War Of Egypt II • The Persians

Chapter 20: Cheating Loyalty

    Kha had been standing still for almost an hour now as the Queen's immortal maidens made away with preparing him for the test to cement his loyalty to their new Queen. He was in nothing but a short dark silver shendyt that showed off his strong legs and allowed for the women to gain access to the vulnerable parts of his body. The Head Priestess touched his limbs from behind and guided him to kneel on the floor. She collected a black vase from  a handmaiden nearby and poured gold liquid over him; it was a symbol for blood. The liquid was made from gold lilies that belonged to the Persian Queen Ahurani and they grew in a pond within the heart of the palace. The dense gold trailed his shoulders and slowly cascaded straight down his back and front, all the way to the floors. Since his posture allowed him to have a slight dip in his back that caused the liquid to miss areas of his spine, the maids had to physically slather those areas. They moved away for a while and let the gold settle on him. After a while they came back to work on him.

    His bare masculine chest flexed and tightened as two of the maidens slapped white powder onto his torso. The powder wafted into the air and settled soon after. It clung, plastered onto the gold. A hand wrapped around his throat gently and tilted his head up, pressing on his jaws as delicate fingers traced a line across his throat then applied three short strokes down the line. Kha inhaled, taking in the scent of burning torches, dust, herbs, oils and the unusual sweet fragrance of the gold lily. His eyes rolled back and the room of maidens emptied itself, leaving the god alone for Head Priestess herself to pray over. She did what she had to do, pray over the god in Persian, asking for guidance and protection from his ancestors to grant him success over the test.

    The low murmurings faded off and Kha opened his eyes to scan his surroundings, aware to the fact the Head Priestess had left him. Instead he found someone else in front of him as he got to his feet. His built leveled out and his shadow eerily swept the length of the floor before him. The last remains of the lily essence dripped to the floor and the powder solidified into the gold that covered his body.

   "I came to..."

   "What?" Kha asked in a deep raspy voice. It seemed the entire ceremony had had an effect on him. Asire's eyes widened.

   "I am here to bring you to the arena, we are waiting," she said quietly.

   "That is not your purpose but the purpose of your Generals," Kha pointed out. "You should not even be here; to see me during the ceremony is forbidden by Persian tradition."

    The goddess shrugged, "I am the Queen now, I make my own traditions and if I desire to see my champion before the challenge, I will do so and there will be no question about it. And anyway, the tradition has been dead for ages since Ahriman last walked with the gods, you are going to revive it. Hurry up."

    He glared, "such an honor, right? I still have to get into my armor, Queen."

   "I have that sorted, come with me," Asire inclined her head toward the entrance of the dark underground temple and moved. Kha followed. As she led him through the dimly lit corridor, his eyes observed the dark writings on the wall; strange scriptures of the dark religion. They sent a shiver through his body, even though he did not physically react. He decided to avert his eyes but there was nowhere else to look except Asire's back...and below. Kha did a double take before moving his eyes to the back of her head. She did have lovely hair, he distracted himself and it worked. Soon they both stepped out into the afternoon sun and Kha found themselves walking through a line formed by Asire's guards.

    When Asire turned around to start instructing him about the challenge, while he put on his armor, she frowned. It was not a result of anything, but her own mind, as she watched Kha strap on his armguards and the sections of leg armor over his Egyptian footwear. He titled his head at an angle until it finally cracked loudly. The sound scared off Asire's soldiers who were standing by him, they all stepped a few good feet away. She smiled and then looked over her shoulder at the temple's surrounding. It was located out of the capital, high up in the moutains where little to no sunlight touched, the air was cold as it looked. She furiously blinked against the sting of the cold air against her exposed eyes and inhaled deeply. Her attention was back to Kha and she approached him with an outstretched hand.