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 17 - Sickness and Sorrow *(The poem at the end exists, only in female form.) Lij was walking in the desert, again. Dom was nowhere to be seen. In the distance the jackal headed Anubis waited with a pack of his kind, to devour him. It was very hot. He walked on. Anubis appeared in front of him, he crouched to attack... "...Fetch Lygia, quickly!" Soraya told the frightened girl, who ran off, shaking. She had come to rouse Adom for the morning meal, to find him tossing on his pallet in fever. Soraya came quickly at her urgent call, and was making a sedative, with quick deft fingers, as she stood watch over him. She had tried oral medicine. The soporific had ended up on the pallet. Now the lad was fighting, and she needed to get him sedated. She had managed to press a cool hand on his chest, and had found his heart beat to be tumultuous. The heart was the centre of the body. His must be given rest. The boy was blue about the lips, and his mind was far away. She had seen this sort of fever many times..the sun's heat caused it. Rest was the remedy, but he was getting no rest. Lygia hurried in, and took in the problem at a glance. "I won't be able to get near him to sedate him internally, Gia..." Soraya said,worriedly "...and he needs to rest. Why is he calling out his own name? I don't understand it!" The two women stood for a moment, at the foot of the pallet, observing Lij, who was still writhing in agony, calling for Dom. They both tried to hold him still, to administer the medicine, and failed. He fought like a demon from the underworld. Lygia, bruised and battered, had a thought. "Is Leila Khatun still in the herb room, love?" Soraya glanced at her lover with the beginning of a smile on her lips. "Yes, indeed she is...and it may work. We shall see." The maid, still hovering in the doorway was sent off, and returned in a few minutes, followed by a small, fair haired woman, in a veil, which she removed on entering the tiny room. "We should move him, of course", said Soraya, kneeling at his feet, and trying to grasp one as Lij tossed about on the mattress. "If we could get at him! This coop is far too small for us to get a good grip on him. Leila - see what you can do, will you?" Leila nodded. "Of course, my dear friend. What is his name?" "Adom", Lygia said, as the two women left the tiny room to give Leila space to exert her powers, if she could. "Adom!" she called, loudly. "Adom!" The body on the floor tensed even more, if possible. "Dom!" the young man screamed. "My Dom!" Leila took her life in her hands and crawled up the mattress, her head poised just above the one tossing back and forth beneath her. She moved to his side, and lay down. There was enough room for two to lie comfortably, side by side. She took the fevered head in her hands. He tried to break free. "Adom!" she said, again. "Dom!" came the anguished reply. Why is he calling his own name? Perhaps a friend has the same name - or his father, or a brother. I'll try something else. "Your Dom is here, my love. Now, listen to me!" All movement stopped. Fevered eyes flew open. "Dom? Dom?" Leila began murmuring to him in soft, commanding tones. His eyes fastened intently on hers . "Dom?" A trembling hand came up and gently touched her face. "My Dom?" "Your Dom", she answered softly, still talking to him, gentling him with her hands, holding him with her eyes and her voice. "Your Dom is here, and he is holding you in his arms, and telling you to sleep, my love. Sleep!" Her arms went around him, and he nestled into them. "He will stay by your side, and hold you and talk to you while you rest. You will do all that my sisters ask, and you will rest. Do you understand, love?" He nodded, and fell into a deep slumber. She stayed there, wrapped in his embrace for several minutes. He didn't move as she untangled herself from his arms. She got up from the pallet, and giving him a compassionate look, left the room and went to find the women. She found them in an ante room, sitting on a low bench and talking quietly and intently. They looked up as she entered. Soraya smiled. "I wish I could do what you do, Leila Khatun!" she owned. "It would make my work so much simpler. Is he asleep?" Leila nodded. "He is resting, yes. He thinks someone called "Dom" - someone he loves very much - is holding him in his arms. He will rest now. The influence of this Dom must be very strong. I wonder who he is?" Lygia shifted on the bench. "He came with an Egyptian Lord, who seemed very fond of him, according to that old goat, Agor. But his name wasn't Dom...some high born noble name, I believe. Still, he might call him Dom in private, who knows? If he gets worse, I'll ask if he may come down, if he wishes to - come to think of it, it might do the boy good if he could come now." "I'll go upstairs and enquire." Soraya decided. "It might settle him for longer. Is he this lord's plaything?" Lygia frowned. "More than that, I think, Raya. The man seemed very disturbed to lose the lad, according to Garmen. And Garmen doesn't miss much, as you know. Watch this Lord's reaction when you tell him of the problem." Soraya nodded briskly. "I'll go now, while he is still soothed by the amazing Leila's arts." She smiled at the two women, and left. She found it very easy to gain access to the Egyptian Lord. She had news of his servant, and the Lord would be an important bartering tool between Kishlan, Assyria and Egypt, if he was as important to the Pharaoh as he intimated. Garmen allowed her to visit him unaccompanied. She was trusted implicitly by him. He knew her character and her worth as a healer. She found Dom sitting in his room, listening to a harpist twang the strings of a beautiful, gem encrusted instrument. The look on his face was one of pain. He winced as the harper touched a false note. She stood before him, and lifted an expressive eyebrow. "Are you not enjoying the music, my Lord?" Dom, sighed, and indicated that the man leave. "He has a touch as heavy as the skin on a camels hoof. I wish I'd had the teaching of him," he said, indicating that Soraya sit opposite him. "How may I help? So, he is a musician, too, is he? Interesting! She looked him squarely in the eyes. "Your servant is sick", she said, baldly, ready to gauge his response. The blood left his face so fast Soraya rose quickly, afraid the man would collapse. Gods! He cares greatly for him! "He is asleep now, Lord, but I have permission from Lord Garmen for you to see him for a short period, if you wish." Dom found his voice. "Sick? In what way...sick?" His hands were clasped so tightly on his lap, Soraya was afraid the bones would crack. "Sun sickness. He has been very restless...calling for someone he calls "Dom". Would you know who this could be, Lord...um?..." "...Payankhi", Dom replied automatically. "No, I have no idea who this could be. May I see him now, please?" Dom stood up, a pleading expression on his face. Soraya nodded, indicating that he should follow her. The two armed guards outside his door went, too, and waited outside the thick door to the inner sanctum, where the healer took Dom straight to Lij's cell. "We would liked to have moved him to more comfortable accommodation so that Soraya might tend him", Lygia said from the doorway, "but we couldn't get near enough to touch him. He was very frightened by something. Fought us off like an animal." She rubbed the bruises blooming on her bare arms. "We did try, Lord." Dom swept Lij off the pallet as if he were an infant. Lij nestled into the arms he loved to lie in, his head in the crook of Dom's neck. "Where...?" Lygia led the way to a larger room, with a bed in it and several items of furniture. Soraya came in with a small bowl. The boy appeared to be stirring, but he was still burning with fever. She didn't want him to wake just yet. Dom laid him on the bed,and sat on a stool, holding his hand, and just staring into his face. "He hasn't been well, of late", he said without taking his eyes off his prize. "In what way, Lord?" Soraya asked, quietly. Dom told her the details of Lij's poisoning, and his subsequent bouts of falling sickness. "But why would anyone want to poison a servant?" the healer wondered aloud. "It was meant for me", Dom answered, smoothing the hair out of Lij's eyes. "Will he be well soon, lady?" "Soraya", the healer smiled, putting the bowl on the bed. "Soraya", Dom repeated. "And Lygia?" he said, glancing up at the other woman who was standing on the opposite side of the bed. "I have heard of you, from Dorsos...." "Ah, is he still alive then? He was always here being tended, the clumsy oaf. Spear wounds, mostly. He is no fighter - he should have been a singer, not a soldier. He has a fine voice." Soraya picked the sedative, and gave the supposed Lord a calculating look. "Would you do this for him, while I fetch some cooling unguents for his skin?" Dom nodded and murmured soft words as he scooped some of the paste on his fingertips and laid them on Lij's lips. The fingers were gently persistant, coaxing Lij's lips to part, coating mouth and tongue. Soon, Lij slipped into a deeper sleep. "This tunic is wet through", he muttered, gently removing it from Lij's inert form. "If I could have some water and cloths, I'll bathe him." Lygia and Soraya left the room together. "Strange sort of Lord that tends his servant so lovingly", Lygia whispered, as they assembled the necessary things. "He loves him, Gia, I know that. The look on his face when I told him the boy was sick! This is no mere physical relationship. Its roots run deep..." *** Back at the palace, Menkh rushed along the corridors, summoned to his offices by an urgent message from Imhotep. He knew Lij and Dom had gone to meet the architect, and assumed the lovers had gone from him to their little house by the river for a day's respite. There was an important visit from a bastard brother of Lij's to whom Pharaoh had given a small kindom in the north. He was coming to inform Lij of Assyrian movements near his territories. He wouldn't miss that, Menkh was sure. He found the Lord Imhotep standing by the window, looking out over the river at the birds. He turned and bowed as Menkh entered. There was no preamble, Imhotep was always to the point. A small man, yes - small, but powerfully determined, like Lij. His green eyes exhibited an expression of the gravest concern. "My Lord, he did not come. The Great One did not come , nor Sen-Adom. I waited all day, and this morning, still no word from him. He is usually so reliable. He has never before missed an appointment with me, or failed to be where he said he will be at the appointed hour. I am very concerned." Menkh gasped. Gods, no! What disaster now? He summoned a servant. "Fetch Pen-Nekeb to me, quickly, man...and RUN!" He was already thinking the unthinkable. *** Several hours after Dom arrived to see him, Lij opened his eyes. "Dom!" he murmured through stiff lips, trying to focus on his lover's face. "My Dom!" Dom bent and very softly kissed his lips. Lij fell asleep again. Soraya, watching from the doorway, was puzzled. Why would he lie about the boy's name for him? Unless there was good reason for it. She went to consult with Lygia, and the women decided to keep their own counsel for now. The information might prove useful, later. Who could tell? Lord Garmen came down, and took a reluctant Dom upstairs to dinner. He told him, on the way, that the next day the king would graciously grant him audience, and then decide what was best to do with him. Dom was frightened that Lij might unwittingly let slip some damning information, and reveal to the world that they had - not a sick slave in their cellars - but the Son of the Sun himself. Kishlan, Dom had learned from Lij was under tribute to Egypt, and the Kishlanite king was a vassal, however unwilling, of Pharaoh. He was frightened for Lij, and ate very little at dinner, which concerned Lord Garmen considerably. *** When Lij eventually woke, Dom was not there. He felt alone. He recited an ancient love poem, one they had shared when he was ill before. "It is seven days from yesterday since I saw my love, And sickness has crept over me, My limbs have become heavy, I cannot feel my own body. If the master-physicians come to me, I gain no comfort from their remedies. And the priest-magicians have no cures. My sickness is not diagnosed. My love is better by far for me than my remedies. He is more important to me than all the books of medicine."* It brought him no ease, only tears. He closed his eyes again, and fell asleep. Anubis was hovering nearby...he could hear and feel his breath, hot and rank. There was no peace for Lij when Dom was not with him - no peace at all. |