Kingdom Of The Sphinx

Chapter Two: Road to Panampen

         There is an old saying in the kingdom that went "What love is taken at night is all the sweeter in the morning".  It's actually a saying about how wonderful it is to wake up next to someone you love.  Though to young people like Jasmine and I, it meant doing it in the morning was a lot of fun.  Jepti woke me up, and after I fed him, Jasmine . . .quite aggressively, took me again.  Seemed she liked what she had the night before.

"You're good at this," I giggled as we held each other in the afterglow. "Are you sure I'm your first?"

Jasmine nuzzled my neck, the hairs on her ears ticking my nose, "Quite sure," She admitted, "You are just an exceptional teacher."

"I've gotta check the hives in the north field," I said. "Some of them might be ready to split."

"Yeah, and I'm expected back at the Temple." Jasmine said.

I let out a long breath, "Jasmine, what do we do about this?" I asked, "I mean, I'm courting Prince Hisan, you have your temple duty. . .with the way things are going in Panampen we might be dealing with another invasion soon, and we'll have to-"

Jasmine silenced me with a tender kiss. "I'll tell you what we're going to do," She said with confidence. "You are going to check the hives in the north field, and I'm going to go to the temple to do my duties. We don't need a plan for the rest of our life, as long as we know what today brings."

     I smiled, and felt my anxiety melt away, and the two of us shared one more kiss Before hopping out of bed and getting ready for the day.  Outside my little mud hut, just as Jasmine reached up a hoof to pet Jepti, she stumbled.  Something about that stumble wasn't right, Jasmine was usually very graceful, light on her hooves.  She didn't walk, she glided from one place to another like she was made of mist. . .now for no reason at all she was teetering, a distant look in her eyes. . . Something was very wrong.

     I darted forward and caught her, calling her name, and she weakly said mine. 

"Skati!  Et!" I called out, "Get the chariot!  Something is wrong with Jasmine!"

"Yes Somnambula!" Et said running off.

"Jasmine, what's wrong?" I asked.

"I feel, weak." Jasmine said tiredly, "It just came on suddenly,"

     Et and Skati pulled around the chariot, and within a few moments we were in town, pulling up outside Hotep's humble home.  Hotep was our family' trusted healer, a pony who had studied all over the kingdom.  As soon as we arrived the elderly Pegasus helped me carry Jasmine to a sitting couch at the rear of his house and without a word gave her some kind of broth.  Hotep was an older, bespectacled pony, who throughout my entire youth seemed to be the same age.  Whenever anyone was sick or hurt, he never hesitated to help.  He was purely an academic, not like the trained doctors of modern times, but he knew what he was doing.  I trusted him more than anyone else.

"I'm sorry to barge in," I said as Hotep inspected Jasmine's hooves.

"No worries, my dear Somnambula, my doors will always be opened to the sick." Hotep said, dampening a cloth and setting it on Jasmine's forehead. "Now, let me guess; the young filly here collapsed, experienced a dizzy spell?"

"Yes," Jasmine said. "I just suddenly felt . . .so weak."

"Where you involved in some kind of rigorous physical activity?"

I looked to the ground, blushing deeply.

"Well, I'll take that look as a yes," Hotep said with a grin as he walked to his shelf of potions and tinctures,  "Now, young filly, what was your name?"