Peter turned to Anna. “Come say prayers with me.” When they sat, he said, “You may lead us.”

Anna froze. Though she remembered some of her father’s words, she had never said prayers aloud herself.

Feeling sweat break out along her hairline, she struggled to think back. “Oh Great Father,” she began. “We … your most humble servitudes—”

Peter screwed up his face. “Who taught you to pray like that? A guinea hen?” Before he could say more, a voice called out.

“Peter!” It was Judas. “Since you are so good at leading prayers, remember to keep me in yours,” the shepherd slurred. “And pray that this day brings the hour in which I avenge my family!” He approached them at a rapid pace.

“Judas!” Solomon shouted from the sheepfold. “Come here now!”

Startled, the shepherd froze mid-step. He stared at the new boy. His gaze sobered, then softened. After another moment, his head fell. Saying nothing more, he stumbled off.

Peter looked to his friend and saw concern crossing his face. He leaned over and whispered, “Do not be afraid,” he said. “Some years ago, a group of men killed his mother and sister. He was the first to find them. They say he has never been the same. And that sometimes he loads his pipe with herbs that make him crazy. You will get used to it, but it is best to keep your distance.”

They watched Judas weave away on uncertain feet. His goatskin pouch sagging against his back.

Peter shook his head with disdain. “I do not understand why he grieves so deeply over the death of two women. It was not like they killed his father and brother,” he said, tenting his eyebrows to indicate how much worse that scenario would have been. “As my father always said, women are like weeds and from time to time need to be hacked down.”

Anna was shocked by his words.

She wanted to scream that he was wrong, that she knew the worth of women, that she had seen firsthand the horror of a woman being murdered! But she bit her tongue and kept silent.

Solomon’s whistle broke the tension. “Gather yourselves!” he shouted. The men came and circled him. “Today we will enter Dara,” he said, leaning on the woolly back of a sheep. “We should arrive before the sun folds.” Saying this, he assigned each man a duty for the day. Akbar and Rahim were to lead the flocks, while Judas would flank the eastern side. “Peter, watch the rear. And take our new brother with you.”

Peter smiled and threw his arm around Anna’s shoulders. “I hope you will be better at shepherding than you are at leading prayers!” he said with a laugh.