Crown in the Stars (34 page)

“They were rejoicing,” Ra-Anan said, fingering the livid scar on his jaw. “But they will be restrained.” He threw Adoniyram a warning look. “You will say nothing to them on your next visit.”

Adoniyram’s full mouth curved in a self-mocking smile. “I doubt anyone would pay attention to me, Master-Uncle. I have no power here. Indeed, I feel like a mouse, trying to avoid being clawed by lions.”

Kuwsh and Zeva’ah laughed at him, while Ra-Anan grimaced. Adoniyram looked sincere, but Shoshannah watched him, trying to decide his intentions. Adoniyram’s behavior shifted continually, subtly. He had upset her so often that she couldn’t trust him. Perhaps someday she would be able to ask Kaleb’s opinion. But that might be hoping for too much. It would be dangerous. What excuse could she possibly make for speaking to an “unfamiliar” guardsman? Even so, it had been good to have a glimpse of him tonight. And he hadn’t minded apologizing.

Her parents must certainly cherish her
, Achlai thought, touched by Shoshannah’s soft, worried expression when Kuwsh had been reprimanding Achlai.
She’s a good, loving girl. I wonder why they haven’t come to save her. Could they be planning something else?

Perhaps one of the First Fathers would come to the
Great City and insist that the girl be returned to her parents. Perhaps Father Shem himself would come here. The idea was frightful.
I pray he doesn’t!

That went well
, Adoniyram decided, watching everyone from beneath his lashes. Kaleb’s apology had been accepted, as his own had been; therefore Kaleb would stay in his household, while Ra-Anan would have to be satisfied with commanding Kaleb’s gloomy brother. The others were also warned of their Queen of the Heaven’s threats against Shoshannah, and Adoniyram had been able to discern everyone’s intentions by their reactions. His mother and Kuwsh did not want Shoshannah to take the infamous Lady Keren’s role in the tower. But Ra-Anan, Rab-Mawg, and his priests did. There was going to be a struggle among them all.
Which I must win
.

Tabbakhaw appeared now, bearing a massive copper platter laden with two steaming, dark-skinned roasted ducks, decoratively nested in vegetables. Behind her, the maidservant Ormah proudly flourished the gold serving tray and cups and a large basket of aromatic bread. As everyone gave attention to the food, Adoniyram studied Shoshannah.

You behaved perfectly
, Adoniyram thought.
Your manners are improving. And now that I’m welcomed in our Master Ra-Anan’s household again, I will visit you often
.

He had missed her. For Shoshannah’s sake he would not offend his uncle again. Acquiring Kaleb, however, had been worth the temporary banishment; he would be a perfect commander-guardsman. Eventually.

In the morning sunlight, Shoshannah walked up the tower stairs into the glittering temple, outwardly docile, her hands folded respectfully. Perek and Ormah followed her, already bored. Like Shoshannah, they longed for these lessons to end.

“Here, Lady,” a voice beckoned from behind the altar. Ebed stood there, pole thin, freshly shaven, and smiling, wielding an ash-dusted gourd scoop. “Our Master Rab-Mawg is still asleep. You’ll have to endure my company until he wakes.”

“Why is he still sleeping?” Perek demanded, his voice echoing off the gold-adorned walls.

“I ask your patience.” Ebed quietly thrust the scoop into the ashes on the altar, lifting out bits of charred bone and resins. “We offered sacrifices until late into the night for the sake of our Great City, our people, and the crops. Rab-Mawg was the last to sleep. Until he wakes, the Lady Shoshannah can stay here. There’s much for her to learn in the temple.”

“Don’t call her ‘the Lady,’” Perek ordered. “She has no title.”

“As you say.” Ebed nodded but continued to scoop up the remaining ashes.

Exhaling loudly through his flaring nostrils, Perek turned on his heel and stomped to the temple doorway. Ormah shied away from him, scooting toward Shoshannah.

Ebed glanced furtively after Perek, then smiled at Shoshannah, whispering, “There’s much you haven’t seen here, Lady. Let me wash my hands, and then I’ll rejoin you both.” He bowed and carried a copper tub of ashes behind the half-drawn linen curtains.

Curious, Shoshannah approached the gold-adorned altar. When the Ancient Noakh or Father Shem offered sacrifices, they offered them upon an altar of uncut rock, gathered from the surrounding land. No gold adorned the altar of the Most High, who had no need for any wealth.
But Shemesh must have his gold
. She studied the symbols embossed into the gold: stylized trees entwined with snakes, flowing waters teeming with fish, and odd X’s with their four ends half broken toward the right. As Shoshannah traced the signs, frowning, Ebed reappeared, followed by Awkawn and Ghez-ar.

“Is this also a symbol of your Shemesh?” Shoshannah asked, touching a bent
X
.

“Of course,” Awkawn said, irritably. By now Shoshannah knew he rarely liked mornings.

But Ghez-ar’s brown eyes lit up, and he came to explain the symbols to Shoshannah and to Ormah, who lurked at her elbow. “The right-bent angles denote the movement of our Shemesh through the skies, Lady. The streaming water signifies life, while the tree, of course, is knowledge, and the Serpent is wisdom.”

Wisdom!
Shoshannah scoffed inwardly. How could they honor the Adversary, the Serpent?

Oblivious of her scorn, Ghez-ar continued eagerly. “We seek all these things in the name of our Shemesh. And what better place to display these symbols than upon the sacrificial altar?”

“You sacrifice only animals?” she asked, remembering that Nimr-Rada had passed the body of his firstborn son through the fires of his Shemesh.

“Lambs and doves,” Ebed answered gently, joining them now. “And in the sight of Shemesh, fire perfects
what it consumes, as it perfects gold. What we sacrifice here is never considered lost.”

Perhaps to you it’s not lost, but my mother and my Aunt Revakhaw grieved horribly for Revakhaw’s child, whom they lost to the fire of your Shemesh
.

Still enthusiastic, Ghez-ar said, “Lady, I’ve wanted to ask: Have you ever seen the sun stones, which were possessed by the Ancient Ones? I was told by the elders of my tribe that they are unnatural stones, which glow in the darkness, like cold fire.”

Shoshannah shook her head, bemused. “If our Ancient Ones have such things, I never saw them.”

“They were probably afraid she’d ruin them,” Awkawn observed tartly. “Why don’t you show her Rab-Mawg’s useless trick with sunlight, Ghez-ar? Since you’re so enchanted with it.”

“Awkawn, don’t be so ready to give up on the idea. It won’t be useless if we can correct the image somehow.” Ghez-ar disappeared behind a linen curtain and reemerged with a concave metal dish, more brilliantly worked and polished than an obsidian mirror. Nodding to Ormah, he said, “Please, if you could stand just outside the doorway in the sunlight.”

“Near Perek?” the maidservant asked, looking uneasy.

“Only for an instant,” Ghez-ar encouraged her.

While Ormah obeyed reluctantly, Ghez-ar stood near the doorway, angling his metal dish this way and that until a flash of light shone on a nearby wall. “Look at the image, Lady, carefully.”

Obediently Shoshannah approached the light image on the wall, then gasped. It was upside-down, but undeniably… “Ormah!”

“What?” Ormah stepped inside the temple again and the image vanished, leaving only a reflection of sunlight.

“Don’t show her,” an acid voice interrupted, startling them all. Rab-Mawg swept into the temple from the hidden area, sleep rumpled and thoroughly annoyed. To Shoshannah, he muttered, “You hush. Say nothing of what you’ve seen to anyone.”

Shoshannah immediately bowed her head, not wanting to provoke Rab-Mawg. But the wonderful upside-down “image” of the maidservant lingered in her mind. Unimaginable. And apparently secret. Were they planning to use this trick of light in some future ceremony to terrify worshipers of Shemesh?

If your Shemesh were real and worthy of devotion, as the Most High is real and worthy, then you wouldn’t need such tricks to show his glory
.

“I’ll forget what I saw,” she promised the testy young Chief Magician.

He leaned toward her, zealously hard-eyed. “No, Lady, don’t forget what you’ve seen; it is a part of your training to remember and keep such secrets.”

I would rather forget
.

Astride her tawny-and-black horse, Shoshannah rode quietly after Ra-Anan and Adoniyram and Perek through the tall, damp, green and brown grass, alert to every noise. And to Kaleb’s presence not far behind her.

Have courage
, she pleaded with her spiritless horse silently.
Stay with the hunt
.

She had been trying for several weeks to take down just one animal that would provide leather for decent
boots. This morning, the men were planning to drive creatures eastward from these boggy southern grasslands into the open fields nearby, where they could easily slaughter them. Soon these grasslands would be flooded for the season, and hunting would be more difficult.
I must catch something today
. A soft rustling sounded to Shoshannah’s right, followed by a squeal.
A sow?

Her heart thudding, Shoshannah flexed her fingers around her bow stave, set her arrow, and watched. Her horse stirred uneasily.