(Ereshgal POV)
The back of the copper workshop reminded me of Arisha's house: a small courtyard with several rooms built around it. One of them was a small bedroom. There were only two beds inside. For the four of us, that should have been a problem. It was not.
I did not sleep.
Zabar remained in the courtyard, sitting with his back against the wall and his arms resting over his knees. Kelzar had not moved much either. He remained in almost the same position he had taken when we arrived.
That left Kisaya and Lureh, so they took the room.
I climbed onto the roof and sat near the edge. From there, I looked out over Uruk.
The gates were the brightest part of the city. Tall torches burned around the entrance, with guards stationed between them, while the last carts of the night waited in silence. Above the roofs, the ziggurats of Anu and Inanna rose with their temples standing high against the night sky. The canals divided the city into different sections, cutting between houses, workshops, storehouses, and the smaller temples scattered among them. On the water, thin lines of moonlight mixed with trembling orange reflections from the patrols moving through the streets.
Farther away, beyond wider courtyards and better-kept buildings, stood the palace. The place where I had spent most of my life. Most of it was dark now, but every entrance remained guarded.
It was too beautiful for the night surrounding it.
I spent hours watching without moving. When dawn started to spread over Uruk, I heard Kelzar leave. Not long after, the workshop door opened again, followed by the sound of tools shifting inside.
It had to be Bazi.
When the sound continued, I dropped from the roof and crossed the courtyard toward the workshop.
I had barely paid attention when we arrived, but the copper workshop was fairly large. A low clay furnace stood near the back wall, surrounded by charcoal, broken molds, and scraps of copper. Stone hammers lay beside a flat anvil. Near one wall, spearheads and small unfinished blades had been set aside to cool.
The man inside had his back to me.
He was shirtless, wearing only a skirt and sandals. His arms were thick and muscular, his beard was long, streaked with gray.
"Bazi?"
The man jumped where he stood. He spun around with a hammer in his hand, eyes wide.
"By the gods!" he snapped, pointing the hammer at me. "Don't appear behind people like that!"
I laughed softly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."
He sighed. "Yes, I'm Bazi. You're one of the people staying here, aren't you?"
I nodded. "Ereshgal. And there are actually four of us."
He stared at me for a long moment.
"Not my problem" he muttered.
Only then did the rest of my words seem to reach him.
"Four?!" Bazi shouted. He inhaled deeply, then lowered the hammer and placed it on the anvil.
"Fine. Help me with a few things around here, and there won't be a problem." He rubbed a hand over his beard and glanced toward the entrance.
"Of course" I said. "Do you need anything now?"
He looked around the workshop. "Can you bring me one of the baskets of copper pieces from the storehouse?
"Sure."
I turned and started toward the courtyard. As I walked away, Bazi spoke again.
"Careful. It's heavy." I raised a hand to show him it was fine.
The storehouse was dim. Reed baskets leaned against the walls, filled with rough pieces of copper and scraps. Clay jars of charcoal sat near cracked crucibles, stone molds, and tools wrapped in worn cloth. Along one wall rested finished weapons as well: copper swords, spearheads, axes, and a few bent blades waiting to be repaired.
I grabbed one basket.
When I returned, Bazi was already heating the furnace.
"Where do you want it?"
"That was fast" He looked at the basket, then at me. "You're stronger than you look."
He took one of the copper pieces from the basket and placed it in the furnace. Then he grabbed a blowing tube and leaned closer to the coals, feeding the heat with practiced breaths.
I left him to his work and returned to the courtyard.
A few hours later, the others began to wake.
Lureh and Kisaya went to wash themselves. With Kelzar gone, Lureh uncovered her face, though she kept the cloth close in case he returned. Zabar remained where he was, sitting still in the courtyard. After a while, Bazi brought out some bread so we could all have breakfast.
I took a piece and walked over to Zabar.
"Eat." He looked at the bread for a moment, then took it without much interest.
But he ate.
He had to. If he did not recover blood, I could not feed from him. And if I could not feed from him, I would have to find someone else.
I did not want to start looking for another source of blood with the coronation only a week away.
I was about to turn away when Zabar spoke.
"Are you really…" His voice was barely above a whisper, but I heard him perfectly.
I stopped.
He looked up at me.
"Are you really the prince?"
I thought about it for a second. Was there any danger in confirming it? Zabar was with us, where I could see him. If he became a problem, I could kill him before he had the chance to do anything.
So I saw no reason to lie.
"Yes."
Zabar lowered his head. I waited for a moment, but when it became clear he had nothing else to say, I walked away.
During breakfast, Lureh and Kisaya introduced themselves to Bazi. Zabar did not, I had to tell him to at least greet the man.
After that, the day passed slowly. Kisaya trained in the courtyard while Lureh watched her, the two of them speaking quietly between movements. Sometimes I stayed with them. Other times, I climbed back onto the roof to watch the city again.
Late in the afternoon, I heard Kelzar's voice inside the workshop. I was on the roof, so I looked down and told Lureh to cover her face again before he reached the courtyard. A moment later, he stepped outside.
He came closer to Kisaya. "How is everything going?"
"No problems so far" she answered. He nodded and headed toward the kitchen.
After a while, I heard another voice, and I recognized it at once.
"You're not dead yet?"
I smiled.
Hadan.
"No, not yet" Bazi answered from inside the workshop. "I am waiting for you to go first, so I can know if it is worth it."
Hadan burst into loud laughter.
"Coward. Even for dying." His steps entered the workshop "Do you have the spears ready?"
"Of course I do. Who do you think I am?" Bazi replied. "But come have a beer with me. I have a few things to tell you."
"That, I cannot refuse."
He and Bazi knew each other, then. That was probably why this place had been chosen as the hideout.
"Stay here" Hadan said. A faint sound of armor followed. The old man had escorts with him.
I moved closer to the edge of the roof and looked down into the courtyard. A moment later, he stepped inside.
I saw him clearly.
Seven years had passed since the last time. His shoulders were still broad, and he still stood like a man used to giving orders. But his face had gained more lines, and gray had spread through his beard. For a chosen, that much change in only a few years felt strange.
Even so, he still had that same serious guard's face.
Then he saw who was standing in the courtyard.
He stopped.
"Kisaya!" Hadan crossed the courtyard quickly and came to a halt in front of her. Then he placed both hands on her shoulders.
"I'm glad you're safe."
Kisaya looked at him and smiled. "Old man, of course I'm safe. Who do you think trained me?"
Hadan froze for half a breath. Then he threw his head back and laughed.
"That's good. That's good." His smile lingered, but some tension remained in his face. "I knew you had been busy, but after hearing nothing from you since you killed the Vampyr, I started to worry."
"Vampyr?" Kisaya asked.
Hadan nodded. "That's what we started calling the blood-feeding monster you killed."
So that was what they had decided to call me.
Kisaya swallowed.
"I was told you followed a lead on more of them. Did you find anything?"
Right. Kisaya had said Darek reported something. So that was it. Kisaya shook her head, the movement stiff and almost automatic.
"There don't seem to be any others"
This woman really could not lie. Hadan looked at her for a moment, as if the reaction struck him as strange, but he did not seem suspicious.
Instead, he clicked his tongue. "A shame. They sounded interesting. I wanted to kill one myself."
"Are you coming or what?" Bazi shouted from inside.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Hadan answered, turning toward the kitchen. "So impatient. That's why you're going to die before me."
Hadan looked back at Kisaya. "We'll talk later. You can tell me what you're doing here, and how strong those creatures really are."
The moment he left the courtyard, Kisaya let out a quiet breath of relief. I climbed down from the roof and made my way to the kitchen.
"What's the hurry…"
Hadan stopped speaking the moment he looked into the kitchen and saw who was there.
Kelzar.
The joy he carried after finding Kisaya vanished from his face. His expression hardened, and he looked at Bazi with clear resentment as he walked past him and sat beside a jar of beer.
"I told you more than once" Hadan said, his voice low. "I can't do anything for you. Ishtal can't…"
"I see the years haven't changed you at all, old man" I said, stepping inside. Bazi took the chance to leave.
The moment Hadan saw me, he fell silent. If his jaw could have fallen to the floor, it would have.
He stared at me for several breaths, then rubbed his eyes with both hands, as if that might fix whatever he was seeing. When he looked again, I was still there.
"Prince?" he asked, his voice filled with disbelief.
"Of course. Have the years already ruined your memory?" He kept staring at me.
Then his eyes moved to Kelzar.
"No. No, that's impossible. Even the queen…"
I raised an eyebrow. What did my mother have to do with this?
At that moment, Kisaya entered behind me and Hadan fell silent again. Slowly, he looked back at me.
"Is it really you?"
I sighed. "Am I going to spend the whole day telling you yes?"
Then Hadan stood.
He crossed the room and grabbed my shoulders, not hard enough to hurt, but with enough force that I could feel his hands trembling. His eyes were wet, though he was clearly trying to hold it back.
"I'm glad you're alive, Prince" he said, his voice rougher than before. "I always regretted not being there that day."
His grip tightened slightly. "But what happened?"
Now came the important part: the lie.
I let out a deep breath and sat down. "It was a trial."
Hadan's expression changed immediately. "A trial?"
There was expectation in his voice now.
I nodded. "Yes. From Anshar."
His eyes widened. For a moment, he looked like he had forgotten how to speak. Kisaya did not react the same way. I had already told her. Kelzar remained still as well. Ishtal had warned him beforehand.
"Anshar?" he whispered.
Hadan leaned forward slightly, as if afraid he had misheard me. "Did you pass?"
"Of course." I raised one finger and concentrated my spiritual energy at the tip.
Hadan stared at it. First at my finger. Then at my face. Then back at the light again.
A second later, he burst into laughter. It was louder than before. I understood his reaction. Anshar was the god of the total sky. The predecessor of Anu himself. A god who ruled over more than the heavens Anu claimed.
And as far as anyone knew, he had never blessed a human. Because of that, no one knew what color his spiritual energy was supposed to have. Most people would never dare lie about something like that.
I was not most people.
Hadan kept laughing for a while longer. When he finally stopped, he sat back down and took a long drink from the beer jar.
"I suppose I don't need to explain why I came" I said.
Hadan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Then he smiled, wide and somehow dangerous.
"If I'm being honest, with only your brother involved, I wasn't planning to join this. I didn't even try to fight it." His eyes returned to the faint glow on my finger. "But with you here, alive, and chosen on top of it…"
He leaned back, still smiling. "That changes things."
After that, we talked about the plan. Hadan would reach out to others. The ones who had stepped aside when Kudur took control. Most of them had done it for the same reason.
Uruk had two heirs. One had abandoned the city. The other had been abandoned by them, and died because of it. They had given up on my father's faction after that.
Now that would change. I would meet some of them during the week, one by one, and make sure they believed I was alive.
But before we could do that, there was someone we had to deal with.
I looked at Hadan. "Are you close with Namur?"
Hadan frowned. "Namur? Of course. He is a good man. Loyal to your father."
I laughed softly.
Hadan's eyes narrowed slightly. "Should I know something?"
So Ishtal really had not told him. It made sense. If Hadan wanted to stay out of this, giving him that information would not have helped.
"Namur is a traitor" I said. "He almost killed me when I went to find a cure for the wendigo wound."
Hadan's expression darkened. The warmth from earlier disappeared completely.
"If that is true, we have a problem."
I already knew that. That was why I had mentioned it in the first place. Namur was too deeply tied to my father's faction. If we began moving while he remained there, everything would reach Kudur before we could act.
We could not allow that.
"And it is not that I doubt you, Prince" Hadan added, his voice more careful now. "But I need to confirm it."
"Of course" I said. "I understand."
I looked at Kelzar.
He nodded, then began telling Hadan everything he had learned about Namur since discovering he might be a spy. The simple answer was that he had found nothing.
Nothing at all.
Namur's record was clean. Every story around him held together. Every person he had fooled trusted him. Even the loyalty tests performed with divine artifacts had come back in his favor.
Hadan stood and walked over to pour himself more beer.
"He must be lying about what his runes can do" Hadan said.
Once his cup was full, he returned to his seat and drank the whole thing in one go. It was impressive.
When he finished, he set the cup down on the table. "Tell me the plan you came up with."
I leaned forward.
"It is fairly simple," I said. "What we will do is..."