New Day

A Sam Story Told by Francis

Chapter 7

While my ladies slept, I explored the ship. For what it was, this was comfortable. I'd been on smaller. Slaves rowed below deck. There was a small cargo area smelling from spices, newly dyed linen and almonds. There were nine sailors who worked in shifts. Some kept watch and managed the sail. Others threw nets into the river and dragged fresh water lobsters and fish over the side. In a tied off section of the foredeck deck, the off-duty sailors slept.

With my night vision, I looked into each sleeping face and, as I suspected, found the young man I had fed on yesterday. Whip marks were newly cut into his shoulders and back. Some still seeped into the cool night air. It was partially my fault he was groggy in the morning. He saw me when we came aboard, but made no flicker of recognition. I would not approach him that way again, at least not soon, but I had an idea.

I knelt down and touched and his shoulder through his leather shirt. "What?" he whispered hoarsely, careful to keep his voice low to not disturb his shipmates. "Who's there?" He couldn't see me in the dark.

"I'm one of the passengers, a doctor," I said, lowering my voice an octave in case he remembered it from last night. "I wondered if you'd let me see to your injuries?"

"Why?" He groaned, but pushed himself into a sitting position. "Don't tell me it's because you like sailors." He wasn't that far gone into his drink last night if he remembered the very words I had used. A cagey young man could be useful to me. He hurt all over, but I doubt the wounds I left gave him more pain than the whip burns.

"No. I don't like sailors especially, but I have a new salve I concocted. I'd like to try on you. Will you let me?" He strained his eyes to see me and gave up. "It won't hurt you more, I promise." He shrugged, groaned again, but held still. I pretended to take something out of the pouch at my belt, but actually grazed my finger with one fang to gain a few drops of my own blood. I turned him slightly, moved his greasy hair aside and spread the blood over the marks I'd left on his neck. There was enough to soothe part of his shoulder as well. "How does it feel now?"

He made an odd face. "Pleasant. It's stopped hurting. Do you have more of that stuff for the rest of my back and the other shoulder?"

"Sorry, I must use it sparingly. It's not easy to get more. Some of your wounds are still open. Where is the drinking water? I'll wash it for you." He pointed. I used a bit of linen in my pouch to clean away the blood and found his skin smooth where I applied my blood. I didn't want to chance someone recognizing the marks.

"You could make your fortune selling that stuff," he said, but then clamped his mouth shut when he realized I probably already had a fortune.

I leaned close to his ear. "Are you a slave or a free man?"

"Free," he said with some determination.

"Do you like your captain?" He clenched his teeth because he dared not answer the question honestly and keep his skin. "Do you know Nineveh well?" He nodded, adding that he grew up there. "If you're willing, I'll take you into my employ as my guide and messenger. Once you're mine, I'll feed and clothe you, pay you a dinar monthly, and I won't beat you unless I find you disloyal. What do you say?"

It didn't take him long to decide. "I agree. My name is Esok. How may I call you, Master Physician?"

" 'Master' will do once you are mine, but my name is Radu. Don't speak of this to anyone. Until we disembark, you belong to your captain. Continue with your assigned duties, but be ready to leave when we do. I will tell him." He nodded that he understood and I left him.

Dawn was near. I planned to avoid the early sun doubled by the river's reflection, in the cool shelter of the tent. When I pulled back the tent flap, Mother Undassa alone reclined on the cushions. Like a dog, I focused my hearing to the sounds of the ship. Half the slaves were still at their oars on the benches below deck while the other half slept. Two sailors stood watch for river traffic, whispering. "The younger priestess is a beauty. To afford the likes of her, I'd sell my wife and children."

"We're lucky we're able to look at her unveiled at all. She left her tent to look for the morning star and the trader came up to her. They talk like old friends.

I left them and approached Serali and Miceas, keeping out of sight. She had taken my command to heart and was already feeling out the trader with gentle probes. Their voices came to me. "Do you always rise so early?" Miceas asked.

"The morning star is a sign of my Lady Ishtar," she said. "I give the Divine Mother thanks for each new day and ask for her blessing." She lifted her arm for her silver bracelet to catch the reflection of the star. She was wearing it as I bade her to do, except when she was with me. "This is beautiful. Silver on silver. Is silver so plentiful in Nineveh that you can sell it for clay?"

He leaned his head closer her ears to reply so his words would not carry. "The coins of the realm represents more than clay. Surely you know that. They are worth goods and grain and land."

"And who will claim these goods and grain and land?"

"Ah. That is beyond me. I'm a simple distributor of ornaments for hire."

I left Serali to her discoveries and retired to the tent just before the sun's first rays hit the water. Undassa was rising. "Doctor Radu," she said, seeing me. She stretched and blinked. "I didn't see you come to bed. Have you just awoken?"

"I've been on deck, listening to the sailors and watching to see if I can learn anything. I must sleep now," I said. I reclined where Serali had slept and breathed in her scent from the cushions. "Be careful not to say why we go to Babylon, Lady Undassa. Our lives may depend on it." She wrapped herself in her cloak against the morning air. "Don't let anyone disturb me," I warned. As soon as I was alone, I closed my eyes and slept like the dead.

It was late afternoon when I rose and walked out to see the river. The banks slipped by. For a good distance, they were filled with green – the new stalks of wheat and the wider leaves of melon. Canals from the Tigris and its tributaries irrigated the fields. Date palms swayed above the river. We sailed upriver to a cooler clime. Occasionally, we passed small clusters of dwellings where farm owners housed their slaves and stored their supplies and grain. We sailed through marshland where the confluence of the Two Rivers had their annual spring flood. Villages here stood on stilts and people harvested river plants from small boats. They worked in a light rain for which I gave thanks. After a thousand years, I still suffered somewhat from direct sun.

The ship's cook came to collect the lady's dishes. When he saw me outside the tent, he asked if I would take barley bread, fish and water. "Just water." I wrinkled my nose. He had to assume I brought my own food aboard and that his wasn't fine enough for me. In those days, believe me, the nobility had no choice but to act like arrogant snobs. It was expected of us. Were we to speak to underlings like equals, they would think us imposters.

The rest of the day went by. I did not have a chance to speak with Serali alone but I saw her often standing by the rail and looking off into the distance. This was her first time away from Babylon so she was anxious to see a different place. Miceas was always at her side, explaining, talking. He said much, but nothing of use. Both of them smiled as they spoke. He looked at her shamelessly. I tried to tamp down tendrils of jealousy when I saw how she returned his attention. I had no claim to Serali I could ever explain. I'd even told her another man would give her children, as I could not. If Miceas was to be that man, all I could do was to make sure he treated her with honor.

I watched the river and the stars all night and finally slipped into the tent when Serali left it at dawn. It was midmorning our second day on the river when Undassa shook me awake. "Radu!" It took me a moment to return to consciousness. "We'll be pulling in shortly. You will want to ready yourself." I nodded and followed her out to the rail.

We watched until Nineveh came into sight. The city proper inside its wall was as vast as Babylon itself. The city was built on a hill. From the ship, I could see roofs and doors were painted blue to honor Anu, the lord of heaven. Bits of green on trellises indicated grapes for wine and raisins. The temples were built in the ziggurat shape we were familiar with in Babylon. It was a wealthy city. Mansions stood above fields of poppies. "Why all the poppies?" I asked Miceas.

"Many find its essence comforting. A form of poppy syrup makes people sleep. Doctors use it during surgery." I decided to explore this knowledge in addition to the other. "Awake, it helps them forget their worries. Some forget too much." I thanked Miceas for his information and asked where I could find him at home when I was ready for him to take me to his designer. I also inquired after the best travelers' houses.

We were pulling through the harbor when I found the captain, but he was busy giving orders to his men. He signaled that he saw me, but that I had to wait. It was true; the captain of a ship is like a king of a small island. I found a spot out of the way. His men lowered the sail. The slaves were given direction to row slowly. The pilot stood where they could see him as he guided the ship to the Silver Moon's slip on the dock. When we had safely slid into our assigned place and tied up to the mooring poles, the captain turned to me. "I'm ready to hear you now, Lord Physician," he said.

"Thank you for taking us safely to our destination. I will escort my ladies to the house of Ishtar and then come back for you so we can go to the king's treasury building. You are to receive your payment, as we agreed."

He nodded. "I'll be near here or waiting at the tavern with the sign of the fish in front. Ask for me by name. Do you need a guide to the city?"

"No. I already hired one." I turned and saw my new servant ready to follow me, his duffle bag on his shoulder. "Esok, you can carry the ladies' bags," I said.

"Wait!" the captain shouted. "You can't hire someone off my crew. Esok, get back to your unloading."

I stopped the captain's harangue with my raised right hand. "You've seen the ring, Shipmaster, and you know what it means. Please stand back while we depart. Be prepared for my return to claim your wages." His mouth worked silently, probably cursing me, before he turned away to continue directing his crew.

"Miceas," I said, as we stepped off the ship. "I will call for you in the second hour after midday. Be ready."

"As you say, Lord Physician," he said. He hefted his heavy bags, and walked onto the dock calling for a porter slave.