It was a very hot that day and I had walked a long way. My legs were beginning to tire from the speed I had maintained and my thighs burned from the heat of the sun. I left the mother city of Babylon in the cool of the morning and as I approached my destination the sun was well over its zenith. The flies were out in force and there was no relief from their relentless onslaught as they practiced their landings on my exposed flesh to get at my sweat. I could feel it like a tiny cool stream trickling down my back and dampening my kilt before the suns heat   snatched it away. My feet ached from the loose soil but I ignored the discomfort as was the way of my God. In the distance I saw my journey�s end approaching through the heat haze and walked strongly up to the entrance of the small mud and brick dwelling. This was the third house I�d stopped at to get directions and I was pretty sure that it was the one as it had been describe to me. The roof was made from some large pieces of rotten wood bleached by the sun with a sort of dirty brown thatch and I regarded its condition disdainfully. The way the people here lived was unbelievable, the squalor was disgusting and added to the irritation the flies had started. They�d all be far better off living in Babylon I thought as I stepped through the doorway. A hideous dirty old woman dressed in clothing little more than rags knelt before me and as my light washed eyes adjusted to the interior gloom I took in my surroundings and I did not approve. The room was small and filled with detritus and there was an odour I couldn�t quite place. It was my duty to protect these people and theirs to pay honour to the Gods in return. This was the way of things and had been for as long as anyone knew. People didn�t have much and their days were spent in service at local temples. The nearest temple to this small village was the temple of Inanna a little way to the south. It was a magnificent building constructed there by choice on a rich trade route so that the temple prostitutes could service the rich merchants that passed through the area on their day to day business. And it was the actions of one of these whores that had brought me here. News had reached the city of Suan of Inanna who had refused her act of worship and even worse than that had taken to wearing purple clothing. Either of these offences were regarded as an act of rebellion. Only high born women were permitted such clothing and for a temple whore it was an act of blasphemy. Suan had been banished to her family by the High Priestess of Inanna and it was her mother who now kneeled trembling and shivering before me in the squalor. I could feel the fear as a palpable presence coming off her withered body in waves and I said �Where� with my voice of command. The old bitch prostrated herself and pointed to a small low doorway across the room. I turned from her and strode forwards, a soldier�s walk with my legs apart and my balance forward. My eyes had now adjusted to the poorly lit room and as I passed the lintel I saw a beautiful woman before me, standing there her feet far apart her shoulders back holding herself defiantly with her chin up. Her hair looked black in this light but I could see red where the little sunlight invaded through the roof. She was tall and her face was striking. She had a little cute nose that seemed too perfect for her and eyes that you could see all the way to her soul through. Her breasts were large for her frame and perfectly formed from what I could see and her female shape was that of a goddess like those that adorned the temple walls. The simple dress she was wearing had a purple hue like she had dyed it herself and her feet were bare and tiny and beautiful like the rest of her.
� I have come for you � I said affecting my most dominating tones and then she smiled�.I could not believe my eyes, a smile, had this woman no shame was she not aware of the gravity of her crime. And then my head reeled from the sound as she spoke quite softly � I know�. This really was too much. To fall from your God was foolish but many had done so. To wear clothes that colour when you were low born was an act of madness but many sacred whores were mad, but to speak to a soldier of Marduk unbidden was absolutely unheard of. Nobody did that. Not even priests and to do so was to bring the full attention of Marduk upon yourself and Marduk was not a very forgiving God. You generally had the choice of conform or die and this woman had already been sentenced. Why was she so defiant, who did she think she was. Did she not take this seriously, surely she knew what was going to happen. Surely her kin had told her. There was no love lost, she was in utter disgrace and had shamed her family terribly. I heard voices outside and realized that a crowd was gathering. Any break in the monotonous life of these people was welcomed. An execution was an important lesson and was not supposed to be watched as a sport. Someone transgressed and a Marduk was sent. The transgressor then was disposed of and their body left for the creatures of the night. After a day no trace would be left and the person�s name itself became taboo, people fearing to utter it in case they brought that fate upon themselves. I moved fast, my strong arm reached out and I took her by the nape of the neck, my hardened nail points sinking in to her flesh, next to her jugular, four fingers on one side and my thumb on the other. This was a painful way to hold someone, it made them docile for fear of causing more pain to themselves and it made them easy to lead. I pulled her around me and pushed her through the low doorway following her sideways to keep my grip secure. Her mother was still prostrate groveling on the floor. She disgusted me this pitiful old hag who should have gone to her gods many years before. I stepped over her and left the smelly dwelling with my prisoner in tow. Fish, that was the odour I had smelt and it wasn�t fish that had come from a river. The hot sun blazed down upon us as we stepped outside  and I saw the crowd of villagers dotted around loosely, eyes and faces expectant at the sight they were about to witness. They were like ghouls to me these wretched people. I did my duty  to my God and City but it was not necessary that I should enjoy it. These blood hungry bastards were eager to see me kill this woman. This woman who was one of their own and for the first time I felt great pity for her who had been condemned by blood to be joined to such a family. I watched for danger, saw and felt none and turned to the job in hand. The whore had lowered her face to shade her eyes from the burning sun and I forced her to her knees grabbing my sword shaft with my left hand as she fell upon the dry earth. I drew it free from its harness which lay along my spine and the blade glittered brightly in the sunlight. The crowd were silent now awaiting the blow which would end this whores existence for ever. As a criminal she had forfeited the right to rebirth and it would be a fast blow through the head which would kill her. Even the Gods had forsaken her and I raised my arm high for the killing blow. She turned then and looked at me, making eye contact the very moment I tensed my muscle and I saw into her eyes in the daylight for the very first time. Those beautiful grey eyes, alive now in the daylight, a million different facets of colour glinting around the edges. She still wore her kohl this one and her eyes framed in delicate lines of black seemed to smile at me as if from an enormous distance. I heard someone behind me scuff the ground with a shoe and I snapped back to reality at the slight noise. I realized that I had unconsciously lowered my sword and I raised it again determined to end this woman�s  misery. Then she smiled again. Just a small smile but a smile nonetheless and I could not help but be drawn back to her eyes and in that split second that our eyes met I realized that I could not kill her. I realized that I was lost. The silence was deafening, it was as if the world had stopped still to watch and I felt the pressure of its gaze upon me. I placed my hand around the woman�s neck again as I had before but gently this time my nails barely touching her and I bid her rise to her feet. I slowly walked her back to her home glaring at the assembled witnesses daring them to say something. Of course none did. They all looked away trying to disappear into their own shadows. My sword still in my left hand sent ripples of light dancing off her as if in celebration of some mysterious rite and in all the time it took us to get there, which seemed an age, her eyes never left mine. I felt my soul ache for her this woman, this wonderful little whore who had awaited her fate calmly and unafraid and I felt for her. I really couldn�t help it. She was unique in this world where only the strong and obedient survived and the weak perished. As we reached her dwelling I told the old hag to disappear and she scrambled from the room whimpering like an frightened animal.
We talked then. We talked until the sun went down and the stars arose dancing in the cold night air. We talked through the night this incredible woman and I, about her life, her beliefs, her longing for a real man rather than the soft flabby merchants she had been forced to serve, poor fare indeed. I realized her predicament and before the dawn broke I took her away from that cursed place to the only safety she could rely on. I took her to the temple of Marduk in the centre of Babylon where I had quarters. And knowing that I could love forever a woman this beautiful, this perfect and so very defiant the very next evening I took her to wife
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