Sicarius turned off his phone and took one last look to his right, taking in the Judean Desert, with the blue pool of the Dead Sea in the center. Then to his left, where the mountain range, gorges, and cliffs lined the valley. The sun was setting over the horizon, glowing orange and purple, so low that it was intensifying the shadows that represented the remains of the Roman camps that had once surrounded the hill, tracing their shapes across the ground like the traces of rectangular labyrinths. It was a stunning sight, a scene of great beauty, proof that God had blessed this barren land. The silence was reassuring; barely audible was the whisper of the wind blowing from the north and the mournful chirps of swallows hovering above the hill.