Part Seven
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ganj and Nut are climbing up the narrow scaffolding along the top of the city’s wall. At this height, the desert wind is howling. A short, muscular guard follows behind them. He carries a whip. A bronze sword is tucked into his belt.
“If he hits me again I will kill him,” Ganj mutters.
Nut whispers, “And they will kill you.”
“What does it matter?” answers Ganj. “What good am I anymore?” He drops the load that he has been struggling to carry. He holds his mangled hand in front of Nut’s face. “Do you not see?”
“Pick that up,” commands the guard.
“Pick up what?” snarls Ganj.
The guard lashes Ganj across the back. “Those bricks!”
Ganj reaches for a brick.
The guard lashes him again. “No. The other hand.” he yells.
“It is crippled!” Ganj shouts.
The lash falls again and Ganj’s body stiffens at the strike.
The guard laughs with a toothless grin. “Minstrel, you do not have long to live.” He laughs again. “You are lucky that you are not young like your friend. The young are the least fortunate, because they are the slowest to die.” He laughs and spits on Nut.
Ganj looks down at his crushed hand. He looks at Nut. Then he moves like a frenzied animal, exploding in one fierce, forceful bound.
The guard tumbles from the scaffolding and crashes below, then crashes again and again.
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Four
A monstrous hippopotamus rises from the water, blowing foam from its nostrils. Crocodiles bask on the shore. The King perches on a footbridge over the canal. He tosses chunks of flesh to the crocodiles, and they rush to grab and tug and roll with the meat. Crouching next to the King on the footbridge, staring into space, is a cheetah.
The King says to himself, “I have no idea what I am doing.”
He looks down at the cheetah.
He repeats, “I have no idea what I am doing.”
The cheetah continues staring into space.
The King walks down the footbridge. He turns and pats his thigh. The cheetah snaps out of its trance and heels up, following dutifully.
The trail takes them away from the river up to a broad plain covered with patches of scrub-brush. In the distance, the sun is setting behind the purple mountains.
As they walk along, a rabbit darts from out of the underbrush and zigzags away. The cheetah looks up at the King. The King nods, and the cheetah explodes from sight.
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Five
“But Ishta, I am in pain,” pleads the King. He lays sprawled in an immense pile of pillows. His left leg is grotesquely swollen.
Ishta shakes her breasts and clatters her carnelian beads. “Do you no longer favor me?” she pleads.
The King’s eyes clench shut.
Ishta slaps her flanks angrily. She picks up a jug of wine, pours a cup, and swills it down. She stares at the King. She hurls the cup at him, hitting him on the head.
“Ouch!!!” he yells.
She screams, “You think I am old! You think I am fat!”
He groans.
She turns and saunters away, tossing her hips from side to side. But she pauses when she sees a tray of melon slices and cheese.
* * *
“I know nothing of potions,” says Nut.
Ben-jah eyes him sternly. “Nonsense!”
Nut shakes his head and repeats, “I know nothing of potions.”
Ben-jah grabs Nut by the chin and pulls him face-to-face.
Nut tries to turn away, saying, “I lied.”
“You are lying now!” shouts Ben-jah.
“LET INANNA HAVE HIM!” screams Nut, struggling to pull away.
Ben-jah slaps him in the face. “You should not wish for his death! When the King dies, you and I shall be buried with him. Buried alive.”
“Buried alive?”
“It is the law. THE LAW. All of the King’s servants will be buried with him.”
“All?”
“Yes! You. Me. And Ganj.”
“What if the King lives? What will become of Ganj?”
“The executioner will remove his head quickly. This is the best that I can arrange.”
“The best?”
“Nut! Do not ask me again!”
“And what of me?”
“We shall see. You did nothing wrong.”
“So what befell the King?”
“He was stung by a viper. The King’s doctors have failed.”
Nut agrees to make a potion, but only if he can see Ganj before the execution. Ben-jah agrees. He gives instructions and servants go running in all directions.
Nut’s potion saves the leg of the King, and he is granted his request.
* * *
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[Go to Part Eight​]