NEW DAY (pg-13) - Chapter 8

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Penina Spinka
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NEW DAY (pg-13) - Chapter 8

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New Day (PG-13)

A Sam and Francis Story

Chapter 8

The harbor smells of fish and the sweat of workers faded into the background. Like in most of the Land between the Two Rivers, there was little stone so the streets were brick-lined and narrow. With houses and shops close in the narrow streets and shadowed from the morning sun, we made our way to the higher part of the city. Serali told me she was unable to find out more from Miceas than what I had learned, except that he wanted to see her again. “He has a house here, with servants. He asked if he might visit me in Ishtar’s house. Should I send him a note and tell him yes, Radu?”

I was surprised she asked me rather than Lady Undassa. The thought of Miceas and Serali together on her bed at Ishtar’s House tore at my heart, but she didn’t need my leave to embrace another man. It was part of her profession as priestess. “Are his intentions toward you honorable?” I asked.

“I have only to call out to a guard should he try to force me without a token to show he made payment to the goddess’s coffers first.”

“Of course.” What made me think he felt more for her than any man feels for a priestess? I understood lust. What I feared was her loving another. She was trained to join with worshippers, to insure fecundity to field and womb on behalf of the Divine Mother. “He cares for me. I’m sure he would not do anything inappropriate.” Such as taking you without hope off siring offspring like I do, I thought. She allowed it out of love, although she knew I made many donations to the House of Ishtar on her behalf. A private look passed between us. Between Miceas and me, I was the guilty one, knowing it was impossible.

“Whether she receives him is up to Serali and how the customs are celebrated in Nineveh,” said Lady Undassa. “You know she must respect them. You’re her physician, not a part of Ishtar’s worship. Remember that, Lord Radu.”

“I think only of our mission,” I said. “Serali must not accidentally tell Miceas what we are about. While both of you live in Ishtar’s House, watch and learn what the priestesses know about the ornaments and their reactions to them, no matter how slight.” A new thought came to me. “Serali, your silver bracelet is in your bag now, the one Esok is carrying.” She nodded. “Do you feel different when it is on your wrist?”

Serali shrugged. “Just a good feeling because it is pretty – no pain or sting, if that is what you mean.” I hadn’t mentioned my reaction to Undassa. The older priestess looked at me suspiciously.

I had no time for explanations. “Describe your good feeling.”

“That everything is fine.”

“And when you’re not wearing it?”

She thought for a moment. “When it’s not on my arm, I worry more, but that might be because you are with me. You worry. I think I feel your feelings.” I nodded without explaining. I don’t think Undassah could have guessed what we were discussing. Humans often caught each other’s moods, but Serali and I were bonded by love, blood, and history, although she did not know about the last. It was to be expected that she would feel my feelings, but did the silver block them from her?

I thought of a new experiment. “Put on your bracelet now. Esok, stop. Give Lady Serali her bag.” Standing back from me, she reached in and slid it onto her arm. I put all my worry, my feelings of loss, anguish and danger for her into my heart and mind for her to feel if she could. “Well?”

“I feel only a sense of comfort, like being wrapped in a blanket on a cold night.”

“Take it off. Put it away from you.”

She removed it, dropped it into the bag and gave the bag back to Esok. She looked at me again and rubbed her arms. “Holy Mother Ishtar! Are you that frightened for me?” She felt my emotions that time.

“I’m frightened for all of us, Serali. The bracelet blocks your perception and your feelings. Remember that when you wear it, if you can. I prefer if you did not wear it when you’re alone.” She nodded her agreement, still shaking at what she felt.

Esok brought us to the door of the House of Ishtar. “This is it,” he said. It was a vast building, two stories tall and set on grounds of its own. Ishtar’s ziggurat stood east of it to be first to see the morning star and the first rays of morning. Nineveh’s mountain was not as lavish as Babylon’s. Lady Undassa might have something to say about that to the city’s high priestess. Although the Ishtar cult began here, being from the capitol, my lady outranked her. Guards at the House bade us wait while they announced us.

Nineveh’s high priestess came to greet us. Lady Undassah introduced us to her. “Lady Dete,” I said, giving her half a bow. “As King Marduk’s representative in Nineveh, I must assure myself of my ladies’ safety. My servant Esok will call upon them morning and evening to see if they have a message for me.”

“I can assure you of their safety while they live in this House, Lord Radu,” she said. “Your servant may verify that for you. It is time for our noon meal. Since we rise before dawn, we eat early. Excuse us.” She lowered her head and led my ladies inside.

“Back to the Silver Moon now, Esok,” I said. He hung back. “No one will hurt you while you’re in my service,” I reminded him. Seeing his distress, I had another thought. He had not eaten since before we left the ship, if he ate then. “Are you hungry?”

“Yes, Master.”

“You should have said something,” I told him. If Lady Dete had not mentioned the noon meal, I might have forgotten. “Let us go where you can buy something for your midday meal. Get what you want.” Esok brought us to a market stall among others where simple food was prepared by venders. The stall keeper worked over a flat pan balanced on stones over a low fire. Esok ate flat bread fried in fat and wrapped around some kind of meat, washed down with a cup of weak wine. He thanked me for feeding him. Fair was fair, I thought.

The master of the Silver Moon was done supervising the unloading and the carrying of his goods to the port’s warehouses when we returned to the harbor. One of the harbor guards pointed out the Tavern of the Fish. I found him there, at table, finishing off a plate of quails and a cup of wine. A harbor girl sat on his bench leaning close. “Perhaps you would like your payment another time?” I said. He scowled at me, but spoke to the girl who quickly disappeared.

“I’m prepared to follow you to the treasury now,” he said, looking Esok up and down. The lad looked like he wanted to blend into the wall behind him. “He won’t find work at sea after you’re done with him, you know,” the captain said. “I doubt he even knows the way to the Treasury; he’s never seen coins bigger than a wine piece.”

“Then, you must lead us there, good shipmaster,” I said.

“You’ll vouch that I brought the priestesses to Nineveh safely as well, and that they were treated according to their rank?”

“You fulfilled our contract in all ways,” I assured him. “I believe 400 dinars was our agreed-upon price.” We might have sailed for free on the strength of the king’s signet, but I wanted to impress our importance upon him. It would be little loss to the king in terms of money. Esok walked a few steps behind us, holding his duffle bag and my supplies. I kept my currency and authorizations, as always, in the pouch at my belt.

When we were through with business, the captain wished me a good day. The added weight of gold pieces in his money belt had changed his mood for the better. “Maybe I’ll let the boy serve me again when you’re through with him,” he said, “if he gives you no cause for complaint.”

“I’m sure he’ll be satisfactory.” I watched the captain walk away, whistling to himself. He had just received half a year’s pay for two days and nights’ conveyance of a dignitary and two priestesses. Even though he lost a crewman, it had been worth it. If his wallet hadn’t been so heavy, I think he would have skipped back to his harbor girl.

Esok and I returned inside the Treasury building. I hoped to speak with the official there. I left Esok standing against the far wall where he could not hear us. “Haggai!” I said, clapping my old associate lightly on the back. “The captain is gone. We can speak privately.” We knew each other from Babylon before he was assigned to oversee Nineveh’s treasury.

“It’s good to see you again, old friend.” Haggai looked me up and down, taking in my appearance. “You know, we’ve known each other for twenty odd years and you weren’t young then. I’m bent with age and my hair is gray. You stand straight, your skin is smooth, and your hair and beard are still black as ever. Can you explain that to me?”

I hadn’t intended to talk to him about myself. I would have to leave Babylon soon. Another ten years and I would be unable to explain my survival, never mind my black hair to anyone who knew me for any length of time. “I have strong bones. Some people are lucky that way. As for my hair and beard, I dye them. The king knows it. I dye his too.” Before Haggai could think of more to say, I asked if he or anyone he knew had purchased a copper brace or armlet from the trader Miceas. “These ornaments bear the design of a dragon or a big fish.”

“I have seen them,” he said. “Wait. One of my workers left one in the contract room when he went outside to buy his lunch.” He emerged with a copper armlet. I held it in my hand, but felt nothing. A dragon and the mysterious writing decorated the semi-circle. “Try it on,” I suggested. He did so.

“Feel any different?” I asked.

“No. Should I?”

“I’m not sure. A priestess told me it made her feel warm and good, like being wrapped in a blanket on a cold night.”

“Maybe it depends on how long you wear it.” I had to give him that. He rubbed it and held it to his cheek. “It is soothing though.”

I asked if he knew the meanings behind the symbols. “The dragon is Anu. The Fish is Dagon, a god from Syria. Dagon’s priests are well connected with Ashur – the Assyrians’ Lord of the Sun. Nineveh’s people have taken to Dagon for obvious reasons. Nineveh considers a big fish to be its guardian. Foreigners. They think they can remake the city to suit them.”

The sign of the Fish was at the captain’s tavern, I thought, nodding at this new piece of the puzzle. “This Syrian Dagon, the fish god, does he have a temple?”

“Dagon’s priests share space and worshipers with Ashur. It’s his by day, the fish’s by night. Persians are partial to both of them. If Marduk were to follow my advice, he’d close our city to foreign gods. Ishtar, heavenly Marduk and Anu are enough for any city in the empire. If people want to worship the sun, Shemesh, our Babylonian sun lord, ought to be enough.”

“Who are Persians?”

He spit on the floor. “Hill country barbarians. Too many of them live here for my taste. Immigrants!”

I asked Haggai if he would take some time away from his duties tomorrow to bring me to the house of the Ninevan Magi. “King Marduk sent me here to investigate the political situation in Nineveh. Let that be between you and me. I’ll tell them I’m interested in the latest innovations in medicine. Do you have someone who can fill in for you while you’re gone?”

“I will arrange it,” he said.

“What about the writing?”

He held the copper close to his eyes. “My eyes have grown weak. Have you ever seen one of these?” From a pocket of his robe, he pulled out a curved glass, flat on the bottom. He held it over the bracelet under the window. It made the symbols seem larger. “I call it a bring-closer glass. The House of the Magi is always coming up with new things. Some of it is useful to an old man. You may want one for yourself.”

“I’ve been blessed with good eyesight,” I said. “I pray all the gods it will continue as long as I need my eyes.”

He looked closely at the armlet. “This is the writing used by devotees of Dagon and Ashur. It’s Phoenician, the language of Syria. I can’t read it. Maybe someone in the House of the Magi can tell you what it means.”

“Tomorrow then. I don’t want people to know where I’m staying,” I said. “Do you have a chamber I may use during my visit?” I asked.

He lowered his voice, but Esok was half asleep. “There’s a room below ground, near the treasury room itself. I’ll show you. Should we bring the boy?”

“I sleep alone. The boy can sleep with the house servants.” We passed the courtyard sundial before we came to the stone staircase. I hoped to be with Miceas before it grew dark so we would have time to visit the designer.

Haggai guided me down a series of hallways and staircases. The chamber seemed older than the rest of the treasury complex and I wondered what it was used for. There were several small couches against one wall. “The Treasury was attacked, long before my time here. This is where the guards slept. Their orders were to guard the treasury with their lives. I think they all died, but so did the enemy.”

“Loyal of them,” I commented. The chamber would be cool and far from the sun. I could sleep here in comfort. “This will do. I have an appointment soon with the distributor and the designer of the bracelets, but I’ll be back later.”

He took a spare key from his belt and gave it to me. “In case I’m already gone for the night, you can let yourself in. You know where the chamber is. If I can’t trust Marduk’s emissary not to steal from him, who can I trust?” I put the key into my large wallet.

We returned to the entrance. “Please have someone get Esok decent garb and bring him to a bathhouse. He’s newly hired. I doubt if he’s seen the inside of a bathhouse in years. I’d appreciate it if he was given supper with the Treasury’s servants.”

I began to pull treasury notes from my wallet, but he waved me to leave it to him. “There’s no need. We’ll take care of your boy.” I secured the wallet to my under-belt where it could not be seen.

With thanks, I left the building for my appointment with Miceas. A servant answered his door and invited me inside. Miceas soon greeted me. “I trust you have found accommodations,” he said. “If they don’t suit you, you are welcome to stay with me.”

“Thank you,” I said, “but I’ll be with an old friend for the time being. Shall we go?”

On the way to the designer, Miceas thanked me for introducing him to Serali. He admitted he could not keep his mind off her. His every thought had been of her since they met. I kept control of my hands and did not rip his head off for the lust that crept into his voice. “As physician to royalty and friend to Ishtar’s temple, perhaps you can answer my question, Lord Radu. Are priestesses allowed to marry?”

I could not reply at once. “Marry?” I managed. “You wish to marry Serali?”

“If it is permitted. I made my fortune on my last trading voyage. She said you are like a father to her. If you were her father, what would you say?”

“She said I was like a father to her?” She had known me all of her life. Could she think of me as her father? Would she bed her father? That was too much even for a priestess of Ishtar, but the trader’s words made me feel old. I could usually forget that I had lived more than a thousand years.

“Forgive me if my words caused you distress,” said Miceas. “I may be putting words in her mouth, but you’ve been her physician since she was four. I don’t mean to imply that you are an old man, although you have the dignity of a magus. I’m sure she loves you as such, and she respects you.” I remained silent. “I just don’t know how a man could look at her and not want to love her.” His heartbeat was steady and strong. If he was devious in other ways, he was honest in this.

“Neither do I,” I said. He waited for me to speak again so I obliged him. “It’s not for me to give permission, but I won’t stand in her way. If her vows to Ishtar allow her to marry and she’ll take you for her husband, I have only one word of warning. Make her unhappy or betray her in any way and I will kill you.” He had to know I’d be watching over her to keep her from harm.

Miceas looked at me twice as if trying to be sure he heard me right. “I will never betray her,” he said at last. He stopped before a small factory. I heard the sounds of industry inside, tap hammers and chisels against metal. “We are here.” I did my best to compose myself and learn all I could from the designer of the armlets. The answer to the puzzle might be solved before the day was over. This is why I had come to Nineveh.
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