Chapter 39
December, 3,390 BC
Earth: Mesopotamian Plain
PAREESA
"Where in Shay'tan's name is he!"
Pareesa mouthed the unfamiliar curse-word, the one her people had picked up from Mikhail after he'd come back from Gasur carrying lizard-gold stamped with an image of the creature he called 'dragon.' Sweat beaded on her forehead and caused the salty desert sand to stick to her skin even though, this close to the winter solstice, usually the weather was cold. Roast all day! Freeze all night! That was life once you traveled more than a few leagues away from Hiddekel River.
She stared up at the sun, not yet even to its apex, and wondered if the Cherubim god laughed at her impudence. She'd come into the desert unprepared to do anything but make a perfunctory search, just enough to tell her f
