“Is he always rescuing Immakuk?” he asked.

He was probably remembering Ennikar pulling Immakuk into Anet’s Chariot at the end of the play in Ianna-Ir.

“Not at all,” I said. “They save each other. And when the Queen of the Night sends Death to take Ennikar to the underworld, it’s Immakuk who rescues him.”

“I’d like to hear that one next time,” he said. Then he yawned, stretched himself out on the hard ground, and slept. I watched him for a while, and he never moved. His breathing never changed—deep and even and completely relaxed. I looked out at the wide world around us and thought about the Namreen on our trail, and the ordinary robbers who might be at hand, about lions and starvation and death from thirst if we didn’t find water away from the trade routes—which, after all, are trade routes for a good reason. Then I lay down and tried to sleep like the Attolian.

The rainy season was well behind us, but there was still water cached in rocky depressions to supplement what we carried, and the sun was not too hot. As we moved away from the hills, I saw that there were indeed signs of life on the rolling terrain—thin grass and the occasional scraggly plant that fed the caggi. Without a trail to follow, we moved slowly. If the Attolian was impatient, it still didn’t show.

I hated caggi. I hadn’t really liked it the first time the Attolian had offered me a bite on the end of his knife. Within a few days I was so sick of it I would have almost preferred to starve. I didn’t like the taste, but what I hated more was the sad look of their small bodies when the Attolian carried them back to camp and skinned them. He often killed three or four of the creatures at a time. Stripped of their skin, they looked distressingly like little men lying in a row waiting to be cooked.

“You are Unse-Sek to the rodents,” I said, watching him work.

He bared his teeth and raised his hands like claws. “Nonsense,” he said. “I am a much tidier eater.” It was true. We picked those bones clean and buried them when we were through. Then the Attolian carefully scattered the ashes of the fire.

“We’ll have to turn west and try now for a more traveled route,” he said. We hadn’t seen any water for two days and the Namreen’s waterskins were almost dry. A little later the Attolian left me in the shade of a gully while he climbed up a nearby hill looking for a sign of a road or any man-made thing.

“Nothing,” he said when he came back. “We’ll rest here, and when it’s cooler, we’ll start west. Eventually we must hit the route between Perf and Traba and there will be water somewhere along there. If I give you the last of the water, will you tell me about Immakuk and Ennikar and the Queen of the Night?”

It was an obvious ruse to give me the last of the water, and I gratefully accepted it.

“So, the Queen of the Night, angry that her son had been killed, sent Death, her brother, after Ennikar. Death wrapped Ennikar in his wings and carried him away to the underworld.”

Brave Ennikar Strong Ennikar

taken like any man by Death

to the gray lands

through the gates of Kununigadak which none may pass

twice

none leave who have entered by way of them

on the road from which there is no way back

to the land wherein the dwellers are bereft of light

where dust is their fare dust and clay is their food and

their drink

the gray lands

Grieving Immakuk lost his friend

a loss more powerful than a great river

bowled him over

sharper than a sword

cut him through

Loss led Immakuk from his journey home

Death stalked the land as Unse-Sek had stalked

had carried away his friend Ennikar

left Immakuk nothing

Why do men die why does death take them

Immakuk asked

asked Nuri who had no answer

asked Shesmegah goddess of mercy

asked Anet to bring his friend back

The goddess of the moon heard his cries

took pity on Immakuk

took pity on him and

sent him to the stepwell of Ne Malia

lit his path there

to the underworld

Step by step Immakuk descended

to the water of Ne Malia followed the moonlight

below the water

into dark lit by moonlight descended

to the gray lands and the empty banks

before the eternal river

that has no beginning and no end

He walked the banks of that river

who knows how long

who can know how long

until he met a ferryman

Immakuk asked and the ferryman answered

two coins to cross the eternal river

Immakuk asked and the ferryman answered

all may enter none may leave but those unseen

by Kununigadak the Devourer

Only the anointed return from the gray lands

anointed with the oil from the land of the gods

only the anointed are unseen by Kununigadak

as they pass through the gates

to return to the bright lands all others remain forever

within the gates in the gray lands

bereft of light where clay is the food and

dust their drink

Two coins to cross the eternal river and Immakuk had none

tricked the ferryman

promised to pay and cheated him

rode across the wide river jumped to the shore

The ferryman said Immakuk two coins you owe me

No said Immakuk two coins I promised for a trip

across the river

But here I jumped You did not bring me across

Immakuk turned his back on the ferryman

walked who knows how long

who can know how long

to the gates of Death’s kingdom

gates guarded by Kununigadak

who allows any who choose to enter

none to leave

Immakuk passed through the gates

sought Ennikar

sought his friend

asked the gray people of the gray lands

for Ennikar

for the ointment of the gods

Found the palace of Death

brother to the Queen of the Night

Found the bottle that held the oil

that makes man immortal

that makes him invisible to Kununigadak

oil from the land of the gods

Death would not give up the bottle

would not let Immakuk

find its secret and steal it away

wanted all to come to the gated lands

All come None leave

wanted to rule over all

Immakuk was canny

coaxed Death to cajole his sister

inveigle induce convince persuade his sister

to give up Ennikar

The Queen of the Night said

where is my son where is the scion to my kindred

where is Unse-Sek

he is destroyed his head a decoration

She said she would not give up Ennikar

until she had a son to beautify her house

set up stelae to her spirits kindred to her kindred

a scion to free her spirit

to guard her footsteps

to carry her when she had drunk

to smother the life of her detractors

Ennikar gave her a son

and she gave up Ennikar

Immakuk and Ennikar

they anointed each another

with the oil of the gods

made only for the gods

“Wait,” the Attolian interrupted. “How did they get the oil?”

“No one knows,” I said. I explained that the tablet in the temple of Anet was broken and there were no copies of it. No one was sure how Immakuk got the bottle of oil from Death, what bargain he made. “When people tell the story or they put on the play of Immakuk and the gray lands, they make up different ways Immakuk might have tricked Death or different promises he might have made. Or they skip that part.”