Legend of Ishi

Luca went in the direction pointed by General Hazas, but there was a pile of steaming excrement freshly pulled by his camel on the ground. He immediately knew what General Hazas wanted to do.

He pulled Inanna up and was about to press her face against the dung pile. The strong stench made Inanna wake up from a nightmare, and began to slap Luca crazily, holding her hand tightly, mouth He yelled "Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" with his shoulders on the ground, refusing to get close to the pile of excrement.

Luca got the result he wanted, but he was afraid that the female slave would revert to her old ways after being easily released, and the strength in her hand was not loose, and she threatened: "Don't be afraid, this is a good thing, the Bedouin in the desert They all use camel urine to wash their hair, look at you, you are so dirty, you just use camel dung to get rid of lice."

Seeing that Inanna was about to be pushed into the disgusting object by the strength of Luca, General Hazas stood up and became a good person at this time: "Okay, Luca, this is just a female slave, you and her What are you fighting for?"

Only then did Luka let go of his hand. He squeezed his fist and felt his hands were wet. He saw Inanna lying on the ground with tears in her eyes, he was a little guilty, but even more vicious: "Eat all your food Already!"

Inanna stood up with a stiff face, and squatted back under the tree, picking up the broken cake bit by bit with her fingers, putting it into her mouth and chewing mechanically, until there were no more white pieces on the bare rock. As far as the crumbs were concerned, she drank the whole crock pot of water without leaving any, and the blood on her forehead flowed into her mouth together with the water, and she didn't seem to feel anything.

Luca suddenly remembered that when he was 8 years old, he was still working in the quarry, carrying a stone that was almost half his height, and was whipped forward by the supervisor.He didn't think he was much nobler than Inanna, but he had a heart loyal to the prince, and he wanted the slave girl to listen to the prince.

But Inanna was too dirty now, so he took her to the small pond, told her to wash her face, hands and feet as soon as possible, and threw her some herbs for her to chew and apply to the wound.

Prince Izmi saw everything in his eyes and was quite satisfied with Luka's actions, so he ordered General Hazas: "Let the female slave be handed over to Luka to take care of him. He can't just be used to raise pigeons. It's time to learn how to do it." Something else."

"Yes," General Hazas presented a simple map drawn with a reed pen dipped in black soot and water: "Prince, Casey is already listening to orders at the harbor."

"No," Izmi thought for a while, "The Lebanese forest is not far away. I want to find the teacher along the way."

General Hazas thought that it would be too much to make a fuss if he visited Master Rabalu just for a female slave, and Izmi saw his concerns: "I have my own intentions. Midavan has been missing for a long time. Once... the domestic situation will definitely change. Changes have occurred, although the father has not considered the possibility of the princess succeeding, he only considers Midavan as a candidate for marriage. But if I really become his only heir, I... need Teacher Rabalu's guidance."

It was only then that General Hazas suddenly realized, but as the two generations of old courtiers who assisted King Bitaido and the prince, he also had a loyal word: "Prince, regarding the succession of the throne, the king will not consider other people except you. The king has always been respectful, and he will remain the same as before, after all, the king will never doubt your loyalty if you are a father and son."

"I am loyal to my father." Izmi stroked the black iron ring on his hand, which is the only emblem of being the heir of the kingdom. Another person in the whole country who has a black iron ornament is King Bitedo, his father. .

As the top secret of Bitedo's dominance of the Anatolian plateau, the market value of black iron at that time was equivalent to 60 times that of gold. Even the king of Bitedo only had a short sword and a throne made of black iron. .

After all, these priceless treasures were used to expand the empire's territory, not to show the luxury of the royal family.

Hazas heard the helplessness of the prince, and thought that he traveled all over the world as a spy in order to avoid suspicion at a young age. Now that the king is still in his prime, the prince has grown up gradually, and he is afraid that he will be even more trembling in the future.

He changed the subject. "So what about Casey?"

"Let him set sail as originally planned to go to Phoenicia to collect precious cloth goods," the prince said with a slight smile, "After we bid farewell to Mr. Rabaru, we will cross the Syrian desert and then join Casey for Egypt."

General Hazas said strangely: "Let Casey search for rare treasures, I'm afraid this reckless man is not good at it."

Izmi didn't care: "Since you're pretending to be a businessman, it's better to dress up a bit more, and put more good things on the boat, so that you can sneak into the Egyptian royal palace in the name of paying tribute. Phoenicia is the richest place in the Great Green Sea. I am afraid that the goods produced in excess will be difficult for others to look at."

But as he spoke, Izmi's amber eyes dimmed again: "The trip may be delayed for a few days compared to the original plan. Let the spies sent to Egypt not relax and continue to inquire about the news of Midavan."

General Hazas said "yes", but secretly sighed.

After another catastrophe, Inanna made up her mind to her reflection in the pond. In order to escape from birth as soon as possible, she must grit her teeth and endure all kinds of hardships. It is better to live on the ground than to suffocate under camel dung.

Thinking of this, she wiped her face and hands with her sleeves, returned to the line with a low eyebrow, and signaled to Luca to get well.

Everyone glanced at her, and Prince Izmi found that after the slave girl was cleaned, her facial features were really different from the people he usually saw.Her hair is as black as black smoky gray ink, unlike the people around the big green sea mixed with brown, and the pupils are also like this, which is particularly black and white, and the dexterity seems to come out of the pupils.

Her skin could not be called snow white, but was like the color of the ivory oil lamp in her own palace, clean and lustrous.The eyes are not big but well curved, the corners of the eyes are slightly raised, the nose is a bit flattened, and the figure is flat, which can only be regarded as pleasing to the eye, but also a bit exotic.

But it's not easy for this female slave to use the dexterity in her eyes on the right way. Get rid of the strange doubts on her body, and just put it in the palace to make a rare decoration. Maybe someday my father will take a fancy to it. Also unknown.

He beckoned Luca to pass, and told him softly to take care of this little bauble.

The sun was slightly to the west, and the whole team took the time to set off again.

Inanna's life was a little easier. She was tied to a camel specially used for carrying luggage, and her whole body was pressed against a roll of carpet. Dazzled, she walked like this for two days before she saw signs of forests and farmers.

She was no longer lucky enough to be able to sleep on that roll of woolen blanket, the prince drove her out of the tent, and she had to sleep on Luca's back for a living.Since she was able to execute the principle of one command and one action well when facing Luka, the young man was no longer vicious towards her, and even tacitly allowed her to sleep behind him near the fire after binding his hands and feet at night , to isolate the cold night wind and the eyes of other soldiers.

She was also used to getting up with Luca before dawn every day, packing up the bedding, and preparing the prince's washing utensils and hot water for cleaning his face. Inanna was already able to dress the prince skillfully, although it was usually just a robe.Now she kneels very smoothly in various occasions where kneeling is required, only for one day to be able to walk with legs straight and straight.

Inanna knelt on the ground, holding the belt with both hands, the prince took it and put it on herself, and took out a bright silver waist knife from under the pillow, and fastened it on himself.

The prince never puts on or removes the knife by himself. Inanna skillfully puts on the shoes for the prince in silence. Seeing him standing up with the knife on his waist, he is so handsome that it almost blinds people's eyes. , Inanna has been going blind every morning recently. If she hadn't seen a lot of handsome men and beautiful men on TV, she might have sung love songs as boldly as the village girls nearby.

At this moment, Luca lifted the curtain and came in, brought warm water soaked in flowers for the prince to wash his hands, and then followed the prince out of the tent to have breakfast.Inanna waited until the tall figure went out, and then she let out a sigh of relief, and hurriedly followed.

Because it was already late yesterday when she was stationed, Inanna realized that the place she is now is gradually deserted, and in the distance is the Syrian desert that Luca mentioned. She has never seen this kind of desert that can swallow life barren land.

This is an oasis near the edge of the desert, because it is located at the junction of Bitedor, the former Hurits of Mitanni, and the junction of Babylon and Assyria, and the other end of the desert is the Lebanese forest and the rich land of Phoenicia , There are a lot of businessmen passing by.

In particular, Assyrian merchants established this trade route 1000 years before the rise of Mesopotamian civilization, bringing wool, wheat, fine wine, copper and tin for smelting bronze to their neighbors.They are so bold and good at calculating. They are neither afraid of the desert drying up nor the beasts in the dense forest. Any political turmoil in any country can not shake the importance of Assyrian merchants. The king needs them, and the common people also need them.

General Hazas discussed for a long time with an Assyrian businessman with a bald head, and handed over a fawn that had just been captured by the hunter to Luca.

Luka took up the knife and bled the little creature. Among these people, only Inanna would call it a little creature. The others thought they were about to enter the desert, but they just wanted a piece of meat to replenish their strength.

General Hazas bought some dried meat from the businessman and hung it on his luggage. Luca was roasting the venison till it crackled. fireball.The men pulled out their waist knives and began to share the deer.And Luca held a plate made of silver, and placed the deliciously roasted deer tongue sliced ​​into thin slices, and poured the freshest and tenderest piece of meat from the deer's back cut off in advance with saffron sauce. , and placed it in front of the prince.

Then Luca took out another bronze utensil from the luggage. It looked like a medicine bowl. Peeled pomegranates and a cup were handed over, and Inanna very cleverly began to juice the pomegranate.

Of course, she has no blessing to share. The cup of fresh and thick juice that has not been mixed with water was finally given to the prince. When she carried the "juicer" to the oasis to clean it, she picked up some remaining juice. , the fresh pomegranate picked on the plateau is sweet, fragrant, sour and refreshing. It is a taste that Inanna has never experienced. Imported fruit juice, which is expensive but of poor quality, felt sore again, secretly cursing that princes and profiteers are not good things.

That being said, when she returned, she looked at the prince who was still moving elegantly and noblely during the meal, looked at the red syrup in his cup, and looked at the golden meat on his plate, the aroma was so delicious that Inanna salivated.

Because she hadn't had enough food for a long time, her expression was very explicit, so Inanna didn't feel that she had lost her temper but she couldn't get rid of her bones, but she really lost the prince's appetite.

It's a pity that she can't make portraits of those now, not even the deer with almost skeleton left on the fire.

Seeing that the prince was eating absent-mindedly, Luca became anxious, pulled Inanna aside and ate half of the deer head. Sprinkle a pinch of fine salt on top.Such game, even without condiments, is still fragrant and confusing.

Until she swallowed the last bite of meat, she drank the water in the water bag with a "thud thump". Inanna turned her back and re-tightened the shoelaces, officially welcoming her desert trip with deep feet and shallow feet. .