Enheduanna: The First Author - Wattys Winner 2021

5. Farewell

Even in the morning, the earliest of mornings, the sun was already beating down malevolently, letting not even a wisp of cloud soften its harsh rays. Lizards took shelter in the cracks in the city walls or under the stones laying scattered in the pale sand, but there was no rock or crack big enough to hide us.

It made me feel deflated and tired, while I wasn't even the one who had to set one step. The almond mare beneath me did all the real work. Her hooves sunk into the searing sand, the air so thick and hazy that each breath felt like drowning in lava. Even the linen that covered my head and mouth provided little relief from the heat. It felt like even the steam emanating from my horse was seeping through my skirt and into my skin. How could one find the energy to move, let alone fight in such weather? According to the servants gossiping in the halls, the king fought his best battles at the break of dawn, but riding here myself, I doubted that. Glancing at the white steed that proudly carried my father at the front of our procession. With furs hanging from his shoulders and the crown beaming atop his head, it was a small miracle that he still sat upright.

"Are you comfortable, princess?" The archer, Idal, riding beside me, asked. His face was hard and cruel, his eyes as cold and dark as onyx. They peered across the broken waste of the desert instead of looking at me. Even when I squinted my eyes to the smallest of slits, it was hard to look at him with the rising sun illuminating behind him. "Comfort is currently not with me. I would rather have seen the king take a boat for this journey."

"We shall take a boat from Kish to Ur." He responded nonchalantly. I knew that, the thing that eluded me was why? We could have easily taken a boat from Akkad to Ur, and arrive much faster than when we would stop in Kish. Riding at this pace, it would take us all day to arrive at Kish, all sweaty from this scorching heat and sore from this hobbling horse. Even a chariot pulled by some donkeys would have been a more comfortable and far more suitable method of travel. Especially for the king and queen of an empire, who were now traveling like common merchants.

"Where are my manners? I haven't even introduced myself," the archer chuckled, "Idal, first rank archer of the Royal Army."

"Your reputation has reached my ears, archer." I replied. My chamber maiden had gushed so often about his good looks, many favourable attributes, and numerous accomplishments that I couldn't forget them even if I tried. It had cost her, her position in court, and me a perfectly good chamber maiden.

Idal's bare chest shimmered with sweat, accentuating the tote muscles that lined his arms and stomach. Ash curls bounced with each step, sweeping softly across his back. Every aspect of him screamed masculinity, which was probably why so many women threw themselves at his feet. My words made him puff up with pride. "It has? I didn't know my reputation was good enough to reach the ears of the princess of Akkad."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not recall mentioning whether your reputation paints you in a good light or a bad one."

With a sweep of his hair, he seemed to puff even more. "Well, I don't mean to brag, but I am the army's leading archer in the first rank, and slinger in the second rank. And your father asked me personally to train the Royal Guards in the art of archery. How could any of that paint me in a bad light?"

My eyes wondered around the endless desert, making a valiant effort to find anything else to look at other than the archer who now resembled a bloated toad in heath. "Your accomplishments in battle are numerous, for which Akkad is you thankful, no doubt."

"But?"

With a snap, I jerked around. "That dissecting tone of yours is very unpleasant. Such speech might be acceptable in the army, but I am not one of your soldiers, archer."

"How could one have a dissecting tone? Please explain that, princess?" Idal probed, probably hoping to get a sneer out of me, not that I would ever give him that satisfaction.

Even if he was considered a handsome man, and a skilled warrior, the sheer holier-than-thou attitude of this man was infuriating enough to make me wish that his horse would buck him face-first into the sand. How could women be so mad with desire for this man? Had they only been admiring him from afar? Surely any woman of sound mind would be deterred by this cocky behaviour.

"Are you going to elaborate on your point? Or am I to wait for an answer, which I am entitled to, until sundown?"

"What makes you think you are entitled to an answer?" The heat was starting to bring my body to its boiling point, I am sure. Every breath felt like fire.

"Well, it regards my reputation. Would the princess of Akkad be so cruel as to deny a man knowledge about his own reputation?" Idal's breath was now beating down on my skin as well, his horse walking so close to mine that my legs were scraping against the drenched fur.

"Cruel? Were you not cruel when you drove my favourite chamber maiden naked out of your chambers, and ridiculed poor girl in front of my father." I finally snapped. It made him recoil for a moment. "She was the one who hid naked in my room. The lunatic jumped at me like some sort of wild beast. What was I supposed to do?"

I scoffed. "Handle it tastefully. Not just leaving her in the lurch so publicly that she could never show her face in the palace again."

The cold onyx eyes peered at me with the deadly aim of an arrow. "It seems your reputations precedes you as well, princess. The girl with a heart of stone who won't even take the feelings of her own father, and king into consideration."

With one jerk, both our horses stood still, but my fury bouldered on. "How dare disrespect a princess of Akkad, and future high priestess of Nanna! I should have your–"

"Enough!" Father's voiced boomed, "Idal take place beside your queen. And you," his hazel eyes burned hotter than the sun as his gaze locked with mine, "you ride with me. And that is final."

"Nanna didn't choose you. You choose Nanna," Idal whispered loud enough for me to hear, and I was certain that I was meant to hear it.