He nodded. It was still not too late for Elam to try and strike him down. “I’ll be careful, Trella. But from now on, you should not leave the Compound for any reason. We’re all going to need your help if this plan is to succeed.”
Chapter 8
Orodes stepped off the boat and onto Akkad’s dock just as the setting sun touched the horizon. The boat had departed late from Nuzi, and a slow passage down the Tigris had not made up any time, despite Orodes’s frequent suggestions to the ship master. At least the boring journey had ended.
Now he looked forward to a fine meal prepared by his incomparable cook, along with some exceptional wine brought all the way from Sumer, offered by his two wives and three slave girls. Afterwards, he would relax in his garden, sip some wine, and let his women take care of his more personal needs.
Tall and lean, Orodes lacked a year before he reached his thirtieth season. Nevertheless, his hair had thinned, and his temples were tinged with gray. Orodes’s plain face bore the scars of countless encounters with splinters of rock hacked and chipped from the hard earth. Thanks to the gods, he still had both eyes. Plenty of miners his age had lost an eye or damaged their vision from flying grit and rock fragments.
Slinging his leather pouch over his shoulder, Orodes started down the wharf. His servant, burdened by the weight of his master’s tools, struggled to keep pace. Orodes rarely used the hammers and chisels these days, but the richest man in Akkad had grown accustomed to satisfying all his desires, no matter how large or small. Orodes preferred his own tools, and if that meant a servant had to strain his back lugging everything his master might want to Nuzi and back, so be it.
Before Orodes reached the end of the wharf, he found his way blocked by one of the Hawk Clan guards. The soldier motioned him aside, halted the servant with a single glance, then lowered his voice as he delivered the message.
“I have a request from Lady Trella for you, Master Orodes. She would very much like to see you at midmorning tomorrow.” The soldier smiled as he delivered the last part of the message. “If it is convenient.”
Orodes recovered from his surprise. “Yes, of course.” What else could he say? Convenient or not, no one refused an invitation from the Queen of Akkad. “Tell Lady Trella that I will attend her at that time.”
The soldier hadn’t bothered to say where. The Queen seldom left the Compound, and she conducted her private business in Eskkar’s Workroom.
The Hawk Clan soldier spun on his heel and strode off, leaving Orodes standing there, open mouthed. Already the brief message had ruined Orodes’s satisfaction at returning home. By the time he reached his large house and passed inside, his mood had turned foul. He snapped at his wives during dinner, and drank too much wine.
While he picked at his food, Orodes wondered why Trella wished to see him. It couldn’t be anything to do with Nuzi. He had just come from there, and everything seemed under control. Once again, he thanked the gods for his foresight. By inspecting the mine once a month, Orodes ensured that the operation ran exactly as he ordered. Besides, Orodes reported the numbers from the mine every ten days, not to Trella herself but to one of her senior clerks.
Whatever Trella wanted, it must be important. Members of the Hawk Clan did not carry trivial messages. The soldier could have waited until Orodes arrived home. Meeting him at the dock meant something serious, and something Trella did not want mentioned even in front of Orodes’s wives or servants.
Trying to guess what Trella wanted also spoiled his after-dinner recreation with his women. Their efforts produced little gratification, and as soon as Orodes spent his seed into the young and recently acquired pleasure girl, he ordered all of them out of his bed chamber. It took another full cup of wine before he slipped into an uneasy and restless sleep.
Now midmorning had arrived, and Orodes eased himself into the comfortable chair that faced Trella across the table. The Queen wore no jewelry, only the same silver fillet to hold back her hair that Eskkar had given her years ago. She sat with her back to the wall, in the place her husband usually occupied. That told Orodes that the King would not be present.
Two other people also had seats at the table. Wakannh, the Captain of Akkad’s Guard, and Annok-sur. As always, her presence lent a grim air to any meeting. People had a habit of disappearing or turning up dead after meeting with Akkad’s chief spy. The others’ presence confirmed Orodes’s conclusion — something important would be discussed.
“Good morning, Orodes,” Trella began, her voice as pleasant as always. “I hope you had a successful journey to Nuzi.”
Neither Wakannh nor Annok-sur bothered with more than a simple incline of the head, though they kept their eyes fastened on Orodes.
“Yes, Lady Trella. Everything at the mine is running smoothly.” He resisted the urge to make his words a question.
“Indeed it is, and as always, our thanks for your skillful oversight. But today we must speak about another subject, one even more important than the mine. Akkad needs your services again, Orodes, as we did once before. Eskkar and I hope that you will be able to help us.”
Orodes let himself relax just the tiniest amount. He smiled at the subtle reminder. “I am always ready to help Akkad in any way I can.”
Ten years ago, Trella had plucked a drunken young man from the mud of Akkad’s lanes. As the youngest son of a family of miners, Orodes had rebelled against his father’s old fashioned ways and his older brothers’ rigid authority. Despite Orodes’s keen wits and mastery of the craft of mining, his kin had expelled him, their youngest and most quarrelsome son, from the family business.
Orodes had fallen into despair and disrepute until rescued by Lady Trella. She’d done so not because of any sympathy for a drunken young sot, but because she needed the best miner in Akkad. And one desperate enough to undertake a dangerous dig deep into the earth.
She had placed him in charge of a newly discovered and very secret gold mine at Nuzi. The moment Orodes reached the site and saw its potential, he abandoned his dissolute ways forever. The challenge to extract the vast amounts of gold and silver crucial for Akkad’s war with Sumer had provided all the incentive Orodes needed to regain his self-respect.
In Trella’s service, Orodes had accomplished what no other miner could have done. He’d developed new techniques to unearth and separate the various ores from deep within the ground. For his services, Lady Trella allowed him to keep one part by weight of every hundred extracted. Within five years, he’d become the richest men in Akkad.
Trella came right to the point. “You’ve probably heard rumors of a coming war. I can tell you, in private, that those stories are true. The Elamites intend to invade our lands and capture our cities. We need your help to defeat them.”
Orodes leaned back in surprise. Like most others in Akkad, he’d heard hundreds of rumors in the last few months, and discounted most of them. After all, only a fool would contend against King Eskkar and his well-trained army. But an invasion from the east, that changed everything. Such a war would threaten him personally. If Akkad lost, wealthy people like Orodes would be squeezed to death by the victors, eager to seize as much wealth as they could.
She waited a few moments until he had time to comprehend the situation. “Naturally we require as much gold as we can raise to help defeat these invaders. A contribution from you will help us buy what we need to fight.”
He sagged back in the chair. Orodes realized he was going to lose his fortune, or most of it. Half his wealth? Three quarters? Perhaps all of it. He glanced at Wakannh. A single word from Trella, and Orodes would be lying dead on the floor. It had happened in this very room before. Wakannh’s soldiers could already be at Orodes’s house, searching for his secret hiding places.