The lamassu of Nippur hadn’t moved at all upon waking. They had only acknowledged Ditanu as their king and Iltani as Ishtar’s Blade, accepting each as their commander. As for Kammani, they had drawn upon her power and acknowledge her as one of the lines of the gryphon kings, but did not ask her how they should serve.
However, all that had been done in the silence of their minds, the statue never moving. Lamassu only moved when they sensed danger.
These ones were moving.
‘King and Blade, beware,’ the one before her spoke. ‘Treachery breeds upon this island. They mean to slay every last one of your line.’
The lamassu nearest Kammani started across the room, shaking the floor under Iltani’s feet. Priestess Kammani lost her balance and stumbled. One of the Shadows helped her back to her feet.
Kammani’s lamassu spoke four words. ‘Ereshkigal seeks to rise.’
‘The Queen of the Underworld has grown jealous of her sister,’ Ditanu’s lamassu added its weighty voice. ‘She sees a way to rule this world too.’
Iltani knew if Ereshkigal gained a foothold in this world, it would change beyond all recognition.
The lamassu confirmed what Ishtar had sent her in a dream, but its words were clearer. If Ereshkigal set her own puppet upon the throne, she would merely have to wait. With more worshippers praying to her, she would grow stronger while Ishtar grew weaker. There wouldn’t even need to be a battle.
“We need to get out of here now.” Iltani rushed over to Ditanu’s side.
He was nodding his head when the second lamassu spoke again. ‘Your false consort and her mate are here, below in the dungeons. I can feel them through the stone. They are weakened from battle wounds and torture. While they might survive a few days more on their own, it is unlikely Beletum will leave them alive once they learn of our awakening and your nocturne visit.’
Iltani’s heart plummeted to her stomach. If what the lamassu said was true and of course it was, Burrukan and Ahassunu were alive, and in need of rescuing, but if they waited, likely all they’d find would be their corpses.
“I won’t leave them,” Ditanu said with a steely note of finality. It silenced Iltani’s and Uselli’s voices before they even raised them.
“I agree, or else they are dead,” Iltani said, “but we don’t have much time. Dawn is fast approaching and servants will be waking soon. The more people we have to hide from, the more likely we’ll be caught. I don’t care how skilled the Shadows are; even they can’t hide in broad daylight.”
“We will hurry then. The dungeons are below us from what I remember of the map.” Ditanu closed his eyes and frowned as if retrieving the mental image of the map he spoke of. “If we hurry we should be able to reach the dungeons, free our friends, and escape back to the beach before our enemies know we were ever here.”
Priestess Kammani just shook her head at them. Iltani knew she wasn’t afraid for her own life. “If either of you gets killed, Ereshkigal is that much closer to winning.”
“We won’t die,” Ditanu said with surety rising in his voice. “This is why Ishtar sent her Blade. Together Iltani and I are stronger than any force Ereshkigal has drawn together, slave to her will.”
Iltani hoped he was correct.
Chapter Thirty
The dungeons were dark as she expected and the air was less than fresh but it could have been worse. There was no scent of violent death or old decay. Iltani breathed a sigh of relief. Now they just had to get Burrukan and Ahassunu free.
There had been five guards stationed at the dungeon. They were all now dead by her blade. She didn’t feel guilty. They were holding Consort Ahassunu prisoner. While they might not have been willing subjects of Ereshkigal, they had remained complacent. Had even one of them been willing to get word to Ditanu or his Shadows, the lot of them would have been freed and rewarded.
Well, Iltani had given them the reward they deserved.
One at a time the Shadows broke open the doors. Inside they found other victims and survivors of the island attack. Ditanu had taken one look at his citizens and ordered his Shadows to start delivering them safely back through the palace and on into the root cellar and freedom.
More cell doors were forced open. Iltani started down another corridor lined with yet more doors. Closing her eyes, she rested her hand on her belly and whispered a prayer. “Ishtar guide me to these ones’ mother so they can grow up knowing us both.”
Ishtar’s answer was a slight tug upon her soul. She followed her goddess. Ditanu and his personal guard followed in her wake.
She came to a door and raised her hand. Her fingers uncurled to show the glow of Ishtar’s power. It was just the barest trickle, just enough for the task at hand, not enough to harm the unborn cubs in Iltani’s womb.
Reaching forward she touch the lock and it vanished in a puff of smoke and a hot metal smell. Inside it was dark, but Iltani summoned a touch more power, not the vast draws of battle magic, but a gentler, healing light which illuminated the room
Burrukan was in human form, a heavy metal collar fastened around his neck. A chain attached to it secured him to the wall. The chain only allowed him to move a few feet in any direction. Presently, he lay on his side, drugged or unconscious. There was no way Burrukan would have slept through someone coming into his cell otherwise. Consort Ahassunu was resting beside him, in gryphon form. She didn’t look good. The belly wound she’d taken just days before was infected and oozing. Iltani could smell the corruption.
“We need to get her out of here,” Iltani whispered.
Ditanu and the shadows were already moving. They had backed out of the cell to find something to carry Ahassunu upon. Iltani knelt by Burrukan’s side and gently shook his shoulder, hoping she wasn’t causing him too much pain.
He blinked up at her, and slowly his owlish look changed, sharpening.
He spotted the open door and the other Shadows outside. “You must go.” His voice sounded as broken as he looked.
“Not without you and Ahassunu.” Iltani touched his collar and then changed her mind, vaporizing a link in the chain instead. She did the same for Ahassunu, who didn’t stir at all.
“She is dying,” Burrukan said, his voice so full of pain.
“But not dead. I won’t let these traitors kill another one of my people.”
Ditanu and six guards came back in carrying one of the other cell doors.
Well, that would work, she supposed. Priestess Kammani came forward and examined Ahassunu. When Kammani declared her stable enough to move, Ditanu and several of the Shadows gently lifted the consort and placed her on the door to carry her out. Iltani helped Burrukan to his feet. Another of the Shadows handed him a spare sword. He closed his fist around it and nodded sharply.
The shadows had their rightful leader back and hope flared in more than one gaze for the first time after the dire news the lamassu had whispered about Ereshkigal’s rising.
*****
The trip back up to the lamassu’s chamber took twice as long. It couldn’t be helped with carrying Ahassunu and several of the other prisoners weakened from Beletum and Ziyatum’s hospitality. Each moment stretched by longer than the last. Iltani’s fingers tightened upon her sword hilt until she noticed and forced them to relax.
They had just reached the hall leading to the lamassu when there was a cry of warning. The cry was cut short a moment later, but the damage had been done. Holding her breath, she listened and waited. Then she heard the thump of boots.
Two guards belonging to Beletum’s house burst through a set of doors at the end of the hall. Seeing the prisoners, they froze. The taller one on the right shouted over his shoulder and then started forward.
Iltani and the other Shadows still had the advantage of their concealing cloaks. All the enemy soldier would see on first glance was unarmed prisoners, attempting escape. Three of the nearly invisible Shadows were easing closer to the two enemy soldiers. They were nearly upon them. If they silenced these soldiers and th
e ones coming up behind, Ditanu and his people still had a chance of escaping without a fight.
The front most Shadow was within three body lengths of his target, his long dagger already in his hand. Two other shadows were converging upon the scene when the other guard, the silent one who was studying the scene in more detail, suddenly turned and ran back through the door.
“Intruders!” he bellowed as he ran. Reaching the door, he turned back and hesitated, looking back in time to see his partner grunt softly and fall to the ground, already dead from a dagger shoved up under his chin and up into the brain.
The door slammed closed and Iltani heard a latch being slid in place. Then muffled somewhat by the door, other shouts of ‘King’s Shadows’ and other answering shouts in the distance.
“So much for secrecy,” Ditanu muttered under his breath and then gestured to his men, “This way.”
Iltani followed the king’s direction while keeping an eye on the passageways behind and to either side. Her senses stretched outward, Ishtar’s defensive gifts flowing outward with them. Minds that had been sleeping but moments before were now waking. Other guards were rushing toward the cries of warning.
When her group reached the room where the lamassu waited, Ditanu gathered half his men around him and then ordered the prisoners, Consort Ahassunu, and their Shadow guides on ahead. To Burrukan, he said, “The rest of us will slow the enemy while you go on ahead. The escape tunnel and the stairs leading down the cliff are narrow; some of the injured will have to be carried.”
“My king…”
“This is not open for debate. Go. Get to the boats. The lamassu will aid us in holding back our enemies and then cover our escape.” Ditanu took Burrukan by the shoulder and forcibly shoved him toward the other prisoners. “Once the boats are loaded, take them out to sea. The rest of us can shift and follow on the wing.”
With a grumbled oath, Burrukan limped after the others.
Once he and the other prisoners made their way through the opposite door and on down the passage leading to the root cellar, Ditanu gestured for his men to spread out.
The Queen of the Night’s power uncurled within Iltani and the goddess’s presence flared to life in her mind. She knew her goddess was watching, and Ishtar wanted her to stay here, to end the threat tonight.
Iltani knew she couldn’t use the full force of Ishtar’s destructive power without risking the unborn cubs, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t use her brain. She smiled.
“My king, wait. I have an idea.”
*****
Brushing her still bleeding thumb across the forehead of the last painted lion in line, Iltani stepped away from the wall and eyed her work. Much of the mural now glistened with smears of blood. Ditanu and Kammani were hastily finishing their walls when she looked up. Already, the first painted stone tiles to be anointed had begun absorbing the drops of blood.
“That’s all we have time for,” Ditanu called. “Outside in the hall, they have worked up the nerve or gathered great enough numbers to feel safe in confronting us.”
Iltani sucked on her bleeding thumb as she rejoined Ditanu in the back corner of the hall, where the rest of the Shadows held their position. Their new plan required their enemies to cross the width of the hall. Ditanu said he knew what to use for bait and then tossed his hood back and stood ready, a sword in his hand.
Iltani mimicked him. “You’ll be Beletum’s favorite dungeon fixture if you get captured. She’s been sniffing after you for years.”
“Thanks for that cheery thought.” Ditanu grimaced and raised his sword.
Something slammed into the hall’s main doors. The two heavy stone tables the Shadows had dragged in front to act as a barricade didn’t budge. Sharp hammering came again. Harder this time, and in quicker succession. The tables held, but the wooden door did not and slowly plank by plank, the soldiers of Kalhu started to break through.
“Here they come,” Ditanu shouted.
“You sound too pleased by that,” Iltani said and frowned. “Don’t do anything stupid…your majesty.”
He didn’t have a chance to respond to her barb. Across the room, the wooden door gave way. The first of the guards rushed through the hole, scrambling over the tables and taking up positions to protect the others coming in behind. When there were enough of them, the first ones through the breach pushed aside the tables and kicked the door wide. More guards rushed in.
The frontrunners lined up across the room, coming only about half way. They wouldn’t risk attacking the Shadows until they deemed they had more acceptable odds in their favor. Iltani doubted they could fit enough guards in this hall to make it an even fight. One only became a Shadow by being the best.
Beletum’s house soldiers organized themselves quickly. Iltani would give them that bit of credit.
Thus, they held their ground, not attacking even when no more flowed in behind the last. There was a hesitation, and then they parted making an opening for their leaders to walk. The power within Iltani notched up again, but this was not deadly battle magic. This was warm, mellow and pleasant—Ishtar in her aspect as a giver of life. She hoped this power wouldn’t harm the cubs, but if Ereshkigal gained a foothold in the mortal world, it would threaten more than just the tiny sparks of life sheltering inside Iltani.
Footsteps approached and then she laid eyes on Beletum. Her father, Ziyatum, was right beside her. A few steps behind, Beletum’s weak-willed husband, Nidnatum, brought up the rear.
Beletum made for the center of the room, showing no fear. Her stride carried her toward King Ditanu, her cloak flowing around her. Iltani noticed two things. One, her cloak was like what the traitors in Iltani’s dream had worn. Secondly, Beletum wasn’t wearing much else underneath.
Ishtar’s power flared through Iltani as the goddess focused on a mark directly between Beletum’s breasts. It shimmered dully, its power not of the mortal world, but of the underworld. Ereshkigal had somehow found a way to anchor herself in the mortal world and that magic was tied to Beletum’s brand-like mark.
If ever there was a perfect target for the tip of Iltani’s sword, she imagined she was looking at it.
“King Ditanu,” Beletum smiled in welcome but stopped out of sword range. “We had not expected you, but here you are.”
Ditanu arched a brow. “Yes, here I am. What interesting things I have learned while here. Traitors and misguided goddesses, both of which should be content with what they have, and yet are not.”
“Ah. You know of Ereshkigal’s plan.” Beletum fingered the brand. “She has so much to offer New Sumer; all the city-states would prosper under her rule. She plans to expand out beyond these islands. United, we would never need to worry about dangers from the outside world. If we aid her in gathering worshippers, she has promised us we may rule them in her name.”
“Worship should be freely given, not forced,” Iltani said. Or perhaps that sentiment came from Ishtar herself for her essence was growing stronger.
“Ishtar, my dear sister, that is why you will be defeated this night,” Beletum glanced down at Iltani’s belly, “Well, that, and your obsession with the line of the gryphon kings. You doomed yourself by trying to save the cubs. Now your Blade can’t use the full force of your battle magic without killing them. That oath you swore eight thousand years ago to the gryphon kings will be your doom. You cannot win, but I can be merciful and let them live if they will serve me instead.”
Ereshkigal narrowed her eyes upon Ditanu. “I like your strength, your fierceness, your loyalty.” She gave him with an assessing look. “I imagine there are many other things to like about you as well. Together we would have strength enough to conquer the entire world.”
Ah, so that was the way of it.
A slight shifting of Ereshkigal’s expression told Iltani that she wasn’t lying about that. She really did covet the king of the gryphons. “King Ditanu, perform the sacred marriage with me and form a new pact—I assure you, my offer is much more interesting than
what Ishtar first offered your ancestors.”
Ditanu’s stone-faced expression gave nothing away, but Ishtar’s attention shifted from Ereshkigal and rested upon the king of the gryphons as if she was about to witness something interesting. Iltani’s blood link to Ditanu blazed to life as his emotions swamped her—pain, hatred, a smoldering volcanic rage, a desire for vengeance—it all merged into one burning thought.
“Never! You killed my cubs! I would rather perform the Sacred Marriage with a lamassu! This world will never be yours.” Ditanu’s hand snapped out, the blade which had balanced between his fingers for a second, flew true to its mark. Only Ereshkigal slapped it out of the air at the last moment.
She licked a few drops of blood from a slice on her palm. “I will wait for the cub to grow up then. Kill them all.”
With that, Ereshkigal stepped back as her guards came rushing forward.
That was the sign Ishtar had been waiting for. Iltani began to dance.
She needed no music, for Ishtar needed no music, just the clear ringing tones of her crystalline blade cutting through the air. The sword glowed, its power shimmering bright, rising up from the depths of the blade. Its glow ignited the air around them, glorious bits of light and fire. All around her, the Shadows engaged the guards loyal to Ereshkigal. Ishtar in her aspect of a goddess of fertility and love danced a rare counterpoint to battle.
“You lack passion,” Iltani sang to her sister. “That is why none of the line of gryphon kings will ever take you in the Sacred Marriage. You are the deathlessness of the afterlife. You are needed. Yet you belong in the mortal world no more than I belonged in the underworld. Do not make the same mistake I did, or you, too, might lose something dear to you if you cross into a realm not your own.”
“If you wish to talk,” Ereshkigal said. “I will send your Blade to the underworld and we can continue this conversation there.”
Fear did not exist in Iltani’s new understanding of the world, thus, Ereshkigal’s threats could not touch her. Iltani continued to dance, power shivering in the air—a gentle power, love and fertility, not war. This power could not harm the tiny sparks of life. Instead it strengthened them as well as those linked to the line of the gryphon kings and all Shadows were linked to Ditanu.
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