She was about to retire to her
tent, but all thought of nourishment was forgotten as she shook her
head vigorously in the negative. Then in response to his words she put
aside her breakfast and rose to her feet. Resorting to her tent, she
retrieved the clay tablet of the night before and emerged holding it by
it's bamboo-backed box frame.
'Not so', she wrote, and showed it to him.
Then, growing bolder, she turned it to herself, and underlined with
exaggerated slowness this direct refutation, and turned it again to
show him, regarding him eye to eye with a certain sense of somber
gravity. She was not talking so much with words now, but with her
entire physical posture for added emphasis.
He could have had her executed, for it was dangerously disloyal to
contradict him like that, especially with any question having directly
to do with the gods.
"Ah, so," said Emperor Euphrates, nodding. "Not to kill unnecessarily,
I suppose, eh? But, of a truth, we all know that without shedding of
blood, there can be no sacrifice. According to the old legends, was not
Adam himself covered with an animal skin when he was banished from the
Garden of Eden? Surely, if this Invisible God--"
He paused, looking obliquely past Si'Wren, as if searching for some
clue of more than passing significance, the better to pursue his
unusual chain of logic.
Pages:
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331