by Daniel Caet
The rest of our lives evolved wrapped in something that looked like happiness. We fully integrated into the life of the village and everyone accepted us as members of their community without hesitation. My talents as a healer soon spread to the neighbouring villages, and rare was the day when I did not receive the visit of a sick person or relative looking for a remedy for their ills or those of their loved ones. I never charged anything to the people who came to visit me; each gave what they could, and if they could, and that was enough for us. That form of happiness touched even the life of my good Jeshar who ended up finding love in a young widow of the village and he married and formed his own family, although he never abandoned us and continued to take care of any need we might have. His love for us was so great that when his wife gave birth to his first daughter he named her Sadith, something that for the people of the village who had always known me as Hasnah had no meaning, but for me, it meant an immense deal.
The years went by much faster than I would have liked. Suddenly my little ones had become a man and a woman, in both cases extremely beautiful, and it was evident the attraction they provoked among the other young people of the village. While Niel continued to show a sweetness that no one could resist, Narmesh had developed a charisma capable of attracting anyone which, along with his talent with words, made it very easy for him to get what he wanted even at the expense of others. We all saw that flaw in his character, but his ability to disguise each of his acts as little mischiefs made us forget easily his little slips. For my part, I had left behind what little remained in me of a child, during more than fifteen years I had completely annulled my existence to dedicate it to the protection of those who I now considered my children and I did not regret it. My powers had grown at the same time as my body and my mind, I was in full maturity of my abilities and that had given me a security that gradually made my fear of the return of that creature that had murdered my family disappeared little by little. After so much time I was convinced that we had managed to escape from his reach and that our new life in that village was completely invisible to him.
One summer morning, Niel came into the house screaming with excitement followed by Narmesh.
“Mother, mother!”
“What happens, what is the reason for this shouting?” I answered worried.
“A festival, mother, in honor of Ba'al Shur, can we go mother, can we?” she shouted as she jumped around me.
“A second, child, I do not understand anything,” I said, unable to prevent her excitement from making me laugh.
“The city of Ushur celebrates a festival in honor of Ba'al Shur tomorrow, a messenger was shouting it in the center of the village. There will be music and food for everyone who comes, and even magicians and sorcerers to entertain people” explained Narmesh.
Ba'al Shur, or Melquart as some people called him, was the god protector of the city of Ushur, and once every five years they celebrated a great festival in his honor to thank him for his influence on the success of the city's commerce.
“In truth, I do not know if it's a good idea.”
“Mother, please, we never go to the city, there is never music here.”
“There are many other village families attending, mother, we can go with them and return at the end of the day,” Narmesh added to their common cause.
“Please!” Niel cried again, hugging me until I almost choked.
“It's okay, it's okay,” I said. “But you will have to convince Jeshar that he and his family will come too, and we will be back at dusk, is that clear?”
“Thank you, mother, I'm going to talk to Jeshar right now,” Narmesh said with a huge smile.
“Thank you, mother, I love you so much!” Niel cried madly as she filled me with kisses.
The next day we left together with Jeshar and his family in an uncovered cart towards the city, and we were not the only ones. From almost all the houses in the village someone was going in the same direction and with the same purpose, so the trip was calm and safe. Other caravans from other villages joined us on arrival in the city, even some that came from much farther away than ours. We arrived in the city at midmorning and left the cart in front of the main gate to enter the city on foot. As soon as the arch of the great gate was passed, it was evident that the city was celebrating. The music of a group of flutists and percussionists welcomed us and accompanied us to the central square located one level below that was occupied by the great temple of Ba'al Shur. There, the noise was almost deafening. The voices of the thousands of people gathered together with the hullabaloo of the many groups of musicians who had gathered in that place, all of them playing a different music, meant that we could hardly listen to each other. But for Niel and Narmesh nothing mattered, their faces were full of happiness. Even though we had come to the city before, it had always been to buy ingredients for my potions and never for too long. This time it was different, we had gone to a party and both intended to enjoy it as much as possible.
A voice called Narmesh's name behind us. It was a group of young boys, his same age or a little older who came to us. I recognised some of the faces from the village, others were complete strangers to me. Narmesh asked my permission to visit the market with his friends and I did not know how to refuse. We agreed to meet in that same place in the middle of the afternoon, and I set out to go through the market with Niel who would not stop pulling me towards the fabric stalls.
The day passed among the laughs of happiness and the excitement of Niel. I had never seen her enjoying herself so much with everything she saw, the colours of the flowers, the fabrics, the music that filled our ears in every corner. Everything was a source of joy for her and seeing her happy was a source of joy for me. Mid afternoon we headed to the point where we were to meet Narmesh, but he was not there. We waited a long time, but he still did not appear, and I began to worry. Seeing my anguish Jeshar offered to go in his search and after a while both appeared at last, and the image could not be more worrisome. His face was full of punches and his clothes were tore in several places.
“What happened, Narmesh?”
He did not bother to answer me. He passed before me and Niel without even looking at us, walking forward as if we were not there. I looked at Jeshar, hoping to find the answer Narmesh had denied me.
“I found him in the middle of a fight in a tavern,” the man said, lowering his voice immediately. “He was about to use his power against a man. Fortunately, I managed to get there in time to calm him down, and I think nobody found out what could have happened.”
My heart stopped. During all those years I had made every effort to hide him and his nature from the world and Narmesh had been about to ruin it all in a second. I started to go after him to ask for an explanation, but Jeshar grabbed me and convinced me that this was not the best moment. We returned to the cart and started the trip back to the village. During the whole trip Narmesh did not address a single word to us, it was like a corpse sitting in the cart between us with his eyes fixed on the horizon and a hard face that made me fear what was going on in his head.
When we arrived at the house, Niel retired to her room without even saying goodnight to her brother knowing that this was not the time to approach him. But I knew that if someone could calm him that was me, so I followed him to the back garden of the house with the intention of talking to him.
“Are you going to explain to your mother what happened to you?”
He turned his head to look at me and his eyes remained empty, far away. He stared at me until finally he decided to speak.
“We both know that Jeshar has already told you.”
“Yes, but I want you to tell me.”
Narmesh expelled the air from his lungs in a big sigh, and it was as if a weight was discharging from his chest.
"A fight.”
“Keep going.”
“There's nothing else, I just got into a fight with a guy in a tavern.”
“And for starters, could you tell me what you were doing in
a tavern?”
“I am a man mother, I can get married, have children, my own house and I can enter a tavern.”
His face hardened again, and I knew that if I was not careful I would lose my chance to know what had really happened.
“All that is true, but I have never seen you before show an interest in drinking, so I suppose this change of behaviour is due to something.”
The silence went on for what seemed like an eternity to me.
“She's called Tinish, and she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. So much that I do not know how to describe her to you so that you understand how I feel.”
“Then, let me help you,” I said, placing my hands gently on his face. My eyes looked into his and in an instant my mind and his were one, and his memories were also mine. I saw the woman, young, tall, thin but with attractive shapes, her hair black as night. I could feel his emotion at seeing her, his desire, lust, his heart accelerating. The woman spoke to him, it was her who took the initiative. Narmesh's heart quickened even more. The woman touched his face with her hand, softly while speaking to him, but Narmesh could not hear her words, desire had seized him. The woman suddenly turned away, looking back only to give him a look of desire. She was playing with him, but Narmesh could not see it, his mind was very clear, he wanted her, she was the only thing he wanted in this world, and he would do anything to get her. One of his friends brought him back to reality and tried to make him see reason, the woman was not a stranger to all of them, she used to walk around the market looking for young boys to seduce. Her husband knew it, and his games had brought misfortune for more than one man in Ushur. Narmesh did not listen, he did not care, he just wanted to be with that woman. He followed her through the market to a tavern. Once again, his friends tried to stop him, but to no avail. He entered the tavern after the woman who had sat at one of the tables next to an older man who was very large. Narmesh did not pay attention to the man, went straight to the woman and grabbed her by the arm with intentions to take her somewhere else. The first blow hit him squarely in the face. Narmesh tried to defend himself, but other men joined the corpulent man, no doubt the woman's husband. The blows came from all directions without him being able to defend himself, that impotence frustrated him, increased his anger. One of the blows threw him against one of the walls at the end of the tavern, but what rose from the ground was not the same boy who entered the tavern, but a being with a deadly power and all the hatred to channel it inside. The furniture, the amphorae and the glasses began to tremble as his rage began to get out of hand. A single desire in his mind now occupied everything, and it was not the woman but killing. The men and women looked at him bewildered without knowing what was happening, oblivious to the misfortune that was coming their way. Narmesh's mind overflowed and prepared to launch the death blow, they would all die in payment to their audacity, Narmesh felt a god in his wrath. Suddenly, arms like iron grabbed him from behind preventing him from breathing, the lack of air caused his head could not concentrate more on his death wish and lost consciousness. The last thing he heard was Jeshar asking him to calm down, the last thing he saw was the face of the woman who had set on the fire he was consuming in.
I removed my hands from his face with sadness and he looked at me no doubt expecting my anger but, if a part of me was angry, it was not with him but with myself. I was responsible for my little warrior not knowing how to control his anger, only I had let that desire for death and destruction germinate in him. So much effort put into helping Niel to control her power and I did not realise that he was the one who needed me the most. I had failed him and that saddened me deeply.
“You're not going to tell me anything, mother?” he asked with fear.
“I do not know if I can say much, Narmesh. She's beautiful, it's true, and I understand that you're blinded by it, but are you aware of what could have happened?”
“She blinded me? Is that what you think has happened? Can’t you see it? I'm in love with her, and I'm sure she also feels something for me. We're made for each other.”
“She is another man's wife, Narmesh!”
“A man who cannot compare to me, a rat that does not have my power.”
“The power does not give you the right to usurp his place or what is his, that woman does not belong to you.”
“She will belong to me as soon as I skin that animal!” His screams echoed throughout the garden as did the slap I gave him. For a moment, the surprise of receiving that blow from me that had never put a finger on him paralysed him and I saw his eyes watching me filled with tears. I did not have time to say anything, his words came out of his mouth in a whisper. “Do I not deserve to be happy like any man?”
The sadness with which he formulated that question broke me inside and I made a decision that I will regret during all my existence.
“But you are not any man, my child, and I am afraid that is a burden with which you must learn to live as your father did.”
His face became paralysed and acquired the same coldness of a statue.
“What do you mean, mother?” He said looking at me without being able to get out of his surprise.
There, in that garden, I told Narmesh the truth of his origin, of his father, of his real mother and of the reason for our escape from Uruk. I did not keep any details of everything I knew back then. But if I hoped that knowledge would help him accept the reality of who he was. I was completely wrong. When I finished my story, Narmesh got up slowly and took two steps away from me, turning his back on me. Suddenly the sound of his laughter filled the air, giving me goose bumps.
“You, fucking bitch!” My body rose like a spring just as he turned to look at me. His eyes were bloodshot, and the anger had changed the coldness of his face to that of a beast and something inside me warned me that I was no longer facing the Narmesh I knew. “For years you have made me feel guilty for what I am, for what I can do. I have lost count of the times you have made me feel miserable because I cannot control my power, because I am not perfect like the sweet Niel. Years trying to keep me hidden, to force myself not to use my power, not to prove who I really am, a god.”
His words came out of his mouth spit like arrows with a single purpose, hurting me, but what scared me the most was the way he pronounced the word ‘god’. He really believed what he was telling me. My decision to tell him his truth had freed his true nature, the monster I had tried to retain for years, instead of accepting the why of our necessary hiding, Narmesh believed that I had deprived him of a life of domination and superiority.
“You do not know what you're saying,” I said, getting up. “It is necessary that you calm down.”
“Silence!” He cried as he threw his power against me. The shock wave caught me completely off guard and pushed me hard against the wall at the back of the garden that collapsed in part due to the force of the impact. I tried to get up from the rubble, but my head was stunned, and I felt dizzy. Due to the blow my eyes could not focus, and I could only see a shadow coming towards me, but his voice echoed in my head. “I have always known that I was not a mere mortal, that my nature was divine and that my place was above men, not hidden among them as you have tried to make me believe. You wanted to cheat a god, mother, and that only deserves punishment, death.”
Everything happened in a few seconds. My body tensed preparing to receive a new impact. I knew that his power was superior to any of mine, that I could not stop the blow, but if I could at least get up I could minimise the impact. My legs trembled with the effort, but I could not get hold of them. My mind prepared for the inevitable when suddenly a fireball flew from the house and hit Narmesh's face directly, who screamed in pain. A second later it was Niel who was next to me helping me to get up.
“Damn bastard, how dare you stand on her side?” I heard him say. “We are brothers, we are the same”.
“I am not anything like you, Narmesh, I will never get away from my family. How dare you raise your hand against our mother?”
“She
is not our mother, Niel,” he shouted angrily as he touched his face where the ball of fire had struck him. “We are children of a god, gods in our own right. Don't you realise the things we can do together, Niel? The whole world will be at our feet.”
“You've lost your sanity, brother. Your ambition will only end with you. I beg you, come back to yourself, calm down and fix this disaster that you caused.”
“Sister, by the blood that binds us, I give you a second chance,” he said, his face contorted with rage. “Get away from this bitch and I'll spare your life. If you insist on staying by her side I will destroy you both.”
“Don't be a fool Narmesh, you know perfectly well that my power is greater than yours, do not force me to defend ourselves or I will have to do something that we will all regret.”
“Do you dare threatening me? You are as guilty as she is. I do not know how I did not see it before, of course, both of you were in conspiracy to destroy me. That's why she has always paid all the attention to you, to help you develop your power while trying to make me forget mine!”
“You do not know what you're saying, Narmesh, I'm begging you…”
I did not have time to say anything else. With all the accumulated anger controlling him, he launched a blow of energy towards us. I noticed how Niel's body tensed next to me and in a moment a wall of fire had surrounded us, and the flames absorbed the shock wave of Narmesh. The next moment Niel's hands rose and threw the firewall forward so that it devoured Narmesh's body, which tried to cover his face with his hands. His screams filled all the air. Time seemed to stop until finally the wall of fire that surrounded us disappeared. There was no trace of Narmesh, only the emptiness where his body had been before. Somehow, he had been able to escape from the fire prison projected by Niel. I started to look around waiting to receive a blow from some other direction, but nothing happened. Niel knelt next to me.