Chapter three
(Original title King without a queen.)
The palace throne room.
The diamond shaped open walled room was well crafted and grand, built by the best craft-hands in the lands and spell casters of ages past. Any and every jewel in existence known to the world embedded the walls and pillars as well as the of the throne polished to a shine and kept from fading even the slightest bit by simple magic. It was large as well, larger then even the throne rooms of Egypt or even that of the ancient Roman empire or any known to the living mind of the world.
The room itself so bright in its appearance that is appeared as if it were brighter than even that of the very sun itself.
A stone mouth at the far end of the room shaped in the likeness of the head of a wolf jutted out water into crystal clear pools that flowed around the edge of the room against bright tiles flowing into the palace courtyard far below by use of underground pipes.
However even with the suns warm rays just beyond the open room showing through the circular pillars and all of its bright jewels and polished walls it was a room as freezing as those of the highest icy mountains of central Asia.
But none of that could be more true of or even come close to matching that of the one who sat upon his cold throne, his misleading bright eyes gazed irritably about the room until the sound of the silvery gold double doors opened and two people stepped carefully inside of the room and came to kneel by his ill-gotten throne a respectable distance away, placing their left hands over their heart and bowed down to him on one knee as if he was the god Ra incarnate from the lands of Egypt. Cold dark and seemingly soulless golden eyes surveyed the two kneeling before him patiently awaiting his word of why he had sent for them two as they waited for him to speak to then.
The king of the Gold City of the Desert, The City of the build by the Sorceress Goddess and descendent of the Hero Kings of old Glax Arlond tall and imposing even while sitting down gazed below at his only two sons and only children kneeling before him on the cold ivory colored marble, looking at them more like a master surveying his loyal servants.
"Rem," he began cooly. "Urie."
"Yes Father?" Cold aquamarine nearly teal colored eyes looked up at him, ash blond hair like his own peeking out of a white colored head scarf* held by a band of silver with blue jewels encrusted within. His eldest son Rem.
"Yes sir?" Eyes that matched him but a bit warmer, light brown hair mixed with the slightest bit of orange that he had inherited from his mother that was covered by a dark red colored white turban where red and purple jewels were incrusted within, Urie his youngest and most disappointing son.
Galx's eyes narrowed angrily, his eyes turning to that of a cold wolf like blue, shining like the moon itself.
"Father." He corrected himself quickly, his eyes cast down as he had always been taught to act in front of him.
The king's wolf like eyes gazed down at the boy before they returned to that freezing color of gold.
". . .Noel has returned today with the marriage betrothal for the both of you. The princess' of the neighboring country of Turkey, daughter of Osman the third." He nodded to Urie. (*2)
"And the princess of Persia daughter of Valerian the ninth." He nodded towards Rem.
"I will see that this is carried all the way through, and make no mistake... you two will see to it as well."
"As you wish father." Rem, always the dutiful son, said a bow of his head.
Urie glanced at his brother out of the corner of his eye, his small braid on the left side of his face that he had placed there himself in addition to his large earrings as if in order to hide the movement of his eyes from the one sitting on the silver crimson throne before him. The goddess sorceress knew of the punishments his father gave for the least offense before to him.
"It shall be done without fail father." Urie quickly followed suit and with a wave of his bejeweled clawed hand they had the king's and master's leave to go
When they were out together in the hall and safely out of the earshot of their father Urie glanced sideways at his brother a small smirk forming on his lips.
"Princess of Persia for you brother? What a fine match that is I have to say. I heard that she is as every bit a masochistic as those Christians are and that she must smell like dogs thanks to that brother of hers. You must be very... exited."
"Yes, well... I hear the princess of Turkey like to walk around in mens clothing and also acts as if she was a woman from Pagan German. . . I'm sure she must smell as lovely as one of your jasmine flowers."
Urie grimaced at the thought then frowned.
"Rem... did you just try to make a joke?" He asked, the slightest bit of worry in his voice.
"...That is not important." Rem said quickly trying to change the subject quickly and get away from Urie as soon as possible. The two of them together, much to Rem's annoyance, had turned a corner and were heading towards a courtyard. Urie was not paying much attention closing him palm reopening it revealing when he did a small brightly colored butterfly sitting in his palm of his hand letting it go to fly through the air.
"Besides this isn't about establishing more ties between the kingdoms or anything of the sort despite what you or other people think. The two princesses are our distant cousins by an ancient marriage and father wants all with blood of the daughters of the desert back here once are some that whisper and others that believe, that the Turkish king is hiding Christians behind the Queen's back and allowing them to preach their doctrines in their houses like they did back in Roman times when they first began to separate themsleves from their Jewish shadow."
"I know that as well thanks to Holland. I just... Hmm?"
Urie was glancing over his shoulder, looking at something behind him. Frowning Rem looked to see what he was looking at at the other side of the pool, quickly catching sight of a color of gold and brown looking right ay him and Urie before it vanished in a flurry of flowers and blossoms.
"That was..."
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Three days, she had been here for a total of three days. Whenever the spell she had been under wore off she had not know, all she knew was walking up in a simple bed in a shaded room with someone next to her who the moment she opened her eyes went and got the head cook, she had been vaguely aware of her surrounding even under the spell.
She had been raised from a slave to a servant and given better work than them.
That didn't mean she had to like it.
She would bide her time until she could find a way to go back home.
For now though she had to do as she was told. She still had the small grey bindings on her wrist, but its color had now changed to that of a light gold color shining somewhat like the sun but still pulsed with a power to keep her tied to the land but not the power to keep her immobile if need be. The people here had learned from ancient Rome as well as from experiences of their ancestors there and beyond what happened when an enemy was given too much freedom to roam around. The head cook had said to her that they would come off by themselves eventually.
At this moment she was cutting carrots in the middle of a counter, surrounded by a number of girls and same about of men, both older and younger then herself and a number odd machines that she did not recognize. She had heard from her Mother about the advanced technology found in the middle east as well as in the countries of Europe, but she could never have imagined things as unique as these.
She gently scrapped the carrots into a pot ladened with a strange looking soup set on a strange pattern of iron and watched as the boy next to her turned a circular device and produced a fire ring around it and looked up when a younger looking girl approached her. From the way she was dressed and the lack of dark circular bondings on her wrists she knew that she was no slave. She had been told to only talk to servants as the two slaves in the kitchens were not able to answer back. Her hair was light brown held back from a part of her eyes by a small barrette situated above the left side of her face, causing some bangs to fall over her eyes face tan, dressed the same as she was minus the small band of grey.
"Excuse me... You are Ritsuka correct?
"Yes."
"N-nice to meet you, Ritsuka. I am Zobeidé." She said, placing the tip of her fingers together before her.
". . .Nice to meet you... Zob.. id..."
She smiled up at her.
"It is all right if you cannot get it right. . . You must no doubt still be very unsure of us and also that last remnants of that spell must still be effecting you. . . From what you said they must have mistaken you for one of those. I am sorry for that. You'll get used to it eventually though, everyone does.
At the mention of that Ritsuka frowned remembering what they had said before they had captured her before she looked back at Zobeidé a questioning look in her eyes.
"Is there... something you want to ask?"
". . .If you don't mind me asking this... You are from China right?"
"Yes."
"Then... then can you please tell me if it is it true then what people are saying about that country? About. . . about well..."
"What she is trying to say if that she wants to know as well as us if what our people say about that place is true or not." An older looking girl said stoping what she was doing to ask, others moving in closer to hear. Around her she saw most of the other servants pausing in their work
"If it is true that they woman are not allowed to be able to go to schools to become scholars and are taught to simple cook and knit. That they are not taught to fend for themselves like they rightly should."
"Umm... well yes I suppose. Some are allowed into the Forbidden City but. . ." Ritsuka began trying to remember what her mother had told them about the land outside their own home about the Empress, the wives, concubines and the so called talents that lined the Emperors bed, feeling awkward from all the stares and confused looks she was getting.
"But most are not allowed outside the house?" A boy asked.
At this point nearly everyone in the kitchen had ceased what they were doing and were leaning in to listen or ask question from their new partner.
"Or about... how they bind their feet to the point of deformation?" asked another a look of disgust in his eyes as well as his voice. There were some from there who said that men found the thought of dissected rotten skin attractive.
The very idea of someone liking that disgusted him.
"Yes..."
"Truly!?" A girl asked moving a hand in front of her face, a look of disgust and shock filling it.
"Then... Then how can a child from their own body learn to read and write swiftly if it is only their fathers that are allowed to do it?" An older girl asked.
"Or... or be strong when their mothers can barely walk!?" A boy questioned.
"They are not... I heard the boys are the ones allowed to to learn from a teacher. . ."
A small beat of silence rang through the kitchen, broken only by the sound of water coming through what she has been told is a faucet sink before the kitchen rang with at least half a dozen voices at once effectively filling up the large room. caring over to the other where the head cook was, making her breath heavily in a sigh.
She should have known something like this was going to happen.
"Then it is every bit as backwards as our teachers have said that it is!"
"Oh sweet Sorceress Goddess and Hero kings, join forces with our each other again along with our gods and save these backwards people!
"Yes! They must surly be secretly run by the barbaric Christians! The lot of them too thought like that about woman as well!"
"Truly. Have you heard about the Corset they loved so much? In class we saw that it pushes the bones upwards crushing them into the chest, it must be like internal foot binding!"
"No no... Get your facts together already Zantout. That hideous thing came long before their abominable rise to power."
"...Are you sure?"
"If we do not make sure what we are saying is correct we are little better than them. The lot of them loved to distort events to fit their liking as well."
Some were simply muttering darkly to each other.
"What foolish people they are there." A few boys and girls muttered to each other, shaking their heads in dismay.
"Truly... I will not be surprised in the least if a man comes to power who detest learning and allows it to be banned and punishes those who have more intelligence than him if his mother is not allowed to teach him a balance in his life." A boy sighed.
"I heard that the men in China even find Foot-binding attractive and like to. . . touch the unseeable bit of skin."
"Ha! Image that, playing around with rotting flesh!"
"That does sound like a thing Christians would love to do. . . with themselves at least. I read in my history books that they love to whip and preform self harm on themselves and push their bodies to the upmost limit because they believing they if they do they are seen as holy and good in their god's eyes and that bad things will not happen to them. They even like to wear outfits under their outer ware made out of some sort of scratchy hair wherein small creatures could eat away their flesh and nether-regions."
"Yeah... I heard about that, didn't he used to be a partner to a second Henry of England before he became a churchman and wanted to stop the king from punishing the priests who committed murder?"
"Yeah... Thats the one. The captured king Richard the Lion-heart's father... Henry the 2nd."
A few of them in the small group turned to the one Christian slave huddled against the wall who drew back a bit as their eyes fell on him looking away.
"Don't blame us, it was your own choice." One of them said, shrugging a bit as they looked away.
"What idiocy that is...! The human body is not capable of enduring such things. Its human nature. Even the bloodthirsty ancient Romans had more sense then them... or at least tried to anyway. If only that mad emperor Nero had finished what he had began with them. I only wish the Muslims had been around as well during his insane reign."
"Oh do not say something like that... Those "games." Such a way to die..."
"The Christians burned innocent woman among others at the stake driving the true inhabitance of the lands they conquered if they did not conform to their beliefs and the Muslims killed our noble ancestors and plunged them into the depth of the Red Sea. What in the name of our gods are you talking about?"
In the middle of all of this uproar and friendly back and forth Ritsuka frowned. Sorceress goddess... Heroes... She had heard of them before form her Grandfather told to by her own unknown father. Thinking back she remembered that they were the ones who stopped. . .
"That is enough from you lot..." The head Cook called out coming in from the other room, a hand on the side of her head as if trying to drive off a headache, effectively silencing the commotion.
"Though they have a right to act that way. How can a country possibly be properly run if half of its population cannot be allowed to use the brain given to them by their own gods or be allowed to have strengths of mind as well as body so their own children can be strong like them as well when they lie within them? Weak woman cannot hope to give birth to strong intelligent children if only one part of them are allowed to be." Cook shook her head dark hair flying.
"Strength has to come from both sides of the parents not just one part."
Ritsuka blinked at the remark remembering, that back home mother had said that her father had said that to her as well...
"So said the Hero kings and the Sorceress Goddess."
Ritsuka looked around the girls in the room had their eyes closed as if they were chanting a silent prayer. In the far corner the two slaves stood against the shadows eyes down and hands folded trying to look as insignificant as possible, forever silent.
"You still have slaves like in China." She said remembering what her Grandfather had told her about sold off daughters in laws from poor families. Cook opened her eyes and sighed.
"Yes that is true, however we do not make slaves out of our own people or our daughters only those captured by slavers those like Christians and Muslims who had dared to try and destroy this country and halt the progress of the world in order to spread their views. That part is mostly the Christians fault, I will admit to that but the lot of them are a strange existence to say the least. Loving war even fighting amongst themselves and bloodshed and inflict torture upon themselves and on others who do not agree with any of their views but theres in the name of their fanatic views and believe in only one god."
"There is a group that wants to disband them however... They are an unfavorable sort."
"Yes... I agree with others that we should hunt the slavers down to the last but they are a necessary existence if we wish to finally extinguish them from every corner of the land and you are not a slave you are a servant remember that."
"You had best hope that the King does not hear you saying that miss. He is as short tempered as it is these days and the mere mention of that group will certainly not help matters."
"Yes indeed... Now all of you get back to work. Ritsuka, there is something I need you to do. . ."
She followed the directions the head cook gave to her to the palace courtyard with only making a few wrong turns walking along a ivory colored archway where before she knew it she came out into a courtyard bathed in the hot mid-morning sun, rows upon rows of many types of colorful sweet smelling flowers lined almost virtually against a crystal clear pool filled by a stone mouth shaped in the likeness of a sand dwelling wolf set in the middle of the courtyard that ran into an underground aqueducts and flowed out into the city, desert greenery, bright green palm trees and trees dotted all around offering shade from the hot sun, a couple dozen fountains were littered all around the area. The pathways was made up of brightly colored patterned tile coming yet uncommon in the country. The tile as made up of strange unique patterns that seemed to weave in and out of their own images and appeared to showing more than they let on as they led you deeper into the courtyard or else directed you to a different place in the palace.
Ritsuka stood under the shade of the archway looking out into the splendor that was the palace courtyard before her, her eyes wide in utter amazement. She had never seen something as amazing as this all her life. Suddenly memories of Grandfather's burial spot filling her minds eye. Remembering herself sneaking through the high bamboo to join Lindo already there to pray for guidance from their grandfather at his grave or else sneaking in on him in a forest and coming up behind him him, making him laugh in surprise, a time when the two of them were both very young and splashing in the water under the watchful eyes of their mother and grandfather. She raised a hand to her eyes to wipe away the forming tears. She wouldn't cry now, she would be strong. That is what Grandfather her made her promise.
She knew she would see them again, she could feel it in her bones.
But first. . .
She moved towards a tree whose branches were heavy with the fruit she had been told to retrieve, raising a hand carefully up to it, eyes fixed on the green leaves looking for any sort of movement like a snake or any other poisonous animal, though she had been told that they had all been driven out long ago and kept from coming back in by a spell. Seeing nothing but the winds breath on the leaves she picked a few of the bright colored fruit, placing them carefully in a basked so as not to bruise them. When it was filled to the brim she moved away back into the heat of the sun simultaneously moving a hand to her forehead to wipe away the sweat that had formed on it, not realizing how hot she had become.
Sure she had done something similar to this back at home but rarely was the weather like this.
She looked towards the pool, moving towards it looking down at the water. It looked clean and fresh, better than the water coming from within the fountain she figured. It couldn't hurt to taste. However not knowing if she would get into trouble for drinking from this pool she looked around carefully seeing no sights of life but a strangely colored butterfly flapping its wings lazily on the winds breath and back towards the pool, crouching down in a raised surface half hidden by a tree with long green leaves, cupping her hands lowering them into the water letting her cupped palms full with water, seeing herself reflected back at her feeling the coolness of the water against her skin as age raised it to her lips to drink.
Without meaning to she looked up out across from the water quickly spotting two figure staring back at her from across the pool and shade. The two of them were dressed in royal clothing and dripping in jewels, hanging earrings glittering in the sun, the both of them roughly the same height, both tall and lean and well built from what she could see of their elegant covering and and harem pants, the glint of a dagger tucked into one of their belts. Their eyes golden the other teal.
Without a doubt those two were the princes she had heard about in the kitchens, she could just tell. Hair ash blond, light brown mixed with an odd color hair, cold teal eyes and bright gold moved to her on the other side of the water looking at her half hidden in the flowers and shade not looking away from her the three of them, not even blinking as they looked at each other not once lifting their sight away, each not looking away from the other for even an instant, forever fixed on each other.
She looked at the two of them for a moment more, a moment far too long before she quickly grabbed her basket and went back to the kitchens.