As wilder fowls, they've wandered through the town, peregrines on the road—a band of former cavaliers, now traveling on foot in search of merchants to assay their loot. From battlefields, they've pilfered wrecked armors stripped off soldiers moribund, filling their rubric rags with cuirasses unlaced from bloated corpses and coats of mail girt with bands of febrile iron.

They've slit the dun throats of their Augean horses, using th'unhallowed blood as gloaming Kohl. Roaming away, freed from earthly masters, the scraps of honor clang a dulcet tole in heavy bags, masked by the recusants' shrill laughter. Rawhide of primal skin; half man, half Taurus—their chieftain's lathered frame reached the ethers. Affianced to the asters of the night, he donned a Horus-feathered coat, fur grease enswathed.

The beastly chieftain walked with galling gestures, for he's to barter with an old acquaintance. Scalding lech dilated th'innards of his festered heart. Anticipation wrought, his hankering flesh to undulations yielded. They were set to meet the slave erstwhile, a woman from the Libyan heath, which broke from bondage.

While entering the Inn, him and his guards witnessed conflict brewing. Three burly men, sweat-soaked and maudlin, encircled the bar maiden. With dull-eyed stares and open palms, they grasp at board protrusions lest they stagger. Acting upon lewd dares, they spout sour-honeyed words, flirtatious gambits.

Amurru's men reached for their sheathed swords; the giant barred their way, prescient of his friend's cunning. She whispered words to privy ears whilst leaning uncouthly towards the vexed clients, her fingers tapping in a mellifluous spree, face hidden by their broad and rugged shoulders.

Then turned the troublous swiggers, pale of mien and pacified, revealing sordid features of the hostess. Amurru screamed, "A servant hither!" Ninkasi answered, "yet a slave to no one." A swarthy woman donning lustrous clothes, the truculent bawd, raised up her sinewy arms to fix the kerchief on her sweltered front, while prying intently with a cautious charm, the fast-approaching of the arrant band.

Ears sensitive to the metallic chime behind their backs, she glowered at her friend with eyes austere, in a sudden shift of clime that he responded, "Which act so offending did trigger such an overbearing glare" Poise as a scorpion, stretched and set to sting.

She answered, "Sirrah, lower thy blaring voice, tintinnabulary clings attract unwanted guests; thy presence's parlous. Public rows invite a baleful end. My serious objurgating is on par with threats assertable and not mere reprimand of thievish ways."

Then Yudh, his right-hand man, grabbed sternly unto her furbelowed wrist and wrung her arm for the covert to pan. He said, "The sultry primadonna lisps when speaking lies and counters convoluted. What spunk her soul to whip a tongue mordacious? Her scale was tipped towards the law as bruited, amalgamation with the state!"

She swung her arm towards her ruddled chest, sequined with specie cast of foreign coinage. "Bringeth charge 'gainst me, a knight that lost his equine? When he belongeth inside an iron cage. The honorless findeth edge to impute frail accusations gathered from hearsay. Stare not at me with bandying gander, esclatz of a horseman; but thine own self upbraid."

He feigned a smile, dismaying the wardress of the Inn then said, "Betraying a feeble king is just, yet if you doubt so fatuously the fasces carriers, ye hence unbind the bundle's ring and merit scourging with its seething rod." Yet, she responded with a calming temper, passing a hand across his ruffled chest. "It seems thou art the leader. Bear not slander to arouse the crimson of thy zest. Keep rage at bay when dealing with a gentlewoman."

He interrupted, "Then pay due with haste." "Gag not my voice, intruder! For I shan't bend my will to gasconading blusters. Shed the hooded threatening of the cobra, for thou art formidable indeed, good sire. Unstrain thyself, release the noxious care. Once sober, I'll reward thee with all ye desire."

Frenzied, the old giant hurdled t'wards his partner. With promises proclaimed, the resiled dame batted her eyes, derision overtaken. Galvanizing Amurru into action against his charmed subordinate; and pinning him to th' frame of pillars wooden, murderously roared, "Ye sliver of a man, upmarked whoreson, vim of rascal borne, the foulest element. D'or! thou changest hands more than flat-fonted coins 'tis thus that lively witsnappers are won? With basest instincts?! wink and a brief touch. Think not of treachery for transient, wanton pleasures.

A starved wolf, with no recourse, snatches meat bloodied from th'aggressing Alpha, swilling rabid. Erase the mutinous grin from thine oppugnant mien or I'll drub the pride from out of ye." No wager from the second man was uttered, instead the right-hand man displayed his loyalty. "I am officious in my duties, steadfast in serving thee, Amurru. For I am only thine."

"Nay, thou art offenseful in thine acts." "Methinks not so, our thoughts are confluent. The head doth ponder and th' right hand responds, reacting to what's eyed, I've wrung what is pursued. Do bash my hood away, but thy brutal sally served but to disarm thy right-hand man and panned the weaponries which we've accrued, littering the filthy bottom of the hostelry with rusty troves." "Not yet with corpses still."

"Am'rru!" Erupted Ninkasi whilst scrubbing a vessel's edge betwixt her nimble fingers. "Are the large antlers of an elder stag meant but to ram the scantling of my Inn? Let not deciduous horns be blood imbrued, lest thou be stuck with yet a second face. A pruned head, transpierced upon thy prongs to graze the laund with thee, hung decollated. Be not mistaken, though it faintly ruminates, the rot will spread t'infect thy brainish front. Then linger thus, a doltish, bow-backed thief and sneak a-nightly to brabble as low beasts for tuft."

"Thou sayest I bow to graze in snow-clad verdures to rub my nose the wrong way, be not so grievous and let me browse upon thy birchy trunk, no vesture sprouts on the stem when branches are unleafed." She heaved exasperatedly before relenting to his satyric craving, gold bracelets clang on the hand's wrist, cleaving open chest's garment to private view, and the chief lowly leant to gaze upon the shrew's body. All he could tell apart were cuneiforms, no matter how he bent.

"You prude!" He yelled. "What odious sorcery! Accursed stonyhearted woman, clay iron ore petrified the flesh!" She said, "my sottish soldier, retire from the rondure of my bar, pursue me not. I am not soft, no nereid mermaid, yet thou art sinking-ripe. Quit thy ribald entreat and drink, then thou canst lead thy panderous group of rogues to fevery affairs." And Am'rru meandered towards Ninkasi with a grave mien, substituting fiendish anger with a stupor brought by the fragrance of her golden brew.

Heartily, she laughed whilst pouring beer, its flow as thick as the onrush of the Euphrates. Then Am'rru leered upon the mistress, stirred to listen to the elucidating of the marring. 'Indeed, you've glimpsed a sight of what is hidden. So spare thy nether-man, then debarras of what thy barbarous hand did glom, and bid investments novel in what I've procured." And she hath shown him 'gain the immense tablet she wore as armor then declared. " 'Tis a burden, a malleable substance, cold and hard as clay if worn, for it becomes the person.

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Strobing when thrust as a binding mass. Insufferable upon the breasts of a belabored woman. Its powers perverse had turned me maniable and docile to the whims of stronger men. 'Tis called the Tablets of the Destinies, which all the kings desire to grab hold of and it does not befit a maiden to wear. Then free me of my manacles and head to meet the declared king of War'ka. And 'stead of trickling coins, I warranty a stable currance, fulsome in reward. For practisants of rulership are superstitious."

"He'll pay his crown for such an artifact, his bars of gold source paradisal strife; prost! What roles you've parceled?"

The door swung open. Taken aback, Ninkasi shrouded herself, voice gruffed. Her ken behind a gauzy aperture, kept track of a strange figure out the bar, clad in whole black. Pazuzu, son of Hanbu, lieutenant of the seventh legion, barged inside her Inn with lilû-men astride him, Assyrian scimitars slung at their hips. A totem of pure agony for steaded sinners, Pazuzu sneered, his wry smile lethargizing the stumped mistress, diluting her flushed cheeks as the adulterated wine she serves. Composure-parted, Ninkasi did slur, "What vigorous brew may slate your fervor, sir?"

Pazuzu stared at her with sulfurous eyes. "The sweetest wort, ripe dates, and honey freckled." Ninkasi serviced them, her spirit carnified, arms trembling as she sloped the fractured jug to fill their cups. They stood in steady round, as pompous palms enrobed of their shadows, and women eyed their stance, robust of bearing, their dark-rimmed eyes affine the date fruits' clumps.

Bairns with lutes and tabors merrily strummed to varying rhythms of the hand-held drums. Assyrian kin stood high above the rest, their matted dreads in sturdy locks were pulled, thick beards veiled the visage of each man, with tresses beaded fringe trims, squarely pruned and thick-lipped mouths, their grins maleficent.

One arm raised angled forward as to cheer, the other arm fixed on the falcate's sheath as they perpend if each is friend or foe. Not sparing all the lonely girls enwreathed of beauty's corsage. Martial-tilted men so neatly structured in a perfect circle, they performed the dance of death. Their threnody was thrummed, deep-toned for peerage fickle.

And Pazuzu began, "the streets descant dour tales inspired by a tavern wench who sold her spirit-essence but to purchase slew pounds of flesh from bondage, then became a bold entrepreneur servicing highway-men. Her needs inflated, directed her to seek the outlaws' stock, beneath the weary eyes of tower guards to lash her feet a thousand miles in walk and fill her coffers with the stamp of foreign kings, nonnative rulers.

But Nanna, th' increscent moon, has ears to hear the whispers from th' ingathered. Hail hoary winds of death, with thy morbid crooning. Hail to announce what fate attends the odalisque! Come join our dance." And he extended his hand towards Ninkasi but found her floundering, her features terror-stricken, clay tones in rend as she turned destitute, broadly exposed before the Obelisk of Great Assyria.

Am'rru, not used to seeing the lady stropped, deprived of wonted determinacy, thus intervened, "What men are ye? What sort to frighten such an amenable woman?" Ninkasi grabbed his grotty forearm, muscle-bound, but he retreated not. And the appalled lieutenant regarded him with ghastly propensities.

"Approach ye hence with features not remote, though primitive. I've had reports that our southeastern flanks were breached, for gallied hirelings announced retreat, forsaking posts ere ganking fenceless corpses to strip them of their fees, no longer needed in the afterlife. But bones do clack, clinging to what they've suffered. Comest thou forth." But Yudh did stop his master, saying, "Be wary, he's a seer and senses the squalls which blowingly waft ov'r currents, indistinct."

"He hearkens howls of dead men? What hocus-pocus! He heeds but bogey ghosts, frail apparitions that swindle him of sense. But they'll disperse once th' bouncing liver doth divest intuitions from the baned effect of liquor." Thus Am'rru spoke, Pazuzu cachinnated, his horrid laughter broke the heavy silence which reigned supreme ere he upraised his cup to the indigence of acuity.

"To souls bygone, which, fluxing from bare crania, turn steam and obfuscate the croft swards. Terrain strewn with embittered corpses, mien irate. A fecund monoculture for the Lord's garden. Most Festinate of guests, how raw, how brave. Let he that thinketh that man is capable of communicating from beyond the grave with the living, be first t'infringe against this lardy swain.

What ho? Stands no one? Then prost, my friend. To the forever departed." Am'rru saw naught but darkness in what thenceforth occurred; the nigh lieutenant got hold of him, an object gleaming in his clenched fist. And brewage bile did squirt from th' gashing wide, for Pazuzu hath bared his murd'ring dagger and thrust it in the giant's open side betwixt his arced ribs, then whispered thus.

"Thine ocean eyes are clear, yet rueful are they not? Thy ruddy, scuffled beard is seeped in th' blood of thy bedeviled victims. Amorite, no man escapes his race predestined. Thy filthy blood will strain into the tavern's base, and the wood panels shall creak vexatious screeching underfoot of drunken, merry folks in gales of laughter. Croak! Such is the vestige of a cowardly leech."

The crowd retreated from the murder scene as armed rows broke out in the quatre corners of the thieves' den, and Pazuzu, with beaming sonder, cut through the teeming rooms in search of Ninkasi. " 'Tis such a jovial moment when death cometh and swordy knells commiserate co-conspirators. Whither art thou, Ninkasi? Comely squire, are fates not intertwined? Serve thine inebriant for both your lives! The liefling of thy clientele rejoice in armistice to flatten sets armorial.

And then, as rearmice of the fields, they hasten to impart their shares on thee. Thou must stand trial for their inequities, barmaid. By tending to such brigands, thou art intrinced in their affairs and hence, be scoured by the south-reaving winds for all nefarious deeds permitted erroneously in thine establishment." He spread his torch to inflame the sources of impiety.

"They loiter now, then slink back in the morrow to sacred topes of inebriety. The law must be enforced with exigence." He thus declared as he burned down the gates in scouring of charred corpses to reclaim the bawd intransigent. She ran from fate, taken refuge in a hovel 'midst the storm of wind-borne sulfur, but the tent's flaps were penetrated by a prong-fringed arm.

Alarmed, Ninkasi booted hardily, she then begat a strong reaction from the entering man. It was but Yudh, the man that compagnied the slain behemoth she considered a friend. She did not speak but turned towards the fidus of Amurru, dark tears flowing down her cheeks like a rooster's talons pulping glossy apples.

Ebony eyes dilated, burning with a fierce blameworthiness. Her staring perennial did agitate the man she eyed to speak, "We must escape straight'way to further south, for durance of thy poling stakes apeak yet not upright were put to test, and thy soothsaying abilities were found but forgery, the raking winds inflamed the dowsed pariah, corse supine and pinioned. Hypnotized to be imbibed unto the fiery serpent of Assyria.

Remit henceforth thy pendulum to me, for the dies sanguinis has not yet ended but Io, I've stol'n a horse and it can sprint much faster than the clinker-laden ghost." She contemplated with a woeful mien before responding, "there is no abscond from Pazuzu, no mighty mount nor glen may alter his ascension. Brood and despond, then pray his sacerdotal rage be swift engulfing us in flames, look how the canvas is holed by flick'ring brimstone, and the mist of cremation seeps through the ominous gaps."

"I came not here for altercations, Ninkasi. If thou art this effete, then ungarm the tablets of the destinies and I'll be gone, and thy troubled heart be left unharmed." But as he hastily spoke, the faint moon's shine divulged the shadowy soldiers looming near. Without pause, he grabbed Ninkasi underneath the arm and pulled upon his neighing horse's tassel.

To disappear into Borsippa's grandeur.