James let off a nervous laugh. “It’s nice to not be swarmed with those black blobby things.”
Agnes slung her knit back across her chest. “There. Now we can proceed to our destination.”
“Wait, we stopped off for your bag?” James patted his duffel. “You were saying, Aubra?”
Aubra gave him a dark smile. “She does not know. Be patient with her.”
Agnes picked up her comforter and felt around for the corners. “We aren’t traveling as far this time. We’ll just use this.”
“Interesting,” Aubra said. “I normally use—”
The bedroom door flung open. A redheaded woman dressed in a conservative blouse and skirt stood in the doorway, clutching her cell phone. She looked horrified for a moment, then put the phone to her ear. “Chelsea, I’ll have to call you back.” She terminated the call and slowly lowered the phone. “Agnes?”
“Hello, Jacqueline. So sorry to bother you. We won’t be a moment,” Agnes said, shaking out the comforter. “With this blanket, we go to Marc.”
Jacqueline’s eyes bulged. “Marc? What are you doing? Where is he?”
Agnes raised the comforter and the trio stepped underneath it. James gave Jacqueline a sheepish shrug and mouthed, “Sorry.”
As the comforter touched down upon them, James was surprised to find the redhead among their traveling party. She looked up in terror, then felt around as they stood across from an office building that towered over a construction site. “What just happened? Where are we? Who are these people?”
Aubra pointed to James. “He’s her boyfriend.”
Jacqueline looked at James, then at Aubra, then at Agnes. “I… what… how?”
Aubra glared at her. “He told her he loved her. That meant he was her boyfriend.”
Agnes smiled and put her hand on Jacqueline’s shoulder. “I’m sorry you involved yourself in this. That was unanticipated. I’m not sure if I can get you home in time. I don’t suppose you have any money.”
Jacqueline sputtered and stammered, then raised her phone. “I have rideshares on here, if that’s why you’re asking. I’m not leaving. You said you were going to Marc. Well, here we are. Where is he?”
Agnes pointed to the office building. “There.”
“In there? Fine, let’s go. He has a lot of explaining to do.” Jacqueline took a few steps, then stopped abruptly. “So do you, Agnes. Marc is just slightly higher on my list of priorities at the moment.”
Agnes shook her head. “Not in there. Up there.” She pointed at two figures on the roof. Their clothing fluttered wildly as they stepped near the edge.
James nudged Aubra. “I told you it was windy.” He patted his bag. “Layers.”
CHAPTER 66: THE FUGITIVE
Gene locked up the manor’s tool shed and spotted an unwelcome sight as he stepped away: a black and white squad car pulling into the driveway. A pair of officers got out and walked slowly away from their vehicle. One of them spoke into a radio unit clipped to his shoulder. Gene couldn’t make out what he was saying but didn’t want to get too close to them to find out. He crept toward the manor’s rear entrance and headed for his quarters.
As he unlocked his door, the countess tiptoed toward him with her arms raised to lessen the clanking of her bracelets. She wore a fur coat and carried a large bag. Her lips were pulled into a pucker. Gene thought she looked like she was blowing out a candle.
“Oh, Eugene, I’m so glad I found you first. You must come with me straight away.” Her voice was high and trilling, but soft, so as not to raise alarm.
“I’m on break,” he said. “File a maintenance request like everyone else. I’ll get to it this afternoon, at the soonest.”
“No, no, dear heart, I’m afraid that’s not the reason for my visit. You see, the local gendarmes have arrived. Someone, and I assure you it wasn’t me, has phoned them to report a murderer. You and I both know who that is referring to.” She wiggled her gloved fingers at him. “Quickly! We haven’t much time.” Gene nodded and pushed his door open. The countess toddled into his quarters and looked around. “How nice. Very homey.”
“It beats a cardboard box,” Gene said. He rubbed his forehead and looked around. “Which is where I’m headed. Hey, thanks for the heads-up.”
“Oh, not at all, Eugene. As I told you previously, I’m committed to help you any way I can. And don’t lower yourself to a common outlaw. I’m sure everything is a huge misunderstanding. You need time and resources to clear your good name. I can help you do that. You, in turn, must help me.”
“Lady, I have to scram, pronto. I appreciate the tip, but I don’t have time to piss around, you get me?”
“And scram you shall, Eugene. You’re panicking and not listening. You could run out of here and hide in the woods. Perhaps you’ll make it to the next town, then the next. Will that be far enough? No, Eugene, making your escape on foot only leads to jail. Perhaps even the gallows.” She shuddered for dramatic effect.
Gene blew a puff of air through his moustache. “The gallows, really. I mean, this place is set back 500 years and you might be dead on the money, but I’m thinking I can get a huge jump on the law if I get moving now. It took them this long to find me here. I’ll find a deeper hole.”
The countess raised her chin haughtily. “Holes are for vermin, Eugene. Enough of this. Won’t you at least hear my offer? It won’t take but a moment. I want you to make an informed decision.”
“Fine,” Gene said. “Shoot.”
“Very well. You need to make a quick getaway. I have a car. I can drive you far from here, further and faster than you ever would on foot. Yes! It would be my pleasure. But, well, I hate to deal in clichés, Eugene, but I’m not so good with maps and directions.”
“So what? Aren’t there road signs?”
“Yes, yes of course, but I require very specific guidance to reach my destination. You will guide me there, and then I will give you my car and a generous amount of cash to see you safely to anywhere you like.”
Gene’s jaw dropped. “Your car.”
“And cash, Eugene. I don’t wish to brag, but I’m quite well-to-do.”
He looked her up and down and nodded. “I’m not crazy about this, but I’m not crazy about living in the woods either. Fine, you’ve got a deal. But one sign of trouble, and I’m bailing out.”
“Splendid. Please take anything of value before we leave. I won’t turn back to collect anything you neglect to bring.”
Gene tossed some clothes into a bag and grabbed his toothbrush. “This will do me.”
“Then we must be off at once. Check to ensure the coast is clear, won’t you?”
Gene shook his head. “If they’re after me, why would I stick my melon out there? You do it, if you’re so helpful.”
The countess laughed. “Oh, Eugene, you flatter me. I’m a large woman, you see, and I have a much larger melon than you. I trust your time as a fugitive has honed your desire for self-preservation.”
He looked her up and down once more, then nodded. “Yeah, okay, fine. We move when I give the signal.”
“What signal would that be, Eugene?”
He cracked the door open and peered into the hallway. He widened the opening slowly, then gave a swift nod before slipping into the hall.
The countess sighed and patted her hair. “After you, my good man,” she trilled.
CHAPTER 67: WHAT MARC BUILT
Marc pushed a rusty metal door open and propped it with a chunk of brick. He led Tobias onto the rooftop of the former office building that was now used for housing scores of laborers. Syed Hassan once had an office on the top floor, prior to being cast into exile. Tobias didn’t tell him why Syed was kicked out. He only muttered something about betrayal and Marc didn’t press him for details. Inanna would only say he was a bad man who could not be trusted. Marc assumed he tried to steal gold from Tobias’s hefty stash. That was a great way to be booted out of the kingdom, he noted.
Tobias squinted into the
morning sun and looked off into the distance. Marc didn’t know what he was thinking, but reading his face, he presumed Tobias was awestruck by the scope and scale of Chicago. In his time, there was nothing comparable. A line of jets headed toward Midway Airport. Another headed to O’Hare. Other planes were simply passing by, much further overhead. He wondered what Tobias made of them.
Tobias shook his head quickly and broke the spell. He clapped his hand on Marc’s shoulder and led him toward the edge of the roof. “Show me my kingdom. Show me my glorious creation.”
Marc smiled and nodded as he realized that he personally never saw the kingdom from anywhere but within. The balmy breeze felt good, as did the heat of the sun as it radiated onto his simple garb. He scratched his beard and swept his arm across this new vista: a former industrial complex was now converted into a magnificent—
Tobias’s face contorted in rage. “What treachery is this?”
Marc looked down at the kingdom and scratched his beard. “Uh, I didn’t think we started on the roof yet. We were waiting for the okay from you, your highness.” The roof was nearly complete; a sandy dome featuring a fair of sculpted vultures standing sentry on their ornate sandstone perches. The ramparts Tobias had commissioned were gone, replaced by unlit braziers at intervals.
Tobias’s eyes widened. He shook his head at the sight of all of it. “No! None of this is as I have commanded. I trusted you, Marc. I trusted you to carry out my commands without fail, and I see how I have been repaid for this trust! You were but as my brother.”
Marc trembled and shook his head. “B-but, your majesty, I swear to you this is the first I am seeing of this. I have been focused on the west wall. Me and my crew did exactly as you asked. We… I would never betray you. I owe you so much.”
Tobias grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him vigorously. “And yet, this is how I am repaid! See! See the fruit of your treasonous labors, Marc. See, and know that I have found the truth. Exile does not suit you. For this treachery, I desire justice, swift and terrible!”
Marc stepped backward and raised his hands defensively. “P-please, Tob… your highness, I mean, I don’t know what to tell you. I swear to God and everything holy that I did not betray your trust. Please don’t kill me.”
“I have heard enough of your sniveling. Enough! I condemn thee and send you to die.”
Marc screamed and closed his eyes as Tobias raised his arms over his head. Fury had flashed in his eyes before Marc blotted them out. This would be the last thing he saw on his last day on Earth. He wasn’t sure when his end would come, but he never would have imagined this.
Marc heard a loud bang and crumpled to the rooftop. Inanna stood behind him, clutching a skillet. She gave Tobias a toothy smile and said, “Does my Marc displease you, my brother?”
Tobias looked down at Marc’s unconscious form and back up at Inanna. “Inanna! Do not interfere with the affairs of the king. His fate is death, I shall see to it.”
Inanna dropped the skillet and stepped over Marc. She caressed Tobias’s cheek and kissed it. “You are wrong, my brother. My Marc shall not die. His fate lies on a different path: he shall have eternal life.”
Tobias tilted his head. “No, death is what I command, though it hurts me greatly. His betrayal stabs deeper into my heart than any blade ever could. Step aside, lest you be cast to the winds as mere ash, as I intend for him.”
Inanna shook her head. “Betrayal? Marc? I look upon this wondrous creation and I see only splendor. He has done well. All who serve me have done as they have been commanded. They shall all be justly rewarded, as befits them.”
Tobias turned ashen. “Serve you? Who are you, but the sister of a king? It is I, Tobias, whom they serve. Any who cross me shall be condemned to ashes.”
“They serve the true power. Look, Tobias. See the truth of your precious kingdom. You intended to raise a mighty army and march upon dread Nineveh from these humble beginnings. Look, and see what stands instead!” She led him to the edge of the roof and beamed triumphantly. “Inanna’s temple was erased from the land when Nineveh fell. I have commanded that it be so. I allowed it because a new, glorious temple would yet rise in a new land. See, it is here! Behold the second great temple of Inanna.”
Tobias trembled and sputtered in disbelief and outrage. “You share her name, but you are not the goddess Inanna. Devils have bewitched your tongue that you would say thus! You are my sister, first among equals, but lower than your brother, Tobias, the king!”
Inanna shook her head and smiled. “You are no brother to me.” She clasped his arm with both hands. “And you, lowly Tobias, are no king. Behold, the armies of dread Nineveh have come! It is I they serve.”
Tobias put his hand to his mouth as soldiers spilled into an open courtyard. One of the kitchen servants out picking herbs was run through with a spear. Another was hacked down with a sword.
CHAPTER 68: 5 MINUTES, AND 2500 YEARS AGO
The last king of Nineveh stood over the bloody mass that was once the high priestess of the forsaken temple of the feared goddess Inanna. The priestess had told him Inanna had cursed the city, and he in turn was condemned to be its final ruler, forgotten to the ages. He raised the sword he had used to hack her to bits and contemplated her blood as it ran down the blade to the hilt. Her prophecy would be lost to the ages; he had seen to that, he assured himself.
Marauders rushed through the breach behind him. The first one ran him through with a spear, then another slashed at him with a sword. A third ended his life conclusively with a blow from his mace. The first soldier spat on his remains. “Gather the others.”
His fellow soldiers nodded and ran off as ordered. He raised his shield and blocked a downward blow from an opposing mace, then drove his blade into the soldier’s neck. “Your king is dead. Nineveh is no more. To fight us still is but folly.” He spat on the fallen solder and looked around for insurgents. No man approached him in challenge.
He smiled and nodded as another wall dissolved. All was coming to pass as Inanna had told him. In dreams, she came to him, and in dreams, she showed him scenes of his glorious victory.
Cursed Nineveh shall crumble at your touch, triumphant Ashur-Tab, she told him. He ran his bare hand over a plain wall and felt a thrill as it dissipated. Soon the siege would be over, but his work was not done. He looked to his left anxiously and was relieved at the sight of a hundred soldiers bearing his mark. The front ranks bore torches. He urged them forward and directed them to a large wooden structure. Some of his compatriots had infiltrated the city years before, acting on secret orders. They saw to it that the structure was built, though it seemed to serve no purpose at the time. “All is as the gods command,” they said, which satisfied any inquiries.
The soldiers stepped forward and put their torches to it. One by one, the soldiers dropped them into the growing inferno, then drew their swords and raised them skyward.
A woman dressed in black robes lowered her cowl and shook her dark hair out. She nodded to Ashur-Tab and stood before the flames. “All praise to Inanna,” she said.
Ashur-Tab nodded and responded in kind, then said, “Now, great priestess Yata, fulfill the prophecy of mighty Inanna. Speak the words that will bring us to glory.”
The dark priestess turned to the flames and raised her hands. She chanted “At-ti-ma na-nar-at sha-mi” three times. After the third chant, the flames grew higher still.
Ashur-Tab nodded his approval at the blaze. “The time is at hand. Nineveh has fallen, never to rise again. Now we go forth and conquer new lands. The light is the way. The light leads to Inanna.”
The soldiers pumped their weapons over their heads as they chanted in response. “The light is the way. The light leads to Inanna.”
After whipping his men into a frenzy, Ashur-Tab let out a terrible scream and charged into the roaring flames. Without hesitation, his men followed close behind. One by one, they vanished into the fires. The dark priestess fell onto the pyre after the last soldier was through
the fiery gate and was consumed amid shrieks and screams.
They were met by four guards in golden armor, who stood before an empty throne. They did not raise their weapons to the invaders. “For Inanna,” shouted Ashur-Tab.
“For Inanna,” replied his men. They hacked and stabbed at the guards until their blood coated the floor beside the golden stairs that led to the shimmering throne.
They moved quickly throughout the rest of the compound. Without regard for who they killed, they dutifully carried out the slaughter they were commanded to perform. A middle-aged woman with glasses looked up from a clipboard and shrieked an instant before a mace smashed her skull. A younger woman ran toward the nearest door but was chased down and impaled by three spears.
“For Inanna,” the soldiers cried out, removing their spears from her carcass.
CHAPTER 69: ASCENT
Jacqueline put her hand to her forehead and squinted up at the roof of the office building that stood across an empty lot from them. “Are you sure that’s Marc? That man has a beard.”
Agnes nodded sadly. “It’s him. We might be too late to save him.”
Aubra crossed her arms tightly. “Walking will take too long.”
Jacqueline began to slip off her heels. “I’m willing to make a run for it.”
“I might be able to pick out a landing spot. Give me a moment to scout it out.” Agnes knelt down and closed her eyes.
Aubra shook her shoulder. “That will take too long. Let’s run.”
Agnes opened her eyes. James helped her to her feet. “Very well. Stay close. We get Marc, and we leave. Do not be distracted by anything–or anyone–else.” Agnes looked intently at Aubra.
“I know my purpose,” Aubra said coldly. “Proceed.”
James hiked his duffel bag up and removed his glasses. He squinted at Agnes. “In case they fall off.”
The group jogged toward the building. The duffel bag swung wildly back and forth, making it difficult for James to run effectively. He finally gave up and let it swing easily in his free hand. Jacqueline cursed a run in her stocking. Agnes kept her chin up and focused on the front entrance to the office building.
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