Red: The Heroic Rescue

Synopsis
Red is a novel by Christian author Ted Dekker. It is the second novel in his Circle Trilogy.

Plot
In Red: The Heroic Rescue, Thomas has spent fifteen years in the "dream world," having been persuaded by his new wife Rachelle to eat the "Rhambutan" fruit which will prevent him from dreaming. Only eight hours have passed in the world of Earth, but the plague has been released in several gateway cities across the world (including Bangkok where Thomas and Kara are currently staying) and the terrorists are making their demands.

Thomas is in a world torn by conflict. Followers of Elyon live in the seven forests and continue to bathe daily, as instructed. However, the deserts outside of the forests are home to the Horde, with a much larger population than the forests. Members of the Horde (individually referred to as "Scabs") are subject to the degenerative skin disease of the fallen world and are constantly trying to conquer and destroy the inhabitants of the forest. Moreover, they actually worship Teeleh, carrying banners with images of the Shataiki. Thomas is now referred to as "Thomas of Hunter" and is commander of the Forest Guard, a legendary figure among the Forest Dwellers and the Horde alike. However as the story of Red unfolds, it is revealed that the Horde also have a legendary General emerging knowing as Martyn. One whose strategies are bolder and more clever, and have yet to be seen by the Forest Guard.

In the forests, the people keep Elyon's seven rules but have added to them, scrupulously trying to make it as difficult as possible to violate the actual rules. The people continue to celebrate the themes of their life in the colored forest, before the Great Deception. Interpretation of the rules is vested in a priest-like figure named Ciphus. Members of the Horde are allowed to come and bathe and become part of the forest dwellers, but this is actively discouraged as Ciphus has determined there is not enough water in the lakes to support a much larger population. This is generally not an issue, as the skin disease of the Horde makes any contact with water agonizingly painful, and the Horde view themselves as "normal" and the forest dwellers as "defective." Occasionally, however, a Horde member will be washed, as is the case with a wise village elder named Jeremiah. Also, forest dwellers who go too long without bathing in Elyon's water begin to develop the skin disease, eventually losing the ability to think rationally and becoming members of the Horde. The Forest Guard has developed extensive procedures for carrying bathing water with them while on patrol in order to try to prevent this.

A new figure in the book is Justin, a former member of the Forest Guard under Thomas. When Thomas offered him the rank of second in command, Justin declined and left the Forest Guard entirely, leading to the young woman Mikil becoming Thomas' second in command. Justin begins to anger the leadership of the Forest Dwellers, however, by his unorthodox attitudes. He actively seeks peace with the Horde. Interestingly, as the story progresses, it is revealed that Justin always seems to be clean of the disease even when he seems to have been unable to bathe.

Justin attempts to broker a peace between the Horde and the forest dwellers, on one occasion speaking with Martyn in the middle of a battle to secure the safety of the Southern Forests Guard and their leader Jamous and to encourage good will between the two cultures. However, Justin is betrayed and sentenced to death by the leadership under Ciphus. Initially he is forced into a Gladiator-style face off against Thomas of Hunter (whom the crowd and leadership are sure will be victorious). Justin does exhibit equal if not superior skills in sword and hand-to-hand combat though he never actually harms Thomas and seems to view the contest almost in a comical sense. As Justin emerges the victor he leaves the arena and greets a waiting Martyn at the crest of the arena to a shocked audience including Thomas. As Thomas signals his guard to move in on Justin and Martyn Thomas himself confronts them face-to-face. When he draws his sword on Martyn he is horrified when Martyn reveals himself to actually be the once innocent Johan, Thomas' brother-in-law. Johan had once been part of the guard under Thomas' command and was assumed to have been killed in battle when in fact he becamse stranded and the disease took him. Later, it is showed that Justin is Elyon in an adult form. However, Thomas doesn't know this and makes a deal with Johan to pretend that Justin had betrayed both the Forest and the Horde, so that they can get him killed.

Eventually it is known that an overwhelming Horde Army is encroaching on the Forest, and demands the right to carry out the execution as they consider Justin to have betrayed them, too. Justin is sentenced to death with the Horde's most feared form of execution: drowning in water. He is first hung over the lake and beaten until his bones are broken and he is severely disfigured. Mysteriously, during his beating Justin's body begins to be covered with the Horde skin disease. Upon his death, Johan in a fit of rage attacks Justin and thrusts his sword into his abdomen, his blood pours into the lake, violating Elyon's prohibition about blood entering the water.

The next day, the water itself has turned to a blood red color and the forest dwellers are all completely infected with the skin disease. Yet Justin's dead body cannot be found in the depths of the lake. Thomas remembers a command he had once given Thomas to "follow me". First Thomas, and then others including both Forest Dwellers and members of the Horde, give up their lives in the red water, finding that they, too, are returned to life and completely cleansed of the skin disease. In fact, these new followers of Elyon through Justin discover that they need never be cleansed again: they are immune to the skin disease.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the former forest dwellers have been corrupted by the disease and merge the religions of Elyon and Teeleh, inviting the Horde to come dwell in the forest. The sacrifice of drowning in the red water is unthinkable to those infected with the disease, and they view the cleansed people as defective "albinos." The "albinos" flee for their lives into the desert. On the way, however, Thomas’s wife Rachelle is shot with three arrows and dies.

There, Justin himself meets them and excitedly proclaims his happiness over them. He proclaims the new group to be his "Circle" (a symbol of marriage dating back to the days of the colored forest) and to be his "bride," and ecstatically thanks his father for what he calls his "beautiful bride," referring to God as his "father." Justin reveals to the Circle that they will find more red pools hidden in the desert and that for the rest of their lives they will be his and will be charged with the mission of saving as many members of the Horde as possible by inviting them to drown in the pools.

The title "Red" thus refers to the color of the blood shed by Justin to redeem his followers from the Fall, and to the blood-red pools in which his followers give up their lives in order to be reborn as Justin's people.