Given what we have described, it's only natural that it will occur to someone to ask if cain isn't tired out, squeezed dry by his insatiable lover. He is tired out and squeezed dry, and as pale as death. His pallor is due simply to a lack of sunlight and exposure to the fresh air that makes plants flourish and people's skin turn brown. But anyone who had known this man before he entered lilith's bedroom, where his time is divided between the antechamber and sex, would be sure unknowingly to repeat the overseer's words, He's a ghost, a spectre, as the person chiefly responsible for his condition finally realised. You don't look well, she said, I'm fine, replied cain, Maybe, but your face says otherwise, It doesn't matter, Yes, it does, from now on you will go for a walk every day, you can take a slave with you so that no one bothers you, I want to see you with the face you had when I saw you at the treading pit, Your wish is my command, madam. The accompanying slave was chosen by lilith herself, what she didn't know, however, was that he was a double agent, who took his orders from noah, even though he was, for administrative purposes, her servant. Let us, therefore, fear the worst. On the first few occasions, the walks passed off without incident, the slave always walking one pace behind, listening attentively to whatever cain said and suggesting what he thought would be the best route to follow outside the city walls. There was no apparent reason for concern. Then, one day, concern arrived in the guise of three men waiting to ambush them and with whom, as cain quickly realised, the treacherous slave was in cahoots. What do you want, asked cain. The men did not answer. They were all armed, the apparent leader with a sword and the other two with knives. What do you want, cain asked again. The answer came in the form of a sword suddenly unsheathed and pointed at his chest, To kill you, said the man, stepping forward, Why, asked cain, Because your time is up, You can't kill me, said cain, the mark on my forehead will not allow you to, What mark, asked the man who was, it seems, somewhat shortsighted, This one here, said cain, Oh, yes, I can see it now, what I can't see is why a blemish would prevent me from killing you, It's not a blemish, it's a mark, And who put it there, did you do it yourself, asked the man, No, the lord put it there, What lord, The lord god. The man burst out laughing and the others, including the unfaithful slave, provided a gleeful chorus. Better the last smile than the first laugh, said cain, and then, addressing the gang's leader, Do you have family, he asked, Why do you want to know, Do you have children, a wife, a father and mother still alive, other relatives, Yes, but, You will not need to kill me for them to be punished, said cain, interrupting him, the sword in your hand has already condemned them, the lord's word on it,
Don't think you're going to lie your way out of this, shouted the man and advanced, sword at the ready. At that same moment, the weapon was transformed into a cobra which the man, horrified, shook from his hand, There, said cain, what you took for a snake was a sword. He bent down and picked the sword up by the hilt, I could kill you now, and no one would come to your aid, he said, your companions have fled, as will the traitor who brought me here, Forgive me, begged the man, kneeling down, Only the lord can forgive you, if he so chooses, I can't, now go, you will find the reward for your villainy at home. The man left, head down, weeping, tearing his hair, regretting a thousand times over ever having chosen the profession of murderous bandit. Repeating the steps he took when he first arrived, cain walked back into the city. Just as on that occasion, he turned a corner and found himself face to face with the old man leading the two sheep by a rope. Goodness, you've changed, said the old man, you don't look anything like the vagabond who came from the west or the treader of mud, No, I'm a guard now, said cain, and made as if to go on his way, Guarding which door, asked the old man in a tone that was intended to be mocking, but which sounded rather resentful, If you know already, why waste time asking, Because I don't know the details, and the savour of any story is always in the details, Well, go hang yourself on them then, you have a rope after all, retorted cain, and that way I wouldn't have to see you again. The old man shouted, You will go on seeing me until the end of your days, My days will have no end, answered cain, moving off, and watch that those sheep of yours don't eat the rope, That's what I'm here for, but it's all they think of doing.
Lilith was not in her room, nor on the roof terrace, where she often sunbathed naked. Sitting on his bench, cain considered the situation, trying to weigh up what had happened. It was clear that the slave had taken him down that path on purpose in order to meet the waiting bandits, so someone must have plotted against his life. It wasn't difficult to guess the name of what we would now call the mastermind behind that failed murder attempt. Noah, said cain, that's who it was, no one else in the palace or in the city would gain anything by my disappearance. At that moment, lilith came into the antechamber, That was a short walk, she said. A thin veil of sweat made the skin on her shoulders gleam, she was as succulent as a ripe pomegranate or as a split fig from which oozes the first honeyed drop. Cain considered carrying her off to bed, then abandoned the idea, perhaps later on, there were serious matters to deal with first. Someone tried to kill me, he said, Kill you, asked lilith, startled, who, The slave you sent with me and some hired bandits, What happened, tell me, The slave led me down a path out of the city, that's where the attack took place, Did they hurt you, wound you, No, How did you escape, asked lilith, No one can kill me, said cain calmly, You're the only person in the world who believes that, Yes, I am. There was a silence, which cain broke, My name isn't abel, he said, it's cain, Oh, I like that better than the other one, said lilith, trying to keep the tone of the conversation light, an endeavour that cain laid low with his next words, Abel was the name of my brother, whom I killed because the lord had chosen to favour him at my expense, and I took his name to conceal my own identity, We don't care if you're cain or abel, news of your crime never reached us here, Yes, I see that now, Tell me what happened, Aren't you afraid of me, don't I disgust you, asked cain, You are the man I chose for my bed and with whom, in a little while, I will again lie down. Then cain opened the ark of secrets and described the dramatic event in detail, including the flies on abel's eyes and mouth, as well as the words spoken by the lord, and the enigmatic promise he had made to protect him from a violent death, Don't ask me why he made that promise, said cain, he didn't tell me and I'm not sure there is an explanation, It's enough for me that you're alive and in my arms, said lilith, Don't you see in me a criminal who can never be pardoned, asked cain, No, she said, I see in you a man against whom the lord offended, and now that I know your real name, let's go to bed, I'll burn up with desire right here if you don't hurry, I knew you as abel, and now I need to know you as cain. When the delirium of repeated and various penetrations finally gave way to lassitude, to complete physical exhaustion, lilith said, It was noah, wasn't it, Yes, I believe it must have been, agreed cain, I can't think of any other person in the palace or the city who would want to see me dead as much as he would, When we get up, said lilith, I will send for him, and you will hear what I have to say. They slept a little to rest their weary limbs and woke almost at the same moment. Lilith, already out of bed, said, Stay here, he won't come in. She summoned a slave-woman to help her dress and then asked the same slave to send a message to noah, requesting an interview. She sat in the antechamber waiting, and when her husband arrived, she said point-blank, You will order the execution of the slave whom you gave to me as a companion for cain on his walks, Who's cain, asked noah, taken by surprise, Cain was abel and now he's cain, you will have the men who ambushed him killed as well, Where is cain, since that is now his name, He's safe in my bedroom. The silence became palpable. Then noah said, I had nothing to do with what you say happened, Be careful, noah, lying is the worst of all cowardices, But I'm not lying, You're a coward and you're lying, you're the one who told the slave what to do and where and how, the same slave, I suspect, whom you have used to spy on my activities, hardly necessary since whatever I do, I do openly, As your husband, you should respect me, Yes, you may be right, I really should, So what are you waiting for, asked noah, feigning an irritation which he was far from feeling, for he was still trembling from her accusation, Oh, I'm not waiting for anything, I simply don't respect you, Is it because I'm not a good lover and haven't given you the child you wanted, he asked, Even if you were a brilliant lover and had given me not one child but ten, I still wouldn't respect you, Why, Let me think about it, and as soon as I've discovered the reasons why I feel not the slightest respect for you, I'll tell you, you'll be the first to know, I promise, but now, please leave me, I'm tired and need to rest. Noah was about to go, when she added, One other thing, when you have tracked down that wretched traitor, and I hope you will not be long about it, be sure to tell me so that I can witness his death, the others don't interest me, All right, said noah, and as he crossed the threshold, he heard his wife's last words, And if you torture him, I want to be there too. Back in her room, lilith asked cain, Did you hear, Yes, What did you think, He was clearly the person who ordered me to be killed, he couldn't even act the innocent. Lilith got into bed, but instead of snuggling up to cain, she lay on her back, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling, then suddenly she said, I have an idea, What, We should kill noah, That's madness, complete nonsense, protested cain, please, don't even think such an absurd thing, Why is it absurd, we would be free of him then, we could get married, you would be the new lord of the city and I would be your queen and your favourite slave, the one who would kiss the ground you walk on, the one who, if necessary, would receive your faeces in her hands, But who would kill him, You would, No, lilith, please don't ask me that, don't order me to do that, I've had my fill of murders, You mean you wouldn't kill him for me, don't you love me, she asked, I who gave you my body so that you could enjoy it endlessly, freely, extravagantly, so that you could enjoy it without rules or prohibitions, I opened to you the doors of my mind, which I had always kept bolted shut, and yet you refuse to do the one thing I ask of you and that would bring us total freedom, Freedom, yes, but remorse too, You're forgetting that I am lilith, I'm not the kind of woman to feel remorse, that's for the weak and feeble, And I am merely a man called cain who came from far away, a man who killed his own brother, who worked as a treader of mud, and who, having done nothing whatever to deserve it, has had the extraordinary good fortune to sleep in the bed of the most beautiful, passionate woman in the world, whom he loves, wants and desires with every pore of his body, So we won't kill noah, then, asked lilith, If you really want to, have a slave do it, No, I don't despise noah so much that I would send a slave to kill him, But I'm a slave and you wanted me to kill him, That's different, a man who lies in my bed is not a slave, or perhaps he is, but only to me and my body, So why don't you kill him yourself, asked cain, Because, despite everything, I don't think I would be capable, Men kill women every day, who knows, perhaps by killing him you would start a new trend, Let other women do that, I am lilith, wild, crazy lilith, but that is as far as my errors and crimes go, So we'll let him live then, it will be punishment enough for him to know that we know he wanted to kill me, Put your arms around me, trample me beneath your feet, o treader of mud. Cain put his arms around her, but he entered her very gently, without violence, with an unexpected tenderness that brought her almost to the verge of tears. Two weeks later, lilith announced that she was pregnant.