FIC: The Desert Prince 11
Apr. 15th, 2004 03:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lobelia321Title: The Desert Prince: A Fable
Part: 11 (Back to Part 10.)
Author: Lobelia; lobelia40@yahoo.com
Other info, cast list and previous parts: DP Contents.
~~~~~
Fascicle the Eleventh
The man was small and fair, fair of hue and fair of hair. He had the pale eyes and curved lips of the peoples of the north. His chin wore a short, pointed beard, styled in the manner of a courtier, but when he emerged from the curtains I saw that he was wearing a woman's garments and that a woman's veil had slipped from his face and hung about his neck. And strange it was to see that man with his man's beard and his man's clear brow enrobed in a lady's finery.
"Billy!" Liv exclaimed. "Did we not tell you to keep hidden?"
But the man did not answer her. He came up to me with a swift step. He touched his right palm to his lips (and as he lifted his hand, I saw the ducal seal upon his finger's ring) and then folded his hands over mine, using the greeting of the tribes of the north.
"Welcome, young master Bloom," he said. "This is no time for ceremonies so I will simply ask you to call me Billy. Speak to me now, and then forget that you ever saw me."
I was speechless with amazement, and my heart was still beating with the fear of discovery. But the women laughed and lay at their ease, and I saw that they knew him well and that he was nobody to fear.
I also noted that he bore no weapon upon his person and this soothed my alarm. Alas, what I did not know and what I did not learn until much later was that the most dangerous arms are not always displayed for all to see, and that the deadliest weapons are often those that lie hidden and wait their turn.
But fearing nothing, I knelt and kissed the ground at the stranger's feet, and when I rose again, I read kindness written in his eyes and I smiled at the smile upon his lips.
And this is how I met Billy. Dear Billy, teacher, advisor, companion of my tears and helpmeet in my darkness. And yet, even then, as you smiled at me in the castle's harem on that day, you were plotting my betrayal, and even now, as I write these words, my eyes weep to remember how I betrayed you in turn.
"I come in hiding from the palace," Billy told me. "No man is permitted to visit the harem, as you know, so I must make myself into a woman when I come here. I stand before you in women's clothes but your eyes will tell you plainly that I am no woman. No more than you are yourself."
"You know not what you say, Billy," the voice of Miranda came from the divan.
"Do not listen to them," smiled Billy. "Pay no heed to their superstitious prattling about maiden's eyes inside a man's body and who knows what other nonsense. It is but the idle chatter of womenfolk."
I marshalled my confused thoughts. "But the Desert Duke could not harm me," I finally said. "I looked upon him, and I live. Is it not true that only women are safe from his deathly gaze?"
Billy looked thoughtful, then, and his voice was serious as he spoke. "It is true. And yes, I know that you survive, and it is wondrous strange. There is a mystery here, to be sure, but where there is a mystery, there is also a solution. We do not know the answer to this riddle yet but we will find it out."
"You must know, Orlando ben Bloom," said Cate's voice from the divan, and it was full of laughing mockery, "that Billy is wise beyond compare and learned without measure. He holds high office at the palace: he is the Keeper of the Archives, the Librarian of the citadel's ancient Treasury of Books, and Chief Scribe to the Duke."
"Do not laugh," said Billy, and he sounded stern but also stirred by passion. "Young master Bloom, you may not know this but the palace archives are beyond compare. There is nothing like them in all the desert lands. The Duke's collection is one of the rarest and finest in the world. It rivals the library of Alexandria before its consumption by fire. It outshines the House of Wisdom of the caliphs of Baghdad. It houses more glories than do the great libraries of Cordoba, Rome and Nisibis together. Untold is the knowledge hidden between its pages, uncounted are its books and scrolls, its parchments older than the tribes, its manuscripts illuminated in gold and emerald, its ancient folia inscribed with scripts only the most learned can now decipher..."
"And know also, Orlando ben Bloom," interrupted Miranda drily, "that you should only mention the palace library to Billy if you have at least an hour to spare to listen to its praises sung. And that where others grieve for blood spilled, Billy mourns only for the loss of his books."
"The womenfolk will laugh" said Billy in a bitter voice. "And you may agree, young master Bloom, and tell me that these are but dry pages, written by hands long dead. But each book is a gate to a man's mind, and nobody knows it better than the Duke himself. For it is he who has locked the archive's door and swallowed the key. It is he who has destroyed all learning and all scholarship in this city, who has reduced this splendid citadel to a barren tyrant's ship. He knows what goes along with learning and the love of wisdom! It is the freedom of men to choose their own destinies, the ability of men to know their hearts and minds and to live in dignity, the keys to unlock secrets and mysteries and to dethrone despots...
"Nobody chooses their destiny, good Billy," said Cate and her voice was a blade, cutting his speech in half, as if he had said enough. As if he had said too much in front of me.
"And happily," interjected Miranda, "not all of the archives are shut up, are they now?"
"No," echoed Liv. "For the Prince has some influence, does he not?"
"The Prince," repeated Cate.
"The apple of his father's eye," added Miranda.
"The ember of his heart," said Liv.
"The thorn in his side," said Cate.
"But unlike his father, dear Billy, the Prince loves beautiful things, does he not?" asked Miranda.
"Beautiful books," continued Liv.
"Beautiful..." began Cate but did not finish.
At that, they fell silent and looked at me, I did not know why.
"It is true," Billy said slowly, "that the Prince is a man of learning and culture." And then his voice changed, and in decisive tones he continued, "But enough of this." He seized my hands and placed them between both of his, giving the pledge of the old tribes of the northern mountains.
"Young master Bloom," he said in a voice earnest and urgent. "I know well that all of this takes you by surprise. Listen not to the tales of prophecy and girls within boys that these women have been confusing you with. Listen to the words of a man, and act like a man. You must fight. You must fight tonight. Take the weapons the women have offered you. I would that you could fight with the arms of a man but we must be cautious. Even so, you will be searched and will need to hide these things carefully, these vials and phials."
"Good sir," I said, "you misunderstand. I am useless to you. I am but a humble cloth merchant. I am not versed in the use of poisons or potions. I have never killed anything larger than a flea. I cannot..."
"Hush," he said. "We choose none of us to be killers. But sometimes circumstances choose for us."
"Fate chooses," said Liv.
"Destiny preordains," added Miranda.
"The stars have willed it," finished Cate.
Their voices wove a web of words around my ears. I looked from one to another, and they looked at me and also at each other. I understood that I had stumbled into the maze of palace intrigue, and I sensed even then that not all was as it appeared, that in this room there were deceivers and deceived, but I could not tell who was using whom, and what was truth and what was not. Billy had forthright eyes and a man's honest hand clasp but the women's tales touched me strangely and moved the core of my heart.
Perhaps there was too much frankincense burnt in that gilded hall but all of a sudden, I felt faint, and dizzy with fumes.
Looking from the crone to the women, from the women to the man veiled as a woman, images within images and claims within claims, I remembered the one true thing in my life.
"I am not alone," I said. "I have a friend in this citadel. He is my companion and my guardian. He waits for me in the stables. We leave tonight."
"The Duke will not allow him to leave," said Billy in a flat voice.
"So the Duke will kill him?"
"Perhaps," said Billy gently. "But not if you kill the Duke first."
"No!" I shouted. "No, no! Do not tempt me to do your bidding in this way! I will not listen to any artful cunning. I will not!"
"And you must do it soon," said Liv as if I had not spoken at all. "For time is running short."
"The sand runs ever through the hourglass," said Miranda.
"As the moon climbs the ladder of the heavens," said Cate.
The moon! A cold fist closed around my heart. I turned around, and there, behind the old woman still hovering at the edge of our meeting, was the tranquil pool, and in its still waters I beheld the reflection of the white sickle moon.
"I must go," I said.
Billy said nothing, and the women were quiet. But they exchanged glances that were full of unfathomable meaning.
"I must go!" I cried. "The moon has risen, and I must meet my friend at the stables. I need to leave at once. I am most terribly late!"
"Young master Bloom..." began Billy.
"Good sir," I said in a rush, "I thank you for your confidence, and I feel pity in my heart for your plight, and I wish you all the fortune in this world in your quest to overcome the man who rules you so cruelly. But it is your quest; it is not mine. This is not my citadel. This is not my home. I am but a traveller on my way through. I beg of you, let me leave. I cannot fight your fight. I cannot kill this Duke. I have business of my own to attend to, and I have duties of the heart. Have mercy, I implore you, and let me go now."
"Very well," said Billy. He looked at the damsels.
"Good," said Liv in her voice of stone.
"It will pass as it shall pass," said Miranda in her voice of night.
"And failing that, we always have," said Cate in her voice of a blade, "the Black-Footed Assassin."
A chill seemed to travel through the hall, and the moon shivered on the water.
"Who?" said Billy in a voice keen and alert.
"Oh," said Liv and Miranda and Cate all at the same time, "nobody." And they shook their heads, making their earrings to jingle.
"And now, go," Cate said to me, in commanding tones.
I bowed and turned to leave but Billy placed his hand on my arm and spoke.
"Wait just one moment, young master Bloom." He picked up one of the things I had dropped on the floor and pressed it into my hand. "At least take this. It is the talisman of our brotherhood."
I opened my palm. It was the small metal disc. I looked at it carefully and saw that it was a tiny amulet, no larger than the nail of my little finger, no larger than a musk deer's nostril and not unlike one of Uncle John's good-luck charms. It was made of red copper, fashioned into the shape of a five-petalled jasmine blossom, and the core of the flower was worked into the images of a horned moon and a star intertwined.
"It is our sign," Liv said. "The sign of our secret sisterhood."
"It is the emblem of our future," said Billy.
"Hide it well," said Miranda. "In this citadel, it may spell certain death. But it will also protect you from death, if revealed at the right moment to the right person. Hide it inside the tunnel of your ear where none may see it. Hide it under the nail of your big toe. Sew it into the pockets of your skin."
"Do not hide it in the obvious place, however," said Billy. "For that, I fear, is the first place he will look."
"What do you mean?" I exclaimed. "Who?"
"And show it only to those who show you an emblem of a similar type," continued Billy. "For you are not entirely alone. We have a man inside, besides myself."
"Go stealthily," said Cate. "Trust not to appearance. Not everybody is what he seems in the Duke's palace."
"I must tell you one last time, dear ladies: I am not going to the Duke's palace!" I cried.
"And now, fare you well, Orlando..." said Cate.
"...ben..." said Miranda.
"Bloom," said Liv.
Their silence rang in my ears as I hastened all the way down the tiled hall, past the sunken bath and the incense burner, along the arches and columns of green and gold, always following the old woman who hobbled before me at a surprising pace. Again, I came through the coiled corridors of that place, down the spiral staircase and up another, and into the narrow passageway to the plain wooden door. The crone undid the bolt.
"Good-bye," I said to her hurriedly and issued forth from the serail as a puff of steam issues forth from the kettle's spout. Cool fresh night air blew upon my heated cheeks.
I stepped into the moon shadows of the lane, into the freedom of the city, and straight into the arms of two large masked men. The sigil of the Duke's eagle and snakes glinted upon their armoured chests. Before I could run or cry out, they had gagged and bound me. Their grip on my arms was merciless, their silence more menacing than fear.
The last thing I saw before a blindfold was tugged tight around my eyes was a light in a window high above. The latticed shutter had opened a fraction. There was a flutter of silk, and it reminded me of that other window I had seen earlier in the day, of those other shutters, of that woman's tinkling laugh. And in a flash I recognised that laugh from my memory's well: it was the laugh of Liv, lady of the harem.
I stared at the silken veil billowing in the breeze above me. This time it was not a woman's face behind the half-open veil: it was the face of Billy, the man. Billy, the traitor.
I struggled and moaned into the muzzle in my mouth. But I was cuffed around the head, punched in the belly, winded, trussed and thrown over someone's shoulder like a she-goat on its way to slaughter.
~~~~~
tbc
Part: 11 (Back to Part 10.)
Author: Lobelia; lobelia40@yahoo.com
Other info, cast list and previous parts: DP Contents.
~~~~~
Fascicle the Eleventh
The man was small and fair, fair of hue and fair of hair. He had the pale eyes and curved lips of the peoples of the north. His chin wore a short, pointed beard, styled in the manner of a courtier, but when he emerged from the curtains I saw that he was wearing a woman's garments and that a woman's veil had slipped from his face and hung about his neck. And strange it was to see that man with his man's beard and his man's clear brow enrobed in a lady's finery.
"Billy!" Liv exclaimed. "Did we not tell you to keep hidden?"
But the man did not answer her. He came up to me with a swift step. He touched his right palm to his lips (and as he lifted his hand, I saw the ducal seal upon his finger's ring) and then folded his hands over mine, using the greeting of the tribes of the north.
"Welcome, young master Bloom," he said. "This is no time for ceremonies so I will simply ask you to call me Billy. Speak to me now, and then forget that you ever saw me."
I was speechless with amazement, and my heart was still beating with the fear of discovery. But the women laughed and lay at their ease, and I saw that they knew him well and that he was nobody to fear.
I also noted that he bore no weapon upon his person and this soothed my alarm. Alas, what I did not know and what I did not learn until much later was that the most dangerous arms are not always displayed for all to see, and that the deadliest weapons are often those that lie hidden and wait their turn.
But fearing nothing, I knelt and kissed the ground at the stranger's feet, and when I rose again, I read kindness written in his eyes and I smiled at the smile upon his lips.
And this is how I met Billy. Dear Billy, teacher, advisor, companion of my tears and helpmeet in my darkness. And yet, even then, as you smiled at me in the castle's harem on that day, you were plotting my betrayal, and even now, as I write these words, my eyes weep to remember how I betrayed you in turn.
"I come in hiding from the palace," Billy told me. "No man is permitted to visit the harem, as you know, so I must make myself into a woman when I come here. I stand before you in women's clothes but your eyes will tell you plainly that I am no woman. No more than you are yourself."
"You know not what you say, Billy," the voice of Miranda came from the divan.
"Do not listen to them," smiled Billy. "Pay no heed to their superstitious prattling about maiden's eyes inside a man's body and who knows what other nonsense. It is but the idle chatter of womenfolk."
I marshalled my confused thoughts. "But the Desert Duke could not harm me," I finally said. "I looked upon him, and I live. Is it not true that only women are safe from his deathly gaze?"
Billy looked thoughtful, then, and his voice was serious as he spoke. "It is true. And yes, I know that you survive, and it is wondrous strange. There is a mystery here, to be sure, but where there is a mystery, there is also a solution. We do not know the answer to this riddle yet but we will find it out."
"You must know, Orlando ben Bloom," said Cate's voice from the divan, and it was full of laughing mockery, "that Billy is wise beyond compare and learned without measure. He holds high office at the palace: he is the Keeper of the Archives, the Librarian of the citadel's ancient Treasury of Books, and Chief Scribe to the Duke."
"Do not laugh," said Billy, and he sounded stern but also stirred by passion. "Young master Bloom, you may not know this but the palace archives are beyond compare. There is nothing like them in all the desert lands. The Duke's collection is one of the rarest and finest in the world. It rivals the library of Alexandria before its consumption by fire. It outshines the House of Wisdom of the caliphs of Baghdad. It houses more glories than do the great libraries of Cordoba, Rome and Nisibis together. Untold is the knowledge hidden between its pages, uncounted are its books and scrolls, its parchments older than the tribes, its manuscripts illuminated in gold and emerald, its ancient folia inscribed with scripts only the most learned can now decipher..."
"And know also, Orlando ben Bloom," interrupted Miranda drily, "that you should only mention the palace library to Billy if you have at least an hour to spare to listen to its praises sung. And that where others grieve for blood spilled, Billy mourns only for the loss of his books."
"The womenfolk will laugh" said Billy in a bitter voice. "And you may agree, young master Bloom, and tell me that these are but dry pages, written by hands long dead. But each book is a gate to a man's mind, and nobody knows it better than the Duke himself. For it is he who has locked the archive's door and swallowed the key. It is he who has destroyed all learning and all scholarship in this city, who has reduced this splendid citadel to a barren tyrant's ship. He knows what goes along with learning and the love of wisdom! It is the freedom of men to choose their own destinies, the ability of men to know their hearts and minds and to live in dignity, the keys to unlock secrets and mysteries and to dethrone despots...
"Nobody chooses their destiny, good Billy," said Cate and her voice was a blade, cutting his speech in half, as if he had said enough. As if he had said too much in front of me.
"And happily," interjected Miranda, "not all of the archives are shut up, are they now?"
"No," echoed Liv. "For the Prince has some influence, does he not?"
"The Prince," repeated Cate.
"The apple of his father's eye," added Miranda.
"The ember of his heart," said Liv.
"The thorn in his side," said Cate.
"But unlike his father, dear Billy, the Prince loves beautiful things, does he not?" asked Miranda.
"Beautiful books," continued Liv.
"Beautiful..." began Cate but did not finish.
At that, they fell silent and looked at me, I did not know why.
"It is true," Billy said slowly, "that the Prince is a man of learning and culture." And then his voice changed, and in decisive tones he continued, "But enough of this." He seized my hands and placed them between both of his, giving the pledge of the old tribes of the northern mountains.
"Young master Bloom," he said in a voice earnest and urgent. "I know well that all of this takes you by surprise. Listen not to the tales of prophecy and girls within boys that these women have been confusing you with. Listen to the words of a man, and act like a man. You must fight. You must fight tonight. Take the weapons the women have offered you. I would that you could fight with the arms of a man but we must be cautious. Even so, you will be searched and will need to hide these things carefully, these vials and phials."
"Good sir," I said, "you misunderstand. I am useless to you. I am but a humble cloth merchant. I am not versed in the use of poisons or potions. I have never killed anything larger than a flea. I cannot..."
"Hush," he said. "We choose none of us to be killers. But sometimes circumstances choose for us."
"Fate chooses," said Liv.
"Destiny preordains," added Miranda.
"The stars have willed it," finished Cate.
Their voices wove a web of words around my ears. I looked from one to another, and they looked at me and also at each other. I understood that I had stumbled into the maze of palace intrigue, and I sensed even then that not all was as it appeared, that in this room there were deceivers and deceived, but I could not tell who was using whom, and what was truth and what was not. Billy had forthright eyes and a man's honest hand clasp but the women's tales touched me strangely and moved the core of my heart.
Perhaps there was too much frankincense burnt in that gilded hall but all of a sudden, I felt faint, and dizzy with fumes.
Looking from the crone to the women, from the women to the man veiled as a woman, images within images and claims within claims, I remembered the one true thing in my life.
"I am not alone," I said. "I have a friend in this citadel. He is my companion and my guardian. He waits for me in the stables. We leave tonight."
"The Duke will not allow him to leave," said Billy in a flat voice.
"So the Duke will kill him?"
"Perhaps," said Billy gently. "But not if you kill the Duke first."
"No!" I shouted. "No, no! Do not tempt me to do your bidding in this way! I will not listen to any artful cunning. I will not!"
"And you must do it soon," said Liv as if I had not spoken at all. "For time is running short."
"The sand runs ever through the hourglass," said Miranda.
"As the moon climbs the ladder of the heavens," said Cate.
The moon! A cold fist closed around my heart. I turned around, and there, behind the old woman still hovering at the edge of our meeting, was the tranquil pool, and in its still waters I beheld the reflection of the white sickle moon.
"I must go," I said.
Billy said nothing, and the women were quiet. But they exchanged glances that were full of unfathomable meaning.
"I must go!" I cried. "The moon has risen, and I must meet my friend at the stables. I need to leave at once. I am most terribly late!"
"Young master Bloom..." began Billy.
"Good sir," I said in a rush, "I thank you for your confidence, and I feel pity in my heart for your plight, and I wish you all the fortune in this world in your quest to overcome the man who rules you so cruelly. But it is your quest; it is not mine. This is not my citadel. This is not my home. I am but a traveller on my way through. I beg of you, let me leave. I cannot fight your fight. I cannot kill this Duke. I have business of my own to attend to, and I have duties of the heart. Have mercy, I implore you, and let me go now."
"Very well," said Billy. He looked at the damsels.
"Good," said Liv in her voice of stone.
"It will pass as it shall pass," said Miranda in her voice of night.
"And failing that, we always have," said Cate in her voice of a blade, "the Black-Footed Assassin."
A chill seemed to travel through the hall, and the moon shivered on the water.
"Who?" said Billy in a voice keen and alert.
"Oh," said Liv and Miranda and Cate all at the same time, "nobody." And they shook their heads, making their earrings to jingle.
"And now, go," Cate said to me, in commanding tones.
I bowed and turned to leave but Billy placed his hand on my arm and spoke.
"Wait just one moment, young master Bloom." He picked up one of the things I had dropped on the floor and pressed it into my hand. "At least take this. It is the talisman of our brotherhood."
I opened my palm. It was the small metal disc. I looked at it carefully and saw that it was a tiny amulet, no larger than the nail of my little finger, no larger than a musk deer's nostril and not unlike one of Uncle John's good-luck charms. It was made of red copper, fashioned into the shape of a five-petalled jasmine blossom, and the core of the flower was worked into the images of a horned moon and a star intertwined.
"It is our sign," Liv said. "The sign of our secret sisterhood."
"It is the emblem of our future," said Billy.
"Hide it well," said Miranda. "In this citadel, it may spell certain death. But it will also protect you from death, if revealed at the right moment to the right person. Hide it inside the tunnel of your ear where none may see it. Hide it under the nail of your big toe. Sew it into the pockets of your skin."
"Do not hide it in the obvious place, however," said Billy. "For that, I fear, is the first place he will look."
"What do you mean?" I exclaimed. "Who?"
"And show it only to those who show you an emblem of a similar type," continued Billy. "For you are not entirely alone. We have a man inside, besides myself."
"Go stealthily," said Cate. "Trust not to appearance. Not everybody is what he seems in the Duke's palace."
"I must tell you one last time, dear ladies: I am not going to the Duke's palace!" I cried.
"And now, fare you well, Orlando..." said Cate.
"...ben..." said Miranda.
"Bloom," said Liv.
Their silence rang in my ears as I hastened all the way down the tiled hall, past the sunken bath and the incense burner, along the arches and columns of green and gold, always following the old woman who hobbled before me at a surprising pace. Again, I came through the coiled corridors of that place, down the spiral staircase and up another, and into the narrow passageway to the plain wooden door. The crone undid the bolt.
"Good-bye," I said to her hurriedly and issued forth from the serail as a puff of steam issues forth from the kettle's spout. Cool fresh night air blew upon my heated cheeks.
I stepped into the moon shadows of the lane, into the freedom of the city, and straight into the arms of two large masked men. The sigil of the Duke's eagle and snakes glinted upon their armoured chests. Before I could run or cry out, they had gagged and bound me. Their grip on my arms was merciless, their silence more menacing than fear.
The last thing I saw before a blindfold was tugged tight around my eyes was a light in a window high above. The latticed shutter had opened a fraction. There was a flutter of silk, and it reminded me of that other window I had seen earlier in the day, of those other shutters, of that woman's tinkling laugh. And in a flash I recognised that laugh from my memory's well: it was the laugh of Liv, lady of the harem.
I stared at the silken veil billowing in the breeze above me. This time it was not a woman's face behind the half-open veil: it was the face of Billy, the man. Billy, the traitor.
I struggled and moaned into the muzzle in my mouth. But I was cuffed around the head, punched in the belly, winded, trussed and thrown over someone's shoulder like a she-goat on its way to slaughter.
~~~~~
tbc
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-15 02:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-15 03:27 pm (UTC)And yes, the black-footed assassin indeed... :-) And I do have another part ready, just need to type in revisions. In fact, the other part has been ready for some time; I just needed to write this bridging part to get me there.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-15 07:09 pm (UTC)And oh, the plot thickens even more, can hear the footsteps of doom approaching, vials and phials, poisons or potions, a Black-Footed Assassin and - OMG, Billy! - a traitor.
the Prince loves beautiful things, does he not?" asked Miranda.
"Beautiful books," continued Liv.
"Beautiful..." began Cate but did not finish.
At that, they fell silent and looked at me, I did not know why.
*smiles*
Hmmmmm, somehow I get the impression you quite enjoy doing this cliffhanger-thing. Good to know the next part's almost ready to post, because that's what it is, right?
*looks hopefull, but nevertheless happy*
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-15 07:13 pm (UTC)And I don't know where the cliffhanging comes from. It just sort of *appears*. *g*
Next part needs having revisions typed in, so poss. tomorrow!
Thank you!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-15 11:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-15 11:40 pm (UTC)I was looking forward to another piece for a long time, and it was well worth the wait.
Nice cliffhanger too. :-P
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-16 12:21 am (UTC)And yes, I can't wait to get to the ruddy DP myself -- which is why I wrote DP parts first and then had to go back and build the Billy bridge.
Thank you!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-16 12:22 am (UTC):-)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-16 07:56 am (UTC)Sickle moons!
'No larger than a musk deer's nostril'!
Had forgotten the many-splendouredness of this series.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-16 09:32 am (UTC)Ah well, them are the joys.
:-)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-16 10:56 pm (UTC)I adore it all, yes.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-17 09:28 am (UTC)Thank you so much, sweetie. And all right, then: yes, yes. :-) I'm so glad you're still enjoying it.