"From whence comes the purpose of a person's life?" "Come it by chance, a casting of the lot, or does a call of destiny beckon to each of us?" "Many have wondered about my little Hadassah and why a simple Jewish orphan was chosen to stand against the annihilation of her people." "And yet the mystery of the girl most know as Esther begins not where one might think, but 500 years earlier with a single act of disobedience." "King Saul of the Israelites had been sent by the Prophet Samuel to wipe out an ancient child-sacrificing enemy." "So pervasive was their evil that not even their oxen nor sheep were to be spared, and above all, no survivors left breathing." "My lord, I give you Agag, king of the Amalekites." "We have also seized for you his livestock." "Even his queen." "What dark portent bid me haste to cross this land of ours?" "How would you accuse me now, O Prophet?" "I carried out your lord's command." "Then why do my ears ring with the lowing of oxen and the bleating of sheep?" "Your Majesty, the Amalekite queen, she escaped." "We have the king." "What is one woman?" "You fool, she is with child." "While the Prophet Samuel put a swift end to King Agag," "Agag's queen, fleeing with the seed of vengeance growing within her, the Jews never found." "Uncle Mordecai!" "Rebecca, what kind of housekeeper do you think you are?" "Serves you right for bringing home your work." "The caravan arrived this morning." "Well, Susa is the capital of the new world." "Caravans arrive every day." "Not from Jerusalem." "Well, perhaps you ought to go back and ask them if they'll arrive the same time next year." "Next year?" "You promised." " Rebecca!" " Fight your own battles." "You don't pay me enough to fight the battle for you." " Good morning, Hadassah." " And where have you been?" "I'm sorry, Grandmother, the markets were really busy." "There's a new caravan in from..." " Sore subject." " Uncle Mordecai, does not your own heart long to see our people restored to glory?" "It does." "Did not Cyrus the Great conquer Babylon and free our people from captivity?" "He did." "But do we embrace our freedom and leave this pagan empire to embrace our destiny?" " Of course not." " Lord," "I pray to you day and night to give me the patience of Job, give me the wisdom of Solomon." "And what do you give me?" "You give me the endless equivocations of a beautiful, young woman." "Look." "Hadassah, always dreaming." "Maybe..." "Here, then, you be the princess." "While many Jews had forgotten the acts of centuries past, the descendants of Agag had not." "For Agag's queen did indeed survive and gave birth to a son." "And she forged for him a mark, prophesying that one day an Agagite would arrive, a descendant of Agag, who would finally exact vengeance upon the Jews." "Hadassah, read us a story!" "Read us a story!" "A story?" "You want a story?" " Hadassah, help!" " Over here." "Are you okay?" ""And King Saul said to David," ""'You cannot go before this Goliath" ""'for you are but a youth. '" ""David replied," ""'While keeping my father's sheep, there came a lion and a bear." ""'And I slew them both." ""'This Goliath shall be as one of them for he defied the armies of the Lord. "'" "As will Jesse Ben-Joseph, should he but take one step closer." "With peace, Haman." " There's little but random news I bear." " I judge that." "Rumor has it." "Queen Vashti plans not to attend the King's banquet this evening, in protest of the war." "Apparently the King has no idea." "Some see random news." "Others, opportunities." "Of course, this is why you are a dispatch rider, and I am a prince of the Fars." "Tell me, Agagite, what do you do with the extra darics you connive from me?" "I have 10 sons, my lord, and a wife that makes many demands." "Ten sons?" "You serve the great king well." "Come, come." "Go you now." "Speak of me as you lavish your wife and sons." "Happy birthday, Hadassah!" "A stone ball?" "Remember, Hadassah, it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, the honor of kings to seek it out." "It's from the Promised Land." "Your great-grandmother brought it with her." "And like you, its true treasure is etched within." "Reconsider my proposition." "There is much need for leadership in Jerusalem." "More stew, my lord?" "I don't suppose that in your entire caravan you have a cook one half as good as our Rebecca." "Here you are but a poor palace scribe, one who passes as a Persian, at that." "Are you a Jew?" "Or have you become a Gentile?" "We're a small people caught up in a vast and violent empire." "We have capricious princes who could order our annihilation with the flick of a finger." "And your presence in the palace might prevent it?" "Probably not." "Look, tell me what I want to hear about." "Tell me about the Temple." "What ecstasy to stand in the presence of the Almighty!" "Like the intimate embrace of a husband and wife." "It's so much deeper than mere mortal love." "Oh, hello." "Now, it came to pass in the days of King Xerxes, who ruled over the empire of the Medes and Persians, from Ethiopia to India, that in the third year of his reign, he decreed a season of feasting." "Rumors of war were in the wind, however, and some thought this the King's way of stalling off a much-debated decision to march on Greece in retaliation for his father's death four years before." "Queen Vashti, Your Majesty." "Enter." "The night's festivities hold not your interest, dear?" "It is long since you summoned me here." " Your hands have not been idle." " Not idle, not gifted either." "Later, Hadassah, we'll discuss this later." "I have run out of laters." "The caravan leaves tomorrow." "Did not the priest even say it would be good for me?" "That he would look after me?" "You have so much of your mother and father in you, you know?" "And perhaps I'm just being a very selfish old man." "Do you really want to go to Jerusalem?" "Truly." "Then go with my blessing." "Thank you." "Rebecca!" "Yes, well, I will be late coming back tonight." "The feasting has been extended." "All Susa is invited." "All of Susa?" "A drunken brawl is no place for a young lady of purity." "Then why is a good Jew like you going?" "All the scribes have to go!" "There is war in the air!" "The Queen indeed holds her own feast in protest." "All is prepared as you have asked." "You do know why the princes have asked you to extend the feast another night." "You are too late if you seek me to deny them." "Especially now." "Such clamoring to march upon Greece and avenge my father's death." "How long have you dreamt of molding Persia into a pillar of learning and culture?" "A flame to make even the greatness of Greece but a shadow?" "You know as well as I, this is not something that is won in battle but in the hearts of men." "You would have me do nothing, then?" "You're no warrior, no soldier." "I'd have you stay," "enhance your kingdom, preserve your throne." "Looking for someone?" "I'm fine, thank you." "You can run back to Rebecca now." "Oh, I'm sure you're fine." "Only tell me, Hadassah, or whoever you are, how do you intend to get into the palace?" "You didn't come to take me back?" "Come, or I shall call you Hadassah the mouse." "Wait!" "I appear to you by the gracious command of the great king of kings, the emperor of the world, Xerxes, son of Darius." "Great king." "We drink." "We drink also to my guard, the immortal 10,000, but I fear I would soon have to send them out to conquer new vineyards for me." "Then let us drink to Queen Vashti, the most beautiful in the land." "Bring forth Vashti!" "Vashti!" "Bring forth Vashti!" "They are serious?" "They demand Vashti be here before all?" "Already rumors circulate as to why the Queen holds her own feast instead of attending yours." "They sound riotous, my lord." "They fear a divided kingdom." "My lord, you know the Queen's position on the war." "Send for her." "They go to fetch the Queen." "She must be lovely, reigning in a place such as this." "None is more lovely than you, my queen." " My thanks, fair prince." " Prince?" "Why is it for years you threatened to join the caravans to Jerusalem, yet you never do?" "What holds you back?" "Perhaps the courage to face it alone." "What if you had someone to join you?" "The herald returns!" "The Queen asks the King's forgiveness." "She cannot leave her guests." "I'm queen, not a pawn, and I will not lower my dignity or shame my reign by wearing the royal crown before your drunk and thinly veiled war council." "What news of the Queen?" "Where is our queen?" "WOQueen Vashti!" "Queen Vashti!" "Am I to be a mockery before my subjects?" "Or Greece as well?" " Continue, Cousin." " Might not this deed of refusal travel abroad to all women, making their husbands contemptible in their eyes?" "Will not it be said by all, "Xerxes commanded his wife to come before him"," ""but she came not"?" "Vashti's guilty not only of disobedience to the crown but against the protocol of our fathers." "And tell me," "what dictates the protocol?" "A royal edict must be issued and written into the rolls of the land that Vashti..." "That Vashti come no more before the King, but that her royal position be given to a new queen, more worthy than her." "My lord, what answer do I send the Queen?" "Vashti!" "Vashti!" "The land has no more queen!" "I wish not to be queen here any longer." "Mordecai is giving me his blessing." "Let us leave tomorrow, together." "Thus the scribes were assembled, and a decree sent forth." "The princes did indeed press upon Xerxes, the king, soon to depart for war," ""Leave behind a queen"" ""to keep the people unified. "" "Every maiden was to be considered, the choicest of whom to be brought from across the empire and into the palace." "In accordance with the protocol, young men were also rounded up to become eunuchs who would serve the queen's candidates during their time of preparation." "There's no need for alarm." "In all likelihood they will not come for you." "And not all that are taken will be chosen." "Doubtless, the queen has already been selected through bribery or chicanery." "How do I keep our laws?" "How do I pray?" "What excuse do I offer God for not keeping his commandments?" "Oh, Hadassah." "God sees the inward observance." "The court is a dangerous place." "I think it will be better if you forgot that you were a Jew." "If this is a sin, then..." "Then let it be on my head." "Promise me that you will do that if you're taken." "Promise me that!" "If I am taken," "I will do as you say." "I should give you a different name." "Hadassah is too Jewish." "Esther." "Esther is a good Babylonian name." "Yes." "That's what we shall call you from now on." "Esther of Susa." "Promise me." "Promise me if you are taken." "I said, "If I am taken."" "If, if, if." "But for now, you should look for me in the streets of Jerusalem, dancing" "like David before the glory of the Lord." " Hadassah!" " Who?" "Uncle Mordecai!" "Is this the way the King's orders are carried out?" "Senseless brutality in the middle of the night?" "Father, please show us favor and turn these dungeons into someplace wonderful." "Is this the dungeon part or the wonderful part?" "Look!" "Sarah, it matches your eyes." "Have you ever found anything so wonderful in your life?" "And Hannah, was it not made for you?" "Am I never going to see my mother again?" "Only if you wish not to." "Two, three days, and who knows?" "Home you go." "Do you think we're not beautiful enough to be asked to stay, Hadassah?" "Welcome to a brand-new life." "The method of your arrival was not of my choosing." "I am Hagai, His Majesty's Royal Eunuch." "I have been assigned to oversee your preparation." "All right, it's okay." "Don't let them escape." "Kill them all." "Which way to the quarter of the Jews?" "You have a very bad habit." "The palace is no place for children." "You think of me as a child?" "Well, you're wrong." "I am much younger than that." "How do they call you?" " Esther." " Curious name." "From where do you come?" "I am of the wind whose sound is heard, yet none can tell from whence it comes or where it goes." "Well, we gather within the hour." "Try not to blow away before then." "Another 4,000 talents for metal, weapons, armor." "And we must not forget the pay of the mercenaries." "I know this is not a favored opinion, but if used for peaceful purposes, such amounts could serve many needs." "Two different ways of life are involved." "The Greeks have no king and they want none." "It is one thing to beat our chests and parade our boldness pretending this is still the empire of our fathers." "But you hear the costs of an actual campaign!" "If we are not honest with ourselves," "I fear we lose much more than just our stature." "Then, let us sit back and do nothing?" "Let the Greeks conquer." "Let them establish democracy." "Would not the King be the first to suffer, the first to die?" "Or does the memory of his father's death not stir as deep in his bones as it does in ours?" "I speak to you as one not without empathy." "I, too, have stood in the battle and stared into the unknown." "For the very sword that took my eye took from me my manhood as well." "But be at peace." "This is no warfare that you embark upon." "This is only the life that a great dreamer could imagine, or at least it can be, if you so choose to embrace it." "Think not I heard your whispered orchestrations that night?" "And how you drew even me into your schemes?" "In these troubled times it is easy to name any man traitor." "I even recall a certain campaign in Ionia under King Darius, where someone allowed the defeated Greeks to keep their own form of government, their democracy, instead of placing the protocol of the empire in control." "Favoring democracy." "The very doctrine to which all Persia is opposed." " I followed orders!" " Come." "Come, come, come." "We trouble ourselves with foolish things." "The King asked me to speak." "I did." "I obeyed." "As you obeyed." "With suspicion and mistrust creeping into palace halls," "Haman the Agagite found the opportunity he had been waiting for." "He began to strike out more openly at the Jews living in the outlying land, painting them as the true Greek sympathizers, setting the stage for his ultimate act of vengeance." "Look." "I am curious to whether you frustrate me out of sincerity or to ensure that you're never chosen queen." "You assume I actually care about being chosen queen." "I am serious." "Serious of what?" "Finding a real queen?" "Is that why you subject us to these beauty treatments, these classes?" "You do not like our fine instructors?" "They simply neglect to teach us some things." " Such as?" " Well, seemingly anything to do with actually being queen:" "The thought well thought, the word well spoken and the deed well done." "As it is said in the great books." "You read?" "Many tongues." "Before I received your "invitation"," "I was reading of Gilgamesh the Babylonian." "And Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying," ""Gilgamesh, you look worn out and exhausted."" ""What can I do so that you can return to your land?"" ""I will tell you a thing that is hidden."" ""There is a plant whose thorns"" ""will prick your hand like a rose."" ""If your hands reach this plant,"" ""you will become a young man again."" "Gilgamesh in the original." "I read translation, never the original." "You read?" "There are few pleasures left to one such as I." "You offer us Hagai's position, my lord, if we grant you the privilege of picking a queen?" " Misgath of Persepolis." " Misgath?" "Of unusual beauty." "But up here," " empty as a beggar's bowl." " Consider her family." "Daughter of a rug merchant?" "Will they not also shower you with wealth?" "While there were certainly worse ways for the candidates to have spent their days than myrrh baths and beauty treatments, none of the rumors of riches and glory stirred more excitement than the thought of gaining entry to the royal treasury itself." "Whatever you chose for your one night with the King will be yours for the keeping." "Candidates, choose wisely." "You stand not impressed?" "It matters not what impresses me." "How is one to choose when they know not what impresses the King?" "Will you teach me?" "I will do far more than that." "Come." "A recent acquisition." "One, I believe, the King will find most pleasing." "Esther of Susa, come." "Seat yourself on the stool and read the scroll." "It is the chronicles of the King, the royal diary." "Through these doors you are no longer a candidate." "You are a servant." "Remember the protocol." "To approach uninvited is death." "I read for the King, alone?" "Like this?" ""Daily entry 23."" ""Egyptian wheat reserves were reported"" ""at half the normal levels due to a recent drought."" ""Admiral Xtes was honored"" ""for serving twenty years in the Royal Fleet."" ""After a lengthy speech, he promptly keeled over and died."" ""Twenty-five." "Three herd of sheep were stolen from Dirmalmirah,."" ""Satrap of Midea."" ""He requests that the crown send out the proper authority."" "And so Jacob, also a shepherd by trade, was sent off into the far, far-off land" "where he came across the fair Rachel tending her father's sheep." "He was smitten, and went and rolled the stone from the well, and watered her flock for her." "Then Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept with joy." "When Laban, Rachel's father, heard of this, he said to Jacob, "Should you serve me for nothing?"" ""Tell me, what shall your wages be?"" "Jacob said, "I will serve you seven years for your daughter Rachel."" "So Jacob served seven years tending Laban's sheep." "And they only seemed but a few days, for the love he had for her." "Then Jacob said to Laban," ""Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled."" "So Laban threw a great wedding feast, but in the dark of the evening." "Laban brought his older daughter in to Jacob." "And, behold, in the morning it was Leah, not Rachel." "Jacob was shocked." "He said to Laban," ""What is this thou hast done unto me?"" ""Did I not serve with thee for Rachel?"" ""Why, then, have you beguiled me?"" "Why, then, have you beguiled me?" "I must admit that never before has such a tale been found in the pages of a royal diary." "Here I expect to be lulled to sleep by tedious reports, instead I'm beguiled by a love story." "And how ends your tale?" "This Jacob, he's able to have his bride?" "He's able to have her?" "Only after serving seven more years for her, my lord King." "Believeth you in such?" "Love?" "Is it not the greatest commandment?" "No matter what God one serves." " How do they call you?" " Esther of Susa." "Susa?" "No." "Nothing good ever comes out of Susa." "Look at me." "Come." "Come, if you wish to see what I do." "The Greeks, they have a god of similar form." "His arms will hold the bow, whose arrows they say are tipped with love." "Some archers' arrows are tipped with poison, my lord." "Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference." "The symptoms are the same." "Perhaps in another time." "Some other place." "You will read to me again." "You must tell no one of this night." " My Captain." " Blame me not for this, my lord, but the princes have ordered us to begin bringing you candidates" " by the end of the week." " You jest." " I am in the middle of..." " At least you'll get it over with." "Besides, these men might enjoy seeing some ladies around." "No?" "They tell me you're called Esther now." "Oh, Jesse." "Hatach." "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were pagan names, too." "We're in good company." "Their names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah." "They were thrown into the furnace." "But then what happened?" "Come on, I found a way out." "And there's a caravan leaving for Jerusalem tonight." "So we can get out of this place." "Escape?" "Jesse, I..." "I can't leave." "What if..." " What if I'm chosen?" " What if you're chosen what?" "What if you're chosen queen?" "Look what they've done to us." "What good could come out of any of this?" "Perhaps, instead of asking questions of our trials..." "Trials are meant to ask questions of ourselves." "They cut me!" "I know we can't be what I hoped," " but..." " Jesse." "I can't leave." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "Today it begins." "Each of you will be given one night with the King." "We gather first to honor Misgath of Persepolis." "You enter as a peasant and leave a princess." "Here we go." "Steady her." "I'm so sorry..." " Oh!" " Almost there." "By the looks of it, I must be allowing the candidates to keep their jewelry." "Perhaps a horseback ride is not the best idea, my lord." "You weep not for the candidates this evening." " My throat is sore." " Your throat or your heart?" "It has only been a few days since you read for him." "A few days is a thousand years." "If Xerxes had found pleasure in me, surely he would've..." "You think a eunuch cannot know love?" "Back before I was a cripple of a man, there was one that held my heart." "What became of her?" "I know not." "I never found the courage to return to face her again." "She is beautiful but delicate, Your Majesty." "Just one more moment, please." "You may approach." "How do they call you?" "Esther." "This is your day." "We gather to honor Esther of Susa." "You enter as a peasant and leave a princess." "You can let go of my arm now." "He will be the fortunate one to choose you." "He will be the one to whom congratulations are due." "Esther, my arm." "The scroll is on the stool." "You may begin whenever you are ready." "Is there a problem?" "Did they not tell you I weary at this procession of candidates?" "I simply wanted someone to..." "Wait." "You are the one who read to me before." "You tried to beguile me with love stories." "Did you not think I had the sense to see through your little parable?" "The arrogance!" "You speak to me as if I was this Rachel in need of help to look after my father's sheep." " My lord, I meant no..." " And this is how you come to see me?" "Your only adornment before your one night with the King." "It is, Your Majesty." "You consider yourself of so little worth" " that I can purchase your love so cheaply?" " I was taught" "that when you visit a king, rather than expect a gift, one should bring one to lay at his feet." "This is my most valuable possession in the world." "It is my past, my present, and my future." "And all of it is yours." "Some would call you foolish indeed, as they would call your Jacob." "Of all commodities, love is the easiest, and most cheaply purchased." "If it is for sale, my lord, it is not love." "Even you." "Even you must have a price." "I am neither a buyer nor a seller of love." "Suppose, my lady, a man offered you a more treasured gift, say, a kingdom." "The only gift I would accept is your heart." "Then it is yours." "And you did not serve seven years to get it." "Tell me Esther of Susa, who are you really?" "Tell me of your people." "Teach me of your ways." "My father taught me it takes the glory of God to conceal a matter," "and the honor of kings to search it out." "Then marry me." "And we shall spend an eternity discovering this truth, together." "Persians, your queen!" "Know you how many times I tried to come for you after that first night?" "How many evenings I spent counting the stars to keep my mind off of you?" "How many excuses I created just to avoid the other candidates?" "Fools." "Misfits." "Donkey-brained caricatures of men, you guaranteed me that Misgath would be chosen queen." "Who is she?" "From whence did she come?" "Who are her people?" "There is little known about her, my lord." "She is called Esther of Susa." "An orphan." "We should've stuck to our first plan and poisoned Hagai ourselves." " Quiet." " Poison?" "He did not, my lord." "He is far too impetuous." " Far too..." " You know about poison." "Of course you do." "You were once the royal cupbearers." "Suppose in theory, you wanted to poison another." "Suppose..." "Suppose this other remained nameless, but was, in effect, one whom you had once vowed to protect." "My lord prince..." "Come, come." "Don't look so distressed." "We plot nothing here." "My lord." "From India to Babylon, my sword has spilt the blood of traitors against the crown." "Proud, arrogant "chosen ones"." "Allowed to return to their homeland." "But do they go?" "Do they?" "Thank you." "How wonderful are the ways of the Lord that he should have raised up my little Hadassah and made her queen." "Have you told anyone our secret?" "No." "If you continue to call me Hadassah, it will no longer matter." "Will you not join me in the palace?" "I could have you named to any post you desire." "My Lord will take care of me." "Do you take care of your lord?" "Remember not his orders?" "Procure it not from the palace, so nothing can be traced back to us." "The Jews have apothecaries." "Where is he now?" " You, over there..." " Why cannot a truce be arranged?" "Truce?" "That devil Memucan has beaten me twice in a row." "I fear losing you." "I gave an oath to my father." "He's the one I fear losing you to." "You must dream." "You'll be gone much in the coming months." "Keep this for me." " But it is yours." "I..." " Then be at peace." "I always return for what is mine." "Will thou sit there all day, my lord?" "This one." "Why would they buy belladonna off you?" "Maybe they seek to poison someone." "Very deadly, very quick." "You sold them poison?" "A Jew sells poison to the King's food tasters?" "Have you any idea for whom it might've been intended?" "Please, just allow me to see it." "The scribe says it is for the Queen's eyes only." "That is what she told." "A plot to kill the King." "The King should be notified at once, my lady." "He and Memucan are a day's ride away at the training grounds." "Then it would be better, my lady, if I send for the captain of the guard" " to investigate." " Who else is closest to the King?" "Admantha." "This is treachery." "If my lady will permit, I myself will bring these two eunuchs to you." "I'm armed, so I doubt the need for force." "That will not be necessary." "The King's new captain of the guard has gone to investigate." "Time was of the essence, my lady." "If only all shared your loyalty to the King, my prince." "Captain of the guards." "Master Haman, my lady." "What of the eunuchs?" "They are being led to the gallows as we speak." "I found this about their person." "I interrogated them both." "I'm convinced they plotted alone." "Make sure Mordecai's name is entered in the chronicles and that it is certified with my seal so he may be properly rewarded by the King." "Please, help yourself." "Only a bite." "Now I no longer ride the highways, my appetite suffers." "Then may I assume that your fee for spying for me will be reduced?" "My appetite may be less, not of my sons," "my wife." "Well, that may cost you more, my prince." "Much," " much more." " What might you have done?" "I would save the King for last." "As in the palace board game." "Rid yourself first of all of those pieces that are closest to him." "One by one." "My lady, this is foolish." "I go with or without you." "There are too many rumors drifting through the palace, and not enough answers." "These hinges are well-oiled." "There must be plenty who use it." "Lovers always find a way, my lady." "HAThe time has come, my brothers and sisters, where we must root out those amongst our midst who seek our wreck and ruin!" "When a field of crops is defiled by disease, do we not set it on fire?" "I am asked why I choose to speak against these foreigners and strangers in our midst." " The Jew!" " The Jew!" "No, not the Jew." "I, myself, know many an individual Jew who I am proud to call friend, but put these individual Jews together, and what are Egypt," "Assyria, Babylon in their wake?" "Lead me away from here, quickly." "You want proof?" "Proof!" "Pulled from the royal library," "the great scheme of the Greeks and the Jews to conquer the world!" "For let me tell you, the Greeks and the Jew both live by the same evil doctrine." "All men are created equal." " Do you believe you are equal to a slave?" " No!" "HAAnd you believe neither in the Jewish God, nor in Greek democracy, but there are others in the palace that do." "Let me now speak of Memucan." "Prince." "General." "Arch traitor!" ""For services rendered to King Darius."" ""Pacification of the Babylonian provinces."" ""Payments made to Haman the Agagite."" "When?" "When?" "Ask of Memucan why he allowed the Greeks of Ionia to retain their democracy." "Ask whose voice is loudest against the war today and you will find out it is he!" ""Common year."" "Thirteen years ago." "HAMy lady." "Are you alone?" " Highly unsafe." " I was just finishing." "Please." "Allow me." " Shall I return this for you?" " Thank you." "Something must weigh heavy on my queen's heart in order to be kept up at this hour, reading." "My queen." " Is her Highness unwell?" " I'm fine." "Perhaps I should retire." "You're not scheduled at the palace for more than two weeks." "She'll be wonderfully surprised, think you not?" "Here, read this, my lord." "You do not appear to be a traitor, Memucan." "Return with me, and I'll have Admantha investigate." "Haman's accusations immediately." "Haman is my appointment." "And we do need him more than we realize." "Truly, Memucan, at one moment you sulk, you say your name has been slurred, now you plead for your accuser." "I have enough lives on my conscience." "Chastise him mildly, and he will perform his duty well and be more grateful to you for your leniency." "Spoken like a true Persian." "Never judging a man before all the good and all the bad are weighed." "Ride with me." " So you burnt the evidence?" " Worry not, action will still be taken." "Lest you forget, this Haman is now head of internal protection." "And lest you forget, I'm still queen." "Yes, but queen subject to an ancient protocol that no doubt Haman knows how to manipulate far better than you do." "Go not by the main gate." "I wish not for the Queen to be alerted to my coming." "You must promise me that you will not reveal this to anyone." "Any more such promises and I shall have to take a vow of silence." "Rusty old lovers' gate." "I trust you used it much in your youth, Memucan." "Who do you think had it installed?" "Go now." "My love." "Oh, how I've missed you." " Have you?" " Now, what is that supposed to mean?" "You looked flushed." "Busy morning?" "Not as busy as it could get." "No visitors?" "You sent for me, Your Highness?" "It appears you have misplaced our necklace." "I wonder if that is all you have misplaced." "Perhaps Your Majesty would like to send for one of the concubines." "Perhaps not." "You look so much like your father." "Sometimes I forget how different you truly are." "Makes me wonder all the more why you feel such need to follow in his steps." "Give her a few more nights," "and then have her brought to me." "You call that public tirade subtle?" "You mock me, Agagite." "I need but report but once to the King of your arrogance." "And your dreams of kingship die with me." "You might be less harsh on the Jews." "You should make yourself a laughing stock." "The Jews, my prince, will be your chief weapon by which you attain power to the throne." "Think, we plan to take the crown by force when the King is deep in Greece." "What excuse will you use?" "Who attacks the land?" "Well, no one, actually." "Unless, of course, you claim it was the Greek-loving Jews." "Memucan expects an apology, as you predicted." "Well, an apology is a cheap enough price to pay for a kingdom." "Invite, then, Memucan to your estate." "Presumably so I can apologize to him." "On the way, however, he will be ambushed." " By whom?" " By my Jews, of course." "Jews who slew him for being coupled with them as a traitor." " And what of Memucan's own guard?" " It's merely an apology." "Perhaps you can suggest to Memucan that if he arrive with a large number," "I might suspect he'd come to punish me." "One or two guards my men can handle." "And who'll handle you?" "Who but you, my king." "Prepare to die, Greek-lover." "Admantha's men." "Thank the gods you are unharmed, my lord." "Come." "My queen..." "Your Highness, blood has been spilled." "You are needed at once." "But lord King, an accusation by a dispatch ride." "Why did you wait so long to inform anyone of Admantha's plot?" " Surely you don't..." " My lord, I had to but play the traitor to catch the traitor." "Where are his witnesses, my lord?" "What were my motives?" "Let this Haman prove his words or be forever silent." "But what would he have me show, my lord?" "There are no witnesses to plans forged in secret." "You will not act like that, Admantha." "And was it not even Admantha who stirred the crowd into demanding." "Queen Vashti's appearance, knowing she would not come?" "All lies." "That's lies." "Lies." "I stand in a crumbling house of lies." " Remember before whom you plead." " Plead for what?" "For your life, Admantha." "Is it my foolish desire to believe these stories I hear or my glaring inability to perceive their mysteries?" "Perhaps you..." "You placed them back upon the shelf to collect dust without ever truly completing them." "Who is the one that gathers dust?" "I believed I was your Rachel." "But it appears I'm only Leah, and you serve time with me for another." "No, my lord." "It's not what you think." "Nothing is as I think anymore." "Plots slither through the night." "Trust, it decays like secret gates left to rust." "Admantha is carried to torture even as we speak." "This Jacob and Rachel, they are no mere story to you." "Give me some incentive to believe in who you really are." "Give me some honor." "For if it is truly the honor of kings to seek out truth in lie," "I am a man of scorn." "I will answer you, my lord, if you first answer me." "Answer you what?" "Why did you summon Vashti when you knew she would not come?" "I am king." "And I need answer to no one." "After many days of torture, Admantha, the great Midian prince, finally confessed all, and was dealt with according to the protocol of the land." "For his brave and valorous services, Haman the Agagite was proclaimed a prince of the Fars to inherit Admantha's house, wealth, prestige and power." "Pieces are falling into place we've spoken of, one by one." "Soothsaying does not become you, Haman." "No, my darling, I speak of the truth, not of stars." "My burden I would not wish on any man." "The blood of my forefathers will be avenged." "And the gods will smile down on our son through our obedience." "And are you mad?" "This is your plan?" "It is not that our allies are unwilling, my lord, but they have not fared well." "A storm has robbed the Phoenicians of a good part of their fleet." "Carthage finds herself short in timber with which to complete our warships..." "Surely the fate of the empire does not hinge on money?" " Are you ready to furnish it, then?" " No, not I, my lord." "But I'm aware of traitors within our borders that could." "The Jews?" "We are not children." "Nevertheless, the money may be raised by the confiscation of Jewish wealth and property." "And the Jews will just hand it over without a fight?" "No, of course not." "First we must kill them all." "Every last one of them." "It is the only way to ensure they do not rise up and seek revenge." "He speaks of women and children, my lord." "Yes, women and children." "I know." "What is your solution?" "Or would you rather, my dear Memucan, the Greeks and the Jews unite and, hand in hand, murder us in our beds while we sleep?" "Is the past so mighty that we must destroy our brothers to be free of its grasp?" "No kingdom was ever so grand as the Jews' own King Solomon." "He fought not one battle, toiled through not one war, but prospered upon the peace handed down by his father." "Do not make void what your own father's death has purchased." " By picking back up..." " Mind your tone, General." "Why thirst you for warfare when we can drink so deeply of peace?" "You speak of peace, let us speak of the Jews." "They would rather bow down to their own God than obey the laws of protocol." "Their prophets even speak of a coming king." "A king who will reign over all kings and set all men free." "Is that not the very essence of democracy, my dear Memucan?" "I do believe, under your guidance, we are undone." "If we are undone, we are undone from within, indeed." "March upon Greece, if you wish." "But you march with no general in your lead." "Then it has not yet been signed into law?" "Not as yet, my lady." "Perhaps guilt stirs men too hotly at times, and they seek the salve of the law to ease the burning." "And what would you have me do?" "I cannot seek him in the library unless summoned." "If you arrived first, then he in effect would be seeking you, would he not?" "How came you pass my guard?" "I demanded none use the library this night." "I seek that which you seek, my lord." "Truth." "Perhaps the truth of what exists between us?" "I have come on matters of state." "Matters of state." "I see." "And what matters of state might that be?" "You desire more perfumes?" "You request more condiments?" "Surely as queen of the kitchen, you need not await me here." "You know as well as I how quickly word travels throughout the palace." "Especially when murder's involved." "You are..." "You are learned, well-read." "Offer me a story that answers my dilemma." " I have never pretended with you." " Never pretended?" "Think you not that I see Memucan's strings dangling above your head even now?" "You care more for these Jews than you do for me." "Do you enquire of my burdens, do you offer me solutions?" "No." "You just complain." " As Vashti did?" " Away from me!" "And come before me no longer, no matter what pretense you seek, or your fate shall be worse than Vashti." " But I do love you." " Love has failed me." "Knowledge has failed me, thus I bind myself to the protocol of my fathers and to my empire." "By the next moon, I leave for war." "And whatever my fate, it shall no longer be shared with you." "This was once your favorite reading." "And though it may no longer bear the story of love, it bears that of one Mordecai the Jew." "One of whom you wish to destroy saved your life." "And you never even honored him for it." "The casting of the lot, the Pur..." "It has determined upon which day all the Jews of the kingdom will be slain." "This day is to be the 13th day of the month of Adar according to the calendar of the Jews." "Prince..." "The annihilation of a people can only be authorized by one who bears the signet of the King himself." "And those letters were sent into all the land, to slay and annihilate all the Jews on the 13th of Adar, some six weeks hence." "Both young and old, men, women and even children." "And to plunder all of their possessions for the sake of the crown." "The scribe insists that all is dependent upon you, my queen." "Dependent upon me?" "My queen might wish to go before the King and intercede for those that have no other hope." "My lady..." "Have you forgotten your protocol?" "To approach the King unsummoned is death." "Perhaps in court." "But surely you can visit him in private." "In his chambers." "Surely I cannot." "Obedient I have been." "I walk before you with a loyal heart." "And now I stand in the hour of trouble precisely because of my obedience." "I beseech you, Father, let there be another way." "Rise up a deliverer and let this pass." "Let this pass." ""'Comfort,"" ""'comfort my people, ' says your God."" ""Cry unto Israel"" ""that her warfare is finished,"" ""that her iniquity is removed."" ""The everlasting neither faints nor is weary."" ""His understanding no one can fathom."" ""He gives strength to the weary and power to the weak."" ""Even the youth shall faint and be weary,"" ""and young men shall utterly fail."" ""But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. "" "Lord, we wait on thee." "Renew our strength." "Clear the way for he who comes." "Kneel before the great prince." "Clear the way for he who comes." "Kneel for the great prince." "You..." "Lower yourself to honor the great Prince Haman." "Kneel!" " I said kneel." " Stop!" " Why do you not kneel?" " I kneel before my king." "I abase myself only before the God of my fathers." " What's his name, this God?" " The great I AM." "The one true God, the maker of heaven and earth." "The God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob." "A Jew." "Mordecai Ben-Yair." "Mordecai..." "I shall name my prize pig after you." "Perhaps I may give you other reasons to remember my name." "You will remember mine for this!" "Move on." "What good did that do?" "You still ended up on the ground like the rest of us." "But I did not kneel." "Come, now, you are a mere three days from being handed a kingdom." "We must not let one Jew rob us of our joy." "That is not good enough." "Then seek permission to honor the King's departure with a public execution of a rebel" "a symbol of your authority over those that remain." "A gallows, 50 cubits high with Mordecai right..." "The chronicles." "Rise." "A matter disturbs me." "You may be of assistance." "I am most pleased, my lord, for I, too, desire your counsel on a matter." "A certain man has rendered great service to me." "He has received many honors amongst his people, but he once saved my life." "I feel, despite everything, full recognition has not yet been given him." "What think you, shall be done for this man in whom the King delights to honor?" "Let a royal robe be sent for, one his Majesty has donned in public." "And a horse on whose head a royal crest is set." "Deliver them to one of the noblest princes of the Fars, so that he can array the man in whom the King delights." "And then parade this man through the streets, proclaiming," ""Thus shall it be done to the man in whom the King delights to honor."" "Most excellent proposal." "Go yourself now and do all you have suggested." "My lord." "To a one Mordecai, the scribe who sits within the King's gates." "Mordecai?" "The Jew?" "My lady." " And who is this honored man?" " A scribe." "A Jewish scribe, who claims to have saved the King's life." "I should think you would be honored by such a privilege given by the King." "Honored?" "The prestige of Persia is at stake." "What will it be said of your husband, the king, that he commands his highest prince to lead a Jew through the streets?" "A Jew, my lady!" "And how is a Jew any different than you or I?" "They are our enemy." "They must be destroyed." "They may be your enemy, but not mine." "From the way that you defend them," " one might almost think..." " One might think what, my prince?" "One might think." "That is all, my lady." "One might think." "HAMake your way for Mordecai, the Jew." "Make your way for Mordecai, who saved the King's life." "He is the man in whom the King delights to honor." "All hail for Mordecai, the Jew, honored of the King." "Beloved of the Queen." "All hail for Mordecai, the Jew." "Honored of the King." "Beloved of the Queen." "Guards..." "My queen, I bring you word from Mordecai." "You've run out of time." "When the King leaves for Greece tomorrow, he will appoint Haman as his regent." "It is our last chance to stop this edict of death." "He made me vow to speak his words." "You will indeed risk your life if you go before the King... but do not think that if you keep silent your position will save you alone from this edict." "For if you keep silent, deliverance for the Jews will arise from someplace else," "but you will surely perish." "Who knows whether you have come to the palace for such a time as this?" "He said to give you this." "Tell Mordecai to assemble the Jews." "Ask them to fast and pray." "I will do the same." "And in the morning, arrange for me a litter." "I will array myself as queen and go before the King unsummoned, even though it is against the law." "And if I perish," "I perish." "People of Persia, servants of the crown, today we embrace our destiny to raid and rule the world over and stand against the Greeks and all who would rob us of our glory." "Her crown, quickly." "The litter will be here any moment." " No litter is coming." " What?" "I do not know what you plan, but..." "The King leaves for the outpost within the hour." "I have not time to wait out this rain." "I am not going to allow you to kill yourself." "No..." " Please tell me you did not." " What possible assurance do you have he would lower his scepter to spare your life?" "You do not go into a bedroom of a man, you go into the hall of a king." "This is not you against him." "This is you against protocol." "You against the empire." "Then I..." "I go as" "David did before Goliath and the Philistines." "Those are just stories, Esther." "Do you hear me?" "Just stories." "Know you what I love most about the story of David and Goliath?" "David's victory came not because he fought well" "but because he believed well." "Thus I leave you on this day, your regent, in my absence," "Lord Haman, prince of the Fars." "It is my will that each of you obey him in every way, exactly as you would regard your king." "Unsummoned she comes before the King." "She does." "Is protocol not broken?" " Yes, protocol has been broken." " Guards!" "Before the King." " We have not time to waste." " What did he say to your request?" "The timing, the faces..." "I could not ask it." "Not there, not in court." "What then?" "Do we perish?" "We have but one last chance." "You must help me prepare." "A king may lower his scepter to whoever he wishes." "My lord, this day your kingdom has all but been ripped from your hands." "This Esther has dishonored you more than Vashti ever could." "See not you now how she has trapped you?" "Inviting us to a banquet to hear her request?" "If you go, the people will deem you to be a pawn." "If you refuse, a coward." "There is but one way to proceed." "Is the meal to your satisfaction, my lord?" "The night draws late." "Once more I ask for your petition, my queen." "My petition, my lord," "is that you allow me to finish a story." "One that I began many nights ago." "The story of Jacob, my lord, does not finish with marrying Rachel." "Well, they go on to have 12 sons." "And like these 12 pillars that surround us, they became the pillars of a people." "Surely..." "Surely you do not delay an army only to finish a children's tale?" "If I still find favor in your sight, let my life be given me, at my petition." "And my people at my request." "You demand of me your life and that of your people?" "My dear girl," "I know not of your people." "You have yet to tell me who they are." "Had we been merely sold as slaves, I would have held my tongue." "This Haman wanted our blood, my blood, the blood of Jacob, your Jacob." "Your Jacob was given a new name." "Israel." "As, too, was I." "You, Esther?" "A Jew?" "Not Esther, my lord." "Hadassah Bat-Abihail, daughter of the tribe of Benjamin," "child of the most high God." "Never have I heard a more pathetic story in my entire life." "She is no Jew." "She's another Vashti." "Seems it not convenient to you?" "An army marches, and suddenly she is a Jew." "Esther is a Jew." "Your Vashti but protested the notion of war." "This queen seeks to counter the very authority of your rule." "A Jew?" "If such were true, why did she hide it till now?" "Pray, do tell us." "The Almighty has indeed ordained that my words speak not truth unto you." "At least allow my heart." "For this which I have offered you, my most precious in all the world, the very identity etched within me." "Well, is something supposed to be happening here?" "The stars..." "Do you not see them?" "Do you not see them?" "A mockery." "Perhaps not how you had hoped it would end?" "Imagined you that I would beg?" "Think you I will beg?" "Beg for my life?" "Beg like my forefather Agag before your sword?" "Would you like me to beg for you?" "Oh, please, my lady." "Please, Your Highness." "Please spare me." "Spare me my life." "You are a lady of mercy." "Spare me." "I beg for forgiveness." "Spare me, spare me, you Jew!" "Would he also assault the Queen, my wife," "while I am in my house?" "Harbonah has informed me that the gallows post stands in Haman's yard even as we speak." "Apparently intended for one Mordecai the Jew." "Hang him on it." "No!" "No!" "What made you come back?" "I saw them." "I saw the stars." "Thus with one faithful act has a new generation redeemed the time of centuries past and stepped into their destiny." "On this day, I give you your new prince, and master of audiences," "Mordecai Ben-Yair." "On the day appointed for their destruction, all Jews shall have the right to protect themselves and shall be entitled to take all the property of their attackers." "And I send forth this story enjoining all to keep a day of feasting and gladness." "A celebration to be passed on and retold through every generation, to be known as Purim, or the casting of the Pur that determined its time." "While we continue onward in the face of a world filled with uncertainty, we can rejoice, for hidden within its mysteries is the honor of a king." "Thus dictated, I order this decree sent out under the great seal of Mordecai, prince of Persia," "a Jew."