Tanith 14
Abzukan, the prince of the land, awoke, instantly alert, and in one smooth movement stretched and then walked to the platform at the side of his lofty room. The early morning sun glinted on the flat tops of the mopani trees and already the heat of the summer day was shimmering on the flat grasslands.
He began his customary morning exercises, stretching his powerful frame until there was a sheen of sweat on his brow. His body was a smooth olive-brown, etched with sharply defined muscles. His face looked haughty, with a prominent, straight nose and flaring nostrils. His lips were full and his eyes deep-set and dark. He was a man accustomed to wielding absolute power and the way he moved his body bespoke the power.
His female companion, Leila, who had been watching him with increasing desire, stretched her naked body and called huskily, “Come back to bed, my Lord”
Abzukan awakes
Abzukan, the prince of the land, awoke, instantly alert, and in one smooth movement stretched and then walked to the platform at the side of his lofty room. The early morning sun glinted on the flat tops of the mopani trees and already the heat of the summer day was shimmering on the flat grasslands.
He began his customary morning exercises, stretching his powerful frame until there was a sheen of sweat on his brow. His body was a smooth olive-brown, etched with sharply defined muscles. His face looked haughty, with a prominent, straight nose and flaring nostrils. His lips were full and his eyes deep-set and dark. He was a man accustomed to wielding absolute power and the way he moved his body bespoke the power.
His female companion, Leila, who had been watching him with increasing desire, stretched her naked body and called huskily, “Come back to bed, my Lord”
In answer he strode across, lifted her up easily and taking her to the far side of the room, dumped her unceremoniously into a cold rock pool. She gasped and spluttered and emerged bedraggled, snatched up her robe and flounced out. His booming laughter followed her as she stormed down the winding passages towards the Royal’s rooms. If the Princess was indisposed it was her custom to send one of her maids to him for the night and Leila felt the bile of rage in her mouth.
As a commoner she should not have dared to address the Prince in such a familiar way. She had a small body and had been barely able to satisfy him last night so she thought sourly to herself that she might be relegated to the kitchen again.
Abzukan, plunged into the deep pool and cleansed himself, thinking awhile of the day before him.
It was a day for gold delivery so he had to connect with his gold centre managers and start the deliveries which could take most of the day.
He stepped into his breeches and donned a rich blue tunic which reached down to his knees. Round his waist he strapped a broad belt - woven in strong braid and richly decorated with gold. His abode was built on top of a rocky hill, accessible along winding passageways through massive boulders. As soon as he stepped out from his quarters his bodyguards silently fell in behind him. They were large, muscular men but they barely reached Abzukan’s shoulders.
As they walked swiftly down the steep wooden walkways. which snaked between the massive granite boulders, Abzukan reflected with a growing sense of unease and bitterness on the events of the last few days.
Although he was absolute monarch of his subjects, who were not even allowed to look directly at him, he was only too aware that he was regarded by the demigods as a mere cog in the administration of the gold harvesting.
Two days before he had been visited by the shimmering presence of the emissary, which took the form of an athletic man with wings on his heels. He spoke in a high-pitched, bell-like voice and introduced himself as Mercury. Able to project himself instantly between universes and times his sole function was to carry news.