Prologue

I am light. I bathe in orange light and float majestically in the middle of these celestial objects. The Assyrians call me Ashur, their sun god, as they live under my wings. I bring life and light to this place and time, and I am the source of all energy and warmth.

Rays bursting from Ashur traveled through the vastness of space at tremendous speed, they left Ashur’s warm and safe embrace and began their journey across the solar system. They were relentless, unwavering in their pursuit as they flew through the endless coldness of space, seemingly unaware of the obstacles in their path. They flew past planets and moons, asteroids and comets, never stopping, never hesitating. They flew until they eventually reached the third planet orbiting Ashur. The light rays soared through the atmosphere, passing through a cloudless desert sky.

They pass through the dusty atmosphere, struggling to keep their warmth. Moving across the barren landscape, suddenly, the rays were met by a gust of wind that clears the dust particles from its path, opening up a path to their final destination.

Ishtar closed her eyes and felt something warm on her skin. She opened them again to find that it was coming from Ashur, and his embrace had traveled so far to reach her. She smiled as she felt its warmth on her skin, feeling comforted by his presence.

Chapter One

Year 4103 of the Assyrian calendar (648 B.C. Gregorian calendar)

“Allam, you must trust me now. When I signal for you, you run and don’t look back.” A mediocre-height girl whispered in the darkness; her wide, wild silver eyes darted about. She held the helm of the silk Kalasiris dress that had already begun to soil and tore it.

“But Itar, why? Mother will come looking.” Ishtar smiled, and just as her eyes became wet with tears, she forced them back with quick, hard blinks. Allam always called her Itar. From birth, he had always been a slow learner; he learned how to walk and speak late, and his speech system was not spared either, but she did not mind.

She would always be his “Itar.”

“They were here before, searching the vicinity. They must be found.” A firm voice resounded through the alleyway they hid, huddled together in the darkness.

Ishtar’s heart thumped profusely. They couldn’t be found; they must not be found. She chanted her thoughts like a mantra, as she held tightly at Allam, and drew him further into the dark corner; the seven-year-old was almost at her shoulder, but his mind grew differently from his body.

Fortunately, this way, they would not be seen, Ishtar thought, but just then,

“Itar, I’m scared. Let’s go find Mother.” Allam began to cry, just as Ishtar’s palms flew to his mouth.

“What was that?” A voice very much closer startled and alarmed Ishtar.

“Allam, let’s go find Mother,” Ishtar lied. She took Allam’s hand quickly and took to her heels.

As they rounded the corner, Ishtar sighted a hidden pass she alone knew and ran toward it. She gently pushed the wall and heard it move in the darkness before she pushed Allam in with her shaky palms, and followed suit.

In the secret pass, Ishtar hurriedly pushed back the wall. Her heart was heavy with fear, and her throat was dry. She did not sign up for this when she woke up that morning, but the situation had forced her into this, and she had to protect Allam.

“Itar…” Ishtar snapped out of her daze. She wiped her sweaty palms that trembled and took Allam by the hand.

“Come on!” Ishtar lied again. “Not far now.” She knew this pathway well. It led to the underground water passage that would help them escape, but just as she took a step,

“Ishtar? Are you here? Please come out.” The throaty sobs that followed made Ishtar freeze in her movements immediately.

Mother…? Ishtar’s eyes widened as memories flooded through her mind. Her heart broke, and tears poured. She had been too lost in her daze to hear Allam’s alerting response to their mother’s voice.

“Mama! Mama!” Allam shouted gleefully. He wiped the tears from his eyes, bolted toward the area they had come in, and began to push the wall.

There was silence, then suddenly;

“They are here! Get over here you fools, the children are here.” Ishtar snapped out of her thoughts immediately. She heard the footsteps approaching the wall and began to push, just as she grabbed Allam and drew him away.

Everything happened in seconds.

One minute, they ran away from the men that chased them, and the next, they jumped into the narrow hole that led to the underground water passage and were flushed away.

The last thing Ishtar remembered amidst the force of the water that beat mercilessly against them was her mother’s face and the whispers she had heard.

“ISHTAR! I will find you, and when I do, I will kill you.”

Ishtar’s eyes shot open immediately, and with a quick start, she sat upright.

Ashhh! Ishtar groaned; she squinted her eyes immediately from the bright rays that attacked them and hurriedly covered herself with a sack to prevent the vicious burn of the scorching sun.

Ishtar had long, jet-black hair that looked like it had lost all its silkiness. It was carelessly plaited and tied at the bottom with a rope. Her skin was pale from malnourishment, and her faded black baggy harem pants and shirt were torn with holes in them.

Ishtar shifted in her position, as her gaze instinctively turned to the tanned boy that slept next to her. Ishtar took note of his dried, chapped lips. His hair stood in different places, and his clothes, like hers, were torn.

Ishtar sighed. The wear they had stolen after their escape was still what they wore and it looked like it had seen the harshest of times on them.

While she stared, her mind reverted back to her dream; one in which she always ran, and always had.

Ishtar thought of her parents.

Apparently, life as the General’s daughter was blissful. She remembered the hot baths that smelt of lavender and wild roses Rashida, her handmaiden, had always made for her. They had food and sweets whenever they wanted. They even slept in large beds. Their lives were of royalty.

Ishtar sighed; she thought about Rashida. She was the only person who enjoyed and accepted her free spirit and adventurous perks.

They were not cut out for the life they lived now, and Allam still hated her for it, but he had no other choice than to stick with her.

Ishtar heaved a deep sigh and felt her stomach rumble. They hadn’t eaten in days since the house owners that had allowed them to stay on their roofs had also run out of food.

Ishtar gripped her stomach tightly with one hand, and with the other, she shielded her eyes from the setting sun.

It’s going to be another night of cold dust, Ishtar thought as she observed the sandstorm that gradually approached from a distance.

Ishtar, however, tried to think; first, they needed to get food into their bellies; if not her, then Allam. He’d been starved for too long. Ishtar watched her brother again, and her heart broke.

His tanned skin was dirty, and his torn clothes had stains on them. She wished she could make him happy since they could never return home.

Secondly, they needed to find shelter to lay their heads for the night and get security from the cold dust. With that thought, Ishtar lifted her eyes toward the horizon once more and thought.

This would last the whole night. Ishtar mumbled inwardly as she kept her eyes on the distant dust storm.

She remembered the story she had heard of a family who had been subjected to abject poverty; the lord of the house was a gambling addict, and at the height of his addiction, he gambled his house and children; he lost. His wife had committed suicide, and he was left with nothing. When the intense cold dust hit the city, it met him in a bad place, with no regard for his life.

His body was found, days later, buried underneath a pile of sand. Some had said he died from the cold dust, and others had argued the reason to be psychological death, and that it was only a matter of time.

Ishtar had never witnessed such a scene, but she had always reminded herself of that story as she strengthened her resolve to never let go of Allam, and no matter the circumstance; death will also never be an option.

Ishtar had always been hunted by her dreams, which seemed to feel less and less of hers as time passed.

“Ishtar, Allam? Where are you? Please come out…” A fragment of her dream flashed through her mind, and she gripped her head tightly from the pain it brought. She had heard her mother’s voice clearly, but strangely enough, it didn’t sound like her mother’s.

It felt less like her mother's voice. Ishtar mouthed.

When the pain subsided, she brought her hands down. By then, the heat had drastically reduced, and the sky was filled with a yellowish-orange color. There were faint white clouds that formed little ridges, and to a far end, out of reach from the sunset yellow, were traces of pink, and more of blue. The sky was beautiful.

As she watched and took a moment to enjoy the beautiful sight, she was quickly pulled back to reality by the sudden roar of thousands of men in the distance. Three times a day, the Assyrian army made this awful roar to fill the hearts of the Babylonian residents with fear, in the hope that they would give in, give up, and open up their gates. The siege had been going on for over a year, and it didn’t seem that the Assyrians were going to go away anytime soon.

As Ishtar waited for the dark, she covered Allam with her sack to keep his body warm. She then tried to make out shapes from the separate clouds that moved across the sky.

They were a clear depiction of freedom to Ishtar, as she imagined a world where everything would be free. They wouldn’t have to endure days without food in their bellies; they would also have shelter from the rain, a warm bed, and bath; and most of all, a place to call home once again.

To her, the clouds were daring. They moved with no knowledge of their destination, but they all seemed to have a sense of direction as they explored the nooks and crannies of the endless sky. She thought of the endless possibilities that awaited her if she could only be like the clouds, daring; but Allam, she needed to be there for him, to protect and care for him.

They only had each other.

Allam mumbled and turned on his stomach. This caught [HR1] Ishtar’s attention immediately. She retracted her gaze from the sky and stared at him.

“Allam, wake up.” Ishtar then said, softly.

By then, the bright yellowish-orange sky had darkened, and stars had begun to pop up one by one in the dark sky.

Allam groaned but ignored his sister.

“Come on, we need to find food and shelter; there is a cold dust storm on its way here.”

Allam’s sleepy eyes shot open, and he stared at Ishtar. Apparently, he needed not be told a second time to understand what a cold dust storm meant.

“Itar, do we have to? I’m tired.” Allam answered weakly.

“Of course, we have to.” Ishtar knew Allam’s tiredness stemmed from the starvation he had suffered for days. She had managed to feed him the scraps she received from the house owners and had chosen to remain without food. Ishtar was terribly hungry; she could feel the knots and twists in her stomach. She also struggled to put strength into her weakened hands and limbs.

“Come on, the market would be filled with people by now; I’ll get us some juicy apples.” Allam’s eyes shot open again, this time wider.

He imagined the taste as he’d bite into the apple, and he licked his lips in anticipation. Ishtar's stomach growled.

Soon enough, she thought as she patted it gently.

The duo came down from the rooftop and disappeared into the darkness. They stuck to the hard concrete walls and walked in the darkness, through the alleyways and narrow streets.

“So, what are we going for Itar?”

“Anything you want, Allam. Where do we start?” Ishtar smiled briefly. Her eyes shone with determination as she took one steady foot after the other, silently in the darkness.

“Let’s have pudding, Itar. I want pudding.” Allam jumped excitedly. Just then, they heard footsteps. Ishtar grabbed Allam and pulled him to a corner, and they both remained silent.

The footsteps stopped briefly and walked toward the area where they hid. It lingered in silence for a moment before slowly departing.

Ishtar breathed out a sigh of relief. She took Allam by the hand and hurried into the market place, but the sight was less appealing than they had imagined.

It worsened daily. With the drought and famine, food was reduced drastically; they looked appallingly dead.

There were no more varieties of food in appealing colors, displayed in the different stalls. Ishtar missed the scent of roasted meat and fish; she missed the sound of hot oil that sizzled on the golden-brown lumps of meat; she would sneak a peek at the cooks in the pantry.

However, regardless of what they saw, their stomachs growled.

Ishtar’s was the loudest.

Oblivious of their presence, individuals hustled and bustled about the vicinity; they paid no notice to the children that stood, helplessly hungry, in the middle of the market square but grumbled and pushed whenever the hungry duo appeared or stood in their way.

Ishtar and Allam visited all the stalls to beg for food, but they were refused and sent away. Most stall owners shooed them away before they even approached.

The individuals they bumped into were grumpy, but the stall owners were even grumpier. With every rejection, Ishtar’s will crushed, but Allam remained enthusiastic.

At that moment Ishtar froze, her gaze stuck on a stall where a dirty-looking man sold fabrics of all kinds, and just in the corner of the stall hung a beautiful veil. It was such a perfect shade of aquamarine; she had never seen this shade before and gazed at it in wonder. How she would love to wear a veil like that. The sight took Ishtar back to the wealthy days before the siege. If only she had behaved more ladylike, she might have gotten to wear such a beautiful veil.

“Itar, let’s check that stall, he’d give us.” Allam pointed at a fruit stall and began to pull Ishtar hard. The stall hadn’t been what it used to be anymore, a lush of different types of exotic fruits, now it was just a few half-rotten apples, oranges, grapes, and maggot-infested plums and figs. With great reluctance, she followed Allam, and at a little distance, they stood and watched the fruit stall owner as he attended to his customers.

Soon enough, he noticed them.

“Hey, kids, shoo, get out of here.” He gestured with his hands as he chased them away, but they remained adamant and frozen in place, with wide, pitiful eyes. It was Allam’s that were more pitiful; Ishtar’s were wild and hollow, with pronounced hints of hunger in them.

A well-dressed customer that stood at the stall looked at the siblings with pity and offered a half-rotten apple to Ishtar, but the fruit stall owner became enraged by the act. He picked up a stick and came after the duo.

Ishtar grabbed what was left of the apple quickly, and with a grateful bow of her head, she took off with Allam. They both disappeared into the darkness, into the narrow streets that led back to the house owner's home, where they would then mount their roof and sleep for the night.

Ishtar also did not forget the cold dust that had begun to force some stall owners to close up for the night.

Back up on the roof, Ishtar wiped the apple on her cloth and handed it over to Allam, who immediately bit into it and shut his eyes to enjoy the fruit’s sweetness.

Ishtar had a smile on her face as she watched her brother eat. He made little grunt noises as he ate, and it amused her. She remembered the first time she had seen him in Mother’s hands. He had been so little, and he had made little noises as he squeezed on her pinky finger.

“Slowly, Allam,” Ishtar spoke softly. Her stomach growled again and reminded her of her own situation. Unlike Allam, who had at least fed on scraps, she hadn’t eaten in days, but she would still give him the very last scrap she could find, regardless.

Her mind went back to the kind customer who had given them the apple. She remembered the child he had held. She looked the same age as Allam, Ishtar thought. She looked healthy and well-dressed.

She probably had hot baths, and smelt nice too. I bet she slept on a large bed. Ishtar sighed and squeezed her stomach. However, at that same moment, the smell of apple wafted into her nostrils, and her eyes instinctively darted toward the location the scent came from.

There, Allam had his hand stretched out at Ishtar, and at the end of his hand was still a small part of what used to be a large red apple.

“Allam?” Ishtar’s eyes widened. She hadn’t expected his gesture. For a seven-year-old who had the mind of a five-year-old, had begun to change.

“You haven’t been eating Itar. I don’t want you to die and leave me alone here.” Ishtar’s eyes welled up with tears, but from her lips, erupted a slight chuckle.

How could he probably have thought that? He spoke way too maturely. Had his mind finally begun its maturity phase? Ishtar flashed a smile.

“No Allam, don’t worry, I’m full…” Ishtar lied, but her stomach betrayed her immediately with a loud growl.

Their eyes darted toward Ishtar’s stomach and then toward each other before they both erupted in a fit of laughter.

“I see,” Allam repeated. He picked up Ishtar’s hand and placed the half-eaten apple in it. “I promise I’ll get you more Itar, tomorrow, we will have enough food than we can eat, and we won’t worry about hunger anymore.”

Ishtar bit the inside of her lip as she forced the tears back in. Slowly, she brought what was left of the apple to her lips and nibbled on it. When the taste reached her tongue, Ishtar became wild, and she gobbled down the remainder of the apple.

It didn’t fill her, but it was enough to reduce the growl and loosen the knots in her stomach.

“The sky is beautiful tonight; are you sure there’s going to be a sand storm?” Allam lay on his back and looked at the stars. “So many stars to be ruined by the dust.”

Allam sighed.

“I guess.” Ishtar lay beside Allam. She rubbed her stomach with one hand and placed the other as a support for her head. “Will they breach the wall tonight, Itar?” Allam asked with fearful eyes. “Will they come under the cover of the dust?”. “Don’t worry about that now, Allam; we’ll see in the morning” Ishtar replied with a comforting voice.

They both lay in silence for a moment before Allam broke the ice.

“Itar?”

“Hmm!” Ishtar turned her head and looked at her brother. His eyes were still fixed on the stars.

“Why did we run away from home? Will we ever go back home? What about Mama and Papa?”

Ishtar froze.

Slowly, she turned her head back to the sky and wanted to get lost among the stars. At that moment, her words had left her, and she felt totally blank.

“I don’t know.” These three words were all she replied. She could not bring herself to tell Allam the real reason why they had left home. The last time he had asked, she had told him they were on an adventure and would return soon. Now that soon had turned into days and weeks, she did not know what to tell him.

Someday, Ishtar thought, she would, but at least then he would be ready for the truth.

“Allam, look, there’s your favorite constellation: the warrior with a sword and a shield.” Ishtar changed the conversation. She pointed and used her hand to connect the dots.

“I see it.” Allam beamed. He breathed as he admired the bright stars. “What was it you called it again, Itar?”

“Orion.” Ishtar answered.

“Orion.” Allam smiled. “I’d like to be a soldier someday like Father, and I’d protect you, Itar.”

“Hmm!” Ishtar nodded with a smile. Her eyes were filled with hope as she watched the Orion constellation. She also tried to imagine Allam in her father’s General regalia.

“Which one’s yours again?” Allam cut into her thoughts.

“Hmm… let’s see… there.” Ishtar pointed out a different star constellation.

“That one again? It looks like a cross.” Allam rolled his eyes.

“It’s not a cross, Allam; if you look closely, you can make out a ship. One day, I’d love to go to a faraway place and sail to the distant seas on a ship.