He’d still not sensed the Anunnaki. His fingers flexing on his sword’s hilt as he reflected how he’d failed his queen again.
“Oh, you did not fail her. You don’t sense the Anunnaki because they mean Asharru no harm. They have already found Hashur and know he is here of his own volition. They now stay to witness the land being blessed.”
Tirigan sensed Ishtar had left something out. Then Ishtar-Bashaa gave him a mischievous look and spoke with a voice that was not his own.
“What the other Anunnaki don’t know is that I asked Hashur’s aid tonight. He agreed. Even as the number of his brethren interfere with my ability to communicate with you, that same power will hinder Ereshkigal.” Laliya and Bashaa gave Tirigan twin wolfish grins.
At Tirigan’s questioning look, Ishtar continued. “As my older sister looks out at the world of the living through the senses of her traitorous agents, those same signals will be dulled by the Anunnaki’s magic. That has given me a chance to set my own trap.”
Tirigan and Asharru glanced at each other before his queen tilted her head in supplication to a goddess. “Tell us of this trap so we can help bait it.”
“Exactly, young Queen. I need bait to sweeten the trap and draw our enemies in.” Laliya and Bashaa chuckled. “Are you up for a bit of acting tonight?”
Still feeling more than a little off balance by everything, Tirigan glanced sidelong at Asharru again to see a similar look on her features.
Squaring his shoulders, Tirigan drew himself up to his full height and stared down a goddess. “I have it on good authority I’m a fantastic actor.”
“Good. Then we shall take what would have been my sister’s sweetest victory and turn it into ash in her mouth.”
Then the goddess used both Laliya and Bashaa to motion them over to a settee where she explained her plan. Once she was finished, Tirigan nodded in acknowledgment.
“I will not fail you, my Goddess.”
Ishtar laughed. “I know you won’t.”
Then an immense power that had been tightly contained inside two mortal bodies released its hold upon them, and Ishtar rose up in a brilliant flash of light and swiftly beating wings. She was gone before Tirigan had even really seen her.
But he remembered her breathtaking beauty from the first time he’d seen his goddess.
“I won’t fail you,” he whispered to the departed goddess even as he rushed forward to help steady his very surprised and confused friends.
“This will be a horrible disaster,” Asharru countered in a worried tone. “I’m a terrible actor.”
Chapter 29
The medallion on Nuannin’s chest burned hotter the longer she stood between the pillars of the open-air temple at the top of the ziggurat. Ishtar’s magic had been intensifying all day as the priests and priestesses sang blessings and prayers while Ishtar’s High Priestess performed the rituals of purifying the ziggurat and temple.
Nuannin, residing in a body of a temple priestess, had been forced to take part, or she’d have exposed her identity. Thank Ereshkigal, High Priestess Laliya and High Priest Bashaa were almost finished blessing the altar upon which the Blade would take the gryphon monarch as the priestesses and priests summoned Ishtar and Tammuz.
It would be over soon.
Ereshkigal’s enemies would be cast into the underworld.
She just had to wait for when Ishtar and Tammuz took Asharru and Tirigan as hosts. During that perilous first merging, both mortals and gods would be vulnerable. At that moment, Nuannin would strike. She had little chance of success herself unless she got fortunate. But she’d never trusted to luck. And this time she was just the distraction.
Once she attacked, others would raise the alarm and more of the Shadows and city-garrison guards stationed on the lower tiers of the temple would rush up the stairs. Within their number, her father waited to act.
He’d taken a young and fit host. One of the city garrison’s best archers.
As Nuannin gave her life for Ereshkigal, her father would slay the gryphon queen and her Blade before the other guards knew what was happening.
Nuannin just had to get through this last ritual first.
While appearing outwardly attentive to the high priest and priestess, Nuannin studied her surroundings in more detail. There’d be no escaping death, but that didn’t mean she’d go down quickly; she’d take as many of the Shadows with her as she could.
Gazing around, she noted there was no railing around the outside of the temple, just a large swath of light fabric stretched between the pillars on the east face of the temple. The material wasn’t to provide the Queen and her Blade with privacy.
The opposite in fact.
Directly across from Nuannin, on the west side of the temple, huge cauldrons full of sacred oil were entrenched in the stone floor. Inside, oil burned, the golden flames leaping up to illuminate that entire side of the temple. The light easily reached the altar.
Shadows of High Priestess Laliya and High Priest Bashaa loomed large on the pale fabric stretched between the pillar, shifting and moving along with their living counterparts as they blessed the altar.
Below, the citizens gathered at the base of the temple and all along the lower tiers could see as priests and priestesses danced high up in the temple. Of course, the citizens were really waiting to see Queen Asharru and Blade Tirigan, or at least their shadows, perform the Sacred Marriage for all to see.
It had been nearly three hundred years since the last time a Blade had walked the earth, and the citizens were hoping for a chance to see living gods perform the Sacred Marriage this night.
Nuannin held back a sneer.
Wouldn’t they get a surprise when they saw the death of their living gods? Ereshkigal had assured Nuannin and Ekurzakir that the death of Tirigan and Asharru, while they acted as hosts for the two gods, would do great harm to both Ishtar and Tammuz.
Nuannin smiled a little and then forced her facial muscles to relax once more.
Her patience was at last rewarded. Cheers flowed up from below, rising and falling as they chanted the names of the young king and queen. Nuannin and the other priestesses continued to dance atop the temple until at last Queen Asharru and King Tirigan walked up the final few steps and arrived in the temple.
Even here, the Blade was watchful, searching for danger, but his eyes skimmed right on past her and searched the rest of the dancers. When he found nothing of danger, his gaze sought the altar.
Nuannin and the other dancers moved off to the edges of the temple’s north and south sides to stand between the pillars. There were already other guards and a few high-ranking officials present.
Queen Asharru and her new King walked toward the altar where High Priestess Laliya and High Priest Bashaa were waiting to anoint the royal couple much like it was a true wedding.
Once that was done, Tirigan unclasped the long cloak he was wearing, revealing his splendid body. Nuannin wasn’t immune to his beauty and sensuality. Even her beast took notice. He’d grown in power since the last time she’d seen him, magic rising from along his goddess’s mark running down his spine.
Oh, yes, he was a pretty man. Alas, he’d shortly be a dead man.
After allowing her gaze to wander over his fine form one last time, she looked to Asharru. The young queen wasn’t looking nearly as confident as her Blade-King. Tirigan seemed to pick up on it and moved closer until he was pressing kisses to her bare shoulder and then along the column of her neck.
Once he reached her ear, he whispered something to Asharru that made her relax marginally. But then Laliya and Bashaa joined the couple, holding out goblets of wine for both.
Nuannin wondered if it was laced with the fertility drug. If it was, it was likely a second dose, the first taken before they’d arrived at the temple. The gods were known for enjoying their hosts until the sun rose.
Perhaps even the ex-pleasure slave thought he’d need something to sustain them through that marathon. If they’d taken the drug, that
would slow the Blade’s reflexes, aiding Nuannin and Ekurzakir in achieving their goals.
The pulse of drums swelled louder, and then Laliya and Bashaa retreated to the pillars, leaving the royal couple standing at the altar.
Tirigan reached out and tenderly kissed his queen. Soon Asharru was relaxing into her Blade’s embrace. After long moments, Asharru pulled away, but only to hold out her hand for Tirigan’s before leading him toward the rug and pillow adorned altar.
Time seemed to slow its track, the stars seemed brighter overhead, and the ocean breeze gentled. The air around the two royals vibrated with magic. Soon it would be time to act.
Asharru settled gracefully onto the altar, her arms open in welcome. Tirigan didn’t make her wait, slowly easing his weight down upon her. There they slowly worshiped each other’s bodies.
Tirigan’s large frame obscured Asharru almost wholly. That would make killing her more difficult. But even drugged, the Blade would likely react to the shouts of warning once Nuannin launched her attack, giving her the opportunity to land one of her throwing knives in the queen’s heart while Ekurzakir dealt with the Blade.
The chanting swelled along with the drums, and the flames of the cauldrons leaped higher.
The gods were coming.
It was time.
Chapter 30
Nuannin eased the dagger from the forearm sheath hidden under her robe’s long sleeves. She’d already picked her target, a priest on the other side of the pillar where she stood. He’d be an easy kill. Then she would be on to the next before the body had even hit the ground.
Once she started killing, moving place to place, it would sew the confusion Ekurzakir needed.
Drawing in a deep breath, she calmed her mind and struck. Her blade slid between the male’s ribs. His shocked gasp was drowned out by the chanting and drums.
Darting between the shadows cast by the pillars, Nuannin picked her next victim, an older priestess.
With most eyes upon the royal couple, it wasn’t until the second body hit the floor that a shout rose over the drums.
“You! Halt!”
She glanced to her left to see a man rushing toward her with a sword drawn. Perfect.
Now for a little more chaos.
Nuannin tossed back her other sleeve, revealing her set of throwing knives. She pulled the first one and aimed it toward King Tirigan’s magnificently naked and vulnerable back.
The man in the uniform leaped to put himself bodily between her and the royals. Ah, Nuannin recognized the male now. It was Libluth, the captain of the Nineveh city guard.
Smiling at the male, she flicked her wrist and sent her knife flying.
It struck flesh a moment later with a heavy, wet sound. Libluth stumbled and then glanced down at his chest as if he couldn’t quite believe his eyes.
Nuannin dismissed him and loosed another throwing knife, sending it flying toward the king. Halfway there it flared brightly, burning, the metal turning molten. Heartbeats later, what had once been her throwing knife merely hissed away into nothing. The magic swirling around the royal couple was too powerful for a mortal weapon to pierce.
Lucky for them, Ekurzakir wielded an Anunnaki’s bow.
More guards were rushing her, but she didn’t plan on dying until after her father was up here with her and she’d completed her sacred task.
Using reflexes honed over years of practice, she engaged a garrison guard and relieved him of his sword along with his life.
Sword in hand, Nuannin met and deflected the first of several guards. The entire time she slashed and thrust and danced out the path of sharp swords, she kept an eye on the north stairs. Within moments her father, wearing the new body she was still getting used to, rushed forward, moving with the other archers.
With a subtle nod to each other, both father and daughter snapped their medallions’ chains and tossed them upon the polished stone floor.
The two medallions shattered, releasing the chilling power of the underworld here in the living world. Magic twisted up from both, hissing, crackling, and expanding faster than the eye could follow. A bright flash followed as the two powers merged.
Moments later a silver dome appeared, covering the inner temple, trapping the royal couple and a few of their guards in with Nuannin and her father.
Nuannin liked those odds much better. She’d still die. There were too many to cut down, and the shield wouldn’t last more than a short time, but her father was already aiming at the helpless Blade’s back.
Tirigan and Asharru were locked in place, helpless to move until the gods had fully merged with their bodies.
Grinning, Nuannin rushed the guards, making herself the obvious target.
Her father released his arrow. It flew straight toward Tirigan’s vulnerable spine.
Her breath stilled in her lungs as glee flowed through her.
A blur of motion, impossibly fast—no mortal could move that fast—and the arrow came to a quivering halt.
But it wasn’t buried in the Blade’s back.
No.
Impossible.
Nuannin screamed in rage as Tirigan tossed the arrow aside and gracefully came to his feet, Asharru following close on his heels. Ekurzakir fired a second shot, this time at Asharru. The queen smiled as she plucked the arrow out of the air and twirled it between her fingers playfully.
Nuannin took a step back.
That wasn’t….
It would have been next to impossible for even a Blade. A mere gryphon, even one of the royal bloodlines, should be collapsing to her knees, an arrow buried in her heart.
Then Nuannin understood. Cold dread flooded her body.
They’d been outmaneuvered. She, her father, even the great Ereshkigal, they’d all been fooled.
She wasn’t facing Tirigan and Asharru.
Nuannin cursed Fate to the abyss for this treachery, for such a cruel trick.
She was facing Tammuz and Ishtar.
Chapter 31
Tammuz-Tirigan had sensed the danger as soon as he’d walked out onto the ziggurat’s roof. Though with his enemies protected by the medallions and in bodies not their own, pinpointing their exact location was difficult.
Tammuz reassured his Tirigan half that they could still protect their loved ones and defeat the enemy even if they couldn’t pinpoint their location. He just had to wait and play the part expected of him, and their enemies would reveal themselves.
Ishtar had not been over-exaggerating when she said they’d have to put on an act. They needed to lure both Nuannin and Ekurzakir to their deaths. If even one of them escaped, the cycle would start anew, and next time the gods wouldn’t be able to take such an active role.
They’d gone through all the rituals of anointing the king and queen, of the king ‘seducing’ his bride. Ishtar-Asharru played their part of shy performer perfectly. Then the high priest and priestess began ‘summoning’ Ishtar and Tammuz. All of it designed to trick their enemies.
When the ritual chanting, prayers, and drumming came to the part where Ishtar and Tammuz would normally be called forth to take their two willing hosts, Tammuz-Tirigan pretended to be helpless, allowing his back to remain exposed to the enemy.
In truth, he was far from helpless having already merged with the body of the Blade earlier in a secret ceremony deep within the temple. And when their enemies at last struck, they were ready. Tammuz-Tirigan twisted to easily catch the arrow while he smiled at the female assassin’s shock.
Ishtar-Asharru had no trouble catching the second arrow fired by Ekurzakir.
Glancing toward the male archer, Tammuz-Tirigan gave him a mocking smile and a little bow.
“Close. But you lose again, Ereshkigal,” he shouted to be heard over the screams of the crowd far below, knowing the Queen of the Underworld was watching events unfold from behind her servant’s eyes.
Hmm. It was time to return her servants to her, Tammuz-Tirigan decided. Summoning a spear of hardened light from the night sky, he launch
ed it at Ekurzakir.
The spear struck, shattering on impact. It knocked the man off his feet but didn’t kill him. Tammuz-Tirigan frowned. His magic hadn’t destroyed the enemy like he’d hoped. Ereshkigal had bestowed extra gifts upon her chosen assassins.
Grinning, Tammuz-Tirigan reached behind him and called his crystalline sword to his hand as he stalked forward, his target in his sights.
“Ereshkigal, why do you continue to fight when you could just release me from my pact? Nergal would be returned to you. All could return to what it was before.”
“And trust Ishtar to keep her word? Never. She’s already proven her deviousness. She’ll not trick me again,” Ekurzakir replied, but the cadence of the speech was Ereshkigal’s.
“If you continue as you are, you’ll never be reunited with your husband.”
Ereshkigal snorted delicately, the expression looking strange on Ekurzakir. “Only if I lose. I don’t plan on allowing that. Once I control both you and Ishtar’s beloved gryphons, she’ll have no choice but to free my husband from where ever she’s hidden him away.”
“One day you will look back on this night, and all the other times you’ve tried to crush the gryphon kingdom, only to realize you were misguided all along. If you do not swiftly come to see the error of your ways, you might forever lose what you most seek.”
“It is you who is the fool, Tammuz. You believe everything Ishtar speaks. Yet it was her folly that first trapped her in my kingdom, but it is you who paid the price and took her place. You have always been the one to pay for Ishtar’s mistakes. When are you going to realize that?”
“I see you will not surrender,” Tammuz said with a sigh. “Blade do what you were born to do and safeguard Ishtar’s beloved gryphons from what Ereshkigal plans.”
“Gladly,” Tirigan said as he advanced upon Ekurzakir.
Chapter 32
The Blade's Shadow (Ishtar's Legacy Book 4) Page 14
