Son of the SunList of players so far -Lij, the Pharaoh Knefer-Lijedefer- Elijah Sen-Adom, the harpist - Dominic Neferura-Ulive, Lij's wife and sister - Liv Menkh, Chief Advisor - Viggo Pen-Nekeb, A eunuch; body slave to Lij - Sean Astin Seti-Hop, a physician - Ian Mckellan Nefer-Aru, Lij's mother - Cate Blanchett Merit-Aton, Liv's mother - Miranda Otto Setep-Aton another royal physician - Chris Lee Orem, a eunuch, Liv's lover - Orli Captains of the Guard, Zeser-Amon - Sean Bean and His brother, Ankh-Aton - David Wenham Imhotep, the Royal architect - Billy Menep-Atifer-Ankh-Ra - Lij's Granny - An old woman with heart. Several friends, aquaintances and folks who merit mentioning, but no names, please! Part 7 � The Hand That Rocks The war chariot was built for two. Strong but easily manoeuverable. The grey horse harnessed to it was literally champing at the bit. Lij laughed, and patted the horse�s neck. "Patience, Star, my friend! You can gallop the fidgets out of your legs in a moment!" Dom had already climbed up, and Lij had placed one foot on the board when their attention was taken by a blue cloth-covered bundle wobbling precariously towards them at some speed. "Great One! Great One - wait!" A voice said from beneath the depths of several layers of materials. Lij smiled, and twinkled at Dom. "Trouble!" he said, happily. Dom looked puzzled. The parcel unwrapped itself. It proved to be a short, fat woman with a basket. The woman came up to Lij, poked him hard in the ribs and said sharply. "So, you would go into the desert without food or drink, would you, stupid child?" She folded her plump arms, and waited for an answer. The Lord of the Two Lands, Son of the Sun, Beloved of Ra, Mighty Bull of Ma'at, bowed his head. "I'm sorry! I didn't think, Menep", he said humbly. Dom was astonished. His Lord and King, He Whose Voice Made The Earth To Tremble, was blushing, and shuffling about from one foot to the other like a schoolboy detected in some petty crime. Dom was enchanted. Who was the paragon who exerted this effect on a king? "Lij? Who is this? Is it your new lover? I heard..." She bent sharp blue eyes at Dom, who refused to wince under her regard. "Yes, my Menep, this is he. Are you gracious enough to approve?" Lij stared anxiously waiting approval from the small figure in front of him. She examined Dom again. "Looks amiable enough - and strong enough for your pastimes, anyway... Mighty Bull!" she cackled. Looking about her for observers and finding none, she reached up for a kiss. He put his arms around her and held her close. There was no one there but the three of them and he'd missed her. "Menep, this is Sen-Adom, my...um...", Lij said, very softly. "Dom, this is Menep-Atifer-Ankh-Ra, she who guided my first steps - Great Royal Mother, mother of Thothmes the God - my grandmother." Dom bowed low to the mother of a God. "Yes, well, Lij", she continued brusquely, proffering the basket, impatiently. "Food, boy! Food!" Having discharged her burden into Dom's keeping, she ran her hands over Lij's radiant face. "You look happy, my chick! If I had not been dragged away from court by a stupid grandson who couldn't rule a country the size of a bee's pizzle with fifty advisors, let alone the two idiots he has, I would have been here to see love blossom." Lij blushed deeply, but said nothing. She smiled at Dom. He grinned back at her. Lij kissed his grandmother again. "Get away, you old hen! Go fuss over Liv for a while. She would be glad of your advice." He turned and climbed into the chariot besides Dom." And did you sort out Tut-Mose's problem for him, Mamma?" She snorted. "What do you think? Go! I'll see you at supper. We have something important to discuss." Dom gave the horse the office to start, and they rode out into the bright morning sun. "Where are we going, Lord?" Dom asked, as they passed the obelisks at the edge of the palace grounds. "East. We are not going into the desert, just along its edge", Lij replied. "And Dom", he continued, grinning, "For several reasons - not the least of them being that my Mamma has so graciously approved of you - call me "Lij" when we are alone!" Dom's heart swelled within him. He had never expected such an honour. They drove for half an hour, along the riverbank, until they came to a secluded spot where several small, white walled buildings nestled by the river under the shade of protecting trees. The houses appeared to have been newly constructed. There was a man waiting outside the larger of the houses to take the horse and chariot. He nodded at Lij and Dom in a friendly manner, and Dom realised the man had no idea who stood before him. "My wife is inside, masters," he said, gruffly, examining the horse. "One out of the royal stables, is it? He is a beauty. Arab stock, I'll vow. The Lord Menkh's man said you were the Great One's high servants. He must think well of you to let you use this animal, and the chariot to go with him." Lij hid a smile. "Oh, he thinks well enough of us, at times - does he not, Dom?" "Yes, Lij, I think The Great One might approve of us both, now and then!" They walked into the cool, light interior, and found a small, dark haired woman, there, putting figs into a bowl. She smiled at them. "I hope that you will tell the Lord Menkh that we did well. We tried to do everything his servant asked of us. You will tell him we did well? He said you both liked figs - these are ripe." Lij nodded, thanking her. "There is food laid out in there" - pointing to an inner room - "and we shall be in the house along the garden, should you require anything further, just call, or bang the brasses, and one of us will come." She pointed, smiling, to a group of brass tubes and the striker, set in the porch. "Otherwise you will not be disturbed, except when I bring you some more cooled wine, later." Lij thanked her, graciously, and she left. Dom could see her and her man walk arm in arm to the tiny house at the bottom of the garden, and close the door behind them. Dom turned to Lij, and put his arms around him. "For us, Lor...Lij?" Lij grasped his lover around the waist. "Just for us, my Dom. Here we are Dom and Lij, equal in everything. No Lord, No King, No Master, no Servant - just us - two people in love. I have been foolish Dom. I couldn't see it, then I was afraid to acknowledge it. Now I know there can be no greater joy for me than to be called beloved by you, and to love you in return - for I do love you, lord of my heart!" Lij's voice broke as he buried his head in Dom's shoulder. "And I, you. More than you could know, my love," murmured Dom, smoothing his hands over Lij's naked back. Dom gazed into Lij's eyes, and found no king, no master there - only a man who loved him. Dom kissed him, drawing a plump lip into his mouth with little whimpering sounds, rejoicing in the quickening of Lij warm breath against his skin. "Let us find the bed, Dom!" Lij whispered, although there was no one to hear him. "I long for us to make love without Pen-Nekeb's hot ear pressed against the door!" They found the bedroom. The bed was large and soft, with cool sheets and a brightly woven coverlet on top. At the foot of the bed stood a small harp. Beside the bed, on a low table, a little glass bottle twinkled in the sun. Lij saw it, and grinned. His orders to Menkh had been most straightly observed. Dom had not noticed it, rapt as he was in fondling Lij under his kilt. They were soon lying on the bed, caressing each other. Lij marvelled again at Dom's beautifully muscled body. Long hours spent at the palace waiting for Lij to be free must include time for strenuous exercise, Lij mused, as he took Dom's nipple into his mouth. No one kept muscles like these sitting on their backside in the sun. Dom groaned as Lij's mouth continued its assault on his senses. No one - no one had ever made him feel like this, except Lij! No one played his body the way.... Dom squirmed with delight as Lij's lips returned to Dom's mouth for a kiss, his tongue tasting the sweet warmth of him. Dom pinched one of Lij's nipples, hard, and was pleased to hear a low moan come from that delicious creamy throat. Dom was trembling with his need for union with this man. "Now, Lij - take me now", Dom moaned, stroking his leaking shaft with a trembling hand as Lij nuzzled at his neck. Lij shook his head. "No, love, not today. Today you take me. Outside the palace walls I can forget who I am for an hour. I would have you in me, Dom - if you are willing". Willing! Dom thought wildly. Willing? My Lij to give himself completely in this way, to me? "Yes, Lij, I am more than willing", he murmured into his lover's mouth. Lij reached for the small bottle. It contained the sweet oil he used to ease the way whilst entering Dom. Now it was his turn. Lij handed it to Dom, who unstoppered it, and smoothed it on himself. "Turn over onto your side, my love. It is easier this way, this being your first time." Lij obeyed, and sighed when he felt Dom's strong agile fingers apply the oil to his entrance, then slip one finger in, gently. It felt strange. Lij closed his eyes and gave himself up to Dom's questing fingers. Suddenly Dom brushed against something inside Lij that caused a jolt to run around his body straight into his aching member. What was that? Ah, yes - of course! Dom always moaned when Lij found this spot within him. Lij could see why. It was - gods - sensitive, whatever it was. Dom was pressing more fingers inside him. Lij wanted to be filled with Dom. To feel him pulsing inside him. To feel his heat deep within. "More! Touch it again, I need you, please..." he whispered, his shaft throbbing with need. Dom guided himself to Lij's entrance and pushed gently. Lij bucked. It felt strange! Gods, it was different. He felt full, too full. Would it hurt? Lij drew in a deep breath ...he was not sure Dom was not too big... Then the fear passed, and Dom rested inside him. Lij felt contented and somehow - complete. "Am I hurting you, love?" Dom whispered into Lij's ear. Lij shook his head. "More!" he gasped. "Please move in me, Dom, I... " Dom moved. Lij's body sang with joy, his nerve endings screaming with tension. Oh, gods - this was wonderful! Nearly as wonderful as being inside his Dom. Dom moved in and out in a steady rhythm, thrusting and quivering and twisting - uttering small, strangled gasps as the tightness stimulated him to breaking point, running his hands up and down Lij's sweating skin, loving him. Lij grasped Dom's arm, which was draped over his shoulder, as he twisted his head round to face Dom. "Please - kiss!" he said, throatily. "Kiss me!" Dom bent his head and took Lij's trembling lips in his own. He was overwhelmed by his feelings for this man - this man who had given himself to him - to Dom. Not the king. Not the ruler and Master Of The Earth, but simply the man. Dom pressed his lips harder into the soft ones beneath his, and Lij moaned into his mouth. Lij's hand shot to his member, swollen and weeping with need, but Dom pushed the hand away, and, when Lij's arms fell at last, boneless with ecstasy onto the coverlet, Dom grasped him tightly, and brought his love to climax, as Lij moaned Dom's name over and over again. Dom felt the earth shift on its foundations, as he shot his seed into his lover's body. Nothing mattered in the universe, except their love. Nothing! "Oh, gods, I love you, my Lij!", Dom breathed into the crook of his lover's neck. Lij let out a small cry, and gathered Dom to him. He was life and joy. His Dom. His. Together, wrapped in each other, they fell asleep. * Some time later, the woman came in after calling gently at the door. She left the wine, and crept out, smiling mistily. Probably they have to come here in secret. Perhaps the Great One - blessed be his name forever - would not approve of their love. She put a white cloth over the food. Plenty of time for them to eat - later. She went to tend the bees, humming quietly over their honey, in the garden. *** They woke in time for the midday meal, and after it, spent the rest of the day laughing, bathing in the river and helping the woman, who was called Meri-Hep, in the garden. Lij had never before got his hands dirty, and enjoyed planting the small seedlings into the rich, dark earth. When he owned, not a trace of a smile on his face, that he had never been allowed to tend a garden, Meri-Hep's heart opened to the lad. The poor soft- skinned palace creature! She gave him a little corner to be his very own, and his face lit up as he tended the ground and sorted the plants. Dom, who had been helping the man, Heleb, with the two horses in the stable - one a good deal more valuable than the other - leaned against the fence, and looked indulgently at the king kneeling in the soil. Lij smiled up at him. He wiped the sweat off his face with the back of his hand, not realising that his cheeks were now streaked with dirt. He looked like a young worker of the land, except that on his finger he wore the scarab ring of the Royal House of Egypt. Meri had obviously not noticed it. She scolded Lij for his clumsiness with a valuable root of silphium that she had been nurturing in a shady spot, until his ears burned, and told him to tend the onions as it was all he was good for. She grinned at his sheepish expression, and folded her arms in a determined manner as the unrecognised Lord Of The Whole Earth complied with her orders, and weeded amongst the bulbs. Dom snorted. Lij got up and wrestled him to the ground, laughing. "Mock me, would you, you camel? I'll soon cure that." Lij rubbed a handful of the black Nile-fed earth into Dom's chest - then they wandered off, arm in arm to wash before leaving. "We shall see you both in seven days, if our Lord is willing." Lij said to the couple, as they waved them off. "And will he be willing, Lord?" Dom grinned, as Lij swept the chariot round in an arc, heading for the palace. Lij gave it serious consideration. "I think he could be persuaded", he said, laughing as they drove into the sunset. *** They both dressed carefully for dinner. Lij told Dom that his grandmother liked to see him dressed as befitted his station, so Nekeb brought out a midnight blue silk robe, edged with silver embroidery and jewels, the sapphire encrusted arm bands, and the ring his father gave him when he proclaimed him heir. Dom thought he had never seen Lij look so beautiful - except when he had him naked in their bed. Dom wore a light pearl grey silk skirt that fell to his ankles, and a fine pectoral and belt studded with pearls and the white stones called adamant given to him by Liv. "Well, they look as fine as two whores in a brothel!" Menep sniffed quietly to Liv as they came through the door. Liv bowed her head, hiding a smile. Lij glanced across at his grandmother - obviously she approved. He could read her like a book - and she him, too. Several people standing at the back of the room knelt. Lij�s mother, Liv's mother and her husband, Menkh, as well as several senior and trusted courtiers. His grandmother came forward first, and made to kneel before him, and kiss his foot - a great honour conferred upon her by Lij himself. Others had to kiss the floor - but he forestalled her by grasping her elbows and drawing her into an embrace. "Great One!" she chided, her eyes like agates, "there are people present. I must observe the protocol...in public, at least." He sighed, and let her go. She kissed both his feet, then rose, clumsily. "Time and to spare when my old knees will not bend, Lij." she whispered at him, and winked. They went in to dinner. After they had eaten, the courtiers bowed themselves out. Menep waited for the chamber to clear, and came to the point. They sat round in a circle, wondering what she had found so disturbing in the one day she had been home. Seti-Hop, the physician came in to join them. "You sent for me, Great One?" he asked of Lij, when he had been granted a seat. Menep sniffed. "It was I sent for you, you old buzzard. So be quiet, and listen." They gave her their full attention. It said much for her grasp on palace affairs that within hours of returning from a visit to her grandson's small kingdom in the East, she had found something that worried her enough to call an urgent family meeting concerning it. "Firstly", she said, raking them all with her eyes, "I would like to thank you all for the welcome I received when I returned to my home - which, as I am being satirical, was no welcome at all! A fine thing it is when the wife of a God, mother and grandmother of gods has to sidle into the palace like a perfume seller." No one else dared speak. Lij said, quietly, "If you had warned us you were coming, gracious lady, we would have prepared a welcome for you". He smiled at her, and she sniffed, mollified. "What, my own, and have half of Egypt gawking at me like a nine day wonder? No thank you! I prefer to come unannounced." She brushed the fine material of her purple and gold silk robe over her knees. Lij winked at Dom. The vagaries of women, and old women in particular! "Well, then, Old One - don't complain." Lij grinned. She barked with laughter, but the smile disappeared quickly from her eyes. "When I got back to my apartments, that young fool of a woman that you took to your bed" - glaring at Lij - "just after your marriage, Peri-Aton, gave me the whole story of that fly-by-night, Melofer, and her doings. Who is the father of the poor babe, I wonder? She has a good memory, Peri. She told me someone had ordered fifteen lashes of the whip, and that you, my brave one, administered the punishment." She looked around at the assembly. No one spoke. "Now, I was curious, Lij. I knew you would think five lashes more than enough for a little slip of a thing like her - and you had never been in the habit of damaging your bed-mates," - here, she cast an appraising glance at Dom - "but I bit my tongue. "Where did they bury her?" I asked Peri. She looked puzzled. "She did not die, Great Lady," she said, "she was in the healing rooms for a while. Now she has been sent away to Temor, to her sister's house. She was well born; her father is the archon. There will be plenty of care for her, and for the babe." Now there were two things I didn't understand at first. One I worked out for myself. You, my prize, are very adept with the whip. That was why she did not die. So my second question was who ordered the whipping?I asked the answer of Liv, and she said she ordered five lashes. Now a third question raises its ugly head. Who dared to alter the edict of Pharaoh's wife? And why?" Lij was stunned. He had assumed it was a mistake. Liv had told him she could find no evidence of anyone tampering with the edict, and that she thought it had been a scribe's error. She'd had the scribe chastised, and thought the matter closed. Lij had not dreamed it could have been deliberate. He looked at his grandmother, his eyes enormous in his pale face. "Mamma? Why?" She blew her nose in a piece of fine lawn, and sipped weak wine from her special Bithyan glass. "To discredit you? To punish you? Just because someone...someone in this palace hates you, my own. Now, who?" Nefer-Aru rubbed her arms. The evening was warm, but a cold chill of foreboding slid over her. "Setep-Aton?" She murmured. Lij was her darling, her son. No - one even glanced in his direction without her seeing it. She had noticed the look in the physician's eyes when they lit on her Lij. "No, mother, surely not!" Lij protested. "It is true, he was upset when his son...died... but since then, he has been his old self." "His old self!" Menep spat. "Old snake! I've never trusted him - but", she tempered her judgement, "I have never heard anything against the old fox. Seti-Hop?" The physician thought, deeply. "No, Lady, I have heard nothing. Setep-Aton is most respected among both physicians and priests." Dom looked across at Menkh, whose handsome face was creased in thought. He ventured to speak. "Do you know something, Lord?" Dom asked him, tentatively. Lij gave Dom a quick glance, and then settled his gaze on his Chief Advisor. Menkh rubbed his beard. "No - except - I do not trust him, either. Or like him. Or..." "This is nonsense!" Lij exclaimed. "One cannot accuse an old and trusted retainer of perfidy just because one does not like him. That would make half the court guilty." He stood up, and paced about the room. Everybody rose to their feet. He turned around sharply. "Oh, sit down!" he ordered, brusquely. All sat. He rubbed his face and smiled, grimly. "I am sorry, I am not myself." "No, we can see that!" Merep remarked, trenchantly. "Fine thing it is when the Lord of the Two Lands has to snap when people are merely obeying court protocol. Shush, now, my honey. Let your old grand-dam think it over for a while. Something will come to me - perhaps the gods will send me a dream - who knows?" |