The sun burned Kigal’s skin as she, Nergal, Inanna, Kurgarra, and Galatur weaved through Zabala’s streets, the Gallas demons hemming them in on all sides. Ereshkigal rarely called upon the demons, preferring to leave them to their devices in the underworld, but she had a feeling she’d need as much force as she could muster to keep Inanna from flight. Not to mention that Asag was the only being other than herself who could ferry souls in and out of Irkalla. When Kigal had made her request for aid, Asag the Black, chief among the monstrous things, had surveyed her with the many eyes covering his body.
“Inanna is powerful,” he’d said. “There is no guarantee she will not find a way to outwit us.”
“Do you consider yourself easily outwitted?” Once she had feared the Gallas, but that had faded
