Servant of the Bones

"The Priests were thoroughly confused. Were they to defend the honor of their Marduk, who wasn't even supposed to be there?

" 'Look, my boy,' said Cyrus, 'become the god. Walk in the procession. You will be delicately covered in gold, though the old formula seems somehow to be ... missing?' He cast a glance at the High Priest. 'You will be alive beneath the covering. You must live long enough to hold my hand, and to raise your other hand to your subjects. And you will live the three days it will take to fight off the forces of chaos, and then return here with me to the Courtyard of Esagila, where I shall be proclaimed King by you. We shall do it faster if we can think of some way to make that acceptable.'

" 'Alive, covered with gold.' I was amazed. 'And then?' "Asenath spoke up. 'By then the gold will have hardened and you will be dead. You will see and hear for a while, but you will die inside, and when they see that your eyes are rotting, they will take out your eyes and replace them with jeweled eyes, and the statue of Marduk will be your shroud.'

"My rather put his face in his hands and then looked up. 'I never saw it done in the old way,' he said quietly. 'But my father's father saw it once, or so he said. And the poison in the gold is what will kill you. You'll die slowly as the gold penetrates, as it reaches your heart and lungs, and then ... as they say, you will at last be at peace.'

" 'This,' said Asenath, 'after you have been carried the full length of the Processional Way, gold and gleaming, raising your hand, even turning your head ever so slightly as the thick coating gets harder and harder.'

" 'And for this!' said Enoch. 'We will return to Jerusalem, all of us, including those in prison, and we will have the means to build the

Lord God's Temple again according to the measurement of King Solomon.'

" 'I see,' I said. 'So in the old days, it was a real man! And when the statue finally crumbles . . .'

" 'You blaspheme!' said the High Priest. 'Those are the bones of Marduk.'

"This was too much for Marduk. Invisible or not, he stood up, throwing over the chair, and with a great thrust of his left hand sent the bones swirling in all directions. They shattered and crumbled against the walls. Everyone cowered. Even I lowered my head. Cyrus did not but stared with wild, childlike eyes, and old Nabonidus put his head down on his arm as if he would go to sleep. The prophet Enoch sneered.

"Then Marduk turned to me. He looked hard at me and then at Asenath. 'I know your wiles, old woman. But tell him everything! Tell him the full truth of it all. You know the dead. What do they say to you when you call them up? Azriel, do what you want to do for your people and your tribe. I will be here afterwards as I am now, and whether you can see me then and give me strength, and whether I can see you and give you strength, no one knows. Whether I can talk to you, no one can say. Your soul will be tested by this grand procession, this fight with chaos, this courtyard coronation, this torment! But this torment will not necessarily give you spiritual life. And you may fade in the mist with all the other weary and wandering dead. The dead of the whole world, regardless of gods or angels or demons or Yahweh. Do what you will as an honorable man, Azriel. For after it is done, I don't know that even I, strong as I am, will be able to find you or help you.'

"Asenath was overcome with excitement. 'I would worship you, Marduk, were you not an evil, worthless god. You're clever.'

" 'What does the god say!' demanded Cyrus.

"Enoch looked at Asenath. 'We must tell him now what will happen to him, that is all. Azriel, you resemble the statue of Marduk. Encased with gold, you will fool all of your friends. No one will know that you are not a god, you will seem a man of living gold, and you will feel numbness and some pain, yes, the slow pain as life ebbs, but it's not terrible. Even as you walk the Processional Way, all your people will be preparing to go out of Babylon!'

" 'Well, it's simple enough,' I said. 'Let the entire Hebrew population leave now, and I'll do it.' I felt :I tightening in my throat. I knew that this was youthful stupidity and that soon horror would come on me that was damn near unbearable.

" 'Cannot be done, my son,' said Cyrus. 'We need your people and we need your prophets. We need them proclaiming Cyrus the Persian is the anointed of your god. We need all the city to roar in one voice, and I will not deceive you, I don't believe in your god, Marduk, and I don't believe that you will become a god if you do this.'

" 'Tell him all of it!' said Marduk.

" 'Not now, and that part doesn't matter,' said Asenath. 'He may say no to that, you know as well as I do.'

" 'Azriel,' Marduk said turning to me and embracing me. 'I love you. I will be with you in the procession. They are speaking the truth. They will let your people go. I can stand this mortal company no longer. Asenath, be kind to the dead whom you call so often for they are desperate to be near to life, you know. Desperate.'

" 'I know, god of the heathens,' she said. 'Will you come to me now and talk to me!'

" 'Never,' screamed the High Priest. Then he quieted down. He looked at two other priests, men I scarcely remember. It was Remath, the sly one, who spoke up. 'She is the only one who knows how to mix the gold, remember.'

"I laughed. I couldn't stop myself. I laughed.

" 'Ah, I see,' said Cyrus. 'So you turn to the Canaanite sorceress because your own wise men no longer know the secret.'

"My laughter-unshared-finally left me in peace.

"It took great courage for me to turn to my father. He sat as one broken and finished, his eyes wet and his face still. You might have thought I was already buried.

" 'You must come too, Father, you and all my brothers.' " 'Oh, Azriel-'

" 'No, that's the last thing I ask of you, Father. Come. When we are led down the Processional Way let me see your upturned face and the faces of my family. That is, of course, if you believe in these men and you believe in this proclamation.'

" 'Money has already changed hands,' said Cyrus. 'Messengers are already on the way to Jerusalem. Your family will be great among the tribe, and you will be remembered for your sacrifice.'

" 'Like hell, great King,' I said. 'Hebrews don't remember those who pretend to be Babylonian gods. But I'll do it. I'll do it because my father wants me to do it ... and I ... and I forgive him.'

"My father looked at me. His eyes said it all, his love, his broken heart. Then he looked at Enoch and Asenath and the Elders of our tribe, who had sat silent all this while, and then he said in the simplest words, 'I love you, my son.'

" 'Father, I want you to know this,' I said. 'There is another reason why I do this ... I do it for you, for our people, for Jerusalem, and because I have talked with a god himself. But I do it for one more reason, and that is simple. I wouldn't have anyone else suffer this. I wouldn't wish it on another.'