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11146Translator: Snorri
Proofreader: theunfetteredsalmon
It was unlikely that Amon could be adept at all types of magic as well as a master artificer and a formation expert. But it would be very useful for him to have a full understanding of them, at the very least. Crazy’Ole was not sure if Amon could find Bair, but what he had hoped for was that Amon could solve the secret of the gods, so the more he knew, the better his chances.
Crazy’Ole had also invested tremendously in Amon’s staff, making it one that rivalled the Adoratrice’s sacred sceptre, if not outright outclassing it so that Amon could learn and master every type of magic as quickly as possible.
Reading the latest message flashing in from the Terroculus, Amon couldn’t tell whether his heart was filled with more wonder or appreciation. Crazy’Ole had travelled across the continent for nearly a century, getting into countless shrines and archives, invited or not, just to compile such a complete and detailed compendium of magic. And he left this legacy all to Amon, storing it in this Terroculus.
However, his previous doubts grew larger after the message ended. He thought he had made a mistake before reading Crazy’Ole’s message, and now he suspected that Crazy’Ole had made the mistake. Where were all those ‘experience a lot and go through many hardships’ things as the ‘devil’s temptation’? He had just spent but a day in a small, humble town after his departure from the mountains.
The devil? Where was this devil?
Nevertheless, it was a verified fact that Amon could already practice fifth-level magic. He decided to put aside the problem of crossing the river. He was going to find a quiet place to get familiar with the new way of understanding and using his newfound magic power. By ascending to the next level, he could examine what he had learnt before from a broader perspective. However, this would be better done before crossing the river. It would be difficult to practise in highly populated places.
He opened the four sockets on the staff and removed the parangons, replacing them with a Terroculus, an Aquaticore, a Ventussalte and a Pyrosprite.
He already had the power of an advanced sorcerer and an advanced warrior. He could even open the socket on the top of the staff and put the Gods’ Tear in if he so desired.
Shortly after thinking it over, Amon decided otherwise. The strong wave that the Gods’ Tear he extracted in Duc still reverberated in his spine. Anyone familiar with magic could sense the massive disturbance. He knew he couldn’t be careful enough with such a precious object. Unless he was sure of his abilities to protect it or found a way to use it without revealing its existence, he would rather just leave it inside the bone.
Regardless, even without the Gods’ Tear, his staff was still extraordinarily powerful. For example, there was no staff other than this one that allowed for parangon replacement. At least, not any of the ones Amon had seen before. Once inlaid, the parangon in an ordinary staff would become an inseparable part of it, not to mention that the function of his staff would change according to the types of the implanted parangons and the order they were implanted.
Despite Amon’s knowledge on the basics of staff-making, he could not figure out the engineering that developed his staff. It was far beyond his understanding. It was generally accepted among artificers on this continent that Damasc iron was not a material that could be used to make staffs. One fundamental rule in staff-making was that the staff must at least partially be crafted with materials from a living thing, such as the branch of a tree or a bone. Crazy’Ole had somehow managed to turn an iron stick into a powerful staff!
Picking up his staff, Amon removed the formation, collected the parangons and moved away from the river. He chose a place that was hard to find, at the foot of the mountains. He stayed there for seven days. Then, he left for the river, travelling along the bank to look for a ferry.
To his ignorance, Amon’s actions had actually allowed him to elude men sent after him by the Mayor of Som. What he also didn’t know was his escape from another pursuer who had stalked him for seven days.
The Mayor of Som had been in a mixed mood of anger and fear. He was sure that Amon was not someone easy to handle. He couldn’t exclude the possibility that Amon was a high lord or a powerful official who travelled in disguise. If this was the case, he and his family would be in great trouble. In any case, he had to know where this foreigner was. He was obliged to send people to search discreetly as he had no intention of revealing what had happened to his sons. Several days had passed, yet not a trace of the foreigner could be found. The Mayor had to give up. The foreigner was probably on the other side of the river by now.
For the sake of convenience, Amon put the five scrolls he had obtained in the cave into the bigger bag when he started travelling in case he needed them in a snap decision. As he approached the area where his first meeting with Inanna took place, he once again saw the beautiful grassland. White clouds wandered peacefully in the blue sky, the murmur of the running Euphrate River audible in the distance like a whispering song beside his ear.
The view was still just as wonderful and Amon was in a great mood. Walking by a bushel of tiny flowers, Amon thought of Inanna again. Schrodinger had warned him about offending her. Why?
With this question in his mind, Amon traipsed across the gentle slopes covered in grass and the sparsely grassed mud land. The small rolling hills along the river abruptly ended by a sheer cliff. Ahead of him were treacherous rapids that covered rocky reefs Amon was still wondering why there wasn’t a ferry along the long way down here when he heard a familiar sobbing behind the highland on his right. It was the sobbing from a young woman on the brink; sad, but melodic, like a mellow, sombre song. It was Inanna’s voice!
Amon happened to meet her when she was sobbing, again! Was it really a coincidence? What trouble is she in this time? Amon hurriedly ran up the ridge of the highland. He caught sight of Inanna from afar, who sobbed with a little lamb in her embrace, “Where is your road ahead, my poor little lamb astray? Every one of my herd has gone away. You are the only one I have! Who can tell me what to do? Who can take me back to my homeland? Should I curse this miserable destiny, or should I jump into this running river?”
Inanna loosened her arms from the lamb’s neck, stood up and began walking towards the cliff. It seemed like she was planning to jump into the Euphrate River. Amon recognised the dress he had bought for her the other day.
“Inanna, don’t! We can talk about this. Don’t jump!” Amon’s voice broke out from between the shrubs. In a big stride, he leapt to Inanna, grabbing her arm.
“Oh dear lord! It’s you, Amon!” Inanna heard Amon’s voice. As a response, she fell into Amon’s embrace, her arms hanging on his neck, weeping even harder. Her tears dampened Amon’s clothes. She murmured, “I thought I wouldn’t see you again before leaving this world! Amon, why are you still here? Haven’t you continued on your journey?” Amon could feel her soft body and her tantalising smell, and her bosom slightly, seemingly unwittingly rubbing his chest. Amon felt his body heat up. He wanted to push her away but instead found himself holding her gently.
No man could resist such tenderness in his embrace. He lowered his head and said softly, “I was occupied the last few days. I was looking for a ferry when I saw you crying here. Please don’t cry. Tell me, what happened?”
Schrodinger’s words flashed across his mind. He should never ‘[…]’ her. The word isn’t “hug”, is it? Regardless, he was already hugging her, and it felt good. He let himself hug her for a little longer.
Inanna turned up her head from his embrace with surprise, eyes swollen with tears, “You are going to cross the river? Can I go with you? Please take me to the other side of the Euphrate River, I will be in your debt! If you can’t take me with you, I will have to jump into the river from here.”
“What happened to you? You should tell me.” It was the third time he asked this question.
Inanna managed to hold back the tears, “I daren’t tell others who I am. But I can tell you since you are the only one I can trust in this land. I don’t want to lie to you, Amon. Do you know that I’m not a shepherdess?”
Amon nodded, “I can see that you are definitely not a shepherdess. Where are you from? Who are you?”
Sticking in Amon’s embrace, Inanna started to tell her own story to Amon. It was a sad story.
Her real status was too high to be mentioned. Even her name must be kept a secret. One day when she was on a covert excursion, her convoy was attacked by a gang of bandits. She had to run away alone, ending with her wandering in this foreign land.
Having no funds and no one to depend on, she sought help from the boatmen at the ferry, asking them to take her to the other side of the river. Coveting her beauty, the boatmen made requests that she couldn’t accept. She turned to the locals for help. Another man promised to offer her help, on the condition that she herd his flock of sheep for him.
She had to make sure that no sheep were lost, and the quantity of milk and wool do not decrease. She could have all the new-born lambs with black dots on their back as her reward. Considering that the lambs could earn her the fee to cross the river, she accepted the job and became a shepherdess.
Inanna began herding the sheep last autumn. Seeing that the herd was in good condition and the number of newborn lambs was increasing, she was delighted, for she could soon earn enough money to pay for a ferry and perhaps even enough to go home. However, misfortune befell her once again. The day she left to look for the lost lamb, the owner of the sheep broke his promise and took away all the sheep with him, leaving her alone with this little lamb they found back in Som.
A single lamb was not enough to pay for a ferry trip. Inanna couldn’t help but cry hopelessly. She wanted to jump into the river. Fortunately, Amon saw her and stopped her at the last moment.
This was a wild story. Hardly anyone would believe it. Inanna seemed to acknowledge that. She watched Amon’s eyes appealingly, “Do you believe me? I know it is hard to believe, and I don’t know how to prove it to you. But I can write my name for you. That can prove I’m not a shepherdess at least.”
She separated from Amon’s embrace gently to pick up a twig. She scratched her name in the dirt 一 Inanna. Amon was shocked again. He now believed that Inanna’s status was higher than a shepherdess because she wrote in hieroglyphs!
She spelt her name with the wedge writing of the hieroglyph. More surprisingly, she drew a square around her name and then traced triple-curved lines like a flame. According to their grammar, it was the only way to write the name of a god without offence. Among mortals, only a monarch or the relative of a monarch could write his or her name this way, otherwise, it would be considered as blasphemy.
Schrodinger drew a symbol that looked like an arched door above the word ‘me’ when writing messages in pen-writing hieroglyphs. It was the equivalent grammar rule. Seeing how Inanna wrote down her name, Amon could tell that she must be a noble, and not an ordinary one. Not every noble knew how to write the hieroglyphs, let alone adding such a symbol when writing his or her name.
“I trust you, Inanna. You must be from a noble family.” Looking at the writing on the ground, Amon nodded sincerely.
Inanna dropped the twig and stood up, turned to Amon and asked with a little surprise, “Amon, you can read the hieroglyphs?”
Amon moved to explain, “I can tell that they are hieroglyphs even though I can’t read them. Knowing how to write them proves that you are a noble. My dear miss, why didn’t you seek help directly from the authorities, but instead chose to become a shepherdess? And what can I do for you?”
Amon didn’t want her to know that he could read hieroglyphs since such information may make others think of magic and suspect him of being a sorcerer. Besides, it was normal for even an illiterate person to tell that Inanna was writing hieroglyphs since there were plenty of them in shrines. Many were hymns praising the gods.
“Please don’t call me ‘dear miss’,” Inanna implored. “Amon, just call me Inanna. I like when you call me that. My identity cannot be revealed in this foreign land, or someone may abduct me for a hefty ransom. I could even be assassinated before the envoys arrive. Amon, I tell you all this because I trust you. If you help me cross the Euphrate River and take me to the capital safely, I swear the reward will be beyond your imagination!”
What she said made sense to Amon. If her identity was indeed as noble and important as Amon thought, it was reasonable to believe that someone may abduct her for money. As for the possible assassinations, it might just be complicated court politics.
Seeing Amon confused, Inanna flung her arms around his arm and explained in a sweet, begging voice, “I have always held the doubt that the attack on my convoy was actually an assassination plot arranged by my political enemies. They must think me dead. If they find me alive, they would do their utmost to ensure that I won’t return to Bablon in one piece.”
“Amon! My handsome hunter, my brave hero!”
“If you are afraid of getting involved, you can just take me to the other side of the Euphrate River and lend me some money. I will go to Bablon myself. I will tell you of a place in Bablon City so that I can reward you on my safe return, that is when you visit Bablon City one day.”
Arms trapped in her embrace, elbow rubbing her tender bosom and nose filled with an intoxicating scent, Amon could hardly feel the ground under his feet. He managed to keep his mental functioning and asked another question, “Inanna, how much do you need to get to Bablon City once you cross the river?”
A hint of disappointment was tinged in Inanna’s answer, “A gold paran will suffice… Amon, I will have gratitude to you for the rest of my life even if you do not go to Bablon City with me!”
Amon shook his head, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t take you to Bablon City. I was just wondering. After all, Bablon City is my destination too. I am happy to go with you. But can you promise me some things if you want my company? Otherwise, I will give you twenty silver coins and you can make your journey home yourself.”
Inanna was surprised at Amon’s assertion. “Whatever you ask of me, I will promise you! You are my hero. I do not know how to reward you. I have nothing with me but myself.”
Amon interrupted her, “You don’t need to talk about a reward now because I have not done what I promised you. Didn’t you just tell me that you will reward me when you get to the capital? What I want is simple. You must wear flax clothes and put some mud on your face to hide your beauty. You don’t want to be recognised before you reach Bablon City, do you?”
Amon learnt his lesson from that day in Som. He was robbed in the night partly because he revealed his parangons in town, and partly because Inanna was attractive. Amon didn’t think that bringing Inanna with him when he crossed the river would be a problem. He liked to help others. He just had no desire to cause any further trouble.
Schrodinger warned him to never offend Inanna. Even if the cat was right, he couldn’t just watch her jump into the river. If what Inanna had said about herself was true, he could understand why Schrodinger would warn him. A mysterious member of a royal family was not somebody he should offend. As a foreign exile, it was reasonable for him to avoid getting too close to her, as he might inadvertently involve himself in some complicated matters.
Amon was asking her to put mud on her face. For a second Inanna’s face turned embarrassed. There was even a hint of anger in her eyes. At last, she replied sweetly, “We can do that after we cross the river. There’s still a long way to the capital. I don’t think anyone will recognise me in such remote places. Or we can hire a carriage so I can hide in it.”
Amon nodded, “Alright. Let’s think about that after we cross the river. Hiring a carriage is a good choice, but you had better change your clothes and put mud on your face. It’s for your own safety and mine too.”
Inanna lowered her head, “Let’s cross the river first. I’ll show you the way to the nearest ferry.”
“I was just looking for somebody to ask where the ferry is. It’s great that you know how to get to the ferry.”
As a deity, Mourrin wouldn’t allow a mortal like Amon to put mud on her face. Fortunately, Amon did not insist. They would talk about it on the other side of the river. She led Amon down the highland. Not far off from the highland were several villages, ahead of which was a market town. Walking through it, they found a ferry quay at the bank of the river.
The quay served as a distribution centre for the whole region and as a hub for traffic traversing the commercial roads across the Euphrate River. It was not surprising that the village next to it developed into a town. Not every site at the bank of the river could be used as a quay. The river surface had to be quiet and the water had to flow slowly. Since the wind on the river didn’t have a fixed direction, sails couldn’t be used. Punting was the only choice. Therefore the water across the river at the quay must be shallow enough for the steering pole could reach the bottom of the river.
Amon was a resolute person. He disliked wasting time upon making a decision. Inanna didn’t want to put mud on her face right now, so he brought her to the town and bought her some flax clothes. After a change of clothes, they came to the ferry quay. The little lamb followed them all the way. Inanna didn’t need to watch over it.
The ferry was large and wide, both ends flat. It was very different from the crescent-shaped, deep and long freighters. It had a shallow draught and allowed more people to stand on board. Many of the passengers were merchants who did business across the river, and they needed to pay for the goods they carried. The fare for a man was fifty copper coins. The fare for a sheep was twenty copper coins. Amon paid the boatman a silver coin and twenty copper coins, then boarded with Inanna and the lamb.
Although the quay was built at the slowest, the quietest and shallowest channel of the region, the water got deep quickly after departing from the pier. Amon could tell from the waterline of the pole that the distance from the water surface to the bottom of the river was about thirty feet. It was difficult to quant a pole this long. There were three boatmen at each side of the ferry, in total six poles quant together, slowly sending over sixty people, a dozen livestock and a big pile of goods to the other side of the river.
Amon and Inanna were not staying in the crowded cabin. They went to the fore with lamb in hand to admire the scenery. The cool wind blew in from the front, Inanna’s long hair tickling Amon’s face. Feeling itchy on his cheek and ears, Amon felt his heart itching too.
He found himself enjoying this feeling. In this mesmerising gentle breeze over the river, he couldn’t help but wonder, “Travelling with Inanna is really not that bad an idea. At least I won’t feel lonely. And I can have a lovely, pleasant guide.”
Losing himself in the cosiness, Amon’s reflexes were weakened. It was not until the wind started to swirl and a strange whirlpool formed in the river that he was seized by the smell of danger. It was as if a frightening power under the water was nearing the point of eruption.
Suddenly awakened by the menace, Amon dragged Inanna into his embrace and jumped back into the cabin shouting, “Everybody, watch out!” He hopped to the front once more, raising his staff.
As soon as his arm locked in the air, the water ahead of the ferry was slashed apart, a huge long tail rising from the water and striking mercilessly at the ferry. The monster indeed existed. Hiding in the water, for some reason, it decided to attack the ferry now. But Amon was familiar with this trick. El Mar the king Ironback used to ambush his friends like this.
The incoming tail was much bigger than El Mar’s. The visible part of the tail was over ten feet long and almost as wide as a barrel. Covered in palm-sized dark green scales, it looked like the tail of an enormous snake. The huge tail descended so quickly that the passengers on the ferry heard a crack as it swept through the air. The strike seemed to be so powerful that the ferry was going to be smashed into pieces!
But the seemingly intense strike failed to contact the ship. Suddenly, a nearly-transparent ice shield appeared from nowhere and blocked it midair, cracking into countless fragments amidst crisp breaking sounds. The tail then fell onto a mass of thick smoke. Delayed for a second, it managed to penetrate the smoke and continued falling towards the ship.
The atmosphere seemed distorted for a moment and the tail was stopped in midair in a peculiar way. Then, a bellow sounded from the fore.
