- BA: On the afternoon of the seventeenth day of September in the second year of the Confederate War, muskets were discharged in great number along two stone walls, the sound carrying rapidly from man to man and the smoke of black powder stinging the eyes of those engaged. These walls met at a bridge of dressed stone, where the new believers of the Lord of Hosts Fellowship were received in baptism. It was there that the opposing forces came into contact, the Federals advancing in heavy order and with much shouting. At the first encounter they pressed forward with determination and came near to the far side of the stream, at the price of many fallen. On the Confederate side a large gun loaded with canister was brought to bear and placed to command the length of the bridge. It swept the structure from end to end, cutting men down in numbers, so that a second line of the dead and wounded was formed upon the first.
- BB: In the action, two Union guns positioned upstream fired bursting shells that struck down the Rebel gunners, while a second gun on the Confederate side returned solid shot with similar effect, until the two Federal pieces were broken into splintered timber and twisted iron. Following this, the Confederate infantry advanced in counterattack and regained much of the bridge, which by that time had become a house of slaughter. A Federal colonel was struck squarely by a musket ball. To the astonishment of his men, he quickly regained his feet unhurt; the projectile had lodged securely within a small Bible he habitually carried on his person. The men took this miraculous escape as a sign of providence. Emboldened, the colonel immediately led another charge against the enemy positions. In the brutal close-quarters combat that followed, soldiers on both sides stood upon the mounting heaps of the dead, passing loaded muskets forward like a bucket brigade at a fire and casting aside the empty weapons.
- BC: As the fighting continued, the Confederate infantry began to exhaust their powder, and the officer commanding them perceived that the bridge could no longer be held. He accordingly ordered his guns withdrawn under cover of fresh troops, who maintained a rearguard action to permit an orderly retirement. The commander of IX Corps then crossed the stone bridge, following the retreating Confederates. Having formed his command, he directed a lieutenant of his staff to ride to headquarters and report that a bridgehead had been secured on the left of the line. The messenger, seeing the bridge so thickly carpeted with the dead of both armies, refused to ride back across it lest he trample the fallen. He instead went down to the creek and forded it on foot. The officer suffered no difficulty in this, as the water of the run was nowhere more than waist-deep in all seasons, a topographical fact well known to the local farmers.
- BD: Meanwhile, the Price Meetinghouse, the sanctuary of the Lord of Hosts Fellowship, was commandeered as a field hospital. The interior walls were soon stained with blood, and daylight streamed through numerous shot-holes in the structure, illuminating the wounded laid out across the floor. Medical officers worked without pause. One surgeon administered chloroform to anesthetize the men, while another plied the saw to amputate shattered limbs, tossing them into a growing pile outside the building. Lange entered the chapel and found the commander of I Corps poring over maps of Sharpsburg and the surrounding country, directing his dispositions. When the general looked up and beheld him, he spoke sharply: “Who are you, and what is your business here?” “I am a deacon of this church,” Lange replied, “which now lies in desolation around us.” The officer dismissed the claim. “This is no longer a house of worship,” he stated. “It is the headquarters of the army.”
- BE: The east and south doors had been unhinged and repurposed as tables for the wounded, resembling improvised altars of sacrifice. The congregation’s great Bible was nowhere to be found, whether lost through neglect or taken by a marauder. Outside, the pews had been dragged into the yard. Federal officers sat upon them at their ease, smoking cigars and whittling idly at the wood with their knives as though in sport. Lange confronted the General, demanding that he order his men to deal more gently with the property of the church. The commander took umbrage at the request. “Depart from my sight at once,” he ordered. “If you persist in remaining here, I shall place a musket in your hands and send you to the front line.” At that moment, a crashing report shook the building, and the sanctuary filled with flying splinters. The Rebel artillery had opened a furious barrage from behind their works to cover their retreat. The General rushed from the building, plucking splinters from his flesh and shouting orders.
- BF: The officers idling upon the pews scattered in haste as shells burst around them and solid shot struck nearby trees. Federal artillery was brought up to answer the enemy’s guns. Lange remained within the chapel, maintaining a slender hope that his presence might yet induce the Lord to spare the structure. Even as he prayed, however, shot tore great openings in the walls, and two shells from the enemy’s chief battery burst directly above the roof. The artillery fire ceased abruptly and inexplicably. Choking in the dust and darkness of the ruined chapel, Lange was overcome by a sharp, agonizing pain. As he lay suffering in the gloom, pinned among the wreckage with the remaining officers, he heard the voice of a woman. “Samael, take great care,” she said. “Joshua is still alive beneath this fallen timber, though he is severely injured.” Lange was astonished by her presence. He had confided in no one when leaving his home, having no desire that any of his congregation should expose themselves to peril.
- BG: As the light slowly increased, Lange watched a massive pine beam being hoisted upward with effortless ease, revealing a figure moving beneath the timber. It appeared to him that the outer walls of the meetinghouse were no longer standing, but had been swept away entirely. The woman wore a long white coat, curiously fitted with numerous pockets, over a garment of red feathers. “You did well, Samael,” she said. “You were not here on the previous pass, so Gabriela cut through to him with Shahar Haruach, and not a few timbers shifted, and Joshua suffered immeasurably more.” A third voice then reported the presence of the three other wounded soldiers trapped in the debris. The woman replied that she would attend to all four, vowing to preserve the limbs that the ishim doctors had been preparing to amputate. Listening to this incomprehensible exchange, Lange began to fear he had lost his reason. The woman addressed him directly: “Do not be afraid, Joshua. A splinter has pierced your kidney, and your leg is broken.
- BH: “You cannot feel it because the beam is compressing it. That will change when we lift it.” Lange could manage nothing more than a gasp for help. “This will pain you considerably, to my great regret,” she continued, “but I see no way to avoid it.” Samael then hoisted the heavy timber with the same inexplicable lack of exertion. Instantly, Lange was struck by an agony surpassing anything he had ever known. His vision clouded with red, and, overcome by the sheer shock of the trauma, he lost consciousness. When Lange finally revived, he found himself lying in a bed within a remarkably well-appointed house constructed of glass, stone, and fine wood. He was nursed with great care by strangers, who urged him to remain at rest long after he felt he had gathered sufficient strength to rise. Out of gratitude, Lange obeyed his caretakers, though he could not banish thoughts of his congregation. He knew the brethren must be troubled by the sudden disappearance of their deacon in the midst of the battle.
- BI: A woman clad in green soon approached his bed, introducing herself as Cassiel, the sister of Ariel. “Are you now well, Joshua?” she asked. “I am fully recovered,” he answered, “yet I would feel better if permitted to rise.” “Please do, Joshua Lange,” she replied. “I wish to introduce you to another who is with us. He arrived in much the same manner as you did, though under the threat of fire rather than battle.” Curious as to his surroundings, Lange asked, “Where is this place?” “It will be easier to show you than to tell you,” Cassiel answered. “Come, and see.” She led him outside, where he observed a young man seated beside a large pool surrounded by a dark wooden deck. Joshua Lange guessed the youth was of the same race as the original inhabitants of the continent. As he approached, Lange realized with some astonishment that the pain in his back and fractured leg had almost entirely subsided. Given the severe trauma he had sustained during the bombardment, this rapid recovery was extraordinary.
- BJ: “Joshua Lange,” Cassiel said, “I would like you to meet this young man. Among his people he is called Shy Bear, though the name of his manhood which he shall take hereafter is Jashen. He has not yet learned much English, but I am working to remedy that.” Uncertain of the proper etiquette for such an introduction, Lange inclined his head and displayed his empty hands as a fellow guest of House Haivri. This gesture appeared to suffice. Cassiel smiled and took a seat beside the young man, gesturing for Lange to do the same. He complied somewhat reluctantly; having been confined to bed for so long he would have preferred to remain standing. “I asked that he be present so you might know him by sight,” Cassiel explained. “In a time to come, God willing, you shall meet again.” Lange studied the youth to commit his features to memory, but his attention was quickly arrested by the heavens behind the pair. He observed drifting clouds, but the firmament beyond them was a stationary expanse of muted colors.
- BK: He realized with profound disorientation that he was looking at land masses suspended in the sky. Above them, the sun hung directly overhead. It was irregular in shape, and slowly waxing in brilliance, yet it remained entirely fixed in its position. Confronted with these astronomical impossibilities, he asked once more, “Where are we?” “This place is called Kemen,” Cassiel replied. “There is no measure of distance, nor any heading, by which it can be placed in relation to the places you know.” “Have I passed on, then?” Lange asked. “No, Joshua,” she answered. “You are safe, as are your people in the other world. The invading army is presently retreating across the river, and the United States forces will soon also vacate your lands. My sister will return your livestock, just as she promised in her letter.” Cassiel smiled gently. Reaching beneath her chair, she produced a roll of canvas and placed it in his hands. “This map will guide you and your people to a place where you can make your new home.
- BL: Jashen will be waiting for you there, and, it is much to be hoped, I will be there together with him.” Lange unrolled Cassiel’s canvas for inspection. It depicted rivers, forests, and elevations, yet it was devoid of names or boundary lines. Discerning the location of their designated settlement, he observed, “It is a considerable distance.” “It is indeed as far as you can go by river and by rail, and yet further on foot. The Haivri family maintains a small holding near the terminus of the rail line where we shall provision your company for the final leg of the journey. You will proceed to the source of this river, where your people may dwell in peace alongside the Kuwapi.” Hearing that name, Shy Bear looked up in recognition and offered Lange a smile. “But I must caution you, Joshua,” Cassiel continued, “that some among your own congregation will judge you unsound of mind when you recount your stay in this place and how swiftly Raphael restored your body.”
- BM: “Then I shall entreat the Lord to select servants more worthy, that His will might be accomplished,” Lange answered. “There is no call for that,” Cassiel countered. “The brethren of the Lord of Hosts Fellowship are very much like those who first loved Lord Yeshua when he walked in your world. However, the territory designated for your settlement would only bring a slow starvation if the water marked upon that map proved to be a mere mirage.” “Then God invites us to proceed by faith,” Lange observed. “Yes indeed,” Cassiel answered. “Even at the slow pace of oxen and wagons. However, Ariel will travel with you, should you receive her. So too may any who hear of what you have seen, come to believe, and elect to make the journey. As it has been from the very beginning, El Elyon, God Most High, seeks earnest students, not thralls.” She paused, looking directly at him. “And you, Joshua, are not excepted from the liberty of this choice. Do you freely choose to take up a new life in the West?”
- BN: Lange did not hesitate. “I do,” he replied. “It shall be as you have spoken.” And Shy Bear, a youth raised among the nomadic tribes of the Great Plains, observed how pleased Cassiel had become by Lange’s response, despite understanding little of the exchange himself. Rising to his feet, he approached Lange with his hands held open in a gesture of peace and said in farewell, “Joshua Lange, hello.” Now by sundown on the day of the great battle the Rebel army had been pressed back into a wide bend of the Potomac River, but it had rained, and the waters were running unexpectedly swift, rendering the fords practically impassable. The Federal commander surveyed the field but declined to renew the advance, despite holding a numerical advantage. Discontent circulated among the ranks and the officer corps alike; it was widely remarked that even if the commanding general’s strength were multiplied several times over, he would still manufacture delays and complain of insufficient troops to strike the enemy.
- BO: At dusk on the following day the river subsided, and a mounted courier arrived with orders for the general evacuation of the wounded. Among those awaiting transport were three men who had been fully restored by Raphael in Kemen, though the medical staff dismissed their accounts of the place as the ravings of delirium. Outside the field hospitals the accumulated heaps of amputated limbs were set ablaze. Ambulances began the grim work of bearing away the maimed. At every roughness in the road cries of anguish arose from the men confined within the wagons. No man who witnessed the procession of the casualties, nor the carnage left upon the field, could ever again speak lightly of the glories of war. This was a sentiment already deeply shared by the faithful of Lange’s congregation. Then Deacon Lange was safely debouched in the empty ruins of the meetinghouse even as his fellow worshipers emerged from their homes, in a state of deep apprehension, to begin the cheerless toil of burying the dead.
- BP: The morning of the nineteenth rose gray and thin. Smoke still clung in the low places, and the fields about the ruined meetinghouse were strewn with cast-off gear and darker burdens awaiting the brethren. Daniel Price came first among them, walking with the stiffness of a hard-laboring man who had not slept, and after him John Rowland and Samuel Fahrney, with Klaus Reichard and David Stouffer close behind. To a man they rejoiced to find deacon Joshua Lange standing without the ruins of their chapel and seemingly unharmed. “Brethren,” he said, his voice hoarse but steady. “Ye have come early to the house of the Lord, albeit the house be cast down.” And the men marveled that much of the fallen timber was not to be found, as though the men of the armies had carted it away to be used in their breastworks. Lange inclined his head, and told them, “A great timber brake my leg, so that I could not rise.” He set a hand against his back. “Another pierced me here and I felt the warmth of my own blood depart me.”
- BQ: Reichard frowned and glanced at the others. Your leg, sir, may we see it?” Without protest, Lange drew his limb forward. The cloth was rent, but the flesh beneath showed no swelling, no misalignment, and no sign of fracture. Stouffer shook his head. “There is no break here.” “And your back,” Price added gently. Lange loosened his coat. There, between his spine and his hip, was a pale mark no longer than a finger, as from a shallow cut long healed. Lange could not see the hurt he claimed to have suffered, but he said, “The pain was fierce. It overcame me, and I fell into darkness.” Rowland and Fahrney exchanged a worried glance but they said nothing. Reichard said, “Joshua, I believe you were struck upon the head. It is the mercy of God that you live, but visions do come of such blows.” At this, Joshua reached into his coat and drew forth a folded canvas which he opened with great care. Upon it were traced winding lines. No names were marked them, no towns, no mountains or borders, only the flowing paths.
- BR: The men bent close. “I know these rivers,” Fahrney said slowly, though his brow was knit. “Or I think I do. Yet I cannot say which is which.” “There are no names,” Stouffer said. Reichard straightened, shaking his head. “A map without names is no map at all, one would think.” “And yet it was given me,” said Lange. Price studied him a long moment, then laid a hand upon his shoulder. “However it be, Joshua, you are returned to us, God be praised.” Rowland glanced toward them, then back to Lange. “Can you walk?” Lange moved without aid. His leg bore him true. Fahrney gave a quiet, almost incredulous laugh. “Broken, was it?” “So I believed,” Lange answered. In the uncomfortable silence the women of the congregation were seen coming to join them. Price spoke again, and his voice was heavy. “Come. There is work to be done. The living must tend to the dead.” But Rowland and Fahrney walked beside Lange as they left the sacred precincts, neither pressing him further nor dismissing what they did not understand.
- BS: Now to expedite the necessary burial details, the Federal government promised a bounty of one dollar for every soldier interred by the local farmers. It was whispered that one man of Sharpsburg, unaffiliated with the church, had merely dumped scores of bodies into a dry well to quickly collect the funds. Amidst the desolation of the battle, Elder David Long sought to rally his dismayed flock. “Do not grieve overmuch, my friends,” he told them. “We shall bury the dead, and make our meetinghouse as it was before.” “It may be wisdom,” Lange countered, “that we accept the assistance offered by our new friends of Congregation Derekh Me’hudeshet, and remove ourselves entirely from the path of the war.” “We must seek the Lord’s will in this matter,” the Elder decided. “Let every man among us pray upon it. And at present, there is no prayer better than hard work.” The brethren who had taken the prudent course of driving their livestock northward toward Williamsport had accomplished the task in strength.
- BT: Yet following the battle Ariel Haivri managed to return, unaided, every horse, mule, and head of cattle entrusted to the Haivri family, as she solemnly promised. Ariel seemed to possess an uncanny affinity for the animals, a skill that did not pass unremarked by the faithful. And it was noted that her own mount was tended with greater care than she bestowed upon herself. Even so, Lange found his heart drawn to her, which fueled whispers among the more suspicious believers that her peculiar power over beasts might well extend to men. When the work of burying the fallen was completed, the Haivri family pledged to assist any of the brethren willing to relocate far from the threat of war. But the seemingly boundless generosity of Ariel’s kinfolk continued to engender suspicion among some who feared an underlying motive. Lange reminded them of the Apostle’s injunction: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
- BU: The Haivri family requisitioned a small cottage for Lange situated somewhat apart from Ariel’s own residence. Her extended kin made similar provisions for each of the families from Sharpsburg who had joined the expedition. Rations were supplied daily in abundance and without cost. This charity, however, sat uneasily with the refugees. It ran contrary to the ingrained independence of rural Americans, who were wholly unaccustomed to accepting sustenance without offering commensurate labor in return. As for himself, Lange’s growing affections for Ariel became a source of profound internal disquiet. He could no longer dismiss the events in Kemen as the ravings of a battlefield fever; the rapid healing of his shattered leg stood as undeniable proof. He suspected the Haivri were real angels dwelling amid humanity, yet this thought brought him no comfort. As a man grounded in scripture, Lange was aware of the doctrine set forth in the Gospel of Luke which stated that celestial beings “neither marry, nor are given in marriage.”
- BV: If Ariel was indeed an angel, his growing attachment to her was not only futile but presumptuous. Ariel’s fascination with beasts hardly aligned with orthodox depictions of the heavenly host. Seeking clarity, Lange approached Ariel while she was brushing down her mount. He broached the subject cautiously, framing his dilemma as a matter of theological inquiry rather than a personal confession. He asked how a man of faith ought to reconcile the revealed nature of House Haivri with scriptural teachings. Ariel paused in her work, recognizing the personal anguish hidden beneath his question. She understood the rigid view of the Bible held by most rural congregations and she was reluctant to dismantle the foundation of his faith. “Joshua,” she replied, her tone careful but direct, “you read the scriptures as though they were a monologue by God. But consider the texts you know so well. The Book of Proverbs promises the righteous will always prosper and the wicked will always fall.
- BW: “Yet turn to the Book of Job and you find a world where the innocent suffer terribly under an inscrutable God. Perhaps what we really have is a dialogue by men. Perhaps the scribes who compiled the texts knew these contradictions existed, yet included them together to capture the full, complicated breadth of existence. You should not assume that the nature of my family is bound by one verse in Luke.” That evening at supper Mikela remarked to Ariel that she stood in clear need of a male companion, if only to quiet certain persistent rumors passing among the refugees. The following morning, Ariel promptly purchased a stallion. On another occasion, Lange betrayed a momentary, sharp jealousy upon discovering a strange hair clinging to her coat; Ariel simply led forth the horse from which it had been shed, to his considerable embarrassment. Determined to proceed properly, Lange approached Mikaela in all earnestness and asked, “What must I know of the customs of the Haivri clan concerning courtship?”
- BX: Mikela replied with her characteristic detachment, “If you have a mind toward Ariel, then know that she is wholly free. The Family keeps no rules of the sort you imagine. If there are to be any such customs they shall be appointed by Ariel herself, and it will be your task to discover them. That is the nature of it, and truth be told, Joshua, therein lies all the interest!” The matriarch then shifted the conversation to a more serious theological footing. “Now I would ask you, Joshua,” Mikela said, “what are your views concerning divorce?” “The brethren have always held the New Testament to be the absolute rule for every part of our lives,” Lange answered. “That is exactly why I asked,” Mikela replied. “In the Gospel according to Mark, the Lord Yeshua is reported to have forbidden divorce altogether. Yet in the text attributed to Matthew, he permits it in cases of infidelity. The apostle Paul also wrote to the church in Corinth that the marriage bond may be dissolved when one party remains in unbelief.
- BY: “So it is, Joshua,, on this specific matter, that your scripture says both yes and no, and something else besides.” “Be that as it may, madam” Lange answered, “it is of no consequence. For I truly love your daughter, and I solemnly swear to you the Christian ordinances concerning divorce shall never be an issue between us.” “Your words do you credit, Joshua,” Mikela said. “Yet even with the veil of affection over your eyes, I caution that you do not allow yourself to be overtaken by surprises too profound to endure.” Soon after taking counsel with Mikaela, Joshua perceived that Ariel sought out his company in her turn, requiting his affinity in signs that waxed at a stately pace. There came an evening when his suit crossed some invisible boundary, and Ariel loosed some of the bonds of her corselet. She discreetly revealed something substantial of what a mortal man was set to receive when one of the Elyonoth set her heart upon him in return.
- BZ: Yet, rather than feeling triumphant, this development precipitated a profound sense of inadequacy. Aloud he wondered, “What could a woman such as you possibly see in a man of my humble station?” Ariel paused in her work, leaning against the stall door. “Joshua,” she said solemnly, “Clear-sighted were they who appointed you deacon of your church. I have never in my life met a man more abundantly possessed of the grace of God and more willing to share. “But I am astonished that a man of your age has never received the Mommy and Daddy Talk.” He had expected a philosophical treatise on the nature of love across time. The absurdity of her response shattered his insecurities entirely, and their course toward matrimony was firmly established. At her bridal gathering, Ariel received numerous gifts, a significant portion of which were, perhaps inevitably, horse bridles. On the day appointed for the wedding itself, Ariel tarried overlong mucking and tending the stables. Lange proceeded with his vows regardless.
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