A fiction novel
The Legend of Prince Jaras
of Cimora
by
Jim Key
Chapter 61 - The Prayer of King Areus Prince Raekareus was not abandoned by the Lord his God. The prince was spared the sentence of execution by the judgment of the city's chieftain. But because of his bold preaching, Prince Raekareus was imprisoned in the chieftain's prison house.Then everything came to pass which Prince Raekareus had forewarned. It happened that a deadly pestilence began to spread throughout the city. It began in the lower quarter in the houses near the banks of the river. The oldest men and women were the first ones to succumb to the plague. But the horrific disease spread to the Riphans of all ages, and from the lower quarter to the entire city.The whole city of Lairge was filled with dead bodies. The people still on their feet were unable to bury the dead quick enough, and the city reeked with the stench of death and decay. And many of the people who held onto life were filled with indignation against the few citizens of Lairge who had stood with Prince Raekareus and the Lord God. They rounded up all the men and women of the city who professed to place their trust in the Lord God. They took the believers outside the city and denounced them. And the followers of the Lord God were cast out of the city.But the chieftain of the walled town began to fear the Lord God. He released Prince Raekareus from his prison. The prince went back into the streets and told the Riphan citizens of Lairge that if they turned to the living God, the Lord would heal them. He warned them that if they persisted in rejecting the Lord God, the city would be doomed.When Prince Raekareus persisted in pronouncing judgment against the Riphans, he was again arrested. This time, the people demanded that the chieftain keep the persistent preacher in the prison house. And so, Prince Raekareus stayed there until the day the city was burned to the ground. The streets and buildings were so filled with dead bodies, and the stench and filth of the city was so great, the Riphans abandoned Lairge altogether and set it on fire as they left it behind. The prince was bound with chains and carried off with the rest of the city’s prisoners. And the survivors of the plague marched out into the countryside, following the river southward, in search of a new location on which to rebuild. They were a dispirited remnant, and many that were sick died along the way.And now, the prince's two younger brothers, who at last regained their courage, came alongside the chieftain of the survivors and said to him, "We are the two brothers of one of your prisoners, the preacher who has spoken the truth to you. Sir, our brother is a prince of Cimora. Now, please sir, we ask you to either set our brother free, to return home with us, or else make us two also your slaves, to serve you in this land alongside the brother that we love."And the Lord God turned the broken heart of the chieftain to be favorable toward the young brothers, and he released Prince Raekareus. Then the three brothers returned to their father King Areus in the land of Cimora.After the three princes told their father all the remarkable things that had happened to them in the land of the west, olde King Areas knelt down and prayed this simple prayer with his three sons who also knelt down beside him:"O Lord, you are God! Thank you! You have brought my three sons back home safe, untouched by the plague, and unharmed by the men of the west! May the Riphan people take heed to the message my son Raekareus has given them! May the good seed he planted in the west grow and become a fruitful vine!"O Lord, many years ago you spoke words of warning to the people of Israel. You said to them, 'At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or I might command locusts to devour your crops, or I might send plagues among you. Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.'"O Lord, you are God! A day may come when my own people of Cimora will forget you and turn to other gods! A day may come when the king who sits on the throne in
Ancient Arapa will neither know you nor serve you! And then you will send troubles and trials on the land! O Lord, if that day should come, we pray, turn the hearts of the Cimirik people back to yourself! May they cry out to you fervently for forgiveness! Raise up for yourself a new king to lead them back to you and back to your ways!
"And then, please save them from their troubles! We ask, O Lord, that you hear us and grant our request! For you are a God who saves!"