Nezzar

Part Two: The Girl With Blue Eyes

Usman looked down at their joined hands, scarcely paying attention to the winding street the child led him through. All his attempts to get the girl to give him a cohesive response had been futile. She had 'stumbled' upon him just after he was returning from a meeting with the head spy and urgently insisted on showing him something.

Her choice of attire today did not make sense. Instead of something light and free because of the sweltering heat, she wore a dark hooded cloak over her kalasiris dress. Usman had since ruled out the possibility that she was a street child. Judging from her consistent clean appearance and the quality of her clothes and sandals, it was clear she was well taken care of by someone. The shrine of the one-eyed priestess must be doing well.

They had made it to the shady parts of Tahpanhes. Beggars and lepers lined their path, some calling out and shoving their bowls at passersby. Bedraggled street children raced past. Wary-looking people stared after them. Usman did his best to appear casual even with the oddness of being led along by a child of about ten. And there was something unusual about this part of the city; there were far too many dogs around.

Tugging his hand with more urgency, the girl led him to a dilapidated small two-storied building. As they made it up a flight of stairs that seemed on the brink of collapse, Usman found himself questioning his sense of self-preservation. The only reason he allowed himself to be strung along by this child was because of the head spy. The man, beyond pleased with the accuracy of intel the girl had been providing, had urged him to remain friendly even after Usman voiced his concerns about her strangeness. At least her eyes appeared normal today.

She stopped before a crumbling wooden door. Turning to face him, she raised a finger to her lips in a shushing motion and waited until Usman nodded. After drawing in what seemed like a fortifying breath, she pushed the door open. It was a marvel the thing did not disintegrate from the action.

The room was small and unremarkable. The dusty empty space was exactly what one would expect to see in an abandoned home. She led him to the left window that opened to a quadrangle boxed in by three equally abandoned-looking buildings.

The only odd thing about the quadrangle was its unnatural dryness. The ground was sun-baked and cracked. It made little sense. Egypt was in the second month of the four months of rain; the dead weeds should be green at least. Was there something else he should be seeing? He turned to the girl. Her focus was fixed on the quadrangle.

Her eyes. They had changed to that abnormal bright blue colour. Usman blinked hard just to be certain he was seeing correctly. Even in the afternoon light, he noticed a shine in them—as if they would glow in the dark. Without moving her head, her blue gaze swung in his direction.

Usman came to a conclusion. The girl was not human. But it was most odd. He could swear that there were more times the child seemed like a simple carefree child. Still... could it be she was a god carrier? Was that a possibility—

One moment, Usman was struggling to make sense of the girl and the next, she pulled him to his knees and touched his forehead with two fingers.

"Usman."

"..." Clenching his teeth from the strange sensation coursing through him, Usman could only grunt in reply. Though the wariness lingered, a sense of acceptance was coming in as well, soothing him and making him less panicky.

"Sorry that I pulled you into this. But you are a Babylonian spy—my only connection to the king I am assigned to."

Usman frowned. She was speaking, he was certain of that but why were her lips not moving?

"So far, I have exposed the physical aspects of what Pharaoh and his court are planning against Babylon. Now, we move on to the next step." She smiled and the action touched her eyes in an unexpected endearing way. Even though there was nothing terrifying about the action, Usman was still unable to relax. Whoever this god was, she seemed benevolent but Usman was not foolish enough to disregard his own helplessness in the situation.