"Asenath was overcome with excitement. 'I would worship you, Marduk, were you not an evil, worthless god. You're clever.'
" 'What does the god say!' demanded Cyrus.
"Enoch looked at Asenath. 'We must tell him now what will happen to him, that is all. Azriel, you resemble the statue of Marduk. Encased with gold, you will fool all of your friends. No one will know that you are not a god, you will seem a man of living gold, and you will feel numbness and some pain, yes, the slow pain as life ebbs, but it's not terrible. Even as you walk the Processional Way, all your people will be preparing to go out of Babylon!'
" 'Well, it's simple enough,' I said. 'Let the entire Hebrew population leave now, and I'll do it.' I felt :I tightening in my throat. I knew that this was youthful stupidity and that soon horror would come on me that was damn near unbearable.
" 'Cannot be done, my son,' said Cyrus. 'We need your people and we need your prophets. We need them proclaiming Cyrus the Persian is the anointed of your god. We need all the city to roar in one voice, and I will not deceive you, I don't believe in your god, Marduk, and I don't believe that you will become a god if you do this.'
" 'Tell him all of it!' said Marduk.
" 'Not now, and that part doesn't matter,' said Asenath. 'He may say no to that, you know as well as I do.'
" 'Azriel,' Marduk said turning to me and embracing me. 'I love you. I will be with you in the procession. They are speaking the truth. They will let your people go. I can stand this mortal company no longer. Asenath, be kind to the dead whom you call so often for they are desperate to be near to life, you know. Desperate.'
" 'I know, god of the heathens,' she said. 'Will you come to me now and talk to me!'
" 'Never,' screamed the High Priest. Then he quieted down. He looked at two other priests, men I scarcely remember. It was Remath, the sly one, who spoke up. 'She is the only one who knows how to mix the gold, remember.'
"I laughed. I couldn't stop myself. I laughed.
" 'Ah, I see,' said Cyrus. 'So you turn to the Canaanite sorceress because your own wise men no longer know the secret.'
"My laughter-unshared-finally left me in peace.
"It took great courage for me to turn to my father. He sat as one broken and finished, his eyes wet and his face still. You might have thought I was already buried.
" 'You must come too, Father, you and all my brothers.' " 'Oh, Azriel-'
" 'No, that's the last thing I ask of you, Father. Come. When we are led down the Processional Way let me see your upturned face and the faces of my family. That is, of course, if you believe in these men and you believe in this proclamation.'
" 'Money has already changed hands,' said Cyrus. 'Messengers are already on the way to Jerusalem. Your family will be great among the tribe, and you will be remembered for your sacrifice.'
" 'Like hell, great King,' I said. 'Hebrews don't remember those who pretend to be Babylonian gods. But I'll do it. I'll do it because my father wants me to do it ... and I ... and I forgive him.'
"My father looked at me. His eyes said it all, his love, his broken heart. Then he looked at Enoch and Asenath and the Elders of our tribe, who had sat silent all this while, and then he said in the simplest words, 'I love you, my son.'
" 'Father, I want you to know this,' I said. 'There is another reason why I do this ... I do it for you, for our people, for Jerusalem, and because I have talked with a god himself. But I do it for one more reason, and that is simple. I wouldn't have anyone else suffer this. I wouldn't wish it on another.'
"Surely there was vanity in my words, but no one seemed to think so. Or if they did they forgave it. The Elders rose, they had their Proclamation in their hands. All were satisfied. It was done. Cyrus the Persian was the Messiah.
" 'Tomorrow morning, the trumpets sound,' said the High Priest. 'It will be announced that Marduk has brought Cyrus to