The one wearing the mask twitched slightly, but stood up even prouder and straighter as they continued the procession. The other one, an impish smirk seeping onto his face, sent a hint of scaly flesh over his body in a diagonal ripple of subtle delicacy, and then returned immediately to his human form. The crowd went wild.
“Did you see?”
“He’s a wizard!”
“I thought I saw wings for a second!”
“Do it again!”
“Dragon! We want to see the dragon!”
A girl wearing a patched and ragged dress ran up alongside them. She confronted Riv. “I want to grow up and be a soldier like you, but my brothers say I can’t, because I’m a girl.”
“Of course you can. You have a body, don’t you?”
The girl nodded.
“Eat the best foods you can and exercise so your body will be strong,” said Captain Riv. “Figure out what techniques suit you best, and when you’re in combat, train your mind so you won’t get distracted.”
“I can’t wait to tell them you believe in me!”
“You can be a soldier not just because I said so, but because you already know so in your heart.”
The girl held on to Riv’s left hand and kept walking.
A boy joined them a few minutes later. He stared up at Riv and Isaac, blinking, clearly not sure what to say. Finally, he just asked shyly, “Can I walk with you?”
Riv’s smile was so big and welcoming that you could tell it was there from the crinkles around the captain’s eyes even though there was no way to see the mouth behind the mask. “Of course.” Riv’s right hand closed around the boy’s fingers protectively. “And when we leave to go back home, you should look to your own Prince Kaveh. He’s a big hero too. He’s the most determined man I’ve ever met, and he’s very brave. You should be proud of him.”
The boy looked up at Riv, then at Kaveh. The prince was preoccupied and overwhelmed because he still hadn’t seen Farzin yet, but he nodded amiably at the youth.
Shulamit said that Farzin was alive, and everybody was celebrating, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to relax until they were in each other’s arms again. Where was Farzin? Up on the dais with his father? Still in the prison but alive? With Shulamit somewhere?
Now they were approaching the bridge, and beyond the bonfire, he saw his father sitting in a makeshift throne on the same platform from which he had underpaid the workers. His stomach flipped around like a fish on dry land, but with Riv on one side of him and Isaac on the other, he reminded himself that this time would be different. He not only had the queen’s own bodyguards flanking him, but her entire Royal Guard was behind him on horseback. As for the queen herself, she was standing beside his father, very close to Aviva, who was dressed finer and looked prettier than he’d ever seen her before. Together they waved at him and his companions.
When they drew near enough, the king stood and moved his hands together in a single mighty clap. Trumpeters on either side of him gave a mighty blast, and the babble of voices nearest the royal platform died into a hush.
“Welcome back, my son.” Jahandar’s voice pierced the night.
“Baba,” Kaveh responded in greeting. He tried to look his father in the eye but couldn’t resist peering around everywhere for Farzin.
“I congratulate you on this... amazing match you’ve made. To captivate such a powerful and insightful queen and make her yours shows much sense.” He reached for Shulamit’s hand, and when she gave it, he held it high to the crowd. “Citizens, I give you Queen Shulamit of Perach, soon also to be a Princess of our City.”
As they cheered, he lowered her hand and then placed it inside Kaveh’s. Their eyes met. “Where’s Farzin?” Kaveh whispered.
“Somewhere safe,” Shulamit hissed back. “Shh.” She giggled nervously.
“Queen Shulamit has given this kingdom a great dowry with worth beyond measure,” Jahandar continued to the crowd. “The rumors are true. Soon, not only will you have a new princess -- you will have a new queen.” He smiled broadly. “She’s kind and just and wise, and honey for your king’s poor heart.”
“What do you mean -- new queen?” Kaveh blinked uncertainly.
“Yes, Kaveh. You’ll have a new stepmother. She’s the Lady Aafsaneh, whom Queen Shulamit found for me and salved my greatest pain without me having to breathe a word.”
“Lady Aafsaneh is...” Kaveh couldn’t believe it. He’d barely even had time to get used to the idea that Farzin’s mother had been the woman they’d been searching for, all these weeks, and now this new surprise? They were going to get married? Did that mean Farzin would be his--
“Yes, Kaveh. I know she’s Farzin’s mother. Of course he wasn’t after my kingdom. He was just trying to make sure I upheld my promises and didn’t tarnish the honor of my crown, like any loyal Citizen.” Kaveh swallowed, speechless. Jahandar leaned closer, so he could speak to Kaveh without the crowd hearing. “I understand how you and Farzin felt -- you must have just gotten confused. Now that you’ll be brothers, you’ll be able to express your mutual admiration more virtuously. You’ll no longer have to resort to... you know.” He waved his hand around dismissively.
The king couldn’t see that the little queen beside him had lifted her eyebrow and the corner of her mouth sharply in a skeptical smirk.
“Thank you,” Kaveh stammered insincerely.
Jahandar shifted his head so he was now facing the two bulky northerners who had knelt, each on one knee, beside Kaveh. “Captain Riv, we’ve already-- wait. Who are you?”
The captain looked up with proud blue-gray eyes. “Captain Riv Maror, your Majesty.”
“Captain Riv?”
Riv nodded solemnly. “I’m the leader of Shulamit’s Royal Guard.”
“Then who’s that?” Jahandar pointed at the man kneeling on the other side of the prince. Isaac met his gaze blandly, his face now uncloaked.
“He’s my dragon,” Riv said simply.
“I... see,” said Jahandar, with a frown and a scrunched-up brow. His eyes kept moving back and forth between Riv and Isaac, and Kaveh could see in his father’s face a touch of confusion that both members in a two-male pairing could so well represent manliness.
Unconsciously, Kaveh stood up straighter and puffed out his shoulders, wanting to defy his father’s expectations.
At last, Jahandar’s face cleared and he asked instead, “Why did he pretend to be you?”
“May I beg your forgiveness, Majesty?” Isaac’s voice was deep and gentle and unthreatening. “The honor of appearing in your court to announce the prince’s intention to marry should have fallen to the captain, who outranks me. I didn’t have the heart to tell you it was only me. I didn’t want you should feel insulted.”
“Your humility is admirable,” said the king. “I wonder why Queen Shulamit chose not to send her captain.”
“I’ve been thinking about Prince Kaveh and can’t remember,” piped up the queen, smiling innocently.
The king smiled fondly. “I understand completely -- I feel somewhat the same about my future queen. And now, we feast!” Jahandar clapped his hands again, and the people cheered.
Kaveh allowed himself to be buffeted, like a leaf floating down rapids, towards a makeshift outdoor table and into a seat. His future bride sat across from him, in earnest conference with her sweetheart about which of the holiday offerings she could and couldn’t eat. “Shulamit?”
“Hm?”
“Where’s Farzin?”
“His mother’s taking him back to the vineyard,” said the queen. “She’ll come back in a week or so to marry the king, but she wanted to get him away from Jahandar as soon as she could.”
Kaveh wilted. “So he’s not even in the city?” He felt as if his heart were missing from his body.
“Just be glad he’s safe,” Shulamit answered wearily, and sank her teeth into a piece of lamb. Aviva slid into the seat beside her, finally able to relax now that she’d vetted the queen’s food suff
iciently. There was barely any physical distance between them, and it drew out more of Kaveh’s pain to see their shoulders touching, their faces far too close for ordinary friendship.
“Are you sure he’s safe? Did you see him?” Someone tossed a roasted chicken leg to Kaveh, and he picked it up with a disoriented expression as if he’d never seen one before.
Shulamit nodded, her mouth too full to speak.
Kaveh picked at his food, unable to relax. He felt suddenly isolated, poignantly aware that he and Shulamit were very new friends, and he had no way of knowing if she even spoke the truth. It would certainly be nothing new for his father to speak falsely. But surely the queen didn’t want to conceive his child badly enough to lie brazenly to his face? Surely Farzin wasn’t already dead, heaped up in a pile somewhere--
He wrenched his mind away from such thoughts, glad the chicken leg at which he was picking was so obviously fowl and not flesh, not even close to human.
Other, less gruesome worries rose up in place of the more fantastical ones. Brothers? Stepbrothers, to be precise. Could stepbrothers still be lovers? Kaveh didn’t see why there should be any impediment -- they weren’t related by blood, and there was no possibility of children. But what if Farzin didn’t feel the same way? What if the Farzin that Aafsaneh had taken with her out of the City was all too ready to greet him with the lukewarm embrace of a sibling rather than the passionate embrace for which he longed?
Whatever Farzin wanted, he’d have to go along with it. He loved him that much. He only hoped he could bear it.
The royal party departed the festival while the rest of the Citizens still reveled, for the next day the prince’s wedding lay before them and it was important to get some sleep. Kaveh returned to his own room in his father’s palace for the first time in a month, Isaac hovering just behind him at a respectful distance as his assigned bodyguard. Even Isaac, with whom he had so long felt kinship as a fellow lover of men, no longer felt like a friend in this night of loneliness and mistrust. He knew the man was capable of keeping many secrets. Was the dragon-man following Shulamit’s orders now, calmly deceiving him along with the rest of them?
A trio of buxom dancing girls were waiting for him when they reached his chamber. The Crown Prince, trying to be helpful and brotherly, had already paid their fee as a bachelor party gift. Kaveh responded by waving them off. “Go perform for the queen.”
“The queen?” asked one of the dancers.
“Queen Shulamit. The visitor. My intended.”
The void produced by their puzzled silence was filled with gentle tinkling noises coming from their spangled costumes.
“It’s my wish,” Kaveh commanded, now louder and more assertive. He pointed at the door. “Go.”
Nodding in respect, they scurried away quickly, their baubles jangling and jingling.
Kaveh looked sharply at Isaac. “I want Farzin.” It was an order, a demand, a member of the royal family reverting back to habit.
Isaac, unimpressed, shrugged. “I want Riv.”
“Yours is only a few rooms down the hall. Mine is... somewhere.” Kaveh moved around the room, crossly putting out all the lamps and candles. “Alive? Dead? All I know is what you all tell me.”
The wizard didn’t argue. Instead, he moved toward the door. “I’ll be outside.”
“You do that.”
Soon, he was alone in a room illuminated only by a thick silver moonbeam. He flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The room felt enormous after his long stay at Shulamit’s petite, open-air palace, and he was hyperaware of how alone he was inside of it. The queen seemed so happy, and her captain and wizard were certainly acting triumphant enough. But was any of this real, or was he surrounded by a conspiracy? He wanted to be near Farzin so badly it hurt, physically, and he punched at the bed with frustration.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when he realized Isaac was talking to him. “What? I can’t hear you.”
For some reason the man was refusing to raise his voice, so with a grumble, Kaveh hopped down off the bed and put his ear to the door. “One more time?”
“Do you need my help to get out the window or can you manage?”
“What?”
“Can you get out the window without my help? Yes or no?”
“I.... yes? I think so. It’s not that high, and the ground’s soft.”
“Then go to the window.”
Kaveh rushed across the room without another thought. Farzin! Finally, he would rush into the arms of the man he loved! He threw open the curtains, expecting to see the engineer standing there in the moonlight.
But instead of a man, he saw -- a cat.
Chapter 24: Lamb for the Lion
Kaveh was so irritated he nearly picked up a nearby pot of herbs to throw at the poor animal sitting innocently in the flowerbed beneath his window. But before he could move his hand, he remembered everything his new friends had told him about Mother Cat. “Are you--?”
The cat stood up and began to walk away.
Kaveh still couldn’t tell if it was responding to his question or merely startled by his voice. He stood there halfway hanging out the window, peering at the creature.
It halted its departure and turned around to stare at him.
“I must be mad,” he muttered to himself as he climbed out the window and dropped down into the well-tilled dirt.
Silently he followed the cat through narrow, moonlit alleyways. He could hear faint sounds of joy in the distance, where some of the evening’s revelry still continued on the bigger streets closer to the river. Every once in a while he sensed other people and hid in the shadows until he could be certain to pass unseen, and each time he paused, the cat waited patiently.
He was certain now that she was Mother Cat -- some name like Eshvat? -- because, despite the circuitous path they took through the most tiny and winding of roads, he could tell they were approaching the restaurant. Sure enough, they popped out through a small passageway, barely big enough for a grown man, and emerged into the street across from Mother Cat’s.
The doorway was open, and the cat ran inside. Kaveh followed her.
Dim light from a few lamps lit the room, full of tables in front and the open kitchen in the back, but empty of patrons. Kaveh peered around anxiously. Was he here? “Farzin!” he tried to say, but his throat was dry and his voice nervous, so it came out as a faint bleat.
Then he noticed the red curtains that covered the doorway to the tea room, where low tables were ringed by cushions instead of chairs. He and Farzin had sat here with some of Farzin’s workers in days past, draining pots of tea and relaxing after a day of work on the construction project. It was a familiar room, but in this night of uncertainty, everything was ghostly and contained the prospect of nightmares.
His trembling hand drew aside the curtain.
Stepping inside, he saw Farzin lying motionless before him on the far side of the room. His eyes were closed but his mouth hung open; his body lay twisted in an unnatural position as if he’d been flung against the deep-red cushions and forgotten. Farzin who he had loved, but not as he had known him -- a month of starvation and occasional abuse had left its mark in that gaunt face and on those bruised limbs.
Kaveh’s eyes flew shut after only a millisecond. He couldn’t stand it. Farzin might only be sleeping, but the prince couldn’t find within himself the courage to step forward and see for himself. What if he touched Farzin’s face and found it cold? If he stayed here in the doorway he left himself standing in the threshold of hope. One step forward might be the first into tragedy.
But whichever way their destinies flowed, let them flow in the same course, forever united.
“Farzin,” he gasped, his eyes still screwed shut, “if you’re alive-- if you’re alive, take me into your arms. If you’re--” He couldn’t say dead, not out loud. “--not, take me into your grave.”
And then arms encircled him and held him very tightly, and Kaveh nearly hyperventilated with
relief. “My grave? Really?” asked a familiar jovial voice. “Because I was thinking bed.”
“You looked funny when you were asleep!” Kaveh protested, bowing his head to rest it against Farzin’s chest. He smelled of peasant soap and rosewater. The prince opened his eyes, and yes, Farzin was real, real and holding him, clasping him tightly. He could barely breathe, and yet he had never felt so comfortable in his entire life.
“I look funny when I’m awake,” Farzin reminded him.
“You’re alive... You’re alive...” It was a grateful prayer of thanks.
“All of me! And all of the workers have been paid too -- the full amount, this time.” There might be dark circles under those eyes, but they twinkled; there might be whip stains across his back, but it stood up proudly straight.
“What about you? Did you get paid?”
Farzin gazed down on him with caressing eyes. “I told you before, all I want is you. If we’ll really be together from now on -- if you’ll share happiness with me as we’ve already shared so much pain -- if you’ll let me kiss you awake in the morning and bore you to sleep at night babbling about projects... then, Kaveh, then my work will have been paid for, more than fairly. Generously. I love you.”
Kaveh vibrated with sheer joy. “Always. Always! Then it doesn’t worry you that we’re going to be brothers while we’re living that way?”
The engineer responded by kissing him. It was their first time their lips had touched in a month, and Kaveh threw himself into the kiss with energetic ardor. His body heated up as he swept his hands over Farzin’s back.
Then Farzin broke the kiss. “Eww! You kissed your brother!” He was even laughing at his own joke.
Kaveh chuckled. “You goof. Anyway, it’s not by blood.”
“It could have been, if my mother had been queen from the beginning.”
“I like it better this way.”
“Me too.”
“But why didn’t you tell us how to find your mother? We didn’t know about Jahandar, but still!”
“I tried to, a couple of times, but you were getting shot at, and Isaac ran off.” He was breathing heavily. “She didn’t know where I was because I knew she wouldn’t like me working for Jahandar. I thought she’d try to talk me out of it. I just wanted to tell her how great the whole thing had been when it was all over. I had no idea why she... why she...”
Climbing the Date Palm Page 18
