The Word Guardians: and the Twisting Tales by Lawrence Yarham

Author:Lawrence Yarham [Yarham, Lawrence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-13T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Yas stepped through into a hot, sunny, walled garden. The air was dry, desert like, and very still. Sam followed her, but stumbled, after she’d pulled him through. He caught himself and then stopped, looking around, squinting.

“So, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon?” he asked.

“You sound surprised,” replied Yas. “What were you expecting?”

The ground beneath them was packed earth, and there were numerous smaller walls enclosing raised planters. There was a variety of shrubbery, fruit trees, berry bearing bushes and smaller tropical plants. The garden was quite beautiful to look at. Set out between the plants were carved statues of warriors and mythical creatures.

“It’s amazing,” said Yas, in awe.

“This is something else, for sure,” agreed Sam, changing his tune about the place. “I wonder where the water is coming from?” he asked, noticing the sound.

They both made their way inside the shade of a central structure, a roof supported on columns, and peered over the edge of a waist high wall. It was dark, but the coolness and smell indicated that there was water down below, somewhere.

“That’s a deep well,” remarked Sam.

There were steps leading down next to it. “I wonder where these go?” he added.

Yas moved towards them. “Let’s see.”

They followed the steps down. A gentle breeze moved past them as they descended.

“This is cool,” Sam remarked.

Yas agreed.

They reached the next level and moved out of the larger covered area, through the columns, into the sun.

“It was never really known if the Gardens were actually built. They were a myth really,” Yas explained.

“Do you think the Gardens only ever existed in a realm and became a myth as a result?” suggested Sam, as they moved about the next layer of the gardens. It had much the same layout and structure as the first, but the central section was wider, and the terrace was set out further. As they moved out of the central area, they could see the white wall of the garden above. Birds fluttered about the garden here, perching on the wall above them and moving to and from the many trees on the terrace. Their chirping and the sound of water flowing was quite tranquil.

“I don’t know,” replied Yas. She continued to marvel at the engineering and layout of the garden.

They made their way around to the other side of the central structure and stopped. They spotted someone watering the plants, over in the shade of one of the trees. Birds flew back and forth from the wall to where the lady was standing. She was singing, gently, her voice very soothing.

“Who is that?” whispered Sam.

“I don’t know,” replied Yas.

The lady must have become aware of their presence. She stopped singing and turned to face them.

Her face was partially hidden by a bright linen cloth that was draped over her head and extended down over a long dress. She smiled and started walking towards them.

Yas and Sam instinctively moved back into the shade and closer to the central wall. The steps were their escape if they needed one.

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