"Stop walking around, Nazareth. Judas won't come quicker if you keep doing that," Andrew said.

Jesus didn't listen and kept walking in circles. He anxious frowned at the floor. "Ananias already left this morning. Where can he be?"

It was evening and they had found an old temple in town. Like always there was a fire on the floor and they all sat around it. Well, all except Jesus, thought Peter. Since they had heard Ananias had left the city, they had been waiting for Judas to show up. But so far, he hadn't. Their uneasiness had grown when they got the message that Ananias had token three men as prisoner with him. Jesus hadn't sat since this morning and around noon Matthew had surprised everyone by snorting he himself had been a villain, after which he blew his nose.

"Please, Jesus, You're making me dizzy," James pleaded.

"He should be here now! They can't have caught him," Jesus muttered. "He promised me he'd return!" He fell down beside Mary and pushed his hands against his forehead. Peter noticed how tired he looked. He had bags under his eyes and kept rubbing in them. "What should I do, Mary?"

"Nothing, Jesus, you'll just have to wait," she said soothing. She gently removed his hair out of his face. "Maybe he waits until it's dark."

"Do you think so?"

"Of course." She kept caressing him.

"Yeah," Simon helped a bit. "You'll see. Over a few moments he'll be here, telling how he got away from some guards, and then John'll convince him to play that weird game, you know, riming on the spot or something, and all will be right again. You can't keep Judas away, even if you want him to." There was some laughter and Jesus looked a little bit more at ease.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Simon, but there were no guards," a voice above them said. They looked up and saw Judas' face through the hole in the roof, through which the smoke escaped. Is that because of the smoke, or is he looking angry? thought Peter.

"Oh no, Judas," James said dramatically and some laughed. Judas grabbed the rim of the hole, made a sort-of-forward roll, so that he only hold the rim with the tips of his fingers, hung for a moment motionless, let himself fall and made in the middle of the fall a somersault, so he caused himself to land next to the fire. The apostles applauded and whistled and Jesus came forward to welcome Judas, with shining eyes and a friendly smile, like he had found some long-lost brother.

When he saw Jesus, Judas stepped backwards, and made a bow that was too deep to be polite. It was now very clear he was angry. Jesus, sensing there was something wrong, stopped and there fell a silence. "My Lord," Judas said loud.

"Lord?" Peter repeated, not understanding.

Jesus looked calmly at Judas. "Don't call me like that, Judas." He showed him his back and rubbed in his eyes again.

Judas stared angry at Jesus and then turned towards Simon. "You were talking about that game of John, weren't you?"

Simon nodded. "You know, the one you have to rime something. The one you always win," he added with a grin.

"Well, I've got one," Judas said shortly and turned to Jesus again. He took some steps forward, till he was so close he almost touched Jesus. If one of them moved, they would. He tried to catch Jesus' eye over his shoulder, but Jesus looked away, though not walking away.

"Nazareth your famous son," Judas said with a dark smirk, watching Jesus' face.

"Should have stayed the great unknown

Like his father carving wood-" Jesus started, as if he wanted to look over his shoulder and say something, but Judas made a quick movement and stood again behind him.

"He'd have made good

Table, chair and oaken chest

Would have suited Jesus best," He nudged Jesus with his shoulder, so he had to take a small step forward to prevent himself from falling down. He clenched his teeth and kept looking at the ground.

"He'd have caused nobody harm

No one alarm!"

It was silent for a moment and then Jesus turned around. "Would you please tell me what you're angry about before you start to blame me for it?" he said with a quivering voice.

Judas looked almost suspiciously at Jesus and then replied: "I've heard how they call you now when you're not around you know how?" a dark, bitter smirk. "The son of God. The holy one. The Lord. King of the Jews. The anointed one. Jesus Christ. If he looks at you, you're wonderful. If he touches you, you're blessed. And if you're one of the apostles, you're blessed five times, and bowing angels'll open the gate of heaven for you. They're starting to worship you more than God himself."

They all listened amazed. When Judas stopped, Jesus said very slowly: "I haven't chosen for that, Judas."

"You've got to stop it. You know what the high priest are thinking and discussing? How to get rid of Christ, who even starts to get followers under the Romans. The people say you can do miracles." He grabbed Jesus' shoulders, talking faster and faster. "That you've healed cripples just by touching them. That you've fed a mob with three fishes and one bread, you walked over water, changed water in wine… They think you're the new Messiah, Jesus!"

"Stop it, Judas."

"In the start we didn't call you God, you were a man. I still admire you, Jesus. But every word that comes out of your mouth gets twisted round some other way! They'll hurt you if they think you've lied." Jesus looked away, and Judas changed tack. "Do you even care for you're people? Don't you see we must keep in our place? We are occupied! Have you forgotten that? The Romans don't want another noisy sect and they'll crush us if we go too far!"

"Stop it, Judas, please." Jesus voice was barely over a whisper.

"Listen to me, Jesus. I'm giving you a warning. I only want our good! All this's gone sour! Our changes are weakening with every minute. Everyone has gone mad about you! They've got too much Heaven on their minds. Listen, Jesus! I only want us to live!" His voice grew louder and louder.

"Stop!" Jesus walked away from Judas, breathing loudly.

"Jesus Christ, who are you, what have you sacrificed? Jesus Christ Superstar, do you think you're what they say you are-"

"JUDAS!"

"JESUS!"

"Stop it now, please!" Jesus begged.

"Not until you listen to me!"

Mary got on her feet. "Don't you see," she said, her voice trembling so hard from anger they could hardly understand her, "he's tired? He's been worrying about you all day! Leave him alone!"

Judas looked coldly at her. "I've got problems I have to discuss with him. Stay out of this, Magdalene."

"Those problems won't walk away. They'll still be here tomorrow. And unfortunately, you'll still be here too." She took Jesus' hand and he looked at Judas again.

"Please, Judas," he whispered. "Can't we discuss this in the morning?"

Judas made a mocking bow again. "As my Lord wishes," he sneered, and walked away.