Just before they turned a corner to begin heading back into the city by another route, she heard a loud commotion, angry shouts and wild screams amidst the cheers, far back at the gates of the city. She turned in her saddle to look, but could not see what was happening, and dared not break ranks and turn her horse out of the procession again, lest she risk incurring the displeasure of Emperor Euphrates or some other senior dignitary.
Anxiously she craned her neck to see better, but it was no use, and she finally turned away again, for she must go on.
* * *
Scarcely had they returned to the palace, when word was passed around that a respected trader had come with important news for the Emperor's ears only. Such was his nobility and reputation with the Emperor that the sweating and dust-caked trader was escorted directly through by two armed guards to an inner chamber for an immediate private audience with his Majesty.
Soon after, Emperor Euphrates sent word that an emergency session was to be held in his private chambers, and, with Ibi lying ill, Si'Wren was called to attendance.
Anxiously, Si'Wren delivered her horse to the stables, and stopped by Ibi's workshop to retrieve fresh writing supplies. With a proper kit in hand, she hastened through the royal gardens and made her way through the crowded palace passages toward the meeting chamber. Around her as she approached the meeting, the palace dignitaries were still celebrating, for it had been declared a day of feasting, and the sounds of continual merrymaking were on every hand.
In a private chamber just large enough to hold them all, Si'Wren took her seat several positions to the right of the Emperor, and when all officers of high position had arrived, the wizened-looking old trader was invited to retell his story.
The sojourner began, and spoke at length.
It seemed there was a great prophet in a land far to the northwest, whose name was Noah. He was a Patriarch, and a man to be reckoned with, and all held his words in high esteem, although no one believed the prophecy he had been speaking imploringly to all of late. Noah, said the trader, was the son of Lamech, who was the son of Methuselah. These were all great Patriarchs of wide renown, individuals commonly known in their own time and country to be men of vast intellect and lofty pursuits.
This Noah, the trader continued, was no exception. Noah had begun building a vast ship, of a size well beyond the scope of any known shipwright of the day, out of gopher wood.