People of the Tower (Ark Chronicles 4) (13 page)

“
What territory?” Kush asked.

“
Earth, for a beginning,” said Satan.

“
Did Jehovah really destroy the Earth by flood?” Nimrod asked.

“
You know that he did,” Satan said, “although he has sworn an oath never to do so again.”

“
Why did He swear?” Nimrod asked.

“
Out of fear, is what I think,” Satan said. “He knows the other poor deluded angels will turn on him if he tries that a second time.”

“
Then you can defeat him?” Nimrod asked.

“
Yes,” Satan said. “I can topple Jehovah from his throne, for he like me is self-created from the watery void. Thus, he is not the Maker. Matter is first, not Jehovah, and therein is our hope.”

“
Hope?” Kush asked. “Victory is not certain?”

“
Mighty Hunter,” Satan said, “when you stalk a lion, is victory certain?”

“
No,” Nimrod said. “You must bring all your skill and daring into play and then achieve greatness.”

“
So it is in the realm above,” said Satan. “But look you: all humanity is almost under your authority. Together, we shall forge such a host as will storm heaven and the entire universe. Every day we’re closer to victory. Nimrod, advance on Shem and you will be victorious. Wield your empire as world-conqueror, knowing another flood will never be sent against you. Teach mankind these truths. Let them know that their gods have sprung full born from watery chaos. In such a way, fear of Jehovah shall be destroyed, weakening his power here on Earth.”

With that said, the mote of light began to shrink.

“Wait!” Nimrod cried. “What boon will you give me? I demand longer life and that you teach me self-creation into a higher form.”

“
Another time, Mighty Hunter,” Satan said. “When you have finished the Tower and weld an unruly people into true obedience, then we shall see.”

The mote vanished, and the braziers flickered in the sudden darkness.

7
.

Far away on the upland plain of Nineveh, Hilda strolled through a field of flowers with Odin. It was her first time alone with him. She plucked a flower, sniffing it, and she felt odd for a moment in her knee-length dress, with her arms bare. She wondered if she should have picked a different sort of outfit. She jabbed her javelin into the soil and fixed the flower into a braid.

She blushed, and she wasn
’t certain why she had put the flower there. She snatched her javelin and tramped through the flower field.

Odin
wasn’t handsome like Gog had been. Oh, beautiful Gog had been strong and tender. Odin was fat, although he moved with agility. And his beard made him seem older than he was. Yet she admitted that it was a handsome beard. She wondered what it would feel like to run her fingers through it.

Her father didn
’t trust him. Odin’s story—the reason why he had fled Babel—was an ugly one. Some people didn’t believe it, although she knew Ham did. Odin had been a Mighty Man, one of King Nimrod’s bodyguards. One evening in Babel, Nimrod’s oldest brother Seba had been escorted into the palace. Uruk and two others had marched him to the throne where Nimrod sat. Odin had been one of the bodyguards lined against the walls, ready to hurl his spear into anyone who dared threaten the king. Nimrod had spoken softly to Seba. The heavy-faced man squirmed in Uruk’s grip. With his foot, Nimrod had shoved a small chest forward.

“
Open it.”

Uruk
released Seba. Frightened, Seba knelt, drew back the lid and fell with a scream.

Odin
jumped near, cocking his spear. Then he saw the overturned chest. Thick granules of salt poured onto the floor, while out rolled the bloody head of Seba’s youngest son.

“
I am Nimrod. I am King. Your sons disobey me at their peril.”

Odin
fled Babel soon thereafter.

Beor said
the man’s story was a trick to lure them. Her father predicted war with Babel. He trained a small band to make swift raids and surprise attacks.

Hilda sighed
. She didn’t want to think about chariot raids and javelins. Today, with Odin the Spear-Slayer beside her, she walked through a field of flowers.

Odin
cleared his throat. “I think instead of Hilda, I’ll call you the Huntress.”

“
Isn’t that what they call the moon goddess in Babel?”

Odin
grimaced. She remembered then that people said he didn’t like talking about Babel.

Hilda
smiled to take the sting out of her words. He seemed to misinterpret her action, taking her hand, and saying, “Hilda…”

A sudden noise
made them turn. Her father rattled to the edge of the flower field on his chariot. He pretended as if he’d stumbled upon them and now avoided them as a matter of courtesy.

“
What were you going to say?” she asked, trying to ignore her father.

“
Doesn’t your father trust me?”

“
Yes,” she said, “as long as you’re within range of his bow.”

“
Should I call him here?”

“
Whatever for?” she asked.

Odin
smiled, and he waved to her father. Beor didn’t wave back. Instead, he halted to let the donkeys munch grass.

With several emotions working across his face,
Odin strolled to a rock and gestured that she sit there. Odin leaned on his spear and kept her father in view. Beor shaded his eyes, pretending to watch birds but clearly seeing what was going on with her and
the Babelite
, as he spoke of Odin.

“
This is too much.” Odin stomped through the flowers toward her father.

Hilda sighed
. The sun felt good on her face, but she wondered on the wisdom of Odin’s course. Her father stepped aside for no man. After visiting Noah and during his months as the preacher, he had seemed to change, to become…softer would be the wrong word. Perhaps more godly. But the incident with Semiramis had shaken her father to the core.

Hilda
sat up, watching the two men. When Odin had first come to the plain of Nineveh, he had begged Beor to let him be a Scout. “What I know is fighting,” Odin told her father.

Beor had reluctantly agreed
, and they had hunted wolves, bears and lions together. Many a night, her father and Odin had discussed battle tactics while sharing a wineskin and trying to wrinkle Nimrod’s weaknesses from their memories of him. Finally, Odin had won permission to walk alone with her, and after many no’s she had changed her mind and said yes.

“
Do you need a ride back to the settlement?” her father asked Odin, loud enough for her to hear.

“
What’s the matter with you?” Odin asked. “How come you have to spy on us?”

“
Don’t like it, do you, boy?” Beor asked.

Odin
’s knuckles whitened around his spear shaft.

Her father slipped off his six-foot bow
. “Going to charge me, are you? That’s just what I’ve been expecting from you.”

“
How can you say that?” cried Odin. “I’ve stepped in the path of snarling wolves for you. And you and I have jumped at lions together. If either of us had held back, the other surely would have died. But now you insult me and spy on us as if I’m a man without honor?”

“
Why act surprised? I know how Nimrod thinks, how he operates. A spy isn’t below him. You do remember Gilgamesh, don’t you? The first time we trust you—off you’ll sprint with my daughter. No. I’m not as gullible as that.”

“
Why let me walk with her then?”

Color flushed her father
’s features. “I ought to feather a shaft into you before you stick a dagger in my back. That’s what I told Assur, but he said to accept you and see what happens. So I figured the best place for you was close where I could kill you. Then I decided that maybe Assur had a point. I’m not the Mighty Hunter. I’ll only kill a man for what he does. Yet this I’ll tell you: for your own safety. Hold my daughter’s hand or attempt to kiss her and a bear’s fury will seem like nothing once I get my paws on you.”

Hilda didn
’t know why, but her heart sank. No one was brave enough to stand against her father.

Furious,
Odin spun on his heel and marched toward her. He didn’t look at her until he stood near the rock.

“
What did he say?” Hilda asked, as if she hadn’t heard the exchange.

“
He’s still watching us, if that’s what you mean,” Odin muttered.

She regarded him
. “This shouldn’t really startle you, not after all that my father has been through.”

“
Maybe not,” Odin said, as he became thoughtful.

“
It’s such a nice day,” she said, “and the flowers smell lovely. Do you want to smell the flowers?”

He stared at her.

“No?” she said. “What about the flower in my hair?”

His eyes widened; she
’d never been so familiar with him before. Then he chanced to glance at her father brushing one of his donkeys as Beor watched them.

Odin
muttered, “I’m not sure the whiff is worth an arrow through my chest.”

“
That’s not very gallant,” she said.

“
What do you expect me to say with your father watching?”

“
Are you afraid of him?” she asked.

Odin
shrugged moodily.

She leaned back, bending her right leg and clasping her hands around her knee.

Odin peeked approvingly at her figure.

“
You’re afraid of my father and yet you leer at me,” she said.

He grinned
. He seemed to like that. “Hilda, what do you want out of life?”

“
Nimrod’s defeat, I suppose.”

He stepped closer, waving his pudgy hand
. “Forget about Nimrod. Forget about Babel, the coming war and all that nonsense. Let’s do what Noah says. Head north with me into the wilds.”

“
How far north?” she asked, wondering why her heart beat so hard.

“
To where the ice grinds like rocks and the animals are magnificent. Come with me and settle that land.”

The words almost stuck in her throat
. “As your wife, is that what you’re saying?”

“
Yes!” he said, stepping closer yet. “Noah says we displease Jehovah by living in close settlements. Assur says we must do so for protection against Babel and Nimrod. But I say he’s wrong, for a world lies waiting for those bold enough to take it.”

Didn
’t Odin fear her father? Was he really that brave? She looked at him with renewed interest, even though she said, “First, we must stop Nimrod.”

Odin
shook his head. “Your father is brave and strong, but he and his handful aren’t going to stop the Mighty Hunter. It’s hopeless.”

“
Is this your trickery? To bore from within like a worm and sap our morale so we accept defeat?”

“
I’m saying the opposite. Assur will lose. Your father will lose. So why not trek far, far away where we’ll never have to worry about Nimrod again?”

“
Go,” she said. “Who’s stopping you?”

“
You are.”

“
Me?”

He took her hand, even though her father gave a loud
shout.

“
I love you, Hilda,” Odin said. “I risked everything that time Ham and I came to Festival. Be my wife.”

“
Unhand her, knave!” her father roared. The donkeys brayed as they halted by the rock. Beor fumbled an arrow to his bow.

Hilda tugged her hand out of
Odin’s and rose with dignity. “I’ll consider your words.”

“
What did he say to you?” Beor shouted.

“
He asked me to marry him, Daddy.”

Beor snarled with rage
. Hilda ran around the chariot and jumped beside her father, putting a hand on his brawny arm, the one drawing the arrow. “Please, Daddy, not yet. Let me break his heart first.”

Beor eased tension from the bowstring as he glanced at her.

She laughed at Odin, tossing her head. “Take me away from him, from this stench of Babel.”

Beor grinned
. He handed her the bow and picked up the reins.

Woodenly,
Odin stepped aside. Then she caught Odin’s eye and winked at him. He blinked in confusion.

As the chariot rattled away
, she glanced back. Odin stood bemused and almost dejected. Yet it seemed he didn’t know whether to whoop with joy or throw down his spear in disgust.

Hilda
sighed as her father grinned triumphantly. Why did everything have to be so complicated?