Chapter 24

In the ancient world of three thousand years ago, there were many places still shrouded in ignorance and barbarism, but the Hittites were certainly not among them.

The royal capital they built, Hattusa, was a metropolis of the pre-Gregorian era, ranking among the largest and most advanced cities of its time. Inanna had been there for quite a while, and by her rough estimate, the city’s perimeter was about seven kilometers, enclosed by walls five meters high. Beyond the scattered civilian districts, the heart of the city was dominated by the royal palace and no fewer than thirty temples.

The city’s main thoroughfares were all paved with stone, and somewhere beneath them lay massive grain storehouses. Giant sphinxes guarded the main passages—the Immortal Gates of Bronze—which opened and closed with the most sophisticated hinges of the age; everyone passing through had to present credentials from the magistrate. On the plains, the sounds of grazing cattle and sheep drifted by, while deep in the jungle, countless primitive beehives were kept.

The Bible, in its accounts of this city—once glorious, then fallen into obscurity—referred to it as a land flowing with milk and honey.

General Hazas, under the guise of exercise, had brought Inanna to a high platform in the palace. He called it training, but in reality, he was just making her do his chores. He handed her a large jar of freshly squeezed milk and told her to stir it with a rod until the butter separated from the milk, at which point the task would be considered complete.

"Sukamu," the old general, abusing his power for personal gain, had said, "this is to build your strength. When I first saw you, I thought your combat style was strange, yet quite effective. If I were to change your techniques carelessly, it might lose the element of surprise against others. But you—you are simply too weak. You're only good for teasing Luka. From now on, come here every afternoon and make butter for me."

Inanna waited until he wasn't looking, scooped up a bit of the yellow butter, popped it into her mouth, and went back to work.

"Don't look so unhappy. Hatti is a good place for a woman." General Hazas watched the sunset hitting the top of the Pantheon, where the faint outlines of gods carved into the stone walls were visible: the Storm God standing on two mountains, the Sun Goddess standing on a leopard, with bulls and stags surrounding them, and their children riding on two-headed eagles, as if they, too, were watching the day come to an end.

Inanna followed his gaze, saw the sight, and connected it to his words. She frowned slightly at the old general, as if urging him to continue.

General Hazas spoke unhurriedly: "Our supreme deity is a goddess. Life for a woman in Hatti is truly easy, provided you ignore the six-month-long winter." A flash of sharpness appeared in his seemingly clouded eyes. "I know the Prince has not taken you as his own, and you need not panic. The Prince is not indifferent to women; he simply hasn't met the right one yet. He may not even have his eye on you. This mission is an opportunity for you. It would be a waste for someone of your talent to just enter the harem. Work hard for the Prince, and you may earn a favor later. Women in Hatti can do anything—be a female physician or a scribe, as you please. Ha! I forgot you haven't learned to write yet."

Inanna shot him a look, yet she was slightly moved. If she could go home, that would be best; but if she couldn't, what the old man said might not be such a bad path.

"Think about it," General Hazas said, having decided to play the "good cop" to Mura's "bad cop." "In this world, there are very few nations that can stand against ours. From the day I met you, I could tell you don't like the way the Egyptians dress with nothing on. And the King of Assyria is a man who loves women; you may not be a beauty, but you are fresh. As for Babylon, you surely cannot go there—the women there must sacrifice themselves to the goddess Ishtar at least once, spending the night with a stranger. I don't think you could endure that, could you?"

Inanna pursed her lips, looking into the distance, feeling as though she really had nowhere else to go.

If she jumped from the Lion Palace's high walls, she would be smashed into a patty on the stone road. If she tried to sneak out the front gate, she would have to pass through the Prince’s quarters, the King’s palace, and the council hall—three checkpoints. If caught and brought back, it would certainly mean a lashing, and if she resisted, it would be "three stabs and six holes."

Even if she were optimistic and imagined she received the protection of some deity to escape, she would likely get lost. Furthermore, the three great gates of Hattusa—the Sphinx Gate, the Immortal Gate, and the Earth Gate—were heavily guarded. Without travel documents, she would definitely be captured, and she didn't even know what those documents looked like!

After leaving, if she wanted to find Carol, how could she travel alone across two months of desert or find a ship to cross the Mediterranean?

Inanna ran through all the possibilities in her mind, crossed them all out, and decided to take the "international express" provided by the Prince, considering it interest on the revenge she would take later.

Seeing the smile in her sparkling black eyes—like the obsidian inlaid on the royal banner—General Hazas was genuinely pleased, feeling he had finally coerced and tempted the girl into submission. "That's it. Is there any country in this world that can compare to my Hatti? We even have black iron that no other country possesses. In time, hegemony will surely be in our hands."

This question had bothered Inanna for a long time. Although the Hittites had invented iron smelting, the supply always seemed limited, not enough to equip every soldier. While iron weapons were much sharper than bronze swords, the technology was limited, and they were just as prone to breaking after heavy slashing. If not for these constraints, the Hittites might have long since become the sole hegemons.

This look of doubt seemed to strike a sensitive nerve in General Hazas. "Don't disbelieve it. Our nation received the blessing of a prophet a thousand years ago. Hatti does not just have black iron. A thousand years ago, the prophet left us a metal with a silvery luster that is even harder than black iron. If we can decipher the inscriptions upon it and forge it, no nation will ever be our match again!"

Inanna was astonished that the Hatti people four thousand years ago could smelt steel, and that it had inscriptions—to leave a mark on metal harder than black iron, they must have had steel tools.

She shifted her body, feeling the tiny Swiss Army knife hidden in her belt press against her abdomen, and her racing heart calmed down.

There absolutely existed a passage between history and the modern world; she was one example, Carol was another, and that so-called prophet from a thousand years ago very likely was as well.

But the object General Hazas spoke of was likely well-guarded by the royal family, and it would not be easy to find out about it. Her greatest hope now was Carol, who was about to become the Queen of Egypt—the girl who had once hated the Pharaoh but was eventually moved by the hero-saving-the-beauty efforts of a nation. Inanna didn't know if Carol missed her family in the modern world, but she herself intended to go back, even if she had no family left.

General Hazas did not miss the slight excitement in Inanna's eyes, and he said smugly, "Harder than black iron—you've never heard of that, have you?" The slave's home country might be fertile and rich, with excellent textile skills, but it certainly lacked their superior weapons. "If you want to see it, serve the Prince well and be his female attendant in the future. If he marries a primary queen or ascends the throne, you will be able to see the Golden Sun Disk, the symbol of the Hittite royal family, which is crafted from that treasure."

A career path in the royal court laid itself out at Inanna's feet, but she refused to think about it now; if she seemed too eager, it would only arouse suspicion. Besides, in the short term, she would likely only be a low-level official or a scribe, if she could hurry up and learn to read. For now, attending such a high-level royal ceremony was merely a dream.

However, her hands, which had been stirring the milk slowly, suddenly sped up, as if she were full of new energy.

"Heh heh, that's it," Hazas said, smelling the rich aroma of the butter. "Following the Prince won't leave you at a disadvantage."

In fact, following the Prince was a total loss. A queen is a queen; even if she's heartbroken, she's still a politician.

And so, just as they bypassed the Arabian desert to sneak into Egypt, they were ambushed by Egyptians hiding on a mountain peak while crossing a ravine. Because the terrain was so unfavorable for resistance, and with everyone helpless and unable to fight back, Prince Izmir, covered in wounds, was captured on the spot.

As a Chinese person raised on *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, Inanna knew the Prince’s team had entered a dead end. She had surrendered completely from the very beginning, and as a result, she became the only one who was completely uninjured.

General Hazas couldn't blame a woman, but his gaze was filled with dissatisfaction; had he not been shackled, he likely would have rushed over to teach Inanna a lesson.

The Prince, meanwhile, stared at Inanna with a chilling, analytical gaze before casually wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. "There is no point in blaming anyone now. The most urgent task is to find a way to escape."

They were now in the dungeons of the Temple of Amun in Lower Egypt, where there was nothing but darkness beyond the firelight. Although Prince Izmir spoke of finding a way to escape, he knew in his heart that it was nothing more than a pipe dream. All he could think about now was that if he couldn't live, he must die with dignity.

He could not become a hostage for Egypt to threaten Hatti. He must either escape or take his own life to atone. His father and mother would certainly want to save him, but the massive humiliation of a prince being imprisoned would make a military rescue requiring huge manpower and resources something the council would definitely veto. He knew his father would hesitate, and the only one who would truly grieve for him was his mother.

Izmir hated his own carelessness. Yet, other than traveling by ship across the Great Green Sea and sailing upstream, sneaking through the desert was the only way.

If he could be caught by Queen Isis even then, it only meant he had underestimated this woman and failed to see the cold, ruthless side that a woman can maintain when caught in the throes of love.

He sighed deeply.

Just then, the cell door creaked open, and several Lower Egyptian soldiers entered the dungeon with torches. Queen Isis had given orders: Prince Izmir had clearly harbored ill intentions by sneaking into Egypt, but the Queen wanted to keep the Prince alive to use as a bargaining chip with Hatti, so she could not inflict severe punishment. Therefore, they were to pick a subordinate who appeared to have wavering loyalties and break them, so the Queen would have leverage to threaten the Prince into writing a letter back to Hatti to borrow ten thousand troops, joining forces with Lower Egypt to attack Upper Egypt and stop the wedding of Memphis and Carol.

General Nakt's eyes swept over the wounded and defeated, finally landing on Inanna. Nakt had a deep impression of her; this lad, whose gender was impossible to distinguish, had obediently surrendered from the very beginning. Breaking her might not be very difficult. Moreover, she was uninjured, so she could endure the torture for a while.

He pointed at Inanna and said to the men beside him, "Bring her out!"

When Inanna was dragged out by two Egyptian soldiers, she instinctively glanced at the Prince. In the darkness, she couldn't see the man's expression, but those amber eyes reflecting the torchlight revealed a sense of resolve.

He was not afraid, because Inanna was a mute and could divulge nothing. But in the end, this would not change the fate of their party.

Inanna cooperatively allowed herself to be led through the vast, empty temple, turning left and right. On the massive pillars, each so wide it required several people to embrace, the colorful painted figures stared at her with slanted eyes, looking exceptionally terrifying in the flickering torchlight.

She was brought to the deepest hall and forced to kneel on the ground. Raising her eyes, she could only see a pair of feet wearing sandals woven with gold thread. The skin was slightly dark, yet smooth and delicate, exuding an strange sensuality. It was clear they were meticulously cared for, without a single blemish; in this dry, sandy, and hot land, only one person would have such feet.

"Raise your head." The woman sitting on the throne spoke. She was gently waving a peacock feather fan, and the breeze stirred by the fan made her voice sound dreamy and hazy, as if it were about to be drowned out by the incense burning throughout the hall to honor the gods. Yet, Inanna could hear the coldness and displeasure beneath her nonchalance.

She raised her head, her gaze slowly moving upward.

What did Inanna see?

She saw a pair of plump, full, bouncing, lustrous, and tender breasts, straining to burst forth.