FIC: The Desert Prince 10
Jan. 14th, 2004 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lobelia321Title: The Desert Prince: A Fable
Part: 10 (Back to Part 9.)
Author: Lobelia; lobelia40@yahoo.com
Other info and (updated) cast list: See Prologue.
A/N: Finally, a rather longer fascicle! This one is for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
azewewish, a belated birthday present because she wished for it so nicely.
~~~~~
Fascicle the Tenth
The old woman did not speak but she continued to grip my wrist and began to pull me along the dark corridor. And I followed her without demur.
It may seem strange to you that I did not struggle or cry out nor even ask the old hag's name and business. I simply hastened along behind her, following the call of that deep-down strumming, and at that moment I could not tell whether it came from the inside of the fortress or from the chambers of my very own heart.
The dark passageway was not long. Soon, we passed through a heavy curtain into a wide hall, and then down a spiral staircase and up another, along a covered walkway, through more corridors than I could count, until we came into a grand and splendid courtyard. Its walls were hidden by lavish tapestries, and its air was heavy with frankincense. In the centre was a sunken bath, as large as a small pool, and upon the surface of its tranquil waters floated lilies and candles in reed boats. An arcade surrounded the pool on all four sides, and its columns and arches were clad in green and turquoise and gold tiles. The ceiling above was open to the skies. At one end of the bath stood an immense incense burner, and at the other end of the bath stood a tall and wide couch of black juniper wood and hung with a canopy of cotton brocade.
I had no time to stand and marvel at these splendours for the old woman continued to lead me onwards. When we had reached the black divan, she stopped and released my hand. And with a quick, strong sweep of her arm, she drew the curtains around the couch apart and revealed to me what lay behind.
Three fair maidens reclined on the divan. The first had eyes of jet and a raven's hair, the second had eyes of velvet and hair of spun starlight, the third had eyes of silk but her head was covered in a shawl and I could not see her hair. The women's arms and feet were bare, their garments glittered with sequins, their wrists and ankles jingled with gold. Their teeth were like grains of rice, their necks like palm saplings, their foreheads like clear wells after the first rains, and their bosoms like the snowy mounds at the summit of Mount Damarvand. They were the moon, the sun and the evening star. And as the poet says,
'No lovelier beauty than beauty reflected in its own loveliness,
No greater succour than water to the parched traveller's throat,
As the gazelle is surprised out of her lair by the footfall of the hunter,
So is the hunter startled by the grace of a hoof in flight.'
I was bewildered by the sight before me. In my confusion, I sank to the ground and pressed my forehead to the tiled floor. I dared not look up but I drew in the aroma of the women's perfume, attar of roses and chypre and the heady scent of orris root.
I stayed silent, and it was they who spoke first.
"Welcome," said the first, in a voice as deep as the ocean's song.
"Welcome, traveller," said the second, in a voice as clear as a goatherd's bell.
"Welcome, visitor, to our humble abode," said the third, in a voice filled with silent laughter.
"We have been waiting for you," said the first.
"We have been waiting for you all this day," said the second.
"Yes, we have been waiting for you all these lives," said the third.
"But now, come," said the first.
"Pray, rise, and enjoy our hospitality," said the second.
"For you are our guest now," said the third, "and you may rest secure: our hospitality is like that of no other."
With that, they all laughed, and their laughter filled the room like the ripples of a mountain stream fill the bowl of heaven.
I heard a rustling and a jangling, and suddenly they were all around me. Gentle hands lifted me onto the couch. Soft tresses brushed my arms and cheeks. I was surrounded by warmth and fragrant breath, and I sank into plush cushions. Still, I dared not look my hostesses in the eye. And still, I could not think of a suitable greeting.
"Oh, but he is lovely," said the first.
"See how he blushes," said the second.
"He is sweet like a fig in winter," said the third.
"Sweet like honey."
"Sweet like a honey bee."
"And I wager he has a sweet sting, too!" laughed the third.
"Indeed," said the first and began to unwind my turban, "we have never come across a one like you."
"Truly," said the second and slid the shoes from my feet, "we had hardly dared hope that such a one like you could exist."
"Yea," said the third and untied the string that fastened my gown at the neck, "we are even now not certain what you are."
As they unclothed me, I finally found my voice and cried out, "Fair ladies! Who are you and why did you bring me into your house? Are you visions, or are you witches? Are you a dervish's servants, or are you the illusions of a drugged mind?"
They laughed again. They laughed like doves, and their soft fingers did not stop moving over my garments and through my hair.
"We do beg your indulgence," said the first.
"We beg your forgiveness."
"We have been remiss. In our excitement, we have forgotten what is due to an honoured guest."
"I am Liv, daughter of Bebe," said the first.
"I am Miranda, daughter of Otto," said the second.
"And you may call me Cate," said the third, "daughter of the desert sands. Welcome again, welcome and thrice welcome, Orlando ben Bloom."
"I beg you, dear ladies!" I cried again. "How do you know my name?"
"Oh, we know many things," said Liv, the first.
"We know many things about you," said Miranda, the second.
"We know things about you that even you may not know yourself," said Cate, the third.
"And you may know some that we do not know."
"And we must find out."
"But first, let us feed our guest."
"Let us give our guest drink."
"Let us bathe him and relax him. Let us know him a little better."
They washed my hands and feet with warm water. They gave me tiny cups of hot, spiced tea to drink. They fed me morsels of fruit and all manner of sweetmeats. They laughed, they whispered, they stroked me and made a pet of me. They pulled off my turban and my outer robes; and then the third one, the one with the shawl and the eyes of silk, said to me,
"Let us find out what you are and what you are made of."
They grew still, then. I did not know why.
"Let us find out," Cate murmured and buried her hand in my lap.
"Let us both find out," Liv muttered as she, too, placed her hand on my front.
"Let us all find out," whispered Miranda, and then my groin was a worm's nest of fingers. My eyes fell shut; my loincloth fell away; soft fingers and soft lips caressed my flesh; and soon I was overcome by the sweetest bliss.
After that, the three maidens grew more thoughtful. They spoke little as they dipped me into their fragrant pool and bathed me among the water-lilies. They were silent as they dressed me again and tied the flutes of my turban about my head. I, too, said nothing but a great tranquillity had come upon me and I let them do with me as they wished.
Well may you marvel at how easily I could forget my plight. Was it the incense spreading its dream-like fumes, you may ask. Was there a potion in the tea or poison in the fruit, you may wonder. Or you may smile and say, what else does a boy do when in the company of three lovely ladies? Is not the touch of a lusty wench enough to overwhelm any young man's senses?
And it is true that my senses were overwhelmed. But it is also true that there was something else, beneath the delight of the flesh. As I lay among Liv, Miranda and Cate, I do not think that I had ever felt as contented. I was not only sated in my desire but I was also filled with a sweet, restful yearning, and the three maidens seemed to me like the three sisters I had never had. I wanted to lie forever in their soft bed and hear their soft breaths. I wanted to know all their secrets, and some part within me knew already that their secrets were my secrets.
It was an innocent moment, and it was soon over. For Cate of the silken eyes then straddled my thighs, lifted my chin and stared into my eyes. It was the first time I had looked straight at one of the maidens' eyes, and now I saw that they were filled with sorrow.
Miranda was next. She turned my head and stared at me, and her eyes, too, were caves of sadness.
Liv was last, and her eyes were like seas of grief.
"So you are a man," said Liv.
"A boy," said Miranda.
"A youth of blood and flesh," said Cate. "It is well."
"Though strange."
"Though beyond our ken."
"But it is also good."
"Exceeding good," said Liv and kissed my left ear.
"Exceeding useful," said Miranda and kissed my right ear.
"It could not be better," said Cate and kissed my mouth with her mouth and my tongue with her tongue.
"Ladies," I said and struggled to sit up. "What do you want from me, and who are you? You have told me your names but you have not told me who you are."
"We are the ladies of the harem," said Cate. "The only women alive in this citadel of men."
"But whose harem?" I asked.
"There is only one harem permitted within this city," said Liv.
"And only one man is permitted within this harem," said Miranda.
"And that man is not you," said Cate.
"Tell us," said Liv, and her voice was suddenly hard as stone.
"Tell us, and be quick about it," said Miranda, and her voice was suddenly cold as night.
"Tell us before we are discovered," said Cate, and her voice was sharp as a freshly-honed blade, "because do you know what they will do to a man caught in the Desert Prince's harem?"
"The Desert Prince's?" I gasped.
"Do you know what they will do to you?" asked Liv.
"They will roast your balls," said Miranda. "They will cut them off and roast them over a slow fire, and then they will stuff them down your throat until you vomit them up again."
"And after that," said Cate, "they will slice open your manhood, and they will..."
"Stop!" I cried.
They fell silent. There was no laughter now.
"So you understand," said Liv, "that you must be quick. And we will not tell you..." She looked away.
"We will not even tell you..." said Miranda. She looked aside.
"We will not tell you what they do to the women who are caught with a man in the harem," said Cate.
"Not that it could be worse than they have already done," said Liv.
"Not that it could be worse than snatching your innocent child from you," said Miranda, "your little son whom you have cherished close to your heart, whom you kept hidden within the folds of your dress, whom she had to give up to be brought up as a son of the citadel, to be brought up to hate all women and to hate his mother. And when you look out of the highest window for a glimpse of him, you see him sneering and spitting but you can't lose your love, you can never lose your love for him."
"Not that it could be worse than ripping your baby unborn from your womb," said Cate, "and tearing the cord that binds you together, and leaving you to bleed as you listen to your daughter's last screams on this earth."
There was a sound of feet on the tiles. I looked up. It was the old woman who had waited by the pool all this time. She stepped forward, and she said, in a voice as blanched as the bones of a fox under the desert sun: "But at least your daughter never knew pain. At least your daughter was not suffered to grow up and to learn love and to sing sweet songs in the halls of the citadel. At least your daughter was not yanked by her hair, her beautiful hair, to the chamber of the Duke like a she-goat to the slaughter. At least your daughter's eyes were not put out with a flaming torch, and at least she was not left to choke in blindness as her body was mauled and the song forever driven from her throat."
There was silence. All that was heard was the shifting of coals in the incense burner and the soughing of the evening breeze above the skylight. After a while, the old woman drew her veil across her face and bowed her head.
"Nothing like the grief of love lost," said Miranda. "Nothing like the desire of the heart torn from its other half. Nothing like the living tomb of this gilded prison in which we count out our days without hope."
"But now we have hope," said Liv.
"Now we have you," said Miranda.
"And we must ask you," said Cate. "What are you?"
"What do you mean?" I asked. For in truth, I was startled and made afraid by their tales and their cold, hard voices
"Do not play the fool," snapped Liv.
"Do you want your balls roasted and to eat them alive?" snarled Miranda.
"Tell us," whispered Cate," why the Desert Duke's eye cannot kill you."
"Like it cannot kill us," said Liv.
"Like it cannot kill any woman," said Miranda.
"Which is why the women are hidden away and the girls butchered at birth," said Liv.
"Which is why only a few are kept," said Miranda.
"Which is why the halls of the harem echo with emptiness," said Liv.
"Which is why only the Prince may touch us," said Miranda.
"And a handful of selected favourites."
"We are an award."
"A cheap prize."
"But we must never look upon the Duke."
"For the Duke knows," hissed Liv.
"The Duke knows," said Miranda, "that we are immune to his gaze of death."
"The Duke never looks at a woman," said Liv.
"He looked only once," said Miranda.
"Twenty-eight years ago he looked."
"The woman was blinded and he raped her while she lay chained to the ground."
"For twenty-eight days she lay chained."
"Maggots started to live in her eye sockets."
"Her face was yellow with pus."
"She lay chained until she had become pregnant."
"And then she lay chained some more."
"For nine more months did she lie chained."
"More dead than alive."
"And then she gave birth," said Miranda.
"A terrible day," said Liv.
"A terrible night," said Miranda.
"Twenty-eight hours did she labour to give birth to her child," said Liv.
"Half-dead, and yet she laboured."
"Barely alive, and yet her breasts were wet with milk."
"And then the child was born."
"And it was a boy."
"They cut the cord. They took the child away."
"Not once did it suckle at its mother's breasts."
"Not once did she hold in her arms what she had nourished under her heart, what had been more alive than she."
"And then they killed her," said Liv.
"Her remains were thrown to the dogs outside the city walls," said the old woman through the folds of her veil. "Not a single bone remained for her mother to collect and to bury."
Still seated across my thighs, Cate of the silken eyes leaned towards my face. Slowly, she drew the shawl from her head and revealed herself. There was no hair upon her head. There was only her naked scalp, and it was ravaged by scars.
"Listen, Orlando," she said in a very low voice. "The Desert Duke's eyes kill only men. You seem to be a man. Yet the Duke's eyes cannot kill you. What are you really? What are you, who have the flesh of a man but the eyes of a woman?"
I did not know what to answer but in the cauldron of my soul, there was turmoil.
"We do not know how such a thing can be," said Cate, in the same low voice. "But it is so. We know it must be so. It must be ordained that you came here. You are the first person, perhaps the only person treading this living earth, who can walk freely outside, who is free to go and look upon the Desert Duke, and live."
"But how long?" added Liv.
"He will not let you live long," said Miranda.
Suddenly, Cate took my hands and looked at them, as one who searches for water in the summer sands. She traced the lines on my palms with her finger. Then, equally suddenly, she dropped my hands, roughly brushed my hair out of the way and pulled my ear forwards. She traced her finger over my earlobe; she prodded the horny back of my ear. Then, just as suddenly, she left my ear alone and tugged my eyelids up. She inspected first my left eyelid, then my right eyelid. She turned each lid inside out; she crushed the lashes between her finger.
"We could pull out your finger and toe nails," she said.
"We could probe your arse," Liv said.
"We could turn your cock inside out and still not discover it," said Miranda.
I did not know what they were trying to find, and they did not tell me.
"But we haven't time," said Cate. "We have so little time."
"And we must be sure that he will do it," said Liv.
"Yes," said Miranda, "we must be sure."
"What is it that you would have me do?" I whispered.
"Kill him, of course," said Liv.
"Kill him," said Miranda.
"Kill him before he kills you," said Cate.
"Here, take this," said Liv and pressed a phial into my hand.
"And here, take that," said Miranda and pressed a vial into my hand.
"And this," said Cate and pressed a small metal disc into my hand.
"Poisons," said Liv.
"Potions," said Miranda.
"They will burn him up from the inside," said Liv.
"They will shrivel his balls and eat up his guts."
"Tear apart his kidneys. Scorch his lungs."
"He will die like a pig," said Miranda, "rolling on the ground in his own shit, with foam spewing from his mouth and blood oozing from his evil eyeballs."
I shuddered, and I thrust the phial and the vial and the small metal disc from me. They slipped across the cushions and fell to the floor with a clatter.
"Fool," hissed Liv.
"He cannot be stopped," said Miranda. "We cannot stop him. His palace is thrice girt with thick walls, and the corridors of his palace are lined with guards. They fear him more than they fear life. He kills one every day, for sport and to keep the others afraid. Nobody can touch him. Nobody can get to him."
"Two eunuchs stand outside his bedchamber. They are as tall as mountain cedars. They are as strong as the oxen of the field. They cannot speak; their tongues are severed at the root, cut by the Duke's own knife."
"No woman can get near him."
"Only you can," said Miranda.
"For if you do not kill him..." said Liv.
"... he will kill you," said Miranda.
And at that moment, there sounded a dull cough. The tapestries on the wall beside the black divan parted, and a man stepped out from behind the drapes.
We had been discovered. We had been heard plotting.
All was lost.
~~~~~
tbc
~~~~~
Additional cast introduced in this fascicle:
Women of the harem: Liv Tyler, Miranda Otto, Cate Blanchett
Eunuch guards: Sala Baker, Lawrence Makoare
Old woman: Elizabeth Moody (Lobelia Sackville-Baggins. Don't think of it as Mary Sue. Think of it as cameo appearance. *g*) Pic of her here: http://www.quintessentialwebsites.com/lordoftherings/moviecast/index_page2.htm
Part: 10 (Back to Part 9.)
Author: Lobelia; lobelia40@yahoo.com
Other info and (updated) cast list: See Prologue.
A/N: Finally, a rather longer fascicle! This one is for
azewewish, a belated birthday present because she wished for it so nicely.~~~~~
Fascicle the Tenth
The old woman did not speak but she continued to grip my wrist and began to pull me along the dark corridor. And I followed her without demur.
It may seem strange to you that I did not struggle or cry out nor even ask the old hag's name and business. I simply hastened along behind her, following the call of that deep-down strumming, and at that moment I could not tell whether it came from the inside of the fortress or from the chambers of my very own heart.
The dark passageway was not long. Soon, we passed through a heavy curtain into a wide hall, and then down a spiral staircase and up another, along a covered walkway, through more corridors than I could count, until we came into a grand and splendid courtyard. Its walls were hidden by lavish tapestries, and its air was heavy with frankincense. In the centre was a sunken bath, as large as a small pool, and upon the surface of its tranquil waters floated lilies and candles in reed boats. An arcade surrounded the pool on all four sides, and its columns and arches were clad in green and turquoise and gold tiles. The ceiling above was open to the skies. At one end of the bath stood an immense incense burner, and at the other end of the bath stood a tall and wide couch of black juniper wood and hung with a canopy of cotton brocade.
I had no time to stand and marvel at these splendours for the old woman continued to lead me onwards. When we had reached the black divan, she stopped and released my hand. And with a quick, strong sweep of her arm, she drew the curtains around the couch apart and revealed to me what lay behind.
Three fair maidens reclined on the divan. The first had eyes of jet and a raven's hair, the second had eyes of velvet and hair of spun starlight, the third had eyes of silk but her head was covered in a shawl and I could not see her hair. The women's arms and feet were bare, their garments glittered with sequins, their wrists and ankles jingled with gold. Their teeth were like grains of rice, their necks like palm saplings, their foreheads like clear wells after the first rains, and their bosoms like the snowy mounds at the summit of Mount Damarvand. They were the moon, the sun and the evening star. And as the poet says,
'No lovelier beauty than beauty reflected in its own loveliness,
No greater succour than water to the parched traveller's throat,
As the gazelle is surprised out of her lair by the footfall of the hunter,
So is the hunter startled by the grace of a hoof in flight.'
I was bewildered by the sight before me. In my confusion, I sank to the ground and pressed my forehead to the tiled floor. I dared not look up but I drew in the aroma of the women's perfume, attar of roses and chypre and the heady scent of orris root.
I stayed silent, and it was they who spoke first.
"Welcome," said the first, in a voice as deep as the ocean's song.
"Welcome, traveller," said the second, in a voice as clear as a goatherd's bell.
"Welcome, visitor, to our humble abode," said the third, in a voice filled with silent laughter.
"We have been waiting for you," said the first.
"We have been waiting for you all this day," said the second.
"Yes, we have been waiting for you all these lives," said the third.
"But now, come," said the first.
"Pray, rise, and enjoy our hospitality," said the second.
"For you are our guest now," said the third, "and you may rest secure: our hospitality is like that of no other."
With that, they all laughed, and their laughter filled the room like the ripples of a mountain stream fill the bowl of heaven.
I heard a rustling and a jangling, and suddenly they were all around me. Gentle hands lifted me onto the couch. Soft tresses brushed my arms and cheeks. I was surrounded by warmth and fragrant breath, and I sank into plush cushions. Still, I dared not look my hostesses in the eye. And still, I could not think of a suitable greeting.
"Oh, but he is lovely," said the first.
"See how he blushes," said the second.
"He is sweet like a fig in winter," said the third.
"Sweet like honey."
"Sweet like a honey bee."
"And I wager he has a sweet sting, too!" laughed the third.
"Indeed," said the first and began to unwind my turban, "we have never come across a one like you."
"Truly," said the second and slid the shoes from my feet, "we had hardly dared hope that such a one like you could exist."
"Yea," said the third and untied the string that fastened my gown at the neck, "we are even now not certain what you are."
As they unclothed me, I finally found my voice and cried out, "Fair ladies! Who are you and why did you bring me into your house? Are you visions, or are you witches? Are you a dervish's servants, or are you the illusions of a drugged mind?"
They laughed again. They laughed like doves, and their soft fingers did not stop moving over my garments and through my hair.
"We do beg your indulgence," said the first.
"We beg your forgiveness."
"We have been remiss. In our excitement, we have forgotten what is due to an honoured guest."
"I am Liv, daughter of Bebe," said the first.
"I am Miranda, daughter of Otto," said the second.
"And you may call me Cate," said the third, "daughter of the desert sands. Welcome again, welcome and thrice welcome, Orlando ben Bloom."
"I beg you, dear ladies!" I cried again. "How do you know my name?"
"Oh, we know many things," said Liv, the first.
"We know many things about you," said Miranda, the second.
"We know things about you that even you may not know yourself," said Cate, the third.
"And you may know some that we do not know."
"And we must find out."
"But first, let us feed our guest."
"Let us give our guest drink."
"Let us bathe him and relax him. Let us know him a little better."
They washed my hands and feet with warm water. They gave me tiny cups of hot, spiced tea to drink. They fed me morsels of fruit and all manner of sweetmeats. They laughed, they whispered, they stroked me and made a pet of me. They pulled off my turban and my outer robes; and then the third one, the one with the shawl and the eyes of silk, said to me,
"Let us find out what you are and what you are made of."
They grew still, then. I did not know why.
"Let us find out," Cate murmured and buried her hand in my lap.
"Let us both find out," Liv muttered as she, too, placed her hand on my front.
"Let us all find out," whispered Miranda, and then my groin was a worm's nest of fingers. My eyes fell shut; my loincloth fell away; soft fingers and soft lips caressed my flesh; and soon I was overcome by the sweetest bliss.
After that, the three maidens grew more thoughtful. They spoke little as they dipped me into their fragrant pool and bathed me among the water-lilies. They were silent as they dressed me again and tied the flutes of my turban about my head. I, too, said nothing but a great tranquillity had come upon me and I let them do with me as they wished.
Well may you marvel at how easily I could forget my plight. Was it the incense spreading its dream-like fumes, you may ask. Was there a potion in the tea or poison in the fruit, you may wonder. Or you may smile and say, what else does a boy do when in the company of three lovely ladies? Is not the touch of a lusty wench enough to overwhelm any young man's senses?
And it is true that my senses were overwhelmed. But it is also true that there was something else, beneath the delight of the flesh. As I lay among Liv, Miranda and Cate, I do not think that I had ever felt as contented. I was not only sated in my desire but I was also filled with a sweet, restful yearning, and the three maidens seemed to me like the three sisters I had never had. I wanted to lie forever in their soft bed and hear their soft breaths. I wanted to know all their secrets, and some part within me knew already that their secrets were my secrets.
It was an innocent moment, and it was soon over. For Cate of the silken eyes then straddled my thighs, lifted my chin and stared into my eyes. It was the first time I had looked straight at one of the maidens' eyes, and now I saw that they were filled with sorrow.
Miranda was next. She turned my head and stared at me, and her eyes, too, were caves of sadness.
Liv was last, and her eyes were like seas of grief.
"So you are a man," said Liv.
"A boy," said Miranda.
"A youth of blood and flesh," said Cate. "It is well."
"Though strange."
"Though beyond our ken."
"But it is also good."
"Exceeding good," said Liv and kissed my left ear.
"Exceeding useful," said Miranda and kissed my right ear.
"It could not be better," said Cate and kissed my mouth with her mouth and my tongue with her tongue.
"Ladies," I said and struggled to sit up. "What do you want from me, and who are you? You have told me your names but you have not told me who you are."
"We are the ladies of the harem," said Cate. "The only women alive in this citadel of men."
"But whose harem?" I asked.
"There is only one harem permitted within this city," said Liv.
"And only one man is permitted within this harem," said Miranda.
"And that man is not you," said Cate.
"Tell us," said Liv, and her voice was suddenly hard as stone.
"Tell us, and be quick about it," said Miranda, and her voice was suddenly cold as night.
"Tell us before we are discovered," said Cate, and her voice was sharp as a freshly-honed blade, "because do you know what they will do to a man caught in the Desert Prince's harem?"
"The Desert Prince's?" I gasped.
"Do you know what they will do to you?" asked Liv.
"They will roast your balls," said Miranda. "They will cut them off and roast them over a slow fire, and then they will stuff them down your throat until you vomit them up again."
"And after that," said Cate, "they will slice open your manhood, and they will..."
"Stop!" I cried.
They fell silent. There was no laughter now.
"So you understand," said Liv, "that you must be quick. And we will not tell you..." She looked away.
"We will not even tell you..." said Miranda. She looked aside.
"We will not tell you what they do to the women who are caught with a man in the harem," said Cate.
"Not that it could be worse than they have already done," said Liv.
"Not that it could be worse than snatching your innocent child from you," said Miranda, "your little son whom you have cherished close to your heart, whom you kept hidden within the folds of your dress, whom she had to give up to be brought up as a son of the citadel, to be brought up to hate all women and to hate his mother. And when you look out of the highest window for a glimpse of him, you see him sneering and spitting but you can't lose your love, you can never lose your love for him."
"Not that it could be worse than ripping your baby unborn from your womb," said Cate, "and tearing the cord that binds you together, and leaving you to bleed as you listen to your daughter's last screams on this earth."
There was a sound of feet on the tiles. I looked up. It was the old woman who had waited by the pool all this time. She stepped forward, and she said, in a voice as blanched as the bones of a fox under the desert sun: "But at least your daughter never knew pain. At least your daughter was not suffered to grow up and to learn love and to sing sweet songs in the halls of the citadel. At least your daughter was not yanked by her hair, her beautiful hair, to the chamber of the Duke like a she-goat to the slaughter. At least your daughter's eyes were not put out with a flaming torch, and at least she was not left to choke in blindness as her body was mauled and the song forever driven from her throat."
There was silence. All that was heard was the shifting of coals in the incense burner and the soughing of the evening breeze above the skylight. After a while, the old woman drew her veil across her face and bowed her head.
"Nothing like the grief of love lost," said Miranda. "Nothing like the desire of the heart torn from its other half. Nothing like the living tomb of this gilded prison in which we count out our days without hope."
"But now we have hope," said Liv.
"Now we have you," said Miranda.
"And we must ask you," said Cate. "What are you?"
"What do you mean?" I asked. For in truth, I was startled and made afraid by their tales and their cold, hard voices
"Do not play the fool," snapped Liv.
"Do you want your balls roasted and to eat them alive?" snarled Miranda.
"Tell us," whispered Cate," why the Desert Duke's eye cannot kill you."
"Like it cannot kill us," said Liv.
"Like it cannot kill any woman," said Miranda.
"Which is why the women are hidden away and the girls butchered at birth," said Liv.
"Which is why only a few are kept," said Miranda.
"Which is why the halls of the harem echo with emptiness," said Liv.
"Which is why only the Prince may touch us," said Miranda.
"And a handful of selected favourites."
"We are an award."
"A cheap prize."
"But we must never look upon the Duke."
"For the Duke knows," hissed Liv.
"The Duke knows," said Miranda, "that we are immune to his gaze of death."
"The Duke never looks at a woman," said Liv.
"He looked only once," said Miranda.
"Twenty-eight years ago he looked."
"The woman was blinded and he raped her while she lay chained to the ground."
"For twenty-eight days she lay chained."
"Maggots started to live in her eye sockets."
"Her face was yellow with pus."
"She lay chained until she had become pregnant."
"And then she lay chained some more."
"For nine more months did she lie chained."
"More dead than alive."
"And then she gave birth," said Miranda.
"A terrible day," said Liv.
"A terrible night," said Miranda.
"Twenty-eight hours did she labour to give birth to her child," said Liv.
"Half-dead, and yet she laboured."
"Barely alive, and yet her breasts were wet with milk."
"And then the child was born."
"And it was a boy."
"They cut the cord. They took the child away."
"Not once did it suckle at its mother's breasts."
"Not once did she hold in her arms what she had nourished under her heart, what had been more alive than she."
"And then they killed her," said Liv.
"Her remains were thrown to the dogs outside the city walls," said the old woman through the folds of her veil. "Not a single bone remained for her mother to collect and to bury."
Still seated across my thighs, Cate of the silken eyes leaned towards my face. Slowly, she drew the shawl from her head and revealed herself. There was no hair upon her head. There was only her naked scalp, and it was ravaged by scars.
"Listen, Orlando," she said in a very low voice. "The Desert Duke's eyes kill only men. You seem to be a man. Yet the Duke's eyes cannot kill you. What are you really? What are you, who have the flesh of a man but the eyes of a woman?"
I did not know what to answer but in the cauldron of my soul, there was turmoil.
"We do not know how such a thing can be," said Cate, in the same low voice. "But it is so. We know it must be so. It must be ordained that you came here. You are the first person, perhaps the only person treading this living earth, who can walk freely outside, who is free to go and look upon the Desert Duke, and live."
"But how long?" added Liv.
"He will not let you live long," said Miranda.
Suddenly, Cate took my hands and looked at them, as one who searches for water in the summer sands. She traced the lines on my palms with her finger. Then, equally suddenly, she dropped my hands, roughly brushed my hair out of the way and pulled my ear forwards. She traced her finger over my earlobe; she prodded the horny back of my ear. Then, just as suddenly, she left my ear alone and tugged my eyelids up. She inspected first my left eyelid, then my right eyelid. She turned each lid inside out; she crushed the lashes between her finger.
"We could pull out your finger and toe nails," she said.
"We could probe your arse," Liv said.
"We could turn your cock inside out and still not discover it," said Miranda.
I did not know what they were trying to find, and they did not tell me.
"But we haven't time," said Cate. "We have so little time."
"And we must be sure that he will do it," said Liv.
"Yes," said Miranda, "we must be sure."
"What is it that you would have me do?" I whispered.
"Kill him, of course," said Liv.
"Kill him," said Miranda.
"Kill him before he kills you," said Cate.
"Here, take this," said Liv and pressed a phial into my hand.
"And here, take that," said Miranda and pressed a vial into my hand.
"And this," said Cate and pressed a small metal disc into my hand.
"Poisons," said Liv.
"Potions," said Miranda.
"They will burn him up from the inside," said Liv.
"They will shrivel his balls and eat up his guts."
"Tear apart his kidneys. Scorch his lungs."
"He will die like a pig," said Miranda, "rolling on the ground in his own shit, with foam spewing from his mouth and blood oozing from his evil eyeballs."
I shuddered, and I thrust the phial and the vial and the small metal disc from me. They slipped across the cushions and fell to the floor with a clatter.
"Fool," hissed Liv.
"He cannot be stopped," said Miranda. "We cannot stop him. His palace is thrice girt with thick walls, and the corridors of his palace are lined with guards. They fear him more than they fear life. He kills one every day, for sport and to keep the others afraid. Nobody can touch him. Nobody can get to him."
"Two eunuchs stand outside his bedchamber. They are as tall as mountain cedars. They are as strong as the oxen of the field. They cannot speak; their tongues are severed at the root, cut by the Duke's own knife."
"No woman can get near him."
"Only you can," said Miranda.
"For if you do not kill him..." said Liv.
"... he will kill you," said Miranda.
And at that moment, there sounded a dull cough. The tapestries on the wall beside the black divan parted, and a man stepped out from behind the drapes.
We had been discovered. We had been heard plotting.
All was lost.
~~~~~
tbc
~~~~~
Additional cast introduced in this fascicle:
Women of the harem: Liv Tyler, Miranda Otto, Cate Blanchett
Eunuch guards: Sala Baker, Lawrence Makoare
Old woman: Elizabeth Moody (Lobelia Sackville-Baggins. Don't think of it as Mary Sue. Think of it as cameo appearance. *g*) Pic of her here: http://www.quintessentialwebsites.com/lordoftherings/moviecast/index_page2.htm
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-14 02:51 pm (UTC)LOBELIA!!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
ooh, this is good. This is very very good.
I thank you mightily.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-14 03:25 pm (UTC)*smooches you*
Thanks so much for reading and liking!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-14 03:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-14 03:27 pm (UTC)Thank you so much for keeping up the reading!!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-14 09:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-15 03:54 am (UTC)This suspense-weaving is fun.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-15 08:40 pm (UTC)The thing with this suspense thing is, it's been there from the beginning and I may very soon explode! And then where will we be? I'm very nervous for all of these fine men (and women now, too)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-16 09:18 am (UTC)Omg, I am so confused that I only just now realised, driving along in the car, that I mary-sued myself into Karl's grandmother.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-17 12:10 am (UTC)Omg, I am so confused that I only just now realised, driving along in the car, that I mary-sued myself into Karl's grandmother.
*dies laughing* Only you could be so creative. This may be a first in fanfic.
"Lobelia Amelia Ravenhair had piercing black eyes, waves of long grey hair, and skin like aged parchment. Her hands were bony claws, but to Karl they were beautiful, creators of pies and cookies. 'Oh Granny, how funny, charming and smart you are, and how great your magical powers,' he swooned."
OMG. Somebody stop me.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-17 04:08 am (UTC)Alas, he's not that kind of a grandson...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-17 04:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-17 11:11 pm (UTC)And funny too- Lobelia was just telling me how the two of you are visiting Laz on her birthday and was wondering if I knew you. She recomended I visit your journal, so I'll be seeing you around! Have fun tomorrow!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-18 03:27 pm (UTC)Fandom, eh?
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-18 03:58 pm (UTC)did you guys have fun today?
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-19 11:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-14 07:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-15 03:56 am (UTC)When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning or in rain?
When the hurly-burly's done
When the battle's lost and won
That shall be ere the set of sun!
(Am I remembering it correctly? Oh, how we used to recite that prologue at each other in school!)
Thanks so much for reading.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-14 07:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-15 03:58 am (UTC):-)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-14 09:50 pm (UTC)"Listen, Orlando," she said in a very low voice. "The Desert Duke's eyes kill only men. You seem to be a man. Yet the Duke's eyes cannot kill you. What are you really? What are you, who have the flesh of a man but the eyes of a woman?"
Here, let me repeat that last part.
What are you, who have the flesh of a man but the eyes of a woman?"
GUUUHHHHHHgughmphgugh.gh. Oh, my buttons! My buttons have been pushed, and pushed HARD. In my first attempts at fic, I delighted in pointing out Orlando's girl eyes. I think I may still make a note of his ocular femininity in nearly everything I write, though it's unconscious as I'm trying to hold back from shouting OMG ORLANDO HAS SHE-EYES.
<3
So, yes, the eyes of a woman. But I also wonder why and to what end?
And the Desert Prince! How much is he like his father?
and his poor, poor slaughtered mother. yowch.
Suspense!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-15 04:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-17 04:47 pm (UTC)*cackles with delight*
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-20 10:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-17 09:21 pm (UTC)This is beautiful prose, the sort of stuff that's so rare to find so well written. Your words are so sensual that I can almost taste them.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-18 03:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-20 12:45 pm (UTC)Be assured, you've fully achieved your goal, if I was worried before, I'm frightened now. And these cliffhangers will be the death of me.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-20 06:27 pm (UTC)Yes, as I've told people in other comments, the "three"... Probably they are subconsciously all those things: Nornen, Macbeth's witches, whatnot. I had just the two of them to begin with, Liv and Miranda, and that somehow did not feel quite right. I needed a third, and I needed Cate. And I am gratified no end that the cliffhangers are still doing the trick for you -- despite so many months between postings.