Twilight in Babylon (29 page)

En
Kidu opened the door before Rudi knocked. He was awake, clear-eyed, and dressed formally. To her surprise, he didn’t question her insistence and request. Instead, he sent the acolytes to retrieve a cart and onagers for travel.

As the sky turned dark before the light of day, they were on their way out of the gates. Kidu was at the reins, and Rudi hung on to the sides of the vehicle as they bounced along the road at breakneck speed. Sledges were so much steadier, but slower.

“It’s here,” she said a while later.

In the middle of a palm grove, a foreigner had built a palace.

Asa himself opened the door. “I have our substitute,” he said to the
en.
“She awaits you.”

Kidu looked puzzled. “A second substitute?” he asked, as they all walked to a shed in the back.

Asa looked a little uncomfortable. “She is truly the one the gods require.”

“Is she willing?”

Asa turned to Rudi. “The night you missed the blood moon and were thus suspended, what night was it?”

“The night the flood struck.”

“And the skies warned of evil coming from the north, truth?”

Rudi nodded. Kidu watched them both, inscrutable.

“This female came into Ur and demanded things no one ever has before, then
samana
struck. Her requests upset the—”

“Open the door,” Kidu said.

“She is the reason for it, the famine and the flooding,” Asa explained. “She is the one who deserves to die!”

“Open the door!”

Asa opened it, and Rudi peered into the dark depths of the mud shack. A woman had curled into a fetal position on the ground. Flies clustered around her face and hands. Kidu said nothing, but Rudi felt his fury as though it was the rays of Shamash. Two slaves doused her with water. They dragged her into the dawn.

“She’s the reason,” Asa said. “The female Chloe.”

Kidu inhaled so sharply that he hissed like a snake. “Lift her head,” he said.

“Why?” Asa asked.

“Lift her head,” Kidu commanded through clenched teeth.

Asa grabbed the girl’s head by her hair and turned her face to them. Rudi had never seen her before. Khamite, and beaten. One green eye, glazed from pain, stared at them.

Kidu was entranced. He crouched at her side, and spoke softly. “Who… who did this to you?”

“The Old Boys who collected her had a little fun,” Asa said.

Kidu moved like lightning, standing toe to toe with the older man, glaring down into his face. “Did they—”

“They took some petty revenge, but they didn’t violate her,” Asa said. “She’s the one who should die,
en
Kidu. She brought this on us.”

“Die?” the girl said through her scabbed mouth. “I’m supposed to die?”

“The moon and sun will fight in a few days,” Rudi explained. The girl’s one-eyed gaze, now intelligent and aware, fixed on her. “They require a death in order to assure us the sun will win.”

Kidu’s gaze on the girl was intent, almost frightening. Rudi saw the lines around his mouth and eyes had whitened, his breathing was shallow. Did he know her? she wondered.

The girl closed her eyes and bowed her head.

“Are you willing to die for the welfare of the commonwealth of Ur?” Kidu asked her, in a tone gentle as a breeze. “Look at me when you answer.”

She turned to him, then was struck motionless for a moment when she looked into his face.

Rudi had seen his extreme beauty cause that reaction before. They stared at each other.

“Answer the question, female,” Asa said. “Are you willing to die for the commonwealth of Ur?”

“No! I’m not willing to die for an eclipse! It’s not a sign from the gods, it’s just…” She seemed to be searching for a word. “They happen often. Do people get sacrificed every time there’s an eclipse?”

Rudi felt chills. How did this female know what an eclipse was? How did she know they occurred more than once?

The female continued to protest. “I’m not willing. I was kidnapped on my way home. I don’t know this has happened to me, I—”

Kidu spun on his heel, looked straight at Asa. “She’ll be the substitute.”

“What!” she shouted. Rudi saw she turned extremely pale beneath her Khamite skin. “I will not!”

“She, she doesn’t seem willing,” Rudi pointed out.

“It seems if we are trying to convince the gods that the
ensi
is dying, Puabi should this day leave Ur and go far away until after the danger of this event has passed,” Kidu said.

“But there are rituals, there are—” Asa began.

“I’m not going to die!” the girl said, now earnestly fighting against her captors. She had height and skill, but she was exhausted and dehydrated and could barely keep her feet.

“She will,” Kidu said. “She will become Puabi this day.” He looked at Rudi. “Take the cart, return to your sister, and tell her to set sail immediately.” He turned to Asa. “I will bring the girl into Ur tonight.”

“What about—”

“You’ve done your part, Asa. Leave me your slaves. Rudi, send back a sledge and clothes, for me and the new Puabi.”

“I will not—” the female raved.

The
en
looked at the woman. “She will be perfect.” He turned away from her. “Go now. We are losing time.”

“Less than three days,” Asa said.

“May the gods give you haste,” Kidu said.

“Don’t just let this happen to me,” the woman said to Rudi. “I…” she fell silent at the expression on Rudi’s face.

“It is your destiny, female,” Rudi said. She just wished they’d had time to converse. This Chloe was the only other female Rudi had met who knew anything of the stars. How did she know, a simple Khamite girl?

Asa bowed, and the two of them left. Kidu stood in the shade of the palms and watched them mount into the carts and ride off. Rudi looked back. The girl was slumped between the two slaves, Kidu standing to her side, his hands on his hips. He wouldn’t hurt her, Rudi thought. She shouldn’t fight against destiny.

Rudi looked forward, to the walls of Ur.

*      *     *

“You’re to be Puabi?” Guli asked.

Ulu nodded.

“How did this happen?”

She shrugged. She seemed less alive than he’d ever seen her. Not even a glimmer of the woman he’d known. “What happened to the ‘new’ Ulu?”

“A waste. That seed wasn’t watered, so it withered.”

He sat down on the grimy bed and tried not to look around. How much of his life he’d spent in cells. Or in shit. “What is wrong with you?”

She said nothing. Guli settled back, to wait. He couldn’t paint someone in this mood. Weeping, screaming, anything was better than this monotone statue. “We don’t have much time left, either of us,” he said. “So I’ll wait. When you want to talk, talk. The only place I have left to go is Kur.”

*      *     *

“This is a bad plan,” Chloe said to Cheftu/Kidu. “Killing me?”

“Release her,” he said to the guards.

They let go of her arms, and Chloe fought to stand upright. Cheftu/Kidu towered over her, draped in golden chains and white wool. Chloe could smell her stink and was superaware of how nice he smelled. And she couldn’t forget the slaves and guards who stood all around them. Hadn’t he said he had spies? Was that the reason for this charade?

But he looked so foreign, so alien. And God, he was huge. Cheftu had never been delicate or small, but this guy—this new body—was a rugby player’s.

“What makes you think you can persuade me to die for this woman?” she asked, not quite daring to meet his eyes. The slaves stood there, waiting for orders.

“Go prepare some food,” he said to them. “Now.”

Both of them left. Two other slaves stood just out of earshot, but within easy distance to see every expression on her face. Cheftu stepped closer to her. Chloe wanted to melt into him, but were they putting on a show? Or was he psycho? “Are you trying to scare me back into the shed?” she asked. Where they could talk.

His golden eyes flashed with heat. Talking wasn’t on his mind. “Who did this to you?” he asked. His tone was soft, caring. “Who hit you, who did you have to defend yourself against?”

The wounds on her body, the soreness and dried blood underlined how real this game was. She knew the slaves, or guards, or whoever, were curious. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to be alive long enough for the wounds to heal, am I?”

He took her wrists in his hand. Both of them fit within the circle of his fingers. He tugged her toward him. “You serve the commonwealth by your sacrifice.”

Do I resist? Can I resist? Am I supposed to resist?

“I have promised Asa I will tame you,” he said.

She tugged at him.

“For the sake of those who watch, I must be seen to do so,” he said quietly.

“That’s an interesting line,” Chloe said, but her words were breathy, and she trembled. “Does it work often?”

He bent close to her, so close she could see the flecks of brown and amber in his eyes. “I don’t want to hurt your mouth, but I must kiss you.”

“Part of the show, huh?” she whispered.

When his mouth touched hers, his kiss was soft, gentle, and quick. Chloe acknowledged she wanted it to be endless, to seduce her, to make her so dizzy she would abandon any semblance of control. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded.

“Make the female a bath!” he shouted over his shoulder. One of the slaves left. One stayed. “Come into the house,” he said. “Eat, sleep, wash. We’ll return to the temple soon.”

“Both of us? Tonight?” she asked.

“Earlier.” His voice dropped to a shade of a whisper. “I must be free of these spies before I touch you.”

Her knees were wobbly.

He scooped her up in his arms, against the hot gold that decorated his chest. “Just play your part,” he said in an undertone. “And know it’s killing me to play mine.”

Cheftu carried her into the house, set her in the tub, and left her in privacy to bathe. After she ate, a slave ministered to her black eye, another to her cuts and bruises, and a third fanned her while she napped.

*      *     *

It must be dark outside now; a trickle of cool air blew through the cramped cell. Guli had been resting, his forehead on his knees.

“What happened?” she asked finally. “I asked you to dinner, but I couldn’t find you. Then I heard from Ningal that you had killed a man. Your owner.”

Guli smiled. If only Ulu could hear herself—she sounded like a lady. She even sat like a lady now, instead of sprawling for attention.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I killed Viza. I would do it again, I just wish I had done it sooner.” Before Viza had ruined other people’s lives. “And you? Talk to me, Ulu.”

“I have a son,” she began.

By the time she was finished with her tale, Guli wished to kill again. “You don’t have to be a substitute,” he said. “I won’t do the makeup, and they will have to use Puabi.”

Ulu sniffed, the first sign of her spirit breaking that he’d heard. “Ezzi was so ashamed of me that he plotted my death. Ezzi was so sure he could get me to offer myself for him that he told Puabi my name even before he lied to me, manipulated me. He cares that little for me—” She didn’t say anything else for a long time. Guli reached across the space and took her hot, grimy hand in his.

“If he has worked this hard to have me dead, then dead I shall be,” she said.

He took her in his arms.

*      *     *

“Chloe?” Puabi said. “That was her name?”

“The marsh girl, yes,” Rudi said. “Come, the
en
said we must go.”

“I imagine he did. No,” Puabi said. “I’m not leaving until I see this girl.”

Rudi frowned. “What is your reasoning for that? Puabi, your life is at risk. You don’t have the time for jealousies now.”

“Chloe. He called out that name the morning after I thought he’d died. Do you not remember? He even called you Chloe. Who is this female? How does he know her?”

Rudi groaned. “You should know, you have set enough spies on him.”

“I should dismiss them all. No one has ever heard of this Chloe, until I mentioned her to the
lugal.
She’s been babbling at him to attend the Tablet House.”

“Truth is, Puabi, she’s going to be dead in less than three days. You will get a chance to live, to have the
en
all to yourself. Why not allow this woman a little joy before she dies in your stead?”

“Kidu,” Puabi said, tightening her sash, “has not congressed with me since that morning. That night, actually. Before I thought he died.”

Rudi’s head was beginning to ache, a not uncommon feeling around her sister. “What do you want, Puabi?”

“Tonight, at the Sacred Marriage—he’ll be expecting his Chloe at the temple. I’ll be there instead.”

“Is he so great a lover that you’ll risk your life?” Rudi asked. “You’ve lost your reason! You are scoffing at the opportunity you’ve been given to escape. He might decide to tell the council about the substitution, then you would find yourself reviled, poisoned, and buried.”

“Shama!” Puabi shouted, though the old man was sitting almost beside them. “I want to be in the temple tonight. Make sure that Chloe thing isn’t there. But she will die for me.”

Shama bobbed his head. Rudi buried hers in her hands. Puabi’s reason had fled. Obviously.

*      *     *

Guli withdrew himself, and they both lay panting, drenched and calm. They’d spent themselves, in all ways. Weeping until they were both weak. Congressing until collapse. Laughing from exhaustion and hunger. Finally, holding each other, savoring every minute left.

Guli took Ulu’s hand in his big one and held them up to the dim light of the torch. It was bright outside now, but dark in the room. “You’ve always had the most beautiful hands,” he said. “I used to watch them, at the tavern. You use them when you speak. Sometimes, without even knowing what the conversation was, I could guess your words. From your hands.”

He kissed the back of her palm.

His hands were beaten up, scarred, but gentle in her hair and exquisite on her body. Ulu ached for a moment; could they have had this for all the years they’d known each other? This peace? This joy? This calm? Was this sacred world just waiting for them, and only the hands of the gods could force them to enter?