Monsters in the Sand by David Harris Read Free Book Online Page B

stared longingly at the bones and sinews.
    Austen took the bowl, gave thanks to Allah, and tasted the hot soup. He felt wretched with guilt and couldn’t watch the children. From the corner of his eye he saw the little girl imitating him, holding cupped hands to her mouth, sipping, and swallowing. But he could not refuse the food or offer her any, as that would insult his host’s sacred obligation to care for a guest. So when he sucked the bone, he made sure he left most of the sinews hanging from it.
    Sheik Awad noticed Austen glance again at his damaged hands. ‘I was questioned by the pasha. He accused me of hiding money, which he said was the Teeth Tax, owed to him for the wearing down of his teeth when he ate sheep he stole from me.’
    ‘Allah will bring him to justice.’ Austen thought of the night when the pasha invited leading citizens of Mosul to a feast at his palace, as a sign of his friendship. When the people were sitting, soldiers rushed in and slit their throats.
    The sheik’s gaunt face did not fully conceal his anxiety. ‘Why do you pass by Nimrud at night?’
    ‘Nineveh fills me with wonder and I want to learn its secrets. Perhaps the city, built by King Nimrod’s officer, Athur, is here under the mound of Nimrud?’
    ‘Nineveh? An Englishman.’ The sheik’s eyes widened. ‘Are you the man they call the Lion?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Al-Muhayim the preserver be praised for sending you among us.’
    Austen allowed time to pass. Finally he said, ‘Sheik Awad, I need your help.’
    The sheik raised his eyebrows. ‘What is your wish?’
    ‘To find the buried palaces of Nineveh.’
    ‘Ah, the Lion has a secret ability to find gold?’
    ‘Perhaps there is gold, but the treasures I seek are carved in stone.’
    The sheik shook his head. ‘How puzzling. You travel from a land beyond the sea, where the sun sets just to dig up old stones?’
    ‘There is so much to discover. The writings and carvings may tell us more of the days of Abraham and the powerful dead.’
    The sheik contemplated that idea. ‘What do you know of Abraham and King Nimrod?’
    ‘I have learnt that King Nimrod arrogantly tried to slay Abraham, but God sent an insect, which burrowed into Nimrod’s ear. It ate into his brain, where it grew fatter until the agony drove him mad. He commanded his servants to hit his head with hammers without ceasing and he lived in these pains for four hundred years until he died of his torments.’
    ‘You speak the truth.’
    ‘Sheik Awad, although your people have been scattered by the winds of war, you may know where I could hire some workers. I need them to help me dig and I could pay them with piastres and food for their daily meals. But most of all I need a man of authority and respect to supervise them.’
    The sheik put one hand to his grey beard. ‘The village of Selamiya is only three miles away. It was burnt, too, but there are some families living in tents on the edge of the village.’
    ‘I must move all my things away from the river. When the sun rises, if my possessions are visible on the riverbank, they will be stolen.’
    ‘That is true. Starving tribes are moving down the River Zab to the Tigris.’
    ‘I have boxes of equipment and bags of flour, coffee and sugar and many other foods.’
    At the mention of food, the children whimpered.
    ‘I also need the raft dismantled for its timbers. Perhaps my food and other things will be safer in tents near the supervisor’s house. I especially need cooks to bake bread and prepare meals for hungry workers. And I will be looking for sturdy children to help carry water, and collect dung for the cooking fires. In return, I will make sure they get their share of what I have to eat.’
    One of the wives rocked backwards and forwards and wept. The others touched their foreheads to the ground and thanked God for his blessings.
    Austen kept his eyes on the sheik. ‘With your permission, we’ll carry the food here first, so the cooks can