Harry Turtledove The First Heroes

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She was Inanna, the living goddess, unlike Enmerkar, who was a mere king of
men. In her divinity she could run far ahead of mortal understanding; she was
not always patient, either. She glared at the blank faces of the
king's council, a circle of round cheeks and round eyes, with no more wit
in them than in a cairn of stones.
"Aratta," she said as if to children, "has wood. It has stone. It has metal.
It has alliances with us from years before, oaths and promises of trade.
Aratta will help us, if we offer a caravan of grain and the fruits of the
south."
"A caravan?" said the king. "It will be a lean winter as it is.
We can't spare even a tithe of the harvest and Aratta will want more
than that, if it knows how desperate we are."
"Then let us not be desperate," Inanna said sharply. "Let us be allies with
trade to offer. Or are we truly defeated as the Martu declare? Are we their
sheep, to be plucked of our fleece in season and led tamely to the slaughter?"
That made some of them bristle and others close their ears and
minds against her.
Lugalbanda, who had earned his place here by winning a battle or three but who
was not the best or most eloquent of speakers, found himself unable to
restrain his tongue. "I I have heard," he said, battling the stammer
that always beset him when he had to speak in front of people, "I have
heard a story, a rumor really, but it has a ring of truth that there is a
new god in Aratta, a god of war."
"That's old news," said the councilor who had spoken first. "The god, if he is
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one at all, has been there for years."
"Indeed," said the king's sister. She turned her beautiful and terrible eyes
on Lugalbanda. "Tell us what you have heard."
His knees were weak and his wits scattered, but those eyes compelled him. They
drew words out of him, words that even made sense and that was a miracle
worthy of her divinity. "I I have heard that the god came from the east, and
he brought with him an art and a weapon. He forges bronze, they say, that is
stronger and brighter and keener than any in the world. His swords are
sharper, his spearheads more deadly. But even more than those, he has a craft,
a thing of power and terror. It rolls like thunder over the earth. Great
beasts draw it, swifter than the wind. Wherever it goes, armies fall like mown
grain."
"Travelers' tales," said the king.
"Travelers who have been to Aratta," his sister said. "Is there more?"
Lugalbanda had an itch between his shoulderblades. It would have killed his
dignity to scratch it, yet it was a miserable niggling thing.
It could not drive him any madder than the sight of her face. "There there is
a little, divine lady. They say the god rides in his great weapon, and rules
it with the terror of his will. And and they say that he is not alone. That he
has made more of them, and taught the men of the city to master them, and they
are unconquerable in battle."
"It is true," said the eldest of the council, who was deaf and nearly blind,
but his wits were still as sharp as ever. "Even I hear a thing or two, and I
have heard that no enemy has threatened Aratta since shortly after the god
came to it. It's more than the terror of his presence; he has
weapons that deter even the hordes of savages."
Enmerkar smote his thigh with his fist. "If Aratta has such weapons if this is
not dream and delusion we need them. We need copper and stone, wood and
bronze. We need strength to drive back the Martu and to keep them from
coming back again and again."
Inanna clapped her hands together. "All hail to the king of Uruk! Yes, we need
what Aratta has and it would be best if our messenger went soon, before
winter closes the mountain passes. As it is, he'll not come back
until spring, but maybe he'll come to us with a hoard of god-forged weapons."
"And maybe he'll come back empty-handed, or never at all." But Enmerkar was
less despondent than he had been in all this Martu-embattled year. "It's a
risk I'm willing to take. But, lady, to send a caravan "
"We can't send promises," she said. "We're too desperate. It must be sacks of
wheat and barley, and jars of dates and baskets of apples and all the
riches of the earth that we can possibly spare."
"And wine," the eldest councilor said. "Send the king a great gift of date
wine, and see he drinks a good part of it while he haggles. That will bring
him round if nothing else will."
He grinned a toothless grin. Some of them were outraged, but laughter ran
round the rest of the circle, easing the mood remarkably. He had won them over
more truly with laughter than she had with her fierce impatience.
She was in no way contrite, though she had the grace to acknowledge his
wisdom. "We should leave as soon as may be," she said, "with as large a
caravan as we can muster, under a strong guard. You" she thrust her chin
toward Lugalbanda "will command the guard. See that you choose men brave
enough, and hardy enough, for mountains." Lugalbanda could find no words to
say. He was the youngest and the least of this council. He was a fighting man,
to be sure, and had led a company of stalwarts from the city with some credit
and a number of victories the past few seasons. But to leave Uruk, to venture
the mountains that walled the north of the world, to walk where all the gods
were strange
"I am not " he began.
No one heeded him. The king had heard what Inanna had tried to hide behind the
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shield of
Lugalbanda.
"You are going? Lady, you cannot "
"I am going," she said with divine certainty. "My temple will do well enough
in my absence. The rest of the gods will look after the city. No one and
nothing in Uruk will suffer because I have gone from it."
"No one but you," her brother said bluntly. "Lady, the journey is long and the
road is hard. As great and powerful as you are, and as divinely blessed, still
you walk in flesh, and flesh can be destroyed. We can't risk the loss of you."
"You can't risk a lesser messenger," she said. "You could send every wise man
in this council, and that would be a noble embassy, but my heart declares that
they would fail. I may not succeed, either, but the refusal may be less
swift. Men will hesitate to refuse a goddess."
"I can't let you go," Enmerkar said. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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