Opening Scene — Book Three
Opening Scene — Book Three. By way of background, at the end of book two (The Last Disciple: Escape to Antioch), John was arrested and put in chains by Domitian, the son of the Roman emperor. In the opening scene of book three, John wakes up in a Roman prison in Antioch:
Spring 70 AD, Antioch
John’s eyes snapped open, and he turned his head wildly, straining to see something, anything! He reached his hands toward his eyes but made little progress, for he was bound—hand and foot—by heavy chains. In panic, he thrashed about blindly.
After a minute, he stopped—at each movement the metal manacles sliced into the skin on his ankles and wrists. He fell back, exhausted, angry, and miserable. “Where am I, Lord?”
He heard a nearby chuckle. “Don’t know about any lords, but ye be in jail. These quarters were provided by the Roman governor, his high and mighty self.”
John realized he lay in chains, surrounded by other men. All around him, he heard groans, chains clanking, snoring, whimpering, crying out in pain. “Who’re you?”
“Polite, ain’t ye?”
Nothing made sense. John knew not why he lay in utter darkness, bloody, chained, and dirty. Nor who this chuckling man was.
Waves of pain from his flayed hands and feet washed over him, helping to clear his fuzzy thoughts. Each breath caused a surge of pain in his chest, yet it brought a flash of clarity, a vision of a Roman galley tied up to the wharf in Antioch. He remembered his shock and anger when the emperor’s son arrested him. He growled as he saw yet again that smirking, leering face mocking him. Remembered being bound in chains and marched off.
John suspected he’d been beaten at some point, for every rasping breath hurt, but he remembered little. Only disjointed images and mostly questions, nothing but unanswered questions. What happened to Bartholomew and Emmaus? Why had the emperor’s son arrested him? Why had General Titus and Queen Berenice left without him?
With those fruitless thoughts running through his mind, he slipped into a dull, restless slumber. After a time, he started out of a feverish sleep at the loud clanging of metal doors, followed by a sharp, inhuman scream. All sound around John ceased. He heard one more whimpering cry and, after that, nothing other than the breathing of many men and the gibbering of hungry rats.
John lay there, knowing nothing would come of fighting the cold iron chains. His head hurt and he could not seem to think, at least not in any sequence or order. He remembered the man who’d spoken earlier. He raised his head. “Eh, my friend. Dozed off. Any water here?”
“Nay. The guards bring a bucket and dipper twice a day. Glad ye have awakened. Thought you had given up the ghost.”
John fought back against the panic that surged through his body. He felt a gnawing worm of fear moving through his innards. The specter of death lingered in this place. And the smell! Stale, unwashed bodies, human waste, mold, rot, with not a breath of air nor light. Just darkness like the pit of hell.
He longed for light, wishing to see. But when guards marched down the hallway outside the cell and their f!aring torches illuminated the hellish dungeon cell, he longed for a return to the cover of darkness….
The Last Discipe: Exile in Ephesus
Book Cover Design
This prison scene you just read inspired the book cover design. In the image below, flaring torches evoke a hellish hallway in a Roman dungeon. Here’s the cover design:
I’m in the final stretch of publishing The Last Disciple: Exile in Ephesus. The manuscript is being formatted and proofread. When all that is done, I’ll be ready to upload it for release on March 18th.
Yours in Christ, Kurt
P.S. Here’s the series link on Amazon. The Last Disciple Series
For more on book three, check out this post:
