had taken Hanla in as a young girl, and been the closest person to a mother that the slave had ever had, despite their age difference being barely ten years. But since Manasseh's death Judith had been colder, more distant toward people, if more devoted than ever toward God. And she was respected all the more reverently by her townspeople for it, but Hanla knew that she still grieved, and it worried her to see her lady withdrawn and vulnerable.

The tent was fairly large, but furnished only with one low bed. Judith set the lamp on the floor. Hanla spread a thick cloak over the bed and made it up for her mistress. She wished the tent had been supplied with mosquito netting; Judith should have to suffer as little as possible during her stay. Hanla watched as she began to take off her jewelry: gold and silver rings, earrings, bracelets around her thin wrists and ankles. She took off her fine dress as well, and pulled a simple covering over her head to sleep in. She hadn't worn anything so fancy as tonight's apparel in three years, either.

Once Judith was settled, Hanla spread her own cloak out on the ground. She was perfectly used to sleeping on the floor, and her only discomfort was due to the mosquitoes, which weren't nearly so profuse further up the mountain. Sleep came quickly � it had been a long day.

* * *

Hanla was awakened before dawn the next morning by the sound of Judith moving about the tent getting dressed. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Hanla looked around and remembered where she was. She looked to her mistress, who was now wearing a plain dress with no jewelry or sandals. Hanla sat up, wondering what Judith had planned for today.

"I am going to pray now," Judith informed Hanla in her calm, serene voice. She asked Hanla to look outside and see if there were any soldiers standing guard outside their tent. Hanla stood, crossed the dark tent, and opened one of the tentflaps. She found only a single soldier standing guard close by. The man greeted her with a smile, though he was plainly disappointed that it was not the beautiful Judith whom he got to glimpse, but only her slave. Hanla nodded back and closed the tent.

"We shall have to speak quietly, my lady," she informed her mistress, "But it is safe."

Judith knelt down on Hanla's cloak, still spread over the floor, and folded her hands. Hanla knelt next to her. For a moment they sat in silent meditation, recounting to themselves everything that had happened and that would follow in the next few days. Then Judith began to pray.

"Dear God, our heavenly Father, thank you for carrying us safely into the camp of this Assyrian army. Please keep us safe from harm here and keep our true purpose a secret. Please protect us against mistakenly revealing your purpose with us to the Assyrians, so that we may carry out your plan, and bring honor to you and to your people. O Lord, please forgive our people for their crimes, and deliver them from this plague they suffer instead of punishing them further. For we are a people who love you and fear you, but we are only humans, very weak, as you know for you created us. In your awesome and endless power, O Lord, please protect us and save your people."

A moment after Judith finished Hanla began. "Father God, I pray for my lady Judith, who has come all this way out into this enemy campground. Give her strength, my Lord, that she may carry out the purpose for which you have sent her here. Please protect her from the dangers of this campground and of the mission she has come here to complete. We love you, God, and we thank you. Amen."

After they got up from praying, Hanla prepared a simple breakfast for them out of bread and dried figs from their food bag. Then Judith said to her, "You should go now, Hanla. Join the servants of the camp in their daily tasks � it will help us to integrate ourselves with these people further. Make use of yourself. I will stay here."

Hanla disliked the idea of leaving Judith alone in this place, but, ever-obedient, she bowed her head in acquiescence. She lifted her cloak from the floor and dusted it off, then tied it about her shoulders over her old, simple servant's dress. Then she covered her head with its customary shawl, pulled it loose to obscure her unwrinkled face, and pushed through the tentflaps.

The sun was just rising as she stepped outside, and she looked around, acknowledging the disappointed guard for a second time. Though the campground was only a temporary settlement, it was in better condition than her hometown. The tents Hanla passed withstood the light breeze of the valley more successfully than some of Bethulia's old buildings did the harsh mountain wind that faced them. Bethulia was in terrible disrepair, but her people lacked both the materials and the strength necessary to fix her. Their bodies were ravaged by diseases, their minds by despair. Children cried and collapsed in the streets. Starving, dehydrated humans, able to do nothing but moan in agony, littered the ground.

None of that was here. Finding the servants' quarters in the camp was easy; Hanla seemed to have an instinct for such things. She made sure her shawl was loose about her forehead and walked over.

For a moment Hanla stood in front of the servants' tent watching people go about their early morning activities. Soon a young woman in slaves' garb met her. She was carrying a large wooden tub full of cloth, balanced against her hip. "Hello." Her voice was pleasant. "You must be the slave of the Israelite woman we have heard has come here. We welcome you." A smile and a sweep of her eyes indicated that she was speaking for all the servants of the camp.

"Thank you," Hanla said, her nervousness somewhat abated. "I have come to ask what service I can be here."

"Come help me with this sewing," the Assyrian woman answered with barely a moment's hesitation. "We have just gotten new cloth, imported from the east, they said, and we are making tunics and such for the army. Surely you have noticed those they are wearing are threadbare."

Hanla had not noticed at all � the clothes of the army men were in better condition than those worn by most in her home town, but she didn't tell the Assyrian slave this. "I will be glad to," was all she said.

"My name is Ayali," the girl continued.

"I am Hanla," Hanla answered.

Ayali carried her tub into a small, leaning tent, set it on the floor, and sat herself down there, too. Hanla followed her. There were also three other women in the tent, all much older than Ayali, whom Hanla guessed was even younger than herself. They'd apparently been waiting for the young slave girl to return.

"What has taken you so long this time?" one asked.

"Are you such a weakling that you cannot carry a basket?" another complained. For a moment, Hanla worried for how they would treat her, a foreigner, if they were this tough on their own.

"I have met a stranger," Ayali said, her smile almost mischievous. "Everyone, this is Hanla, the servant of the Israelite woman we have heard so much about. She is going to join us here for a while. Hanla, this is Daume, Shadni, and Aukieva." Hanla hoped she'd be able to remember the strange foreign names.

The old woman Ayali had called Daume shook her head and grumbled, "Met someone and stopped to gossip. I should have suspected as much!"

"Yes." The oldest of the servants, Shadni, nodded to the woman beside her. "You should have. But I for one am grateful for the girl's young back, even if she completes her tasks no faster for it."

The smile never left the Ayali's face, and it was clear that she was not at all repentant for making them wait, not this morning or any other time. Hanla admired the way Ayali wasn't intimidated by the older women.

The three of them continued to disparage the younger girl as they worked, using old blades too dull for weapons to cut the cloth, which was finer than any Hanla had felt in quite a long time. Colored thread joined the fronts and backs of the patterns they'd cut. Hanla was mostly left out of the conversation � only Ayali made any effort to include her � but the work was pleasant and she enjoyed it. Sewing clothes for Judith was a task that Hanla had always liked, and one that she hadn't performed in years. Judith had not wanted anything new since Manasseh died. Hanla's hands were appreciative of the chance to sew again, even if making army tunics was not as exciting as making fine dresses. And even though it did feel a little absurd to be making clothes for a group of men who would wear them to attempt to destroy her people.

At one point after they'd been working for awhile, one of the tentflaps opened and sunlight streamed in. The bright light surprised Hanla � for the sun to be that strong it had to be afternoon already. She hadn't even noticed the time pass. She squinted to look up at the visitor, then her eyes grew wide as she recognized the entering servant as one of the men who'd been with them last night, the one who'd kept looking at her. Hanla immediately and indiscreetly pulled her shawl down over her eyes and her face.

With her face covered, Hanla couldn't see his expression as he asked, "Have you ladies got a spare blade here? Preferably one sharper than a wedge of wood?" His voice was light and energetic, despite the heat. Shadni heaved herself up and handed him one of the dull knives they'd been using to cut the cloth. "This is about the best we have," she informed him. "Put it to good use, Radan."

The man thanked her and left, and as the tent darkened Hanla released her grip on her shawl, letting it slide back up to her forehead. The older woman called Aukieva was looking at her strangely, but luckily none of the others seemed to have noticed her odd behavior. Hanla wasn't even sure why she'd acted like that, herself. But she knew that, somehow, she wanted to see Radan again.

* * *

Come late afternoon it was time to put away their needles, and Hanla was glad for it despite her joy in sewing, because her hands were starting to cramp up. The servants had to start preparing the camp's evening meal. Daume took charge and sent Ayali off to collect dried meat and vegetables for the stew from the camp's stores. "And be quick about returning with it!" she added as the young slave scurried away.

Daume turned to Hanla. "And let's see if you can be of any use. Do you know how to find the spring at the base of the mountain?"

Hanla bit back an indignant reply of: Of course I know where the spring is! That spring belonged to the people of my town before the army cut them off from it. She simply replied that she did, and the old woman handed her a large leather sack to carry the water, turned her around, and gave her a push in direction of the spring.

It was refreshing to leave the Assyrian camp, though really Hanla liked everyone she'd met that day. Out in the fields, nearly out of sight of the camp, with only nature and God, Hanla felt safe and free.

The light evening breeze lifted the shawl from around her head and blew it back behind her shoulders. Hanla smiled, raised her face to the world, and let the wind embrace her.

She reached the little spring, and wanted to rejoice for the comforting familiarity of the place. It had been over a month since she'd been there, but before the siege began she'd come every day to fetch water, sometimes twice. Hanla knelt down by the bank of the pool and dipped her hand into the cool running water, smiling as it brushed against her hand and slipped away. She looked down at her rippling reflection, into her own dark eyes staring back. The familiar grass tickled her bare feet as she floated the leather bag on the surface, in front of the water flow, holding the mouth open with her hands. When the submerged half of the sack was filled she pulled it back over the bank of the spring, stood, and tied it securely shut at the top.

She stood holding the bag and staring at the spring as the sun set behind the mountain. On an impulse she crossed around to the other side of the water, where she'd have stood had she just come from higher up the mountain, and turned around to glimpse the familiar view.

Staring back at her from across the water was an Assyrian man.

It was the same man who'd come to the slaves' tent that afternoon, Hanla realized, but by that point she'd already unfrozen from her initial shock and was running back around the little pool, the unwieldy water sack thumping her back and pushing her onward. In her haste she didn't think to fasten her shawl back around her head. Her only thought was to return to the camp, to Judith, the only person she could trust, before it was too late.

Hanla was already back to the camp, tired and sweaty from her run, before she noticed that the man had not followed her. She felt a slight wash of guilt. The man hadn't done anything to hurt her, and to judge by his clothing he was a higher ranking servant than the women who'd taken her in that morning.

In a bit of a daze she walked back to the servants' quarters, where she spotted the three older slave women taking a rest, sitting around a large fire which they'd just built. She remembered her hood, and placed it back over her head, tucking in the thin wisps of straight black hair that had escaped as she ran back to the camp. Daume noticed Hanla first.

"That was quick," she said, her tone surprised and pleased. "It is nice to see the young ones put in some effort once in a while."

"We shall keep her, and let the Israelite woman take Ayali back instead," Shadni added slyly.

Ayali returned just too late to hear their teasing comments, but in time to receive dirty looks from Daume and Aukieva. They retrieved their dull knives from their tent and began cutting the tough, dried vegetables and meat for the stew.

Hanla's mind was not on what she was doing, and even with the knives they had she cut her hand twice. Ayali, clearly puzzled, asked if she'd like to stop; perhaps Hanla did not know how to cook. Hanla assured her that no, she'd been cutting and cooking since she was a child. She wiped a trickle of blood away from her finger with a dirty cloth that the younger girl handed her.

"Well, then," Ayali pressed, "What is wrong?"

Hanla sighed. She didn't want to talk about why she was distracted; she never talked with anyone about things personal to her, not with anyone except God. But no one other than Ayali was paying any attention to her, and after another few days she'd never see Ayali again. So she figured it probably wouldn't hurt to tell her.

"When I went to fetch the water just now," Hanla explained, "One of your servants followed me, a man. It was the man who came to the tent this afternoon asking for a knife, or something like that�"

"Radan?" Ayali asked. "But what is wrong with that, as long as no one knows he's been shirking his duties? He is a very nice man." She giggled. "And handsome, too! What did he say to you?"

"Nothing. I ran away as soon as I saw him."

"Oohhh." Ayali's slow intake of breath showed that she understood. Her eyes were wide and sincere. "You do not have to be afraid of him, Hanla. He will not hurt you. Lots of them would � most of the soldiers, and some of the servants, those not worked or beaten into the ground by nightfall." There was bitterness in Ayali's tone for the first time Hanla had heard. "But not Radan." The bitterness vanished. "He is a good man. He is my friend."

Hanla sighed, wishing she could take back her hasty, fearful act. "And I have just done him a major insult." She stared mournfully down into the stewpot.

The somber look left Ayali's young face and she smiled again. "Do not worry. He will forgive you. Besides," her eyes glinted mischievously, "he deserves it. He scared you. He ought to have more brains in his head than that!"

Hanla had a sudden urge to ask Ayali if there were a way she could meet this man, to tell her all about the strange feeling that overtook her every time he was nearby. But her own shyness won out, and she kept her desires to herself.

The stew was almost done. Shadni glanced over at the two young slaves as she stirred it; apparently their exchange had attracted the interest of at least one of the older women. She turned to Hanla, but didn't say anything pertaining to her conversation with Ayali. Instead, she lifted the scooped metal ladle out of the pot, full of hearty stew, and said, "For all the work you have put in today, Hanla the Israelite, you deserve the first taste of your labors." She held the ladle up between herself and Hanla.

Hanla was almost as touched by her words and important manner as by the gesture itself. "Oh, I am honored! Thank you," she told the old woman sincerely. "But I cannot accept it. Our laws forbid us from eating this food. I am sorry. I must remain faithful to my God."

Shadni looked a hint disappointed, but she said, "All right. We are not really allowed to taste the first bit, anyway." From her dry tone and Ayali's grin, Hanla gathered that the servants got the first bite of dinner on most evenings.

As they served the soldiers throughout the camp, Hanla realized that she was indeed quite hungry. By the time they finished collecting metal soup dishes to wash, it was dark, and even the watery stuff left in the bottom of the kettle for the slaves smelled wonderful. As the Assyrian servants gathered around for their turn to eat, Hanla left the group and returned through the dark camp to the tent given her mistress.

The tent was nearly as dark as the night outside when Hanla entered. Judith was sitting on the bed, her hands folded and head bowed. She looked up at her servant.

"I was beginning to fear you were not coming back," Judith said, her voice as calm and serene as it had been in the morning. "I thank God that you are all right."

"I am sorry to worry you, my lady," Hanla quickly apologized. "I have been helping the camp's servants all day. They are � the ones I met are friendly."

"Good," Judith said simply. "You are playing your role well, then."

The comment made Hanla a little uncomfortable, as she hadn't realized she'd been playing any role. She took off her cloak and opened the sack of food sitting next to the foot of the bed.

"Prepare dinner quickly, please, Hanla," Judith told her. "I have received permission for us to leave the camp and go pray out in the valley. We can go each night that we are here, the general said."

Hanla had no arguments about putting their meal together fast � she was hungry. The food was bland and simple, just bread and figs and roasted barley, but Hanla was grateful for it. The two women ate quickly, then put on their cloaks, picked up the lamp, and left. They nodded to guards as they walked through the camp, nearly all of them straining at their posts for a passing glance at Judith's face. They walked out into the valley, Hanla a step ahead with the lamp but Judith really leading.

Hanla was pleased to realize that they were heading back toward the spring. She probably wants to see it again as badly as I did, Hanla reasoned. Walking through the warm night with no sound but the insects, the wind, and their own footsteps, as they had the first night, was a nice feeling. And in a couple days they'd be doing it again, but this time going home for good. Surprisingly, the thought wasn't all that comforting � Hanla wouldn't have minded staying awhile longer.

They reached the spring, and Judith decided to bathe before they prayed. So, in the safety of the wilderness, they removed their cloaks and dresses and swam in the little pool. It felt wonderful � with water so scarce in her town, Hanla had not been clean in quite awhile. She vigorously rubbed sand through her long hair to scrub the oil from it.

After the much-welcome bath the two women knelt in the grass on the mountain-side of the pool, both wanting to be as close to their home as possible. They prayed again � Judith first and then Hanla. Judith prayed this time for reasoning power for herself and Hanla, that they'd be able to devise a way to bring about Holofernes' death, thereby weakening the Assyrian army to the point that the Israelites would have chance to fight back. And she prayed for her Lord's protection, as before. Hanla's prayer was the same as it had been the previous night, with a brief thanks added on for the friendship she seemed to be forming with Ayali and the slaves in the camp.

Their lamp was growing dim by the time they got up, and almost dead when they made it back to their tent. Hanla's first action was to add more oil to it from the jar they'd brought. She knew they'd be burning it all night, if it took that long to formulate a plan for the murder. She set the lamp back on the floor.

Both women sat down on the bed to discuss ideas. Judith spoke as if nothing were out of the ordinary, as if killing enemy generals were only another chore. Hanla actually began to worry that this place was seriously disturbing her mistress; she was so emotionless. There was a fist-sized knot in Hanla's own stomach just talking about this sort of thing.

Judith did most of the planning, several times turning to her God again in prayer. Hanla only pointed out details that might be relevant � things she'd noticed about the camp that Judith hadn't had a chance to see. They decided to plan the killing for two nights later, when Holofernes had a banquet planned for his highest ranking officers. They'd all be celebrating too merrily to be alert for danger. Given the way he and the rest of the army men felt about Judith she thought it wouldn't be difficult to get into Holofernes' tent. There'd be no need to sneak a dagger in with her � both women clearly remembered the deadly weapons that had decorated the general's walls. Judith would go in alone. She would kill him before he realized what was happening, and they would leave immediately to return up the mountain. Hanla shuddered at the plan, but thought it should work.

The slave girl's eyes were drooping by the time Judith was finally satisfied with their discussion for the night, saying any necessary amendments could be made the next day. Hanla mechanically spread her cloak on the floor, put out the lamp, laid down, and despite her concern with the night of planning was asleep as soon as her head touched the ground.

* * *

Judith awakened with the sunrise again the next morning, and Hanla again followed, though she'd have liked another hour or so of sleep. They dressed, ate, and prayed as they had the previous day, and Hanla left for the servants' quarters to be of whatever help she could. She found some of the older women she'd met there, as well as many others she didn't know, but was disappointed that the man who'd followed her yesterday, Radan, was nowhere in sight. She felt a keen desire to apologize to him for running away.

It was for this need that, when Daume asked for someone to retrieve some water from the spring, Hanla immediately volunteered, her slightly clouded logic being that if he'd been there yesterday perhaps he'd be there again today. And even if he weren't, another trip out of the camp and to the spring was always welcome. She took the leather sack that Daume handed her and headed toward the spring, hope and young optimism setting her pace at almost a skip.

Hanla arrived at the spring and found no one there. She chided herself for expecting anything different. Though she knew it was a silly and childish thing to do, she removed the shawl from around her head, as if that would bring the man she wanted to see. She considered praying to God there, for a chance to see him again, but would have felt guilty praying for something so selfish, something that was not in any way a part of the reason for which they'd come. So Hanla sighed dejectedly, turned, and started back to the camp. About fifty paces in she remembered that she'd been sent to the spring for water. She returned and filled the bag, tied it, and lugged it heavily along on her back as she walked away.

* * *

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