The Flames Win Free

Chapter Seven

Again Sharane was silent, brooding, he knew, over pictures of a world that lay six thousand years deep in the abyss of time, yet still fresh and living to her. Silent, too, sat Kenton, fighting against belief in this strange tale of strife between angry god and goddess made incarnate in priestess and priest. She stirred, laid hand on his.

“When we awoke we were on this haunted ship, on this strange sea, in this strange world, messenger,” she said. “Yea, and all that the gods had promised and decreed in the Du-azzaga had come to pass. For with Zarpanit was I and half a score of the temple girls she had loved. And with Alusar was Klaneth and a pack of his black acolytes. They had given us oarsmen, sturdy temple slaves—a twain for each oar. They had made the ship beautiful, and they had seen to it that we lacked nothing.”

A green flame of anger pulsed for an instant through her eyes.

“Yea,” she said, “the kindly gods did all for our comfort—and then they launched the ship on this strange sea in this strange world as battleground for Love and Hate, arena for Wrathful Ishtar and Dark Nergal, torture chamber for their sinning priestess and priest.

“It was in this cabin that Zarpanit awakened—with the name of Alusar upon her lips. Then straightway ran she out the door as though she knew where he were, and, as she sped out, from the black cabin came Alusar calling her name. I saw her reach that line where black deck meets this—and, lo, she was hurled back as though by thrust of strong arms. For there is a barrier there, messenger—a barrier built by the gods over which none of us upon the ship may pass. But then we knew nothing of that. And Alusar, striving to pass that unseen wall, too, was hurled back from it.

“Then as they arose, calling, stretching hands, striving to touch finger to finger, straightway into Zarpanit poured that Sister-Self of Ishtar, the Angry One, the Destroyer. While around Alusar black shadows deepened and hid him. At last they parted—and what had been the face of Alusar was the face of Nergal, Lord of the Dead!

“Yea. So it was—even as the gods had decreed. And that immortal twain within the bodies of those mortal two who loved each other so—battled and flung their hates like brands against each other. While the slaves chained to their oars in the pit cowered and raved or fell senseless under the terrors loosed above them. And the temple girls with us cast themselves upon the deck or ran screaming into the cabin that they might not see. Only I did not cry out or flee—I who, since I had faced the gods in the Du-azzaga, could never again feel fear.

“And”—she drew a deep breath, eyes misty with sorrow—“so it fared; how long, how long I do not know, in this place where time seems not to be, since there is neither night nor day as we knew them in Babylon.

“Yet ever the priest and priestess strove to meet, and ever Wrathful Ishtar and Dark Nergal thrust them apart. Many are the wiles of the Lord of the Shades, and countless are his weapons. And many are the arts of Ishtar, and is not her quiver always full? Messenger, how long the pair endured, I know not. Yet always strove they to break that barrier through, driven by their love. And always—”

She covered her face; her white shoulders shook with her weeping.

“The flames within them burned on,” she whispered. “Nergal nor Ishtar could dim them. Their love did but grow stronger. There came a day—”

For a little she faltered, then went on:

“It was in mid-battle. Ishtar had taken possession of Zarpanit and stood where this deck touches the pit of the oarsmen. Nergal had poured himself into Alusar and hurled his evil spawn across the pit against the goddess’s lightnings.

“And as I crouched, watching, at this cabin’s door, suddenly I saw the radiance that covered Ishtar tremble and dull. For an instant I thought I saw the face of Ishtar waver and fade—the face of Zarpanit look out from where the face of Ishtar had been.

“While the darkness that shrouded the Lord of the Dead lightened—as though a strong flame had shot up within it!

“Then Ishtar took one step—and another and another—toward the barrier between black deck and this. But it came to me that not by her will did she so move. No! She went haltingly, reluctantly, as though something stronger than herself pushed her on. And as she moved, so moved Nergal within his shadows to meet her!

“Closer they came and closer. And ever the radiance of Ishtar would wax and wane. Ever the shadows clothing Nergal would lighten, darken, lighten again. Yet ever—slowly, unwillingly, but inexorably—they drew closer and closer to each other. Now I could see the face of Alusar, the priest, thrusting itself into sight, stripping itself of Nergal’s mask.

“And suddenly, with fast beating heart, it came to me that Wrathful Ishtar and the Dark One were no longer striving against each other. But that she, the goddess, was at grips with the flame in Zarpanit! And that he, the Lord of the Dead, was battling with the flame within the priest—those flames that Nabu had said not even the gods could destroy!

“Slowly, slowly the white feet of Zarpanit carried Ishtar to the barrier; and slowly, slowly, ever matching her tread, came Alusar to meet her. And they met! They touched hands, touched lips, clasped—ere conquered god and goddess could withdraw from them!

“They kissed and clasped. They fell upon the deck—dead. Dead—in each other’s arms. They died, messenger, when their lips touched!

“There was a burst of light like the stroke of a thousand lightning bolts. The ship shook and shuddered.

“But before that burst of light came I thought I saw two shining flames rise from their bodies, hover for a heart beat, rush to each other, merge—and vanish.

“Nor Ishtar nor Nergal had conquered! Nay! Love of man and love of woman—these had conquered. Victors over god and goddess—the flames were free!

“The priest had fallen on the hither side of the barrier. We did not unclasp their arms. We bound their bodies round with silken, perfumed coverings. We set them adrift, alock, face to face—their bodies.

“Then ran I forth to slay Klaneth. But I had forgotten that neither Ishtar nor Nergal had conquered one the other. Lo, into me as I ran poured the goddess, and into Klaneth returned Nergal! As of old these two powers battled! And again the unseen barrier was strong as of old, holding back from each other those in ivory deck and black.

“Yet I was happy—for by this I knew that Zarpanit and Alusar had already been forgotten by them. It came to me that the strife had gone beyond those two who had escaped. That now it mattered not either to Wrathful Ishtar or to Nergal that they had gone—since in my body and in Klaneth’s they could still strive against each other for possession of the ship.

“You see, messenger?” Her eyes searched him. “Also it came to me that so long as I might keep—them—at strife, that much longer might Zarpanit and Alusar have to find hiding place from them. Find sanctuary in some far-flung world beyond the outermost strand of stars.

“And so I dared the black priest often—and often was I the phial for Ishtar. And so we sail—and fight. And sail—and fight.

“How long, I do not know. Once I knew time. Here there is nothing of that time I knew in my own world. No time here—on these strange seas, in this strange world. Many, many years must have passed since we faced the gods in Uruk—but see, I am still as young as then and as fair! Or so my mirror tells me,” she sighed.