Chapter 21

Every night your count is made

And your tally-stick put into the ground,

So your herdsman can tell people how many ewes

There are and how many young lambs,

And how many goats and how many young kids.

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—Sumerian poem

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MIKHAIL

Spawn of Shay'tan! The foolish goat is nowhere to be found!

Since yesterday, Nemesis has evaded my patrols. Did a lion get her? Maybe she got attacked by a pack of hyenas? Fell off a cliff? Got bitten by a snake? What will Ninsianna think when she returns home and finds her goat is missing?

Pet goat my asal! Nemesis is a furred little hellspawn, a miniature Evil One incarnate. She enjoys making me look like an i***t! One of these days I will do what Immanu suggests! Wrap her head in colorful dyed linen ribbons, whisper my sins into her ears, and t……