Valiant

Book two of the Davidic Chronicles continues to follow David as he emerges as a warrior and leader among men. Marked for death by the Philistines and despised by his king, young David must navigate the many conspiracies that threaten to end his life and defeat God's anointing on his life.

Saul sat hunched over, his trembling body growing fiercer. Suddenly he threw back his head with such violence that David started in surprise, and he missed a chord on his harp. As the disjointed note floated in the air, a rattling sound issued from Saul's throat, and he spoke in a voice not his own, "Is Jehovah a man that He should repent? Nay, for He has rejected the son of Kish and shall rend his kingdom from before his eyes and give it unto his neighbor, the son of Jesse, and to his seed after."

And then the evil spirit deserted Saul, but not until a spirit of anxiety and worry had descended on the house of King Saul upon hearing those prophetic words.

The king seemed to gather himself, his body still trembling, and his eyes, as they locked onto David, were red. He rose to his feet then, staring at David in such cold fury that the young harper recoiled as if stung.

David didn't know what to do. He sat motionless in a cold sweat, his heart threatening to beat itself right out of his chest. "My lord," David tried to say, his voice sounding hoarse and broken. "I-"

"Nay!" Saul bellowed. "Nay! I will not let you bereft me of mine!" With the speed of a trained warrior, Saul spun his javelin into a throwing grip and hurled it with stunning force straight at David's chest.

David threw himself aside just in time. The javelin's heavy iron head smashed into the wooden wall right where David had been sitting. The force splintered the wood, and the shaft quivered in place like an angry viper robbed of its kill.