He had been here since morning was only a promise on the horizon, but soon all of Susa would rise. “Enough for this morning. I need to get home.”His three friends all released tired breaths and stretched. Adam groaned. “You are more a slavedriver than Pharaoh of old. You fight as though the Greeks might visit our doors for revenge.”Zechariah smiled and strode to the river. The other three plodded along behind him, mumbling and groaning. Zechariah rolled his eyes. He worked them barely half as hard as Bijan had done him, before he left with the rest of the army eighteen months ago. They had no cause for complaint.Though the other two said their farewells and started home, Adam dropped to his knees at the riverbank and plunged his head under the water. He brought it up again with a happy sigh. “Better. But if you see me not tomorrow, Zech, assume I have died in the meantime and leave me in peace.”Zechariah breathed a laugh and shoved his friend’s shoulder. “You are the one who asked to learn, Adam.”“Because I feel myself growing fat as my father, doing nothing but sitting around the house all day pouring wax onto wooden tablets.
