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'Don't see why,' grumbled an elderly priest at the back of the crowd 'Bloody knife and fork artist'

They grabbed hi, and hurled him into the river

'All hail-' They paused 'Who was he high priest of, anyway?'

'Bunu, the Goat-headed God of Goats? Wasn't he?'

'All hail Bunu, probably,' they chorused, as the sacred crocodiles homed in like sub It is said that the hour brings forth the ht forth by devious and unpleasant hours, and underneath his bald head certain conclusions were beginning to unfold, like things imprisoned for years inside stones He wasn't yet sure what they were, but they were broadly on the subject of gods, the new age, the need for a fir of Dios into the nearest crocodile The ht

'Brethren!' he cried

'Excuse me,' said the priestess of Sarduk

'And sistren-'

'Thank you'

'-let us rejoice!' The assembled priests stood in total silence This was a radical approach which had not hitherto occurred to them And Koomi looked at their upturned faces and felt a thrill the like of which he had never experienced before They were frightened out of their wits, and they were expecting him - him - to tell them what to do

'Yea!' he said 'And, indeed, verily, the hour of the gods-'

'-and goddesses-'

'-yes, and goddesses, is at hand Er'

What next? What, when you got right down to it, was he going to tell theht: it doesn't h Old Dios always drove the around like sheep

'And, brethren - and sistren, of course - we must ask ourselves, we ain with new confidence 'Yes, we ods are at hand And without doubt it is because we have not been assiduous enough in our worship, we have, er, we have lusted after graven idols'

The priests exchanged glances Had they? How did you do it, actually?

'And, yes, and what about sacrifices? Ti around with a chicken and flowers'

This caused so maidens here?' said one of the priests uncertainly

'Ahe men too, certainly,' he said quickly Sarduk was one of the older goddesses, whose feht of her wandering around the landscape somewhere, bloody to the elbows, made the eyes water

Koos were better then, weren't they?'

'But, er, I thought we stopped all that sort of thing Population decline and so forth'

There was a monstrous splash out in the river Tzut, the Snake-Headed God of the Upper Djel, surfaced and regarded the assembled priesthood solemnly Then Fhez, the Crocodile-Headed God of the Lower Djel, erupted beside hi his head off The two subed in a column of spray and a minor tidal hich slopped over the balcony

'Ah, butvirgins - of both sexes, of course,' said Kooht of it like that?' They thought of it Then they thought of it again

'I don't think the king would approve-' said one of the priests cautiously

'The king?' shouted Koo! Ask Dios where the king is!'

There was a thud by his feet He looked down in horror as the gold mask bounced, and rolled towards the priests They scattered hurriedly, like skittles

Dios strode out into the light of the disputed sun, his face grey with fury

'The king is dead,' he said

Koonificently

'Then his successor-' he began

'There is no successor,' said Dios He stared up at the sky Few people can look directly at the sun, but under the venoht have flinched and looked away Dios's eyes sighted down that fearsoeneral he said: 'Co here as if they own the place How dare they?'

Koomi's mouth dropped open He started to protest, and a kilowatt stare silenced hiht support fro their nails or staring intently into the e was clear He was on his own Although, if by some chance he won the battle of wills, he'd be surrounded by people assuring hi

'Anyway, they do own the place,' he mumbled

'What?'

'They, er, they do own the place, Dios,' Kooods, Dios!'

'They're our gods,' Dios hissed 'We're not their people They're ods and they will learn to do as they are instructed!'