" 'Ah no,' cried Asenath, 'God Marduk, you are wrong. There is but one path for him to escape and he should take it for it is better than life itself.'
"I realized she could see him, at least partially, and hear his words. "He turned to her. 'Let him be the judge. Death may be better than what you have in store for him.'
"Cyrus watched all this in amazement. Then he looked at the priests gathered all around, the High Priest of Marduk, and the wily Remath standing over by the pillar.
" 'I need the blessing of your god,' said Cyrus, 'you are right, you are more than right,' he said humbly, but also rather cleverly, since this was just what these priests wanted to hear.
" 'You see, Azriel,' said Cyrus, 'it's this simple. The priesthood is strong. The temple is strong. Your god, if he sits with us, and I must confess I am prepared to worship him, is strong. And they can turn the city of Babylon against me. All the rest of Babylonia, I hold, but this is the jewel, this is the Gate of Heaven.'
" 'But how could you hold all the rest!' I said. 'Our cities are safe and secure. We knew you were coming, but someone is always coming.'
" 'He's telling you the truth,' said Nabonidus, and when he spoke all eyes turned to him. He wasn't addled or stupid. Just very old and tired. 'The cities are taken, every one has collapsed into Cyrus's arms. The fire-signal towers have all fallen to him, and the signals being sent are sent by Cyrus's men, to lull Babylon, but the cities are fallen and the signals are false.'
" 'Look,' said Cyrus, 'I'll send back to those cities all the gods which have been sent here for refuge. I want your temples to thrive. Don't you see? I want to embrace you! I didn't lay waste Ephesus or Miletus! They are Greek cities still and their philosophers are arguing in the agora. I want Babylonia in my embrace, not her destruction.'
"He then turned sharply and stared at the 'empty' chair. 'But your god Marduk must take my hand,' he said, 'if I am to conquer this city without fire. And then I shall send home all the gods of Babylonia as
I promised.'
"Marduk, unseen by him, only listened to him and said nothing. But the High Priest lost his temper. 'There is no god in that chair!
Our god is neglected by our king and has gone into a deep sleep from which no one can wake him.'
" 'Look,' I said, 'why call me into this? What have I to do with it? You have right here in Esagila the statue of Marduk that you need for the procession. You ride with him on the great wagon, and you hold his hand, and he holds your hand and you are King of Babylon. If the priests will let you take the statue, what's it to do with me? Have you heard some rumor, Majesty, that I can control the god or turn him against you? You need a golden idol for your work! It's there, over there in the chapel.'
" 'No, my son,' said Cyrus, 'all that might have worked just fine if you had had a procession year after year with the god, and if the people had seen the golden idol, as you call him, and they had cheered him and your King Nabonidus, but those processions were not held, and the precious statue is not going to enter into any procession with me now, even if I wanted it to. What I need is the ceremony as it was done of old.'
"A chill passed through me. Marduk looked at me and said, 'I know little of what he is talking about, but all spirits see far, and I see horror for you. Don't speak. Just wait.'
"Meantime the priests were in a commotion. They had brought in on a bier a great heap of something, which was draped in linen and, now bringing it near to our table, with several torchbearers, they drew away the linen and we all gasped at what we saw.
"It was the processional statue and it was broken, and out of its rotted inside stuck bones which appeared to be those of a man, rotted, too, and half the skull showed where the thick gold-plated enamel had turned to dirt, and the whole mess lay a disgrace and an insult.
"The High Priest glowered at me. He folded his arms. 'Did you do this, Hebrew?' he asked. 'Did you cause Marduk to leave the statue! To leave this city? Was it you rather than our King here whom we have so accused?'
"I understood a great deal in a moment. I looked at my god who sat staring coldly at the heap of ruin.
" 'Are those your bones, my Lord?' I asked Marduk. " 'No,' he said, 'and I only vaguely remember when they were put there. The spirit of that young one was weak, and I vanquished it and continued my reign. Perhaps it invigorated me that I was to be replaced? I don't know, Azriel! Remember, those are the wisest words I have for you. I don't know. Now they mean to put you in my place, that much we both know.'
" 'What do you want, Lord?' I asked Marduk.
" 'For you not to be hurt, Azriel,' he said. 'But do you want to become what I am? Do you want your bones encased three hundred years in that! Undo it then crumbles and another young man must be lured for the sacrifice? But let me get to your point.' He leaned towards me.
" 'I forget how large your heart is, Azriel. You ask for my sake. I can tell you this, I can come and go as I wish. I banished the last replacement with a wave of my arm, and back into the fog he went. For a mortal man to be murdered in this fancy way does not necessarily make him either a god or a strong spirit.' He shrugged. 'Think of yourself and yourself only. What I am is ... is what you know.' Then the sadness of his face shocked me. 'I don't want you to die!' he whispered.
"The High Priest could stand this dialogue no longer. He couldn't see or hear Marduk. He was sputtering with fury. But Asenath was hearing it all and looking from me to the god with great curiosity, and Remath the sly one wouldn't give himself away, but he knew something sat in the empty chair. He knew it. He understood something of what it said also.
" 'You're speaking of a statue of gold,' my father spoke up. 'You can't make a statue of gold without my son?' he asked.
" 'The bones are the bones of the god!' declared the High Priest. 'This is why our city is as it is, why we need the Persian deliverer. The god is old, the bones are rotten, the statue will not stand, and there must be a new god.'
" 'But the statue in the High Sanctuary?' my father asked, which was a childish question.
" 'That can't be carried through the streets,' said the priests. 'That's a mere hunk of-'
" 'Metal!' said the prophet Enoch with a cruel smile.
" 'You are wasting time,' said Cyrus. 'The ceremony has to be done in the old way,' he said, looking at me. 'Explain to him, Priests, don't just stand there. Explain. And you, my brave Azriel, what does Marduk say to you?'
"It was old white-haired Asenath who spoke up, stamping the floor first with her serpent staff to let everybody know they had better shut up for her. 'The god says he will go or stay as he pleases, that the bones inside the statue do not matter to him, they are not his bones, that's what he says!' Then she looked directly at Marduk, 'Well, isn't that what you say, you miserable little god who trembles in the light of Yahweh!'