Gold Dust Woman
Around 1000 B.C.
“Where’s the witch?”
“I’m sorry?”
“The witch.”
“I’m not sure I understa-”
“Stop acting. Whatever she’s up to right now, this is far more important.”
“Look, I’m not sure what you’ve been told by the boys outside, but we don’t have people like that here. Perhaps you’d be interested in-”
The clerk stopped counting her silver coins and glanced up at him. He cracked open his robe and tossed a small bag onto her table.
She gave a glance at the bag and spoke slowly.
“You’re very generous – but witch or not, you won’t see her without one of these.” She held up a small stone that almost glowed white in the candlelight. There were rough and foregin-looking etchings on either side.
The two robed men glanced at each other, and came to a silent agreement.
“But I don’t suppose you’d find any out here, not many traders happen to-”
A second, larger bag landed heavily on top of the first one.
“This will cover all of us.”
The old woman bowed her head and motioned the man and his two companions down the hall. As they passed, she noticed one of them was severely hunched over, and had edges of a large, grey beard poking out from under his hood. He moved seemed to hide his face as he passed by her.
She didn't get paid to look that closely at visitors.
If you’d never seen her before, you’d assume she just woke up from a thousand-year nap, which was not far from the truth. It took a lot of dreaming and fitful nights to get this good at readings.
Kora drew a long, concentrated breath. What little air there was in the cave smelled of ancient minerals and long-dead flowers from an equally long-dead garden. The only sound she heard was of the shifting earth far beneath her. Layers of rock and magma spinning and erupting and colliding. To anyone else it was dead silent, but to Kora it was a symphony. It had been playing for a great number of years – too many to count now.
Curtains shimmered behind her as a shadowed man stepped through. There looked to be two other men with him, both wearing the same dark robes. They waited behind the curtain, still and silent as the air around them.
The man who dropped to his knees behind her was a wreck. She could hear a faint wheeze with every breath, and it wasn’t because of the many new smells attacking his senses. He felt frail and hungry. Whether by choice or chance, she couldn’t tell.
“You don’t have a token.” She sighed, eyes still shut.
The man looked up at the back of her head. She felt his surprise, but he didn’t seem to back down. He whispered harshly, but without anger. In fact, he sounded afraid. Afraid of even his men hearing their conversation.
“Apologies, but you are the only one who can help me.”
Kora sighed again.
“Not the first time I’ve heard that. You gave her all your money, didn’t you?”
She felt him shaking behind her.
The man quickly removed his hood. There was a heavy head surrounded by a mass of grizzled grey hair, hiding his face almost as well as the hood did. The only thing that was striking was a white gash along his left cheek from his eye to the edge of his jaw.
“You must have paid Hagar well to be let in here so quickly. I’ll have to hire someone new to replace her.”
“Please, listen to me. I don’t have much time left. It is because of me that you have to live like this.” He pleaded.
Kora somehow became even more still, but did not open her eyes. None of the other visitors she’d seen had ever claimed to be responsible for her current situation. The few people who had found her newest hiding place weren’t throwing away gold like seeds on the ground. They also weren’t so desperate. This man didn’t seem like the violent type, but there was confidence about him that intrigued Kora, even in his pathetic state.
Turning herself around, she opened her eyes. There was no point in meditating now that he had her full attention.
Kora saw the gold gleam of a ring on one of the man’s leathery fingers. She entertained that he might have come upon a wealthy merchant on the road and, by charm or by force, stumbled his way into what he thought was a brothel. But at a second glance – even his cloak, though plain, was tightly woven and pristine. In fact, they all seemed to be wearing the same ornate robes.
Whatever they were up to, they were in it together. And they had money to burn for her – no way she’d let them go now without bleeding them dry. Kora decided they’d pay for her relocation, one way or another.
A tug in her forehead, and the man’s ring flew from his finger onto hers.
“You said you gave her all you had.”
“I saved this one for you, witch.”
“Bold of you to assume what I do to earn money. Look around – I’m a merchant. I sell things. I deal with stones and gold, not spirits and visions.” Kora had given these words many times before, just because this man had more money than she was used to didn’t make him any different than the others who came in here.
“You people have such a small understanding of the world.”
The man’s expression did not change. He seemed not to hear her words.
Kora breathed out. Her hands stilled and folded in her lap.
“What makes you think I want to hear what you have to say to me?”
She looked into the man’s eyes. They were dark and angry. Eyes of someone who avoided looking in someone else's for too long.
Suspicion began to grow in Kora’s mind, but she was still curious about what she could get out of this man. There was no escaping this place tonight, she guessed, but with a few well-placed words she could find herself safely back on the road tomorrow morning without raising any questions. She’d pack up and find a new hole in the ground somewhere by the sea. She’d heard that Egypt was more than lovely this time of year, and could always use another so-called “magician”.
Kora glanced down at the ring. There weren’t any gems or stones on it, but instead a silver star reached for the edges of the ring.
She went even colder than normal, recognizing that symbol on the war banners she’d worked so hard to avoid over the years. A panic began to grow in her chest.
“Consult your spirits, and bring me the one I name for you.” The man demanded weakly.
Kora let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding again. All that stood between her and freedom were the men behind the curtain, but she had a feeling they wouldn’t do anything without the man’s word.
“You know the King has made that punishable by death, even out here. Are you trying to get me killed?”
“As God lives, I won’t speak of this to anyone. You will not come to harm.”
Kora’s face hardened. He wasn’t lying.
“Who do you want me to bring up for you?” She asked carefully.
“A man called Samuel.” His eyes glazed over in the candlelight.
Kora paused for a moment, then with hesitation, held out her shaking palms.
“Close your eyes.”
Kora’s eyes shot wide open in the darkness. She sat up. There was no wind, no air. Just a vast glossy ocean beneath her and the hint of stars leagues above. The only means for her to see were the ribbons of color dancing across the dark sky, and the hint of a sunset far away over the mountains.
She stood to her feet with little effort. The body was not so easily tired here, but the head was easily swayed and tended to fly off course if you weren’t paying attention. She needed to focus on her goal above all.
An endlessly long wall of small, dim lights suddenly rose from the water in front of her. One of them was Samuel, she thought. She closed her eyes again, diving even deeper than she was now.
Reaching out her hand, she closed her fist around the first light she could. All at once, a vacuum in her mind began to fill itself. An impossibly wide river started funneling itself into a pin-hole in her head. She could hear muted voices in the rush a million miles away, as if shouted across a galaxy. She couldn’t clearly make out what they said, but a few words were picked up and thrown around her skull.
Visitor… Calling… Forbidden…
The voices didn’t seem to want her here for too long. She didn’t want to be here long, either. After this there was no sleeping for a year, she figured.
Oh well. What’s a year to a god, anyway?
Allowed… Day… Question…
Suddenly, the chatter halted, as if they were waiting for a response from even farther away. The pressure struggled against the inside of Kora’s head, but still a new voice was added to it. If she were awake, she thought, her brains might leak out of her eyes.
The new voice drowned out the rest and filled her mind like a hissing gas, filling an empty space behind her eyes she didn’t know existed. She clenched her teeth hard, wondering what on earth was happening outside of this dream. With a great effort, she forced words through her clenched teeth.
The colors filled the sky overhead, and she heard yet another voice from beyond.
Pulling… Spirit… Samuel…
Kora was staring at the floor when she woke up. She spat out bloody dirt, and tried to move her arms to push herself up, though her bones felt like they were filled with molten lead. Through the hot ringing in her ears, Kora heard a small noise.
Her eyes suddenly darted to the shape across the cave. It was the man, face-down on the cave floor, wailing softly to himself. His right hand was still gripping hers with whatever strength he had left in him. Kora looked at the ring that somehow found its way on the ground in front of her, then back at the man. She had a feeling some words were said that were not her own, and were instead from the man he wanted to talk to.
Many feelings came over her in that moment, but the one she focused on was anger. Anger towards the man, HIS men, Hagar, anybody!
Her dry throat ground out a few words.
“Why did you lie to me?”
The man continued sobbing quietly to himself.
Kora shoved herself to her knees, staggering from the shock of whatever had happened. The man’s hand dropped lifelessly to the ground.
“The King shouldn’t be seen like this in front of his own men. Or me. Have some dignity.” Kora’s strength had found her again and she grasped the King’s arm. He tore it away in silence.
She cursed.
“I did what you wanted. I put my life in danger for you! What more do you want?”
She pushed a nearby bowl of berries and fruit at him. The least he could do was eat something instead of looking half dead. He kept talking to himself, or possibly Samuel. It was hard to tell what words he was speaking, if any.
Kora huffed.
“Hey, you two! You’re in charge of him, right?”
The men behind the curtain didn’t move, but seemed to acknowledge her.
“Make him eat something, will you? I don’t get paid to take care of old men.”
She stood to her feet and the curtains flew open. She stomped down the hall past the guards. They seemed to take this as a sign they wouldn’t be killed by her.
Kora returned quickly with more than just berries for the King. Meat and bread on a silver platter – it would make him feel right at home. She had been planning to prepare this meal for a special occasion, but seeing as how she suddenly needed to get out of town as fast as she could, this was as good of a time as any to get rid of it.
After the king ate he was brought to stand by his two men. A little strength had entered his limbs again, but it didn’t seem to make a difference in his expression. The King still carried a weightless burden on him, one Kora thought he would carry the rest of his life. Whatever it was, he could figure it out on his own.
He began to drag his feet towards the pulled curtains to leave, but he suddenly paused and turned to Kora, still not meeting her eyes. Wordlessly, he unclasped his belt and let a long sheathed sword collapse onto the dusty floor. The bronze rang out hollow through the cave walls.
The King turned and vanished. His two men followed him, but not before pausing and tossing two more heavy bags Kora’s way. They landed on the sword with a generous thump. Kora looked up at the men, and a silent understanding was made.
Suddenly, she was alone again.
The pungent smells had disappeared, and the candles were long put out. The night had passed into morning, though it seemed only minutes since her visitor arrived.
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