The stench was overpowering. It made her eyes water and her nose run. However, it was the safest place she could hide.
She clasped the silver cross hanging around her neck and prayed silently for protection. If they found her here, huddled among the dung and piss, they would surely run her through. It was both to her advantage and disadvantage that it was a dark, moonless night. She had to feel her way around the stable, which meant having to endure the squishy filth between her bare toes and fingers. However, it was unlikely that the men would dare to make themselves unclean by following her, even if they sensed her presence there.
She prayed again that they would get sidetracked. Otherwise, they would just wait for daylight, if they knew her position. She desperately listened, holding her breath.
She heard the snuffling snort of a horse. It was distant enough that she hoped they were heading the other way. She thought she heard the footfalls of the horses. She held her breath once more and closed her eyes.
There were footfalls and mutterings. They must have met up and were discussing what to do, as the horses nervously looked for grazing. She heard the deep gutteral muttering of the Captain. It sounded as if he issued a command. The horses were then urged by their riders: she heard them all take off at a gallop.
She exhaled deeply and then, forgetting where she was, brought in a deep lungful of fetid, fuggy air. She gagged at that and began hurriedly making her way back through the stall to the aisle. She waited at the doorway, breathing in the cooler, damper, cleaner air.
She felt the cross again - her treasure and the reason for the men chasing her. She could feel the ornate carving of Christ on the main stem of the center cross. To each side was a figure on a smaller cross. These were the thieves crucified alongside the Lord. The figure of Christ was not dead, but was speaking to one of the thieves, saying, according to the inscription:
"Truly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise."
This was the only holy relic of its kind, and it was hers. It was passed down through generations, made by some ancestor of hers, and was very valuable to the men that were after her.
The inscription was on three lines, in Greek. She remembered the story of how, when Jesus was on the cross, two thieves were being crucified along with him. One thief is derisive of Jesus, but the other asks Jesus to remember him when Jesus is enthroned in his holy kingdom. This thief is the one that Jesus speaks to. In essence, this thief is saved by expressing his faith in Jesus.
The importance of the cross she held, she knew, was that the inscription was purposely broken into three lines:
"Truly I say to you
today you will be
with me in paradise."
To the casual observer, it might not make much difference. Unless they knew the whole story. That her ancestor had been told exactly how to inscribe those words. That it made a huge difference to the men chasing her.
Since they were Catholic, they believed in purgatory. So they believe that Jesus said:
"Truly I say to you today,
you will be with me
in paradise."
Read this way, it allowed leeway to make a case for purgatory. When read as it appeared on her inscription would mean that there was no purgatory, no waiting place to be, while your soul was assigned to Heaven or Hell. There were no puncuation marks used in the original Greek writings. So the "today" could refer to when the comment was made, as the Catholics believed, or it could refer to the time that the thief would be in paradise with Jesus. Which would be pretty strong evidence that there was no waiting period or place.
It was called the "Cross Of Trials". She knew it was made a little over eleven hundred years ago in 114 AD. She also knew that it was made to reinforce the message that there was no purgatory.
She also knew the men would kill her for it, so they could hide it away; preventing it from being used as the proof it was.
