The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate

"Why don't the Persians and Kushites draw up a boundary, marked by monuments as in Hellas?"

"Because the Kushites will not admit our—that is, the Persians'—right to rule Egypt, let alone the satrapy of Kushia. Because their kings once ruled the land of Khem, they "assert they still should righteously do so. Even less will they acknowledge Persian rule over northern Kush, which their kings ruled until Darius' soldiers drove them out—or the gold mines of Kush, after which the Persians lust as a sailor home from the sea lusts after a wench.

"So, you see, you are not likely to get to Napata now, especially as you are not after booty of the sort that the satrap could get his claws into. Your chances were better if you were outfitting a slave-catching foray, or seeking the treasure of Takarta."

"What treasure?" asked Myron.

"Takarta, the last king to rule Kush from Napata. When the Persians captured his palace, their general was furious—my father, who fought in that campaign, told me how he raved—at failing to find the private hoard of the king. So the tale has grown up that Takarta, for all the haste of his flight, bore off his nest egg. It is fabled to have included the True Anthrax."

"Eh? What is that?" said Kothar suddenly, coming out of his meditations.

"You know, the gem that darkens when danger—"

"Yes, yes, I know the jewel's mystic properties. But how came the Kushite kings to possess it?"

"It is said that the Anthrax belonged to Egyptian kings who reigned before the Kushites conquered Khem. The Kushite kings seized it and, when driven out by the Assyrians, took it with them. But I think these are all mere fables. Belike some Persian rankers got to Takarta's treasure chest first, stuffed the baubles into their pantaloons, and held their tongues."

Kothar said: "Could we now go to the satrap and change our story, saying that we were really in pursuit of slaves or treasure?"

"Not with Astes! Being a very suspicious man, he would probably sentence the lot of you to the granite quarries."

Myron unfolded the sheet of parchment on which he had drawn a map of Egypt, saying: "If this be the disturbed frontier zone, why could we not go around it, to east or west? Neither Kush nor Kushia extends indefinitely into the desert."

Yehosha frowned at the sketch. "He'akh! There is, forsooth, the western route that passes through the Fifty-League Oasis, over which the Banu Khalaf and the Nubae quarrel. But that route is a horse killer, so widely spaced are the water holes. And if you miss one well, you are dead."

Myron burst out: "I have it! We'll hire Zayd to get us to Meroê with his camels. The money we pay him will enable him in turn to pay off Astes and the Nubae, so they should not object, and we shall avoid the fighting zone."

Bessas: "The very thing! See, Yehosha, what a wise lieutenant I have?"

Yehosha said: "A clever scheme. Be sure to take with you not only the shaykh but also his daughter Salimat."

"What's this? On such a hurried enterprise as ours, women are an encumbrance. They cause strife amongst the men, who vie for their favor. Why should we be burdened with one?"

"Because she is the real head of the clan, having wit for two. Zayd is a fine old fellow in his way, aside from the fact that he has never learnt that it is wrong to rob and murder. He has good friends amongst the Judaeans of Yeb, for we children of Shem must stick together in far lands. But the daughter is the real force of the twain."

Bessas shook his head. "I still like not that plan. But let's have a song. Know you The Lousy King of Lydia?"

"Aye, though I cannot remember all the words. How goes it?" The two deep bass voices rolled out: