{"id":4350,"date":"2025-02-02T08:57:46","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T15:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/?p=4350"},"modified":"2025-02-10T19:27:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T02:27:04","slug":"the-deliverance-of-benrimmon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/?p=4350","title":{"rendered":"THE DELIVERANCE OF BENRIMMON"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE DELIVERANCE OF BENRIMMON, by Stephen Coney, art by Simon Walpole and Karol\u00edna Wellartov\u00e1<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is the account of the deeds of Benrimmon, that my name be not forgotten, nor the great deliverance I wrought.\u00a0 It was the eighth year of Benadad, great king of the Well-Watered Land, when the gods set their mark upon me, Benrimmon, son of Shamash-Nuri, and chose me to be their champion.\u00a0 That is the year the earth shook and threw down the Tower of the Bull with the loss of seven stout warriors.\u00a0 A wind came from the direction of the rising sun, a scorching wind in place of the early rains which bring bounteous crops.\u00a0 Fish fell from a sky empty of clouds and rotted in our streets and fields.\u00a0 When we went forth in our chariots, the mighty host of the Well-Watered Land, to smite the Khamati, they were spared our wrath, for the night before battle, a great shadow rose up in the sky and swallowed the moon.\u00a0 Only the foolish would don armor and draw bow on such a day, after such an omen.\u00a0 The Khamati slunk, unsmitten, to their villages and we rode back, unarmored and without glory.\u00a0 It was a time of ill portent.<\/p>\n

Ten days from the fall of the Tower of the Bull, I stood with my king in the City of Waters as the soothsayers sought again to discover which god we had angered, and what was the nature of our offense.\u00a0 The omens had been even more unfathomable than is their wont, such that even Shuri-nutal, priest of Attar, could find no clarity.\u00a0 Travelers said that it was the same in all the lands of men.\u00a0 Even the priests of the Gettiti, famed for the depth of their insight into the realm of the divine, could see nothing of sense.<\/p>\n

They, too, read the signs as did our soothsayers.\u00a0 All the gods were angry, and that none were.\u00a0 It was a puzzling and dire time.\u00a0 I stood with the king in the company of the mighty, but could see little, for I was far from the places of honor.\u00a0 Though I had smote the Sons of Bit-Omri with a mighty arm, others had stolen my glory.\u00a0 I swear by Rimmon that it was my bow that struck down Naged-Habbayit. and not that of Adad-Yisi, the Foresworn.<\/p>\n

We stood together at the place of divination, gathered around the altar under the burning light of the eye of Adad, our great lord and master, who rains down abundance.\u00a0 It stood directly overhead, an auspicious time for the penetration of mysteries, and it was the twelfth day of the month, a day of clarity.\u00a0 The altar of Adad is large, longer than a man, and is glazed the blue of Adad\u2019s sky.\u00a0 It is a wonder to see and must surely be a place of revelation.\u00a0 The priests brought out the sheep, a ram three years old, the largest and the finest ever seen, and laid it on the altar, struggling vainly against its fate.\u00a0 A slash of iron ended the struggles and another opened its inward parts to examine its liver.<\/p>\n

There were two livers.\u00a0 The sheep, this, the finest and most noble of rams, had two livers.\u00a0 It was without precedent and, furthermore, the fates they gave were opposite.\u00a0 All the gods were angry; none of the gods were angry.\u00a0 There would be great cataclysm; there would be a great deliverance.\u00a0 The message was chaos, even more chaotic than the arguing between priests, warriors, and counselors I rapidly left behind me as I made my way home.\u00a0 The talk, I knew, would be long, certainly well into the night as each strove to make himself heard.\u00a0 Now was the time for action, the chance for a man, a lone, mortal man, to seize glory.\u00a0 It might be a time for heroic deeds, a great deliverance.\u00a0 Why should it not be my hand to bring it?<\/p>\n

My home then was the home of my birth and childhood, a smaller house far from the center of the city.\u00a0 It was a poor place for a woman as magnificent as is my wife and the strong little son and beautiful baby girl she had borne me.\u00a0 The only ones we had to serve the five of us (for my mother still lived), was an old woman and her son, a handsome lad, Temon, whom I love like my brother.\u00a0 I immediately sent him for my chariot, and ordered his mother to pack food, water and wine while I gathered my weapons, armor and a gift.<\/p>\n

The Light of my Heart saw that I was determined upon some venture and, knowing from whence I had come, asked for news.\u00a0 I answered her briefly, my mind on other things.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut where are you going my Husband? Why do you leave us at such a time?\u201d<\/p>\n

I heard the fear in her voice, and it pierced my heart.\u00a0 I turned and gathered my precious one in my arms.\u00a0 I would confide in her and her alone, for all know the proverb, \u201cif three know, so does the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe soothsayers are blind, though no one yet accepts it.\u00a0 Perhaps the Magi, mighty in knowledge, can penetrate this mystery, but they are weeks away and the return journey is longer still.\u00a0 There is only one possibility that is within our grasp.\u00a0 I must seek out the Oracle of Bet-Shahan.\u201d<\/p>\n

I could see comprehension and agreement in her eyes, dark as night, deeper than the ocean, beautiful as the moon.\u00a0 She spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are right, my Husband, for she is said to penetrate the deepest mysteries, when she can be understood.\u00a0 She is perhaps more famous for the obscurity of her pronouncements.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why none have thought of her as yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, but they will.\u201d\u00a0 She looked away and nodded, then whirled back.\u00a0 \u201cBut why must you be the one to go?\u00a0 And why right now?\u00a0 Why this day?\u00a0 The way is full of peril!\u00a0 Go back now and insist on this course.\u00a0 The King will send a troop if you but wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. I must go.\u00a0 I must have the honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you will have the honor of a wise counselor.\u00a0 Surely the King will give you a place in the troop that goes.\u201d\u00a0 I could see fear in her eyes, fear for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. I would only travel with the group, in the back.\u00a0 Those on whose arms the king already leans would do the deed and bring the deliverance.\u00a0 Besides this, if we find the answer, I would be forgotten.\u00a0 Adad-Yisi would find a way to steal my honor yet again.\u00a0 But if nothing comes of the journey, all the shame would be mine.\u00a0 If I go alone, none will know if I fail.\u00a0 I sense that there is a great deed to be done and I must be the one to do it.\u00a0 I shall rise in the King\u2019s favor and you and I shall have what we deserve.\u201d\u00a0 It was an old subject between us, one that came up every time I went to war, and I knew what was coming next.\u00a0 She would tell me that I am enough, that we are not poor, that I need not risk my life. She is a wise woman but does not understand the fire that burns in a man\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

However, my dear one surprised me.\u00a0 She simply looked me in the eye and I saw resignation there, resignation and acceptance.\u00a0 When she spoke, she did not address me by the familiar name used in the family, but the name by which I was spoken of in the city gates and which she used but rarely: \u201cBenrimmon, you are a mighty warrior.\u00a0 Go, and do a mighty deed.\u201d\u00a0 Her voice was steady as she said it, and I know it cost her something.\u00a0 Perhaps she does know the fire of my heart.<\/p>\n

She removed her necklace and placed it in my hand, closing my fingers around it.\u00a0 \u201cWear this, all the blessing I have for you.\u201d\u00a0 At first, I refused, for it was a powerful talisman of the Katiratu, personal goddesses of the women of her family, worn by her mother and grandmother before her.\u00a0 Between them, they had lost only two children in childbirth.\u00a0 But when I saw that she was determined, I steeled my heart, kissed her, and left.<\/p>\n

I met Temon outside the gate.\u00a0 We mounted the chariot and were soon on our way, heading towards the mountains where the Oracle was said to live.\u00a0 I needed to move quickly, to go as far as I could before nightfall.\u00a0 For that is the end of the day and tomorrow was the dark of the moon, a day of ill-omen, a day for inactivity, for any task undertaken on such a day would be accompanied by bad fortune, and any deed begun on that day would be doomed to fail.\u00a0 This would serve to keep the king from dispatching his embassy to the Oracle, but it would not truly benefit us, for we, too, could not travel.<\/p>\n

Consequently, we spent that night and day in the shadow of a rock, doing nothing, awaiting the blessed fall of night when we could act again.\u00a0 As soon as nightfall came and the unfortunate day ended, I was tempted to press on for a time, chafing at the delay.\u00a0 But Temon reminded me that we had not eaten, and it would be better for me to remain at my full strength, besides, it was a moonless night.\u00a0 How far would we get on such a black night?\u00a0 Surely the king\u2019s men would not travel on such a dark night either.<\/p>\n

We set out again as soon as it was light.\u00a0 I set a fast pace, for who knew if someone, perhaps even Adad-Yisi, had noticed my absence and divined my intentions?\u00a0 Perhaps he was trying pass me.\u00a0 I might have a rival even now.\u00a0 However, we saw no one from our city, only the occasional merchant or local.\u00a0 We wound our way out of the rich plains into the hills, buying food from villages, avoiding their settlements in the evenings, for, though we would be well-fed as honored guests, I did not have time for the hours of leisurely conversation it would require.<\/p>\n

Finally, we were in the mountains, a place of rocks and trees.\u00a0 It made the warrior in me nervous to have my vision blocked to the right and to the left.\u00a0 We of the Well-watered Land fight on the plains, large fields of battle for large armies and great contests of kings.\u00a0 It is said that even before our fathers came to this land, mighty in deed, seized the City of Waters and slew its king, we had been men of the steppes.<\/p>\n

Before we entered the mountains, I donned my armor, knowing that I had checked each strip of leather holding the metal in place, and that Temon kept the iron well-oiled.\u00a0 I did nor fear an attack from neck to knee for the strongest man cannot drive a spear through such plates.\u00a0 My helmet I also donned, tall, pointed, cheek-plates secure.\u00a0 I wore my sword, iron as long as my forearm, and sharp.\u00a0 My unstrung bow and spear I left in the chariot.<\/p>\n

In this mountainous forest the road had turned into a track that was hard for wheeled vehicles.\u00a0 We were forced to walk, guiding the horses by hand.\u00a0 When the trail reached the crest of the mountain, Temon grasped my arm to stop me.<\/p>\n

He whispered, \u201cYou should string your bow, my Father.\u201d\u00a0 He always addressed me as father, since I am his master, though all knew that, in fact, he is my half-brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy? It is level and open here, finally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut look ahead, my Father.\u00a0 On the way down, the trail skirts the side of the mountain.\u00a0 There is a cliff to the right and to the left rises steeply.\u00a0 If there is any place that is good for banditry, this is it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would be pretty poor bandits, in this country.\u00a0 Travelers are few.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they need not be bandits, merely locals who care more for your goods than for your status as a potential guest.\u00a0 These mountains a poor source of food.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was right, of course, though I did not string my bow, at least not yet.\u00a0 Once we crossed the summit, the track quickly narrowed as it descended the other side, a cliff on the right and a steep slope up on the left.\u00a0 There was enough cover from shrubs and trees growing on the leftward slope to conceal a small party.<\/p>\n

I scouted ahead alone.\u00a0 Waiting, as it were, to prove Temon right were indeed some bandits, four of them.\u00a0 They shot an arrow and charged.\u00a0 I care nothing for the arrows of such dogs.\u00a0 Its stone head shattered on my iron.\u00a0 As for the bandits themselves, they learned what it is to strive with a warrior of the Well-Watered Land, though I left them with scant time in which to apply their hard-won lesson.\u00a0 My shield shattered teeth; my sword severed limbs and exposed entrails to the light of the sun.\u00a0 One of them charged me with the courage and determination of a boar.\u00a0 He also shared that animal\u2019s intelligence, for I am mighty not only in thew, but also in craft.\u00a0 I stepped aside.\u00a0 The sight of his wide eyes, flailing limbs and mouth open in a soundless scream as he plunged over the cliff lifted my spirits.\u00a0 At least his fellows perished to the sound of laughter.\u00a0 I could not have stopped myself if I had wanted to.\u00a0 What an oaf.<\/p>\n

Soon, those who remained lay choking on blood or gaping at the ruin that remained of their bodies.\u00a0 I showed them that my blade is also one of mercy.\u00a0 Their spoil was poor, clubs, badly-made bows and arrows.\u00a0 One even carried a knife of bronze!\u00a0 The one item that was not like the others was a bronze helmet of ancient design.\u00a0 It resembled those I had seen on the walls of old temples of the Luvians, those peoples whom my fathers had subjugated.\u00a0 It had an uncanny feel to it, and I did not wish to touch it, for it was a holy thing.\u00a0 Its presence roused my curiosity about these bandits.<\/p>\n

I knew they must have a lair and went looking for it.\u00a0 I soon found it, a smallish cave they had expanded and tried to make comfortable.\u00a0 The poverty of their goods rendered them even more pathetic.\u00a0 They clearly slept together for warmth, sharing two blankets, one threadbare, which would hardly have covered them all.\u00a0 There were some embers in a broken pot which they nursed through the day until cooking time, probably so as not to give away their location with smoke.\u00a0 Wood for the fire was the one good they had in plenty.\u00a0 They had some stale bread, which I took, but most of their bread they had soaking in a small vat of water, trying to make beer.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t yet ready and I left it.<\/p>\n

Overall, the cave appeared as unrewarding as were the bandits themselves, but the presence of the helmet prompted me to persevere and it paid off.\u00a0 In a dark back corner, some cut reeds and staves were leaning against the wall.\u00a0 Behind them was an arrow unlike any I had ever seen.\u00a0 It looked to be made of a single, scarlet feather, though what bird could have produced such a feather I fear to think.\u00a0 It was longer than my arm, and had clearly been cut down to that size.\u00a0 The feathery parts had been carefully trimmed from the shaft for most of the length, leaving some at the end like normal fletching.\u00a0 The head appeared to be made of black stone but was unlike any I\u2019d ever seen.\u00a0 The whole arrow, save the fletching, was covered in tiny writing.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, when I was examining the writing, I brought it near my armor and the head leapt to my iron and clung there.\u00a0 It was obviously an article of great mystical power.\u00a0 I had never heard of its like in tale or song.<\/p>\n

I would have spent my life wondering as to how such men had such an article, but there was also a clay tablet in Luvic, which my father had insisted I learn, gods bless him.\u00a0 It had been taken from a messenger from the temple of Runtiya in Adana.\u00a0 He carried an unnamed artifact which had been saved from the ruin of the great Empire, fallen in the far north long before my people had come to the Well-Watered Land.\u00a0 Their god had ordered it dispatched to the Oracle for no specified reason.\u00a0 That was all.<\/p>\n

It was fairly clear that this messenger had fallen afoul of these bandits, poor fools.\u00a0 Normally, the gods protect such holy messengers from all threats, and even if the god is distracted, as Runtiya clearly had been, the status of holy messenger, which I presume the helmet proclaimed, should have saved him from importunity.\u00a0 No wonder the bandits were so poor at their trade.\u00a0 Not only were they fools, they were fools cursed by a god.\u00a0 My hewing had been holy work.<\/p>\n

Temon and I laid the three out on the open area at the summit where he had been waiting.\u00a0 Stones were there to build a cairn and protect them from beasts.\u00a0 It would not do for their kin to find their bodies mauled and dishonored.\u00a0 Though clumsy and cursed by a god, they are nonetheless men, and were possessed of a foolishness which at least resembled courage.\u00a0 As for the other, if his kin find him not at the base of the cliff, he will be the food of vultures.\u00a0 No doubt such a one has an equally stupid wife somewhere who will remember to mourn him for a week before she begins making eyes at other men.\u00a0 I left the spoil, save the arrow and helmet, to be found as well.\u00a0 The helmet I did not wish to touch, so Temon wrapped it in a cloth and laid it in the chariot.\u00a0 The arrow I did not fear, for I had already touched it without consequence.<\/p>\n

We continued on, having lost precious time ridding the world of idiots.\u00a0 I had hoped to arrive at the Oracle before nightfall, but it was not to be, thanks to the bumpkins.\u00a0 It was the next day when we finally saw a trail leading off from the main path.\u00a0 Next to it was a stone carved with a single, large eye, the sign we sought.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the trail was too steep for the chariot and horses, so I had to leave Temon behind with them.\u00a0 Divested of armor and weapons, I went up barefoot, carrying only my gift as a supplicant and the red arrow.\u00a0 It was an urn of the beautiful kind that comes from over the sea, filled with my best olive oil.\u00a0 I had received it as a prize from the king and it was the finest thing I owned.\u00a0 The whiteness was so white, the black so black; the secret of its making is not known to our potters.\u00a0 Ours are not so smooth, nor gleam as do these. As for the helmet, I wore it, wrapped in the cloth, for I could not carry both it and the urn.<\/p>\n

The way was arduous, mainly because I was barefoot and didn\u2019t have the use of my hands since I was carrying my offering and the arrow.\u00a0 It was also a serious time.\u00a0 At the top, I would discover if my mission was a vain waste of our most precious possession, or if a great deed awaited me.\u00a0 On top of all this, the helmet made me nervous.<\/p>\n

The trail led to a cluster of buildings around a cave.\u00a0 Save for one fine house, the buildings were small and poor, the cave dark and ominous.\u00a0 A trickle of smoke was rising out of it.\u00a0 The place was shaded and silent; there were no sounds of birds or even insects.\u00a0 The only sound came from an old woman who was poking at a fire and looked my way as I approached.<\/p>\n

She spoke in the croaking voice of the old.\u00a0 \u201cAh, another who seeks to know something best left unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSurely you have seen the dire portents,\u201d I replied, \u201cAnd would know the cause of such things yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI always find out whether I wish to or not, and have already heard,\u201d she answered.\u00a0 \u201cFor I hear all the oracle says.\u00a0 Still, most of what I\u2019ve heard through my long years I wish I did not know, and so do most who have come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t like this kind of talk, but I expected it.\u00a0 Holy men are always vague and speak in circles when answering queries.\u00a0 But if there was ever a time when I needed clear direction, it was now.\u00a0 I wanted to move past her as quickly as possible, both to hear the Oracle and to rid myself of the helmet, but I didn\u2019t like this statement that she had already heard the Oracle speak on this question.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave others come before me?\u201d I asked, \u201cHave they sought to know the cause of these happenings?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think you are the first?\u00a0 Ha!\u201d\u00a0 Normally, such a laugh would provoke my anger, but hers did not feel directed at me, rather at something else, perhaps life or the world.\u00a0 So, I waited and she continued, \u201cMen of the Khamati have already come as well as some from the houses of Agusi and Adini.\u201d She looked me over, \u201cYou, I believe, are from the Well-Watered Land?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d my voice shook, for I was dismayed to hear that I was not the first.<\/p>\n

She saw what was in my heart and snorted, \u201cSo, if there is a deed to be done, you wish to be the one to do it?\u00a0 This deed is one that is perhaps better for another to do.\u00a0 The cost will be heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will pay any cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally?\u00a0 Before you know it?\u201d<\/p>\n

I thought of my wife and her contentment with our lot.\u00a0 \u201cI would not pay with my life or that of any member of my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat, at least, shows some wisdom, though why a man with such insight would go on such a foolish venture as this is not clear to me.\u00a0 You do not look to be a stupid man.\u201d<\/p>\n

My anger flared and I didn\u2019t know what to say so I asked, \u201cAre you a priestess?\u201d Just in case she was.<\/p>\n

She grunted and said, \u201cI am the lowest of the low, a drudge.\u201d\u00a0 She suddenly looked up and pointed an arthritic finger, \u201cBut still holy and sacrosanct!\u201d\u00a0 I think she feared I would beat her for her insult, but that is not the kind of man I am.\u00a0 Besides, she reminded me of my grandmother.\u00a0 Still, I did not wish to lose any more time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen how may I speak to the Oracle?\u201d<\/p>\n

She simply pointed at the cave and said, \u201cStand outside and call.\u201d She turned back to the fire and added, \u201cleave the helmet here, and the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

I did as I was told, leaving both helmet and arrow.\u00a0 Standing as a supplicant, I called a query into the cave.\u00a0 To my surprise the answer came from behind me.\u00a0 A man in fine new robes was coming out of one of the houses, a priest.\u00a0 He was businesslike and simply took my offering from my hand.\u00a0 He examined it with a critical eye, grunted, opened it, tasted the oil, and grunted again.\u00a0 Without a word he returned to his house with the urn.\u00a0 A moment later he came back and gestured me into the cave.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a foul place, not very deep, but black with the smoke of years.\u00a0 Lit by a small fire, it reeked of smoke, urine and dung.\u00a0 In the back was the Oracle, a small, skinny figure, squatting against the wall, tearing some cloth that appeared to be the scraps of a blanket.\u00a0 The ground was strewn with other bits of cloth as well as old reeds, rotting food and human waste.\u00a0 When we drew near, she whirled and eyed us suspiciously from under her tangled mass of filthy hair as she struggled to tear her blanket into smaller pieces.\u00a0 I could see that she was a teenage girl, chained to the wall with iron.\u00a0 She was completely naked, but was so filthy and streaked with excrement she could never be an object of desire.\u00a0 She was repulsive, but I sensed that she was just the vessel for something larger and greater.\u00a0 Obviously, the Knowing One which lives within her does not permit her any comforts.\u00a0 The honor of being the vessel for the divine would seem to outweigh any outward suffering, at least that is the idea if anyone thinks to care about her.<\/p>\n

I will not describe the ceremony the priest performed when he asked my questions.\u00a0 It was all of a piece with what I\u2019d seen countless times at home.\u00a0 When he had asked what must be done to appease the gods, the girl hurled herself on the ground and raved, thrashing around and babbling nonsense.\u00a0 I was stunned, though I had heard of this kind of prophecy, of course.\u00a0 The priest had been watching me with a bemused expression.\u00a0 If he expected dismay or surprise from me, he was disappointed.\u00a0 It does not do for a mighty warrior to show such weakness.<\/p>\n

He began his interpretation, which I knew would be a riddle of great difficulty, \u201cSun rises; sun sets\u2026\u201d Then he froze, for a chill had entered the room, had entered and seized our hearts, our souls.<\/p>\n

The girl stopped raving and thrashing.\u00a0 She stood and seemed to grow, though her body remained the same.\u00a0 It was as if I shrunk in her presence until I was but a worm.\u00a0 The priest was on the ground next to me, groveling and banging his forehead on the stone floor.\u00a0 I found I had knelt, head bowed to the ground.<\/p>\n

The Oracle now spoke in a clear voice.\u00a0 \u201cThat is enough of toying with people using riddles and games.\u00a0 Three have already sought direction, that they might bring deliverance, and been sent away in darkness and ignorance, only one able even to discern the correct direction to travel. This is a time of portent, a dire time and now one for amusement.\u00a0 Listen well.\u00a0 There has come into the world a mighty worm from the chaos beyond creation.\u00a0 It is even now destroying all order and stability.\u00a0 A champion may slay it, if he wields a spear whose iron head has been soaked in the blood of a laasa.\u00a0 Travel one day towards the rising sun until you come to a cave on your left.\u00a0 There you will encounter a laasa to slay.\u00a0 Do so and soak your spearhead in its blood.\u00a0 Not far from there, in the direction of the rising sun, is a pillar and a larger cave.\u00a0 Before you enter and battle the worm, bathe in the spring, then go slay the leviathan.\u00a0 He who does so will be blessed by all the gods, beloved.\u00a0 Now go!\u201d<\/p>\n

She turned to the priest, \u201cGive this message to all who come, lest this one should fail.\u00a0 Your mouthpiece will not speak for a time, while we decide in council what to do with this spirit who used such a time for its own pleasure.\u201d\u00a0 With that, the girl collapsed, whether in a faint or in death, I do not know, for I raced from the cave.<\/p>\n

Outside, the old lady cackled when I emerged.\u00a0 \u201cAnother who is swifter to leave than to enter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMake no sport of me, Crone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do make sport, I admit.\u00a0 It is the last pleasure left to me, since I lost my last pair of teeth.\u201d\u00a0 She opened her mouth to display gums, bare of teeth save a few nubs, none of which were close enough to work together.\u00a0 \u201cNo toothsome meat for me.\u00a0 But wait!\u201d she held up a finger, \u201cYou will be glad you listened.\u201d\u00a0 I could not afford to reject any knowledge, so I grunted and remained.<\/p>\n

\u201cLong have I been here, since before I had even fifteen years.\u00a0 Much have I seen; much have I heard.\u00a0 I have heard the gods promise much.\u00a0 I have sometimes seen them give.\u00a0 I have often seen them take.\u00a0 I have never seen them give without taking still more.\u00a0 They are not generous; they do not love us.\u00a0 They need us, you see, these petty gods, and they hate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

At my look, she laughed again, \u201cWhat?\u00a0 You are offended at my impiety?\u00a0 I am forbidden to them. Soon, I will be out of their grasp anyway, in that place where they will all one day go.\u201d\u00a0 Clearly, she was wanting to shock me.\u00a0 I resented her because it worked, and I could not keep the surprise from my face.\u00a0 Who wishes to be the butt of a joke, especially that of an old woman and a stranger?\u00a0 \u201cYes, the gods, too, will go the way of all flesh.\u00a0 It has been decreed.\u00a0 They did not make this world; they found it.\u00a0 To discover its origins, you must look deeper.\u201d\u00a0 She paused, squinting at me speculatively.\u00a0 \u201cI sense that you will penetrate these mysteries one day, but not today.\u00a0 I\u2019ve said enough.\u201d\u00a0 She returned to poking the fire as if I were not there at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s it?\u201d I asked, incredulous.\u00a0 \u201cYou said I would be glad I listened!\u201d<\/p>\n

She looked up in surprise.\u00a0 \u201cThat wasn\u2019t enough?\u00a0 You want instruction like a child?\u00a0 The point is to be wary of gifts from the gods.\u00a0 If you are their blessed and beloved, you will pay your share for it.\u00a0 Few find their way out of such \u2018blessings.\u2019\u00a0 Whether you will or not is clouded to me.\u00a0 I would council you to leave this deed to another.\u201d\u00a0 She returned to the fire.<\/p>\n

My heart felt a soothing presence as she spoke and some part of me recognized it as divine, though very different from what I\u2019d felt in the cave, so I asked, \u201cAre you a mouthpiece for the gods?\u201d<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t look up.\u00a0 \u201cThat was my sister, long ago.\u00a0 We were given as an offering to the Oracle together and they chose her to be the mouthpiece when next one was needed.\u00a0 I was to follow her, for the time such girls live is short.\u00a0 In the scant year before she died, I found a way to be disqualified, and to be a mouthpiece for another.\u201d\u00a0 After this riddle, she refused to say any more until I turned to go, when she said, \u201cTake the arrow.\u00a0 It is meant for you, I think.\u201d\u00a0 The arrow remained where I had lain it.\u00a0 The helmet was gone.\u00a0 I took it and left for Temon and my chariot.<\/p>\n

Temon was dismayed when I reported the deed I must do, especially that I must slay a laasa, one of the man-headed, winged lions that guard us from demons and evil.\u00a0 \u201cIf slaying a laasa is but a small part of this task, how great is this worm?\u201d he wondered, and I secretly agreed, but said nothing.\u00a0 \u201cAnd laasa are the servants of the gods.\u00a0 Why would they send one of their faithful servants to be killed?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGods always demand sacrifice; this is but a piece with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd why must a man fight this thing?\u00a0 Surely this is a task for a god.\u00a0 Does not Adad boast that he is the slayer of such enemies?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBe quiet, Temon!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI only wish to ask, my Father, how the gods can aid you if they are powerless to fight such a beast?\u201d<\/p>\n

That was enough impious talk, and I told him so.<\/p>\n

Temon and I took that path toward the rising sun, as the gods instructed.\u00a0 It was indeed a day\u2019s travel when the narrow track opened out to a grassy, open space.\u00a0 To the left, the mountains rose and there was a cave.\u00a0 I knew it was the correct cave because in the open ground before it were the bodies of three warriors, smashed, bloody and unspoiled.\u00a0 It was the work of a beast, not a man, for what man would leave such rich prizes?\u00a0 Even rent and bloody, the armor and weapons were worth much.\u00a0 At least one of the three groups must have puzzled out the Oracle\u2019s riddle, at least enough to come to the cave.\u00a0 These, then, must be either men of the Khamati, the Agusi, or the Adini.\u00a0 From what I could see of their gear, I would guess them to be of the Agusi.<\/p>\n

This was not a sight to give a man\u2019s heart courage, for the Agusi are not weak men, but what could a warrior do?\u00a0 I donned my own armor and weapons and went forth to face a dire foe.\u00a0 Temon urged me to bring my bow.\u00a0 I pointed out that the instruction had been to bathe my spear in the blood of the laasa, but he insisted.\u00a0 His advice is often good, so I carried the bow and arrows and left them just outside what I considered to be the battleground, the place of the contest.<\/p>\n

Shield on my left, spear in my right, I advanced on the cave, shouting a challenge in the name of Adad, the benevolent and mighty, god of my people.\u00a0 My steps brought me closer and closer until finally a form emerged from the mouth of the cave.<\/p>\n

It was the laasa.\u00a0 Its face, noble and bearded, looked down at me without expression.\u00a0 Its lion\u2019s body was the height of a large man, such as myself.\u00a0 It rustled its great wings.\u00a0 It was magnificent.\u00a0 It was immense.\u00a0 It was terrifying, and I must slay it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Accordingly, I leapt forward, thrusting at its breast, hoping for a quick injury to tip the scales.\u00a0 It was ready and danced aside, nimble as a colt.\u00a0 It launched itself at me just as fast, but hadn\u2019t gathered itself, so it was not hard to dodge aside.<\/p>\n

When it landed, I immediately thrust at its side with my spear, but it sidestepped and I dealt it only a glancing blow which did no injury.\u00a0 It swatted at me while I was overbalanced, but it was also in an awkward position and did me little hurt.\u00a0 Thus, the battle raged between us, back and forth, neither able to get the upper hand until, through clever footwork, I positioned myself for the blink of an eye at its forequarters, and, both feet planted, perfectly balanced, I thrust behind its foreleg with all my strength.<\/p>\n

Nothing happened.\u00a0 The spear didn\u2019t even prick the skin.\u00a0 Not a drop of blood was spilled.\u00a0 The laasa grunted and whirled again, knocking me sprawling on my back, something under me, my spear lost.\u00a0 I was stunned in both mind and body.\u00a0 With skin impervious to my weapons, how could I defeat this beast and complete my mighty deed?<\/p>\n

Even now the mighty being rushed upon me to end my life before it ever mattered.\u00a0 I rolled and saw that I had fallen onto my bow and arrows.\u00a0 There, perfectly to hand, was the red arrow that I had taken from the bandit.\u00a0 I grasped, turned and thrust upward.\u00a0 The laasa, pouncing at me, hurled itself upon the point.\u00a0 The arrow was indeed an uncanny thing, a transcendent thing.\u00a0 It pierced the hide of the laasa like papyrus and continued into the body.\u00a0 My enemy froze and threw its head back.\u00a0 A wail tore from its throat, piercing and human, as I thrust the arrow deeper.\u00a0 I thrust until only the fletching showed.\u00a0 I scrambled to get up and away as it collapsed.\u00a0 It lay there, living but breathing heavily and seeming unable to move.\u00a0 It was not what I expected.\u00a0 A creature of that size should have had a lot of fight left in it after only a single wound.\u00a0 However, I was not about to question a gift from the gods.<\/p>\n

I found my spear and tried to thrust it into the wound, but it would not enter.\u00a0 In any case, it turned out not to be necessary.\u00a0 Blood issued from the wound and bathed the sharp iron of the head.\u00a0 Instead of running onto the ground, it disappeared as if it were entering the metal, like water pouring onto dry cloth.\u00a0 As I watched, the head grew in size, extending.\u00a0 I held it in place until the head was as long as my forearm, then the blood started to run off it onto the ground.\u00a0 Three drops fell off the blade and the flow of blood stopped.<\/p>\n

I grasped the end of the arrow to retrieve it, but this elicited a growl from the laasa, which, alarmingly, was still alive.\u00a0 Gone the high-pitched wail, this was the growl of a lion.\u00a0 Deciding that such a creature could keep the arrow if it so wished, I turned and ran.<\/p>\n

Temon had been watching with the horses ready.\u00a0 I leapt to the back of the chariot and we flew together from the field of my triumph.\u00a0 I did not look back at the body of the magnificent foe I had perhaps slain.<\/p>\n

The god had spoken truly, for it was not far before we came to the cave of the leviathan.\u00a0 The greenery had disappeared and what little had ever lived in the place was dead.\u00a0 The trees were desiccated and shrunken, also mostly fallen.\u00a0 Where there should have been scrubby bushes, there were only dead tufts, the grass, like the leaves, had disappeared entirely.\u00a0 The area outside the cave looked to never have had much life anyway.\u00a0 It was rocky, with a huge outcropping of stone in the middle of the open space in front of the cave, the pillar, I suppose.\u00a0 The cave entrance itself was immense, higher than a tree.<\/p>\n

The area in front of the cave was uncanny, strange, unholy.\u00a0 Nothing was as it should be.\u00a0 Rain fell, then it was so hot the air shimmered, then it snowed, there were gusts of wind, blasts of water, and pebbles falling upward.\u00a0 Plants shot up, changed shape, emerged from thin air, disappeared, changed into animals who melted into cold, dancing fire.\u00a0 Then it would stop for a time, then resume.\u00a0 Nothing was stable.\u00a0 Nothing was orderly.\u00a0 I can see why the gods were sparing in what they said.\u00a0 Temon pointed out that since the gods owe their power to their ability to understand and manipulate reality and fate, something purely chaotic would be outside their control.\u00a0 He often spends too much time thinking about impractical matters beyond his ken.\u00a0 He reasoned that the gods can do nothing against such a thing.\u00a0 The most they could do is to send one of their angels to be slain by their champion.\u00a0 We would see if said champion would share the angel\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n

As the god had also said, there was indeed a spring right as the trail reached the area of the cave.\u00a0 It was not what I expected, for it was not a spring of water, but bitumen.\u00a0 It oozed out of a rock in an undulating rivulet, filling a small pool.\u00a0 I stripped out of my armor, for it would avail me nothing against such as beast as I was to face.\u00a0 I laid aside everything and entered the pool mother-naked.\u00a0 The bitumen was slippery and treacherous, but I immersed myself in it completely and arose, dripping with the favor of the gods.\u00a0 After cleaning my palms thoroughly, I donned my loincloth and my talisman, took up my spear and advanced on my destiny.\u00a0 I did not look back.<\/p>\n

The chaos emerged rhythmically.\u00a0 Temon guessed that it was the breath of the beast, poisonous to the very fabric of the world.\u00a0 I waited for a break when the thing inhaled and rushed forward.\u00a0 If I was caught by the breath, the divine ointment I wore protected me and I made it through into the cave and saw the beast.\u00a0 I froze, for it was a serpent, fortunately sleeping, and one so large that every man and beast I will ever see in my whole life would, together, weigh less than this vile thing.\u00a0 It was not quite large enough to encircle the City of Waters, but it was longer than it and it weighed more than all the buildings and walls combined.\u00a0 The chaos faded away in a small zone around it.\u00a0 It is understandable that the beast would not inflict its chaos on itself, for then it would not be able to maintain a form that could engender the chaos.\u00a0 I moved into the stable zone and took stock.<\/p>\n

Against such a beast, my great king and all his armies and all the armies of his vassal kings and allied kings would have no hope.\u00a0 Indeed, we, along with all the foes we have ever faced, would simply perish as the great serpent rolled over us.\u00a0 What was a single man to do?\u00a0 I could but try.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, I advanced and began my climb to the obvious target, an eye.\u00a0 The scales were rough and enormous, two arm spans, and they provided an easy climb.\u00a0 My spear had a leather loop at the end so I could sling it and reduce it to a minor irritation rather than the major impediment it would have been otherwise.<\/p>\n

It felt like a day, but it was probably not really very long before I came up to the eye.\u00a0 It was the size of a house and covered by an imposing lid.\u00a0 Seeing no reason for preliminaries, I braced my feet, put the tip of my spear at the line where the eyelid met the face, tried to wiggle it into the crack and then I thrust will all my weight.<\/p>\n

It had no effect.\u00a0 It was like the laasa\u2019s hide again.\u00a0 Not even a spearhead soaked in angel blood did anything.\u00a0 I pressed and strained, but still nothing.\u00a0 In frustration, I pulled the spear back and thrust it at the eyelid, over and over.\u00a0 It bounced off, skidded off, and bounced off again.\u00a0 This, at least, appeared to have some effect, for the serpent huffed in its sleep.\u00a0 Encouraged, I tried to pry the lid open again.\u00a0 Still nothing, still nothing\u2026then it opened, revealing an immense, vile eye, an eye larger than a city gate.\u00a0 I lost not a moment and thrust with all my strength, but again my spear bounced off.\u00a0 The creature had a second eyelid that it could see through.\u00a0 The eye looked around, having felt something, but not much.\u00a0 However, I was so small and so far on the side, it didn\u2019t see me.\u00a0 It closed the eye and shifted a little as it went back to sleep.<\/p>\n

What was for it a small movement was, for me, an earthquake.\u00a0 It\u2019s fortunate that I still wore the spear\u2019s loop, or I would have lost it.\u00a0 I flailed and slid down the shifting surface.\u00a0 Being certain that I was about to fall from a great height, I was gratified to feel my foot find purchase.\u00a0 Blindly, I clung until the tremor passed and took stock.\u00a0 I was now in the serpent\u2019s ear, large as a cave.\u00a0 Spear close to my side, I stepped in.<\/p>\n

It was not a cave, of course.\u00a0 It was roughly round and the floor and walls were smooth.\u00a0 There was no wax such as we have in our ears.\u00a0 Instead, there were insects the size of my hand, round, many-legged, vile.\u00a0 They mostly ignored me, but one bit my foot.\u00a0 It was painful and I crushed it under my heel.\u00a0 It took a surprising amount of my weight before the body collapsed into a sticky mass.<\/p>\n

I tried to ignore these disgusting things as I made my way through the darkness, one hand against the wall to steady myself.\u00a0 The beast started shifting again.\u00a0 No doubt its ear tickled.\u00a0 I came to hairs, some thick as my finger, others fine like spider webs, sticky and coated with dust and pebbles.\u00a0 I slashed them and they fell before my iron like wheat.\u00a0 I pressed on, deeper, until I came to the end.\u00a0 There was a skin stretched from floor to ceiling.\u00a0 I could not go around it and so I slashed it, too.\u00a0 The ground shook and I lost my footing.\u00a0 This time I was not wearing the loop and so I dropped my spear.\u00a0 Fortunately, the passage was small, so it was not hard to find.\u00a0 I stepped through the shredded skin and into the chamber beyond.\u00a0 Here it became very small and I crouched and crawled forward like a child, my speak beneath me.\u00a0 The shaking continued.<\/p>\n

I made my way as deep as I could into the beast on the assumption that the deeper I went, the closer I was to the vitals.\u00a0 When I could crawl no further, I placed the tip of the spear against the side of the passage and pressed.\u00a0 With a crack the blade pierced the skin and entered the serpent.\u00a0 The ground shook more violently, though in a passage so small, it was impossible to fall.\u00a0 I pressed on, feeding the spear deeper and deeper into the beast\u2019s head.\u00a0 The motions changed, I could sense that the serpent was moving, probably leaving the cave.\u00a0 The spear met resistance; I braced both hands and pressed.\u00a0 It suddenly yielded.\u00a0 The motion was more violent now.\u00a0 I was bucking up and down, like in a chariot over rough ground, but, of course, I was encased in the tube on the vile ear, and so suffered no bruising.<\/p>\n

I fed the spear deeper and deeper until I came to the end, the rest having passed into the beast.\u00a0 I grasped the rounded back of the shaft, braced my back against the passage and pushed further.\u00a0 It slid deeper.\u00a0 My arm passed out of the ear canal and into the beast\u2019s flesh.\u00a0 When I was almost at my arm\u2019s full extension inside the serpent, I hit another obstruction and something else happened at the same time.<\/p>\n

I felt something I have not since I was a small boy and my father would toss me up as a game.\u00a0 I could sense that I was rising in the air, rapidly.\u00a0 I could not see it, but one\u2019s body knows when it is flying upward, higher than I had ever been.\u00a0 The leviathan must be raising its head into the sky.\u00a0 Certain I was going to die when we returned to earth, I used the last of my strength to push against the obstruction before death claimed me.\u00a0 It yielded to the laasa-infused iron, my arm thrust into the beast up to my shoulder, and the spear left my grasp.\u00a0 There was a torrent of hot, burning liquid.\u00a0 It welled up my arm and burst out into the ear, bathing my side where I lay.\u00a0 It was a burning agony everywhere it touched my body.\u00a0 The agony was to be short lived for, at the same time we began our descent.\u00a0 Faster and faster, I felt us plunge and then I knew nothing.<\/p>\n

I awoke in a dark, unfamiliar place.\u00a0 I struggled, confined, and then it all came back to me.\u00a0 I must get out of the vile tunnel.\u00a0 I wormed my way back, panicking.\u00a0 Something was different.\u00a0 Something was wrong.\u00a0 There was no air.\u00a0 The only air was that which was trapped in a pocket around my head, arms and chest.\u00a0 I crawled backwards as best I could, but the walls of the tunnel pressed against me, impeding me.\u00a0 I passed the shredded skin and my worst fears were realized.\u00a0 The ear canal had lost its rigidity and collapsed.\u00a0 If I didn\u2019t get out quickly the little air I had would grow stale and I would die.<\/p>\n

I fought my way out, battling against the walls that sought to keep me in, the bitumen eased my passage for a time, but then it was gone, left behind.\u00a0 I fought on.\u00a0 Insects bit me.\u00a0 It mattered not.\u00a0 My loincloth untied and came free.\u00a0 I felt it against my back, my neck, my head, and it was gone.\u00a0 I cared not.\u00a0 In fact, it gave me some assurance that I was indeed making progress.\u00a0 It was taking too long.\u00a0 I was panting, the little of pocket of air I was bringing with me no longer fresh.\u00a0 My head felt light and I started to see lights.\u00a0 I was certain that I was soon to meet my father in the grey, dusty land of Mot when my feet broke free into cool air.\u00a0 With renewed strength I used the last of my energy to wriggle until I got a knee out, then it was a simple matter to pull myself free.<\/p>\n

I fell, for the beast was large.\u00a0 Fortuitously, the head had rolled such that the ear was not far from the ground, no more than the height of my house, else I would have broken bones.\u00a0 As it was, I lay on my back gasping in wonderful, sweet, cool air.\u00a0 When my lightheadedness was just beginning to pass, I laughed.\u00a0 I laughed and laughed like a madman.\u00a0 This made he lightheaded again which brought it to a stop.\u00a0 I arose and saw that I was outside the cave, as I had surmised.\u00a0 I strode back to Temon, mother-naked save for the talisman my dear wife had given me<\/p>\n

Temon was waiting and helped me to the gods\u2019 spring.\u00a0 The bitumen had disappeared.\u00a0 Now it flowed with clear, wonderful water.\u00a0 I plunged in, knowing it would not remove the bitumen, but it would at least clean off the beast\u2019s blood.\u00a0 As I cleaned myself Temon told me that the serpent had come out of its lair shaking its head and then it began to hammer the side of its head against the great outcropping of rock we had seen.\u00a0 It grew more frantic and finally had lifted itself up to an astounding height and plunged down, smashing itself against the stone.\u00a0 There was a tremendous crack and it moved never again.<\/p>\n

This certainly explained what I had felt from the inside.\u00a0 When Temon finished, I told him what I had done and experienced inside the beast.\u00a0 He was amazed, and when I spoke of my battle to get out, he pointed out that had my wife not given me her talisman, I would not have lived.\u00a0 The Katiratu being goddesses of safe birth.<\/p>\n

The water, miraculous as it was, cleaned the bitumen, which was itself also of divine origin, so I need not have been surprised.\u00a0 Bruised and battered, we turned to home.<\/p>\n

Before we had gone far there was an itching in my arm and side, deep in, like the sensation was coming from my bones.\u00a0 I tried to scratch, which availed me nothing, but then it subsided and was replaced by pain, slowly rising from my bone through my muscle.\u00a0 It was unwelcome, but I could do nothing about it.\u00a0 It kept getting closer and closer to the surface until, like bubbles bursting, a flakey whiteness broke out on my skin.\u00a0 My whole arm and part of my side became crusty and white.\u00a0 Temon was a picture of alarm for my sake and a suppressed fear.\u00a0 Should he flee this disease?\u00a0 I knew he did not wish to leave me, and would not.\u00a0 However, I knew what this was.<\/p>\n

\u201cFear not, Temon,\u201d I assured him.\u00a0 \u201cThis marks the places where I touched the gore of the serpent.\u00a0 No one will catch this.\u201d\u00a0 For I knew this to be true.\u00a0 \u201cPerhaps a god will cure it, since I am their champion.\u201d\u00a0 I certainly hoped so.<\/p>\n

Temon was silent for a time before he said, reluctantly, \u201cThe gods could do nothing against this beast\u2026I fear\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou fear that this is beyond their power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more reluctantly he answered, \u201cYes. Yes, I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

I thought on this and concluded that he was right.\u00a0 \u201cThen it is a mark of my victory.\u201d\u00a0 I straightened up.\u00a0 \u201cYes, yes, it is.\u00a0 It is the mark of my victory, of the gods\u2019 favor.\u201d\u00a0 I looked again at my arm and its hideous affliction and wondered if some oil would lessen the intensity of the gods\u2019 favor.<\/p>\n

We did not return to the Oracle.\u00a0 I wanted nothing of the crone and her haunting words.\u00a0 In fact, we took a more direct route home, travelling in settled lands.\u00a0 That we we could avail ourselves of hospitality on our victorious return trip.\u00a0 Though I wished to be home quickly, we were out of supplies.\u00a0 The hospitality was good, as expected, save for two things.\u00a0 First, three villages refused us hospitality on account of my affliction.\u00a0 I cursed them, their crops, their cattle and their offspring in the name of the gods for rejecting their deliverer because of the mark of divine favor.\u00a0 One of the three repented at my words and gave us a grudging meal and place to sleep.\u00a0 The second fact that marred our return was that even in those places which offered hospitality, none wished to eat of a loaf that I had touched.\u00a0 Even having heard our tale, they feared the mark.<\/p>\n

I arrived at the City of Waters at midday and went directly to the king, though it pained me to not see my wife.\u00a0 It was she with whom I most wished to share the victory, but to go home first would be an insult to my monarch.\u00a0 Kings are kings.\u00a0 The reception I received was great, everything a man can hope for from his king.<\/p>\n

The soothsayers and priests had foretold my coming and the success of my deed was already known, though the tale was not.\u00a0 The great king Benadad, my king, awaited me along with the noblest of the land.\u00a0 He clothed me with purple and put a crown on my head.\u00a0 He wrapped my hand and arm with the finest linen, to hide my affliction, for the gods had spoken of that as well.\u00a0 I rode with my king in his own chariot.\u00a0 Knowing how Adad-Yisi had been yapping at the heels of my fame, he had that foresworn cur lead us on a circuit within the city.\u00a0 Thrice did we circle from the Palace, to the House of Attar, to the Gate of the Sun, and back.\u00a0 The people thronged the streets, showering us with glory, the king and Benrimmon, on whose arm he leaned.\u00a0 I, I Benrimmon received this glory, for it was I who had done this deed.<\/p>\n

After the third circuit, we repaired to the banquet hall where the feast appropriate to a deliverance such as mine was laid out.\u00a0 There, at last, I saw the Light of my Heart.\u00a0 She was dressed in purple, and heavy gold encircled her throat.\u00a0 She reclined with the queen.\u00a0 They laughed and shared dainties together.<\/p>\n

I reclined at the high table with the highest in the land among whose company I now numbered.\u00a0 With the king I shared meat and we drank from the same cup.\u00a0 From that day the king leaned on my arm and when the armies of the Well-Watered Land went forth to conquer, Benrimmon led them.\u00a0 Adad-Yisi ate at the lowest place for a short time.\u00a0 I did not see him slink away, but he was soon gone.\u00a0 Neither he nor his sons attained to glory in my day.\u00a0 Had he not lied and stolen my fame I would not have begrudged him a place of honor in our hosts, though his father and mine had been bitter rivals, but what he did, he did.<\/p>\n

It was long before we returned home, but return we did.\u00a0 The family had heard the news from Temon.\u00a0 They waited for me, save the children, for it was late.\u00a0 I kissed the sleeping treasures, my dear mother, and finally my precious wife, though in different manners.\u00a0 In all this I was eager to be alone with my dear wife.\u00a0 As I sat with the king, heavy with honor, all of my ambitions realized, I had not eyes for them.\u00a0 But my eyes often drifted across to the most beautiful woman in the room, save, of course, the queen, the flower among thorns, grace in human form, my heart.\u00a0 I longed to share this moment with she who is half my soul.<\/p>\n

When I finally stood alone before the Light of my Heart, I removed the talisman and placed it back around her neck.\u00a0 \u201cYour blessing saved my life.\u00a0 Without it, I would surely have perished.\u00a0 This great deliverance for our people is your victory as much as mine.\u00a0 You are the root of my strength.\u00a0 From now, I will stand at the king\u2019s right hand and you will live in a house worthy of you and will have a girl to comb your beautiful hair.\u201d\u00a0 With my wrapped hand I reached up and stroked it.\u00a0 She took that hand, kissed it and gently unwrapped the linen, exposing my affliction.\u00a0 I flinched back, but my strength, though mighty enough to strike down the enemies of the gods, was as nothing in her soft hands.\u00a0 She gently kissed each of my fingers and placed my hand on the smooth skin of her neck.\u00a0 I longed to pull her to me and kiss her, but the sight of my horrible skin against her perfection paralyzed me.<\/p>\n

She saw my hesitation and said, \u201cIt\u2019s fine, my love.\u00a0 I\u2019m proud of you and am glad you have achieved your ambition.\u00a0 I love you no matter what you do or what you look like.\u201d\u00a0 She reached up and stroked my hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the sign of my victory.\u201d\u00a0 I said it with a bit too much force, for I wanted her to see it as an honor, as I strove to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, Naaman, don\u2019t hide behind bravado with me.\u00a0 It bothers you; I know it does.\u00a0 Together we will seek a deliverance for you from this, but until then, and always, I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

She melted my heart, this lovely little woman.\u00a0 I gathered her in my arms and we kissed.\u00a0 I remembered again that she was why I had sought this honor in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, perhaps you are right, but it will not change the fact that we will live in a magnificent house and you will have a girl to comb your magnificent hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

She smiled up at me and said with a grin, \u201cWell, even though I didn\u2019t want you to go, I won\u2019t complain to have a girl to do my hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

I laughed and stroked her hair myself, though my hand itched.<\/p>\n

This concludes the story of the Deliverance of Benrimmon, son of Shamash-Nuri.\u00a0 As for the rest of the rest of his great deeds, how he rode his chariot over the corpses of the sons of Bit-Omri and how he seized the crown of the king of Amat and placed it on his king\u2019s head, and how he was delivered from his leprosy, are they not written in the chronicles of the Kings of the Well-Watered Land?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

________________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n

Though Stephen Coney has lived in Croatia, England and the Russian Far East, and has spent most of the twenty-first century outside the United States, he now lives, reads and writes in Dayton, Ohio.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simon Walpole has been drawing for as long as\u00a0he can remember and is fortunate to spend his freetime working as an illustrator.\u00a0He primarily use pencils, pens and markers and use a bit of digital for tweaking. As well as doing interior illustrations for various publishing formats\u00a0he has\u00a0also drawn a lot of maps for novels. his work can be found at his website\u00a0HandDrawnHeroes<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Karol\u00edna Wellartov\u00e1 is a Czech artist, painter creating images predominantly with the wildlife themes, nature studies and the literary characters. She\u2019s mostly inspired by the curious shapes and a materials from the nature, but the main source still comes from literature.<\/span><\/p>\n

From a young age she tried to express herself and her observations on paper.\u00a0 Painting and drawing were always the most important thing for her and visiting the local art school helped her understand the new techniques and the science of the colour mediums. She\u2019s the award winning artist for \u201cBest Book Cover in 2015\u201d in Czechia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her work has been published in American magazines such as Spirituality Health Magazine, International Wolf, Metaphorosis, Orion, and Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.\u00a0 Check out more of her work at her\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE DELIVERANCE OF BENRIMMON, by Stephen Coney, art by Simon Walpole and Karol\u00edna Wellartov\u00e1   This is the account of the deeds of Benrimmon, that my name be not forgotten, nor the great deliverance I wrought.\u00a0 It was the eighth year of Benadad, great king of the Well-Watered Land, when the gods set their mark […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,88,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-issue-63-archive","category-main"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4350"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4398,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4350\/revisions\/4398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}