Anne Rice - Servant of the Bones

“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 a 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.’

“Surely there was vanity in my words, but no one seemed to think so. Or if they did they forgave it. The Elders rose, they had their Proclamation in their hands. All were satisfied. It was done. Cyrus the Persian was the Messiah.

“ ‘Tomorrow morning, the trumpets sound,’ said the High Priest. ‘It will be announced that Marduk has brought Cyrus to liberate us from Nabonidus! The Processional Way is already being prepared. By the time the sun is high everyone will be in the street. The boat waits in the river to take us to the garden house where you will slay the dragon Tiamat, and that, by the way, will be nothing to you. We will return the following day, with you. We will hold you, and do all we can to ease your pain.’

“ ‘On the third morning, in the Courtyard, you must have life enough in you to rise and to put the crown on the head of Cyrus. That is all. After that, you may stand, held straight by the gold that kills you, warmed by it, numbed by it, and you may die in it. All the rest, the reading of the poems, the Destinies, all you need do is keep your eyes fixed and open.’

“ ‘And if I don’t make the three days?’

“ ‘You will. The others always did. It is after that we may have to ease your death with a little more of the gold perhaps, in your mouth. But it will be painless.’

“ ‘I’m sure,’ I said. ‘Do you know how I despise you?’

“ ‘I do not care,’ said the High Priest. ‘You’re a Hebrew. You never loved me. You never loved our god.’

“ ‘Oh, but he does!’ said Asenath, ‘that is the pity! But don’t fear, Azriel, your sacrifice is so great for Israel that the Lord God of Hosts will forgive you, and your flame will be joined in death with the great fire that He is.’

“ ‘I vow it,’ said Enoch.

“I laughed contemptuously. I looked up, meaning only to look away in disdain, but I could see now that the room was thick with spirits. Like smoke they hovered all around, ghosts. I didn’t know what they were or had been, their clothes were gone to such simplicity. Nothing remained except a tunic here or a robe there, sometimes there was not even a real form, only a face looking at me.

“ ‘What is it, son?’ asked Cyrus kindly.

“ ‘Nothing. Only I see the lost souls and I hope that I do find rest in the fire of my god. But…it’s foolish to even think of it.’

“ ‘Leave us now, all of you, leave the boy with us,’ said Remath. ‘We must groom him and dress him to be the finest Marduk who has ever been carried down the Processional Way, and you, old woman, will keep your promise, and tell us how to mix the gold and how to put the gold on him, on his skin, his hair, his clothes.’

“ ‘Go on, Father,’ I said. ‘But do let me see you tomorrow. Know that I love you. Know that I forgive you. Make of us a powerful house, Father, make of us a powerful nation.’ I bent over and kissed him hard on the mouth and on both cheeks and then I looked to King Cyrus.

“After all, he had not dismissed me. But my father left, and the Priests took out old Nabonidus, who had in fact fallen asleep, and the miserable mumbling Belshazzar, who was drunk and confused and seemed ready at any moment to be murdered. I didn’t care what happened to either of them. I listened to my father’s steps until I couldn’t hear them anymore.

“Enoch went out with the Elders, making some big fine speech then, of which I don’t remember a single word, except that it sounded like a bad imitation of Samuel.

“Cyrus stared at me. His eyes spoke, they spoke respect, they spoke forgiveness for my rudeness, my lack of servility, my lack of courtesy.

“ ‘There are worse ways to die!’ said the High Priest. ‘You will be surrounded by those who worship you; as your vision dims you will see rose petals fall before you, you will see a king kneel at your feet.’

“ ‘We need to take him now,’ said Remath.

“Cyrus beckoned for me to come to him. I stood up, went round the table and bent down to receive his embrace, and he rose with me, embracing me man to man. ‘Hold my hand for those three days, my son, hold steady, and I promise you, Israel will live under me forever in peace, as long as there is Cyrus and Persia, and Yahweh will have his temple. You are braver than I am, son, and I consider myself the bravest man in the world, you know. But you are braver. Now go, and tomorrow we will begin our journey together. You have my love, you have my unbounded love, the love of a King who was a King before he came to you and will be a greater King because of you.’