Gender: Male

  Biological Age: 21

  Intelligence: 50, Stamina: 50, Strength: 70, Constitution: 80, Dexterity 60, Charisma: 11

  Points: 1225

  Element - Flux rate per second -Self

  Earth -145 million; Water -63 million; Air -82 million; Fire -85 million; Ether -185 million

  Element - Flux rate per second -Ziggurat

  Earth -7 million; Water -8 million; Air –10 million; Fire –12 million; Ether –20 million

  Aristotle's "Rhetoric" Emotions

  Emotions -Flux rate per second.

  Anger -9 million; Calmness- 55,500; Friendship -6000, Fear-1 million; Courage -2550; Shame -50, Confidence-4500; Kindness -45250; Cruelty -1 million; Pity -80; Envy -150,000; Love -1234

  Now there was a split between the power in the ziggurat and his own body. Ahava noticed that there had been some existing power in the ziggurat before he had started to flow his power into it.

  Turning to Etel-Pisha he said, “I have been able to gain access to the power sources in the ziggurat, I think it was because I defeated the previous owner of the ziggurat in battle. There is now a lot of flux energy in the ziggurat. The question I have, is how do you gain access to it?”

  Etel-Pisha said in a wondering voice, “I need to go back to the tablet that I have been studying and see if what says. I didn’t think we would have access to a ziggurat so quickly.”

  Ahava said to Etel-Pisha, “Before leaving, I want to set some protection around the ziggurat.”

  Ahava them reached into his emotional flux for fear and imagined flowing fear flux energy into the base level of the ziggurat, producing a barrier that would not be able to be crossed, instead causing feelings of desperation and fear. This was similar to the effect of the previous ziggurat he had first found.

  Ahava said to Etel-Pisha, “We need to make a trip to a second ziggurat that I have discovered and see if we can repeat the process.”

  Etel-Pisha, looked excitedly, “The texts indicate that the more powerful gods had access to multiple ziggurats.”

  Using his ether, fire and air elemental powers, he again produced an intense flame. Time again started to slow down, and he again poured ether elemental power into the flame. Ahava then imagined himself bridging the gap between his location to the ziggurat he had first entered. Suddenly there was a connection between his location, in the ziggurat to just beside the first ziggurat. Ahava and Etel-Pisha walked through the bridge in space and were standing beside the first ziggurat that Ahava had found the text that Etel-Pisha was reading. From on top of the ziggurat, the city seemed to be empty. Ahava repeated the same process of extending his power into the element sources of the ziggurat and found the same plain energy that seemed to connect to the original in the previous ziggurat. The energy plane seemed to grow in capacity and increase the detail of its environment. From Ahava’s prospective it seemed more like an alternative dimension to this world. Again, Ahava protected the ziggurat with a barrier of fear.

  Once they had finished, Etel-Pisha and Ahava left to return to the house. Etel-Pisha immediately got back to excitedly studying the tablets, to look for ways use the power Ahava had put into the ziggurat.

  After spending some time in discussion, Ahava left Etel-Pisha to his studying, and went to find Ningal. She was in the back garden of the house that they often used for practicing combat or testing magic. Asterion the massive minotaur, was squaring off to fight the small, in comparison, red headed woman.

  Nasha who was watching on, turned to Ahava as he walked up, “They had a slight disagreement about who was your body guard, and both agreed to settle it with a match. This should be fun to watch. Do you want to put some money down on one of them, as a wager?”

  Ahava shook his head, “No, I'm just worried one of them will get hurt.”

  Nasha smiled at his friend and slyly said, “Which one?”

  Ahava grimaced back, “I really don’t know, Asterion is almost twice as large but she is a dragon. I wonder if being in a human form makes her weaker.”

  Nasha smiled in anticipation of the fight, and said, “Well, I guess we’ll see soon.”

  The fight started with a crash as the two combatants hit each other with their bodies, both seemed not to give way in the slightest. Ahava found it strange to see should a large beast being held back by a small human, but both seemed to be equally matched. Suddenly Ningal moved to the side allowing the large minotaur to fall forward. Asterion managed to turn his stagger into a swivel turn and he struck out with his leg to try and sweep Ningal off her feet. She jumped, and while she was in the air, managed to strike down with her foot, hitting Asterion’s large leg. He grimaced with the pain and moved back, which gave Ningal an opportunity to strike out with her fist, hitting Asterion in the solar plexus. The minotaur now screamed in agony, but even with the pain he managed to headbutt Ningal with the ridge of his horned head, hitting her forehead directly. This knocked her back a few feet as she put her hand up to her head to ease the pain. The minotaur kept coming, trying to skewer Ningal with a horn, which she managed to dodge. Then with both hands she grabbed a horn and turned the minotaur pushing his face into the dirt ground, promptly kicking him in the head. Asterion was dazed as he got up to rush at the now waiting dragon, but suddenly he hit a force barrier.

  Ahava shouted to get their attention, “That’s enough. I’m calling it here before somebody gets really hurt or killed by ‘accident’.”

  The force barrier did not drop between the two combatants until they acknowledged they would stop the fighting.

  Ahava chastened the two, “So, did that sort out the problem?”

  Asterion said in his loud bellowing voice, “I was just testing her to see if she could adequately protect you, and it seems to be the case.”

  Ningal said indigent, “I was testing you! You over-sized oaf! Though you did better than I expected.”

  Ahava said, “It seems that you can now sort out between yourselves what happens with being my bodyguard… not that I need or want one. Ningal, I need to take you shopping to replace some of your hoard, before you start taking things for yourself.”

  Ningal smiled and said with a happy voice, “Sounds good to me, as all you adventurers took all of what I’ve been collecting over the years.”

  Ahava felt a bit guilty at this. “I’ll give you my share of the treasure, so at least you have some of it back, but I want to you to stop taking anything you want, so if you need anything just let me know and we can buy it for you.”

  Ningal said curiously, “Why don’t we just take anything we want? All of us are certainly powerful enough to do that.”

  Ahava sighed in an exasperated voice, “Let's just say that it is easier this way and will keep the peace and make it easier for use to live in the city.”

  Ningal and Asterion looked slightly confused by the concept of the powerful not just doing what they wanted, but did not say anything.

  Ningal decided she wanted to change quickly before going out shopping, which was why Ahava found himself sitting on a stone wall for about half an hour, passing his time by drawing in the dirt, with a stick in front of him. The detailed sketch in front of him was nearly complete before the elegantly dressed dragon woman came to collect him for shopping. Ningal was dressed in fine cloth that he had not seen in the city, the style of the dress remined him a goddess’s statue he had seen in some of the ziggurats. She was wearing expressive gold and silver jewelry, from Ahava’s share of her horde. Looking down at his own clothes he looked quite shabby in comparison with her beauty and elegance. Ningal was humming a pleasant tune as Ahava followed her from his house into the craft sector.

  Ahava thought that the large minotaur had gained attention on the city streets, but the presence of the elegantly dressed woman brought a lot of staring admirers. Ningal did not comment about it, and instead idly chatted to Ahava as they walked together along the clay brick roads. Ahava did notice that despite her apparent uncaring façade, her eyes kept scanning the surrounding areas for any threats or unexpected movements. Through the bond between them he felt a certain alertness that her easy-going outward demeanor did not display. After some help from a passerby, the two found the jewelry and craft area of the city. Several streets were set-up with jewelry workshops in the bottom floor, with a small section in the front of the work shop for the display of the wares the shop produced. Many times, there was a younger woman displaying the jewelry to passersby.

  As Ningal and Ahava, walked up and down the streets, Ahava experienced the wonder of watching a woman pick up every piece of jewelry she saw and watched her examine it in detail and sometimes frown as she put it down. After walking all around the district of jewelers, Ahava found himself revisiting the shops again where Ningal commissioned special pieces she wanted. Ahava found that he was handing over gold and silver to a lot of happy smiling jewelers.

  Ningal smiled happily linking her arm in Ahava and said, “I’d never known that buying items could be so much fun. Much better than just taking it from those peasants in that town. All I need now is some more clothes, to go with the jewelry.”

  Ahava groaned inwardly but smiled to the happy woman on his arm. Some of the men passing the two frowned in jealousy, as Ahava saw the expressions, he thought “They should consider themselves lucky not to be in my position. I’m not sure which version of her is more dangerous frankly.”

  Walking between the jewelry and the clothing district of the city, they found themselves passing through a deserted alleyway, winding through some rundown housing.

  Ningal leaned over and whispered in his ear and said, “We’re being followed by a group of people that seemed to be heavy armed, don’t look around and alert them.”

  Ahava whispered back in a quiet voice, “What are we going to do about it?”

  Ningal smiled and said, “We are not going to do anything. I'm going back to kill them.”

  Ahava frowned, “Will you be able to stop them by yourself?”

  Ningal looked at him as if he were crazy, “They’re just humans, it’ll be no problem.”

  Before she could leave Ahava said, “Try not to kill them if you can manage it.”

  This got another look of exasperation before the beautiful well-dressed lady disappeared in a dash. Ahava followed close behind to check up on what was about to happen. He soon came in view of five large men starting to approach the red-haired woman. All of the men had weapons drawn, ready to use them, some were laughing as their opponent approached. One of the men tried to grab Ningal by her arm, as she let him grab her, she pulled him close in and got him with a foot to the groin. Ahava could tell that the kick had been boosted in strength. This knocked the man backwards falling to the ground in agony. The next man, now angry with Ningal, attacked by lifting up a two headed copper axe to try cut her in half. Ningal sidestepped the swing and grabbed his hand breaking his grip on the axe. She then grabbed the weapon and used it to cleanly chop his head off with a side swing. The last three men charged as one at the her, but working quickly she threw the axe in the face of the first attacker with a casual flick of her wrist. This put him on the ground screaming for a brief second before going silent. The next two she attacked by dropping low and sweeping her leg, knocking the two to the ground. Ahava thought, from the sound he had heard that she had broken their legs. As Ningal stood up, there were now two dead, and one wishing he was dead, and the other two on the ground screaming.

  Ahava said to Ningal, “Could you please bring the most coherent so I can question him?”

  Ningal roughly picked up one of the men with a broken leg and dragged him screaming over to Ahava. Looking at the man Ahava used the fear emotional power to completely over whelm his will, and then asked the question, “Who sent you to attack us?”

  With a deep fear in his face, he contorted, trying to escape. Finding there was no way to remove himself from Ningal’s grasp, he shouted the name, “Enmerkar the court magician!”

  Ahava said in a quiet voice, to Ningal, “I thought so. He finally made his first move. Maybe we should put off the rest of the shopping trip for today.” Ahava said the last sentence with a look of pleading.

  Ningal gave him a wry smile, “Why, I was just starting to enjoy my day. Anyway, I’ll still need some more clothes, I think I might have damaged this one.”

  Ahava looked at the undamaged elegant gown, which was a miracle in itself with all the fighting Ningal had just done. He sighed, “I guess I can withstand a little more shopping, please lead the way.” He said presenting her his arm for her to hold.

  Ningal took his arm and smiled pulling him toward the clothing district. The next few hours of shopping were torture to Ahava, who found himself wishing the assassins sent were better at their job. Ningal seem to be in her element, and repeatedly visited shop after shop to compare clothes she liked.

  When the two arrived back to Ahava house, Nasha was in the court yard drinking. He took one look at Ahava’s defeated look and said, “What happened to the two of you? Were you attacked?”

  Ahava said, “Well, it was the shopping that killed me off. We were attacked, but that was probably the best part of the day.”

  Ningal smiled and said, “I did enjoy that bit too, but shopping is fun, can we do it again tomorrow?”

  Ahava walked off thinking about how much money he had spent today.

  Chapter 6 Rescue

  The next day around mid-day, Ahava received a message from the king’s court that his presence was required.

  Before he could go, Ahava heard Thoth say to him, “You’ve made some progress in the last few days but now is going to one of the greatest tests so far. Remember, there is not always one way to skin a cat.”

  Ahava replied in his mind’s voice, “Thanks for the image of having to skin cats, but I get the point. Are you always planning to be so cryptic? A straight warning once in a while might help?” There was no reply and with that short exchange the conversation finished.

  Ahava had a greater foreboding about his up and coming meeting. Walking around the house he found both Ningal and Asterion, sizing each other up for a contest of strength. This time they were, seeing how much each other could lift. As Ahava approached them Asterion was just lifting a man size boulder above his head, with Ningal watching him with a small smile, as if she was just about to surprise him.

  Ahava said in a serious tone, “Sorry to disturb your ongoing contests for who is the best, but I’ve just received an invitation to the palace. I’m sure that there will be some danger involved. If you two want to act as bodyguards, I think its best if you are fully armored and equipped with the best weapons we have. I’ll be doing the same.” Noticing Ningal’s sour look, he stopped further comment with “The armor is as much for their protection as it is for yours. If we look tough, we might forestall any fighting.”

  With that, he turned away and found his axe and armor with force field protecting him, which he modified by adding more power to the fields protecting him on both his armor and clothes. Shortly afterwards, Ningal appeared in a full set of steel armor that Ahava had shaped into dragon scales that fitted her form as if it had been crafted for her. At her side was a thin sword that was razor sharp and close to impossible to break. She had a helmet that was in the shape of the top of a dragon's head. Ahava had invested power into the equipment the previous day, when he had made the armor under her instruction. The two walked out of house and were met by a large bull shape man, who was doing an impression of an armored tank, with a large spear. Asterion bellowed in greeting at the two and fell in behind as they started walking towards the palace. As usual the three armored fighters drew attentions from everybody as they walked down the street. One look at the large minotaur and everybody quickly walked to the other side of the street. Once they were at the wall of the palace compound, Ahava had to show his court amulet to get past the palace guard, who were looking at all of them with deep suspicion. As they passed all the guards and guardians, Ahava and his two companions finally entered the king’s court.

  As before the king was sitting on his throne with Enmerkar the chief court magician standing just beside him, all the courtiers were in groups talking about the court business. They all seemed to be in the process of discussing some important matter to do with the city. Most of the advisors were showing signs of irritation as they talked with little civility back and forth. Enmerkar seemed to be pleased by the contention going on in the court, as Ahava thought he could see a slight smile playing on his lips. As Enmerkar noticed the three enter the room, he seemed to smile, as if he was about to win a victory, but when he noticed all the armor and weapons his expression turned slightly uneasy.

  Ahava walked to General Akiya’s side, and whispered to the old military man, “General Akiya, sir, do you know the reason why I have been summoned to court?”

  Akiya said, in a quiet voice, “Enmerkar’s doing, he wants to send you on a mission to the Cedar Forest, the domain of the elves, to try and broker a peace with their nations leader Humbaba. It more of a suicide mission in my opinion.”

  Enmerkar now spoke up from the king's side as the previous business had been completed and addressed the court in an imperious manner and said, “We now need to discuss the envoy to the King Humbaba court of the elven nation. As we have discussed this is an urgent mission as there have recently been problems across our border with the elves, and they are at war with some of the other human cities. We have with us the officer of the court, Ahava, who so distinguished himself recently in the trail of the gods.”

  The whole room muttered, some talking about what had happened and most of them looked at Asterion as evidence of the feat.

  Enmerkar continued to speak in his imperious manner, but directed his speaking to Ahava, “As an officer of the court you are required, by the king's command, to travel to the elven court of king Humbaba and ascertain his willingness for continued peace with our city. Peace must be obtained at all cost. This is your charge what have you to say?”

 

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