Chapter eleven
We were soon gliding down the river in the long thin boat, the boat owner was standing in the stern and using a long pole to propel us forward.
Surprisingly it was quite romantic, the sun was setting and the river was calm, the water rippled like it was made of a thick syrup.
I looked at the walls of the city as we journeyed closer, they looked odd for some reason.
"Look at the lights, they don't flicker and they're so bright," Peter said.
I saw what he meant, the walls looked like they were lit up by modern spotlights, I also was able to see the tops of high buildings poking up behind the walls. They had bright squares of lights were the windows would have been.
"Magic... pretty brazen too," I said.
"Are there rules about using magic in front of the... proletariat?"
"No, just common sense, every era has their version of the NSA."
We sat in silence as we came closer and closer to the city, it was only about fifteen minutes later before we were climbing out of the boat and onto a stone pier. I paid the boat pilot and thanked him.
I looked around the large harbor and saw every manner of large luxurious yachts, some of them had no masts or ore locks, there was one that had a covered bow and a rakish almost modern look to it.
"Hmm... looks like a cigarette boat," Peter said as he noticed me staring.
"Yes... more magic... just floating there."
We started walking towards the city's large gates, I did not see any guards just two enormous statues, they were of a creature with the body of a bull and the head of a man, the heads had long beards.
We came within twenty feet of the statues when they jumped to life, their eyes glowed red, slowly flickering as if on fire.
"State your business," One of them asked, the other creature started slowly circling us, examining us closely, I saw that they both had folded wings on their backs.
"We are just farmers, we have come to purchase some goods," I said as I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
"Farmers huh... let me see your hands."
I motioned to Peter to turn his palms up, I did the same.
"Such soft hands, for a farmer," the creature said as he examined my palms.
The other creature was right behind us now, I had previously shrunk my bracelet into a small cheap looking bangle. I would have to lose precious seconds returning it to normal if I needed to use magic.
"Now these are a farmers hands," the creature said when he looked at Peter's palms.
I looked myself, I had never noticed it before but Peter's hands were a mass of callus's and scars, well he actually had grown up on a farm, I thought to myself.
"I guess your wife farms the bed sheets," both creatures started laughing uproariously while stomping their hooves.
"You may pass," one of them said.
I almost dragged Peter through the gates, I wanted to get as far away from these creatures as possible.
The first thing Peter and I saw when we entered the city, is what looked like the hanging gardens described in the seven wonders of the world. They were spectacular, they consisted of five enormous tiers of tree's, vines, and brilliantly colored flowers. They were lit up with powerful lights of different colors.
"Wow, isn't this the wrong city for that?" Peter said.
"Probably where the Babylonian's stole the idea from."
I looked around the city, I saw many large buildings, they seemed to be much too tall for stone buildings. Everywhere there was light, from the windows of the building's, from floating globes that lined the streets and from the open doors of the many business's.
"This is like Las Vegas," Peter said.
A flying carpet whizzed by us, there were two women and a man sitting on it, the women were scantily clad in translucent dresses.
"The thing to do is have chat with the locals," I said as I started leading Peter towards what looked like a pub.
We entered the pub through a brightly painted door and emerged into a bustling place, there was a band playing on a stage in front of which was a dance floor filled with gyrating women.
Peter and I pushed our way through the crowd until we were in front of a long bar, it was crowded with men and women drinking cups of wine and beer.
"What do ya want," an overworked bartender yelled impatiently.
"Two cups of beer," I said as I threw him a small piece of copper.
"Good for four," he said as he slammed down a clay pitcher and two cups.
I filled up both cups with beer and passed one to Peter, he sipped it cautiously.
"Busy place... must be the weekend," Peter said.
I looked next to me and saw a young woman, she looked slightly inebriated, her eye makeup was smeared and she was a bit unsteady.
"Is there a festival going on," I said loudly so I could be heard over the din.
"Festival... no... just celebrating... our armies are preparing to conquer the world."
She said it so matter-of-factly it astonished me.
"How can you be so sure of their success?"
"Our king Ninus... he has married a god," she held her cup above her head and yelled, "Semiramis!"
I heard others in the room echo her.
"When do they start marching?"
She looked at me suspiciously, "you ask a lot of questions."
"Just making conversation," I smiled at her.
She smiled back at me.
"Tomorrow, they leave for Babylon."
I turned to Peter and told him what I had just learned.
"The Babylonian's will be slaughtered, she's a sorcerer," he said.
I sipped some beer then put the cup on the bar, I pushed the pitcher next to the woman I had spoken to and then touched her arm while pointing to the pitcher, she smiled and then promptly poured herself a drink.
Peter and I pushed our way back through the crowd and out the door, we were back on the street.
"I think Ninus ended up conquering all of Mesopotamia... all because of her," I said to Peter.
"So what happened after that?"
"Nothing good I think... I only studied a bit of history from this era, I think she kills Ninus when she's doesn't need him anymore."
"I'll bet it was Imhotep who stopped them after Mesopotamia... the reason Egypt wasn't conquered," Peter said.
"That would mean the two of them battled each other eventually... that would be very bad... especially when they both know how to make nuclear weapons."
Peter and I walked down the busy street for a few blocks, there were many small groups of drunken revelers.
I stopped in front of a large building, it was an Inn.
"We need a room for the night," I said to Peter.
There was a single room left, it was the largest in the inn made for wealthy travellers and it was on the top floor, the fourth.
"It's nice, Peter," said when we closed the door behind us.
"Yes... and no spies," I said as I rubbed Peter's arm, the walls were devoid of decorative ornaments with convenient peep holes.
Peter and I were woken up the next morning by the sound of a single voice yelling some sort of commands. I listened carefully after I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
"Riiiiight turn!"
"Atteeeeention!"
"Preseeeent arms!"
I got out of the bed and walked over to one of the rooms windows, I cautiously peeked out. I saw a large company of foot soldiers on the road below, they were dressed in brightly colored uniforms and carried long spears. The spears were being held stiffly in front of them.
I saw the person calling out the commands in front of the soldier's, he had a helmet decorated with a brightly colored tassel.
"Oooorder arms!"
The spears were smartly brought back against the soldiers right shoulders, the leader spun around and stopped, he was now facing away from his troops.
"Quiiick march!"
The soldiers moved
as if a single organism, each foot hitting the ground at the exact same time, I heard a rhythmic stomp stomp as they started marching.
"Snappy drill... not good," I heard Peter say beside me.
"Why?"
"Seen a few Air Force parades... like watching a flock of penguins walking around."
"So?"
"It's when I realized something, the better the drill the more repressive the government."
I thought for a moment, images of goose stepping soldiers suddenly popped into my mind.
"I think you're right... I never noticed that before."
Once the soldier's marched out of earshot, I heard other loud voices issuing commands, in the distance this time.
"They are forming up all the regiments in order to march to Babylon," I said.
"What are we going to do?" Peter asked.
"It's history... we can't stop them... I guess... we're just going to have to follow them in order to catch up with Semiramis."
I conjured up some modern toiletry and a shower, Peter and I started to go through our morning routine.
We had left the inn and were walking down the now empty street in front of the inn. I heard a whooshing sound from behind me and a large flying carpet slowed to a stop beside us. There were three young women sitting cross legged in the middle of it.
"Do you want a ride?" One of the young girls asked.
"Where to?"
"The battle silly," all three girls giggled.
"Won't it be a while before the soldiers reach Babylon?"
"Not when we have a god for a queen, she is going to use magic to transport them, the battle will be over before night fall."
I examined the magic carpet closely, it looked sound, I recognized the pattern of the weave from another carpet I had seen in the City of Magic, it must have been made with the same spell.
The carpet was controlled by touching different symbols in the weave.
"I think it's safe," I said to Peter as he helped me climb on board, Peter hopped on afterwards causing the carpet to flex slightly.
One of the girls touched a bright red flower near the front of the carpet and it started to smoothly accelerate as it gained altitude. We were soon flying at about a thousand feet high passing over the cities large walls.
I saw the two large beasts we had encountered the night before lazily walking around in front of the main gate.
I scanned the sky around us and saw dozens of other flying carpets all flying in the same direction.
The woman who was controlling our carpet increased its speed until the air made my hair whip and flutter like a flag in a strong wind. The other women were sharing an amphora of wine.
"It'll be a couple of hours till we get to Babylon... can you watch I don't fall off, I want to take a nap," I said to Peter.
He nodded then grabbed me around the waist and pulled me next to him. I fell asleep almost immediately.