(no subject)

[niankhsekhmet]

More of the Sekhmet stories for Webcrowmancer's viewing pleasure. I wanted to get a little posted before bed. Bear in mind this is from forever ago, so by my standards now,it rather sucks. Anyway, I am off to bed!

Ambition The retinue of the Great Royal Wife arrived at Mennefer. All up and down the Hap signs of both upheaval and recalcitrant signs of reconstrucion were evident. The sails of the barge of the Great House, inscribed with both the uraeus and the titles of Per'aa and his Queen called a soft attention to both noble and peasant who watched the passage of the immense vessel from both sides of the great, lazy river. The people in the North had been starving. How could a ruler, any ruler let such inequity happen? Didn't Nebertjer and his lapdogs understand that the good of the People and the Land of Kemet were a sacred trust? It was up to Per'aa to uphold and protect that which He had been given charge over. She stood under the shaded canopy upon the deck of the ship as they pulled into the ancient harbor. The muted light still showed her slight figure aglow in dazzling white and gold. The vulture crown topped by the multiple uraeii was heavy on her neck not only in a physical sense, but on a symbolic level it as well. The great crown made it clear that which she had become. She was now Mut, both Goddess Mother and Mother to her people. Half naked young men and boys that stood on skiffs called up, shouting greetings to the lumbering wooden craft fashioned of cedarwood. The stir upon both the water from the great vessel's wake and those of the smaller craft that edged up as close as they could alongside caused a sharp aching in her heart. Within the faces of the people in the crowd she realized how much that she and Tjeti must undo of the past regime's abuse and neglect. She was growing accustomed to the increased degree of deference that the people showed her now that she had become queen, but it was still somewhat uncomfortable at times. Throngs of people gathered and she allowed them to see her, not so much for herself, but for Per'aa......for Tjeti. In Sekhmet's mind, it was for him that she did everything. When at last they had come to the mooring dock, she disembarked at last from the large craft, escorted by her heralds, several followers of His Majesty, and her two own fanbearers on either side of her. Behind her followed more servants and a small corps of attendants and physicians that the Great Royal Wife had enlisted to go to Mennefer. As the slight figure passed across the seething limestone that led from the palace water steps through the gardens, nobles and peasants fell to their faces. The spears of the troops in attendance were snapped in attention, their heads inclined as she passed. Sekhmet startled only slightly at the sound and then let out a long silent sigh. Perhaps she would never become accustomed to being Queen, she thought. All around them, Sekhmet could smell the death and disease that had settled over the beloved city of her birth. Even the wafting kapet incense that was burned profusely on thurbiles throughout the courtyard and gardens could not mask it from the trained physician's nose. It would be some time before the stench that had seeped into the silt and stone would be cleansed away. When the company of nobles and attendants passed into the cool passages which led through the palace until they reached the great golden doors which led to His Majesty's private chamber. It was there that they came to a halt. One of the stewards from Tjeti's staff who had been standing at the door and expecting their arrival came forward and prostrated himself before Sekhmet and the company. "Please announce to His Majesty King Tjeti, that Hmt Weret Nisut Sekhmet Meritamen, Goddess of the Two Lands has arrived and is waiting to see Him." her attendant said softly. With a stiff salute the steward nodded and led the way through the golden doors. ********* Love Song by Tjeti I found my love by the secret canal, feet dangling down in the water. He had made a hushed cell in the thicket, for worship, To dedicate to this day To holy elevation of the flesh. He brings to light what is hidden (breast and thigh go bare, go bare) Now raised on high towards his alter, exalted, Ah!… A tall man is more than his shoulders!* The decision of what to do with Nebertjer’s simple-minded son was not an easy one and at the end of days where I had seen more dead than I cared to, I was not prepared to order a young innocent’s death – no matter the vileness into which he had been born and bred. I sent him back home with the priestess Satra and delayed the deciding of the boy’s fate. I would talk to my beloved wife on the matter. On the one hand he was too feeble in the mind to pose much threat by himself, but on the other he could be the pawn of politicians canny and sinister. I clasped Nebmaatre’s hand before he left. His show of loyalty had been moving but I was yet unaccustomed to the worship of men. Clearly he was just as nervous at a King that embraces him. Life has changed. I hurry to my private apartments, eager to find my wife and a little normalcy – a little human company. The rooms I choose were the best – that is the least affected by the destruction and looting. They were minor apartments probably belonging to a high ranking house keeper or fan bearer. I found no taint of Nebertjer and his loathsome family in this set of rooms. The akhu were at rest. Now as I stepped through the threshold, servants quietly lighting my way with oil lamps and then shutting doors behind me, it had been made into some heavenly grotto. Oil lamps illuminated the walls that were painted to appear like a blessed garden, ripe with fruit and lush with flowers. I could literally smell the fragrance of the lotus – ah, then I see. My beautiful wife, as lovely as any papyrus reed or tall date palm, face as open as the lotus. She has set flowers in bowls and roses in alabaster vases – great bouquets to perfume the air and fill my senses. Set on the low table, around which she has arranged pillows soft and downy, is fruit and pomegranate wine, roast duck, and dark goose meat, red as blood. Sekhmet waits for me, a chalice in her hand and with bold eyes to mine, takes a dainty sip. She whispers: “The mistress of this choice spot has been lonely. Dear heart, what held you so long?” I recognize the line – a favorite poem we share. I move to sit beside her, kneeling on the cushions, and taking some wine. “Wife you are like a maiden tonight.” Softly I smile at her. “You think? I thought you might be tired and needed some relaxing.” “I think relaxing is the farthest thing from your mind.” Sekhmet laughed and it was good to hear it. I felt like all the cares of my day were washing off me like she was a purifying shower. We ate and played… I dipped a piece of fruit in the honey and held it to her lips and she moved closer to me to rub my shoulders with her small but skilled hands. I fed her… felt honey drip on my shoulder. She rubbed her sticky mouth to my ear and ran her tongue over the skin. I felt the heat rise – after all this time, this pain… she soothed me and awoke me. I teased her more, eating goose and washing it down with wine. Sekhmet removed the wig from my head, the pectoral from my neck. She slipped her arms around my chest and pressed herself to me so I could feel her soft breasts against my back. Finished with the food of the stomach I turned and bore down on her to partake of the food of love. I kissed my wife, open mouth and muscular tongue and she responded hotly, her hands over my back, her mouth open with mine, her breath sweet with fennel seeds… Fennel seeds and between her breasts a silver amulet of Bes. “Wife, I think you are planning something!” I laugh but don’t stop holding her, sliding her thin linen dress off her shoulders. “Yes, husband. It’s time for an heir, a son.” Sekhmet, my pragmatic but beautiful lover, kisses me again. “And here I thought you just had love on your mind… “ “Oh I do… but it doesn’t hurt to get started. We might have to do this several times a night. You don’t mind?” Oh… how can I mind? I take her lips again and keep her pinned, finally tearing that slip of a dress that no doubt took some poor temple weaver a year to make, undone in a moment of passion. I stroked her breasts and let her unwind my kilt and we tangled like serpents until we were just flesh to flesh and I opened her wide like dark earth to the plow. As I entered her, Sekhmet moved up high and hard to meet me – ensuring that her womb was as close to my seed as possible at the moment of crisis. Such details make Sekhmet truly a mate for a king. ********** My always love believe, Desire is measured out to me as much as you; so let me do, dear heart. My desire is with you, And I am in your arms... But let me paint my eyes, I beg you, to see you is a shining, dazzles them. And I crave shade and shadow. I curl against you, For I would know Again the mastery by which you prove, How well you love me Past master of my heart, Remembering that hour, hushed and holy - Out of eterinity a moment streaked to mark me the night I slept with you. My eager heart leaps toward you now; Yes! I am the one! For him I love, in the night that belongs to me!* She closed her eyes again as powerful yet gentle hands caressed her skin dreamily. Even until Ra chased Khonsu from the cloak of Nut's starry garments, Sekhmet partook of Tjeti's love as though it were a sun-ripened peach plucked from their gardens in Waset, both awash in the flesh and nectar of the other. The love that she felt for him was all-encompassing and burned her like Setekh's breath burned the Red Lands. Only the waters of Amun's First Son could slake the thirst of the woman named for the Goddess. If she had not concieved last night, she thought, it would be soon. She had carefully watched, calculated, prayed and planned. She would draw him to her as the moon drew the tides to the banks of the Hap. They continued to lie together sleepily clinging to each to each other until at last the Priests of the Morning came to sing at their new Per'aa's door. After a shared bath they sat down to the low table that was now laden with fresh fruits and bread that was still warm from the palace kitchens. The servants had placed fresh lotus blossoms, symbolic of the rising of Ra, and sacred to Nefertem in the alabaster bowls. Sekhmet sat beside her husband examined the contents of a leathern case that was filled with papyri of official correspondences and dispatches from throughout Kemet. Her hair, just barely damp and scented with lotus shone in the soft light of their makeshift bedchamber as she bent over one scroll while nibbling on melon balls and mango. "King of Kings Arasaces XIV sends greetings to the True Per'aa of Kemet, Tjeti I and wishes to sue for peace" Sekhmet leaned back on a pile of pillows. "And what does he propose to cement this peace?" Tjeti let her pop one of the melon ball into his mouth, letting his lips linger over her fingertips. She smiled at him and picked up the papyrus with her still damp fingers. She drew closer to him and leaned back against his chest and read to him aloud, " .....his Majesty King Arasaces shall send two caravans with tribute to Your Majesty in the hopes that You shall be lenient. He sends gold, a thousand slaves, ivory and spices of Parthia as well as 100 of his finest horses...." Sekhmet paused and looked up at her husband, ...."and one of his daughters to cement the eternal brotherhood between King Arasaces XIV and King Tjeti I of Kemet." "I will take Arasaces' gold and his tribute but his daughter will be free to go back to her father," Tjeti kissed the top of his wife's head and held out a slice of mango in his fingers for her. Sekhmet shook her head and laughed. "You cannot do that, my love. That wouldn't be prudent." She took the mango and fed it to him instead. "Prudent or not, " he said through the fruit, "I have no need for another wife, Sekhmet. I have you," He lifted her chin to his and kissed her lips still wet with mango juice, "and soon Kemet shall have Its heir." He spanned his hands over her belly as if she were already ripe and with child and pulled her to him. His touch sent a jolt of electricity through her again and she slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him long and hard. With a single supple motion he turned her so that she lie beneath him. Kissing his eyelids, she whispered, "You can make the royal Parthian progeny of Arasaces a concubine and relegate her to Your harem if You wish, my Husband, but to send her back You nullify the rest of the treaty and open us back up for war again," she kissed him again and continued, " I must answer this correspondence, " she reassured him, "You needn't worry. As your Chief Wife, and Queen, I am overseer of Your harem until I can find a trustworthy Keeper of the Door once we are back in Waset." "You won't need to find a Keeper of the Door once we return to Waset. You are My only Wife and Queen" Tjeti's expression turrned serious and he began to pull away from his wife, leaving her lying back against the silken cushions, her thin kalisaris barely covering her body. He stood over her and looked down, "Do you tire of Me so quickly that you feel the need to distract Me like a stallion is distracted by other mares, Sekhmet?" "No." She reached out to him and stroked his ankle, "And how, after last night, doesYour Majesty has the temerity to accuse me of such things?" Sekhmet kissed his feet then pulled herself up and wrapped around him, kissing him again but his muscles remained taut, "Let me handle this," she whispered against his lips,"Your harem is a political necessity if peace among our allies is to be possible. Let them believe that one day they will be related by blood to the One Great God upon the Throne of This Very Kemet. You must always believe that I intend to be Your only distraction." She kissed him but she found him unconvinced. He looked at her as he always did when he was suspicious of her motivations. Could she help it that she wanted to protect him and the newborn Dynasty Tjeti had now founded? She would protect Him and It by whatever means necessary as a mother lioness protects her pride. "After last night," he said to her tersely, "I would expect you to still be drunk with the wine of love, and leave the politics to Me." Tjeti extracted himself from her grip and shot her a look of anger and reproach that ripped through her. She did not have any words to respond with. What could she say? His eyes did not leave her, and she knew better than to push her husband too far when he became like this. Only her breathing and the sound of a far away peacock pierced the silence. In what seemed like an eternity, Tjeti at last turned on his heel and strode from the chamber. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The haze of recently burned incense hung in the chamber, blueish and sweet. The scent of frankincense, cedarwood and myrrh hung in the air as Tjeti closed the doors on the small ornate shrine to Imen, the smoking censer still in his hand. Turinng he saw Sekhmet dismissing the last of the slaves from the room and carrying a finely carved alabaster chalice in the shape of a lotus, with two blue lotuses that had been steeping in it. Tjeti fought the smile that had come to his lips when she entered the room. "Does the Queen come to make more demands of the King," he said with mock sternness,"or does she come to offer him a truce?" Sekhmet stirred the wine with the lotuses and held the cup out to him, "The Queen. Your wife, is here and brings a loving cup to her husband." "Hmmm..." he said, "Then is the Great Sphinx with breasts and claws to loosen her grip on the affairs of State for the time being, " he took the cup that she offered and sipped looking at her warily over the rim, already his facade was beginning to crack and the smile teased the corner of his mouth as he sipped the lotus-sweetened wine, "Please forgive me if I am as yet unconvinced, Sekhmet." Sekhmet smiled back at him. She knew that she had already won the argument with Tjeti whenever he resorted to calling her 'lioness' or 'sphinx'. It was merely his way of coming to terms with the idea that she had been right all along. He would never have imagined himself in this position, and although he was growing into the role, it was clear that he needed her assistance through the unceasing maneuverings through the halls of power. She would give it to him, without question and without fail. Where Tjeti was ever-wise and good and adhered to Ma'at and the Will of the Netjeru, Sekhmet was shrewd and could see the intrigues of both both palace and politics. "I am not here to convince you that I would withhold my advisements from you, Tjeti," she took his free hand and pulled him to a nearby divan with her, "and there is no one you trust more." She was right, he knew she was right, and finally after a long moment, he at last revealed his smile to her. "Am I so easy to read, Wife?" "No, you aren't. But even You cannot fail to see the necessity of Your Majesty having a harem." He put the cup down and drew her to him, nuzzling her neck. She felt a thrill go through her but pulled away from him playfully. With a growl Tjeti pulled her to him again, pulling her back to the couch with him. Colapsing in a pile of pillows she landed atop him laughing. After some moments of flinging pillows and teasing, each other they both grew quiet. After a long silence he traced his finger along the bridge of her nose. "You're being careful now, aren't you my Lioness?" "Yes. It is the lionesses' job to protect the best interests of the pride, " she said, then after pausing a beat continued, "Your pride, my Husband. " "Then write the necessary letters, and find a Keeper of the Door." he kissed her neck again and began to pull at the fastenings of her sheath, "But if any of my wives and concupbines displease me, you must answer for it." "Oh, I intend to," she smiled. *From "Love Songs of the New Kingdom" translated by John L. Foster

Comments

::GASP:: ::faints::

[webcrowmancer.livejournal.com]

This. Is. INTOXICATING!!!!

How is it POSSIBLE!? The only, ONLY, possible comparison I can make to reading this post, in its entirety, is the works of Jami, the Persian mystic/poet. He is my favorite historical writer of all time. You have fingers of gold to have written this, m'dear. Truly. The treasury of words, the vividness of description, the IMAGERY. aah! The luxurious lusciousness of it all.

And I have to say I have never come across any fiction like this does not seem contrived somehow; you have the style down PAT, and it makes for incredibly colorful and conjuring phrases.

Absolutely mind-blowing! Thank you SO much for sharing this!! It's beautiful, so lovely. AAAH! no words!!!

This stuff is ADDICTIVE!!! I swear, when I read it, I can SEE it, hear it, taste things, smell the places. It's incredibly sensual. It almost feels voyeuristic, except there is a safety in reading it too, in that I feel I can empathize with her, and him, in their life and experiences. Their thoughts.

I have always loved Mary Renault's work. I considered her my favorite modern author/re-teller of historical fiction/accounts, but I have to say I actually prefer yours!

All of your fic makes me feel like I've been dipped in gold dust. And I can still feel the dusky shine of it all over my mind. :)

Re: ::GASP:: ::faints::

[maai.livejournal.com]

All of your fic makes me feel like I've been dipped in gold dust.

What he said....

I'm so glad you are bringing these back up!

Re: ::GASP:: ::faints::

[niankhsekhmet.livejournal.com]

I am blushing furiously with the comparisons that you draw to my writing! Thank you! I think for a long time I got very tired of Egypt, because in the world of interactive fiction most people who play in that area are really nutty..myself included. The person that writes the part of Tjeti once confided to a mutual friend that he thought my characters, especially Sekhmet, was boring! *laughing* Oh well!

I am very pleased that you can appreciate her. She and Norrington have been hafing rather interesting conversations between themselves in my head. She finds him rather amusing and he isn't quite sure how to deal with a woman who wears even sheerer clothing during the day than most nightclothes women in his era wear in the boudoir! *laughing* He really is trying to be very good and dignified, but his facade I am afraid will enventually crack with her. Poor James! LOL!

Thank you again for your very kind comments! I will put up more hopefully later today.

Re: ::GASP:: ::faints::

[webcrowmancer.livejournal.com]

:cough!: I cannot believe that writer thought your Sekhmet was BORING. eesh! :;shakes head in disbelief::

But the bit about James attempting to be dignified, with her, and his reaction to her sheer attire....LOL!!! am cackling here!

Am so behind in reading...I do thank you most profusely in much gratitude for continuing to post more. I will read them as soon as I can! :)

Ahhh, the joy of starting the New Year with a total surfeit of ficly feasting! ::quivers with happiness::

[webcrowmancer.livejournal.com]

forgot to mention: have not yet had a chance to read the other posts; be assured that when I DO, I WILL leave fb comments. ;)

Your Egyptian Fics are like a perfumed delicious DRUG. eep!