The Sighs of the Priestess Ch. 03

He'd brought four with him, three men and a woman, all fairly young. The priestess and the captain stood in long cloaks, their faces covered in the headdress of any of the various tribes of desert dwellers, talking quietly between themselves. The captain's eyes lit up as she looked along the short line, but she said nothing at first.

"Those two have always been trouble for me," the man said, "It often happens that I set them to a task, and when I look for them, I find that the tasks have been only quickly done and badly. I have often found them lying together when they were to be working and beating them only drives them together. Last night, I couldn't find them at all for a time, and when I did, they were with some men, obviously working at other than what they should have been. I sold them to a brothel-keeper friend of mine. They will make him good money at what they love to do and I got a good price for them. I was told that you wanted servants for labor and various tasks. I think these here will work well for you."

"This one," he pointed to one man, "is the son of a builder. This one is a young smith. Neither is shy about work. The other here is from the hill tribes hereabouts and needs training. He will work, but often needs a touch of the whip since he cannot hold his tongue. He will also need watching. The girl, I hope to offer to sweeten the pot. Use her for what you will. She is inexperienced with men, not being too comely. Perhaps she might make a good cook."

The overseer had heard of the fighter and asked him about his campaigns. With a look from the priestess, Lugalbanda pretended to be interested and answered the man's questions as he led him to the table and offered him some wine. If the fat fool was interested in hearing his war stories ...

The captain and the priestess stood together. "The three are Martu," Anat said. "I would speak with the men, but I do not want to be marked as Martu myself by the slaver."

The priestess stepped forward. "Builder's son, do you know how to build yourself, or is this empty talk?"

He was very quiet and nodded, "Yes. If I have one or two others to help, I can make what you want. My few tools are outside with the smith's here."

"Can you make a house?" she asked.

"Yes," he nodded, "any small building."

She walked behind him and her breath hissed inward as she saw their backs and the marks. "Why were these ones whipped?" she asked the overseer.

He shrugged, "They are Amorites. You need to whip them sometimes or they do not listen to you. I think your master here will have no trouble."

She bit her tongue and turned to the other one, "What of you? What can you do" she asked the smith.

"Have you a forge?" he asked, "I can work a forge well. Even if you have no forge for me to work, I can do much."

"We have no forge yet. Can you look after horses?"

He nodded. "Yes. This man and I have worked together and with the materials, we can make a forge and care for horses, even camels."

"You both seem willing," she said quietly, "why?"

"We have no homes anymore after the fall of Ninab," he said, "Both of us have lost everything. We want to find a place where we can work and try to forget, someplace where it is not rubbed in our faces every day that we are slaves. For that and for food, we would work."

She turned to the tribesman, "What of you? What are you good at?"

"I can make you cry out in joy all the night long," he smiled.

She shrugged as she turned away, "We need no storytellers here, and I have better than you already."

Stepping to the table, she waited politely, keeping her eyes down. When the men looked up, she said, "I think that you might have an interest in the two men and the woman, Master. May I show them the stable?"

He looked at the overseer who nodded, "Here, what of the other man?"

She shrugged, "My master must decide," she said, "For myself, I have no work for goat herders and no goats which need his loving touch. I asked one thing, and he talks hopeful tales to me. If he stays here, I will want to kill him."

She walked back to the slaves, "You, you , and you. Come with me a moment."

They followed her to the stable with Anat behind them. Once inside, she asked the girl, "Can you be allowed to the market, or do they give you trouble here? I need one who can buy clothes and food."

She nodded, keeping her eyes downcast.

"Can you cook? Have you any skills?" The priestess noticed that the builder sometimes glanced at Anat furtively now and then.

"I can cook and I can mend," she said in a voice just above a whisper. "I will do anything to get away from the overseer who reminds me often that I am no beauty. I know it, but I do not wish to hear it anymore."

"Can you make clothes as well?"

She nodded, "Yes. That is what my family did in Ninab. I am all that is left. I can make clothes and I can dye as well, if I must."

The priestess looked at the girl. Besides a little dirt, she was pretty. She wasn't plain at all, and other than a slightly heavy build, she saw only someone who had been beaten more with words than anything else, and nothing else had been needed, obviously. The words had done as much damage as any whip could have. "Come here with me," she said, leading her behind a stall.

"I mean nothing cruel here," she said softly, "I only wish to see what I might buy. Lift your dress please."

Without a word, the slave complied. The priestess smiled, "I think you listen too much to fat fools," she said, "let it down again and open your mouth."

After looking at her teeth, the priestess smiled and whispered, "You have not lain with a man? Is this what the overseer said?"

She shook her head, "I have, in Ninab, I would go to the temple sometimes, to the gardens there. The men here do not want me and I do not want them, so I say nothing and keep my eyes down."

The priestess nodded and led her back to the others. "Open your mouths," she said, "I look for bad teeth."

With that out of the way, she whispered to them, "I need to know one thing more from any or all of you. Can you make or repair leather armor and weapons? Can you fight with things such as these?"

The girl laughed a little, "If we could fight well, none of us would be here."

The men nodded cautiously, "Why do you ask this, lady?"

"Because to work here, you it would help if you knew of these things." She put her hand on the girl's shoulder for a moment, "If you do not know, you will learn a little, so that you do not have to walk with your head down all of the time," she smiled. The young woman smiled a little in response.

"I think that you may have a home here. I make no promises, but I will try. Is this a place where you both can work, you men?"

The men nodded, feeling a little hopeful, but the look on them all faded when she spoke again. "You are all Martu," she said, "the master here is Sumerian."

She noted the change. "Here," she said, "It is only what you could expect in this place. He is not cruel. Here is how this could go," she said, "He would be your master, but you would also work for me. If you have trouble with this, say it now."

None of them spoke. "Good," she said, "now you will tell me your names, and I do not want to hear some stupid name that the slavers gave you to say. I want proper Martu names from you all."

Their eyes opened a little at this, but the smith spoke first. "I am Adad."

"I am called Dagon," the young builder said.

"Timna," she woman muttered, "I am called Timna."

"We go back now to see how well I fare," Nisi-ini-su said, "Follow me, and do not speak unless you are asked to. I will bargain with the overseer."

As they walked, Anat stepped up to walk with her friend. "I have a little gold," she whispered, "If this comes apart, I would have Dagon at the least."

Her friend looked over, "For yourself?" she whispered back, "What do you mean?"

Anat rolled her eyes, feeling foolish, "Yes, for myself. I would buy him to free him."

"You would spend your gold from the looks that passed between you?" she chuckled a little, "then I must bargain harder if it is to make my friend a little happy."

Inside, she stood behind her warrior and placed her hand on his shoulder. An instant later, he heard her thoughts to him.

"Try to get the men. Remind him that he wanted to throw in the girl. Now that we do not want the young goat herder, the overseer will want money for her. Do not let him drive the price up, my love. Remind him that the three are all Amorites and use that word as though it tastes badly to you to speak it. If he makes trouble over it, tell him that you know that every slaver in the city seeks to sell his Amorite slaves cheaply, since Amorites make poor slaves and cause only trouble. This is widely-known here and it drives the prices for them down."

She stepped over to the girl. "Listen, Timna," she whispered, "Try not to hear what is said now. It may come that you hear things which are not to your liking, but we try to get a good price that includes you into the bargain. What is said from our side of it is surely not what is meant. If we did not want you, we would not deal for you. Can you understand?"

The young woman nodded and looked down with a sigh.

When the dealing began, Lugalbanda kept these things in mind and was partially successful, but the overseer was as accustomed to dealing and trading as the warrior was at what he did best. At length, he heard the priestess speak to him in his thoughts again, "Tell him that you have a headache and that you leave the trading to me and give me the permission to trade on your behalf."

The overseer almost rubbed his hands in glee over the turn of things until he found himself up against one of the hardest bargainers that he'd ever come across. At length, they stood glaring at one another in silence.

"Anat," she called out, "have you three silvers?"

"Nay," the other woman replied, "I have only two silvers and five coppers of small money, why?"

"Because it hangs here," the priestess replied, "I will not spend another copper on two beaten-down men and a girl who can no longer look up from hearing low thoughts from slavers, the three of these here all Amorites into the bargain."

She turned to the overseer, "Is it enough? You will get no more and I grow tired of this here."

"The girl can be bred and you get more slaves," the man said.

"Who wants the brats of an Amorite? You told us that she was to sweeten the pot and made out as though she had no value, and then you wanted money for her. I added some for her knowing this, and you still try to squeeze more. Tell me it is not enough and you can take them all away. Enough or not?"

"Enough," the trader grumbled.

Nisi-ini-su sighed in disgust, "Anat, lay it down and it is done between us here." She pulled a wet clay tablet over and pointed, "Make your mark, overseer, and it is over before I think to change my mind – again."

He thought about it quickly as he licked his lips nervously. What he'd get is what he might have expected for one really fine male slave, but on the other hand, he'd been trying to rid himself of the three of them for almost four months. No one in the city wanted to trust any Amorite, and nobody even wanted the girl, fearing that she'd kill them in their sleep from what they'd heard.

"Fine," he said, hating the terms here, "show me your gold."

As the transaction was completed, the slaver noticed her blue eyes with a bit of shock, but kept it to himself. He'd tell of what he'd seen here to the right one soon enough. He scratched at his itchy face a little, wondering about it, but putting it down to the heat. He took the tribesman's chain and they walked out.

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She sat on her fighter's lap, feeling exhausted. "I have traded for horses and not had to work so hard at it," she said with a tired smile, "but it was worth it." She kissed him for a long moment. "Thank you for your trust."

He laughed a little. "You told me yesterday that you would try to leave me a little of this sum. You did not spend even half of what you set aside for this. My trust is well-placed and I know it."

"Come here, all of you," she said, "It is time that you know where you are now." she pulled off her headdress and Anat did the same. The three servants stared.

"We can speak our tongue here," she told them, "only be a little slower with your words for your master here, as he is just learning, and you still might have to speak in his tongue even so."

"He noticed your eyes, beauty," Lugalbanda said, "there may be trouble yet."

She laughed, "Very soon it will not matter. He will learn a new word because no one will go near to him. His life will change completely."

"Timna," she said, "please come here. You do not know it yet, but you are important to us. We need you for many things, and you are all as servants here, but not slaves. This is Lugalbanda. He is my man," she laughed, "as of yesterday, it seems, since we are the both of us stupid enough for it over each other."

"I did not lie," she said, "he is not cruel, though he looks to be. Besides what else he might be, he is a new priest of the faith. If he is anything to you, it might be that he is as a lord to you. It is through him that you are free of the overseer."

The girl bowed low to him and stood waiting after thanking him. The priestess pointed with a friendly smile.

"The bath is through that door there, and it is hot. Go now and bathe. Take your time with it too. Your first task from me is to feel better about yourself. Adad, go and bring your tools and Dagon's to the stable for now."

"Dagon," she smiled for a moment, indicating her friend, "this is Anat. She paid for you."

They smiled at each other a little shyly for a moment. They looked to be exactly even between them. Both were lithe, and the occupations of both had left them a bit muscled, though not heavily, and they were exactly the same height. To the priestess, they looked as though they were made from the same pattern. If there was a difference, it was that Anat showed much more self-confidence in her gaze.

"Thank you," he said a little uncertainly, though it was heartfelt.

Anat showed her self-assurance a moment later when she slammed her hand against his chest to grab his shirt in her fingers.

"Come," she laughed, "you are mine, at least for a little while." She pulled him into the storage room. Once inside, she put her arms around his neck. "You wish to thank me? You might begin it right here."

Nisi-ini-su chuckled as she noticed the look on her large friend's face, "That is Anat. When she thinks something, it comes out. We may need to close the door in a moment."

"No you will not, "Anat laughed as she called back, "I want only to see if my friend here thinks as I do."

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In another part of the palace, the overseer was learning the new word that the priestess had spoken of. Everywhere he turned, he found only revulsion in the faces of others. He tried to begin to tell of what he'd seen, but no one cared so much as they wanted him out of their sight. At last, he found himself forced out of the gates and into the street where everyone ran if they didn't look around themselves for stones to throw so that he might move on as he began his new life as a leper.

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Timna sat in the hot bath in disbelief. She'd never had the luxury of something this nice before. Everything in her body felt so comfortable and if she relaxed any further, she thought that pieces of her body might just begin to melt off her and float away.

The priestess walked into the room and smiled, "Can we share? I prepared the bath for myself before the overseer came and we can talk here, you and I."

Timnu nodded, "This is no bath here, priestess, this is a hot lake to me. There is room. You are the second priestess? I think that I know your face."

"I was once," she replied, "now I am the high priestess and we all have a long road before us. Let me wash your hair for you."

"What are my duties to be?" she asked as Nisi-ini-su began.

"Many things," the priestess replied, "I spoke the truth. You can have a high place here. All of the Martu here are as slaves. I myself am a slave to the Sumerian, but he is with us. Besides myself and Anat, there are twelve more women here, all of them Martu fighters. They cannot go out into the city in the clothing of fighters. You will need to go and buy the normal clothes that any woman – not overly rich, and not bitter poor – might have so that we can go out. You will need to likely fit the clothing to us so that it fits well, no?"

She smiled, "And then there is the food. Food is brought here daily, but it will not be long before we will need to be at least a little suspicious of it, so you will have to buy it. By then, one or more of the others, and perhaps even me will go along to help, and we will all help in the preparing of it. You will be the chief cook among us, Timna, and so it will be you who gives the commands for that, even if my warrior friend must help. Can you do all of this?"

For the first time, Timna smiled and nodded.

"You are not here as a slave, Timna. You are here until you do not wish to be here with us. If I had my way, my man would do what he must do for us all tomorrow, but it will take some time, perhaps a few years, even. Then we will all go to new homes. Only see if you can help with what we need and it will be enough for me before you go if it is what you wish."

"The Sumerian is with us?" she asked, "I do not understand. He frightens me, priestess. He looks like one of their fighters, one who deals death. I saw them in Ninab."

"He was at Ninab," the priestess said, "but he was there because his lord ordered it. He tries to learn our ways and he is already a priest of the faith. I have never met one like him, but I can say this - he is not as he looks to be. He can be fearsome, but I have found much to love in him all the same."

She grinned suddenly, "Who is it now who judges quickly? There is more to him, just as there is more to you. It is in how you look to see, nothing more. You are not as poor-looking now that I have some of the dirt off you, and he looks less fearsome with his leather off him. I need someone to assist me, and I hope to make a friend myself in you. Do not shun Lugalbanda, Timna, you will miss knowing a good man who seeks a way out of his own prison for he has seen not much more than grimness for so long."

"Now, wash my back if you wouldn't mind and tell me what you might need to prepare the food. Then you and I can go to the market and begin."