A/N: aaaaaah and yes, Mei is Mai from Avatar. I�m working on a site to put all this up on, so hang tight and it�ll be up soon. Also, on another note, my birthday is October 9th, so much love to ME. XD

Chapter Thirteen

The table was set for Gilgamesh and his concubines, those that would dine with him in the first place anyway. Mei sat in a chair not too far from Gilgamesh�s large chair at the head of the table. His bound concubines who had given birth to his children so far sat closer to him. There were two. One was a woman of the old religion, wearing her hair bound back in a braid and hidden under a veil of relatively sheer lavender silk. She was a pretty woman, green eyes sparkling like gems from behind black kohl around her eyes. His daughter by the woman was also a very pretty little girl. She had his red eyes, however, as he expected. Her hair was light brown and was also tied back in a braid behind her head.

The other concubine that birthed him a child was also a fairly pretty woman, though she had black hair and fairer skin than that of the other woman. Her eyes were a dark brown and her mouth was as pink as the slight flush in her cheeks when she caught him looking at her. She too had bore him a daughter, again with his red eyes, signifying the god blood in her veins, and her hair was a dark brown, almost black. She had a rosy complexion, rosy cheeks and rosy mouth, smiling happily up at her father when she looked over. Her mother was a woman of the old religion as well, wearing a veil over her hair like the other woman. He tried to remember their names, for he had not been with them for a long time, though he had been with his daughters occasionally, giving them little gifts like dolls or trinkets.

He closed his eyes and thought for a moment. He had had so many women in his life in his past that those in the present sort of didn�t interest him. In fact, aside from Mei and these other two women, the lot of them didn�t interest him at all. These two women angered him greatly, however, because they didn�t do much but cringe at the sight of him whenever he came near. He was a gentle lover! At least he thought he was, which was all that needed to be said. He remembered bedding the women after the ceremony binding them to him as his �wives�. The black haired woman wouldn�t even look at him, staring straight at the ground and then clenched her eyes shut and whimpered when he took her to bed. It was as though she didn�t even want what he had to offer! She hadn�t had that blasted surgery done to her that he abolished when he took the throne, she could feel pleasure, but why would she sit there like a scared rabbit?!

And the brown haired woman. When he took her to bed, she very straightly told him to get out. It took a couple of nights just to bed her, but when he had, she too wouldn�t look at him or do anything more than whimper and cringe at the sight of him. He wasn�t repulsive and he wasn�t hard on the women unless they angered him, so why did they act as though he had no right to touch them?!

Asma! Asma was the name of the brown haired woman. Fathia was the name of the black haired woman. His daughter by Asma was Imani and the daughter by Fathia was Jalila. He grinned in triumph that he had managed to remember his own children�s names and the names of their mothers. That would be rather necessary should he introduce them.

Mei looked over at him, gold eyes behind a curtain of black lashes. Her eyes were lined in black as well, though it was a more painted look rather than the slight line around Asma�s green eyes. For a moment, he forgot that tonight was the night that his men were going to poison him, or attempt to.

Asma caught him looking at her and she glared at him, looking away hotly with her tanned cheeks darkening. Imani blinked up at her mother and then looked over at Gilgamesh, smiling. �Daddy, why are you not eating? Mama says that if you waste food, you do the aminals that were made for us to eat a disservice!�

Gilgamesh eyed his daughter with a rather confused look. He realized she meant �animals� instead of what she said and rubbed his forehead. �It�s animals, Imani.�

She grinned broadly at him, ruby eyes shining brightly. �Uh huh! Aminals!�

Gilgamesh stared for a moment before he realized his daughter was being cute. By that time, Jalila started giggling and tossed a piece of bread at her sister from across the table and Fathia attempted to hide her face behind her veil to keep from being seen chuckling. He smirked and sat up arrogantly. �Of course! Aminals! I should have known better! HAH! My Imani is a genius!�

Asma didn�t seem amused, however. She shot him a glare and stabbed her meat with her fork. �Imani, don�t speak during dinner please. Don�t encourage the king�s behavior.�

Imani made a face and went back to eating. Mei looked to Gilgamesh and blushed faintly and looked to her plate. She wasn�t eating either. He wondered, then, if indeed the women would be saved from poisoning or if all of them were to be poisoned and not just him. Mei stood up and bowed to Gilgamesh, the sticks in her hair, dangling beads hanging from them, clinked as she did so. �I will be in my quarters, my lord. I am not hungry.�

Imani watched her leave as Asma did as well. Asma had a strange look on her face that Gilgamesh couldn�t place. Was she jealous of the looks he was giving Mei? He smirked deviously at the thought. He also entertained the thought of driving out the bunch of women he didn�t like and just keeping Asma, Fathia and Mei as his concubines. Gilgamesh was the king of all, and what he didn�t like didn�t stay. Again, his grin grew larger. He had been keeping them because they were offered, but now that he knew the lot of them were a bunch of social climbing vultures, he could be rid of them in a hurry.

Just then, Imani whimpered. �Mama, my tummy hurts.�

Asma, too, looked very pale as she held a hand over her mouth. Gilgamesh�s heart sank. Fathia also became very white, as did Jalila. The other women began to groan and fall out of their chairs, some of them choking and holding their throats. He heard men coming up behind him as if on cue to finish them all off. He looked to little Imani and Jalila and anger grew inside him. No one touched what was his, no one tried to destroy what was his either. No one!

�Lord Gilgamesh, king of all that was once mighty, your time has come!� said one of his advisors.

Gilgamesh stood up and turned calmly toward them, glaring at them all coldly. �You think that doing this will weaken me? Do you think by poisoning the entire batch of dinner that you can kill me or indeed incapacitate me?�

�He didn�t eat it!� cried a short, fat, advisor.

The guards turned and aimed arrows and pulled out their swords. They were even in on this whole mass murder. Red light burst to life in the room and great invisible doors opened behind him. A dagger flew at him and was blocked by swords from his dimensional treasury. �Enough of this.�

A dagger hit his side and he dropped to a knee in pain, eyes wide. How could someone surprise him so?! He looked to one of the guards and growled. The advisors grinned. �You see.. we plan on killing not only you, but ridding your seed from this place, including the unfortunate ladies you may have impregnated.�

A rain of light fell upon the advisors. They shielded themselves with the finest of his armory shields. He couldn�t direct the weapons in his treasury in more than one direction, which left him exposed from his sides and back. An arrow shot into his shoulder and his leg. He dropped to the ground on both knees, crying out in pain. Damn it! He was the great king Gilgamesh! He ripped the dagger and arrows from him and threw them aside. He shot swords one by one at those shooting at him and was hit again in the side.

Just then, a flash of black hair and the soft sound of silk ran in. He smelled the jasmine perfume and knew who it was. Men dropped on the sides, small knives flying from her as though she were inhuman herself. He ripped the arrow from his side and threw it at the men, getting one in the eye. Asma and Imani fell to the floor just before Fathia and Jalila did. With the guards being taken care of, Gilgamesh pulled out his Ea and let the pillars power up. The advisors saw it and cringed in horror, trying to run, but were still being pummeled by the weapons from his treasury. �Filthy mongrels! You never touch what are the king�s personal possessions!� He swung Ea at them and watched in satisfaction as the men were obliterated, torn apart on the spot by the swirling ripples of air, as well as several walls behind them.

Gilgamesh dropped to his knees once more, sweating and turning pale. Blood dripped profusely from his wounds as he held himself up with his sword. Mei ran over from gutting one of the guards and pulled him up against her. �My lord!!�

Gilamesh growled and made Ea go back into the treasury and pulled out a phial. He handed it to Mei and snarled. �Give it to them! NOW!�

Mei nodded and ran to the childrens� sides first, giving them a drop of the potion each and then gave the mothers the potion. Their color began returning slowly as Mei ran over to the other women. Some were already dead. Half the women were left and recovered slowly when Mei gave them the potion. When Mei returned to Gilgamesh�s side, he was turning white and panting heavily. He groped inside his treasury and pulled out another phial and dropped it, though it did not smash on the ground. Mei ran over to her king and knelt down beside him. �My lord, what is it you need?� she asked.

�Potion. Healing. Need to take it,� he gasped. �DAMN IT!! NO ONE GETS THE BETTER OF ME!!� he snarled and tried to pick it up and landed on his back. He cried out in pain and held his stomach, gritting his teeth.

Mei watched her king with a look of sheer horror. He was dying! She grabbed up the phial and poured what she could hold into her mouth and then administered it to Gilgamesh. His mouth opened to her and she felt his tongue dart into her mouth, stealing the liquid from her greedily. He growled and gripped her hard with one of his hands behind her head, digging into her hair. She could do little else than feel his mouth suck the very life from her body. Her heart thumped hard in her chest as he let her move away from him slightly, before having her lip bitten by his teeth. It was almost painful how he seemed to hold her in place and chew on her like a cannibal.

After a moment, Gilgamesh let go of Mei and laid his head back against the marble floor, gazing up at her. She blushed scarlet and touched her lip, the rouge having been smeared on her face and her mouth was swollen from his kiss. His lips were also swollen, looking far more kissable than they had previously. His color was still pale, he was still sweating, but she saw that his wounds were less severe, the bleeding having stopped and the wounds healing quickly.

�Good� job,� he panted. �For a woman.�

Mei gave him a cold glare as he smirked. He was teasing her! �You didn�t do badly yourself, my lord,� she said softly and moved away from him.

Asma sat up slowly and looked around. She pulled up Imani and looked frantically at Gilgamesh. �My lord!� she cried and moved over to him as quickly as she could while holding her daughter to her. She looked to Mei and then looked away. �How is he?�

�Glad to see you act as though you care, Asma,� he grunted, indignantly looking up at the green eyed concubine of his.

She blushed and gasped, looking away and holding Imani to her as she puffed her cheeks in irritation. �My concern for you is only because you are my husband and nothing else.�

�As I thought, you care little of me,� he mumbled and closed his eyes. �Argh, I�m getting rid of these wretched women who plague me. I�m tired of these vultures coming to me for more money and more still to fund their little affairs and whatever else.�

Asma went pale once more and glared hotly at Gilgamesh in horror. Mei seemed unphased by what he said, though Fathia went white and nuzzled her daughter�s hair. �So we are to be dismissed as well?� said Asma indignantly, putting on the most imperious look he had ever come from her. �We bare your children and you turn us out?�

�Will you be quiet, Asma? You and Fathia and Imani and Jalila are staying. You�re the only ones who don�t complain so often as the others!� grunted Gilgamesh.

Fathia snapped her head over toward her king with surprise written all over her face. Jalila watched Gilgamesh and smiled weakly. �Daddy is going to let me and mama stay, then?�

Gilgamesh grunted. Too many questions! �Of course! Now be quiet! My head is hurting!�

Mei smiled faintly as she watched him lay back and close his eyes. When she heard him snoring lightly, his mouth open slightly and looking a little stupid, she smiled a little more and kissed his forehead and had Asma and Fathia help her get him to his room as quickly as possible. It was a bit of a chore, as he was a bit heavy, however, the women didn�t want him sleeping on the stone floor like some street person. �He always snores so loudly,� said Asma.

�He scares me,� said Fathia softly, �He�s like a great monster when he came in to bed me. Not in THAT area, but�I�m afraid if I do something wrong that he�ll turn me out and send me back to my father unable to be a bride for anyone else.�

�I don�t think he�s that cruel,� said Mei. The women looked at her in surprise. �He has yet to bed me, but I have been watching him silently for many months now. I grew up among noble men, so I know how they tend to act and� if you watch him closely enough� you can see he has a heart and actually cares. He�s selfish and arrogant, but he does care about what he deems his possessions. We are that.�

Asma and Fathia looked to each other and then to Mei for a moment. Then, Fathia blushed faintly and looked down at Gilgamesh. She leaned down and kissed him gently and moved away quickly. Asma gazed at him with a far softer expression on her face than she had before and kissed him as well, her kiss lingering for a moment. Then, she stood and moved away to join Fathia at the door. Mei looked at Gilgamesh and stroked his hair gently. �I will stay with him this night, Asma� Fathia. Please go attend to your daughters, for I am certain they are scared and want to be with their mothers.�

Asma again held a strange expression on her face as she watched Mei. �I don�t like being a part of a group, a harem. It is an old custom, that I know, but I don�t like it. However, Mei of China, I do not think I mind sharing him with you and Fathia should that be what he chooses. Fathia is a good, gentle woman and you� are a very brave woman.�

Mei gazed at Asma for a moment. �And you are a very brittle woman, but your heart is good and warm.�

Asma blushed faintly and bowed her head toward Mei and took Fathia by her shoulders and walked out. Mei took the sticks and combs from her hair and laid them on a table. She took the outer robe of her dress off and laid it aside as well. Then, she laid down next to Gilgamesh in the sheer under robe she wore and pulled the sheet over them both, snuggling against his side as her black hair fanned out over the bed. �I love you,� she whispered against his chest and fell asleep.

�Which slave, madam?� asked one of the men.

�He�s a foreign boy, teen-aged and has red hair. His face is odd too!� cried the man�s wife.

Arturia put her cloak on and walked down the stairs to the kitchen door. One of her villagers had been wounded ans she would know why. As she made her way toward the crime scene, however, she stopped as she caught sight of something lying in the snow. It was a boy, not more than fifteen or sixteen, the same age as her, with slightly tanned skin and red-brown hair that was somewhat shaggy. He was dirty and naked, his body littered with scars from a whip. His hands and feet were growing red from the cold and would start to grow frost bitten if she did nothing for him. She took her cloak off and laid it over him with a swish and picked him up. He was half starved and shivering as he nuzzled into her. Still, his body was very muscled from the hard work he had to endure.

She took him up to her room and laid him on her bed. Then, she went to her head maidservant and requested food and an extra bed to be made for him as well as a warm bath to be drawn. The maidservant ran off and did as her queen bid as Arturia returned to her bedroom and rubbed the body�s body back to life. His face was indeed odd looking. It looked Asian, and yet it had a certain quality to it that made him look more like he was bred from a Caucasian as well. It was rounded with youth, though she saw a strong jaw and chin, his nose a little larger than that of an Asian man and his eyes wider as well. As strange looking as he was, he was not entirely unpleasant to gaze upon. If he was cleaned up, Arturia supposed he might be very handsome indeed, especially when he grew into that jaw and chin of his.

The maidservant came in and laid a tray of food on the table and then went about drawing a bath next to the fireplace. The boy opened his eyes and Arturia saw that they were a rich hazel color. �Welcome to the land of the living, boy,� she said. The boy looked up at her in fear and attempted to move away, though his arms and legs seemed to fail him. She continued to rub them and unclenched his fists slowly. �You were almost frost bitten,� she said. �If I had not found you, I would have had to have my men cut off your hands and feet.�

The boy squirmed more, afraid of her. �You killed one of my people,� she said, �Did he do something that made you want him dead?�

The boy squirmed more and shoved at her when his fingers could move. �Iei! Iei!� then, he started yelping a long string of nonsense together that she couldn�t understand. It wasn�t a language she knew. She could understand a little Gaelic and a little Scots and a little Welsh, but this language was none of this. She could even understand French and German to an extent, but this was not even like those either.

She felt his manhood start to rise against her leg and realized why he was so frightened of her. It took a moment for her to remember that he was the same age as her and that he was of the marrying age when young men were roaming about with as many women as they could have until they were tied to one. Had it been a year since her coronation already? It felt so long ago. No, it was more than a year. She was sixteen and going on seventeen since she spent several months trying to gather the forces of Briton together and fought Gilgamesh and the men of Babylon and forced them back off her island. She had not chosen a man to marry yet and she was by now considered almost an old maid. She still had a few years before they would begin to call her that; however, she knew she wouldn�t age physically from the day she took Avalon.

She moved away from the young man as he covered himself with her cloak and looked away in embarrassment. �Eat,� she said, watching him look over at her in surprise, �Take in sustenance.� She sighed when he didn�t seem to understand. She picked up the tray of food and shoved it at him. �EAT.�

The boy grabbed the tray and stared at her, blushing faintly, though that could have been from the cold. He still didn�t seem to understand, but he knew she was giving him food to eat, so he ate slowly, moving to a table and sitting down with the tray. She sat down opposite him and watched him eat. �Do you speak English?� she asked.

The young man looked up; some of his stew dripping off his chin. �Do you speak English?� Again the boy simply stared at her as though she had another head. �English. Do you speak it or am I simply flapping my mouth at you?� She was beginning to become very testy.

The boy watched her and looked a little afraid when she began to become irritated. She calmed down a little and tried again. �Name. Do you have a name?� She pointed to herself and nodded. �Arturia. You?� She motioned toward him and he just looked at her as though she were trying to do something weird to him. She pointed herself once more and nodded. �Arturia,� she said and then pointed to him once more, �You?�

The young man seemed to get it finally as he spoke. �Emiyashirou.� It had come out in a long string once more.

Arturia frowned. �Emiyashirou?� she asked as she repeated what he had said.

The young man frowned a moment and shook his head. �Emiya shirou.�

�Emiya, then?� she asked.

He shook his head once more. �Emiya shirou.�

�Emiya.� The young man took this as what it was; a final statement of what she would call him from now on, as she was glaring at him slightly because he was frustrating her.

�Emiya,� she said once she had calmed herself once more. She stood and walked over to the tub next to the fire that the maidservant had finished filling. �Clean yourself here.�

�Furo,� said Emiya.

�What?� Once more, Emiya was speaking in that weird moon language of his. That was the only to describe the bizarreness of his language. �Bath.�

�Furo,� he said as he pointed to the tub.

Arturia rubbed her head and walked over to her bed. �Take your bath and when you�re done, I will have some clothes for you as well as someone to groom that awful hair of yours.� Then, she straightened the bed and went out to get some clothes for Emiya.

Emiya watched her leave and rubbed his face a bit. He didn�t understand a word of what she said and she scared him a little for he knew she was the queen of this strange frozen land. That she took him in made him suspicious and that she was offering him food and a bath made him less so. Was the queen of this land uncaring that he was not full blood Japanese or full blood white like her people were? He smelled her perfume from the cloak and blushed faintly as he pulled it closer to him. She must be a very kind woman to leave him with her cloak to stay warm with while he had a bath and dinner. A very good woman to be so kind to a slave who killed his own master.

He lifted his hand and wrapped his fingers over her shoulder. As he moved his head, he found that she was wearing only her sheer silk under robe. He also saw that it was stained with his blood. They would have to burn her clothes and have another set made for her to replace it, however, he would have to send out for the cloth. His treasury held many things, but not bolts of cloth for clothes. It would be a fitting gift to a woman who so deftly saved his life and the life of many others.

He moved the cloth from her shoulder slowly and gazed at the milky skin beneath it. She stirred and opened those gold eyes to meet his with mild surprise. It went away and was back to her usual stoic mask as he sat up on an elbow and held her in the crook of his arm as he gazed down at her. �So you came to me,� he asked, smirking.

She nodded. �Yes, I did, my lord. You had bid for me to come to your bed before and I honored that.�

He smirked a bit more and used his free hand to crook a finger in the front of her robe and pull it away from her breasts. She was small breasted, but, as he had seen over in the Far East, most of their women were small and had small chests. Asma had larger and Fathia had slightly smaller than Asma. The other women had far larger bodies than all three and made him sometimes think of cattle or big fat chickens squawking. He rubbed the tip of one of her breasts as she looked up at him, her gaze softening. She simply watched him as he made her nipple bud under his thumb and then pinch it. She moaned and nuzzled her head against his shoulder as one of her hands came up to his chest. She still wore the contraptions on the insides of her arms. She must not have remembered to take them off or felt someone might come in the night while he slept.

�You like that, do you?� he smirked.

She blushed faintly and rubbed his chest before hooking her arm around his neck and pulling him down. He continued to pinch and twist her nipple gently as he was pulled down and kissed her hungrily. She moaned from her throat, almost purring like a cat as he kissed her, his tongue darting into her mouth once more to feel the depths he felt when she administered the healing potion to him before. He rubbed her breast with his much larger hand and felt her arch her back, pushing the small breast into his hand further. She wrapped a soft leg around his hip and pulled him further onto her body. �I want you to love me,� she said softly against his hot mouth. She panted slightly as he gazed at her. �Make love to me, my husband.�

�So you accept me as your husband?� The devious grin on his face forced her to frown disapprovingly at him. He rolled his eyes and pecked her lips.

�Yes, of course I do. I am already bound to you, as are the other ladies.� She didn�t quite understand his enthusiasm.

He nibbled at her lip and smirked, rubbing the other breast until the nipple budded and began twisting it as well. Her eyes slid shut and she moaned a throaty purr once more. �I ask again, do you accept me as your lord and husband?�

Mei nodded and looked at Gilgamesh in irritation. �Yes, of course I do,� she grumbled.

Gilgameh pulled her under him, wrapping her legs around his waist as he kissed over her neck and down between her breasts, flicking his tongue out against her flesh. �Good, because I don�t like women who cringe when I make love to them,� he said. With that, he began a full onslaught on her senses that had her reeling. He built her up and then pulled away to pull off his clothes and then built her up once more when he entered her. Sure thrusts into her hot body caused her to rise quickly to his tirade. She was practically screaming as he pulled her over the edge with him and released his seed into her. Then, they laid together on his plush bed and silk sheets, entangled in each other�s arms.

Once more, Gilgamesh heard her whisper against his chest. �I love you,� she said in a voice that was barely audible, �Gilgamesh.�