INTO THE VOID

CHAPTER 33: DESERTWIND

In the days of King Nahdum, the Kingdom of Kush as growing rapidly. The Lions of Nubia had conquered many kingdoms and some kingdoms voluntarily surrendered to the greatest of the king. The kingdom was the greatest thing to the south of the Nile. Their fame spread across to everywhere far and wide. Only the Pharaoh of Egypt was wealthier than Nubia or so did the rumors say.

For years, almost a decade, the Egyptians have not concerned themselves with the Nubians. There was really no reason for the two nations to relate. They had different cultures and religious beliefs, while the Egyptian were concerned with farming grains and fishing, Nubians were more interested in legumes, tubers and hunting big game. Even the complexion of the Egyptians deferred clearly from the Nubians. Egyptians were fair with pointed noses but the Nubians had dark skin with broad noses. The Egyptians kept to their side of the Nile and the Nubians did the same until the conquest of Kaluthan

Kaluthan was a small nation; there were a tribe of fishermen really. They lived amongst the cedar trees that grew along their part of the Nile. For years, they had been in active trading with the Egyptians. While they supplied the Egyptians with wood for building, the Egyptians gave them grain. That was how it had been for a long time until the Lions of Nubia came along and conquered the region. After the conquest which was actually just the Kaluthans surrendering, the Nubians began to control their trade with Egypt asking for more grain per logs of Cedar. The Egyptians were obviously not pleased.

Egypt was a big nation having a lot of states and provinces. Each province had a head who carried out the wishes of the Pharaoh and reported to him intermittently.

The Pharaoh was an ambiguous character regarded by the people as some sort of deity, an oracle; an intermediary to the gods. He was rarely seen, always in the palace with men of wisdom carrying out rites and rituals to please the gods. There were a lot of higher responsibilities he had to deal with so flimsy things like a trading dispute was the least of his concerns.

Due to the importance of his personality and the extent of his power, the Pharaoh was someone people always tried to please as finding favor in the eyes of this man was equivalent to finding favor with the gods. One of his many sons Sesmar understood this well and was always trying to please his father but his efforts have been in futility. His father had a favorite son and it was not him.

So, once Sesmar heard about the trading dispute, he knew it was another opportunity to please his father. So, for the first time in many years, an Egyptian of royal blood will go to Nubia. Sesmar intended to visit the Nubians himself and come to a favorable conclusion with the king. His plan was to show the wealth of Egypt to the Nubian king as a subtle reminder that Egypt was more prosperous than his kingdom and hence should accord them with the due respect.

Sesmar was a dramatic man and he loved theatrics and he was very theatrical in his visit. He took along a hundred and fifty Camels, two hundred servants who walked on foot, three hundred maidens, an innumerable number of gold pieces and his first child and only daughter; Layla.

The day of the meeting had arrived. Sesmar came into the castle with all his splendor. He was seated on a camel as the rest of his entourage filed into the castle grounds. His plan was to make a statement and he was doing just that. After the lengthy entrance, an orator stepped forward, dressed in the best Egyptian silk and then with a loud voice cried out,

“Hail, Sesmar, the son of the great Pharaoh, the lord of the provinces, ruler of the people; the terrible one.” After the introduction, Sesmar alighted the steed and walled forward; bold, confident royal steps. After the orator had spoken, another stepped forward and then said,

“Hail, Layla, daughter of Sesmar, the beauty of the flowers, the radiance of the sun.”

Sesmar walked forward with his daughter by his side, a host of servants followed paces behind. The splendour of the Egyptians was something to behold.

As Sesmar approached the entrance of the throne room, the location of the meeting, he could see members of the Nubian Royal Guard standing by the door, five on each side arranged in straight files. The men were cloth in ceremonial armour and the circumference of the shield the held glittered with gold; very pure gold. The kind of gold Egyptian maidens adorned themselves with; The type of gold that was used to craft the jewellery Layla wore. Sesmar wondered if this was a statement by the Nubians or could it be possible that this people were so rich, they used pure gold to build shields?

"Welcome Sesmar, the King shall see you now." Said the King's emissary. "Of course you will have to leave your entourage outside. The King's throne room does not accommodate animals." The man added in a manner Sesmar could not fully grasp. Was this snobbery? Was this condescension?

This day was highly anticipated by The Royal Guard. A day that foreigners will walk into the castle and dine with the king, it was highly expedient that there were maximum security protocols in place and that the members of the guard were alert and attentive.

At this point, Shambasa had been a member of the guard for about a year. He carried out routine activities like being amongst the entourage of the royal family, accompanying them to various places and standing at guard during inner court meetings. He was just doing the basic things. This particular meeting between an Egyptian monarch and the king was a big event for Shambasa. He had to look as gallant as possible and those warrior eyes of his had to be very keen, as keen as possible; maybe even keener that there normally were.

He was doing it. There he was standing in line with four other guards, a shield in one hand and a spear in another. With his eyes he surveyed the Egyptian envoy looking out for anything suspicious or out of line. He was paying rapt attention; just as a Royal Guard should. Suddenly, his eyes caught the figure of a young woman standing next to Sesmar clothe all in white. In an instant, Shambasa’s concentration was disrupted. Who was this person that could take the attention of the claw like this? Who was this princess?

Shambasa really never cared for royals especially the women. To him there were privileged people who gained prominence, power and the other that comes with royalty without actually doing anything. At least the men had to be warriors or the more nefarious ones amongst them had to plot and scheme to attain the power but what did the women actually do? Even now, serving as a Royal Guard, his loyalty has never been to the individuals but to the throne. He did not like the false security the castles gave, that these people could live behind their big castle walls having no real sense of what happened to the common man.

So, what then was so special about this royal that captivated him like so? What made her different and how could he tell by just looking at her? The woman who was introduced as the daughter of Sesmar was dressed in a blouse that stopped somewhere just above her belly button and a flowing skirt that had to slits at each sides in such a manner that whenever she took steps forward, a glimpse of her fair hips was shown. On her waist was a single black beaded rope that somehow enunciated the shape of her body. She had dark flowing hair and dark, beautiful eyes; one could easily tell as she had a veil over her face that made it impossible to see anything else both those eyes.

As Sesmar and his daughter walked into the throne room, Shambasa could not take his eyes off Layla as he was simply captivated by her presence. He only averted his gaze when the princess looked back at him.

The meeting between the two monarchs was a lengthy one. They spent the bulk of the time talking about other things before finally speaking about the matter at hand. Sesmar presented gifts to Nahdum and Nahdum returned the favour. The two men will soon grow to like each other. There shared the same taste for grape wine and an inherent insatiable desire to amass power; they seem to get along just fine.

After their meeting, Nahdum decided to give Sesmar a tour of the kingdom’s capital. Due to the inconveniences of having to carry so many camels around the large city, Sesmar left a larger part of his entourage at the palace taking only four guards, his orator, his daughter, her maidens and her orator. A carriage was prepared for the Egyptians and two royal guards accompanied them. Sesmar and Nahdum rode in one carriage with each king having two guard sitting on either side while Layla and her maidens had a carriage all to themselves.

While the men spoke about issues of governance and the expanse of kingdoms, Nikita gave the girls all the gist about girly things. The fashion trends, the food and snacks, Nubian marriage rites and all those other things young women spoke about.

Shambasa was privileged to be in that carriage. He smiled at their naivety, the simplicity of female discussion. He also smiled at Layla’s voice. She was not so chatty, the other maidens had that part covered but whenever she spoke, it was soft and subtle and soothing to the ears. Shambasa was engrossed in their talks, just waiting for Layla to speak again. He wished he could ask Nikita to shut up and just let this Egyptian goddess talk on forever.

Irrespective of how beautiful her voice was however, Shambasa could feel a sadness in her tone, it was like a warning, an eerie as though with every word she uttered she cried for help. What was this he felt? He could not understand.

After long hours of riding around the Nubian capital, the tour came to an end as they went back to the palace.

“Nikita, show the beautiful princess and her fair maidens to the hot springs; the best for my soon to be wife.” Nahdum said grinning, Sesmar laughed, the other maidens smiled but Layla said nothing. Even with her face concealed, Shambasa could tell she was not happy. So, why then did the other people act so natural. Did they simply play off her lack amusement as royal snobbery or did they just not notice?

Well, Shambasa noticed and now it all began to make sense. The sadness he felt in her voice was due to the fact that her father had offered her up for marriage to Nahdum as a power play and she had no say in the matter whatsoever. That’s how he got her the name Desertwind because just as she was beautiful, she was mysterious and eerie bringing with her sorrow and tears of those who were lost and dead.

Nikita will take Layla and her maidens to the hot springs accompanied by Shambasa. The ladies took off their clothes and stepped into the natural tub of steaming water. Egyptian women were beautiful but somehow more beautiful without clothes on. The turgidity Shambasa covered with his shield was a testament to this.

Layla went in last, slipping of her skirt and blouse, leaving nothing on but her waistbead and gold jewellery. She undressed right in front of Shambasa as he was holding her clothes. Once she was completely unclad, she took of the phone that had been covering her face. It was in this moment, seeing the beauty of the Desertwind that Shambasa knew that he would do anything to be with this woman and make her happy.

So, the story begins; the story of a Nubian warrior and an Egyptian princess.