Chapter 42

Spending the night in a tree made Izmir fully realize the meaning of utter exasperation.

The patient was extremely uncooperative. On one hand, racked with chills, she constantly clung to him, trying to draw a little warmth from his body; on the other hand, she kept murmuring incoherently in a language Izmir could not understand at all.

Izmir guessed that it might be the native tongue of the woman in his arms, but this constantly disrupted his attempts to rest with his eyes closed. His shoulder ached fiercely, yet he dared not fall asleep; otherwise, the two of them would likely tumble down from the tree together.

When dawn broke once more, sunlight filtering through the leaves breathed a faint glimmer of vitality into the surroundings. Ever since the great flood in Assyria, even the sky had remained gloomy and overcast, making it impossible to muster any vigor from the bottom of one's heart. Izmir raised a hand to shield his eyes and glanced at Inanna's chapped lips, pondering to himself: Which would be a quicker way to die—succumbing to this fever, or being let go to drink the filthy water flowing below?

Fortunately, after a few more pigeons flew past, Luka's excited voice drifted into his ears.

General Hazzas, accompanied by Luka and a few Hittite scouts, had somehow managed to procure a small boat and had searched the city of Assyria almost day and night. Assyria was already a dead city, and Arrian had led his forces in retreat to Nineveh in the upper reaches of the Tigris River. After two days and a night, the floodwaters within the city had receded below waist height. As soon as the current stabilized, General Hazzas forcefully commandeered a small boat and, heading straight into the rolling waves with a burning, anxious heart, set out to search for his young master.

At the moment of greatest anxiety, Luka's carrier pigeons proved immensely useful. General Hazzas personally seized the oars, rowing close to the tree with a surge of excitement and relief. The prince looked thoroughly exhausted, but his spirits seemed decent. Although there were some bloodstains on his shoulder, he appeared to be in no serious danger. Sukamumu was asleep against the prince, so her expression could not be seen, but the two of them looked quite tranquil and peaceful. General Hazzas inwardly curled his lip: Did these two really need him to come to the rescue? The atmosphere actually looked rather pleasant.

Once they climbed down from the tree, General Hazzas realized that what he had seen was merely an illusion. The arrow wound the prince had sustained a few days prior had not yet healed, and perhaps due to the exertion during their escape, the bloody hole was once again bleeding profusely.

Luka cradled Inanna in his arms, finding her alarmingly feverish. Yet, looking around at the desolate landscape, there were no physicians to be found anywhere. In his heart, he felt grateful to Inanna for bringing the prince out of the royal palace, casting aside the minor grievances between the two of them from back in Cappadocia. Picking up a waterskin from the side, he patiently and carefully moistened Inanna's lips a few drops at a time.

General Hazzas was busy cleaning Izmir's wound with fresh water, applying fresh medicine, and rebandaging it. However, he was no fool; the tiny tooth marks right beside the wound clearly belonged to a woman!

He could not be certain what had transpired between the prince and Inanna, but the old fox was extremely shrewd. After finishing with the arrow wound, his sharp, experienced eyes drifted toward those tooth marks, and he asked with feigned concern, "Prince, should we apply some ointment to that bite mark as well?"

Izmir remained silent, casting a glance at the clueless culprit of the incident, and shook his head. He pulled his garment back over his shoulder and gestured for General Hazzas to lean in close. "What about Arrian?"

"He fled to the upper reaches," General Hazzas said, crossing his arms and letting out a low chuckle. "That greedy Arrian originally coveted the former Mitanni territories, vainly attempting to seize the southern section where the Euphrates and Khabur rivers meet from our hands. He meant to grasp the sole trade route connecting the Great Green Sea to the city of Harappa, and went so far as to violate alliances by kidnapping the prince, even using the Daughter of the Nile to lure King Memfis into a heavy siege. His ambition was certainly grand, but his luck fell short. Now he'll be doing well just to hold onto his own Assyria. Assyria's vitality has been severely damaged; they won't dare make any major moves for at least a decade."

Izmir nodded in agreement, though his view was more conservative. "We should also take advantage of the chaos to return to our country swiftly. No doubt both the King and Queen are deeply worried. If my guess is correct, Arrian's formal state letter will be delivered to our country and Babylon in a matter of days."

Stroking his beard, General Hazzas laughed, "I'm afraid the price Arrian will have to pay will be no less than the losses he suffered from this flood. If the Prince wishes to vent his anger, His Majesty the King will certainly not stand in the way."

Izmir pressed a hand against the wound on his shoulder, his expression calm. "To be wounded and captured is partly due to my own lack of foresight. Must we behave like Memfis, surrendering meekly simply because the adversary uses the Daughter of the Nile as leverage? General, hateful though Assyria may be, this campaign has greatly heightened Egypt's renown, serving as a sobering wake-up call for all nations. Regardless of the circumstances, Assyria serves as our land barrier to the Two Rivers and Anatolia. Even to defend against Egypt, not only can we not kick them while they're down, but we must prop Assyria back up—at the very least, ensuring they are not left entirely defenseless when facing Egypt."

"What the Prince says is true," General Hazzas said, his expression sobering. "Yet within half a span of months, because of a single woman, our country, Assyria, and Egypt have successively engaged in two considerable local conflicts. Perhaps in less than two years, a major war will be right before our eyes. I imagine His Majesty holds the exact same view. We truly must return home swiftly to deliberate on countermeasures. If necessary, signing an alliance with Assyria once again is of no great consequence."

Then, recalling something else, Izmir frowned and asked, "What about our people?"

General Hazzas heaved a long sigh. "The outposts and personnel our country established in the city of Assyria over the years have also been entirely wiped out this time. Those who survived are all on this small boat. Although the return journey is inconspicuous, we must still exercise double caution."

Because everyone in the party was either injured or ill, Izmir consulted with General Hazzas and decided to blend in with a refugee boat, heading upstream along the Tigris River all the way to Amida, the sole town near the source of the Tigris, to rest and regroup. From there, they would pass through the Armenian Highlands, reach the source of the Red River, and journey downstream all the way back to Hattusa.

This was the fastest route, involving the least overland travel, and as matters stood, it was also the safest. Assyria was currently in total disarray; because the most crucial granaries in the middle and lower reaches had been destroyed, countless people were flooding toward the upper reaches just to survive the impending winter. As for how Arrian would manage this crisis, Izmir smiled at the thought of him being at his wits' end.

Upon arriving at Nineveh, Hazzas ordered a larger and more comfortable boat to continue the journey, leaving the crowds waiting to enter the city upstream far behind.

Amida was a vital border fortress of the former Mitanni, second in scale only to the capital Wassukanni. After being conquered by the Hittites, although the Hurrians constantly nurtured dreams of restoration, the migration of Hittites, Urartians, and Ugaritans gradually assimilated the population. Hittite policies appeared relatively mild in the face of passive resistance, even welcoming the Hurrian storm god Teshub and the queen of heaven Hebat into the pantheon.

Influenced by the Two Rivers region, the Hurrians also worshipped their own goddess Ishtar-Shaushka. Therefore, although Ishtar was not a native Hittite deity, the Hittite king had continually considered whether to elevate the goddess of war to a more prominent position.

Due to the shortage of physicians and medicine, Inanna's fever had not subsided over the ten days of the voyage. All the Sumerian physicians had already been summoned into the temporary Assyrian royal palace, uniformly managed and distributed by the state. Relying solely on Luka's scant handful of medicinal herbs, Inanna's condition neither worsened nor notably improved.

By the time they finally reached Amida, where the situation was somewhat more stable, the skill of the Hittite physicians proved thoroughly mediocre, and Luka was exhausted to the limit. Although Izmir saw that Inanna's illness kept relapsing, returning to his homeland remained the absolute priority, so he did not stay longer on Inanna's account.

The Red River derived its name from the Greek language, known at the time as the "Halys River," which literally meant the red river.

Its source was not far from that of the Two Rivers. Flowing out from the Anatolian Plateau, it first ran westward, then northward, and finally emptied into the Black Sea, making it the longest river within the borders of modern-day Turkey.

Although they had entered Hittite territory, Izmir still did not lower his guard in the slightest. During the regrouping at Amida, he did not even request the local magistrate to pay an audience, adhering strictly to a policy of coming and going quietly. Aside from replenishing personnel at the scout outposts, all their movements were conducted in absolute silence.

Seeing that the originally comfortable small boat had become cramped with the addition of personnel, General Hazzas asked the Prince how he planned to accommodate Inanna. Naturally, Izmir would not allow Inanna to share a room with another man, but setting up another bedchamber would entail far too much trouble. Besides, he had been the one changing Inanna's clothes during this period anyway. Without any hesitation, he simply designated his own cabin.

"Have Luka continue to care for her," Izmir deemed the matter unproblematic. "He is trustworthy. Give him permission to enter and leave the cabin."

General Hazzas found himself in a difficult position. "I am planning to send Luka to Ugarit. He can take a ship from there back to Egypt to monitor Egyptian movements. In any case, the Daughter of the Nile still trusts him."

Prince Izmir gave a cold smile. "Trust is trust, but I'm afraid she likely left Luka completely out of her mind the moment she was fleeing for her life. Tell Luka to take good care of himself; after all, he has been by my side for many years, and such a loyal subordinate is not easily replaced. Once this mission is completed, have him return."

With that, he lifted the curtain and stepped into his private cabin.

Izmir had witnessed Luka caring for Inanna. He kicked off his shoes and sat on the edge of the bed, holding a water pitcher, only to suddenly find himself at a complete loss, lacking Luka's patience to slowly moisten her lips.

He pried open Inanna's lips with one finger, aimed the spout of the kettle at her mouth, and slowly poured the water in. Unable to swallow in her dream, Inanna choked violently. Izmir's hand trembled, and the entire pot of water poured directly over Inanna's head, giving her a thorough face-washing.

Holding the empty pitcher, Izmir gazed at the soaked bedding and the person drenched into a sodden heap. He fell silent for a moment before habitually calling out toward the outside, "Luka, bring a fresh set of bedding inside for me."

Carrying out his orders, Luka stepped in, only to be startled by the scene inside the cabin. As he hurriedly replaced the bedding, he cautiously advised the Prince, "Your Highness, if you truly cannot manage this, you can use a wool brush dipped in water to slowly moisten Sukamumu's lips. You must not... you must not do it this way."

As expected, having been doused with water, Inanna caught a chill, and her fever spiked again by dusk.

Luka fed her the final dose of herbal medicine, wrapped her tightly in the blankets, and remarked that sweating it out might help her improve. When Izmir returned to check on her at bedtime, he found her struggling inside the blanket roll like an insect, cold sweat pouring off her while she muttered "cold" in her delirium. He hesitated for a moment, then fetched his own quilt and wrapped Inanna even more thickly inside it. When Luka came in again later to check, he was startled once more. "Your Highness, if you do this, Sukamumu will suffocate..."

In any case, once dawn broke, Luka was set to depart. Under his meticulous care and clever hands, Inanna had felt much better.

Yet Luka did not know whether, after his departure, Inanna might end up dying at the hands of the Prince—even though the Prince certainly did not mean to.