A Naphil warrior jumped down from the gate into their path.

Uriel drew his swords and stepped in front of Noah.

The Naphil snarled and held his mace at the ready.

The circle tightened. They all drew their weapons, pulling Neela and Emzara into the middle for protection. Shem's sword Rahab unfurled in his hands, ready to strike like a cobra. j.a.pheth's bow was drawn and ready for attack.

It was futile.

Nephilim started jumping from the courtyard roof all around them, hemming them in-ten Nephilim in all.

Noah looked to Uriel. The angel shook his head. It would be a slaughter.

Ham backed away from them, drawing Neela with him.

Everyone noticed. Noah felt a stab of pain deep in his kidneys.

Shem spit it out first, "Ham? You betrayed us?"

Shem stepped toward Ham, preparing to whip Rahab in his direction.

Noah shouted, "Shem!"

A Naphil stepped in between them, blocking the attack.

It was all over before it had even begun.

Ham stated simply, "My name is Canaanu." He pulled Neela close to him and walked away.

Chapter 27.

A pair of Nephilim dragged Noah roughly up the long stairway to the heavens of Anu's temple. The chains hanging from his tortured limbs made the climb exhausting. Swirling clouds and flashes of occasional lightning with booming thunder made a sea of turmoil on the horizon. It was getting closer. An earthquake shook the city and temple. Noah and his guards stumbled, regaining their balance.

At the top of the White Temple, the guards ushered Noah into the sanctuary and into the presence of Anu and Inanna. They sat on thrones, guarded by their bull-man and lion-man aladlammu. Noah expected them, but he was not prepared to see what was off to the side of the thrones.

Uriel hung from the ceiling. He was upside down, bound and chained like a animal for slaughter. He was so badly beaten, Noah could barely recognize him.

Anu saw Noah's reaction. "If he were human, he would be dead. But alas, he is not human."

Noah remembered that angels could not die. They could suffer, feel pain, and even experience limitations of the flesh this side of the heavenlies, but they could not expire. Uriel barely held to consciousness. He let out a groan.

The sound pierced through Noah's soul. This archangel, this warrior who had sacrificed all for Noah, now hung like a captured animal for slaughter because of the recklessness of Noah's own choices. What had he done?

"Noah ben Lamech," Anu interrupted Noah's thoughts, "the Chosen Seed. I was ready to wage war to find you. Yet, here you are, delivered if you will, by the very hands of Elohim."

Noah hated this evil miscreant with every fiber of his being.

Anu's chin rose pompously in contempt, a common pose for him. He gestured flamboyantly with his hand. "Welcome to my holy temple. I am Anu, the supreme G.o.d, king of kings, and lord of lords. My consort, Inanna, Queen of heaven and earth." He paused ceremoniously with an arrogant grin. "But you already knew that."

Then, the mocking stab, "So, where is your G.o.d?"

Noah would not dignify the remark. Instead, he prophesied, "I know who you are, Semjaza and Azazel, fallen Sons of G.o.d. You have laid the nations low, you sit on the mount of a.s.sembly, you have made yourselves like the Most High. But you will be brought down to Sheol."

Inanna broke in bitterly, "He imagines himself a prophet now, and privy to the Watchers' secrets."

Anu chuckled in mockery, "I shall call you 'Atrahasis,' 'exceedingly wise one.' Or would you prefer, 'Ziusudra,' 'He of immortality,' since you fancy yourself a slayer of G.o.ds?"

"WHERE IS YOUR G.o.d?" Inanna interrupted with a roar, her voice echoing like thunder through the temple mount and in Noah's ears.

Noah would not answer.

Another groan from Uriel drew their attention. His parched lips parted enough to force out a few words with great effort. "Elohim-is-coming."

Anu would not tolerate any more of Uriel's insolence. He rose from his throne and strode over to Uriel's vulnerable form. He picked up one of his swords and promptly cut off Uriel's head.

Noah screamed, "NOOO!" He lunged toward Anu ready to kill him with his bare hands, but the Nephilim held him back from his futile gesture.

Inanna snickered, "That will shut him up."

Anu spoke to two servants watching Uriel, "Throw the body in the dungeon. Keep it away from the head. Archangels have a nasty habit of regeneration." He reconsidered. "On second thought, give me the head. I will keep it with me."

One of the servants brought Uriel's head to Anu. He grabbed it by the hair and looked into Uriel's face. He turned it to show it to Noah.

Noah gasped. Uriel's eyes found Noah's. He was still alive. He could not speak because his vocal cords had been severed from his lungs. But their eyes made a connection far deeper than words.

The servants cut down Uriel's body and took it away. Anu placed the head on the floor next to him.

Lugalanu and Ham entered from the rear of the temple. They were dressed in the royal robes of the priest-king and soon-to-be ensi high priest. At Lugalanu's other side was his new consort, Emzara, bedecked in splendid queenly robes.

Ham could not look at Noah. But Emzara would not take her eyes off him. Noah knew exactly what she was saying to him: she was and always would be only his alone. A silent tear of vengeance slid down Noah's cheek.

Anu announced, "Ah, my faithful priest-king and his entourage."

Lugalanu and Ham took their place beside the thrones and bowed to Anu and Inanna.

Anu proclaimed with characteristic self-importance, "Tomorrow is Akitu, the New Year festival. The G.o.ds of the land will convene in divine council. Canaanu will become a high priest of Inanna. Lugalanu will marry this woman, Nindannum, who I understand has some relation to you, my captive?" It was a rhetorical question designed to twist the dagger in Noah's liver rather than receive an answer.

Emzara's expression plead with Noah for rescue. But rescue was not forthcoming.

"As rite of pa.s.sage," continued Anu, "the new high priest's charge will be to sacrifice the Chosen Seed to the pantheon."

Emzara looked at Ham with horror. She had not known this monstrous plan.

Ham could only look down in shame. But he knew his place and his need for affirmation of devotion. He looked back up. He raised his chin high in royal emulation of Anu's own conceit. Lugalanu beamed with pride.

Noah's eyes blurred with the sting of betrayal. He could not believe his son would do such a thing. It defied his comprehension. His son had been ripped from his family culture and tradition, raised in a world of slavish idolatry, but still, how could one do such a thing to his own flesh and blood?

Inanna had the last word, "Let us put an end to this ridiculous Revelation of 'the man who would end the rule of the G.o.ds.' If Elohim is so high and mighty, let him come to end this himself."

Chapter 28.

The dungeon lay below the temple complex. It seemed fitting that the location of imprisonment in this realm would be below the edifice of religious power. Noah, Shem, and j.a.pheth were locked in separate small cells with iron bars. The cells instilled a sense of enclosing fear and isolation, containing barely enough room to stand, let alone sit. But Noah and his sons stood-and prayed.

"Almighty Elohim," said Noah, "creator of heaven and earth. Forgive our sins. Hear our prayers. May we, your servants, be found acceptable in your sight. I have not always done what you have asked of me, and it has taken your heavy rod of chastis.e.m.e.nt to bring me back in line with your purposes. I do not ask for our survival, but for your will to be done."

A door opened and slammed shut around the corner, interrupting them. They could not see what it was. They strained to hear and figure out what was happening.

Out of their sight, around the hallway corner, two guards led a cloaked figure through an opened cell door. Inside the cell lay the headless body of Uriel. The guards picked it up and carried it out like a wounded soldier. It moved sluggishly. Though it could not die, it required the head for coordinated movement.

The guards exited the way they came. The cloaked figure turned to glance behind them.

It was Neela. She knew Noah and his sons were nearby, but she did not know where. She could not hear anyone. So she hastened and left.

Noah and his sons heard the prison hall door slam shut. They finished their prayer. Shem and j.a.pheth said in one accord, "In the name of Elohim, creator of heaven and earth, your will be done."

An earthquake rocked their dungeon vigorously. Noah heard his iron cell door creak loudly. The iron twisted, misshapen by the immeasurable tons of rock above them. It bent outward, leaving a gap large enough for Noah's arm.

Noah thought that this might be Elohim's own hand twisting open the gates that held them. He smiled, reached out, and grabbed his misshapen doorway. He yanked. But it remained firmly in place, maybe even more so. He yanked again. He soon realized that it would not open. The iron had twisted but not enough to free him. They would not escape after all. Elohim answers prayers, but not always the way we wish. This was certainly not new to him or his sons.

In the guarded halls of the temple complex, Lugalanu stood with his palace diviner before an altar. Upon it lay a slaughtered lamb, its blood dripping down the small drain channels of the altar. Lugalanu sought interpretation of omens through extispicy and hepatoscopy, the practice of examining an animal's entrails and liver for divining the future. The diviner priest slit the belly of the unblemished lamb and reached in to pull out its guts. He placed them on another stone for examination. beside the liver, still hot from the slaughtered lamb. The smell of the organs repulsed Lugalanu and he stepped back to avoid the drifting odor.

The diviner looked for abnormalities or anomalies that would signify a negative answer to Lugalanu's question of whether Emzara would be his queen in his new seat of power. He poured water over the intestines and liver to clear the blood away and scrutinized them closely. Another diviner aided him, manning a cart with clay tablets of interpretation on them. All manner of irregularities had been recorded by scribes for archival reference. Some of the tablets were even in the shape of a liver with descriptions of interpretations pressed into the clay with cuneiform styluses. Though all the intestines were included in the divination process, the liver was among the most important because it was considered the source of blood and life.

Lugalanu fidgeted impatiently.

The diviner was perturbed. The priest-king always did this to him. He waited until the last moment to seek the ancient wisdom and then expected the diviner to make up for the lateness of his own irresponsibility by rushing the process. He decided to draw it out a little longer just to make his point.

Lugalanu paced.

The diviner finally looked up to give Lugalanu his answer.

"Yes."

Lugalanu pa.s.sed through the heavily guarded entrance of Emzara's quarters. He found her seated on a couch, staring into the flames of the fireplace. She did not move, she did not look up. She just continued to stare into the flames licking the brick flu.

Eventually, she slowly stood to acknowledge his presence. But she kept gazing into the fire.

"On the morrow, you will be a queen," said Lugalanu. "I expect you to act appropriately."

Emzara had only one thought in her mind. "You knew all along who I was," she said.

She looked at him and saw it was true.

Lugalanu had sought all these years to win her love, but now that it would never be, it did not change his intent. "I gave you the choice. I offered you my very soul." He paused dramatically. "The bearer of the Chosen Seed's royal bloodline will bear my seed instead. Whether by free will or by force."

Lugalanu turned and left Emzara staring into oblivion.

She stood still for what felt like a lifetime. The sum of her days added up to this very moment, in captive quarters below a temple of idols in the dust of death.

She gathered herself together and marched into her bedchamber, shutting the door behind her. She walked over to the side of the bed and withdrew a dagger from hiding. She sat on the bed and pulled back her sleeve. The dagger trembled in her hand.

She wept uncontrollably.

Chapter 29.

The Akitu New Year Festival was a twelve-day celebration. The first day would involve the final arrival of the people into the temple district and city streets. The second day brought elaborate purification rituals and washings for both priests and temple. On the third day, statues of the G.o.ds were carved out of cedar and tamarisk wood. The fourth day was considered the true starting point, because it was the actual first day of the year. After recitations, prayers and rituals, the priests would recite their creation epic to the people. The story would connect their past with their future and reinforce the kingdom of the G.o.ds.

The fifth day was the zenith of the festival. After prayers, and exorcisms of evil spirits, the priest-king was ritually humiliated in private before the G.o.ds. He was stripped of his kingly symbols of crown, ring, scepter, and mace, and then slapped by a sesgallu priest. He was then re-established in his kingship by having the kingly elements returned to him by Anu himself. This enthronement ritual of reversion to chaos and renewal of order was then followed by the arrival of the other G.o.ds into the temple of Anu. A public sacrifice for the sins of the people came after that. Though the decreeing of the destinies and dazzling procession of the G.o.ds through the streets in bejeweled chariots would not happen until day eight, the G.o.ds began their council a.s.sembly on day five. After the procession on the eighth day, the priest-king would engage in hieros gamos, the Sacred Marriage rite of s.e.x with his queen, in place of Inanna, to insure fertility in the coming year. Emzara dreaded the Sacred Marriage, for it was her decreed appointment with Lugalanu.

But this was day five.

The land around the city swarmed with the armies of the G.o.ds. An elaborate tent for the reigning deity and his king sat in the center of each army. Since Inanna had her residence at Erech, she did not have her own forces. The soldiers in the armies had remained relatively civil. Raping of women was held to a minimum, for it was considered somewhat vulgar when invited to a city's festival as this. Under normal situations of course, it was perfectly fine, but not as guests of the high G.o.d Anu in his own city. They would soon enough find their outlet to loot and desecrate.

Inside the walls, the city overflowed with pilgrims and worshippers from leagues around. The marketplaces were full of vendors selling vegetables, fish, lizards, scorpions and other exotic desert delicacies.

The district around the temple complex resounded with baccha.n.a.lian celebration. Wine flowed, food was consumed in gluttonous amounts, resulting in much vomiting and diarrhea. The food was deliberately full of parasites enabling the digestive systems to respond by evacuating the contents soon after eaten, thus leaving room for continued consumption.

The temple prost.i.tutes from Inanna's district had come down to mingle in the streets, resulting in public copulations as some male citizens could not withhold their urges until they could find a tent. Spontaneous dancing broke out in the streets, led by the blue dancers and their traveling minstrels. The human dancers jerked and spasmed as if taken over by spirits. Their eyes turned upward, showing only the whites, and they uttered strange guttural sounds as if performed by a distant ventriloquist.

There were other delights as well. Sorcerers lined the streets with potions and rituals, enabling the citizens to be possessed by a G.o.d, a great honor to plebeians who might otherwise never find themselves in the physical presence of deity. Of course, there were exorcists as well for those stubborn "deities" who would not find themselves ready to leave so soon after a possession. Astrological readings, magical potions of fertility and abortion, alchemy, spells, and enchantments-everything an idolater could desire in this panoply of paganism.

In the White Temple above, the day had already begun with Lugalanu's private ritual enthronement. Then three entourages of deity climbed each of the three stairways and arrived at the top terrace. They were greeted by Anu and Inanna, dressed in elaborate finery of divinity for the day: customary horned diadems of deity, and gaudy jewelry beneath their vulture winged robes. It took exaggeration and ostentation to incite the veneration of humans, but it worked every time. She had redesigned her simple horned crown into an elaborate headdress of huge brightly colored horns the size of small goats themselves. Even Inanna's unusually garish display did not stand out from the others as much as usual on this day. But her makeup did. Her exaggerated distortion of eyebrows, bright excessive eye shadow, overwrought angular lipstick made her look a bit like a serious clown to Lugalanu, but he would never dare to reveal such thoughts for fear of his certain death at her spiteful hands.

The three arriving divinities were Enki from Eridu, Ninhursag from Kish, and Enlil from the holy city of Nippur. Along with Anu, these were the four high G.o.ds. They were visually as stunning as Anu and Inanna. Each stood well over five cubits tall, with sparkling golden serpentine skin with serpentine eyes, oblong elongated skulls, and wearing royal vulture feathered robes and horned headdresses. The other minor G.o.ds had already arrived with less fanfare: Nanna the moon G.o.d from Ur and his son Utu the sun G.o.d from Larsa. Their status was significantly less than the other G.o.ds, and their armies as well, so they avoided drawing attention to themselves. Together these were the "Seven who decree the fates."