Epic Of Ahiram (Book 1) (38 page)

–
Philology of the Dwarfs, Anonymous

The Queen was in a good mood when she received Tanios and Master Habael. The commander noticed her flushed cheeks and wondered if she had come back from a strenuous walk
. They do enhance the beauty of her deep, black eyes,
thought the commander
, and I do wonder what could eyes such as these do to the hearts of men.
He shuddered inwardly, as though warned by a mysterious instinct to keep his distance from her. She wore a long, golden dress hemmed with fine red silk thread. Her hair was tied in a tight braid and hung down her back. Ramel was without her crown.

Then again
, thought Tanios,
Her Majesty is not known to obey the royal protocol of dress and deportment
.

“Commander Tanios, my dear Habael, what a pleasure to see both of you on this bright sunny morning.”

“Your Majesty does us much honor,” replied Tanios.

“And it is well deserved. What, may I ask, brings you to these forlorn quarters of the castle?”

“Surely, Her Majesty is aware of the two unfortunate events that have disgraced the walls of this august castle,” answered Tanios. “It has occurred to Master Habael that these actions may be connected to an old prophecy concerning four drops of blood. Is Your Majesty acquainted with this prophecy?”

“I am,” replied Queen Ramel, who, by now, had seated herself on a raised rosewood chair studded with silver pins and cushioned with purple damascened pillows. She bid her guests to stand before her. “Continue, Commander Tanios, please.”

“If it is so, then the first two murders are located directly above two of the four corners of some secret chamber. Without further information, we cannot proceed. We do not know why this alleged room is important or where it lies. Master Habael thought perhaps the history of Taniir-the-Strong may shed some light on this sordid matter. I should like for him to explain to Her Majesty what he has in mind.”

Habael bowed before the Queen and continued. “Ever since Your Majesty has graced these walls with your presence, we have all been delighted to see Your Majesty take to heart the affairs of the kingdom. It is common knowledge that Your Majesty has a keen interest in the history of Taniir-The-Strong and of Taniir-On-High, and your knowledge of this subject is unmatched in the entire kingdom. We thought that perhaps Your Majesty may be so kind as to share with us the reasons that led El-Windiir III to leave Taniir-On-High, and why he chose to build Taniir-The-Strong on this side of the mountain.”

The Queen looked at the two men for a moment and smiled. She stood up and went toward a window that overlooked the beautiful interior garden of the castle. She remained motionless, collecting her thoughts, then turned to lean against the windowsill.

“As you know, gentlemen, I came to you from the fair land of Babylon, where the highest and deepest mysteries lie within the Supreme Temple of Marduc, or Baal, his more familiar name. Taniir-The-Strong, though magnificent in its design and architecture, seemed like a peasant’s hole to my eyes when I first arrived here, and soon I felt the desire to widen my horizons, to seek and explore the surroundings. Rapidly, this proved enchanting and the majestic beauty of this mountain attracted me. Then one day, I found my way to the top where I spent countless hours exploring the ruins of Taniir-On-High. This you have knowledge of, my dear Tanios
—
through your faithful Silent
—
and I am grateful to you for not intervening, despite the fact that these ruins are forbidden ground.”

“You are our Queen,” answered Tanios with a smile. His answer did not conceal his disapproval of her behavior, and if she understood the underlying reproach, she did not show it.

“I explored the ruins and they fascinated me. The account I received from the shepherds and local peasants I met was fragmentary and disappointing. Yet, bit-by-bit, I pieced together what I believe is the history of Taniir-On-High. Masters Garu and Ibromaliöm proved to be invaluable aids. The breadth of their knowledge is truly astounding.

“As you already know, El-Windiir built Taniir-On-High after the victory of the Malikuun. The size of its ruins tells us it was a formidable fortress; the greatest perhaps, save for Bashan-Sulmaron in Marduc. Her builders must have studied under Babylonian masters, for the analogy between Taniir-On-High and Bashan-Sulmaron is striking. Anyway, it must have been impregnable. No assault could have penetrated her defenses.”

“So why does it lie in ruin?” asked Tanios with a tone of voice that betrayed his emotions. Like many of his kinsmen, he considered the ruins of Taniir-On-High as a personal wound.

“Because it fell under a curse, a terrible curse,” replied the Queen.

“From Baal?” asked Tanios prudently.

Queen Ramel looked at him and smiled. “No, my dear Tanios, I know your feelings, or rather your ill feelings, toward the great god Baal, and though I respect them, I do not share them. In this case, however, Baal had nothing to do with it, El-Windiir himself imposed the curse.” She raised her hand to prevent any interruption on the part of Tanios. Habael, who was standing behind Tanios, smiled. None of what the Queen said so far succeeded in eliciting a reaction from him. It was as though he had heard it all before.

Queen Ramel continued. “The songs that the shepherds and peasants of the highlands sing contain fragments of the truth behind the legend. Listening to their songs, I was struck by the similarities between the lyrics. It occurred to me that what the shepherds sang was possibly a missing fragment of another song the peasants were singing. Both shepherds and peasants attribute their song to El-Windiir, even though these two groups do not speak much to each other. I asked Garu to piece it together for me, and I believe that he came up with a plausible version. It goes like this:

“How shall I describe you, O beauty of my eyes,

You, whose abode is far above the skies?

Could a broken man describe perfection,

Can I, whom you loved, speak well about love?

Thrice have I risen higher on high,

Thrice have I ridden the winds and the storm,

Thrice have I beheld the height of the world.

Once did I love and love brought me low.

Since, long have I pursued you, O lovely of my soul,

Long have you hounded me and have made me whole.

You brought me beyond the reach of mortals,

Through gates resplendent and mighty portals.

To you, I give what I may not have taken,

By my life I swore that none would open

What unspeakable splendor has closed,

And none shall close what my love has opened.

O wisdom, standing by the river,

O beauty, beyond compare,

O lovely of the light deliver

My spirit from despair.

Only one may utter what mortals may not

beware…”

The Queen stopped and looked at Tanios smiling. “It is a pity that we do not have the rest, is it not, Commander Tanios?”

“A pity indeed,” replied the commander, breathing deeply to clear his mind. The deep, velvety voice of the Queen had entranced him, and for a short moment, he felt transported into another world.

Tanios managed to speak. “According to this poem, El-Windiir had sworn a door would be shut that no one could open, except one who would utter what mortals may not. Is this the curse?”

“I believe it is. Let me tell you more about Taniir-On-High. Until I climbed this mountain, I had little respect for El-Windiir and what he did when he fought against Baal. The Priests of Baal teach that he fought with the Malikuun, but later fell in disgrace and served the Pit. I was convinced that he was a tyrant, vain and surfeit, who would have brought back the chaos from which Baal had freed us,” she said.

Ramel whirled around and looked through the window toward the mountain. Her voice altered and became almost a whisper. “When you go up the mountain, following the old trail that is still visible, you begin to understand why he wanted to fly. The view is breathtaking. I come from a plain, and I had never beheld the world from the height of a mountain before. Standing up there, your feet in the clouds, you feel the exhilaration that he must have felt, and I confess, I wished I had wings to fly like El-Windiir.

“But this desire of flying is not the only reason why I changed my opinion of the founder of your kingdom, my dear Commander. The sheer size of these ruins and the delicate carvings on the walls made me realize the beauty of this place. It must have been of colossal proportions, yet elegant and majestic. The castle must have sprung from the mountaintop like an eagle in flight: a masterpiece.

“I was astounded by what this man, once a slave, ignorant and unskilled, managed to accomplish. I could see the able hands of the dwarfs all over the ruins, but still, beauty comes from a vision, from something beyond. It comes from the heart and soul of an architect who knew how to build an impregnable castle wrapped in beauty and majesty never seen before. The castle should have stood the test of time. We should have been standing up there now. Yet, it is now desolate: a heap of ruins. Why? What misfortune befell it?”

The Queen fell silent and the men waited.

Tanios looked at King Jamir’s wife as if he were seeing her for the first time. He was impressed by her perspicacity and analytical mind.
I have underestimated you, my Queen
, he thought,
I can see this now. I wonder, to what lengths, will you go to fulfill a dream?
His heart grew suddenly heavy

“According to tradition,” the Queen continued, “a mighty beast rose from the bowels of the earth under El-Windiir XIII. The King fought it and that led him to insanity. His son, Namiir IV, continued the battle, became blind and died mad. With him, the lineage of El-Windiir ended. The brother-in-law of Namiir styled himself King Dilandiir I, abandoned Taniir-On-High and began building Taniir-The-Strong.”

“Unlike Garu, Ibromaliöm does not doubt the existence of the beast, but he believes El-Windiir XIII did not become mad fighting the beast; he believes the king became mad because of the curse which brought the beast.”

“I do not understand,” said Tanios.

“You asked me what this curse was. Well, according to Ibromaliöm, El-Windiir established a curse against anyone who would open what he had shut. His unfortunate descendant, El-Windiir XIII, brought upon himself this curse by attempting to open what he should have left closed. The curse had a direct effect on him because he died insane and so did his son. With the death of Namiir, the entire lineage of El-Windiir ended. According to Ibromaliöm, the beast is the physical manifestation of this curse, preventing anyone entry inside the closed room.”

“What might that be?” asked Tanios, intrigued.

“The power of Tanniin,” replied Ramel. Seeing the frown that creased the commander’s forehead, she explained further. “According to ancient Babylonian traditions, when Baal pacified the land at the close of the Wars of Meyroon, he asked Tanniin to refrain from deploying his wings, lest he destroy what Baal was building. Tanniin complied at first, but later he rebelled. What this rebellion was, we do not know. All we know is that Tanniin was banished to the void, formless and without power. Yet, somehow, Tanniin contacted El-Windiir. Garu believes that El-Windiir forged his sword with meyroon so that no mortal blade could ever break it. Apparently, meyroon is lighter than a feather, yet harder than tempered steel. It cannot be melted by fire, nor shattered by the coldest ice and cannot be cursed. Garu has extensively studied the lore of the dwarfs, and it seems to point to some connection between meyroon and Tanniin. It may be that the meyroon El-Windiir possessed linked him to Tanniin. The god instructed El-Windiir on the design of the shoes, the belt, the mask, and the three pairs of wings.”

“Six wings?” interjected Tanios. “I thought there was only one pair.”

“This is the popular belief. Garu noted that the verse with the triple ‘thrice’ refers to three pairs of wings, each with a specific function. The first pair gives El-Windiir the power to reach ‘higher on high,’ which is an ancient idiom for ‘higher than anyone else.’ The second pair gives him speed and the strength to move through wind and storms. The third is mysterious. ‘To behold the height of the world’ may mean increased vision, but it is not clear how this relates to the wings.”

“So then, the shoes, the belt, the mask, and the wings are the power of Tanniin?” asked Master Tanios.

“Yes,” replied the Queen. “These artifacts are the tools the god uses to communicate his powers.”

“But if he was locked away,” wondered the commander, “how could he do this with Baal knowing? The Temple would have reacted…”

“Swiftly and without pity,” completed the Queen. Her voice was steady and did not betray the slightest emotion. “But even the gaze of the mighty Baal cannot reach the depths of these caves, so El-Windiir’s work went undetected. Furthermore, Bahiya told me that every god has his own secret way to contact seers and mediums. The Temple suppresses them whenever possible. I know that you perceive the Temple as cruel and domineering, and you are right. The Temple is filled with ambitious men and women. It attracts them and wants them to join its ranks. Then, it bends their ambitions to its own purpose. There is one true constant across the ages: no magic shall be used lest the Pit is reopened. You see, dear Tanios, the Temple does not worship Baal because he is just or benevolent. We worship him because he is the most powerful.”