When he reached the fire, Jesus bent and let the carcass slip to the ground. It landed with a muffled thud.

Peter stared in awe, then rushed to embrace his friend. “You did it!” he cried. “You vanquished the wolves!”

Exhilarated, the other men circled the young shepherd, slapping his back and tousling his hair.

Judas appeared suddenly. His eyes, hazy and red, flitted from Jesus to the ewe’s body and back again, confounded by the sight.

When Solomon arrived, the circle opened to receive him. He looked over his youngest shepherd. Saw his pale expression. The tears in his tunic. The gashes running along his cheeks and hands. He then saw the lump at his stomach, settling just above his belt. Mathias saw it, too. “The boy is with child!” he cried.

The shepherds stared in puzzlement as the lump began to wriggle and rise. Soon a small black head poked out of Jesus’s collar.

When the lamb let out a weary bleat, the men laughed aloud.

Solomon stepped forward smiling and laid a hand on the boy’s shoulder. A deep knowing passed between them, from one motherless child to another. “You have done well,” he said.

Relieved by the young shepherd’s safe arrival, the men’s attention quickly returned to their gnawing hunger. One by one they circled the fresh meat.

“There is not enough to feed us all,” Mathias said, sniffing at the carcass. “How shall we divide it?”

Rahim’s eyes fell to the lamb. “The newborn will slow us,” he said. “We should divide it, too.” He made for the tiny sheep.

His nerves stretched taut, Jesus sprang in anger and shoved the shepherd back. Something about his efforts to save the ewe, and his battle with the wolves, had unleashed a new ferocity inside him. Rahim gasped, falling backward. “Curse you!” he breathed, regaining his balance. He then lunged at the young shepherd’s throat.

Jesus struggled to fend him off, cradling the lamb close to his heart.

Enraged, a glassy-eyed Judas slipped his dagger from its sheath and bolted into the fracas. Butting his way toward the young shepherd, he rose before him, brandishing his weapon to keep Rahim and the others back.

“Hold still!” Solomon commanded, seeing the situation spinning out of control. Thinking quickly, he turned to Peter. “Throw the meat on the fire and we shall each enjoy a mouthful,” he told him.

“No,” Jesus said.

Everyone turned.

“I will make a meal for us,” he said, his gaze steady as the rocks.

Solomon’s eyebrows rose at the boy’s sudden declaration.

“But you do not know how to cook!” Akbar protested.

“If what I make does not feed us well, I will divide my earnings among you,” Jesus replied.

Solomon took a long look at his youngest shepherd. After a moment he said, “So be it.”

The others backed away.

Peter joined Jesus near the fire. The crackle of the flames rose between them.