HotTexasCowboy
Star
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2011
As he had for the last several nights, Gamal paced about the camp in the moonlight. The moon was waning from the fullness of the dramatic night a few days ago. The comet trail had moved a few degrees from the light of the moon, but still the brightness of its tail was also fading. Gamal barely noticed, his eyes on his footsteps and the sand, lost in his thoughts. He didn’t notice the footsteps approaching until Kiyomi was nearly beside him.
“You are troubled, Master?” she said, not really a question.
“Annabeth: she is asleep?” he responded.
“She rests, Master, but she does not sleep soundly since…”
“Yes. Since the night I completed the destruction of her life,” he finished the thought in his own way.
“Her life is not over, Master. Neither is yours. Prophecy has been fulfilled, but now your lives, both of them, are free and open to your own destiny.”
Gamal shook his head. “I stole her life from her. Her life of aristocracy, her marriage, even her chance at studies, she can never have that back. And I can never - “ He cut himself off.
“Never have the woman you love?” Kiyomi finished his thought.
He looked at her with a glare, but she had hit him hard with his own thoughts. “What we did was not love. I kidnapped her, corrupted her, used the magic of that liar, that deceiver, that beast,” he added with venom in his voice. “I raped her body, feeling nothing but my selfish, corrupted lust. In the end, I almost lost her, but for…” He paused and looked to Kiyomi with softer gratitude, “… but for the intervention of you and the Harem. You saved her, not me.”
“We were all acting from prophecy, Master,” she said softly. “Thousands of years ago, this was all planned by higher powers than us. The gods had to be uncovered and revived in order to meet their ultimate fate. We played a small part in that plan.”
“But was it planned…?” he protested, hesitating, then finishing, “that I would fall in love with her, desire her above all things? I can never have her now. She has only hate for me.”
“You are wrong, Uba Mumti,” she insisted, using his given name. “She loves you as deeply, but frightened as much as you are by her actions and responses to that night. She had a vision of her wedding night that was no relation to how her lust burst free as a vessel of prophecy. She fears her own submission to that lust as you do. Remember, Master, that once prophecy was finished with her, she was left to drown. You saved her, Master; your love for her and sacrifice kept her alive. Your love can help her recover her dreams, her destiny, her love… and yours.”
They continued to walk in silence for a bit. Then Gamal said softly, “You have always been more wise than the rest of us, Kiyomi. Why do you call me Master? Your family has wealth, and I have nothing. Your future is unlimited; mine is a mystery. You have always seen clearly, while my vision was clouded by false prophecy.”
“But I love you, Master, just as I love Annabeth; both of you equally and deeply and eternally. My destiny is with you both, wherever it leads. And your destiny lies together. I know this, with all my heart.”
“She’ll never let me talk to her, Kiyomi. How can we possibly be together?”
“In Khartoum, Master. Let us bathe and rest and eat. It will be days before a riverboat comes. She will let you speak. I know this,” Kiyomi insisted. “Do not give her up.”
* * * * *
Another days journey brought them near nightfall within sight of the city. They were on the other side of the river, but the ferry across was closed for the night and they could not cross until morning. Aziz sought out Gamal after meeting with the tribal elders. “We will not cross with you tomorrow, Master,” the tall muscular ‘servant’ told the one he’d served. “This land will become our new village, a new Mok-Waar. The land belongs to Sheik Assalam, who is related distantly to some of our elders and will grant us the land. It is watered by the joined rivers and we will pay him with a portion of our crops. The purpose of our tribe has been fulfilled under the eclipsed moon, and now our duty is to survive. I must remain here, Gamal. I wish you and yours the best.” The two men clasped hands before Aziz returned to the villagers, already setting up tents as the start of their new village.
Gamal accompanied Annabeth and Kiyomi in a quiet journey to the ferry landing. There was a small building there where they could shelter for the night while waiting for the ferry in the morning. Gamal still did not try to approach Annabeth through the night, leaving her to snuggle with Kiyomi until the ferry came with the dawn. Across the Nile was the city proper, a maze of twisted streets, houses and shops of adobe and mud, and a few modern hotels built for British officers and other men of wealth in their visits. Gamal’s status as a former officer in Gordon’s force was more than enough to get him a pair of rooms at the best hotel in Khartoum. He had currency with him that he had accumulated over the years, held by the villagers and turned over to him from Aziz, since the village had no need of such currency.
In his room, Gamal bathed and rested into the afternoon, but sent a note to the room with the girls asking them to join him for dinner in the hotel restaurant. He also ordered a fresh white suit in colonial style from an tailor shop associated with the hotel. Perhaps in a formal setting, he thought, Annabeth might allow him to speak with her and let both of them open up about their feelings in a controlled atmosphere.
“You are troubled, Master?” she said, not really a question.
“Annabeth: she is asleep?” he responded.
“She rests, Master, but she does not sleep soundly since…”
“Yes. Since the night I completed the destruction of her life,” he finished the thought in his own way.
“Her life is not over, Master. Neither is yours. Prophecy has been fulfilled, but now your lives, both of them, are free and open to your own destiny.”
Gamal shook his head. “I stole her life from her. Her life of aristocracy, her marriage, even her chance at studies, she can never have that back. And I can never - “ He cut himself off.
“Never have the woman you love?” Kiyomi finished his thought.
He looked at her with a glare, but she had hit him hard with his own thoughts. “What we did was not love. I kidnapped her, corrupted her, used the magic of that liar, that deceiver, that beast,” he added with venom in his voice. “I raped her body, feeling nothing but my selfish, corrupted lust. In the end, I almost lost her, but for…” He paused and looked to Kiyomi with softer gratitude, “… but for the intervention of you and the Harem. You saved her, not me.”
“We were all acting from prophecy, Master,” she said softly. “Thousands of years ago, this was all planned by higher powers than us. The gods had to be uncovered and revived in order to meet their ultimate fate. We played a small part in that plan.”
“But was it planned…?” he protested, hesitating, then finishing, “that I would fall in love with her, desire her above all things? I can never have her now. She has only hate for me.”
“You are wrong, Uba Mumti,” she insisted, using his given name. “She loves you as deeply, but frightened as much as you are by her actions and responses to that night. She had a vision of her wedding night that was no relation to how her lust burst free as a vessel of prophecy. She fears her own submission to that lust as you do. Remember, Master, that once prophecy was finished with her, she was left to drown. You saved her, Master; your love for her and sacrifice kept her alive. Your love can help her recover her dreams, her destiny, her love… and yours.”
They continued to walk in silence for a bit. Then Gamal said softly, “You have always been more wise than the rest of us, Kiyomi. Why do you call me Master? Your family has wealth, and I have nothing. Your future is unlimited; mine is a mystery. You have always seen clearly, while my vision was clouded by false prophecy.”
“But I love you, Master, just as I love Annabeth; both of you equally and deeply and eternally. My destiny is with you both, wherever it leads. And your destiny lies together. I know this, with all my heart.”
“She’ll never let me talk to her, Kiyomi. How can we possibly be together?”
“In Khartoum, Master. Let us bathe and rest and eat. It will be days before a riverboat comes. She will let you speak. I know this,” Kiyomi insisted. “Do not give her up.”
* * * * *
Another days journey brought them near nightfall within sight of the city. They were on the other side of the river, but the ferry across was closed for the night and they could not cross until morning. Aziz sought out Gamal after meeting with the tribal elders. “We will not cross with you tomorrow, Master,” the tall muscular ‘servant’ told the one he’d served. “This land will become our new village, a new Mok-Waar. The land belongs to Sheik Assalam, who is related distantly to some of our elders and will grant us the land. It is watered by the joined rivers and we will pay him with a portion of our crops. The purpose of our tribe has been fulfilled under the eclipsed moon, and now our duty is to survive. I must remain here, Gamal. I wish you and yours the best.” The two men clasped hands before Aziz returned to the villagers, already setting up tents as the start of their new village.
Gamal accompanied Annabeth and Kiyomi in a quiet journey to the ferry landing. There was a small building there where they could shelter for the night while waiting for the ferry in the morning. Gamal still did not try to approach Annabeth through the night, leaving her to snuggle with Kiyomi until the ferry came with the dawn. Across the Nile was the city proper, a maze of twisted streets, houses and shops of adobe and mud, and a few modern hotels built for British officers and other men of wealth in their visits. Gamal’s status as a former officer in Gordon’s force was more than enough to get him a pair of rooms at the best hotel in Khartoum. He had currency with him that he had accumulated over the years, held by the villagers and turned over to him from Aziz, since the village had no need of such currency.
In his room, Gamal bathed and rested into the afternoon, but sent a note to the room with the girls asking them to join him for dinner in the hotel restaurant. He also ordered a fresh white suit in colonial style from an tailor shop associated with the hotel. Perhaps in a formal setting, he thought, Annabeth might allow him to speak with her and let both of them open up about their feelings in a controlled atmosphere.