Nimrod almost ripped the large tent apart as he angrily swept the goat-skin tent door and stepped inside.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise as he saw, sitting on a chair and hands bound: the real King of Bactra.
"What the hell?" He said. He looked around the room and saw Oannes his Vizier, Semiramis, Oannes’s wife and the chief of the mountain soldiers. "Where was he?" He asked. Salmu, Nimrod's black leopard peered curiously into the tent. Oannes smiled. "Hiding, like the true coward he is, in the fort on the cleft."

Nimrod nodded. "Brilliant. Shaban, you shall be rewarded handsomely." He said as he turned to the Mountain Chief. Shaban grinned, revealing half-rotting teeth. Oannes looked at Nimrod: "And what about the genius who cleverly deduced where the king was hiding and guided the mountain soldiers into the fort and captured the king?" Nimrod smiled as he walked towards Oannes and pat his shoulders: "You greedy old man, you have all you'll ever need with me, in my palaces. What more can you want?" Oannes shrugged: "Nothing sire, except, it isn't me that deserves your pleasure." Nimrod walked towards a table and grabbed a handful of goat meat, munched on it and threw some for Salmu outside the tent. It roared happily as it jumped at the chunk and munched away. "Whoever it is, make sure he is rewarded handsomely as well. With Bactra, the last of the kingdoms of earth taken into our empire, I can now go back to Babel where we can rest a few months, recruit more men then continue the conquest to the lands westwards.”

Oannes' wife spoke: "Thank you lord for your generosity, but your kind words and your pleasure are enough reward for me." Nimrod stopped munching. A piece of meat dangled down his mouth. “Reward for what?” He asked as he finished his bite then looked at Oannes: "She planned out the attack on the fort? All by herself?". Oannes: "Not just that sire, but she also scaled the cliffs with my men and subdued the king!"

Nimrod looked at Semiramis waiting for a giggle or something to end the joke. “My father” Semiramis explained “…Was an avid of the ancient Eastern arts of the eight trigrams; a secret form taught by the old Oracle of Changes. He taught me the art of using the eight forces of existence to your advantage and thus being protected from any harm.”

Nimrod walked towards Semiramis and started walking around her. She's been with the army for a week. Oannes met her during the pillaging of one of the Bactrian cities and fell in love with her when he saw how she resisted capture and subdued three of Nimrod's men. When she accepted to join him, he begged Nimrod to keep her. So Nimrod agreed but wasn't too optimistic over how long she could survive wars. Women weren't fit for battle, so Nimrod thought. "Tell me, Semiramis." Nimrod said. "What do you think we should do with your king?"

The king looked up. He muffled something with his gagged mouth. Nimrod motioned for Oannes to remove the gag from his mouth "Let's hear what he has to say.” Oannes obeyed... "Semiramis! I beg of thee. I was your king, have I not been fair to all my people? Please, I am pleading for my life. If the great and terrible King Nimrod will not listen to my pleads, maybe he will listen to yours?" Oannes covered the king's mouth again and Nimrod turned towards Semiramis: "Well?"

She spoke: "The king was famous to all for his cowardice. And thus, no one shall want to pay for his ransom if we should declare one. He is useless. I say the faster we rid of them, the better." Nimrod turned around at his two men and relaxed when he saw the shock in both their faces. "A female barbarian? A wonderfully beautiful one at that too." Nimrod thought: "My dreams have become true!” They heard the King's attempt at a muffled scream and they laughed. Nimrod smiled at Semiramis: "Do the honors, Semiramis. Any way you like." Oannes opened his mouth to say something, but Semiramis picked up a spear standing on the wall, walked towards the King and pierced his heart with it. Nimrod's eyes widened. "Only a true warrior can pierce with a spear like that, without throwing it." But here she was, from peasant to warrior strategist. And yet, Nimrod never noticed how beautiful she was. It was almost as if she knew how captivating she was, and she used that to her advantage, to rise. Was this her way of making herself known to him? Was she flirting with Nimrod?

It was nighttime now. You could hear the crickets. The largeness of the moon illuminated the sky. Nimrod looked down the breathtaking panorama that the cliff gave on the world below. He was expressionless. In his head, he heard screams, voices, and people calling out to him as they drowned. Yet they were helpless, they all were. He looked up towards heaven with an evil frown and there was a slight red glow, deep in his eyes.

He heard a soft scuffling sound behind him; his hyper-senses shot up but calmed down as it told him that it was a friend. "Hello Salmu."

Semiramis giggled: "I am honored that you've mistaken me for your most faithful companion, lord." She said as she walked towards him. Her white gown and her white face shone with the moon's rays. Her eyes were deep brown, more beautiful than any race of woman he had seen in all his travels throughout the world. He turned away. "What do you want, Semiramis?" She shrugged. "Nothing I was out for a drink when I saw someone standing here. I thought it was Oannes at first." He grinned to himself as he thought what a good liar she was. He looked down again and returned to his thoughts.

"How does it feel like, to rule the world, lord?" She asked. He wiped his nose with his arm and sniffled as the cold he caught started to bother him. He can't wait to leave these cold parts and go back to warm Babel; the center of his Kingdom. "I will wait till I rule Heaven, then I will think about how it feels like to rule the world."

She nodded. She looked down then she started walking away. "Wait." he shouted. Nimrod had just realized something. In all his pillages and all the women he raped to satisfy his animal desires, he never stopped to think about companionship. True, he had Salmu. But Salmu didn't know conversation, and even though the two of them could communicate, nevertheless, they were two different classes of creation and opposite mind-sets. He needed a woman to be his companion. "You don't fear me, Semiramis. You talk to me as if I was your brother, not your King. Tell me why."

Semiramis looked down. "Lord, it's not that I don't fear you. But it's that I know that people, no matter how strong or powerful they are; still have a heart, like all of us."

She walked away.

Nimrod froze.

His cruel soul has found its complete opposite and perfect compliment.

(Continued...)