People of the Flood (Ark Chronicles 2) (25 page)

Nimrod drew a dagger
. With shaky fingers, Chamoth strung his bow. Uruk raised his head, looking sick, but he swayed upright and pulled a dagger out as sweat bathed him.

“
Are you too afraid to continue facing me man-to-man?” Beor growled.

A tight smile spread onto Nimrod
’s face. He motioned his men back as he took a step toward Beor.

“
No!” a panting Chamoth shouted. “Listen to me, Uncle. You may have your life. Nimrod has promised us this. But you must leave him Semiramis.”

“
Look at what he did to Dakis,” Uruk said. “Beor can’t go free now.”

“
Dakis attacked him,” Chamoth said. “Nimrod, you promised not to kill Beor.”

“
No one’s killing me,” snarled Beor.

“
You may live,” Nimrod said, with blood soaking his tunic. “But you must leave Semiramis.”

Beor spat on the ground.

“Please, Uncle,” Chamoth said. “Don’t force them to kill you.”

Beor roared and rushed, with his axe raised.

With a hiss, Gilgamesh’s arrow sped into Beor’s meaty shoulder.

Beor fell back
. Hilda screamed. Semiramis staggered to her feet, dodging past Beor and into Nimrod’s arms so she smeared his blood onto her clothes. She wept, and Nimrod scowled on seeing her bruised face and mud-matted hair.

“
You dare not slay Beor,” Gilgamesh whispered, a second arrow notched and ready. “It would forever poison Canaan and his sons against you.”

Nimrod shoved Semiramis into Gilgamesh
’s arms. He tore his spear out of his shield and advanced on Beor. Beor sat up, his teeth clenched against the pain.

“
I give you your life, Beor. You were a great man once, a mighty hunter.”

An ugly sneer twisted Beor
’s features. “Don’t think the loss of a leg makes me any less a man. I can still kill you one on one.”

“
Go, Beor,” Nimrod said, pointing with his spear. “Take your chariot and run to Japheth.”

Beor struggled to his feet
. Blood trickled from his shoulder where the arrow protruded.

“
Daddy!” Hilda screamed. “Let me go to my daddy.”

Uruk had circled around and now held her.

“Go, Beor, before I change my mind,” Nimrod said.

“
First give me my daughter,” Beor said, sweat beading his bald head.

“
I’ll give you your daughter,” Nimrod said, his eyes bright. “But first you must divorce Semiramis.”

“
Daddy!” Hilda wailed, struggling in Uruk’s grip.

Beor scanned the unsmiling Hunters.

“Divorce her,” Nimrod said.

Beor smiled in a dreadful way
. “I was going to give her back to her father, Tarshish, and get my sheep back, but if you wish to take a viper to your bosom, who am I to stop you? She’s yours, you jackal.” Raising his voice, Beor shouted, “I divorce the harlot, Semiramis, because she’s an adulteress, an unfaithful wife.”

Nimrod motioned to Uruk.

Hilda fled to her father. With a sweep of a big hand, Beor shoved her behind him and backed away. He cut the wounded donkey out of the traces and boarded his chariot. Passion consumed him. “Beware his treachery, you fools! Nimrod will lead you to the grave.”

8.

The Hunters built a litter with two spears and a cloak, placing the wounded Dikas on it. As they did, Nimrod drew Semiramis aside.

“
This is a fine mess,” he whispered

Semiramis had mud in her hair and bruises on her face, while exhaustion had stolen her beauty
. “You can’t blame this on me.”

“
Who else pushed Beor over the edge?”

She clutched him by the arm, pushing him further away from his men
. “You swore you loved me.”

He wanted to ask her when
. He had always been careful not to say it.

She angrily wiped tears
away, waiting, until she said, “Why did you come after me then?”

He grabbed her arms
. “Control yourself.” He glanced at his men, who studious looked the other way. So he dared enfold her in a hug. “Listen to me,” he whispered. “You’re safe. What’s happened, happened. We’ll return to the settlement and… We’ll have to concoct a story.”

“
Why do you need a story? You’re Nimrod, leader of the Hunters. Haven’t you told me many times that you fear no man?”

“
That doesn’t mean I can do whatever I want. We have to be careful, my darling. I’m not sure I can see you for the next few weeks, until tempers cool, and then—”

She grabbed the front of his tunic
. “I rid myself of Beor for you. Now you will wed me.”

“
Yes, yes, of course. But first—”

She shook him
. “Now. You’ll marry me now, this instant, in front of your men.”

“
Semiramis, listen to me. We have to tread lightly. We have to win people over to the idea of Beor…” His eyes narrowed. “You’ll have to start a rumor that he went berserk. Then, as time—”

“
No,” she hissed. “Don’t you see? They’ll call me an adulteress. Your men heard him say it.”

“
Don’t worry about them. They’ll say what I tell them to say.”

She laughed in his face
. “You’re a fool if you believe that. I’ll be branded an adulteress and dragged out of the settlement and stoned to death.”

“
I won’t let them.”

“
That’s right. Because, as my husband, you’ll either defend me or die with me.”

Nimrod licked his lips, calculating.

She squirmed free and turned her back on him as she hugged herself.

“
Semiramis,” he said.

She whirled around, with her eyes ablaze
. “Either you marry me, as you’ve promised many times, or I’ll tell people all the secrets you’ve whispered to me as we’ve made love.”

Nimrod searched her face.

“Don’t think I won’t, my love. Either you live with me or you die with me. O Nimrod, I promise you that.”

He grinned suddenly in that bright way of his, with his white teeth gleaming and force seeming to ooze out of him
. “Semiramis.” He hugged her and then held her at arms-length. “Oh, how I feared for you, my darling. You have no idea how sick I was as I tracked you, wondering if Beor had indeed gone mad. And my idea just now… it was only your safety and your reputation that I was thinking about. But if you believe it is better, we marry right away… yes! You’re right. But it can’t be one of my Hunters who marries us.”

“
Why not?”

“
My father must do it. Otherwise, he might denounce our marriage. We must win him over—”

“
No!” she said. “You will marry me.”

“
Of course. That’s what I’m saying. As soon as we get back, that night we’ll do it. But my father must marry us. Believe me; this is going to shock everyone. To make it stick and to make sure it doesn’t ruin our plans, we have to force my father to put his prestige behind us.”

“
However you do it, Nimrod, just as long as it’s done.”

Despite his wound, h
e swept her into his arms. And he forced himself to whisper into her ear: “I love you, Semiramis.”

She grew still, and she arched back to peer into his eyes
. “Oh, Nimrod,” she said, kissing him. “I love you, too.”

9.

Two evenings later, Nimrod and his Hunters slunk back into the settlement. Each had made solemn vows to Nimrod, and he to them. As they departed, he reminded them of the vows. Then he took Semiramis to his father’s house.

“
Whatever you do, don’t lose your temper or threaten my father,” he said.

“
If you keep talking to me as if I’m one of your simpletons, I’ll scream. In matters of guile, I could teach your mother lessons.”

“
If that’s true, then tonight you’ll act submissively. Look down most of the time, and—”

She grabbed his muscled biceps
. “I know my part. Just make sure your father’s will doesn’t overpower yours.”

They entered the house
, and he took her deep into the inner sanctum, a room filled with curios from the Antediluvian world and various stones of odd shapes or colors.

“
I’ve never seen his famous stone collection,” she said, picking up a black rock.

He took it out of her hand and carefully set it exactly as it had been on the shelf
. Then he placed her on a bench. He stepped back, studying her. “Put on your hood,” he said, “and fold your hands in your lap.”

She did, bowing her head demurely.

He grunted and exited the room, returning with his mother. Deborah blinked as if waking from slumber. Her eyes got big as she stared at Semiramis sitting in the inner sanctum.

“
Are you two mad?”

Nimrod sat beside Semiramis, taking one of her folded hands
. “I love her, Mother. I want to marry her.”

“
Impossible,” Deborah said.

Semiramis kept her head bowed, although her fingers tightened
. Nimrod flashed his grin as he patted Semiramis’ hand. As he talked, Deborah kept shaking her head. “Your father will never agree to this.”

“
He must,” Nimrod said. “I’ll die without Semiramis.”

Deborah
waved her fan, and she turned toward the door. “Wait here.”

Nimrod took out a rag and mopped his face.

“That went well,” Semiramis mocked.

He ignored her sarcasm as he leapt up and paced
. Soon they heard approaching footsteps. He slid back beside her, taking her hand again.

Kush exploded into the room, with Deborah hurrying behind him
. His dark broad face seethed with wrath, like a cave bear that had found an intruder in his lair. He stopped on sight of the pair, and his nostrils flared.

For several seconds
, no one said a word. Nimrod kept his features even, and he refused to look away even as his guts boiled. Finally, Semiramis stirred, glancing up. “We’re to be married,” she said.

Kush lurched toward them, his right hand clenching and unclenching.

Nimrod stood slowly, as one might in the presence of a man-killing monster.

“
No marriage,” Kush growled.

“
Beor divorced her,” Nimrod said. “He—”

Kush made a strangled sound, shaking his head.

“I ask you to reconsider, Father,” Nimrod said, sounding strangely meek.

“
No!” Kush said.

Nimrod drew a deep breath
. “One way or another, I plan to marry her.”

Kush
’s eyes were bloodshot, furious, filled with volcanic rage. “I forbid it.”

“
You can as much forbid the sun to shine,” Nimrod said.

Kush roared, grabbing Nimrod one-handed by the throat, slamming him against the wall
. “No marriage. Never!”

Nimrod pried at the thick fingers, gasping.

Deborah fairly flew across the room. “No, Kush, no, let him explain.”

Kush dropped his arm and staggered back, fuming, clenching his teeth until he pounded a fist into his palm
. “A marriage will split the tribe. It will drive Canaan and his sons into fury.”

Hunched over, gasping, Nimrod massaged his throat as Semiramis bent over him.
“Release him, harlot,” Kush hissed. “Get your filthy claws off of him.”

Nimrod straightened, while Semiramis ducked behind him.

“Please, husband,” Deborah said, “keep your voice down. Let him reason with us.”

“
The Hunters aren’t for him to gorge his lusts,” Kush hissed, “to waylay whoever he wants. The Hunters must be trusted by all.”

“
I know, I know,” Deborah said.

“
He stole a man’s wife!” shouted Kush. “That’s adultery.”

Nimrod looked at Semiramis, and defeat seemed to be in his eyes.

“I’ll tell your father what I know,” Semiramis whispered. “I promise you I will.”

Nimrod stared at her only a moment before nodding sharply
. “Adultery you say, Father. I wonder, is murder any better?”

Kush
’s head snapped around, and he lurched forward.

“
No,” pleaded Deborah, grabbing him by the arm. “Don’t fight. Please, my husband. Please.”

Kush breathed heavily
. “How could you be so foolish?”

“
I’m in love, Father.”

“
No!” Kush roared, and he smashed his fist against his palm. “Tribal unity, that’s what I’ve struggled for all my life. This will split the tribe. And what happens then when Japheth and his cunning sons hear of this? They’ll march on us. They’ll say,
Now is the time for us to fulfill Noah’s curse
. Is that what you want? To be their slave? To fetch and carry water for the sons of Japheth?”

“
I will never be a slave,” Nimrod said.

Kush pointed a thick finger at Semiramis
. “Then she must go home.”

“
Beor divorced her,” Nimrod said.

“
She must go home and face Canaan’s judgment,” Kush said. “There is no other way.”

Semiramis clutched hold of Nimrod.

“I love her, Father.”

Kush scowled
. “I have other sons. I have other children who can build the Hunters. Don’t think you’re irreplaceable.”

“
No,” Deborah said. “You can’t mean that.”

“
Why not?” Kush said. “If he won’t obey—”

“
He’s fearless,” Deborah said. “He has wits and courage, and, like you, he loathes second place. He’s the perfect warrior for your plans. Warriors are impetuous.”

“
If he’s not under control, he is a danger to us both,” Kush growled.

“
Give him the girl,” Deborah said. “He’s in love, that’s plain to see. Bind him that much more tightly to you. Nimrod isn’t an ingrate. He will strive that much harder in your service, beholden to the father who risks all to give him such a great prize.”

“
And what of us?” Kush asked. “What of the tribe? No one will agree to this.”

“
Oh, my husband, then we must think, we must use our wits,” Deborah said.

Kush shook his head.

“Remember your youth, my husband. How you fought and persevered to gain me. Can your most courageous son do any less?”

Kush squinted at Nimrod.

“In a few weeks,” Deborah said, “after we have softened the people—”

Semiramis prodded him.

“—No,” Nimrod said. “I must marry Semiramis tonight.”

Kush and Deborah stared at him as if he was deranged.

“Tonight,” Nimrod said. He drew Semiramis under the crook of his arm. “I will live or die with her, that I swear.”

A low growl emanated from Kush.

White-faced, Deborah whispered in his ear, pulling him, dragging him unwillingly from the room. At the last moment, he nodded, walking out, slamming the door shut and throwing a bolt, locking the pair within.