Chapter 32 - Abyss
City of Anna. SW Asia
Today the gardens of Eden are devoid of agrarian peasants, herdsmen and shepherds. These folk gather together on the streets of Anna. Utu, the hawkish Sun-god, radiates his heat down onto the plain. Too hot for Ittidu to wear any pelt of a great cat, and that was yesterday’s gossip. Today Anna buzzes with excitement and pomp. Drums resound from its streets and across the divine lands welcoming a foreign god to the city.
Spirit of Bull, and divinity of Moon have forged together in the progressive religion of this civilisation. Both Bull and Moon are worshipped as two expressions of one almighty immortal. On the Leva soils of my own world, he’s revered as Ilua. Here in this eastern land he’s worshipped as Nanna.
The effigy of Nanna disembarks at Anna’s wharf from a ceremonial boat constructed from willow and reed. His gudu priests have brought him to visit Anna’s deities, from his own sanctuary of Gishirgal. There are political motivations for orchestrating this visit. Gishirgal is threatened by Engur, and in Anna they seek out new allies.
Ignorant of this scheming, joyful citizens line a processional roadway linking the river to Anna’s own sanctuary. Men, women and children jostle in the aspiration of glimpsing Nanna’s likeness. The faithful proudly hold up lime-washed discs of clay, while others blow onto their bullhorns in hope of soliciting the Moon God’s blessing. Drums and rattles continue to drone as gudu priests push back crowds to make way for Nanna.
Naked, shaven holymen advance carrying beakers of sacred water fetched up from the river by boys. These monks sprinkle life-giving droplets onto the dry dust as purification. Droplets soon sizzle under a Hawk-god’s powerful rays. More gudus sporting masks and tall ceremonial hats are next to follow. They rush around like fools blowing their shrill pipes at the citizens to warn of an approaching immortal. Rattles are shaken by a quaking faithful to symbolise deference before a god.
Citizens submissively bow their heads, whilst guilty eyes roll upwards in hope of stealing a peep. Ranks of sheepskin skirted sangas move forward with the host of Nanna carried high on their shoulders. Nanna’s idol resembles a great black bull, with a silver disc mounted between a framing crown of many horns. His larger than life eyes stare down in judgement of the citizens. More gudus follow behind his carriage towing an entourage of three pairs of white calves.
A secondary sedan follows the sacrificial calves. More bare-chested eunuchs bear its weight. This carriage supports the throne of a mortal female rather than any effigy. NinEriš the high priestess, bride on Earth of Nanna, and chieftain of Gishirgal. A full figured woman with large dark eyes and skin so fair it hints at many hours spent at night with her divine husband. Her lips are fat, her cheeks are proud. NinEriš wears upon her shaven head a crown of ornate ostrich feathers dyed black. Armlets of hammered copper adorn her plump arms, and a long skirt of woollen sheepskin covers her buxom legs. Fat pads her large bare breasts and waist.
Men in the crowds of onlookers return to their reverent stoop, fearful of earning Nanna’s wrath by coveting his human bride. Women grin with admiration for this powerful priestess, while their children cast out flowers gathered from the wild Eden. Bullhorn dancers follow her carriage, inviting citizens to join the back of this procession. These sights and sounds shuffle up a gentle escarpment into urban streets. There the citizens of Anna gawk from every storey. Nanna approaches the inner sanctuary.
The House of Šamkat has prime spectator space reserved in these sacred grounds. While they await the arrival of a Moon-god, Mistress Šamkat explains this privilege to her apprentice,
‘Ittidu, it's the sanga of Inanna whom we sponsor, the priest called Merkar, who has graciously reserved this prestigious view of Nanna’s arrival. Merkar pursues alliance with the High Priestess NinErish of Gishirgal’.
Her curiosity aroused, Ittidu asks, ‘An alliance for what ends and against whom?’
‘An alliance of war against Uguli and his arrogant priests of Engur! Those who murdered your own father, and took your kin into slavery. Uguli threatens the soils and waters of NinErish’s sanctuary at Gishirgal. He wishes to strangle all trade to this City. He demands that only Engur has the Me authority to rule across the plain’.
Before this revelation of politics can take root in Ittidu’s thoughts, Sagmi interrupts from behind,
‘Miss Ittidu behold, here comes Nanna!’ The serving girl points at the steps of the inner sanctuary, where gudus purify the way of Nanna’s carriage. Ittidu focuses on this ceremonial treat. She sees the idol of a many horned black bull as Nanna is carried onto the limestone terrace.
The God of Moon himself approaches the House of Šamkat. Something affects Ittidu’s own private senses. Colours grow sharper and sounds begin to echo. She hears the drumbeat of priests slow down in frequency:
'Boom. Boom.. Booom… Boooom…. Booooom’
A ghostly spectre radiates around the stuffed effigy of a bovine god, demanding Ittidu’s mesmerised stare. Not disrespectfully at the idol of straw and clay, but at something occupying the same space. Ittidu’s essence is sucked to detach from mortal flesh and bone.
Dream-like she visualises the time-frozen parade and crowds from above. These she sees in shapes of the mind, not of the physical eye. Ittidu’s spirit feels the emotion of the citizens below, joy, love, and fear. She expects tears to flow but no longer has tear ducts. Awareness floods and she gasps for air to find that she’s no lungs to expand. No longer is she only Ittidu. She’s equally Ur’salla, and a scorpion who burrows into the hot sands of a desert, a chaste tree on a dry hillside, a lizard sunbathing on a rock, a great hawk above a forest.
Ittidu feels great joy with this experience. yet it doesn’t last. Time restarts, and her spirit returns to her mortal form within the spectators. The spell snaps and she reels becoming conscious of the sacrificial white calves passing by her eyes. The carriage of the High Priestess follows. Ittidu catches the fixed stare of NinEreš of Gishirgal. The curvaceous priestess of a Moon-god gapes back at with intensity, so that as her carriage approaches the temples, NinEreš continues to twist around to watch Ittidu.
Šamkat witnessed this exchange of stares, and comments to her apprentice,
‘Well my pretty slayer of the lion, you certainly captured the attention of Nanna’s Bride! Have you previously met?’
Ittidu blushes with embarrassment and shrugs, ‘I don’t remember any such meeting. Perhaps NinEreš was an acquaintance of my late father?’
‘Perhaps indeed Miss Ittidu. You continue to surprise me’. Šamkat stares at her with accusation.
House of Šamkat
On return to the House of Šamkat, it’s apparent this conversation isn't closed. A messenger arrives from Sanga Merker with an invitation for Ittidu alone to visit NinEreš within her chambers at the sanctuary. Šamkat briefs,
‘Remember Uguli was your father’s murderer. He and his priests of Engur, are enemies of Anna, and of my own tribe. His guruš harasses our caravans to disrupt my business. NinEreš isn't only the Bride on Earth to Nanna, she’s chieftain of Gishirgal and is here to forge an alliance against our common foe. Be careful in your words lest we think you a spy’.
Ittidu is shocked by such a suggestion, and protests, ‘A spy for my father’s own murderers? How could you suggest such a thing to myself?’
‘Ittidu, there is intrigue even in the hallowed halls of the E-anna. My priest Merkar, the architect of Inanna’s cult, has his enemies. The leader of these troublemakers is another sanga, called Agga. He’s the captain of spies here in the City. Beware of Agga’s meddlings’.
The sanctuary at night
Flaming torches illuminate the painted walls of the temple chamber in which Ittidu awaits the High Priestess of Nanna. Flickering lights suggest movement across the wall legends. Ittidu studies their stories of sacred heroes battling lions to chase the daughters of a goat herder into reedbeds. There a serpent headed goddess awaits from a watery abode.
NinEreš sweeps into the room. Ittidu falls to her knees. The High Priestess makes herself comfortable with furs and sheepskins, inviting Ittidu to join her. This Lamaštu Priestess is feared as a demon Lilû. Her ample naked flesh oiled in preparation for nocturnal rituals. Her eyes are large and dark. I myself have seen these eyes before, albeit not in this faraway world of the East. They’re the eyes of a sorceress.
NinEreš asks of Ittidu, ‘I understand your father was a noble sanga-en of ancient office, who was cruelly martyred when the tyrant Uguli swept onto the marshes of your folk?’ ‘Yes this is true. My father was a faithful servant of Nammu’.
‘The arrogance of Engur to murder your peaceful father, and the folly of its priests to permit the regency of Uguli’.
‘My father was no threat to Engur. A simple village priest and servant of his goddess’.
‘Ittidu, your father was a menace to the Me of Engur. Arrapu represented the old commonwealth of Eden’s rural barbarians. You too are a threat to the tyrant’.
‘I?’ Ittidu points to her own chest in disbelief, ‘an apprentice of the Plaza?’
‘You’re favoured by the gods. You are the the slayer of the lion, the princess of Eden, and the daughter of the Martyr. Inanna summons the citizens of Anna to bear arms in your cause. You’re embellished by the goddess of civilization to fight her war’.
‘NinEreš, I can’t fight.’
‘I can teach you to fight. You slaughtered the lion with a small stone. The gods protect you, Ittidu’
‘That lion would have devoured me had it not been for …’ She doesn’t wish to share her secret even with this sorceress. She doesn’t need to.
NinEreš grins and boasts, ‘I know of your moon-sister, and that you believe it was she alone who defeated the beast. Ittidu, you're protected and this has been revealed by my divine husband.’
Ittidu’s mouth drops at the High Priestess’s insight. How could she know her spiritual secret except by a divine informant?
The dark eyed sorceress continues, ‘Yes Ittidu, I know that you are one of two. Nanna protects you both. It is when you are one that you are granted divine strength. I called you because your moon-sister needs you. I can deliver your spirit to her aid, should you be willing to be bound in spell’.
Ittidu wiggles her head. NinEreš reaches and holds her, pulling Ittidu into her fat breasts. She tells her,
‘I shall teach you how to fight. I'll introduce you to the arts of the killing’. The Lamaštu begins to gently roll her head with Ittidu cradled into her oily bosom, chanting strange words. A sweet hymn engulfs Ittidu’s essence with magical charm.
Ittidu feels faint. This chamber revolves, the wall legends animate. The snake-headed goddess in the reedbeds spits some poison into Ittidu’s face. This toxin produces another hallucination. A dark bull stands before Ittidu. Next to it a young woman, dark-skinned like Ur’salla, but not her. Ittidu observes she has one eye blue, the other brown. Ittidu sees me. Behind are two moons within a night sky. These globes spin around one another.
She free falls through Space. The two moons, the bull and myself are all gone. She falls deep into darkness. Falling away.
Abyss
Ittidu’s spirit descends into a cold, dark abyss. Its air tastes foul. Not on Ittidu’s own tongue for that remains in a faraway world. On the tongue of her moon-sister. They’ve become enjoined. Ittidu’s essence has entwined with that of Ur’salla who lays in this dark stinking den.
Ur’salla knows Ittidu is with her. No longer does she feel alone, awaiting death. Cruelly she has been unable to face it. Yes, she has tried. Laid here curled up into a ball, her hands presented the vulnerability of her own throat to its cold edge. Pressed the flint blade against soft flesh to release a trickle of blood from a too gentle cut. As a huntress, Ur’salla is no stranger to execution. She had whispered her own rites of passage with a damaged voice. Something deep inside prevented her from applying force to the stone. She was unable to slice firmly through flesh.
She weeps curled into the embryo of death. Ittidu tastes Ur’salla’s temptation of death. She knows no food or water has passed her lips for days, as she lays waiting. Ur’salla begs for her heart to cease beating. She reasons it must. Something must break, be it her heart or her mind.
She asks her other, ‘Why can I not end this pain?’
In reply, Ittidu reveals a tiny dot of silvery light residing deep inside Ur’salla’s consciousness. This luminescence expands. It grows until all Ur’salla visualises is an enormous full moon. She understands this light is hope. A hope she retains with her other. It’s this hope that prevents Ur’salla from pressing the stone edge deeper into flesh. Ur’salla rises from the ashes of their violations. She goes to find water and food.