The Pursuit of
Shugat-Nergal
A story set in Ancient Sumer
by James W. Bell © 2002 - 2004
46
The shade reported to Shugat-Nergal at midmorning, his voice coming out of thin air. “There are four bandits ahead.”
Shugat recognized Mulim’s voice. “Didn’t you frighten them away?”
“I tried, but they seem determined to face you.”
“Then it will be up to my skills.”
“Don’t overrate yourself, Shugat. Four is a problem even for a man of your skills; they can come at you from all sides. Remember, you have only one spear.”
“One should be sufficient. As a master thief, I am exceptionally nimble and quick of hand. Go back, my friend, and wait with the bandits. I will soon follow. When I arrive, position yourself behind my back and warn me if any try to attack me from the rear.”
“I fear for your safety, Shugat-Nergal, but I will do as you ask.”
* * *
As he made his way along the river gorge, Shugat sighted the brigands from a distance. He saw three armed men standing shoulder to shoulder where the pass narrowed, blocking the way. Where was the fourth? Shugat failed to locate him, but pressed on. To turn back now would be an open display of cowardice, and his life would last only till they ran him down.
Shugat boldly approached the mountain robbers. At five paces, he stopped. “Move aside. Make way for the Great Shugat-Nergal.”
The tallest outlaw spoke. “We have heard of you, Shugat-Nergal. There are tales of you being a daring thief and of you coming back from the Land of No Return with stolen wealth. They say you’ve brought a shade with you and are teaching him to steal from us. We won’t stand for that. We intend to do away with you and your ghost.”
Shugat raised his hand. “I come in peace. As you see, I have no one with me. I am weary, anxious to return to my home in Uruk, which is in the Land of Sumer. Allow me to pass and I will leave the mountainlands in peace.”
“If that is so, Shugat-Nergal, then lay down your spear and strip off your clothing. We will allow you to proceed if you go naked as a newborn babe.”
“I am the Great Shugat-Nergal,” Shugat proclaimed. “I intend to continue on my way, dressed as I am. I warn you, none had better try to stop me.”
“Hah,” the tallest bandit said and raised his spear.
Shugat moved quickly. He took the butt end of his spear in both hands and, darting forward, swung it at the bandit’s weapon. Whack! It went flying out of the outlaw’s hands and splashed in the river.
The other two robbers jumped into action. One charged Shugat while the second launched a spear at him. Shugat sidestepped the thrown spike as he backhanded the other brigand, sending him head over heels. No bandit was left on his feet and armed.
“Behind you, Shugat!” the invisible Mulim whispered in his ear.
Shugat whirled around in time to see a bandit behind him throw his spear. With lightning speed, Shugat knocked it aside with his own lance. Then, on the follow-through, he made a quick jab, stabbing his opponent in the belly. The man folded and collapsed.
Shugat swiveled back. He caught the last man, the tall one who had been their spokesman, picking up one of the fallen weapons. “Drop it, or I’ll run you through.”
The bandit let it clatter to the ground. Facing Shugat, he said, “Mercy, I have a wife and young children.”
Shugat turned back to the man behind him who was groaning and holding his stomach. “Come over here with your companions.” Shugat waved his spear. “I want to be able to keep an eye on you.”
The wounded bandit crawled to his comrades, groaning in pain. No one else moved. An uneasy silence ensued. Then the tall outlaw suddenly prostrated himself, bowing till his head touched the ground. “Have mercy on us, O Great Shugat-Nergal. We are husbands and fathers with wives and children who wait at home for our return.”
“Then strip,” Shugat ordered. “Leave your clothes and weapons behind. I’ll allow you the same terms you offered me. I give you permission to depart unharmed if you go like newborn babes.”
The tall one stepped forward to protest. “Don’t argue,” Shugat said. “Strip and get out of here before I become angry.”
The bandits started pulling off their kilts and what vests they wore. “Sandals too,” Shugat reminded them. “Everything.”
When the brigands were naked, he motioned for them to go. Humbled, they hobbled away, carrying their wounded comrade, mincing as rocks cut their bare feet.
After they were out of sight, Mulim’s voice came to Shugat out of the air, “You’re a man of action.”
“It’s a result of hours of practice, my friend. Quick change and sleight of hand.” Shugat held out his hand and flexed his fingers. “Does wonders for coordination.”
Mulim materialized and looked at his own hands. He bent and tried to pick up one of the fallen spears but his vaporous hand was unable to grasp the weapon or pick it up. “You offer good advice, Shugat-Nergal. But, alas,” he sighed, “it’s too late for me. I’m a ghost.”
47
The next morning, Mulim dematerialized and started down the gorge early but hurried back. “Shugat, I bring very bad news. There is another group of bandits ahead, a large group. At least twenty, maybe more.”
“Then I’ll have to resort to trickery.”
“Shugat, I don’t think there’s any way you’ll be able to make it past this group.”
“My friend, don’t worry. Remember, besides being a master thief, I am an escape artist. There’s nothing that can stop me.”
“Shugat, if these outlaws catch sight of you, you’re a dead man.”
“Don’t be so pessimistic, Mulim. I’m not only quick with the hand, I’m quick with the brain.” Shugat tapped his head. “Now, look at me and tell me, how do I look?”
The shade shrugged. “Like yourself, like you always do.”
Shugat shook his head. “I mean, how do I appear compared to other humans? I haven’t shaved for weeks. And these clothes …” He looked at his leather kilt which was ripped, scuffed, and water stained. “I was wearing this when I fled the Underworld and floated down the river. So, look again, Mulim, and tell me, really, what you think.”
“I didn’t want to mention it, Shugat, but I must admit you seem thoroughly disgusting. If I weren’t already dead, I would hesitate to associate with you.”
“That, my friend, is what I needed to know.” Shugat laid his spear on the pile of weapons left behind by the bandits the previous day.
“What are you doing?”
“Abandoning my spear,” Shugat replied. “It’s my only way out.”
“Have you lost your mind? Gone mad?”
Shugat-Nergal grinned.
“Just because you’re a thief and have learned trickery, don’t think you can get away with everything.”
“Being a thief, I’m also adept at quick change. Watch.”
Shugat searched the thickets along the bank of the river. Finding a bush with plump purplish berries, he picked one and squeezed it till juice spurted out. “Aha,” he said and smeared the juice over his face, darkening his complexion. He took off his leather kilt and picked more berries, enough to cover his entire body. Then he rummaged through the articles of clothing left on the ground by the bandits and selected the saddest remnants, which he put on. Dressed, he smeared mud here and there and rubbed a little dung in his hair.
Shugat viewed his reflection in the river. Then he turned around and asked Mulim, “Well, comrade, what do you think of me now?”
“I have to admit, had I not seen you do it, even I would not be able to recognize you. Shugat-Nergal, you’ve made yourself totally repulsive.”
“Good,” Shugat said. “Then I’m almost ready.” He sat down and gazed up at the sky. The wait wasn’t long. A pair of eagles flew high overhead, on their way down the gorge.
“That’s it!” Shugat exclaimed and jumped to his feet. He grabbed a fallen tamarisk limb to use as a walking stick. “I’m ready to face that horde of bandits.”
“Don’t you want me to go ahead and warn them?” the shade asked. “Or circle behind you and to watch your back?”
“My friend, there’s no longer any need for assistance. Come. Let’s go.”
48
It didn’t take Shugat long to reach the brigands. They rushed forward to surround him with their spears. Shugat immediately dropped his walking stick and fell to his knees, holding his hands out in supplication. “Sirs, I am a starving man,” he said. “Food.”
“Are you the Great Shugat-Nergal?” the chief asked.
“I?” Shugat gagged and almost choked. “Poor me? I’m dying of hunger and in desperate need of food. How could I be what’s-his-name? Have you any food? I beg you.”
“You were coming down the gorge at the same time as the Great One.”
Shugat bowed so his forehead touched the ground. “Sirs, I am truly famished. I am in bad need of sustenance. Food. Please. A scrap, a morsel perhaps?”
“You must have seen the Great One.”
Shugat roved his eyes. “Sirs, a bit … even the least dried crust of bread … might help restore my tortured memory.”
The inquisitor looked down at Shugat in disgust. “Give this beggar some food. Feed him gruel so he can talk while he eats.”
Shugat worked his way forward on bended knees. “O, thank you, kind sir, thank you.”
A bowl of barley porridge was brought and handed to Shugat. He immediately dipped his hand in it to scoop up a glob and dribble it into his mouth. “Ah,” he said as he slurped.
“Pitiful,” the questioner commented. “I ask you again, man, did you see the Great Shugat-Nergal?”
Shugat took another mouthful, belched and exuded a grateful sigh. “I did, sirs, I did!”
“Where?”
Shugat pointed up the gorge with food-covered fingers that dripped gobs of porridge. “Up there.”
“What was he doing?”
“Attempting to defend himself.”
“From other mountain men?”
Shugat shook his head.
“By Nin! Who?”
Shugat looked around warily. He turned and looked behind him with half closed eyes. Then he used his eating hand to motion the outlaw to come closer so he could whisper in his ear. “From the gods, sir. There were two of them.”
“Did you say gods?”
Shugat nodded. “That old Ishkur and some lesser deity I didn’t recognize. They came to take him away.”
“Why?”
Shugat whispered. “Out of jealousy, sir. That’s what Ishkur it seemed.”
“Why in kur would any immortal be jealous of some mere human?”
“Because, sir, - Shugat coughed - Shugat-Nergal had interested certain goddesses.” Shugat leaned back and gave the bandit a wink. “You know what I mean?”
The outlaw stared at him.
Shugat swallowed another glob and went on. “Inanna, sir, and more importantly, Ereshkigal. How do you think he managed an escape from the Land of No Return?”
The bandit slapped his forehead. “By the gods, I’d never considered that!”
“He’s a sly devil, isn’t he, sir? Didn’t you see that pair of birds overhead? Flying down the valley shortly before I came along?”
“The two eagles? Yes, I saw them. They were up high.”
“Not eagles, sir.” Shugat shook his head. He tried putting a gobbet of gruel in his mouth but missed, smearing part of it on his unshaven chin. “They were zu-birds. One of them, the bird in front, had the Great Shugat-Nergal strapped across his back. Don’t tell me a great hunter like yourself failed to notice.”
The chief shook his head but turned around to his comrades.
“I thought one of them birds looked funny,” one of the bandits said, “like maybe he was carryin’ something.”
“Me too,” another said. “There was somethin’ strange about that lead bird.”
“Zu-birds look like eagles,” someone else said. “Up high, it’s hard to tell ‘em apart.”
“Sir,” Shugat motioned the bandit to come closer, “I overheard what Ishkur said when they were lashing him to the back of that zu-bird.”
“What?”
“He said they were flying Shugat-Nergal to the Ekur Temple. To put him on trial.”
For the first time, the bandit smiled. “By the gods! Then the Great Shugat-Nergal is going to get what he deserves.” He rubbed his hands together. “Yes. Enlil is a god who knows how to deal with mortals who get too big for their kilts.”
Shugat pointed at his now empty bowl. “I’m out of food, sir.”
“By Nin, man, have you already eaten it all?”
“I was hungry, sir.” Shugat said. “And you fed me. I don’t rightly know how to thank you for it.” He smacked his lips and lurched forward.
The bandit backstepped. “For god’s sakes, man!” he shouted. “Don’t fawn on me!”
“I can’t help it, sir. I get like this when I’m grateful.”
“By the gods!” the bandit said. “Get away from me! On your way, man!”
“Here’s your bowl,” Shugat said as he held out the bowl. “And … thank you, kind sir.” He licked his lips and started to lean forward again.
“Go away!” the bandit shouted. “Go! Go! Go!”
“Shouldn’t the man be stripped before being sent away?” asked one of the other bandits.
“Forget it!” the first bandit replied. “I won’t have a man like this running around these hills naked.” The bandit turned back to Shugat. “Get!”
Without further words, Shugat stooped to retrieve his walking stick. Then he stood up, nodded and walked away, headed down the gorge towards Sumer.
* * *
“Congratulations,” Mulim’s voice came out of thin air. “It’s remarkable that came out alive.”
“Of course,” Shugat replied, “and did you notice what else?” He pulled out his moneybag and swung it in the air. “I still have Queen Ereshkigal’s jewelry.”
“By the gods, I’d forgotten all about the jewelry!” the invisible shade exclaimed. “And you’ve made off with it. Shugat-Nergal, you really are a master thief!”
“Indeed,” Shugat said.
To Chapter 49
Go Back to the Fiction Menu
| |
