"O my Ishulammu, let me taste your vigor,

Put forth your 'hand' and

touch my 'modesty.'"

And Ishullanu said:

"...Has my mother not baked, have I not eaten

That I should taste the food of offense and curses?...

Then you struck him down and turned him into a spider...

He cannot go up, nor can he come down.

If you do not open the gate

I will smash the door, break the bolt...

I will raise up the dead to eat the living

Till the dead outnumber the living.

~*~

Lady Reylari now finds herself at the court of Crete. While working on paintings to decorate the palaces she investigates the intrigues that abound in the life of the court.