Bashaa came up beside Tirigan, sword at the ready and teeth flashing in a grin. “If we see Governor Ugurnaszir, we’ll know it’s the Anunnaki. I want a piece of him. You’ll share, right?”
Tirigan envied his friend’s ability to jest in the face of danger. “I’ll be sure to kill him slowly. You’re welcome to help out.”
He knew it wouldn’t be Ugurnaszir, though.
Fate was never so kind. Though he did enjoy the thought of an Anunnaki dragging that tarnished soul to the Underworld for a snack.
At least his gift gave him an advantage in sensing that no one in his present company was evil and vulnerable to becoming a host. He hoped that bit about Anunnaki only taking evil hosts was true. If not, the creature might be able to jump from host to host. There would be no stopping an adversary with that advantage.
A second warning threaded its way through his blood and into his mind. “There’s more than one!”
It was the only warning he got out.
Two men dressed in the luxurious fabrics of noblemen and three others wearing the garb of the city-garrison rushed at them from opposite ends of the hall.
“Kill them! No mercy!” Kuri shouted as she rushed forward to meet the three dressed as soldiers.
Hunzuu broke rank, rushing in the opposite direction to meet the two nobles. Bashaa and Laliya rushed to aid Hunzuu, while Nasir, Shamash, and Seluku moved to aid Kuri. The other young recruits rushed to join in the fight.
Only Tirigan hung back with Crown Princess Asharru. She had her blade out at the ready but was watching, not rushing forward into danger.
Good.
At least someone had some common sense.
Once this present danger was past, he would drill into her new guards that some must always stay at their monarch’s side. Always.
Hunzuu and his group had already cut down the one noble and were working to bring down the second. But Tirigan noticed two of the young guards were on the ground. Something was terribly wrong. A fat, lazy noble should be an easy kill.
Tirigan’s eyes narrowed as he studied the remaining noble. Ah, these Anunnaki brought with them far superior fighting skills than their hosts would typically possess.
Another concern to address later.
Across the hall, an old woman opened a door, a look of surprised concern on her face. A child, maybe no more than three years old, clung to her skirts. When she peered out to hesitantly investigate the noise, Tirigan gestured her back inside, out of danger.
The woman nodded and then began to close the door, but the child darted out into the hall at the sight of the crown princess. Asharru gently grabbed the child by the shoulder and directed back toward the grandmother. If Tirigan hadn’t still been watching to make sure Asharru had shoved the child safely inside, he would have missed the moment the old woman’s eyes widened in shock.
A new wave of chilled magic brushed against Tirigan’s skin, and the elder’s expression shifted into a colder, harder expression.
Slowly the door opened wider, and the woman gently pushed the child away.
“Asharru, look out! Kill her! She’s an Anunnaki!”
But Asharru hesitated at killing an unarmed old woman, and the elder took advantage, moving with impossible speed. She was upon the Crown Princess before Tirigan could cover the three short strides.
The old woman struck, a closed fist striking Asharru’s breast plate with enough force to make an echo. The princess grunted and stumbled back, her grip loosening from her sword’s hilt. Then suddenly it was in the Anunnaki’s possession.
Tirigan’s own sword blade met the elder’s, knocking its tip aside before she could strike Asharru. Continuing forward, he inserted himself between the two, shoving Asharru out of danger.
He nodded at the new enemy as if they were crossing swords in the practice ring. Though he had a different reason, wanting to give his gift as much time to learn what he could about this enemy and why an Anunnaki wanted the gryphon rulers dead.
“I thought an Anunnaki could only take evil people as hosts.”
They circled each other slowly, sizing the other up. Out of the corner of his eye, Tirigan noted that Kuri had returned to Asharru’s side and was keeping her well away from the other fighters and any doors that might harbor new dangers.
Tirigan had assumed the Anunnaki’s silence meant it wasn’t going to answer, but then the creature surprised him.
His opponent tilted her head and then indicated her body. “Normally, but we will also borrow the bodies of those about to die when there is a need. This one was at the end of her life. She would have made the journey this night—a trip and fall down a set of stairs. This is a quicker, less painful way for her. A kindness.”
“You speak of kindness while trying to assassinate the future queen of the gryphons?”
“Who said I was after her? Perhaps I only needed her sword so I could kill you?” The old woman grinned, showing several missing teeth.
“And what have I done to earn the wrath of the Anunnaki?”
“Nothing personally. But, by the nature of what you are, you threaten Ereshkigal’s plans.”
The goddess of the underworld wanted him dead?
That was an …unexpected turn of events. Tirigan knew of the bitter history between Ereshkigal and Ishtar. The siblings’ rivalry had been going on thousands of years, and unfortunately for the gryphons, Ereshkigal may just have decided the best way to strike a blow against her sister was to destroy Ishtar’s beloved gryphons.
The Anunnaki-woman tilted her head. “Ereshkigal has been hunting you. But you’ve been a hard one to find.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Though, I very much wish I did.
Tirigan’s opponent looked surprised for a moment, and then a slow grin spread across the woman’s face. “You speak the truth. How unfortunate for you.”
The old woman attacked, her blade a blur of silver in the torch-lined hall. Tirigan’s training and instincts matched his opponent’s skills. They danced, circling and slashing, parrying and thrusting.
Testing each other. Looking for weaknesses.
A slight hesitation. An overreach. A bit of unworthy swordsmanship.
But they were both evenly matched.
Tirigan was in his element though. When he’d been a slave, only the sessions in the training ring ever let him feel free. He excelled at the art of the sword.
Those small tastes of freedom helped to keep him going, to survive, to always look for ways to beat his opponent even when he had no choice in his fate.
He wasn’t about to be defeated now when he had true freedom before him.
And when he, at last, spotted a weakness—the woman was favoring her left knee slightly, telling Tirigan even an Anunnaki’s power couldn’t compensate entirely for such an aged body—he struck, driving the tip of his sword past his opponent’s defenses and into her chest.
With a whispered prayer for the old woman whose life he was ending, Tirigan twisted the blade and then drew the point up through the ribcage, to the heart.
The body started slumping forward. Tirigan darted quickly away. He dared not trust the Anunnaki’s word about only taking hosts that were about to die. If the creature somehow jumped into him, Asharru might die before the others could stop him.
He wasn’t given long to worry about that possibility. A nebulous power rose from the woman’s body. For a few heartbeats nothing moved, then the silvery cloud shivered, gaining color, form, and texture.
A towering being with the body of a large, muscular man, an eagle’s head, and a large set of double wings was suddenly standing in the hall with him. The creature from the spirit world bowed to Tirigan.
“Well fought. You shall live to fight again, Tirigan of the Blade.” The eagle-headed Anunnaki turned to stare at Asharru for a moment, but he made no hostile moves. “Your champion has gained you a few days of peace. I’d use them wisely, were I you, young queen. Ereshkigal will n
ot rest until she has what she wants.”
With that, the creature raised a hand that was suddenly holding a pine cone instead of a sword. He dipped it into a small bucket that contained a shimmering substance and then sprinkled it over the body of the woman Tirigan had been forced to kill.
Of all the strange ways to end a fight…
The creature was blessing the body.
When it was finished, it turned and moved toward one of the fallen, yet still living, guards.
Tirigan darted forward, moving to block the Anunnaki from its intended target. The Anunnaki merely laughed at Tirigan a moment before the creature walked straight through him.
Shuddering in surprise and dread at the chilling contact, he whirled around in time to see the Anunnaki bless the still-living guard. It dripped the silver substance over the fallen soldier and chanted a soft blessing.
When it was finished, the creature waved its hand again. His form shimmered, losing shape and color and then the power seeped into the dark spaces between the stone floor tiles.
Tirigan shivered even as sweat slicked his skin.
Asharru approached him slowly, dragging a growling Kuri with her. The Crown Princess ignored her guardswoman’s orders to stay back.
“Are you alright?” Asharru reached out and pressed a hand to his chest, her touch firm and strong.
The heat from her hand seeped through the fabric of his robe and into him, somehow warming his soul.
At last, he gathered his wits. “I’m fine.”
“Thank Ishtar.” Asharru’s other hand grabbed his shoulder, and suddenly she was twisting him around to get a good look at his arm. The Anunnaki had landed a blow Tirigan hadn’t successfully blocked, cutting a shallow line along his left arm from shoulder to elbow.
It was bleeding profusely but wasn’t life-threatening.
“I’m fine,” Asharru muttered in a low voice, an imitation of him, he realized. “I just fought and won a battle against an Anunnaki and am bleeding all over the hall, but I’m perfectly fine. Just ignore the buckets of blood.”
“It’s hardly that bad,” he offered.
Asharru rolled her eyes and then used a dagger to start tearing pieces from her dress. Soon she was applying pressure to the wound and then binding it tightly. “That will do for now, but I’ll see that you’re stitched up later. Are you injured in other ways?”
She was asking if he’d suffered a magical toll from fighting one of the Anunnaki.
“I do not believe so,” he answered truthfully.
“Good. Play along,” Asharru whispered as she leaned forward to place a lingering kiss upon his cheek, then she stretched up to her tip-toes and whispered in his ear. “We will talk more about what the Anunnaki said and your strange power later. The others were too busy fighting for their lives to hear what you and the creature said to each other.”
When she stepped back, he saw a glimpse of the queen she would become glinting in her eyes. Then she was shouting for reports on how badly everyone was wounded, ordering priests and priestesses be called to come and bless the entire palace, thus drawing their goddess’s eye to what her sister had attempted.
At last, after Tirigan and Kuri had confirmed the last of the Anunnaki hosts were dead and they weren’t about to get any more surprise company, Asharru ordered everyone back to the council chambers so the injured could be treated swiftly.
“Whatever the guard is now, I want it doubled,” Asharru instructed Kuri. “I don’t care about expense, or if the garrison needs to increase its recruitment, no one is to be left alone. Everyone travels in groups. The off-duty guards as well. Get added protection on the remaining council. And I want them called back into session immediately.”
Kuri nodded and grabbed the nearest guards, issuing orders. Luckily, more had come running at the sound of fighting, and there were enough able bodies to do all that needed doing without diminishing the protection around Asharru.
Once they reached the council chambers, Asharru started to tend to Tirigan’s wound. Bashaa and Laliya helped with the others. Sensing no other threats near, Tirigan relaxed and allowed Asharru to bind up his wound.
By the time all the injured were treated and bandaged, they’d only lost one fighter. The one the Anunnaki had blessed. The soldier was a youth, barely twenty years old. The spirit creature must have known the soldier was going to die.
Tirigan whispered a prayer over him. “Rest now, and may you find much happiness in the afterlife.”
Soon the three council members returned, each greatly concerned over the newest threat.
Asharru briefed them on the attack, and the little she knew about its purpose. As Tirigan feared and expected, the council debated this newest threat long into the afternoon. In the end, Asharru said she didn’t want the general population to know of this latest incident. They didn’t need city-wide hysteria added to their already long list of concerns.
Tirigan and the rest of the council agreed.
They would do all in their power to get to the bottom of this threat, all without betraying their unease to the people of New Sumer.
In the end, Asharru and Tirigan were both pleased with the precautions they’d taken and how the council had set aside their differences to discover just what Ereshkigal’s master plan was and to stop it at all costs.
Chapter 15
Feeling a headache coming on, Asharru pressed her thumbs into her eye sockets and then massaged her forehead when that didn’t help. For all the good it would do. What ailed her, only sleep could cure.
But, first, she needed to address a mystery.
She turned and met Tirigan’s gaze. “We’re going to sit down and talk as soon as we reach my chambers.”
“I know.” Tirigan sounded resigned.
Did he know more than he was letting on?
The Anunnaki’s words certainly suggested the ex-slave was far more than he appeared.
Tirigan was exceptional with a sword, could read people better even than her, and seemed able to sense danger before it had shown itself.
Not to mention his masculine beauty.
It was said Ishtar liked her Blades to be as deadly as they were beautiful, or maybe the passage she’d read had said as beautiful as they were deadly. But whatever the wording, it formed a clear picture of what those Blade’s of old might have looked like. And the legends of their feats filled many scrolls.
Tirigan was both breathtaking to look upon and lethal with a sword.
But he was also temple-trained. He would know what the mark of Ishtar was and what it meant. For that matter, the priests and priestesses would have recognized it and reported it to High Priestess Diimeritia immediately, who would have reported it to King Kadashman, who would have shared that stunning bit of news with his sister before anyone else.
No. Tirigan couldn’t be a Blade. Someone would have seen the mark if there had been one to see.
Still, if he wasn’t a goddess-anointed Blade sent by Ishtar to help protect the gryphon kingdom, then he was something else. Asharru needed to discover what that was.
When they reached her chambers, the guards on duty opened the doors for her, and she and her escort guard swept into the room. Tirigan, proving to be a very attentive guardian, scanned the rooms once for any threat.
After a short time, he returned to her side.
They’d arrived just ahead of the servants bringing in last meal. Usually, she’d be in the great hall with all the nobility, but news of Councilor Diimeritia’s death would explain her absences for the next three days. As the High Priestess’ longest-serving apprentice, Asharru would oversee the preparation of the body and all the funeral details.
After all, until she was crowned Queen of the Gryphons, she was still the highest-ranking priestess of Ishtar. And serving the goddess came before serving the kingdom. At least until she was queen.
While Asharru would need to attend to Diimeritia at moon rise. She would have a bit of time to eat, rest, and interrogate Tirigan abo
ut his strange power.
And she planned to get a look at his bare back, even if she had to order him held down by the other guards. The only time she’d seen him bare-chested had been in the slave trader’s tent and it had been dark in there.
If he was a Blade and was hiding the mark behind makeup or paints, then she needed to know.
One of her servants, Namluh, the most senior male, addressed her. “Would your ladyship like us to draw a bath and lay out a change of clothing before your meal?”
Asharru looked down at herself for the first time in hours. Her skirt’s rich fabric was wrinkled and torn, and upon closer examination, she spotted blood drops and even a few smears from when she was helping to patch up the wounded.
A glance at Tirigan showed his clothing hadn’t fared much better.
“Yes. A bath first. And then have clean clothing laid out for Tirigan as well.”
The servant nodded. “I will have the bath attendants make ready.”
“Only draw a bath. I’m sure Tirigan can aid me and satisfy tradition.”
The servant was somewhat surprised, but a moment later his eyes widened. “Of course. As my Lady wishes. We shall make sure Lord Tirigan has all he requires.”
Huh? She’d just misstepped if she weren’t mistaken. However, if they thought she and Tirigan were courting, it would explain why they might seek privacy every so often. And that would aid her and her new friends in their planning.
Asharru looked at the food, and her stomach complained at the holdup. Yet, while she was hungry, a shared bath would give her a chance to speak with Tirigan in private and allow her a glimpse of his naked back to see if there were a mark running down his spine.
If he wouldn’t agree, then that would be telling all on its own.
“Are you starving?” she asked.
“Food can wait.” His expression said their talk couldn’t.
She nodded and then looked back to the servants. “Please have a bath drawn now.”
The servants nodded and backed away.
Asharru called over Kuri and Hunzuu and instructed them to find rooms for her newest guards. “After everyone who isn’t on duty has eaten, I want one of you to go speak with the steward about finding lodging within the palace for our new guard. It’s best if they’re housed as near the royal wing as you can manage. That goes for the both of you as well.”
Blade's Destiny (Ishtar's Legacy Book 3) Page 9
