Between the Rivers by Harry Turtledove

Author:Harry Turtledove [Turtledove, Harry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, Alternate History
Published: 2011-01-08T06:00:00+00:00

49

circle. Tonight, let Engibil ward off and drive away Enimhursag and the things of Enimhursag from the land in this circle. Until the rising of the sun, let Engibil ward off and drive away Enimhursag and the things of Enimhursag from the land in this circle."

On he went, slowly, ceremoniously: "Before we, the men who follow Engibil, encamped here, the land in this circle belonged to the unseen things that dwell here always. After we, the men who follow Engibil, depart hence with the rising of the sun, the land in this circle shall again belong to the unseen things that dwell here always. We, the men who follow Engibil, seek only our god's protection this one night for the land in this circle."

He repeated his prayer and his promise the prayer was for the night only over and over again, until he approached the spot from which he had begun the circle. Continuing to chant, he peered around and finally spied the pot he had used to mark his beginning point. With a sigh of relief, he stepped over it and walked on for a few more paces, making certain the circle was complete.

"That is a good magic, master merchant's son," Mushezib said when Sharur walked back to the fires. "May we have much profit from it."

"May it be so," Sharur said. His own prayer was that the magic would prove altogether unnecessary, that the Imhursagut would never think to send a ghostly spy to his camp. He would not know one way or the other, for he could hardly hope to sense the spirit of a man or woman with whom he had not been acquainted in life.

He turned to Agum. "Has the ghost of your Uncle Buriash returned from the Imhursaggi camp?"

"No, master merchant's son," the guard replied. "But he wouldn't be back yet anyhow. He has to go there from here, and then here from there, and he'll want to listen a good long while in between times. I don't expect him till after I go to sleep." He grinned at Sharur. "He'll yell in my ear then, never fear."

Sharur nodded. "He sounds like my grandfather. Good enough.

When he does come back, you wake me. I shall want to know what he says as soon as he says it. Why did Enimhursag change his caravan leader's mind?"

I obev vou like a father," Agum promised.

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