Tablet of Destinies (35 page)

Tory suddenly felt ashamed of the cover she'd assumed and feared her ability to maintain it, for it seemed Inanna suspected her deception. But how? The Goddess and her parents were wearing thought-wave neutralisers to prevent their minds from being probed, which also hindered the Gods from reading the minds of others. Inanna could not have exposed her telepathically. The only way Tory's cover could be blown was if she gave it away herself, but perhaps this was just what the Nefilim Goddess was hoping for? ‘That is unfortunate,' Tory replied, turning her attention to the orphans crowded around them. ‘But we have more pressing concerns to contend with, like the welfare and future of these children.'

We have set up an orphanage to cater for them, temporarily, until foster homes are arranged.
Ningal motioned to the masses assembled in the Town Square surrounding them.
And as you can see, we have many citizens eager to support this cause.

‘Then there's no need for us to delay here,' Crow fronted up to comment, ‘as we really should be
leaving
.' As everyone else on the crew turned to him with a look of disagreement on their face, Crow understood he was the only one considering that this might be an elaborate front for their capture.

You must stay the night, at least, as our honoured guests,
Nannar insisted.
Nova made it very clear that we were to feed you all and stock you up with any supplies you need.

The DJ wields more influence than I'd imagined,
thought Tory on the quiet.
He must be one of them.

The entire crew found the compensation very much to their liking, as it would save weeks of raiding when they departed. Hawk thanked the Nefilim and accepted their kind offer, while Inanna whisked Seagull away to speak with him alone. Raven and Chook were already chatting up a couple of female Falcons, hanging over the barricade, helped by the adoring refugee children, who were recounting the tale of their rescue. Crow was the only one who still appeared disturbed. Having swapped sides in this rebellion a couple of times, he couldn't feel at ease with either side.

Tory was pleased that the crew would be staying. The enigma of her old life was taunting her, as were the reports about the man they called the Dragon to whom she'd once been wed. All the people who had once been close to Tory Alexander seemed deeply embroiled in the interstellar war that was being waged via the light waves by the phantom DJ. She had to figure that if Nergal wanted her dead, then she too had a major role to play in the rebellion of the human tribes.
The universe spared my life so that I could finish my work here. To deny that can only be detrimental. I must seek myself.
The thought caused a burning sensation in her chest; she was being encouraged to follow her feelings.

At the same time her heart ached for Hawk, whose worst fear was seemingly becoming more and more inevitable — tomorrow could be goodbye.

Under a sky devoid of cloud, palm trees swayed in the morning breeze, their brilliant green leaves in contrast to the azure blanket above.

The sun pelted down upon his sweaty body as he carted yet another timber log from the forest, all the way down the earthen road to the latest construction site of Eridu, Enki's cultural centre in Edin. Adapa was glad to offload his burden, for he was not really built for the task he'd been given; still, he was young and would grow some yet. A huge squawk behind him urged Adapa to move out of the way and he promptly did so.

The two-headed creature had the same facial features as Adapa did, but their placement on his faces were not symmetrical like Adapa's features were. The creature was nearly twice Adapa's size and so carried many more planks of wood. The beast had the body of a man, but no reproductive organs; his genitalia were more akin to a woman's. One of its arms had a hand on the end, and the other ended in a claw; one of its legs had a foot and the other a talon.

‘Good, Gurlu.' Adapa applauded the beast's effort, as the creature dropped his load and walked towards him.

The creature made a happy grunting sound, both its heads nodding in agreement, but, becoming overexcited by the praise, a stream of urine began running from between its legs.

Adapa took a step back, thinking he should have known better than to excite the beast. The creature wasn't at all bothered by the event. Adapa could never understand why he found such things offensive, when most of the creatures around him did not.

‘Back to work,' yelled the Nefilim guard supervising the work, as he gave Gurlu a prod with his long metal staff.

Adapa, being fairly quick-witted, had never really had a problem with the guards. Gurlu was not so gifted, however, and squawked at the guard, annoyed by the order.

‘Quiet, freak,' the Nefilim demanded, ‘unless you'd prefer it back in the
mines
.'

Long sentences confused Gurlu, but the word ‘mine' he knew and feared.

‘Come, Gurlu.' Adapa urged it to follow him back up the road to the forest. The creature responded to the friendly request and did as it was asked.

It was as they reached the top of the road with heavy loads on their return trip, that Adapa accidentally dropped the long log he was carrying. He watched it roll down the hill and was inspired by an idea. Gurlu was big enough to stop the logs at the bottom of the hill. All he had to do was give each log a good hard push down to the creature and they would both be saved much effort.

 

‘Adama, you are not permitted outside the palace,' stressed Marduk. ‘Father shall have a fit when he finds out.'

‘If he finds out,' Adama corrected sternly. He noticed a construction site and moved to investigate.

Although Marduk was just a little younger than Adama, he felt he should have superiority in this instance. For Marduk was a pure Nefilim, not a half-caste as Adama was. ‘I could change your mind with a thought,' he pointed out.

‘Then you'd be destroying the thing you like most about me,' Adama commented, in a matter-of-fact manner. ‘And that is, that I think for myself.'

‘I could kill you instead.' The young Nefilim male resorted to his usual threat; being an immortal, Marduk did not have that worry.

‘Then kill me.' Adama stood in the middle of the road to invite his brother. ‘And lose your only loyal friend,' he appealed, surprised when Marduk launched himself in his direction.

‘Watch out!' he cried, as they collided and went toppling off to the side of the road. A large timber log rolled down the road past them and a huge, squawking creature gave chase.

The Nefilim guard, having seen the incident, brought the log to a stop with a wave of his hand and began bashing the beast around its heads with a staff for its clumsiness.

‘It might have been easier if you'd stopped the log,' Adama grumbled, using his grazed hands that stung with a vengeance, to push himself up.

‘Sorry,' Marduk mocked. ‘It happened so quickly, I didn't have time to think. Do your wounds hurt?'

Adama served his brother a look of scepticism and displeasure, before his attention was diverted to a slave running down the dirt road towards them.

‘No!' cried Adapa, as he came to Gurlu's rescue. ‘My fault, my fault!' He insisted on taking the blame for the incident, but the guard was not interested in the truth.

Beating the creature to the ground, the guard reached his hand out towards the creature's deformed ribcage.

‘Please, Lord, mercy!' Adapa knelt to beseech the Nefilim guard not to deal a fatal blow.

‘What is it?' Marduk queried his brother, who seemed most interested in the events taking place.

‘I've never known anyone desire to take the punishment for another,' said Adama, and noting the similarities between the being in question and himself he moved off towards the commotion.

‘Big deal,' grumbled Marduk, trailing behind Adama. ‘I don't suppose I could dissuade you from investigating?'

‘You suppose right.' As Adama neared the fracas, he eyeballed the man very closely, and saw that the man looked almost perfectly human. Adama had been led to believe he himself was a unique specimen of human male sexuality and intellect, and that all the other humans in existence were either sexless, witless, deformed, or all of the above.

Marduk and Adama approached the guard, who held the still beating heart of the beast in his hand. When he saw the two Lords approach, he knelt and held the organ up in offering. ‘I beg forgiveness, my Lord Marduk. I should have seen —'

Marduk waved the guard to silence, not interested in his explanation. Had Marduk been on this earth longer than sixteen years, the guard may well have met the same fate as his victim. But Marduk was young and nonchalant. He was more interested in the pursuit of knowledge than mining, or slavery management techniques that included torture and punishment.

Adapa had crawled over beside the beast. One of its heads was so badly beaten that it was naught but a
bleeding mound of flesh. The second head's one good eye, positioned in the middle of its face where its nose should have been, slowly closed. ‘My fault,' Adapa wept, as he leant over the dead beast. ‘Forgive me.'

‘I have seen you do this …' Marduk ran his hand down his own face, referring to the tears the man was shedding. ‘What does it mean?'

‘It means he hurts,' Adama explained.

Marduk was most confused. ‘But the guard didn't touch him.'

Adama look a deep breath to steady his own welling emotions. ‘Perhaps I should have said, he hurts for his friend.'

‘Are you implying he's telepathic?' Marduk was horrified by the notion.

‘No, I'm not.' Adama nearly gave up on trying to explain, but Marduk's eager expression urged him to persevere. ‘How would you feel if I died?'

Marduk shrugged, for he found the notion confusing. ‘Relieved.'

Adama was offended by his response. ‘Seriously?'

Marduk nodded. ‘You bet. Then there would be nobody to outshine me in father's eyes, and he'd stop pushing me to try and excel you, a
mere
mortal!'

Adama gave up on the topic, moving to speak with the grieving human. ‘His death was not your fault,' Adama told the man, who ventured to raise his filthy tear-stained face. Inwardly, Adapa was completely startled by the Lord addressing him, for he was not one of the Nefilim, but a human in a God's attire. He dared not argue the issue, for fear he'd end up like Gurlu.

‘Unfortunately, the Nefilim do not know any other way.' Adama shrugged, finding the fact tragic. ‘But you and I,' he reached out and collected a tear from the slave's cheek, ‘we know different.'

Adapa's eyes opened wide in awe, feeling an instant affinity to the Lord, for he understood the Lord's meaning perfectly.

‘Speak man. Tell me your name.'

‘My name is Adapa, Lord.' He felt liberated and honoured to be addressing such a fine being, but humbled himself again as he spied the guard's look of displeasure.

‘Ignore him, Adapa, he is of no consequence.' Adama grabbed the slave's arm and raised him to his feet, leading him away from the bleeding animal. ‘You speak very well. Do you write also?'

‘Write, my Lord.' Adapa frowned. ‘What is write?'

‘You know.' Adama's eyes roved around, looking for some script, but outside the palace there was no writing anywhere, for there was supposedly no one who could understand it. Adama knelt in the dirt and began tracing symbols in the dust.

Adapa was most intrigued by the Lord's endeavour and knelt beside him to see if he could copy his work.

Marduk became somewhat disturbed to see his brother teaching sacred scripture to a slave. ‘I think you've had too much sun, dear brother.' He erased the work Adama had done.

‘He shouldn't be here.' Adama stood to confront his younger, though larger, brother.

‘Sure he should,' Marduk said. ‘Do you think Father would have sent him here if he was some sort of prodigy?'

Adama looked back to the slave and was amazed to find him still working on the script. ‘He memorised it,' he gasped, so excited he could hardly breathe.

‘No,' Marduk protested. ‘He can't have.'

Adapa finished the final strokes of the symbols the Lord had drawn and looked up at his dumbfounded peers. ‘What does write do?'

Adama began to laugh, delightedly. ‘He's an open book.'

‘No, he isn't!' Marduk grabbed his brother's arm. ‘He is not going to turn into one of your little projects, so you can dismiss that thought right now.'

‘We have to tell Father.' Adama stood his ground, thinking it a question of morality.

‘He knows,' Marduk assured. ‘Father personally gives each being in Eridu their task here. He knows what this man is doing, I assure you.'

‘But why this fate?' Adama was immediately angered. ‘Explain to me why I live in a palace and this being lives with beasts?'

Marduk rolled his eyes at his brother's dramatics, which only infuriated Adama all the more.

‘Either he comes with us, or I stay here with him,' he stated. ‘Because as soon as I depart that guard will rip his heart out, and a possibly bright, if not brilliant, mind shall be lost.'

‘This is probably why Father didn't want you to venture beyond the palace,' Marduk retorted coldly. ‘You are not equipped to deal with the injustice of the real world, Adama.'

‘I can deal with it, alright.' Adama grabbed hold of
Adapa's wrist and led him off towards the palace entrance.

‘If you take that disgusting excuse for a human being to Father, we're both going to be in trouble.' Marduk strode after Adama to catch him up.

‘I'll tell him I ventured out on my own.' Adama absolved his brother of any wrongdoing.

‘And how did you get past security again?' Marduk questioned sarcastically. ‘You just teleported yourself forth, I suppose?'

‘Look, why are you so against this?' Adama stopped to query his brother. ‘Anyone would think you were jealous.'

‘The Nefilim don't get jealous,' he retorted smugly.

‘Oh yes, you do,' Adama said. ‘You can
be
jealous, you just don't feel it.' He looked from Marduk to Adapa to explain. ‘That's the big difference between their kind and ours.'

‘That makes no sense at all,' Marduk scoffed, as they entered through the palace gates.

Adapa smiled as he nodded in silent accord with the human Lord's statement, and his heart filled with joy to know that someone else in creation felt and thought as he did.

‘You shall never be a slave again, Adapa,' Adama told him, as they passed underneath the solid golden archway into the palace grounds of Eridu. ‘Welcome to paradise.'

 

When Adapa was washed clean of sixteen years of dirt and filth, Adama was intrigued by the young slave worker's appearance.

All of the human prototypes that had gone before Adama had been very dark skinned; Enki and Ninharsag had designed them that way. Adama, however, had obviously not been fashioned for the life of a slave, but for a son of Enki and the life of a scholar.