Chapter 174: The Madman of the Tomb
"Nimrod commanded his guards, 'Kill these sacrifices, let not one live, and put to death all the people who tried to stop them!' and his guards answered, 'May the will of the King of Eternity be done in the mouth of my lord the king!' Then the guards took out their weapons, and even the people of Ethiopia came to their aid, and they all arose, as one, and seized all the sacrifices of the false gods, and slew them all with the sword, and burned the bones of their sacrifices on the altar, and cleansed the whole camp. β
"Because the people of Kush are numerous, and they like to name the unknown places where they are stationed after the elders of their tribes. So they did it again in Manazi, and in the chains of Fazel, and in Hemmim, and in the cities of Naftali, and in the destruction round about. And he broke down the altars, and broke the puppets and the carved images into ashes, and cut down all the images of the sun, and beat all the altars of the bride of Moloch into powder, and stoned all the skulls and skulls, and threw the powder into the streams, and threw the flint knives which were under the tongues into the fire, and burned them into black coals. β
"After they had done all this, in an instant several men of the nobles of the Koshi, who had gone mad in an instant, had torn their clothes, and were dancing naked in the wilderness, and their mouths were speaking obscure words, and their veins were like blue cobwebs on their necks, foreheads, and limbs. Because of their status, the Cushites were reluctant to kill them, so Nimrod ordered his men to chain up these crazy people and nail them in their hands and feet, because they were so powerful that no one could subdue them except Nimrod and the Eternal Guards. The people were terrified of these madmen, and they begged Nimrod to cure them, but of course he could not answer them, for he himself was at a loss. β
Because of these madmen, the Ethiopians did not continue their journey. When he returned to me in the evening, Nimrod was also sad, and even after he had been satisfied with me, he could not fall asleepβin fact, no one could fall asleep during those nights, for the terrible howls of these madmen spread throughout the camp of the Cushites. β
"'Can't you kill them?' I leaned on Nimrod's chest, which was harder than stone, and the devilish howl lingered in the quiet of the night, 'even if they were once nobles, even if their people smashed the high places with you, and killed the sacrifices of the false gods, but their appearance is really not good, don't you see their mad and terrible appearance? No different from the demons in hell, Nimrod, these people are no longer saved. Are we going to wait here for them to die before we can continue on our way? β
"'Do I want these men to live?' They are a disgrace to the nobles of Cush, but I cannot come near them, even if their own people and their families are begging me to kill them. Don't you see their madness and terrible looks?' Nimrod repeated my words, 'and neither my camels nor hyenas dare to come near them, and the vultures dare only hover over their heads, and not descend to the ground. I can only keep them chained in tombs, and anyone who tries to get close to them can feel their blood congealed in their bodies from afar, and no one can subdue them. ββ
"'What happened to the Eternal Guard who tied up these mad nobles before?' I asked Ninglu. β
"'There were four guards in total, two of whom had been bitten by these lunatics while they were imprisoning, and the wounds were now large holes in the flesh, one in the chest and the other in the waist. They were all dead last night, and the holes in their bodies had been opened to give birth to worms, so I had to have the slaves carry them out of the camp and burn them, lest the worms get into the living people. Nimrod replied to me. β
"'I'll try it out tomorrow with Uriel's Sage Wool Robes, and maybe I'll be able to banish these mad spirits in the same way that I drove out the twin spirits that haunted you before. I suggested to Nimrod. β
"'I can't let my bride take such a risk,' said Nimrod in a gruff voice, 'can your robe be more resistant to evil spirits than my four Eternal Guards? ββ
"'I'm not trying to save them,' I whispered, 'and the evil spirits must be afraid of anything that comes from heaven and from holiness. Uriel's holy woollen robe is a weapon against evil spirits, and it is bound to burn the evil spirits of the madmen as before. So before I go to the tomb, you're going to have your guards waiting in ambush nearby. I put my robe over someone, and the evil spirit in that person will escape like a blue-green flame, and then your guards will jump out and besiege the madman who has been attacked, subduing and killing him. Isn't that a good way to do it?'"
Ning Lu didn't speak, just looked straight at my face, I could see that he was extremely reluctant, and the ideas that were surging in his mind were like gears running in my mind. It took a long time for the man to speak angrily, 'The Ethiopians were not in the habit of letting women go to war, whether it was the battlefield of the living or the battlefield of evil spirits. For even if you win, we cannot boast about you, for the woman brought it upon us, and if you lose, our men who are still alive will suffer even greater humiliation because of you, because we let our women die right under our noses. ββ
"'Don't forget, Nimrod,' I reminded him in a low voice, soothing him by touching his shoulder with my hand, 'I'm not a Cushit. Didn't you get burned when I tore it from you? I pinched his shoulder blades, which were so thick that I could barely hold them, "Don't forget, this is not your business, nor my business, nor the Koshites, but the testimony of the King of Eternity." But he will be glorified through me, the woman, because the weakest and most delicate woman has done what the strongest man cannot do, so that the Ethiopians will know that the King of kings is in their midst. ββ
Ning Lu let out a long sigh, and finally could only say helplessly, "The decision on this matter is yours, do whatever you want, Isis." But tomorrow when you go to the tomb, I must watch you from a short distance from you, so that you do not leave my sight. And now, you must listen to me and rest quickly, lest I, fearing for your comfort, regret not doing what I have just said. ββ