by Daniel Caet
That girl could not understand the dimension of her power and unfortunately, blinded by the possibility of knowing more about my own situation, I did not see it either. Or maybe I was not interested in seeing it.
“I know, Liliath” I said, “but, believe me, the temple would be too little for you, you are destined for something much bigger, the gift you have is something very special. But, for that, we need to keep this between us, at least for the time being.”
Liliath looked at me and a flame of emotion flared in her eyes. I do not know if my words came out of the need of the moment or if my nature, latent in my new human body, manifested for a second, but those words planted in Liliath a seed that the entire world would regret years later, and I more than anyone. But that was much later.
Liliath returned to the house with a new smile thanks to my words. When I was alone again in the garden I felt cold, but I could not tell if it was the air that had suddenly changed or the effect of what had just happened. One of the servants took me out of my thoughts to tell me that Armesh had returned and was asking me to join him during the meal, this time served in the courtyard of the house.
A few tables had been placed next to the small pond and by the way they had been decorated with flowers it was obvious that the intention was to celebrate something. Armesh received me with a hug and, after asking me how I was, he explained the good news about Sadith and the temple. I told him that Sadith's overflowing joy had made it known to everyone in the house and possibly the entire neighbourhood and he was not surprised at all. To my surprise, I was not the only guest at the celebration, Armesh had asked all his servants to eat with us to celebrate, so in the end we gathered about thirty people scattered around the patio, sitting where we could and watching as Sadith jumped from one to another trying to be the perfect hostess. The happiness in the face of Armesh and Suriath was evident and even Liliath seemed happy now for the fate of her sister and I could see the two of them together laughing and playing.
When the meal was over, the women stayed to pick everything up while Armesh and I went back to the garden where a white awning had been placed to protect us from the sun under a group of palm trees. Armesh invited me to sit on the cushions that had been placed underneath. From there, I could hear the sound of water, possibly from a stream near the property.
“I have news of the council, my friend,” he said without preamble. “This morning I met with them to explain the reason for your stay in my house and consequently king Gilgamesh himself wants to meet you.”
The news was like a jug of freezing water. My intention was to go as unnoticed as possible until I was able to find out the reason why of my situation and how I could change it, an interview with the king was completely out of my plans and would undoubtedly generate a whole series of questions for which I was not prepared. I guess my face must have clearly shown what was going on in my head.
“I see that my news is not to your liking.”
“Forgive me, my friend,” I answered, “it's not that I do not value everything you've done for me and the importance of this visit, it's just that it's unexpected and something I do not know if I'm ready for given my lack of memory” I lied.
“I understand and that's why I'm not going to leave you alone. To be honest this audience is not something I wished for or expected. A senior member of the council, Arpasetaj, is someone very close to the king and who has insisted that the monarch would be interested in meeting someone who has come new to our city in such strange circumstances and those are his words, not mine. Probably the audience will be only a few minutes in the palace and a reverence, I doubt much that Gilgamesh has more time to share with us poor mortals,” he clarified with a smile.
Despite Armesh's attempts to make me feel comfortable with the visit, my body was tense like an animal prepared to flee.
“When does Gilgamesh want to see me?” I asked.
“We must go to the palace tomorrow just after dawn.”
The response increased my uneasiness, that left me with no time to prepare. I spent the rest of the day in an unpleasant state of anxiety. It seemed that I was going to have to experience the full range of possible sensations in my new body in just a few days. Misunderstanding, fear, pain, anxiety, anguish, anger. Everything was becoming a load too big to carry. A new emotion, impotence.
That night, unable to fall asleep, I decided that my strategy for the next day could not be other than to cling to my memory loss. There was a chance that Gilgamesh would not believe me, that he thought I was some spy from some enemy kingdom or that he felt threatened in some way. I knew that my situation was not advantageous. Now I was human, at least as far as I could guess, my body was probably as frail as any of yours, I did not possess any of my powers and I did not even have my sword. I did not know what would happen the next day, but it was clear that Armesh's support as a respected board member was the only thing in my favour.
The night passed very quickly. One of Armesh's servants woke me up before dawn. I got dressed and went to the main room of the house where Armesh was waiting for me.
“Our escort has arrived,” he told me as we went to the front door of the house.
Arpasetaj had sent two soldiers to take us to the palace. They were dressed in a long ochre tunic and a very wide belt of black leather that bound their clothes to the body at the height of the belly. Both were armed with long spears. The fact that they had sent two armed soldiers as our escort did not make me feel calm, but Armesh did not seem alarmed at all, so I preferred to assume that this was normal.
To my surprise, we made our way to the palace on foot and not on horse or cart as I had expected. I understood the reason as soon as we approached the city. Instead of entering through the main gate, closed and guarded at that hour, our escorts led us down a path that ran under the wall. One of the escorts carried a torch since it was still dark. A few moments passed until the torch bearer suddenly stopped and we could see a small wooden door on the wall. The escort knocked three times and the door opened. When entering through it we discovered a tunnel, not too wide and that was illuminated by torches at regular intervals. The floor of the tunnel was very clean which seemed to indicate that this was a usual route of use. The soldier asked us to follow him through the tunnel and we obeyed without asking. Armesh seemed to know the way and turned a moment to explain that this tunnel gave direct access to the royal rooms, hence it was always illuminated and guarded. The tunnel was part of an authentic labyrinth excavated under the royal palace and was a quick escape route for the royal family in case of being in danger and, at the same time, due to its intricate design, it was a death trap for anyone who wanted to use it as way of entry without knowing the way.
The path was very long, we passed numerous intersections with other equally illuminated tunnels and we found other soldiers in different sections of the tunnel although none of them said a word. Finally, we came to a large carved wooden door. Our guide opened the door without knocking and we passed into a narrow room with the walls painted with images of different winged beings with animal heads and a large carved wooden bench with large cushions located throughout the room. A cloud of incense smoke with a very intense and sweet smell filled the room. The soldier asked us to wait at the bank until we were received. In front of the bench there were curtains of a very thin and almost transparent material that let us see a much larger room with very high ceilings and decorated in golden and purple tones. That room had curtains covering almost all the walls and a large table in the center next to which I could see two girls, about fifteen or sixteen, waiting to receive orders. Both were completely naked and had their hair tied at the top of the head with a garland of flowers. None of them moved at all so the scene had an uncomfortable air of unreality.
The door we entered opened again and gave way to a stocky man, tall as Armesh but considerably older, with a long grey beard but very well groomed and with small gold hoops braided in his hair. He was dressed in a white tunic and laden with neckl
aces, no doubt of immense value. The man went directly to us.
“Armesh, I'm glad you could come!” he said in greeting. “Our Lord Gilgamesh will receive you shortly. I understand that this is our guest,” he said, looking at me straight in the eye. “Welcome to our city Helel!” he said using my name as if we had been introduced, “I am Arpasetaj, supreme counsellor of the great Gilgamesh.”
“Thanks, it's an honor to be here” I said as Armesh had taught me the previous day.
Suddenly, as if my answer had been some kind of signal, the door of the neighbouring room opened and a young boy, about the same age as the girls we had seen before, dressed only in a short skirt entered the room wearing some clothes that he left on the table. Our position in the room was such that we could see everything that happened as through a window. Immediately a man appeared in the room from the side that remained hidden from view. His height was truly impressive, he could easily take three heads from any of us and the width of his back was proportionate to his size. He was completely naked, with his back to us and we could clearly see his muscled complexion. The hair, long and black, came a little below the shoulders. The man turned, and, to my surprise, his member was fully erect. Armesh and Arpasetaj did not make any movement as if they were prepared for what was going to happen, but it caught me completely unprepared. As if it were a dance, the boy who had brought the clothes got on his knees in front of him and put his member in his mouth. For a few moments we witnessed how the boy gave pleasure to that man until it was finally evident by his movements and noises that he had reached the climax. Then the boy withdrew, and the girls we had seen in the room proceeded to dress the man who was undoubtedly Gilgamesh.
Armesh had warned me the day before that Gilgamesh was a man given to public demonstrations of power and that he liked to dominate and subdue. At that moment I had not known how to read between the lines what was now evident. Gilgamesh had just represented for us a pantomime in which we could appreciate his corpulence, his physical power and his wealth, all in a single blow. It was his way of preparing us for the real audience, his way of reminding us that he was the king and we were nobody. For a second, a small flame of pride filled my heart. Who did that man think I was? I, who had been created before the world, who had seen the human being grow from nothing to what it was today; I, who had overthrown empires by divine mandate; I, who had been the most loved by the father; I, who had been... The thought was a slab that hit me with all its might. All that was conjugated in the past tense, I had done, I had been... and I was not anymore.
Arpasetaj took me out of the abyss of my thoughts to tell us that we should go to the adjoining room through the door opposite the one we had used to enter. The room that greeted us on the other side had nothing to do with the first one. The ceilings were huge, with a height of at least six men, the walls were uncovered, no sign of curtains or decoration. The colour was completely absent and the light, provided by tall burners distributed throughout the room, was very intense. The room could be described as austere compared to the previous one. But even in that environment, Gilgamesh's intention was clear. At the far end of the room, opposite the door we had used, was a large pedestal with a carved wooden throne painted in gold and on the throne, Gilgamesh sat in all its glory. From there he looked at us as if he were a god, as if we were just two ants that dared to step on his living room. A new demonstration of his power.
“Come closer,” his voice boomed from the back of the room. The acoustics of the room had been carefully worked to overwhelm whoever came to the audience. No doubt Gilgamesh had invested a great deal of effort in forging his image of almost supernatural being and everything in that room was prepared so that whoever left the palace after an audience would transmit that image exactly. The power of suggestion together with mouth-to-mouth effect was the only thing he needed for his people to think that he was the closest thing to a god they could find. A facade, or so I thought for a moment.
As we approached the pedestal where his throne was located, I began to feel strange. I felt a kind of vibration inside me, a feeling that brought me back to some memory of my past that I was not able to identify. The feeling became more and more intense as I approached Gilgamesh until, suddenly, when I was exactly at the foot of the pedestal, the sensation stopped. I did not have time to analyse what had just happened because his voice interrupted my thoughts, this time in an extremely soft way.
“Welcome, Helel!” he said looking at me straight in the eye while smiling openly. “I am glad that you have decided to come and present yourself to me, Armesh has told us about your misfortune and we all had a great curiosity to know about your story.”
The word everyone caught my attention. At first sight we were alone in that room, I could not see anyone, not even soldiers. Why would a king like Gilgamesh openly expose himself to two strangers with no other protection than himself? No one in his position would make such a risky decision. No doubt there was something that escaped me, something I did not see. And at that moment I realised. Behind the pedestal was a large panel of carved wood that reached to the floor but left a space of about three fingers through which light filtered from an adjoining room. Nothing would have caught my attention had it not been because I could see a shadow move for a moment. It was clear, we were not alone, someone was waiting on the other side of that panel, no doubt ready to enter the room if Gilgamesh were in need. His mind had betrayed him by having spoken in the plural. Suddenly the vibration started again this time in a much more intense way and I immediately remembered. Nephilim. The word hit my head like a club, but I did not even have time to react.
“Are you okay?” Gilgamesh asked this time in a less friendly tone.
“Yes, my lord,” I replied, overcoming my discovery as best I could. “I beg your pardon,” I continued, “But I am still recovering from my wounds and sometimes my strength fails me”
“Oh yes, your wounds,” he said. “Armesh has explained to me that you have recovered quite quickly given the seriousness of the damage, something surprising without a doubt.”
“The care of Armesh's wife has undoubtedly been the key, sir.”
“Of course, of course,” he said, rising from his seat and beginning to descend the steps of the pedestal toward us. “It is a pity, however, that their care has not been of greater help for you to recover your memory. Nothing I would like more than for you to remember what happened so that I can give just punishment to who attacked you.”
By the time he finished his sentence he was in front of us, just one step above and it was like looking at a mountain. If he had seemed big to me before, his stature was now absolutely stunning.
“Do you think you can remember some detail that can help me?” he said as he descended the last step and stood behind us.
“I'm afraid not,” I lied, “nothing that could be useful.”
“I see. Very well, do not worry,” he replied as he walked through the room. “I must insist however that you stay with us until you recover your memory. For your safety only, of course. I make Armesh responsible for my wishes being fulfilled, you will remain limited to the city and Armesh property and he will be responsible for reporting your location to the council every week. Of course, if you recover the lost memory, I want you to inform me immediately so that your attack does not go unpunished. Have I been clear?”
It was Armesh who answered.
“Completely, my lord.”
Gilgamesh ended the conversation and turned to leave through a double door at the back of the room. Armesh and I did not have time to comment on what happened; immediately, four soldiers armed with spears entered the room and told us that we should leave the palace. They accompanied us to one of the doors on the side of the room that opened directly to a large stone patio. The sun had come out completely and its warmth was comforting, until that moment he had not realised how cold the courtroom was.
Armesh did not say a word as the soldiers escorted us through the labyrinth of palace courtyards t
o the exit. We passed through a multitude of buildings that formed the site until we came to a large wooden gate that opened directly onto a street formed by adobe houses. I followed Armesh down that street without saying a word until we came to a small plaza with a central fountain where a group of women washed different coloured fabrics. The atmosphere in the plaza was tremendously jovial, the women sang while the children ran between them playing war with wooden sticks for swords. There, Armesh asked me to rest in some stone seats that were in one of the walls of the square. At that moment I saw the fatigue reflected in his face and I understood that audience had been a test not only for me but also for him. As my host, Armesh had put his reputation, his possessions and possibly his life and that of his family at stake to protect me. I had no doubt that Armesh knew the way of thinking and acting of Gilgamesh and knew that only by accompanying me and using his name as an endorsement would Gilgamesh not see me as a threat.
“Thanks” I said before he could start talking.
Armesh stared into my eyes smiling and understood that I had realised what he had just done for me.
“That was nothing, my friend,” he said. “Gilgamesh is not an easy man as you have been able to verify. His desire for power and his interest in everyone understanding how far that power extends at all times has no end. The show you have been exposed to in the last few hours is his natural way of proceeding, not only with his vassals but with foreign leaders and ambassadors.”
Armesh explained to me how, despite this eagerness for superiority and power, or thanks to it, Gilgamesh had managed to make Uruk prosper. What had been a small fishing town had become the commercial reference of the area, which had resulted in the wealth of all citizens increased in one way or another and people were grateful for it. The construction of the wall had been the last gesture of Gilgamesh to raise the status of the city. Unfortunately, all this had been accompanied by a systematic extermination of all those he considered a threat to his regency or imposed order. Armesh detailed how during the first month of his reign every man, woman or child accused of thief had hung from the city gates and anyone who raised his voice against the council or Gilgamesh himself had been burned alive. A culture of fear that, while it had turned Uruk into a safe city, had fed on numerous injustices. Those who wanted to get rid of their neighbours or relatives had only to denounce them as traitors to Gilgamesh or his order to get them in prison or worse. Not satisfied with this, Gilgamesh had requested that the small surrounding towns would lend vassalage to Uruk. Vassalage that in most cases involved an economic tribute in exchange for protection, but that Gilgamesh had also used to satisfy his pleasures. Each year new youngsters were snatched from their families in those towns to serve for two years in the palace. Those boys and girls, if they were lucky, were selected to work for Gilgamesh himself doing all kinds of tasks, including those of a sexual nature. When Gilgamesh got tired of them, they joined those who had been discarded upon their arrival at the palace to serve as sexual slaves for his army. If they survived that period, they were returned to their homes where their future, overshadowed by the shame of what they had been forced to live, often turned them into pariahs in their own towns. For its part, the dominant caste of families with money, to which Armesh also belonged, had learned to benefit from following Gilgamesh in his way of governing and, although a small group of them had expressed their discomfort over their king’s way of managing the city, nobody dared to raise the voice fearing what could happen to them and their families. There and then, I felt sorry for Armesh, sorry for a man who had to live pretending to accept an atrocious form of government while living every day with the fear of what could happen to his family if he failed in his task of making Gilgamesh believe that he did not constitute any danger to him or to the established order. That only served to reaffirm the idea that the value of what Armesh had done for me in the last days was immense.