Medona

Chapter 21-The Palace

Hirashman stopped his horse by another type of voice command infront of the royal staple. He jumped off the horse and caressed its head by his palm with a merciful smile. Then he turned to me and offered me his arms to jump into. I was paused and forgot to breath for a while. He beckoned his hands with hospitality.

Finally, I was inside the palace. Vast patio surrounded by huge royal rooms. All the walls made of sophisticatedly reshaped rocks and decorated magnificently with precious stones.
In the centre was the circular gardening area which was embellished with the most stained flowers I'd ever seen organized by their type and color, giving the area a look of rainbow in the green grass.
In the centre of the gardening area stood a long ancient times clock which traced the time by a shadow of its still hand on its numerals through the day. The patio was so vast that the shadow of the walls and the rooms didn't interupt the timing untill sunset.
On even distances, before the veranda, the giant patio had long necked fire bowls about four feet above the ground to light up the palace in night.
The veranda connected to the rooms all around and to the staple on one side. All the royal horses were kept inside the palace. The doors to the rooms were made of timber wood carved into a design that matched the embroidery of royal cloaks. Between every two doors, wall lanterns were fixed on the walls.

I pulled my right leg back on the left side, where Hirashman was standing, and pulled my hands towards his shoulders while he grabbed me from the sides of my torso. My weight yanked him backward as I jumped on the ground.
Before the gaze game could start again, a servant called out for him, "your majesty" and bowed at him.

"Take her to the make up room" he ordered and escorted his horse towards the staple.
"As you wish your highness"
The servant directed me into a room where the prostitutes were kept and got ready. A curtain divided the room into two halves. One was a sleeping area where ten sleep mats were piled up in a corner along with some blankets and pillows. The other half was the 'getting ready' area. Five doors to five bathrooms. Huge mirrors made of obsidian hung on the walls. Before the mirrors several mud jars of unguent for skin and some stained substances, used for lips and eyes were kept orderly.

The servant left and as we reached earlier than the others, I was alone in the room. I checked my watch, I had lost communication with the portal but the watch was still functional. I opened up the map and found my tracker pretty much closer to the meteor. I just had to trace it and grab it with the protective holder I had in my bag and put it in the radiation proof box. My earplugs were also functional as I could understand them and for sure Hirashman could understand me too. But the problem was I couldn't just walk randomly in a palace to find the meteor.

I waited for a while when the other prostitutes arrived. They looked overjoyed to be selected. They didn't like my presence in the room already. But I ignored the disdain in their attitude and focused on how I would get to the meteor. I knew it wouldn't be easy because if they had used the meteor to become such civilized, they wouldn't put it in a random place to be stolen.
"Hirashman has never called for a prostitute. What makes her so special?" One of the prostitutes spoke ill of me right infront of me. She thought I couldn't understand her which I did.
"You are so jealoused as if Hirman has called her. Let it be, who cares" the other lady replied and she rolled her eyes in disgust.

The whole day was wasted in the room. We were provided with lunch by servants in the very room and there seemed no excuses to go outside. It was boring and suffocating.

By the time sun was about to set, two female servants came into the room for the announcement of dinner in the guest room. All of the women clapped in joy and quickly followed the servants. They walked in a queue with discipline. I was secretly checking my map as we walked towards the guest room. The meteor got nearer and when we passed infront of a door, at this spot it was the closest to my tracker that both the traces got almost merged in the map. It was inside the room behind that door. I felt a beam of hope growing in my soul.

We went to the guest room and were presented with a magnificent feast. All the food items cooked with mastery and presented in great royal utensils. The food was richly flavored. I had never experienced such deliciousness on my taste buds.

After the meal, we were headed back to the make up room. Alot of male and female servants were in the patio including the royals themselves too. It wasn't a good time to go to the room.

In the corridor towards the make up room, we walked past an arrogant middle aged yet young looking lady. She was walking with head held upright, followed by two female servants. Each one of the prostitutes bowed at her while walking past her. She didn't bother her kohl stained eyes to look at anyone of them. They were like totally invisible to her. She was wearing a black embroidered soft fabric gown with crown on her head too. She was in her late fifties. She had applied the black stain on her hair too to look younger. As I was checking her out I forgot to bow when she passed by me which made her to turn her pride head to look back at me. Her expressions shouted *who the hell is this stupid girl to attempt such a discourtesy towards the royal dignitary!!*