One Ring (1220BC)
Judgment Room, Royal Palace of Dis, Shyt'tin, Kingdom of Sammael, Gilead
The morning session was the administrative one, the time when Sammael's subjects could present petitions and ask for guidance. The shutters to the hall were open, an attempt to beat the summer heat by catching the tiniest breeze. It was a futile hope, the weather was hot and humid, pressing down on all who had to endure it. There had been sounds of distant thunder but that was all. No rain. At the Temple of Baal that morning, Sammael had prayed for rain and Naamah had done the same at the Temple of Astarte. This dreadful stifling blanket of heat and humidity meant plague would come unless the rains arrived first to break it.
The Master of the Guild of Leatherworkers finished reading. His Guild was adopting a new set of rules for its members and he was asking for the Kings approval. Sammael nodded slowly. "Your members have all approved this? And you have circulated copies to the other Guild Masters?"
"Yes Your Majesty. All our members approve of the changes and my fellow Guild Masters are also agreeable."
"Very well. You have my provisional approval and you may operate under the new rules until I give my final agreement. Give a copy of the new rules to The Keeper of Records and I will read them in detail. If I find nothing objectionable she will enter them into the city records." The Master Leatherworker beamed and took a step back. "Is there any other business?"
The Master of the Metalsmiths Guild stepped forward, dropping to his knees and touching his forehead to the floor. "Your Majesty, last night, one of our senior members, the Silversmith Koschei, committed suicide. May I beg that Your Majesty order his suicide recorded in the city files so that we may settle his business affairs. If this is long delayed, the family may suffer greatly. Also may I beg Her Royal Highness to have the Priestesses sing the farewell rites tonight?"
"Tell me, what happened? And is it not the duty of the family to sing the farewell rites?"
"Your Majesty, last night there was a dinner at Koschei's home. After the main meal, Koschei left for a few minutes. We heard a dreadful cry and he came out of the family part of the house. There was a bang as his head struck an overhead beam and he staggered across the dining area holding a piece of paper. 'She has left me' he said. It must have been the final blow that drove him over the edge for his business had been doing badly and he was near bankruptcy. Perhaps the injury temporarily deranged him as well for his face was covered in blood from the beam. He stumbled across the room to the balcony, the one that overlooks the river, and jumped over. The guests ran down to the river bank but it is a long drop and the current flows fast there. His body was gone, carried away. We went back to the house, tried to find Pelee, Koschei's wife but the family quarters were empty. That is why we ask the Priestesses to sing the rites to Shapash tonight."
That was reasonable, thought Sammael. Shapash, was the Sun God, an avatar of Baal, and collected the souls of those who died during the day and took them to the underworld. Only, if nobody sang the rites, Shapash wouldnt know there was a soul to be collected and miss it. Then the soul would be trapped on Earth, to wander lost until the rites were sung. One of the duties of the Priestesses of Astarte was to sing the farewell rites for those who had nobody else to sing for them. They also had the corresponding duty of singing the welcoming rights to Yarikh, the Moon Goddess avatar of Astarte, who brought the souls for the babies who had been born that day. Farewell rites sung when the last edge of the sun dipped below the horizon, welcome rights when the first edge of the moon rose. All quite sensible really. Then Sammael became aware that Naamahs hand had moved and was pressed firmly over his foot. Their private signal that something was wrong. He put on his best studious expression.
"I am not convinced that we know the whole story here. And from what I have heard, it is not clear that this was a suicide. Koschei may have been blinded by blood and fallen over the balcony by accident. The evidence is not certain yet and these events must be investigated. It is better that a soul wander for a day than to go into eternity wrongly bearing the stigma of suicide."
The Master of the Metalworkers nodded respectfully, if a little unhappily, and stepped back. The Royal Sergeant of the Guard slammed down his staff and the session was ended.
Temple of Astarte. Shyt'tin, Kingdom of Sammael, Gilead
"If he makes an offering and wants to draw a token for a priestess, I'm going to fall over laughing." Neela started to chuckle then froze as she caught Naamah's eyes on her.
"You will treat every person who comes to make an offering to Astarte with equal respect, be they young or old, man or woman. Understand? Or I will help you remember your duties here by flaying every inch of skin from your rear end." Naamah watched Neela go white and shrink, then turned her attention to the boy entering the Temple. Ten years old, perhaps, at most. Poor, dirty and shabby. Despite her inappropriate comment, Neela had a point. What did he want here? The child approached the altar and bowed down in obeisance.
"Your Royal Highness. Forgive my rudeness in disturbing you but I beg you for help. I found this ring over by the swamps outside the west gate. I think it is valuable. May I place it in your care so that it may be returned to its owner?"
The ring was beautifully-engraved and patterned silver, an exquisite mounting for what was a cheap and undistinguished green stone. Naamah rotated it in her fingers. "How did you get this? And why did you bring it here?"
"I was in the swamp, looking for berries Your Royal Highness. I saw a monkey playing with something bright and shiny, monkeys do that, they pick up anything that catches their eye. But they get bored quickly and drop it when something new comes along. So, I threw some fruit up to it and it dropped the shiny thing. When I picked it up, the green stone reminded me of Your Highnesss eyes so I took that as a sign I should bring it here."
"With your permission, Your Royal Highness." Arnon squatted down on his heels. "A good story little man, now, tell me the truth. Why didn't you sell it to a dealer in stolen things?"
The boy bit his lips, then spoke in a rush. "Because its valuable. A fence might give me a few coppers, more likely hed beat me and take it. Or have me killed so I couldn't tell anybody. If I brought it here, I might get a few coppers reward, but even if I didn't, Her Highness would think well of me. Better to have somebody important think well of me than a beating."
"A well-considered decision. And I will think well of you. Sergeant, take four men and the boy, go to where he found the ring and search thoroughly. When you find the body of Pelee, wife of Koschei, do not touch it but send a runner to inform me. I will be at the house of Koschei."
House of Koschei. Shyt'tin, Kingdom of Sammael, Gilead
"Has this room been cleaned?"
"No, Your Royal Highness. It is exactly as it was when the guests left last night." Naamah could hear the fear in the maids voice even though it was muffled by her kneeling on the floor. She was telling the truth, the tables were still loaded with the wreckage of a party. Not an extravagant one, in fact the food was plain and the amounts left were meager. So the stories about Koscheis financial state were probably well-founded. The floor was spotless though, clean and unmarked. Probably, whatever had happened had taken place near the start of the party, before the floor had a chance to become soiled. That was a break for the maids, scrubbing the stones would have been a back-breaking job in this sultry heat.
"So Koschei came out of the private apartments through that door, staggered past here, made his announcement, then departed over the balcony there. Issachar, stand beside that balcony please?" The guard did so. The stone balcony reached up to his knees, no further. "His Majesty is right as usual, it would be easy for a man, staggering with grief and pain from a head blow, to stumble over that parapet and fall. Its low, dangerously low."
"The Master insisted Your Highness. He liked to eat here before starting work and look at the sun rise over the town. He said a high parapet would spoil the view."
Naamah nodded and went though to the private apartments. There was a low beam on the way from the room to the dining hall. A beam that was in the shadows, it would indeed be easy for a man who was not thinking of what he was doing to strike his head against that. She inspected the beam closely. Sure enough, there was a dent in the edge of the wood facing the bedroom. Quite a severe one, the hard wood had splintered exposing fresh, unweathered timber. The floor below was still spotless. Naamah frowned and went into the bedroom. The bed had been slept in, it was disturbed and the bedding was untidy. A simple woman's bedroom, one with four chests for clothes and a bed. A small table where it would catch the light and an empty jewelry box. She looked in the chests. The clothing was rich, very expensive but they were creased and rumpled from being improperly folded and disarranged. Naamah would have dealt severely with any Royal maid who allowed her clothes to be disarranged like that. She looked out the window, the house was built on a slope leading down to the river and the bedroom window was much closer to the ground than the balcony had been.
"Your Royal Highness." The soldier entered the room and dropped to his knees. "Sergeant Arnon sent me. As you predicted, we have found a woman's body in the swamp, not far from where the boy found that ring."
"Thank you. Issachar, I require some of your men to escort me to the swamp. Ive seen all I need to here. Send the rest of the men to sweep the river banks downstream of this point - and send cavalry to check further downstream. All the way to the border if necessary."
Swamp. Outside the City Walls of Shyt'tin, Kingdom of Sammael, Gilead
"It's Pelee, no doubt about it." Naamah looked at the body lying on the damp, muddy ground. The air was full of insects, flies and mosquitoes buzzing around. Attracted by the body, they made the new arrivals pay for their intrusion by harassing them mercilessly. Some predators had already made tentative forays, another full day out here and they would have made the body unrecognizable. As it was, the face was still familiar. Naamah was struck by it, peaceful, tranquil even. Totally at odds with the sordid setting, The body was dressed in an expensive robe one that Naamah recognized as being part of a set from Pelees room. It was folded carefully, almost respectfully although the sash was tied with a clumsy, hurried knot. The womans hair showed the same contrast, it had been well-cared for but had been tied back with an old ribbon, one fastened with the same awkward knot.
"Sergeant Arnon, please have this body transported back to the Temple of Astarte for preparation. I don't wish to stay in this unhealthy place any longer than I must. Check around the local merchants, especially those who do not ask to closely about the ownership of good they are offered. If you find any who have jewelry in a similar style to that ring the boy brought in, take them to the Temple of Astarte."
Temple of Astarte. Shyt'tin, Kingdom of Sammael, Gilead
"Geela, in your condition, you are excused."
"With Your permission Your Majesty. I have few enough opportunities to show you proper respect." Geela sank awkwardly and touched her forehead to the floor. Delighted by her devotion, Sammael moved forward and took the priestess by her arm, helping her to her feet again.
"When is the baby due?"
"Any time now Your Majesty. Her Royal Highness has everything arranged and waiting, as soon as my waters break, we will be ready."
"Once the baby is born, we have until moonrise." Naamah cut smoothly in from the table where Pelees body was waiting. "If its a boy, he will be sacrificed to Baal, if a girl, to Astarte. Your Majesty, the case that came to us this morning, of Koschei? This case is far more complex than it appears. Pelee, whom we are told had left Koschei, was found dead in the swamps."
"Do we know how she died my Queen? "
"Look at the bluish shadows under her eyes and the redness in the whites. Those are the symptoms of suffocation. As we live, our body produces poisons and we expel them by breathing out. If somebody is prevented from breathing out, the poisons build up and kill them. Sometimes this can happen by accident, especially after a festival. A person gets very drunk and passes out lying on their back. They vomit and it stays in their throat to stop them breathing out. Under other circumstances I might think that was what happened here. But, things being as they are, I think Pelee was suffocated, from the absence of bruises on her face, by something soft held over her nose and mouth. Naamah reached down to unfasten Pelees robe, her fingers fumbling with the unfamiliar knot in the sash. Eventually she managed to untie it and open the robe. Beside her, Ishi gasped and started gulping in an effort not to be sick. I was afraid of that. "This was a brutal murder indeed, one that was filled with rage and hatred. Please, Your Majesty, do not speak of this. If we can keep this a secret we should, to allow this poor woman some dignity in her death."
Sammael nodded, his gesture interrupted by a crash of the Temple doors. Sergeant Arnon and three of his soldiers were dragging in a fourth man. A man who was whimpering with fear when he saw where he was and who was waiting for him. He banged his head on the floor in obeisance while the soldiers made the military salute, slamming their right fist on their breastplates and nodding. Arnon put his foot on the head of the man they had brought in, holding to the floor. "Your Majesties. The trader Tynon. Found in possession of jewelry similar to that discovered earlier."
Sammael took the opportunity to slip away, back to his palace. There were certain thing Queen Naamah did in his name that he didn't want to know about and this, he suspected, was about to become one of them. Behind him Naamah noticed his departure and smiled to herself. She and her husband had a well-tuned and very efficient partnership. Pelees body on the slab was still exposed so Naamah refolded her robe to cover her. As she knotted the sash, she frowned again. It just wasn't on right.
"The jewelry Sergeant?" Arnon handed it over. He was right, it was identical in style to the ring the boy had brought in. Intricate, ornate crafting of the silver settings but inexpensive and undistinguished stones.
"Where did you get these Tynon?" the man squeezed his lips and looked down. Officially a trader he made his living dealing in stolen goods and if it became known he had broken professional confidences he would be out of business at best and, more probably, found dead in a ditch. "Ishi, go to the keeper of the Kings prison and ask him to light the brazier and place the tongs and needles in it to heat up. I want them red hot."
On the floor Tynon went white. Even being knifed in the dark was preferable to what had just been so casually ordered. "I bought them, Your Royal Highness. From Lennol, a professional thief. He had a whole set of them and I bought them as a set. Only the ring was missing so I reduced the price accordingly. That made him angry but an incomplete set......"
"You knew this was a set? Did you know the owner? Recognize her perhaps? Was this her?" Naamah stepped to one side to reveal the body on the preparation table.
"Yes, thats her. Pelee, Koscheis wife. But......."
"But what?"
Tynon spoke with a rush trying to get it out before it was dragged from him. "I never saw her with Koschei. I saw her with Mellem, another silversmith. They visited a house together once a week or more. One used for secret meetings of that sort. They'd stay for an hour or two then go. But the last time it was different. They had a terrible row, right on the doorstep of the house. She was screaming at him, saying how could he do it after all she'd done for him. He kept demanding that she give it to him. It was quite a scene I tell you. Im surprised Koschei didn't hear of it."
"He may have done. Tell me more about this Lennol."
"There isn't much to tell Your Highness. He only arrived in town a month or so ago. Nobody knows where from. Hes stolen a few things, sold them. Not very active though, I have a feeling he was trying to stay out of sight."
"Where can we find him? How do we recognize him?"
He hangs around the wine bar thats attached to the place Mellem and Pelee visited. Hes easy to recognize once he speaks. He has a squeaky voice, pitched high, not like a man's voice at all.
"Does he know Mellem?"
"Oh yes, Your Highness, the two often spoke to eachother. I got the feel that Mellem is the sort of man who got a kick out of hanging around criminals. Strange thing. Hes a prosperous man yet his work is nowhere near as good as Koschei's was. I could sell a Koschei for half as much again as an equivalent Mellem. And from the amount of jewelry I see, I'd have thought Koschei sold more as well. Yet he was the one who was going bankrupt and Mellem was prospering. Strange world."
"It is. I will have to detain you while we make further investigations but keep telling the truth and you have nothing to fear from me. Sergeant. You know the drill. Find this Lennol and bring him in. Some unnecessary and gratuitous violence on the way in would be helpful. Also, search him very carefully, see if he has a pipe with a bladder or gourd attached, or the two separate. If so, I must see them. Issachar, I need to go back to the house of Koschei now. Please provide me with an escort. And ask the Keeper of Records to join us."
House of Koschei. Shyt'tin, Kingdom of Sammael, Gilead
"Show me where your mistress kept her rags. Now."
The maid had been shocked by the appearance of the Queen and her bodyguards outside the house. Now she was confused and bewildered as well. "Your Highness, I dont think, I cant I..."
"Men, out." The soldiers looked reluctant; they had been entrusted with the safety of their Queen and, in their eyes, that meant staying with her. "The maid and I have some women's problems to discuss." That did it, the men almost injured themselves trying to get through the door at once.
"Never fails, does it?" Lillith and Naamah grinned at eachother. Then Naamah returned to the maid. "Now we are by ourselves, the boiled rags your mistress uses when her visitor arrives. Where does she keep them?"
The main led Naamah to a box in corner of Pelees room. Naamah opened it and sighed with relief. The soft, boiled rags were neatly folded. As usual, this was the one place where men searching a room never looked. She felt quickly through the contents of the box and found a scroll hidden at the bottom.
"What do you make of this Lillith?"
"Records of some sort, almost certainly financial ones. Looks to me like sales and purchase records. Pelee probably kept them for her husbands business." Lillith's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "I'll have to compare them with the official records to be sure, but these look wrong to me. The purchase costs look too high and the sales values too low."
"Please do so Lillith, as quickly as you can. I think those figures are the key to this whole sordid mess." Her words were interrupted by the clatter of hooves outside.
"Your Royal Highness, a Message from Sergeant of the Guard Arnon. The Silversmith Koschei has been found and the cavalry are bringing him in. He's alive."
"Well, so now we know who the murderer of Pelee is."
"Yes," replied Naamah. "I do."
Judgment Hall, Royal Palace of Dis, Shyt'tin, Kingdom of Sammael, Gilead
Guard Sergeant Arnon slammed the haft of his spear on the stones, the dull boom silencing the hall. As if in response, thunder growled outside the palace, still distant but closer. Perhaps prayers would be answered and the city would get the storm it needed. Sammael was already sitting on his throne in the Judgment Hall, the heat and humidity making the place seem even more oppressive and threatening than usual. Queen Naamah entered and made her obeisance to her husband and, once more the people took pride in the obvious devotion the Queen they feared had for the King they loved. She took her accustomed place, sitting on the floor by his right foot, her arm wrapped around his leg and her head pressed affectionately against his knee. Although he gave no outward sign of it, Sammael was mildly astonished. She'd solved this mess that quickly?
There was another stir from the audience as five figures were dragged in and hurled to the floor in front of the King. Banai, Master of the Guild of Metalsmiths. Koschei, a silversmith. Mellem, a silversmith. Tynon, a trader. Lennol, no known trade. As each name was called, the figure was grabbed by the hair and their head jerked up so Sammael could see their face. Involved in the murder of Pelee, wife of Koschei.
"At our morning session, Banai, you asked me to record Koscheis death as suicide. Well, your answer is kneeling beside you." Sammael's voice was warm and friendly but, suddenly it changed booming across the hall with anger. "You wretch, did you think for one second I was fooled by your pathetic lies? That I could be deceived by such a ridiculous and unlikely story? I knew right from the start that you were lying. The only doubt in my mind was why, and what the truth of the matter really was. That is what we shall reveal here today and you shall learn the fate of those why try to deceive me." Sammael felt Naamahs nail scratching the back of his leg. Let the games begin, he thought contentedly. "The High Priestess of Astarte has a question she wishes to ask."
The audience leaned forward in anticipation. They'd learned that when Queen Naamah asked a question, the consequences of the answer would be interesting to say the least. "Your Majesty was too generous in his description of Banai's tales. Every parent here has heard their infants construct better tales than his. But my question is directed to Koschei. Silversmith, when you found your wife's murdered body in her room, why did you leave it in the marsh? A husbands normal reaction would be to call for help, to try and save her life. To try and catch the field responsible. You did none of these things. You took the chance of carrying it through the streets to discard it in the marshes."
Koschei pressed his lips together and looked down.
"Silversmith. I can extract the information from you if you prefer. I know the whole sordid story now. I'm just curious to know why you did what you did."
Koschei's voice was a mixture of shame and hopelessness. For a brief moment, hed even contemplated defying the Queen and accepting what she would do in return. But then hed realized he just didnt have the courage. "Your Royal Highness, I was too frightened to call, my wife was an adulteress who had cheated me in bed and cheated me in business. Shed ruined me and given my wealth to her lover. When I saw her murdered, saw how she'd been murdered, I knew I would be held to blame. So I hid her body. And..." His voice tailed off.
"And?"
Koschei finished the rest, the words tumbling from his lips in a stream that had been dammed up too long. "We had no family, we had no relatives. If I did not sing to Shapash for her, nobody would. So I dumped her body where it would be destroyed by animals, that way her soul would not be taken beyond and would wander the earth, lost and alone. She still had her ring on so I tore it from her finger and threw it away so nobody would guess that the body was that of somebodys wife."
"Yet you took the trouble to fasten her hair, and to cover her injuries with her robe. Love dies very hard, doesn't it. To the amazement of the onlookers, Naamahs voice was sympathetic. You should have trusted us to see the truth. It was there all along. One look at your wife's face should have told you that you had nothing to fear."
"Like His Majesty, I knew from the moment I heard Banai's story that he was lying. The fact hed made up a story about your death suggested you were still alive as did his urgency in wanting your death registered as suicide. For suicide is a shameful thing to have recorded and a mans friend and associates will go to great lengths to suggest that his suicide was an accident. They'll say he shot himself while cleaning his bow or accidentally cut his wrists while sharpening his sword. The only person who is not tainted by a verdict of suicide is one who is really still alive. Even without that, one look at his home confirmed that Koschei was alive. There was no blood on the floor where he was supposed to have staggered with a bleeding forehead. I found where he was supposed to have hit his head on the beam. The wood was badly damaged enough to show unweathered timber yet there was not a trace of blood on it. Banai's story had stopped being lies, now it was a cover-up complete with faked evidence."
"Banai. Would you enlighten us now that your whole scheme has fallen apart and lies in pieces. Tell us the truth and it may speak for you. What were you covering up when you and Koschei faked his suicide?"
Banai took a sideways look at Koschei kneeling beside him. The silversmith nodded, hopelessly, miserably. "Your Royal Highness, yesterday afternoon Koschei came to me. I assumed it was to tell me that he was bankrupt and could not pay his debts. In this case, the Guild of Metalsmiths would make good any moneys owing to those who are in the guild. But what he had to tell me was far worse than that. His business was teetering on the verge of bankruptcy true, but there was much more. He had discovered his wife Pelee was committing adultery with another silversmith, Mellem. Pelee was keeping the records for his business and she had been systematically stealing money from her husbands accounts and giving it to her lover. I was appalled by this news. Not just for Koscheis personal tragedy but because of its wider implications to the Metalsmiths in general and to silversmiths in particular. We hold a position of trust, people give us their metals to work with, sometimes in large amounts. The silversmiths sometimes even hold silver and other precious metals and jewels on deposit against future bills or as an investment by their owner. If the news of this fraud was to get out, all that would be lost.
"So I persuaded Koschei to go along with a plan. We would go to Pelee and make her give us an accounting of the money she had stolen. The Metalsmiths would then advance that sum to Koschei and help him vanish from the city. We would then recover that sum from Mellem and force him and Pelee to leave the city also. But when we got back to Koschei's home, we found Pelee dead in her bedroom. Koschei kept crying that he would be blamed for her death so I helped him move the body to the marsh, using an old cart. Then, I tried to fake his suicide."
"With the help of a few trusted friends no doubt. Whose names you will tell me later." Naamah spoke sweetly but privately she was appalled that anybody in a position of authority could be so incredibly stupid. Didn't he realize that everything he had done had turned a minor indiscretion into a major scandal? "We found Pelees records of her thievery and the Keeper of Records confirms Koscheis statement to you. Pelee had been systematically under-recording the proceeds of his sales and overstating his expenses. In each case, she was giving the money defrauded from the accounts to her lover.
"Your scheme had already failed, we knew Koschei was alive and the only question was what had become of Pelee. The answer came quickly and in a form I did not expect. A boy, a street-wise and intelligent youngster, brought a ring he had found into the Temple. The ring was a beautiful piece of crafted silver, a masterpiece of a setting yet with a cheap and commonplace stone. That said that the value of the gift was the setting, not the stone and that suggested that it was the gift of a silversmith. It was obvious that the ring was Pelee's and that meant she was dead. The boy told me that monkeys often picked things up but quickly dropped them again. The body had to be close to where the ring was found so I sent soldiers to find her.
"When we found Pelees body, the first thing that struck me was the peace and tranquillity on her face. A wife killed by her husband, will have her death-face frozen in a mask, showing fear, pain, betrayal, disbelief. Even an unfaithful and treacherous wife does not believe in her heart that her husband will really kill her. When he does, the realization of her mistake shows in every line of her face. And then, when I inspected the robe, it was tied wrong, it was tied the way a man would tie a womans robe, not the way she would. Her hair was tied the same way. Those are not the attentions that a casual murderer would make. Then, when we inspected the body and saw the awful injuries that had been inflicted, the expression on her face made even less sense. Nobody could suffer like that without her face being a mask of horror. The only way she could be peaceful and tranquil was if she was so heavily drugged that she felt nothing, or if she was already dead when the injuries were inflicted. Or both. That convinced me was the unfortunate victim of a robbery gone wrong.
"That opened up a possibility. Pelees jewel box was empty. Had the thief found the jewels and taken them? If so, he would have sold them and it was unlikely the dealer in stolen goods would have had time to dispose of them. So The guard questioned all such dealers and found that Tynon had a quantity of jewelry identical in style and workmanship to Pelees ring. After some persuasion Tynon told me the jewels had come from Lennol, a stranger in town but one whom he suspected of being a casual thief. That explained a lot, one of the tricks thieves use is a blowpipe attached to a bladder filled with a dust that causes sleep. They blow it into the room, wait a few minutes for the dust to disperse then rob the room at leisure. I instructed the guards to search Lennol for such a blowpipe and that was just what they found. There was something odd though, if Lennol had broken into Pelees room to steal jewels, why had he searched through the clothing boxes? He was looking for something else. Tell us what you were looking for Lennol."
Naamah was used to being stared at, it came with the position of Queen and High Priestess. Many stared at her with fear, some men and a few women looked on her with desire. Lennol was staring at her now but for the first time in her life, Naamah felt her skin crawling, there was something she could not put a name to but profoundly wrong with the man looking at her. His eyes were bulging and his voice, when he spoke, was thin and high-pitched. There was indeed, Naamah realized, something hideously wrong with this man. "Your Royal Highness, I'm just a thief. The silversmith Mellem is my friend, he asked me to steal a scroll from Pelee's room. I blew the dust in then searched the room for the scroll but couldnt find it. So I knew he wouldn't give me the money he promised. The jewels were in a box in plain view so I took those instead."
"Why did you kill her?"
Lennols voice reached higher and there was a shriek of almost hysterical rage in it. "She was tempting me, taunting me. Lying there on her bed with her robe open, she was taunting em the way they all do. Pretending not to see me, not to know that I was there but goading me with her body. Tempting me to soil myself with them even though they all know I ca,..... I cant....... She did nothing just lay there and exposed herself. I tried to make her move do something, make her acknowledge my existence. But she didnt, she just lay there, still, taunting me. It was her fault, all her fault. So I took the statue beside the bed and...."
"That's enough, Lennol, you've told us quite enough." More than enough, Naamah thought. Now she realized why shed reacted the way she had, it was her instincts telling her that any woman alone with this man was in deadly danger. Looking around the audience, she caught the eye of some of the women there, they'd shared the same sudden, horrifying insight. And yet, that foul outburst had given her the one thing she needed, the last piece of the puzzle. "Lennol, the powder you use in your blow gun. I know it, it has many uses to take away pain when disease or injury cause too much. It comes from a wild flower that grows around here. Some people, a few, react to it quite badly. It makes them vomit. When we give it to ease suffering, we make people lie on their stomachs with their head turned to one side so they won't choke. When I saw the injury to Pelee's body after having looked at her bed, I knew that she had to have been already dead when you did what you did. You see, the dead don't bleed very much. If she'd been alive, that bed would have been covered in her blood. It wasn't, it was disarranged from her sleeping yes, but that was all. Perhaps she choked on her vomit after you drugged her, perhaps you suffocated her. I don't know and it doesnt matter. She was dead while you searched the room and she was dead while you mutilated her. It doesnt change anything, you killed her.
And that brings us to the last participant in this story. Mellem, I can't be bothered to hear what you have to say and I wouldn't believe it anyway. I know what happened. You had an affair with Pelee, you used her to ruin a business rival, then you tried to drop her. Perhaps you were tired of her, perhaps Koschei was ruined and you wanted to repeat the process with another rival. Only she told you that shed kept a record of all her dealings for you and would give it to the Guild if you tried to end their relationship. Tynon saw the row between you and repeated what youd said to each other when I questioned him. It was the one piece that made everything else fit into place. Somebody else heard it as well and as a good friend told Koschei. You wanted that record back, you sent your friend Lennol to steal it for you. When he couldn't find it, I guess you thought Pelee had been lying and no record existed. After all, why shouldn't a woman who deceives her husband, deceive her lover as well?
"Only you were wrong. Pelee had made the record she claimed and had hidden it in" Naamah noticed several women in the audience were holding their breath. For a brief moment she toyed with the idea of bringing chaos to a dozen households by telling husbands where to look for things their wives really didn't want them to find. Tempting, but she relented. It would remain a womens secret. "A very ingenious place. That record proves you guilty of fraud and robbery. And of murder. We have testimony you spoke for long periods with Lennol, you knew him and how his mind was twisted. You knew if you put him alone with Pelee, he would kill her. Lennol was the weapon Mellem, but you are the killer."
"You cant prove that."
"The High Priestess of Astarte doesnt have to prove anything." Sammael's voice was heavy and sounded almost tired. As he was, while Naamah had been showing what had happened, he had been weighing the wider implications and they were grave indeed. People really did have no idea of the consequences of what their actions. "All she has to do is convince me that she is right. And she has.
"Lennol, you are guilty of an atrocious murder. But I am minded to mercy in your case. You are a sad example of how frustration and impotence can warp a mans mind. I cannot leave you alive for no woman in my kingdom is safe as long as you breathe and I take the safety of my subjects very seriously. You are sentenced to death in one of its less extreme forms. You will be beheaded immediately after these proceedings close. Obviously any estate you do have will be forfeited to the crown."
"Mellem, I find no such cause for mercy with you. You are a cold, calculating criminal who, I have no doubt, took much pleasure from contemplating the death your lover would suffer. Tomorrow you will be taken to the stadium and trampled to death by the Royal Bulls. Your estate is confiscated. The Keeper of Records will determine how much was defrauded from Koschei and that will be returned. Once your debts are paid, the balance will be given to Queen Naamah who will divide it between those who helped her solve this case. Speaking of such people, where is that boy?"
Lillith went to a side-room where the boy was waiting. Shed cleaned him up earlier and got him some new clothes to wear. "Don't be afraid," she whispered as she led him in "The King and Queen think well of you." Then she dropped to her knees in obeisance and made sure the boy did the same.
"What is your name boy?"
"Amal, Your Majesty."
"Amal, I would like to reward you by taking you into the Royal Household as a companion for my children. The problem with a palace is that those who live inside become absorbed in a private world and forget the needs and problems of their people. You are charged with making sure my children know what problems those who are not of Royal blood face in their daily lives so that when their turn comes, they can be better rulers." And if you get them into a little trouble, thought Sammael, so much the better. Constructive mischief is as good for children as it is bad for adults.
"Tynon. Your part in this carries blame but is minor by comparison with the others. Anyway, having cooperated with the authorities, your career as a dealer in stolen goods is over. I am minded that you might make a good supply sergeant for my army, the two professions have much in common. Of course, every soldier in my Army is an infantryman first and you will have to go through basic training. Guard Sergeant Arnon, please take our latest recruit for training. I assume you will soon be sending him to the stores for six yards of front line?" A roar of laughter went around the room as the veterans of Sammael's army recognized the hazing given to young recruits.
"Koschei. You have lost much in this affair, your wife, your business, your reputation. Little of this is your fault. But you made things far worse by trying to hide what had happened and being part of a plot to deceive me. Once you have received compensation for the money defrauded from you, your estate will be fined one coin in four for your deceit."
"And now we come to you Banai. I am appalled at your actions in this affair. You hold a position of trust and you abused it in every way I could imagine and few I had not thought possible. The fact that you could conceive of such a ridiculous plan, let alone make such a comprehensive mess of carrying it out, makes me believe that there is something systemically wrong with the Guild of Metalsmiths. You are relieved from your position as its leader. The Keeper of Records will be examining your files to see what other irregularities have been committed and you will be detained in my prison until she has completed her report. Master of the Leatherworkers?"
"Your Majesty."
"Maedros, I have read your new Guild constitution in detail and find it a fair and just document. I ask you to take over temporary leadership of the Guild of Metalworkers, to reorganize it and purge it of irregularity. And to train a new Master Metalworker in your image. For your services in this, the Crown will pay your Guild moneys equivalent to that it received in fines from this case.
Lillith, have you completed the record of the Judgment." In her corner, Lillith completed making a note on her tablet and nodded. She passed the record up to Sammael who read it. "As it is written, so shall it be!" As if in reply, there was a brilliant flash of lightening directly overhead and a terrific clap of thunder outside the Judgment Hall. The rain came down in a solid sheet, hissing off the roofs and pounding in through the open windows. Sammael breathed a little easier. The rain would wash his city clean at last.
Temple of Astarte. Shyt'tin, Kingdom of Sammael, Gilead
"It was the thunderstorm that did it." Naamah was whispering so that the singers wouldnt be disturbed. "The timing worked out fine, Geela went into labor almost with that first thunderclap. We thought that would mean the baby was a boy but we were wrong. Astarte be praised, we have a little girl. Geela will be bringing her into the temple soon to be sacrificed. And the storm cleared quickly enough for us to watch the moonrise. Do you want a seat?"
Lillith shifted slightly, trying to ease the load on her still-tender feet. "The birthing went well?"
"Very well. We drove out the evil spirits with boiling water and then kept four priestesses singing to make sure they couldnt sneak back in. Geela's got good hips, it was all over in a couple of hours. Here. We're starting."
Geela had entered the main hall, carrying the new baby in her arms. Beside the great octagonal altar in the middle of the temple, Ishi put her hand in the metal grids where sacrifices were offered; checking to make sure the fires were out and the metal was clean and cold. She and Neela were assigned to stand by the baby during the ceremony, to make sure she didn't fall off. Babies, even ones only a few hours old, could do the strangest things. They dropped to their knees as Geela approached the altar and carefully laid the baby down. It started to wail slightly, protesting at the separation. Then Naamah joined the group.
"Great Goddess Astarte, look with favor on the sacrifice we reverence for you." The knife in her hand moved quickly, cutting the baby on the ball of its thumb. The wail of protest was a healthy one from a baby shocked by the intrusion into its self-centered little world. Naamah took her hand and pressed the bleeding thumb against the bottom of the scroll, marveling as always at the intricate pattern she saw. It had to mean something, she was sure of it, a message from the Goddess perhaps, or a map of the babys future? Geela was standing next to the baby, her hand outstretched. Naamah made a cut in her thumb as well and pressed it to the other corner of the scroll. Now it was just a question of waiting.
"And so we have a fourth generation. Geela, her mother and grandmother were all priestesses here. Now we have another generation to honor Astarte." Naamah spoke quietly, her voice carrying around the temple. The choir was still singing, a hymn to keep evil spirits away from the baby that was waiting on the altar. Then, there was a peal of trumpets from the Temple tower. The first edge of Yarikh, the moon goddess, had moved above the horizon, bringing with her the souls for the babies born that day. And since the baby on the altar had been sacrificed to Astarte, the great goddess herself would have picked the soul to occupy it.
As the moonlight began to spread in the temple, the congregation started singing to celebrate the birth of the new priestess. In the middle of the group Geelas face broke into a smile. "Her name is Slanah!" The first name that popped into the mothers head after Yarikh had arrived was the name ordered by Astarte.
Geela picked up her baby from the altar, Ishi pressing a piece of cloth over the wounded thumb, so that Geela wouldn't have to worry about the bleeding. It had nearly stopped anyway, the slit was only deep enough to get enough blood for the thumb-print. Around her the priestesses gathered to pay their respects to their new sister and encourage the proud, but exhausted, mother. Above them, on the balcony for the High Priest of Baal, Sammael looked down on the ceremony. A deceitful and treacherous woman had died, a new priestess had been born. Perhaps the world was improving after all.