Beneath the Skin

Beauty is but skin deep, ugly lies the bone; Beauty dies and fades away, but ugly holds its own

~ Anonymous

Friday marked that they had been in Tashbaan for a week and a half. Nearly every night they had dined with the Tisroc and Rabadash, but this night, because it was a holy day, they were staying home for supper.

Corin marked this particular Friday carefully, for it was Friday the Thirteenth. Corin himself did not believe in curses or jinxes, but he knew well enough that the Calormen servants did. So, he began to booby trap the whole house. Unfortunately, Edmund was the first to be caught and in no uncertain terms Corin was made to clean up everything, then sit quietly in a room. With the door locked on the outside.

The room was on the back of the house and overlooked a lonely road winding through the city. Below the road, Corin could just see the outer harbor and their own fair vessel moored safely on the shelf, her elegant lines reflected almost perfectly in the oily water of the harbor. Tiny sailors were walking about on her deck and he could see the rainbow splashes of water as they drove mops along the planks.

Just to the stern of the Black Swan, a buff bowed merchant vessel from the Seven Isles was hove to, her great sails curled and billowing in the wind. The next moment came the water thrown up by the anchor, then slowly, the sails slipped down the mast and turned into neatly rolled white sausages.

Shouting in the street directly below him brought Corin back from the harbor. Looking down into the street, Corin saw a green clad horseman reining in a black horse and speaking angrily to a peasant who was trying to drag himself out of the road. Corin saw with shock that the man was missing his legs.

The horse danced, black mane streaming in silky folds, neck gleaming with sweat and foam. The horseman seemed almost familiar to Corin, his slim build and peculiar poise brought Corin very close to knowing him, but not quite. In a quick, smooth motion, the horseman unsheathed his scimitar and in a moment, the one legged peasant was dead at the horse's feet.

We can hardly blame Corin for shouting. He had never witnessed anything so cold and bloodthirsty as that killing before. The horseman, who had heard Corin even though the glass, looked up sharply and Corin almost shouted again. It was Rabadash.

The light glared off the glass and Corin stepped back as if he had been struck. Rabadash, looked up for a moment longer, but then, with a dismissive gesture, he touched his heel to the horse's flanks. The stallion burst into a gallop and the accompanying Tarkaans thundered after.

"O my master, do not let him startle you."

Corin spun around and saw Dara standing behind him.

"How did you get here?" Corin asked.

Dara looked puzzled, "I have been arranging flowers there," she pointed to an alcove of the room where she could have easily been hidden behind a column.

"Oh," Corin half smiled, "Edmund'll be in a stew. I was supposed to be in solitary confinement."

Dara couldn't help smiling even though she tried not to and Corin went back to the window. It drew him like a magnet, he didn't want to see and yet…a woman, weeping in grief, was dragging the body away. A trail of crimson sank into the burning sand of the road and pooled in the hoof prints of the horse.

"It was Prince Rabadash, was it not?"

Corin glanced at Dara where she stood just behind him.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Nearly every Friday, he rides out into the city, death and destruction following him. He believes that since it is a holy day, everyone he kills will go instantly to heaven."

"How awful."

"Some Fridays he kills no one." Dara continued, "If he rides a white horse, he is in an amiable mood, but if he rides a black horse and wears green, a color sacred to Tash, then he is angry. He has killed over two thousand people himself."

It was about fifteen minutes later that Edmund had mercy and returned to Corin. He was surprised to see Dara, but when it was explained how she came to be there, he quite understood. With a curtsey, Dara left the room. Then Corin told Edmund about Rabadash.

Edmund was silent for a moment, but he did not seem as surprised as Corin expected him to be.

"You did not come with us to the palace last night, Corin," Edmund said, "But Rabadash asked for Susan's hand –"

"She refused him?" Corin asked, hardly daring to hope.

"No," Edmund said. "She asked him to give her time. He was angrier then he ought to have been."

"Edmund -," Corin said. "I'm beginning to be scared of this place."

Edmund knew by his wide eyes that he meant it.

"I know," Edmund said, passing a hand over his face. "Somehow we must convince Susan that this man is not who she thinks he is. I had hoped that she might see for herself, I do so hate to cause her pain."

When they first sighted Tashbaan they almost thought it was a mirage. It rose in the distance through layers of shimmering atmosphere. A golden city on a hill; seeming to brush the golden sky.

Bree picked up his pace, lifting his legs high and fairly prancing in excitement. Even Hwin moved a little faster. Shasta was all curiosity.

"What's it like?" He asked Aravis.

"It is very grand," Aravis said. She didn't bother to tell him she'd only been there once before. "It has been called one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It rises up, terrace upon terrace, street upon street. It is truly wonderful."

Shasta raised his eyebrows. He wasn't afraid to admit to himself that the place sounded more frightening then wonderful.

As they approached Tashbaan the air began to get cooler. Bree explained to Hwin, though he wasn't able to explain to the others for fear of being overheard, that this was because the river was very cold (because it was so deep) and the sea was not very far away.

The desert began to give way to roads paved with flat rocks. Farther on they began to pass houses, then palaces. The traffic was increasing too. They were close enough to the city and the bridges over the river to see an almost solid jam of humanity. They heard tales from travelers coming away from the city saying that if you could get into the city in under three hours you were doing well.

"I really think we ought to have tried a different way," Aravis hissed when they were caught in a traffic jam and poor Hwin was almost crushed between a wall and a camel.

She saw Bree's ears snap back as he warned her not to say such a rebellious thing again.