Servant of the Bones

" 'Keep your eyes open,' cried Remath.

"And when all the bees had fallen, and the great silken dragon, now collapsed, had been offered to me to rip with my sword there came the cries again.

"I was being carried up the stairs, to the roof. I could see out over the open fields. I could see the crowds going on and on forever. I lifted my arm with my sword, I lifted it again and again, turning to the east, and the west, and the north, and the south, and lifting it and smiling, and the crowds sang back to me. All the earth sang back to me.

" 'It is so very beautiful,' I said, 'so indescribably beautiful.' But there was no one to hear me. The fresh air waked me a little, touching my nostrils and my throat, and cooling my eyes. The priestesses of the temple surrounded me, throwing flowers in the air, and then I knew I was being led away to the royal couch.

" 'You can have as many as you want, but I advise you to sleep,' said Remath.

" 'Yes, good idea. And how do you keep me from dying?'

" 'I can hear your heart. You will live long enough to make the journey home. You are stronger than anyone imagined.'

" 'Then give me a harlot,' I said.

"Everyone was upset. 'Well?' I said.

"The harlots screamed with delight. I beckoned for them to come. But I couldn't do it with them. I could only take each one in my arms and plant a poison kiss on her grateful upturned sweet little mouth and send her away in swoons, to wipe off the kiss, I hoped, as soon as she could. I laughed deep in my chest with my lips closed.

"Other things were done that night, but I slept. Fire, poetry, dances, things I never saw.

"I slept. I stood, resting back at a tight angle so that I seemed to be supporting myself, and with my eyes open, painted open now with fresh gold, so that I could not close them, but I slept.

"The world seemed a pit of madness. Now and then I woke to see the flames and the dancing figures. Now and then I heard some whisper or sound. Or heard running feet and felt human hands clasp me.

"Once I think I saw the King dancing below. I saw the King dancing with the women in a great strange slow dance, figures turning ceremoniously and then the King threw up his arms and bowed down. But nothing was required of me. The smile was fixed on my face now by the hardened gold. And only when I laughed did I feel the flesh tingle.

"At noon, the following day, as we began the procession back into the court of Esagila, I knew for sure I was dying. I could scarcely move at all. The attendants, under the cover of silk scarves and robes, fiercely painted the gold fluid on my knees to keep them flexible, but they didn't want the people to see. And I was not tired so much as stunned, staring at those before me.

"We came now to the gates ... we went into the courtyard, where the great poem 'In the Beginning' would be read, and the actors would begin their pageant. I felt a sadness suddenly, a terrible sadness and confusion. Something was wrong.

"But all of a sudden as if it were the answer to a prayer, the thing was made right. I heard my father singing. I heard him and my brothers:

'J will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.'

"I struggled to hear it more clearly, their blessed familiar voices:

'Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have bolden, to subdue nations before him . . .'

" 'Turn your head to them, Lord God Marduk,' said Cyrus. It is your father, singing with all his heart.'

"I turned. I saw nothing but a blur of waving arms, of garlands tossed in the air, of flowers falling, but I heard my father:

'I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight. . . .

And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israeli

"The singing went on and on, following us to the gates of the temple. And then came the shouts, 'Messiah, Messiah, Messiah!' And Cyrus waved and threw them his kisses, and at last it was time for the coronation.

"We were taken down from the chariot and the wagon, and walked on a bed of flowers up and up the seemingly endless stairway of the great ziggurat Etemenanki, so that the people from far off could see us through the wide gates. I thought I might die before I reached the top; I couldn't look above, only at the golden stairs before me and I thought of the stairway to Heaven which Jacob had seen in his dream with the angels coming and going.

"At last we stood on the summit, the mountain made by and for the god, and I was given the crown. By now it seemed I did not control my limbs at all. I felt nothing. I smiled because it was easiest to smile, and my arms ached suddenly with tiredness as I lifted the big Persian crown of gold and placed it on the head of the Living King.

" 'Now may I die,' I whispered. Exhaustion overcame me. My knees were in pain, my feet, all of me that could no longer move or stand with any freedom.

"Distinctly I saw the loving eyes of Cyrus, I saw the solemnity in his face, I saw . . . the dedication to Kingship in him. I saw perhaps a little of a King's madness.

"Slyly and cleverly the priests crowded around me and painted me over and over that I might move my limbs, and some vitality came back to me. 'Keep your eyes open,' Remath said. 'Keep your eyes open.'

"I did. We were taken down to the courtyard. The banquet lasted for hours. I know the poets came and they sang, and I know that the King dined and all the nobles dined. But I sat rigid staring. My eyes wouldn't close now whatever I did. They had been stupid to add paint. They only softened the lids when they did, I thought to myself, and I looked down at my hands lying on the table, and I thought, 'Marduk, I have never once called on you.'

"His voice came in my ear. 'You have had no need of me, Azriel. But I'm with you.'

"Finally it came to an end. Darkness had fallen. It was finished. The King was crowned, Babylonia was Persia, the city was drunk beyond the palace gates and the temple gates, and within these two buildings others drank and sang.

" 'Now,' said the young priest, 'we will carry you up to the shrine. You need walk no more. You need only take your place at your banquet table there, and if you do not die within a few hours we will give you the gold in your mouth.'

" 'Not quite yet,' said Remath. 'Follow me and quickly, for we have one more ritual to perform and it must be done properly.'

"The young priest was confused. So was I but I didn't care. I didn't give a damn. I didn't care at all. I was slumbering already, and when I saw the vague shapes of the dead hovering about, staring at me in fear, I was pleased. I would have thought they would have come thundering down upon me like an army and dragged me out of my gold clothes and said, 'Come stumble through eternity with us!' but they didn't.