by Sam Barone
One soldier who fondled a girl in the square had to carry water for the village’s women for a day. Another knocked down a farmer, and received a day’s work in the irrigation ditches. Only one soldier had to be lashed, and that for a fight that led to a villager’s death, although the villager had provoked the conflict and attacked the soldier first.
Eskkar’s biggest source of friction came from the innkeepers and other sellers of wine. They had a penchant for overcharging his soldiers, especially those who’d drunk too much. Both innkeepers and shopkeepers often substituted inferior quality goods on the unsuspecting soldiers.
Those merchants found guilty received fines, and Eskkar turned the gold and silver over to the council of elders, to help pay for the rebuilding.
The elders banished one trader found to be a little too sharp in his dealings. Watching the unhappy man pack his family and goods, then take to the road, sent a clear message to all the other merchants to be more honest in their bargaining with both soldiers and villagers.
By the end of the second week, a grudging appreciation of each others’ roles developed between the two factions. During that time, Eskkar and Sisuthros spoke at length to all the merchants in the village, listened to their complaints, and did what they could to resolve them. Progress remained slow, but steady. As the villagers came to accept the fact that Sisuthros and his men would remain, they settled down and got back to the business of farming, trading, and shopkeeping.
Every sundown, Eskkar ceased his role as ruler, refusing all requests for his time. He spent his evenings with Lani. During the day she took care of the household, smoothing the process for Eskkar and Sisuthros. She arranged food for the men, supervised the women hired to cook, looked after the cleaning, and worked with the two clerks keeping track of all the expenditures.
After dinner she took her rest, bathing and preparing for her nights with Eskkar. They enjoyed sitting in the square, talking about everything that happened during the day. Other times they went up onto the roof above Eskkar’s house, where they could talk with even more privacy. They sat holding each other, or with Lani leaning back against him, so that his hands could touch her hair, her breasts, or other more intimate parts.
When they retired for the night, safe behind the barred door, they had little to say, speaking only with their bodies before falling into a deep and restful sleep. For Lani, weeks passed before her nightmares ended. Until then, she would wake up in a panic, unable to breathe, too frightened to scream, often unaware of where she was. Over time those terrors faded away, if not gone, at least banished from her dreams for longer and longer periods.
At first those dreams unsettled Eskkar. He’d never helped a woman with her private terrors before. Trella, too, had been frightened, but Trella had never known the horrors of a man like Ninazu, and Trella’s fears of the future centered about the unknown. For Lani, the unknown had proven all too terrible in reality, a reality that had gone on far too long. As he discovered more about her, he helped calm her fears.
It took time for Eskkar to comprehend all this, but as the weeks drifted by, he realized he understood more not only about Lani, but about Trella as well. Often he found himself comparing the two women, their emotions, their lovemaking, even their hopes. And so when Lani fell asleep in his arms, Eskkar often remained awake, wondering about himself.
Again and again he cursed his own weakness. He loved Trella no less, and he knew it was only because of her that he could understand Lani. But as the nights went by, he saw his feelings for Lani grow, not lessen.
Two weeks after its liberation, Bisitun settled into a routine. That let Eskkar ride out each morning to inspect the countryside. Taking along Grond and a handful of men, they started with the surrounding farms, widening the circle around the village. For the first few excursions, they returned each night. But as the circle widened, they camped overnight under the stars, then continued on their journey the next day. After a few such camps, Eskkar realized how much he missed Lani’s lovemaking, and after that, he made sure nearly every day’s journey ended back at Bisitun.
The next day, they would change horses and ride out again. One by one, Eskkar visited every farm and every herdsman within a day’s journey from Bisitun. He talked to farmers and their wives, asked about the land and the crops, and explained Akkad’s role to humble peasants who’d never traveled more than a day’s walk from their place of birth. To his surprise, Eskkar found this more satisfying than capturing a dozen villages.
Everywhere they went, Eskkar found the farmers and herders much the same. At first frightened, then curious, then eager to talk with the warrior who had beaten the barbarians and driven Ninazu away. Eskkar spoke with all of them, and he learned more about the problems of the small farmers and herders than he ever thought he could comprehend. Thus he gathered ideas from many sources, ideas that would make life safer and easier both on the farm and in the village. He went over these with Sisuthros each night during the evening meal.
One impressed farmer questioned Eskkar, asking how a soldier came to know so much about farms and crops. Eskkar smiled, remembering the days when he’d known nothing about the mysteries of earth, water, and seed. Trella and Noble Rebba had spent a whole day showing and explaining the secrets needed to bring forth wealth from the earth.
Twice Eskkar and his men encountered small parties of men on horseback, who took one look at them and fl ed. They caught up with one of these, three men whose only business looked to be thieving or raiding.
Grond and the soldiers made short work of them, and the local people again gave thanks to their deliverer.
Six weeks after Ninazu’s execution, peace covered the land around Bisitun. By then Eskkar had met with almost all of the farmers, not only met them, but he’d spoken with them, discussed what they needed, what they feared, what they hoped for. No one had ever heard of such encounters before. The people were amazed someone from as far away as Akkad would not only want to protect them, but that he actually listened and showed concern for their lives and their problems.
Of course many complained about the new tax to be charged when they brought their goods to Bisitun for sale, but most declared themselves willing to pay if Eskkar could keep the bandits and raiders away from their farms and families.
Trella had set the amount of the tax, set it low enough so as not to cause hardship. She had explained to Eskkar before he left for the north that the real taxes would be paid by the merchants and traders in Bisitun and Akkad. They would still grow wealthy, but they, too, had to pay for the walls and soldiers who protected them and their dealings.
In Akkad, Trella had begun changing the customs. Each week Eskkar listened to her messenger describe her plans for establishing new laws, creating a new House for the clerks, and inventing new symbols to aid the farmers and craftsmen. Once all this would have overwhelmed Eskkar, but now he not only saw the need for such changes, but understood what impact they would have on Akkad’s inhabitants.
In the clans of his youth, life seldom changed. The people knew their role, their place in life, and the duties they owed to clan and family. Men hunted, and followed their clan leaders into battle. Women raised children, gathered and prepared food, and managed the herds and wagons.
Each day resembled the one before, and the one to come tomorrow.
Villages, Eskkar now realized, couldn’t be ruled like a steppes clan.
Every village changed constantly, with new people arriving or departing.
More people required more food and more craftsmen to serve the surrounding farmers and herders. Even the crops varied from year to year, with abundance often replaced by scarcity. Akkad, with so many more people living within its walls, had become ungovernable by the old ways.
No, Eskkar knew, the old practices must yield to new ways of thinking. And what better place to begin than in Bisitun. And so laws replaced the old and vague customs of the past, and the ruling council of Bisitun settled disputes fairly, without favoring the lea
ding merchant and nobles.
By now Sisuthros governed the village effi ciently, and complaints became fewer in number and minor in nature. The villagers created a new, more permanent council of elders, and they worked with Sisuthros and his clerks each day to insure farmers sold their produce peacefully, craftsmen worked in safety in their shops, and merchants resumed trade not only with one another but up and down the great river.
Eskkar had accomplished what he’d set out to achieve. For the first time in almost a year, there were no barbarians to drive off, no bandits or marauders to chase and destroy, and the people of Bisitun had started putting their lives back together. With nothing of import to do, he took his ease, something he’d never done before, letting himself relax and enjoying the peaceful days.
Eskkar knew he should return to Akkad, to help Trella manage the city’s burgeoning growth. Instead he remained in Bisitun, watching the days slip by. Of course, he told himself Sisuthros still needed him, that he stayed in Bisitun to help organize the village. In truth, the thought of returning to Akkad with all its scheming and petty problems weighed on him, and he wanted to postpone his return as long as possible.
Instead, on the days he didn’t travel the countryside, he spent more and more of his time with Lani. They started their day after the common breakfast, when Sisuthros went off to deal with the problems of the day.
Lani and Eskkar usually found time to return to their bedroom for a few more hours of ease. After the noon meal, Eskkar would stroll around the village, talking to the shopkeepers and craftsmen, and, more often than not, Lani would accompany him, though she would leave him early enough to prepare for the day’s supper. Before the evening meal, Eskkar and Grond would wash up at the well in the square, along with their bodyguards, all of them getting the dust of the village off their bodies.
After supper Eskkar spent time with his soldiers, talking and joking, as they, too, relaxed from their labors. But after an hour or two, Eskkar would leave the men with their ale and their women, and he and Grond would return to their house and their women.
Lani and Tippu would be waiting, and the four of them would sit out under the stars facing the square, talking, laughing, or sitting quietly, with an occasional sip of well-watered wine to keep them refreshed. The nights had grown cooler, but it remained pleasant to sit beneath the starry sky and enjoy the night air. Eskkar held Lani close to him, his arm either around her shoulders or slipped inside her dress to enjoy the feel of her skin, and just as often her hand would rest between his legs, stroking him gently until he grew aroused, then whispering promises in his ear for later in the evening.
Sometimes Sisuthros or one of the other senior men joined them, but mostly Eskkar and Grond had the nights to themselves, as the others sought their own companions at day’s end. As the darkness increased, if no one was around or watching too closely, Lani would kiss him. Once she even leaned over and took him into her mouth for a few moments, a more certain reminder of what would come later.
During most of those nights, another visitor would join them. The dark gray cat that had appeared in Eskkar’s room that first night would cautiously prowl its way to their table. Where it spent its days, no one knew. Lani had befriended the animal weeks before Eskkar’s arrival, and now it stayed nearby, or came into the bedroom searching for her. Always alert and constantly looking around, the scruffy male cat would search out Lani’s hand for a brief stroking, then poke her with his paw until she gave him something to eat.
In time the cat permitted Eskkar to pet it, though the hint of a growl would be heard if Eskkar rubbed too hard or too long. After the cat had eaten whatever scraps they had to offer, it often sat on the table and dozed, its legs tucked underneath its body, but ready to dart away at any moment.
If the food had been good and plentiful, it might even purr for them, the low sound only lasting a few moments before the animal remembered it was supposed to be a fierce hunter.
Eskkar never spent much time with cats. As a young boy in his camp, dogs had kept his family company, but cats were almost unknown in the lives of barbarians. Cats couldn’t follow a wagon a dozen miles each day, and Eskkar had rarely seen them until he came to the villages.
Nevertheless everyone knew that a cat came blessed from the gods, and brought good luck. Cats were plentiful on the nearby farms and in the villages, appreciated for their ability to hunt the rodents that ate and soiled the stored grain. Lani’s cat, as Eskkar called it, seemed sure of its place, and in the last few weeks, Eskkar had come to enjoy its company.
Tonight the stars shone gleaming white overhead. Eskkar and Lani sat side by side, facing the square, their backs to the wall of the house, at a small table. Grond and Tippu had their own table, a discreet distance away, where they, too, whispered to each other. A single guard watched at the entrance to the house, twenty paces away. The rest of the square stood empty at this time of night, and the incessant creaking sound from the well as people drew up the water had finally stopped.
Lani’s cat reclined on the table between them. It had dined on chicken scraps, then washed its face and paws, and now dozed lightly. Eskkar glanced up at the heavens, and knew it would soon be time to go into the warm house and warmer bed, to spend another hour making love, before falling asleep in each other’s arms.
“Tell me more about Akkad,” Lani urged, her arm around Eskkar’s neck and one hand stroking his manhood.
“I’ve already told you everything there is, Lani,” he answered. She asked the same question every night.
“Tell me something new, then,” she insisted, her hand tightening around him. Eskkar sighed, then found some new detail to talk about. She listened carefully as he spoke about the city, its people, the farms, the traders, even the wall surrounding it. Whatever he told her, sooner or later involved Trella, and then more questions would arise.
“Do you miss your wife so much, Eskkar? Are you not happy here?”
“I have to go back to Akkad, Lani, you know that. My son will be born soon, and I must be there. I’ve already stayed away longer than I planned.
In another two or three days, we’ll start for Akkad.”
“You will take us with you?”
She asked that question often. “Yes, Lani, you will come with me.
Though I’m not sure what I will do with you there. Trella will not be pleased with you.”
“As long as you do not forget me, Eskkar. I could not bear that.”
Trella’s reception of Lani had bothered him more than he admitted.
He needed to keep seeing Lani, but wanted Trella as well. As the time to return to Akkad grew closer, the problem had become more confusing.
Now even talking about Trella made him uncomfortable.
“I will take care of you and your sister.” He kissed her cheek and her ear. “And I will come to visit you as often as I can.”
“Do you promise, Eskkar? I don’t want to be apart from you.”
He reassured her again, and finally she seemed satisfied. The questions stopped and she relaxed, snuggling against him, her head on his shoulder.
His right arm reached around her, his hand inside her dress as he held onto her breast. He rolled her nipple between his fingers, and felt her shiver from his touch. She had very sensitive breasts, and he had discovered that he could sometimes bring her to arousal merely by playing with them. It was a new and erotic experience that never failed to excite him.
Now he leaned back, enjoying her presence and her touch, his head resting against the rough mud-brick of the house. He reached out slowly with his left hand, and gently stroked the cat’s neck, just behind its ear. Eskkar had learned not to make any sudden movements around the animal.
Not much tamer than a wild creature, even after all this time, it remained skittish and always ready to show its claws.
Tonight it let him stroke its rough fur, though the cat lifted its head toward him, as if to reassure itself, before lowering its head once again before settling down
, its feet folded under its chest.
Eskkar’s hand was knocked aside as the cat’s head snapped up and to its left. Before Eskkar could follow the movement, the cat launched itself off the table with a blur of motion too quick to be seen. Eskkar turned toward whatever had alarmed the cat. Though used to the darkness, he saw nothing at first, then a faint reflection of something silvery moving toward him.
For a big man, Eskkar could move rapidly when he needed to. He shoved Lani away with his right hand, using his left to reach under the table and fling it up and between him and his attacker. “Grond!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, and then dropped to a crouch as the sword slashed the air where his head had been an instant ago. Chunks of dried mud sprayed from the wall where the blade struck. The table had hindered the stroke, not by much, but just enough to buy one extra moment of precious time.
Eskkar threw himself to the left, away from Lani, and found himself at the feet of another assailant. That man’s sword missed as well, an overhand swing that sliced into the air where Eskkar had just been, the attacker expecting Eskkar to move away, not at him. Before the man could thrust down with the weapon, Eskkar gathered his feet under him and drove his shoulder into the man’s stomach, and this time they both went down.
The attacker attempted to use his sword, but Eskkar rolled away with two quick turns, regained his footing, and made sure the wall protected his back. On his left, he heard Grond shouting for the guards. Not that Eskkar had time to worry about Grond. Eskkar saw two shadows advancing toward him, but at least he had time to draw his sword. He used the motion to move back to his right, closing in with the closest of his attackers, the blade slashing at the man nearest the wall. Bronze clashed on bronze, and Eskkar felt something burn against his left arm. Again he used his body, moving forward, lowering his shoulder and thrusting himself into the man before he could recover and swing again.
As Eskkar rebounded from his assailant, he flung himself back into the first attacker, again ducking under another cut, and pinning the man to the wall for an instant with his body.