“Mistress of the mysteries of birth, provider of warriors, great goddess of this town, great goddess of this land ...” After the honorifics, the wanax of Zalpuwas took a deep breath so he could come to the point: “I bring before you Sharur son of Ereshguna, a foreign man, a man of the distant land between the rivers, a man of the town of Gibil.” He did not raise his head as he spoke, not once. Indeed, he reckoned himself far more a servant of the gods than did Huzziyas of Tuwanas.
Sharur wished the wanax had not mentioned Gibil. Faillar surely knew whence he came, but reminding her of it would do his cause no good. He bowed again, saying, “I greet you, great goddess of this town. I greet you, great goddess of this land.”
Fasillar’s stone eyes swung in their sockets till they bore on Sharur. “You are the foreign man who spoke with Tarsiyas my cousin in the town of Tuwanas.”
“I am that man, great goddess of this town, great goddess of this land,” Sharur acknowledged.
“Tarsiyas my cousin made it plain to you we do not want what the men of Gibil have to trade,” Fasillar said. “Tarsiyas my cousin made it plain to you that we do not want the men of Alashkurru to take what the men of Gibil have to trade. Tarsiyas my cousin having made that plain to you, why did you not leave this land? Why did you not return to Gibil? Why did you go deeper into these mountains, into this land, to disturb another town, to disturb Zalpuwas?”
“Great goddess of this town, great goddess of this land ...” As he spoke the honorifics, Sharur used the time they gave him to gather his own thoughts. “I understood from Tarsiyas your cousin, great god of that town, great god of this land, that he rejected dealings for the things of Gibil, dealings with the men of Gibil.” He licked his lips. “I did not understand him to mean all the towns of this land, all the gods of this land, rejected my city and the men of my city.”
Fasillar’s stone eyes blazed. The nipples of her swollen stone breasts sprang out and pressed against the rich wool wrappings in which the folk of Zalpuwas had decked her. “You knew what Tarsiyas my cousin told you, Sharur son of Ereshguna. You knew what Tarsiyas my cousin meant, man of Gibil. In your heart, you chose to misunderstand, to twist the words of Tarsiyas my cousin to a shape more pleasing to you. That you do this, that you can do this, shows why all the gods of Alashkurru hate you.”
Still down on his belly, Ramsayas moaned. Again, his was a different kind of fright from Huzziyas’s. The wanax of Tuwanas had been frightened because Sharur had got him in trouble with his gods. The wanax of Zalpuwas was frightened because Sharur had got himself in trouble with the Alashkurri gods. Huzziyas wanted to be out from under them, but could not escape. Ramsayas was content down to the bottom of his spirit to remain their servant.
Their anger frightened Sharur, too, for it meant he would not return to Gibil with his donkeys’ packs nicely burdened with copper and copper ore. It meant he would not return to Gibil with rare and beautiful things for Kimash the lugal to set on Engibil’s altar, which might in turn make Engibil angry at Kimash and at the rest of the men of Gibil.
And it meant he would not return to Gibil with Ningal’s bride-price. She would have to remain in the house of Dimgalabzu the smith, her father. Perhaps Dimgalabzu would offer her to someone else, someone who had not been so rash as to pledge a bride-price from profit and then come home without it. Ereshguna would not be happy to see this marriage alliance fail, for he wanted his family joined to Dimgalabzu’s. Sharur would not be happy to see this marriage alliance fail, for he wanted himself joined to Ningal.
He said, “Great goddess of this town, great goddess of this land, I will appease you and the other gods of this town, the other gods of this land, with any contrition-offering you ask of me, short of my life or the lives of my countrymen. I want no more from you than to trade my wares for the wares of this land and to return to my city, to return to my god, in peace.”
“No,” Fasillar said, and Ramsayas moaned again at that blunt rejection. The goddess went on, “A contrition-offering depends upon true contrition. You, man of Gibil, you would make the offering and speak the words of contrition with your mouth, while your heart laughed within you. For the gods of this town, for the gods of this land, to accept such an offering would be for us to eat of poisoned fruit. Better it were never made.”
Sharur bit his lip. Fasillar had indeed seen what was in his mind: he would have made the offering as part of the price of doing business in the Alashkurru Mountains, not because he repented of being what he was. lowing his head before the superior power he could not help but recognize, he asked, “What am I to do, then, great goddess of this town, great goddess of this land?”
“You have but one thing to do.” Fasillar’s voice was implacable. “Leave this land. Return to Zalpuwas no more.”
“Great goddess of this town, great goddess of this land, I obey.” Sharur bowed his head again. Even as he spoke, though, he saw how he might bend the Alashkurri goddess’s words to his own purpose.
As the caravan pressed deeper in among the Alashkurru Mountains, Harharu asked, “Are you sure you know what course you take, master merchant’s son, the goddess having told you to quit this land?”
“Donkeymaster, I obey Fasillar.” Sharur’s smile was crooked. “We quit the land of Zalpuwas, do we not? When we leave these mountains, we shall not leave them through the land of Zalpuwas, but by another route.”
Mushezib laughed. “Thus did I obey my mother after I got too big for my father to beat me.” The guard captain eyed Sharur. “Are you too big for these gods to beat you, master merchant’s son?”
“Not a chance of it,” Sharur answered. “If the gods— any gods—take it into their minds to beat a man, they will beat him. My hope is that they will not take it into their minds to do any such thing, that I can make myself too small to draw their notice.”
That satisfied Mushezib. It did not satisfy Harharu, who said, “Master merchant’s son, on what do you pin this hope? Slice words as you will, the goddess told you to quit this land, and you press deeper into it. Before long, we shall halt in another valley. Before long, you shall present yourself before another wanax’s chief merchant, or more likely before another wanax himself. Before long, you shall be brought into the presencex of the Alashkurri gods. How can you fail to draw their notice?”
“Before long, we shall halt in another valley,” Sharur agreed. “I know the valley in which we shall halt: the valley of Parsuhandas. The trading in the valley of Parsuhandas has long been good for Gibil. But I shall not present myself before Wassukhamnis, the chief merchant of the valley of Parsuhandas. I shall not present myself before Yaddiyas, the mighty wanax of the valley of Parsuhandas. Most especially, I shall not be brought into the presence of the Alashkurri gods in the valley of Parsuhandas. I shall not draw their notice.”
“Ah. Now I understand.” Mushezib boomed laughter. “You will trade swords and spearheads and good date wine to the peasants of the valley of Parsuhandas, and we will go back to Gibil with our donkeys piled high with cucumbers.” He laughed again.
“The peasants of the valley of Parsuhandas are Alashkurrut like any other Alashkurrut,” Sharur said. “No doubt, could they pay for them, they would be glad to have fine swords of bronze, and fine spearheads of bronze as well. Could he pay for it, any man would be glad to drink good date wine. But we have in Gibil cucumbers aplenty. I would sooner bring back to our city copper and copper ore. And this, if matters go as I hope, I shall do.”
Harharu’s frown remained. “And you will not see Wassukhamnis, chief merchant of the valley of Parsuhandas? And you will not see Yaddiyas, mighty wanax of the valley of Parsuhandas? Master merchant’s son, what will you do?”