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 13 - Crime and Punishment 2 Lij was trembling, both with fear and anger. It was the appointed time to set Dom's punishment for striking the king. The assembly was gathered. Dom and Lij, Nefer-Aru and Liv, newly arrived from Thebes, Menkh and his wife, Merit, Seti-Hop the physician, Nat and his wife Pretep, and Rem-Opit, the scribe. Where was Menep? Lij needed her. Gods, Pretep was in fine form today. If she had not been the youngest sister of his father, Thothmes, he would have had her flung into the Nile! But his innate honesty allowed that she had a point, that Dom had broken the law, and that there was a punishment affixed. What stuck in his throat was the gloating expression on his aunt's face. She was enjoying it. Enjoying his pain, the bitch! Dom sat quietly, taking no part in the proceedings. Rem-Opit, who had been present, and had recorded the original incident, read back the damning words. Lij had called Dom an "insolent pup", and Dom had struck him. Lij beckoned to a guard. "Go and find the Lady Menep, and ask her to honour us with her presence." The guard left. Menkh was questioning Pretep. Lij dragged himself back into the present. "What, then, Lady, do you think is a suitable punishment, if nothing we offer is pleasing to you?" Lij gasped. Menkh was offering her Dom's life to play with like a toy! Menkh glanced at Lij. Something in his face made Lij breathe a sigh of relief. His cousin knew what he was doing, thank the gods! The guard returned. "The Lady begs to be excused. She has been delayed. She will be here, soon, Exalted One". Lij nodded his dismissal. Pretep was speaking. "Cut off his hand! Let the instrument that violated the Lord be struck from the traitor." Lij felt sick. Dom's face was inscrutable - not even a blink. Pretep, roused to her theme, continued. "This is a just punishment. Lij is a fool not to have ..." "Ah", a cool voice interrupted from the doorway. "The voice of justice. You are to be congratulated on your zeal, Pretep. Lord, order this thing to be done." Lij stared at his grandmother in absolute horror. She walked slowly towards him, and knelt at his feet. "Trust me", she said, on a low breath. She rose and took her seat in the assembly. Lij stood and passed sentence. "...unless the proposer rescinds this sentence, it will become an unalterable edict, under the law..." Lij gazed at Dom, who met his eyes, squarely, and said not one word. "Excellent!" Menep looked at Pretep, who was smirking at Dom with something akin to lust in her eyes. "Pretep, my dear, you are a true advocate of the laws of Egypt, I see." The old lady sitting beside her gloating relative, smiled. Lij could see that the smile did not quite reach his grandmother's eyes. Pretep swelled under the imputed praise. "Yes, Great Lady; the law must be upheld, or the land will perish." Menep rearranged her wrap. It was colder in the evenings, and she was old. Her bones felt it. "Quite right, too - and, no doubt Iri-Natjer will be glad to have a quiet house, free from your incessant babbling - will you not, Nat?" Iri-Natjer vouchsafed no reply, but studiously gazed at his feet. The old lady's false smile grew wider. Genuine amusement finally lit her face. Pretep, puzzled, opened her mouth to ask what Menep meant by her remark, but Menep help up her hand to forestall her. "Rem-Opit, read us the sentence spoken by the gracious Lady as I entered the chamber." Pretep stared at her in astonishment. Rem-Opit cleared his throat."This is a just punishment! Lij is a fool not to have..." The scribe fell silent. Lij smiled. He stood, and pronounced sentence once more. "Be it known that the Lady Pretep has blasphemed against the personage of the God of the Two Lands, and according to the unalterable edict written for such a charge, the offending member - that is to say - her tongue, will be cut out. Unless the proposer..." Pretep leapt to her feet. "You tricked me, you old jackal!" she screamed at Menep. Lij indicated to two of the guards that they should move forward. They stood in front of the furious woman, awaiting orders. Lij let his eyes rest on hers, and she froze under their icy gaze. "That is another blasphemy, cousin. No one can speak ill, in public or in private of the wife of a god, mother and grandmother of gods, without falling prey to an unalterable edict. You have condemned yourself twice from your own mouth. What do you say?" She sat down, fury apparent in every inch of her thin frame. "The proposer rescinds the sentence", she said, hollowly, picking at a thread in her gown. "What do you think would be a just penalty for your crime?" Lij asked, gently. She knew she was trapped. Fifteen lashes would be a more than lenient sentence. She remembered Setep-Ra's punishment was death for a much milder criticism, but, uttered, as his was, in a public forum, there could be no mercy for him. She was fortunate. This was a private audience. Family. She was no fool, though - she knew that if she suggested anything too outrageously mild, they would laugh her to scorn. She bowed her head. "Ten strokes, Lord." Lij nodded his head. "So be it! The same punishment shall be given to Sen -Adom. At least his sin was committed out of love and not through malice." Pretep stared at the wall. Iri-Natjer, throughout the whole of the proceedings, had neither moved, looked at his wife, or uttered a single word. Only Dom, studying the participants carefully, was sure he had seen a gleam - at least the beginning of a gleam - in Nat's eyes at the mention of a silent, peaceful house. Dom grinned inwardly. Ten strokes would be like a caress, after the roads his mind had wandered, worrying silently over his fate. Lij met his gaze, and smiled at him, and the sun came out for Dom in his lover's eyes. *** Menep rose from her seat. "No time like the present!" she said, brusquely, covering her inner feelings. "Come Pretep, come ladies. I am sure the Great One will trust us as witnesses to see the deed done. Nat, go with the men," she said, not unkindly. "We will look after your wife." Nat heaved a sigh of relief. He was fond of his wife, in a mild fashion, but screaming women were not high on his list of preferments. He preferred screaming men, if the truth were known, whether they were screaming in pleasure...or pain. Lij took his arm and Nat jumped at the contact, as Lij so rarely touched anyone. "Come, cousin. Be our witness. Dom insists". Nat cast Dom a nervous glance. He found Dom was looking at him, gravely. "I want you to tell your wife, in truth, that you saw the sentence carried out, and that there was no trickery involved." Dom said, seriously. "Come!" They went to Lij's apartments. Seti-Hop had brought some medicaments. Pen-Nekeb had prepared the room, and poured the wine. Lij and Dom would both need it. Menkh sat down in a crocodile-footed chair, and drank the wine Nekeb brought him, gratefully. Witnessing whippings was not one of his favourite pastimes. Nat coughed. "Is Lij going to administer the punishment?" he asked, tentatively. Dom looked at Lij, who shook his head. "No, cousin, I can't do that. You, of all people must know that. Menkh will do it." Menkh's head shot up. "Me, Lij?" he said, forgetting protocol in his confusion. "Me?" Lij smiled, sadly. "Would you wish me to do it, and have Nat say I stayed my hand? Would you have me strike Dom like that? Would you?" Nat coughed again. "I think you should do it, Lord. After all, it is only fitting. And I will count the blows, just to be fair...and record the marks on Sen-Adom's skin." Lij thought that Nat seemed more than willing to perform this office, but he was too taken with the horror before him to think on it much. Dom was smiling at him, and whispered in his ear, "Do it, Great One! It will soon be over, and then you can spread the soothing lotion on, too." Lij wasn't sure he could do this. He was just about to refuse, when the door opened, and his grandmother came wobbling in. "Ah! In good time," she said, disposing herself in her favourite chair. She held something in her hand. It was a piece of wood, about twice the width of a man's palm, and an arm's length. She held it out to Lij. "Get on with it, then, my chick." He noticed she had dispensed with protocol for the afternnon. She looked pale. "Are you well, my sweet?" Lij asked her, kissing her cheek. He just caught, out of the corner of his eye, Seti-Hop's concerned glance at her. "Yes, yes! Shift yourself, my love - I am missing my afternoon sleep for all this nonsense!" "But what is this, Menep?" Lij waved the wooden thing under her nose. She sniffed. "The very thing I have just thrashed Pretep with", she said, bitingly. "No one else would do it, so I did - and it tired me." Lij gazed at his grandmother in astonishment. She looked back at him, and smiled. "Pretep specified ten *strokes*. She did not say with what instrument. I chose that. Do you recognise it, lad?" Lij grinned. "Oh, yes, my Lady... I do!" Dom looked questioningly at the elderly queen. She smiled at him, fondly. "I used to beat Lij with this when he was younger. In fact, I still used it, on occasion, after he was crowned, if he got to be too above himself. He was still a child then, you see. Then I realised a king *has* to be above himself, to rule efficiently. Thothmes knew that. So did Lij. It was me that didn't... then. I've learned a lot, since. Get on with it, I need my sleep!" Lij looked at the thing in his hand as if it were a snake. He knew its strength. It hurt, but it did not break skin. She was a wise old owl. It would be easier on Dom, and no one could say he had dealt lightly with him - the sound was witness to the blow landing, unlike that of a whip. "What do I do?" Dom asked, puzzled. "Just dispose yourself over the nearest couch", Nat offered. He would enjoy this, if nobody else did. Dom obliged. Nat went over and lifted the kilt. Lij blushed. Dom's shapely beauty on view to all and sundry! He decided to move swiftly. He brought the paddle down as hard as he could. Dom grunted. There was real force behind Lij's arm, nobody doubted that. Ten times the wood met the flesh. Ten times Dom groaned as his flesh was struck. "Well, that was well done! Come, all of you. Leave them to the ointment and the kisses." The old lady quickly ushered the crowd out of the room. Lij bent over Dom's prone form, and held him tightly around the waist. "Dom?" Dom turned. Lij was astonished, for Dom's eyes were bright and eager, and his member was hard. "Gods, Lij! Take me, now!" he moaned. Lij sank to the floor in front of Dom, and did not even see Nekeb sneak from the room, grinning. Dom was boneless with desire, he did not understand why. The fire in his buttocks had ignited a greater fire in his loins. He remembered with acute clarity the feelings that had been aroused in him when he had seen Lij with the whip in his hand at Melofer's punishment. He had been as hard as adamant, then. He reached for Lij. "Please, now! I need you inside me...now!" Lij made as if to rise and fetch the oil. "No!" Dom almost screamed. Lij gave in. Dom's urgency had aroused him greatly, more than ever before. He pulled the cushions off the couch, as Dom sank down to the floor beside him. Very soon, cries of passion echoed through the Exalted One's apartments... |