Weekend Freewrite - 7/20/2019

for @mariannewest in #freewrite

The first sentence

Together, the lovers will build the new city of Barillia, and they will wage war...

Those lovers being Philistine king Adad and his wife Moab’s princess Nirari.

Their marriage was one of those rare cases when a political alliance turned out to be a love affair. Their great wedding was famous for the entire land of Philistine.

The interference.

Being very ambitious by nature, Adad directed his political gaze to the South West to the land of Israelites. They knew that Israelites were basically a nation of goat herders. Their kingdom was very new and their king Saul was neither talented military general nor a political leader.

The land of Israelites was ready for picking. Adad and Nirari wanted to subjugate their lands, enslave people and build on their land the fortress Barillia. Adad declared a draft, collected 10 thousand archers and spearmen and deployed them at the border with the lands of Israelites.

The most powerful weapon in Adad’s disposal was a giant Goliath. Should he be born 3000 years later, with a height of 6 feet nine inches, he could have played for Los Angeles Lakers. The way it is though, he was worth several warriors as in his armor and with his legendary strength, he was almost impervious in fights.

A dramatic twist

When two armies came together, Goliath came out in the open and asked Israelites for a champion to fight his in a one to one duel. During such a duel, he usually easily disposed of the opposing army’s champion.

When he saw the small and shabby figure of the boy, he started laughing and told him to go back to his mommy. The boy didn’t leave though. Goliath shrugged and started slowly walking toward him, not even bothering to put on the helmet. That was his only and fatal mistake. The sneaky boy released the stone from his shepherd's sling that stroke Goliath in the eye penetrated inside his eye socket and killed him on the spot.

To make a long story short, Philistines lost that battle. Adad with the remains of his troops had to return to his wife with his political ambitions unfulfilled. Yet, he still had beloved Nirari, who helped him to live through that shameful defeat.