| Marhaba! Welcome to my story. Those who read this on the MG<3 club will notice that the story has grown a title. You may also notice that I've done some editing here and there. Alas, I've lost the original comments -- but that just makes room for some new ones! Enjoy! Chapter 1: Out, Out, Brief Candle Waiting to die isn’t nearly as much fun as it sounds. Hospitals are cold, for one thing, even before you factor in those nigh-backless gowns. Then there’s the odor, that dry antiseptic scent that smells as if the air has had all of the life scrubbed out of it. But the worst part is the aura of hopelessness that pervades the hospice wing. The staff all know that they can't really help any of their patients -- all they can do is keep the poor souls “comfortable,” which is medicalese for “too doped up to know how much pain they’re in.” As for the patients, they’re all, well, waiting to die. If anyone ever tells you that death is the worst thing that can happen to you, they lie. Waiting for it is far worse. I should know; I’d been waiting for it for far too long. The cancer started in my bone marrow and rapidly expanded to include leukemia before spreading to my liver and pancreas. The non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was a mere afterthought, really -- the doctors had already written me off by the time it showed up. Fourteen months of treatment, and all they could tell me amounted to, “We’re sorry, Mr. Warren, but you’re worm food.” The only good thing to come of it was that the chemo and radiation had bought me enough time to finish my master’s degree. I lay awake in my cold little bed, cursing the failure of the morphine to keep me “comfortable” and dreaming up new ways to feel sorry for myself. Luckily for me, the arrival of the night nurse derailed my pity train. “Good evening, Tony,” she said, “How are you feeling this evening?” “Much better now that you’re here,” I replied. I even made the effort to smile. I always had a smile for nurse Willamena Rogers. I’d been flirting with her since day one of my stay here. She was a thirty-something divorcee, which was okay because I liked MILFs. Willi was buxom (which I don’t require but don’t mind), witty (which I do require), and whip smart (which I absolutely adore). And while I prefer brunettes, I make an exception for brown-eyed blondes. Best of all, she had been one hundred percent supportive of me even when I’d been at my worst. Under better circumstances, I would have asked her out long ago. As it was, I was good enough at flirting to get her to stop calling me Mr. Warren. “In fact, I’m feeling strong enough for that date you promised me.” I followed up with my best you-know-you-want-me smirk. Willi shook her head as she went about her duties. “Two problems with that, sweetie. A, I’m too much the consummate professional to date a patient, and B, any such date would be conditional on your getting better.” “Well, that gives me an incentive to get better,” I said. Willi returned my smile with interest and finished checking me over. She then took a syringe out of her pocket and started prepping it to go into my IV painkiller line. “Hey, I didn’t order a nightcap,” I quipped. “Silly boy,” she said, “This is the experimental drug that Dr. Lopez spoke to you about. They say it makes morphine look like Kool-Aid. If this doesn’t help you sleep, nothin’ will.” I put on a mock pout and gave Willi the puppy eyes. “Am I nothing to you but a lab rat?” I teased. “Squeak, squeak,” she answered, “You signed the paperwork authorizing experimental treatments, so you get Dr. Frankenstein’s happy juice.” She inserted the syringe into the IV and gently pushed the plunger. I immediately felt relaxing warmth flowing into my arm and spreading throughout my body. “Sweet dreams,” said Willi with a playful smile. “When they’re about you? Always,” I said. Willi giggled and patted my hand. Then she looked around to make sure no one was watching, lifted my hand to her lips, and kissed it. She gave my fingers one last gentle squeeze before hurrying out of the room in a futile attempt to hide her blush from me. Ha! I thought, I’m wearing her down! That was the last coherent thought I had before the fuzzy warmth of the drug overtook my brain and sent me drifting down into sleep. I returned to consciousness to find the chill of the sickroom replaced by intense, almost unpleasant heat. The hospital linens where once I’d lain were now a bed of sand, and dawn light stung my newly opened eyes. I noted that my sheets were gone, as was my bed… as were my clothes, for that matter. Then I noticed the other missing thing -- pain. I had lived in constant pain for so long that its absence was like suddenly having a heavy weight lifted from my back after I’d forgotten it was there. I must be dreaming, I thought to myself. I made a mental note to thank Willi when I saw her next. Whatever it was that she had given me, it was really good stuff. |
MetallumOperaturMar 19, 2017 9:11 AM
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Two: To Sleep, Perchance to Dream I picked myself up from the sand and gave myself a quick once-over. All of the parts were still there -- though some of them had sand in them -- and my dream-self had regained some of the weight that I’d lost during chemo. My hair hadn’t grown any beyond the buzz-cut length that I’d gotten back in the last month, though. You’d think that my subconscious would gift me with a full head of hair. Ah, well, at least I wasn’t still bald. The next problem was my lack of wardrobe. I thought this would be easy to fix; I had been a lucid dreamer since I was nine, and conjuring a simple garment was literally child’s play. I proceeded to dream myself up a durable explorer’s outfit suitable for desert wear. I concentrated, clearly visualized what I wanted, and exerted my will to make it so… and nothing happened. I tried two more times with the same result. This was frustrating, but not unprecedented. As good a dreamer as I was, some dreams proved to be beyond my control. I guess my subconscious wants me to find some pants, I thought. The last pressing problem was to pick a destination. I couldn’t die of dehydration in a dream desert, but dream thirst was still uncomfortable. I needed to find a source of water, if only for thematic reasons. I turned around slowly as I surveyed my surroundings. North and south didn’t look very promising, just sand and more sand. The mountains to the east were too far away for me to reach in under a week on foot. West was notably better. I could see a structure of some kind in the distance. I was too far away to see any details, but I could probably get there before noon even if I had to walk. Where there were buildings there was at least a chance of people, and people in this environment would always build near a water source if they had a choice. I decided to head there. I concentrated again and willed myself into the air -- flying was the first lucid dreaming trick that I had learned. This got the same result as my attempt at instant tailoring. “I guess I have to walk to get to the pants,” I grumbled. My subconscious declined to reply, so there was nothing left for me to do but start walking. It didn’t take long before the Sun started shining in earnest. I was glad for what little hair I had; all that UV would’ve been brutal on a bare scalp. The lack of clothing was a definite problem -- I was going to have the mother of all sunburns if I didn’t get under some shade soon. At least I’d had the wisdom to choose dark-skinned ancestors; that should offer me some protection. I quickened my pace as much as I dared without risking heatstroke -- another hazard that couldn’t kill me in a dream, but it would still suck. My initial estimate of the distance, adjusted for the visibility conditions typical of deserts, proved to be pretty close. I arrived at my destination about two hours before local noon. Now that I was close to the structure I could see more about it. The building appeared to be made of sandstone. The architecture looked Egyptian, but with some late Phoenician influences. The shape of the building, and the twin obelisks in front of it, marked it as some sort of shrine. I didn’t recognize the writing on the obelisks, though. It was definitely hieroglyphics, but the language was neither Kemetic nor Demotic. I looked up at the sky to address my subconscious and said, “Okay, now you’re just messing with me.” Impractical jokes aside, I needed to get out of the Sun if I was to save my precious hide. Even better, I could detect the unmistakable smell of water coming from inside the shrine. “I don’t suppose you could make it easy on me and put some pants in there, too?” I said to my subconscious. I went inside knowing that I could at least solve two of my problems. The door, which was roughly twice my height, faced east to allow the first rays of the dawn to shine onto the altar at the opposite wall. I walked in and was immediately enveloped by soothing shade. The air here was noticeably cooler, and the relative darkness was a relief to my tired eyes. The interior was finished in marble with lapis lazuli insets. Bas reliefs covered the walls, and most of the pictures were quite racy. It looked like an Egyptian Kama Sutra carved in stone, and the variety of animal-featured goddesses depicted made it a very kinky scene indeed. The floor was packed earth except for a large marble circle about forty feet in diameter -- that was about half of the width of the room. I approached the edge and saw an actual pool. The crystal clear water was about twelve feet down from the edge and half again that deep, but multiple rings above the waterline showed where it had once been deeper. Three sets of sandstone stairs, spaced equidistantly around the circle, led all the way down to the bottom. A hole in the center of the pool floor showed turbulence and a few bubbles -- clearly the pool was fed by an underground spring. Jackpot, I thought. I availed myself of the stairs and walked down to the water’s surface. I drank my fill before stepping into the pool and washing the sand out of where my shorts should have been. With those needs seen to, I decided to rest here during the hottest part of the day before setting out to find some food. Not that I was worried about starving in a dream, but hunger pangs hurt even if you’re only dreaming about them. I walked back out of the pool with the intention of finding a corner to nap in. No sooner had my feet hit the marbled edge than a feminine voice boomed out behind me, “Who dares trespass upon this holy place?” I instinctively covered my man-parts as I turned to see the speaker. It was a woman… but not any kind of woman that I had ever seen before. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Three: Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On She was draped across the altar like a lounge singer across a piano. She wore a button-down cotton shirt with matching knee-length canvas pants in khaki. I gritted my teeth at the similarity to the outfit that I had failed to make for myself. Her skin was a golden brown a shade or two lighter than my own milk chocolate color. Honey blonde hair hung down in luscious waves almost to the altar as she propped herself up on one arm. Her body was trim but with generous curves in all the right places, which made it difficult to not notice that the top three buttons of her shirt were undone. Focus, Tony, my inner voice chided. Then I noticed her more unusual features. Her feet seemed more like paws than normal feet, and their bone structure suggested that she walked on her toes like a cat. There were fuzzy round ears on top of her head and a light coat of tawny fur on her forearms and lower legs. A long tail with a tuft on the end lay draped over her legs. Inhuman as it was, the combination of features was actually quite beautiful. “A man,” she said, and her words were a sensuous exhalation that sent a jolt of desire from my ears straight down to my loins. “And a nicely dressed one, at that.” She smirked at my obvious discomfiture and sat up. “How bold of you to intrude upon a shrine which is guarded by one of the harakhtet.” She stood up and stalked toward me with a cat’s grace and her tail swishing back and forth in time to her steps. I raised my estimate of her beauty accordingly -- believe me, that walk deserved it. Then she got close enough for me to clearly see her face. She looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. Her eyes were deep brown and unusually large with pupils slit like a cat’s. The overall effect was devastatingly lovely. In fact, she was officially the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. “I am Aneksi, daughter of Amunet,” she announced, “Shrine Maiden of this March. Name yourself, stranger, or be named enemy of the spirits that dwell here.” Oho, I thought, It’s that kind of dream! Thank you, Nurse Willi. Come to think of it, this made my last words to my pretty nurse sort of prophetic. If you considered the hair color, the eye color, the shape of the face and the… ahem… attributes, this was pretty much the coed catgirl version of Willi. No, not catgirl, I thought, Those ears and that tail look like a lion’s. She’s more like a sexy sphinx. I gathered up as much suavity as I could while being so badly underdressed for the occasion and dove into the role-play. “Pleased to meet you, Aneksi,” I said, “I am Antonio, son of Gerald. I am a simple traveler who is down on his luck. I don’t suppose you would be willing to offer a poor soul some assistance?” Aneksi glanced down at how I was covering myself and slid her eyes up to meet mine. “You seem to have things well in hand,” she replied. “Tell me, Antonio son of Gerald, how came you to be so fabulously unequipped for travel among the dunes? Though not,” she teasingly added, “For journeys of a more… recreational… nature?” In for a penny, in for a pound, I thought. I cranked my you’re-mine-and-you-know-it smile to eleven and said, “Would you believe… bandits?” “I would,” Aneksi answered. “These are dangerous times and wild lands. And, I fear, our Lord, blessings be on her, has more important things to do than make the ways safe for any traveler foolish enough to brave the desert alone.” “I had a companion when I began my travels,” said I, “But I fear that the winds of Fate have whisked her far away.” I gave silent thanks to my college theater instructor for teaching me how to deliver lines like that with a straight face. “That is most unfortunate,” said Aneksi, but her tone conveyed anything but disappointment. “May your friend find happiness in whatever place to which the winds of Fate have blown her.” She stepped up to me, almost face to face, with the top of her head level with my eyes. “But now I have the problem of what to do with you, Antonio son of Gerald. You have, after all, committed four offenses against the spirits. These must be redressed.” I leaned back in pretend outrage. “Four offenses? I would think that trespassing on a holy place would be only one offense.” “Indeed, four,” the sphinx intoned. “One, trespassing upon the shrine. Two, drinking from the sacred pool without permission from the priestess. Three, bathing in the sacred pool without the blessing of the priestess. And four, lying to a shrine maiden in the course of her duties.” This time my outrage was real; I didn’t appreciate having my integrity questioned, especially by a figment of my imagination. “Now wait a minute!” I snapped. “Lying? I have been nothing but honest with…” “Lying,” she interrupted, “For the bandits in these lands would not have stolen your goods and left you for dead. They would have taken you.” Now she did get right up in my face, even if she had to get on tiptoe to do it. For some reason she didn’t look so small when I had such a good view of her fangs. “No one robbed you, Antonio son of Gerald. You are as you came into this land -- without goods, without clothing, and most certainly without a clue. Fortunately for you, you met me first. Now I will teach you what life is like in this, your new home. Welcome to Charisse, outlander.” |
tygertygerApr 24, 2015 3:22 PM
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter 4: Having Nothing, Nothing Can He Lose Charisse. Now I have a name for this crazy place, I thought. I tried to regain my composure, but it was no easy task with the conflicting stimuli of Aneksi’s implied threat and her luscious lips within kissing range. My brain wisely decided that survival outranked sex, so I backed off -- as much as I hated taking the submissive posture -- and assumed a non-threatening stance. “You have me at a disadvantage, madam,” I admitted. “Mmm,” Aneksi replied, making no effort to conceal the gaze roving up and down my unclothed body. “But fear not, Antonio. I mean you no harm. Quite the contrary.” She started walking around me, her slow, sure steps announcing her complete lack of concern. She was now a cat playing with a mouse. A naked, really scared, somewhat horny mouse. “In fact, I can see my way clear to punish you but lightly if you agree to play a little game with me.” “A game?” I asked. “A game,” she confirmed. “A shrine maiden’s duties are not demanding. I walk my march and tend to each shrine along the way, then walk back and do it all again. It is an easy life, but a tedious one. And with only the occasional traveler for company, I often grow bored and lonely. A game would offer me diversion and ease my loneliness.” She laid a hand on my shoulder and languidly trailed it down my chest. I tried not to flinch -- from fear or from the pleasant sensation of the tips of her claws grazing my skin -- but I failed miserably. “You do want to ease my loneliness, do you not, Antonio?” Oh, hell yes, I thought. I kept it together enough to ask, I hoped casually, “What sort of game did you have in mind?” Aneksi took a step back and clapped her hands like a happy little girl. “I knew you would not disappoint me, Antonio! It has been so long since anyone played a good game of riddles with me.” She actually bounced on her toes as she said this, and the effect was… quite intriguing. Her eyes are up there, Tony, I reminded myself. “Riddles, eh?” I said. “I’m pretty good with riddles. I bet I know some that you’ve never…” Aneksi held up her hand for silence. “Oh, no, dear man,” she said. “You are being punished. I will ask the riddles, and you will answer. One riddle for each transgression, and a complete answer must include the reason why your answer is correct. Answer wrongly even once, and I shall exact a penalty. Answer all four riddles correctly…” She lowered her eyelids to half-mast and shot me a look that would render Viagra obsolete. “…And I shall reward you for your cleverness.” So, let me get this straight, I thought, Showing how smart I am will actually get me laid here? This is so much better than real life! “You’ve got a deal, milady,” I announced. “Bring on the riddles.” “Very well, sir,” she said with a formal air – but the look in her eyes wasn’t the least bit formal. “Let us begin.” She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and proceeded to speak in a voice that was almost a chant. “What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the evening and three legs at night?” You’ve got to be kidding, I thought. Is there some kind of sphinx union that requires them to ask that one? Oh, well, if she was going to pitch slow balls it would be a shame for me to not hit them. “I would have said, ‘human,’ but that is essentially correct,” said the sphinx, “And now the second riddle.” “If you have it, you want to share it. If you share it, you haven’t got it.” Another old one, I thought. If they’re all this easy, I’ve got it made. “Correct,” said Aneksi. There was a change in her now. Her breathing was faster, as if she were growing excited, and her pupils were dilated wide open. “And now for the third riddle.” “I had no voice until the wolf gave me his. Uh, oh, I thought, I haven’t heard this one before. I began to pace as I thought about it. Wolf, voice… wolf, voice… who does the wolf give his voice to? I agonized over this for a full minute before a flash of inspiration lit my mind, and I could see the answer clearly by its light. I smiled and turned to face Aneksi. Aneksi was definitely looking flushed, and I could feel a palpable charge of sexual energy flowing between us. She wasn’t just breathing hard now, she was actually panting. “Correct,” she managed to gasp out. “And now, the final riddle.” “What goes first on its back, and then on its knees, and then rides but goes nowhere?” This one almost proved to be my undoing. I paced and thought even longer than I had for the wolf riddle -- and made a point of putting some distance between me and my questioner. Aneksi eyed me hungrily with a you-can-give-up-anytime expression on her face. I very nearly did, too. But then I got my mind back into the gutter, and suddenly the answer was obvious. The energy surrounding us burst forth in a rush of heat, and Aneksi shuddered in carnal delight. She closed her eyes as she rode out the wave. “Correct,” she rasped. Then she opened her eyes and fixed me with a look of weapons-grade lust. That look didn’t suggest that she would take no for an answer, nor did it seem as if she’d be gentle for anyone’s first time. It suddenly occurred to me that this might not be as much fun as I’d originally supposed. “And now for your prize,” she said. Aneksi pounced, and the five yards between us were as nothing to her mighty leap. By the time I realized that she had moved I was already in her grasp. |
tygertygerApr 24, 2015 3:24 PM
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Five: Quench the Fire of Love The sphinx only weighed about a hundred and ten pounds* -- about thirty pounds less than my cancer-reduced self -- but with the force of her pounce she might as well have been a wrecking ball. She slammed into me with enough power to overcome any resistance I might have offered. I didn’t react quickly enough to offer any, and that’s what saved me. The flying tackle carried me a full body length backward in the air, past the marble lip and out over the pool. Gravity took it from there. We remained locked together until we hit the water and the impact broke her hold. I rode the momentum down to the bottom of the pool and pushed off toward the nearest staircase. If I’m lucky, she’ll be too flustered about being wet to chase me, I thought. I went up the stairs as quickly as uncertain traction would allow, and that’s what gave me time to look back. Aneksi splashed and yowled in the water, but all her flailing about was getting her no closer to the stairs. She lives in a desert, I thought, Of course she never learned how to swim. My sense of chivalry grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and wouldn’t let me flee any further. I couldn’t just leave a girl in such obvious distress, especially considering the likelihood that she would die if I didn’t help her. On the other hand, Mrs. Warren didn’t raise any fools. I stood on the stairs and waited for Aneksi to wear herself out before I dove back in and pulled her to safety. I put one of her arms over my shoulders and half-carried her up the stairs before laying her face-down on the floor. She spent most of a minute coughing up water, and almost as long gasping for air, before her breathing settled down to something like normal. I started to get up and leave, but she gave me a watered-down version of that lustful gaze and started to surge up at me again. I reflexively slammed my full length down on top of her with my hands firmly locked around her wrists. She struggled weakly -- compared to her full strength -- for a few seconds before slumping down in defeat. “The game is yours,” she conceded. “Ask what you will of me, and I will grant it.” She had started panting again, and I detected a note of pleading in her voice. “Oh, so now I can ask you anything,” I snarled. “A minute ago you attacked me, but now you’re all nice and sweet! How am I supposed to trust you, Aneksi? You said you meant me no harm.” “It was true,” she whined. “I would not have hurt you. I just… I need… please, ask me anything. You solved my riddles, and you saved my life. Anything that I can give is yours. Just ask me. Please, ask me.” Her voice trailed off to a small moan. I could see her grabbing fistfuls of sand, and I could feel her hips pressing up into mine. That was… a very interesting sensation. I thought about that feeling and all of the things that I could possibly ask for. I’m ashamed to admit that some very unchivalrous images, like the x-rated bas reliefs on the walls of the shrine, flitted through my mind’s eye. A part of me wondered how many of those I had time to try before nightfall. Then I smiled wickedly. I suddenly knew exactly what I wanted from this incredibly sexy woman who looked like the nurse I’d had a crush on for a year. I lowered my body onto hers and leaned my head down so that my breath would tickle her ear as I whispered, “Take off your pants.” It was less than two minutes later when a very confused sphinx watched me walk out of the shrine. The pants only came to mid-thigh on me, they were a little tight in the crotch, and I wasn’t used to going commando, but they were a lot better than what I’d been wearing before. * |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Six: Hell is Empty… The sunlight hit me like a slap in the face when I left the cool interior of the shrine. The Sun was barely past its zenith, and the heat of the day was only now beginning in earnest. I had planned to be napping in the shade by now, but I was sure that waiting around long enough for Aneksi to regain her strength would be a bad idea. I scanned my surroundings for any sign of a safer place to be. Anything was better than here -- or rather, anything but the open desert. I saw what looked like an arroyo a few miles away and struck out in that direction. A dry riverbed meant someplace where there was once a river, and where there was once a river there might still be a stream. A water source was still top priority, and the one here was no longer an option. I hadn’t even been walking for an hour before I began to regret my decision. The arroyo proved to be further away than I thought -- desert visibility is often deceptive -- and the heat was rapidly draining my strength. Hunger only made it worse. I had already experienced half of a subjective day in this dream, longer than any other that I remembered, and in that time I had eaten nothing. And to top it off, I hadn’t gotten laid. “You can wake me up any time,” I groused to my subconscious. As always, my id had nothing to say. By the third hour on the sand I was barely able to put one foot in front of the other. I was exhausted, I was drenched in sweat, and my arms were tired from being held up to shade my eyes. The light was hellishly bright, and a steady wind blew a veil of grit over my vision. What I wouldn’t give for a pair of sunglasses, I thought, A guy could go blind out here. I could no longer feel the blistering heat of the desert floor against my feet; those nerve endings had long since given up complaining. It was doubtful that I could reach shelter in my current condition, but if I stopped I might not be able to get going again. I had no choice but to keep walking. I really don’t know how I made it to the arroyo. I only remember that I stopped shambling aimlessly when my feet screamed in relief at the soothing touch of mud. I looked down and saw a stream of water bubbling up from the arroyo floor. It was a mere dirty trickle, but my parched lips didn’t care. I shuffled a few steps more and dropped to my knees. I lowered my face to the water like a dog would and didn’t care about dignity. I just sucked that unappetizing brown sludge down my sandpapery throat, and I was grateful for every drop. Thus fortified, I looked around for anything that might qualify as food. I saw the rinds of some kind of fruit, probably the leavings of some animal, but nothing fresh. Well… nothing but a group of fat locusts gorging themselves on the dried-out peels. I asked myself if I were truly that hungry. My civilized habits were sure that I wasn’t, but they were too hot and tired to overrule my empty belly. I managed to catch about a dozen of the plump insects before they scattered out of reach. They didn’t taste so bad if I chewed and swallowed quickly. “Breakfast of champions,” I muttered. I went back to the water to rinse the bug taste out of my mouth before walking further along the stream. The riverbed began to rise on either side until it was taller than I. I found a good spot that was sheltered from the wind and settled down. With any luck I would awaken before the dream threw any more unpleasant sensations at me. The punishing Sun fled from the sudden desert nightfall about two hours later and took my luck with it. The heat that had plagued me throughout the day now ghosted up from the ground and vanished into the night. My skin, which I was thankful was only mildly sunburned, now prickled up in goosebumps. I was forcefully reminded that the desert was cold at night, and here I was wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. I was completely miserable by the time the Moon came out -- and it was not the Moon that I remembered. The “rabbit” pattern in it was wrong somehow. The differences were subtle, but that was definitely not the familiar pattern of craters that I had seen during my nights of stargazing. Seeing that led me to examine the sky more closely. Now that I knew to look, I could see that the familiar constellations were missing. The Evening Star was not where it was supposed to be, and I didn’t remember that group of five bright stars from any astronomy text I’d ever read. My dreams were always vivid, but this level of detail in a night sky was unheard of. What is going on here, I wondered. It was then that it occurred to me that experimental sedatives can have effects other than sedation, especially when they didn’t have the intended effects or if the recipient was in a weakened state. Perhaps Dr. Frankenstein’s happy juice hadn’t merely put me to sleep… or maybe it was a more permanent kind of sleep. I could be comatose, or the drug could have finished the job that the cancer had started. That thought sent a shiver through me that had nothing to do with the cold. I hugged my knees to my chest and wondered how I’d ended up in such an awful place. Either everything I’d learned about Heaven was wrong, or the life I’d led -- a mostly moral one, though admittedly with more than occasional impure thoughts -- had taken me in the opposite direction than I thought I’d be going. I raised my eyes to the sky and shouted out my last bit of defiance, “If this is Heaven, I want a refund!” Then I huddled in on myself and let the misery settle over me like a blanket. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Seven: …And All the Devils Are Here Waking up from a fitful, haunted sleep dashed my last hopes that the world that I found myself in was just a dream. I didn’t remember the nightmares -- for an old hand at lucid dreaming like I am, that’s a bad sign -- but the feelings of fear and helplessness that they left in their wake still remained. Either I was on the wrong side of the afterlife, or I had somehow been transported to an altogether different world than the one I knew. I’d read far too much science fiction for the second possibility to not occur to me, but the fact that my cancer was cured seemed to indicate the former option. That would make Aneksi the first of what would no doubt be many demons sent to torment me. Shakespeare was right, I thought, The Devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape. Very pleasing, in this case. I struggled to my feet and worked the kinks out of my chilled body as best I could. Then I drank my fill from the stream before setting off in search of shelter from the Sun. I climbed out of the arroyo to give myself a higher vantage point and started walking. Luck was with me this morning. Just downstream, about three miles away if my eyes didn’t deceive me, there was another shrine. I hadn’t seen it yesterday because I’d been delirious with exhaustion and half-blind from windblown sand. Shelter, and hopefully another sacred pool, was less than an hour away. With any luck I’d find some food there, too; my stomach was reminding me that locusts weren’t very filling. The stroke of luck lifted my spirits enough that I could pick up the pace. The second shrine was built along the same lines as the first, with the exception of a shallower sacred pool. A small canal led from the stream -- grown to a large creek here -- to replenish the fluid lost to the dry desert air. I did a double take when I saw the water actually flowing uphill to the pool. I wasted precious moments wondering how that could be, but I decided that Hell had no use for the laws of physics and went inside. I ignored the pharoanic porn on the walls and looked around for anything that could be of immediate survival use. This shrine was better appointed than the last; there were potted plants lining the walls. There were over two dozen pots of aloe vera, much to the relief of my peeling hide, and I saw an even greater number of prickly pear cacti. Aha, I thought, Food and sunburn ointment. Finally, some good luck! I went back outside and found a rock of the proper size and shape to serve as a crude knife. Twenty minutes of careful effort left me with enough prickly pears to make a meal and only two puncture wounds from cactus needles. After that I harvested some aloe leaves and mashed them up on the marble edge of the pool. I got enough salve from this to cover all of my sunburns except the patch on my back that I couldn’t reach. I solved that problem by lying down on the altar to let the cool marble soothe my tortured back. I decided to stay the night here; a day of rest with ample food and water close by were exactly what I needed to recover from yesterday’s ordeal. I stretched full length on the stone and allowed my eyes to drift closed. Let’s hope nobody comes in here and mistakes me for a sacrifice, was my last thought before letting the tiredness lull me to sleep. I awoke to a rhythmic clinking sound. I opened my eyes slit-fashion and turned my head to face the entrance. The building’s layout didn’t leave any hiding places, so it seemed like a good idea to let anyone who came through that door think that I was asleep while I got a look at them. A figure soon hove into view. At first I saw only a silhouette backlit by the bright afternoon sunlight, but as the visitor crossed into the shade I could see that the new arrival was a woman. She was tall, a bit over six feet, and muscled like an athlete. She wore a gray tunic with a ragged hole above the left breast and strips of black leather for epaulets. A wide belt of black leather held a long curved sword -- my gaming-inspired research into weapons told me that it was a shamshir -- and dagger. These weapons, and the metal studs affixed to strips of leather that formed a kilt, were the source of the sound that had awakened me. With the black-and-gray theme, her other garments were a bit of a surprise. She wore dull brown greaves and gauntlets that appeared to be scale mail. Her clothing suggested that she was a soldier of some kind; as a military brat, I knew a uniform when I saw one. That brought up disturbing implications for the hole in her tunic. That could well be the result of an insignia being ripped away, as from a demotion, a desertion or a dishonorable discharge. I decided to be extra careful until I could find out if this woman was one of the guards in this prison or a fellow inmate. The woman shuffled to the pool and went down to drink without showing any sign of having noticed me. With the immediate need met she came up from the pool and plucked a handful of prickly pears. She devoured the fruit with astonishing speed, and I noted that she hadn’t bothered to use her knife to get them. Apparently those gauntlets made her hands cactus-proof. I couldn’t see her face very well with my eyes slitted, but I could tell that she had dark brown hair cut boyishly short. She finished her meal, wiped her mouth and took a leisurely look around the shrine. Her eyes came to rest on me, and she froze. She stayed that way long enough that I figured she was in shock, so I decided to take advantage of the situation. I bolted upright, fixed her with my best authoritative stare and said, “Who dares trespass upon this holy place?” My great-and-powerful-Oz impression did not have the effect that I was hoping for. The woman’s eyes, which I could now see were hazel in color, grew round with surprise. Then she threw her head back and laughed. It was not a friendly laugh, either. It was more like the laugh you get from a school bully who has just spotted a smaller kid with lots of lunch money. “You are no shrine maiden,” she said, “And you are definitely no priestess.” She took a step toward me and smiled evilly. “Kaori strike me, but I do believe that you are a man.” The woman began to pace in front of the altar, and when she turned her profile to me I saw that she had a reptilian tail in the same dull brown as her gauntlets and greaves. Now that I could see her clearly and close up I could tell that she wasn’t wearing armored footwear or gloves. Her hands up to the forearms and feet to just below the knees were covered in tough brown scales, and her hands and feet all bore heavy claws. At this distance I noticed that those hands were twitchy, and her eyes were fever-bright with the pupils contracted to points. This set off a number of alarms in my mind. Interesting fun fact: my father spent much of his military career working with the military police. Some of that time was spent in drug enforcement (the military had a serious problem with substance abuse by troops at the time), and he later became a substance abuse counselor. When I was twelve Dad introduced me to a number of former heroin addicts who told me exactly what being strung out was like. Because of that experience, I knew a junkie when I saw one… and it was clear that this reptile lady had been without a fix for long enough to be crazy and dangerous. I stood up and started slowly circling toward the door. “I don’t know who Kaori is,” I said, “Why don’t you tell me about her?” I hoped that keeping her talking would keep her calm, or at least distracted. The lizard woman ignored my comment. Her face went thoughtful for a moment before she started thinking out loud. “You could restore my honor,” she mused. “If you are not what the queen requires, she can always give you to the troops. But if you are...”she fixed me with a hungry glare, “Her generosity will know no bounds. Either way, she will take me back if I bring you.” I backed up slowly and put my hands in my pockets. The lizard woman didn’t know about the sharp rock that I carried. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it was better than no weapon at all, and the element of surprise would work in my favor. “Oh, but it’s now the hottest part of the day,” I said innocently, “Surely it’s too late to start on our way to your queen. Why don’t we remain here for the night and start our trip in the morning? We could pass the time by you telling me stories of your victories in battle.” The soldier paused and considered my words. “You have a point, little stallion,” she said, “The queen is far from here, and it would be better to start such a journey earlier in the day.” She unbuckled the belt that held her weapons and carefully laid the bundle down on the floor. “As for stories of my battles, I know a better way that we can pass the time.” She pulled her kilt down to her ankles and stepped out of it. Her eyes took on what was probably supposed to be a sultry look as she stalked toward me. “The queen won’t let anyone else touch you if she claims you, so I’ll get my taste now.” Here we go again, I thought, Just another day in the Hell of Violent Nymphomaniacs. I gripped my rock and readied myself for a quick slash to the most vital area that presented itself. The woman grinned as if she could sense my intentions, and then she moved. She made some kind of step/crossover-step/lunge motion that was almost too fast for my eyes to follow and rammed her armored fist into my gut. I doubled over in pain as the air left my lungs. Then she grabbed me by the neck, lifted me off the floor with one hand, and slammed me down on the floor. I was too stunned to do anything but stare up at the ceiling. “I am Hashima, daughter of Fathi,” she declared. “I claim you in the name of Queen Nefer-Apep, glory be to her forever.” Hashima dropped down astride me with her knees pinning my arms, and then stripped off her tunic. “But first, I claim you for me.” She leaned down to lick my face with a forked tongue, and an eerily lustful growl rumbled out of her throat. Oh, God, let this be over quickly, I pleaded. “I have never had a man before,” Hashima confessed, “And there is much that I want to try.” She leaned in until her lips almost touched mine and whispered, “I promise you, little stallion, this will not be over quickly.” |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Eight: Sound and Fury The lizard woman slowly licked all over my face and mouth. I saw what was coming next and clamped my lips shut a split second before she tried to force her tongue between them. She chuckled at my struggles, and we both knew how the dance would play out. Her too-long tongue patiently prized my lips open, gradually forcing its way in, and I prepared myself to bite it off. If I provoked her enough, perhaps she would rob herself of her fun by killing me before she violated me. But before I could bring my teeth into play a sandy-colored blur passed above my attacker. Hashima arched her back and screamed in pain. Her eyes followed the motion, and my gaze followed hers. What I saw brought me hope and renewed fear in equal parts… for there stood Aneksi, daughter of Amunet. The sphinx dropped into a fighting crouch and growled from deep in her throat, “Let. Him. Go.” Hashima snarled and backhanded me across the face. “Stay here,” she ordered, “I will be back for you after I have killed this foolish child.” She stood up without a trace of discomfiture at being naked before a total stranger. The soldier took a few steps toward her opponent and struck a fighting pose. Aneksi took the opportunity to strip off her shirt -- I noticed with a trace of guilt that she was still without pants. The combatants circled each other, and then Hashima emitted a bellow of rage and challenge. I expected Aneksi’s answer to be a feline yowl that would sound feeble in the face of the soldier’s ferocity. What I got was something far different. Aneksi roared, and the sound shook the shrine and reached down into a primitive part of my brain that remembered being a monkey out on the Savannah where the big cats hunt. Once again, I had underestimated the shrine maiden. I had allowed her cuteness and petite stature to make me see her as a mere catgirl… but Aneksi was a sphinx. She wasn’t part cat. She was part lioness. The two women rushed together amid cries of bestial fury. Reptilian claws flashed out and caught nothing but empty air, while feline claws came away stained with lizard blood. Again the women charged, and again Aneksi’s unanswered strike found its mark. Two more such exchanges had the same result. Fifteen seconds into the fight saw the lizard woman bleeding from a dozen cuts while the sphinx wasn’t even scratched. Aneksi had the speed and power of a great cat, so a conflict based on physical prowess clearly favored her -- but I could see that this contest wouldn’t be decided by physical prowess alone. Even with my limited martial arts skills I could see that Aneksi was following primal hunting instincts, while Hashima was a trained fighter. I also recalled that cats were sprinters; they used a burst of power to overwhelm prey, but they tired quickly. The lizard woman could still win if she could turn the fight into a contest of endurance. Hashima saw her opening on the next pass. Instead of trying to answer the sphinx blow-for-blow she caught the next slash on her armored forearm and followed up with a series of quick jabs that forced Aneksi to expend energy dodging. The lizard woman waited until her opponent was breathing hard before springing away out of reach. Then she charged as she had before, and the sphinx took the bait. The women converged once again. Hashima twisted aside at the last second and pivoted so that both Aneksi’s attack and her own missed… but Hashima’s quarter-turn slammed her tail into Aneksi’s midsection with the combined power of both charges. Aneksi flew two body lengths in the air and rolled three more after she hit the ground. She immediately regained her feet, but the pain on her face was clear. Though I hadn’t heard any ribs break, I was sure that some of them were bruised. The soldier rushed to press her advantage. She charged in, arms spread to gather the sphinx into a deadly embrace, and let out a scream of savage triumph. But the sphinx, now too weakened to use her feline grace as armor, surprised me once again. She leaped into Hashima’s arms and wrapped her own arms and legs around the lizard woman. Then she clamped her jaws around Hashima’s throat and held on as if her life depended on it (which it did). Hashima wasted precious seconds trying to disengage her opponent’s hold by main strength, but even weakened Aneksi had the advantage in sheer muscle. Then the soldier started pummeling the shrine maiden in an attempt to knock her out. The fight became a race to see who would lose consciousness first, but Aneksi had the advantage of having cut off her opponent’s air. Hashima’s blows grew progressively weaker as suffocation and blood loss took their toll. It took more than two minutes before Hashima no longer had the energy to fight. Even when her opponent lay still, Aneksi held on. Death by suffocation isn’t as quick as it is in the movies; one has to keep the air supply cut off until oxygen deprivation leads to brain death. That takes about four minutes. Aneksi held on for what my time sense told me was more like six minutes. Then she spat her enemy’s neck out of her mouth as if it tasted foul and rolled away from the now-lifeless body. The sphinx lay on the ground panting, completely spent, and mewled piteously. I stood up and walked over to where the two combatants lay. There was no room for doubt that Hashima was dead. Her throat was a bloody mess, a spreading pool of urine showed that her bladder had released, and the odor of dung announced the voiding of her bowels. Aneksi was in only slightly better shape. Her torso was covered in bruises, and her evident exhaustion was so severe that I marveled that she was still conscious. At least the blood on her paws and around her mouth wasn’t hers. The sphinx turned an imploring gaze up at me and croaked, “Help me to the river.” I took a moment to consider my options. Two internal voices competed for my attention. The first, and probably more sensible, screamed, “Get away from the scary creature that attacked me!” The fact that I had just seen her kill made her even scarier. All my instincts agreed that I should get while the gettin’ was good… but there was the matter of that second voice. It was the voice of my upbringing, the voice of the chivalry that my father had taught me, and it whispered, “Help the injured girl.” It says something about me, though I’m not sure what, that the second voice was louder. I bent down and lifted Aneksi to her feet. I put my arm around her waist and let her lean on me as she limped to the river. The sphinx smiled at me in gratitude and lay her head on my shoulder. I sighed in exasperation at myself. This girl was a monster, a primal predator who could literally tear me apart. She was easily the most dangerous person I had met in my life thus far. So why did I feel as if I had to take care of her? |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Nine: A Good Deed in a Naughty World I sat Aneksi down beside the river as gently as I could, but she still winced in pain as I lowered her to the ground. She flashed a shy smile when I knelt beside her, then impulsively leaned in and licked my cheek. I was surprised to feel that her tongue was as rough as a cat’s. The sphinx blushed and turned to wash her hands. She carefully scrubbed the blood from her paws and then washed the red stains from around her mouth. When she finished with that she began to wash the sweat and dirt from her body. The sight of her swirling water over her naked flesh sparked a stirring in my stolen pants that no woman should have to deal with while she was wounded, so I averted my eyes. Aneksi’s smile faded when she saw me turning away from her, but she continued her ablutions. The silence between us was growing awkward, so I decided to try conversation. “So, ummm… are you okay?” I asked. Oh, that’s smooth, Tony, I told myself, Of course she’s not okay. She just got beaten within an inch of her life, and she just killed somebody. That’s got to be messing with her head. I considered that for a moment and added, Or maybe not. She is a demon, after all. “I am well enough,” Aneksi replied, “The wounds are not serious, and my kind heal quickly. I should recover fully by tomorrow evening.” The sound of water told me that she continued to wash herself as she spoke. I tried not to imagine how sexy that must have looked, with little success. “Mostly, I am tired. May we rest here tonight, Antonio?” “Sure we can,” I said. The moment of silence following my answer threatened to stretch into another awkward pause, but I forestalled it by unmasking the elephant in the room. “Uh, Aneksi… that woman, Hashima, she was going to… you know… and you saved me. I just wanted to say, thank you.” The sphinx paused in cleaning herself and gave me her full attention. “You are welcome, Antonio. You should know that I will allow no harm to come to you if I can prevent it.” She said this solemnly, as if she were swearing an oath. “Wow. That’s… really special. Again, thanks.” I turned and placed my hand on her shoulder -- I made a point of not noticing that she was still naked -- and said, “I guess it’s a good thing that you followed me, huh?” A hurt look crossed her face, and she said softly, “How could I not?” Aneksi willed her face into a neutral expression and turned away. “We should both drink while we are here, for we have work to do. The body of the Lizardman -- Hashima, you called her -- must be properly disposed of before nightfall.” We both followed her suggestion, then I helped her up and let her lean on me as we walked back to the shrine. Aneksi stepped away from me when we got inside and walked over to Hashima’s remains. The sphinx bowed her head, closed her eyes and began to chant. I watched in fascination as foxfire played across Hashima’s corpse. The glow went from dull orange to yellow-white as Aneksi’s chant deepened, and suddenly the body burst into white-hot flame. In mere seconds the corpse burned down to charred bones. The flames even seared away the urine and excrement left by Hashima’s passing. Aneksi nodded in satisfaction and went to feel along one of the walls. “Whoa, that’s a neat trick,” I said. “Remind me never to make you mad.” “I cannot call fire,” Aneksi chided. “That power belongs to the spirits of the shrine. I said the prayers to let Hashima’s soul be at peace, and the spirits did the rest.” The sphinx found what she was looking for and grunted in satisfaction. She pressed a hidden catch, and a drawer-sized section of the wall popped loose. She reached in and pulled out a roll of gauze. “Wrap her bones in this,” she said as she threw the cloth to me. “It should be done by whichever of those present loved her best.” “I didn’t love her at all,” I protested. “You saw how little fun I was having… and with a naked woman on top of me, that’s saying something!” “Even so,” said Aneksi, “You loved her better than I do. For she would have taken you against your will, and for that, I cannot forgive her. But she did only what any woman would have done upon finding a prize such as you, so I cannot condemn her spirit to wander the dunes for eternity.” She turned a pleading gaze on me and said, “Please, Antonio. Cover her and bring her here, that she may rest.” I relented and did as the shrine maiden asked. When the job was done I carried the bundle over to Aneksi and handed it to her. The sphinx laid the remains in the little alcove and whispered, “Go in peace, sister.” Then she pushed the drawer closed and traced her finger on the cover as if she were writing something. “Did she tell you her mother’s name?” Aneksi asked. I nodded and said, “Fathi.” The sphinx added another flourish and stepped away. Golden sparks flared up from the wall and left a line of hieroglyphs in their wake. That is so cool, I thought. “‘Hashima, daughter of Fathi,’” I surmised. “More spirit magic?” Aneksi shook her head. “Any shrine maiden can do this,” she said, “But only at one of the shrines in her march.” “Huh. So the job has perks.” I walked over to Hashima’s pile of dropped possessions and claimed the tunic, the weapons belt, and the knife. I left the sword. As Terry Pratchett said, any weapon that I hold and don’t know how to use belongs to my enemy. “Okay, I need a shirt if I don’t want my chest and shoulders to get sunburned every day. Lucky for me that Hashima doesn’t need this one anymore. I’ll just go down to the river to wash this, then I’ll get dinner ready.” I gave Aneksi my keep-it-warm-for-me smile and added, “I hope you like prickly pear.” “It is not meat, but it will do,” she said. Her answering smile held a trace of hurt mixed with… I wasn’t sure what. Hope? Confusion? But it was a smile, so I chose to believe that she was in better spirits. I proceeded to the river to wash my new shirt. At least I knew how to handle that. I didn’t know yet how I would handle my new companion, but I guessed that I would figure it out as I went. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Ten: No Darkness But Ignorance I returned from the river after washing my shirt -- not to mention my sweaty self -- and spent the rest of the day learning that I wasn’t in Hell. I re-entered the shrine to find Aneksi sitting with her back against the altar, and she was wearing Hashima’s kilt. The sphinx smiled warmly at me and patted the sand beside her. “Come, Antonio son of Gerald,” she invited, “There is much that you need to know, and little time in which to learn it.” I returned the smile and took the proffered place. “All right, Aneksi,” I said, “But before we begin, let’s get something straight. Save the formal stuff for strangers. My friends call me Tony.” The shrine maiden’s smile took on a wary undertone. “You consider me… a friend?” she asked. “You are the best friend that I have in this place,” I replied. I didn’t have to lie for that one; the sphinx was the only friend I had in this place. Her smile brightened, and she reached out to squeeze my hand. We let that moment hang between us long enough to get comfortable with it, then the shrine maiden put on her serious face and locked eyes with me. “I have told you the name of this land,” she began, “Now I will tell you of the island entire, the lands upon it, and the nature of the world on which you will spend the rest of your life.” With that she launched into a narrative that would’ve fit right in with the wildest rpg scenarios that I had ever played in. It was over three hours later when Aneksi finished the lesson. “So let me sum up,” I said, “There are five Lords -- Amarante, Charisse, Kaori, Kioko, and Michiko -- and five nations, each named after its ruling Lord. Each land has lesser lords who run things locally for the great Lords. The population consists mainly of women who are part animal or monster, and they all need human men for sex. That pretty much it?” “Yes… but we do not need human men for sex. We can resort to each other for that. It’s just better with men,” Aneksi answered. “Much better, I am told,” she added wistfully. “We need human males for reproduction. Your seed lets us conceive…” “…But only if you’ve been blessed by a Lord,” I finished. “A necessary population control, because you all age so slowly that none of you has ever died of old age.” I shook my head. “Shame that the men here aren’t equally ageless.” “If they were, there would be little need to bring new ones in,” said the sphinx, “And I would never have met you.” Her smile lit to dazzling levels as she said this. “And though you will age and eventually die, you will enjoy youth and vigor for the rest of your span, which can be more than twice as long here as it would have been back in your homeland.” “Great. So I can look forward to over a century of being a potential rape victim,” I said. I laughed bitterly, and Aneksi’s frown showed that she had correctly read my mood. “The sheer variety of mamono that you described makes that prospect incredibly scary.” Aneksi put her arm around my waist and laid her chin on my shoulder. Her eyes locked with mine as she pronounced, “Any who would harm you must first dance with me.” Her hand tightened on my hip, and I felt the tips of her claws pierce the fabric of my pants just deeply enough to tease my skin. “You have seen the way I dance, yes?” “I have,” I said. I was proud of myself for suppressing the instinctive yelp. I don’t necessarily mind being clawed, just not in this context. “Though I seem to recall that a certain sphinx was the first mamono to jump me after I arrived here.” Aneksi had the good grace to blush at that. “I do apologize for that, Tony,” she said, “Most harakhtet are gentle with their lovers, even playful, but we become… anxious… after losing a riddle contest.” “So I’ve noticed,” I said wryly. I glanced outside and saw that it was dark out. “It looks like we’ve run out of daylight, and I, for one, would like to face tomorrow well-rested. What say we bed down for the night?” The sphinx blushed again, and smiled with her eyes downcast. “An excellent idea,” she whispered. She stood up and retrieved a khaki-colored backpack from just inside the door. I hadn’t noticed it all day, not even on the two occasions that I had passed through that door since the pack must have been left there. I cut myself some slack about that because I’d been distracted; with a naked sphinx leaning against you, would you notice a freaking backpack? Aneksi set the pack down and pulled a pair of blankets from it. They looked rather thin, and that opinion must have shown on my face because Aneksi said, “They are woven from the finest Arachne silk. Feather-light, yet they keep one warm on cold desert nights.” “Just what the doctor ordered, then,” I said. I took one of the blankets, lay down next to the altar, and wrapped myself in the cloth. “Good night, Aneksi.” The sphinx stared at me for several seconds before lying down and wrapping herself in the other blanket. “Good night, Tony,” she said. She rolled over to face away from me. The sounds of the desert night filtered in through the door. The songs of crickets were familiar, but the howls of jackals were a little harder for a city boy like me to take. Aneksi had assured me that the spirits of the shrine wouldn’t let any vermin inside, but I had only her word for that. After a few minutes I heard another sound. I wondered for a moment what it was and what sort of animal made it until recognition hit me over the head. It was the sound of quiet sobbing. “Aneksi?” I asked. “What’s wrong?” I sat up and looked toward my companion. Enough moonlight came through the door that I could see her shoulders shaking. I couldn’t sit still after that. I threw off the blanket and ran to her side. “Talk to me, baby. What’s the matter?” The sphinx sat up and held the blanket between us like a shield. “Nuh-nuh-nothing,” she lied. “Come on, I know this game,” I said. “I ask what’s wrong, you say nothing, and I’m supposed to keep asking until you’re convinced that I really care.” I put a hand to her cheek and wiped the tears from it. “I never liked that game, and if I didn’t care I wouldn’t have asked the first time. Please tell me why you’re crying.” Aneksi controlled herself with a visible effort. She tried to look me in the face, but her nerve broke and she looked away. “Am I truh-truly so hi-hideous?” My jaw dropped. “Hideous? YOU?!?” I blurted. “Aneksi… you’re beautiful! You look so good, so amazing, so utterly hot, I’ve been trying not to lust after you all day! And failing miserably! Why would you think you’re ugly?” “Be-be-because you don’t wuh-want me!” She wailed. “I don’t… oh, for crying out loud! You’re wounded!” I stood up and paced angrily; this was the kind of speech that demanded it. “I would have to be a complete jerk to expect you to have sex with me after you got the crap beaten out of you defending me! You need rest so you can heal! I’ll be okay, going without sex won’t kill me!” I flopped down beside Aneksi and mumbled, “High school proved that.” The hope shining from Aneksi’s face was almost bright enough to read by. “You… find me pleasing, then? Truly?” “I do,” I replied. I cupped her face in my hands and brought her lips to mine. Our first kiss was gentle and innocent like a kiss between childhood sweethearts. We lingered there and let the warmth of it flow through us, and then we parted just as gently. We didn’t need fire; the warmth was enough for now. I stood and pulled Aneksi up after me, then I led her over to my blanket. I directed her to lie down on top of it before I lay down beside her and pulled her blanket over us. I rolled the sphinx onto her side and spooned in behind her. “Wounded girls rest,” I warned, “No hanky-panky until you’re feeling better.” “Yes, Tony,” she agreed. Aneksi snuggled up against me, and I felt the tension seep out of her body. Her breathing soon took on the slow, steady cadence of sleep. I closed my eyes and relaxed more deeply than I had in years. I, who had until recently thought that I was in Hell, no longer questioned how right it felt to be curled up with this inhuman girl. Before long I released my hold on care and followed her down into dreamland. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Eleven: To Joy Inclined The best part of sleeping with a sphinx? Awesome wake-up call. Dawn was just starting to yawn and stretch when I felt something tickling my neck. I drifted up to half-wakefulness to find that Aneksi had rolled over to face me. We had somehow gotten our arms around each other and our legs tangled together. The tickle was the feel of her tongue as she licked me. She started at my chest and worked her way up to my throat before dipping her head back down and repeating the motion. The soft-wet-sandpaper texture immediately went to the top of my list of odd experiences that I wanted to have again. Aneksi must have noticed that I was waking up, for she continued the last lick past my jawline to swirl around my earlobe. I was fully awake now, and I let out a groan of pleasure to prove it. Aneksi giggled and whispered, “Good morning,” into my ear. “Very good,” I replied. I reached a hand between us and tilted her head so that I could plant a tender kiss on her lips. Then I returned the favor that she had done me. I slid down, kissed the spot between her breasts and slowly worked my way zig-zag across her bosom and up to her neck. Aneksi moaned softly and pulled my head down firmly on her throat. I worked the area with lips and tongue for a while, left to right and back again, while she wriggled in my arms and purred. That vibration against my lips was another new sensation, and it reminded me that Aneksi was different from a human girl, but at the moment I didn’t care. I only knew that I wanted her and she wanted me, and that was enough. I rolled so that Aneksi was beneath me and pinned her wrists down with my hands. The sphinx emitted a joyful cry when I gently bit down on the place where her neck met her shoulder. Aha, I thought, Found the spot! I switched over and gave the other side equal treatment as I maneuvered myself between her legs. We ground against each other like that for what felt like eternity. My manhood silently cursed the fabric between us and begged to be inside her. Finally I could stand to wait no more. I growled and pushed myself to my knees. I whipped off my shirt in a single motion and rushed to unfasten my pants. Judging by the speed with which she unbuttoned her shirt Aneksi must have been just as eager as I was. We laughed as we hurled the offending garments away. I lifted her cute little bottom off the floor just enough to pull the skirt off of her. I tossed it away as I fell down onto my hands and knees. Aneksi pulled my pants down to expose my staff, and the sight of it drew a gasp of delight. “It is so beautiful,” she breathed. I chuckled. “Never heard it called that before,” I said. “Well, it is,” the sphinx declared, “And anyone who thinks otherwise does not deserve it.” I chuckled again. “It’s nice to have an admirer,” I admitted. “I admire you greatly, Tony,” Aneksi said. She glanced down at my crotch and smiled coyly. “All of you. May I have it now, please?” “How can I refuse when you ask so nicely?” Aneksi looped one hand behind my neck to pull me down on top of her while the other reached between my legs and guided me into her. She hissed in pain as I pierced her maidenhead, and she clamped her arms and legs around me. We lay still like that for… I’m not sure how long… until she started to rock her hips in time to some primal male-female rhythm. We moved together for a timeless moment, hearts beating in sync and breathing as one, until Aneksi pressed her face against my neck to smother her cries of ecstasy. The sensation of her silken walls clenching and unclenching around me drove me over the edge, and I was soon venting grunts of pleasure into her hair. We drove into each other for time without measure -- the tiniest fraction of a second or the lifetime of a universe -- until we were both spent. We lay there panting together until we caught our breath, then we shared a long, deep kiss. I rolled us over so that she was on top and collapsed onto the bottom blanket. The top blanket had gotten tossed across the room with our clothes. Aneksi melted on top of me and purred against my chest. “That was everything I was told it would be,” she said. “Thank you, my love.” “You’re welcome,” I said. It was way too soon for the “L” word, but the sex had been so good that I let it slide. “So, was it better with a man?” “I cannot say,” Aneksi answered, “For there has been no one before you.” “Really? Wow, Aneksi, you just made my day.” The sphinx looked confused. “Made your day what?” I laughed. “No, ‘made my day’ means… ah, never mind, it’s just a figure of speech.” I patted her bottom and then ran my hand up her flank. I meant it to be a caress, but the sphinx flinched when I reached her ribcage. “Wait, did that hurt?” I asked. “Aneksi… you’re still wounded! We weren’t supposed to do this until you were all better!” Aneksi smiled and kissed me lightly on the lips. “Do not trouble yourself, beloved. The pleasure was greater than the pain.” She cupped my face in her hands and added, “And I wanted this so very much! Now that I belong to you, I just wanted to be completely yours.” That belonging to me part made me nervous… especially as it came up alongside words like, “beloved.” “Hold on now, kittycat,” I said, “I don’t own you. We take that sort of thing seriously where I come from. We even fought a war over it. You don’t belong to anyone but yourself.” Aneksi fixed me with a you-dear-sweet-man-you-just-don’t-get-it look and said, “I am yours now.” She said it in the way that one would announce an obvious fact like, “The sky is blue.” Stubborn as I was, I could clearly see that arguing with her about this would be pointless. The most that I might accomplish was hurting her feelings. “Okay,” I conceded, “You’re mine now. But the belonging goes both ways. I’m just as much yours as you are mine, all right?” “Yes, Tony,” she said. She lay her head on my chest and sighed in contentment. “Let us do it again, right now,” she suggested. “No way,” I said. “Even if I could get it up again so soon, which I doubt, you’re still wounded! And what do wounded girls do?” “Rest,” the sphinx replied. I couldn’t see her face from my current vantage, but I could clearly hear the pout in her voice. “That’s right,” I said. “So we’ll spend another day here and let you get stronger. Then we’ll see how you feel tomorrow night.” I tilted her face up so that we could look each other in the eye and said, “We don’t do this again until you don’t flinch when I touch your ribs. Got it?” “Yes, my love,” Aneksi answered. She lay her head back down on my chest. Soon she was purring again, and her soft, slow breathing made it seem as if she had gone back to sleep. Right, then, I thought, My girlfriend is a sphinx. I wonder what the Playah’s Manual says about that. I stroked Aneksi’s hair and whispered, “What am I gonna do with you, kittycat?” I felt Aneksi’s cheeks stretch into a canary-eating grin, and she replied, “Whatever you want, my love. Whatever you want.” |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Twelve: The Course of True Love… I awoke later that morning to find Aneksi idly fondling my man-parts. I would’ve scolded her for that, but she was obviously still asleep. I just moved her hand, got up and got dressed. After a breakfast of prickly pear -- which Aneksi supplemented with some locusts that she insisted that I catch for her -- we went down to the river to wash ourselves and our clothes. “We must travel tomorrow,” the sphinx told me. This time I allowed myself to look at her while she bathed. I have to say, I almost didn’t make her wait. “The spirits tell me that I must put my other two shrines in order before reporting to the priestess.” “And why do you have to report to the priestess?” I asked. “So that she knows to seek a replacement for me,” Aneksi answered, “For I am no longer a shrine maiden.” I stopped washing to lock eyes with her. “No longer a shrine maiden?” I said. “Why not?” She gave me a shy smile and a lion-kiss on the cheek. “I am no longer qualified,” she said. “I may be at a shrine, but…” It took me a moment, but I figured it out. Just because I’m a guy doesn’t mean I’m completely stupid. “Oh… yeah, I guess that’d do it.” I frowned as I went back to cleaning up. “Aw, jeez, you lost your job because of me. I’m sorry, kittycat.” “I am not,” said the sphinx, “I liked being a shrine maiden, but I like being your girl much better. But we do need to find someplace to live. Once I finish attending my shrines one last time we are mere travelers here like anyone else. I will enjoy no special privileges or powers, though of course the skill of reading the Old Dynasty glyphs, once learned, will always be remembered.” Aneksi didn’t seem upset about losing her position, so I let the matter drop. “So, any thoughts on where we’ll go once you’re officially fired?” “Oh, the priestess will not burn me,” said Aneksi. I opened my mouth to explain, but thought better of it and let her continue. “She will simply choose a replacement from among the novices at the great temple in Lost Ruins.” My girl snuggled up to me and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone. “As to where we might live, I know of a necropolis that has been without a guardian for some time.” “A necropolis,” I said, deadpan. “That’s sounds homey.” “Oh, it is,” Aneksi assured me. “It is near the river, so there is plenty of water. There are fields within easy walking distance that grow crops, and the roof gardens have many fruit trees. The buildings are mostly empty, too… no dead have been buried there. It is perfect for us!” “Perfect, eh?” I said. “If it’s so perfect, why has no one else moved in yet?” Aneski shrugged. “A trifle, really. It is said to be cursed.” I laughed my dark humor laugh. “Oh, yeah, that’ll bring down property values just a tad.” “But there is a way to break the curse,” Aneksi said. “We have but to find it, and the place is ours.” “And do you know how to break the curse?” I asked. “I can figure out how,” she answered. “I can read Old Dynasty glyphs, and the glyphs always hold clues.” She grinned slyly and added, “It is a mystery… but I am a sphinx. Mysteries and puzzles are just other forms of riddles, and solving riddles is in my blood.” I shook my head. I didn’t want to dampen Aneksi’s spirits, but I wasn’t convinced yet. “I hope it’s as simple as you say, kittycat. The short time I’ve been here has been enough to convince me not to scoff at curses, and I’d hate to get blindsided by some Pharoah’s wrath. But we can check the place out on our way to the priestess.” Aneksi squealed and hugged me -- and snuck in a squeeze of my butt while she was at it. “But we don’t travel until tomorrow morning, and that means resting tonight.” I gave her my I-really-mean-it look and said, “Really resting.” “Yes, Tony,” she said meekly… but I could see from her smile that she was excited. I had to admit that I was a bit eager to see the place myself. I’d been brought up as a world traveler -- being a military brat has that affect -- but maybe settling down was exactly what I needed. Aneksi behaved herself all day; not once did she try to rip my clothes off. Her misbehavior stopped at copping feels and stealing kisses, none of which I really objected to. When we bedded down for the night she did surprise me by already being naked when I got under the blanket with her. The hope shining from her eyes was plain, but I was having none of it. I probed her ribs with clinical detachment. Her acting was good; had I not known what to look for, I would’ve missed it. But I had spent over a decade doing community theater and had even acted professionally for a year. I knew exactly what to look for, so I saw the well-hidden wince of pain. I shook my head, turned her on her side and spooned in behind her. “Good night, Aneksi,” I chided. “Good night, beloved,” she said with a sigh. I silently congratulated myself for keeping the situation under control, and went to sleep in utter confidence that it would remain so. Was that ever presumptuous of me! I awoke shortly before sunrise to the feeling of my pants sliding off. I looked down to find Aneksi kneeling between my legs. She kissed her way up my thigh, and there was no doubt as to where she was heading. “Aneksi, no…” I began. “Please, beloved,” she implored, “This will make me stronger. I need it. Please.” She gazed up at me, and her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. No, I thought, Not the kitten eyes! We held like that for several heartbeats, but I blinked first. I growled and lay back on the blanket. Aneksi beamed and mouthed a silent “thank you” before placing a series of soft kisses on my member. My body responded immediately. Once I was fully hard my lover switched to long licks up the shaft. The texture of her tongue made for an intense sensation, and I shuddered in delight. She worked me like a piece of candy until sweat broke out on my forehead, then she locked her lips around my glans and twirled her tongue around it. With each circle she lowered her lips a fraction of an inch, slowly taking more of me into her mouth, until she had enclosed me clear to the base. By now my soul soared with the pleasure, but Aneksi found a way to put me into orbit. She started purring. Ye gods, how do I describe it? My vocabulary is so huge that my native language alone can’t contain it. And yet, even with verbiage from nine languages to choose from, I don’t have the words to describe how unutterably good that felt. The pleasure ignited my loins in white heat that roared up by body and blasted its way out through my brain. I don’t normally holler during sex, but this pulled sounds out of me that probably woke the neighbors… in Kioko. No, that’s not how good it felt. That’s just as close as I can get to doing it justice. When I could finally think again, Aneksi had licked me clean. Her eyes glowed in soft-focus gold, and she looked… larger. Not like she was physically bigger, but more like she somehow took up more space. Her smile seemed as bright as a bonfire when she said, “Thank you, Tony. I feel much better now.” She crawled up my body and snuggled in tight. “Rest now, beloved. Tomorrow we begin our journey.” I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. I was too exhausted to do anything else. I was even too tired to worry about who or what might have heard all the noise I had made. As it turned out, that last should’ve worried me quite a bit. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Thirteen: …Never Did Run Smooth Shrine cleanup was every bit as exciting as scrubbing floors back home had been. The shrine that we had come to first -- what Aneksi referred to as her Second Shrine -- had been in pretty good shape when we arrived. We just had to sweep the floor and repot some of the plants (who knew that the shrines had secret compartments for cleaning supplies?), but our next stop was a real mess. Several of the garden pots were broken, and the dirt they held was spilled on the floor. The fruit had been thrown against the wall, and the smeared pulp had been used to write obscene graffiti. Someone named “Isra” had probably ruined a good knife carving her name into the altar. You don’t want to know what we found floating in the sacred pool. Aneksi spent the first hour of cleanup crying inconsolably, but she pulled it together and we settled in for the long, hard task. By evening of the fourth work day the First Shrine looked like a holy place again. We had gotten the plants squared away first, and I jury-rigged something to fish the offending matter out of the sacred pool. Aneski spoke a spell to drain the tainted liquid and replace it with clean water -- her shrine maiden powers still worked until her task was officially done. We took turns with one scrubbing the walls while the other ground Isra’s name out of the altar with a coarse stone. The last traces of the impudent name were gone by lunchtime. I finished up by giving the altar a thorough cleaning while Aneksi walked around the shrine saying prayers to re-consecrate it. She must have finished before I did; while I was still scrubbing I heard the whisper of fabric as she knelt behind me. She snaked her arms around me and pressed her breasts against my back as she licked my earlobe. “I’m never going to finish this if you keep interrupting me,” I scolded. “The altar is clean enough,” Aneksi replied, “The stone has seen more than twelve millennia. You will never scrub all of the stains out of it.” I could see that she was right; the altar was as clean as it was going to get. At least I had gotten out all of the suspiciously rust-colored stains. “So, we’re officially done here?” I asked. Aneksi squeezed me, put her face next to my skin and inhaled. She often sniffed me when she was feeling frisky. “Not quite. I have appeased the spirits of the shrine, but it is still necessary to consecrate the altar.” “In other words, I need to get out of the way so you can do shrine maiden stuff,” I said. “Actually, I was hoping that you would help me with this,” she said. I smiled; I knew my kittycat well enough to recognize the come-play-with-me note in her voice. “There are many rituals for consecrating an altar. Most can be performed by a single shrine maiden or priestess, others employ a ritual team, but the most potent requires a man’s participation.” Aneksi stood as she said this, and then pulled me up beside her. I grinned. “Does this ritual take long?” I asked. “At least an hour,” Aneksi answered. She playfully pushed me onto the altar and straddled me. “There is one requirement, though; the man must be willing. So I ask you, Antonio, son of Gerald… will you entreat the sprits with me to bless this altar?” I smiled up at her. “I will, Aneksi, daughter of Amunet,” I said. “If lovin’ you’s a rite, I don’t wanna be wrong.” Aneksi squealed in delight and wriggled out of her clothes. We spent two hours purifying the altar. Just in case. With our last task completed there was nothing left to do but prepare dinner and get ready for the next day’s travel. Aneksi went out to get food -- she promised that cobra tasted better than sidewinder -- while I forded the river to check out the first actual scrub brush that I had seen since arriving in Charisse. I was pleased to find enough dead branches and dry tumbleweeds to make an armload of firewood. It wouldn’t last the night, but there was more than enough to cook a meal. I got my cargo back to our camp outside the shrine and set up a fire circle. My Boy Scout skills are pretty meager, but Hashima’s sword had a big gaudy jewel in the pommel. I was pretty sure that a jewel that big was fake, so I attempted another use. It took some doing, but I was able to use that piece of colored glass as a magnifier. Ten minutes of work and some focused sunlight later I had a fire lit. I fed it enough fuel to keep it going for an hour or so and went down to the river to wash up. There was a place on the embankment just downriver from the shrine where water flowed from the sacred pool back into the river. The raised placement of the spout created a pleasant little waterfall, and I used this to take the first shower that I’d had in a week. My hands scrubbing my body reminded me of how Aneksi’s hands had explored me not long ago. I found myself humming a slow, sensual tune and realized that I hadn’t sung a note the entire time that I’d been here. What’s up with that, I thought, I used to perform every weekend. I smiled at the memory of songs shared and applause earned and launched into a tune that fit my mood. “If lovin’ you is wrong/I don’t wanna be right, If being right means being without you/I'd rather live a wrongdoing life. Your mama and daddy say it's a shame/It's a downright disgrace. Long as I got you by my side/I don't care what your people say… ” As I got to the second verse I heard padded footsteps coming up on my blind side. I grinned -- Aneksi was fond of stalking me and pouncing at odd moments. I decided to treat her to her first ever R & B performance. I couldn’t handle the song like Luther Ingram had, but I had the advantage of being naked. I did a slow turn on the chorus and turned up my you-know-you-think-I’m-sexy look full blast. “If lovin’ you is wrong/I don’t wan … ” I stopped mid-note when I saw who stood there watching me. “Please do not stop on my account,” the woman said, “I find the performance most pleasing.” She was half-a-head taller than I with hair blacker than the Devil’s heart. Her skin was dusky brown and lined with scars inflicted by weapons both artificial and natural. Her eyes were the silver-gray of a well-used blade with no smile lines at their corners. She carried a strange weapon, a cross between an Egyptian was staff and a Masai war spear, and the hand holding that weapon was a paw covered in fur the same color as her hair. Her feet were equally pawlike, and a pair of canine ears sprouted from her head. Thanks to Aneksi’s teaching I knew immediately what she was, and how much trouble I was in. “Anubis,” I whispered, “Oh, crap.” “Indeed,” the Anubis replied. “Tell me, man, where is your mistress? I would have words with her.” She walked a small circle on the sand and settled down cross-legged with the spear across her lap. This operation revealed that she had a dog’s tail trailing from her spine. I covered myself as much as I could, which wasn’t much, and gazed at her in surprise. “You’re not going to… jump me?” I asked meekly. “The thought crossed my mind,” she answered, “I would like to show you how much I enjoyed your singing, but I know that you are claimed. Even after washing, you smell of Sphinx.” She wrinkled her nose in mild distaste. “I could probably defeat your mistress in single combat, but she would almost certainly wound me in the process. I prefer to avoid that. Better, I think, that I wait for permission to take you.” “Well, my ‘mistress’ isn’t here right now,” I said. I hoped that pointing out the obvious would buy me time to think of a way out of this. “I can see that,” said the Anubis, “So we will wait.” And wait we did, for over half an hour. When I tried to speak or moved to get my clothes the scary jackal-woman growled at me. So we stayed as we were until Aneksi came down the embankment. She must’ve smelled the intruder from a ways off, because she came running with a growl bubbling up from her throat. “Peace, Riddle Keeper,” the Anubis said, “I have done him no harm, nor even touched him. What is yours is yours, and will remain so. I merely wish to bargain with you for its use.” Aneksi answered that comment with a burst of words that I couldn’t understand. She’d told me about the translation spell that covered the island, but the language that she’d used seemed to be exempt. I could tell by the tone that it wasn’t ladylike, though. The Anubis looked impressed. “Your command of the Old Dynasty tongue is truly profound if you can curse in it so fluently, though I confess that I find your reaction puzzling. Which could, I suppose, be your intention. Unless… ” She stared hard at Aneksi, and one corner of her mouth lifted in a barely visible smirk. “You lost.” The Anubis looked at me with the first measure of respect that she had shown me. “How many riddles did you solve?” “That’s an awfully personal question coming from somebody who hasn’t introduced herself,” I said. The Anubis smiled. “He has spirit! Ah, Riddle Keeper, you are blessed to have him.” She stood and proffered a formal bow. “I am Beset, daughter of Brian.” She turned back to me and said, “How many?” “Four,” I said. “I am Antonio, son of Gerald. This is Aneksi, daughter of Amunet.” I was surprised at the Anubis’s use of her father’s name in her introduction, and the look on her face told me that Aneksi was shocked. I decided to play it cool until I could find out what was going on. Beset’s eyes widened. “Aneksi, the shrine maiden of this march? This is fortuitous indeed! You are the very one whom I came to find.” “Why seek you me?” Aneksi asked. “As you perceive, I am a shrine maiden no longer.” “So I see,” said Beset, “But it was merely professional courtesy that brought me. Your march is the closest one to my duly appointed charge, and the Way demands that I greet you.” “I accept your greeting, despite its no longer being merited,” said Aneksi. “Tell me, Guardian, what charge have you accepted?” Beset puffed out her chest with pride. “The most challenging by far! As of sunset two days from now, I will be the anointed guardian of that most infamous necropolis, the Gray Gardens.” Aneksi looked stricken, but Beset laughed. “Worry not on my account, Riddle Keeper! I fear no curse. Once I have solved the Pharoah’s riddle, the necropolis will yield all its secrets to me.” She clapped Aneksi on the back. “But what about you? Now that you are a shrine maiden no more, where will you go?” Aneksi looked down at her feet. Her answer was barely more than a whisper. “We had planned to go to the Gray Gardens.” Beset laughed out loud. “Truly? Oh, this is wonderful! I am allowed to appoint deputies, you know, and a Sphinx would be most helpful in prizing out the Pharoah’s secrets!” She extended a hand and said in a formal tone, “Aneksi, daughter of Amunet, will you follow me in protecting my charge?" Aneksi turned a pleading gaze on me. I turned to Beset and said, “Aneksi and I are a team, lady. And I’m the team captain. If we do this, we’re your partners, not your flunkies. And I am definitely not your chew toy. If you agree to that, we’re in.” The Anubis turned to the Sphinx and said, “He has perhaps a bit too much spirit… but does he speak your mind?” Aneksi nodded. “Very well then, I agree to your terms.” She grabbed Aneksi’s hand and shook it. “That is settled, then! Now, I smell cobra. I hope there is enough for everyone. And your man must intend to cook for us, for he built a fire! Come, let us share our first meal together and I will tell you what I have learned of our new home thus far.” Beset turned and walked off in the direction of our camp. I turned to Aneksi and asked, “Did we just agree to move in with this woman?” “You did indeed, captain,” said Beset. I stifled a curse. I had forgotten what excellent hearing Anubi had. “We are going to be roommates.” She turned around and gave me a mischievous look. “And in time, who knows what else we will come to be?” Aneksi gave her a glare that would’ve melted sand into glass. I could already see how… interesting… my life was about to become. I sighed and shook my head. “Cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria,” I quoted. Then I took Aneksi’s hand and started after Beset. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Fourteen: The Pattern of All Patience We set out for Gray Gardens early the next morning. Aneksi had a bit more baggage than she’d arrived with; one of the secret compartments in the shrine walls contained some changes of clothes, jewelry, and a well-used mandolin. I suppose shrine maidens had to store their belongings somewhere. Beset had her spear and her pack, while I had only the clothes on my back and Hashima’s dagger. Even with my light load I was hard-pressed to keep up with the ladies. “Come along, captain, we have but so much daylight!” Beset teased from well ahead of me. I silently cursed the burning sand and my lack of shoes, but I swore to myself that I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of hearing me complain. We walked for two days with very few breaks, and the pace the Anubis set bordered on brutal. My first sight of Gray Gardens turned out to be worth it, though. Beset swept her arm to indicate the view and pronounced, “We are here at last, my friends. Behold, the Gray Gardens!” The marble walls of the buildings, and the greenery on all the rooftops, made it easy to see how the place got its name. It was a pretty ostentatious display; that lush vegetation needed a lot of water, and that gray stone hadn’t been quarried locally. Whoever built this place wanted everyone to know what kind of resources had gone into it. The architecture was master quality, and situating a ring of buildings around the central keep made the arrangement both attractive and defensible. The place even had a moat, which insured that any attackers would have to come by river, carry boats across the desert, or learn how to swim. “Magnificent, is it not?” the Anubis asked. “It is more beautiful than I imagined,” said Aneksi with her eyes alight. “Eh, seen better,” I quipped. Both girls looked at me as if they expected lightning to strike. “Well, not lately,” I admitted. Beset shook her head and resumed walking. Aneksi pinched me and pulled me along after. “Jeez, you two are a tough room,” I grumbled. We crossed the river with only a little drama. Beset, despite being a desert girl, proved to be a proficient swimmer, while Aneksi clung to my back as I swam across. She dug her claws in enough to draw pinpricks of blood, but it was worth it to feel manly again; as powerful and dangerous as these women were, it was nice to know that at least one of them needed me for something other than sex. Beset walked past the ring of outbuildings and up to the door of the main keep while Aneksi and I were still struggling out of the water. “I am Beset, daughter of Brian,” she declared. “In the name of Lord Charisse and the High Priestess of the Old Way, I demand entrance into this hallowed place!” At first there was no response, as if the stones of Gray Gardens were… well, stone deaf. Then I saw subtle shadows playing across the surface of the door. The chiaroscuro dance intensified into a flickering dark-light, dark-light that pained my eyes. The shadowplay finally lifted itself from the door as a gray mist that resolved into the shape of a woman. Her features were too hazy too see clearly, cast as they were in manifold shades of gray, but the generous curves of her figure were perfectly visible. She looked us over one at a time, starting with Beset and lingering uncomfortably long on me, before a voice like a shovel digging into grave dirt rolled across the sand. “Speak not the name of the Lazy Lord here, Guardian of Bones,” she said, “For she has abandoned the path of the true and righteous ruler. Her name carries no weight with me.” “Who are you, spirit?” Aneksi asked. “And tell us, please, what news have you of Lord Charisse?” “I am no spirit,” the apparition hissed. “And I have news of many, many things.” She turned and began walking a slow circle around us, looking each of us in the face in turn. “The wind always blows across the world and back again, and each time it returns to me it brings me news.” She stopped in front of Beset and declared, “I know why the priestess was so eager to be rid of you that she granted your request for this post.” She moved to Aneksi and continued, “I know the names of all those whose spirits have been left to wander the dunes, and the names of those who left them.” She moved again and stopped in front of me. “I even know what secret the Wise Lord keeps far out to sea, safe from the eyes of her peers… for now.” The figure backed away from us and spread her arms. “I am before you, and around you, and those who have ears to hear can hear the wind whisper my name in the trees that are my crown.” “Stop speaking in riddles, revenant!” Beset snapped. “Tell us who you are and be done!” The answer to this riddle suddenly dawned on me, and I could see recognition light Aneksi’s face at the same time. “Hold on, Beset,” I cautioned, “Don’t anger her! I know who she is.” I stepped forward to face the apparition. “You are the soul of this place, the answer to the riddle that we came to solve,” I said, “You are Gray Gardens.” The genius loci flashed a grin that any mouse cornered by a cat would recognize. “You speak truly, Antonio, son of Gerald,” she said. At my shocked expression she added, “Yes, the wind has spoken to me of you. You are a leaf borne on the wind of great events… but you can choose the wind that bears you. I will grant you that choice if you make a bargain with me.” Beset and Aneksi started protesting, but I silenced them with a gesture. “What bargain?” I said. “You know of my curse,” said Gray Gardens, “And you know the nature of this world. Like the women of this island, I, too, desire to have a man in my power. I will spare your companions my curse if you agree to take its full weight upon yourself.” “I should have a sporting chance,” I answered quickly. “Give me some time to try to break the curse, and I’ll agree.” The genius loci thought for a moment. “A reasonable request,” she said at last. “I will even tell you how, for you are sure to fail.” She extended her arm to show off the grandeur of the complex. “I was built to be a royal tomb. My curse will be satisfied if the bones of a queen are laid to rest within me.” “But there are no queens in Charisse,” Beset said, “Not since the Dragon Wars ended.” “Precisely,” said Gray Gardens. She got up in my face and said, “You must bring me the bones of a queen. Lay them to rest with proper ceremony within my walls. Do this in time and my curse will be lifted. If you are found within my walls after failing this task, you will never again see the light of day.” Aneksi wailed, and Beset growled, “And how long will you give him to accomplish the impossible?” Gray Gardens laid a finger on her cheek. “Hmmm… I see the Sphinx’s devotion to you, son of Gerald, so you must have won your contest with her. How many riddles did you solve?” I briefly considered lying, but I had no way of knowing that she didn’t already know the answer. “Four,” I said. “Then I grant you four turnings of the Moon to do what I command. Enjoy them as if they are your last.” With that she faded back into the door, and the door opened itself to let us in. Beset turned to me, her face glowing with equal parts awe and anger. “You fool, what have you done?” “Spared both of you the curse,” I retorted, “And bought us four months to find a way to save me.” “We cannot stay,” Aneksi said. “You and I must leave this place and find another.” “Not yet,” I declared, “I’ve got four months, and I’m spending them here. I bloody well earned them.” I strolled inside like I owned the place. I stopped a few steps inside the door and looked back at my companions. “Well, ladies? You coming?” “I go wherever you go, my beloved,” said Aneksi. She matched word to deed and came to my side. Beset shook her head. “You are a brave man, my captain,” she said, “Foolhardy, reckless, perhaps a little insane, but definitely brave.” She stepped up to my other side, and we all ventured into our new home together. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
Chapter Fifteen: Fair is Foul… Life at Gray Gardens wasn’t all fun and games, at least at first. We spent our first day cautiously exploring for traps. Beset knew about some of them from reports from previous expeditions. Others were marked for anyone who could read the Old Dynasty glyphs and understood the Pharoahs’ whimsical codes. And then there were the traps that were already triggered; even I could spot those. It took us the entire day to find all of Gray Gardens’ deadfalls, spike pits, dart traps and collapsing rooms. Beset decided that I had to learn the glyph language so that I could walk the halls safely. The powdered skeletons on their beds of greasy brown stains in the largest collapsing room guaranteed that she would get no argument from me. It only took a week for us to settle into a routine. At first light we went to work gathering food for the day. This was easy; the fields were less than an hour’s walk away, and they had been producing nonstop with no harvest for centuries. After breakfast we started resetting triggered traps, and that work kept us busy throughout the hottest part of the day. Evenings were devoted to teaching me the Old Tongue, both the written and spoken versions, and the tales that made the markings on the traps make sense. The Pharoahs had been quite fond of their cultural referents. Beset also spent an hour each night teaching me how to use a spear. “If you are going to help guard a tomb, you must know how to fight,” she said, and once again she got no argument from me. We got through two full weeks before my girls got into their first real argument, and of course it was over me. I walked in on the two of them shouting at each other in the Old Tongue and jumped between them before it could come to blows. “What the hell is wrong with you two?” I shouted. Beset glared at Aneksi and growled. “She refuses to leave,” she said simply, “Even though she knows that she must.” “Leave? And where do you get off telling Aneksi to leave?” I said. I gave the Anubis my best teacher glare and hoped that she was canine enough to look away first. After a few seconds she turned her eyes aside -- the signal for ‘I choose not to fight you’ rather than the downcast eyes of ‘I submit,’ but I’ll take what I can get. “She says I have to go find a queen to bury here,” Aneksi chimed in, “And leave you alone with her!” “You are the only one who can do it!” Beset countered. “I am the anointed guardian. I cannot leave without good cause. Antonio cannot go alone; the first mamono to find him would claim him. Therefore you must go.” “I will take Tony with me, then!” the Sphinx yelled. “I need him here,” Beset replied calmly. “The work of resetting the traps goes slowly even with three, and some of it requires two pairs of hands. I cannot finish without one of you here… and, as I have already said, he cannot go alone.” Beset’s expression softened, and she lowered her voice to a compassionate murmur. “The task of saving him from the curse falls to you, daughter of Amunet. I swear to you that I will keep him safe while you are away.” Aneksi lowered her gaze and visibly suppressed tears. When she answered it was in a whisper that my ears could barely catch, though I know that it was clear to Beset. “Even from you?” she said. I could see the conflict on Beset’s face as she considered this. Several times I had caught her glancing at me with evident desire. The longing was often stronger after nights when Aneksi and I had had particularly loud sex. It was an effort for the Anubis to keep her hands off of me, and we all knew it. “Nothing will happen that he does not also want,” she finally said. “That is the best promise that I can make.” Aneksi ground her teeth over that, but she answered, “It will have to do, then.” She grabbed my hand and started leading me away. “No more working on traps today. I will leave tomorrow, and Tony must help me pack. And then, he must give me a proper farewell.” I slept really well that night -- my kittycat left me too exhausted to do otherwise -- but the incident stuck in my memory. As much as I loved Aneksi’s beautiful brown eyes, this was the first time I saw what a green-eyed monster she could be. Two weeks later found me finishing up the last of the pit traps with Beset. Aneksi was due back today, so I was eager to be done with the day’s tasks. Beset wouldn’t let me hurry, though. She drilled me in Old Dynasty glyphs while we worked. “Oval with a dot in the middle?” she asked. “Ayiz,” I responded. “Bird with outstretched wings,” she said. “Falayin,” I answered. “Stack of three wavy lines,” she continued. “Wada,” I said. “Come on, give me a hard one.” “Man with arms raised,” said Beset. “Ghowul,” I said smugly. “I’m still waiting for that hard one.” “Two lines in an hourglass shape,” she said. “Hati,” I replied, “And that makes it twelve for twelve. You owe me a million dollars.” “I still will not pay you until you explain what a dollar is,” said the Anubis. “I am impressed, Antonio. You have learned all of the glyphs faster than any other student I’ve ever had, and your Old Tongue vocabulary is coming along nicely. Truly you are a cunning linguist.” I almost choked on that one, but I remembered the translation spell in time. Beset didn’t speak any English, and there was no way that pun worked in Mosulai. “I have a good teacher,” was as much as I could get out with a straight face. I poured the last load of sand onto the thatched cover and nodded in satisfaction when I heard no sand leaking down into the pit. “Looks like the cover is woven nice and tight. Once we get the sand swept into a more natural shape we’ll be done here.” “I will take care of that,” said Beset. “You go get yourself cleaned up.” “What, no combat lesson today?” I asked. “Not today. Your little courtesan is due back, and she will want to show you how much she missed you.” She hesitated for a moment before adding, “I would if I were in her place.” I felt a pang of guilt over the longing that was clear in her voice. For two weeks Beset had been true to her word. Not once had she laid a finger on me, and more than once she had left the room before giving in to temptation. Such resolve had only made my admiration for her grow. The Anubis took her honor seriously, and I refused to cheapen it by mentioning that, if she had given in, I wouldn’t have resisted. “Right, then. I’ll just… go get clean,” I said. I exited as gracefully as I could and hoped that Beset was as committed to ignoring the growing attraction between us as I was. The rich appointments of Gray Gardens included an outdoor bathhouse. The little waterfalls that served as showers even had implanted spells that heated the water. I stripped down to my skin and strolled into the tiled maze. The sound of running water drowned out most other sounds down here, and that’s why I didn’t know that I wasn’t alone until it was too late. I rounded the corner to the shower room and stopped dead when I saw the woman standing under the stream. Her olive skin was flawless, and all of it was on display. She was voluptuously rounded with magnificent breasts, and her face was that mixture of sexy and cute that always gets me going. I felt a familiar jolt to my loins that I recognized as my MILF detector going off, and the signal was strong enough to drown out the alarm bells that I should have gotten from her being a snake from the waist down. She sighed sweetly as the hot water ran through her raven hair and down her back, and the look on her face was exactly the sort of expression that I like to see looking up at me during sex. If she’d been a human woman I would’ve made a complete fool of myself trying to get her into bed. As it was, I still would’ve been willing to suffer some indignity. Then she noticed me staring, and the fun was over. The woman crossed her arms over her breasts so quickly that I hardly saw her move, and her hair stood up to reveal the snakes on the ends. My mind had just enough time to register the word, ‘Gorgon,’ before I felt the stiffness creeping up my body. It’s not fair, I thought, I still have three months. That was the last thought I had before the world went completely gray. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
Chapter Sixteen: …And Foul is Fair The sand was a constant irritant beneath my feet, and the Sun beat down on my head like a mad drummer. I barely noticed, for I was almost home. I did not think of Gray Gardens as home; it was merely a collection of buildings. Home was the person who waited for me at Gray Gardens, my love, my Tony. Be it in the finest tents of the richest sultan or in the deep desert far from any oasis, wherever he was was my home. The hills to the southeast of the necropolis hid all but the top of the tower from my view, but I knew exactly where I was. Approaching from this way allowed me to ford the river in one jump -- swimming was beneath my sphinxly dignity. The wind brought me the scents of Gray Gardens’ trees and the wonderful aroma of water from the baths. I caught a whiff of myself when the wind shifted and decided to visit the baths before announcing my return. Best to wash off the sun-sweat before putting on some love-sweat, as Mother always said. My steps quickened in anticipation. The last two weeks had been such torture! Two whole weeks without his lips on mine, without his hands on my body, without his… I felt my steps slacken and my eyes glaze over as the remembrance overtook me. Focus, Aneksi, I told myself. You have to get back to the man before you can greet him. I banked the flame of my desire down to a warm glow and continued walking. As my feet found the marbled floor of the bathhouse the smell of water intensified, but not enough to hide a more intoxicating aroma. Tony was here! How thoughtful, my heart sang, My beloved came down to get himself clean so that we could get dirty together! My feet found their hunting rhythm of their own accord, and I stalked further into the bathhouse to claim my man. He wasn’t hard to find; he always preferred showers to baths, so of course I found him in one of the shower stalls. And already naked, I saw! He must have sensed my presence! I gathered my legs to pounce, but before I moved another scent revealed itself to me. I recognized the unmistakable odor of nagaina. I took another cautious step forward and saw her coiled under the stream. Her fat black tail was flaky as if she didn’t care enough about her appearance to shed properly, and she brazenly thrust her naked breasts at Tony’s face. And when he didn’t succumb to her clumsy advances, her hair rose up as a nest of hissing snakes. My heart dropped out of my chest as the gray spread across Tony’s body. I could do nothing but watch as my world turned to stone. The roar was out before I even knew that I had uttered it. Ten of my body lengths separated me from the murderess. I crossed it in one leap. All four sets of claws were out as I dropped out of the Sun. This hussy had taken my Tony from me -- she had to die! The Gorgon backpedaled away from my attack and slipped on the wet floor. Her clumsiness saved her life; my claws caught nothing but air as she fell under my first swing. Then my feet hit the floor and I slid hard into the back wall of the stall. I bumped my nose painfully and cursed in the Old Tongue. I spun to face my enemy, but the slick marble betrayed me and I fell onto my bottom. I looked up in time to see that fat tail descending on me like judgment. I barely managed to roll out of the way before being crushed. I leaped to my feet at the same time that the nagaina reared up on her coils. The snake woman and I circled each other warily. She was larger and stronger than any other opponent I had ever faced, but I had much practice at hunting snakes. I lashed out with a kick, but she twisted out of the way with surprising speed. Instead of drawing blood I only ripped a sheet of loose skin from the Gorgon’s tail. She yelped in shock as the skin tore free, while I hopped on one foot and shook the other to dislodge the papery obstruction. With the loose skin gone I leaped, arms outstretched, to get my claws around her throat… or at least I tried. Once again the wet floor had other plans. My feet shot out from under me, and I made an undignified landing on my front. The impact knocked the breath out of me and left me helpless on the floor. The Gorgon sprang at me to press the advantage, but her traction and power were greater than she expected. She sailed over me with more grace than anyone that big should have and bonked herself on the far wall. She sat back on her coils reeling while I desperately tried to pull some air back into my lungs. We were still like that when I felt steel against my throat. I looked up to see a headless knight in full armor -- wasn’t she hot in that? -- holding a sword to my neck. Her other hand held a similar blade against the Gorgon’s neck. The snake woman and I glanced at each other and silently agreed that our best hope lay in peace, harmony, and making no sudden moves. Then the applause started. I looked up and saw Beset standing next to another stranger. The new girl was translucent and was floating in mid-air. She also had a ridiculous set of curves. Seriously? I thought, Are all of the intruders on Gray Gardens going to have such wastefully extravagant breasts? Both of them stood there clapping. I felt my face grow hot with shame, and I could see that the newcomers’ amusement had the same effect on the Gorgon. Beset strolled over and bent down to whisper in my ear. “Well done, O mighty warrior,” said the hound smugly, “Truly, you had her on the run. But do you not think it would be better to let her live, so that she can reverse the petrifaction?” My blush deepened. Of course I had known that Gorgons could do that, but I had been too angry to consider it. The Ghost floated over to the nagaina and whispered in her ear. Even my sensitive ears couldn’t catch it, but the smirk on Beset’s face said that she could. The Gorgon hid her face in her hands and started sobbing. Then Beset, that cold-blooded assassin, did something that I never would have expected from her. She walked over and hugged the Gorgon! The snake woman cried on the yinepet’s shoulder while the Ghost chuckled. “Now,” said Beset, “If you would be so kind as to restore that fine fellow over there, we can all properly welcome our guests.” I opened my mouth and quickly shut it again. Not even the Old Tongue had enough curses in it to express my opinion of that affront. My mind wisely decided to set that aside and process it later. And that is how I met two of my best friends in the world. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Oh to reread such a gem ^^ |
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| caught up and waiting for more |
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Chapter Seventeen: One Thing to Be Tempted I wrapped my arms around Aneksi from behind as the Gorgon pressed her lips to Antonio’s. To our guests I am sure that it looked like a gesture of affection. The Sphinx and I knew that I was restraining her. I held on until my captain’s skin surrendered the color of stone in favor of its normal brown. I knew that he would collapse as soon as Pasha disengaged, so I let Aneksi go. The harakhtet flashed to his side and caught him almost before he started falling. “He’ll be all right in a few minutes,” Pasha said between sniffles, “I’m sorry I hurt him.” “All is repaired, so all is forgiven,” I said. “Please, take some time to compose yourself. We will take care of Antonio.” I went to my captain’s other side and steered him toward the exit from the baths. I whispered to Aneksi quietly enough to evade our guests’ hearing, “Let us get him away from Pasha while she gets dressed… and he could stand to be wearing a bit more himself.” By the time we reached the door the sound of the water almost hid the Gorgon’s sobs. Antonio recovered as quickly as promised. She held his hands the whole time that the three of us spent filling in the gaps in our respective versions of the story. I was quite proud of how well I hid my jealousy. Neither of them suspected a thing, though my acting skills surely had less to do with that than their only having eyes for each other. I reached my limit when the kissing started and unilaterally decided that it was time for business. “Now that we all know how Antonio briefly became a statue, regale us, O Sphinx, with the tale of how your mission went.” Aneksi made no effort to hide her annoyance at my interruption, but she nodded to acknowledge my point. “I confess that I did not obtain a queen to bury at Gray Gardens. I did, however, discover how we can find one.” She smiled that fang-showing smile that harakhtet use when they think they are being clever. “It will require what Tony would call… a Road Trip.” “Let’s hear it, then,” said Antonio, “We’re on a tight schedule, after all.” Aneksi released his hands and went into full oratory mode. “In two weeks time will be the celebration of the New Year. During the week of the first Full Moon we hold a grand festival. There will be merchants, food stalls, and many performers. This year I hear that there will be a storytelling contest!” I rolled my eyes. “And this helps us how?” “Storytellers love the classics,” Aneksi answered. “Old tales of heroes, famous battles and great mysteries. Some of those stories will be about the Age of Troubles, the Dragon Wars, and the Old Dynasty…” “…Including stories about great queens and famous tombs,” Antonio concluded, “And those will tell us where to look.” Aneksi’s eyes shone with desire when he spoke, and I knew why. The Sphinx had probably spent hours working out the information that she had just shared, while Antonio had reached the same conclusion in under a minute. The man was no warrior, but his intelligence was undeniable. Sphinxes liked broad shoulders and handsome faces as much as the next girl, but it was keen minds that made their clothes fall off. Poor Aneksi would have been hopelessly besotted with this man even if she had won that riddle contest. “You have done well, Riddle Keeper,” I said. “We will go to the Moon Bazaar and attend this contest. Let the loremasters find a queen for us.” Antonio raised his eyebrows. “We? What about the whole, ‘The anointed guardian can’t leave’ thing?” “I can for this,” I replied, “For it relates directly to the quest that Gray Gardens assigned us. There is only the question of our pretext for going. We cannot very well announce that we seek the bones of a queen to steal.” “I have already taken care of that,” said Aneksi, “I have sent word to my sisters that we are getting the band back together. We shall go as performers.” “Sisters? There are more of you?” I said. “And what is this about a band?” “I have four sisters,” said Aneksi, “We all sing and dance and play instruments. We will be one of the acts at the bazaar. That even gives us an excuse to socialize with the other performers and gather stories!” Antonio favored the Sphinx with that clothes-loosening grin of his. “Good work, kittycat. I can feel the curse lifting already.” Aneksi shuddered in delight as he ran his fingertips down her arm, and I rolled my eyes at the display. It annoyed me how he used these little seductions as if they were the only tools he needed… as if he knew that they would work… as if they would only work on her. Once again I had to interrupt before my companions got sidetracked with their flirting. “So you and your sisters will be there as performers,” I said. “And Antonio and I will be there as… ?” “You will be there as Tony’s bodyguard,” said the Sphinx. “And he will be there as my husband.” “Errrr…” said Tony. “Husband?” “Oh, Tony. Would it be so awful to be my husband?” Aneksi pouted and batted her eyes while Antonio fidgeted. And just like that, I could see the words hanging between them. Just three little words, but she would give anything to hear them and he was afraid to say them. Ancients and ancestors, how could so brave a man be such a coward in this? This failing was good for one thing, however; it gave me something about Antonio to focus on besides how much I desired him. “We have a plan, then, and less than two weeks in which to put it into motion,” I said. “But preparations can wait until tomorrow. For now, Riddle Keeper, I suggest that you proceed with your interrupted ablutions. You smell of sand and sweat. Antonio will join you shortly, but I have a task for him first.” Aneksi opened her mouth to protest, but a gesture from Antonio silenced her. The Sphinx walked off toward the baths and left me alone with my captain. Antonio watched her go -- with special attention to her backside, I noted -- and turned to face me after she was out of sight. “So, what do you have to say to me that Aneksi isn’t supposed to hear?” He asked. I smiled at that. Aneksi wasn’t the only one who admired intelligence. “Your feelings for Aneksi are more than friendship, and certainly more than mere desire,” I declared. He started to object, but I stopped him with a hand on his lips. “No, my captain, I will talk and you must listen.” I uncovered his mouth and placed my hands on his cheeks. “You like me. If I see you truly you even want me. But you love her. You know it. I know it. The only one who does not know it is Aneksi. So tell her. Until you do, there can be no more between us than this.” And with that, I kissed him. I filled the kiss with all that I felt for him – my respect for his mind, my appreciation of his gentleness, my admiration for his courage. I expressed only a hint of my desire for his body, though. I wanted to motivate him, not scare him. I broke contact long before I wanted to and gazed into his eyes. His were wide in shock, while mine were no doubt half-lidded with lust. I brought my lips to his ear and whispered, “Think on it, my captain… but not for too long.” Then I turned and walked away without another word. I had to, for the kiss stirred things in me that would have made me break my vow to Aneksi. I turned a corner and found myself at an intersection. To the right was a passage that would take me out to where Pasha, Octavia and Brigit waited. To the left was the way to Gray Gardens’ private chambers. I could easily find a secluded spot where I could spend some time stoking my own fires, as they say. After that kiss, I could use a little private time. I hesitated at the crossroads for half a minute while duty wrestled with desire. In the end, duty won. I turned to the right and went to see to our guests. |
tygertygerJul 7, 2015 7:01 PM
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
Chapter Eighteen: Strange Fellows Why did she do that? The thought rolled relentlessly around my head. Why the flaming hell did she do that? It wasn’t that I didn’t want to kiss Beset -- I’d been thinking about doing just that for most of the week -- and it certainly wasn’t that the kiss wasn’t good. My lips were still tingling, and parts lower down had given their approval as well. My problem was this… why would she kiss me like that after telling me to confess my love to another woman? I was confused. A little horny, too, but definitely confused. How could I say those words to Aneksi with the heat of Beset’s kiss still on my lips? I reached the bathhouse, stripped down, and headed for the ridiculously large tub -- back home we would’ve called that thing a small swimming pool. I prefer showers, but Aneksi likes long relaxing soaks. I passed the showers on the way in and saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I backed up and saw Aneksi standing under one of the heated streams. She turned at the sound of my footsteps and cast an expectant gaze my way. Of course, I thought, She knows that I like showers, so she came here. She didn’t make a sound. She just stood under the water, naked and unashamed, with her arms at her sides and her golden hair slicked against her head. Her inviting expression conveyed something warmer and softer than animal lust. That look said, ‘Everything you are, everything that you aspire to be, is all right with me.’ I suddenly understood what she meant when she told me that she belonged to me. It wasn’t about possession. It was about complete trust, complete acceptance, complete surrender. With those words Aneksi promised that she would hold nothing of herself back from me. I had been afraid of offering her the same openness, but the man who took Gray Gardens’ curse upon himself had to be braver than that. Beset’s right, I decided, I’ll figure things with her out later, but Aneksi needs to hear something from me right now. I walked under the stream and gathered Aneksi into my arms. She nestled her head under my chin and hugged me almost hard enough to hurt. “I missed you so much,” she whined. “Did you miss me?” I bent to kiss the top of her head. “There are no words…” I tilted her head up so that I could kiss the tip of her nose. “…In my language, or in yours, or even in the Old Tongue…” I placed gentle kisses on each of her eyelids. “…To say how much I missed you.” I kissed her cheeks, first one, then the other. “You love me better than I deserve, and you give me so much more than I have given you in return, but that changes today.” I tenderly kissed her lips. “I promise that I will no longer let habits from my old life come between us. Aneksi, daughter of Amunet… I love you. And I would be honored to be your husband.” Aneksi let out a joyous yelp and pressed herself against me. We held each other for an endless moment and melted into each other as the hot water washed our fears away. My kittycat and I had a lot of reuniting to do, but I reminded her of our duties as hosts. We strolled into the main hall hand-in-paw after taking just enough time to get clean. Well, maybe a little more than just enough. We found Beset there giving our guests the shekel tour. “…And the statues lining this hall spit poisoned darts,” the Anubis said. “This type of trap is called Flatterers’ Words. Avoid the red tiles. Never use a staircase that goes straight to the third floor like that one. Those deadfalls are called Lover’s Promises. And see those dainty footprints on the floor? Do not walk in them.” “Why not?” Octavia asked. Beset pointed out a line of squiggles carved into the floor. “See those snakes? Follow them.” “I see it. A footprint steps on a snake right there,” said Brigit. “That tile is a trigger, isn’t it?” “The Pharaoh’s Footprint,” Beset confirmed. “No one knows what it does because this is the only one ever found that wasn’t already triggered. We know that it releases a spell of some kind, but that is all.” “That’s an insane amount of traps,” Octavia said in awe. “My mother would love it here,” Pasha muttered. “As would mine,” Beset admitted. “Ah, my captain! Riddle Keeper! We did not expect you so soon. Those were some very brief… ablutions. Is all well?” “Everything’s fine,” I said. “We can always… ablute… later. For now, we need to see to our guests.” “Ah, yes,” Beset said with a knowing smile. “Our guests, who are eager to travel south. It seems that they are headed for the Moon Bazaar to search for Pasha’s husband and child.” “If they survived the rockslide, it’s a reasonable place for them to look for us,” said Brigit. “Rockslide, eh?” I said. “That sounds like a story I’d like to hear over dinner. I’ll cook if somebody else finds me something to cook.” Aneksi smiled evilly and shot a narrow-eyed look at Pasha. “I believe that I can find something memorable.” I smelled trouble in that suggestion, so I figured I’d better stop the ugly before it started. “Rabbit would be nice,” I said. “Bah, they are too wormy,” said the Sphinx. “I was thinking about some nice, wriggly, fat-tailed…” “Aneksi, my sweet darling? I’m really in the mood for rabbit.” Aneksi huffed. “Oh, very well. Because you wish it, my beloved, I will catch us some rabbits.” She flounced out looking annoyed, but I was confident that she wouldn’t be serving grilled cobra to Pasha. “I’ll go with you,” Brigit announced. “I could use some hunting practice.” The Dullahan fell into step with Aneksi as they disappeared around a corner. “I will show Pasha and Octavia to the guest rooms,” said Beset. “Go ahead and show Pasha,” said the Ghost, “I’m going with Tony. I love seeing a man build a fire.” Beset nodded and led Pasha toward the sleeping chambers. Octavia floated beside me as I headed for the kitchen. “I see your Sphinx can really hold a grudge,” she said conspiratorially. “I like how you handled it, though.” “Thanks,” I said. “Geez, who knew a Sphinx could be so catty?” Octavia laughed, and I have to say that it was a rather pleasant sound. “So, why don’t you tell me how the three of you met? I bet it’s quite a story.” “On one condition,” I replied, “You tell me how the three of you got together with… what’s Pasha’s husband’s name?” “Alex,” she said. My ears perked up at the wistful note in her voice when she said that name. “It’s a deal.” We spent the rest of the evening regaling each other with our adventures. First it was just Octavia and me, but the rest of the group joined in over dinner. Soon we were talking and laughing like old friends reunited after being long apart. It was the best time that I’d had since arriving on the island, and it was over far too quickly. The following day saw us packing supplies and sealing up Gray Gardens against our long absence. The day after that, we left for the Moon Bazaar. I’d heard enough about Alex and Olympia by then that I was looking forward to meeting them. Had I known who else we would be meeting there, I would’ve been far less eager to start the trip. |
tygertygerSep 14, 2014 9:24 PM
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
Chapter Nineteen: With Concord of Sweet Sounds We traveled on foot for three days. The heat of the sand made me glad of the gift that Aneksi had brought me; the moccasin-like shoes didn’t fit perfectly, but they were infinitely better than slogging across the dunes barefoot. I was less thrilled about the slow progress that we made, the more so because I was the cause. Beset and Aneksi could both travel faster than I could, while Pasha had more stamina and needed fewer breaks. Brigit and Octavia didn’t tire at all, and Octavia was even more annoying with her immunity to terrain. Nothing depletes a man’s Macho Points like knowing that he’s the weakest member of the group. I was spared further emasculation on the fourth day when we met up with the caravan. We were resting at an oasis when the wagons rolled up. The angle of the Sun made it hard to see the animals pulling them at first, but as they drew closer the vague silhouettes resolved into familiar high-backed outlines. A shift in the wind delivered an odor that confirmed my suspicions. The draft animals were camels. I hate camels. Why did it have to be camels? Beset levered herself up from her comfortable perch on the sand and said, “I believe that I can get us a ride the rest of the way. Wait here.” “We don’t know these people, Bes,” I protested. “They could be bandits or slavers. Somebody should go with you.” “They could also be honest merchants,” she replied, “And for all they know, we’re bandits. That will seem less likely if I go alone.” She didn’t wait for me to respond -- which is good, because I had nothin’ -- she just walked off on her errand. “And don’t call me Bes,” she added before she got out of earshot. I sighed and said, “Woman makes it hard to come up with affectionate nicknames.” “And why do we need affectionate nicknames for her?” asked Aneksi with one eyebrow arched. “Because she’s our friend and colleague, and we like her,” I answered. “Do you mean, ‘like’ her, or ‘like-like’ her?” Octavia teased. I made a mental note to never assume that a woman wasn’t insightful and intelligent just because she had a rack like a porn star. I rushed to say, “I mean ‘like,’” at the same time that Aneksi said, “He means ‘like-like.’” “Excuse me?” I cried. “Since when are you an expert on my feelings for Beset?” Aneksi fastened her gaze on mine and explained. “I see the way you look at her, Tony. More than that, I can smell the way you look at her. It is not the overwhelming wave of affection and desire that you feel when you look at me, but it is just as intense. More like strong admiration spiced with desire. I admit that it makes me a little jealous.” “Okay, this definitely sounds like something we need to talk about,” I conceded, “But do you think we should be having this rather awkward conversation in front of our new friends?” “Hell, yes,” said Octavia. “I want to know what he smells like when he looks at me!” That got a laugh out of everyone. Just like that, a tense situation turned into a group of friends laughing and joking again. Something in the back of my mind wondered how I got to be so comfortable with these women so quickly. Now that I thought of it, sleeping with a Sphinx stopped being strange and wonderful after the second night. Now it was just wonderful. Something fishy was going on here, but I couldn’t bring myself to question it too closely. Beset came back with a grin on her face. “We have a ride and a job,” she announced. “The caravan is short of guards, and there have been reports of banditry. We must take turns on night watch and defend the caravan in case of attack. In exchange for this we get a ride to the bazaar and two meals a day. The caravan master will also pay each of us one gold per day, plus five gold for each time that we see combat.” “Excellent,” said Brigit, “Let’s start earning our pay.” That’s how we wound up spending a week in the company of camels. Do you know why the camel is called the Ship of the Desert? Because its smell makes you seasick. I can’t stand the beasts. They’re foul smelling, foul-tempered, ugly, pungent, dirty, smelly, vindictive, cantankerous, and malodorous. And did I mention that they smell bad? I don’t have much of a sense of smell, but man, can I smell camels. We traveled with the caravan for eight days -- enough to get us to the Moon Bazaar a day before the opening ceremony -- and it was eight days too many to be around those humpbacked stench machines. I’ll give them this, though; a camel can walk a horse into the ground, and do it on a third of the water with a heavier load. Thanks to those shaggy beasts we got to the bazaar on time… but that doesn’t mean I have to like them. After collecting our pay we set out to find Aneksi’s sisters. “So how are we going to track down the rest of the band?” Pasha asked. “If the other sisters are as pretty as this one, that’s easy,” I said. “Just follow the trail of broken hearts.” Aneksi giggled and nudged me playfully. “No, silly! I will find them the old-fashioned way,” she said. The Sphinx took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Oh, there are so many scents here! I smell roast pork, lamb kebab, cheese and couscous… and oh! They have my favorite, honey-glazed desert mouse on a stick!” “Focus, Aneksi,” Beset and I said in unison. “Oh! Right, sorry.” She sniffed again, and a sappy grin spread across her cheeks. “Hai! This way!” Aneksi took off at a pace that was merely a jog for her. For the rest of us it was a flat-out sprint. We barely managed to keep her in sight as she bobbed and wove through the early crowd. We cut through the throng so quickly that the assembled mamono didn’t have time to ogle me as I went by. The Sphinx came to a halt right about the time that the stitches in my sides grew to the size of railroad spikes. We pulled up behind her in a straggling line -- with me in the rear, of course -- in time to hear her let out a girlish squeal. Hearing that sound echo back from four throats confirmed that we were in the right place. “Aneksi! You made it!” cried a pair of identical brown-haired Sphinxes. One of them held a flute, while the other had some kind of complex coronet-like horn. The twins shared Aneksi’s petite stature but were slimmer of build. Another girl sat in a chair with an instrument like a cello-sized mandolin between her legs. Raven hair fell from her scalp in luscious waves, and her body boasted voluptuous curves. The fourth sister had shoulder length blond hair. This one wore authority like an old, comfortable garment, and when she stood up from the drum set I could see that she was half-a-head taller than I. All four had the same high cheekbones and big brown eyes that looked so good on my kittycat, and all four wore sashes of sky blue over their traveler’s clothes. I had no doubt that these were my future sisters-in-law. Aneksi embraced each sister in turn before turning back to us. “Everyone, these are my sisters. Sekhet, the eldest…” she gestured to indicate the drummer. “…Anuket, the secondborn…” the black-haired sister waved when her name was spoken. “…And my little sisters Nefret and Bahiti.” The twins favored us with a quick curtsy. “Girls, this is my k’tet. The yinepet is Beset, the sharif of our band. The akhet is my friend Brigit, the Ghost is my other friend Octavia.” Her enthusiasm level dropped noticeably as she got to the Gorgon. “The nagaina is called Pasha.” But she brightened considerably as she indicated me. “And this is my Tony.” The sisters exchanged amazed glances before breaking into another round of squealing and hugging. Sekhet beckoned me over as the celebration subsided. “Win or lose?” she inquired. “Ummm… excuse me?” I said. “The riddle game. Did you win or lose?” Oh, that,” I said. “I won. Answered four, in fact.” Sekhet smirked. “Damn. I told that girl that she needed harder riddles.” This got a laugh from the Sphinxes and a lopsided smile from Beset. “Four, indeed? That is impressive.” “So a husband, then, rather than a concubine,” said Anuket. “What a shame. If you had lost, she would have shared you with us.” She shifted in her chair as she said this, and the grace of the movement combined with how she ended with one leg wrapped suggestively around her instrument gave me the impression that being shared wouldn’t have been so bad. “We will discuss this further after dinner,” Sekhet declared. “For now, we are getting in some open-air practice while they get the rehearsal tents up. Aneksi, get out your mandolin and join us. The rest of you are welcome to be our appreciative audience.” Aneksi did as she was bid and quickly tuned her instrument. One of the twins gave Aneksi a blue sash like the ones the rest of them wore. Then Sekhet counted off the rhythm, and the band launched into a lilting tune that sounded vaguely familiar. “Sing along if you know the words!” Anuket shouted. The merchants and other performers nearby laughed. Apparently the song didn’t have any words… but I realized about four bars in that it did. They just didn’t know them here. A previous traveler must’ve brought that song here, I thought. Oh, well, she did say to sing along if I knew the words. I hadn’t done anything stupidly impulsive all week, so I figured I was about due. I waited for the verse to come around again and started singing. I dream of rain, eh lay, yeh lay/I dream of gardens in the desert sand, I wake in vain, eh lay, yeh lay/I dream of love as time runs through my hand… Surprise showed on the band members’ faces, but not one of them missed a beat. The audience was equally surprised. Their expressions went from shocked to pleased to dreamy in the space of two measures. It occurred to me that most of them had never heard a man sing before. If they responded to that in the same way that human women did, their mamono sex drives might create a problem for me. But there was nothing for it now but to keep singing. Sweet desert rose, eh lay, yeh lay/Each of her veils a secret promise, This desert flower, eh lay, yeh lay/No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this. Aneksi stood and glided up to my side. She swayed in time with the music and somehow made the play of her hands across the strings into a little dance. I gave her my baby-you-know-what-I-like grin and swayed along with her. And as she turns, eh lay, yeh lay/This way she moves in the logic of all my dreams. This fire burns, eh lay, yeh lay/I realize that nothing’s as it seems. The twins joined us on the second chorus. Their shuffle-glide step was simple enough for me to pick it up, but their feline grace made it mesmerizing. Aneksi fell into step with them, and soon all three girls were dancing around me like sexy satellites orbiting a roguish star. Several members of the audience starting dancing when we reached the instrumental bridge. The monster women, and a few humans, hit the floor as singles, as couples or even as groups and pounded their feet -- or whatever -- against the sand. In moments the entire practice ground was beating to a single pulse of celebration. I dream of rain, eh lay, yeh lay/I dream of gardens in the desert sand, I wake in vain, eh lay, yeh lay/I dream of love as time runs through my hand, Sweet desert rose, eh lay, yeh lay/Each of her veils a secret promise, This desert flower, eh lay, yeh lay/No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this. Sweet desert rose, eh lay, yeh lay/This memory of Eden haunts us all, This desert flower, this rare perfume/Is the sweet intoxication of the Fall. I faded out on the last note, and the instruments followed suit one by one. Anuket plucked out one last riff on the bass and let the strings vibrate down into silence. There was a full ten seconds of stillness before the audience broke out in thunderous applause. There was a look of appreciation on every face… and some of the women looked like they wanted to drag me into a tent and show me exactly how much they enjoyed my singing. The band and I took our bows, and Sekhet nodded to me in approval. “Thank you!” I shouted to the crowd. “You’re too kind! Come see us when the bazaar starts, we’re here all week!” “I should hope so,” said a voice from behind me. I turned and saw an elegant woman of middle years who looked to be of Arabic descent. That’s what she was from the waist up, anyway. From the waist down she was a huge hairy tarantula. I managed not to yelp or startle, but it was a near thing. A desert Arachne is a scary sight even if you’re prepared for it, and I certainly was not. “But if you plan to perform at the Moon Bazaar, you will need this.” The woman placed a blue sash over my shoulders and then kissed me lightly on the forehead. “I look forward to hearing you sing again, good sir.” With that she turned and left. I got a glimpse of the gold sash that she wore before a flying wedge of burly mamono wearing red sashes fell into step behind her and blocked my view. I turned back to my companions and started to ask who the woman was, but one look at Pasha stopped me cold. She was wrapped tightly around a man I hadn’t seen before. At first I thought that she had gone crazy with lust and grabbed the first man who came within reach. Then I saw the tears streaming down her face and his, as well as a smaller Gorgon with pink scales suspended between them. I smiled in recognition; I’d know these newcomers anywhere. I waited for the long-delayed reunion to settle down from mind-numbing ecstasy to mere gladness before I walked up and extended my hand. “Hi, Alex,” I said with a grin. “What kept you?” |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
Chapter Twenty: Twice-told Tale The rest of us watched as Alex and Pasha ducked behind a tent. The girls looked confused at my exchange with him, while I could barely contain a laugh. Which one I’m throwing the bone to? I thought. That cheeky bastard! I’ll have to step up my game. I grinned as I contemplated the upcoming joke war. Beset eyed me warily. “Umm… my captain? Why are you chuckling like that?” “Oh, just thinking out loud, my sweet,” I replied. “Well, please stop,” she said, “You are scaring the twins.” Nefret and Bahiti hugged each other and nodded. “And do not call me sweet,” she added. “I hear and obey, O beautiful warrior,” I snarked. The Anubis cocked her head. Someone who didn’t know her would’ve thought that she was merely thinking, but I could see the smile that she was suppressing. “All right, that you can call me.” Aneksi rolled her eyes but withheld further comment. Note to self, I thought, A yinepet understands the Old Tongue, but not sarcasm. “What are they…” one of the twins began. “…Doing back there?” the other finished. The rest of the company favored them with looks that screamed, ‘seriously?’ I said. “Anything that got between them while they were looking at each other like that would’ve caught fire. What do you think they’re doing?” The twins’ eyes grew round, and their mouths gaped in scandalized comprehension. “Oooh,” they said in unison. The other three Sphinxes laughed. Sekhet said, “Now that my baby sisters have graduated from sex education, we should pack the instruments.” The girls complied, and I volunteered to help with the drums. We were nearly done with that task when a wild-eyed man wearing a hooded cloak ran through the practice ground. He spun off of Sekhet and knocked her to the ground before hitting me with a body tackle. I remembered enough of my bend-like-a-reed judo lessons to take the impact and the fall without injury. The stranger leapt to his feet and dashed off seconds before a squad of red-sashed mamono flashed by in pursuit. “Kaori’s Codpiece, what was that?” said Sekhet. “The famous Warren Luck,” I answered. “In a world without video games, only I could end up in a cut scene from Assassin’s Creed.” I stood up and dusted myself off. “Let’s finish packing before the man with the knife in his back shows up.” The girls blinked in confusion, but they let it pass and went back to work. Alex and Pasha came from behind the tent shortly after we finished. Alex wore a Cheshire Cat grin, Pasha a pretty blush. Olympia coiled loosely around her mother and softly snored. “So, what’s there to eat around here?” Alex asked. “I know just the thing!” Aneksi exclaimed. “Come on, Ani, help me carry!” With that the two harakhtet dashed off toward the food stalls. “Dinner is on the way,” Sekhet declared, “And Aneksi picked, so we know what it is.” “Honey-glazed desert mouse on a stick,” the Sphinxes said together. Beset shrugged. “I suppose it is better than eating snake,” she said. I smiled wickedly. “I bet Alex would disagree.” I savored the reaction for a moment before continuing. “What’s the agenda for after dinner?” Sekhet answered. “The opening ceremony is at moonrise -- about two hours from now -- and the storytellers begin at midnight. Our pavilion should be ready within the hour, and we can start playing any time after the opening ceremony.” I nodded. “Do we have a place to rest while we wait? More importantly, do we have a place to sleep?” “I rented us a tent,” Sekhet replied, “But when my sisters and I came here before, we always slept out under the stars. Easier to seek the blessing of the Moon that way.” I felt a tap on each shoulder, and the twin I thought was Bahiti whispered in my ear. “We could never…” she began. “…Afford a tent,” Nefret said in the other ear. “Well, we’ve got one this year,” I declared, “And I, for one, could use some rest before we get to work.” Sekhet nodded in acknowledgment. “Of course, my brother. Follow me, my sisters will find us.” We all fell into step behind Sekhet, and I tried not to think too hard about my new relationship status. Just because I’d agreed to marry Aneksi didn’t mean that I already thought of us as married, but I suppose that a betrothal was as good as a wedding in these parts. The opening ceremony was a stuffy religious affair that was thankfully brief. The presiding priestess turned out to be the very one to whom Aneksi had to report, so our one stone of coming here got to kill an extra bird. The official ending of her shrine maiden status brought tears to my kittycat’s eyes, but a short make-out session cured that. For Aneksi, the line between asking for comfort and initiating sex seemed to be blurred. We decided to hang around the contest ground to check out the storytellers; knowing the real loremasters from the posers would save us some time actually listening to the stories. We watched from a discreet distance as contestants queued at the sign up table. We dismissed the child contestants on the grounds that they wouldn’t yet know the kind of esoteric lore that we needed to hear. There were several women, mostly Sphinxes, Anubi, or Arachne, who Beset knew from her own education or who one of the sisters knew from temple training. My companions easily pointed out the gifted scholars from the vain attention seekers. There was a wise-looking owlish Harpy who we all agreed was one to watch, and a young Lamia who was so shy that she was barely able to register. I don’t know how she expected to tell a story to a live audience. Alex and Pasha both signed up, as did two human men (neither of which was the one who knocked me over). And then there was the other Lamia. She approached so softly that Beset and the Sphinxes, even with their extraordinary senses, failed to notice. My first hint of her presence was a whiff of her perfume. The subtle musk with spicy overtones slipped into my nose, trickled down to my crotch and started caressing. The gentle susurrus of her slithering was as relaxing as the sound of waves on a beach. I turned to look and saw a snake woman with silver gray scales and hair of midnight black. She wore a tunic the color of her scales that was loose enough to be modest and tight enough to show off her curves. Her movements combined a dancer’s precision with a predator’s grace, and each motion gave the impression of tremendous power held in check. As she passed she turned and looked me in the eye. She wore a veil, so her eyes were all I could see of her face, but that was enough. Despite her modest coverings the look in those eyes whispered, ‘Please undress me.’ She gasped when our eyes met, and seeing the impression of her lips against the veil brought the ghost of the taste of strawberries to my own lips. Yet there was also something in that gaze of the way that a serpent looks at a mouse. She was at once the sexiest and the most terrifying thing I had ever seen. My heartbeat accelerated to a triphammer rhythm, and all thought of stories left my mind. “Ulp,” I said. “Indeed,” said a chorus of voices nearby. I turned and saw a sextet of brown-skinned girls wearing scandalously short white dresses. Their arms and legs ended in insectile claws, which marked them as Khepri, and their identical black hair, dark eyes, and nilotic features marked them as clutchmates. Their stealthy approach made me instantly suspicious, and their smug smiles did nothing to mitigate that suspicion. “Is our employer not magnificent?” said one. “Most beautiful and puissant, she is.” “And quite a gifted sorceress, too,” said Beset. “That was one of the most powerful glamours I have ever experienced, yet it was subtle enough that the uninitiated would never suspect magic.” The Khepri looked impressed. “Very good,” said one, “There are few who would have noticed that. You are one that bears watching, we think.” The girl smiled, and there was nothing friendly about it. It was more like the baring of fangs. Beset smiled back -- and, unlike the Khepri, she had actual fangs to bare. “As is your mistress, I am sure,” she said. “I look forward to hearing her story.” “And we look forward to seeing your husband’s act again,” said another of the beetle girls. Beset flinched at that; score one for the Khepri. “We will surely tell our mistress about it. She will no doubt find it… stimulating.” The six girls turned as one and walked away. One looked over her shoulder and said, “Blessings of the Moon to you all,” and then they disappeared into the crowd. When we turned back to look for the snake woman, she was gone as if she’d never been there. I shuddered. “Am I the only one who thinks those women are scary?” I asked. “No,” said Brigit, “But I’ll take them over that snake any day.” She turned to Pasha and added, “No offense.” “None taken,” said Pasha. With the Khepri gone I was free to notice the tightness in the front of my pants. “Uh…” I said, “That spell seems to have had a few… side effects.” “Not just on you,” Sekhet announced. I heard the rasp in her voice, and her normally stoic expression showed a definite flush. I looked around and saw that all of the girls were in a similar state, and Alex was as bad off as I was. I turned to Aneksi. “Maybe we should go back to the tent and take care of this,” I said. “Ooo!” Anuket exclaimed. “Can we help?” The twins bounced on their toes in eager agreement, and even Sekhet displayed a degree of anticipation. “No,” Aneksi and I said in unison. Sekhet sighed. “Of course. Husband, not concubine.” She turned to her sisters and said, “Come on, you three. It is high time the twins learned about futanari.” They stalked off into the night, and I couldn’t help noticing how nice it was to watch them walk. Aneksi grabbed my ear and yanked my attention back to her. “Shall we go, beloved?” she asked. “First things first,” I answered, “We have two couples, and only one tent. Who goes first?” “I can’t wait,” said Pasha. As heavily as she was breathing, I believed her. “Nor I,” said Aneksi. “Ancients and ancestors,” Beset growled, “There is a privacy curtain. You can all go at once!” “Cool,” I said. I turned to Alex. “As long as you two keep it down.” “No promises,” said Alex with a grin. We turned as one to walk back to the tent. I was rather proud of us for resisting the urge to run. |
tygertygerMar 12, 2015 9:06 PM
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
Chapter Twenty-one: The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet Beset strode ahead of the rest of us and pulled the tent flap open -- rather brusquely, I noted. She went inside and turned to the left. When we followed her in we saw her working a pull rope that drew a floor-to-ceiling curtain across the middle of the tent. I couldn’t read the strange glyphs that adorned the cloth, but in the darkness I could see them softly glowing. “The spells woven into the curtain will dampen sound, but not eliminate it completely,” the Anubis said. “If you are discrete, you will not disturb each other.” She hesitated a moment before adding, “Or anyone outside the tent.” “Thanks, Beset,” I said. I turned to Alex and Pasha. “I don’t think the Sphinxes will come in here tonight, but if they do I don’t think they should walk in on you. We’ll take the side by the door.” Alex fist-bumped me in gratitude while Pasha handed Olympia off to Brigit. Then the Gorgon grabbed her man and dragged him behind the curtain. “That is that, then,” Beset said. I frowned at the ragged quality of her voice, and Aneksi looked even more troubled. The Sphinx gave me a questioning look. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but I found that, true to my promise, I felt that I could trust her completely. I made up my mind to be okay with whatever she was thinking and nodded my approval. Beset started to leave, but Aneksi reached out and grabbed her wrist. With her eyes downcast the Sphinx whispered, “Guardian… my sharif… Beset. I realize that the storyteller’s spell has left you in the same state in which it has left me. While I admit that I am jealous, I am not cruel. Please, join us.” Astonishment widened the yinepet’s eyes and gaped her mouth. She hesitated before turning to me with hope and fear warring for control of her face. “My captain… does she speak for you as well?” I moved to grasp Beset’s other wrist and pull her into a three-way embrace. “My bride speaks for me,” I answered. “You’re part of our k’tet. That means you’re family. Stay with us tonight.” The Anubis clutched us both and uttered a muffled sob into Aneksi’s hair. “Thank you,” she breathed. She kissed first my cheek, then Aneksi’s, and then I pressed my lips to Beset’s. The three of us passed kisses around until I could no longer tell which set of lips was burning against mine, and then we slowly undressed each other. I had never been in a threesome before. Truth be told, I had a hard time getting one woman into bed back home. I was brilliant as a flirt, but only so-so as a seducer. Two women at once was more than I’d ever dreamed of, let alone attempted. So I went into this not knowing what to expect. I knew only that I loved one of these women and trusted the other with my life. I pulled them both down onto the sleeping silks and held my lips to Aneksi’s ear. “Yours,” I whispered. I switched to Beset’s ear and whispered, “Yours.” The two of them lowered me to the ground and nestled in on either side of me. Each one kissed her way up from my neck to the ear on her side and whispered, “Yours.” We started exploring each other in earnest after that. Our joining wasn’t at all awkward or kinky. It was just… more. More silky paws roaming over my body. More lips raising gooseflesh on my skin. More legs to tangle with my own. I kissed one woman’s thigh while fondling the other’s bottom. I filled my hand with one woman’s breast while filling my mouth with the other’s. And when one of my lovers lowered herself astride my hips, the other settled down to ride my face. From time to time we would hear Pasha or Alex cry out as if our pleasure was pleasuring them, and even that seemed right. We lit little bonfires of pleasure in each other until the magic of our lovemaking burned the storyteller’s spell out of our systems. At last we finished together, and like the wolf we gave our voices to the Moon. We collapsed together, Beset on my right and Aneksi on my left, with the afterglow bright enough to read by. I heard my girls’ breathing settle down to that rhythm that signals sleep, and I was spiraling down to dreamy lassitude myself. The multiple points of warmth swaddling me, from the black paw resting over my heart to the tawny leg draped over my crotch, felt like… home. A fella could get used to this, I thought. There was no need for further thought after that, so I let myself drift down into contented dreams. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
Chapter Twenty-two: This Vice of Lying I awoke with a noticeable absence on my left side. I peered through the darkness and could barely make out Aneksi’s delectable silhouette. She pulled her clothes on quietly, apparently in an attempt to avoid waking me or Beset, but her sharp ears caught the sound of my head turning to search for her. I saw the gleam of her teeth as she smiled, and she knelt down next to me. “Where are you going?” I asked. “Under the stars with my sisters,” she replied. “I have not seen them in three years. Also, I have experienced a wonder tonight.” “Oh? What sort of wonder?” I inquired. “I have seen your heart overflow with love enough for Beset,” she answered, “Without there being any less for me. Forgive my jealousy, beloved. I should never have doubted you.” She kissed me, softly yet passionately, and sat up. “For the rest of the bazaar I will sleep with my sisters. I had you to myself for over a month. It is only fair that Beset get these few days.” She lifted my hand to her lips to kiss it, and then she rose and left. I settled back down on the silks with a sappy grin on my face. I wonder if she’ll still find ways to surprise me when we’re an old married couple, I thought. Beset snuggled up to me. “So the Sphinx has finally grown up,” she said without opening her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?” The Anubis rolled onto her side. “I have known since I was a cub that, if I were ever lucky enough to have a man, I would have to share him with my pack -- though I did not think my pack would be just me and a flighty courtesan. Aneksi would have been happier if she had acknowledged the necessity of sharing weeks ago.” “We should all listen to you, o wise one.” I reached down to stroke Beset’s belly. Her leg twitched when I hit a spot just above the bikini line. I knew it! I thought. The yinepet wriggled under my ministrations. “That tickles!” she said. “Sorry,” I said. I wasn’t at all sorry, but I stilled my hand anyway. “I did not say stop,” she protested. I chuckled and went back to stroking. The twitching resumed with the rhythmic thumping of her tail against the floor as accompaniment. “So it’s just you and me now,” I said. “Mmm,” Beset agreed. “I know something we can do together,” I added. Beset half-opened her eyes and gave me a sultry look. “Tell me more, my captain.” I leaned down to her ear and whispered, “Wanna hear a story?” We sat on the sand in front of the story pavilion. Beset kept her hands in her lap throughout the introduction while one of mine rested on her knee. Every so often she speared me with a sidelong glance. “What’s that look for?” I said. “That is my I-am-both-in-awe-of-and-upset-with-you look,” she replied. “And I’m getting this because…?” Beset kept her eyes fixed on the stage as she explained. “Listening to stories is what our quest requires of us. You had a willing, naked woman in the silks, and yet you chose duty over pleasure. As a soldier and sworn guardian, I cannot help but be impressed. As the willing, naked woman, I cannot help but be annoyed.” I traced my fingertips along her inner thigh and said, “I’ll make it up to you later.” The Anubis turned slightly and smirked. “If your hand goes any further, I will carry you back to the tent and you will make it up to me now.” I was pretty sure that she was joking, but I moved my hand back up to her knee. Just in case. The first storyteller’s entrance spared me further amorous warnings. The shy Lamia from registration bowed to the audience amid scattered applause and then shocked us with a bawdy poem about a lonely Lamia “polishing her scales.” The crowd roared its approval when she finished in a voice that sounded like she was actually “finishing.” The poet bowed again and left the stage wearing a huge -- and visibly relieved -- grin. The performance was quite entertaining, but not what we needed. We listened for about two hours and heard three stories that might be quest-worthy. We were able to take notes thanks to Beset’s foresight in packing papyrus and styli. The judges -- three golems whom I thought of as Randi, Paula and Simone -- called a halt after the first dozen storytellers and went backstage to tabulate the scores. Beset and I took that cue to go back to bed; the second round wouldn’t happen until the following midnight. The next day flew by in a blur of rehearsals. The Sphinxes proved to know a lot of music from my world; Sekhet revealed that their father was a musician. We practiced four numbers with me on lead vocals before the girls left to do their first set for the day. After several audience members asked why I wasn’t singing, Anuket replied, “Our dark star only comes out at night.” Our fans must’ve liked that; for the rest of the week everyone called me Darkstar. The night set was a huge success. I sang solo on “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Killing Me Softly” and “When a Man Loves a Woman,” dueted with Aneksi on “Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart” and sang backup in-between my numbers. By audience demand we finished with “Desert Rose.” We made enough tips that one night to pay for the entire trip. One fan was particularly notable; only one veiled woman with rings glittering on every finger rode in on a sedan chair carried by four muscular men. Her air of perpetual boredom lightened while I was singing, and when we left the stage she gestured for the band to approach. Sekhet bowed and said, “How may we serve you, high priestess?” “You already have, my dear,” the woman said. She pulled back her veil to reveal a stunningly gorgeous face, jet-black hair and piercing red eyes. The small horns on her head and the spade-tipped tail draped over her legs revealed her Succubus heritage. “That performance was simply divine. It has been many years since I last heard its like, and it may be longer still until I hear another. You have my thanks, children.” She raised her hand with a languid motion and pulled a ring from one of her fingers. The diamond on that ring was big enough that I had seen it from the stage. The priestess handed the ring to Sekhet and then turned to Aneksi. “He is yours, is he not?” Aneksi bowed and answered, “Yes, mistress. My betrothed.” The priestess turned to Beset and said, “But you have had him, as well?” The Anubis nodded. “We are k’tet, milady, sworn to each other.” The woman sighed and leaned back on the overstuffed pillows behind her. “It’s nice when girls share.” She ran her fingertips along the arm of one of the footmen and added, “Even nicer when boys do.” The priestess suddenly leaned forward with a wicked grin. “You say you’re betrothed. So you haven’t had a wedding yet?” “No, mistress,” Aneksi answered. “Would you like one?” My kittycat jumped for joy and clapped her hands together. “Oh yes, mistress!” “High priestess, we would not presume to trouble you…” Sekhet began. “Oh, it’s no trouble,” said the Succubus. “It won’t be a fancy wedding. We haven’t the time, and you’re certainly not prepared. But getting married at the Moon Bazaar is always lucky. I might even call it… a blessed event.” She looked directly at me for the first time. That was not a comfortable experience. Most women on this island looked at me the way a starving woman looks at a piece of meat. This one looked at me the way a restaurant critic looks at a piece of meat. “You are an outlander. There is a custom where you’re from, something about a ‘best man?’” I reached back and yanked Alex next to me. “Got one.” “Splendid. And I see that there are bridesmaids aplenty.” The priestess arranged us with Aneksi on my left and Beset on my right and with Octavia, Alex and Pasha behind us. Two Sphinx sisters flanked us on either side. The Succubus glanced at each of my girls in turn and asked, “Do you take this man?” “We do,” Beset and Aneksi replied. “Then what more need be said? Congratulations, you’re married!” She kissed each of us on the forehead and said, “Blessing of the Moon be on you all,” in the Old Tongue. At her words a warm, tingly feeling spread down my body from the lip print. The looks on the brides’ faces showed that they felt it, too. “Now, children, I’d love to stay, but I have urgent business in Kaori’s realm. Ta-ta!” The footmen broke into a brisk walk and carried their mistress away. Sekhet turned to the group wearing an expression of reverent awe. “‘Neksi… you just got married by a member of the royal court!” “Truly?” said one of the twins. “How can…” “…you know that?” the other finished. “She was covered with jewels, and she was riding a palanquin carried by four men,” Sekhet answered. “Only the royal courtiers and Lord Charisse are that wealthy!” “Shortest royal wedding ever,” Alex muttered. Beset turned to Aneksi. “I know that we had an agreement, but under the circumstances…” The Sphinx shook her head. “We agreed that this week would be yours, and as Tony would say, a deal is a deal. I will have my wedding night after the bazaar.” Then she leaned toward Beset and stage-whispered, “But give him a few strokes for me.” “That I will,” the Anubis replied. She grabbed my hand and started dragging me to the tent. I caught another glimpse of the Succubus before the crowd got in the way. I saw the priestess talking to the Lamia storyteller and her Khepri minions. The Lamia bowed low as if addressing someone of much higher station than a high priestess, and for a moment it looked as if the woman in the sedan chair was white-haired. I blinked, and the woman’s hair was black again. I wondered about that until Beset pulled me against her and gave me an eager kiss. After that I had other things to think about. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
Chapter Twenty-three: Beware the Ides of March Why am I not surprised that an Anubis would like doggy style? I knelt behind Beset with my hands gripping her hips as I pounded into her. Her all-fours posture -- with her head and forearms on the floor -- didn’t let her push back vigorously, but she managed a grinding motion that added delicious friction to my every thrust. The sweet tickle of her tail sweeping back and forth across my belly was a bonus. I cried out as I had my fourth orgasm, and Beset howled along with me at what must have been her twelfth. We collapsed onto the silks with me on top and panted like… okay, I’ll say it. Like dogs. “That… was… amazing,” I gasped out between breaths. “That… it was,” said Beset. She was as winded as I in spite of her mamono stamina. I rolled onto my side and pulled Beset up to spoon with me. “That thing you did when we started… when you whispered into my lap… what was that? Some kind of sexual stamina spell?” The yinepet nodded. “The Ityphallikos Curse. It is the first curse that Anubis girls learn when they start puberty. Few men can last long enough to fully satisfy us without it.” She must have sensed my discomfiture at that remark, for she rolled over to face me and kissed my neck. “You did all right the other night, though.” “Hmph. ‘You did all right’ isn’t nearly as good as, ‘Take me again, sex god,’ but I’ll take what I can get.” “Take me again, sex god,” the Anubis said. I gave her mad props for keeping most of the mockery out of her voice. “But later. It is almost midnight, and we have stories to listen to.” “Now who’s choosing duty over pleasure?” I teased. “I am not choosing, I am prioritizing,” she corrected. “Now get dressed. We have work to do.” I rolled my eyes. “Yes, O Beautiful Warrior.” I did as commanded, though. We were doing this to save my hide, after all. Story time went about as expected; lots of time spent for little return. Most of the stories weren’t even relevant to our needs. We cheered vigorously for Pasha’s effort anyway, both to support a friend and because she was pretty good. It looked as if the only benefit from this session would be the entertainment value until the final performer appeared. The silver-scaled Lamia glided onto the stage, bowed elegantly, and launched into her tale. “In the years before the Sixth Star fell, in the golden age before men were but a memory, there was a mighty queen named Leylagül. Queen Leyla was famed across the island for her great wisdom and matchless beauty. Moreover, her coffers overflowed with gold, and her skill in magic was unsurpassed. Over time Leylagül grew arrogant because of her many blessings. When the Forgotten One’s armies came to the borders of Charisse it was Queen Leyla who first rose up to fight them, for she would submit to no one whom she considered a lesser creature. And thus the War of Dragons began.” She continued in that vein for half an hour. The veiled woman spun an intricate web of words and images, and we found ourselves wrapped in it like flies. The audience listened in rapt silence as she spoke, and when she finished we stood as one to applaud. The Lamia bowed once and left the stage as gracefully as she had entered. She was out of sight before I realized that I hadn’t taken any notes; that’s how tightly her tale had gripped my attention. “Truly, she is magnificent,” a voice behind me said. I nearly jumped out of my skin as I turned. The six Khepri were arrayed in a semicircle with Beset and me at its focus. There was no way that the outfits they were wearing could’ve been too hot; I’d seen bikinis with more fabric to them. “We told you this before. Do you believe us now?” Beset remained calm, probably because she had sensed the insect girls’ approach when I had not. “Your mistress is indeed a remarkable storyteller,” the Anubis said. “Even without the subtle magics used to enhance her voice. I am sure that the judges will give her very high marks.” The Khepri grinned, and a second one spoke. “Perceptive as always, Tomb Guardian. Still you are one that bears watching.” “Which is no doubt why you Sun Bearers are here to watch me,” the Anubis retorted. That got a chuckle from the group. “You wound us, Guardian,” said a third sextuplet. “Perhaps we are here to admire your handsome husband. He is most pleasing to look upon, after all.” She gave me an appraising up-and-down look to punctuate her statement and followed up with a glance that was blatantly invitational. “The handsome husband is not interested,” I stated firmly, “But he would very much like to speak with your mistress.” The look of surprise on the Khepris’ faces was most gratifying. I even got a double take out of Beset with that one. I turned to my wife and said, “I’d like to hear about the history of that story. Besides, I didn’t get good notes. Did you?” “No,” Beset admitted. She turned to the Khepri and asked, “Would you ladies be so kind as to introduce us to your mistress?” The fourth of the manjet spoke up. “We would be delighted to do so! Our mistress is Darkstar’s greatest fan. She is most eager to meet him.” I stifled a shudder at the innuendo dripping from that last statement. I’d heard too much about the behavior of ‘number one fans’ to not be nervous, but I couldn’t very well back out seeing as the meeting was my idea. I fell into step with the Khepri when the fifth one gestured for us to follow, and I told myself that I was just being romantic when I reached out to hold Beset’s hand. “Queen Leyla did not start the Dragon Wars,” the Lamia said. She spoke with a slight lisp, but it was endearing rather than off-putting. She had introduced herself as Mahire and offered us the hospitality of her tent. I had to admit that her servants made great coffee. “Lord Akuma, the Forgotten One, did that. Leylagül was merely the first to fight back effectively.” “But how,” Beset asked. “Akuma’s army was the largest on the island, and she had dragonkin as shock troops. How could anyone beat them?” “By lost arts of the ancients,” Mahire answered. “No one who was not alive in those times knows.” She leaned toward me and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “It is said that a great treasure awaits whomever can discover the secret.” I mirrored her posture and tone. “And where might one look for this secret?” “In Leylagül’s necropolis, of course. It is easy enough to find. It is gaining entrance that is the trick.” “So it’s got, what? Traps? Magical wards?” I asked. “In abundance,” Mahire replied. “But one of your companions is a Tomb Guardian, and the other a Riddle Keeper! You are well situated to discover the treasure.” At this point one of the servants -- a cute little redheaded Honeybee -- shuffled over to the table to pass out sweet rolls. Mahire and Beset barely acknowledged her, but I gave her a smile. “Thank you,” I said. Where I’m from, it’s polite to be nice to the help. “You’re welcome,” the bee girl replied. She smiled and gave me a look that said she’d be happy to give me ‘honey’ anytime. Mahire emitted an angry hiss, and the Honeybee fled back to the kitchens. “Please forgive my servant,” the Lamia said. “She is young and has never been this close to a man before.” “No offense taken,” I answered. “Truth is, I like it when pretty girls flirt with me.” I received Beset’s glare with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, babe, but I’m married, not dead.” The Anubis shot me a we’ll-talk-about-this-later look before turning to our hostess. “Where might we find this necropolis?” “To the east, a day’s travel due south of the Lake of Glass,” the Lamia said. “That is where Queen Leyla sleeps, and where you will find her treasure.” “That is easy to find,” said Beset. “We would love to chat with you further about this, but the hour grows late and my husband needs rest if he is to be in good voice tonight. I fear we must take our leave.” Mahire nodded. “Of course. We all know how important proper rest is for a man’s performance.” No veil could’ve hidden the suggestive smile that accompanied that comment. “Until we meet again, Darkstar, Tomb Guardian. Blessing of the Moon on you both.” Beset and I stood to leave. “Shade and sweet water to you, milady,” I said. I bowed and backed up three steps before turning to the door. Beset followed me out after mumbling a farewell in the Old Tongue. When we got back to the tent Beset rounded on me with a strange look on her face. “What was that farewell that you said to her?” “Something from my world,” I said. I slapped my forehead in exasperation. I should have remembered that most people on the island had never heard of Elfquest. “I just assumed it would be appropriate here. It wasn’t rude or anything, was it?” “Not at all,” the Anubis answered, “It is actually a very nice blessing.” “Oh, good. I’ll keep using it, then.” I put my business face on. “Now, what have we learned?” “That the end of our quest is at hand,” Beset said. “We have a location, we have a queen, and we have the knowledge to get past the traps and wards. You and I will spend the day gathering supplies. I will not deny you a final performance, but we need to leave at dawn tomorrow. I am afraid that you will miss Alex’s story.” “I think he’ll understand,” I said. “Let’s go outside and tell the girls.” The tent flap opened as I said this, and the Sphinxes trooped in. Sekhet was the only one who even tried to look calm. The others quivered with excitement. “Tell the girls what,” Sekhet asked, “And what is this about leaving tomorrow?” I stepped forward. “Has Aneksi told you about our quest?” “Of course,” said one of the twins. “You need…” “…A dead queen’s bones,” the other finished. “Well, we have found a dead queen,” Beset announced, “So Aneksi, Antonio and I have a job to do.” Sekhet looked disappointed. “But… Aneksi and Antonio have a job to do here. They cannot leave!” “And what job could be more important than saving my husband’s life?” Beset asked. “I’d kinda like to hear the answer to that myself,” I said dryly. “Only the most important opportunity for a performer at the Moon Bazaar,” said Sekhet. She turned and added, “Tell them, Aneksi.” If Aneksi’s smile had been any brighter I would’ve needed sunglasses. “The shaykh in charge of the bazaar came to see us while you were out. She has seen our act and heard many compliments on it from the audience, and even from other performers. Because of this she has offered us a great honor.” “What, we’re getting an award?” “Better,” Aneksi said, “She has asked us to do the finale. We are to be the closing act of the Moon Bazaar!” The girls squealed and jumped for joy at that announcement. This was clearly a big deal for them, but for me it meant another half a week before I could be free of Gray Gardens’ curse. So now I had to choose between delaying the quest, and possibly missing the deadline, and denying my wife and her sisters a once in a lifetime opportunity. Sometimes my life most definitely sucks. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
Chapter Twenty-four: This Great Stage Beset’s glare was truly impressive; she silenced the celebration using only her eyes. The Anubis stared the younger sisters down one by one -- only Sekhet was able to hold her gaze. “Let me see if I understand the situation,” the Anubis said in that dangerously calm voice that frequently precedes a beatdown. “All of you… including Aneksi… are willing to risk Antonio’s life for the sake of a show?” Aneksi flinched at that as if Beset had taken a whip to her back. “Not a show,” I said, “A big break.” I turned to Sekhet and asked, “How long have you girls been at this?” The elder Sphinx drew herself to her full height as she answered. “We learned to perform during temple training, which starts at the age of eight. Father started teaching us songs from his homeland as soon as we could sing, though. We’ve been coming to the Moon Bazaar since the twins were thirteen, but we had to stop when Anuket and Aneksi took shrine vows three years ago.” Aneksi was twenty-seven, and the twins were a year younger. That meant that the girls had been waiting thirteen years for an opportunity like this. “And what would doing this finale mean for you?” “It would mean everything!” Sekhet roared. The noise brought Alex and Pasha peeking around the privacy curtain. I didn’t have to ask what they’d been doing back there; the tousled hair told me everything I needed to know. “Oh, the wage is nice. A thousand pieces of gold is enough for the five of us to live on comfortably for a few years. The prestige is far more valuable. As artists of renown we could attract engagements to perform in the homes of the rich, perhaps even gain a patron from the royal court!” She tried to take an aggressive step toward Beset, but Aneksi and Anuket held her back. “We could live together in the city again instead of being scattered like leaves on the wind!” “Living together is nice, but hardly a necessity,” said Beset. “I won’t risk Antonio’s life for sentiment.” “You know nothing about it,” Sekhet hissed. “I have taken care of my sisters for most of their lives! Our parents died when the twins were ten. I kept us together and kept us fed! I kept a roof over our heads, even if it was just a shack out in the ruins! Now Nefret and Bahiti barely get by with their tailor shop, while Anuket and Aneksi live on a few potted plants and whatever they can catch! And you want to take the chance for something better away from them?” She dropped her voice to a snarl and nodded toward Anuket. “Anuket’s march is by the sea. Who does that to a breed that is famous for hating water?” She turned to Aneksi and continued. “If you gave the shrine network a spanking, Aneksi’s march is where you would pull down the britches. Who exiles the best temple dancer of her generation to the edge of the deep desert?” She swept her hand back to indicate the twins. “I would not allow Bahiti and Nefret to take vows, for I knew that our fool of a priestess would station them at opposite ends of the country. They have never been apart for more than a day since they were born!” At last she rounded on me. “You ask what this finale would mean for us, outlander? It means that I can keep my family together as I promised our mother I would! That is what it means!” I did the math and looked at my sister-in-law with new eyes. With a year between each birth, and the twins at age ten when their parents died, Sekhet had had this responsibility thrust on her when she was fourteen. Could fourteen-year-old Tony have cared for his younger brothers under the weight of crushing poverty in such a hostile world? Probably not. I walked over and -- very carefully -- pulled Sekhet into a hug. “You’ve carried this burden for too long, big sister,” I whispered, “But you don’t have to carry it alone anymore. Let me take some of the weight from your shoulders.” The Sphinx was taller than I, but she bent to nestle her head against my shoulder and nodded assent. “Beset, we need supplies for our journey. You and I need to do some shopping tomorrow. We must be ready to leave at first light the morning after the show.” I pulled Sekhet to arm’s length and cupped her face in one hand. “We’re going to need better costumes than what we’re wearing now, and a backup band wouldn’t hurt. Make a list of what we need for a first-class show and pick out some songs for me to choose from. We’re going to give the Moon Bazaar the best damn finale it’s ever seen.” Sekhet melted into my arms and started sobbing while her sisters broke into fresh celebration. I let the girls have their moment to cheer before I played my final card. “Beset, I know that we have a time limit. If there was a way to speed up the trip, would that satisfy you?” The Anubis narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Yes… but camels are not very fast, and we could not afford horses even if you could ride one. I do not see how we could travel as fast as we would need to after such a delay.” “Neither do I… yet,” I said. I turned to my Best Man. “Alex, you were on foot when you came out of the mountain. We came by caravan, yet you still beat us here. I’d really like to know how you did that.” Alex flashed his trademark grin and told us the solution to our problem. Morning found Beset and me weaving through the crowds in the merchants’ section of the bazaar. I struggled under the weight of the bags that I carried, but she didn’t have the decency to act as if her larger bundle was heavy. Even so, my annoyance at that yielded to my amusement at her expression. The yinepet glanced at me out of the corner of her eye and said, “Something amuses you, my captain?” “Just the look on your face, O beautiful warrior,” I said. “What look?” “The look that’s as close as you get to a sappy grin,” I responded. “You didn’t look like this during the rest of our shopping, so I must assume that there’s something special about this stop.” “Indeed there is,” she said. “We are going to buy you a weapon. You are not a warrior, so I would not expect you to understand.” “Oh, I think I do,” I countered, “You’re a warrior princess, while Aneksi’s a girly-girl. Buying me a weapon has the same sentimental value for you that me buying her jewelry would have for her. You Tomb Guardians exchange weapons the way that humans exchange rings.” Beset’s eyes widened in awe. “You do understand me,” she whispered. “I’m no genius, but I can learn,” I said. “But enough mushy talk. Here we are.” We arrived at a stall that displayed all sorts of weapons and armor. I stopped in my tracks and burst out laughing when I saw the banner waving above the stall. Alex looked up from the sword that he was polishing and chuckled. “I see you get the joke,” he said. “It’s so obvious!” I blurted. “An upright shaft… two round things at the base… a big red helmet… there’s only one thing it could be!” Alex and I looked at each other and yelled in unison, “Spear and magic helmet!” Beset made no effort to hide her confusion. “Spear and magic helmet?” I pointed at the banner and exclaimed, “Spear and magic helmet!” The Anubis shook her head. “My captain, I think that you have seriously misinterpreted this visual metaphor.” “Yeah, whatever,” I said. “Get your mind out of the gutter, we’ve got business to discuss.” I turned to Alex and asked, “Is the boss in?” “Just got back from lunch,” he replied. He turned and yelled over his shoulder, “Hey, Siglind! Customers!” The door to the tent behind the stall opened to reveal a red-haired Dwarf. Despite the desert heat she wore leather armor adorned with brass studs that were polished to a painfully bright shine. She also had a distressingly large axe slung on her back. I got the distinct impression that shoplifting didn’t happen much at her shop. “So ye’re the ones Alex invited to see the special collection,” she said in a thick brogue. “Come on back and we’ll see what tickles ye’r fancy.” I followed Beset into the tent, and Siglind closed the flap behind us. My eyes quickly adjusted to the relative gloom, and a scan of the indoor racks showed more exotic wares than the ones outside. There was a selection of crossbows, sectional staves and some nasty looking scourges, but the thing that jumped out at me was a brass tube with a rifle-like stock on one end. Oo, shiny! I thought. I turned to Siglind and asked, “What’s this?” The Dwarf grinned. “That be a springbow, laddie. Me own design. As powerful as a crossbow, and more accurate. Watch this.” Siglind plucked the weapon from the wall and cocked the spring, then she took a rod with an oil-soaked bulb on one end and worked it in and out of the tube. “Ye got to get the barrel nice and slick before ramming the shaft in,” she explained with a leer. She took a crossbow bolt from the ammo rack and used the other end of the rod to push it into the barrel. Then she spun around, dropped to one knee and fired into a wooden target across the room. The bolt sunk feathers-deep into the bullseye. Siglind put on her salewoman’s grin and handed me the weapon. “Niiiiiice,” I said. I looked to Beset to tell her that I would take this weapon as my wedding present, but the look on her face splashed ice water on my enthusiasm. “We’re not getting me this, are we?” “You have been taught how to use a spear,” my wife replied, “We are getting you a spear.” Siglind shrugged. “Ah, well, ye probably couldn’t afford it, anyway.” She returned the weapon to the rack and motioned us to a pile of pillows on the floor. “Alex said ye had some special business to discuss.” “That we do,” said Beset. “My captain, I will handle the negotiations. Why don’t you pick out a spear that you like, and I will join you shortly?” “No problem,” I said. I went back outside to find Alex handing a freshly polished sword to a customer. “Just the man I needed to see,” I said. “I need your help picking out something special.” Beset came out a few minutes later. “So, my captain, have you picked out a marriage blade yet?” “As a matter of fact, I have.” I handed her a small package. The yinepet furrowed her brow. “What is this?” “Just a hold-out dagger,” I answered, “But it comes with a concealable sheath, and the handle is that same dark wood as the shaft of your spear. The fire-blackened blade just looks cool.” I could see her eyes start to glisten in the moment before she pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. “Does this mean you like it?” “Very much,” she said. The tone she used would’ve been called moderately enthused coming from another woman, but for Beset it was practically a squee. “Now come, you have rehearsal.” “Work, work, work,” I said. Alex handed me a spear with the same dark wood handle and blackened blade as the dagger. “How cute, you have matching weapons,” he said. “Except yours is bigger.” “You know us black guys,” I quipped. “See you at the show?” “You know it, bro,” he said. My wife and I left for the rehearsal hall holding hands. That knife had cost me a fair fraction of my share of our caravan earnings, but the genuine smile on Beset’s face was worth it. I stepped into the rehearsal tent and into an assault. Anuket stripped me of the supplies I carried while Aneksi grabbed my new spear. Then the twins pounced on me with their measuring tape. “Whoa! What’s with the combat seamstress routine?” I said. “We need new costumes,” Sekhet answered. “For that, the twins need to measure everyone. You are the last. It will go easier if you just relax.” “Easy for you to say,” I said. “Nobody’s double-teaming your inseam.” “Oh, stop complaining,” said Anuket. “From what Aneksi tells us, you like that sort of thing.” Sekhet showed me a list while the twins were measuring/molesting me. “Pick a song,” she commanded. I scanned the titles. “I don’t know the words to all of these. I presume that you do?” The Sphinx nodded. “Good. We’ll do this one.” Sekhet put a check mark by the selected song and said, “Now that we have that settled, let us go over the music for our last regular performance day. I thought it best that we concentrate on father’s favorites.” That got a cheer from the other girls. She turned to me and explained, “You would know the band as the Beatles.” “Your father’s favorite band was the Beatles?” I asked. I knew that their father was from my world, but that tidbit was news. “They came from a place called Liverpool, just like he did,” Aneksi said. “I am not sure why they called themselves beetles, though. All the Khepri I have ever met have been manipulative, conceited little…” “Not that kind of beetle, kittycat,” I said. “Come on, let’s rehearse.” The girls taught me the words to “Come Together” so that I could sing lead. Anuket covered “Strawberry Fields” in a beautiful contralto, and Aneksi lent her soprano to “Hey, Jude.” The twins did an unbearably cute duet on “Octopus’s Garden.” The big surprise was Sekhet’s heartfelt rendition of “Long and Winding Road;” that actually brought a tear to my eye. It had the same effect on the audience when we performed it that evening. We finished up, appropriately enough, with "Hard Day's Night." The following days were devoted to preparations for the finale. We met the backup musicians and taught them the music. Aneksi volunteered to be my backup dancer and came up with some choreography. When Pasha saw her practicing, the Gorgon surprised everyone by picking up the moves almost instantly. Aneksi added to the surprise by inviting Pasha to join her onstage. Apparently, “Anyone who can dance like that cannot be all bad.” The twins put in overtime getting the costumes ready. The most interesting meeting was with the sorcerers. There was a family of Fairies from Amarante who had learned to create a variety of light effects. I taught them how to do follow spots and the slight green tint that gives the best color balance on African skin tones. Our “microphones” were pendants through which a Sylph, with her husband’s aid, focused her aeromancy to amplify sound. The young man claimed to be from the Republic of Texas in the year 2273. I don’t know if he was telling the truth or just yanking my chain, but I was happy to use their product. We kept up a hectic pace right up until two hours before curtain. I insisted on a shave and a haircut before I went on; no way was I going before a grand finale audience looking scruffy. Finding a barber who could handle black men’s hair proved impossible, so I just had it shaved bald. I kept the moustache and had the beard trimmed down to a goatee. With my costume on -- midnight blue silk pantaloons with a matching vest -- I looked like a dashing prince from the Thousand Nights and a Night. The blue suede boots just made my song choice more appropriate. I strode out of my dressing room and found my wives, my sisters and my crew waiting for me. “The troupe would like for you to say a few words, my captain,” said Beset. If you gotta go, go out swinging, I thought. “This is the first time any of us has ever done a show this big,” I declared, “But it won’t be the last. We will light up this oasis like the Moon herself, and for years to come no one will be able to do a finale without being compared to us. I may be the Darkstar, but tonight we will all shine. Make me proud, people!” The musicians cheered as they scattered to take their places. Aneksi gave me a quick smooch before taking her place, and Pasha blew me a kiss as she took her mark. I went to my place just behind the curtain, shook the tension out of my shoulders, and centered myself with a deep breath. “Showtime, Tony,” I told myself. The curtain flew up as the first strains of our song started. I strutted out to center stage as if I owned it, and not even the wave of applause that washed over the stage could hold me back. To one side I could see Aneksi gyrating her hips in a way that looked like… stuff we did together. To the other side I saw Pasha doing a shimmy that would make a Las Vegas stripper take notes. I walked up between them, stroked my voice pendant as I was instructed, and began to sing. A little less conversation, a little more action please All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me A little more bite and a little less bark A little less fight and a little more spark Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me. Pasha froze when I got to the verse. Aneksi sidled up to me almost within groping distance and launched into a move that seemed designed to inspire groping. I was too professional to stop singing, but I was more than happy to watch her while I sang. Baby, close your eyes and listen to the music, Drifting through a summer breeze. It's a groovy night and I can show you how to use it, Come along with me and put your mind at ease. Aneksi froze on the bridge, while Pasha slithered up to me and started a most intriguing undulation. I watched that, too; I’m married, not dead. The twins broke in with a background echo. Come on baby, I'm tired of talking, Grab your coat and let's start walking, Come on, come on (come on, come on), Come on, come on (come on, come on), Come on, come on (come on, come on), Don't procrastinate, don't articulate, Girl it's getting late, gettin' upset waitin' around… The band segued into an instrumental break while Pasha and Aneksi sashayed to the edge of the stage. Their synchronized movements looked like hot girl-on-girl action, and they cranked up the sex appeal so high that the men in the audience -- and more than a few of the women -- were dazed with lust. And yet, someone managed to upstage them. I heard the audience members up front start cheering, but their attention was on the front row rather than the stage. I motioned for the Fairies to put a spotlight on the commotion, and there was Olympia wriggling her little hips in imitation of her mother’s movements. That is just too cute! I thought. Poor Alex couldn’t tear his eyes away from his wife to see it, though. I didn’t envy him the sand that he was going to get on his tongue. I yanked my own attention back to the show just in time for the last chorus. A little less conversation, a little more action please, All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me. A little more bite and a little less bark, A little less fight and a little more spark, Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me. (Satisfy me!) Satisfy me, (Satisfy me!) Baby, satisfy me. (Aaaaaaaah!) Applause and cheers shook the pavilion. I bowed deep, came back up and gestured for the troupe to take a bow with me. Then we cleared the stage. The girls enjoyed a round of tearful hugs amid speculation about what this would do for their careers. I heard a lot of stuff like, “We’ll be famous!” and, “It is all that we dreamed!” I just smiled; seeing my sisters and the girls who helped us out this happy made me happy. The self-congratulation went on for over a minute before one of the Fairies tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Captain, they call for you.” I listened, and the dull roar of the crowd resolved into a rhythmic chant. “Darkstar! Darkstar! Darkstar!” “Oo!” Anuket squealed, “They want an encore!” “Our contract expressly forbids it,” said Sekhet, “One song, and the Moon Bazaar is officially over.” “So we are done, then?” Aneksi asked. “Most definitely,” said Sekhet. “Not quite yet,” I countered, “There’s just one more thing I’d like to hear.” We waited for what must have been about five more minutes before the Arachne who had given me my sash came backstage, waggled her finger at us, and strolled out before the audience. “Ladies, please,” she said, and the volume of her speech told me that the twins and I weren’t the only ones wearing voice pendants. “The Moon Bazaar is over. Return to your tents, and we will see you again next year.” The audience protested, but the shaykh didn’t relent. “There will be no encore, ladies. Darkstar has left the pavilion. Good night.” There was much grumbling, but the crowd got the message and started to disperse. “Now we’re done,” I said. “Thanks again, girls. I hope to work with all of you again in the not-too-distant future. Shade and sweet water to you all!” We had another round of hugs and farewells before my fellow Texan walked up and shook my hand. “We just made a legend tonight, didn’t we?” he asked. “I wouldn’t mind at all if that was the hardest thing I had to do to make a legend,” I answered. Would that it had been that easy. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| and now im listening to desert rose on repeat while reading :T |
|
Chapter Twenty-five: Something Wicked This Way Comes It was an hour after first light before I woke up. I blamed exhaustion; Beset had been very grateful for her marriage blade. I got dressed in the new traveling clothes that I found next to me -- an outfit nearly identical to the one that I had tried to dream for myself, ironically enough, plus a wide-brimmed hat -- and dragged myself out of the tent in search of breakfast. I had expected chaos when I got outside, but instead I saw a carefully planned operation going off smoothly. A certain amount of commotion was unavoidable when striking a set this big, but the workers had clearly done this before. A swarm of Honeybees wearing black sashes started dismantling the tent the instant I left it. I was the last one out, and I had brought the sleeping silks with me, so I didn’t worry about that; we wouldn’t need that tent again. I spotted my girls sitting by the remains of a fire and headed over to them. “Bacon and eggs, before I kill again,” I grumbled. “We have stuffed mushrooms and locust wraps,” Sekhet replied, “And if you want a beverage, there is tea with honey.” “That’ll do,” I said. I sat down between my wives, and Aneksi handed me a plate. “So, where did this rather stylish outfit come from?” “A weaver named Sanjula provided it, along with two others,” Beset told me. “She seems to think that telling people that you wear her designs will increase sales.” “She’s probably right,” I said. “Back home, celebrity testimonials have been used to sell stuff that isn’t nearly this nice.” Not until I said that did it occur to me that I was a celebrity now. I took a moment to wonder how long my fifteen minutes of fame would last, then I turned my attention back to breakfast. “These locust wraps have an… interesting… taste.” One of the twins, I think Nefret, said, “The cinnamon really brings out…” “…The flavor of the locusts,” the other twin, probably Bahiti, finished. “Hmm,” I responded, “Perhaps a little less cinnamon next time?” “The trick is to sauté the locusts in honey butter before lightly dusting them with cinnamon,” Sekhet volunteered. “I’ll remember that if I ever need to cook locusts,” Alex said. We all turned to see our friends walk up. Pasha gripped Alex’s hand like it was a lifeline. Her other hand stroked Olympia’s hair, and the gorgonet was wrapped securely around her mother. Brigit clanked along on Alex’s other side, while Octavia floated above and slightly behind him. “If the diva has had enough beauty sleep, we’re ready to go.” “Rouse not the dragon from his breakfast,” I mock-growled. Beset snorted. “Indeed. He might not have the strength to stand.” “Oh? And whose fault would that be, hmmm?” Octavia teased. Beset briefly allowed herself a smug smile before her discipline reasserted itself. “Joking aside, we’re getting a late start. We need to get moving,” said Brigit. Beset sighed. “She is correct, my captain. You must eat and walk.” We all shouldered our packs while I wolfed my food down faster than I could taste it, which was no great loss in the case of the locust wraps. With our preparations -- and my breakfast -- complete we headed east into the sunrise. Three hours later the tea was gone, but we still had plenty of sun and sand. I noted to myself how much easier it was to slog through the desert with a full belly, a full canteen, and a pair of shoes between me and the burning sands. It was my turn in the little game I was playing with Alex, so I sounded off, “Are we there yet?” “May I kill one of them, please?” Anuket pleaded. “It will discourage the other one.” “No,” Aneksi, Beset, and Pasha said together. “I could possess them and make them soak their heads in the next oasis,” Octavia offered. “The next oasis is half a day’s walk from here,” said Beset. “Too far away to do us any good.” “We can play another game, then,” said Alex. “I spy with my little eye, something tan.” “Sand,” said the twins in stereo. They added a synchronized eye roll for good measure. “Ha! You’re wrong, the answer is dunes!” Alex examined our surroundings and added, “Speaking of dunes, our destination should be just behind that next one.” We walked for another twenty minutes before we reached the dune, and when we got over the crest we saw the solution to our travel problem. It looked like a sailboat with outriggers on each side. The vehicle’s sleek lines boasted of speed, and there was a lot of sail to catch the wind. A banner with a familiar spear-and-helmet motif flew from the main mast. “So that’s a sandskiff,” I said. “Siglind travels in style, that’s for sure.” “That she does,” Alex agreed, “And she’ll get you where you need to go by nightfall instead of the four days it would’ve taken you to walk. That thing’s even faster than it looks.” A familiar redheaded figure stepped out of the wheelhouse and waved to us. We proceeded down the side of the dune toward the boat. As we neared the sandskiff Beset frowned and said, “Something is wrong.” “What do you smell?” I asked. “Nothing with this west wind at our backs,” she replied, “But Siglind is not wearing her axe. A Dwarf would sooner appear in public undressed than unarmed.” We stopped at the edge of hailing distance and spread out into a defensive formation. The Anubis cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Ahoy, the Golddigger! Permission to come aboard?” Siglind mirrored Beset’s gesture and bellowed, “Run for it, me friends! It’s a trap!” An armored fist shot out from the wheelhouse and bashed the Dwarf in the head. Siglind went down dazed while a dozen mamono of various types burst from hiding. Three Lizardmen leaped over the railing to land in front of us. A quartet of Hornets flew out of the rigging and circled above us. Two Amazonesses rounded each end of the boat to cover our flanks. The last attacker was the most worrisome; a Girtablilu erupted from the sand behind us to block our line of retreat. The ambushers ringed us in and readied their weapons -- spears for the Amazonesses, shortbows for the Hornets, and swords for the rest. The scorpion woman leveled her weapon at us and said in a gravelly voice, “Surrender your goods and your men, and you may leave with your lives!” I quickly scanned our attackers and noticed something familiar about them. They all wore gray tunics with black epaulets, and all but the Girtablilu wore kilts made from strips of black leather. Over the left breast each tunic bore a symbol -- a crescent moon ringed by a serpent biting its own tail. I didn’t recognize that sign, but I used to wear a shirt that had a hole where that symbol would have gone. I decided to grab the initiative by ambushing them with my perceptiveness. “I have to say, ladies, I am not impressed. Your Nefer-Apep can’t be much of a queen if she needs banditry to fill her coffers.” The surprise on their faces showed that my conversational arrow hit its mark, but one of the Lizardmen, the youngest-looking, recovered quickly. “Be patient while we deal with the ladies, little stallion. After that, I may have you fill something.” Aneksi whipped out the sword that we had taken from Hashima and struck a fighting stance. “You will die before you lay your filthy hands on him, whore!” The bandits all laughed except for the eldest Lizardman. She stared at Aneksi and narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “That sword… where did you get it?” “From a Lizardman warrior,” Aneksi responded. “Hashima, daughter of Fathi.” The dropped jaws all around showed me that my suspicions were correct. I caught the Lizardman’s eye and asked, “You knew her, didn’t you?” “She was my friend,” one of the Amazonesses screamed, “And you killed her! Filthy shrine maiden!” She shot Aneksi a sly look and said, “But we got a little revenge for her. Did you like the gift I left in your sacred pool, ghost herder?” If her plan had been to incite Aneksi to a killing rage, she succeeded. The Sphinx looked as if she would pounce at any second. The youngest Lizardman cast a hateful gaze at Aneksi and announced, “I claim your life, Sphinx. I am Isra, daughter of Fathi, and you killed my older sister.” This looks bad, I thought. The second Lizardman chimed in. “I also claim blood right on you, shrine maiden. I am Lujain, daughter of Fathi. You killed my twin sister.” This looks worse, I continued. I turned to the elder Lizardman and said, “Let me guess. You are so-and-so, daughter of Fathi, and she killed your younger sister.” “Not quite,” she said in a dangerously calm voice, “I am the daughter of Hadi, and my name… is Fathi.” She lifted her chin at the Girtablilu and said, “I claim blood right on them all. We’ll take the men as ordered, but the rest must die. Even the child.” “So be it,” the scorpion woman intoned. The bandits on the ground raised their weapons, and the Hornets nocked arrows. And just like that, I go from standing in a spotlight to standing on a bullseye, I said to myself. How the mighty have fallen. |
tygertygerJun 18, 2015 11:32 PM
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
Chapter Twenty-six: The Uses of Adversity The bandits had the drop on us; of us all, only Aneksi had a weapon in hand. But unlike the bandits, I knew what my traveling companions could do. I caught Alex’s eye and covered my ears. He followed suit a mere instant before the girls played their card. A leonine roar rolled across the sands, and the power of that sound coming from five throats hit me like a slap… and I knew it was coming. The bandits stopped dead in their tracks. One of the Hornets even fired wild and wasted an arrow at Beset’s feet. Their hesitation provided time for Beset and I to unsling our spears and for Alex and Brigit to draw their swords. Then we all leaped into battle. Aneksi pounced at the Amazoness who had taunted her and yelled, “This one is mine!” Anuket rushed to keep the other one on that side off of her sister’s back. Brigit waded into the Amazonesses on the other side, while Octavia shot skyward toward the Hornets. I figured that Pasha, Sekhet, and the twins could handle the Girtablilu. Beset squared off on Hashima’s mother and yelled, “Semper fi!” The two warrior women clashed in a blur of steel. I had just enough time to see Alex charge the second Lizardman before I had to concentrate on my own target. I put myself in front of Isra. “I spent an entire afternoon sanding your name out of that altar,” I said, “It’s payback time.” “You have spirit, little stallion,” she said, “I am going to enjoy breaking you.” The Lizardman launched a series of cuts that I deflected with my spear. “You have some training! Good, it won’t be too easy!” “Enough talk,” I growled in my best Conan impression. I tested Isra’s defenses with jabs and slashes as I’d been taught. When I had her pattern down I whipped the butt of my spear around and rapped her hard on her weapon hand. She dropped the sword as I’d hoped, and then she hopped backward to avoid being disemboweled by my return slash. I still managed to cut her tunic and draw a line of blood across her belly. “A stallion indeed,” the Lizardman hissed, “You will give me strong daughters.” “I think not,” said I, “But I’ll be happy to stick something in you.” I lunged in to deliver a thrust to her heart, but my blade didn’t find its mark. Isra sidestepped, grabbed the shaft of my spear, and pulled with all her might. The bad news is, the spear flew a good five yards away from her. The worse news is, I held onto the spear. I landed hard and got a mouthful of sand. Isra retrieved her sword while I was spitting and clearing grit from my eyes. She ran at me with a scream, and I had just enough time to lift my spear and brace it against the charge. The Lizardman impaled herself and ripped the spear from my hands when she fell to the ground. I stood and looked down at her. Her eyes were wide with pain, and her gurgling breath announced a punctured lung. “No,” she said, “I can’t die… by your hand. You’re… no… fighter.” “That doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” I said. I yanked my spear free of her body and watched while the light left her eyes. Only when I was sure that my target was dead did I look up to see if any of my companions needed help. Brigit was doing all right. The Amazonesses slashed at her to no effect, and a handful of arrows on the ground showed that the Hornets couldn’t shoot through her armor. The Girtablilu bellowed, “Thrust, you fools! Slashes won’t get through plate!” One of them tried to obey, but the Dullahan twisted so that the thrust struck a glancing blow on her flank. Brigit’s own thrust buried her sword hilt-deep between the bandit’s breasts. The Dullahan angled her sword down so that gravity pulled it from her opponent’s body as the Amazoness fell, then she turned her full attention to the other one. Beset was having a bit more trouble. She and Fathi were evenly matched; the sobeket’s striking tail and natural armor cancelled out the yinepet’s greater strength and stamina. Beset disarmed her opponent using the same technique that she had taught me, but Fathi was more skilled than her daughter. She avoided the return slash without getting a scratch and charged in past Beset’s guard. The Lizardman bore the Anubis to the ground and locked her talons around Beset’s throat. I moved to assist my wife, but the fight was over before I arrived. Beset released her spear, snatched at her thigh, and plunged her dagger into the Lizardman’s kidney. The Anubis rolled the body off of her and retrieved her spear as she looked around to see who needed help just as I had. No doubt about it, that dagger was the best wedding present ever. Three Hornets were wasting arrows trying to hit the tawny blurs that were the twins in motion. The fourth had thrown her bow to the ground and was taking off her quiver -- definitely Octavia’s work. With that opponent disarmed, Octavia transferred to one of the other Hornets and shot one of the insect girl’s fellows in the back. The last one dropped her weapon and grappled the seeming traitor. Octavia slipped out quietly while the two Hornets tried to sting each other. The disarmed Hornet had recovered in the meantime. She dove with a screech of rage and brought her stinger to bear against Pasha. The Hornet knew that she was fighting a Gorgon -- the halo of snakes was a dead giveaway -- so she avoided meeting Pasha’s eyes. She focused her gaze instead at Pasha’s chest, which put her gaze right in line with Olympia’s eyes. The petrifaction was almost instantaneous, and the Hornet’s body shattered when it hit the ground. Alex crossed my field of view locked in a deadly pas de deux with the last remaining Lizardman. I started to go in and help him, but something more pressing caught my eye. The Girtablilu drove Sekhet toward the boat with a flurry of rapid-fire sword strokes and jabs with her claws. The Sphinx dodged easily, but it was only a matter of seconds before she ran out of maneuvering room. Sekhet’s back soon hit the side of the boat, and the scorpion woman stung her in the shoulder. The Sphinx crumpled as the paralytic venom took hold, and the Girtablilu crowed with delight as she raised her sword for the deathblow. By the time I realized that I had drawn my dagger I had already thrown it. The blade spun end-over-end and stuck in the scorpion woman’s flank just above the point where flesh met chitin. She grunted in pain, pulled the knife from her side, and tossed it away. That gave me enough time to put myself between my sister-in-law and her attacker. “Not today, bug,” I snarled. The Girtablilu growled in response and struck out with her sword. I deflected every slash with an ease of which I should’ve been more suspicious. I never saw the pincer that grasped my waist and slammed me against the sandskiff. The impact knocked the air from my lungs and the spear from my hands. “Arrogant man-child,” the Girtablilu said, “Did you honestly think you could beat me?” She leaned in close enough that I could smell her breath. The scent of mead didn’t quite cover up the odor of rotten teeth. “If her majesty gives you to me, you will learn humility!” Up this close I could see that her pupils were contracted to points, and there was a manic glint in her eyes. It seemed that Hashima didn’t have a monopoly on being a junky. I filed that datum away for future reference. “I never… had to… beat you,” I gasped out, “I just… had to… keep you busy.” I gave her my gotcha-sucker grin and said, “Say hello… to my little friend.” A battle cry sounded from the sandskiff’s deck, and Siglind came hurtling over the side with her axe raised in a two-handed grip. The blade flashed downward and sheared the restraining claw off at the wrist. The scorpion woman screamed and spat a stream of obscenities. The Dwarf stood next to me with her axe leveled. “I be Siglind of Clan Redblade,” she proclaimed, “Ye canna have this boat. But if ye be too stubborn to turn tail, I’ll gladly give ye this axe.” Beset came up on my other side with her spear at the ready. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Brigit, Aneksi and Anuket finishing off their respective opponents as Pasha moved to assist Alex. The twins ran over to help Sekhet. The Girtablilu did the math and didn’t like the numbers. She barked a command and ran off to the south. The Hornets stopped trying to kill each other and turned to follow. Alex yelled at the bandits’ retreating backsides, “That’s right, you better run!” He looked a bit the worse for wear -- I didn’t envy him the shiner he was going to have the next day -- but simply being alive put him ahead of his opponent. He handed me my dagger and asked, “How’s big sis?” I looked and saw the twins kneeling at her side and taking turns sucking poison from the wound. “By tug is dumb,” said Bahiti. “Dizz tuff tayz awfuh,” Nefret announced. “I think she’ll be okay,” I told Alex. “We should leave as soon as Sekhet can travel,” said Beset, “The bandits might come back with reinforcements.” “She will not be able to move very fast for a while,” Aneksi warned, “And splitting up here makes the groups on foot vulnerable.” Beset refused to yield. “It cannot be helped. There is no way for them to travel faster without mounts or a vehicle.” “Ye could use the bandits’ horses,” Siglind offered. Alex’s eyes widened. “The bandits had horses?” “Oh, aye,” said the Dwarf. “Seven of ‘em. Hid ‘em behind me boat while ye walked up.” “That is strangely fortuitous,” said Beset. “Yeah,” I agreed, “I wish I’d seen the machina that deus came ex.” Siglind clapped me on the back. As expected, it was hard enough to hurt. “Ye took a big chance bettin’ that I’d be back on me feet in time to save ye’r bacon, laddie.” I shrugged. “Dwarves have hard heads. I figured one hit from a Lizardman wasn’t enough to put you down for the count.” “Still and all, that took guts. And takin’ on a scorpy, to boot!” Siglind whacked me on the bottom and winked. “If the kitty and the hound ever get tired o’ ye, ye’ll be welcome in Clan Redblade!” “Uh… thanks,” I said. I turned to Aneksi and mouthed, ‘Save me.’ She just giggled. The twins, when they could talk again, said that it would take the better part of an hour before Sekhet was ready to travel. While we waited Aneksi insisted that we gather up the bodies, including the one that had been petrified and shattered, in the lee of the dune. After stripping them of their valuables she, Anuket and the twins sang a threnody to ease the passing of the dead. These people had tried to kill us, but still my kittycat refused to leave their spirits to wander the dunes. While they were singing I turned to Beset and asked, “So… ‘semper fi?’ I take it you learned that from your dad.” “Indeed,” the Anubis answered. “He was a warrior from the fiercest tribe in his homeland, the Mah-reens. When mother claimed him, he fought so well that she took him as a true husband.” “Sounds like he was quite a guy. You’ll have to tell me about him sometime.” “I surely will.” Beset glanced at me out of the corner of her eye and smirked. “You have that look, my captain.” I smiled. “And what look would that be?” “The one you get when you have noticed something amusing,” she said. “Amusing and most unusual,” I agreed. “In the time I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you wear an actual sappy grin until today. What brought this on?” The Anubis actually quivered with excitement as she thought about how to phrase her answer. “We both blooded our marriage blades in battle today!” “And that’s significant because… ?” “Yinepet tradition says that such an omen presages a long and happy union… one that will produce many children.” “Oh, great. The couple that slays together, stays together.” “Do not tease, my captain. I know that it is just an old wives’ tale, but contemplating it gives me joy.” “If you’re happy, I’m happy,” I declared. I kissed the puckered arrow scar on her shoulder and said, “I’m going to divvy up the gold we took from the bandits. Do you agree that Siglind should get a little extra as danger pay?” “That seems wise,” she agreed, “We might want to deal with Clan Redblade again.” I nodded and went to accomplish my task… but for some reason I did so with a heavy heart. An hour later we were ready to go. Alex and Brigit had claimed horses for themselves. A third horse had been pressed into service to carry Olympia and didn’t look too happy about it. Aneksi, Beset and I stood by the Golddigger’s boarding ladder. My sisters-in-law held the reins of three horses -- one each for Sekhet and Anuket and one for the twins -- with a fourth horse tied up behind. At first I thought they were using the mare for a pack pony, but she didn’t have any luggage or even tack on her. I caught Sekhet’s eye and inquired, “What’s with the unladen mare?” “Ah, my brother, that is our little traveling riddle,” she said with a mischievous smile. Anuket asked, “What do you call a pack pony on which harakhtet put no pack?” The twins winked and said together, I’m sorry I asked, I thought. I went to Alex and shook his hand. “I’m really gonna miss having another guy around.” “I bet,” he said, “Who else are you gonna brag about your threesomes to?” We laughed and clasped each other’s shoulders. “Take care, bro.” I gave his arm a final squeeze before I moved on to Pasha. I gave the Gorgon a quick hug and stroked Olympia’s hair. My reflexes are good; I snatched my hand back before the snakelets could bite it. “May you have many more babies as beautiful as this one,” I pronounced. Pasha nodded graciously and whispered her thanks. I turned to say goodbye to Brigit and Octavia and saw Aneksi with her arms wrapped around their necks. My bride was actually crying as she bade farewell to her friends. “Wait a minute,” I asked no one in particular, “How is she holding onto Octavia?” “To be a shrine maiden is to be a friend of the dead,” Sekhet answered, “That never entirely goes away.” The elder Sphinx gestured to her siblings, and the girls fell together into a tearful group hug before lining up to say goodbye to me. The twins came up on either side of me and placed tender lion kisses on either cheek. Anuket hugged me tightly and gave me a just-a-little-more-than-sisterly kiss on the lips. Finally Sekhet cupped my face in her hands, kissed me on the forehead, and said, “Take good care of her.” She didn’t have to add, “Or else.” I heard it loud and clear. The girls and Alex mounted their horses and turned toward their respective destinations. The Sphinxes rode off to the northwest, while my Best Man and his family headed south by southeast. I alternated watching each group recede into the distance, but their images blurred far sooner than distance could account for. It must have been something in my eyes. “Come on, laddie, we’re losing daylight,” Siglind chided. “Aye, cap’n,” I acknowledged. I went up the ladder after Aneksi, and it was a measure of how sad I was that I didn’t take the opportunity to appreciate the view. Beset followed me up and said, “All aboard, ready to get underway!” “Weighing anchor, trimming sails,” Siglind announced. She starting working levers, and the sails unfurled. Within moments the boat was in motion with a strong wind driving us east. “Next stop, the Lake of Glass! Go on up to the bow, laddie, and see how a Dwarf wind mistress travels!” I saluted Siglind and did as I was bid. I stood at the prow and watched as the dunes flew by. I normally would have found this sort of thing exhilarating, but the excitement couldn’t cut through the funk. “I’m the king of the world,” I said deadpan. I sat down on the deck wrapped in deepening depression, and the miles fell behind as I raced toward an uncertain future. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Twenty-seven: What the False Heart Doth Know I sat in the Golddigger’s prow as she devoured the distance between us and our destination. By the end of our first hour of travel the cold lump of sorrow lodged in my chest had diffused throughout my body to a bearable numbness. I stared ahead, unseeing, withdrawn so far within myself that I didn’t notice Aneksi sitting down next to me until she rested her head on my shoulder. I greeted her with a simple, “Hey, kittycat.” “Beloved,” she acknowledged. We sat together in silence for several minutes before she spoke again. “I know what troubles you, my husband.” I chuckled. “And what exactly makes you think I’m troubled?” The Sphinx lifted her head to look me in the eye. “You are quick with jokes and banter when you are among others,” she explained, “Especially when you are about to perform. But when you are upset, or merely tired, you go off by yourself. You have removed yourself to the opposite end of the boat from the rest of us and spoken not a word for over an hour. This tells me that you are upset.” “There are people who’ve known me for years and not figured that out,” I said. “How can you see it after knowing me for less than three months?” “Unlike those others, I think your feelings are important,” she replied. “Your joys are my joys, and your sorrows my sorrows.” “It’s not that big a deal, kittycat,” I said. “I just didn’t think I’d miss my new family so much after knowing them so briefly, but saying goodbye to them hit me pretty hard. I just need time to process it, that’s all.” “Hmmm,” she mused, “And what about your other family?” “Excuse me?” “You had a family before you came here, yet you have told me almost nothing about them,” she said. "Beset knows that you have three brothers but does not recall ever hearing their names. And you must have had parents.” I squirmed at this. This line of questioning bothered me for reasons I couldn’t identify. “I thought I’d already told you about my family,” I lied. “You have not,” she stated, “So tell me about them now.” “Well…” I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this, but Aneksi clearly wanted to know and I wanted to keep her happy. “My father Gerald used to be a soldier, like Beset’s. Air Force, not as fierce a tribe but better educated. Lucia, my mother, was a teacher, and eventually a principal… a leader of teachers. She died eight years ago. My dad’s still living, though.” “And your brothers?” “Three, all younger than me,” I said. “Gerardo, Saúl, and Carlos. They all become soldiers, too, but I never did. Saúl got married and had three children, Carlos has four and Gerry has one.” Aneksi looked at me intently. “And what about you, Tony?” “I have one child,” I admitted. “A boy, Tony Junior. He’s twelve.” The sadness suddenly coalesced into a band wrapped around my chest and started squeezing. “He went to live with his mother after I got sick. And now I won’t get to see him grow up… aw, dammit…” Tears rolled down my face as Aneksi gathered me to her bosom and held me. She didn’t say anything, she just let me cry it out. When I was done she lifted my head and gently pressed her lips to mine. “You have suffered a great loss, my love. There is no shame in allowing yourself to mourn.” “Hard to admit that I needed to,” I said. “De' Nile’s not just a river. But I guess I have to let them go, huh?” “I am afraid so, beloved,” she said, “But that does not mean you can never think or talk about them again. I would especially love to hear your stories about Little Tony.” “Ah, you say that now. Wait until you’ve heard them for the umpteenth time.” I shook my head and smiled. “How did you know what I needed?” The harakhtet returned my smile with interest. “I can read you like a scroll, beloved. Did our first meeting not teach you that?” I gave my bride a yes-but grin. “If you can read me so well, why do I get away with all the cheesy flirting?” “Because I like the cheesy flirting,” she said with a ‘well, duh’ look on her face. I sighed dramatically and said, “It figures. That’s why I got away with it back home, too.” We sat in silence for a while and enjoyed being wrapped around each other until I remembered something. “Don’t I still owe you a honeymoon?” The Sphinx favored me with a sly grin. “Indeed you do, my husband.” “Do you mind if we hold off on that for a few days? I feel like I should have a decent mourning period before starting our nuptials.” “That is all right, my love, I can wait… but not too long.” Aneksi stood and pulled me up next to her. “Now come join us. Siglind is dying to brag to you about her boat.” “Of course,” I said, “Captains like to brag about their vessels like parents like to brag about their children. Let’s go hear everything there is to know about sandskiffs.” Siglind proved to be an excellent orator; her spirited delivery made even the most mundane details of the wind mistress trade fascinating. Two hours went by before the Dwarf called our attention to the port bow. “Look there, me friends. Behold the Lake of Glass!” The “lake” was hard to make out even from the crest of a dune -- all we could see was a flattened silvery ellipse under a pall of heat haze. “Looks to be about a mile across,” I said. “Aye, and about a hundred paces deep,” Siglind added, “Dwarf-sized paces, that is.” “Legend has it that birds that fly over it are consumed by fire,” said Beset. “I’ll bet,” said I, “That’s a huge parabolic reflector. Even if it only reflects fifty percent of the light that hits it, the concentrated solar energy hitting all that area… I’d estimate it at twenty-million square feet… would be more than enough to vaporize a bird.” I turned to Siglind and asked, “How long has it been here?” The Dwarf shrugged. “As long as anyone remembers, laddie. Since right after the Dragon Wars, they say.” “That is more than ten thousand years,” Aneksi said, “How is it not filled with sand?” “No one knows, but the dunes go around it just the same.” The Dwarf winked. “As do sane wind mistresses.” Siglind gripped the tiller and turned south. “Next stop, Queen Leyla’s tomb. Now, let me tell ye about the time I fought a Minotaur at Harpy Rock…” We reached the tomb six hours later, which was just before nightfall as Alex promised. One look at the number of scorpions gathered near the doors convinced us to sleep on deck. “We should all sleep… and I mean really sleep…” said Beset with a pointed glance at Aneksi, “We have much to do tomorrow, and we should be well-rested for it.” “Yes, mother,” I snarked, but I headed for the silks as ordered. I even kept the shenanigans down to a passionate goodnight kiss for each of my girls. I was well across the border of dreamland before Siglind and Beset worked out who was taking first watch. Dawn came suddenly and much too soon. Siglind readied the Golddigger for full sail while my wives and I saw to our gear. With those tasks complete we said our farewells amid much hugging (mostly by Aneksi, mostly of Siglind) and backslapping (all by Siglind, mostly on me). Beset and Aneksi went down the ladder, and I was about to follow when Siglind called out to me, “Hey, laddie!” When I turned to respond she tossed me the springbow and an ammo belt. “Take it, it’s yer’s.” I shook my head. “I can’t keep this, Siglind. It’s worth a dozen good swords!” “It’s not worth me whole cargo, nor worth me boat. If not for ye and yer’s, I’d have lost ‘em all,” she said. “Take it, and we’re even.” “Thanks, cap’n,” I said. I slung the springbow across my back and headed for the ladder. “Don’t mention it. I’m dyin’ to hear how it works in a real fight.” She winked. “But if ye’r really in a grateful mood, ye can come below decks for a quickie.” “Somehow I don’t think my wives would approve,” I said with a smile. “Nay, I suppose they wouldn’t,” said the Dwarf, “But if they ever tire of ye, me offer still stands.” She saluted me with her right fist laid over her heart and pronounced, “Shade and sweet water to ye, Antonio Darkstar.” I returned the salute. “And to you, Siglind of Clan Redblade.” I climbed down the ladder and joined my companions. The boat set off to the northeast as soon as I was safely ashore and vanished behind a veil of windblown sand. The three of us faced the now scorpion-free door and steeled ourselves to go in. “For a long lost tomb, this place was suspiciously easy to find,” Beset mused. I turned to her and asked, “You think it’s a trap?” “That depends,” said Aneksi, “How much do you trust Mahire?” “Okay, it’s a trap,” I admitted, “But it’s also the best lead we’ve got.” “And it would be a shame to come all this way and leave empty-handed,” Beset agreed. “So we go in. Stay alert and be cautious. There are surely traps and puzzles throughout.” “Hey, we’ve got an experienced tomb guardian, a clever Sphinx, and the slickest man this side of the desert,” I boasted. “How hard can it be?” With that statement we forged bravely into the unknown. We reached the burial chamber four hours later. Aneksi was favoring a twisted ankle, Beset bore a multitude of ugly purple bruises, and my chest was covered with lacerations. We checked the room for traps, found none, and gratefully collapsed onto the floor. Beset fixed me with a glare that I don’t ever want directed at me again and said, “‘How hard can it be?’ Give me one reason why I should not strangle you, you foolhardy, reckless man!” I grinned sheepishly and said, “Because you would miss me too much?” The yinepet sighed. “Unfortunately, that is true. Perhaps I should just beat you.” “Ummm… wouldn’t Aneksi have something to say about that?” The Sphinx paused in wrapping her ankle long enough to say, “I will hold him while you hit.” “Et tu, Aneksi?” The truth was, that spinning blade trap would’ve killed me if Aneksi’s reflexes had been any slower. Not that I was completely useless; I’d been the one to pull Beset out of the mace gauntlet. My initial confidence notwithstanding, we’d been lucky to get this far. I stood up slowly and stretched my abused muscles. I wasn’t actually examining my surroundings, but I noticed something on the walls. “Do we have any torches left?” Beset stood up beside me and looked around. “There should be a light spell set into the ceiling. Now where is that trigger glyph…” She walked back to the door and ran her paws along the door jamb. A slow wag of her tail told me that she had found what she was looking for just before she spoke an unfamiliar word in the Old Tongue. The darkness slowly lightened as if on a dimmer switch. “As shrine maidens have certain privileges in shrines, so do tomb guardians have privileges in tombs,” she said smugly. The eldritch illumination revealed an archeologist’s fondest dream. Hieroglyphs and Egyptian-style pictures covered three walls, with a huge cartouche sharing its wall with only the door. Both women came up alongside me as I gazed in wonder at the sight before us. “Looks like an illuminated manuscript if the Egyptians had made them,” I announced. “The hieroglyphs are definitely Old Tongue,” said Aneksi, “But the grammar seems wrong somehow.” Beset pointed at the nearest wall. “See how shallow the marks are. These glyphs are worn, yet there is no wind in here to erode them. This writing is very old.” “Old enough for linguistic drift to throw off the translation, perhaps?” I turned to Aneksi. “This looks wrong to you because it’s an older form of the Old Tongue than the one you know.” “I can still read it, though,” she said, “And the pictures help.” She leaned closer to the wall and began translating. “‘Long ago, during what we now call the Time of Troubles, in the Era of the…’ ” “I think paraphrasing will do,” I said. Aneksi nodded and continued. “It tells of the Dragon Wars.” She indicated a picture that showed countless figures marching in formation. “The Forgotten One’s armies swept across the land. None could beat them.” She pointed to a picture of several flying Dragons. “The dragonkin were unstoppable. In their ancient forms no weapon could harm them.” She indicated another picture, this one showing a dark-scaled nagaina coiled on a huge throne and surrounded by a horde of mummies, skeletons and zombies. “Then the war came to Queen Leyla’s domain. By her arts she raised an undead army. This army knew no pain, no fatigue, and no fear. Regular troops were powerless against them. Only the dragonkin could meet them and win… but the undead could not attack dragonkin in flight.” The next picture showed a man wearing clothes from my world. He stood arm-in-arm with a large and impressive-looking Honeybee. “Then one day there came a man, an outlander. He became consort to a queen of the Hive Dwellers.” The following pictures showed many Honeybees engaged in a sequence of crafting tasks. “From him she learned how to forge outlander weapons of great power.” “That looks like an assembly line,” I said. When the girls cast confused looks at me, I explained. “A method of making large numbers of the same item quickly. Each worker becomes highly proficient at performing one task and passes her output to the next in line.” Beset scratched her head. “But what were they making?” “Let us find out,” said Aneksi. She turned back to the wall and continued, “The new weapons spat thunder. Dragonkin in the new form died outright, while those in the ancient form could be attacked while in the sky and died of their wounds when they changed back.” The picture showed ranks of undead carrying long tubes with fire spouting from the business ends. “Thus were the numbers of the dragonkin decimated, and the Dragon Wars ended.” My eyes grew wide in comprehension. “Rifles,” I breathed in awe. “They were mass producing rifles! And if the drawings are to scale, those are big bore guns. Fifty caliber, at least.” Beset’s eyes grew wide. “Those are such weapons as my father used before he came here,” she breathed. “He told me of them. These rye-fulls can kill from more than twice an arrow’s flight away, and the tiny arrows that they throw travel so fast that they outpace the sound of their passing.” “Nothing can move that fast,” Aneksi scoffed. “Bullets can,” I said. I nudged the Sphinx and said, “Keep reading. I want to know what happened to this army -- and its weapons -- after the war.” Aneksi nodded and complied. “When the war ended, The Lords ordered all of the new weapons destroyed, for they feared Queen Leyla’s power would go to her head. She refused. Instead she offered the Hive Dwellers heaps of gold and jewels to join her forces and moved her army’s camp to protect the hive. The Hive Dwellers agreed, and even made rye-fulls for themselves. Queen Leyla made Nebahat, queen of the Honeybees, her chief general and swore to carve out a Lordly domain for herself.” “That could not have gone over well,” said Beset. “It did not,” Aneksi pronounced. “The Lords were furious. They declared Leyla and Nebahat ba-seth, irredeemable, and met in Charisse’s capital to perform a great rite. With their combined power they called fire from the Sun and poured it out on Nebahat’s hive. Then they sent assassins to kill Leylagül and all of her children.” The last picture showed a blank khaki space surrounding a silver ellipse with wavy lines over it. “This last part is a quote. ‘And so the secret of thundersticks was lost to the world… until you who read this set eyes on it. Now the secret is yours.’” Beset looked confused. “What does that last picture mean?” “I’m not sure,” I answered. I tilted my head first one way, then the other, as I examined the image. “It looks kind of like…” My eyes widened and my jaw dropped as realization struck me like a bullet. “The Lake of Glass,” I whispered. “Oh my God. Oh, sweet Jesus, we are royally screwed!” I spun around and grabbed my companions’ arms. “We have got to get out of here now! Beset, leave no signs that we were ever in this room. We’ll remove our traces from the corridors as we leave. Aneksi, help me with the sarcophagus. We’ve got to grab Leyla’s bones and run!” Beset looked annoyed. “If I had known that a few hieroglyphs would teach you caution, I would have taught you more of them.” I rounded on her and screamed, “The Lords can’t know that we’ve been here!” I got up in her face, with full challenge mode eye contact, and growled, “They erased that hive from the face of the earth. Every man, woman, and child was burned alive for knowing this secret or just for living in the same place as those who did. They killed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people to destroy this knowledge. What do you think they’ll do to us?” The look of horror that took over the yinepet’s face showed that she understood the implications. She rushed to follow my instructions while Aneksi followed me to the sarcophagus. Opening the coffin was no mean feat. That stone lid was heavy, but with Aneksi’s strength and my spear as a lever we managed to remove it. We moved to retrieve the queen’s bones, but the tomb proved to be empty. “Nothing,” Aneksi whined. “We’ve been had,” I said. “Grab your gear, we’re out!” We got our packs and ran for the exit, but we didn’t get two steps outside the door before a familiar voice stopped us. “Leaving so soon, children?” A shimmering ash-gray form slithered out of the shadows into the pool of light spilling from the burial chamber. Six Mummies fanned out from behind her to block the passage. The surviving pair of Hornet bandits flanked the Lamia on one side, and a series of clicking noises heralded the appearance of the Girtablilu on the other. The storyteller gave a musical laugh and struck a sexy pose. “Hello, Darkstar,” said Mahire. “Did you miss me?” |
tygertygerJun 18, 2015 11:52 PM
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Twenty-eight: Let Us Call Thee Devil My girls and I drew our weapons while Mahire proved that a girlish giggle could double as an evil laugh. “Children, children,” she chided, “Why fight when you already know the outcome? Surrender now and save yourselves much suffering.” “We know your skill with illusions, snake,” Beset growled. “How do we know that these…” she indicated the Mummies with a lift of her chin, “… are real?” “How do you know that I am not concealing more warriors?” Mahire countered. “Come now, do not be tedious. I came here not to kill you, but to invite you to join me.” “With a secret that the Lords wiped out an entire city to protect as incentive,” I said. “That strikes me as a lot of trouble to go to over three recruits. I think you overthought this plan just a bit.” “Not at all, you delicious man,” she said. Something about the way that she said ‘delicious’ made my skin crawl, as if it wasn’t just a metaphor when she said it. “You were never supposed to get this far. My troops were to capture you when you camped before reaching the Lake of Glass. Imagine their surprise when they saw the Dwarf and her vessel. Aziza, here,” she gestured toward the Girtablilu, “Took it upon herself to claim that extra prize. Then you had to go and upset my carefully laid plans by actually winning that fight.” The Lamia wagged her finger at us. “That was very inconsiderate of you.” “But why us,” Aneksi asked. “What purpose is there in having us join you?” “For you, only that he cares for you,” the Lamia replied. “Your value is mainly as a hostage to insure his cooperation. The yinepet is of actual use to me, as I need more Mummies and cannot make more since my last Anubis died. As for this tasty, chocolate-colored man…” at this her eyes roamed over my form in a blatant display of lust, “I have chosen him to be the father of my children.” I laughed. “All the power you have, and you used it to become a stalker fangirl? That’s pathetic, Mahire.” “Mahire,” she mused. “A pretty enough name, but it is only one of the many skins that I have worn. I think perhaps it is time that I shed it.” At those words the storyteller’s image wavered. A wave of indigo washed over the gray of her scales, and her olive skin darkened to that deep purplish-brown that only certain Africans have on my world. Her hair stayed black, but instead of hanging straight down it spread out behind her head like a cobra’s hood. The creature ran her hands sensuously down her body and smiled to reveal the fangs protruding from her upper jaw – that explained the lisp, at least. “My subjects call me queen,” she said, “But my friends and lovers may call me… Nefer-Apep.” Beset and Aneksi both gasped. “An Apophis,” said the Sphinx with a shudder. When she’d first told me of the different kinds of mamono she had spoken of the Apophis breed in tones of dread. Now I could see why. Nefer-Apep’s form seemed to have the same physical power as a Gorgon’s, and if she also had the sorcerous might that was rumored for her kind she could easily take the three of us all by herself. I put on a brave front despite the odds against us; we weren’t defeated yet, after all. “I’m flattered, lady, but I’m not interested,” I said. “I do not require your interest, only your seed,” the nagaina declared. “You have many useful talents, Darkstar. You are quick-witted and observant. You are pleasing to the eye, and you are a smooth talker. Most of all, you have a gift for being liked. These are qualities that I want my daughters to inherit.” Her smile turned into a sneer as she continued. “Many men from your world imagine themselves to be warriors. You know better. You are an entertainer and a diplomat. That is what I need my daughters to be. I need for them to be able to go into noble houses all over Charisse and be welcome. I need them to work their way into the inner circle of this land’s aristocracy until my family alone holds the reins of power. Then I will claim my rightful place as Lord.” “Diabolical,” Beset whispered. “Visionary,” Nefer-Apep corrected. “Crazy,” I said. I had a sudden hunch and decided to run with it. “That kind of ambition is what got your mother killed, Neffie. What makes you think it’ll work out any better for you?” “DO NOT SPEAK OF MY MOTHER, YOU FILTHY SPERM BAG!” the Apophis roared. She regained her composure with a visible effort and continued. “Leylagül was the greatest queen of the Old Dynasty, and she actually worked to serve her people. That is more than can be said for Charisse!” Beset caught my eye while the Apophis was monologing. She flicked her eyes down to her feet, and I followed her gaze to see the red tile that she was poised to trigger. I nodded as the snake woman continued to rant. “The assassins killed my mother and sisters, but my skill with illusions saved me. For five centuries I came here on the anniversary of their deaths and carved the story on those walls with my own hands. The Lords know not that the knowledge has been preserved.” I looked over at Aneksi and flicked my eyes back toward the burial chamber. She nodded and tensed to await the signal to move. “For ten millennia I have studied the arts of magic. I am slowly building my army. I require only a Hive Dweller queen to provide the labor force, and I can begin making rifles again. Then my army will be strong enough to crush any resistance from that upstart Pharoah. My place will be secure, and I will reign as Lord forever!” She turned her gaze on me, and the fever brightness in her eyes told me that I hadn’t had the half of it when I’d called her crazy. “Last chance to do this gently, Darkstar. I offer you the Sphinx’s life in exchange for your hand in marriage. What say you?” The serpent stared at me expectantly. Her soldiers tensed, ready for action, as they awaited my reply. I looked first at Beset, then at Aneksi, and slung my spear. “There’s really only one answer I can give,” I said. “Queen Nefer-Apep, you can’t have my hand. But I will give you… the finger.” I matched deed to word an instant before Beset pressed the red tile. The three of us leapt back into the burial chamber as the ceiling above us came apart and rained down half-ton blocks of stone. I had the pleasure of seeing the smug smile wiped from the nagaina’s face before the rockfall blocked my view. We picked ourselves up as the dust settled. One look at the portal told us that we wouldn’t be leaving that way; even with mamono strength it would take a dozen people to shift that load in less than a month. I looked at Beset and said, “That was the only way out of here, wasn’t it?” “There may be a secret passage,” she said, “But such are never easy to find.” “We have plenty of time to look,” I responded. “No, we do not,” said Aneksi. “We have food enough for a week, two with rationing, and about six days worth of water.” “That gives us five days to find a way out of here, then,” I said. The Sphinx wrinkled her brow. “Why only five?” “We will need the sixth to find more water,” said the Anubis. “Come, let us get to work.” We filled the next five days with as much searching as we could stuff into them. The first day saw the three of us on hands and knees going over every inch of floor. Beset even climbed inside the sarcophagus and checked for a false bottom. The walls got the treatment next, first all three of us on the lower halves and then Beset standing on Aneksi’s shoulders to check the upper halves. We fell into a wake-work-sleep-repeat cycle despite the lack of sunrise and sunset. Each night we slept in a warm huddle, but the despair at our lack of results – combined no doubt with the lack of water for bathing – insured that there was neither hanky nor panky. We heard the digging on day three. We paused to listen and found the pace to be distressingly fast, nor had it slackened when Beset checked again an hour later. “Only the undead can work so hard without rest,” she said, “And from the sound of it there are more than the ones we saw. We have three days, perhaps four, before they breach the chamber.” That pronouncement spurred us to greater efforts to find a way out. We had covered the entire room by the end of day four. By unspoken agreement we woke up on what we reckoned as day five ready to start the process over again. What else could we do? Our choices were death by dehydration or another kind of death if we were captured; we now knew that the signs of addiction that I’d seen in Hashima and Aziza were the effects of Apophis venom. We all agreed – death before that. We were taking an evening break when Beset bolted upright and declared, “Ancients and ancestors! I am a fool and the queen of fools!” “Far be it from me to argue,” Aneksi said blearily, “But what are you talking about?” “The sarcophagus,” said the Anubis, “I did not check everything.” “You climbed inside the bloody thing,” I said, “You looked for triggers inside and out. What else is there to have looked at?” My beautiful warrior turned to me and flashed her predator’s smile. “I did not check it with the lid on,” she said. Aneksi and I looked at each other and grinned. The three of us leaped up and went over to the sarcophagus. Getting the lid off was easier with all three of us working on it. Instead of lowering it to the floor we turned it ninety degrees. Aneksi and I packed up all of the gear while Beset covered our impromptu latrine – there was no avoiding bodily functions, but the tomb guardian insisted that we respect the tomb. Then we climbed inside one by one and maneuvered the lid back into place. There was a loud “thunk,” and then the floor lowered in a jerky motion as millennia-old mechanisms struggled to do their job. “All done with counterweights,” the yinepet said smugly. I found her face in the dark and rewarded her with a kiss that was practically flammable. “After Aneksi gets her honeymoon, remind me to give you a night of hot gratitude sex,” I said. “We both will,” said the Sphinx. I looked toward the sound of her voice and raised my eyebrows. Aneksi must have seen my expression even in the dark, for she replied, “What? She is my wife too, you know.” Beset laughed. “It is a date, then.” The elevator ground to a halt and deposited us in a tunnel. Our descent seemed to have triggered a light spell that illuminated a length of about two hundred paces. “There is no telling how long the tunnel is, so we should save our last torch. Aneksi, you go first. Your night vision is best. We go as far as we can on this light and use the torch only when there is no longer enough light for you to see by.” Aneksi nodded and led the way into the tunnel. I went behind her – even in this situation sparing some thought for how much I liked watching her walk – and Beset brought up the rear. We maintained an easy walking pace for me, which is fast for most people. I can go a mile in about seventeen minutes, and my time sense is pretty good. We went for about half an hour, roughly two miles, before we had to use the torch. Aneksi steered us around three traps along the way. When I asked why there would be traps in the escape tunnel, Beset replied, “To deter pursuit.” Queen Leyla’s architects were apparently not nice people. It took another hour and a half for us to reach the end of the tunnel, so the whole thing was about seven-and-a-half miles long. We emerged into the open air at what looked to be an hour before sunset. Never in my life before or since have I been so happy to set eyes on a featureless expanse of sand. We collapsed onto the ground, but we knew that we had only minutes to rest before we had to get moving again. Aneksi and I turned to Beset, and I said, “What now, my sharif?” She looked at me questioningly, and with good reason; I had never addressed her by her title before. “We’re following your lead, babe. You haven’t steered us wrong yet.” Aneksi nodded in agreement. “Our husband is right, O sharif. You lead, we follow.” The corner of Beset’s mouth lifted in what someone who didn’t know her would’ve thought to be a cocksure smile, but I could see the affection and gratitude in her eyes. After a moment’s thought she announced, “We go east, across the border into Amarante. We are low on food and water, and both will be more abundant there. Besides which, Nefer-Apep may be cautious about taking her troops into another Lord’s domain.” The Anubis stood and shouldered her pack. “Let us go quickly. If we hurry we can be across the border by tomorrow night.” Then she looked over her shoulder at me and said, “And do not call me ‘babe.’” Her tone was stern, but her smile and wink ruined the effect. I grinned and fell into step beside her, and Aneksi slid into place on my other side. The three of us put the sunset at our backs and headed for Amarante and hoped-for safety. Two days of brisk walking brought us into the Calm Lord’s realm. We hadn’t been in Amarante for half a day when we stumbled on a hidden glen. The fragrances of flowers, citrus trees and fresh water were intoxicating after the chalk-dry desert air. Despite our fatigue the lure of the slowly flowing stream was too much; we were stripped and in the water faster than you could say, “mixed bathing.” Once we’d washed the dust of Charisse from ourselves we crawled ashore and lay full length on the grass to let the Sun lick the moisture from our skins. “Tell me again why we live in a desert,” I said. “I cannot at the moment. I am too busy being clean,” Aneksi replied. “Let us move here, my sharif.” “We will move here long enough to replenish our supplies,” said Beset. “And to that end, I believe that I will do some hunting.” The Anubis stood up and stretched. She picked up her clothes, sniffed them, and wrinkled her nose in distaste before tossing the sweat-stiffened garments down. “But I am glad that it is warm enough to hunt naked. I will leave the task of doing laundry to you two.” She started off, but stopped at the edge of the glen and cast me a pointed look. “This is a very pleasant place, Antonio. Some might even call it an ideal honeymoon spot.” Then she vanished into the forest. Wow, I thought, How does she do all that pillow-plumping when there aren’t any pillows? Even so, I took the hint. I levered my tired body off of the grass and went to my pack. The package that I had placed there over a week ago was right where I’d left it. I brought it out and walked back over to Aneksi. “What is that, beloved?” She asked me. “A little wedding present,” I answered. “There just hasn’t been a good time to give it to you lately.” I handed it to her, and she delicately sliced the wrapping with the tip of one claw to reveal a small rectangular box. She opened the box, and her face lit with the kind of feminine smile that has been making the DeBeers family rich for generations. “A gold bracelet! It is so beautiful! Oh, thank you, my love!” She hugged me hard enough that it hurt, but that smile was totally worth it. “And a cat’s-eye for the stone! It is perfect!” “Sometimes I get one right,” I said. “Here, let me put it on you.” I plucked the bracelet from the box, took an end of it in each hand, and held it out to her. Aneksi started to extend her left arm, but she stopped mid-motion. Then she smiled her I-know-what-you-like smile, leaned back on her hands, and extended her left leg. I grinned in response and fastened the bauble around her ankle. “How did you know that I find ankle bracelets incredibly sexy?” I asked. “I told you, beloved. Like a scroll.” The harakhtet lay back on the grass and raised her adorned leg with her toes pointed at the sky. That position gave her a good view of her new jewelry in addition to giving me a good view of something just as pretty. “Now, how shall I thank you for this lovely gift, I wonder?” “Oh, I’m not done giving you the gift yet,” I announced. “There is more?” Aneksi sat up with an intrigued look on her face. “What else did you bring me?” “Oh, not much,” I said nonchalantly. “I just thought that you might like a bit of a riddle game, that’s all. But if you’d rather skip it and get right to the screwing…” I moved to grab her, but the Sphinx rolled backward out of reach. “No, no, the screwing can wai… !” She caught herself, forced some dignity into her demeanor, and said, “I mean, a riddle contest would be lovely.” She settled herself cross-legged on the grass and asked, “So, who tells and who answers?” “I will ask you four riddles,” I said. “Answer them all correctly, and you win. Fail to answer even one, and I win. And a complete answer includes an explanation of why your answer is correct.” Ah, revenge is a dish that it best served cold. “And what does the winner get?” Aneksi asked with a sly smile on her face. I leaned in close enough for my breath to tickle her ear and whispered, “To be on top.” I allowed myself a moment to enjoy the anticipatory shudder that ran through my bride’s body before I leaned back and matched her posture. “Shall we begin?” She nodded eagerly, so I launched into my first riddle. The more you take out of it, the bigger it gets. “Oh, that is an easy one,” said Aneksi. “Correct,” I said. “Here’s riddle number two.” “I’ve never seen your face, but I kiss it every day. You see me every morning in the treetops where I play.” “Ah, Sekhet taught me this one!” I was starting to feel flushed for some reason, but I sallied forth with the next riddle. “Many on the street would stand if I were not as a friend at hand.” The Sphinx struggled with this one for a while. Her tail lashed back and forth for over a minute as she racked her brain, but she finally smiled and gave her answer. I managed to gasp out “Correct,” with a semblance of dignity, but I was definitely sweating now. I also had a raging erection. “Woo, is it hot out here, or is it just me?” “That is how the Riddle Curse works, beloved,” said Aneksi. “But I can’t cast that,” I protested. “You challenged me, so I can,” she said. “Last riddle?” “You asked for it, so here it comes.” “What falls from the sky straight into your heart, is bright all day but only shines at night?” Aneksi sat in thought for a moment before her face split in a huge grin. She got down on her hands and knees and practically crawled into my lap. “There is only one thing I know…” she kissed me on one cheek. “That fell from the sky…” and then the other. “Straight into my heart.” She reached up and brushed her lips across one of my eyelids, “Is bright all day,” and then the other, “But only shines at night.” She backed away and sat back on the grass. “Correct,” I said. At that word a wave of heat and sensation washed over me. A cry of pleasure that was too big to escape my throat caught there and held my mouth open as I fell full-length on the ground. I could do nothing but grab handfuls of grass and hold on for dear life as my hips jerked as if in orgasm. Oh, man, I thought, If this is how she felt when I won, no wonder she followed me! When I could concentrate again I sat up and looked at Aneksi. I tried to make a witty remark, but all that came out was a growl of unrestrained lust. “Go ahead, my love,” the harakhtet purred, “You know you want to.” I roared like a tiger and pounced. I got my hands on Aneksi’s shoulders and tried to push her down, but she rolled with it and flipped us over so that she was on top. “And now for my prize,” she said. She lowered herself onto me already wet and ready – apparently the riddle game was enough foreplay for a Sphinx. Then she raised her arms to the sky and started to sway. She moved to a rhythm that only she could hear, weaving her hands in a mesmerizing pattern and rolling her hips with my pulse as a drumbeat. Aneksi danced for me, and I could do nothing but grasp her hips and join the dance. We moved together to that silent beat until the first dance ended in a mutual climax, and then we danced again. By the third dance I could hear the music, too. Beset returned with dinner sometime during the fourth dance, but Aneksi and I didn’t notice until we smelled the meat cooking. I ended up refilling the canteens and doing all of the laundry while Aneksi gathered potatoes and herbs to go with the roasted rabbit. With those tasks complete we enjoyed our first hot meal in over a week, bathed in the river again just because we could, and finally cuddled together for our first night in Amarante. That night I dreamed of Gray Gardens. I saw the walls polished to mirror brightness, the trees of its crown trimmed to order, and the fields in neatly planted rows. I saw a thriving village complete with a variety of mamono villagers and their husbands. The wind carried the laughter of numerous children, and a few of those children were human. My dream self walked into the tower and looked around. The place looked just as good inside as out, and I could feel the mystic energy pouring out of the sacred pool. Five little Sphinxes danced before the altar while Aneksi watched, and an equal number of young Anubi were engaged in combat drills with Beset. After a few minutes the children finished their lessons and ran outside. They went right by me without reacting to my presence – apparently I was just an observer here – and when they passed I could see that several of them looked like me. I stood there with a sappy grin on my face while the girls went out to play. “That would be so cool if my children were like this,” I said to myself. “And so they might have been,” said a familiar voice from behind me. “For this is a True Dream.” Nefer-Apep slithered up beside me. “Few humans, and almost no mamono, have these,” she continued, “But True Dreams show possibilities, not certainties, and this possibility is no longer open to you.” The Apophis slid around to face me and crossed her arms under her ample breast. “Come now, Darkstar. Did you really think that you could escape me so easily?” |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| im not complaining bout the length of chapters nor the mass upload (please do keep it up) but i cant help but be upset that people complain to me bout my upload rate when you upload 2-3 times as much material in a smaller time window than i |
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Clarus_Nox said: im not complaining bout the length of chapters nor the mass upload (please do keep it up) but i cant help but be upset that people complain to me bout my upload rate when you upload 2-3 times as much material in a smaller time window than i This is a re-upload. (I honestly went through the same thing) =P Basically he's actually already finished his story and is just reposting it in the new home. |
| still i really enjoy writing, and having a place that i dont have to build a following to have people enjoy something i wrote is ideal i just dont understand why people complain bout my upload rate its not like they r required to read it each chapter the moment it comes out |
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| Chapter Twenty-nine: What Wound Did Ever Heal I glared at the Apophis as if my gaze could set her on fire. “Get out of my head, snake,” I snarled. Nefer-Apep tsked. “Such rudeness. You seem to have no appreciation for how difficult it is to find a specific dreaming mind at this distance.” She began moving toward me in a slow, sensual weave. “A wiser man would be grateful that a beautiful woman would go to such lengths to be with him.” She held her arms out to enfold me, and her lips parted in anticipation of a kiss – so she wasn’t at all prepared for my reaction. I extended my hand palm forward in a rapid striking motion. The blow stopped a foot from her chest, but she still flew across the room as if she’d been struck by an elephant and then pitched up against the far wall momentarily stunned. In the time it took for her to sort out her tangle of coils I summoned a suit of gleaming golden armor. Nefer-Apep got herself together just in time to see me extend my hand to create a spear of light. I took an attack stance and leveled the spear at her heart. “My mind, my rules,” I said. It’s amazing what I can do when I really am dreaming. The Apophis sighed. “A lucid dreamer. I should have known.” She brushed herself off and proceeded toward me again. “Given a hundred years or so of training you might make a fair oneiromancer, but of course I cannot allow that.” She raised her hand and made a wibbly-wobbly movement with her fingers. The room lurched and spun, and I found myself in a scene right out of the Arabian Nights. The tent was easily large enough to sleep a dozen human-sized people, and the carpet was luxuriously soft under my suddenly bare feet, but that sensation took a back seat to my stomach spinning. My spear popped like a soap bubble as I fell to my hands and knees, and my armor effervesced away while I dry-heaved. “What is wrong, man-child? Does astral projection not agree with you? Do not worry, the sickness will pass shortly.” The nagaina circled me as she gloated. “But your uncooperative attitude necessitates a change of venue,” she said from above my retching form. “My mind. My rules.” Nefer-Apep slid her tail underneath me and flipped me over onto my back. I caught a brief glimpse of a second version of her coiled in sleep. The dreaming Apophis wore the same triumphant smile as did the one tormenting me now. I surmised that this was her actual body – her magic had somehow transported my mind to her physical location. “Now, where was I before I was so rudely interrupted? Ah, yes, I was about to get some… appreciation… for all the work that I have done to find you.” She snapped her fingers, and my dream-clothes instantly burned away. I yelped at the flash of heat and pain. Another gesture from her brought tendrils bursting from the ground to secure my limbs. The Apophis lowered herself between my legs and starting caressing my thighs and belly. She must have enhanced her touch with magic, for it felt really good. I bent all of my willpower to the task of suppressing my male response to that stimulus. “Not for you,” I said through gritted teeth. “Only Aneksi. Only Beset. Never for you!” Nefer-Apep pouted. “Oh, Darkstar,” she said, “Such recalcitrance. You could make a lady feel unattractive.” “Blame it on my ‘uncooperative attitude,’” I said. The nagaina sighed dramatically. “I should have known that you would have an irrational sense of loyalty to your companions. No doubt you think yourself in love with them.” She scooted forward to place herself nose-to-nose with me. “But consider this. There are many differences between mamono and human women. Does a human girl purr as she sucks you? Can a human woman tickle your belly with her tail as you take her from behind?” My look of outrage earned a girlish chuckle from her. “Oh, yes, I have sampled your memories of your encounters with them. I must say that you are delightfully vigorous for a man your age.” Her voice took on a professorial tone as she continued. “But have you not wondered how you became accustomed to such things so quickly, or how you so easily came to accept loving two women?” She slid her head back over my lap and continued her ministrations. “Your mind is the part of yourself that you value the most, so that is the place where this island finds it easiest to corrupt you. Your mind has changed, Darkstar. I wonder if human women would even excite you anymore.” “It’s a sure bet that serpents don’t do it for me,” I said defiantly. “Your memories of the Gorgon suggest otherwise,” the Apophis responded. “Still, it seems that I must take a more direct approach.” She put her hand in my crotch and did something fluttery with her fingers. I redoubled my resistance effort, but my nether regions betrayed me. “Now that is more like it!” She extended her forked tongue and licked me once, slowly and softly, and I shuddered with involuntary delight. “This little taste won’t be as potent as drinking your actual seed, but it will allow me to track you… in addition to leaving you a gift of sorts. Your little friends will thank me for it.” Then she unhinged her jaw and engulfed my manhood, balls and all. Her lips sealed around me against an unbelievable suction, and her tongue lashed me mercilessly. The torrent of sensation hit my mind like a railroad spike between the eyes. My back arched hard enough to slam my head against the ground as wave after wave of inescapable pleasure and pain shook me to my core. I could do nothing but scream inwardly as the snake woman violated me. OhGodohGodhelpithurtsit’sgoodstoppleasestopnonononoNO! My only consolation was that it would be over when I woke up. I woke up, and learned to my horror that it wasn’t over. I bolted upright with a howl of terror that woke my brides. Both of them jumped up and instantly went into combat mode. Aneksi scanned the area with her catlike eyes. “Tony! What is it, beloved?” I struggled to get myself under control. “Nefer-Apep… broke into my dream… tracking me…” I stammered. At the sight of Aneksi’s wonderful curves I become uncomfortably aware that we’d slept in the nude. My breathing was ragged, and my skin was fever-hot. I saw my hand reach for her seemingly of its own volition, and it took an effort of will to pull it back. “Something’s… wrong… with me.” Beset leaned toward me and examined me. “Look at his eyes. He has received a mind-affecting curse,” she said. She pulled back the silks that still covered me below the waist and gasped. I did the same when the night air hit me in a tender place. I knew without looking what was wrong. My erection was throbbing painfully, and it felt as hot as a newly forged sword in need of quenching. Aneksi looked on in mingled awe and concern. “It is not supposed to be so… big,” she said. “What happened?” “The Ityphallikos Curse,” Beset answered. “But more powerful than I have ever seen it, and apparently delivered through a dream.” The Anubis went to her pack and pulled out a jar of aloe salve. “It will injure him, possibly leave him impotent, if not dealt with.” She opened the jar and slathered the ointment on her thighs and her Heavenly Gate. Then she tossed the jar to Aneksi. “When he exhausts me, use this on yourself. He will be at least half spent by then, so you should still be able to stand guard when it is over.” Seeing Beset lubricate herself like that intensified my desire to the point where it almost overwhelmed my reason. My body struggled to go to her, but my mind resisted. What I was feeling wasn’t natural, wasn’t really me, and most certainly had nothing to do with love or affection. It was pure and simple lust, raw animal desire that took and took with no thought to giving. Not like this, I thought, Not like this! I resisted bravely, but my resolve crumbled when Beset lay down and opened her legs. “Come to me, my captain,” Beset entreated. I roared and leaped onto her. There was no preparation, no foreplay. I just jabbed into her and pounded away. Time ceased to exist. There was only my fingers digging into her flesh, her cries of pleasure or pain, I cared not which, and the slap-slap of skin against skin. I had a brief interval of near-lucidity when I saw her head lolling as drool flecked her lips. Then I felt Aneksi’s hands pulling me away from the yinepet’s limp form. “My turn, beloved,” said the Sphinx. She pulled my head close to her lap and let me breathe in the musk of her sex. That scent drove volition away once again, and I dove into her with the same ferocity with which I’d unleashed myself on Beset. There was no hugging or kissing, just an insistent quest for more stimulation. Aneksi yowled in what was left of me hoped was ecstasy. After far too long a time I finally tired, but in the end there was no pleasure for me. There was only release. I collapsed atop my wife and let consciousness fall away like the tears that soaked her breast. Dawn’s accusing rays grabbed me by the eyes and dragged me back to wakefulness. I groaned with fatigue and sat up. Then I remembered the night’s events and groaned again. “Please let all of that have been a nightmare,” I said. “I am afraid not, my love,” said Aneksi. I looked to where she was standing and stifled a dismayed whine. She had bruises on her wrists and forearms, and on her neck… yeah, those were definitely bite marks. “How are you feeling?” “Unbelievably sorry,” I answered. “I didn’t hurt you too badly, did I?” “It is not as bad as it looks,” said the Sphinx. “And like our first time together, the pleasure was greater than the pain.” She sat down next to me and folded me into her arms. “I am not as a human woman, beloved. I am much stronger, and far less fragile. What happened last night was more… energetic… than I prefer, but not more than I can stand. And I would be lying if I said I did not like it. Such is the strength of a mamono’s desire.” I laughed bitterly. “Well, at least I understand that a little better now.” I looked over to my other side to the supine silk-wrapped form there. “How’s Beset?” Aneksi smiled. “Ask her yourself. She woke up a few minutes before you did.” I stood up and walked over to where the Anubis lay. I knelt next to her -- somehow a posture of supplication seemed appropriate -- and laid my hand on her shoulder. “Hey, love. How are you doing?” She rolled to face me and opened her eyes. “Tired. Sore,” she said. A brief smile lit her face. “Strangely satisfied.” The bruises that covered what I could see of her skin belied her lighthearted mood, but I let it pass. I had received a lesson in how inhuman my wives were, but that fact no longer disturbed me. After what had happened the previous night, and what Nefer-Apep had said about how the island is changing me, I was beginning to wonder who the real monster was. “Are your things packed, husband?” I gave her an incredulous look. “After last night, you can’t possibly be in any condition to travel!” “We have no choice,” said Beset. “You said the Apophis was tracking you. It took us two-and-a-half days to get here, but Nefer-Apep and her troops won’t have a human slowing them down. They will be here by tomorrow afternoon. Our trail must be cold by then if we are to elude them, and for that we must be gone from here by noon.” The Anubis propped herself up on her elbows -- not without some struggle, I noted -- and fixed me in her command glare. “Help Aneksi break camp. Get everything packed, and be ready to move out when I have rested a bit more.” She flopped back down and added, “But first, get me some breakfast.” I opened my mouth to utter a retort, but the look in her eyes silenced me. I heaved a put-upon sigh and got to my feet. “Yes, my sharif,” I replied. As a military brat I have a good sense for when the best course of action is to obey orders. Beset slept for another three hours after breakfast, during which time Aneksi and I packed up and concealed the traces of our camp as best we could. When the Anubis deemed herself ready to travel, or more likely when she decided it wasn’t safe to wait any longer, we set out to the north. “We shall return to Gray Gardens,” the Anubis declared. “It is a fortified position, and the traps will offset the enemy’s advantage of numbers.” “The tower may also have wards that will block the nagaina’s tracking spell,” Aneksi added. “Gray Gardens, no problem,” I grumbled. “All we have to do is travel hundreds of miles on foot while evading pursuit. That should take us, what, three weeks?” “We have you with us, so more like a month,” said Beset. “But if you have a better idea, my captain, I am eager to hear it.” I, of course, did not have a better idea, so I shut up and kept walking. The trip to Gray Gardens was every bit as long and unpleasant as I expected. Every day we were up with the Sun, and more often than not we ate breakfast on the move. Every night we camped in the most hidden or inaccessible spot that we could find. The first night was almost a repeat of the previous one; when I descended into dream I found Nefer-Apep waiting for me. Thank the ancients and ancestors that Beset was on watch. My wail of despair in the dream was echoed in the waking world, and my quick-thinking second wife shook me awake before the Apophis could curse me again. After that she put a reverse Ityphallikos Curse on me every night before bed. It didn’t stop Nefer-Apep from violating my dream self, but at least I didn’t wake up and violate my companions. I found myself going days at a time without sleep, and the nagaina was there whenever I couldn’t hold out any longer. I spent more nights than I care to think about wrapped in her coils. I bore it well; neither her seductions nor her taunts broke my resolve. It was guilt that finally breached my defenses. After she whispered in my ear, “This is what being with Pasha would be like,” I woke up crying for days. We crossed from Amarante into the mountain country during the second week. I must have looked pretty bad by then, for the mamono we met on the road started commenting on it. Most of the comments took forms like, “You two need to let that man rest a bit.” Neither I nor my wives bothered to correct them. During the third week I woke from an all-too-rare dreamless night to find my girls conversing in low tones, so I feigned sleep to hear what they were saying. “You cannot hide it from me, Beset,” said the Sphinx, “I can smell it clearly. You should tell him!” “So should you, Riddle Keeper,” Beset replied. “But we will not, not yet. He has enough to deal with right now.” Aneksi started to argue, but I must have made a faint noise that her leonine ears detected. She turned toward me and made a shushing motion at Beset. With no further revelations forthcoming I sat up and made a show of yawning and rubbing my eyes. “Good morning,” I said. “What’s for breakfast?” “Berries and distance,” Beset responded. “Pack up and start walking.” The look on her face said that she suspected that I’d heard their conversation but declined to comment on it. If she wasn’t going to bring it up, neither was I. I packed up and started walking. The cycle of sleepless nights and invasive nightmares continued. On one occasion the Apophis even let her handmaidens have a go at me. One of them held each limb while the remaining two rode me, one on my hips and one on my face. I awoke from that attack and could do nothing but shake while my wives held me. I finally got myself under a semblance of control an hour later. Beset pulled me to my feet and asked, “Can you go on?” I nodded and looked her in the eye. “I… am going… to kill… that… snake,” I swore. My wife showed her fangs in agreement and then shouldered my pack for me. We went on. What choice did we have? We ended up needing five weeks to return to Gray Gardens; my sleep problem slowed us down. The sleepless nights seemed to interfere with Nefer-Apep’s tracking, though, so we were able to stay at least a day ahead of our pursuers the whole way. We were within an hour of our favored river crossing when we ran into the patrol. The five mamono -- a Sphinx, a Golem, two Werewolves, and a desert Arachne -- all wore white headbands with golden sun disks on them. The soldiers spread out in front of us with weapons at the ready. The Sphinx, who was clearly the leader, barked, “For Isis or for Charisse? Declare yourselves!” Beset walked right up against the end of the woman’s sword. “I am a Tomb Guardian. She is a former shrine maiden. We are for the dead. The living can sort out their own problems.” The yinepet’s gaze drilled into the soldier’s eyes, and the harakhtet blinked first. The Anubis brushed by her with Aneksi and I in tow. The leader’s indecision caused her soldiers to hesitate, but one of the Werewolves recovered quickly. “We should take the man as tribute for the Radiant One,” she said. “I would not recommend it,” Aneksi growled. “There are two of us, and only five of you.” The troops saw the look in her eye and wisely decided that the Radiant One didn’t need any more tribute just then. We traveled the rest of the way to Gray Gardens without incident. By the time we reached the door to the tower my wives were supporting me between them. The familiar whirlwind of dust coalesced into Gray Gardens’ avatar as we approached. “The great performer returns,” the genius loci announced, “And empty handed, I see! Could you not perform this one simple task for me, Tony? Or should I call you… Darkstar?” “Put a sock in it, you old slum,” I grumbled. “You and the wind know damn well that we’ve got a queen on our heels. We kill her and you’ve got your royal corpse.” “Oh, yes,” Gray Gardens teased, “The mighty warrior who hasn’t slept in four days certainly looks like he is ready to take on a grandmaster sorceress.” She sashayed up to me and leaned down so that we were eye to eye. “Maybe you should come inside and rest a while before you continue running for your life.” “Maybe I’m through running,” I replied. I swept my arm through the hazy form and scattered it into the wind. “I’m going inside, ladies. You coming?” Aneksi turned to Beset. “I love it when he gets all commanding,” she purred. The yinepet rolled her eyes. “You would.” We strode toward the door, which opened itself to admit us, and went inside. The psychic pressure from Nefer-Apep’s spells ceased the moment I crossed the threshold. My knees sagged in relief, and my wives had to catch me and carry me up to our sleeping chamber. I vaguely remember being lain on the silks before welcome darkness embraced me like a lover. I awoke with a body pressed against mine. I flinched at first because I thought it was another nightmare intrusion, but it was legs rather than coils wrapped around me. Instead of slabs of serpentine muscle there were soft curves, and the smell that filled my nostrils wasn’t the sandalwood incense that the queen favored. It was that mixture of musk and jasmine that was now to me the fragrance of love… Aneksi, my Aneksi. Our arms went around each other, and we flowed together like two wines poured into the same glass. When we broke the kiss she raised up on her arms and looked down at me. “Good afternoon, beloved,” she breathed. “I must’ve been pretty tired if you two let me sleep through the morning,” I said. “More tired than you know,” she replied. “You have been asleep for nearly two days, Tony.” “Two days!” I jolted upright, but Aneksi’s paw on my chest prevented me from rising further than a sitting position. “Nefer-Apep… ?” “Is not here,” said the Sphinx. “We thought that she would quickly figure out where we were after her tracking spell broke down, but apparently she is not so clever as we feared.” “Thank God for small favors,” I said. I looked around the room and asked, “Where’s Beset?” “Getting lunch,” the Sphinx answered. “Are you hungry, my husband?” “Very,” I said. I pulled her to me and kissed her again. “I’m sorry that your honeymoon got interrupted, kittycat. And I’m sorry that I’ve been neglecting you for over a month.” Aneksi lowered her eyes. “The cause was… more than sufficient,” she whispered. “Still, you deserve my attention,” I said, “And I like giving you my attention.” I put my arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “I’m still kinda tired, but if you want to, we can… you know…” My bride gave me a Mona Lisa smile and then kissed me long and deep. She lowered me to the silks without breaking the kiss, and we both kept our eyes open to gaze lovingly at each other. When we came up for air she sat up and stroked my cheek. Then she turned me on my side and spooned in behind me. “Wounded boys rest,” she said. “Go back to sleep. We will speak of this again when you are fully recovered.” “That may have to wait,” said Beset. She strode into the room like she was on a mission. “We have trouble approaching.” “The trouble we were expecting?” I asked. I threw off the silks and stood up. Aneksi joined me, and the two of us followed Beset when she beckoned us out of the room. “I am not sure,” said the Anubis. “I know that someone has been inside Gray Gardens since we left; there was graffiti written in powdered lapis in one of the corridors. I have also seen movement to the southeast.” Aneksi looked baffled. “Graffiti? What does it say?” “I do not know,” Beset admitted. “It is written in a language with which I am unfamiliar.” She glared at the ceiling and added, “And by someone who seems to have avoided all of the traps in that quadrant.” “Tut, tut,” said the disembodied voice of Gray Gardens, “There is no sport in killing the cactus-addled.” “I hope that you find the killing of murderers and kidnappers more sporting, then,” the yinepet said. We reached a window with a view to the southeast and looked out. The marching figures were still a great ways off, certainly too far to see clearly, but they were obviously mamono and there was quite a lot of them. Beset saw the look on my face and said, “I estimate that there is about a hundred of them. That is just a few more than I would prefer to fight.” “If we had a telescope we could see what we’re dealing with,” I speculated. “I can see it clearly,” said Gray Gardens, “And I have heard the words that preceded it.” “Is that so,” said I. “Well, then, out with it, building!” Gray Gardens laughed. “Nefer-Apep figured out where you were hiding almost immediately, and she decided that she needed help pulling this little snail out of its shell. So she enlisted the aid of one of her allies, an undead noble. There are now one hundred Zombies, twelve Mummies, twenty of the queen’s living troops, and Nefer-Apep herself marching this way!” I felt my face harden at this announcement. I turned to Beset and asked, “How long until they get here?” “They will arrive by nightfall,” she replied. “But no sane commander would order her troops into Gray Gardens at night, so we have until morning.” “I am certain that Nefer-Apep is not sane, but otherwise I agree,” Aneksi said. Beset nodded. “We can make a stand here, though probably a doomed one. Or we can make for the temple at Lost Ruins and hope for sanctuary from the high priestess.” She laid a paw on my shoulder and said, “I leave the decision with you, my captain. Do we run, or do we fight?” The genius loci started chuckling. I looked out the window, but I could no longer see the formation headed our way. I saw only Nefer-Apep’s face looking down at me after too many nights of pain and humiliation. Fists that I didn’t remember making tightened almost to the point of drawing blood from my palms, and my teeth ground against each other like tectonic plates. My anger only allowed one answer to that question. “We fight,” I said. At my reply the laughter of Gray Gardens rose in pitch and volume to become the battle hymn of a maniac. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Well if he took out anything related to other stories (so readers outside of MSG wouldn't be confused) used a different setting (can't publish anything about the MSG) and replaced the characters with something not used elsewhere lol. I'm not sure how much of the work in here would infringe any copyrights if published, though it certainly represents his ability as a writer. |
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Darkness-Ryu said: Oh yeah; but it does indeed still feels like you're actually reading a sci-fi book. Something along the line like Percy Jackson, or in the areas of the Son of Neptune. Wouldn't that make it a fantasy? xD |
| It's natural for a person to deny he's a failure as a human being. That's why he searches for somebody who is more miserable than himself. That's why so much animosity exists on the internet. Those who aren't able to find a more miserable person, turn to the internet and call other people losers, even though they've never met. Just to make themselves feel superior. isn't that pathetic? There's a sense of security that comes from speaking badly of someone else. But that isn't true salvation. — Tatsuhiro Satou YandereTheEmo said: The only thing more pathetic than quoting someone you know nothing about, is quoting yourself. |
| I'm just saying Sci-fi is a different genre. Science Fiction--typically relating to the future/space/aliens/new technology. This would be more like a medieval fantasy. |
| It's natural for a person to deny he's a failure as a human being. That's why he searches for somebody who is more miserable than himself. That's why so much animosity exists on the internet. Those who aren't able to find a more miserable person, turn to the internet and call other people losers, even though they've never met. Just to make themselves feel superior. isn't that pathetic? There's a sense of security that comes from speaking badly of someone else. But that isn't true salvation. — Tatsuhiro Satou YandereTheEmo said: The only thing more pathetic than quoting someone you know nothing about, is quoting yourself. |
| Wow, some cool comments of late! And high praise, too -- thanks, DR! On the sci-fi feel, that's my influences showing. I became an avid reader of fiction because of SF from the Golden Age (Asimov, Clarke, Delaney, etc.). I wanted to write SF when I first started writing, but one of my instructors pointed out (much to my chagrin) that I wrote fantasy better. That, plus my discovery of the urban fantasy genre a few years ago, led to my genre shift. One of my stories that's currently awaiting the publisher's attention is a space opera, though. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Thirty: The Action of the Tiger We had much to do and little time in which to do it. Beset sent Aneksi out to hunt – for dinner as well as lunch, for it wouldn’t be safe to go back out during the evening – while the Anubis and I improvised traps in a couple of the outbuildings. It takes a lot to permanently bring down an undead, but we figured that crippling would serve our purposes just as well. When the approaching army got close enough to see us outside of the tower we went back inside and battened down the hatches. We spent the next two hours planning. “Hit and run tactics are our best defense,” said Beset. “That and letting the traps do most of the fighting.” “The poison dart traps in the entry hall will not be any good against Zombies,” Aneksi pointed out. “I think that I can disable them temporarily to let the Zombies pass,” Beset claimed. “Then I can reconnect them before the live troops reach the trigger tiles.” “Let’s hear it for secret passages,” I said. Aneksi gave her head an exasperated shake. “With those numbers we will never get them all if each trap only catches a few, even if they spring every trap in the tower. What we really need is a way to catch large numbers of them in just a few traps.” “I’ve given that problem some thought,” said I. “And I think I can guarantee at least one big haul for one of the deadfalls. I’ll just have to call on one of my most powerful allies.” Beset looked confused. “Clan Redblade? Even with sandskiffs, they are too far away to get here in less than two days.” “No, love,” I said with a grin. “I was thinking… Al Green.” I outlined my plan for the girls, and soon their grins matched my own. We concluded our evening with a check of all the traps in the tower. A pair of tortured screams told us that the ones in the outbuildings had already been triggered. I made a circuit of my route for the coming battle and placed the springbow in the first position from which I would be firing it. The genius loci materialized as I got to the third floor landing from which I would begin the active defense. “So you intend to go through with it,” she said. “You plan to fight, knowing that there is little hope of winning?” I looked the spirit in its hollow eyes. “I don’t have to win, as long as Nefer-Apep loses,” I stated. “Meaning that if you lose, you do not intend to survive,” said Gray Gardens. “Good! I expected nothing less. A less dedicated man would not be worthy of me.” “I’m glad you approve,” I said. I looked out over the darkened gallery and sighed. “I do wonder if I made the right call here,” I wondered aloud. The spirit’s eyes widened. “Of course you did! The undead require neither food nor rest, and they can sprint full out until they reach their destination. Had you tried to run, they would have overtaken you by tomorrow noon.” She laid her hand on my shoulder. That gesture of compassion was the most surprising thing that I’d ever seen her do, but it wasn’t unappreciated. “Your companions’ lives were in danger the moment that Nefer-Apep took an interest in you. If they die, their blood is not on your hands. Rather, any hope of survival that they have is due to your choice. You have not killed them. There even remains a small chance that you have saved them.” I reached up and gave the spirit’s hand a squeeze. “I really needed to hear that. Thanks, Gigi.” “You are welcome,” she said. “Now go up to the roof. Your wives are preparing a surprise for you.” I squeezed her hand again, then on impulse I pulled the genius loci into a brief hug. “Whatever happens, I really enjoyed living here,” I said. “Do not say goodbye to me yet,” the spirit whispered. “The battle is not even begun, and it is still anybody’s fight.” She pulled back to arm’s length and added, “And do not thank me. I require an offering of blood in this matter, and yours would taste just as good as Nefer-Apep’s. While I want you to win, I do not require that you win.” “I’ll keep that in mind,” I said. I disengaged from Gray Garden’s avatar and went to the stairs that led up to the roof. I emerged into the cool night air and the cocktail of smells from the roof garden. The scents of tangerines and limes dominated the mix along with a healthy dose of cinnamon. Beset was just walking toward the stairs while Aneksi was arranging our sleeping silks and some pillows in the middle of the garden. The Anubis started at my entrance. “I was just coming to get you,” she said. “So we could give each other a proper goodbye in the likely event that the battle goes against us,” I surmised. “I take it that you ladies don’t plan to survive a loss any more than I do?” Beset pulled herself to her full height. “You are my k’tet. If I cannot protect you, it is my duty to die with you,” she said. Aneksi looked up from her preparations. “Life without the two of you would not be life, beloved. Why would I wish to keep it?” Beset tried to maintain her tough girl persona, but the moonlight gleaming off her eyes revealed how she felt about Aneksi’s statement. “You feel the same, my captain?” I took Beset’s hand and led her to the silks. I knelt beside the Sphinx, pulled the Anubis down on my other side, and drew them both into a three-way embrace. “You are my shade,” I said, and I gave Beset a tender kiss on the lips. “You are my sweet water,” I continued. I followed that with a kiss for Aneksi. “Without you my life is a desert with no oasis.” Our bodies melted together as we tumbled down onto the silks amid kisses and caresses. “I love how you can say things like that without feeling silly,” Aneksi said. “Who says I don’t feel silly saying stuff like that?” I replied. “But I can feel silly and still mean it.” We undressed each other without breaking the rhythm – by now we’d had plenty of practice – and settled under the topsheet. “By the way, is there any particular reason why we’re doing this on the roof?” Aneksi answered, “I want Nefer-Apep to hear us as we do things to you that she can never hope to match.” “I approve of this plan,” I said. The conversation died after that. The three of us didn’t get much sleep that night… but with the noises that we pulled out of each other, I doubt that the invaders did, either. Beset woke us up well before sunrise. “I must hurry down to the passage,” she said. “Get dressed and get to your places. They should be trying the door within minutes.” The yinepet leaned down and gave me a quick kiss. She then hesitated for a brief moment before kissing Aneksi. Then she straightened and turned in a single smooth motion and headed for the stairs. “Semper fi, O Beautiful Warrior,” I called to her retreating form. She smiled at me over her shoulder and replied, “Semper fi, my captain,” before she disappeared into the stairwell. Aneksi had slipped out of the silks and already started dressing. “You go straight to your mark, beloved. I will get the bow loaded and ready for you, that landing is on my way.” “Thanks, kittycat,” I said. I hurriedly dressed in my finale costume, which Aneksi had thoughtfully brought up the night before. She pressed herself against me while I was getting my shirt on and gave me a rather combustible kiss. “Woo! As goodbyes go, that’s the best I’ve ever had.” “That was not goodbye, that was incentive to win,” said the Sphinx. “It worked, I am now motivated!” “I was trying to motivate me,” she said with a wink. She disentangled herself from me and went downstairs. I finished dressing and hastened to take my mark. I had just reached the third floor landing when the first rays of sunrise hit the tower. Within seconds I heard the grinding noise of the front doors being cranked open -- Gray Gardens could open those doors smoothly when she wanted to, but apparently she could also make people work for it. The sound of bare feet slapping tiles soon echoed throughout the tower… and was shortly followed by cries of pain. Beset had succeeded in demonstrating that Flatterers’ Words are poison. “Showtime,” I whispered to myself. I put on my show face, took a cleansing breath, and began my attack. I’m so in love with you, Whatever you want to do, Is all right with me… I summoned up my feelings for my wives -- my simple joy in Aneksi’s company, my admiration for Beset, and my desire for them both -- and poured it into the song. I filled my mind with images of my kittycat’s glorious curves and my beautiful warrior’s kissable scars, and I surrounded the lyrics with the emotions that those images conjured from me. ’Cause you make me feel so brand new, And I want to spend my life with you… I looked down into the gallery and sang to the attacking horde. There is a trick that experienced performers know, a way to sing to an audience so that each individual member believes that you’re singing directly to her, and the acoustics of the tower carried my voice into every ear. I let them see all the feelings that I put into the song so that each one would believe that I felt all of that for her. Judging by the hundred-plus pairs of starry eyes that fixed on me, it worked. The Zombies went slack-jawed, and their handlers started panting. It really shouldn’t have worked so well on the living soldiers, but that was Nefer-Apep’s fault for addicting them to a venom that leaves them in a perpetual state of arousal. Let’s, let’s stay together, Loving you whether, whether, Times are good or bad, happy or sad… I got through the third verse before the first woman broke. One of the Zombies started up the stairs toward me -- why not, with a staircase going straight up to the third floor -- and that triggered the charge. The horde’s movement snapped the handlers out of their fugue, but even with that restraint more than two dozen Zombies came up the stairs at me. I merely smiled seductively and kept singing. The crowd got just past the halfway point before the deadfall released and splattered them all on the tile… because a Lover’s Promise lets you down. I didn’t have time to gloat over my small victory, however. Aziza the Girtablilu skittered into the gallery and started bellowing orders. “Not that way, you fools! Use the other stairs, there and there! Seize him and bring him to the queen!” The handlers exhorted their charges to comply. As I’ve mentioned before, Mrs. Warren didn’t raise no dummies. I blew Aziza a kiss and said, “Meep, meep!” Then I dashed off to my next station. I reached the stairs well ahead of the Zombies and ran down to the second floor. I got halfway around the gallery before I spotted Aneksi running into one of the rooms on the ground floor with a squad of Zombies on her heels. The Sphinx put on a burst of speed as she passed through the doorway, and the undead accelerated to give chase. They were too intent on their prey to notice the mechanical death knell of the collapsing room starting up. Another six down, I thought. When I reached my destination I took up the springbow and waited for a target. The enemy did not disappoint. Aziza strode across the hall with a spear wielding Amazoness on either side of her. I took aim and fired. The bow kicked back into my shoulder as the bolt flew to bury itself in the throat of the nearside Amazoness. A voice behind me declared, “Good shot, my captain!” I turned and saw Beset pulling herself out of the secret passage. “Not really,” I admitted, “I was aiming for the scorpy.” “Oh. In that case, lucky shot, my captain!” “Better than a miss,” I said. We gave each other a quick peck in passing and proceeded to our next stations. My path took me around the gallery to the balcony over the chapel. I ducked out of sight and lubed up the barrel of the springbow. The situation was dire enough that I managed to keep a straight face despite the memory of Siglind’s innuendo. I then tried to cock the bow, but the spring resisted my attempts to compress it. Even bracing the bow on the floor and pushing with my legs did nothing. Jeez, I wondered, how strong are Dwarves, anyway? Aneksi trotted by at that moment, saw my struggles, and diverted her course. The Sphinx plucked the springbow from my hands and cocked it as casually as you please. Then she handed it back and lion-kissed my cheek before she turned to continue on her way. Oh, great, I thought, Another minus-two Macho Points. Out loud I said, “Thanks, kittycat!” Aneksi acknowledged with a playful flick of her tail and vanished around a corner. From this station I had access to triggers for several traps. When a squad of Zombies trooped up the stairs I pulled the lever that set off the deadfall. “Pride comes before a fall,” I misquoted. I heard a shout off to one side and saw two Lizardmen charging at me with swords drawn. I hit a switch, and spinning blades popped from a wall and left my would-be captors a head shorter. “He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword,” I declared. Then a familiar voice sounded below. The Apophis barked commands at her underlings and heaped Old Tongue curses on me and my companions. I peeked over the retaining wall, and my eyes narrowed at the sight of her. There she was, bold as you please, dragging her snaky carcass through my home as if she owned it! I lifted the springbow to my shoulder, aimed at her heart, and whispered, “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.” Then I pulled the trigger. Death flew toward the nagaina like judgment descending from on high. Time slowed, and I saw my revenge dancing between ticks of the clock. The world stood still as the arrow approached its target… but Nefer-Apep was not the world. Her hand reached up with casual speed and plucked the killing bolt from the air a mere heartbeat before it found its target. “What large mosquitos they have here,” she said with a languid wave of her hand. Then she made a show of noticing me and exclaimed, “Oh, there is my wayward concubine! Ladies, do be kind enough to retrieve him for me. The one who lays him at my coils may have a turn with him tonight when I am through.” Faces lit up all around, and the assembled mamono jostled with each other to be the first up the stairs – all except for six. The Khepri sextuplets ran at the wall below me, leaped two body lengths into the air, and clung to the wall. They scaled the surface insect fashion and with alarming speed. The looks on their faces announced their desire to do for real what they’d already done to me in a dream. Oh, hell, no, I thought. I threw down the springbow and ran for it. Far too soon I heard the skittering footfalls of the handmaidens behind me. I turned toward the gallery and the rope bridge over the sacred pool. The bridge was narrow enough that there was no room for anyone to overtake me, and the gap was wide enough that Aneksi couldn’t jump it. For a moment it looked as if I might actually get away when I heard clattering above me. I glanced up and saw three of the Khepri sailing over my head. Little shields of chitin flared over their shoulders, and arm-length blurs shimmered at the edge of visibility above their backs. Wings! That’s cheating! The leaping Khepri somersaulted and twisted in midair and landed on the far side of the bridge. I stopped in the middle of the span and held my hands up over the hand ropes. “No need to get rough, ladies,” I said, “There’s plenty of me to go around.” “We know,” they said. The manjet licked their lips and stepped onto the bridge. Their hips swayed in an enticing rhythm as they stalked toward me. The Khepri had arranged themselves so that they blocked the escape routes on both ends. In other words, they had me right where I wanted them. Suckers, I thought. I brought my hands down onto the hand ropes to tweak the trigger threads, and the bridge came apart beneath us. We fell into the sacred pool from two stories up. The Khepri probably could have saved themselves with their limited flight capability if they hadn’t been completely surprised. I just locked my legs together and tucked my arms in and let gravity have its way. I arrowed down clear to the bottom of the pool while the handmaidens belly- and back-flopped their way to stun city. I climbed out and glanced at my attackers. The sextuplets thrashed and screamed helplessly in the water -- desert girls can’t swim, after all. I walked away once I was sure that none of them was going to escape. The inner voice that told me to help Aneksi in this situation was mighty quiet when it came to the creatures that had violated me. I left the chapel at a jog and turned a corner to get to the nearest secret passage, but I didn’t make it. A small form dropped on me from above and pinned me to the ground. I struggled, but I was no match for mamono strength. “Please don’t struggle,” said a girlish voice from atop me, “I don’t want to hurt you.” I turned my head and saw the Honeybee who had served me sweet rolls in Mahire’s tent. Her appearance showed that desire, apology, and fear warred for control of her being. Fear was clearly winning the fight for her actions, but apology was currently in charge of her face. I bellowed with rage and fought my captor. I threw elbows and kicks and headbutts, but nothing fazed her. When at last I tired myself out the Honeybee’s dainty hands gripped my arms and lifted me into the air. There was a brief sensation of flight and then of falling. I landed on my back hard enough to lose my breath, and when my sight cleared Nefer-Apep stood above me with the Honeybee at her side. “Well done, little Zahra,” said the nagaina, “You have won the right to gift the Darkstar with your virginity. But patience, for I must first teach him the futility of resisting the will of his queen.” Zahra bowed and backed away. At Nefer-Apep’s gesture I struggled to sit up. “Look around, Darkstar. What do you see?” I looked, and I saw Beset pinned to the floor under more than twenty Zombies. Not far from that pile I saw all twelve of the Mummies standing motionless with glazed eyes. Apparently Beset had tried to wrest control of them from the Apophis, and neither had won. Beyond that I saw the still body of the Girtablilu with Beset’s marriage blade protruding from her eye. My wife had clearly acquitted herself well before they brought her down. I looked to the other side and saw an octet of Zombies carrying an unconscious Aneksi into the room. Their two Lizardman handlers looked disgusted as the undead laid the Sphinx down. “I gave you eighteen Zombies with which to deal with the harakhtet,” said Nefer-Apep. “Where are the others?” “The Sphinx led them onto a spike trap,” said the ranking Lizardman. “Troublesome children,” said the Apophis. “Your actions have caused me to owe a stupendous debt to that Wight. You live only because I have use for you.” The Apophis untied the sash around her waist and dropped it to the floor. “It seems that I am in need of new handmaidens. You, little Sphinx, will be the second. As to the first, I believe that Zahra has earned a promotion.” The queen then reached up and began undoing the ties that held her tunic closed. “You, Anubis, have killed my captain of the guard. It is only fitting that you take her place.” Nefer-Apep sighed dramatically. “I must savor this moment. At long last, my vindication is at hand.” The nagaina’s voice rose in volume and pitch as she warmed to her topic. “Ten millennia of planning and gathering resources. One-hundred centuries of currying favor with Lord Charisse and her court.” Her eyes grew wild and her voice shrill as she exclaimed, “Ten-thousand years of sucking up to that white-haired slut…” She restrained herself with visible effort and schooled her demeanor to dignity befitting a queen. “…but no matter. The Darkstar will provide me with daughters who share his gifts, and my daughters will be good little servants in all the noble houses just as I have been a good little servant of our Lazy Lord. Over time more and more power will be entrusted into the hands of such good and faithful servants… and before long, the servants will have all the power. I rejoice in the coming of that day.” Then she shrugged out of her tunic, flung it aside, and came toward me in a seductive slither. “But first, I am going to show you how much I enjoyed your singing.” My body remembered what was coming well enough that it didn’t need instructions from me to get moving. I crab-walked away from Nefer-Apep, but the ring of Zombies around us guaranteed that I wouldn’t get far. The Apophis giggled as she stalked me, but her eyes suddenly went wide in horror and she screamed, “STOP!” I froze in mid-motion with one hand suspended above the floor. “Do not move. Whatever you do, do not lower your hand!” She extended her hand in a gesture of supplication. “You need not do this, Darkstar. I will make you a true husband. You will be a prince among men, no, a king!” She swept her arm to indicate my companions. “You believe that you love these two, yes? They shall be yours! You may have them whenever you wish, except when I have need of you. You may have any of the women under my command!” The Apophis leaned in and pleaded, “Anything that is within my power to grant, I shall give you. Just do. Not. Lower. Your. Hand.” It was then that I realized where in the room I was, and I smiled. I don’t have to win, as long as Nefer-Apep loses, I remembered. I felt a momentary pang of regret that I wouldn’t be able to share a parting glance with my girls, but I couldn’t afford to take my eyes off the snake. I gave my most radiant you-want-this-but-you-can’t-have-it smile and said, “Go to hell, you scaly bitch.” Then I slammed my hand down. Onto the Pharaoh’s Footprint. The ceiling flared like a supernova, and the light was so intense that it slammed me to the floor. Photons pricked my skin like hundreds of hot needles and drew a cry of pain from me. It must have been even worse for Nefer-Apep, for she screamed like a freshly damned soul. A thousand years of sunshine blazed down all at once to deliver the mother of all sunburns. I’ve survived cancer. I’ve passed kidney stones. I’ve had a lower back injury. Nothing else that I’ve ever experienced was as painful as being impaled by that relentless light. I lay there helpless as the radiance seared my skin and lanced into my eyes as if it wanted to char my very brain. This is what burning alive feels like, was my last thought before my consciousness surrendered under the light’s assault. When the darkness finally came, I gladly welcomed it. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Thirty-one: If You Have Tears The first thing I noticed upon regaining consciousness was that I wasn’t dead. I groaned and sat up amid a chorus of crying women. My whole skin had become a maddening itch, and the red curtain of light through eyelids comprised the entirety of my vision. In spite of these inconveniences I thanked the ancestors and ancients that I still drew breath -- until I had the breath knocked out of me. A warm, soft weight landed in my lap and clamped around my chest as the fragrance of musk and jasmine filled my nostrils. That heavenly smell, the sound of muffled sobs, and the feel of hot tears falling on my shoulder were all too familiar. “I made you cry again,” I said. “I’m sorry, kittycat.” “Be silent and kiss me,” Aneksi commanded. I happily obliged. We hadn’t even broken the kiss yet before another body leaned against my back and encircled us both in a fierce embrace. Beset kissed the shoulder that Aneksi wasn’t occupying before she laid her head on it. “I am… pleased… that you did not die, my captain,” she choked out. My eyebrows gained some serious altitude over that. Beset, she of the iron soul, all choked up? And what was this liquid on my shoulder? No, I must have been hallucinating. Beautiful warriors don’t cry. That simply isn’t done. I shifted so that I could get my arms around both of my wives. I nuzzled Beset’s hair to let her know that the question was for her and asked, “Not that I’m complaining, but why am I not burned to a crisp?” “It was the Curse of Ten Thousand Dawns,” the yinepet answered. “A curse so ancient, the priestess-teachers told us it was mere legend. The Pharoahs designed it to utterly destroy their enemies, but to spare their allies… and their husbands.” “So Nefer-Apep is… ?” “A pile of blackened bones,” Aneksi answered. “She will trouble us no more.” “So if an Apophis tried to steal a Pharoah’s husband, that curse would kill the snake and leave the man be,” I surmised. “That doesn’t explain my new tan.” I wiped a layer of ash that used to be a layer of skin off of my hand for emphasis. “Because of her… attacks… on you, you had some of her energy in your system,” Aneksi stated. “That might have let the curse have some effect on you.” “Okay, that does explain my new tan.” I picked that moment to really become aware of the noises around me. My girls weren’t the only ones crying by a long shot. Weeping and wailing filled the gallery, and to my admittedly suspect ear it sounded like expressions of joy rather than sorrow. I heard one of the Lizardmen whisper, “Free,” before breaking down in racking sobs. “Are the rest of the ladies as sunburnt as I am?” I inquired. “The Zombies are not,” Beset replied, “But the living troops and the Mummies are. The Mummies should have been completely destroyed, but my influence seems to have preserved them.” I detected a note of pride in her voice when she said that. “It appears that the curse burned Nefer-Apep’s influence out of them.” “I guess you could say they’ve seen the light,” I quipped. Aneksi giggled. Beset groaned and punched me on the arm. That doesn’t feel good on a first-degree burn, but I’ll take lightly toasted over dead. “So what are we gonna do with all these mamono?” The Anubis thought about that for a moment before she shouted, “All you Zombies… go home!” My vision hadn’t cleared yet, but I had no trouble hearing more than fifty pairs of feet shambling toward the exit. I was sure that their boss “that Wight” was going to be quite surprised at their reduced numbers. Next she said, “You Mummies, I am your master now! Attend me and my k’tet, six to each flank.” The Mummies hastened -- if you can call their slow shuffle haste -- to obey. “As for the rest of you…” she shifted to speak into my ear and continued, “… I am honestly not sure.” “We shouldn’t kill them,” I suggested, “I don’t think they were ever our enemies. That was Nefer-Apep’s doing.” “That is true,” Beset agreed. “I suppose then that you are all free to leave.” One of the women, I think an Amazoness, exclaimed, “But we have nowhere to go! Our tribe is gone, sacrificed in Nefer-Apep’s raids! It is the same for their brigade…” I presumed that she referred to the Lizardmen. “…their pack, and her hive! Only we remain.” “Hive would refer to the Honeybee,” I whispered, “But… pack?” “There are two Werewolves,” Aneksi informed me. “The rest are the Honeybee, four Amazonesses, and seven Lizardmen.” “If they truly have nowhere to go, it would be cruel to turn them out into the desert,” said Beset. “I have an idea,” Aneksi said. The Sphinx got up and shouted, “Swear fealty, then! Swear fealty to the sharif of Gray Gardens!” The Anubis gasped at this development, and I felt her emotions in the tension of her body -- first incredulity, then gratitude, and finally her usual calm assurance. She stood and intoned, “Yes, swear fealty if you would remain here. Swear fealty to your sharif,” then she placed her paw on my shoulder, “To your captain… and to your priestess.” Now it was the Sphinx’s turn to gasp in surprise. “Swear fealty to the First Family of Gray Gardens! What say you?” Aneks hissed, “I cannot just start calling myself a priestess! I have not been approved by the temple!” “I am the head of this community,” Beset whispered back. “I can appoint a priestess of my choosing, and there is no one I would rather have shepherding the souls under my care than you.” She turned back to the former soldiers of Nefer-Apep and asked again, “What say you?” I heard the sound of many knees hitting the floor and the thump of fists against the Lizardmen’s leather breastplates. The assembled mamono raised their voices as one and swore, “By the Ancestors! By the Ancients! To our sharif, our captain, and our priestess, we pledge! To Gray Gardens!” A ragged cheer went up from the throng and gradually tapered off to an expectant silence. Aneksi pulled me to my feet and whispered in my ear. “I spoke, and Beset spoke. Now they are waiting to hear from you, my love,” she said. I tentatively raised my fist to half-mast and said, “Long live Clan Darkstar?” This provoked another round of cheering as well as some celebratory leaping and backslapping. That’s what it sounded like, anyway. I rubbed my eyes, but the red blotches continued to be all that I could see. “Dammit, why can’t I open my eyes?” Beset made that choking sound again, and Aneksi’s breath caught in her throat. The Anubis squeezed my shoulder and said softly, “Your eyes are open, my captain.” “Oh,” I said. Then the enormity of the revelation hit me, and I said again, “Oh.” I stood there trying not to look as if my wives were holding me up as the celebration went on around us. I let the joyous noise wash over me and pasted a smile onto my face. I had to be grateful for the sound now that sound was all I had. GiGi waited for the cheering to die down before she guided us to a hidden room full of treasure. Judging by the sharp intakes of breath when the door opened it must have been really good stuff. We wrapped Nefer-Apep’s bones in an entire bolt of purple (so they tell me) silk and coiled her into a sleeping pose. Then her former soldiers hefted her onto their shoulders and carried her down to the burial chamber. Aneksi sang a threnody over her, and the Amazonesses all joined in. One of the Lizardmen even surprised us with a beautiful descant. They lowered her into the sarcophagus and sealed the lid as the last notes faded to silence -- and that was when a cleansing wind blew through the entire tower and carried the musty air of the ages away. Even without eyes I could perceive everything in the necropolis becoming fresh and new. I knew that if I could see them now the trees crowning the tower would no longer be unkempt and the fields would no longer be overgrown. Gray Gardens was accursed no more. “That is so much better,” Gigi breathed into my ear. I nodded toward her and then did a double take when I realized that I could see her. Everything else was still dark, though. I have to admit that she was gorgeous. Her skin -- and I could see all of it -- was the color of mahogany. Lustrous black hair hung to her knees in ringlets the size of my fist. Her teeth shone like pearls, and her eyes were the color of new-minted gold coins. As to how she was built, I have never seen a more appropriate place for the sign, “dangerous curves.” This was not sexy. This was what sexy wants to be when it grows up. “My curse is broken, and I have a man living under my roof,” she said. “This is the best day that I have had since the builders completed me.” “So does that mean we can live here for good?” I asked. I really hoped that everyone else could see who I was talking too. I was already getting enough pity for being blind. I didn’t need them thinking that I was crazy on top of that. “Live here? Oh, you dear man, you can live here, love here, raise children here, with my blessing!” She bent down to drape her arms over my shoulders and kissed me lightly on the lips. Then she pulled me into a tight hug. I could feel another pair of hands cupping my butt while a fifth hand held the back of my neck and a sixth went down the front of my pants. “And I hope that they bury you here so that you can lie in my embrace forever.” Those who think that little episode sounds like fun, imagine being felt up by an ice sculpture. “Right, then!” I disentangled myself from the genius loci’s many grasping limbs. “Funeral’s over, and we’ve got work to do. All those traps need to be reset, and dinner won’t harvest itself. Let’s get busy, ladies!” The villagers, for we were a village now, broke up into work groups and went to accomplish their assigned tasks. I started after the group assigned to resetting traps, but Beset grabbed my arm and held fast. “A moment, my captain. Your… condition… makes it problematic for you to be working around traps,” she said. “I would prefer it if you remained out of the way while that work is going on.” I glared at her as best I could without being able to aim it properly. “Are you sending me to my room?” “Not necessarily,” she replied. “It is a very nice day, so you may go outside. But to be safe, I do not want you around the traps just now.” “And how about after they’re reset, and I can’t see the triggers?” I said. I was sure that everyone present could hear the anger in my voice, but I was past caring at this point. “We will figure something out,” the Anubis said. She held my face and touched her forehead to mine as she whispered, “Please do not make this more difficult than it has to be, Tony. I do not wish to treat you like a cripple, but we must learn how to manage this. Until we do, let me keep you safe.” I started to object, but the truth is a powerful argument. I nodded assent and submitted to a kiss on the cheek. “Raheli and Leah, you are his guards today. Do not let him out of your… stay with him.” I stood there holding everything in as everyone but my chaperones walked away. It’s amazing how much lonelier a room seems when you can’t see who else is in it. I don’t know how long I stayed there before my guards decided to snap me out of it. “Come, captain, let us go outside,” one of them said. I let her take my arm and meekly followed. I saw no point in doing otherwise. Macho Points: depleted. I spent the next three days feeling sorry for myself despite my guards’ best efforts. They were quite attentive, though; every few minutes they would ask me if I needed anything. Are you thirsty, captain? Would you like something to eat, captain? Shall we sit here in the shade, captain? And I can’t leave out the most frequent request, Shall I help you “relax,” captain? Like I could’ve said yes to that without Aneksi going ballistic on the girl in question, though I suspected that Beset might have been okay with it -- sharing with the pack, and all that. Even if I’d been willing to risk my kittycat’s wrath, I was too deep into my pity party to take any of the women up on their offers. I didn’t even recognize most of them for what they were until weeks later. On day four the part of me that’s too stupid to give up finally roused itself. When my attendants -- another pair of Lizardmen -- led me outside one of them asked, “Shall we sit by the river, captain? It is most refreshing there today.” I took a moment to contemplate how helpless I’d been feeling and decided that enough was enough. “No,” I answered, “We’re going to be working today. It’s just the three of us, which means the two of you will be doing most of the work, but I think we can manage.” The second Lizardman inquired, “What sort of work will we be doing, captain?” “We will be resetting traps, my dears,” I replied. “The sharif made it quite clear that she doesn’t want you doing that,” the first woman warned. “Ah, but that was for the traps inside Gray Gardens,” I said. “We’re going to reset the traps in those two outbuildings.” “I don’t know,” she said, “We have orders, captain.” “As a good soldier, you know that you sometimes have to exceed the scope of your orders,” I declared. I gave them my just-between-us smile and added, “Don’t worry, I’ll handle the sharif.” “The priestess also told us to not let you charm us into doing anything stupid,” the second Lizardman said. I sighed. “Like a scroll… okay, look. I promise to let you two do all the risky stuff. I’ll just supervise. I helped build those traps, so I can talk you through the reset.” “Well…” the senior soldier mused. “All right, but you must stay well away from the triggers.” “Deal,” I said. “Come on, let’s get to work.” We finished the job before lunch. Afterward I decided to lounge by the riverside while my guardians practiced their stealth skills. I made a game of identifying the various smells that the wind brought to me. The fruity aroma of the roof garden, the wheaty smell of the crop fields, and the bright tang of the water were all familiar to me now, which is why I so quickly perceived the reek of unwashed bodies. Soon after noticing that I heard people splashing across the river without bothering to be stealthy. I stood up to greet the new arrivals. The splashing ceased, and soon squelching footsteps -- and, I noticed with some trepidation, equally squelchy slithering -- came within arm’s reach of me and stopped. Someone asked, in a voice that reeked of lust and bad booze, “Are you a man or a mirage?” “I’m a rock star,” I replied, “So a little of both.” I jumped back a step when someone poked me in the ribs. “Hey! Don’t touch the merchandise!” “Ooo!” said a second voice. “You’re for sale?” I could hear scales sliding over sand and each other as she spoke; definitely a nagaina of some kind. “Figure of speech,” I added hastily. “So, where are you ladies from?” “Doesn’t matter, that place doesn’t exist anymore,” said the first speaker. I took another sniff and detected a bovine smell under the rotgut. I also smelled a hint of wet dog. So there were at least three of them. “You know, this place is cursed. We only stopped for water because the tales say the river is safe. You should come with us.” I could practically hear the attempt at a seductive smile when she added, “We’ll take very good care of you.” “Thanks, but I live here,” I said. “Maybe we won’t take no for an answer,” the nagaina said darkly. “It’s not like you can resist. You don’t even have a weapon.” “I don’t need a weapon,” I replied. “I’ve got a Simrit and a Berenike.” I could hear the confusion in the Holstaurus’s -- or was it Minotaurus’s? -- voice. “A what and a what?” The sound of three shocked gasps as two bodies exploded from the water was most gratifying. “A Simrit and a Berenike,” said one of the Lizardmen. “Both of whom, as you can see, do have weapons.” There was a brief shuffle consistent with hands being raised in surrender. “We have a Minotaurus, a Lamia, and a young Inari, captain. What should we do with them?” “Please don’t kill us!” the Lamia pleaded. “We’re just refugees! We would’ve done you no harm!” “That depends on one’s definition of harm,” I retorted. “Refugees, eh? I suppose we could let you stay for dinner. Maybe longer, if you’ll take the oath.” The Minotaurus said, “You mean you’ll let us live here if we swear loyalty to you?” “Not just me. To the sharif and to the priestess as well.” “Hmmm,” said the horned one, “Do you happen to need a doctor?” “Y’know, I think we do. Come on, let’s go see the boss.” I turned toward where I thought the Inari was and said, “Do you like tangerines, little one?” I got silence as a reply, so I said, “You’ll have to speak up, honey, I can’t see you nod.” “Y-yes,” the fox girl said softly. “Well, you’re in luck. We’ve got lots of them. You’ll have to help me get them, though, ‘cause I don’t see so well anymore. Head for the tower. We’ll eat after we talk to the sharif.” I extended my hand and soon felt a little paw fold into it. Lucky for her that I have a soft spot for kids. We set off for the tower with the little Inari leading me. “That was handled with honor and strength, captain” said Berenike. “I am impressed by your wisdom.” “I’m impressed by how long you sobeket can hold your breath,” I answered. A thought bobbed to the surface of my mind, and I said, “There may be more refugees out there. We should send out a patrol to bring them in.” “Maybe we’ll be lucky and some of the refugees will be men,” said Simrit wistfully. That stopped me in my tracks. “That’s a good point, Simi. We should send out regular patrols looking for outlanders. Lord knows having a few more men around here would make my life easier.” I resumed walking. The more I thought about it, the better it sounded. I might not be able to see, but I could still help rescue humans who appeared on this part of the island. I felt the swagger come back into my stride and a genuine smile stretch my face. I might have lost my eyesight, but I had found a vision. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Chapter Thirty-two: And Thereby Hangs a Tale Meeting my wives thoroughly impressed the newcomers -- Beset looking imposingly tough and Aneksi looking imposingly gorgeous has that effect. But it wasn’t the sight of the sharif and the priestess that convinced the refugees to take the oath. Their first look at the crops did that. Hunger is a powerful motivator. The evening council happened as I requested. I outlined my plan, and it was met with a surprising degree of enthusiasm. Berenike -- the Lizardman commander and Beset’s new captain of the guard -- had the beginnings of a patrol schedule even before we adjourned, and there was no shortage of volunteers. Zahra the Honeybee got left out of that schedule, though. Aneksi sent her to Lost Ruins to take a message to her sisters. Sekhet and the twins joined us before the end of the month. Anuket took a bit longer to get here… but that’s not my story to tell. Aneksi sat next to me while the villagers were bringing in the evening meal. She kissed my cheek and whispered, “Welcome back, my love.” “It’s good to be back,” I said. “Even if I didn’t know I was gone.” “You can be certain that we noticed,” said Beset as she slid in on my other side. “It fills us with joy that the man we married has returned to us.” The Sphinx squeezed my knee. “Joy is not all that I would like to be filled with,” she breathed. “Ah! That reminds me, there is a debt that needs to be… satisfied.” My eyebrow-raising muscles got some exercise over that. Innuendo from the Beautiful Warrior? She must really be tense. I felt her lean down, and then she whispered a Word into my lap. In seconds my pants became uncomfortably tight. “Wait, was that…?” “Mmm-hmmm,” the yinepet replied. “Oh, that is so not right! Surely you’re not going to leave me like this all through dinner!” “Think of it as payment for making us wait for four days,” said Aneksi. “Or you can skip dinner and pay your debt now,” said Beset. “I seem to recall that I am owed hot gratitude sex… from two people, if I remember correctly.” “Oh, yeah,” I admitted. “Well, since it’s a matter of honor, I suppose I can eat later.” “Good choice,” the Anubis said. She stood up, lifted me out of my seat and slung me over her shoulder. She bellowed, “Break out two casks of wine! Tonight we celebrate!” Then we headed for the stairs amid cheers and catcalls. “This is both uncomfortable and undignified,” I complained. “We. Waited. For. Four. Days,” Beset pronounced. “On the other hand, that which does not kill me makes me stronger,” I said. “Then you will certainly be stronger in the morning, beloved,” Aneksi purred. By the time my brides finished exacting their revenge I could hear birds singing among the trees of the roof garden. That and the warmth slowly spreading across the stones told me that it was morning. Good thing, too; in the dark our combined afterglow would’ve been visible from space. “Yep, I’m definitely feeling stronger,” I said. We settled into our favorite sleeping position, one black paw over my heart and a golden thigh across my groin, and heaved a threefold sigh of contentment. “I am glad of it, my captain,” said Beset. “Now that you are yourself again, we must talk about our next great adventure.” “Oh, no,” I insisted, “No more adventures for me! I have been to Mordor. I’ve delivered the One Ring to the Crack of Doom. Now I get to spend the rest of my days lounging around Bag End and shagging Rosie Cotton.” “My father told me that story,” said Aneksi. “I think you are more like Frodo -- you paid nearly as high a price.” She gave my nipple a playful lick and added, “But if you insist on being Samwise, I will gladly be your Rosie.” “You are both being silly,” said Beset. “I am clearly Eowyn to his Faramir.” She snuggled tighter to my side and laid her head on my chest. “But seriously, Antonio, we must talk.” “We promise that the adventure will be to your liking,” Aneksi offered. “Okay, okay,” I said. “Lay it on me. What’s this grand adventure that I just have to experience?” My girls shifted to put their lips next to my ears. They each took a breath and softly whispered, “I am pregnant.” Sixteen Years Later: It had been twenty minutes since I’d woken from my nap, and I was just now getting my emotions under control. I wiped my tears on an already-soaked cloth and took deep breaths to calm myself. Inhale. Exhale. In with Ghandi. Out with spastic teenage girl who’d just watched Titanic. I had almost gotten myself to a state that resembled masculinity when the door chime rang. “Come in,” I said. I was quite proud that I managed not to sniffle. Zahra padded in with her usual near-silent stride; it had taken me months to learn how to hear her walking. “Is everything all right, captain?” Under the sound of the Honeybee’s voice I detected a slight buzzing. I smiled at that. Zahra fluttered her wings when in the grip of strong emotion. The current note was neither the high-pitched whine of anger nor the low thrum of passion. This was the middle tone of concern. “I’m fine, Zahra. I’m just… processing the payment for that private performance.” “From the oracle?” I heard the clinking of a tea tray being laid on the night table. “It was most generous of you to offer that performance for her.” “How could I not? It’s her birthday, and her three-thousandth Moon Bazaar.” I sat up and swung my legs around to get my feet on the floor as I heard the sound of pouring liquid. “Still, a private performance from Darkstar himself! That is an honor few have experienced.” She took my hand and pressed a cup into it. I could feel the heat of the beverage seeping through the porcelain as I lifted the cup to my lips. “Ginger and cinnamon tea, as the priestess instructed.” I grinned. “She knows me so well.” I sipped carefully so as to not burn my lips or tongue and let the hot tea sooth my throat. I’d sung a short set for the oracle, but I hadn’t held anything back. I turned toward the sound of Zahra’s voice and asked, “Time until curtain?” “Just under an hour,” the Honeybee answered. “If you don’t mind my asking, what sort of payment did the oracle give you?” “A lavish one,” I replied. “She crafted a dream for me.” “It must have been a truly wondrous dream to have made it rain in the desert,” said Zahra. I felt a fingertip gently dab a tear from beneath my eye. “The best dream I’ve ever had,” I said in all honesty. “She showed me the faces of my children.” “That is a dream worth a thousand songs,” the Honeybee said. She grasped my shoulders and kissed my cheek. “Finish your tea. Meya will bring in your costume soon.” She released me and turned to go. “Yes, dear,” I mock-whined. There was a flutter, a single low note, and I imagined Zahra looking back and smiling at me over her shoulder. Then I heard the swish of the curtain opening and closing and she was gone. I spent the next several minutes finishing my calming exercises as well as my tea. Inhale. Exhale. Sip. I had finally regained my equilibrium when the sound of childish whining cruelly shattered it. “Give it back! Give it baaaaack!” The curtain blew open under the assault of small bodies, and little paws pattered around the tent in the staccato of short legs running. I sighed in resignation. The biggest problem with the job of parenting is that the hours suck. I took a deep breath and put my diaphragm to work on a full-blown paternal bellow. “Jade Aneksi Warren!” I didn’t need to ask which child needed scolding. I recognized the target’s voice, and while none of my children was above baiting a younger sibling this one enjoyed fierce protection from her current tormentor. Jade might torture her half-sister, but anybody else who messed with Cordy would have a fight on her hands. The running came to an immediate stop. I made a come-hither gesture, and two sets of little paws shuffled over to stand before me. “Yes, sir?” said the young Sphinx in a deceptively cheerful voice. I almost lost my stern expression. From the dream I remembered a caramel-colored face with pale blond hair and brilliant green eyes, and I imagined that she now wore the I-didn’t-do-it smile that her mother assured me was her most frequent expression. To my credit I was strong enough to uphold the honor of disciplinarians everywhere. “Give it back,” I commanded. Jade took a breath in preparation to speak, but I forestalled the excuse with an admonitory finger. “I don’t care that you were just playing. If your sister isn’t having just as much fun, it’s not a good game.” I heard the rustling of clothes as Jade handed the purloined item over. Then I turned toward the sound of Cordy’s snuffling and asked, “Now, what did she take?” “My tiara,” said the little Anubis. I had an even harder time remaining stern with this one. The lingering cuteness from the dream -- the light tan face bespotted with freckles, short black hair, and big brown puppy eyes -- would have deflected all but the direst parental wrath. Fortunately, my acting skills were up to the challenge. “You mean the one that goes with your costume? The one you weren’t supposed to unpack for another half hour?” “Yes, sir.” “Misericordia, you were told how fragile that jewelry is! If you break it before the show even starts, you won’t have a tiara for the rest of the bazaar.” I held out my hand, and she reluctantly placed the tiara in it. “I will hold onto this until it’s time for you to put it on.” I set the tiara on my nightstand and turned to face the door when I heard someone else enter. “There you two are! Why are you in here disturbing Father?” I couldn’t help but smile as the voice of my firstborn brought her face to my remembrance. With her bone-straight black hair and gunmetal gray eyes the teenaged Anubis was the very image of her mother. The yinepet called, “They are in here,” and the quality of the sound told me that she had turned her head to speak to someone outside the tent. “They’re no bother,” I said. “My cubs can come and see me whenever they want.” I extended my arms, and the two little ones crawled into my lap. “And that includes the ones who are too tough to admit that they sometimes need a hug,” I added with a sly smile. “I… will keep that in mind, Father,” my oldest said. I couldn’t see the blush on her face, but I could clearly hear it in her voice. I could also hear the swish of her hair as she hastily turned to hide her blush from the party who entered the tent at that moment. “I will take charge of my little sister,” she said haughtily. “You see to yours.” “They are both my little sisters, Katana,” said the newcomer. My smile grew broader when my other firstborn spoke. Trust my raven-haired, violet-eyed peacemaker to make everyone feel included. “You two, bothering Daddy again. And your hair is a disaster! Come, let me get you fixed up.” “I want to stay with Daddy,” Jade whined. “Me, too!” said Cordy. “Now, little ones, don’t you have important jobs to do?” I set them down on the floor and held their hands. “What are you supposed to be doing during the show?” “Me and Sapphire will be in the private box guarding Uncle Alex,” said Misericordia. I turned toward Jade. “And you, O mischievous one?” “Shotel and I will wait in the wings to help Topaz and Beryl with their costume changes,” she mumbled. “That’s right,” I said. “Speaking of Topaz and Beryl, where are they?” “Amethyst sent them to the dressing room early,” Katana answered. “You know how Topaz likes to primp and Beryl hates to focus,” Amethyst supplied. “Thank you, Amy, that was very considerate,” I said. “It is Meya’s first time as costume mistress for a big show,” said the teen Sphinx. “I thought we should make it easier for her.” “Yes, we should.” I nudged the two little cubs toward their elder sisters and handed the tiara to Amy. “Now go get these two presentable. I don’t need any help getting into my costume.” “Mommy sure likes to help you get out of it, though,” said Jade slyly. Amy and Cordy gasped, and Katana exclaimed, “Jade!” The little Sphinx asked, “Why can’t we talk about it?” I could hear her folding her arms across her chest as she added, “We hear them doing it all the time.” “It’s polite to respect people’s privacy in these matters,” I said patiently. “For our part, your mothers and I try to respect your privacy by keeping it down, but the acoustics in the tower make that difficult.” “So we have noticed,” Katana muttered. “Ixnay,” whispered Amy. “I can’t wait until I have somebody to be noisy with, Daddy,” said Cordy. “Oh, you can wait,” I declared. “Last time I checked, you were eleven. You can wait.” I shooed them all out the door. “Now go get ready. We’ve got a show to do.” I heard the curtain swish as someone pulled it aside and my daughters trooped out the door. Three sets of paws went out before a fourth set quickly padded over to me and enfolded me in a tender hug. I chuckled and stroked my daughter’s hair. “I love you too, Tana,” I said. I kissed her forehead and gave her a last squeeze before nudging her out the door. Meya brought in my costume a few minutes later. By now the young Inari was enough of a professional that she no longer offered to “help me get dressed.” I finished dressing mere seconds before Zahra showed up to lead me to the stage -- I still didn’t know how she always timed that so perfectly. The Honeybee led me backstage and to my entry mark. I shouted to the troupe, “All right, people, places! Break a leg!” “You didn’t say whose,” the troupe shouted back. We’d been doing that joke for years, but it never got old. Then we fell into a hush with the ease of long practice and waited through the introduction. “Ladies and gentlemen, and even more ladies, welcome to the four-thousand eight-hundred and seventy-sixth Moon Bazaar! Our first act needs no introduction, and I can see that you won’t sit still for a long one. So, for your pleasure, we present the one and only Darkstar and his Desert Rose Troupe!” The musicians started to play even before the curtain was all the way up. I felt the heat from the spotlight, and that was my cue to sing. I started out slow and sweet just like we’d rehearsed. “Oh, she may be weary/Young girls they do get weary, Wearing that same old shaggy dress…” I walked slowly downstage, which is risky when you can’t see the edge, to get a bit more intimate with my audience. I had rehearsed this carefully and counted out the steps. Even if that had failed, I knew to stop when I could feel the heat of the footlights on my legs. I leaned forward and panned my sightless gaze back and forth. I couldn’t see anything, but to my audience it would feel like eye contact. “It's not just sentimental/She has her grief and care…” My backup singers -- Topaz and Beryl -- came in on the bridge. The girls swayed like palm trees in a tropical breeze as they sang “oohs” and “ahs” in counterpoint to the melody. “You won't regret it/Some girls they don't forget it…” The beat starting picking up when I reached the last verse. The girls broke into a sensuous, undulating dance, and I backed up in time to the thumping of their and the musician’s feet on the boards. I put some rasp in my voice to add a little spice to the sweetness. “It’s so easy, All you got to do/Is try a little tenderness!” (“Aaaah! Aaaah! Aaaah!/Oo-oo-oo, yeah! Oo-oo-oo, yeah!”) The band broke into a hot blues rhythm and upped the tempo to dance speed. I dropped the sweet and started to wail, and the collective intake of breath from the audience almost pulled the air from off the stage. This version of the song wasn’t about tenderness; it was about raw, simmering want. There was never a mamono born who didn’t understand that. “You've got to love her/Squeeze her, don't tease her, You got to, you got to/Got to, got to Try a little tenderness!” (“Aaaah! Aaaah! Aaaah!/Oo-oo-oo, yeah! Oo-oo-oo, yeah!”) I could hear the audience surge to their feet as their stomping and clapping merged with the music. They were of many species and from different regions and cultures, but for this brief moment, in the single great heartbeat of this bass line, we were all one spirit. That’s what soul music is all about. The wave of music crested as I poured out sound and emotion. Love rolled out of me like great drops of sweat – love for my wives, love for my community, and love for the children that I had seen for the first time today. I tried a little tenderness and a lot of the blues, and I saw that it was good. I let the wave break in a final crash of sound as I and the girls belted out the last lines. “ You got to, you got to/Got to, Try a little tenderness!” (“Aaaaaah!”) The audience applauded like madwomen and roared their approval, and I actually rocked back a step from the resulting wall of sound. I’m not sure how long the ovation went on. The singers and I had time to take two bows. Then I had the band take a bow. Then I brought out the stage crew, and even they got a standing ovation. When the applause still showed no sign of stopping I gestured to my wives. Aneksi walked in from stage left, albeit slowly. A woman who had given birth just a month ago doesn’t move quickly. I ruffled newborn Ruby’s curly red hair and kissed my lovely bride. Aneksi must have called for the children, for I felt Amethyst, Topaz and Beryl come up behind me. Jade and Shotel came running in from the wings a moment later, and the thump I felt from downstage was probably Sapphire and Misercordia jumping onstage. Beset came from her place on stage right with Katana, Talwar, and Falcata in tow, and an impact against my knees told me that three-year-old Balisong had run to me. I picked up my second youngest and told her to salute the crowd. I made sure that her head was level with mine so that my voice pendant would pick up her words. Balisong shouted, “Zempafai,” and that is what finally brought the house down. “That’s right baby. Zempafai,” I said. Clan Darkstar took a bow together as the applause finally started to taper off, but I could still hear Pasha and Alex, along with Octavia, Brigit, and those of my “nieces” who weren’t in the band, clapping up a storm. The manic whistling was surely Siglind. My face was no longer big enough to contain my smile. I had a beautiful family, amazing friends, and the best job in the world. This was so much better than the safe, antiseptic existence I had left behind. This was the best of all possible worlds. This was a life worth waiting for. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| ah it hurts twice reading it again to see it end again :( |
|
| I didn't had a change to comment on the story since it moved to new place and I can't miss the short reaction. This is clearly (IMHO) best story around. It has a clear idea where it is going and was able to keep attention through way. I wish I could've written something like this. To keep it short ... Good Work, Tyger! and song for you (I hope someone can retext it a bid :-D) |
| Signature removed. It was too good for this cruel world. |
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