Ur
With a last look at the red light playing off the cavern walls, Kadim stepped past the torches and into the tunnel. Ander was right behind him.
Kadim’s eyes were open, but they may as well have been closed. The rest of the mine was dark, often with no more than a distant pinpoint of fire to offset an otherwise continuous sheet of black, but this was another world.
He blinked rapidly. Pure dark, like pure light, was shocking to the eyes. It seemed almost to itch, as though the darkness were pinching him somehow. The feeling quickly passed, but for those few moments, Kadim couldn’t hear or taste or smell. He just missed light. All light.
The tunnel itself was narrow, barely wide enough for two men to walk abreast. In years past, Kadim had repeatedly run into the walls. No longer. He knew there were a total of twenty-two paces between the main chamber, behind him, and the first turn. And when he reached that turn, he knew to step on his left foot. Counting steps and putting the same foot on the same spot every time - that’s how he did it. That’s how they all did it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d hit a wall.
They came around the last bend in the passage and Kadim saw a half-circle of open sky. Usually he was blinded by it. Not this time. The sun was down and it was a dark night. There were even a few stars.
He was nearing the end of the passage when a guard stepped out of the shadows, motioning him forward. Kadim lifted his basket off his shoulder. The guard at the mouth always looked in the baskets. Kadim didn’t know why. He didn’t even know if there was a reason.
Kadim set his basket at the guard’s feet and stepped aside. As he did, Ander strode forward.
The guard was surprised. His hand jerked to the handle of his whip. “Why were you following him so close?” he asked.
Ander looked confused. “Close?”
The guard glared at him suspiciously, then began his examination of Kadim’s basket. “What have you got?” he asked. Normally, these checks were minor. The guard looked to see that the basket was full and sent them on. Not this time. He dug both hands into Kadim’s basket. Rocks spilled out and skittered across the floor. Kadim sighed. He knew he’d have to pick up every pebble.
Both of the guard’s hands were buried to the wrist when suddenly, Ander dropped his basket. The guard turned just in time to see a tiny hammer whistling toward him, landing against the side of his head with a loud thump. Ander struck again and again. The sound was sickeningly dull. In a matter of seconds, both Ander’s hand and the guard’s face were bloody. Finally, the guard collapsed.
Not yet satisfied, Ander reared back and struck him one last time. It must have been quite a blow, because his hammer shattered, the handle splintering and the head spinning away. The guard was dead.
Ander mumbled something, but Kadim didn’t recognize the words. He thought it was because Ander was out of breath. But no. The real reason was that Ander was speaking in the common tongue of the Shinar, a language Kadim hadn’t heard, at least not in full voice, in years.
“It’s over,” Ander said again. “We’re free.”
“Escape is death,” Kadim replied without thinking.
“You can go home.”
“To Akshur?”
Ander nodded.
“Home,” Kadim croaked. It was the first word of his native tongue that he’d openly spoken since… He wasn’t sure how long it had been. He licked his lips, noticing for the first time in hours how dry his mouth was. “Let’s go.”
They stumbled out of the mine. At the bottom of the ramp, beyond the field, Dagonor huddled in its narrow valley. A few twists of smoke rose from the corner of the temple. Nothing else moved. The slaves were already locked in their barracks - a single guard sitting in front of the door. Even the Niphilim were bedded down for the night.
Ander grabbed Kadim's arm, dragging him over the edge of the ramp and into forbidden ground. They hid behind a boulder, not five strides from the mouth of the mine. It was all so easy.
"Run east ‘til you reach the Tiger River,” Ander said. “Follow it south… Sooner or later you’ll recognize where you are.”
"Where are you going?"
"I’ll go due south. Once I reach the plains I’ll turn east." Ander clasped Kadim's hand in his. "Maybe we’ll meet again at the river. Or in Akshur." And then, without another word, he was up and loping down the side of the mountain.
Kadim watched as Ander bounded over rocks and brush, fast as his feet could carry him. He should get going too, he knew. So, turning his back to the camp, barracks, temple and forge, Kadim ran. A full moon, unusually bright, was just rising over the eastern hills. The night wouldn’t be dark for much longer.
From Slaves of the Shinar
The Overlook Press 2007
© Justin Allen
