Mac Tire � Son of the EarthPart 15 � UnravellingNekeb enjoyed his private bath very much. He was after all, pretending to be an ordinary servant. Lij was known to be a king. Ordinary servants bathed - if bathe they did, in the winter months - in an old wooden tub outside in the laundry, with every chance passer-by gawping in. This was not for Nekeb, for over eight years the Lord of Accron. Rich beyond telling. Friend of Pharaoh. Lij was only too glad to give his friend permission to use his room for his ablutions, so, cleansed and warmly wrapped in a woollen robe he sat at the small table with a quill and paper, and compiled his list. 1. Purple 2. Emerald gem 3. Pearls 4. Frankincense and Myrrh. 5. Dates 6. Strange man 7. Best Samian 8. Silk Nekeb sighed as he thought about the strange man. Just after Lij and Dom had left for their ride, Nekeb had gone to the kitchens for something to eat. He had not been hungry but just wanted something to nibble on after his bath. He wanted to see for himself what was available, and the bath water needed to cool a little. It was a good excuse to look about and ask a few searching questions, too. When Nekeb, armed with delicacies and a glass bottle of wine, returned and opened Lij's door, there was a servant in the room folding up a bedrobe. He had previously seen this man standing behind Cormac's chair. There was a robe on the bed which the man said Ede wished Lij to have; a beautiful purple silk gown edged at the hem, sleeves and neck with silver thread and pearls the size of peas. The door between his room and Dom's was ajar and there was someone in there, too, moving things about as if searching. Nekeb moved swiftly to the door but was only in time to see the man's back as he rushed from the room. All he saw of the man was his black unbound waist-length hair. He dismissed the man in Lij's room with a curt nod, and after he had gone, bowing low, Nekeb looked at Lij's things carefully. Yes - this cloak is not folded as I do it, even though the man tried hard to reproduce my fashion. And the man in the other room could not have got into Dom's room except through this one. It was bolted on this side, and Dom is less trusting than us - he locks his door. Nekeb could not see why servants would be sent to search their rooms. The things of value - Lij's jewellery and ornaments - were too distinguished to be stolen and worn or used elsewhere. They would always be instantly recognisable. Nothing was missing, either - it was a mystery. Nekeb scanned his list. He added "lapis lazuli" to it, scratched his head, then put "Porphyry" under that. He folded the list tightly, and slid it between two stones on the wall near the head of the bed that seemed made to hide secret documents in. He ate his dates and a leg of chicken, and drank the sweet red wine. * Dom and Lij had endured a very chilly hour riding about in the snow and looking at landmarks that Connor had pointed out to them. Dom had hidden well the fact that he knew these places better than Connor ever could, and just revelled in the fact that this was the land of his birth, and he was here again at last. Lij, shivering in his wolfskin cloak, just tried to smile and look as if he was not longing for the huge log fires of the castle. They raced the fidgets out of the horses' legs and this warmed Lij up a little. Dom was very at home in the saddle and just glowed with enthusiasm at being outdoors in the fresh air. Cormac, Morne and the others accompanying the little party showed little interest in the frozen countryside, but Lij was stunned into speech and real animation when they rode up to the lakeside at Tara and he saw the water stretch out for miles in every direction. Even snow-clad it was an inspiring sight, and as Lij had never before seen a lake, he was still talking of it to a subdued Dom when the two men approached their rooms to find Cass standing outside Lij's door with a troubled expression on his rugged face. He had what appeared to be a cloak clutched to his chest, and when the men approached him, he bowed low and spoke quietly. "My Lords, I would speak with you, if I may," he requested formally. Dom and Lij, not used to such ceremony from the man who had in such a short space of time become their friend and champion, smiled and nodded and preceded him into Lij's room, where Nekeb was resting in a chair by the fire. He jumped up when his Lord entered, and quickly took Lij's cloak from him. Lij looked at Cassawn quizzically. "What is the matter, Cass? You look...discomforted." Lij sat on the bed and Dom leaned against the table observing the guard carefully. Cass hugged the bundle he was carrying closer to his chest. "You must believe me, Lords, when I say I had totally forgotten about...that I had...that Ayve..." He floundered and, placing his burden on the bed began to untie it. "I can see now that there were reasons even she did not understand for her giving me these things. I beg that you will forgive me for withholding them from you." The last string came loose and Cass lifted his secret out of the cloth. Nekeb gasped and burst into tears. "Oh, thank the gods! Isis! Dear Mother of all, thank you!" Lij sat, rooted to the spot, his face paler than the whitest milk. Dom, fearing his love was about to collapse, moved closer to him and put a securing arm around his shoulders. Lij stood, dislodging Dom's grasp. He picked up the object in trembling hands and sent Cass a look of such radiance the man stepped back, astonished. "What is it, Lij, that it should bring you such joy?" Cass whispered, afraid to disturb the atmosphere in the room by using normal tones. "It is the double crown of Egypt." Dom murmured, his voice equally lowered. "Lij...we...feared it lost at sea. Nekeb..." Pen-Nekeb crouched before Lij, his head resting on the Royal feet. Lij placed the crown on the bed and stooped, grasping Nekeb, and trying to raise him. "Get up, my friend. My honour has been returned to me. I am happy, Nekeb. Thank you, Cass. My gratitude to you - you cannot begin to fathom. Get up, Nekeb..." Nekeb rose, weeping silently. Lij took him into a warm embrace, kissing his brow. "Come, wipe your face, Accron. This is a time for happiness, not tears." Lij glanced over at Dom who was regarding him with a look of joy mingled with sadness. He could not fail to have noticed that Lij now removed himself quickly from his slightest touch. Cass coughed, unwilling to sully the air with further speech. "There is more, my Lords." Dom moved quickly over to the bed and revealed the rest of the bundle. Nekeb coughed again. "It was in Lij's treasure chest on the barge. I remember that he had told me to pack it, Dom. There was some surprise he had planned for you at Memphis when you came...so I brought it with me, thinking.... " His voice trailed away as memory intruded upon the three of them. Lij smiled at Dom, but his eyes were sad. "It is true - I did, but it is of no matter now." Dom lifted his crown and looked at it carefully - a plain gold band with a large sapphire inset over the slightly raised frontpiece. He looked at Lij, fire burning in his grey eyes. "Egypt - you are king wherever you go, crown or no crown. I am king of nothing. Until I tear this usurper from his throne, I am king of nothing!" He threw the crown onto the bed and strode across the room, his back turned to the company, his arms clasped protectively around his chest, keeping the feelings in that threatened to tear him apart. Nekeb beckoned to Cass, and they both quietly bowed themselves out of the room, leaving the couple alone. Without turning, Dom said in a voice crammed with distress, "Why do you spurn my touch, Lij? Have I become so...odious to you that you cannot bear my hands on you?" Lij swallowed twice before replying. "No, Dom - it is quite the opposite. It is precisely because you are not abhorrent to me that I evade your...closer presence. You are no longer my spouse. You are the spouse of another. Even if she broke her contract with you by marrying Connor... their marriage is not lawful in this land, she being still bound to you, is that not so? Is it not so, Dom?" Dom nodded, not daring to speak. "So you promised Ede not to tell Connor of your claims on his so-called wife?" Silence. "Dom, my love, look at me." Dom turned suddenly at the sound of the endearment on his lover's lips, but he did not move towards him. "I love you, Dom. I have always loved you - I will always love you. But I cannot dishonour myself or you by...embracing another person's lawful spouse. I cannot. It goes against every virtue I have tried to uphold as Lord of the Two Lands, and Son of The Sun. I will not dishonour sacred vows made before the gods in such a way. Dom...." He touched the crown lying on the bed. "I cannot..." Dom strode across the room, and drew Lij to him. Before the man could pull away, Dom kissed him fiercely, and then gently, tasting the desire on his mouth before letting him go. Lij slumped on the bed, torn by anguish and despair. "I cannot." "I love you, spouse of my heart," Dom said, moving away from Lij, and sitting in the nearby chair, "and because I love you, I swear never to come near you or to touch you again in that way without your permission. Will this suffice?" Lij nodded gratefully. "It will." He looked up at Dom, love in his eyes - but there was also determination. "We have to preserve a united front before these people, Dom, and I understand that we will touch each other when in their company. But I trust your given word, as I trust my own. You will not break it. Neither will I tempt you to it. Have you been able to find out anything about Sowrawn?" he said, changing the subject quickly, and wiping his face with his hands. Dom took Lij's lead in changing the mood, and said "Cass seemed to have some news to tell before we left to ride. I will send for him.� He went to the door and shouted for a servant, and in a very few minutes both Nekeb and Cass arrived, Nekeb carrying two bottles and Cass a tray of cups. The four men sipped the wine appreciatively, and Dom invited Cass to tell them the news he wanted to speak of earlier that morning. Cass rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I do not know whether what I have to say makes sense, or whether my summing up of the situation is accurate, but I think it is." �I was passing a small chamber next to the solar when I saw that oaf Brian, the captain of Connor's guard, slip into the room. The thing that attracted my attention was that he looked around very furtively before he did so. It's a quiet part of the castle, and I just wondered what he was doing, and why he was so secretive about it.� �I am well trained, Dom. I am as quiet as a mouse when I need to be. I peeped through the door. The gap between the hinges and the frame was very wide. The Lady Ede was sitting in there at a small table, writing. I saw her look over what she had written most carefully, then sign the last one and stamp it with a large seal.� �As she handed it to Brian, she said "Ultan will be here next week for the Fais, so there is no need to search him out. I just want to make sure he reads it before you kill him, man. Make sure of that." �He picked up the other documents from the table, and I raced to the stairs and down into the common room. It was time for food and he would not miss that. I sat by him during the meal. I knew I had to get him alone, and out of his clothing." Here Cass looked hesitant. "I am a man for other men, as are...and I knew of Brian, that he was, too. I got one of the men drunk last night and he told me that the captain liked it...rough. So I gave it to him...and while he slept afterwards, I sneaked the documents out of his pouch and read them. Oh, he did not see. He was totally exhausted with the blindfold and manacles still upon him.� Cass paused, seeing Dom and Lij looking intently at him. Nekeb poured him some wine, which he gulped down. "Go on, man," Dom urged. "I read them all. They were all death warrants. Ultan's I read last, because I'd seen her sign it. I take nothing for granted. It was signed "Sowrawn", so it was." "Sowrawn?" Dom shook his head, trying to understand. "Ede is Sowrawn?" He stared at Cass who nodded his head. "Brian likes to talk after...So I encouraged him by pretending I was...enamoured of him. He said the lady Ede was a stern master, and that he could not stay as he had to execute some warrants she had given him. I pretended astonishment at that, and he said everyone thought Connor was the king, but the real power was Ede. Connor was a weak man, he said, but like many weak men he has a temper and could be capricious.� �I didn't question him, I just let him ramble on. I have an assignation with him tomorrow. I will try to get more information then. I hope you think I did well, Dom. I only wish to serve you." Dom rose from his chair and clapped his hand to Cass' shoulder. "You did well, friend. I am just...overwhelmed. Ede is Sowrawn? Ede had Colm and those babies...? Ede has murdered...Ede?" Dom paced about the room in distress. Lij sat as one set in stone. Nekeb kept a wary eye on his lord. Suddenly Lij rose and went to Dom. "Dom?" he whispered, taking his lover's trembling hand in his. "Come, sit and drink some wine, it will ease you." Dom went back to the chair and sat on it. "I knew she was capable...no, not the babies! Not those babies!" Dom put his hands over his face, and Lij knelt in front of him and took him in his arms. "Ssh, my love! It is past help, now. And we are here, and you can..." "I can what, Lij? Stop her? Save my benighted lands from her malign influence? I told you she was evil, Lij...evil, evil!" Nekeb handed the cup of wine to Lij who made Dom drink it down. "So, what are we to do?" Nekeb asked. Cass coughed. "Watch and wait, I say. I recognised only Ultan's name on those parchments. The others must be those who came with them from...wherever it was. There was one foreign name amongst them I did not recognize, but the others were Irish names. Let her kill her own, I say. We wait." Dom sighed. "Yes, we can do nothing else as yet. But we need to be vigilant. Look about you, all of you, and report any strange occurrences. Lij, we must change our clothing. Connor wants harp and song, and we must oblige him. It is, after all, what he is paying me for, and we must look as if we are innocent of any of this knowledge." As Dom and Lij left their rooms for the recital, Nekeb folded Lij's clothes and put them away. He pondered on all that he had heard, together with all that he had himself discovered. He would keep his own counsel for now, until he knew what it all meant. He stared at a porphyry vase resting elegantly on a small table near the window. It would all become clearer in time, he was sure. He left for the servants' quarters. He was hungry, and today there was roast kid on offer. He took Lij's bedgowns with him. Ede had given him two more but they were very similar to those he already had. Nekeb resolved to add them to his list later on. * Cormac sat by Lij as Dom played. This was a private recital, and only a select few were present. Connor and Ede, Cormac, Morne and his vacuous lady friend. Two princes from the far south, and their wives, here for the Fais the following week. And a dark, swarthy man, who stood in the corner, taking in the scene. He was tall, and slim and elegant with raven black hair tied in a long braid down his back. He saw Lij looking at him, and promptly disappeared behind a tapestry. Lij thought it odd, but dismissed it as Dom was playing a tune that melted his heart. Dom's eyes were upon him as he sang, and Lij melted into the look. He tore his gaze away to find Ede looking at him in a way he could not interpret. She smiled at him and he smiled back, remembering to give the woman no cause for concern, or display any of the fear and disgust he felt in her presence. Lij was good at public faces. He smiled at her again. As they came together after the music, Ede asked how his arm was faring. He was truly grateful for what she had done for him, and answered warmly. Dom came swiftly to Lij's side, and Ede gave him a wry grin. "Do not worry, my lord. I do not intend to eat him!" Dom was called away by Connor before he could reply, and Ede took Lij's arm. "Talking of food. the mushrooms are nearly of a size to be cooked, my dear. I shall send you some as soon as they are ready." Lij bowed, thanked her for the new gowns and professed himself delighted at the thought of more fungus. He was glad when Morne claimed her attention, and Lij watched the two talking quietly together. Dom came back to his side, and told him he, Connor and Cormac had decided on the music for the Fais. "Cormac will play, too, Lij. Apparently he is very good - according to Connor. I reserve judgement until I hear him. Connor has no real ear for music I have found but Cormac will play for me tomorrow. He is not telling his mother he is doing so, because, he says, she will come to listen and put him off. This I believe." The king and queen left the room together, and all bowed them out. Cormac who was leaving behind Lij, whispered in his ear. "I am not telling mother about tomorrow, Egypt, as you probably know by now - but you are welcome to attend if you will." Lij smiled at the eager youth, and said he would be delighted. |