3Q

3Q

"'A little above man, a little below the gods' Bat-El tells us," said Jashen, and for a moment he was thrown off-stride by an idle thought that Bat-El's very name no longer reflected his sex. He recovered and said, "No doubt you have heard him say that he views the world-dwellers as students. And yet from time to time he is of need of servants. The Lord Belphegor must recall a time seven centuries ago when a weapon called the Golden Gift was an heirloom of the ruling family of Salem. First it was wielded by Melchizedek, then the weapon passed to Queen Lilith, who cut a line between Magodon and Adan in solid rock."

"I did witness her cut on the frontier, Jashen, but what is your errand in Kemen? You told Malphas this would not be a waste of my time."

"Milord, I was sent to retrieve the self-same Golden Gift, and so I have done." Jashen detached the relic from his belt and set it down between them.

Belphegor said, "I see a sword's hilt covered in gold. How do you know that is Lilith's weapon?"

"Milord, it is very similar, in subtle way, to another gewgaw I have collected." Jashen set Lilith's headband on the table next to it, after touching the gem to illuminate it. "Milord, we have heard this light comes from Bat-El himself, from the sun that is his body. If that is true, there must be an invisible thread that leads from this antique back to Bat-El, in a way I cannot understand. My brother-in-law Ithuriuel has called it a 'defect in locality.' Two other relics have such threads. One relic, milord, is the Golden Gift itself. The other I will tell you of directly, but first I must speak of this headband and how it defies every attempt we make to destroy it. Witness, if you will, Lord."

Jashen placed the relic against the corner of a stone pedestal. In his other hand Jashen held a large hammer. He said, "With your permission, Lord Belphegor, of course."

Belphegor waved for him to continue, and Jashen struck the headband between the hammer and a corner of the pedestal. The brilliant gem never ceased to give light. Then Jashen cast the undamaged headband back on the table.

"We have destroyed many of our metal tools trying to cut the band," he said. "Not the hottest forge we can stoke will begin to make it melt, and no wonder, since a living star made this in his belly. Yet is it proof against the Golden Gift?"