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 15 - Desert Song The basket of food and wine, together with other sundry items, rested at their feet; Lij had the reins, and Dom had ample opportunity to gauge Lij's prowess with the horses as he drove around the city limits, allowing the people to see him. Dom snorted with displeasure. The people saw him, it is true, for the fleeting moment it took between recognition of the Pharaoh's standard waving from the thin pole attached to the back of the vehicle, and them falling flat on their faces in the dust. Lij was used to it, but Dom found it disturbing. People should be allowed to gaze at their king in awe, respect and with affection, not be made to grovel below his chariot wheels in the dirt. Lij was a king to gladden the heart of any subject. Beautiful, clever, and wise. Dom sighed. It was so different in this place. Lij glanced at the basket of food at his feet. It was the same sort of basket that Menep had given him and Dom the last time they headed out to the desert. Lij smiled. He would be glad to take her good news of her tomb, from his own observations of it, and from the great architect Imhotep, revered amongst kings and men for his skill with stone. They left the city limits, and travelled out into the sand. They passed the rocky cliffs that hid the tombs of his fathers, where they were to meet Imhotep later in the day, and headed for a small group of low hills set in the distance, about an hours ride away. Dom looked at Lij's arms holding the reins. Even though he had lost weight during his illness, there was still a strength about him - a tenseness of muscle and sinew that had nothing to do with size, and everything to do with grace and beauty. As soon as they were out of sight of any prying eyes, Dom put his arm around Lij's waist, and hooked his thumb into the waistband of the king's kilt. Lij smiled at the familiarity of the gesture. Yes, he was Dom's and Dom was his. Nothing they could do with each other would be unwelcome - every touch was a caress. Lij longed to lie in Dom's arms, to feel his warm, taut limbs writhe against his own, hidden from all eyes and ears - where only the gods could hear them, and understand. Dom smiled as he saw Lij lick his lips. Yes, it would be soon, and he would lie, panting, underneath his Lij. Dom sighed, wishing the hills were nearer and the day cooler. Still, he had every hope of the caves being cool, the floors sandy and dry, and his love hot and eager. There was a slight wind blowing across their faces as they travelled. It was pleasant here in the desert. Soon the horse was drawn up outside a series of gaps in the rocks, and Lij tethered the animal in a sheltered spot, putting water for it in a leather bucket. Dom watched with interest. Lij was perfectly capable of tending to the horse and the chariot. Dom doubted that he could cook a pot of beans without spoiling them - but he knew about horses. All part of a king's education, he thought, wryly. Lij picked up his share of the food and blankets, and motioned with a smile for Dom to carry the rest. They walked around the rock face, until Dom saw an opening. Tall and narrow, it lay in the shadow, hidden from open view. It looked inviting. Dom went in. The cave was cool and dry. Lij unrolled a blanket and spread it on the ground, and unpacked the food from the cloths it was wrapped in."Are you hungry, Dom? I am - I could eat a hippopotamus!" Lij laughed. Dom reached over and took the cloth covered food. He was hungry. The desert wind had given him an appetite - and not just for food. The man sitting opposite him, nibbling elegantly on a piece of roast fowl, smiled at him, fondly. Dom wondered, as he bit into his portion of meat, if his need for Lij communicated itself across the short distance between them. Lij handed Dom two peaches, and a handful of figs. He ate them quickly, as if they were going to vanish before his eyes. It was not that he was hungry - well, he was, but it was not for food. It was for Lij he starved, yearned, longed. Like a child wanting a sweetmeat, he longed for Lij's touch. Dom poured out some watered honey wine into two metal goblets, and drank his eagerly. He passed Lij his cup, and the king sipped it meditatively. "Dom", he said at last, "do you think anyone can hear us out here, my friend?" Dom put down his empty cup, and stared at Lij. "Hear us, Lij? Gods, they'd have to have the hearing of...I don't know what...to hear us out here. Why?" Lij lowered his gaze to his lap, then looked up again. His eyes were flame. "Because I intend screaming very loudly, my love - and I intend to make you scream, too. There is no Nekeb to press his ear to our door, now." Dom reached over the fractured remains of their meal, and pulled Lij across it with ease. The huge black pupils of his eyes turned his gaze to obsidian, as he raked Lij down with their scorching heat. Lij laughed in his arms. "Wait..." He disentangled himself from Dom's trembling grasp, and reached for the blanket, shaking the food fragments onto the sand. He spread it neatly on the ground, grabbed the empty basket, and took his sandals, and kilt off, and placed them inside it. He unbuckled Dom's kilt, removed his sandals, and put the clothing on top of his. "There!" he smiled at his partner. "No king, no titles, no pomp and ceremony, no-one listening ...no-one except you and me, my Dom." Lij's voice fell like silk on Dom's ears. Lij's hand snaked up Dom's arm, until it reached his head. He wrapped it around Dom's neck, and drew him down into a kiss. Dom groaned, loudly, then when he finally managed a ragged breath. "Oh, I want you, Lij - I do. Make me scream." Lij knelt at his lover's feet, and rubbed his cheek, gently, into the burgeoning flesh. "I want you, too, always...always..", Lij murmured, as he kissed Dom gently there, tasting the spot of fluid gathered at the tip, inhaling the musky smell that was only his Dom. "Lij", Dom whispered, "kiss me again....on my lips, you...ah!" his cracked voice echoed around the cave, as Lij's lips brushed against him once more. Lij laughed, dropped a final kiss on Dom's erection, and pulled him down onto the blanket. Lij's mouth tasted of honey wine. Dom probed inside, feeling the silken heat with his tongue, tasting the urgency within. Dom groaned again. Lij was making those delicious high pitched sounds in the back of his throat that drove Dom insane with desire. He pushed Lij onto his back, and rested his own body on top of the one he loved. "You...you..." Lij stopped his mouth with a kiss. "Love me!" he breathed, his warm breath mingling with Dom's. "Take me...please. I...oh, Dom, please!" Dom suckled a nipple. He didn't want to rush. He wanted to taste everything - experience everything. He wanted to love Lij in every way known. Lij's sharp little teeth bit gently into the flesh of Dom's neck, and Dom gasped. Lij's hands fluttered everywhere, touching, feeling, sensing. Dom suddenly reached out to Lij, and lifting him up, turned him onto his stomach. "On your knees, my love." Lij obeyed without question, parting his legs slightly, not asking Dom what he was going to do. Lij's head rested on his arms. Dom looked at the body in front of him with such pleasure. This was his! He sighed, deeply, running his hands over the pearled skin, revelling in the texture and taste of it, as his tongue ran down the centre of Lij's back, and dipped into the cleft. Lij bucked under him. "Oh!" The sound was one of surprised pleasure. Dom grinned. He did it again, running the tip of his tongue over the puckered skin. "Mmmfh!" Lij jerked under his touch, his thighs quivering. Dom reached between Lij's parted legs and fondled the firm, soft skinned globes, stroking the base of his manhood. Lij thrust into his touch, keening inarticulate phrases into his folded arms, his head moving back and forth on top of them in of ecstacy. "Dom! Dom!" were the only recognisable words he uttered. Dom thrust his tongue inside Lij, reaching as deeply as he could. Lij was grunting, now, in time with Dom's movements, lost to the world, overcome with sensation. Dom reached between his own legs, spreading the moisture over himself, sensitive to even his own touch, wanting Lij, wanting him with a desperate passion. "Are you ready, Lij?" Dom gasped. "Yes, oh yes!", Lij managed. "Now, please - now!" Dom waited no longer. He pushed steadily, but firmly in, grunting as the tightness gave before the pressure, moaning as the muscles closed around him, gripping him like a vice. "Lij! Oh, gods of my mother - oh!" Dom cried out, all restraint removed as he knew no one could hear him. "Lij!" Lij's ragged breath tore at his chest, ripping fragmented words out of him. "Harder! More...oh, Isis...more!" The last word screamed into the cavern, echoing against the granite walls. The lovers swore, and screamed, and cried their passion into the cool air. Lij waited until Dom had finished pulsing inside him, and had withdrawn, and then turned on his back to pull Dom into his arms,his creamy liquid spurting onto Dom, as they lay, shuddering deliciously against each other. Dom covered his lover's face with tiny kisses, whispering sweet love words into his mouth, adoring him. Lij, his blue eyes covered with purple tinged lids, his dark lashes brushing his cheek, murmured "... my love " over and over again, until they fell asleep, wrapped tightly in each others embrace, careless of the world or time or the workings of inscrutable fate. They were together, and that was everything. *** Dom smelt them before he heard them - the great unwashed. A leather riding crop was drawn across Lij's cheek, like a caress, as he opened startled eyes. "Now what have we here?" a heavily accented voice asked in a purely rhetorical fashion, because the speaker answered himself in his next breath. "Two of Pharaoh's court enjoying a secret tryst far away from prying eyes! Well and indeed - most interesting. Get up!" The lovers leapt to their feet, startled out of their sleep, and dazed. Lij felt for Dom's hand, and Dom felt the pressure of cold metal press into his palm. It was Lij's ring. He put his hands behind his back, and slipped it on his little finger. Thank the gods it fitted that one - Lij had small hands. He had no time to wonder why Lij had done this - the soldier was speaking. "What's in here?" The soldier kicked over the basket containing their clothes. He could see the fine quality of the linen, the gold embossed and brushed leather belt and sandals. He quickly revised his first thoughts, which had been of rape and whippings, and sport. These men could prove profitable. "Who are you?" he barked at Dom, who was staring at him in horror, quite unable to speak. Lij! My Lij! Oh, Gods! But before his addled brain could form a reply, Lij was speaking, quite firmly and calmly. "This is the Lord Payankhi, cousin to the Great One himself, and much respected at court. See, here is the Royal Seal on his ring. I am his..." The soldier interrupted, laughing heartily, "...yes, you arse kisser , I can see what you are." The seven men crowded into the cave with their leader, laughed, too. He is astonishing, Dom thought, stunned. One of the others spoke. "This Payankhi is probably very well thought of, Captain Agor. As well as rich. Look at the quality of these clothes and the gold belt. The other one is very lovely...perhaps our king's guest might find him interesting..." "Either way, it has been a successful mission. Bring them!" Agor left the cave, followed by three of the men. Lij reached for the scattered articles of clothing, but the soldier stopped him. "No, little one - no clothing. You are dainty morsels, and I'll enjoy looking at you...both." He gathered up the clothing into the basket, and handed it to Lij. "You carry it, pretty. That's your job, after all, isn't it - to serve?" Lij lowered his eyes. "Yes, yes it is. I serve. Yes." I serve my people, and the gods, not you, you scum...not you! Lij thought, as he followed Dom out into the midday sun. There were several more men outside the cave, Dom counted fifteen in all. All armed to the teeth with arrows, spears and swords, all tall and strong. They would stand no chance of escape - they would be brought down before they got ten paces. They were made to walk behind their empty chariot, sand blowing into their eyes. "Where are we going?" Dom asked a man walking beside him. The man hesitated. "Tell him, Dramor, it might make him more...amenable to our demands", Agor said, looking down at the two naked men from his horse. He rode on. Dom looked at Dramor, again. The soldier smiled, but it was not a pleasant smile. "We are a scouting party from the court of King Argamus of Kishlan, several long days into the west, my fine bucks. A king renowned for his gentleness and benevolence. You will enjoy it there...and at the moment he has a most interesting guest. I think the guest will find you especially interesting," he laughed, prodding Lij with his whip handle. Lij cleared his throat. "Who is the..guest?" "Sennacherib, King of Assyria. the Lion of Ishtar, and a man particularly fond of pretty boys. And you are very pretty, lad. Oh, he'll like you, I'm sure...very much!" Dramor moved behind them to join a companion. They made loud, ribald comments on what the great Sennacherib was likely to want of Lij. Dom and Lij looked at each other, and said not a word. |