Mac Tire � Son of the EarthPart 2 - Keeping Faith (Dom ponders his fate on board ship. Two weeks previously.....)They rode through the first night. Menkh kept up with Lij who was driving himself on like a man possessed. He wouldn't stop for food or rest, only to change horses, merely drinking from his goatskin flask as he grasped the reins with one hand, urging the horse on. By sunset the next evening, as they were galloping through a large town, the second horse he had exchanged fell under him, and Menkh called a halt. Arranging for the care of the horses with an ostler from the tavern, and unloading their trappings, he gripped his protesting cousin, who was white with strain, and forced him inside the building, and pushing down on his shoulder, made him sit on the bench. Lij's eyes, always expressive, were wrathful. Menkh laughed. He whispered "I see your glare, little cousin! What, will you have me whipped?" Lij's face relaxed into a tired smile. "I am sorry, Menkh. I am...I am anxious for his welfare, that is all." Menkh did not need to ask who he was. The taverner brought over two cups of beer, and clunked them on the rough table at which the two men sat. "Some food, if you have anything so late", ordered Menkh, smiling up at the harrassed tavern keeper. The man scratched his head. "It is late, um..." he glanced at the seated men's attire,"...my Lords, but we have some fowl, and..." He hesitated, not knowing if the food would be good enough for these men, used, as they obviously were, to better fare. Menkh nodded his approval of the offered food. "Bring what you have. Enough for three, if you please. A friend will be joining us shortly." Lij looked up sharply. "What...?" Menkh laughed, and spoke quietly. "Have you not seen him eating our dust all the way from Karnak, my king,? Pen-Nekeb, the humble Lord of Accron, is following us." The food arrived at the same time as Nekeb, who entered the tavern swathed in fine linens against the dust, and tried to take an unobtrusive place in the corner. Lij raised his head, and stared across the room at his friend. "We are here, man! Do not attempt to hide from us, we see you only too plainly." Lij picked up a leg of fowl and bit into it hungrily. Nekeb came over and was about to sink to his knee in front of his God, when the God spat out a piece of burnt duck skin and murmured, under his breath, "Don't you dare, Nekeb. Especially not here. Sit, you buffoon!" The man sat as ordered. "Yes, Lord." He reached hungrily for a fowl, as Lij frowned mightily upon him. "And no "Lord", either. I am about to become a worker upon a Phoenician trader, and, as I suppose I will be going nowhere without you, there will be no place for Lords or Gods there, old friend!" Lij clapped Nekeb's shoulder, and smiled at him, willing away his weariness. "Friend of friends, are you willing to follow me, even across the oceans, into a place filled with dragons and mystery?" Pen-Nekeb, nodded, his mouth too full of duck to speak. He swallowed hastily. "Yes, Lor...Lij. To the ends of the earth and over the rim of the world, if that's where you're headed." Lij's eyes filled with unshed tears. He blinked then away. "Thank you, Nekeb - I am grateful. I did not relish taking this journey alone, and I dare not show Dom I am on board the same ship until we are too far gone to turn back. He will try to talk me out of going...you know his way. And I will do the same, so we are bound to quarrel. That is no way to begin such a journey as this." " I will see if they have a room here for us. I am tired, I would sleep for a while. He after all, is not travelling as quickly as we are, and he will have stopped for the night, also. There is time for sleep now." Nekeb rose swiftly, prepared to speak to the taverner. Lij stopped him with the palm of his hand lifted upwards. "If I am to survive in the world, I must act for myself a little. Sit and finish your meats, my friends." Menkh's eyes followed him as he crossed the floor to where the taverner was talking with customers. "I cannot hide from you, Nekeb, that I am concerned for him. He is unused to making such shifts as these. And the journey is long, and perilous. I am glad he has you, truly I am!" Menkh's hand rested on the other man's arm. "Take care of him, Nekeb, for us and for Egypt. The people will miss their Little Falcon. I can rule, as he bid me, in his absence, in such a way as he would wish, but the people love him, Nekeb. He will be missed. And he will be torn, as Dom surely is, between his duty and his heart." They watched Lij speak with the taverner, and the man's face as he answered Lij. He shook his head, and Lij spoke again. The man nodded and smiled. Lij took his hand, and the man looked at him strangely, as if he had seen something beyond his ken. Lij came back to the table flushed with success. "There is no spare room here, Khafru says, because the town is full of merchants gathered for the yearly trade market. But we may have the empty stable next to the cookhouse. Royal chambers, indeed. Come!" The straw was soft, the blankets provided, warm. They added their own to them, having unloaded them from the horses. Menkh decided upon a walk through the town to unstiffen his legs. He reminded Lij that he was older than him, and therefore not as supple. Lij laughed at him, as he headed for the door. "Go on, Old Man! Before the ague seizes you or the rheum attacks your ancient bones! Old indeed." As Menkh departed, grinning, Lij turned to Nekeb with a knowing look. "He is far fitter than either of us, Nekeb. He just wants to search out any news if I know him." Lij settled down into the nest they had made in the straw, and despite his worries and fears, was soon asleep. Nekeb lay upon the straw; the blanket not preventing the sharp stalks from pricking him. He wriggled about trying to get comfortable. He was still awake when Menkh came back loaded with bundles. "What have you brought, lor...um, Menkh? He asked quietly, staring at the parcels Menkh placed by this sleeping place. "Clothing and other stuffs you'll need on your journey, Nekeb. Just a few things. You'll be wearing most of it so it will not get in the way." Menkh setled down in his blankets and eyed Nekeb who was shaking his head. "What is it friend?" Nekeb raised himself on one elbow, staring at the bundles in the gathering gloom. "We have clothing and to spare, Menkh. We don't need more. I brought some of the Great..some of Lij's clothes. His lion cloak, his warm.." Menkh interrupted softly. "My friend, look at him lying there so peacefully. What do you see? Tell me?" Nekeb studied Lij carefully. The sleeping man wore a peacock blue silk embroidered gown, slit to the waist for riding and soft buckskin breeches . He was swathed in a fine lambswool cloak dyed deepest red. His black hair, though somewhat disordered, hung in three braids to his waist, Dom's fashion being the chosen way at court for many years. The end of each one was clasped with a gold cincture studded with adamant and sapphires. His eyes, smudged with kohl, had gold dusted on them and turquoise painted on the lids. "I see our Pharaoh, Menkh. What should I see, else?" "Exactly. You see Pharaoh. Others see - if not the king, not knowing him - a great Egyptian Lord. A fine thing, if he is joining a trading vessel as a crewman, to board ship prinked out in gold and jewels looking like a painting on a palace wall. It just won't do, Nekeb. He needs to blend in. To disappear into the background. To be unremarkable." Both men thought their own thoughts. Even without the rich clothing, Lij would always be remarkable. "I'm tired, Nekeb. Time for sleep. We can address these things in the morning. Sleep well, friend." Nekeb answered, and they settled down to a well earned rest. *** Lj was rousing them before the dawn had come. "Rise, friends...we must go. No time to dally!" Menkh opened a jaundiced eye, and regarded his cousin thoughtfully. "I wish to wash, and eat and relieve myself in comfort, Lij. I am not leaping on my horse and riding into the ground today." He rose and made use of the bucket thoughtfully provided by the taverner. His cousin had said nothing, but his chin was up, and he had a stubborn cast about his features that did not bode well for a leisurely meal. "Menkh...I...I do not wish to miss the ship. I am sorry, I am anxious, that is all." Lij smiled at his cousin, the smile not quite reaching his eyes. Nekeb had risen and gone out, returning with a bowl of water and a towel that he had retrieved from his pack. He had been thinking of what Menkh had said the night before, and owned that the man was right. Lij needed to be un-kinged. He started unbuckling the cloak when a gentle hand stopped him. "I must learn to do these things for myself, again, Nekeb. I am not quite useless, I had practise enough at Kishlan." Menkh unpacked his bundles. Plain white linen garments met Lj's enquiring gaze. "Ah, my new trappings, then. Yes, I heard you talking, friends. No kilt of kingship. Plain tunics and hair. I must appear as an ordinary man. Off with you!" He tugged the cloak from his shoulders and went to hand it to Menkh, changed his mind and folding it neatly, placed it on a bale of straw. Lij undressed and stood there waiting for Menkh to sort and hand him the clothing, when his cousin halted in his task and stared. Lij looked at him, puzzled. "What is it you see?" Menkh smiled and indicated the brand low on Lij naked belly. "That, little cousin. What is it? A love token?" Lij blushed scarlet. "As you say. No one except Dom and Nekeb has ever seen it, or, indeed knows of it, except the man who did it. Do not laugh at us, Menkh. You know what it is to love." Menkh sighed, and shook his head. His wife was three years in the Otherworld. He was lonely, if the truth were known. He revered the memory of his much-loved wife. He would seek another. "I am far from laughing, Lij. I think it beautiful...a beautiful thing you have done. Is Dom's the Sun on his arm?" Lij nodded, smiling shyly, then the smile faded as he thought of his love travelling to his birthland alone. His bed cold. His heart sad. "Come, let us dress, Nekeb. The morning awaits us!" *** "That's better!" Menkh congratulated himself on the transformation. Standing before him were two figures swathed in white desert robes. Each had eyes lined with plain kohl, and Lij's hair had been combed through and gathered in a single plait hanging at his back, tied with a piece of cord. Menkh had tried to persuade Lij to crop his hair, but Lij refused on the grounds that his Dom adored the shining black mane. Menkh, although thinking of the fleas endemic amongst the poorer classes, looked at the sorrow in his king's eyes, and forbore comment. Eating bread and meats and drinking ale inside the tavern, Menkh pointed out exactly how long it took Ninus the Phoenician to travel back to his ship, having been told of it many times, as Ninus liked to talk. Menkh, well aware of the importance of fostering good relations between palace and trader, knew a great deal about the captain...not all of it good. Lij was relieved to discover that, even with Dom's five day start, and because they had actually been nearer to the port than he had when starting out, they would, by judicious planning, arrive at port on the same day. Lij, assured that the ship would not leave without him, lost a little of the tension that had been thrumming through him since he received Dom's note, but his heart was still troubled. "Why did he do it, Menkh? Why did he leave us without a word?" Menkh placed his hand over the small one resting on the table. "I don't think he can have been thinking any more clearly than you are at the moment, Lij. He was truly upset by the news, I am sure. And what would you have done, my King, if the positions had been reversed? Tell me." Lij smiled into his cousin's eyes. "You old fox! You know what I would have done...exactly the same thing. Kings are not prone to personal consideration when their people's safety is at stake. But I could never have ventured on this enterprise if you had not been capable...more than capable..of taking my mantle up. Egypt will be safe in your hands, and I thank you for it from my soul's depths." He glanced at Nekeb, who was looking at him with great affection. "And you, friend of friends. You have abandoned your lover for me. He will be lonely without you, and you without him. Yet you did it without a second thought. Now why?" Nekeb swallowed his ale hastily and his face grew red. "You need have no fears on my behalf, Lij. Senmut has had his eye on another likely partner for some weeks now. One of the Captains of the Host, I believe. I have no doubt, Lord, that I shall have to find another lover when we return." There was no more talk. They left to ride hard on the last leg of their journey. |