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 19 - Some Days Later It was only the promise of a reward that kept Hiplar the perfume seller waiting in the small ante room. He had been promised that he would be rewarded for his promptness and had indeed been given several gold coins in earnest of this promise. However, the people at the Egyptian palace were slow - but the food was good. Therefore he waited. He sat on a low stool, eating a very nice bowl of crispy roast duck with mixed pulses, sauce and fresh bread, and drinking unwatered wine. He did not enjoy Egyptian beer, so avoided it when he could. True, it was a little early in the morning for wine, but.... ...a figure appeared in front of him. A man of medium height, wearing the armlets of a eunuch. The man was plump, but not fat. His eyes looked tired. "You have a message for me? From whom?" Hiplar noticed that the three other servants at the table stood when Pen-Nekeb entered. He did so too. " I was told to speak to you in private, master". Nekeb shrugged, and indicated that the servants leave. "Well, we are alone. Speak." "The message is from your cousin, in Kishlan." Nekeb was just about to protest that he had no cousin in Kishlan when the man's next words dried up Nekeb's throat. "Lij, his name is. Handsome lad ..." Nekeb coughed, and grabbed the table. The world was spinning around his head. "Is he...well?" he managed, sitting down on the nearest stool. Hiplar joined him. He never stood when he could sit..or sat if he could lie down. "He is well, barring a touch of sunburn, it seems, and a bout of the falling sickness. So far." He continued eating his food, waste was abhorrent to him. "So far?" Nekeb breathed. "What do you mean?" Hiplar wiped his bowl with the last of the bread. "Sennacherib of Assyria is visiting Kishlan. He likes pretty boys. He will have him, soon. The girls have managed to forestall this for a while, saying he is not well, but it cannot last. He keeps his bed mates about two to four weeks, so Lygia told me. There are a few weeks left, since he took a new boy recently - then your cousin is in the bed of the king. I have heard strange things about Sennacherib. Maybe...." Hiplar's arm was grabbed, and he was pulled out of the room, protesting. There were still fruits to sample. "Come on!" Nekeb hissed. "Oh, do not worry. You will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams. Just tell your story, and bow....low." They traversed miles of corridors, or so it seemed. They were in the heart of the palace. Hiplar goggled at the richness of the furnishings, and the beauty of the wall hangings. Nekeb paused outside a double door of especial beauty. "Guard your tongue, here, fellow. This woman has the power of life and death. Note it well." They went in. Menep sat at a table stringing lapis and gold beads on a fine string. She smiled wearily at Nekeb as he bowed before her. "And what now, my friend?" She looked carefully at his pale face and put the beads down with a trembling hand. "Good news?" "I have had a message from this fine fellow from my cousin, Lij, in Kishlan, Lady. He is well." The old lady let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "What were you doing there, in Kishlan", she asked, noting the fine aroma of spices surrounding Hiplar's person. "I sell perfume and rare spices and remedies, lady," he answered, not without pride. "Perfect!" The woman nodded. "You are about to become very rich indeed, my good man, if you are not already. I never knew a perfume seller yet, that charged reasonable prices. Sit!" She banged a gong on the table, and a girl came running. Within two hours a group of five left the palace by a side gate, leading seven camels, two loaded with spices and perfumes and other necessaries. The travellers were all swathed in white against the sun. One of the group was very tall and wide in the hip. One walked as elegantly as a gazelle. One kept tripping over his robes. One dug the clumsy one in the back with a stick, and urged haste. The other one sniffed, and said nothing. The camels sped across the desert as if the jackals of Anubis were after them. Hiplar spread his ample girth along a comfortable couch in his brand new residence in the palace grounds, and graciously received a bowl of fruit from a slave. He had no idea what the high born lady wanted with his packs, but she paid a good price for them, he thought, looking round the sumptuous apartment. In fact she had given him more money and jewels than he had ever thought to own even in his wildest dreams. The slave was a good looking boy, and he'd winked at the older man. Perhaps there were delights to be sampled here other than fruit. Hiplar settled further down upon his couch, and grinned. *** While Hiplar was being questioned elsewhere, a cavalcade had arrived at the palace's main entrance. Whoever it was, had dared to travel on the Royal Road. It was obvious to Menkh, staring out from the vantage point of Pharaoh's roof garden high above the concourse, that this was a stranger, and a stranger of some note, if one counted the accompanying camels and horses and slaves. When a message was brought to him that the visitor bore greetings from his cousin Payankhi, at present an honoured guest in Kishlan, Menkh nearly swallowed his teeth in shock. Payankhi was one of Lij's Throne names. Being a sensible man, he kept his mouth shut, dressed quickly in his finest court robes, and told the servants to run to the herald and inform him to wait until Lord Menkh got there, then to admit the stranger to the Throne Room. Menkh raced through the palace corridors, remembering to fetch his staff of office on the way, and sat in the chair beside the throne, slightly out of breath, as the Chief Herald announced the visitor to the empty room. "Lord Garmenshantaramorivanamar Seripothalol Kumantilivar of Kishlan, my Lord", fluted the man without misplacing a syllable, and retreated elegantly from the room as ordered. Menkh chose to stay where he was. He knew his superior height upon the dais gave him the advantage - and he was determined to use it. "Welcome, my Lord", he said, with a slight smile. "Thank you for your gracious welcome", replied Lord Garmen, not meaning a word of it. He had been hustled here without time to even wash the sand off his feet. It was discourteous in his host, and he knew it. Payankhi was right, Garmen thought, a wry smile turning up the corners of his mouth. He cannot wait...he is hot for him. "You have news of my, erm, cousin?" Menkh prompted, baldly, wasting no time on courtesies. "Indeed my Lord. He is well. He particularly charged me that the first favour I ask of you is that his harp may be given to me, as he finds our instruments...inferior. He asked that I take it back with me. The one he is playing now is not suitable." Menkh's eyes narrowed. "Describe my cousin to me if you please. I wish to know that it is really him of whom you speak." Garmen obliged, describing Dom in the most fulsome terms. Menkh rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "And he is well?" Menkh knew better than to ask after the welfare of a supposed servant. Since Lij had not been mentioned, Menkh realised a plan had been formulated and implemented. He trod carefully. "I am sorry that the Great One is not able to see you at present, my Lord. He is far from well. He trusts I will see to your comfort." Menkh came down from the dais and ushered Garmen into an ante chamber. There he received Lij's ring, and the information - couched in very diplomatic terms - that Lord Payankhi would be released when the edict concerning the tribute Kishlan made yearly to Egypt was rescinded. Menkh agreed, solemnly. He would have given half of Egypt's treasure to save his king. However, he had heard nothing about his cousin that reassured him that he was even alive. "Is my cousin well?" Garmen cleared his throat. He felt for Dom, as he, too, knew what it meant to be bereft. "He is well, apart from a trifling disorder of the spirit. He misses his servant, you see." Menkh's heart sank. "His servant? He had the boy with him when he was, er, brought to the palace? Why is he ..so disordered?" Garmen's halting explanation drew the blood from Menkh's face faster than a leech. Gods alive! Lij forced into that man's bed? He could not live with that! Menkh kept up an easy flow of small talk, while his fertile brain formulated a rescue plan. *** Lygia came up from the bowels of the palace to escort Dom to see Lij. She thought he looked tired as he rose to meet her. He put down the harp he had been playing, but left a hand resting on it, as if it were a lifeline to something that was slipping inexorably out of his grasp. "May I take the harp with me?" he asked, a slight smile turning up the corner of his mouth. She smiled her assent. On the way down she answered Dom's urgent questions about Lij's well-being in a low toned voice. He was calm, but not happy, she said. He was eating, but not well. Yes, as far as they could tell, he slept. Dom knew from his own experience that someone with closed eyes was not necessarily asleep. When they reached the guarded entrance, Lygia drew Dom into a small chamber just inside the door, and asked him to sit. She eyed him speculatively. "My Lord, I will come straight to the point. Our king's honoured guest has taken a fancy to your slave, this you know. He expects him to be in good condition when he eventually reaches him...unspoiled, one might say. Lij is not a virgin is he?" Dom shook his head. "So he told you his name. Why did you not ask him these things?" Lygia sighed. "Because he will be upset enough by the examination. I don't want him to be expecting it, you see. If I question him as to his sexual habits at this stage, he will suspect what might be coming. I'm sure the Great One himself has his bed mates examined closely for disease. Things cannot be so very different in Egypt." Dom remembered, without humour, the examination given him by Setep-Aton on that first night in the palace before the Pharaoh came to him. It was not gentle. Dom's heart twisted within him as he thought of Lij undergoing these indignities. Lygia was speaking again. He turned his attention to her quickly. "Sennacherib likes his lovers to be virgins in pristine condition, or at least", she amended, "to look like virgins in pristine condition. Lij is young, and he looks virginal. It will give him an advantage. To this end I must ask you not to penetrate him during any sexual congress you may steal together today." Dom's head flew up. "We will leave you together for a while. No one will know, but I must have your word, my Lord. Sennacherib tends to punish those not found fit for his bed in the same way as his fabled ancestor Semiramis - she castrated her bedmates rather than see them go to another. So does he. The Assyrian king is ruthless in sexual matters." "You have my word, and gladly. It will be enough to see him. And Lygia...I like not the idea of this examination." Lygia cast him an appraising look. "He must be examined intimately for disease and sexual usage before he goes to the Assyrian. There is no way he can avoid it. You understand this?" Dom nodded, appalled. "You have taken care with him, yes? You do not treat him roughly?" Dom's brow furrowed. "Lij is neither my chattel or a possession to do with as I please. He is my lover, and I cherish him, and treat him gently, as he treats me. Do not be fooled by his outward appearance, Lygia. Lij is his own man as well as mine". She was satisfied. "Say nothing to him of what I have said. Let him have peace until it comes...as come it will. You will lose him to Sennacherib, my Lord. Make no mistake of it. I am sorry, I wish it could be otherwise. We have become very fond of the lad. He is something of an enigma. Come to him, now." Lygia led Dom to the chamber to which he had carried Lij in his sickness. Lij stood by the bed, arms folded across his chest, his eyes downcast. Dom put the harp down. Lij lifted his head, and the two men stared hungrily at each other across the room. Lij was the first to move. He stepped forward and clasped Dom tightly to him. Lygia cast Dom a warning glance, and left, closing the door quietly behind her. |