New Chapter... The Tessellation Saga! Bk 5

Hi Guys,

Having taken some advice from a lovely lady called Frances, I've been remodeling a few of the characters and chapters in book 5.  I've just finished this chapter of The Tessellation Saga, as I said from from book 5 which apart from not being finished, also requires a title.  Have a read and let me know what you think, either here or as before on twitter or facebook.

Mesa

Mesa sat at his desk pensively waiting for the call that would take him to the women’s quarters with his nails digging into his palms and drawing blood in an effort to take away his pain.  He thought of the girl as he had last seen her, writhing in pure agony, tired and as pale as death itself.  The only light in her had been the light in her eyes as he had called to her god, the mighty Tsaru, to bless her and accept her passing into his realm with ease.  He had done everything he could to help her after her beating but she had been too gravely injured, all he could do was to try and ease her passing himself by taking away her pain and settling it upon himself.  As his pain ended abruptly he knew she had at last gone beyond the realm of life and now travelled toward Tsaru and the golden gates of heaven, where, he hoped she would not judge herself too harshly.  Tired from the long hours of enforced and intense pain he let the tears flow down his cheeks and he sobbed like a child for the death of the tiny Albastian girl, not because she was gone, but because he knew he was glad her suffering was finally ended.

Hours later Mesa still sat waiting, where are they, someone should have checked on her by now...  He thought and cursed the eunuchs whose job it was to watch over the king’s personal slaves.  Walking over to the couch he sat down and rested his head on the soft pillows as he stared out of the window at the star filled sky and wishing he was with Tisri even now.  Eventually sleep crept upon him and he drifted off into the dark world of dreams.

Next morning he awoke, again feeling apprehensive and nervous, his body was still sore from the pain of the last few days but he smiled sadly remembering her pain had had last ended and she had been set free.  A gentle knock on the door heralded the beginning of his day’s work and he tried to put her out of his mind as he somehow continued with his day’s tasks.  As the sun rose and again fell, Mesa was still waiting.

Two days later the sun had finally begun to sink into the sea as his secretary burst unannounced into his office.  He almost giggled with the final release of the tension that had been building since he had felt her death but stood up and turned away from his secretary to stare out of the window at the pink and orange sky muttering loudly that her death was decidedly inconvenient, as the king was still away, on earth.

Nevertheless, he gave orders for the eunuchs’ to ensure the king’s women were appropriately covered from the prying eyes of the men that would be entering the harem and sat quietly at his desk to drink his tea, allowing time for the orders to be carried out.  He laughed at the ridiculousness of his order knowing that MeGath’s body slaves anyway, habitually wore as little as possible; mainly to allow MeGath easy access to their bodies and one only had to open one’s eyes to see everything they had to offer.  An hour later he hurried from his office down the many steps and out of his tower, crossing the cobbled courtyard with his robes flapping around his ankles and into the man part of the castle itself, past the king’s private chambers he hurried and into the corridor that led to MeGath’s harem and finally to Tisri’s room, where he ordered a guard to remain outside the door and called for the head eunuch to attend him.

Closing the door behind him he moved almost reverently toward the bed and sat down beside the cold and dead body with tears again in his eyes and a lump stuck hard in his throat.

A small candle, fluttered weakly at the head of the bed causing shadows to move gently across the many bruises that marred her skin.  ‘I’m so sorry my dear, so very sorry,’ he whispered noting the purple and yellow bruises standing out on the insipid olive skin like they never had before.  Gently he reached out and brushed the long hair away from her forehead before softly running the back of his warm fingers against her cheek.  Taking the pale and cold hand in his own, he sighed and clutched it between his own as if to give it warmth.  The arm moved with a soft ease, all rigor having long since gone from the body, she could have been asleep, except for the multiple bruises and abrasions in their many stages of healing.  Never having been a violent man, despite his hardened reputation which was all a necessary fabrication, Mesa was sickened by yet another death to man’s perversion.  When will it all stop, when will it stop!  He wondered as a gentle knock sounded on the door.  Hastily he released the hand and placed it back on the Albastian girl’s breast before standing and adjusting his clothes, once again the professional Magsmen.

‘Come…’  He called and stepped forward taking the girl’s pale limp wrist between his thumb and forefingers so as to be seen taking the girl’s pulse.  ‘Where is the physic mage?’  He asked as a bald and effeminate eunuch walked into the room, Mesa stared at him in barely disguised disgust knowing he had deliberately given up his magical ability along with his manhood to work for the king in his harem, just like all eunuchs the world over.  He turned his focus back to the bed and the dead girl as a second person was ushered into the room by the guard outside.  Mesa glanced at her as the door closed behind her and he realised he knew who she was.  Apple, a woman known to Tisri as Apple, a woman Mesa knew was owned by Toby Hollins and, one of the original Green Homers, he recalled, remembering the long and eventually productive search he had secretly carried out over so many years whilst searching for the elusive Gideon Green.

The eunuch coughed and looked uncomfortable, squirming under Mesa’s intense stare.  Mesa turned again to the body and casually released the cold hand.

‘King MeGath took all the palace physic mages and the resident hedgewitch to earth with him on this trip my lord,’ the eunuch said in a small but obsequious voice, ‘and by his command, I found Apple here, a disabled slave belonging to Mr Hollins to work on the pri… er, this slave’s hurts.’  He gulped as he realised he had inadvertently shown knowledge of the princess’s former station.

Mesa let the slip go apparently unnoticed and watched as the eunuch relaxed a little.  It would not do to anger the man too much…  Mesa thought feeling the sweat beginning to build up on the small of his back and turned quickly to Apple allowing his flowing robes to move against him soaking up the offending moisture.

‘What is your qualification woman?’  He asked assuming a disinterest but knowing the question would be expected and with a badly hidden glance to the eunuch, Apple looked Mesa directly in the eye as she answered.

‘Me lord, I’ve been taught by the Dervourian Hedgewitch, Dotty an’ me master allows me to ‘elp the slaves in the breeding pens an’ the non-magical Arotians when I can, an’ iffen don’t need me o’course.’  She said defiantly.  Mister Castor ‘ere, well, ‘e didn’t call me to this girl afore now.’

‘Now, is a little late, is it not Castor?’  Mesa asked turning a cold and steely gaze toward the fat eunuch who remained outwardly clam but his tightly fisted hands and white knuckles belied his composure.

‘Milord, she didn’t appear to be so ill, I thought she was recovering from the beati...  Er, the accident I mean, just like she has each time before.’  Mesa said nothing, allowing his anger to build at the eunuch’s casual dismissal of the tiny child’s repeated beatings.  The silence became profound and the eunuch, in an attempt to fill it spoke again.  ‘Really my lord, she was recovering, I, I thought she was recovering.  She was favouring her side a little and had a little difficulty breathing but...’  Mesa interrupted the fat man’s speech by pulling the thin but soft blankets away from the corpse exposing her entire right side.  A deep moan escaped from the fat, wet lips and Apple sucked in a deep breath in horror, placing her hands over her mouth.

“May your Journey’ be swift, little one.’  She whispered through her tears of sorrow as she gazed at the girl’s near naked body.  Beneath the blankets the body had more than just cuts and bruises, at least two ribs were broken that she could see from noting their awkward alignment and a deep depression in the centre of her chest covered almost entirely by a large black bruise showed where a heavy punch had been received.

‘A little difficulty breathing...’  Mesa repeated the fat eunuch’s words back to him pleased to see that the man was at last beginning to visibly sweat.  ‘And this is the first time a healer of any sort has seen her?’  He said coldly as the fat man trembled visibly.

‘I did not realise sir, truly, I did not realise...’  Castor squealed with a profound and deep regret, his pallor turning from a healthy cream to a pasty white and Mesa could swear he heard the man’s belly rumble as his bowels reacted to his fear.  Mesa refused to feel sorry for him, knowing the sorrow he could now see was for the man himself and without doubt the punishment MeGath would inflict upon him for letting the girl die whilst in his care, not for her suffering.

‘I believe this was the King’s favourite body slave, he will not be best pleased,’ Mesa said softly, allowing the eunuch a moment to think about the king’s undoubted ire.  Holding his chin between his finger and thumb Mesa rubbed it thoughtfully as if trying to come to a decision.

‘As she was who she was and the king’s property, remove her to the crypt but don’t burn her, MeGath may want to see her body himself to ascertain she is indeed dead, after all we all know her antecedents however hard the king has tried to hide them and throwing a royal princess to the furnaces is not a decision I wish to make.  Yes, that’s it.’  Mesa said with a more determined voice.  ‘I will place the body in stasis until the king’s return and then he can decide what to do with it, I am sure he will want it destroyed, he cannot afford to let her death at his hand be widely known!’

Castor sighed softly in relief; if the body was to be held until the king’s return it gave him a chance to get far, far away.  Mentally he began to list the things he would need in order to maintain a certain standard of living.  Mesa watched the eunuch from beneath his eyelashes and could almost see the thoughts in the man’s head.  He’ll run, if he has any sense anyway...  He concluded silently.

Evidently with his mind made up and feeling better, the eunuch moved from the bottom of the bed to stand beside the girl’s left side, again he looked at the brown robed magsmen and for the first time showed genuine sympathy for the dead body lying between them.  He placed his hand on the blanket covering her left side from shoulder to toes and whispered a soft prayer for her soul.  In horror Mesa noticed a small stain beginning to seep through the thin coverlet under the pressure of the fat man’s hand, a stain just about where the fresh tattoo wrapped around the corpse’s left arm and the sweat began to run down his back once more, pooling at the base of his spine.

‘Cover her again; give her a little dignity in death at least...’  Mesa said as he reached out and pulled the blanket from under the fat man’s hand hiding the smeared blood stain from view as he covered the girl’s body for the last time, leaving nothing exposed.  ‘Now...’  Mesa began as he held his hands in prayer before spreading them over her body and he held them there as he sang the notes of the spell that would encase her in ice, ice as hard as diamonds and an ice that would never melt regardless of heat.

The notes swirled and danced through the room in a sad parody of a beautiful poem and Mesa’s eyes filled with unshod tears as he thought of the horrors this disabled child had been forced to endure.  Firstly, by being abandoned by her family for being disabled, sold into slavery and into the sex trade where soldiers on rest were able to use and abuse her at will.  Finally, by being beaten to death by a soldier now dead by another’s hand, a soldier who had wanted to emulate his king and own a whore.  The candle spluttered and went out causing Mesa to conjure a small light orb that hung low over the body as the temperature in the room plummeted and the ice began to form.  The blanket held the ice away from the delicate skin but became translucent as it solidified and the newly crafted tattoo of ivy and roses that wrapped her left arm blended into the bruises and wounds that shone through the ice as if magnified, dark purple and yellow lesions occasionally crossed by many deep red welts adorning the body grew visible as the ice grew thicker and the evidence of one man’s cruelty was held in check until the king returned.

Once the ice casket was finished Mesa lifted his hands and blew warm breath into his palms, he was sorely tired, not having performed magic of this magnitude in many years.  The scantily clad eunuch was also slightly older and cold, his lips and skin wore an unhealthy shade of blue and his teeth were clamped together tightly.  No doubt to stop them from chattering, Mesa surmised, feeling slightly guilty as he realised the balance had also taken from the eunuch’s life force.  His thought was confirmed as the eunuch spoke.

‘M m m my lord...’  He began but Mesa lifted a hand to silence him.

‘Go and prepare a communication to be sent to my rooms relating to the death of this slave and I will ensure MeGath receives it as soon as he returns from earth.  Then call an escort to remove the casket to the crypt, ensure that it remains covered from prying eyes and guard it until his return.’  He said coldly as the eunuch bowed low and left the room congratulating himself on his lucky escape and again going over in his mind what he would need to pack to continue his life of ease elsewhere.

Apple stood silently in the room watching the magsmen as he sang his spell, she knew from experience that she needed to be as far away from the mage as she could be, just in case the balance took from her as the path of least resistance.  Her relief as the room grew colder was as noticeable as the tears glittering in Mesa Rattish’s face.  ‘E’s not as cold ‘arted as ‘e makes out ter be! She thought and resolved to ask him, if she got the chance, about the welfare of Linnet her granddaughter and his wife’s house slave.  She thought of the child again as her skin began to prickle and she moved back once more, this time into the very corner of the room where she huddled against the walls.  Her thoughts only interrupted as the eunuch, Castor stuttered like a school boy as he attempted to speak and the magsmen dismissed him.  Not knowing quite what to do, she remained where she was, evidently forgotten.

Again Mesa sat on the edge of the bed, his side nestled against the block of cold ice that covered the body of the Albastian girl.  ‘I’m so very sorry I couldn’t heal you my dear, I wasn’t told about you in time to do more than take away your pain.  I promise you I will do all in my power to put a stop to the abuse of slaves and to work for their freedom.’  He said softly, finally adding, ‘the Princess Tisri, will live because of your sacrifice and I swear by the mighty Tsaru I will get her to safety.’

Apple stared in shock as she listened to the chief of magsmen, she had overheard truths that were not meant for her ears and knew she was as good as dead, as the tears fell silently down her face she mentally said goodbye to her friends, her family and Mayan’s tiny twin children she would now never hold.  As Mesa finished speaking the candles suddenly flickered back to life sending shards of golden light refracting through the ice casket in a beautiful warm and golden light and Mesa smiled as he imagined the warm breath of the mighty god washing over him.

Apple gasped loudly, causing Mesa, who had indeed forgotten that she was there, to turn around and stare straight at her.

‘I saw a bull; I saw a great golden bull standin’ on the ice!’  She said softly and as she spoke a darkness came over her and she drifted away.