Then, without explanation, Emperor Euphrates bade him go on, and the
trader forgot their odd reaction as he continued his tale.
The trader related that, according to the Patriarch Noah, God was going
to send a great flood to judge the world. Water, declared the
messenger, would actually rain in droplets from the sky in so great a
quantity, and for so great a time, sufficient as to drown all the earth
even unto the inundation of the tops of the highest mountain peaks,
because of the perpetual wickedness of men.
At mention of this unheard-of 'rain of droplets', the room was filled
with rank consternation and the openly expressed scoffing of more than
a few of those high-born present, momentarily interrupting the
apocalyptic narrative. But perceiving a disapproving frown from Emperor
Euphrates, a stern-faced Borla silenced them all with a warning look
and lifting of fingers upon a momentarily uptilted wrist at the end of a
black-enshrouded arm, and the trader finally went on.
This Patriarch Noah, said the trader, was calling upon all men to
repent in sackcloth and ashes of their evil ways, before God's thinning
patience should finally run out and his wrath bring this harsh
judgement upon all their heads.
"This is indeed a far-fetched tale," mused a deeply frowning Borla in
his customarily heavy, foreboding tone of voice.
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