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 11- The Sleeper Awakes Lij lay back on the pillow, exhausted. Holding audience whilst in bed was very tiring, even if it was an informal gathering. Especially when he hadn't eaten much for sixteen days. Being a king had its price. This was one. He belonged to everyone. Menep shooed everyone except family, out. This still left a considerable crowd. She winnowed further. Soon there were just eight people in the room. Menkh and Merit, Nefer-aru and Menep, Pen-Nekeb and Seti-Hop - and Dom and Lij. Dom was radiant. Nefer was weeping. Lij was tired. All the others were just glowing. Even Seti-Hop, the old physician just couldn't stop grinning. He'd visited, three times a day, since the king's illness, to gaze at his unconscious patient in despair. Now, here he was, sipping pomegranate juice, and looking around the room, as if for someone. His muddled brain had not noticed the absence before. Now it was obvious. "Where's Liv?" he asked his mother, puzzled. "Why has she not come?" His mother gulped, loudly, trying to stifle her tears. Menep answered. "She is lying on her bed, my Lij, throwing her heart up." She winked at him. Lij was distressed. "Is she sick? What is the matter with her, Mamma?" Menep grasped his hand, her old eyes wet. "Nothing that time won't cure. She is with child, at last!" Lij dropped the cup he was holding. It splashed all over his chest, and ran down onto the bed. "With child?" he echoed, stunned. "Oh, I must see her - Dom, help me up!" Seti-Hop's hand rested gently on his chest, pressing him back onto the sheets. "Not today, Lord! Tomorrow! If you leap out of bed...." Lij leapt out of bed, and fell into Dom's waiting arms. "...you will collapse." The old man finished, raising his hands in exasperation. Dom lifted Lij back onto the bed, trying to avoid the wet patch of red juice staining the linen. In a few minutes, Lij opened his eyes. "What happened?" he whispered, weakly. His grandmother snorted. "Men! They never listen! Your grandfather was just the same. So was your father, and now you. Listen before you go leaping, my lamb." She kissed his forehead. "Tomorrow, Seti-Hop said. Tomorrow it is!" Lij gave in. He felt giddy. Menkh looked at his king. He could see he was very pale. "Come, my friends - let us leave him to rest. We can all come and gloat over him tomorrow." His cousin came up to the bed, and put his hand on Lij's sticky chest. "Rest now, little one", he said, gently. No one gasped at the blasphemy, least of all Lij. He felt small, and rather helpless at the moment. All the women kissed him, and went out, crying. "Why are they all weeping?" Lij asked Menkh as he prepared to leave. "Ah! The mysteries of womanhood. Strong as adamant during the crisis - fall apart as soon as it is over. Get some rest." "Rest!" Lij stared at him. "If I heard properly, I have been doing nothing else, of late." "Ah, Great One", commented Pen-Nekeb, pulling the stained sheet off Lij's body, and preparing to wash him. "But it is not the same." This was unanswerable - so Lij said nothing. Menkh smiled at his cousin and left him to rest. Dom took the cloth out of Nekeb's hand. "I will do it", he said, gently. "You go and fetch clean linens. And a sleeping robe. Go!" he smiled. Dom continued to wash the juice from Lij's body. Lij gazed at him, lovingly. "You are thinner, my love", he murmured to Dom, as the cloth dipped between his legs. "Have you been eating while I was asleep?" "So are you, Exalted One. Much thinner! You must eat something." Lij's face darkened. His hand clasped Dom's arm, hard. Dom winced. Lij loosened his grip, immediately. "The last time I remember eating anything, the consequences seem to have been dire", he remarked, angrily. "Tell me what happened, Dom. No one has mentioned it. Did they think I had forgotten?" Dom's face went pale with shock. Lij saw Dom's stricken face, and bit his bottom lip, worriedly. "Dom?" he said, in gentler tones. "Dom?" he held out his arms, and Dom sank into them. Pen-Nekeb came back with the linens, took one look at the bed, and its occupants, lying quietly in each others arms, and crept out again, closing the door. He sat in the outer chamber, and rejoiced. Lij turned on the bed, and Dom lay beside him, one leg possessively hooked across Lij's. "Lord - am I too heavy for you, now?" Dom asked into Lij's hair. "Never! You are my life - how could my life be heavy? You are my joy." Lij kissed his lover, feeling the moist lips give under his. All would be well! Liv was with child. His throne was safe. His love was in his arms. What else was there? It was enough. *** If he had been standing, the Pharaoh Knefer-Lijedefer, Lord of the Two Lands would have stamped his foot. As he was lying on a day bed, by the window in his spacious apartments, he settled for folding his arms and frowning ominously. Neither men there were the least bit discomfited. They both smiled at him. Pen-Nekeb, holding the tray, Dom holding the cloth. "You will drink it, Lord, or I will feed it to you myself." Dom stared fearlessly into defiant cobalt eyes. Lij winced. "But, Dom, I want some real food - not this...pap!" He changed tactics and gazed at Dom and Nekeb like a hungry orphaned child. Neither was moved. He sighed in exasperation. "Broth - again. I had broth at mid-day, now you offer me more." Pen-Nekeb said, placatingly. "It has little pieces of duck in it, Great One - and..." Lij perked up considerably. "Duck? Let me see." He stared into the bowl. Yes, there behind a small green leaf, was a miniscule fragment of.... Pen-Nekeb received the full wrath of the king's gaze. "Nekeb, you...liar! That tittle is not worth mentioning as meat. Dom?..." "Drink it, Lij. You know what Seti-Hop said about eating too much after fasting", Dom said, caressing the words. Lij capitulated, and drank the broth, in three gulps. "A peach, Great One?" Offered his slave, hopefully. "It is ripe, just as you like them." Lij took the proffered fruit, and ate it. "Another?" Nekeb held a larger one out to his master. He nodded graciously, and ate that, too, but more slowly, savouring the taste against his tongue. "Any more, Nekeb?" The slave shook his head. "Only two fi...some fruit you might not care for, Lord". Pen-Nekeb's head was bowed in sorrow. He would throttle the Royal Cook with his own hands for sending... "Figs, Nekeb?" Lij said, quietly. "Yes, Great Lord", even more quietly. Lij shifted on the day bed to which he had graduated as the day progressed. Dom had insisted on carrying him. He was not pleased, but suffered it because it was done with love. Dom looked at his lover anxiously. He was pale, no doubt of it. But he looked better. "Hand them over, man!" Lij ordered, not unkindly. "You can hardly think I would give up my favourite fruit because one of them had nearly..." He bit into one. Delicious. "...killed you." supplied Dom with a shudder. The connecting door between the Royal apartments opened, and Lij's queen hurried through it to be folded in his warm embrace. "Lij! My dear! Oh, I'm sorry I wasn't...couldn't...Oh, Lij!" Liv sobbed for a few moments in her husband's arms, then drew back to examine him, carefully. She seemed satisfied with what she saw. Nekeb brought a chair for his queen, and withdrew with the tray. Dom bowed low, and was about to leave, when Lij said "Stay, love!" Liv smiled at him. "Yes, stay, Dom. Your care of my brother has warmed my heart. If you are Nefer's son, now" - Lij looked questioningly at Dom - "then you shall be my brother, too." She had noticed the glance, and explained quickly to Lij that Dom was not only his lover, but his brother, now, as well. Dom smiled mistily at his lover's wife. "Thank you, Lady. I shall try to prove worthy". "Liv, in private, Dom. Just Liv." Lij kissed his wife's hand. "My dear, I was so happy to hear of the child. How do you feel, now?" He stared into her face. He could see slight bruising under her eyes, and she looked a little thinner than she had been. He remarked on it. "That has nothing to do with the baby, Lij, and everything to do with you!" She burst into tears, again. Lij cast an anxious glance at Dom, who brought Liv half a cup of her favourite honey wine, well watered. "A few sips won't hurt me", she gulped, as Dom gave her the cup. "In truth I have not felt much like eating while you were...sleeping, Lij." She handed the cup to Dom, with a smile, and turned to her husband. "I have missed three moons, so I hope it will hold. I have never even got this far, before, my dear. I have not told you this, because there was no point, but twice before I have conceived, only to lose the child within the first month. I have prayed to Hathor that this child will hold". Lij held his arms out to his sister, who snuggled into them, gratefully. Dom smiled at them. They were so happy about the child. The gods grant a safe delivery. Dom busied himself on the other side of the room, while Lij whispered encouragement into Liv's ear. He said something, and she giggled. "Orem is pleased for me, of course. But I must say I have not felt much like...because of one thing or another. He is twice glad that you have woken, my dear! I must go, now. Seti-Hop has told me to rest often during the day. I will come to you later - to talk." She cast a rogueish glance at Dom, kissed her lord, and departed. Lij felt tired. He would sleep a while. Dom insisted on carrying him back to bed. He was too tired to argue. Seti-Hop said he could get up tomorrow. Tomorrow couldn't come quickly enough for him. Resting contentedly in Dom's arms, he fell asleep. |