Stations of the Tower - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Sithar passed through the great oaken and silver bound door and into the hall that ran all the way around the Cloud Room, at the very top of the great princes' tower. There was a single smaller room to each point of the compass from the central room where the sacred ceremony would take place, and where they would spend the first week as husband and wife, sequestered in the great tower. To the north was the dining room. There they would take all their meals. To the south, the great bath. Ancient magics brought water from nearly a mile beneath the surface all the way up the tower to this room, where it was heated and cleaned and kept ready for them to bathe. To the east was the great balcony, a small room there led to the walkway that was all the way around the great tower. In times of war, archers and snipers would be placed here, to rain death down upon the attackers from high above reproach. And to the west, was the locked door. No prince or princess had opened that door in memory. And none knew what lay beyond it. Some say it is the tomb of the first prince. But that is a rumor.

He passed through the inner door and it was closed behind him, and would be locked once the five in the room with he and Ki'a were gone, and would remain locked for an entire month, unlocked before then only in a time of great war. And he looked at Ki'a, looking back at him, kneeling there upon the floor in nothing but her skin, bearing the tattoo he had given her, and nothing else. Smiling, he took her hand. It was a traditional Royal wedding ceremony. There were two witnesses, both above reproach, not related to the bride or the groom in any way, and three priests.

As Sithar knelt beside Ki'a, they began the chant. The first priest intoned the proper rituals, calling down the divine power, creating a spiritual bond between prince and his princess. The second intoned the proper ceremony, the words and rites that would bind them together on a less visceral level. And the third brought forth the proper magic that would bind them irrevocably. When they were ready to conceive a child, they would. And as the ceremony drew to a close, new tattoos appeared on Ki'a, the starburst in the center of her forehead, denoting the Kirashe family, royalty and a surname all in one mark. The mark of the Blood over her heart, and on them both, the mark of marriage, on their left side, just over the hip, a second starburst that would denote them as wed, in the house of Kirashe and the great princes tower.

When it was finished, the priests and witnesses filed out and both of them could hear the seven locks, one for each day of the week, turning in the great door. In moments they would be left alone within the tower. And there remain for the next month. But they did not wait that long to consummate their marriage. Neither was old enough to believe they were ready for children. At least, not yet. This time was about a release, of what lay between them. Of what they had waited all this time for, what all the trials that had led up to this moment were about.

He came to her, and she welcomed him, with open arms and warm embrace. And they, now husband and wife, lay back among the cushions and sheets, the silks and linens, and they loved. It was a sweet love, her first, though not his. But then, she knew it was not, even though he had not said so. But men were not expected to wait for marriage before taking a woman to their bed. That was what concubines were for, after all. And the concubines in the palace, exotic and varied, were known throughout the city as perhaps the loveliest women in all the land.

But she did not expect him to have waited. And as he took her, made her his in a way no spell, no magic, could ever come close to matching, she cried out, in pleasure and in completeness. And they were one.

When it was done, she lay in his arms looking up through the glass ceiling of the tower. The sky was already night, and they had loved half the day away. But she was whole now. Content and complete in his arms. A warmth she had never known was there, in her belly, and she kissed his shoulder as he smiled at her. Then he rose, and held out his hand to her. Smiling and curious, she took it and he lifted her to her feet, then scooped her up in his arms, strong and youthful. He carried her to the south room of the tower and there she saw the great baths. There were large windows all around the three walls of this room that were not bordered on the Great Princes Tower itself, and they revealed to them the entire city laid out beneath them, as well as the great valley and the Southlands beyond that. The sky was an explosion of stars, the three moons rising in the sky and shedding a silvery light on all that lay below, and the great band of stars wheeled across the sky, with deep darkness to either side, devoid of even a single star. It was a lovely night and a more lovely view.

And then there was the tub. It was more of a pool, really. Large enough for a dozen people, it was a wide basin of stone that brimmed with steaming hot water, and the bottom was smooth and rounded, but with enough of a surface to prevent slipping. Somehow the windows were not fogged up from the steam, and as he carried her down into it, she moaned in pleasure and relaxation. The sweat and fluids of the day were washed from her carefully by his loving hands and she relaxed back against him in the water, allowing his hands and the warm liquid to soothe the aches and soreness from her. It was pure bliss. This was more water than she had ever seen in once place before.

Yes, there was water to be had in the valley, but it was hoarded by farmers and barons, and used in the city and palace as currency. What few creeks and brooks were available in the land were carefully watched and jealously guarded. But this, it was bathing in riches. And she enjoyed every second of it. She saw that on the wall that the door occupied, against the side of the Great Tower, were racks and shelves laden with bottles and cakes of soap and fragrant oils. Literally hundreds of them. He rose from the pool and moved over to select a few from the wall, then returned to her, and added a little oil to the water. It filled the room with the aroma of roses. He set that bottle aside and descended again into the water with her.

When they had bathed, then loved again, then bathed more, he held a soft cotton towel for her, and dried her with his own hands, then she returned the gesture. There were no clothes to be had here, they would only be allowed those at the end of their month together. But he led her into the north room, where a great wedding feast was laid out for them. Foods from all of the four lands were available, as well as drinks and other delicacies. They ate at length and enjoyed the view of the Northlands from the windows the looked out into the cold mountain country. It was a magnificent vies, as the moons had passed over the tower by then and were lighting the area beautifully.

When they had dined, they went to the balcony on the east side of the tower and looked out over their future Princedom. One day they would rule all they saw from here all the way to the horizon, together. The great lush valley was laid out before them, they could see the eastern baronies and the farmsteads that were laid out across the valley like a scattering of gemstones. The waves of wheat and corn looking like shimmering amber and emerald in the light from the sky. And the houses of the city, which they could see all of beneath them, was like an ocean of gemstones, thousands of colors and shapes, even from this high up in he sky, and even at this hour, half past the mid of the night.

They looked out over their future land then walked around the balcony, and under the sealed room of the west'ring door. There were no windows here, no seeing what lay inside. Though many princes had tried and failed over the centuries. But below them was what drew the eyes of the young lovers. It was the mohaine. A great, black, lifeless expanse that seemed, to their eyes, to dwarf the whole of the rest of the world put together. Far off in the distance burned a single, unwavering light. For centuries philosophers and sages had pondered the presence of that light. Was it a star? Was it a city? Was it a great gemstone? None knew for sure, and hundreds had disappeared into the desert seeking it. None had ever returned.

They returned then into the tower to sleep, to rest and spend the next month together in isolation, eating the most wonderful foods and bathing whent hey chose to, and loving one another, again and again in the tower, until the seven locks turned and they were greeted by their family, dressed, and presented to the city.

The End