When the sun dipped just below the horizon, balancing on the edge like a yellowed half-moon, Solomon lifted his staff and released an ear-splitting whistle. At the signal, every shepherd began gathering the sheep toward the center of an imaginary circle. The day’s travel had ended. Within minutes, a fire was started, the donkeys unloaded, water drawn from a hidden spring, and goatskins billowed into tents.

Simon, a middle-aged shepherd with a red patch over one eye, was chosen to take first watch. He climbed to the top of a rocky escarpment. From there, he could gaze over the entire flock, watching for strays and predators.

Back in their camp, Peter bent over the fire, boiling pots of water and heating rocks on which to bake bread.

Anna stood outside the men’s activity. A chill slithered through the air as the sunlight faded. For the first time since beginning the journey, she felt the sudden urge to urinate. Her urge grew worse when two younger shepherds pulled open their tunics and relieved themselves in the thorny bushes.

“Where is our tea?” Judas demanded.

Anna flinched, thinking he had spoken to her. She prepared to answer when Peter said, “Coming, brother.” He shifted the pot but the flames were dwindling and the water refused to boil. He looked up at Anna. “Get more wood,” he said.

Just outside of camp, Anna found a series of caves cut into the rock. She approached the opening of one and felt its icy breath surround her. Intent on her duty, she stepped into the nearby scrub and broke off several large, dead branches. She was breaking these into logs when she noticed a shepherd within the brush. It was Judas. He had lifted his tunic and was urinating against a boulder. When he finished, he slipped a dagger from his waist and drew its blade back and forth over a stone to sharpen it. Anna watched in fear, noticing the strange sickle shape of the dagger’s handle.

When finished, Judas whipped the blade over his head and eyed its edge against the sky. Thrusting the weapon toward the clouds, he cried out as if to empty himself of an unbearable agony. “Ahhh!” he wailed again and again, anger scraping his throat.

Fearing for her life, Anna turned and ran. As soon as she was out of sight, she knelt within her tunic and relieved herself between shaky knees. She leapt up suddenly when she heard someone grumbling in the brush nearby.

But when she went to look, no one was there.