Draconis' Bane (22 page)

The mood lightened
noticeably in the room again as the men walked into a neighboring
room loaded with divans, cushions and day beds. They began joking
around with one another as they dug out their dress uniforms from
their travel packs, and stowed their tabards. Tristan walked around
the apartment to find that he was in the bedroom, which was
enormous.

The ceiling was
easily twenty feet high; the stone-like material was brightly
painted with a mosaic of scenes. The bed frame was curved with
short little spires rising from the four corners, the mattress was
made of some incredibly light feather and there was an excessive
amount of pillows on it.

He walked over to
another room which turned out to be a washroom with a similar
design to Vallius ones, only this one was made primarily of
porcelain and marble. Tristan filled up the tub with hot water and
washed off week’s worth of grime, careful to avoid the patched hole
in his shoulder. When he was finished he pulled out a pair of dark
grey trousers and a bright blue long sleeved shirt made of silk. It
seemed more humid here than it was at home and he was anxious for
comfort as he foresaw the meeting with the Raj would go late into
the night.

A few hours later,
half-dozing in the warmth of the afternoon, a knock came at the
door. A quiet young man entered when bidden and offered escort to
the Hall of Feasts as he called it. Exchanging amused smiles with a
few of his soldiers, who had all changed into their dress uniforms,
they followed the young man through the palace.

The hallways were
very wide and everywhere Tristan looked his saw marble where there
would have been wood. The floors, walls and ceilings seemed to be
made of the same polished stone, although the floor was of a deeper
color, and mostly tiled. They passed many large halls, all teaming
with people and dancers spinning in a flurry of color. After what
felt like a walk through Durshire they came to an immense door made
of shinning treated wood.

The servants on
either side of the door effortlessly opened them to admit Tristan
and his guards. The Prince made a note to himself to ask about
their design. Looking around he noticed the interior of this room
overlooked an enormous garden. There were no windows to speak of at
eye level, but all of the openings in the walls admitted the
intoxicated fragrance of flowers from the garden which surrounded
the room outside. Low circular tables were scattered haphazardly
around the room with plush cushions piled around them.

Tristan was directed
to the large centermost table where a large man wearing an
impossible amount of jewelry sat. Next to him was a beautiful woman
of middle years and to her left was a gorgeous young woman. Tristan
couldn’t bring himself to tear his eyes away from her. She had
straight dark brown hair that must surely have touched the cushion
she was sitting on. Her eyes were a deep brown, and she wore a deep
green robe which served to emphasize her curves rather than hide
them.

The Prince fought to
pay attention to Akbar who appeared at his elbow. “Your Highness,
may I present His Most Imperial Highness; Raj Julpinu.” He
introduced.

Tristan bowed deeply
saying; “You honor me with an invitation to share your table.”

“It is
you
who
honor me for accepting my invitation my young friend.” The Raj
replied. “Please. Sit with us, the dancing is about to begin.” He
indicated the cushion to his right.

The Prince sat in the
indicated seat as a hypnotic drum beat began. Three female dancers
shimmied in from the far right of the room through a gauze curtain.
They wore loose fitting skirts that extended down to their ankles
and tight tops revealing their flat stomachs. Two of them had long
jewelry hanging from their navels and one had a colorful drawing
painted on her stomach of what appeared to be a roaring lions
head.

They danced and
swayed around the room as the Raj introduced the two women to the
young Duke. “Prince Tristan, allow me to introduce my wife, Peria.”
He indicated the attractive middle-aged woman to whom Tristan
nodded, accepting her offered hand and pecking the back of it.

“This lovely girl is
my daughter, Mina.” He indicated the gorgeous girl to his wife’s
left. Tristan nodded again; the girl turned her head from the
dancers and smiled warmly at the young Prince. Tristans’ stomach
flipped as he smiled back at her, trying his best to appear
un-phased.

Their attention
returned to the dancers, who now were using small metal disks on
their finger-tips to add their music to the hypnotic drum beat.
However, Tristan’s attention was transfixed on Mina. He studied
every curve of her face, completely enthralled by the young lady.
For hours the dancers came and went, replaced by taller darker
skinned ones, then by short stout ones. Food came, as well as wine.
Tristan couldn’t recall much of what he ate or drank.

The Raj and he spoke
of little things between intricate dances; the harvest, the weather
and odd as it sounded, both men greatly admired the others kingdom.
It was quite easy to enjoy time with the Raj; his wife was kind and
attentive to both Tristan and her husband. Their daughter was
flirtatious towards the young Prince and he found his voice nearly
failed him on many occasions throughout the night.

After another
interesting performance he had completely failed to watch while
enraptured with the Raj’s daughter, she turned to him.

“Does his Highness
wish to take a walk with me in the gardens?” She asked.

Forcing himself to
breathe, he replied as evenly as he could.

“If it would please
you m’lady, I would be honored.”

He rose from his
cushions and walked over to Mina’s offered hand and helped her to
her feet. The touch of her hand was electric and Tristan’s stomach
flipped again at the touch of her soft hand on his. She encircled
his offered arm in her own; the heat from her radiated through his
sleeve and made his heart race.

Mina directed him
towards a large archway off to the left. As soon as they left the
room Mina drew uncomfortably close and Tristan found it infinitely
difficult to keep his thoughts pure. The pair walked towards a
large gazebo with plush couches lining the edges. Between the
fragrances emanating from the garden, and Mina’s perfume, Tristan
was having a very difficult time keeping his thoughts clear and
focused.

“Do you have gardens
such as these in your home?” She purred, moving closer and placing
her hand on his lap.

“None this grand Your
Highness.” He barely choked out.

“You’re very handsome
Tristan.” She said as she slid herself under his arm and rested her
head on his shoulder.

“You’re the most
beautiful woman I’ve ever seen Mina.” He blurted.

“You’re very kind…”
She whispered as she began playing with his hair.

A few hours later
Tristan was sprawled out on the enormous bed in his apartment. His
heart was still racing and he was sticking to the silken bedspread,
despite the cool night. Mina slept next to him, her breathing even
and deep. He untangled himself slowly from the bed covers, working
his way to the edge of the bed. He tumbled out of the bed landing
hard on the floor beside it, pulling the sheets with him.

“Tristan?” Mina asked
sleepily.

The Prince cursed
himself.

“Sorry.” He
muttered.

He poked his head up
over the bed to find Mina looking straight at him, smiling
playfully. “Where are you off to?” She asked with a soft purr to
her voice.

“I was just going to
get some fresh air…” He replied sheepishly.

She held her hand
out, “Come here, I’ll give you all the fresh air you could need.”
She said, smiling warmly.

As they coupled again
Tristan’s mind was reeling, despite her beauty the Prince sensed
there was something not quite right with this situation. All such
doubts were driven by his mind by Mina’s mounting pleasure and all
of his concerns disappeared into vapor as her lips found his.

~

“My Lord.”
Knight-Captain Robertson called.

“What?” Tristan
croaked.

“You’re being
summoned for morning court Tristan. Time to drag yourself out of
bed you pup!” Robertson scolded.

“Alright, alright,
I’m getting up.” He exclaimed with mock irritation. “Can you put
aside some clothes for me? I need to go splash some water on my
face.” He asked; half awake.

Tristan got out of
bed and stumbled over to the bathroom; he pumped water out of the
tap and doused his head. The cold of the morning water caused him
to gasp and immediately woke him up. Drying off his head with a
towel he inspected his shoulder. The dressing should really be
changed, but there was no time at the moment.

He quickly dressed,
tying his hair back and left the apartment grabbing his sword belt
and strapping it on as he made his way into the hallway. A servant
awaited and Tristan nodded as he set off directing the Prince to
the main chamber. Robertson caught up to the Prince, a slightly
mocking smile on his face.

“Had a good time last
night Your Highness?” He asked, smirking.

“It was educational
my friend.” He replied back.

“Educational. An
interesting choice of words this morning, Your Highness.” Robertson
replied laughing.

The servant indicated
a pair of large doors and scurried off on another task. Tristan had
just finished putting on his belt as the Guisian soldiers on either
side of the doors opened them to admit the Prince into the main
chamber. The room was larger than any he’d seen thus far, the
ceiling appeared to be made entirely of glass admitting the morning
sunlight into the room.

There were large silk
banners woven into the pillars marking a path to the throne.
Cushions were scattered around the room with many minor
functionaries seated off to the sides of the room, and the more
powerful lining the pathway. The most powerful noblemen were seated
in front of the large semi-circle staircase. There were a dozen or
so steps up to the plateau in which the throne was located.

Throne was a relative
term here, as with everything there was a collection of cushions
with a large ornamental marble arc running behind them. The Raj was
seated in the middle, his wife and daughter to his left and Akbar
on his right.

Tristan bowed low,
“Your Highness honors me by inviting me into his court.”

The Raj waved away
the honorific, “Think nothing of it Your Grace, my home is yours.”
He replied smiling. He indicated to his right, and Tristan sat next
to Akbar. The Prince looked over at Mina, who smiled warmly
bringing color to Tristan’s face.

Court commenced and
Akbar would announce each speaker to come forward and then he would
quietly whisper brief snippets of information on them. Tristan was
most impressed with the structure of their court, each speaker was
courteous and direct in their approach. It reminded the young
Prince of Kevin’s court. Tristan’s, on the other hand, had been
full of whining and complaining with very little in the way of
suggestions for how they’d like the situation handled. He made a
mental note that he needed to lead the way the Raj and his brother
did. If nothing else came of it at least his sanity would be kept
in check.

“My Lord, there have
been increasing bandit activity between our cities. I request that
each city be given permission and financing to employ a dozen more
militia each.” Requested a lavishly dressed supplicant.

The Raj considered
this request, leaned over and whispered quietly with Akbar, and
then gave his decision. “You have my permission, and I will gladly
fund a third of the financing for these men. The cities they will
patrol between will split the rest.”

The speaker bowed as
Akbar leaned over to whisper to Tristan. “That was Kulinu, he’s a
powerful merchant from here in Delhi, and he’s not given to
over-indulging the truth for higher profits as many of his
associates are. The Raj allowed the concession more out of respect
for his associates trust in Kulinu than for the necessity of the
money.” He explained.

Tristan nodded,
deeply impressed with the diplomacy used for even the most mundane
requests. He was also becoming distracted by Mina looking over at
him and smiling warmly. The memories of last night mixed with her
attention roused his longing for her. Court proceeded for a few
more hours as his fascination with Guisian politics slowly gave way
to his grumbling stomach.

A short time later,
Akbar announced that court was adjourned for the day and the
merchants and nobles made their way out of the hall. Meanwhile
Tristan was ushered into a comfortable room behind the throne.
Along one side of the room there were open archways out into
another large garden with a fountain in the middle of it.

Water streamed out of
the top of the fountain and slowly progressed down the four tiers
before dumping into the pool at the base. It was made entirely of
marble and trimmed in gold, which gave the water a sparkling effect
as though it too, was rich. The Raj and his wife sat at the sole
table in the room surrounded by cushions and laden with all manner
of food and drink.

After a few minutes
of polite conversation over a light breaking of fast, the Raj
surprised Tristan mid-sip from his glass of water. “I understand
you’ve taken my daughter for a lover Prince Tristan.” He commented
lightly.

Tristan nearly spat
the water out; instead he forced it down, coughing slightly.

“No need for
embarrassment young Prince, my daughter is of age and is free to
chose her mates as she wishes.” He consoled.

Mina wrapped her arm
around his, placing her head on his shoulder. The soft feel of her
hands on his arm and the intoxicating scent of her perfume was
playing havoc the young man’s senses. The Prince still couldn’t
fathom that she was under his spell, he was quite sure it was just
the opposite. He tried to clear his throat to speak.