It's not like we had much, Nicky, Tommy, and me, that we could prepare for the impending quest with the king, but we went back to our room to change out of our funeral clothes. We did find that our normal clothes, the ones we time traveled in had been laundered and were sitting on our beds. I for one was glad to have my underwear back. We all decided to put our clothes on underneath the peasant clothes we were given for the quest. The king wanted us to blend in with the time period, and it was a good idea. After lunch, we were each given a pack containing food and weird looking bags that contained fresh water for drinking. King Gilgamesh appeared a few minutes later and announced that he had decided what he needed to do on this quest.
He told us of a man who was born mortal and was bestowed the gift of immortality by the gods. As far as he knew, this had only ever happened one time. The king intended to seek this man out and determine the secret. He explained that he wanted to live forever and keep the memory of his heroic acts with Enkidu alive in the minds of men forever. I wanted to point out that we wouldn't even be here if he wasn't still a legend thousands of years later, but I decided that maybe it was the two quests combined that made that happen, so I kept my mouth shut.
Nicky asked what this other man did that pleased the gods enough to be given immortality. It was a fair question. The king then explained that there was a great flood. The gods had become displeased with mankind and decided to wipeout civilization and start over. This one man, along with members of his family, was chosen to build a boat, collect animals, and ride out the storm. The question was obvious, but of course it was my brother Tommy that asked it.
"You mean we're looking for Noah?" he said.
"I know not of this Noah," the king said. "Utnapishtim is the man we seek."
"Do you know where he is?" Nicky asked.
"Not exactly," the king answered, "But he is rumored to live near the end of the earth.
"But there is no…" Tommy started to say when I stopped him. I remembered that it wasn't until around the time of Christopher Columbus that people started to believe the world was round and not flat. Of course King Gilgamesh would think there was an end, and I guess we were going to help him find it. Later on, when we were alone, I explained to Tommy why I didn't let him tell the king the world was actually round. He thought it was dumb to think it was flat, but he agreed it would have been bad to tell him.
I was beginning to wonder just how long it would take to get to the end of the world, especially when we didn't know where it was at. I started wondering then what my mom and Nicky's dad were doing back home. I was sure they were devastated. The bad part is I was actually starting to have a good time here with the king and didn't really care how long it would take us, as long as we would eventually get back home.
When we set out into the wilderness that evening, the king actually gave us weapons. He also told us that he would protect us and the spears were for just in case. Nicky and Tommy of course thought this was the coolest thing in the world and were ready to hunt big game. Me, I was ready to stick as close to King Gilgamesh as I possibly could. Heck, I would have been happy if he had offered to carry me on his back, but that didn't happen.
We made pretty good time for three kids and a giant demigod. I'm sure we were slowing the king down, but he didn't seem to mind all that much. When we made camp that first night, he told us he was glad we were with him. I don't know if our being there took his mind off of things or forced him to be brave for our benefit, but I thought I even saw a smile for a brief second when Tommy accidentally ripped a big fart during dinner. I could tell he was still sad about losing his friend. Despite giving him a proper burial and providing tokens for the gods, as part of his grave, I know he was still worried about Enkidu's afterlife. He seemed to be accepting the fact that nothing was going to bring his friend back, and I wasn't worried so much about him killing himself now.
After dinner, the king put Nicky and me in charge of staying at camp and making sure no animals came along to take our supplies while he and Tommy scouted around to make sure we were in a good place to get some sleep. When they came back and told us they had seen three lions about halfway down the other side of the mountain we were on, I was too scared to sleep even though I was dead tired. Okay maybe that was a poor choice of words. Anyway, King Gilgamesh told me not to worry. He was sure the moon god would protect us, but that didn't stop me from saying my own prayer to God just to be on the safe side. Even still it took me a long time to fall asleep. I was sure the lions were about to pounce on us with every noise I heard.
Sometime in the middle of the night, I woke to yelling that sounded like a battle cry. Of course I thought we were under attack, but that wasn't it. Tommy and Nicky were out of their bedding, lying on their bellies, as they watched over the crest of the hill. "What's happening?" I asked.
"Shhh," Nicky said glancing back at me and motioning for me to stay down. At first I was tangled up in my bed, but once I finally made it out, I crawled over and joined them. I had to rub my eyes a few times because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. King Gilgamesh had his spear in one hand using it to hold back one lion while he had a second lion in a choke hold. The third lion was nowhere to be seen. The lion he was holding was thrashing its body in a desperate attempt to get free, but it was clear that wasn't going to happen. After what seemed like forever, the lion went limp, and Gilgamesh whipped its body around. I could head the neck snapping from where we watched. When the first lion's body hit the ground, the second lion charged. The thought that popped into my head was, dummy you should have attacked while the king was busy killing your friend, but even then I didn't think it would make a difference. The spear sailed into the lion in an instant. The beast screamed out in pain and jumped to try and dislodge the weapon from its side. It didn't work and the next thing we knew, the king was over the second lion. He pulled the spear out, which I figured had to hurt more than it did going in. The lion raised his head to bite at its attacker. It never got the chance. Gilgamesh brought the spear back down in a quick jab that went through the lions jaw and out through the opposite ear.
It was at that moment I realized where the third lion had gone. It had circled around camp and was now standing behind the three of us ready to attack. If there hadn't been three of us, which I figure required the animal to take a second to make a decision on which of us to kill first, I think the king would have been continuing the quest alone after burying another companion. Since the lion did hesitate, while we screamed our heads off, there was just enough time for Gilgamesh to charge back up the hill, hurdle over our heads, and throw the spear at his third victim. The spear landed in the lion's hindquarters, which made it really, really mad. It sprang at the king, and for a second I thought it had managed to grab his throat with it mighty jaws. The king's back was to us, and the lion was hanging off of the ground, what would you have thought? But Gilgamesh eventually turned to face us. I screamed, or was that Nicky who was sitting next to me, somebody screamed anyway. It was more in amazement at this point. The king had the lion with its top jaw in one and its bottom jaw in the other. He was prying the lion's head apart from the nose back. Bones were snapping as he went. Maybe the grossest part is that the lion was still alive while its head was being split in two.
When the lion finally dropped to the ground, Tommy and Nicky jumped and ran to King Gilgamesh. "That was awesome," Tommy yelled. The king stood for a few seconds collecting his breath then he ruffled Tommy's hair.
"What happened?" Nicky asked.
"I was visited in my dream by Nanna," Gilgamesh said, "The moon god I prayed to before sleep. He warned me that the lions were on the attack."
"You killed them with your bare hands," Tommy said utterly impressed by the performance.
"I had to protect you," the king said then led the boys back over to where I was crouching. "Dani," he said softly kneeling in front of me, "It's over." I started shaking. I knew we were safe now, but what we just saw was more than I could comprehend, more than I could accept. Before I realized I was losing it, I was sobbing. I never expected King Gilgamesh to pick me up and hold me in his arms, but that is what he did. Besides Nicky's dad kissing my knee when I scraped it in the backyard a few years ago, that was a first time a man had comforted me since I was really little. It felt…nice. He actually held me until I cried myself back to sleep.
When I woke again, the sun was peeking its dewy head over the top of the mountain. Nicky was eating breakfast and Tommy was helping Gilgamesh skin the lions. When Nicky noticed I was awake, he scooted over to me and offered me a piece of his bread. I sat up and took it from his hand.
"You alright?" he asks softly.
I said, "Yes," but I guess my expression must have been saying something else because he put his arm around my shoulder and kissed my forehead. Nicky had never kissed me before, ever, not even when we were little kids. It made me feel almost as good as when King Gilgamesh was holding me.