Son of the SunLij, the Pharaoh Knefer-Lijedefer- ElijahSen-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. Sennacherib, King of Assyria - Karl Urban Argamus of Kishlan - Hugo Weaving Garmen - Craig Parker Iri-Natjer - Lij's cousin Pretep-Ra - Lij's cousin and Nat's wife Agor - Kishlan captain Soraya - Kishlan healer Lygia - Mistress of the Slaves Leila Khatun - Keeper of Mysteries Ahmose - Lij's chief concubine Peri - Aton - Another concubine Chief Herald Several friends, aquaintances and folks who merit mentioning, but no names, please! Part 24 - Revelation and Murder Lygia had sent a message to Agor, the captain, asking if she could have a few words with him. She had to tread carefully - the women did not wish to reveal that they wanted to help the lad, or even hint at who he really was. They were sure that would mean his death. Agor thought the situation over as he descended into the slave quarters. Kishlan was a vassal state, subject to Egypt. Argamus was a king only in name. His rule was governed by Egypt and its God. The Great One was known to be fair, but firm - and intolerant of traitors. Argamus had foolishly thought the Lord Payankhi would prove a solid bargaining chip, but Agor was not convinced. As he made his way slowly down into the slave quarters, he wasn't sure that Argamus had bitten off more than he could chew. That the Great One loved his family was not disputed. He was cold - but kings had to be cold...it was expected of them. His king would have done better to have admitted the fault regarding the man's capture, and returned him with Garmen to Egypt. Agor felt apprehensive. He was sorry they had not just raped and killed the men in the desert. The thought of pleasing his king with a valuable prisoner should have been ignored. But Agor was not a politician. He admitted that. Therefore he left such matters to those who were. He found Lygia and Soraya in Lygia's office, talking quietly with an old perfume seller, whose wares were displayed on the table. She withdrew quietly from the room as he came in. Soraya poured him a drink and Lygia, in her forthright way came straight to the point. "I wish to speak to you concerning the slave..um.. Adom", she began. "Soraya thinks that he may have some potential as a herbalist", she continued, perjuring her partner shamelessly. "We were wondering, therefore," Raya smiled at him in what she hoped was a friendly way, "if - when the Assyrian has tired of him - he could be assigned here, to the dispensary." Agor was in a quandry. If he told what he knew...! But these women had been kind to him and his troops, and they were known to keep men's secrets. "Well, um..." He prevaricated. "Come on, man - spit it out! What can be so terrible?" Gia probed. He stared at her like an owl caught in torchlight. "You must swear not to tell a living soul, if I tell you? Do you promise not to tell?" "Of course we do! You know you can rely on us, Agor. Tell us!" "Well, your little man will not be returning here after...after. He will be taken to Shuptu-Mittu, and from that place there is no return." "Yes, we know all the Assyrian's boys go there after he has finished with them. But we thought that this one might be sent back to us. He will be leaving soon, the Assyrian. Surely he will not be taking them all with him...all the boys?" Raya refilled his cup as she spoke. Agor barked, but it was a bitter laugh. "It would be a strange cavalcade if he did so, indeed. I'm afraid, my friends, you must reconcile yourselves to finding another apprentice healer. There is no chance he will be saved. None." Lygia cast a firm look at Agor. "Saved? Explain yourself, I beg of you. What do you mean?" Agor twisted in his seat, and took another gulp of his wine. "Shuptu-Mittu is an Assyrian term. It means "The Dwelling Place of the Dead". Sennacherib has the bodies buried there. He has peculiar sexual practices - what they are I do not know - to which he wishes no witnesses. When he tires of the boys he strangles them in his bed, and they are buried in Shuptu-Mittu. That is all I know." Soraya and Lygia carefully concealed the horror they were feeling, and tried for a normal tone as they spoke, "Well, thank you for confiding in us, Agor. Your secret is safe with us." Soraya sighed, "I will have to look elsewhere for a helper, then. Good-day to you, Agor. " She left the room quickly, but Lygia remained, holding Agor in conversation until he remembered his duties, and left, apologising once more that Soraya would be deprived of a good apprentice. As soon as he had left, Lygia put her head on her arms on the table. This was horrifying! By all the gods - insupportable! And Argamus, apparently, had no idea. What would he think of it? Murder in his palace? These young lives wasted? I must think! Lygia took a small sip of her wine. *** Liv slid noislessly though the adjoining door between her rooms and her husband's. Listening carefully as she crossed the wide expanse into the bed chamber, she opened the door slightly and whispered "May I come in?" "Of course, Lady", a voice issued from the depths of the bed, and the dark hair and startling blue eyes of the Thothmides stared at her over the crumpled linen. "I've brought you some fruit, my dear, and some sweetmeats. I can stay to talk with you for a while. You must be bored lying in this bed, sweetheart." The girl in the bed shook her head. "Not really, cousin. At least I don't have to listen to mother harping on her one string about me marrying soon. She thinks of nothing else it seems." Liv picked up the fine lawn shift that the girl had tossed carelessly onto the floor, and put it on a chair. "Where does she think you are, now, my dear?" "With my friend in Thebes, praying for an easy birth of her child. My friend is a good girl, she'll not say anything when she returns, in a month's time, for she has gone there to do just that. I hope Lij will be home by then, for I will be able to stay here no longer." "I was glad to help you and Lij when Menkh asked me if I'd do this. I'm very fond of him, as you know. And no-one will suspect it's me here. Father didn't even ask where I was going, although he must have guessed something was going on, as he saw Menkh leaving my rooms. He just said "behave yourself, Semenue", and winked." Liv looked at her cousin fondly. True, she was a girl, but she looked so much like Lij it was uncanny. The girl was eighteen, well past marrying age, but she showed no desire to choose a husband from the many willing men at court, preferring the company of her girlfriends. Well, Lij would sort it all out when....when...if... Liv suppressed a tear. Lij gone. Orem gone. Who knows when they would return? Luckily she had both her mother and Lij's to offer her advice and solace. It would have to do for now. Showing a smiling face she was far from feeling, she turned to the girl, and asked about her music. *** Lygia intercepted Lij on his way back to the Assyrian's quarters. "How did you manage to get permission to leave his rooms, Lij? No one else has done that since he came..." She stopped suddenly, realisation hitting her hard. Others had left, but feet first, in a sack. Lij missed her hesitation, and smiled at her. "I didn't ask permission. I told him I was going, and he begged me to return later. I am not as stupid as to think I could escape his clutches" - Lygia shivered - "so I said I'd be back before he returned. He likes to be dominated, Gia. He is a peculiar king." "Be careful, please." Lygia touched his arm. He did not move from her hand. "I will, I promise. Take care of my people whilst I am gone with him. Especially my Menep. It was a long journey for an old woman." He ran his hand down her arm in farewell, and returned to the Assyrian's apartments. Lygia smiled. His people He was a careful ruler. She was going to speak to Menep right now. Obviously the old woman had a plan of escape when she set off on the journey. Lygia would get Soraya, and together with the Egyptians, they would plan Lij's salvation, together. *** Lij was sitting at the table plaiting some leather thongs when Sennacherib returned. He heard his loud voice through the adjoining door, which was ajar. The king asked his servant if Lij had returned. He called him "the boy". Lij smiled. It was a long time indeed, since he had been allowed to be a boy. Kings ruled, they had no time for play. He had been thinking of Dom as he sat, his deft fingers braiding the thin strips. Dom singing. Dom playing the harp. Dom sleeping. Dom talking. Dom laughing. Dom weeping. Dom. The image he had conjured up of his love sent a warm glow into his belly. There would never be anyone like his Dom for him. Never. Lij thought of a life in Assyria without him. No - it simply could not be. Lij did not want to die, but he saw it as inevitable. To be parted from Dom and his beloved Egypt would be a living death. He was ready. When the time came, he would do it. The servant came to the door and beckoned to Lij. "The king wishes you to dine with him", he said, as if it was a thing that never happened. Lij entered the room where the king sat at his table, a leg of roast fowl in his hand. He indicated to Lij to be seated. The servant put a plate in front of Lij, and he helped himself to a few small items. He had no appetite, sitting here with this monster. Sennacherib watched him eat. He is a delicate piece, this boy. Delicate, but strong. I wonder if he'll scream when he is broken? I hope so. We shall see. They did not speak until they were locked in the bedroom later. Lij was glad of this. He had nothing to say to this ...robber. This plunderer. This thief who had stolen his life and taken his love from him. The Assyrian eyed the plaited leather. "What are they for, master?" he asked. Lij smiled, but it was not a pleasant smile. He reached between the other man's legs and bound the leather tightly around his shaft. "This", he said as he twisted, hard. Sennacherib grunted in pleasure and pain. "Yes, master", he murmured. *** Soraya had asked for a private audience with the king. Argamus was well known to be accessable to his people, so there was no problem in obtaining this meeting. Soraya had gone over her story well beforehand. She wanted Argamus to become aware of the Assyrian's method of disposing of his boys after using them for his pleasure, and was ostensibly petitioning him on behalf of a relative of one of Sennacherib's former favourites - Menep in disguise, heavily veiled - who wanted to know if now the Assyrian king had taken a new lover, could her grandson be returned to her, please? He was the only child of his mother, Raya explained, and she relied on her son for food and support. They had deliberately chosen a boy who had had no living relatives, but Argamus did not know that. Argamus didn't know that the boy was already dead, either. The king was very careful of the appearance he gave to everyone of his interest in the widow and the orphan entrusted to him. As spurious as this interest was, he fostered it. He liked the reputation he had gained of a caring lord without the responsibility. He promised the women that he would instruct his Captain of the Guard to return the boy to them as soon as possible. The courtier who was sent on this mission came back with bad news. The boy was missing. He had not returned after being in Sennacherib's care. All he was told by the Assyrian's retinue was that the boy was in Shuptu Mittu. No one knew where this might be. In a palace bigger than many cities, with underground tunnels stretching for miles, finding it would prove a time consuming task. Argamus was puzzled as to how to continue. He had no experience with the loss of loved ones. His was a political marriage. His wife and he had gained a mutual tolerance of each other over the years - but there was no love between them, and no children either. Argamus, always a proud man, did not want to ask advice of his courtiers, who would see his need for enlightenment as a weakness, so he went to see the only man he knew who might give him an insight into what to do without knowing the information was being extracted from him. Dom was very surprised therefore to find the king at his chamber door, and even more surprised that the king, sending for wine and small cakes seemed to want to talk. *** It was a good thing, Dom thought, that he had been long enough in Egypt to answer the king's questions with ease. He was asked about his life at court. The talk had wandered on to personal matters and Dom was very careful to keep any aspect of the life he had led before Egypt out of the conversation. The king was telling Dom about a relation who had lost a loved one recently, and asked Dom how he should approach the matter, having no experience of it. "I am fortunate", Argamus had said, between bites of his sweetmeat, "that I have lost none of my close family as yet. But this... this leaves me lacking in fellow feeling, I suppose. I cannot enter into his grief." Argamus had invented this person hoping it would draw the Lord Payankhi out of his shell. He got more than he bargained for. Dom put down the fragile Bythian glass with an audible thunk. "There are worse things waiting for men than death, lord king. Far worse things." Dom rose and prowled around the room like a caged lion. "I lived for many years without love. I don't mean physical passion, there was always that - but love? I was in a desert, but not having known it, I did not miss it. Then, one day, love came to me. I knew it immediately for what it was - but my love did not. He - yes, it was a man - circled around it, afraid to acknowledge it, afraid it would bite and burn, as well as soothe and caress. Oh, yes, he was right, it did." "But to have someone else's heart beating in one's body...to think of them, daily, hourly...more than of oneself. To bask in the rays of his eternal sun was all my joy. I stayed awake, sometimes at night just to watch him sleep, just to touch his skin warmed by the sun, to hear his voice every morning when we woke... ...and now..." Dom's voice caught in his throat, the words strained with emotion. "Oh, you will never know, king, until you find love, what a joy and a pain love is. How can you? To have never held someone in your arms and say of them "to save this man I would die ". To never have known the agony of waiting for him to return from a long journey in a dark place so that you could pull him into your arms, and lie there contented. He had responsibilities above those I could even imagine, but he always came to me when he had finished his duty..." Menkh! thought the king. He must mean Menkh, not his little slave boy! ..."and now we are parted, perhaps for ever, who knows? I will take his smile and the touch of his hand into my grave, lord king. Even in death I will be his. Never again will I give myself as willingly as I have given everything I am to him." "Do not speak of loss, my lord - I have lost myself since he is not with me. I am no longer me. I am nothing...that is what it means. I am nothing without him. Incomplete. Lacking substance and life. An empty shell." Dom leaned against the edge of the high window and stared out at the desert sand. "Nothing!.." he repeated, under his breath. Argamus left the room quietly, with much to think about. Truly there were many kind of love. And it burnt as well as fire did, he could see that now. Payankni had not even heard him leave, so wrapped was he in sorrow. The king was determined to unravel the mystery of the missing boy, and return Payankhi's lad to him. It was the least he could do to help the man gain a small measure of comfort. Argamus was a cold man by nature, but he had not been unmoved by the Egyptian's grief. He returned to his apartments and ordered that Captain Agor, in charge of the Assyrian's retinue, be sent for. He - Argamus - wanted to know where the missing boy might be. He did not relish having to tell Soraya he was unaccounted for. She had red hair and a temper. And he disliked confrontation. If he was in the palace, no stone would remain unturned until he was found. The meeting with Agor was short and pithy, and resulted in Argamus storming to his guest's room, banging on the door, and requesting him - when the bemused Assyrian opened it - with icy civility, to leave the country without delay. The next morning would be the most convenient time. The boy whom Sennacherib had obviously been beating before Argamus entered, ran naked past the king as he stood at the open door . One of the lucky ones, Argamus thought as he watched the Assyrian's servants pack hurriedly. He wondered, with a start, if Lord Payankhi's boy had suffered the fate of the others. Sennacherib seemed as eager to leave as Argamus was to get rid of him, once the Kishlan king had revealed what he had been told, and had declined the offer to stay until daybreak. Argamus wondered what other secrets his former ally had taken with him into the darkness. As he saw Sennacherib leave the palace, his hastily gathered cavalcade disappearing into the Stygian gloom of the desert night, he walked the paths of his private garden troubled by all that had happened. He would enquire after the Egyptian's servant in the morning. One drama was enough for tonight. As he returned to his bedchamber tired and depressed, his body servant informed him, with great deference, that the body of Captain Agor had been found by the west gate. He had been strangled with a leather thong. Argamus remembered seeing such a thing in Sennacherib's hand as he left the palace building. Good riddance to bad rubbish, then. Both of them! thought Argamus as he lay his weary head on the soft pillow. He would sort everything out...tomorrow. |