Slaves of the Shinar by Justin Allen

Author:Justin Allen [ALLEN, JUSTIN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC009000, FIC009020, FIC009030
ISBN: 9781468307658
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2012-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

“This way.” Ander turned down a narrow alley. His men shuffled along behind him.

They were tired. The sun still hadn’t risen, but they’d already twisted through the narrowest, darkest sections of Kan-Puram for better than two hours. Even Ander felt it—a weariness that hung on their legs and dragged down their heads. Every few steps one of the men yawned.

It was slow going. The alleys turned erratically, pushing them off course. Once, they’d followed a passage for nearly a quarter hour, only to have it fold back on itself, leaving them where they’d started. Thankfully, only Ander seemed to have noticed. Most of the time, the men kept their eyes trained on the road one step in front of their feet—and for good reason. Garbage, crumbling brick, animal waste, even human waste, was piled all around them. Rats squeaked out of unseen holes. Pictures were carved into walls, advertising every form of explicit activity. Even in Kan-Puram’s nicer quarters, the back ways were little more than a dumping ground.

As they neared the center of the city, they began to see people for the first time. At first, the men wanted to talk with them. None of them had ever been to Kan-Puram before, and they were all curious about the people who lived there. But Ander wouldn’t allow any interaction, apart from a quick glance. He was helped in this regard by the horrible conditions under which the vast majority of the people lived. Most of the denizens of the back-alleys were women and children, often naked and nearly always starving. One little girl waved to Ander as they marched by. Ringworm bloomed over her arms and across her belly. It was the worst case he’d ever seen. The last thing any of the men wanted to do was to stop and chat.

Fear and suspicion also helped to keep them separate. Not long after seeing the girl with the ringworm, they came upon a pair of elderly men divvying up a handful of millet. As soon as they saw Ander, the younger of the two moved over until he was sitting atop their horde, making sure to hide every last kernel. Ander nodded to them and hurried on. During his first visit to Kan-Puram, he hadn’t seen so many poor people. Isin had explained that they were primarily confined to a few slums. Places like the dust. Ander doubted that there had ever been so many of them this close to the center of the city. It seemed to him an improvement. So far as he was concerned, the poor could keep these houses forever.

Ander led his men around another corner and stopped. At the opposite end of a long alley stood the tower of Moloch. He’d been making his way toward it, though by a circuitous route, from the moment they entered Kan-Puram.

“We’re a bit east of where we should be,” Ander muttered, still gazing up at the tower. The last time he saw it, torches had burned over every window, filling the night with the sweet scent of melioc.

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