Escape from the Demonwood

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“So this is the young faroh,” said the queen of Ether’ell. “We have been just dying to meet you.”The queen stood in a column of light emanating from an oculus in the domed rotunda. Her two faun bodyguards flanked her as Hemkaraho looked down on her from his throne at one end of the audience chamber. The scholarly Hemkaraho had rarely heeded the affections of the opposite sex before, but there was something about Queen Alissamir that caused a feeling deep within him to stir. Perhaps it was the resonant richness of her voice? Was it a purely physical attraction? Her looks certainly were stunning. Her regal gold gown and purple sash magnificently displayed her unusually large and firm breasts and her full hips. She wore a golden crown in the shape of laurel leaves. It was ornamented with a large purple jewel of amethyst. Her auburn hair trailed in long waves down her back and was fashioned into many small braids with gems and bells woven into them. As a result, her hair glittered and tinkled provocatively when she moved her head.“You honor us with your presence,” Hemkaraho said politely. He was wearing his formal robes of office, alizarin crimson trimmed with gold. “What is it that brings the queen of Ether’ell to Anentropol?” Hemkaraho knew what she wanted. The same thing everyone wanted. Immortality.“For one thing,” Queen Alissamir replied, “We wondered if the young faroh was as beautiful as rumors would have it.”“And what have you discovered?” Hemkaraho asked with a wry half-smile.“The rumors fell far short,” Queen Alissamir laughed an easy laugh.Was she using her magic on him? Ether’ell was renowned as the center of magic and Ether’ellian mages were known to be the most powerful mages in the world. His jati, Jaufa, had warned him about their mind-influencing abilities. Hemkaraho had been taught some basic wards against magic, but he was fairly certain they would prove ineffective against the Queen of Ether’ell.“We’ve come to extend you an invitation,” Queen Alissamir continued. “We would like you to join us for an evening aboard The Conjurer.”That certainly piqued Hemkaraho’s interest. The Conjurer was the name of the queen’s pleasure barge. It had appeared unexpectedly in the skies over the city causing quite a panic among the people, who believed balls of fire would soon be raining from the sky. The skyship had settled onto the top of the ziggurat located in the center of the principal marketplace. Throngs gathered to observe the spectacle as the faroh’s soldiers surrounded the skyship and hailed the occupants. The queen had requested an audience and Hemkaraho had granted it over the objections of Jaufa.“I would be delighted to attend,” Hemkaraho answered enthusiastically. “In the meantime, is there anything I can do for you?”“Our entourage and our crew would like to visit the marketplace and the baths if possible.”“Of course, I will alert the guards. If you prefer I can arrange for you to have a private bath and apartment in the royal complex.” The royal complex was a vast sprawling city within the city where the multitudinous ancestors of the royal family lived, a consequence of immortality. There were some quarters in the royal complex that could be prepared for visitors.“That won’t be necessary,” Queen Alissamir replied. “The Conjurer has sufficient apartments for us and as for a bath, we prefer the public baths. We would greatly appreciate it if a guide could be arranged to show us around the market.”“I would be happy to show you the market myself,” Hemkaraho said, as a thought began to occur to him.+++++“How do you like our market?” Hemkaraho asked.The market was considered one of the wonders of the civilized world. Hemkaraho had suggested they travel incognito so that they could experience it without the commotion of a royal procession. Alissamir had insisted a bodyguard would not be necessary. She was perfectly capable of defending herself against attack. Was her magic really that powerful? Jaufa insisted on accompanying them, acting as a chaperone, along with Masurta, the royal executioner, acting as a bodyguard. Alissamir bahis siteleri and Hemkaraho were disguised as a merchant couple recently engaged. They began at the ziggurat which was surrounded by stalls selling mostly high-end goods. Alissamir tried on some jewelry. “It looks lovely on you,” Hemkaraho said and he had the reluctant Jaufa purchase it for the queen.Minor nobles jostled them as they worked their way through the crowded market while Masurta maintained a lookout for cutpurses and vagabonds. People typically wore loose garments suitable for the desert climate. The most popular fabrics were bright colors and contrasting vertical stripes.Alissamir took Hermkaraho’s arm as the couple moved farther away from the ziggurat and encountered a section where services were offered; physicians, moneylenders, blacksmiths, and even some prostitutes. A shapely prostitute and what appeared to be her twin attempted to lure them into a tent filled with pillows. Alissamir raised an eyebrow questioningly, but Hemkaraho declined the solicitation.The next section had a wide variety of goods for sale including medicines and potions, textiles, fruits and vegetables, fresh and preserved meats, grains and bread, fermented foods, cheeses, salts and herbs, and exotic animals. They encountered a stand selling living plants and Alissamir seemed fascinated by the variety and colors of the flowers called tulips. She had never seen such plants before and thought they would prove to be very popular back in Ether’ell.A vendor of exotic creatures had an eight-legged spider monkey pose on Hemkaraho while Alissamir fed it a brown fruit. Hemkaraho cringed at the touch of it. He had been bitten by such a creature when he was a child, and it had taken a week of bitter potions and bloodletting before the swollen wound had healed. Alissamir just laughed and offered it the fruit. The creature took the brown fruit and climbed up its webby netting to a corner of the stall where it had built its silken nest. It peeled the fruit to reveal a large white maggot which it devoured greedily as it watched them with its black oval eyes.They continued on and Alissamir rested her head against his shoulder as they walked. Was she flirting with him? That could work in his favor. They came across a troop of booka traveling on a gol, a giant beetle. Booka were a breed of goblins that were able to survive in the most hostile desert regions. Their large flat feet were ideally adapted for moving across deep sand. They traveled in extended family units and occasionally came to the market. Their most precious commodity was a type of mineral they harvested in a secret location that made an excellent fertilizer. They also commonly traded gems and exotic creatures. Several booka were clambering over the back of the gol holding onto the netting that held their goods in place while another was standing on the ground giving them orders. The gols were considered part of the family and booka never offered the enormous beetles for sale.Hemkaraho felt a tug on his sleeve and looked down to see an ancient booka woman. Her yellow skin was covered in deep wrinkles, she wore a ragged dusty tunic, and she had several necklaces of beads and bones around her neck. She appeared to be blind, her eyes white and clouded with age. “Granny Booka sees your future,” she croaked as her ears twitched upward. “Granny Booka tell if handsome couple have beautiful children.” She cackled a laugh that transitioned into a cough.Hemkaraho began to move away but Alissamir remained. “Come, it will be fun. We can find out if the future holds something for us.” They were led into a small dimly lit tent that was set up next to the gol.“Granny need exact time and date of you’ birth,” the old booka said.Hemkaraho told her and she began feeling wooden sticks that had glyphs cut into them, they served as her astrology charts and told her the exact phases and helions of the moons. She gripped his hand in her withered claw and began chanting as if in a daze. Suddenly she began speaking in a rambling fashion.“You were born with Rumon canlı bahis siteleri and in a thousand years, Rumon will claim you again. You fall in love… it does not last… I see you going on a journey far from home, you never return… I see you fleeing a great city, the greatest city, as it crumbles to rubble,  I see you pulling a creature from the sea who becomes your companion, I see you meeting a raven who becomes your wife and then she becomes your death. Beware Lady Raven for she will be your end! Beware Lady Raven!”With that, the old woman dropped her head and remained silent for some time.“Well that was disappointing,” Alissamir said. “I thought they were supposed to feed your ego to brighten your day.”“Would the beautiful lady like Granny Booka to tell her fortune?” the old booka asked.“Sure, might as well,” Alissamir answered doubtfully.The old booka grasped the queen’s hand and was silent for a moment, then she threw back her head, flattened her ears, and her blind eyes opened wide as she began chanting.“When the Blood of Entropos,Comes to Anentropol,The deathless shall die,And the empire fall,The dead shall arise,then death comes to all.”She repeated the prophecy over and over. Hemkaraho tossed a couple of coins to the booka, grabbed Alissamir by the arm, and pulled her out of the tent. “Come. Let us get out of this place.”As they fled the old fortune-teller, they could hear her screaming out “Death comes to all!”“What was that about?” Alissamir asked.“A well-known prophecy,” Hemkaraho replied. “It purports to foretell the downfall of Anentropol and our empire. I don’t know why she started chanting that.”“What does it mean by the Blood of Entropos?”“Do you know the legend of Entropos and Anentros?”“I know they were supposed to be gods, they were enemies.”“Entropos was the god of chaos, Anentros was the god of order. Our way of life is based on the worship of Anentros. Anentropol is named for Anentros.”“I knew that much. As faroh, you are also the leader of the religion, the high priest. But what is meant by the Blood of Entropos.”“No one is quite sure. There are some who believe it to be some sort of plague or pestilence, others believe it to be a monster, and then there are those who believe it to be a person, a descendent of Entropos.” Hemkaraho failed to mention the Bones of Anentros to her. It had been the discovery of the Bones of Anentros that had unlocked the secret of immortality that his people had been seeking for centuries.+++++The public baths were crowded. The bathhouse was located to the side of the market near the ziggurat and most citizens visited it daily. The large central pool was covered with a glass dome and it was full of people of all ages and stations. The pool was heated from below by fires. There were several other rooms in the bathhouse; steam rooms, dry heated rooms, chilled baths, and private baths where oils and herbs could be added to the water. Hemkaraho stood behind Alissamir as she slipped out of her robes. He couldn’t help but admire the shapely curves of her body as she descended the broad steps into the bath. Suddenly a hush fell over the bathhouse. Everyone was staring at Alissamir. Then a murmur began to echo throughout the hall: “Blood of Entropos. Blood of Entropos” Hemkaraho did not understand what was happening until he went to stand beside Alissamir. He looked down to see what everyone was gawking at. The queen had a rather large and well-shaped penis.Alissamir turned to Hemkaraho and said, “Haven’t they ever seen a penis before?”Hemkaraho hurriedly picked up Alissamir’s robe, wrapped it around her, and said, “We had better leave.”He ushered Alissamir into a small alcove with a private bath. “You didn’t tell me you were a hermaphrodite!”“You didn’t ask. You didn’t tell me your people were prejudiced.”“You must understand that Entropos is always depicted as a hermaphrodite.”“I did not know that. However, I don’t worship Entropos. I worship Amma… and Glafess.”“It doesn’t really matter to them. There is a movement in the city, there are… religious zealots, they spread hatred canlı bahis against hermaphrodites as part of their religious message.”“I thought the faroh was the religious leader.”“I am officially the high priest. There are also many unofficial sects and they have influence in the city. Some of them are so extreme they have been banned in the city, but there are those who continue their extreme worship in secret. There is something else. Those who believe the Blood of Entropos to be a person believe that person will appear as a hermaphrodite.”“So they believe I may cause the downfall of Anentropol?”“That is what they believe.”“You must have hermaphrodites in the city. What of them?”“It is often considered shameful by the family. They are hidden or the family may seek another course… surgery.”Alissamir was shocked. “They… they cut them?”“I am afraid it is true. Masurta will keep us safe, but I suggest we bathe quickly and then leave.”+++++It probably would have caused less commotion if the skyship had rained balls of fire on the city. The city was in an uproar. The worst of the cults had come out in public to protest. Jaufa was vehemently opposed to Hemkaraho joining the queen of Ether’ell aboard the skyship, but Hemkaraho would not be dissuaded. Jaufa had no idea of the plans he had been forming. Hemkaraho conceded to have his royal decoy make an appearance for him while he made a clandestine visit to The Conjurer.Once Hemkaraho was on board the ship, it was untethered and lifted into the sky. Hemkaraho and Alissamir stood on the open deck watching the huge red orb of the sun sinking into the desert. The buildings looked like clusters of crystals that had grown together, the people like insects crawling among them. As evening came on thousands of lamps and torches began lighting to illuminate the city. Hemkaraho could see the multitude of brightly colored awnings of the markets, the obelisks spiking into the sky, the enormous dome that was the site of the congress of the ancestors, the glass dome of the public baths, pools, fountains, gardens, parks, and arenas. Alissamir put her arm around him as they admired the breathtaking view.“I’m sorry if I caused you any trouble,” she said.“The agitators will disperse in time and things will return to normal. It is I who should be apologizing to you. I am the ruler of a people who need to be taught tolerance.”“It is a difficult thing to do. It seems all people need someone to blame their problems on.” She hesitated a moment before continuing. “There was something I saw that I found quite disturbing. I assume it was a woman. Where their breasts should have been, there were scars. There was also a man with similar scars.”“The Children of Anentros,” Hemkaraho replied at once. “It is the most extreme of the cults. They… cut themselves to show their devotion to Anentros. Anentros the Androgenous. They try to remove all evidence of gender… surgically. They consider themselves to be his avatars.”“That is horrifying!” Alissamir gasped.“The cult is officially banned. However, there are many who consider it the most devout form of worship of Anentros.”There was a lengthy pause. Then Hemkaraho said, “Tell me about Ether’ell. Are the people there more tolerant of differences?”Alissamir laughed, “Yes and no. The people of Ether’ell embrace diversity it is true, but they tend to look down on those they consider to be conformists.”“And the people accept you as a hermaphrodite?”“In Ether’ell being born a hermaphrodite is considered a great honor. It is fairly common, more so among the noble families.”“I am wondering,” Hemkaraho asked hesitantly, “are you… are you fully… you know…”Alissamir put her arm around Hemkaraho’s shoulders. “If you stick around long enough, Faroh,” she growled, “perhaps you will find out. Come. It is time to eat.”She led him to a table that had been prepared at the prow of the ship where they could see the landscape unfold below them. The wind was mild and they seemed to be traveling with it so the air felt perfectly calm. As soon as they were seated three glasses were served to them. The first appeared to be clear cold water served in a crystal glass, the second was a dark red wine, and the third was a small jigger of green liquid.“I assume these are water and wine,” Hemkaraho asked, “but what is the third?”

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