Goddess of Battle
Chapter 3
A man lay quivering, prostrate at the feet of Xerxes, Persia's King of Kings. Behind him
stood two eunuchs from the King's personal guard. The eunuchs, massive and unmoving,
waited like statues. The King reclined on his divan, a look of annoyance on his furrowed
brow.
"No Great One!!! By Ahura I swear it! A great army attacked us in Tripolis! I swear it!"
"You are as bad a liar as you are a spy." Motioning to the eunuchs, "Bring him." Rising,
he moved towards the Eye of Ahura-Mazda. The Eye of Ahura-Mazda, approximately
two cubits in diameter, was carved from a single block of obsidian, and filled with what
was apparently water. The guards forced the protesting man to his knees before the black
obelisk.
As sweat poured down his face, he stared into the basin, his eyes darting, seeing only his
reflection. The liquid pool of the dish seemed bottomless, but of course that was only a
trick playing of the light. The surface of the pool suddenly seemed bottomless indeed, as a
small light began to appear at the bottom. It began to swirl, and a mist formed in the
depths. A scene quickly took shape. Two women - one tall and dark, the other small and
fair, dominated the scene. The dark one was in a battle frenzy - a berzerker in battle rage.
The fair one was on a sick bed, yet was able to pour boiling oil onto the soldiers below.
The tall one suddenly jerked her arm upwards, catching an arrow in mid-flight. She
sniffed the head and then suddenly thrust it into one of the soldiers, whom she had pinned
against a pillar. He fell and started crawling towards a small collection of bottles.
As Dorian watched, the pool again became clear. It appeared as before, only now, his
reflected expression was one of abject terror.
"Who are these two women?"
"My Lord, I do not know.... I...."
"Perhaps pain will refresh your memory" With a casual disregard, Xerxes turned toward
his couch, as one of the eunuchs picked up a rod from a nearby brassier.
As he passed his Visir, Xerxes instructed, "When you have the truth out of him, remove
his lying tongue. Send the Hashishyun. Have them bring me the fair one."
"As you command, my Master."
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