it. Trella was offering to pay him for his skills, like any common laborer. Still, it was not an unreasonable offer considering he had no status as a master craftsman, no patron to succor him. He decided to ask for more. “What share of the mine would be mine, Lady Trella?”
She smiled at the bold question. “None. Not at first. You would be paid fairly, but if you wish to earn a share you will have to produce a steady and significant supply of ores, delivered on time, and without any being lost to the workers. If you can accomplish that, I would consider an arrangement where you would own a share of the mine’s output in the future. As I said, this mine belongs to the king, and whatever is extracted from the earth will be used for Akkad’s needs. And in selecting you for this task, I am taking something of a risk.”
He would be a paid laborer, nothing more. Nevertheless, anything was preferable to starving in the streets of Akkad. And it would gall his father to learn that his wayward son had taken an important assignment from Lady Trella, even if it turned out to be nothing. “I would accept such a task, Lady Trella.”
She turned to Annok-sur, who sat quietly across the room, apparently uninterested in the conversation. “Can you bring in Tooraj?”
Without saying anything, Annok-sur rose and left the room.
“You realize, Orodes,” Trella went on, “that there must be no drinking, no wandering off, and not a word must be said to anyone about the mine. The first time you are found drunk will be your last. Remember that.”
Orodes understood. Only a fool would risk Trella’s displeasure. Besides, he drank only because he had nothing else. With an opportunity such as she offered, he would have no need to drink himself into a stupor.
Annok-sur returned, a soldier with the Hawk Clan emblem stitched on his tunic following her. The man wore a patch over his left eye.
Trella rose. “Welcome Tooraj. It is good to see you again.”
Orodes felt surprise. The queen of Akkad had risen to her feet to greet a common soldier. Or not so common, he realized. Members of the Hawk Clan were few in number.
The soldier bowed, much lower than Orodes’s simple incline of the head. “My thanks to you and King Eskkar.”
“This is the young man I spoke of. His name is Orodes, and I place him in your care.”
That sounded reasonable enough, but the cold stare that Tooraj’s one eye fixed on Orodes made him realize that the soldier not only knew of Orodes’s past indiscretions, but didn’t intend to tolerate any more of them.
She said to Orodes. “Tooraj will be in charge of the expedition to examine the mine. Please obey all his instructions.” She turned to the soldier. “Are you ready to depart?”
“Yes, Lady Trella. My men and I are waiting.”
“Good. Annok-sur will accompany you both to the docks. If there is anything you need to take with you, Orodes, let her know.”
With a shock, Orodes realized that they meant leave now, this moment. Realizing he had been dismissed, Orodes pushed himself to his feet, to find Lady Trella again smiling at him.
“Good luck, Orodes. I hope we can talk again soon, when you’re ready to tell me what you’ve found.”
Her smile, as much as her hopeful words, caught him by surprise. In that moment, he realized how beautiful she was, and how much he wanted to please her. The strange sensation stayed with him all the way to the docks.
10
That evening, Eskkar’s most senior commanders joined him for dinner at the Compound. The gathering included Gatus, Bantor, Hathor the Egyptian, and Yavtar. No other guests attended. During the meal, the soldiers took their lead from their host. No one spoke about the coming war. That topic remained far too important to discuss in front of the servants and guards.
The setting sun hadn’t yet touched the horizon, but the heat of the day was fading when Eskkar and his guests left the supper table in the courtyard. Eskkar led the way to the tiny garden at the rear of the house, a private place usually reserved for his and Trella’s use.
The five men settled comfortably on their seats, relaxing after a long day and still pleasantly full of food after the bountiful meal Lady Trella’s cooks had served. A servant brought a pitcher of ale, in case anyone wanted something stronger than water, and set it on the table before leaving Akkad’s leaders alone. A pitcher of fresh well water and cups rested in the center of the table.
The evening air would be pleasant and far more relaxing than Eskkar’s workroom. The inner walls of the courtyard, whitewashed to a cool white, formed two sides of a square. The house itself, rising up to the second story, provided a third side. The fourth side opened up into the rearmost part of the main courtyard.
A well nearby provided fresh water for the Compound, and Eskkar had washed the dust from his body many times in the last two, no, now nearly three years that he lived there. Four wooden flower boxes extended along the base of the walls. The first of summer’s tulips provided tiny cups of purple, red and yellow scattered among the white lilies and the flax plant’s blue flowers. A bench stood against the side of the house, and two young trees gave just enough shade to cover the small table centered beneath them.
Eskkar enjoyed the semi-private enclosure. The servants respected their master’s special place, and ventured into the rear of the house only for urgent matters. He and Trella had made love here more than once, and they both enjoyed the peaceful surroundings. The trees had grown higher since he first took possession of the house. The assassin who had tried to kill Trella had been tied between those two trees and tortured until he revealed the name of the young noble who hired him. The noble’s head now lay buried deep in the earth between those same trees.
For this meeting, Trella had arranged for extra chairs to be carried in. Of course, Eskkar wanted Trella there. After nearly three years at his side helping to rule Akkad, everyone sought her advice and counsel. He’d once asked her if she wished to be a member of the Hawk Clan. She had, after all, struck a blow against Korthac.
“A woman in the Hawk Clan?” She laughed, a happy sound that turned her into a young girl once again. “I’m flattered at the thought, but I think you should keep the Hawk Clan reserved for men.”
A few moments later, Trella and Annok-sur joined the gathering. Trella’s friend and confidante also had an important role to play in any coming conflict. The fact that she was a woman and Bantor’s wife made no difference. At this table, everyone would speak as equals.
Before she took her place, Annok-sur spoke to the guards and made sure the sentries remained far enough away so that they couldn’t overhear what would be said. Trella and Annok-sur sat on either side of Eskkar, facing the four men across the table.
“Yesterday you men attended the meeting with the nobles,” Eskkar began without any preamble. “You heard their decision. Now it is time for us to talk about how the coming war will be fought. We need to decide what tactics we will use, how we will carry the war south, and what defenses Akkad will need. In the next few months, we’ll face many choices and make many decisions. The more we can plan for the future, the easier those decisions will be.”
He looked at each of them in turn. Gatus, almost twice as old as the others, had fought Akkad’s battles all his life, and he knew more about training men than anyone. Bantor had served in Akkad’s guard most of his life, and he’d proven both his leadership and fighting skills in the battle with Korthac. Hathor, while new to Akkad, had fought for almost twenty years across the length and breadth of Egypt. Yavtar had traded and sailed the Tigris all his life, and joined the fight when the Akkadians overthrew Korthac and reclaimed their city.
They had shared common dangers and fought together, in some cases side by side. All were Hawk Clan members, and each had sworn the oath to stand by his brothers. They all knew not only how to fight, but how to lead men in battle. Just as important, Eskkar valued their ideas, and knew that none of these four would hesitate to offer his honest opinion.
“So tonight the seven of us,” Eskkar went on, “are going to start assembling an army for Akkad. And this army that we’re going to build will be like no other anyone has ever seen.”
Yavtar’s eyes widened in surprise. “Why am I here? I know little about such things.”
“Because, Yavtar,” Eskkar said, “this new army is going to need vast quantities of food and weapons. You know every bend on the Tigris and Euphrates for that matter, as well as every tributary and stream between them.
