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the Sumerians.
She looked over the symbols, and grimaced, looking disturbed.
What is it? Kenneth asked.
I don t know, these statues just give me a weird, creepy feeling. The writing seems to be saying that
no blood must ever touch these statues& unfortunately, translating cuneiform is not a perfect science,
and some of these symbols I ve never seen before.
Next to the pictures of the stolen statues lay a broad, flat ceramic plaque, which was adorned with a
painting in shades of red and black. It featured a gruesome war scene. A huge demon floated over a
field of bodies, which were immersed in an ocean of red. Its grotesquely long tongue protruded from
its mouth, lapping up blood.
There were two smaller demons in the picture, floating beneath the larger demon. One had horns that
curled like a ram, and one had horns like a bull s.
A man floated above them, on the upper right portion of the plaque, and he held a spear in his hand,
and a lightning bolt shot from the spear towards the demons. The man was shown in profile, as was
common from art of that period. He wore a helmet and the traditional ankle-length skirt made of goat
skins.
Underneath the scene was cuneiform writing. Chloe squinted at the scene, brow wrinkling in
concentration.
Kenneth chewed on his lip. Chloe in full-on scholar mode was just about the sexiest thing he d ever
seen. He felt the blood rushing to his crotch, straining against his pants. His heart was pounding in
his chest, so hard he feared that she could hear its echo in the huge room.
Good lord, Chloe said. This is the Great Priest Garmesh. This explains so much.
Never heard of him.
He was the ruler of one of the mightiest cities of that time-period. Basically, in 3000 b.c., most of
the population of Sumer had organized into city-states clustered around the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers. The cities were perpetually warring with each other for dominance. They were organized
around religious life, with the temple at the center of each city. Garmesh was a priest and the ruler of
the largest of the cities, and he had conquered several nearby cities, all these statues and a massive
ziggurat were built in his honor, and then he and the city of Kar abruptly vanished from the historical
record.
Car? Like what you drive?
Kar with a K. Well, the cuneiform alphabet doesn t translate literally to our alphabet, of course.
Kenneth looked at the picture. The picture shows him larger than the demons, and above them. It
looks as if he defeated them.
Chloe straightened up to look at him. Her wavy brown hair flowed over her shoulders, silky as a
chocolate river. He imagined himself tangling his fingers in that hair, tipping her head back, nibbling
at her plump pink lips as if they were sugar candies&
Very good, she said, nodding enthusiastically. The picture does clearly show that he triumphed
over them. If they d won, the picture would have shown him in an inferior position, smaller than
them, probably mortally wounded. Well, there might not even have been a picture; these appear to be
some kind of demons. Demons probably weren t big on commemorative artwork.
Kenneth felt a warm glow wash over him at her approval.
So do I get a gold star? Kenneth grinned. No, wait& I d like to choose my own prize.
Chloe choked back an amused laugh.
Now he felt like the dorky kid who d just won a date with the captain of the cheerleading squad.
Then she grew serious again, looking at the picture.
So it appears as if his city was attacked by a plague of demons, and he defeated them& but then he
vanished, and his city fell into ruins. Why, if he conquered the demons? And why would there be
statues of the demons? The Sumerians generally made statues of benevolent deities, of gods who
protected them and conferred some benefit gods who brought rain, the sun god& I would think it
would be bad luck to create statues like this. She shook her head, puzzled and fascinated.
The statues do seem to bring some kind of bad luck, if what you told me about your grandmother is
true. It was after she had contact with the statues that she apparently went mad. Remember, my
grandfather acted as if he were on some kind of a mission after that. He travelled back to Turak again
and again. I think it s pretty clear that he was seeking answers as to what happened to her.
Perhaps, she agreed, looking thoughtful. But he ended up marrying someone else.
After five years, Kenneth pointed out. And Sophronia was on her third husband by then; her
previous two husbands had died. I did the research. And I know that he was under considerable
pressure from his family to marry a respectable panther and continue his bloodline. So when the
situation with Soprhonia appeared hopeless, he entered a marriage of convenience, but he still kept
seeking answers.
Why would only she have gone mad, and not him, if they both handled that collection, and both were
responsible for purchasing it? Chloe asked, rhetorically.
Kenneth shook his head. It s all a mystery to me, he said, but she d already turned back to the
statues, and he suddenly felt an odd sort of loneliness deep inside him, a sensation he d never felt
before.
Chapter Ten
Chloe lost track of the time that she spent in the room, meticulously examining each piece, until she
could no longer ignore the rumbling in her stomach.
When she looked up, she realized that Kenneth was standing there, waiting patiently.
Oh! What time is it? she asked. I m sorry, I was a little distracted.
He smiled patiently. It s three p.m. A late lunch or early dinner, depending on how you look at it, is
waiting for us outside in the garden.
He had been extremely gracious, she thought.
Was that terribly boring for you? she asked. She hadn t meant to be openly rude.
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