Chapter 4

Harold paced nervously to and fro, while his steed shifted his weight from right to left, impatiently waiting in front of the bridge. Jacob usually came in the cool of the day, early, in what would be considered morning in the earthly dimension. For Harold and Thor, time was irrelevant, as well as morning or evening; yet he somehow knew it was the hour Jacob had prescribed for them to meet and receive his next assignment. Who would it be this time? ‘Guidance’, the Guardian had called these new sets of instructions from the Creator. One each day would be revealed to him.

He slapped Thor’s reins across his leather gloved hand and pivoted at the length of the bridge to pace back the short distance, when he heard a crackle like static electricity. He lifted his gaze to see Jacob, and one other, stepping down from a ladder and walking toward him. “Peace be with you.” Jacob clasped Harold’s forearm.

“And with you.” Harold responded, glancing at the newcomer.

“This is Azariah.” Jacob introduced his companion.

Harold’s eyes widened. He recalled a priest in the Bible who advised the great King Solomon. “Is he—”

Jacob chuckled. “No, Harold, he wasn’t the great king’s priest; but his mother was a faithful servant of the Creator, and named him for the same. He’s the guardian of a community in Texas, and he’s here to help you connect with one of his charges.”

“Well, sure, happy to help.” Harold stepped back toward Thor, who laid his head over his human partner’s shoulder. Harold unconsciously wrapped an arm around the horse’s head, and stroked his long face. “But I thought I wasn’t s’pose to venture beyond my own community of people.”

Jacob nodded. “Normally, this is true. But today, the Creator has a more complicated plan for your multi-great-granddaughter, Nancy Gladstone. There has been, what will appear to be a broken path, laid out for her. It will be long and difficult, heartbreaking, and yet healing at the same time. If she stays on this intricately designed trail the Creator has laid out for her, she will find her way back. But, if the evil one is allowed to have his way, she will remain tangled and lost on the more precarious sections of her path. These harder parts are important to the shaping of her character and greatly needed because, well...” Jacob glanced at Azariah with a chuckle in his voice. “She bears a gift of tenaciousness.”

“Them’s mighty fancy words you’re saying there, Jacob. Are you trying to tell me my great-granddaughter is mule-headed?”

“Well...” Jacob wiped a joyful tear from his eye. “Yes, I suppose that’s what I’m trying to say about this dear soul.”

Harold threw his head back and gave a loud belly laugh. Once he regained control of his mirth, he slapped Thor on the neck. The horse lifted his head and whinnied, as if he too were laughing. “Jacob, my friend, there never were a Gladstone who weren’t mostly mule-headed.” The laughter overtook him again. He bent at the waist and slapped his knee. “Come on, I can’t wait to meet this granddaughter of mine. She’s Henry’s first born, ain’t she?”