A Long Time from Home Pt. 02 Ch. 09

Author's notes:

This is the continuation of A Long Time from Home II and if you haven't read that, I advise you to do so. The series is self-edited, so any mistakes are mine, though I now have a proofreader, that can catch missing words ect. Thanks to Jessejames932006 for doing that.

This chapter is darker than usual, the combat is bloodier, the dark magic more horrifying. If that is not for you, just skip this chapter and wait for the next.

As you can see from the 'Flashback' part, this chapter takes place in the ancient past. While I have done a lot of research for that, there might be small errors here and there. If you think you found such an error in the story, please double check to be sure that you're correct and then PM me about it, so I can fix it. :)

Due to its length, I placed ALTFH under the 'Novels and Novellas' section, but as you can see, ALTFH II is placed in the 'Sci-fi and Fantasy' section, which fits it better due to the elements of magic that's in it. At least in my opinion :)

Have fun and while you're at it, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

About timing on uploads

Trust me, when I say that I do the best I can to upload as frequently as I can. Unfortunately, my RL is pretty hectic at the moment, and as this is a hobby and not a job, it can take a while from time to time.

About the notation:

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Some warnings:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

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9 -- Flashback: Once upon a time in Susen

The city of Susen, Haltamti (Susa, Elam, present day Southern Iran), 1202 BC

A day at the market

Despite it being early in the day, the slave market was abuzz with people and the air was thick with voices and the mingling aromas of spices and dust.

The royal sellers had already gathered, clustering in small knots with their human wares on display. Buyers, some loud and animated, others reserved and watchful, meandered between the groups, their eyes inspecting the goods as they walked from one group to another.

Tutu and I were among those buyers, as we walked through the crowds, looking for a suitable slave or two for the house. Preferably one who could cook and another who could clean, since cleaning the rooms used by Neferure and the patients often took a while.

Unfortunately for Merit and Neferure (Or Kherta, as she was called here) king Kidin-Hutran had decided to start the auction of the slaves on a day where they were both busy. Merit with her job as a midwife for yet another noble family and Neferure with healing people, leaving Tutu and I to go see if we could make a good deal.

Not that I minded. Like her sister Merit, Tutu was both strikingly beautiful and sharp-witted, and in general good company.

"What are we looking for, Zabu?" she asked, her tone casual but her eyes sharp as she scanned the market. "I assume two women, but Babylonian or foreign?"

"As long as they can cook and clean, and they don't hurt the eye to look at, I have no preference one way or the other." I told her with a slight smile. "The only real concern with foreigners is the language barrier, but if they speak Hittite, Akkadian, or any of the major tongues, it won't be an issue."

She nodded thoughtfully, her gaze drifting over the sellers and their slaves. Without hesitation, she began weaving through the groups, her demeanor calm but purposeful. I followed closely, letting her take the lead. Tutu was better at bartering than I, so I left it to the expert, while looking around.

Most of the people for sale were clearly of Babylonian origins, as they were short, dark-haired and with the brown eyes and olive tan typical of people from this area. In fact, there was little difference between the slaves and those looking to buy them, but that was the standard for the human world.

A large group of people caught my eye, as they surrounded a seller and the slaves offered for sale, while seemingly talking excitedly among themselves. I caught glimpses of vibrant colours and striking features that stood out even from a distance.

"Tutu," I said, gesturing toward the cluster. "Let's see what the fuss is about."

She flashed me a sly smile, always intrigued by the unusual, and we made our way through the crowd.

Going through the crowd was almost impossible, but as I was taller than most other people here, it enabled me to look at the slaves over their heads and the sight left me slightly stunned.

The slaves on display were nothing short of extraordinary. A white-haired woman with piercing blue eyes stood at the center, her striking resemblance to the Baylon people unmistakable. If she didn't have Baylon blood in her veins, I would have been astonished. Beside her was a smaller woman, her straight black hair falling like silk over shoulders that framed slanted eyes, marking her as a Lescarian. Another had tightly curled black hair and a lighter complexion, resembling a Hittite. Each slave was distinct, representing far-flung corners of the known world, with different shades of skin, hair- and eye-colours.

"Tutu," I murmured, low enough to avoid drawing attention, "what am I looking at here?"

"I'm not sure," she replied, her voice edged with irritation as she struggled to see through the throng. "I can't see them, but according to the people surrounding us, these are pleasure slaves from one of the places the king raided." She looked up at me with a grimace. "And they're very costly."

"Exotic goods always are." I said with a snort.

In all likelihood, they weren't even the most expensive of the slaves from Kidin-Hutran's raid, as Hallutush had told me the nobles of the city had held an auction the day before yesterday, where at least some of the slaves had been sold, though those had mostly been highly educated slaves, like scribes or land administrators that merchants and common people had little use for.

Pleasure slaves were a special case that was rarely needed, as men of the merchant class were allowed to have up to four wives, if he could provide them with a home to live in, as well as food and everything else needed to live a good life.

In the lower classes, husbands were allowed to buy a female slave in order to produce an heir if his wife was infertile. However, the slave was chosen by the wife and never gained the status of a second wife, not even if the first wife died.

This system left the nobles as the only ones to have pleasure slaves, and they had clearly not bought these, making me wonder what the pleasure slaves were doing here, as they would be very difficult to sell. At least to the locals, making the most likely buyers the foreign merchants that frequented the market here.

Unfortunately for the royal sellers, they had missed their window of opportunity. The trade winds had begun and most of the foreign merchants were gone from the city. So, if the pleasure slaves weren't sold now, they would have to be fed and sheltered for six or seven months, before the merchants returned. The exception to that was if they were sold to those merchants that travelled by land, but it was considerably easier to transport slaves by ship than over land, and land travelling merchants rarely bought expensive slaves.

I returned my eyes to the Baylon-looking woman, studying her intensely, comparing her in my head to the Baylon women from my past. Then I nodded slowly. Whatever she was, she wasn't a pure-blood Baylon that had been caught here when Baylon disappeared, but a half-blood of some kind, the prominence of her Baylon-blood making the other half of her ancestry difficult to determine.

"Oh wow!" Breathed Tutu as the crowd parted just enough for her to see the tall white-haired woman. Then she snapped her head around to look at me. "That must be one of your people, Master!"

"Close enough." I admitted. "She's a half-blood, I think."

"Buy her." Tutu suggested immediately, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

I shook my head. "She's a pleasure slave. I doubt she knows how to cook or clean without training."

"Maybe," Tutu conceded, "but she had to be something before that... unless she was born and raised a slave."

"Good point." I admitted. "Let's see if we can get close enough to ask her."

Getting through the crowd took some time, but it was made easier by people coming and leaving, and from the snippets of conversation I caught, most people seemed to be there out of curiosity, and not the serious buyers the Royal sellers were hoping for.

My suspicion that the pleasure slaves were here for the foreign merchants was fortified when we came nearer to the seller, who was calling out the skills of the slaves in Akkadian for all to hear but judging from the expression on the people hearing it, he was ignored by anyone but me.

According to the Royal seller, all the women were long-time slaves, trained to play music, sing, dance and everything else demanded of a pleasure slave, and he looked very surprised when Tutu cut him off with a short, "Yes, but can they cook and clean?", causing the rest of the gathered crowd to break out in laughter.

Interestingly, there was a shadow of a smile on some of the slaves as well, indicating they did indeed speak Akkadian, though the majority of them just looked resigned to their fate.

The seller assured her the slaves could indeed cook and clean, but Tutu had gone into full buyer mode, asking why she should pay triple the price for a normal household slave, when the only thing they could be used for by normal people were household chores, as the law forbade anything else.

Despite being partly misleading, the question was enough to cause several people to look angry and the royal sellers to look slightly nervous, and when I quietly inquired about the price a moment later, they turned out to be somewhat less expensive than my initial impression had led me to believe. At forty shekels per slave, they were more like twice as expensive as normal household slaves, instead of triple or four times the price.

Granted, they weren't inexpensive in any sense of the word, as a normal servant got around twelve shekels a year, but they were well within what I could afford. Especially since the profit from the Kumetian cotton and linen I had secured a month ago would likely earn me a lot of profit once I got around to selling it, but I wasn't in a hurry to do that. The war in Kumet had severely limited the amount of Kumetian cotton reaching Susen and consequently the price on Kumetian cotton was steadily rising. I also had some Phoenician wine, Babylonian wool and glass ingots from Bharat in the warehouse, just waiting for me to find the right buyer. However, in my experience the 'right buyer' usually didn't show up before the crafters and merchants had used their present stock, which usually didn't happen until three or four months from now, so I would just have to be patient.

"Tutu!" I called in Kumetian and waited until I had her attention. "Which one, aside from the one we have already talked about?"

She walked closer to me, so she didn't have to shout over the noise from the crowd. "The one with the funny eyes, master." She nodded in the direction of what I thought was a Lescarian.

"See if you can get them for a reasonable price then." I told her and walked over to the slaves. Since they were standing right next to each other, I simply asked. "Can you clean and cook?" in Akkadian.

"Yes, master." The Lescarian answered immediately, while the other looked at me with wide eyes, and took me totally by surprise by stammering, "Yes, Inquisitor." in fluent Baylon.

Switching to Baylon, I asked. "Have we met somewhere? You obviously know who I am, but I don't remember you."

She nodded eagerly. "Yes, but I was only a child when you rescued my family from Sybaris, along with a one-armed mage."

I nodded slowly. When Baylon had started the return to its home dimension, all the humans, slaves and servants alike, had been transported off the Island and I guessed it was inevitable that I would meet one of them sooner or later. That it was a person I had met before was unlikely, but not impossible.

Switching to Kumetian, I told Tutu to start negotiating and looked at the white-haired woman as I switched back to Baylon again. "What's your Baylon name?"

"Cassia Lucius," she replied, her voice tinged with hope.

Looking at the Lescarian woman I asked her name as well, but in Akkadian this time.

"Agusaya." She replied, her smile faint but genuine, giving me an Akkadian name instead of the Lescarian name I had been expecting. The name meant 'the whirling dancer', which was a fitting name for a pleasure slave, whose main job was dancing, singing and in general making sure her master had a good time.

"Thank you. I'm known as Zabu here." I told both of them and turned my attention back to Tutu, who had engaged in a fierce bartering with the royal seller, and from the look on his face, Tutu was getting the best of the exchange. Eventually, she turned to me with a triumphant grin. "We have an agreement."

"Good." I walked over to her. "The price?"

Tutu smiled slightly as she said. "Thirty-two shekels for one, a susi (sixty) for two."

With sheer force of will, I managed not to look surprised. The price for a normal slave was around twenty shekels and as far as I understood from the crowd, the asking price for each one of these slaves had started at sixty, making it a very good deal. Or at least it would have, if I had intended to sell those slaves elsewhere, which I didn't.

That the price was a susi, or sixty shekels, just made payment easier. Since they used a number system based on that number, they had also made a special silver ingot for sixty shekels. Not that they were the only ones, as the Phoenicians used it as well, though they called it a Mina.

With a nod, I accepted the clay tablet the royal seller handed me and made my marks in the wet clay, before handing him a susi from my pouch. He marked the deal as paid, and then I was the owner of two slaves... again.

I introduced them to Tutu and then asked. "Are you hungry?"

Then exchanged glances before Cassia Lucius said, "Yes... and thirsty. It's very hot here."

"Yes, it is. Follow me." I said, leading them away from the bustling chaos of the market.

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Compared to the blazing hot streets, the covered rooftop of Arwia's eatery felt like a cool oasis. The gentle shade offered a reprieve from the relentless heat as the four of us settled at a low wooden table. Cassia and Agusaya gazed in wide-eyed wonder as platters of food were carried out and set before us. The aroma of roasted lamb and freshly baked bread mingled with the faint scent of jasmine drifting in on the breeze.

"We eat at the same table as you?" Cassia asked hesitantly, her delicate features lit with disbelief.

"Yes," I affirmed with a firm nod. "As a general principle, I don't like slavery. So, here's the deal: you'll serve as slaves for three years, but I will treat you as servants. After that, you'll be free and formally hired as regular servants."

Their astonished expressions left them momentarily speechless. Agusaya's lips parted, but no words came. Beside her, Cassia blinked rapidly, trying to process what I'd said.

"I know how you feel," Tutu said, tossing her thick, dark curls over one shoulder. "I didn't believe it at first either... but it's true."

Agusaya turned to Tutu, her almond-shaped eyes widening in surprise. "You were a slave once?"

Tutu nodded, her expression thoughtful. "Yes, about six or seven years ago. And before you ask, I have no desire to go back to Alashiya. I have more freedom and a better life with Zabu here, than the women have back on Alashiya where I come from."

Deciding to leave Tutu to handle their questions, I spotted a familiar face seated across the rooftop. "You'll have to excuse me," I said, rising from my seat. "I see someone I need to talk to."

Tutu gave me an approving nod, already engaging the two women in conversation as I made my way toward Murdus, the ever-smiling merchant whose joviality rarely hid his calculating mind.

"Hello Murdus." I greeted him. "It's been a while."

He smiled his usual big smile, but for some reason it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Yes, it has. Have a seat. Since you're here anyway, I have something I need to talk with you about."

Returning the smile, I sat down and lowered my voice. "I guess that something involves your nephew Hallutush and Merit the Midwife."

Murdus let out a sigh, his fingers combing through his beard. "Yes. Is it true she's as enamoured with him as he is with her?"

Thinking it over for a moment, I said. "I think so. I guess that is ... a complication for the family?"

Murdus's chuckle was dry and humourless. "A complication, indeed. The family expects Hallutush to marry a noblewoman." His lips parted in a little smile. "A princess from somewhere to be exact, but Hallutush is a stubborn young man and he has his eyes set on Merit. Granted, she is a lovely woman with an excellent education, but she's not a noble and as a distant member of the Royal family, Hallutush needs a noble as his first wife."

I nodded slowly, considering the conundrum. It wasn't entirely surprising Hallutush had set his sights on Merit. She was beautiful, intelligent and carried herself with a quiet dignity, but the family's concerns were valid. A noble family's influence could wane significantly if a member married beneath their station.

Turning the problem in my head, I hid a smile as the obvious solution presented itself. "Well, you might be able to let Hallutush drink his wine and keep it too. As far as I remember, most nobles make a marriage contract, yes?"

"Correct," Murdus replied, eyeing me warily

"Then have it written into the contract, if and when Hallutush takes a noble as wife, that noble woman will become the first wife. As a noble, he can have four wives, so legally it isn't a problem." I thought for a moment and then nodded. "That should make everyone happy."

Murdus raised an eyebrow, intrigue softening his features. "Do you think Merit would agree?"

"If she wants to marry him, she doesn't really have a choice." I said dryly. "At that rank, the family means everything and no matter how stubborn Hallutush is, he's also an extremely loyal person... both to the king and to his family."

Murdus smiled faintly, the first glimmer of true relief crossing his face. "You're not wrong. If it keeps him happy and satisfies the family, it might just work."

"Ahh... yes," I mused, leaning back in my chair as a wry smile tugged at my lips. "I was wondering why you looked so irritated beneath that charmingly polite facade. Hmmm... I must admit, I don't even know if Merit is truly interested in marrying him. But..." I tapped a finger on the table as if to punctuate my thought. "My instincts say she is."

Murdus blinked in surprise, his brows shooting up like startled birds. "Why wouldn't she be interested? I mean, he's a good-looking young prince! Half the women in the city would give anything to marry him."

I arched an eyebrow. "Because she has a brain," I replied dryly. "Merit is aware that she isn't noble and if she marries one, there's a lot of things she needs to learn. What to say, what not to say. How to behave, what is considered rude and everything else a noble needs to know."

Murdus chuckled, his shoulders shaking with genuine amusement. "It seems my nephew is right. She does sound like a clever woman." He leaned back, thinking for a moment before continuing, "Look, Zabu, if Hallutush wants to marry her and she says yes, it'll happen. No matter what anyone in his family says. The boy is as stubborn as a mule. The real question is, what can we do to make it work--and avoid a complete disaster?"

"First," I said decisively, "I'll ask Merit if she even wants to marry Hallutush. If she says yes, I'll hire a teacher--the kind nobles use to educate their children in manners and courtly etiquette. That should smooth some of the rough edges. We'll take it from there."

Murdus tilted his head, studying me with newfound respect. "You'd do that for her?"

I shrugged lightly, feigning nonchalance. "Of course. It's not that monumental a task."

He gave a low whistle. "It will be expensive, though."

I chuckled. "I'll live."

His expression softened into a knowing smile. "You're not going to get rich paying for someone else's education, Zabu."

"Not in gold, perhaps," I admitted, "but as I don't have a family of my blood, they're the family I have chosen, and like you, I'll do almost anything for my family."

The respect in Murdus' eyes deepened, and he nodded slowly. "That's an argument I understand." He tapped a finger thoughtfully on the table. "Hmm... if you do that, I'll try to persuade the family to accept a marriage contract that allows a noblewoman to be considered the first wife."

"Wait a week or two," I cautioned. "There's no need to rush into this."

"True," he conceded after a pause. Then, with a mischievous glint in his eye, he added, "Since you're here anyway... do you have any quality wine in stock?

I laughed at his abrupt change of topic. Murdus' connections to the royal court made him a frequent supplier for grand events, and it sounded like the king's victory celebrations had left his storerooms bare.

"Yes," I replied with a nod. "Phoenician wine, to be precise."

His eyebrows arched in pleasant surprise. "Phoenician? From where?"

"Near Tyre," I explained. "The trader managed to leave just before the Sea People raided and burned the vineyard to the ground."

"Sounds exquisite," he said, though his sigh betrayed his concern. "But probably too expensive for me."

I snorted. "Oh, please. You're one of the most successful merchants in the city, with connections to the royal court. And if I'm not mistaken, this wine isn't for your personal enjoyment--it's for the king's victory dinners. The palace is footing the bill, and as far as I know, they're not exactly strapped for cash."

He chuckled, though he still tried to maintain a calm facade. "What's the price? And how much do you have?"

"Six shekels per amphora," I said, stroking my chin.

His eyes widened in disbelief. "Six shekels?! That's outrageous!"

"Well, I have some cheaper wine I can sell you for two shekels for each amphora." I said lightly. "It's fairly good wine, but you asked for high quality and that is always expensive."

"Hmmm... How about double the price for ordinary wine... four shekels?"

"I'll meet you half-way at five shekels, but only because we're friends. It's only going to get more expensive from now on."

He looked like paying that much caused physical pain, but after a while he finally nodded. "Deal, but only if you have more than a hundred."

"I have two thousand amphorae." I told him with a chuckle, making him look at me in surprise.

"How did you get half a shipment of wine?"

My chuckle turned into a smile. "Do you remember the half shipment of Phoenician wine you brought half a year ago?"

He nodded with a sigh. "Yes and had I known the King would be so successful, I would have bought all of it."

I chuckled. "Well, this is the other half. As you know, the captain arrived with a full shipment, but you only wanted half and nobody else was interested in expensive wine, so I traded the other half for a full shipment of honey."

That made him laugh. "Good call, Zabu... And it's a very good wine, so five shekels is a fair price." He extended a hand. "I'll take half of it. Deal?"

Taking the hand, I nodded. "Deal."

As we shook on the deal, I could feel his satisfaction radiating through the gesture, mirroring my own. It was a fair trade. The honey I'd originally bartered for the wine had cost me a thousand shekels, and now I was looking at tenfold the return. Murdus, meanwhile, had secured a luxury product at a reasonable price. One that would enhance his reputation and earn him a tidy profit at the royal court.

After we had toasted on the deal, Murdus leaned forward with a glint in his eye. "By the way, Zabu, do you happen to know if any traders have Kemetian cotton or linen? The palace has put in a request, but the city seems to be completely out."

I grinned. "Funny you should mention that..."

I returned to Tutu and the two newly acquired slaves with a lingering smile tugging at my lips. The deal with Murdus had gone better than expected. He had traded me half the cotton for precious stones, which covered my expenses and still left me with not only half the cotton, but a wealth of fine linen that promised handsome profits later.

"Welcome back, Zabu." Tutu greeted me warmly as I eased myself onto the bench beside her. "Done dealing for the day?"

"Yes and now I'm hungry." I replied, pulling a piece of cold lamb from the platter before me. It had been left to cool during my negotiations, but its flavour was still rich and satisfying. "Have you explained to the two ladies how it works?"

Tutu nodded, her curls bobbing slightly. Cassia and Agusaya mirrored her gesture quickly, their eagerness almost amusing. "Yes," Tutu assured me. "I think we've covered most of it."

"Good." I took another bite, chewing thoughtfully. "When we're done here, we'll head out to buy some proper clothes for Cassia and Agusaya. They'll need something more practical."

"Can they get some new shoes as well, master?" Smiled Tutu. "Those fancy dancing shoes won't last long."

"Not a problem." I told her and ate some more lamb, before I looked at Agusaya and asked. "What's your story? I rarely see someone from your area over here."

With a slight nod, she told her story, which wasn't that unusual despite the distances between the areas. Her parents had been traders, but when their trading ship had been taken by pirates, her father had been killed in the fighting, while she and her mother had been taken as slaves. They were later sold to slave traders from Bharat.

That was fortunate, since slaves in Bharat were generally treated well, but after a while her mother died and she was sold to yet another traveling merchant. This time from Babylonia and was transported there to be sold as exotic goods to a harem manager and just like that she ended up in the harem of a powerful noble among fifty other women. The sheer number of women in the harem had limited the number of times she had even seen her owner up close, as she was normally assigned to be a dancer. Mostly because her owner had preferred large breasts in the women he took to bed, and that was something she didn't have.

It had been a good life for a while, but that came to an end when Kidin-Hutran and his army had taken the city, looted everything, including the harem, and brought it back to Susen.

"And now I'm here." She finished her tale with a slight smile.

"Thank you for telling your tale." I said with a smile. "However, now we have to leave. We're needlessly occupying a table, so Cassia's tale would have to wait until later."

"Yes." Agreed the half-Baylon as she looked at something behind me. "I think the serving woman agrees. She looks ready to chase us off."

Tutu chuckled softly, her laughter warm. "That's not why she's irritated. She's got her eyes on Zabu here and sees every other woman as competition."

"Oh." Said Cassia and glanced over at Arwia's daughter Kiri, who was looking irritated and then back at us, lowering her voice. "I was about to ask why but then realised that I don't know the customs of marriage here."

"It depends on the social class." Explained Tutu. "Nobles mostly arrange marriages for their children, but sometimes they'll marry for love. Merchants and scribes do both, while the lower classes mostly marry for love."

"Like most places in the world." I added and stood. "Let's go buy the clothes and shoes you mentioned."

"Yes, master." Said Tutu with a smile and stood as well, quickly followed by the two slaves.

Normally, it would take a few days for the tailor to finish the clothes, but a couple of the tailors I knew had a habit of having some finished sets in their shops, so that's where we went first and we were lucky enough to find two sets that were almost perfect. While tall compared to most of the women of this region, Cassia wasn't too tall for a 'normal' adult dress, while Agusaya could fit a young woman's dress, with both dresses requiring only minimal adjustments. Cassia's in length and Agusaya's around the chest.

We weren't as lucky with shoes as they had to be made, so measurements were taken and the finished shoes would be delivered to the house in a few days. Tutu also made sure they had brushes for their hair and some other things she claimed every woman needed.

By the time we returned to the house, the sun hung low in the sky, painting the city in warm, amber hues. Tutu ushered Cassia and Agusaya to their room, eager to show them their new accommodations. I, on the other hand, headed to the kitchen, where I knew I would find Merit preparing herbs. The scent of thyme and coriander wafted through the air as I entered, greeted by her cheerful voice.

"Good afternoon, Master," she said, her hands deftly slicing leaves. "Did you and Tutu find suitable slaves?"

I chuckled lightly, settling into a seat nearby. "Well, they swear they can cook and clean, and Tutu liked them, so I would say yes."

"Good." She turned, took a plate from a table and handed it to me. Looking down, I discovered it was a cucumber salad with lentils, dates and pomegranates, topped with cheese and slices of cold, smoked meat. It looked delicious, but I needed some answers before dinner.

"Merit, I need you to answer a few questions truthfully."

That made her look leery. "Yes?"

"If Hallutush asked for your hand in marriage, would you say yes?"

"Yes," she said with a sigh. "I know I'll be in for a terrible time whenever his noble family is around, but I think I can manage."

"Good," I said, nodding. "And as a noble, he'll likely have more than one wife. Are you prepared for that?"

She smiled faintly, a touch of sadness in her eyes. "It's not like that's anything new."

"Even if circumstances force him to make another woman his first wife?" I pressed.

"Yes," she affirmed without hesitation. "I've talked to many people in his household. I understand how things work. As a noble, he'll need to marry another noblewoman eventually to strengthen his family ties. I may not like it, but I've accepted it."

"Excellent," I said, leaning back. "Then I'll hire a teacher to prepare you for life among the nobles. You won't learn everything, but you'll know enough to hold your head high."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Are you serious, Zabu? That sounds expensive!"

"I'll live." I said dryly. "If I can buy slaves to make life easier, I can hire a teacher for you." I chuckled. "And I just sold a lot of cotton to Murdus, so valuables are not a problem."

For a moment, she stared at me in silence, then offered a soft smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," I said, rising to my feet. "By the way, is Kherta home?"

"She isn't, but she left you a message in the garden room."

Since Merit didn't read Kumetian and Neferure didn't like writing in Akkadian, there was no point in asking her about it, so I just nodded, thanked her and took my dinner into the small, enclosed garden in the middle of the house. As always, it was pleasantly cool and the plants filled the air with their aroma.

The note was easy to spot as it was placed on the table next to my favourite chair, so I sat down and read it. As usual, the note was short and to the point.

Welcome back, Zabu.

I hope you found the new servants you were looking for.

However, I'll most likely not be here when you return, since I've been called to a noble family for healing. I'm unsure how long my services will be required, but I will do my best to return as quickly as possible.

Kherta.

The next day turned out to be surprisingly busy. Kherta (Neferure) was still away at the noble house, and Merit had stepped out to check on a patient, leaving me to manage the care of those who had come seeking healing. It had been a while since I'd taken on this task, but there was a quiet satisfaction in it, like slipping back into a familiar rhythm.

The house buzzed softly with activity as I moved between rooms. Each space carried the earthy scent of herbs and ointments, mingled with the faint tang of vinegar. Sunlight streamed through the windows, casting warm patterns on the tiled floors as I bent over my first patient--a man with an injured leg. His wound was stubborn, but I cleaned and rewrapped it with firm hands, murmuring encouragement as I worked.

"You've been walking too much on this," I chided lightly, earning a sheepish nod.

"Only when I must, Master Zabu," he replied, grimacing.

"Well, make 'must' a little less frequent, or you'll be back here sooner than you'd like," I said with a smile, patting his shoulder before moving on.

Across the room, a young boy with a bandaged arm sat cross-legged on the floor, his wide, curious eyes tracking my every move. I caught his gaze and smiled, reaching for a small carved wooden figure from a nearby shelf.

"Here," I said, handing it to him. "A hound, to guard you until you're better."

His face lit up, the grin transforming him from a wary child to a picture of joy. He clutched the figure tightly, holding it as if it were a rare treasure.

The day passed in a steady flow, an endless rhythm of cleaning wounds, brewing herbal remedies, and offering quiet reassurances. A child with a persistent cough required a bitter-tasting elixir, a woman with a burn on her arm winced as I applied a salve, and another patient needed stitches removed. It was demanding work but fulfilling in a way few things were.

I was just finishing up when Merit returned, the hem of her dress dusted from walking. She paused in the doorway, watching me as I adjusted the dressing on a patient's shoulder.

"You look like you're back in your element," she said with a chuckle, folding her arms as she leaned against the doorframe.

I glanced up, smiling. "I might be. I forgot how much I liked this."

She nodded knowingly. "Healing has its own rewards... at least, when we're able to help."

I raised a brow at her tone. "Having trouble?"

"No, no," she said quickly, waving off the question with a smile. "That was more of a general observation." Then her gaze turned sly. "I wonder what people would say if they knew the best healer here wasn't Kherta, but you."

I shrugged, grinning. "Not much, I think. The people here don't care about the healer's gender. They just want their wounds closed and their sicknesses cured."

Merit laughed softly. "True, but I'd like to see their reaction if you offered to deliver a baby. That would raise a few eyebrows."

"Undoubtedly," I agreed, chuckling. "I don't think I've ever heard of a male midwife around here."

She smiled, tilting her head. "Do you know where Tutu and the others are?"

"Preparing dinner," I said, brushing the hair from my forehead. "Don't forget it's game night. Hallutush is coming."

Her face immediately fell, her eyes widening in horror. Clearly, the evening's plans had either slipped her mind or she'd gotten the day wrong.

"In that case," she said, already turning on her heel, "I'd better go change."

Amused, I watched her hurry off, her skirts swishing as she disappeared down the corridor. Shaking my head, I finished tending to the last patient, then stood and stretched. My own clothes were smudged with herbs and ointments, hardly appropriate for dinner.

Changing clothes and cleaning up didn't take long, and I was relaxing in the garden room when Tutu showed a smiling Hallutush into the room, as so many times before.

As always, Hallutush walked with the casual confidence of someone used to being received with respect. Dressed in a simple but finely made tunic, the young prince carried himself with an air of authority that was tempered by his warm smile. His dark hair was combed back neatly, and his sharp features softened as his eyes scanned the room and landed on Merit, who was setting out the last of the food.

"Good evening, Zabu," Hallutush greeted me as he extended his hand in the traditional gesture of respect.

"Good evening, Hallutush. You're right on time," I replied with a smile, clasping his arm briefly. "Come, sit. You've had a long day, I'm sure."

As we settled onto the cushions around the table, Tutu served the food with practiced ease. Cassia and Agusaya hovered nearby, still new to the household and uncertain of their place, but Tutu quietly reassured them with a few whispered words.

"So," Hallutush began as he took a sip of wine. "How are your latest ventures going, Zabu? I heard about your deal with Murdus. Phoenician wine and Kemetian cotton, was it? You always seem to get your hands on the rarest goods." Glancing over at Cassia and Agusaya, he added. "Of all kinds. I see you've acquired some new help."

I chuckled lightly. "Yes, two new pairs of hands. They're learning quickly, but Tutu still keeps them on their toes."

Merit poured wine into Hallutush's goblet, her movements graceful but quick, clearly aware of the prince's attention. He thanked her politely, his tone warm, before turning back to me. "I see Kherta isn't here. Has she been called on for healing?"

"Yes," I said with a nod. "Do you know anything about it?"

"Only some troubling whispers. They say there's sickness spreading among the servants there. Fevers, weakness..." He glanced at me. "I imagine that's why Kherta was called in."

"But you're worried." I determined.

Hallutush nodded, swirling the wine in his goblet thoughtfully. "Sickness in a noble house could be troublesome. If it's contagious, it could spread to the city if they're not careful."

I nodded my agreement, as I remembered the Disease that had ravaged Baylon. Given the right circumstances, illness can spread like fire in dry grass. I hoped it wasn't the case. I had lived through one deadly epidemic and had no wish to experience another. "Kherta is more than capable of dealing with it."

"Let's hope so," Hallutush said, lifting his cup. "To her success, then."

The conversation shifted to lighter topics as the meal progressed. Tutu's roasted lamb with honey glaze was the highlight, complemented by fresh bread and a variety of vegetables.

Afterward, I retrieved a Hounds and Jackals board, its polished surface gleaming in the lamplight.

"Up for a game?" I asked, placing the carved pieces on the board.

"Always," Hallutush replied with a grin, rolling his shoulders in anticipation.

The game began, the atmosphere shifting into one of quiet concentration punctuated by occasional jests and laughter. Merit lingered nearby, watching with amusement as the pegs darted across the board, one move countering another.

Hallutush's brow furrowed as he plotted his next move, his hand hovering over a jackal piece. "You always make this look easy, Zabu, but I see through your tricks now."

"Do you?" I replied, moving a hound to block his path. "Because it looks like you're about to lose again."

He leaned back, laughing. "We'll see about that."

The game continued late into the night, the air filled with camaraderie and the occasional groan of defeat. By the time the final piece was placed, I had won, but it was the narrowest of victories, and Hallutush rose with a rueful grin.

"Well played," he said, clasping my shoulder. "Next time, I'll come better prepared."

"You say that every time," I replied, chuckling.

"Thank you for the meal and the game, Zabu." He told me with a smile. "And for listening. It's good to have someone to talk to who isn't wrapped up in noble politics."

"The feeling is mutual," I replied with a smile, as he turned to bid Merit good night. She blushed faintly but met his gaze with a quiet smile and rose to show him out as she usually did.

I shook my head with a chuckle, wondering how long it would take before Hallutush made his intentions official, and at the same time hoping Merit would have time enough to learn what she needed.

Still pondering that, I walked a round, checking in on the patients, their faint snores reminding of the tasks waiting for me tomorrow. For now, though, I allowed myself to savour the calm, as I walked to the bedroom.

------------------------------------------

Susen by night

The city of Susen, Haltamti (Susa, Elam, present day Southern Iran), 1203 BC

Almost as soon as I had entered the bedroom, a blood chilling scream tore through the still of the night, echoing through the house. Instincts and training took over and without even thinking, I grabbed Shadow Fang and the long knife from their places on the wall. The familiar feeling of the hilts against the palms of my hands giving me a moment of peace, before I turned and ran out of the bedroom, subconsciously activating the Ars Mentalis Trick that made me stronger and faster as I ran. That was followed a heartbeat later with the Vis power that enabled me to see in the dark.

There could be no doubt the scream had come from the lower floor and instead of using time to take the stairs, I simply jumped down, looking around as I landed in a crouch, trying to determine where the scream had come from.

At the same moment, Tutu came running from her room, looking around with a frightened expression on her face and terror in her eyes.

"In there!" She gasped as soon as she saw me, pointing at Cassia and Agusaya's room.

Not wanting to waste a heartbeat of time, I simply kicked the door in.

Another Phantom, or Etemmu as the locals called them, was floating in the middle of the room, looking like a nightmare made real, with its glowing red eyes, shadowed robes billowed around its gaunt, skeletal frame, and its clawed fingers twisting in the air. Worse however, was the sight of energy siphoning from the two women in the room, glittering threads of their life force unravelling, flowing into the phantom. With every stolen fragment, its form solidified.

I also felt the chilling sensation of Negative Vis surrounding me, tugging in me as it tried to drain me as well. I almost sighed. Undeads were creatures of Negative Vis, or Vis Mortem, and just being near them would drain life energy from every living creature in their vicinity. A process that had been known as gelidus mortuorum (Baylon: Chill of the Dead) on Baylon.

It was only a matter of time before it would start drawing energy from me as well.

Knowing the creature was immune to normal weapons, I channelled Vis into the swords. Energy crackled along the recurved blades, hissing as they met the unnatural cold of the room. The Etemmu sensed the shift. It turned its ghastly face toward me, its mouth yawning open in a silent wail, revealing long jagged fangs meant for rending flesh.

The world slowed down as I entered the state of Mutatur Tempus Mente (Baylon: "Time shall be changed in the mind.") without even thinking about it. My brain accelerated and everything else slowed to a crawl, just as the creature attacked, the sharp claws slicing through the air towards me with incredible speed.

Bending my upper body back, I avoided the strike, the air whistling as the talons passed me without hitting. Shadow Fang flickered out, striking the creature's hand. The blade itself did little damage, but the energy backlash wrenched its arm sideways, spinning the undead around so its back was towards me.

The Diucultro (Baylon: Long Knife) made a bluish arc through the air, cutting into the undead's back, splitting the robes and wounding it. A shriek ripped from the Etemmu's throat, a sound so shrill it sent an ice pick of pain through my skull.

The howl was cut short, as I hit it with a brutal kick in the back, sending it flying through the air until it slammed into the far wall.

That gave me time to glance at Cassia and Agusaya. Both were laying frozen in their beds, their bodies rigid and their eyes locked open in terror. If I didn't end this fast, the Etemmu would drain them dry.

The Etemmu charged back, but instead of going for me, it flew straight towards Cassia, claws stretched out in front of it, ignoring me completely.

Not quite believing what I saw, I caught it in its unprotected side, Shadow Fang biting through its magical protection, cutting it in two. The lower half dropped to the floor at my feet, while the upper half with its claws and fangs slammed into the bedframe with a sickening thud.

But it wasn't destroyed.

Its severed torso twisted, claws gouging into the wooden frame, dragging itself toward Cassia. Its fanged maw gaped, its breath reeking of decay.

I rammed the long knife between its shoulder blades, driving the blade through its writhing form, pinning it to the bed, and then moved past it, taking hold of Cassia's leg and yanked, sending her sprawling to the floor just as the Etemmu's claws slashed at empty air where her feet had been. She hit the ground hard, but I ignored it. Bruises could be healed. Death could not.

The Etemmu thrashed against the blade pinning it, its screams raw with fury. The entire room trembled with its rage, a sudden gust of unnatural wind whipping through the space, sending the blankets flying.

Cassia gasped at the sound, her eyes fluttering in and out of awareness, her skin pale as wax. Agusaya was in no better shape, her breath shallow, her body unnaturally still. The life drain had taken its toll.

The Etemmu twisted its grotesque face toward me, its lips curling back in a snarl. Its hands clawed at the bedpost, dragging itself up inch by inch despite the long knife buried in its spine. Stubbornly refusing to go back to death.

This one clearly wasn't the same kind of Etemmu that had attacked us last time. Not only did this one have fangs, but it was also more powerful, able to drain more life force.

The thought of life force made me shift my vision, so I could see Vis more clearly. Shimmering tendrils of stolen life still clinging to its form, anchoring it to this world. Even impaled, it was feeding, regenerating.

A deep, guttural sound built in its throat. A chuckle.

"You think you've won?" The voice was a whisper of dry leaves and distant screams, slithering through my mind like a parasite. "You cannot kill what is already dead."

I didn't bother answering. It was likely a ruse to gain time to regenerate, and time wasn't on my side in this fight.

Careful to stay out of reach from its flailing arms, I struck again, slicing across what remained of its torso. The blade burned as it passed through the spectral flesh, carving deep. The Etemmu howled, the room shaking with its agony.

But still, it clung on.

Placing a foot on the bed, I gave it a hard push, making it slide across the room to the far wall. As far away from Cassia and Agusaya as possible.

The shimmering tendrils of Vis that connected it to the two women stretched, becoming almost invisible in their thinness before they snapped, cutting the Etemmu off from its source of regeneration.

The temperature in the room plummeted.

Frost bloomed across the floorboards, creeping up the bedposts. My breath curled in the freezing air. The Etemmu's eyes gleamed brighter, and the shadows in the room thickened, pressing in like living things.

Somehow it was gaining power and it wasn't from anyone inside the room.

Then I noticed another strand of energy coming from the Etemmu. This one wasn't shimmering. In fact, it was so dark that it only became visible due to the frost in the room, that created a layer of light frost on the wall.

It dawned on me that the black strand had to be the connection to its creator. The Necromancer or a practitioner of the dark Arts, that had created this foul creature.

Taking a steady breath, I shifted my stance and extended my empty left hand, as I dived into Vis meditation for a few heartbeats and activated a power called Vigor Gladius (Baylon: 'Energy Sword'). A moment later sparks started to form around my hand and then a glowing sword made of light blue concentrated Vis appeared.

Then I struck, but instead of striking the Etemmu directly, the Vigor Gladius slashed at the dark strand of energy connecting it to its creator. The Vis blade carved through it, sending a shockwave of force rippling through the room.

The effect was instant.

The Etemmu shrieked, its form convulsing violently as its stolen essence bled away. Its glowing eyes dimmed, its claws scrabbled desperately at the bedpost. The darkness around it wavered, thinning.

I struck again, plunged both blades into its chest.

This time, they sank in deep, cutting through its core.

A deafening wail tore from the Etemmu's throat as its body contorted, twisting into itself, collapsing inward. Its form flickered like a dying flame, disintegrating into wisps of shadow.

For a moment, the only thing I could hear was the blood hammering in my ears, as the unnatural cold in the room lifted.

Exhaling, I dissolved the Vigor Gladius and fetched my long knife from the bedframe.

A noise behind me made me turn around. Tutu stood in the doorway, eyes wide, gripping the frame so hard her knuckles were white. "Is it... gone?"

"Yes." I said, wiping the blade clean and sheathed it, just as Agusaya let out a shuddering breath. A heartbeat later, Cassia groaned weakly.

Kneeling beside them, I did a quick examination, but aside from having extremely low lifeforce, they were fine.

"What happened?" I heard Merit ask outside the room, and to my surprise Hallutush appeared in the doorframe behind Tutu a moment later. His eyebrows lifted as he took in the destroyed room. "Another attack?"

"Yes. I'll tell you about it later. " I said and lifted Agusaya up. "Could you give me a hand with Cassia? We need to place them in another room and they will need someone to stay with them. A close encounter with a Phantom is never a good thing."

"What?" Exclaimed Merit from outside the room. "Again?"

"Yes, again." I sighed and carried the Lescarian into one of the vacant rooms for patients and placed her on one of the beds, while Hallutush placed Cassia on the other.

"Merit, keep an eye on Agusaya." I instructed and tooled over. "Tutu, you have Cassia."

"Yes, Master." They both said and took place next to the beds. A moment later, Merit took Agusaya's hand and held it between hers, offering the Lescarian some warmth and human contact. Tutu saw this and did the same with Cassia a moment later.

I looked at Hallutush. "Come."

He nodded and followed me as I walked back to the destroyed room.

"Oh," He said as we walked. "In case you wondered what I'm doing here, I was on my way home when I heard the scream and ran back to see if I could help."

The truthfulness of the statement made me chuckle. "I assumed it was something like that. Neither you or Merit are the types to be sneaky about being together... and thank you for returning."

"You're welcome." He chuckled, but the amusement disappeared as we entered the room. "So, what happened?"

I gave him a superficial explanation of the action as he didn't need to know about my powers, except for the ability to hit and wound the undead. A power he already knew about from the last attack.

As I explained the combat for Hallutush it became increasingly obvious that I hadn't been the target of the attack. If anything, it was Cassia and Agusaya, as it had acted as if I was an obstacle it needed to overcome to get to them.

"I'm sorry to say this, Zabu." Hallutush said slowly. "But I think your theory about Tiglath being the target just went up in flames."

I nodded in agreement. "Yes... it's the women."

"What?!"

"It was going for the women." I repeated slowly. "Look... last time an Etemmu attacked, it was Tiglath, but there's a chance that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Both Merit and Tutu were here at the time, and they were likely the intended target."

His reaction was interesting to say the least. The eyes hardened and the nostrils flared. "Why?"

I could feel the anger seething in him but ignored it as I activated an Ars Mentalis mind trick. My mind sped up as the events of the last few weeks flashed through my head.

Then I shook my head. I couldn't see any reason why the women would be targeted by an Etemmu... with one exception and that one was so thin that I almost dismissed it.

"Fuck." I whispered to myself and turned towards Hallutush. "I have a theory about the identity of the kassaptu (Akkadian: Witch) and it's so unlikely that I have trouble believing it myself."

"It's a female?" He asked. "How do you know?"

"I don't know, but I suspect that it's Arwia from our favourite eatery." I told him with a sigh and explained that not only had every attack happened after I had been there, but Arwia's daughter Kiri hated any woman she saw me with. "Yes, I know it's thin, but unless the women have an enemy I know nothing about, it's all I got."

He scratched his beard thoughtfully. "Do you think we can expect another attack tonight?"

"I doubt it. As far as I know it takes a lot of energy to make an Etemmu... more than most people can handle, so making more than one in one night is highly unlikely."

"Good." He said firmly. "Then I suggest that we go take a look right now." He looked speculative for a moment. "Do we need guards?"

I shook my head. "Not inside. Normal weapons are useless against Etemmu and several other types of undeads. If we run into something, we'll only get the guards killed." I shrugged slightly. "However, it might be good to have them surround the house, carrying torches or lamps."

"Light is good." Hallutush said with a frown. "But it's not like I'm carrying some legendary sword of might with me either."

"Don't worry about it. I have an extra sword that'll work on undeads." I told him. "I just need to fetch it first."

"I hope it's not far away."

"Nah, it's upstairs." I replied with a chuckle. "Wait here for a moment. I'll go get it."

He nodded and I walked up the stairs again.

If Arwia was the kassaptu and behind the attacks, I needed Hallutush to come along. Not only would an extra sword be good to have, but unlike me Hallutush had legal powers here in Susen, which would come in handy if Arwia turned out to be the Witch.

The problem with having him along was that as a normal human, he was effectively blind in the dark of the night, making him more a liability than a helping hand.

That could be solved with a simple Ars Mentalis trick that allowed one to see in the dark, but that demanded I took the risk of using it. Just using the trick was dangerous after Baylon's disappearance had made both Ars Mentalis and Vis Vitea unstable. It was also risky revealing powers to people... even one as reasonable as Hallutush, since there was no way of telling how he would react or who he would tell it to later.

Still thinking about how to handle the situation, I walked over to the wall, opened the hidden panel and took out one of the sickle-swords I had made years ago when I arrived here, along with the scabbard it was in. Made from the same hard lux-bronze alloy I used to make my other bronze weapons, this one was special as it had Kemetian holy scriptures running down the length of the blade and was blessed by Neferure, whose royal blood had also been used in the forging.

I had made it in case Amenmesse sent more Royal Mummies after us, like the ones we had encountered in Men-nefer, but none had shown up so far and I doubted that they ever would. On the positive side, the sword was brimming with holy power and I had no doubt that it would be an effective weapon against any undead, natural or not, which made it a perfect choice for a possible fight against a user of negative Vis, like a Witch.

I was about to close the panel again, when I spotted one of the small traveling flasks I use for carrying the infection-killing mix of honey and alcohol I used to treat wounds. The sight of them gave me an idea, so I picked a bottle before I closed the panel and took a little extra time to change into my Iron Silk clothes and gather the rest of my fighting equipment before I walked downstairs.

"This reminds me of the talk we had about functionality versus looks." Said Hallutush with a smile as I handed him the weapon.

I chuckled as I looked at the polished wood handle. "Yes but try drawing it."

With a slight nod, he drew the sword from the scabbard and fell silent as he looked at the blade. The glow of the lamps flickered against the metal, making the Kemetian inscriptions shimmer faintly.

He lifted his eyebrows, his fingers running along the inscriptions. "Kemetian script?"

"Yes. Holy scripture blessed by a priestess. This will work against anything undead." I stepped back. "Give it a whirl."

Hallutush tested its balance with a few swings, nodding in approval. "I like it. But I hope we won't have to use it."

"So do I, but I would rather be prepared, than surprised."

"Oh, no doubt about that." Agreed Hallutush and sheathed the sword again. "So, are we leaving?"

"In a moment." I said and showed him the small flask. "But first you need this. It's a potion that will grant the imbiber the ability to see in the dark."

He looked slightly embarrassed. "Thanks, Zabu, but I really don't need that." He reached up to gently touch his necklace. It was a simple piece of jewellery, a small family crest on a silver chain. "This enables me to see in the dark." He paused for a moment. "Please don't tell anyone about it."

"Your secret is safe with me." I told him with a chuckle. Magical items like that were extremely rare in the human world, especially after the massive surge of magical energy caused by Baylon's disappearance had destroyed many of them. However, being rare didn't mean non-existent and there still were some magical items around, like the mummy controlling Nekhekh Neferure (Kherta) had taken in Kemet or the cursed swords of the Pulchers.

"Well, at least that explains why you never have any problems walking home late at night." I told him with a smile. "Though admittedly, I have never thought about it before now."

"Good." He thought for a moment. "There's a little question about the law. If Arwia really is the kassaptu, I want to confirm it before we act. We can't kill people on suspicion alone."

"Agreed. Just remember that if we startle her, she might lash out before we're ready."

He grunted in agreement. "I'll remember. Then let's go catch a witch."

Like most people, Arwia's home was part of her business, and the living area was in the building connected to the eatery. I had never seen it in the dark of the night before and even with Oculos Cati (Baylon: Eyes of the Cat) activated, it seemed like the building was darker than the rest, as if it absorbed the night rather than being swallowed by it. No lights flickered in the rectangular window openings, and the small, high-placed apertures ensured that not even a man on horseback could peer inside, with no lights in any of the rectangular window openings. To make matters worse for us, the windows were small and sat so high on the wall that not even a man on a horse could look inside, ensuring privacy and security, while allowing air to flow through.

Since it wasn't a Baylon house there wasn't glass in the windows. Instead, the opening was covered with woven reed mats to block dust and heat, just like my own house.

"So how do we go in?" Whispered Hallutush, as we looked at the building from a side street.

"Well, first we check to see if they have forgotten to bar the doors, though I highly doubt that." I answered, studying the building.

Like most of the buildings in the city, it was built to channel heat away from the lower levels by having a tall central room where the warm air could rise up, drawing in cooler air in the bottom. In this case, the building had two such structures. One in the business part that had the rooftop eatery on top and a second lower one that was in the living area.

So, if we entered the building through the eatery and sneaked up the stairs to the rooftop, we should be able to climb onto the second structure, from where we could enter the building without going through the doors. On the other hand, if I was the one guarding that house, I would barricade the doors, making it impossible to enter that way without making a lot of noise, and place traps and guards on the other ways into the house.

"Through the door." I finally decided. "If we can do it silently."

Instead of asking for an explanation, Hallutush simply nodded. "Let's go then."

"Back door first."

We moved like shadows, circling the building until we reached the rear entrance. Like most other doors, it was made of wood, but it did look thicker and sturdier than most other doors I had encountered, including my own.

In the past, I would simply have used an Ars Mentalis trick to turn the door into dust, but now, that would likely cause a backlash bad enough to fry my mind. I swallowed a sigh. Normally I don't think too much about the lack of external powers, but right now I really missed them.

Tugging the door gently quickly revealed that it was indeed barred from the other side, but on the positive side it was an old door, which meant that we could get through if everything else failed.

Signalling Hallutush to follow me, I silently walked around the house until we reached the front door, which was highly decorated with painted carvings in the wood.

Pausing, I took a moment to study the carvings and almost cursed as I recognized a few of the patterns as being old Kemetian magical symbols, cleverly integrated in the design of the wooden carvings. Concentrating for a moment, I switched my vision to see Vis and immediately the glittering darkness of Negative Vis became visible in the patterns.

Cursing silently, I returned my vision to normal, just in time to see Hallutush reach out for the door. I caught his hand just before it touched the wood, making him look at me in surprise.

Shaking my head, nodded in the direction of a nearby ally.

"The door is cursed." I told him when we were out of hearing range from the house. "And it's not an ancient curse. This one was powered recently."

His eyes widened slightly. "So, the witch really is in the house?"

"Unless there's a second house, but with the price of a townhouse, that is highly unlikely." I told him. "Not to mention that if they had had a second house, there would be no need to use detectable Black Magic to protect this one."

"Good point... Hmm, you seem to have experience with this, so what do we do now? Get some guards down here as we talked about?"

I considered it for a moment. While the guards wouldn't be of much help against a Vis Mortem user, they could surround the building, ensuring that nobody escaped, while Hallutush and I went into the house.

"That's a good idea as long as they stay outside."

"Good." He agreed with a nod. "I'll get Tiglath's squad down here. I can trust them with my life."

"Get them. I'll wait here."

Trying to singlehanded keep a watchful eye on a building isn't really possible, since no matter what I did, I could only see two sides of it and there was a possibility that people could enter or leave at the sides I couldn't see. However, there wasn't anything I could do about that, so I found a spot where I could see the front and one side of the building and settled in to wait.

On the positive side, nothing happened in the time I had to wait, and I was bored when a light showed a group coming closer. It didn't take long before I could see Hallutush and Tiglath leading a squad of soldiers towards where I was standing. Every soldier wearing the uniform of the Guard aside from their shields, weapons and a torch, and Hallutush had wisely changed into his armor, the bronze giving him some protection against physical attacks.

The soldiers had clearly been briefed about their assignment, because they continued past me to form a loose circle around the house. Thankfully, only one in four had lit torches while the rest had their unlit torches in their belt.

"They'll light the torches once we're inside." Hallutush informed me with a slight smile. "We're going to do this as if ... "

The sound of running feet reached my ears and caused him to fall silent as we both looked in the direction of the sound. Four men came running towards us, and as far as I could see, three of them were dressed like nobles and carried swords in their belts, while the last one was unarmed and looked like a scribe of some sort.

Hallutush swore under his breath and then mumbled. "The fob in front is Ikun-Tishpak, a noble and a general of the army. The two other nobles are Shutur-Napir and Atta-Merra. Two young nobles that think that Ikun-Tishpak is destined to be the next king and thus do everything they can to be on his good side. I don't know the last one."

I nodded, wanting to ask more questions, but the four men came within hearing distance before I had the chance, so instead I took a step back, bowing for the nobles as would be expected from a merchant like me.

Ikun-Tishpak launched into conversation with Hallutush, his voice sharp with authority. The other two nobles stood smugly beside him, satisfaction clear on their faces. I couldn't understand their words, but I didn't need to. They thought they had outmaneuvered someone tonight.

Since I didn't understand the language anyway, I used the time to study the scribe, who was trying to catch his breath. Or rather her breath, since now that I could see her up close, the scribe was obviously a female. However, male or female the question of what a scribe was doing here remained.

Unfortunately, I couldn't ask, since that would interrupt and as a merchant it would be extremely rude to interrupt nobles. So instead, I leaned against the wall and waited patiently.

Finally, Hallutush saluted and walked over to me, while the three others drew their swords and walked towards the group surrounding her house.

Hallutush caught my eyes and stiffly said. "As it is his right, as a general of the army, Ikun-Tishpak has taken it upon himself to catch the suspected kassaptu that plague our city. I have been ordered to stay here."

"Politics?" I asked quietly.

"That and prestige," he admitted. "While Ikun-Tishpak was with the king on the raid, the king himself was in command and Ikun-Tishpak didn't get much prestige. Capturing the first kassaptu in a decade would change that."

"Well," I murmured, glancing at the house. "It's his funeral."

"I would like to note," said the scribe in a voice that was still somewhat breathless from the running. "That Ikun-Tishpak is a very high ranking noble and a great warrior."

I inclined my head. "I didn't belittle his combat abilities, scribe. I'm saying that he doesn't know what he is walking into." Looking at Hallutush I asked. "What about Tiglath?"

"He's excused and will be joining us shortly."

With a snort, I nodded. Since Tiglath was associated with Hallutush, any prestige he got would benefit Hallutush as well and Ikun-Tishpak was clearly trying to avoid that.

"What is your name, scribe?" asked Hallutush, sounding irritated.

"Tirutar-ina, sir." She replied respectfully and explained that she was the sister of Shutur-Napir, brought along to document his heroic deeds.

That too made sense. Scribes were required by law to tell the truth and the punishment for falsification was harsh. Thus, scribes were considered trustworthy witnesses, unless they were directly involved, which she clearly wasn't.

Hallutush touched my arm and nodded in the direction of the house, where some of the soldiers were lining up in front of the door, shields at the ready.

Nodding slightly to him, I sighed again. The doors and more importantly the door frame of a typical city house had no chance against a determined assault, and I had no doubt that either the door or the holders for the bar on the other side would give out quickly. Under normal circumstances that was fine, but with the amount of Vis Mortem bound in that door, I was equally sure that it wasn't going to end well for the soldiers.

As I watched, the two biggest soldiers walked up to the door and kicked it as hard as they could at the same time, the sound reverbing through the street. The wood groaned but held. Another kick. Then another. On the third, the door exploded inward, falling with a crash.

I had expected something spectacular to happen, but there was nothing.

"Move it!" Ikun-Tishpak barked, and three smaller soldiers rushed through the opening, disappearing from sight.

Silence. Then there was a howling in the air, a raw, inhuman shriek that raised the hairs on my arms. Screams followed, high-pitched, panicked. The three men stumbled back into view, arms flailing wildly.

The cause of their panic and pain wasn't clear before the men reached the light of the torches from the other soldiers. A shadowy creature with glowing red eyes was clinging to the back of each soldier, riding them like a nightmare come to life, while clawed hands raked the unprotected face and neck.

"Rabisu!" Exclaimed Hallutush, drawing his sword.

I had no idea what he was talking about, but guessed it was the name of the creatures, since I had heard most swear words, and it wasn't one of those. It had to be a local creature, since nothing of the sort had been mentioned at the lessons in my youth.

A chill ran through me, as the creatures tore into the soldiers like wild dogs, fingers like knives slashing at their throats and faces. One man collapsed, gurgling, as a Rabisu ripped his throat open and leaped into the air, landing squarely on Ikun-Tishpak. The noble stiffened, mouth open in a silent scream, as if the very sight of it had paralyzed him.

One of the other creatures (Rabisu?) tried to mimic the moves of the first one, going for the other nobles. Reacting out of instinct, my Vis-powered knife flashed through the air. It struck the second Rabisu mid-leap, knocking it off-course.

One of the soldiers tried to hit the third, but his weapon went right through the shadowy creature like it was smoke, hitting the wounded guard instead making him fall bleeding to the ground with a choked scream.

With a muttered curse, Hallutush moved to help his men, the Kemetian runes on the blade glittering in the flickering light from the torches, as he hit the creature sitting on top of the guard with the flat of the blade, flinging it away.

At the same time, the creature attacking Ikun-Tishpak suddenly stuck its claws into the noble's mouth and dived forward, forcing itself inside him, like a worm being swallowed by a bird... only in this time it was the worm who was the predator.

I was already moving towards them when the creature Hallutush had beaten away jumped from the ground to attack a screaming Shutur-Napir. The blade of my sword caught it halfway, cutting it in half.

With a hollow screech, it disappeared like ink on dry sand, the red light of its eyes glinting one final time before it faded away like the rest.

Another screech echoed from my right, as Hallutush's sword pierced the other creature, its death cry echoing through the night. For a brief moment, all was still until, yet another scream echoed between the buildings. This time a human one.

Spinning around, I faced Ikun-Tishpak just in time to see him shudder violently. His body convulsed, his stomach bulging grotesquely. Then he exploded from the inside out with a wet, tearing sound. A cloud of blood and viscera painted the ground as the Rabisu clawed its way free, like a vicious and twisted version of giving birth.

I had seen a lot of things no person should ever see while hunting insane mages on Baylon after the Disease, but that sight topped most of even that and I felt a chill running down my spine.

The chill intensified as the creature turned its head and fastened its glowing red eyes on me. A wave of fear washed over me, thick and suffocating, and in that moment, I knew why Ikun-Tishpak had stood still. It had an aura of fear that could and would paralyse the weak minded.

Fortunately, I wasn't one of those and as the creature jumped at me, I dodged the attack, slicing the creature in half, its final screech dying as it crumbled into nothing.

Silence fell over the scene, only be disturbed by Hallutush, remarking. "Now that was frightening and disgusting at the same time."

I nodded, scanning the men. Most were in shock, their hands shaking, their eyes darting to Hallutush for guidance. He noticed it too and quickly took command, issuing orders. The two remaining and deeply shaken noblemen were dragged to safety, the wounded taken care of and the perimeter around the house reestablished.

"What now?" He asked me quietly, watching the men at the same time.

"We'll have to enter." I said in a low voice. "Ikun-Tishpak has ruined the surprise and the... creatures... are most likely not the only ones in there." I looked at the building. "If this building had been anywhere but in the middle of the city, I would have suggested burning the house down, but we can't do that without burning half the city down."

"Which carries a death sentence." muttered Hallutush with a sigh and rolled his shoulders. "Then let's finish this. The men stay out here."

I nodded. "They wouldn't last long in there. It's impossible to fight what you cannot hit... hmm... by the way, did you call these creatures Rabisu?"

He nodded again. "Yes. My nanny told me about them. As far as I remember, they're shadow demons summoned from the nether world. They lurk in doorways, paralyzing their victims with fear before killing them." He smiled a thin, humourless smile. "Saying prayers helps to not get frozen."

"Your Nanny deserves a gift." I told him with a smile. "Keep those prayers going, my friend. We're going to need them."

"Right." He sighed and walked over to one of his men to give orders, while I picked up my throwing knife.

When Hallutush returned, he carried one of the smaller shields normally used by the guards in the city. "Let's go."

A few steps in, it felt as if we had crossed an unseen veil. The air thickened, becoming heavy, cloying, like walking into a room steeped in old blood. The warmth of the night air was gone, replaced by a damp chill that seeped into my skin, and there was a sickly-sweet scent of something rotten that curled into my nostrils.

Slipping into Vis-meditation for a few heartbeats, I activated Pugna Promptu (Baylon: "Combat Readiness") which allowed me to parry or dodge attacks that I couldn't even see coming.

Hallutush muttered a low prayer under his breath, his fingers tightening on the hilt of his sword, as we slowly walked down the hallway leading towards the central room.

That demanded going through a door opening and it was only due to my Oculos Cati power, that I could see two more of the Rabisu clinging to the frame.

"Do you see them?" Hallutush asked in a low voice.

"Yes. Be ready."

We took a few steps more and with the suddenness of a lightning strike, the two creatures launched themselves at us, fear washing over me as they did so. This time however, they were up against prepared opponents, turning their ambush into a suicide attack. Muttering prayers, Hallutush expertly caught the one attacking him with a stab through the head, while Shadow Fang cleaved the one attacking me.

Pugna Promptu warned me of an incoming attack from behind and with an instinct honed by a century of training and combat, I dodged and turned at the same time, cleaving yet another Rabisu. That turned out to be a fortunate move, as it allowed me to discover an Eṭemmu, as it oozed through the ceiling, proving that it wasn't as solid as it seemed.

By my side, Hallutush turned just in time to see the Etemmu solidify as much as it could, the claws stretched out towards us, as its wispy, ethereal robes fluttered as if hit by an unseen breeze.

There was a soft banging sound next to me as Hallutush dropped his shield and for a moment I thought that the fearsome aura of the undead had gotten to him. But as the Etemmu glided forward to attack, he made a throwing gesture and a white cloud of fine grounded salt flew towards the undead, covering it almost completely.

An ear-piercing scream echoed through the house and smoke rose from the undead accompanied by a frying sound as the salt ate into it with astonishing speed, consuming it within the span of a few heartbeats and a moment later the claws hit the ground with a rattling sound, before they too disappeared.

Glancing around to make sure there weren't more attackers, I said in a low voice. "That worked better than last time."

"I had a priestess bless the salt." Hallutush whispered back and picked up the shield.

"Good thinking." I whispered back, meaning every word. Aside from being a good leader, Hallutush had proven a willingness and ability to think out of the limits of his reality and managed to do so, while being a friendly and charming person. Which was a remarkable collection of good traits to have in one person, and if I had had any reservation about him marrying Merit, they disappeared along with the Etemmu. "Let's go on."

Carefully we walked through the next opening without being attacked, leading us into the center of the house... or at least around a corner from where we were able to glance into the area.

I would like to say that it was the stuff of nightmares, but I've never had a dream like what we saw.

Naked bodies in various states of decomposition had been nailed to the walls, their limbs twisted into unnatural positions. Rusted iron spikes jutted from bone and sinew, holding them in place like grotesque trophies. Some had clearly been dead for weeks, their flesh sloughing off in sheets, while others looked fresher--eyes wide open, lips still caught in the final moment of a scream.

Blood had been used as ink, smeared in wide, erratic strokes across every surface. Unholy runes pulsed faintly on the cracked plaster, drawn with a precision that suggested ritual, but with a madness humming beneath it. The symbols seemed to shift when you looked away, their edges crawling, rearranging themselves like living things eager to be understood.

At the center of the room stood an altar.

It was carved from black stone, slick as oil and humming with Vis Mortem so dense it made the air shimmer around it. Bones had been fused into its sides--some animal, some clearly human--jutting out like ribs from a grotesque beast.

It wasn't empty. A naked man lay on top of it and an equally naked Arwia was riding him, looking lost in the feeling as a sick version of sharing pleasure as she held an ornamented dagger to his throat. Huge breast swung with every move as her large form moved up and down. Unfortunately for the man under her there was nothing shared about this pleasure.

The bones of the altar dug into his body, her weight and movements making them dig deeper and deeper into his body. Blood poured from these wounds, pooling along the altar's ridges, dripping slowly onto the floor, feeding a spreading pattern of symbols etched deep into the wood and tile.

Before we had a chance to interrupt the perverse ritual, Arwia groaned and shivered in an orgasm, letting her upper body fall forward to drive the dagger deep into the man's throat. Vis Mortem poured out of him, adding to the sick feel of the scene.

And then the walls breathed.

It wasn't imagination. I saw the flesh of a body--its stomach torn open, intestines hanging like garlands--twitch, rise slightly as though taking in air. One of the nailed corpses opened its mouth. No sound came, but its tongue lolled out, blackened and split, as if trying to form words.

A second corpse jerked. Then a third. One by one, they began to stir, shuddering against the rusted spikes that held them pinned. Bones cracked. Skin tore. The sound was obscene--like wet parchment being ripped in slow, deliberate strokes.

The runes smeared in blood flared a dull red, pulsing like the beat of a dying heart. The air thickened, the Vis Mortem now pressing against my skin like a heavy, oily fog.

On the altar, both Arwia and the dying man spasmed and convulsed. A groan--low, wet, and impossibly ancient--rumbled from deep within the stone itself.

Then the first corpse ripped free from the wall.

It fell in a heap, twitching, its limbs flailing like a puppet jerked by drunken hands. But then it rose--slowly, awkwardly, its movements jerky but purposeful. Its head lolled to one side, one eye missing, the other burning faintly with an unnatural glow.

Aware that we were in trouble, I activated the Ars Mentalis Trick that made me stronger and faster.

The second came down moments later, dragging torn tendons and chunks of wall with it.

And then they all began to move.

A dozen of them. Maybe more.

Some crawled. Some limped. One dragged itself across the floor by its jaw, broken teeth scraping against the blood-slick wood. All of them were converging--toward us.

"Back!" I shouted, shoving the stunned Hallutush out of the way as a moving corpse attacked him. Swinging the sword in a precise attack, I hit it in the midsection, cutting it in half and making it fall to the ground in two pieces.

The thing howled--a hollow, echoing wail that wasn't made by lungs--but kept coming, half its torso now burned and still clawing forward.

"Something's holding them together!" Growled Hallutush as he pierced its head. The Runes gleamed brilliantly in the dark for a moment and the animated corpse finally lay still. A moment later a burst of positive Vis told me that the undead had indeed been destroyed.

"The altar or Arwia." I agreed, hitting another one. The blade punched through rotted flesh, but the corpse didn't react. It turned its head toward me, the muscles in its face too degraded to sneer, but I could feel the malice radiating off it, only to disappear a moment later when the follow-up attack cleaved its head. More positive Vis.

"The altar." He said and cut off the arm of a moving corpse.

"Hit their heads!" I told Hallutush. "Their bodies are dead."

With a nod, he changed his attack and a moment later, yet another dead hit the ground.

This time I was prepared, and as the undead released its energy as positive Vis, I collected it, adding to my own as I created a great sword of positive Vis in my other hand and used it to slay one of the walking corpses.

More Vis was added to the sword, and with all the power I could muster, I hurled the Vis weapon at the altar like it was a spear.

The weapon struck the center, right where the bones jutted from its surface, and exploded in a cascade of raw, screaming energy. Arwia screamed as well, turning her head towards us for the first time, blood running from her mouth, nose and eyes.

Under the man, the stone cracked, just slightly, but the ripple it sent through the room was immediate.

The corpses froze.

Then, one by one, they screamed--not with mouths, but with the Vis Mortem inside them. A soundless shriek that pressed against my skull like nails being driven into bone. The runes flared red, then white-hot, before flickering out like dying embers.

And just like that, as puppets whose strings had been cut, the corpses collapsed.

All of them.

The silence was even worse than the noise. Only our breathing remained, harsh and ragged.

Arwia smiled a bloody smile and uttered a single word. "Fools."

Ignoring her, I stared at the altar. Even cracked, even dimmed, it still hummed. Still bled. Whatever had been summoned here wasn't entirely gone.

And somewhere, deep within the cracked stone of the altar, something laughed.

That laugh--deep, guttural, and feminine--echoed in my bones more than my ears. It didn't come from the room, but from the altar itself. The cracked surface pulsed once, the blood pooled in its grooves bubbling like boiling tar, as Arwia looked like she was going through another orgasm.

The altar shuddered, the black stone splitting down the center with a sound like a scream made of stone and bone. The pooled blood surged outward as if repelled by something beneath. Then, with a sudden convulsion, Arwia screamed in a mixture of pleasure and pain.

A heartbeat later, a spray of gore fanned across the room as she was torn apart from the inside, collapsing on top of the dead man.

An elegant hand exploded upward from Arwia's back, bursting through flesh, skin and bone, slick with blood and steaming with Vis Mortem.

Hallutush gagged at the sight.

Another hand followed. This too was slender, inhumanly graceful, skin like polished red stone laced with veins of molten gold. The hands gripped the edge of the altar with unnatural poise as Arwia's torn corpse fell to the ground in two parts, and slowly, languidly, a female figure emerged.

Naked, but radiant with infernal majesty, her body was impossibly perfect. Smooth curves sculpted with divine precision, as if carved by a mad god obsessed with seduction and terror alike. Her eyes, a burning gold, were too wide, too deep, and shimmered like twin suns behind smoke. The hair fell in waves like liquid night, trailing behind her as though underwater.

"Lilitu!" Murmured Hallutush intensely, and for once, I knew what he was talking about.

Unfortunately, that was because the seductive, deadly and highly magical creature known as Lilitu in this part of the world was so powerful, that she had been part of my training at Arcem Discendi. A creature of Vis Mortem, a demon as the humans called it, she tortured and killed people, feeding herself with the negative Vis as they suffered and died.

The demon stepped off the altar, bare feet touching the blood-slick floor without a sound. Where she walked, the runes reignited, glowing red-gold in adoration or obedience. Her presence was oppressive, sensual, terrifying. Wrong, in the most intimate way possible.

"My servant woke my children too early," she said, her voice smooth like silk soaked in venom. "Clumsy, impatient. But useful, nonetheless."

She looked directly at me, then at Hallutush, her gaze sliding over us like a blade made of heat and ice, before it returned to me again.

"You broke my altar," she purred. "That was unwise. It took decades to attune."

"Tough luck." Sneered Hallutush, lifting his sword. "You don't belong here."

She smiled a beautiful, glorious smile. "Belong here? Oh, darling man, you don't get to determine where I belong or nor. I go where I want."

As if to prove it, she stepped forward, the blood parting beneath her bare feet as if it feared to touch her skin.

Her voice was seductive, as she continued speaking. "And this city is mine."

"Wrong!" Hallutush lunged, his blade singing through the air, runes flashing.

She caught the sword -- caught it -- between two fingers. Her hand sizzled from the runes, smoking, but she didn't let go.

She leaned in, lips brushing against the side of Hallutush's face, and spoke a single word in a magical tongue.

His body seized--then convulsed--and he was thrown across the room like a doll, crashing into a blood-slicked wall, narrowly avoiding being impaled on the spikes.

Dropping the sword on the ground, the demon turned back to me.

"You... are different," she said, tilting her head. Her voice was calmer now, almost thoughtful. "So much life clings to you. It sings."

Silently I watched the creature, my mind racing. She had used magic. More specifically a Word of Power: A magical word that didn't need any gestures. Which was impossible, as destructive or elemental magic didn't work after Baylon had left.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I was aware that the demon was looking at me like a predator at a piece of meat, a sensual tongue licking perfect lips. Then she took a step towards me, reaching out with that elegant hand.

Flowing into Mutatur Tempus Mente I moved at lightning speed, as I dodged under the hand, moving past her as Shadow Fang cut into her side.

Her blood, or whatever passed for it, spilled in a trail of seething gold and crimson, hissing as it struck the ground beneath our feet. She hissed, not in pain, but in delight, the sound a perverse mixture of pleasure and fury.

"Oh..." she whispered, fingers brushing the wound with languid curiosity. "You hurt me. How delicious."

I clearly needed more power for this fight and concentrating on my sword, I said. "Verum Forma" (Baylon: 'True Form').

Vis Vitae flowed from me to the sword in a silent explosion and I could feel the adamant in the sword contract, as it became thinner and sharper, while the hand guard changed from oval to two claws with a skull in the middle, mimicking a Spectre.

Lilitu snapped her head around, clearly feeling the power. Those perfect lips parted again, speaking another Word of Power.

Magic washed over me and despite resisting most of it, the sheer power still sent me flying into a wall, hitting hard enough to crack stone, the impact blasting the air from my lungs despite the Iron Silk armor taking the brunt of it. My ears rang. Blood slicked the inside of my mouth.

Lilitu approached slowly, steps unhurried, not because she was careless, but because she knew she had time. The runes beneath her feet guttered like dying embers, reacting to the transformation of the blade. The air was thicker now, charged with Vis Vitae and Vis Mortem both. Opposing forces clawing against one another like wild beasts in a cage.

"Oh... How very nice." She tilted her head, dark hair spilling over one shoulder. "You have a lot of power, and I'll enjoy sucking it out of you."

I pushed myself off the wall, teeth clenched against the pain. My chest burned.

Lilitu slowed, eyeing the sword, and then smiled again, baring teeth too perfect to be human. "You'll scream before it cuts me a second time."

She moved faster than before. A blur of red and gold, hands like talons reaching for my throat. Even warned about the attack by Pugna Promptu and my movements powered by Ars Mentalis, I barely managed to raise the blade in time... but I did parry her attack. Her claws scraped across the metal, sending out a screech like nails on bone. Sparks flew. Her body twisted in midair, legs coiling like a serpent's strike. I ducked and rolled, slicing upward as I passed beneath her.

The sword cut clean through her calf. Blood looking like golden fire poured from the wound, and she landed off-balance, snarling as I got to my feet.

"You were wrong." I said lightly. Her superior attitude irritated me, and I wanted to see if I could rattle her. "Want to go for a third?"

Lilitu hissed in anger, and something passed over her face. It wasn't much. A heartbeat of disbelief or uncertainty. It faded quickly, but I had seen it. I'd wounded it.

She shrieked something in an ancient tongue, and I just had time to shield myself, before another wave of power washed over me, this time without affecting me at all.

The same couldn't be said about the altar, as it exploded. Spikes of bone and obsidian burst from the shattered stone, lashing out like serpents. I dodged one, parried another with the flat of the blade, but one slammed into my side. The Iron Silk hardened to spread the impact over a greater area, saving my ribs, but the force from the blow lifted me off my feet and threw me across the room once more.

Rolling with the blow, I landed on my feet. My chest might be hurting, but I could feel the healing Ars Mentalis activating on its own accord just as it was supposed to do, and it wasn't worse than I could stand.

"You should stand still, human," Lilitu cooed, approaching again, slower now, both due to her wounded leg and her perverse desire to savour the moment. "I'd hate to break you before I've had the chance to feed."

Still in the slow, secure world of Mutatur Tempus Mente, my mind was racing. Magic energy was universal and if it worked for her, there was every chance that it would work for me as well.

Just to test it, I said. "Pulvis (Baylon: 'Dust')", while bracing myself against any possible backlash.

No such thing happened. Instead, the floor under the demon's front foot turned to dust just as I intended, forcing her to jump backwards as the disappearing floor revealed that the house had a cellar. At the same time, the runes on the wall flashed angrily.

Somehow, those runes made it possible to use powers in this room, I decided.

"Do you know what the difference is," the demon said, looking down the hole in the floor, obviously seeing something down there that I couldn't see. "Between power and dominion?" She smiled that beautiful, yet terrifying smile again. "Power is strength. Dominion is ownership. The souls in that cellar are mine."

Sprits started to rise through the hole, causing me to hurriedly activate Alis nigro ignem (Baylon: Wings of Black Fire). Reserved for Inquisitors with the rank of Captain, it was one of the most complicated powers I knew and one I haven't used since the combat for the Northern Anchor the day Baylon disappeared since any backlash would likely rip me apart.

Fortunately, no backlash happened and flames of reddish blackness appeared around me, clinging to the blade of my sword, and solidifying on my back, where they wouldn't be in the way of any weapons. A few heartbeats later, it looked like wings of black fire had appeared on my back, giving the trick its name. Around me, the blood on the floor and wall started to boil or dry out, as the heat from the black wings hit them.

Lilitu recoiled, looking just a little concerned.

The wailing of the spirits filled the chamber like a gale of mourning wind. Ragged, translucent forms writhed up from the cellar -- men, women, children -- all stripped of identity by torment and time.

But they couldn't touch me without passing through the flames first and those who tried ignited, burning from within, dissolving into a hiss of ash and light, as they encountered the strange mix of Ars Mentalis, Ars Magica and Vis Vitae that was the Wings of Black Fire.

Lilitu's lip curled. "You think you can take what's mine?"

I raised my sword, the blade veined with the same reddish-black fire.

"No," I said. "but then again, I don't want them... I just want to free them."

She actually snarled as she dove at me, both hands outstretched like claws, her wounded leg dragging slightly but still powerful. I met her charge with a rising arc of the sword, as the Wings of Black Fire lashed out at her. Flesh searing, the sound like branding iron against wet skin. But she didn't care, as she parried the sword with her left hand, causing more burns. Her right claw reached for my body, but before it could connect, I kicked her in the chest, my Ars Mentalis powered strength sending her flying backwards across the room.

She smashed into the far wall with a sickening crunch, embedding into the blood-slicked plaster before collapsing to the ground in a tangle of limbs and rage. Smoke curled from the burns caused by the Black Wings. Her body was perfect no longer, cracked in places, seeping molten blood that steamed as it hit the cold air.

Smoke curled from the charred flesh of her palm where my blade had cut her. For a moment, she lay still.

Then she laughed.

It started low and sultry but twisted upward into something wild and mad.

"You're amusing," she said, rising with unnatural grace, her limbs bending too fluidly. "But you're in my house, little man."

I cursed silently. If she kept attacking like that, I would have a hard time avoiding her claws. I needed time for Hallutush to clear his head and get back on his feet and for that, I needed something that could make her just a little more wary, less reckless. I needed her to feel that the wounds I had given her weren't by luck, but by design. As if I was playing just as much with her as she was playing with me.

Like a cat playing with a mouse... and with that thought, the answer was obvious.

"You keep calling me a man, Daughter of Set." I said in Kemetian as I used the same Ars Mentalis trick I had used during the fight in the Temple of Bastet in Men-nefer. I didn't feel a change, but I knew my head had suddenly turned into a snarling lion's head. "I'm Maahes. The Lord of the Massacre, Wielder of the Knife, Lord of Slaughter and I will return you to your ruler."

That the demon knew Kemetian was obvious from the way her yellow eyes widened. Not in fear, but a strange form of hunger.

"Maahes..." she whispered, the name curling on her tongue like a lover's sigh. "So that's what I smelled on you." She righted an arm causing a broken bone to snap back into place.

She moved closer, but her moves were slower now, more calculating, her claws dragging across the wall and leaving molten gouges in the plaster. The heat radiating from her was rising again, and the room shivered beneath her presence.

"You're bluffing," she hissed eventually, though her voice had lost some of its earlier confidence. "Maahes doesn't crawl through mortal ruins in lands far from Kemet."

"True," I said, stepping forward and raising my sword, still slick with her blood. "But he does send his avatars."

The demon shrieked -- a jagged sound of fury and frustration, and lunged.

I was ready this time. I let her come.

Our clash wasn't clean. It was brutal, as her claws glanced off the Iron Silk armor, failing to penetrate due to me moving away as my blade caught her in the rips, cleaving through seemingly female flesh and only bouncing off when it hit bone.

The pain caused her to freeze for just a heartbeat, but my sword was in the wrong position for a new strike, so another kick sent her back to the wall.

She roared as she raised both her hands. The runes on the walls flared like flint striking oil.

I braced, wings of black fire curling protectively around me as the Vis Mortem in the room surged.

Then came the Word. Three syllables spat in a magical, guttural snarl that vibrated through the floorboards.

The walls buckled and exploded outward, wood shards hissing like razors. The roof groaned overhead, beams splitting with sharp cracks as unseen pressure built like a storm inside a bottle.

"Get out!" I roared toward Hallutush who had barely gotten to his knees again, just as the central support beam snapped with a thunderous crack. With a shout, he snatched his sword from the ground and ran into the hallway from where we had entered.

As much as I wanted to, I didn't follow. Outside the house there was a chance that Lilitu would still have at least some of her powers, while I had no idea how the Wings of Black Fire would react.

Instead, I glanced at the falling ceiling and uttered the 'Dust' Word of Power again, turning much of the structure above me into dust.

Around us, the house was a pile of broken beams and rubble. Blood oozed through the wreckage, fed by shattered runes still glowing faintly red.

For a moment, there was only silence -- save for the creak of settling wood and the flutter of ash on the breeze.

Lilitu elegantly removed a few wooden splinters from her hair, growling. "I will kill you, avatar of Maahes."

"No," I said, unfolding the wings again, "you will die trying."

She snorted, making a grabbing movement with her hand as she uttered another magical word. I felt nothing, but a moment later an enormous amount of Vis Mortem came howling into the house from the outside.

Lilitu arched her back as the Vis Mortem poured into her. Her eyes rolled back, her mouth opened in a silent gasp, and her scorched and blistered skin began to heal, black veins writhing beneath the surface like serpents in oil. The burns receded. Flesh knitted. Bones snapped into place with wet cracks. Her claws gleamed sharper.

"Fuck." I mumbled to myself. Unless I missed my guess, my bluff had made her realize that she was fighting for her life, so now she was going all in. Wherever that energy came from, it would bring the fight to square one again.

Lilitu's smile returned, but it was all wrong now. Too wide. Too sharp. Her perfect lips peeled back to reveal far too many teeth, serrated like a shark's, gleaming with viscera. The golden glow of her eyes flared once more and then burst, replaced by pits of molten black, like twin eclipses bleeding shadow.

"You like this form?" she purred, voice warping, splitting into layers. One silken and seductive, the other guttural and monstrous. "I wore it for the humans. But since we're done playing with masks..."

Her body twisted.

It didn't shimmer, didn't dissolve in light. It fractured. Flesh cracked like dry clay as something vast and wrong unfolded from within. Her limbs elongated unnaturally, fingers multiplying into hooked claws. Her skin, once like polished red stone, peeled away in strips, revealing muscle and bone veined with fire and darkness.

Her spine arched as horns exploded from her skull in jagged, antler-like spirals. Her still vaguely humanoid face stretched into something elongated and alien, with a mouth that split from chin to ear.

It was the true face of the demon I knew she was.

Then she attacked.

There was no roar, just motion. She crossed the space between us in less than a blink, claws slashing in a blur and if I hadn't been warned by Pugna Promptu, she would have taken my head off. Instead, Shadow Fang met her strike with a shriek of metal and power, the wings of black fire lashing at her as I was thrown backward, skidding across the blood-soaked floor.

She came again, relentless. A flurry of strikes, each blow ringing with enough force to crater stone. Her new form was heavier, faster, stronger. Every hit shook my bones as I parried accompanied by the hissing sound of burning flesh as she burned.

I ducked low, twisting into a roll, and the jagged end of one claw tore through the air where my head had been. My counter strike carved into her flank. Black blood sprayed, sizzling against the flame, but she didn't even flinch.

A backhand caught me across the face. The world spun. I crashed through a half-standing wall.

The demon laughed, sounding like roaring flames and grinding stones.

Wings flaring, I rose, sword at the ready while I studied her. Despite her merriment, the arrogance she had displayed earlier was slipping away. Even if she didn't quite believe my bluff, she had been wounded, sliced by weapons and burned by a fire that even demons could feel.

Roaring, she walked towards me again, just as something came flying through the air and hit her on the head, bouncing harmlessly off the thick skin.

Encased in the slow, secure world of Mutatur Tempus Mente, I had ample time to see what it was. It was a small sack of fine wool, and I recognized it as one of the sacks Hallutush had been carrying. In an instant change of plans, I drew and threw a knife as I dodged away from the charging monster.

The knife hit the sack, impaling it and then continued into the creature, making the sack explode in a cloud of white powder.

Lilitu screamed.

Not a magical word, not an incantation, just pain. Pure, guttural, agonized pain.

Smoke erupted from her flesh as the blessed salt clung to her, hissing and bubbling on contact. Wherever it touched her skin, be it neck, shoulders or face, it burned like acid. Chunks of her black-veined flesh blistered, melted, dissolved as she staggered back, clawing at her own head.

It wasn't going to kill her like it had done with the Etemmu, but it clearly hurt. Taking advantage of the distraction, I attacked.

The fiery black wings flared wide, scorching the air, and Shadow Fang came up in both hands, blazing with reddish-black flame.

She saw me just in time to lash out with a claw, but it was wild, panicked. I side-stepped the attack and drove the blade forward and up, straight into the center of her exposed chest.

The scream she let out was deafening.

The sword sank deep, through flesh, through bone, through whatever cursed essence made up her heart. With a thought, I made the wings of black fire flare and then disappear as I channelled the Black Fire through the blade, igniting her from within.

She thrashed wildly, her claws gouging trenches in the walls and floor as I threw myself backwards to avoid being hit, withdrawing Shadow Fang at the same time.

Then Hallutush appeared on the other side of the creature, driving his sword into the monster as well, the holy runes gleaming in the night.

That was the final straw.

With a final, echoing shriek, Lilitu's body convulsed violently, then collapsed inward in a flash of searing light.

Her form twisted, shrank, imploded into itself, a knot of writhing darkness that crackled and smoked, and then simply vanished as a wave of positive Vis rolled through the ruins of the house.

I absorbed what I could of it and had the presence of mind to dissolve the snarling lion's head, before I looked over at Hallutush, who had sunken to his knees. "Are you wounded?"

He looked up at me with a slight smile on his bearded face. "Mostly my pride... and my back. By the gods, that demon hit harder than a charging horse."

"Yes, it..." breaking off my answer, I whirled, dodged and struck with the sword as Pugna Promptu warned me of an incoming attack.

Yet another creature appeared out of thin air, as my sword hit it, slicing off one of its arms by the elbow. It howled in pain, and I used the chance to kick it away from us, giving us room to manoeuvre if that was needed.

It tumbled a few times in the rubble but ended on its feet. To my surprise, it looked like a younger, less refined and less otherworldly version of the Lilitu we had just fought.

"Shit!" Mumbled Hallutush and got to his feet, sword at the ready. "Another one?"

Studying it for a moment, I nodded slowly. "I think it's Arwia's daughter Kiri."

"Well, why not." He snorted and sighed.

Kiri, or whatever the creature was, didn't attack immediately.

Clutching the stump of her arm, her inhuman blood pouring down in molten rivulets, she hissed--not just in pain, but in disbelief. Her golden, cat-like eyes flicked between us, wide and wounded. Her form shimmered with unstable energy, like her body hadn't yet decided what shape it wanted to hold.

"She's not as powerful as her mother," I said calmly, sword still ready.

"No." Agreed Hallutush and spat blood into the ash. "Not enough souls."

"I am power incarnate... just like my mother!" The creature screamed defiantly, and the word echoed in the broken beams of the ruin. The burning eyes fastened at me. "And you should have been mine!"

"No thanks." I said with a snort. "As a general rule, I don't marry demons."

Power surged around her--raw and wild, not controlled like the Lilitu, but still formidable. The rubble at her feet trembled. Her silhouette stretched unnaturally tall, shadows pulling toward her like roots drawn to water.

"Oh, shit." I heard Hallutush mumble. "You pissed her off."

The ground cracked beneath her as she launched forward, faster than I expected.

She didn't come at me directly. She feinted toward Hallutush, her remaining claw slashing wide with surprising precision. He ducked under it, barely deflecting with his blade, the impact of their weapons sending sparks through the air.

I moved to flank her, but Kiri was already spinning. A blast of magical power erupted from her chest in a wave of concussive force, knocking Hallutush back and staggering me enough that she was on me in a heartbeat.

Claw met Adamantine as I blocked the blow. Her strength was immense, the raw brutality of a creature unshaped by discipline. I twisted, ducked under a swipe that would've gutted me, and carved a deep gash along her side.

She hissed, blood spraying, burning the floor where it landed, but she didn't slow.

Hallutush surged back into the fray, holy runes on his blade flaring with light as he swung at her from behind. Kiri turned too late, and his sword sliced into her back, staggering her forward into my range.

Shadow Fang flashed, opening a diagonal wound in her chest, before I sent her flying with a hard kick. She landed and rolled a few times, before she got to her feet on the road outside the ruined building.

She screamed with anger and frustration. Smoke rose from her wounds. Her body flickered, unstable, like she might change form.

Getting her anger under control, she uttered a Word of Power, clearly aimed at us, but the result was spectacular in another way than she had imagined.

The sigils around the ruined house, broken and faded, had still held a tenuous resonance. A boundary around an area where magic still ruled. Outside them, in the open air, that was not the case.

The backlash hit her like a coiled beast, a feedback surge of raw, unfiltered magic. Her body seized mid-gesture, her mouth frozen open in a silent scream. A sickly, violet-white light that pulsed with wrongness burst from her eyes and veins. Her flesh warped, the remaining stump of her arm crackled with flame and bone, and her form twisted in ways it shouldn't have.

Then she exploded as her unstable energy was flung outward in a chaotic ring of dust, screaming wind, and spiralling shadow.

Still inside the ruins where magic worked, I quickly raised a shield of Ars Mentalis, protecting myself and Hallutush, as debris and power slammed against us, followed by a wave of positive Vis.

And then, silence.

Where she had stood, the road was scorched black. A deep crater smoked at its center, stones melted to slag around it.

There was a sigh from the rumble as the sigils that had held the ruin finally gave up and as we watched, the blood red runes slowly faded, their magic dispersing into the air.

The darkness of the ruin changed from suffocating to ordinary darkness and suddenly we could see the ring of Royal Guards holding torches as they surrounded the house.

I doubted they had been able to see the fight against the Lilitu, but the awe on their faces told me that they at the very least had seen the fight against Kiri. Fortunately, their awe was aimed at Hallutush and not me.

Behind the guard, the two young nobles, Shutur-Napir and Atta-Merra were watching us open-mouthed, as if they didn't believe their own eyes, and next to them was Tirutar-ina the Scribe, watching the scene, looking like she was trying to memorize every detail.

Hallutush got to his feet with a groan. "If you ever suggest that we go hunt for Black Magic users again, remind me to just say no and send in the army instead."

Looking over at him, I grinned. "Only if you remember to take two sacks of blessed salt along next time." I studied him for a moment. "You need healing. Your ribs are broken."

"I know." He simply said and sheathed the sword before slowly walking towards his men. "But I need to report this to the king as soon as possible."

I stepped up beside him, catching his arm before he moved too far. My voice was low, quiet enough not to carry past the guards and nobles watching us.

"Hallutush," I said, my tone suddenly far more serious than before. "Be careful what you report."

He turned, brow furrowed beneath the grime and blood on his face. "You mean the Lilitu?"

Glancing over at the men and the scribe behind them, I shook my head. "No, that's going to be impossible to keep secret. Just tone it down a lot. Tell the king that Arwia and her daughter were corrupted by a powerful demon, and that the eatery was destroyed in the conflict." I paused for a moment and then added. "The King went to war to enhance his reputation. He won't like someone else getting glory."

Blinking a few times, Hallutush nodded slightly. "You might be right about that, but it's not going to be easy to talk down." He glanced at his men and then back at me. "And you're not a normal Asipu, my friend. What are you really?"

"Later." I said in a low voice, nodding towards the approaching guards.

"Deal." He whispered back, and a moment later, the guards surrounded him and he was quickly placed on a shield to be carried by Tiglath.

"See you in a few days, Zabu." He smiled at me and then pointed at a small group of guards. "You three. Make sure that Zabu gets home safely."

"Yes, sir." They saluted and turned towards me. "Let's go."

I nodded and started to walk, giving Hallutush a small wave.

------------------

Once home, the guards returned towards the palace and I did some cleaning up, before I walked into the room where the four women were. As it had been when I left, only Merit and Tutu were awake.

"I would like to ask how it went," said Merit with a slight smile as I entered the room. "But you look relieved, so I guess it went well."

"Yes, the problem is solved and despite getting a few blows, both Hallutush and I are in good health." I told her, as I walked over to check on Cassia and Agusaya. Both were still weak and sleeping, but at least they were alive.

"Are they going to be fine?" Asked Tutu worried. "I thought that they would be awake by now."

"The Etemmu drained them of most of their lifeforce." I explained. "It's going to take a while before they're back to full health." Stretching, I felt my ribs ache. "I need to get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sleep well." They both greeted me as I walked out of the door and up the stairs to get some much-needed sleep.

The next day started peacefully, as I made my round with the patients in peace and quiet... At least until I got back into the kitchen, where I met Merit, who had just gotten home from the market.

"Master Zabu, what did you and Hallutush do last night?" She asked, looking bewildered. "I just passed Arwia's eatery on the way to the market and it was in ruins, looking burnt and surrounded by Royal Guards!"

Blinking a few times, I realized that I had been so tired last night, that I hadn't told them what had happened.

"The kassaptu (Akkadian: Witch) we were looking for turned out to be Arwia and her daughter." I explained. "When we went in there to stop it, she turned into a demon and in the ensuing fight, the eatery was destroyed." She looked like she was about to ask something, so I held up a hand. "Just leave it at that, Merit. Hallutush and I survived and the threat is gone."

"I will, but the rumours in the city are going wild." She told me. "At least four people swore that they had seen a fight between a terrible demon and two protective spirits." Her lips parted in a smile. "Did you show your true form again?"

I stifled a chuckle at the coincidence. Kherta had convinced Merit, despite the latter not being a Kemetian, that I was an avatar of the Lion-headed, knife-wielding god Maahes, currently looking like a human, but able to change back when it was needed. As strange as I felt the thought was, it was the exact same scenario I had used against the Lilitu.

"Well, I doubt they could see much. It was rather dark after all."

Merit stood frozen for a moment, her eyes searching my face. "You're not joking."

"Trust me, that fight wasn't a laughing matter." I grimaced. "But at least we won and the city should be safer now."

"Good..." She looked like she was about to say some more, when there was a knock on the door.

I went to open it and found a messenger outside, carrying a note. "Here, Master. From your wife."

With a nod I took the note, smiling a little as I noticed that it was written in Kemetian and read it.

Greetings Zabu.

The sickness I'm treating is still here, so I cannot leave. However, last night something strange happened, as several people in the household died. No wounds, no struggle, just dead. The guards fear Black Magic and I'm not far from agreeing with them. Do you think this could be connected to the Etemmu?

In any event take care. I hope to be back soon.

Kherta.

The messenger saw me looking up and asked. "Any return message?"

I nodded. "Wait here a moment."

There was no way I could describe last night's events in a short message. Especially not one other people could read, some of the sages could read Kemetian after all, but after thinking it over I quickly wrote.

'Dear Kherta.

A Child of Set was defeated last night, but during the fight it sucked the Ka out of its followers, and that might be the cause of the people's death. Please wear the Eye of Horus, while you're out. I hope you return soon.

Zabu."

Then I walked back to the messenger and handed him the note. "Here. Please return this to my wife."

"Very well, sir." Said the man and walked away.

Shaking my head slightly, I walked back inside. No matter how powerful a demon was, it could not simply drain the life from random people. To do that, those people had to make some sort of deal with the demon, becoming its follower in return for something. Even worse, if the demon had managed to get followers among the noble houses, there was no telling how many people had died during the night, and what the consequences of that was going to be.

All in all, the next few days would be exciting.

----------------------------------

It took two days before Hallutush came to visit. I took one look as his pain-ridden face and ordered him into one of the examination rooms.

"I'm fine, Zabu." He protested. "The Guards healer has bandaged it. Now it just needs time to heal."

"Don't be a fool, Hallutush." Said Merit with a slight smile. "Zabu is a lot better." She batted her eyelids at him. "And I don't like seeing you in pain."

Reluctantly, Hallutush did as I asked, peeling off his tunic with a wince before settling bare-chested onto the edge of the bed. He sat stiffly, every motion deliberate and tight with pain. I moved behind him and carefully began to unwind the healer's bandage.

His back looked like a map of bruises and swelling, deep purple and sickly yellow blotches spreading from his shoulder blades down to his lower spine. The skin was tight in some places, stretched over angry, raised welts where he'd hit the wall hardest. A few scratches had scabbed over, but the real damage was beneath the surface. Deep bruises that made every breath or shift of movement painful.

Behind me, Merit gasped but said nothing, her silence almost echoing in the room as I reached for my needles. I selected the points with care, sliding each one into place with practiced precision. A small pulse of Vis activated them, and almost immediately, Hallutush's body eased. His shoulders dropped. He drew in a long, slow breath. His first painless breath, I suspected, since the battle.

The tissue damage, while severe, was straightforward to mend compared to nerve or bone trauma. I closed my eyes and channelled Vis into him, guiding the energy to knit torn muscle, ease swelling, and realign what had twisted out of place.

I kept it up for a long time and when I opened my eyes again, his back looked a lot better. The bruises had mellowed into dull yellows and pale browns, the last stage before disappearing entirely. Most of the swelling was gone, though a few tense muscles would still be touchy, stiff and sore beneath the skin. The scabs had fallen away, replaced by thin, pink lines where abrasions had once bled.

It was far more than I would normally do, but Hallutush deserved it and after our fight with the demon and everything else that had happened that night, he was aware of at least some of my powers.

"You did more than usual," Merit murmured softly.

"He needed more than usual," I replied, as I carefully removed the needles. "Why didn't you come to me before, Hallutush?"

Hallutush took a breath, this one lighter. "I've been very, very busy, dealing with the court." He paused. "What I tell you now is a secret. It simply cannot leave this room... not yet at least."

Both Merit and I promised to keep silent and with a sigh he continued. "The court is in chaos. Both King Kidin-Hutran and the First Queen mysteriously died the same night we fought the demon. To make it even worse, the Royal Healer discovered that the Queen was pregnant when it happened, but the child died with her. Aside from that, several noble houses are being devastated by a contagious disease and the Commander of the Army has quietly marched his troops out of the city to save it."

I blinked a few times, as my mind raced. That both the King and First Queen died during our combat, could only mean that they had made some sort of pact with the demon. Most likely to get an heir to the throne.

Tragic as it was, I was more worried about the sickness. If the Commander of the Army had judged that it was bad enough to take the army away from the city it would be very bad indeed and the servants from the noble house affected would carry the sickness into the city, devastating it.

Hallutush turned to look at me. "How good are you at healing contagious illnesses?"

"Not that good." I said with a slight sigh. "I'm a lot better with combat wounds, but I think I know why the King and Queen died."

Hallutush widened his eyes in surprise. "Right. Do tell."

"Right before the Lilitu took her true form, she had an influx of dark energy from the outside... Lots of it and she can only take that energy from her followers or people who had made a pact with her." I explained. "There's a supernatural reason why the Queen was finally pregnant after all these years."

"By the Gods." Exclaimed Hallutush, shaking his head and fell silent, as if he had killed both the Queen and the unborn heir to the throne himself.

"Hallutush." I said, causing him to look at me. "Before you go into grieving, consider this. You met Lilitu, heard her speak and felt her evil. She would never be satisfied by just using ancient magic to ensure the King got an heir. She did say that the city was hers and having the Queen giving birth to a half demon heir would certainly ensure that." I paused to give it time to sink in and then continued. "In time, Susen and all of Elam would come under the rule of a half-demon king, creating untold pain and suffering to the people. You took an oath to protect the Haltamti... trust me, that oath has not been broken by this... quite the opposite."

He looked at me with sad eyes. "Can we be sure about that?"

"As much as we can be sure of anything." I snorted. "The daughter was a half demon... How would you have liked her as your Queen"

A shiver ran through him. "Not in this life... or any life for that matter."

"Exactly." I thought for a moment. "You said that the court is in shambles. I guess that power plays have started?"

He nodded. "Yes, but it's difficult to make power plays for the throne, when your allies are sick. The illness has so far prevented open hostilities."

Merit leaned forward, her voice barely above a whisper. "What kind of sickness are we talking about?"

His face darkened. "A bad one. High fever. Red, angry blisters breaking out across the face and chest. And now, people are starting to die.

A chill ran through me. There were only a few illnesses with these symptoms and all of them were bad news. The worst of them, known as Red Pox, took about two weeks to develop, but then a rash started, developed into blisters which would grow and spread over the next week. After a couple of horrible weeks more, about half of those affected would die and the survivors would be heavily scared.

What made this kind of disease horrible was how slow acting it was. It took up to two weeks from when a person was infected until he or she became ill, and another two to three weeks as the active part of the disease ravaged the body. Plenty of time to spread the disease to other people.

With a sigh, I realized that the slowness of the sickness was most likely why Kherta hadn't returned yet.

The only redeeming factor about that type of pox, was that if you had survived it once, you were almost immune to further attack. While that sounded like a small detail, the implication was huge. The Red Pox might be the deadliest of them, but there were several versions that were a lot less dangerous, especially one who attacked cows.

Unlike the Red Pox version, Cowpox didn't kill the cow and was a fairly common occurrence anywhere they had cattle. It also didn't affect the milk in any way, so even those animals were milked, often giving those who milked them blisters on their hand. Which might be painful for a few weeks, but rarely deadly. As a bonus, once the blisters had healed, the affected were immune to all poxes from then on. Including the otherwise deadly Red Pox.

The Kemetian physicians, healers and priests had observed this for centuries and most acolytes, which fortunately included Kherta (Neferure), had been exposed to the cow versions during their first years of training. A small price for a lifetime of protection.

I hesitated. "Have you ever had blisters on your hands? From milking cows?"

She nodded with a shrug. "Yes, but that was a long time ago. Tutu had it as well."

To my surprise, Hallutush nodded. "The same."

"You have been milking cows?" Merit asked surprised.

Hallatush blushed a little. "When I was six or so, I accidentally smashed a small barrel of milk. As a punishment, my father ordered me to fill another barrel... by myself and from the herd. Took me most of two days and cost me a handful of blisters about a week later."

That made both me and Merit laugh, and for a heartbeat, the heaviness in the room lifted.

"Why do you ask?" smiled Hallutush. "I assume it's related to the sickness, but I can't see how."

"Because the two illnesses are almost the same and if you have had one of them, even the milder cowpox, you're almost immune to being infected again."

"Like one of those illnesses children get and then never have again?" Merit asked.

"Exactly like that." I looked at Hallutush. "Be grateful for that punishment. It'll most likely save your life soon... but you better isolate those of your family that haven't had it. This illness will spread like wildfire."

Merits's eyes widened slightly. "We need to warn the city!"

"No!" Said Hallutush and I in chorus, making Merit blink in surprise. "What? Why not?"

Hallutush's voice was steady, but grim. "If we warn the city, many will flee, spreading the pox to villages and towns in the rest of Elam, killing even more people there. We need to close the gates and stop boats from leaving the harbour."

I nodded in agreement. Though harsh, it was common practice during an outbreak of a contagious disease, though it could only be done in the walled cities like Susen. In open cities like Pi-Ramesses it was simply impossible.

"If or when this spreads into the city," I said slowly, "the granaries will have to be opened, or you'll have hunger riots on top of a sickness."

As a result of several wars, Susen had large granaries that could be opened to feed the population in case of siege or famine.

Hallutush closed his eyes for a moment, then exhaled slowly. "I know. But with the King dead, only someone from the Royal Court can issue that order. I'll try to convince them." He looked at me and smiled. "You still owe me an explanation, Zabu. You're not just a Asipu, no matter what you say. No ordinary Asipu fights like that or suddenly has the head of a lion!"

Merit smiled and looked at me. "So, you did show your true form!"

"Hush, woman." I told her, which just made her smile wider. I turned towards Hallutush. "The lions head was an Illusion, made to convince Lilitu that I was really an avatar of the Kemetian God Maahes. I needed her to slow down, so you could get up."

Illusions were traditionally a part of what White Magic users could do according to the local tales and it felt good telling the truth.

Hallutush looked at me for a long moment, his face expressionless. Then he nodded and stood so he could dress again, buckling his belt with practiced speed. "I have to return to the palace. If I can get permission to close the gates, that's the first step. Anything else I should know?"

"Give the sick water," I said quietly. "With honey and a little salt. It's not a cure, but it might help them hold on."

Hallutush paused, met my eyes, and nodded.

I suddenly remembered one more important thing. "I have one last thing that is extremely important. Do not touch the late king's sword... You told me how good it was, and it sounds too good to be true, like a very good sword that has been cursed by a demon."

Instead of looking surprised, Hallutush thought for a moment and nodded slowly. "You might be right and I will not touch it." He gave me a quick smile. "While we're talking swords... When do you want the holy sword back? Now?"

I shook my head. "No, keep it as long as this trouble is still brewing. It's just as sharp and durable as Kidin-Hutran's and if the power plays of the noble houses turn violent, you'll need it."

"Thank you again, Zabu," he said, voice low but sincere.

Then, to my surprise, he gave Merit a quick kiss on the cheek and walked out.

Merit looked after him with a stunned expression in her face, making me laugh softly.

With a deep breath she looked at me. "Please stop laughing, Zabu. This is not a good time to be the Captain of the Royal Guard... and he's too responsible for his own good."

I nodded. Hallutush would do what was best for the city, now that the king was gone, and that might make him a target for other nobles' power plays. "I know but have faith in him. He's better at politics than you think."

Exhaling, she nodded and changed the subject. "How do we prepare for this, Zabu? That honey-salt mix you told Hallutush about is just what we usually give to patients with burning fever."

"It's the same." I confirmed. "My healing will help somewhat, but there's a limit to the energy I can expend without killing myself and without Kherta here, recharging takes a long time."

She tilted her head as she looked at me. "Do you need a Priestess of Bastet to grant you power?"

That made me laugh. "Sorry, Merit." I forced myself to stop laughing. "No, I don't. At least not under normal circumstances but being with a woman who likes it does give me the blessing of Bastet and thus energy... and no, you cannot be part of that. You're too much in love with Hallutush for that to ever work."

She opened and closed her mouth a few times, obviously wanting to object, but seeing the truthfulness in what I was saying.

"Stop worrying about it, Merit." I said gently. "I can handle the work. For now, we need salt and honey. I have honey in the warehouse, but I need you to go to the market and buy salt."

"Wouldn't it be better if you did that?" She asked. "You can buy more of it at the same time."

Shaking my head, I explained. "I can, but people will wonder why I'm buying all that salt. You can buy enough to salt meat and the like without anyone noticing. I'll send Tutu out to do the same tomorrow, while I get some food for storage. That should be enough."

"Yes, Master Zabu."

------------------------------------------

Quiet before the storm

The city of Susen, Haltamti (Susa, Elam, present day Southern Iran), 1203 BC

Days went by without any sign of the sickness, but I still feared the worst, so I bought several large sails down at the harbour and had my people from the warehouse set them up over the courtyard behind the house, creating a shaded area beneath it that went all the way from the house to the henhouse at the other end. It was still hotter than I would have liked, but there was nothing I could do about that.

I also bought a lot of flour, dried figs and dates, nuts, dried meat and fish and hard cheese. All foods that could be kept for a long time, even in the heat of the summer, and we usually had them in the pantry anyway, though I had bought so much that it not only filled the entire pantry, but also half the kitchen.

The peaceful days also gave Cassia and Agusaya time to get back on their feet. The recovery took time but was rather uncomplicated. On the positive side, the delay had allowed the shoemaker to finish the shoes I had ordered for them the day I had bought them, finishing their outfits, so they could move around both inside and outside. Bare feet or thin shoes were enough inside, but on the sun-baked stones outside, thicker soles was a necessity.

As always during heat waves, I spent most of my free time in the garden room in the middle of the house, taking advantage of the coolness brought on by the tall structure that allowed the heat to rise and cooler air to flow in from the outside.

The linen covered wooden chairs of the room were also one of the best places to sit and relax, which was exactly what I was doing, idly sketching a scene from the market.

"Here you go, Master." I heard Tutu's soft voice say. "Your evening brew."

"Thank you, Tutu." I said and looked up as she placed the cup on the table next to me, bowing to do so. Then I widened my eyes as I discovered that she was dressed only in a flimsy cotton dress that clung to her body in all the right places due to her sweating from the heat, making it obvious that she was naked underneath.

I enjoyed the tempting sight of her well-shaped buttocks and full breasts for a few heartbeats, suddenly feeling lust from her. Letting my eyes glide over her body to her face, I discovered that she had frozen in place while looking at me. Lust burning within her warm brown eyes.

"I hope you like what you see, Zabu." She whispered with a little smile and straightened, making her perky breasts strain against the thin material of the dress, showing the stiff nipples.

"Oh, I do." I said as I could feel my dick harden. "I'm just not sure it's a good idea."

"Why not?" She asked simply and started to unbutton her dress, making me watch in silent fascination as more and more of her smooth skin was revealed. "I want you."

It was so unexpected, that it almost seemed like a dream, making me hesitate for a moment. Long enough for her to open the last button and letting the dress fall to the floor, revealing a body that was just as gorgeous as her face with large perky breasts, a slim waist, wide hips and long legs. She was also as clean-shaven as a Kemetian, and I guessed that Kherta had something to do with that.

"Don't get me wrong," I murmured, taking the sight in. "You're extremely beautiful and tempting, I just want to make sure you mean it."

"Kherta told me that you can feel lust." She countered. "Doesn't this feel real?"

"Kherta talks too much." I mumbled, feeling the lust boiling inside her. For some strange reason it felt familiar. Then again, it had been more than a week since Kherta and I had shared pleasure, and I could feel the need inside myself as well.

I was also quite aware that lying would get me nowhere. Dressed only in a loincloth due to the heat, my erection was obvious for all to see.

With a giggle, she went down on her knees in front of me, placing her hands on the loin cloth. A quick move pushed the cloth aside, making my dick spring forth as it was freed.

"Well, at least your body isn't in doubt." She said, running her hand up and down the shaft, gently caressing it. "Now, stay still and enjoy this."

A shiver went through me, as she closed her lips around my dick and stroked it a few times, before bending her head and taking the tip into her mouth, soft wet lips sliding over the sensitive skin, tongue swirling.

There was a giggle from her as I groaned and rested my head against the back of the chair, enjoying the treatment I was given.

It was also quite surprising. Tutu had been with me since she was a young girl and as far as I knew, she was still a virgin. Not that virgin meant that she was without knowledge, as I was sure that Kherta, as a Priestess of Bastet, had explained the finer techniques of sharing pleasure to both sisters. Knowledge she used to good effect now as the slow, sensual oral pleasure she was giving me, sent tingles through my body.

The odour of aroused woman spread in the room, mixing pleasantly with the scent from the plants and flowers. Tutu shivered as she bobbed her head on my dick, one hand on the shaft and the other between her own legs, playing with herself as she pleasured me, giving off small sounds of enjoyment.

Even as her breathing grew heavier and the movements of the hand between her legs became faster, more urgent, the movements of her head and mouth didn't falter. Instead, she held her hand still near the base of my cock, drawing the foreskin back to expose the head, and took the head into her mouth, tightening her full lips around the head and letting her tongue play until she pulled back again. Then she repeated it again. And again. And again. Moaning blissfully around my cock.

The slow, steady rhythm was not enough to make me come, but that wasn't her intention either. She enjoyed the feeling of having me in her mouth, pleasuring me while she pleasured herself.

The moaning turned into groans and then Tutu stopped pleasuring me, resting her head on my thigh instead as she came in a surprisingly restrained orgasm, shivering all over, while I stroked her hair, lust and desire roaring within me.

Tutu smiled and looked up at me. "That was a good start."

"Start?" I chuckled.

"Yes, start." She told me firmly and stood, giving me another chance to admire her body. Then she moved forward, placing a knee on each side of me.

"Now for the rest of it." She smiled and leaned forward, pressing her breasts against my face.

Deciding that Tutu was a grown woman that could make her own decisions, I opened my mouth and caught a sharp nipple between my lips, flicking the tip of my tongue over it.

Tutu gasped, but at the same time I felt her hand take my cock and aim it upwards, the head encountering the warm and wet lips of her pussy.

She rubbed the head against the lips a few times but found the right place as it came to rest at the entrance to her pussy.

Moving her hands to my head, she gently but surely forced it backwards, making me release the nipple, and kissed me. Her full lips were firm and soft at the same time, as she pressed them against my mouth, mouth slightly open and her tongue seeking mine. It was a kiss filled with passion and lust, sending tendrils of pleasure through my body.

Almost as if driven by their own will, her hips rocked slightly as we kissed, rubbing the head of my dick against her pussy, making both of us groan.

Tutu broke the kiss after a while but held on to my head. Her warm brown eyes locked with mine as she let her weight go and impaled herself on my cock, her pussy being so wet, that she just slid down until her ass was resting on my thighs.

With a gasp she sat still, small shivers running through her body as she straightened her back. "Shit, this feels awesome!"

"Agreed," I groaned. "But I didn't expect this from a virgin."

For a moment, she sat still but then giggled. "I'm not a virgin... You took care of that weeks ago."

I blinked a few times, feeling stupid as I realized the 'Khet' that I had sex with as a part of Kherta's prayer to Bastet, was actually Tutu.... Which had to be the reason why she felt so familiar.

The expression on my face made the giggle turn into a soft laughter. "You clearly didn't know that."

I shrugged slightly. "Kherta asked me not to pry or think about it, so I haven't really thought about it... not that I've had too much time to think these last weeks." I sent her a smile. "At least it seemed like you had a good first time."

The muscles of her pussy clenched my dick as she leaned forward to give me a short kiss. "I had a fantastic first time. Even better than I have dreamed about the times I have pleasured myself while listening to you and Kherta sharing pleasure." She sent me a dazzling smile and started to rock her hips back and forth, making my dick move inside her. "This is going to be even better. I was... " She shivered as a slight increase in the movement of her hips made my dick slide in and out of her. "... very nervous that evening." She gasped as she pressed down again, making my dick hit the very bottom of her pussy. "Today, I'm just incredibly horny."

That made me smile. "I have no complaints. This feels fantastic."

"Yes, it does." She moaned and began grinding her hips, sliding herself back and forth on my lap, while her inner muscles twisted around my dick with every move.

Reaching up, I caught her swaying breasts with my hands, squeezing them, playing with her hard nipples, tweaking them enough to pull cries of pleasure from her.

With a moan, she clasped her hands over mine, holding them there as she rotated her tight pussy around my dick, eyes closed and an expression of pure pleasure on her face.

Her hips quivered, as she moved, making her tight pussy tremble. From time to time, her inner muscles would clamp down ever tighter for a few heartbeats before they relaxed only to clamp down again. It became even better when the increasing pleasure caused her hips to flex and jerk.

"Grab the back of the chair." I groaned. "Makes it easier."

Letting go of my hands, she placed her hands on the wood behind me and widened her eyes as the leverage made moving up and down a lot easier.

"Oh yes!" She groaned and began slowly lifting until I was nearly out of her before pushing my shaft as deep into her pussy as it could go. A shiver ran through her as she sat still for a few heartbeats, her inner muscles rippled on my dick, and I could feel them caressing my shaft from every angle. Then she lifted off again, repeating the pattern.

It felt heavenly and I was savouring every moment of it, as Tutu found a rhythm that worked for her. It worked fine for me as well, as her wet pussy spasmed around my cock with every move, and the feel of her breasts in my hands just added to that feeling.

Tutu continued like that for a while, but eventually she picked up the speed as her orgasm approached, her pussy tightened around me even more and she began to slam down on me harder as her body shook.

The feeling was mutual. She felt wonderful around me and there was no way I would last for long if she kept going like that.

Tutu moaned when I warned her, but didn't slow down.

Instead, she hissed "I'm coming!" through clenched teeth and slammed down a few times more, before she softly cried as the orgasm overtook her, making her shake all over and her pussy ripple as it clamped down on my dick, the sensation making me groan.

I was as close to coming as was possible without actually doing it and the feeling was both fantastic and frustrating.

With a giggle, Tutu returned her hands to my head, kissing me with passion, before she said. "Goddess, that was good!" She smiled. "And hard. I'm sweating all over."

"Sharing pleasure in this heat will do that." I agreed.

She gave me another kiss. "Last time, I wasn't allowed to say or do much. I hope you're fine with me taking some decisions this time."

I blinked a few times and chuckled. "Tutu, you're sitting on top of me with my dick as far inside you as it can possibly go. My hands are fondling your amazing breasts and you have me on the edge of an orgasm. Do you really think I'll say no to that?"

"You might have a point." Tutu laughed and raised her voice slightly. "Bring the towels."

There's rarely total privacy anywhere, but I was still astonished, when Cassia and Agusaya walked into the garden, carrying what looked like damp towels.

The two former harem slaves must have seen scenes like this before, because there were no blushes or hesitation, as they used the damp towels to remove the sweat on our bodies, especially Tutu since she had done most of the work.

I couldn't complain. Not only did the damp towel feel wonderfully cool against my skin, but the rubdown they gave Tutu transmitted through her body, making her move on my dick, which caused us both to groan.

Agusaya whispered something into Tutu's ear that caused the naked woman to nod and look at me. "You said you were close to coming?"

"Not as close now as I was when you came, but close enough." I answered, wondering what they were up to.

"Good enough." She chuckled and grabbed the back of the chair again. "I want to feel you coming inside me."

She had clearly found a second wind, because when she started up again, it was at a faster pace than before. A pace obviously aimed at making me come.

However, while Cassia walked out of the room again, Agusaya kneeled on the floor next to the chair and reached between us to rub Tutu's love-pearl.

"Uhhhh!" moaned Tutu and shivered all over, never stopping her movements. I found her breasts again, fondling them happily, as she bent down for a long kiss.

It didn't take her long to get me close to coming again and I could feel the pressure build inside me, when Tuto suddenly stiffened and then screamed into my mouth as the orgasm rippled through her, making her thrash on top of me.

The feeling triggered my own orgasm. It felt like it started all the way down in the toes, moved upward until it reached my balls and I exploded in her contracting pussy with a moan, setting her off once more. It was one of the best orgasms I've had in a while and when it was over, my ears were ringing from the intensity.

With a gasp, Tutu collapsed on top of me, laying still for a moment, before she raised her head with a soft laugh. "Zabu, had I known that sharing pleasure with you was this good, I would have walked into your bedroom years ago."

"Years ago, I would have kicked you out." I told her with a chuckle. "I like women, not girls."

"True." She gave me another kiss, "But seriously, I hope we can do this again even when Kherta returns."

I snorted. "Don't tell me that you haven't shared pleasure with Kherta. I've heard the sounds from time to time." She smiled, but didn't comment on it, so I continued. "Bastet encourages pleasure in all its forms, as long as nobody is hurt, so she'll be more than happy."

"Good." She smiled and stood, looking surprised as our combined juices ran down her legs. With a slight shrug, she snatched one of the towels left behind by Cassia and Agusaya and used it to clean herself.

Looking around, I realized that I hadn't even noticed Agusaya leaving. Then again, it was difficult to focus on anything else when a beautiful, well-shaped and horny woman was doing her best to make you come.

"Zabu." Tutu said, making me focus on her again. "Merit told me about the sickness. If it strikes here, I will provide you with the energy of the Blessing of Bastet instead of Kherta. I hope it'll be enough."

That brought me back to reality faster than a slap in the face.

"It'll have to be." I said with a sigh.

With a smile, Tutu leaned forward and kissed me. "Otherwise, I have a plan, but that'll have to wait until it's needed."

Still kissing her, I stood and then lifted her up, carrying her the few steps to the bed. "That might be so, but we're not done here yet."

She lit up in a smile. "Good."

------------------

The heatwave didn't last long. A few days later, the direction of the wind changed, bringing a light breeze of cold mountain air, making the summer heat bearable again

Through this, hurt and sick people kept showing up at our door but it was usually ordinary cases, until one morning, when a vaguely familiar father brought his son to me. He was carrying the son in his arms, covered by a blanket, and it wasn't until I got them into the examination room and had them sit down, I could remove the blanket to see the child.

Chills ran through me. His once-warm, bronze-toned skin had turned a pale, sallow hue, mottled by hundreds of raised pustules--angry, round, and rimmed with red. They swelled across his cheeks and brow, clustered like a map of wounds. His eyelids were half-shut, crusted with discharge, lashes clumped together as if bound by sorrow. One eye fluttered open when I examined him. Just one. It was bloodshot and wild, the spark behind it barely holding.

His lips had split from the heat of the fever, and when he tried to speak, only a dry rasp came--a whisper of thirst, of confusion, of pain. His breathing was shallow, chest rising in quick, uneven gasps.

Yet even in his agony, his hand clutched a carved wooden toy. A hound. Faded, worn smooth with love. When I reached to lift the cloth beneath him, his grip tightened. He wouldn't let it go.

The Rex Pox had shown its face and it was just as ugly as I had feared.

Looking at the father, I asked. "When did he fall ill?"

"Six days ago." Said the father with a sigh. "We took him to the temples, but they couldn't help him despite all the offerings we gave."

"What is his name?"

"Samru," he said, and his voice broke for the first time. "I hope to the gods you can help."

"I'll try," I said gently. "But you must stay away from him now. You can't help him like this--and if you touch him, you may fall ill too." I stood. "I'll get something for him to drink."

Widening his eyes, he left the child and walked the few steps to a chair and sat down, his eyes burning with sadness as he looked at his son.

I sighed as I walked into the kitchen, where Merit was cooking something. She looked up with a smile that disappeared when she discovered my facial expression. "What's happening?"

"We have a child with Red Pox." I told her calmly. "I need you to make the salt, honey and water solution we've talked about."

Looking pale, but collected, she nodded. "I will. Anything else?

"Keep Agusaya away for now but send Cassia out to help me. She should be almost immune to this, just as you and Tutu."

I sent a silent thanks to the Goddess of Luck. That both Tutu and Merit have had the pox from cows would be enormously helpful in the next month or so.

She nodded again and poured hot water in a cup. "How much salt and honey?"

I showed her and then took the brew with me back to the examination room.

----------------------

The patient area was filled before noon the next day, forcing us to use the courtyard behind the house to accommodate the overflow, making me grateful that we had prepared for exactly that.

It only took a few days, before that too was starting to fill up.

Children whimpered. Mothers murmured prayers. One man tried to offer me a carved onyx brooch in exchange for healing, but his hands trembled too violently to hold it steady.

"Put it away," I told him gently, guiding him to sit. "Your breath is worth more than that stone."

At first, I moved with calm precision--examining, categorizing, dividing the afflicted. But as the sun climbed higher, the enormity of what we were facing bore down on me like a millstone.

By early afternoon, there were more than a hundred cases. At least twenty with the full red pustules, clustered like angry coins across faces, torsos, and limbs. Some were early enough that the blisters hadn't fully formed yet.

Vis buzzed under my skin, an ever-thinning thread I dared not snap. I had to ration it carefully, weaving it only into the most vulnerable--the children, the pregnant, the ones with fevers high enough to steal their breath in sleep.

"Cassia!" I called, wiping sweat from my brow. "We need more of the honey-salt water--three large bowls. And check if Tutu has started boiling the linen wrappings."

Cassia nodded, her face grim and pale, then disappeared into the kitchen.

A coughing fit erupted behind me. I turned to find an old woman doubled over, her back shaking, her lips stained with flecks of blood.

"Easy," I said, kneeling beside her. "Here, breathe slowly... like this." I placed her hand on her chest and guided her through the rhythm, giving her a burst of Vis to help it along.

Giving me a wordless thanks, she leaned against the wall, and I continued as even the courtyard was filling up.

Soon, we would need to seal the area. Close the gates. Lock the sick inside and keep the city out.

The thought made my stomach twist, and I resolved not to let that happen if I could avoid it.

As I stood, a child tugged at the hem of my robe--a girl, no older than five, with dark curls and hollow cheeks. "Healer?" she said. "My brother can't breathe."

"Show me," I whispered, and followed her between two rows of cots, ducking under a hanging cloth.

The boy lay on a low mat, eyes glassy, skin flushed and blistered. His chest barely moved.

I dropped to my knees and reached for him, gathering the Vis, pushing it gently into his chest, urging his lungs to expand.

He wheezed, a thin, wet gasp, and then another.

Still with us. For now.

"Merit!" I called. "Mark this one. He'll need another boost in three hours!"

"Yes, Zabu." I heard Merit answer in a tired voice from somewhere behind me.

Another cry rose up from the far end of the courtyard. More people had arrived.

I stood, adjusted my sleeves, and moved again. My back and legs ached, but there was no room for fatigue. Not today.

"Do we have enough food?" I asked Merit later when we met in the kitchen.

She snorted tiredly. "In abundance. Most use it as payment so the cupboard is filled."

"Good." I sat down in the chair, feeling the tiredness in my bones. We were going to need that food, when the farmers stopped coming to the city with their goods out of fear of catching the Red Pox. I hoped to the Goddesses that Hallutush succeeded in persuading someone to have the granaries opened before people started to riot or die from hunger.

"Merit, tomorrow I need you to find at least six people, who have had the blisters from contact with cows. Ask those who stay to help with the sick. I will hire them to help us... otherwise we're going to work ourselves to death."

"Yes, sir." She said with a tired nod. "I've already seen several women with scars on their hands. They were all healthy."

"Good." I yawned. "Last thing: I want everybody to move to the second store. This is not going to go over fast, and we'll need the rooms downstairs for patients. I think we can put four in each room."

"Yes, they're big enough for that." Merit agreed. "So where do we sleep?"

"You can move into Kherta's study along with one more. The two others can sleep in my bed. It's the only one big enough for three."

She nodded again. "I'll arrange that tomorrow..." She tilted her head as she looked at me. "You look pale. You need to eat and sleep."

"In a moment. I need to get out of this." I answered, gesturing at my soiled garments as I

stood slowly. My robe clung to me, stiff with sweat and worse, the sleeves crusted with dried blood and salve.

Merit didn't say anything more, just watched me with that sharp, steady gaze of hers as I stripped the robe off and placed it in the wicker basket by the door, before I turned to the small water basin. The water was cool, almost jarring, as I splashed it over my arms and face.

"I'll bring your food to the bedroom." Merit stated.

Getting the hint, I walked towards the bedroom, dressed only in a loincloth, feeling the tiredness in my body with every step.

The hallway was dim, the flickering lamp light painting long shadows on the clay walls. I was halfway to the door when I heard a soft intake of breath from the corridor's end.

Agusaya stood there, halfway through carrying a stack of folded linens. Her arms were full, but her slanted eyes were not on the linens--they were on me.

She blinked, clearly caught between decorum and something else. Her cheeks darkened, not quite embarrassment, something warmer, deeper.

"I.... uh... sorry," she said quickly, lowering her gaze though not quite turning away. "I didn't mean to... I was just..." She looked at the linens like she'd forgotten they were in her hands.

"It's alright," I said, trying not to chuckle.

"I should put these away." She turned slightly, but didn't leave.

"Thank you for helping," I said in a low voice. "I know I told you to stay clear, but you've been doing more than I expected."

"I hate feeling useless," she said quietly, then, after a pause, added, "Even if I'm not allowed near the worst of it."

"You're not useless," I said. "You're careful. That's not the same and you do more good here than you could if you were infected."

Agusaya gave a soft, dry laugh. "The voice of reason."

"Force of habit." I told her as I reached the stairs.

She nodded, turned, and began to walk away, but paused again before rounding the corner.

"When Tutu told me you had killed the Etemmu, I didn't believe her at first." She said over her shoulder, not quite meeting my eyes. "Now I do. You're clearly warrior trained."

Then she was gone, vanishing around the corridor with the quiet steps of someone raised in stone halls and silken sandals.

With a slight shrug and a smile, I walked up the stairs to the bedroom. As a general rule, I'm not a vain person, but the appreciation in Agusaya's eyes and voice did lighten my mood a little.

It became even better when I entered the bedroom and saw Cassia laying on my bed as naked as the day she was born.

"Hello, Master." She said with a smile and switched to Baylon as she continued. "Tutu told me that you needed energy from sharing pleasure."

Returning the smile, I walked over to the bed. "I do, but not tonight." The smile on her face faded a bit, so I continued. "Giving me energy now, would be like handing a person a bowl of fruit right before dinner. Sleep regenerates energy almost as effectively as pleasure." I let a hand glide over silken skin, causing a sharp intake of breath. "If you can wait until noon tomorrow, your energy will not go to waste."

The smile returned. "What about both?"

I shook my head. "It takes a few days for a woman to regenerate the energy I need. If you come now, that energy will be wasted."

She tilted her head as she looked thoughtfully at me. "It that some special Inquisitor thing?"

That made me laugh. It's been so long since I had talked with someone who had experienced Baylon, that I had totally forgotten that Cassia had been there. "Yes, it actually is. As far as I know, we were the only group that learned how to do this."

She nodded slowly and then asked, "Can I stay here tonight? I would really like to."

"I need to have some food before I go to sleep, but yes you can... We'll change the sleeping arrangements tomorrow anyway, so we have room for more patients." I told her and explained what I had just told Merit.

"Good idea." She said with a slight smile. "Thank you."

---------------------

The following month was a nightmare.

The Red Pox spread like fire in dry grass. Swift, merciless, and without pattern. The young, the old, the strong, the weak. No one was safe. Susen was a city under siege, not by army or beast, but by a silent, blistering plague.

One blessing was that the city gates were locked and the harbour closed. I didn't know if it was Hallutush's doing, but that action might spare the surrounding area for the pox.

That didn't lessen the situation inside the gates. Fear drowned compassion. No funerals were held. The dead were wrapped in tar-stained cloth and thrown into the fires down by the river. Smoke blackened the skies.

In desperation, the priests ordered every idol bathed in blessed salt and fire, and sacrifices made without count. It changed nothing.

Through it all, I worked, using all the knowledge I had and what Vis I could spare. Just enough to tip the scales for those who still had a chance.

That was greatly helped by Agusaya, Cassia and Tutu. After Merit had hired the extra help we had talked about, their workload lessened enough for them to take turns supplying me with Vis in the middle of the day, effectively doubling the number of people I could help.

Most of the time, I didn't even take part in anything, but just sat in a chair, while one of the women was brought to orgasm by one of the others. It was somewhat weird, but most of the time, I was simply too tired to share pleasure with anyone.

Surprisingly, Tutu even managed to have other women to join us in the bedroom. When I asked how she had done that, she told me that most of them were Priestesses of Pinikir, the local Goddess of Love, Sex and Birth, who didn't seem to mind sharing pleasure with her, me or both as a prayer to Pinikir.

The first weeks or so, there were only one, but then more women began to show up regularly, which according to Tutu was due to me helping the elderly coughing woman on the first day of the pox. Apparently, she was one of the high-ranking priestesses of the order and had felt the boost of Vis that I had given her and had interpreted it as the power of Pinikir working through me, so as soon as she got better, she sent priestesses to help us.

I didn't argue. Help was help and I could use every bit of Vis that I got.

Still, not even with the additional Vis from the women could I heal all those affected and trying to do so would have killed me.

Tutu, Merit, and Cassia stood by me through it all, fierce and tireless. Aside from Tutu and Cassia providing me with Vis, they boiled water, baked bread, and cleaned wounds. They whispered comfort to the dying and hope to the living, as they made sure that the sick got enough of the honey-and-salt water solution to keep them alive, while I boosted their resistance with Vis.

The bread was especially important. Most of the patients had only limited food, but Merit and her helpers baked bread with nuts, figs and dates every day, enough to feed those patients who could eat, and even some of those who came to us begging for food after the first week had passed.

That and the honey-salt-water mixture we gave the sick to drink was often the only thing that kept the patients alive or at least fed.

Fortunately, the granaries opened, supplying people with food. Not much as it was rationed, but enough to keep people alive.

Some made it through, like the boy Samru I had treated first. Others were not as lucky, but as the survivors left and the dead were burned, new patients showed up in a seemingly never-ending stream.

Eventually, the number of affected dwindled. Either because those who could be affected were already dead or because they had provisions enough to simply close their doors and wait it out.

I have no idea how long it took before I woke up one early morning and could finish the morning round of the patients without having to wake the women to help me.

Satisfied, I walked into the kitchen and made a batch of the honey-salt-water mixture, before making myself a cup of tea, added some honey and simply walked through the house, enjoying the silence, before opening the front door to walk into the street with the cup in my hand.

Before the pox, the streets had buzzed with the morning chant for merchants peddling their goods, but now it was silent and empty.

Red cloths still hung from doorposts, a sign of sickness within the house. Several of them now fluttered in front of homes with no living souls left inside.

Still, the city had been lucky. The version of the Red Pox that had hit it, wasn't the deadliest version. One in ten of my patients might have died, but according to what people had told me, the pox had killed about a third of those infected, while some of the versions I had read about killed more than half.

According to rumours, the noble houses had been hit harder than the lower classes, for the simple reason that the lower classes had a higher chance of having been affected by the version of the sickness that attacked cows, giving them a better chance of survival.

I guessed I would know more when Kherta came home or Hallutush came by.

Drinking from the tea, I stood in silence for a while, until I saw three women come walking down the empty street towards me. It was some of the women Merit had hired and they greeted me with a respectful nod, when they came nearer.

"Hello, Master Zabu. You're up early this morning." One of them said. Named Kikki-Irma, she was a middle-aged woman, whose face showed the signs of a hard life. She was also a friendly and positive person, who functioned as a sort of leader for the local women that have worked for us during this.

"And good morning to you as well, Kikki-irma." I answered with a smile. "I woke up early and did my round. Not much to do this morning. We only have twelve patients left, and as far as I can see all of them are becoming better by the day."

"Good." She nodded. "Has Lady Merit started the baking yet?"

"No, she's sleeping."

"Let her sleep." Kikki-Irma said firmly and looked at the other two. "Go start the fire and get the dough started."

"Yes, ma'am." They said and hurried into the house.

"Master Zabu, I have a question." The middle-aged woman said, as she turned towards me.

"Do ask."

"Is there any chance that you or your wife need more people when this is over?" She looked serious. "As far as I can see, you're understaffed and some of the women here need a job, while their husbands and children fight their way back to good health."

I considered that for a moment. The six women Merit had hired had been indispensable during this. Three of them arrived in the morning and worked until the next three arrived to take over in the later afternoon, saving us all from a lot of work.

"How many are we talking about?"

"Four." She said calmly. "Including me. My sister can care for both our men while I'm here."

I thought for a moment. While not strictly necessary, having four servants would allow Merit, Tutu, Cassia and Agusaya to get some much-needed rest, while the women would get some much-needed money.

"I will hire you for another month." I promised. "I doubt I will need more people after that."

Kikki-Irma chuckled. "Thank you, but I think you're wrong, Zabu. With the number of people that have been healed and fed here, the word will spread and people will flock to get healed here."

"That might be true... but for now, I'll leave the baking to you and get some more sleep."

"Sleep well."

----------------------

The pox had loosened its grip on the city, and it didn't take more than a few days, before I heard Kherta's voice in the hallway. Soft, hurried words exchanged with Tutu and Merit caused me to stand and when she finally stepped inside the garden room, looking pale, tired but alive, I rushed over to meet her.

"Hey," she greeted, making me smile as I dragged her into an embrace. "Hey yourself. Glad to see that you survived."

She returned the hug, mumbling "likewise." against my chest.

The hug lingered for a while, but eventually we let go of each other and walked over to sit by the table.

"How did it go in the court?" I asked her as I poured some tea for her. "Rumours have it, that they were hit hard."

"It was crazy." Said Kherta with a grimace and accepted the cup. "Too many of the nobles had never been exposed to sickness aside from the normal illnesses." She drank some of the tea. "I hate the Red Pox! It takes so long before people get actively sick, that people start thinking they're immune until it's too late."

"Yes." I said with a nod. "That was why Hallutush and I thought that closing the city gates was a good idea... though I have no idea how he got the court to agree on that."

"As far as I know," said Kherta with a little smile. "He didn't ask anyone. As Captain of the Royal Guard, he just ordered it done."

"Shit." I mumbled. "That will come back to bite him."

"Perhaps." Said Kherta thoughtfully. "A lot of nobles have died and those left have other things on their mind... like the sword of King Kidin-Hutran III. For some reason, there's a rumour at the court, that whoever has the sword will be the next king. So far at least two nobles have been killed over it."

"I fucking hate that cursed sword." I sighed.

"And I'm starting to understand how it can cause problems." Nodded Kherta and looked like she remembered something. "What was that about you killing a demon... or a Child of Set as you called it?"

"We were attacked by an Etemmu again." I started, explaining the battle with the Etummu and my suspicion that Arwia was the kassaptu that had summoned it. That was followed by the combat Hallatush and I had against the Lilitu and how the demon had absorbed Death Energy from the outside as she took another form.

"Sweet Bastet." Breathed Kherta. "According to rumours half the heads of the various noble families died that night... Aside from the king and the queen."

"Making deals with a demon is rarely wise." I commented with a sigh.

"I know, I know." Said Kherta thoughtfully. "Have you thought about the implications of that? In a dynastic sense I mean."

"No, I've been way too busy." I told her. Having been raised at the Court in Kemet, thinking in court politics was as natural to Kherta as breathing. "What have I missed?"

"Well," she said slowly. "Most of their major houses lost their figureheads. Either in the same night as king Kidin-Hutran III or by the Red Pox." She drank from her cup. "In addition to that, Kidin-Hutran III's brother was killed by his uncle during a dispute about the sword, which led to the uncle being killed by the guards."

I grimaced. That was a lot of very prominent people dying off in a month, including the king, which left us with an interesting question. "Who's in line for the throne?"

"Originally that would have been either the brother or the uncle, but they're dead now. Kidin-Hutran had another uncle, Pahir, but he was exiled when Kidin-Hutran took the throne, so he's also out of the game." Kherta listed. "That leaves only one."

Going through persons I knew were connected to the Royal Family, I suddenly blinked. "You're kidding me!"

"No." Laughed Kherta. "At the moment, the person with the best claim to the throne is Hallutush."

I nodded slowly. Since the first day we meet, I had known that Hallutush was a minor prince and a member of the royal family, due to sharing a grandfather with King Kidin-Hutran III, but back then he was so far removed from the throne that I didn't give it a second thought... and now there was a possibility that he might be the next king. If he wasn't killed for being next in line.

"Will the Army back Hallutush, if he makes the claim?" I asked.

"I think so." Nodded Kherta. "The Commander of the Army is his cousin, and Hallutush has the backing of the people, since he was the one that opened the granaries."

"First good news I've heard in a while." I said and leaned back, looking at her. "You're pale. You need some sleep and rest."

"Not before I've heard the rest of what happened here." Kherta said stubbornly. "Your tale is much more exciting than mine."

I chuckled and told her the rest, holding nothing back.

"So...." She said slowly, when I was done. "While I was locked up in a noble house, you were here healing and getting the Blessing of Bastet several times a day?"

"More or less, yes."

"Good." She said with a smile. "With the exception of the temple of Ninkarrak, most of the temples here are useless when it comes to a sickness like the Pox." She thought for a moment. "How was Tutu by the way? As a partner, I mean." She chuckled. "I'm only asking for selfish reasons, as I want to know if my teachings have helped at all."

I nodded. "Trust me, they worked."

"Good." She leaned back in the chair and looked around. "Strange as it seems, I have missed the house. Being treated like a princess is nice, but freedom is better."

That made me raise my eyebrows. I knew that Kherta from time to time longed for her old life as Princess Neferure, but it sounded like she was starting to change her mind.

"We can talk about that later." Said Kherta and stood with a little smile. "Now, I want to sleep, so we can share pleasure when we're both rested. It's been way too long since I've had the Blessing of Bastet, and I really need it."

"Sounds good." I chuckled and stood as well. "Just be aware that the bed might be a bit crowded. There're still patients in every room except the bedroom and your study, so Merit is sleeping in the study and everybody else sleeps in our bed."

"Good." Declared Kherta with a grin. "Makes everything easier when we wake up."

I couldn't find any faults in her logic, so I just smiled and nodded. "Let's go to sleep."

-----------------------

Waking up was a very pleasant experience. Mostly because I was awoken by Kherta's moans and sighs.

Blinking sleep out of my eyes, I looked down to see Cassia's blond hair between Kherta's well-shaped thighs, as the half-Baylon was using her tongue and mouth on Kherta's pussy and doing it well enough for Kherta to moan loud enough to wake me.

The sound of moaning coupled with the scent of aroused women and the sight of Kherta squirming as Cassia let her tongue play on the love-pearl made a hot flash run through my body and a few heartbeats later, I had a hard on.

"Good... m... m... morning." Kherta managed to say, as she groaned.

Placing a pillow against the wall, I moved up in the bed so I could lean against it, giving me the perfect position to reach out and massage Kherta's full breasts, massaging them gently as I just relaxed and continued to watch.

"Nice!" Moaned Kherta and found my stiff dick with a hand, stroking it a few times, before she ran her fingers up and down the length of the shaft, caressing and teasing me gently.

We stayed like that for a while, enjoying the feel of each other's skin under our hands, while Cassia continued licking, although she had slowed down to a more leisurely pace judging from the rhythm of Kherta's moans.

It became even better when Agusaya entered the room, glanced around with a look of surprise on her face that was replaced with a smile, before she walked over to my side of the bed. Kherta must had seen her as well because she closed her fingers around my cock and moved the hand down to the root, both exposing the sensitive herd and offering it to the Lescarian without saying a word.

Due to me needing Vis more than pleasure during the pox, Agusaya and I had never shared pleasure, despite her having been naked and squirming in ecstasy on the bed at least twice a week. Like most Lescarians she had a slim body with smallish breasts, but she was also a dancer with a very well-shaped ass and legs.

Agusaya nodded to Kherta and quickly took off her clothes, before she crawled onto the bed. A moment later, her soft lips slid over the head of my cock as she closed her mouth around it, while her tongue played on the underside. Soft hands caressed my thighs as she bobbed her head, sliding the tip of my cock in and out of her mouth.

It felt fantastic and I groaned as I leaned my head back against the wall, enjoying the feeling of both Agusaya's mouth around my dick, her long hair against my skin and Kherta's breasts in my hand.

One of Agusaya's hands slipped down between my legs to gently caress my balls, sending even more tingles through my spine. Removing her mouth from the head, she kissed and licked the length of the shaft, before ending at the head again, letting her tongue run in a circle around the head. More shivers ran through me, and I groaned as she let her lips slide down over the head, taking more and more of me into her mouth, while using her tongue on the underside.

Fortunately, she kept the pace low, because otherwise I would have come way too soon, but as it was, it felt fantastic and I just lay there, enjoying it.

After a while, a shake started to develop in Kherta as Cassia's tongue and fingers pushed her towards an orgasm. With eyes blazing with lust, she released my cock and placed her hand on Agusaya's head instead. "Fuck him. I want to see it."

The Lescarian woman removed her mouth from my dick and moved up in the bed without saying a word, placing a knee on each side of me and leaned forward a little, before she reached down to grab my dick and guided it in between her legs, where a drenched pussy greeted it.

The expression on her face was a mixture of excitement and worry, as she sat up straight and started to move her hips in circles while she gently pressed down, the lips of her pussy spreading to let the head inside her wonderfully snug pussy.

Sensing her worry, I projected reassurance into her as I said, "Don't hurry. Remember that it is more important that you come than I do."

Agusaya sent me a beautiful smile and began rocking her hips back and forth, slowly working my dick into her. Her nervousness lessened by the heartbeat and with that, I could feel her juices starting to flow, making her pussy wet and slippery.

Her breathing changed, becoming deeper and lust filled, as it began to be interrupted by small sounds of pleasure. The movements of her hips made her small perfectly rounded breast jiggle in front of my eyes, so I let my free hand slide up her legs and side until they reached those tempting balls of flesh.

A moan escaped her lips when I caressed them, enjoying the feeling of her hard nipples against the palm of my hands. An echo of what my other hand experienced on Kherta's breast. The motion of Agusaya's hips changed, becoming more circular as she pressed more and more of my dick inside her. Her pussy felt fantastic around my dick, applying pressure on different sides as the hips rotated.

"This... feels... wonderful." She panted in Lescarian, sending me a blissful smile as her well-shaped ass reached my hips.

"Yes, it's very good." I agreed and groaned as her pussy clenched around my dick. I let my hand wander to her neck and dragged her down for a kiss. Her soft lips meeting mine eagerly, but then wandered down to my neck, kissing the skin there.

"This is a lot better than I've feared." She whispered in my ear.

"Less whispering, more fucking." Groaned Kherta impatiently.

"Relax." I told her. "It's our first time together."

"Oh... Sorry." Kherta said, sounding serious. "Take your time and enjoy it."

Agusaya lifted her head and sent Kherta a smile, before she lifted her hips, sliding forward while lifting her hips, making my dick go halfway out of her.

"Oh!" she mumbled in what seemed like pleasant surprise and lowered herself just as slowly. "This feels awesome."

"Yes, it is." I agreed, as another twinge ran through her pussy.

With a moan she kissed me again, using the moment to raise her hips again, a little faster this time. A shiver ran through her body.

Breaking the kiss, she raised her upper body, her hands on my chest for support, and with another brilliant smile, she began riding me slowly, lifting up and down on my cock. The muscles in her pussy trembling around it in the best possible way, while her jiggling firm breasts provided a mesmerizing sight.

I endured it for a few moments but then reached up with my hand to massage it once more. The gentle caress didn't seem to do much for her, so I clamped my fingers around the soft flesh.

Agusaya whimpered with pleasure and moved faster.

With a slight smile, I caught a stiff nipple between my fingers and pinched.

A groan escaped her lips and the spasms in her pussy intensified. "Do it again."

I pinched the nipple once more, causing another groan, so I pulled the nipple while pinching again, making her shudder and moan. She didn't lessen the speed though and I could feel her orgasm approach quickly.

A groan from my side told me that Kherta could see it on the girls face as well and with a voice full of need and lust, she ordered Cassia to pick up the pace.

Agusaya looked over and the shuddering Kemetian, biting her lips, and in a flash of inspiration, I moved my hand from Kherta's full breasts to the Lescarian's smaller ones, and pinched both nipples at the same time.

Her hips slammed my groin a few times before she sat still, shrieking something I could not understand as spasms deep in her vagina clamped around my dick, tense muscles quivering through an obvious orgasm.

The sound of her orgasm set Kherta off as well, trashing in the bed as she came.

Agusaya leaned forward, but instead of settling onto me as I had expected her to, she leaned over to give Kherta a hug, kissing her passionately, a hand finding a full breast at the same time. Kherta threw her arms around the Lescarians neck, returning the kiss hungrily.

"Fingers only now, Cassia." I commanded. Kherta's love-pearl usually became too sensitive right after an orgasm for her to get much pleasure out of any licking, so using fingers in her pussy was usually the way to go.

A moment later, Kherta stiffened and groaned into Agusaya's mouth, the hands on her back caressing the Lascarian.

Reaching out, I took a firm grip of her hips and lifted them up, sliding my dick out until only the tip remained inside. Then I thrust upwards with my hips, burying my dick in her tight, wet pussy.

Agusaya groaned louder, still kissing Kherta, so I began fucking her with her laying halfway on top of me, her upper body on Kherta and the two of them kissing like there was no tomorrow.

I quickly found a rhythm that allowed me to thrust into her fast enough to drive her towards another orgasm, while not making myself come too fast. Not that it was easy. Her wonderfully snug pussy was still spasming around my dick, adding to my pleasure, while her juices were running freely, lubricating us both before dripping down on my balls.

"Shit." I heard her groan. "I never thought..."

The rest of the sentence was lost, as Kherta kissed her again, so I tightened the grip on her hips and picked up the pace, going harder and faster.

Agusaya whimpered and her pussy started to ripple along my length, tightening and loosening as my dick moved in and out of her, sending shivers through my body and made my balls boil. It felt so good, that fucking her became a race to get her off before I came myself.

I was very close, when Agusaya suddenly screamed into Kherta's mouth, her pussy contracting around my cock, seemingly trying to hold it in place, while her hips bucked and jerked. Lowering the pace, I kept moving through her orgasm until she collapsed on top of Kherta.

Looking over, I saw Kherta's face contorted with pleasure and lifted Agusaya off me, before I rolled out of the bed and walked over to Cassia, waving her away from her place between Kherta's legs.

With a smile, she obeyed, causing a protest from Kherta.

Taking hold of her ankles, I lifted Kherta's legs and spread them into a V shape.

Cassia's smile turned into a grin as she reached out, took my dick and placed it at the entrance to Kherta's pussy, before letting go again.

Wet as she was from the oral sex and her orgasm, Kherta's pussy lips spread out, easily letting the head inside. Thrusting forward I buried my dick inside her pussy in one long stroke and started to fuck her hard and fast.

"Bastet!" She exclaimed, the words turning into a low scream of pleasure.

Sensing she was near, I picked up the pace, lost in the pleasure of being inside her as my own orgasm came rapidly closer.

Kherta's body seized for a few heartbeats and then she cried out loud as she came in a thunderous orgasm, that made her shake all over and her pussy rippled as it clamped down on my dick, driving me over the edge. With a groan, I exploded inside her milking pussy, moving slowly back and forth as I emptied myself in her.

"That," said Kherta a little while later, when we were all relaxing in the bed, "was awesome!"

"Surprisingly so." Agreed Agusaya with a lazy nod. She grimaced. "The other times I've tried it with a man, there was no pleasure and my pussy burned afterwards."

"That won't happen with Zabu." Promised Kherta with a chuckle and stretched. "Goddess, I needed that. A month without pleasure is way too long."

"Good, because we're not done yet." I told her with a grin.

Kherta blinked and widened her eyes as she looked at Cassia. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I forgot that you haven't received the Blessing of Bastet yet."

"It's fine." Chuckled the half-Baylon. "I can wait."

"No, you can't." Declared Kherta. "That would be against my religion."

I shook my head slightly and with a smile. As far as I knew there were no rules about that, but on the other hand, Kherta was more knowledgeable about that than I was. That she was a priestess of Sekhmet only made it more complicated. The sister of Bastet, Sekhmet was the Goddess of Medicine, but as a princess, Kherta was educated in both worships and they had kind of melted together in her mind.

"Wait a little until we have regained some strength." I told Kherta. "Then you can return the favour to Cassia."

She smiled a brilliant smile. "Exactly my plan."

Leaning back against the wall, I looked from one to another, as I felt the lust awaken in them. Having all four here was going to be a lot of fun.

---------------------

The women had washed and gone to the market, and I had barely towelled off from my own bath when Kikki-Irma's voice interrupted the quiet.

"You have a guest. A young man. Well-dressed."

Only one person fit that description.

"I'll be right there." I told her, got dressed and walked down to see how the guest was. It had to be Hallutush, since he was the only 'well-dressed young' man I knew.

My guess was quickly confirmed, as Hallutush was sitting by the table in the garden room, looked relaxed.

"Hello, Zabu!" He greeted with a smile as soon as he spotted me.

"Hello Hallutush. Glad to see you survived." I told him as I walked over to him. "Not only the Pox but also the Court"

That made him laugh. "Yes, it was touch and go for a while, but I managed." He gestured at the chairs. "Please, sit with me. We have a lot to talk about and little time to do it.

I sat down with a slight chuckle. "By the way, Merit, Tutu and Kherta have just gone to the market, now that it is open again."

He shrugged lightly. "Not a problem, I need some advice that doesn't involve them anyway."

"Start with the advice and then we'll take it from there."

He shook his head. "It won't make sense unless I start from the beginning."

"Right." I poured some tea. "Go ahead."

He took a breath, grounding himself, and started his tale.

The death of the king and many of the nobles on the night we had fought the demon had thrown the court into chaos, making it almost impossible for him to get permission to lock the gate and close the harbour. Finally, he simply gave up trying and just ordered the Royal Guard to do it.

That had angered several nobles, and when Hallutush had requested the opening of the granaries to keep people from starving, they had refused to allow it.

"Why?" I asked. "Feeding the starving people before they riot is a good idea."

Hallutush nodded. "Yes, but as they saw it, it was a question about how much power the Captain of the Royal Guard had, compared to the court. By denying the request, they tried to show who was in charge, and that it wasn't a mere Captain."

I nodded slowly. The same kinds of powerplay had nearly destroyed Baylon. "I get it, but they did open, so how did you manage that?"

Hallutush hesitated but then said. "Since the only one who could overrule the nobles was the King, I took a look at who was left and when I realized that I was in line for the throne, I called for a meeting. When those who could make it were gathered in the council hall in the palace, I declared myself King and ordered the granaries opened."

Despite having been warned by Kherta about that, his simple statement made me spit out the tea I was drinking and laugh. "Just like that?"

"More or less, yes." Hallutush with a sly smile. "It helped a lot that the Royal Guard is the only armed force allowed in the palace, so I didn't have much trouble after jailing a few of those who objected the most." He shrugged slightly. "One even tried to attack me, but his skills with a sword didn't match his rage."

He drank from his cup. "To be honest, it was a move of desperation. The city needed those granaries opened and that was the only way to have it done before more people starved to death."

"Oh, I get that." I smiled. "I've just not heard anybody taking a crown for that reason, though I have to admit, that it's the best reason I have heard so far."

"Oh... thank you, I think." He chuckled and continued to explain, that it had only taken a day to open the granaries and another two days before the Commander of the Army had not only heard about it but thrown the support of the army behind Hallutush as the new king. Another five days later, he could officially take the throne as Hallutush-Inshushinak ('Hallutush, Servant of Inshushinak').

I raised my cup in a salute. "Hail the King. So how may I serve His Highness?"

Hallutush grimaced. "By acting like you have always done... That everybody else is doing that is enough."

"Fair," I said with a smile. "But you started out by asking for advice... So how can I help you?"

"I'm a bit at a loss of what to do with Queen Smuqta." He confessed, his voice hesitant. "Normally, I could send her back to her family, but with the Sea People having burnt down most of the area she came from, that's not an option."

Leaning back in the seat, I thought it over. I had known Queen Smuqta as Chuzara back in the days when Baylon was still present here, and while we had ended up on different sides of a conflict, it didn't really make her a bad person. Combat trained and well educated, she had a lot to offer and with the status of women in Elam, that might even be possible.

"Queen Smugta is a highly intelligent woman with a lot of knowledge," I started slowly. "However, she's also new to the region and from what you have told me, she doesn't have any backing worth mentioning. I would suggest giving her a minor title and keep her around as an advisor. Don't try to marry her off and don't take her to bed. Use her mind, not her bloodline."

The widening of Hallutush eyes told me that he hadn't considered that last part, but then he nodded slowly. "That I can do... and it's the best solution I've heard so far."

We sat in silence for a moment before he added, "By the way... about the cursed sword. The old king's."

I set my cup down. "I want it gone."

"Then it's yours. It's done enough damage. I saw cousins trying to murder each other over it." His lip curled. "And it's not even old enough to be legendary... Oh... when do you want the holy sword back?"

"Never." I answered with a grin. "It'll serve better in the hands of a King than any other place I can imagine... You can consider it a trade: I get the cursed sword and you get a holy sword."

That made him laugh. "That sounds like a good deal. I'll have it brought here shortly."

"Thank you... hmm... we do have one single big question remaining."

"After harvest." Said Hallutush, a smile dancing on his face.

I blinked a few times. "I didn't get that."

"After harvest," he said again, the smile growing. "That's when I'll officially ask to have Merit as my second wife."

"Oh!" I laughed. "That sounds good. I guess the waiting time will go to educate her."

"Yes," he said, almost shy. "She'll need time to prepare. Time to grow into it."

I smiled, leaning back. "Then may the harvest come quick, brother."

"With all the things I have to do, it will." He said and looked around. "Zabu, what're your plans for the future? I know you've only been here for five or six years. Are you planning to stay?"

"I honestly don't know." I said, drinking some tea to give me time to think. "I like it here and so does Kherta, but I haven't made any final decisions about it."

"Do you want a job as an advisor?" He asked bluntly.

"No... at least not an official one." I said just as bluntly. "I could live forever and my life would still be too short for politics and meetings in court." I lifted the cup. "That being said, I wouldn't mind giving you some advice whenever you come around."

That made him laugh. "I'll have to accept that... though according to rumours, you're going to need a bigger house."

"Oh? And what rumours are that?"

"One of the High Priestesses informed me, that you and the people here helped more people through the Pox, than eight out of the ten temples." He informed me. "A lot of people now regard you and your wife as the best healers in Susen, and I think you'll be busy if you elect to stay... so if you stay, I'll have a House of Healing built for you and Kherta."

I considered that for a moment. The offer was a good one, but at some point I would have to move on before people discovered that I didn't age. On the other hand, it was brilliant for Kherta if she wanted to stay. Not to mention Merit and Tutu.

"I have a few conditions before I can even consider accepting that." I said slowly. "First of all, I want a noble title for Kherta. Not much, just so she'll have a way of living no matter what happens to me. Second, if you want to have good healing, make it an education center as well. That way we even have a chance of educating the healers of the army and the surrounding villages." Thinking for a moment, I added. "And finally, if a House of Healing is going to be built, I would like a say in the design. The buildings for healing you have here are temples and are better suited for prayers, than healing."

There was no way I could recreate the hospitals from Baylon, but with a little bit of effort, I could use the designs from the military hospitals I had visited. It would still be better than trying to heal in a semi-dark temple.

"Sounds good," Hallutush smiled, "but I'll have to talk with the treasury before I say yes to that... Not the title for Kherta though. That I can promise right now."

"Thank you. That will help a lot." I thought for a moment. "I'll talk with Kherta later about staying here and the title will help a lot."

Hallutush tilted his head as he looked at me. "She's more than a simple healer, right? The way she talks and holds herself reminds me of a high ranking noble."

I sent him a smile. "Now that is not my story to tell. Ask her at some point when the two of you are alone. I will tell you that she's a highly educated Priestess of Bastet." I thought for a moment. "Which reminds me of something that you need to know about Merit."

"Oh?"

"As far as I know, she's a virgin, but she has also served a Priestess of Bastet for a very long time." I told him, chuckling as I saw his eyebrows rise. "Do not expect a clueless partner on your wedding night. If Kherta hasn't already instructed her in the finer points in physical love, I'm sure she'll use the time before harvest to do so."

That made him fall silent for a moment. "I don't know if I should be pleased or not about this knowledge."

"Pleased." I said firmly. "I honestly don't know how virginity is viewed here and I don't want to think bad about her due to her knowledge about physical love."

"Ahhh." Hallutush said with a chuckle. "Well, some nobles care about it, others don't care. I'm one of those who doesn't care, but thanks for telling me."

He looked like he was about to say more, but a knock on the door frame interrupted him. Looking I saw Tiglath enter the room, bowing deeply as soon as he was inside said something in the local language that I didn't get, except that he had started with 'My king' and sounded very formal.

However, there was nothing formal about the admiration in his eyes, as he looked on Hallutush, who said 'Thank you.' Followed about some more.

Tiglath bowed again and walked out.

"He has brought the sword." Hallutush said with a grimace. "I guess I'll have to learn to live with the formality."

I shrugged lightly. "Give him time to get used to it. It might become better."

"I hope so... we've been friends most of our lives and I would hate to lose that." He studied me for a moment. "May I ask what you intend to do with the sword?"

"If it was within my power, I would have destroyed it, but I don't think I can, I'll hide it a place where can't be found by accident." I said thoughtfully. "That sword causes war and unrest whenever it's found and I've had enough war and unrest to last a lifetime."

"So have I." He sighed. "I think one of my first tasks will be to make peace with the Babylonians. Otherwise, we'll just weaken each other while the Akkadians are rebuilding, waiting for the right time to strike."

I nodded as I drank from my cup. "Good idea. There's been enough death already."

Hallutush sighed and nodded. "You're right about that."

We both looked over as Tiglath came back, carrying a bundle in his hands. Placing the bundle on a chair, he lifted some of the cloth so I could see the bejewelled handle, making me nod. "Thank you. I'll send the jewels back once I have the time to remove them without touching the sword." A thought hit me. "By the way, do you know what happened with the crafter who made that handle?"

"Well, after you told me about the curse, I did a little investigation, but apparently the curse didn't hit them." Replied Hallutush.

"Makes sense. They weren't the owner and the sword was made for leaders. Kings, warlords, generals and..." I sent him a smile. "... members of a royal family."

Hallutush though for a moment. "So, what would have happened if I had taken the sword?"

"You would grow more and more power hungry, brutal and warlike as time went by, throwing the country into war after war, never satisfied with what you have already conquered." I explained, remembering what Varro told me years ago. "Other warlords would flock to join your army but would eventually try to kill you to get the sword. Your tactical sense would erode as you would throw you soldiers against anything in your way, believing that you should win any confrontation, no matter how many soldiers you had to sacrifice for it... oh... and you would never, ever give the sword away."

"So basically, the sword will turn me into an Assyrian." Said Hallutush with wry humour.

That made me laugh and nod. The Assyrians viewed warfare as a divine mission, sanctioned by their main god, Ashur. Consequently, they had a standing army, that was bolstered by conscript in time of war, but what really set them apart was their cruelty to prisoners. Enemy officers were often impaled or skinned alive, both as public spectacles, while captured soldiers were tortured and mutilated. Like when King Shalmaneser had ordered his troops to blind one eye of fourteen thousand captured soldiers.

"That's one way to say it... and you're not far off."

"Do you think they have cursed swords as well?"

That simple question made me sit still for a moment, thinking it over. It was a possibility, but not really likely as the Assyrians had been conducting warfare that way for at least a few hundred years. Not to mention, that humans were quite capable of cruelty without any Baylon curses. On the other hand, if the Pulchers had managed to get a sword in the hands of the Assyrian king, it would potentially bring one of the largest kingdoms in this part of the world under the control of any member of the Pulcher family... including half-breeds like Chuzara, or Smuqta as she was called now.

The more I thought about it, the more likely it became that the Pulchers had managed it. All it took was to gift a beautiful and almost indestructible sword to an Assyrian king and they would surely use it.

I swallowed a sigh. Even if they had it, there wasn't much I could do about it at the moment. Not while using ranged Ars Mentalis would fry me. Vis was extremely useful, but as the fight with the demon had shown, it paled compared to Ars Mentalis, and I had no wish to be skinned alive.

Realizing that Hallutush was waiting for an answer, I shrugged. "I don't know and it doesn't really matter. They've been warlike and cruel for centuries and I don't think a cursed sword will change that."

"True." Said Hallutush and looked over as Tiglath said something. Then he stood. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. There're people waiting for me."

Standing as well, I bowed slightly. "Have a good day. I'll talk with Kherta about the House of Healing."

He smiled. "Do that."

------------------------------------------

Aftermath

Men-nefer, Kemet (Egypt) and Susen, Elam

The night was moonless and dark as a grave, which suited me fine as I silently walked through the dark streets of Men-nefer, heading for the garrison.

Captain Huy had risen in rank since our meeting the evening I left Kemet. He was now Commander of the Amen Army and lived in a nice estate in one of the finer quarters of Men-nefer. Not only that, but the promotion also told me that he was most likely connected to the royal family somehow, since very few people got the command of one of the four armies without royal blood. Of course with the length of Ramesses rule and all the children and grandchildren he had, there was no shortage of people with royal blood and Huy was just one in at least several hundred.

The location meant that there were lots of guards in the area, but since I had used the Vis power that allowed me to see in the dark and they couldn't, their torches made them easy to see and avoid in the dark of the night. That alone made the trip a lot easier than I would have thought when I started.

A patrol came walking, forcing me to seek cover behind a low wall while they marched past, but as soon as they were gone, I continued my journey, approaching the house from behind.

As I had expected, there were two guards at the gate in the wall, but I ignored them as I scaled the wall as far away them as possible, sneaking through the garden as silent as the Spectre that had given me my Inquisitor name.

There was a guard at the entrance to the house, but I avoided him by going to the wall, using my ability to levitate to reach the top floor of the house. Like most larger houses, there was a covered rooftop floor for relaxation and with a slight pull I scaled the top of the wall, landing silently on the wooden planks.

From there was only a single flight of stairs and then I was standing in Commander Huy's bedroom, watching him sleep, snoring slightly. Next to him another person was sleeping just a soundly. A pretty woman with a nice body, the fact that she was sleeping next to Huy told me that it was most likely a wife or lover. A slave would have slept somewhere else.

With a sigh, I walked over to her side, placed a hand on her head and used a Vis technique to make sure she wouldn't wake easily for the next hour. Then I took the room's only chair and placed it next to the other side of the bed and lit a lamp before I sat down and poked Huy with a foot. "Greetings, Commander Huy."

He did wake up, looked around in confusion before seeing me. A flash of fear ran over himself as he quickly glanced at the woman by his side.

"No worries. She's just sleeping heavily." I told him.

Looking relieved he sat up, the sleepy look disappearing as he gathered his wits. "What're you doing here, Healer Ivah from the line of Horemheb? First I thought that you were an assassin, but you could easily have killed me in my sleep, so why the visit?"

I sent him a smile. "Oh, I'm not here to kill you. As I told you last time, I want to save Kemet, not destroy it."

He nodded and yawned. "Yes, you did say that... and I have to say that everything you told me about Amenmesse turned out to be true." He snorted. "Ra, curse his name."

Leaning back in the seat, I smiled slightly. "Amenmesse died eight days ago. Give it a month and his army will lay down their weapons."

Huy looked at me open mouthed for a few heartbeats, before snapping his mouth shut, saying. "You?"

"Yes, sorry it took so long, but I had other things to do."

It hadn't been the plan, as I had just wanted to take the sword, but it had to have been connected to Amenmesse somehow, because he woke up as soon as I took it and immediately attacked me with a strength born from desperation. The short, brutal fight ended as it usually does when an almost naked unarmed man tried to attack an armed and armoured opponent without having the advantage of surprise. He died as one of my long knives impaled his heart.

Huy shook his head, running a hand over his hair. "If you could do it that easily, why didn't you do that six years ago?"

"Back then I needed to get Princess Neferure out of the country as soon as possible, so Amenmesse couldn't marry her." I said with a slight shrug. "Not to mention that both sides were hunting us to get her."

He acknowledged that with a slight nod. "How is she by the way?"

"Oh, she's doing fine." I told him. "And before you ask, she's not coming back. I did have plans for her to return if you were still alive to vouch for her, but she didn't want to be married to Seti or be married away to someone to consolidate an alliance, which would happen here."

"True... however, with Amenmesse dead that is really not necessary. Seti will get all the goodwill and power he could ever want for coming out of this victorious."

"Good. With the Sea People still on the loose, he's going to need it." I said drily. "Not to mention all the nobles wanting to become the next Pharaoh. You have some turbulent years ahead of you, Commander Huy."

"I know." He sighed. "Even with enemies surrounding Kemet on all sides, there're still many intrigues at court and it weakens us."

I studied him for a moment. Unlike so many other people, Commander Huy was an honest man, doing what he thought was best for the country he loved. A country which was now threatened from all sides as well as within.

"One final piece of advice before I leave, Commander Huy." I said slowly. "If you at some point feel the need to take the throne to save Kemet." He looked like he was about to protest, so I held up a hand. "Don't say that it won't happen. It was exactly what my ancestor Horemheb did and he founded the Ramesses dynasty." Eyes widening, he closed his mouth again and I continued. "Do not act until you either have a son that is old enough to take the throne if you get killed or a good candidate you can appoint as your successor. These wars of succession are tearing Kemet apart and taking the throne without a clear line of succession will spark another one."

"Are you telling me to take the throne, betray the Pharaoh?" He asked through clenched teeth.

"No. You would and should never do that." I said calmly. "I'm saying that if there comes a time where there is no Pharoh due to infighting, someone will have to step up and take the reins, and knowing your love for our country, you will not be able to stop yourself from saving Kemet. I'm just telling you to wait until you have either produced an heir or have appointed one." I reached into a pocket, I took a ring up and handed it to him. "Here. You have more use for it than I do."

Taking the ring, he turned it in his hands, studying it in the room's dim light. The he widened his eyes again and looked up at me. "This is a royal ring of Kemet!"

"Yes. I took it from Amenmesse, who didn't deserve it." I told him. "Use it to prove your royal connection if need be. Otherwise, just keep it as a memory."

He blinked a few times, not taking his eyes off my face. Then he slowly said, "When you came to heal Ramesses twenty years ago, I was a young man and you looked young as well." He tilted his head a bit. "Then you looked the same at the Battle of Pirire, but I managed to convince myself that it was due to your light hair hiding any grey. That was six or seven years ago and you still don't look a day older than when I first lay my eyes on you." He hesitated and then asked, "Why don't you age?"

I sighed inwardly. It was a question I was bound to run into at some point, but it was also one I knew I didn't have a good answer to. At least not one people would accept.

"Does it matter?" I asked quietly, meeting his gaze.

"When you're telling me to take the throne, it does. I need to know that you're not a minion of Set." He studied me for a long moment, the royal ring still cradled in his palm. "How old are you really?"

"I don't know what year we're in now, but I was born in Pi-Ramesses during a day where Ra was swallowed by Apep." I told him, using the Kemetian expression for a Solar Eclipse. "It was the same year Ramses the Great celebrated his 33rd year on the throne." I smiled a little, despite my mind racing to construct a tale he would accept. "According to several priestesses, that was when I was imbued by the Ka (Kemetian: Spiritual essence) of the lion gods, Basted, Sekhmet and Maahes, making me their avatar."

His eyes widened at that, but at the same time he nodded slightly, and once more I was grateful for Nofret's view of me. The priestess of Bastet was convinced that I was an avatar of the lion gods and had convinced Neferure of the same. Strange as it was, if gave me a very useful explanation for my abilities.

Huy looked down at the ring in his hand, then back at me. "I feel the truth in your words and it explains much."

I shrugged lightly. "My blood may be Kemetian, but my heart beats in rhythm with the Nile. I've healed two Pharaohs and gotten their blessings, saved a prince and then healed him as well, destroyed a squad of mummies to save a princess and last week I took out the greatest danger to Kemet in several decades." I paused for a moment before adding. "I can't be here for the next few decades and as I said, Kemet needs you to guard the throne."

Huy looked down at the ring, closed his fingers around it, and finally said, "Then may the Gods forgive me, I will guard it... and if the throne falls, I will rise."

"Thank you." I stood from the chair. "May Ra watch over you, Commander Huy."

He stood as well and bowed. "And may he guide your feet, Healer Ivah." He hesitated for a moment but then asked. "If need be, is there some way to send a message to you?"

"Send a message to the House of Healing in Susen in Elam." I told him after some hesitation. "They will know where to find me, if you have peaceful intentions."

"That, I can promise." He smiled and bowed again.

I returned the smile and left the same way I came.

--------------------------------

As usual, getting back to Elam took longer than I had hoped, perfectly echoing what a Baylon ship's mage had told me once about sailing. 'It usually takes longer than expected and it's good to come home.'

This time it wasn't due to a storm, but the ship I travelled on wasn't a Dilmun ship and the captain and navigator clearly weren't as skilled. On the bright side, they knew their limitations and cared about their ship and cargo, so we mostly kept within sight of the coast, docked in every harbour along the way to avoid sailing at night and only sailed out when the winds were favourable, which they unfortunately rarely were.

I took it in stride. It was better than walking and the trip had allowed me to throw the cursed sword I had taken from Amenmesse into the Gulf of Kerma (Present day Gulf of Aden), just as I had dropped the first sword into the Gulf of Magan (Present day Strait of Hormuz) on the way to Kemet.

I made it home just in time for harvest... and the wedding between Hallutush and Merit at the end of harvest. It had taken me a while to realize that the Elam expression of 'officially ask for her hand' was not just a formality. It was literally part of the wedding ceremony and by placing it at the Harvest festival, Hallutush had ensured that everyone would have at least three days of festivities. One for the Harvest and two for the Royal Wedding, blending into a three day long city-wide celebration, with dancing, singing and general festivities on every corner.

It was perfect timing. Reminding people, that even after the pox, life could still be beautiful, that abundance and joy weren't just things of the past. To make it even better, Hallutush used the opportunity to reveal the new House of Healing, promising easy access to healing for everyone in Susen, which, needless to say, made him even more popular.

Even at the first day, the streets of Susen came alive in a way they hadn't in years. Lanterns strung between rooftops swayed in the late-autumn breeze, casting warm golden light across the faces of children chasing one another through the dust. Bakers gave out honey-cakes shaped like grain sheaves, and every house spilled music from its windows, as old folk danced with younger ones in dizzying circles to the beat of hand-drums and flutes.

On the second evening, as tradition demanded, Hallutush and Merit each walked the spiral path through the Temple Garden, carrying bowls of salt and water. Hallutush wore the ceremonial crimson of the high line, trimmed in gold thread and lapis beads that glinted like stars when he moved. Merit was radiant in silver gauze and pearl-painted sandals, her smile shy but unwavering.

At the center, beneath the moonflowers and burning lamps, they were wed by the High Priest, though I didn't understand what he was saying as it was all in Elamite.

What I did know was that Hallutush and Merit were extremely popular among the citizens of Susen. Hallutush because he had opened the granaries and in general had done the best he could for the inhabitants of the city, including these three holidays.

Merit's popularity was different. Before the pox, most in Susen barely knew her name, except for those who needed help with delivering their children. But her actions during the pox had changed that. She had cared for the wounded, when not many others dared to. Carried water to them, sat with the dying, and whispered words of hope to the living, while she cleaned their wounds. Asking for nothing in return.

With all the people we had helped, it was almost inevitable that a former patient or their kin would recognize her, spreading the word of the Queen-to-be who had put her own life at risk to help the citizens of Susen, and when I returned from Kemet, rumours about the new queen were everywhere.

Most of them claimed that she was a noble from a faraway country. Others that she was a high priestess in disguise, or any other explanation they fancied. The number of people she had helped varied just as wildly, but it was never less than a few hundreds, with some going into the thousands.

One common theme of them all was that she was described as being just as fearless and caring, as she was beautiful and clever, and for those reasons, she had become more than 'just' the new Queen. She their queen, just as Hallutush was their king.

Both had been there for the city when it needed them the most, and the people of the city remembered it.

All these reasons came together as people watched the public wedding and many of the people who had gathered to witness it cheered, shouting their approval to the sky.

I cheered along with them. With Kherta having said yes to be the head of the House of Healing, it looked like I was going to stay here for some time, trading and educating healers. At least until my lack of aging became so apparent that I needed to move again, but that would take a decade or two, so for now I could relax and enjoy the moment.

-------------------- To be continued ----------------------

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