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 16 - The Journey to Kishlan The heat was stifling. The sun beat down mercilessly upon the naked prisoners. Dom's skin began to bronze, but Lij's creamy, delicate skin started to burn and turn red. In vain Dom begged the soldiers for something to cover his lover - a horse blanket, anything. They laughed, and made lewd comments about how Lij might be covered. "A little sun won't hurt him", one of the pack guffawed loudly. "Come on, act like a man, not a frightened girl!" As Lij had made no complaint nor looked even slightly frightened, regardless of what his private feelings might be, Dom was angry, and remonstrated with the guard. The result of this bout of anger taught Dom it was politic to remain silent. The man dismounted and came to look at Lij, whose skin, indeed had burned to an angry red. The man picked up a handful of hot sand and rubbed it on the damaged skin of Lij's chest. Lij neither flinched nor spoke. Dom, learning quickly, said nothing either. The ruffian, baulked of his sport, stopped and remounted. Lij gasped, quietly. "Are you in much pain, Lij?" Dom whispered. "I have felt worse", came the stoic reply. Dom had ample opportunity to ponder these words as they travelled north west to their destination. They stopped the third evening and pitched tents. It was obvious the leader wanted to get them as far away as possible in as little time as could be managed. Some food was cooked over a wood fire. To their surprise, they were fed and watered. Dom realised that it would be difficult to transport them if they were weak from lack of food and drink. Lij refused the food at first, but Dom made him try a little. All Lij wanted to do was sleep. He drank the water offered him, gratefully, and fell into an uneasy slumber wrapped in Dom's arms against the desert cold. When they woke in the morning, both men were surprised to find themselves covered with a blanket. Smelling of horses and rather prickly, it was more welcome than the finest silk to them. Dom folded it carefully, and placed it lengthways over Lij's shoulders to protect him from the rising heat. He half expected someone to snatch it from them, but no one did. The prisoners were valuable, and someone had realised it at last. They were given a water bottle of their own and some kind of flat bread, together with a little dried meat. They accepted gratefully and made a hasty breakfast. Then they moved on. Lij was burning up. The sun still beat down on his head. He liked the sun as a rule. He was his friend. He often left offerings for The Aton, the Sun God, as He controlled the ripening grain. No sun - no food. Egypt depended on her grain. Water and food, yes. But now, it seemed The Aton's regard had deserted him. His rays were poison. Lij thought I should have died. Maybe it was better if I had. He plodded on, Dom at his side, his face burning, the skin peeling, until they arrived at an oasis. Dom urgently begged that Lij would be allowed to bathe in the water trough after the camels had been slaked. The Captain, looking at Lij, and seeing his damaged face, and skin, agreed. The water soothed the burns. They remained at the oasis for two nights, and during the cold night hours, the two men huddled under their blanket, and slept, and talked. It was on one of these nights Lij told Dom about the ring, why he had given it to him, and what to say about it when the time came. "Do you think you can do it, my Dom? Masquerade as an Egyptian lord, I mean? We can be very haughty, as you know, when it is needed. We are all very proud of our royal blood, we Thothmides. Many generations of our ancestors waiting for us in the Other World expect us to rise above our fellow men, and be ..." Dom laughed, and whispered something in Lij's ear that had his lover's mouth hanging open, until Dom shut it with a gentle finger, and kissed it tenderly. Lij demanded that he explain himself more clearly - so Dom did. Lij's eyes grew wide with amazement and they spent the rest of the night talking about their hopes for the future. They held each other close, as close as Lij's burnt skin allowed, but they did not make love - although they heard other men engaging in a quick rutting, all grunts and groans, nearby. Dom was afraid the men might take them, but although ribald remarks were often made about the pair of them, they were not touched. Of what might happen at the Kishlan court, neither man spoke. They would meet that burden when the time came. On the last day of travel, the mood of the men was lighter. They would soon be home, and free to carouse and enjoy themselves for a while before their next assignment, so Dom and Lij were each given a pomegranate as a treat. Lij loved them, and tried to eat his, but the juice stung his burned lips. He gave his to Dom and was glad to see him devour it, giving Lij nearly as much pleasure as if he'd eaten it himself. "Do you hurt much?" a worried Dom asked, as they got to their feet to begin the final stage of their journey. Lij shrugged his shoulders. He didn't like lying, especially to Dom, and he was in a lot of pain, especially on his shoulders, neck and face, and on the tender skin in his groin. He would not burden Dom with this information though. He was worried enough about his love as it was. It would keep. Lij just looked into Dom's face, and smiled. "I love you, light of my soul", he said. Dom gazed at his man tenderly. And I, you, he thought, as Agor pulled his horse to a stop in front of them. "Three hours, and we'll be at the palace", he informed them. Dom and Lij looked in the direction he was pointing, and saw, through the heat haze, an enormous edifice coming into view in the distance, surrounded by smaller buildings. Agor surveyed Lij and seemed to notice for the first time the extent of the burns on his body. "I will take you to Soraya first, my lad. You are in no state to impress my king's august guest as you are!" He started to yell at one of the men, berating him for his lack of care of the valuable prisoners. "But Captain!"the poor man wailed, "It was you who told us..." All he got for his remonstration was the butt end of the crop across his face, before Agor wheeled his horse around, and rode off. The man glared at Lij, as if he had struck him, not Agor. "And it was me gave you the blanket, an' the water bottle an' food, an' the damned pomegranates, as if anyone was interested, which they're not!" "Your name?" Lij asked quietly. "Dorsos, I am, from Persia, like Lygia's wife. You'll see her soon enough, her and Soraya. Pretty pair they are, too..." Someone shouted from the front, and Dorsos moved off reluctantly. "You asked his name? Why?" Dom wondered. "Menep always taught me to remember kindness however it is given. So it can be rewarded in the future. If we have one." *** The palace was very large and old. Long, dark rambling corridors, and hundreds of small apartments tacked onto each other as if they had been fashioned by a child making a house out of mud bricks in his back yard. Not a quarter as big as Lij's smallest palace, he noted, with some interest, but large enough for two prisoners to get lost in - especially if no one cared about their whereabouts. They were taken into a room with a bath and an attendant, and allowed to cleanse themselves. Dom made Lij stand in the warm water while he poured it over his friend. Then he washed himself in it. They were given clothing thought suitable to their station. Dom was handed a bright green robe fringed with gold. He made no comment as he put it on. Lij, as his supposed servant was given a plain blue tunic. He put it on gingerly. The material was not harsh, but his skin was extremely tender. Dom saw Lij's lip curl as he examined his love in bright green silk cloth, complete with gold embroidery and tassels. The two men remained silent as they were taken through numerous corridors, into a room where Agor was found conferring with a tall, fair haired man dressed in black silk edged with gold. The man glanced over at them. "...very beautiful, big blue eyes and suchlike - so you see, Lord Chamberlain, he...." Lij came under the scrutiny of two keen grey eyes. "Ah, yes, I see. Eminently suitable, I should think, Captain. Take um, Lord...?" The man raised his eyebrow at Dom, who remembered his brief from Lij and answered, haughtily, "Payankhi of Thebes, if it is of concern to you!" The tall man smiled, and sat down on the corner of a gilt edged table. "It will advance your case, my Lord, if you moderate your tone when speaking to me. I am no servant here, but the king's Chamberlain, and cousin, I might add. My name is....very long, unfortunately. You may call me Lord Garmen. Agor, take the lad to Lygia. I shall escort Lord Payankhi to suitable apartments." "But!"...Dom stammered, at a loss at this new development. "But...my, um..." "Your servant?" prompted the Chamberlain, softly. His tone was not lost on Dom. He sounded amused. "Your servant will be of interest to my Lord's guest, the Assyrian king. Another servant will be found for you..." "... I do not want another servant!" Dom cried, as Garmen swept him out of the room in a cloud of musky scent. Lij was left with Agor. He had spoken not a word. Agor studied Lij with a practised eye. Yes, a very handsome lad...some might even say "pretty". But whatever he was, Agor was sure the Assyrian king would find him most appealing - once the damage to his skin had been rectified. Agor beckoned to him. "Come!" Lij followed him down steep steps cut into the rock, along corridors lined with guards and decorated with war shields, through a thick, studded door into an ante room where a fair haired young woman, with fine and somewhat masterful eyes, sat at a desk writing on a wax tablet with a silver stylus. Agor held a low toned conversation with her in a language Lij did not understand. As they spoke, the woman cast several appraising glances in Lij's direction, then Agor spoke to him as he turned to leave. "Don't think of escaping, lad. This place is guarded by men trained to kill at the first blow. Besides, Lygia here will look after you...she's very good at doing that." The woman Lygia waved Agor away with an imperious hand. He left, grinning. "Now, what have we here?" she mused, inspecting Lij carefully. She stepped back. "Take off that tunic, if you please," she ordered, not unkindly. Lij didn't move. The woman sighed, and dragged over a stool and sat down on it in front of him. "Dear boy" she said quietly, looking up at him, more in sorrow than in anger - "either you take it off willingly, or I send for Jurva to remove it for me. Jurva is a very big man, with huge hands and can be clumsy. He might hurt that tender skin, however unintentioned the hurt may prove, and I can see it is already damaged enough. You will do better to remove it yourself". Lij took the tunic off, and stood, slightly tense, as the wonan looked at his body very carefully, then stood up in front of her new charge. She gestured for him to replace the garment, and reached for a bell on the table. A woman entered to its summons. Red hair fell below her waist, curling in loose ringlets. She was very pretty. She smiled at Lygia...a private, intimate smile. So this is the wife, Lij thought, several things slotting into place in his remarkably retentive mind. "See what you can do for him, my dear", Lygia said to her, sitting back down at the table, and picking up the stylus. "I shall come along, later." The woman Soraya, Lij recalled, beckoned him. He followed, rather nervously, although this he would not have admitted to a soul. The woman took him into a room where stood a high couch covered in white linen, and gestured to him that he remove the tunic again. He complied. He looked around the room with interest, and a fair amount of trepidation. The walls were lined with shelves and alcoves filled with bottles and jars and boxes. In some reposed instruments which filled Lij with apprehension. Some of them looked dangerously like those Seti-Hop his chief physician used in some of his surgical procedures. Lij cast a quick glance at the woman, who approached him with a jar of ointment, and untied the cloth top, carefully. "This is very expensive salve", she smiled at him, kindly, "but I think it'll be worth the price to get you looking whole again." Lij smiled back at her. She was a healer of some sort, then. Her next question astonished Lij. "May I examine you?" Lij had not been used, in past days, to people considering his feelings. He was nonplussed, and nodded to her, quickly. She told him to lie on the couch, and she examined him as best she could without touching his inflamed skin. Then she took some of the thick unguent and warmed it in her hands until it melted, and spread it on his burned skin of his legs. He flinched at her touch. No one touched him like this, with their bare hands, except Dom, not even Nekeb his one-time slave. There was always something - a cloth, a sponge, clothing - between his skin and another person's touch. Except with Dom. She was very gentle, and her touch was deft and impersonal. He settled under her hands, and watched her work. She scooped up some salve and dropped it into his palm, gesturing at the burned skin of his phallus. He smoothed it on very carefully. It hurt..a lot. He lifted himself up, revealing huge blisters he didn't know were there, on the side of his member and on his sac. He tried to stifle a gasp of pain, but she heard it. "Lie down" she said, quietly. He did; somehow he felt safe with her. Lygia came into the room, and Soraya pointed out to her the blisters. She winced. "They look painful." Lij nodded. They was hurting more, strangely enough, now he had discovered them. "I am going to tend these, now. Please try not to move...what is your name?" Lij gave the name he had settle on that night with Dom in the desert. "Adom", he said, quietly. "I am Adom." "Adom!" she smiled, and deftly pierced the blisters, and blotted them with some liquid that stung momentarily, then faded to a dull throb. "Stand up, Adom, and Lygia and I will put the salve on your back and legs, while you put it on your face and hands." He was still very hot, and Soraya was concerned about this. They would see how things developed. This accomplished, Lygia took him to a small room, barely wider than the pallet it contained, and told him this is where he would sleep. He thought about Dom, sleeping above him in another lonely bed. He felt bereft. Lygia smiled at him. "You will settle, young one. We are not cruel. No one will force you, here, in these apartments, but it will be better for you if you acquiesce to all demands ...later. For the king will have what kings always want - control, and power, and their own wishes, both good and evil, satisfied." Lij thought about this as he attempted to eat a tiny portion of the large meal provided in the common area, in company with several young men and women of all nationalities shapes and sizes, whom he had yet to speak with. He agreed within himself that what Lygia had said was essentially true, and it afforded him no comfort. He sighed and placed the bowl on the floor. He couldn't eat it...he'd tried, but it stuck in his throat. He asked permission to retire. Lygia nodded, and her eyes followed him from the room. All spirit and no flesh, this one. She hoped he would not have to learn the hard way. One of the girls came later to ask if he wanted her company that night. He shook his head, and lay back on his pallet. Then one of the boys came with the same question, and received the same answer. Finally, towards dawn, an exhausted Lij slept. *** Far above Lij's tiny cell, in a richly decorated apartment, Dom lay swathed in fine linen sheets, being fanned by a tall Nubian slave. His door was guarded, it was true, but he didn't feel threatened. Everyone had been most courteous to him, fed him, brought him wine and fresh garments for the morning, bowing to him reverentially, eager to serve him. He was even offered a boy to amuse him during the night hours. He refused, firmly, and thanked them all as they left him for the night. Dom thought of his love, below him, in the servants quarters, amongst the concubines and bed-slaves of kings, alone and frightened, hurting, and longing for his mate as he was. Longing for his - Dom's - arms around him, as they had been every night for the months they had been together, and had loved each other. Lij's arms around him, his around Lij. Dom wondered, panic stricken, if he would ever feel them again. He turned on his fine, soft sheets, curled into a tight ball and lay there with unseen tears drying on his cheeks. |