About two thousand years earlier, Daniel, son of the high priest David, awoke feeling the effects of the previous night"s drinking. His stomach was churning, and his head hurt. Daniel was accustomed to waking in this condition.
Looking around the room, he saw his friends, Malachi and Stone. Stone"s real name was Ameur, but everyone had always called him Stone. Daniel wasn’t sure of the origin of the nickname. Personally, he believed it might have been due to his loyal friend"s intelligence being only a little higher than that of a rock.
Malachi was already awake and was sitting with a bucket of water, working to scrub dried blood off his left hand and wrist.
From this distance, it was impossible to tell if the blood was Malachi"s or if it had leaked out of one of the people the trio had
