Enheduanna: The First Author - Wattys Winner 2021

30. Invasion

Screams echoed through the night sky. The air was stained with the smell of blood and death. It was diabolical. Beyond the archway I could see the horror on the streets. It filled me with fear and disgust, but above all, shock. Shock at how swiftly it managed to startle and paralyse me. It was a violent disturbance of the mind.

"Watch out!" before I could register what was happening, Kituzda pushed me away, hitting my head against the limestone wall. The pain echoed through my brain, making my vision blurry for a moment.

With no time to shake the pain, Kituzda took my hand and began to run. The second arrow hit the wall where my head had been a second ago. All thoughts were banished in the smoke-filled air. My mind gave me half the time to observe our surroundings. This ambush must have been planned so carefully, right under my nose, but as it progressed, it unfolded its treacherous vile wings.

The obligation and responsibility I had imposed on this city, moreover, the trust and confidence that I had in the goodness of its people, was shattered like shards of baked clay. Broken and unfulfilled emotions rolled down my cheeks.

Soldiers rushed forward, shouting orders as we neared the central market. Doors were ripped off their hinges, swords clashed, earning new screams with each strike. I couldn't look. I couldn't listen. Fear kept me in a paralyzed state, unable to open my eyes, until shock forced them open.

"There she is! Kill Enheduanna!"

No sooner had I realized the soldiers rushed towards us or I was pulled into an alleyway, crashing onto the stone floors.

"Anna, stand up. We have to get back to the temple."

Dingira reached her hand out to me, a burning fury in her eyes. In her other hand she held the sword of Nanna leveled with her shoulder, using the force of gravity to slice into the soldier who came up behind me.

As I scrambled to my feet, I saw his body falling limply to the floor, a pool of crimson flooding beneath him. Before I registered that he was dead, we were running again. Joints cracked, shooting jolts of pain through my body with each movement.

Two fleeting figures caught my eye for a moment, when an arrow was shot from beside. In the blink of an eye, one figure collapsed to the earth, while from the other emanated the heart wrenching cry of a child.

Without thinking twice I broke free from Dingira's grip and ran towards the child that crawled to the motionless form of her mother. I scooped the child up into my arms; her cries turning to screams as the girl let go of her mother's corpse.

Dingira cut down the archer with a deadly blow, while Kituzda pulled us to the safety of the shadows. "Are you insane? You could have been killed."

"We can not leave these people to die. We vowed to protect them."

The city was under siege, but Lugal-ane's men were fighting without a protocol, without a plan, just slaughtering everything that moved and plundering the rest. Resulting in a chaos, the likes of which even hell itself had never seen. Blood flooded the earth. Screams echoed through the street and everyone scrambled to just save their own skin.

"Are you hurt?" Dingira inquired. I shook my head. The child's eyes shifted uncontrollably, unable to comprehend what was going on. She held onto my skirt like it was the only thing keeping her sane, her mother's blood smearing the fabric.

"We must bring them to the Ziggurat." I concluded, praying that Lugal-ane would not forsake the holy ground of the temple.

"All of them?" Dingira asked, out of breath, the sword shaking in her hands. "I can't possibly take down all of those soldiers."