Bob’s Memoir: 4,000 Years as a Free Demon
22
The Might of Babylon
I WAS ONCE AGAIN at the pool when Nebuchadnezzar strolled up to me and began to chat. He was feeling quite full of himself, but Morpheus had visited me again and I knew something was on his mind.
“Isn’t this a wonderful place? I built this,” he said. “I made Babylon the center of the world. I rule over all that is known to man. I will build ever bigger and greater works, so that all the world will come to see Babylon.”
“Shh. Your Majesty, be aware of the dream,” I whispered.
He immediately blanched, remembering what he had dreamed just the night before.
“What does it mean, Bob? I dreamt my mouth was full of grass. What does it mean?” he asked. Well, just having a dream about eating grass wasn’t adequate to make a good story, so I elaborated.
“You, sire, are a great tree. You can be seen from the ends of the earth. Your branches spread protectively over all who look to you for their very sustenance and you provide for them well. But you lack the humility to honor the gods for your greatness. Such is hubris that they cannot overlook. This dream is a warning that if you do not honor the gods for your greatness, it will be taken from you. The tree shall be cut to the ground and you will wander like a beast of the field, eating the grasses you have dreamed of.”
“Is this true? Can a man’s sanity be taken from him so quickly? I charge you, Bob,” he said, beckoning a scribe closer. “If my sanity is taken from me for a period of time, my son Belchadnezzar shall rule in my stead. He shall have dominion over all save my harem. I hand my harem into the care of Bob. He will have knowledge of it and will guard it until the day of my return.”
Well, shit. That wouldn’t make Miriam happy. I just hoped the warning the gods had provided would take root in Nebuchadnezzar and I would never have to worry about it. Wishful thinking, I knew.
Nebuchadnezzar was a good king and generally a nice guy. He often sent me on an errand to discuss a matter with the ruler of a neighboring country or with community leaders around Babylon. On one such trip—I don’t remember if it was before or after the dreams; I just thought of it now—I was sent to a small city up the river from Babylon to discuss the petition of the magistrate to help improve their water source. It seemed the river flowed warm at this point and encouraged the growth of green scum.
I talked to the magistrate and decided to go upstream a little farther to see if I could find what was causing the heated water. I found a most amazing thing. There was a point in the mountains where the water flowing out of a spring was hot. Someone had created a bathing pool around the spring and the channel that would carry the water out to the desert had been blocked. The pool overflowed and broke a new channel that led to the river, raising the temperature of the river.
I was alone, so it did not take long for me to unblock the desert channel and shore up the dam on the river channel. The problem of the city was solved and they paid a tax to the king for clearing their water supply.
That was not the amazing thing I saw. I’d seen hot springs before. The amazing thing was a bronze statue of a lovely woman that graced the pool. I had seen bronze statuary before, as well, but this was near life size! In fact, if she was not a large woman, she might walk right out of the bronze. The detail was amazing, and while there was a green patina over most of the statue, her left breast had been touched by bathers so frequently that it shone golden.
Yes, the temptation was far too great for a mere demon like me to resist. I stroked the golden breast as well. And then I paused and stroked it again. Some miracle of having her feet in the hot spring warmed the statue and the breast was as warm as flesh. What’s more, I paused with my sensitive fingers on the golden skin and was certain I could feel a heartbeat beneath the bronze.
I spent a long time looking at the statue. It had incredible detail. The folds and curves of her flesh looked so real one might make love to her if the bronze were not so unyielding. I looked into her eyes and thought I could see intelligence and life.
I was not a great sorcerer, though Circe had told me I had a natural ability to work magic. I did not want to bring a bronze statue to life, but I did want to free a person if one was trapped there. I sought guidance from my books in the infinity room and came across the spell I had used once long ago to turn three girls into stone statues for a day so they would watch the fun we had and be unable to participate. The spell had a time limit when I cast it. The next day, when I pushed them into the infinity room, they ceased being stone and became flesh again. There was, however, a spell I had never used that would reverse the enchantment and turn a person who had become stone into flesh once more.
I wondered if that was what happened to Pygmalion’s Ivory Lady. Of course, My Lady Goddess could have created life from nothing, just as she had turned the Propoetides to stone. I wondered if the spell would work to turn a bronze lady into flesh. I studied the spell, laid my hands on the statue, and began to chant the rather involved spell.
As I said the words, I felt the shoulders rise and fall with her breath. The flesh became supple. As I finished the spell, she fell back into my arms. She was beautiful, breathing, alive. She looked at me with adoration and spread kisses across my chest.
“Thank you! Thank you! Whatever you would have of me, I would give you. You have released me from a curse set a thousand years ago and I cannot thank you enough,” she said.
“Fair lady, tell me your name and your story,” I begged.
“I am Srininx. I was a servant of the Sorcerer Dbossé. Each day I accompanied him to the spring for his bath and he attempted to force his attentions on me. When I refused him, he cursed me to be a statue watching him bathe each day and he caressed my breast each time he came to the spring. He died centuries ago and others have come to the spring, finding my breast irresistible. Just as you did.”
“I apologize for my rudeness, yet it was that caress that let me know you were a living being.”
I took her hand and we stood up. She was nicely shaped and desirable. In only one place did a sign of her captivity remain. Her left breast continued to be the color of bright gold. When she pressed it against me, though, it was fully flesh.
She was insistent on showing her gratitude. Next to the pool where she had watched for centuries, we lay on the rocks and made love. She was inexperienced but enthusiastic and when I suggested she join my ladies in the infinity room she agreed readily. We have enjoyed each other many times and within the harem, caressing her breast is considered a kind of good luck gesture which she welcomes.
I was one of the very few intact males allowed near Nebuchadnezzar’s pool with his harem there. He had a few other trusted advisors and scribes there, but the normal business of Babylon was conducted in his throne room. I was at the pool one day when Neb came up to me and started gushing about the treaty he’d just made. Then it was on about his wonderful garden and his beautiful pool, reflecting, as it did, the beauties of his harem. That hadn’t been my thought when I built the pool, but it was a nice way to use it.
“Just look at all this I’ve created,” Neb said. “I’m the greatest king who ever lived. Even the Jews acknowledge me as a king appointed by their god. There has never been such a one as me and I will…” he broke off his soliloquy and suddenly belched a guttural groan like a cow. He then wandered to the garden and began eating the leaves. Nebuchadnezzar had offended the gods one last time and was condemned to eat grass in the fields like an ox.
Well, the palace had been prepared for the possibility of such an event. I think Neb knew he could never keep the offense of pride in his work out of his life. He’d instructed his son, Belchadnezzar, well on how to handle a regency. A field had been planted on the south side of the palace where rich grasses grew and Neb began to browse and eat. It was deemed best at this time—because his son was rather young and inexperienced—to keep the transformation a secret. It was said that Nebuchadnezzar ruled from his bed and did not receive visitors. His son carried on all royal duties in consultation with the nobles and wise men of Babylon. He did fine without me.
However, Nebuchadnezzar’s decree that during his incapacity, I was to be put in charge of his harem was adhered to. You might ask why.
There were a variety of laws—in fact so convoluted as to be almost indecipherable—regarding degrees of incest and penalties for each type. Some of them I recognized from the code of Hammurabi. For example, a woman sleeping with her nephew could be drowned if she was the nephew’s father’s sister, but would be exiled if she were the nephew’s mother’s sister. The nephew went without punishment, of course. A man was forbidden from sleeping with his sister—except if his sister’s husband died and there were no male kin of the husband to take her in, then he could—no must—take her in and make her his wife. But in every instance, it was forbidden that a man should ever sleep with his mother.
The Prince of Babylon interpreted that as meaning that he should just stay out of his father’s harem. Good plan, especially since he had just begun building a harem of his own. So, the prince and nobles and advisors were happy to put the harem in my hands, so to speak. I had to go home and explain that to Miriam. She went home to her mother. I took the infinity room with me and moved into the harem.
It was a long seven years. Ah! You might think I screwed my way through the 114 women in the harem and six eunuchs. No, I did not. It happened that many of the women—maybe thirty or forty—were still virgins. They were trade and surety given by subject kingdoms for their loyalty. It was expected that one day the king would or could have any woman in his harem in his bed, but many were kept chaste so he could use them later as a bargaining chip. Also, some of his ‘wives’ had been given to him in marriage while they were still young girls, six or seven years old. He would not touch them until they had become women. And I was certainly not going to deflower any of the king’s brides or concubines.
I had a private chamber in the harem and kept the door locked at all times. I continued the practice of taking the harem to the pool to play on good days and watched over them as they frolicked with each other—and their children. Yes, young children of the king and his consorts also lived in the harem. It was like having a very large family. The children all knew me as Uncle Bob and often came to me for stories and games.
At night, I locked the door to my chamber and entered the infinity room where my wives and concubines awaited me. I did not do without sex just because I wasn’t sating my lusts on the king’s harem. I’m an honest demon, you know.
Each day, I visited Nebuchadnezzar in the field where he contentedly grazed on the lush grasses and dipped his head in a pond to drink. He was an ox in human form, but a beloved pet. Sometimes, I even brought his children to play with him. He was a gentle ox and let them climb all over him. While I was with him, I would recite all the news of the court and the gossip of the harem. He never said anything, but I felt he looked forward to my visits and was attentive to what I said.
His exile came to an end one day when he suddenly stood up and said, “Praise to the gods! All good things issue from them and all power is received from them. I am nothing if not the implement of the gods to rule their people.”
And with that, he walked into the palace, bathed, and dressed, and resumed his duties, congratulating his son, Belchadnezzar, on the good administration of the kingdom in his absence. He was very pleased with his son’s performance and kept him working at his side for the next several years. Those years were marked by tolerance, building projects, and mercy on his enemies, who were so stunned they never left his side.
And his wives and concubines were all happy to have him back. They nearly screwed him to death. He called them together and selected one of the virgins to give to me. She was happy with the match as nearly all the women in the harem had fallen in love with ‘dear Uncle Bob’ over the past seven years.
I took Chione, a beautiful Egyptian girl, to the Jewish Quarter and found my house undisturbed. I’d not been seen in the area for seven years and I found many people I’d known had passed on in that time. Included in the number was Miriam. I mourned her.
Chione and I lived quietly in the little house for several years. She was pleasant company and often went with me to visit the king and her friends in the harem. Her dark skin shone among the lighter skinned concubines and I found myself growing very fond of her.
So much so, in fact, that I introduced her to the infinity room.
I had to work out a spell so that she could not speak of the room to anyone when we were in the natural world. It was just my luck that the spell worked too well. The result was that she could not speak at all. It was a little embarrassing at first, but it did not seem to affect her joy in life, nor her fondness for me and the others in my harem. Living at least half the time in the infinity room slowed her aging process and years later she still appeared to be just twenty years old.
Nebuchadnezzar was a good king. Once he had learned humility, his worst fault was corrected. He was a just ruler, a wise conqueror, and a discerning judge. And he loved his family—all 114, now 113, wives and concubines and their children. Occasionally, he would even go out into the meadow that had been his home for seven years, and romp with the children, letting them climb on him and giving them rides.
We sat by the pool one day when he was quite old and looked at the naked ladies frolicking in and around the water. Then he began pointing out specific women. Over the years some had died, and I think Neb was considering his own mortality. Others were as old as he was and likely to pass on soon. And, in the course of political involvement, some had been added in his older years when he no longer had an interest in copulating. I guess that happens to human men at some point. I wouldn’t know.
“Bob, I know you are not simply a man. You are blessed by the gods. You are a wise and capable counselor. I know you are something other than man, but I do not know what. And I don’t care. I believe you are a good person and all the women of my harem trust you with their lives,” he said. “Therefore, I want you to take those I have pointed out to you away from the court and make them your own. They are good women and will go wherever you lead them. Go to your room in the harem tonight and I will send them to you one at a time. I know you can transport them somewhere safe and away from Babylon.”
“Of course, I will endeavor to do what you ask, your majesty,” I sighed. I needed to get to the infinity room and prepare my wives to receive more concubines.
“I will make it worth your while, Bob. We have often spoken of your love for books. I will expand your library for every concubine you accept.”
I looked at him and we both began to chuckle. He knew my weakness. Well, my other weakness. I’d have taken the women even without the books.
That night, I waited in my room in the harem and one by one, the women came to me. I asked them if they wanted to leave the harem and go with me forever, never to see Babylon or home again. Each one agreed. I opened a door to the infinity room and they walked through to be greeted by Pari and Chione, who most knew from when they had been members of the harem.
By morning, I had accepted twenty-five of the most vulnerable in Neb’s harem. Each one had brought with her a book from Nebuchadnezzar’s personal library. They were scarcely missed.
It always amazes me to see the reaction of women when they first arrive in the infinity room. I kept my door locked for the remainder of that day so that I could welcome them to our home. I did not attempt to sleep with every one of the new women that day. These had been the pampered and preserved women of Nebuchadnezzar’s harem. By and large they were the youngest, and all were virgins. But they were welcomed by my harem and each was given a tour of our home, exclaiming at how big it was. They all loved our pool and were soon naked in it with the rest of my wives and concubines.
That is not to say that I didn’t have sex at all. Srininx found a woman of Anatolia named Afet. She had a triangular face with large innocent eyes and black eyebrows that accented them beneath the long black hair that framed her face and hung nearly to her waist in gentle waves. Her breasts were firm and plump, and crowned with rosy nipples that stood out straight. I’d noticed her at Nebuchadnezzar’s pool on many occasions and she seemed often to fix me with fiery dark eyes.
“Bob, this is Afet. She has had her eye on you for some time. And I like her a lot. Don’t you suppose you could take us to your private room for a while and introduce us to the wonders of your love?” Srininx asked.
Srininx had been a part of my harem for some years now, but had always seemed just a bit aloof, though she welcomed my caresses and loving. She did not ask for it. To so boldly seek my intimate company was very unlike her. I pulled her to me in a warm embrace and she raised her lips to kiss me. Sometimes I imagined there was a lingering taste of metal to her, especially when I leaned down to tongue the nipple of her golden breast. As soon as she’d convinced me with her kiss that this was truly what she wanted, I turned to Afet.
“Beautiful woman, do you want to move so quickly to my bed?” I asked.
“Bob, I’ve wanted you for nearly all the time I’ve been in Nebuchadnezzar’s harem. I was brought to Babylon as part of a treaty when I was only twelve. That means I have had eight years to fantasize about the time when I would be your woman. With my new friend Srininx to guide me, I would have you show me the ways a man and woman may please each other,” she said.
That was good enough for me. I took the two girls to my bedroom where the bed was always the right size for the number of people in it and the activities we engaged in. Since we had been at the pool, we were already naked and my pleasure at this invitation was already obvious. I did not rush the girls in their exploration and investigation of my body. They were so different. Afet was twenty years old and had been sheltered from all men in the harem since she was twelve. She marveled at my body which did not look nearly as old in the infinity room as it did when I stood next to Neb. Srininx was a teenager in body but had been frozen as a statue for a thousand years, unable to move or investigate any of the hundreds who had polished her left breast with their hands. I didn’t avoid her left breast as I caressed and explored her body, but I didn’t make it the focus of my attentions, either. Two such very different girls.
When I lifted Afet’s hair to kiss her and worked my way down her chin and onto her throat, I saw another reason the two girls had been drawn to each other. Afet had a band of gold around her neck. When I had seen it before, I assumed it was a necklace, possibly a mark of her slavery to the harem. But as I kissed her throat, I realized the color was in her skin, just as the golden color of Srininx’s left breast was in her skin. These two would always be known as my golden girls.
Each held onto the other when at last, I parted the folds of Srininx’s sex with my cock and thrust into her. Her instant gratification was earth-shaking.
Afet’s orgasm was just as quick when I pushed through her maidenhead, showing that the anticipation did not need to build for a millennium to be earthshaking. We held each other all day before I returned to my chamber in the harem.
Only a few days after that, Nebuchadnezzar II, King of the Babylonian Empire, returned to the primordial mass from which all souls are born.
I feigned illness, myself, and, after his coronation, begged leave from Belchadnezzar to return to my home to die. He, thinking Judah was my home, granted the request and I left. I turned south rather than west, however. It was time to visit the ruins of Bathra and pay my respects there.
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