Post by Kamenwati on Nov 11, 2011 8:34:18 GMT -6
Three weeks, and his patience with the Amir had grown very thin... The Amir had closed the borders in order to prevent international meddling in the crimes he installed upon his own people to ensure his reign. Kam was ready to offer his own life to end the Amir’s reign of terror against the Berber people; but deep down, Kam hated Abu Said Uthman for what he had done, and what he was doing, to Briseis. Poor Kam watched from afar as Bri and the Amir’s harem was paraded like an animal in a herd. He knew if he tied to save her and were caught, both of them would be killed. The only way to save Bri was to leave... to get help as soon as he could.
Now, two more weeks and his arrival in Skye would mark him for death for the murder of Briseis... But clothed as a beggar once more, he stayed near the Church receiving alms for the poor... waiting for the chance to enter the castle.
As Kam reached Skye, Briseis was faced with a challenge that would bring a note to her former glory as a midwife. The Amir's third wife, Vashti was with child and for three days had been laboring to birth the child. The physicians were at a loss of what to do. For three days she had pains and had pushed and nothing. The child would not come. There were rumors that Vashti was going to die and the palace began to hum with rumors of who the Amir would take as a new wife knowing full well the man relished having three wives, a full array of dancers and harem to accommodate his lust.
Nobles, servants, and slaves alike all passed the hall where the wife Vashti was known to be lying in, trying to bring the Amir's child into the world. The Physicians came and went, came again only to stand out in the hall like idiots. As Briseis passed with the ring of harem who wanted to try and get a closer look into the lying in room, Briseis paused even daring a look at the guard who pushed her to catch up with the lingering group. Inwardly she was antsy, her mind was telling her to move on, not to risk it all the while she was biting her cheek, fighting with what she knew of her freedom before and being a midwife to what she was now. Just one of the Amir's harem. For a second more she bounced in place before she took off, weaving through the guards assigned to the hall with her own guard from the harem hot on her tail.
"Move it" she hissed at the guards at the door and broke through them like a knife through butter and the physicians coming out of the room who evidently stopped the guards following her.
"If you want to live...if you want your baby to live...then get up.." She spoke hurriedly to the sweat soaked and swollen bellied woman in the bed.
Vashti was heaving in the bed, clearly she had just had a wallop of a labor pain and was looking at Briseis as if she had grown two heads. "Excuse me? You are a physician?"
Pulling her hair back, Briseis drew to the bed and threw the covers back from the bed and ushered Vashti by her arm out of the bed. "No, just please... I know what I am doing." She ushered in a soft voice now speaking more then she had in the month she had been here. Ushering Vashti by the bed, she soothed the woman's back as she had her lean over the bed. "Now rotate your hips" She soothed gently to the woman's ear as she settled her hands against Vashti hips and began to roll her hips in a circle.
"Hey, get your hands off her!" The guards had broken from the wall of physicians and stormed the rooms.
"Leave Her!" Vashti boomed as another contraction hit. "GEEEET OUTT!!" She screamed high pitched at the guards who all stopped in their tracks and back peddled out the doors.
"That's it, my lady, now squat and push. I am here; you're going to be fine." Briseis soothed with only a minimal glance to the back peddling guards as she moved down to help keep Vashti thighs open and aligned to open her up for birthing.
For an hour the guards paced the halls listening to Vashti scream and groan and Briseis quiet murmuring within. Even the Physicians had been sent away and now waited with the guards arguing now about the woman filth attending Vashti and how the woman would kill her. The Amir had been alerted to Briseis defiance and her whereabouts but they would not cross the third wife of the Amir; so they waited until a baby’s cry filled the halls. Even the guards could not stop their grinning for the relief of hearing the baby cry as well as the shocked look of the Physicians faces.
The doors were flung open not long after and Briseis emerged dirty and no worse for wear as the physicians hurried in to tend the woman now happily holding her newborn in the bed.
"We've got orders to take you before the Amir" One of the guards had recovered from his shock and relief to sternly bark at Briseis. Not even the threat of the Amir's rage had soothed the smile from Briseis face. "Very well...take me to him."
As he roamed the market, he saw the heads of two men placed upon pikes... What had these men done? Was this the punishment of those who crossed the Mo’r Triath? Would he be the next to be piked? That afternoon, he saw the Mo’r Triath riding into the castle, and he followed quickly, hiding to the side amongst others less fortunate... and as the guards saluted their liege, Kam snuck in through the gate.
Stealthily, deep inside the castle, he removed the garb of a beggar and found clothing as a servant. Using his skills, he managed to get into the kitchen. Carrying a tray of food from the kitchen, he made his way thru the corridors. Once chance was all Allah offered the man... Now hidden in the shadows of the corridors, Kamenwati waited his chance to meet Lord Adam and offer what knowledge he had of the Berber situation.
Adam left Ebony Hall and rode his white horse around town, with no particular destination determined. All the while, he would see people coming and going, living their lives in peace and tranquility. This mixed with decisions as to what may soon turn into a full-blown war... especially one of the seas.
He tugged the reins of the battle-horse and wheeled it into the stables of the castle. Dismounting, his long slow strides carried him into the corridors... As he walked along, he was shadowed by one hidden in the darkness... as he passed an intersection of the castle, the shadowed one stepped out and stopped the Mo’r Triath...
Bowing down to one knee, Kamenwati, the Moroccan warlord, now hunted as a traitor, presumed dead, knelt before the Griffin of Scotland. “MiLord, forgive this humble one and pray yu smite me not.” His hands were extended with palms upward, head bowed deep almost to the knee.
Adam stopped abruptly and reached for his sword at the hip. Only when the man bowed submissively did he see he was no danger. “How did yu get in here?”
Kam did not look up... “MiLord, I shall explain all, but I must warn yu of yer request for trade with the Amir of Fez... May I speak freely MiLord?”
“Rise, walk with me... and speak freely...” Adam bade the man freedom to rise and speak... Kam rose and took a position slightly to the side and rear of the Mo’r Triath... “MiLord... I have just returned from the lands of the Amir... and all is not well there...” And as the two men walked thru the halls, the man of the Desert spoke softly, and the words he uttered soon gave Adam a look of concern... followed by a few curses...
Pausing in the corridor, Adam grasps a servant by the arm. “Summon th’ Mo’r Okesula and the Lady Claramae tae the Great Hall... Ah shall bae there... oh and the Lady of the Letters tae...” then he released the young man and headed for the Great Hall with his unexpected visitor... Adam stood and waited and bade the dark skinned man to rise and follow him... standing upon the raised platform, Adam sat in the raised chair...
Adam and Kam were discussing what was transpiring in Fez... the Amir had, for years been demoralizing his people to the extent of death and torture... The Amir had closed doors to outsiders, with one tendency... the French privateers... both set on securing the Pillars of Hercules... Adam leaned to the side, his elbow upon the chairs arm... "Then what is yae seek o'me, sir...?" Kam bowed his head... "I was born Egyptian... of a Moroccan Father... I come to see Lord General... but he is elsewhere...time is urgent MiLord... my ... wife... Briseis is enslaved......" Adam looked at Kam and started to speak but was interrupted by the opening of the doors of the Great Hall...
Adam looks at the knight with the lady, then looks to Kam... "yaer wife sir? My reports says yu killed her, burned the cottage down with her in it..." he rubbed his chin... "but we found nae body..."
Kam interrupted... "MiLord, I did not kill her... we were attacked..." he raised his shirt and showed the scar...then a guard tapped his shoulder and made him wait to be allowed to speak... "My apologies MiLord..."
Adam shook his head and motioned the guard away... looking back to the knight and the translator... A smile crossed his face as Bess, his beloved wife... and Claramae... his beloved Governor entered the Great Hall... "Good day tae yae all..." as he watched Bess take her place, and the others paid respect... "This is Kamenwati... a leader of Morocco... banned as a traitor because he fell in love with the beauty of Skye... and a lass..." then he began to fill in the missing information about Briseis, the midwife, was not murdered by Kam, but enslaved by the Amir... and how Kam was almost murdered as well... "Sae yae see... Ah 'ave been betrayed by the Muslim King... and Lady Janice, I pray yu are well... and Ah apologize for wot yae been thru..." He pauses... "Ah bae much concerned... Fez is threatening the closure of the Strait... as well as Espania..." once again a pause... "Ah want free trade for Skye and the Nations... Ah wan tae be afore France n Spain in lead of trade... Ah know wot Ah want... how must Ah proceed?" He looks to Kam, then the others, one by one...
Looking at Kamenwati... "Sir, yu shall have yer meeting with Lord General... I shall give him authorization to handle Fez... with yu as an advisor to Skye on Middle Sea affairs..."
Kam just smiled, his head down. "Allah be praised. Thank you MiLord..."
Kamenwati stood to the side, his head bent well down... His countrymen would call them infidels... especially the King and Queen... for they took no religion... but he stood silent, the beliefs of his countrymen meant nothing to him... for Briseis calls Skye home... and his was with her... for now, he yearned for her safety...and freedom...
Kamenwati would venture to the home of the Lord General... a place he had been several times before. This time, he would walk right up to the door and knock... except guards around the home hindered his way... still he did not give them cause for alarm, nor reason to apprehend him... He was announced...
The days had been shorter though the sun remaining if only for an extra few moments. On the wind he could smell the spring, the warmer weather, and the sun waiting through dark endless clouds. Maahes longed for the break in the weather, finding it easy to get lost in the pits of his despair with the bitter cold. He had let himself fall too far, or so he felt; the years without battle wearing down as a man whose life was spent in the heat of a fire seemed listless--empty. Too many nights did he find himself wondering the grounds of Red Wall in wish of something new. He loved his wife, he loved his children, and was very thankful for his life--but idle hands could only venture for too long without blood.
"M'lord." The page had sent for him, only to find him in oversized stuffed chair by the fire, the leather of it seeming fit of an African king and decorated just the same. As the man announced the Egyptian, burning amber eyes took hold the man and would not release. It was a test of strength, a test of loyalty and in the same sight--Maahes tore him apart, like a Lion on the hunt.
"You have come a long way..." He spoke out of reason, though the meaning held double, for he did come far from the city, but even further then Egypt. A heavy hand came to offer him the seat across from him, a place where the family cat was already spread out.
Kamenwati was no stranger to scrutiny... and to be torn apart by Maahes. Born an Egyptian, raised in the land of the Berbers, namely in Fez, Morocco, Kamenwati stood tall, not near as tall as Maahes, but still he stood strong before the mountain of a man. “Yes MiLord, I have come a long way... and my journey is not yet complete...” Pausing, he shifted weight to both feet, his hands behind his back, one hand over the other.
“My journey is for self and not country. My woman is held captive by the Amir Abu Said Uthman, in personal retaliation against me.” He looked at Maahes, then looked down as he spoke. “My mission in Turas Lan was to spy upon the Mo’r Triath, to gain information and report back... but I met a woman... a Briseis of Carnia, your wife’s midwife... and we began a relationship.” He paused and took a deep breath... “She was taken from our home, and her shop burned down... and I was accused of her murder...” he looked up... “Since then I have explained all this to the Mo’r Triath... and with the information I provided him, I was allowed to approach yu for assistance, MiLord.”
It was then and only then that Kamenwati knelt, his hands beside his feet, head bowed. “It is urgent one must be prepared for the worse... The Amir has cut off all trade with the outsiders, calling them Infidels, as it was in the Crusades... Now he has been negotiating with French privateers... his intent is to invade the lands of the Spaniards, to control the Strait...” he looks upward at Maahes... “MiLord, I am a warrior, once a general of the armies of the sands... now I seek a few men to accompany me to retrieve my woman... and to cause havoc amongst the Amir’s intentions. I beseech yu... provide me swords as to cut down my enemies... I shall raid their camps, take what is needed, and to hideout to fight again and again...” his eyes dropped down once more, and he mumbled... “My woman MiLord, I fear the worse for her with the Amir...”
Now, two more weeks and his arrival in Skye would mark him for death for the murder of Briseis... But clothed as a beggar once more, he stayed near the Church receiving alms for the poor... waiting for the chance to enter the castle.
As Kam reached Skye, Briseis was faced with a challenge that would bring a note to her former glory as a midwife. The Amir's third wife, Vashti was with child and for three days had been laboring to birth the child. The physicians were at a loss of what to do. For three days she had pains and had pushed and nothing. The child would not come. There were rumors that Vashti was going to die and the palace began to hum with rumors of who the Amir would take as a new wife knowing full well the man relished having three wives, a full array of dancers and harem to accommodate his lust.
Nobles, servants, and slaves alike all passed the hall where the wife Vashti was known to be lying in, trying to bring the Amir's child into the world. The Physicians came and went, came again only to stand out in the hall like idiots. As Briseis passed with the ring of harem who wanted to try and get a closer look into the lying in room, Briseis paused even daring a look at the guard who pushed her to catch up with the lingering group. Inwardly she was antsy, her mind was telling her to move on, not to risk it all the while she was biting her cheek, fighting with what she knew of her freedom before and being a midwife to what she was now. Just one of the Amir's harem. For a second more she bounced in place before she took off, weaving through the guards assigned to the hall with her own guard from the harem hot on her tail.
"Move it" she hissed at the guards at the door and broke through them like a knife through butter and the physicians coming out of the room who evidently stopped the guards following her.
"If you want to live...if you want your baby to live...then get up.." She spoke hurriedly to the sweat soaked and swollen bellied woman in the bed.
Vashti was heaving in the bed, clearly she had just had a wallop of a labor pain and was looking at Briseis as if she had grown two heads. "Excuse me? You are a physician?"
Pulling her hair back, Briseis drew to the bed and threw the covers back from the bed and ushered Vashti by her arm out of the bed. "No, just please... I know what I am doing." She ushered in a soft voice now speaking more then she had in the month she had been here. Ushering Vashti by the bed, she soothed the woman's back as she had her lean over the bed. "Now rotate your hips" She soothed gently to the woman's ear as she settled her hands against Vashti hips and began to roll her hips in a circle.
"Hey, get your hands off her!" The guards had broken from the wall of physicians and stormed the rooms.
"Leave Her!" Vashti boomed as another contraction hit. "GEEEET OUTT!!" She screamed high pitched at the guards who all stopped in their tracks and back peddled out the doors.
"That's it, my lady, now squat and push. I am here; you're going to be fine." Briseis soothed with only a minimal glance to the back peddling guards as she moved down to help keep Vashti thighs open and aligned to open her up for birthing.
For an hour the guards paced the halls listening to Vashti scream and groan and Briseis quiet murmuring within. Even the Physicians had been sent away and now waited with the guards arguing now about the woman filth attending Vashti and how the woman would kill her. The Amir had been alerted to Briseis defiance and her whereabouts but they would not cross the third wife of the Amir; so they waited until a baby’s cry filled the halls. Even the guards could not stop their grinning for the relief of hearing the baby cry as well as the shocked look of the Physicians faces.
The doors were flung open not long after and Briseis emerged dirty and no worse for wear as the physicians hurried in to tend the woman now happily holding her newborn in the bed.
"We've got orders to take you before the Amir" One of the guards had recovered from his shock and relief to sternly bark at Briseis. Not even the threat of the Amir's rage had soothed the smile from Briseis face. "Very well...take me to him."
As he roamed the market, he saw the heads of two men placed upon pikes... What had these men done? Was this the punishment of those who crossed the Mo’r Triath? Would he be the next to be piked? That afternoon, he saw the Mo’r Triath riding into the castle, and he followed quickly, hiding to the side amongst others less fortunate... and as the guards saluted their liege, Kam snuck in through the gate.
Stealthily, deep inside the castle, he removed the garb of a beggar and found clothing as a servant. Using his skills, he managed to get into the kitchen. Carrying a tray of food from the kitchen, he made his way thru the corridors. Once chance was all Allah offered the man... Now hidden in the shadows of the corridors, Kamenwati waited his chance to meet Lord Adam and offer what knowledge he had of the Berber situation.
Adam left Ebony Hall and rode his white horse around town, with no particular destination determined. All the while, he would see people coming and going, living their lives in peace and tranquility. This mixed with decisions as to what may soon turn into a full-blown war... especially one of the seas.
He tugged the reins of the battle-horse and wheeled it into the stables of the castle. Dismounting, his long slow strides carried him into the corridors... As he walked along, he was shadowed by one hidden in the darkness... as he passed an intersection of the castle, the shadowed one stepped out and stopped the Mo’r Triath...
Bowing down to one knee, Kamenwati, the Moroccan warlord, now hunted as a traitor, presumed dead, knelt before the Griffin of Scotland. “MiLord, forgive this humble one and pray yu smite me not.” His hands were extended with palms upward, head bowed deep almost to the knee.
Adam stopped abruptly and reached for his sword at the hip. Only when the man bowed submissively did he see he was no danger. “How did yu get in here?”
Kam did not look up... “MiLord, I shall explain all, but I must warn yu of yer request for trade with the Amir of Fez... May I speak freely MiLord?”
“Rise, walk with me... and speak freely...” Adam bade the man freedom to rise and speak... Kam rose and took a position slightly to the side and rear of the Mo’r Triath... “MiLord... I have just returned from the lands of the Amir... and all is not well there...” And as the two men walked thru the halls, the man of the Desert spoke softly, and the words he uttered soon gave Adam a look of concern... followed by a few curses...
Pausing in the corridor, Adam grasps a servant by the arm. “Summon th’ Mo’r Okesula and the Lady Claramae tae the Great Hall... Ah shall bae there... oh and the Lady of the Letters tae...” then he released the young man and headed for the Great Hall with his unexpected visitor... Adam stood and waited and bade the dark skinned man to rise and follow him... standing upon the raised platform, Adam sat in the raised chair...
Adam and Kam were discussing what was transpiring in Fez... the Amir had, for years been demoralizing his people to the extent of death and torture... The Amir had closed doors to outsiders, with one tendency... the French privateers... both set on securing the Pillars of Hercules... Adam leaned to the side, his elbow upon the chairs arm... "Then what is yae seek o'me, sir...?" Kam bowed his head... "I was born Egyptian... of a Moroccan Father... I come to see Lord General... but he is elsewhere...time is urgent MiLord... my ... wife... Briseis is enslaved......" Adam looked at Kam and started to speak but was interrupted by the opening of the doors of the Great Hall...
Adam looks at the knight with the lady, then looks to Kam... "yaer wife sir? My reports says yu killed her, burned the cottage down with her in it..." he rubbed his chin... "but we found nae body..."
Kam interrupted... "MiLord, I did not kill her... we were attacked..." he raised his shirt and showed the scar...then a guard tapped his shoulder and made him wait to be allowed to speak... "My apologies MiLord..."
Adam shook his head and motioned the guard away... looking back to the knight and the translator... A smile crossed his face as Bess, his beloved wife... and Claramae... his beloved Governor entered the Great Hall... "Good day tae yae all..." as he watched Bess take her place, and the others paid respect... "This is Kamenwati... a leader of Morocco... banned as a traitor because he fell in love with the beauty of Skye... and a lass..." then he began to fill in the missing information about Briseis, the midwife, was not murdered by Kam, but enslaved by the Amir... and how Kam was almost murdered as well... "Sae yae see... Ah 'ave been betrayed by the Muslim King... and Lady Janice, I pray yu are well... and Ah apologize for wot yae been thru..." He pauses... "Ah bae much concerned... Fez is threatening the closure of the Strait... as well as Espania..." once again a pause... "Ah want free trade for Skye and the Nations... Ah wan tae be afore France n Spain in lead of trade... Ah know wot Ah want... how must Ah proceed?" He looks to Kam, then the others, one by one...
Looking at Kamenwati... "Sir, yu shall have yer meeting with Lord General... I shall give him authorization to handle Fez... with yu as an advisor to Skye on Middle Sea affairs..."
Kam just smiled, his head down. "Allah be praised. Thank you MiLord..."
Kamenwati stood to the side, his head bent well down... His countrymen would call them infidels... especially the King and Queen... for they took no religion... but he stood silent, the beliefs of his countrymen meant nothing to him... for Briseis calls Skye home... and his was with her... for now, he yearned for her safety...and freedom...
Kamenwati would venture to the home of the Lord General... a place he had been several times before. This time, he would walk right up to the door and knock... except guards around the home hindered his way... still he did not give them cause for alarm, nor reason to apprehend him... He was announced...
The days had been shorter though the sun remaining if only for an extra few moments. On the wind he could smell the spring, the warmer weather, and the sun waiting through dark endless clouds. Maahes longed for the break in the weather, finding it easy to get lost in the pits of his despair with the bitter cold. He had let himself fall too far, or so he felt; the years without battle wearing down as a man whose life was spent in the heat of a fire seemed listless--empty. Too many nights did he find himself wondering the grounds of Red Wall in wish of something new. He loved his wife, he loved his children, and was very thankful for his life--but idle hands could only venture for too long without blood.
"M'lord." The page had sent for him, only to find him in oversized stuffed chair by the fire, the leather of it seeming fit of an African king and decorated just the same. As the man announced the Egyptian, burning amber eyes took hold the man and would not release. It was a test of strength, a test of loyalty and in the same sight--Maahes tore him apart, like a Lion on the hunt.
"You have come a long way..." He spoke out of reason, though the meaning held double, for he did come far from the city, but even further then Egypt. A heavy hand came to offer him the seat across from him, a place where the family cat was already spread out.
Kamenwati was no stranger to scrutiny... and to be torn apart by Maahes. Born an Egyptian, raised in the land of the Berbers, namely in Fez, Morocco, Kamenwati stood tall, not near as tall as Maahes, but still he stood strong before the mountain of a man. “Yes MiLord, I have come a long way... and my journey is not yet complete...” Pausing, he shifted weight to both feet, his hands behind his back, one hand over the other.
“My journey is for self and not country. My woman is held captive by the Amir Abu Said Uthman, in personal retaliation against me.” He looked at Maahes, then looked down as he spoke. “My mission in Turas Lan was to spy upon the Mo’r Triath, to gain information and report back... but I met a woman... a Briseis of Carnia, your wife’s midwife... and we began a relationship.” He paused and took a deep breath... “She was taken from our home, and her shop burned down... and I was accused of her murder...” he looked up... “Since then I have explained all this to the Mo’r Triath... and with the information I provided him, I was allowed to approach yu for assistance, MiLord.”
It was then and only then that Kamenwati knelt, his hands beside his feet, head bowed. “It is urgent one must be prepared for the worse... The Amir has cut off all trade with the outsiders, calling them Infidels, as it was in the Crusades... Now he has been negotiating with French privateers... his intent is to invade the lands of the Spaniards, to control the Strait...” he looks upward at Maahes... “MiLord, I am a warrior, once a general of the armies of the sands... now I seek a few men to accompany me to retrieve my woman... and to cause havoc amongst the Amir’s intentions. I beseech yu... provide me swords as to cut down my enemies... I shall raid their camps, take what is needed, and to hideout to fight again and again...” his eyes dropped down once more, and he mumbled... “My woman MiLord, I fear the worse for her with the Amir...”
