Going Forth By Day

by Mary R Woldering

  “Dare you!” she darted away from the prince and into the wine room, then dipped up another cup for him and drank straight from the ladle herself. “You’re drunk!” she snickered, but noticed she felt dizzier by the second herself. How many dips of this stuff have we had? Ten… a dozen? More? He’s still standing? Damn, the man can drink!

  “Time t’ see,” the prince, now much more inebriated after he had hung upside down, staggered badly and lurched into each wall as he followed Ariennu back into the plaza. Once or twice he slipped, cursed, and righted himself. There were fewer party guests around them. He glanced around then he began to half-drag her up to the balcony a second time. Winded and dizzy, both Maatkare and Ariennu stumbled and paused on the stone steps to the upper level.

  Has the dancing stopped? Ari wondered, craning her neck to the area near the throne. She and the prince hadn’t gone up high enough to see. Through slightly fuzzy vision she saw some of the guests starting to point the two of them out to each other, then look around for servants to gather their things. It must be late. Party breaking up? People leaving? He’s not going to remember who had good wishes at this point, for sure. Where’s the king? He’s gone too? Ariennu sighed. I missed everything following this fool around! She heard someone mumble about the beauty of the dance, about the wonderful art of the dancer and her incredible beauty. The guests were starting to leave. The dance must have finished some time earlier. The king had taken his concubines and had retired for the evening. Maybe Naibe would tell her about it once she shed the prince and went to the women’s room.

  The prince pulled Ari to the balcony with him then released her and braced his arms on the rail. Earlier in the evening he had easily vaulted into a squat on them. Now, he could barely stand. He stared into the milling and departing crowd below. “Not so many of them down there now,” he paused, then laughed a little, cursing again under his breath. He pulled Ari to the rail for a minute to show her what he saw. “Lookee at that. The Pit of Chaos waits for me right down there, the squealing pig!” He picked up his bow and tried to nock an arrow. It slipped from his fingers. He cursed, succeeded on the second try, then raised the bow.

  “You’re drunk. You’ll kill somebody,” Ariennu pulled back on his arm and caused him to stumble against her.

  “So? Won’t be the first time. It’s what I do. I’m Lord o’ the Dead, Lord of the Dead by the blood of Aset,” he muttered, then spun around so fast that Ari barely had time to shrink out of the way as he aimed and fired the arrow. It bounced and shattered in the tile near his wife’s leg. When he saw where it landed, he hollered over the balcony at her horrified and humiliated face. “You waiting for me?” he shrieked.

  What was left of the crowd silenced and stared up. Even the few cheering men who remained looked up, amused and awed at the way Ariennu needed to steady the prince on the rail to keep him from pitching headlong to the floor below.

  “Go home! All of you!” he dropped his bow and stood gasping and dizzy, hand to his mouth. “Damn! Why’d I miss that fat cow?” he muttered, then continued in silent, enraged thought. Would ‘a been an accident. Nobody blames a accident. They just want too much of me. Give me nothing but misery, tryn’a put a collar on me!

  Ari’s expression wormed between pride in having outlasted the prince in the drinking and pity that she knew the misery awaiting him when he sobered. She saw Deka looking up at them, expressionless and hard, then understood the Ta-Seti woman had sensed all of the ugliness of the prince’s thoughts.

  Even you, NeferSekht, as you say your name is this week, your blood’s hot enough now to let me run free, but you will want to train me to your lap. They all do. So you take this good look ‘a me with your red sister and take a lesson into your lonesome bed t’night! He blew a kiss down to her, mouthing more than saying the words aloud “Go Home!” then turned to engulf the elder woman for a moment.

  That thought, that he was trying to insult Deka as badly as she had thought of shaming her made Ari’s heart skip a little. She didn’t know whether to snarl at him for using her, or welcome him for letting her use him for an evening of excitement. He fell inside the balcony rail and sat, trying to get up once more and failing.

  His regulars were milling below, ready to get him moved to his boat before any worse insults were hurled.

  Ariennu waved them away, her forced smile explaining that she had everything under control. All of her passion suddenly fled as he pulled her to the rail. She knew she had to get him down the steps again before he fell over the rail and took her with him.

  “Oh you…” he tittered softly, the sound caught between a growl and the chattery noise of a wild dog, as he looked across the central gap in the plaza between the two balconies. A dim flickering lamplight came from the king’s bedchamber. “Kha-ket. O big Kingsy MenKhaket. Where’d you go?” Prince Maatkare began to sing-song lightly. “I’m ‘a be nasty wi’ your cow-daughter. She likes it rough, you know, craves it. Not your holy sacrament, all gentle-like. What? You missing it wit her?” he slurred, laughing.

  Ari knew that Maatkare was talking about the other wife, not the one he nearly shot tonight or Deka. He was talking about the daughter of Menkaure who died; of the sacred, god-ordained intimacy she had sensed not long ago when she had consoled the king. He was implying the relationship between god and daughter of the god had been a purely physical or sexual togetherness. It was heresy, and it was loud. Ariennu knew she needed to get him quiet before the king heard what he said. She embraced him heartily, pulling him back from the rail with all of her strength.

  “She was happy wi’ me,” Prince Maatkare continued rambling his drunken confession. “Shouldn’t ‘a tried to own me, shouldn’t ‘a made me mad at her like that. Shouldn’t ‘a tried to say I couldn’t be her king, when I knew she wanted me… Teasing ka’t, no better than…” he trailed, then continued. “I showed her. Her screaming for it that day, begging… Just a little push ‘s all it was,” he reflected and almost sobbed for a moment. “I’m drunk. Not drunk enough t’ be in this curse-filled house,” Maatkare faded, then jumped solidly to his feet and grabbed Ariennu.

  She had slipped into a heap beside him, too dizzy to stand up, but straightened nearly pop-eyed, when she heard his words. Now, after he mocks the king, in a voice loud enough for others to hear? “Come here, Your Highness,” she whispered into his ear. “Let’s get you to your men.”

  “Right,” his voice grew quiet and solemn again.

  Hauling him down the steps, Ariennu guided the prince to the common latrine outside the plaza wall, then waited for him relieve himself, hoping the fresher air would help him gather his wits a little.

  Two men supported a woman who was vomiting from too much wine. Soon, the three party guests filed by with sheepish expressions on their faces, but they made no comment.

  As soon as the guests moved away, Ari guided Prince Maatkare back toward the first urn she saw to force a final drink into his mouth. She spied one at the entry to a storage area just an arm’s length or two from the archway that opened to the rear yard. Maybe one more drink’ll knock him flat, then I can get his men to carry him away before he says anything else. At that moment, the last thing Ari wanted was sex from him, even if he could perform.

  Prince Maatkare quietly sucked on the edge of the cup she found floating in the urn, as if he pondered his situation. His eyes glimmered a little as he casually dropped the cup to the floor and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. “Mmm, could you…” he started, about to lose his balance as he leaned heavily in the doorway.

  Ari sighed, dizzy herself but inwardly disgusted. I have to nursemaid him now. Some wonderful evening this became! You had better not puke on me or I’ll kill you, prince or not, she thought and then aloud: “Not your servant. Just because I brought you out here for some air…” she started, but to her shock, felt him reach for her and pull her up into an embrace so fierce that the cup fell from her grasp again. She resisted slightly but suddenly felt lulled, drowsy and alm
ost overwhelmed by the return of her own desire. “No, this is stupid. This is a mistake, I…” she suddenly felt all of the humiliation Deka had felt at his behavior tonight. She struggled a little, almost thinking Deka would be in front of them if she looked up from her bent over position. “You need to go, now,” she broke free of the prince and began to move past a small cubicle-like room and toward the emptying plaza.

  As if by magic, the prince rallied and stumbled after her. Despite her half-hearted struggle against him, Maatkare grabbed her solidly, backed her into the cubicle, flattened her against the wall and ripped open the front of her kalasaris with what she thought had been his pearly-painted nails.

  Claws? she froze. What?

  His mouth and teeth licked and bit her neck and shoulders insistently. With a low growl, he moved to her exposed breasts as if he had become a desperate animal. His powerful arms gripped her so tightly she couldn’t move.

  “Damn you. You’re too drunk. Even I’m drunk. Now stop,” Ariennu hissed under her breath, but the prince continued to back her into the small room. She struggled a little more, even though she knew her attempts were half-hearted at best. The sense of danger and the knowledge of his deadliness had excited her all over again as he sank his teeth into her breasts again. They both knew neither of them had any intention of stepping away from each other tonight.

  Just a push… The words echoed through Ari’s soul like the arrows Maatkare had fired earlier.

  Is he saying… Is he saying he killed the king’s daughter? She felt ill, dizzy, floating, and oddly, more desperate than she had felt in months. It’s the wine and the dance magic, not his damned ring. Nothing is real; none of this is real, rainbows shimmered through her eyes in a kind of self-defense at first that quickly became a strange and erotic welcome. An odd light surrounded Maatkare’s head and reflected on a face that had grown intent. He’s changing? No, I’m seeing things… drunk…The wine made my Child Stone drunk, she chortled eagerly.

  She knew she was very inebriated, but not enough to miss everything about the prince that was so damned good. Her hands sank to the buckle under his shendyt cover and pulled it loose. With that much wine in him, she knew he should have been useless, but the final drink she had given him seemed to increase not only his ability but his desperation and ravenousness.

  The prince paused, unwrapped the loosened loin coverings and, despite his intoxication, twisted it properly so it would fall perfectly pleated when he dressed again. He dropped the bundle to the floor and lunged, half falling against her.

  How is he able? Drunk as any score of men might get, but his mighty El as solid and standing as a thick-masted sailing ship? Resist? Why should I, when I need this… oh goddess, this? She wrestled her torn kalasaris up over the top of her head and dropped it, then let him engulf her in his arms as she braced herself against the smooth brick wall in the little room. I’m just an old kuna made new and pretty by this stone in my head, and him? Oh he is so… She sank to the floor with him, laughing, fumbling, stroking and adoring. “And so now you want my sweet honey gate? If you fail me now, I’ll…” she shuddered in expectation, raising her hand for half a moment to suggest he should be gentle in the first moment.

  “Never said I didn’t. You… you said I couldn’t and I won’t be challenge…” his fingers dove between her legs, caressing her for a moment to sense her readiness as he guided himself. The pleasure of the feeling as he entered and overwhelmed her swept her into a different world. He growled just a little again; reveling for a moment at her instant pleasure. You feel all of it now. You nourish me now, his thoughts radiated through her body, growing mightier and more forceful with each move. Opening her eyes beyond the first thrill, Ariennu saw his appearance continue to change.

  Animal. Aaa niii mullll! her thoughts cried out, seeing that his eyes had turned a fiery gold-green. Her hands seized, kneaded his buttocks and welcomed him.

  That’s true. I am that. See how much so? his spirit voice, unaffected by the wine, answered, followed by his desperate whisper: “You see?”

  A feeling like static and lightning briefly spread through Ariennu’s Child Stone when his left hand moved from her upper back to her forehead. The ring…You! Ariennu objected for only an instant before she faded in another wave of ecstasy.

  Does nothing unless I ask it. I know you. You want this hard enough to break your back in two before I’m done with you, don’t you?

  Ariennu laughed wickedly in joy at the threat in his thoughts. Animal. She gasped, craving every thrust and needing more until the sleeping beast in her own heart woke to match his intensity move for move. All of the moments blurred and lost touch with any sense of reality. She cursed, cried out, encouraged, and squalled in joy. In the midst of her wine filled dizziness and sexual ecstasy, her eyes blurred and her senses showed her a strange haunted vision of the prince transforming into some kind of black beast-hound with elongated, saber-like upper fangs. The creature had taken his place and mounted her instead. He was the creature. Ari, stunned by the idea of a dark furred growling and biting beast actually riding her, tried to still her racing thoughts.

  No, something whispered in her thoughts. Afraid… no… not afraid of you. I’m afraid of me, what you build inside me… dark… death… sister Ereshkigal goddess… ohhh shhh… she felt her heart want to stop as she opened her eyes and saw Prince Maatkare Raemkai had now most mysteriously become a green-eyed wolf with dark furred human arms and legs. He towered above her, relentlessly moving with her and consuming her energy along with all of her thoughts. The darkness that issued from his grip, fed by the ring she couldn’t see, wrapped itself around her and tightened its grip on her soul. His head bowed once and his fanged jaw sank into the meat of her shoulder, then her throat. What should have been bleeding agony only multiplied her pleasure by what she would later call senseless and wicked hundreds.

  At some unknown point, her thoughts had gone dark with an even deeper delight. One with his rhythm, she was roused only by the burst of his seed and the sudden numb and shuddering tenseness through his body followed by his complete collapse.

  Ariennu then lay gasping and windless. She tried to push his upper body to one side so she could breathe more easily. For a lingering moment, she felt the lightning of insatiability spread through her thighs and belly again. Maatkare had been incredible and vicious. He had taken her to a place where her thoughts and her body were equally satisfied and astonished, but she became aware, in her spinning and almost sickened exhaustion of an irrational desire for more.

  Ari lay in the floor and he lay sprawled over her. The illusion of the wolf was gone. He lay unconscious from wine and exertion. She pushed at him again, but could barely move him. Dead? Ari gasped, startled and suddenly tense. No. Dead drunk for sure. Beat you down, you nasty cur, she snickered as she eased from beneath him. Ariennu groped in the dark for her crumpled kalasaris and noticed once again that one of the breast straps had been torn loose and another rip had opened the front of it to her crotch. She remembered being bitten by a wolf, but when she swatted at the places on her shoulders throat and breasts that still stung in delight, she felt no wound or bleeding.

  A dream? her thoughts tried, but scattered as the room spun. Surely I… Ari knew she was beyond drunk now. Everything inside her ached and burned from her haunches to mid-back and even as far as her shoulders and neck. Waves of shuddering pleasure still consumed her. She couldn’t see in the darkness of the tiny store-room. A night like this was so much like the bad old days in the city and in the sand. There would always be drink, riotous sex, and squeezing out from under some man who thought he could bring her down, only to show him up. It’s what I am, Damn it – a thieving old fisher’s kuna from Tyre, and him, the murderin’ Lord o’ Death! She shook her head, still drunk, but now increasingly winded and nauseated.

  Just a little push

  Maatkare’s slurred words echoed in Ari’s thoughts. She sobered a little more, struggling to ease into a sitting position.
Her hands swiped and pressed at the stone in her brow, hoping the healing sequence in it would clear her thoughts. It tingled, objecting slightly. No, he killed his first wife. He admitted it. I have to get sober… tell someone. The tingling grew stronger but in reaction she felt sicker. At any moment she thought she would collapse into a helpless and heaving scrap of used flesh. No, No… no… I need to recover. I’m no wandering easy piece of ka’t to be tossed aside when he’s done. I can have the king’s ear at any time. I need you to fix me, she thought internally.

  The tingling increased. A feeling of well being surrounded the spot on her brow but extended no further.

  The poisons must be removed from your body.

  In the first time as you rested.

  You should rest again.

  Ariennu breathed easier, her thoughts held together a little better. She panted, salivating and wanting to vomit. Even if I told the king, I’d be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. Maybe I’ll have to kill this Maatkare. That would be a damned shame, she reflected. Oh, Damn, that was fun! She sat on her heels and stroked the prince’s buttocks with one hand, then rolled his heavy and sated body slightly to one side and chuckled at his flaccid penis. Mmmm, mmm… fine and righteously beautiful piece of meat you’ve got there, Highness. Glad I could tear off a piece of it tonight. Think Deka better lock you up or put a muzzle on it, though. Can’t let that out too often, even though it gets so very hungry.

  She stood shakily, steadying herself, and found her shift. Ari tried to step into it and, after nearly losing her balance, she straightened up and tried to tie the torn straps of her shift together. Her fingers felt fuzzy. After finally managing to make a clumsy knot, she noticed the prince had not moved. Ariennu braced herself against the wall and bent to make sure his head was turned to one side, in case he became as ill as she was in his stupor. She perched his nemes, which had come off of his head, over one ear. Your hat came off, Highness, she chuckled again, feeling almost proud of herself. Poor thing. All spent. He had no chance, she stroked his jaw with the back of her hand then peeled up the front corner of his lip. She remembered something about biting and long, sharp teeth. His teeth looked a little sharp and elongated, but not what she thought she remembered.