Only a Moment

Saul rested his spear across his lap. It had been a long night and promised to be a long morning. He and the other five guards had been sitting around a small campfire for what seemed to be forever. The area was picturesque, but still unnerving. It may have been called a garden, but Saul knew it for what it was; a graveyard.

"Saul, any movement?" Brutus asked, then burst out laughing. He was enjoying this assignment. There was very little risk; just sitting and watching.

Saul smiled. "Naw, the only things around here are Hades' leftovers."  The locals tended to avoid graveyards like lepers. If they would only accept the gods, they'd know the truth of things. "You really think this guy's henchmen are coming for him?"

"Those cowards?" Nero, Saul's commander, said. "They didn't even try to stop his execution. They haven't the guts to try and steal his body. Especially with us here!"

This inspired a round of laughter. Nero managed to get the other three guards involved in a game of dice, leaving Brutus and Saul to themselves.

"Did you follow his career?" Saul asked.

"No, I'm not much for politics and unholy religions," Brutus said. His smile was more or less a permanent feature. "Still, I did notice that he caused quite the ruckus. Didn't get him anywhere though, did it?"

"Only to the hands of Hades." Saul knuckled his back. "Sky's gray, sun will rise soon."

"That's a relief! We can go home soon, then. I heard that if they don't strike by dawn they weren't going to."

"We'll see." Saul went quite. It would be nice to see his wife and daughter again. His daughter had been born only a few days before, and Saul couldn't get enough of drinking in the site of her.

"I think I see the sun," Brutus said. He was shading his eyes and looking east. Yet oddly more light seemed to be coming from behind him.

Saul turned quickly to see what was causing this new light. His shout, meant as a warning to the others, became a squeak. He heard the rattle of dice and the conversation behind him die away. Before him, Saul saw two gloriously white beings descending from the sky. Saul's knees began to shake.

The two figures stepped onto the ground, and one turned to look at the guards. He was an excruciatingly beautiful man. In the figure's eyes Saul saw how weak he was compared to him; how weak all the guards were. There was nothing they could do to stop these figures and anything they did do would guarantee their destruction.

Behind him, Saul heard spears hitting the ground and feet pounding up the dirt path. The others had fled. He was alone. Without thinking, Saul turned and fled, but only went a few feet before tripping and crashing into some bushes.

He heard stone grating on stone. Intense curiosity overwhelmed him, and Saul peeked out of the bushes. The two men were opening the grave!  Saul watched the two maneuver the capstone out of the way with the ease of a man lifting a loaf of bread. It had taken all six of the guards and an hour of strenuous effort to place it. Saul went numb. Men such as these could have torn the guards to pieces had they wished.

With the capstone out of the way, one of the figures ducked into the crypt. He emerged moments later supporting a third man. While Saul hadn't seen the corpse he had been guarding, he did know that only one man was buried in there. He could see how exhausted and beaten this new man was, yet the others deferred to him and treated him as a one might a king newly risen from a sick bed.

The kingly man supported by the two stronger figures, the three began to rise. For a brief moment, Saul's and kingly man's eyes met. At that moment, Saul lost his fear. He knew that this king was looking out for him. Soon the three were lost to sight.

Saul crept out of the bushes. He knew he should go and find his fellows, but for some reason he just wanted to go home and hold his daughter and wife close. He wanted them to feel what he felt in that moment.