The Sighs of the Priestess Ch. 05

"But really? My dream?" He shrugged, "I was with a girl once in the temple gardens at Ninab. I loved with her, though I never really saw her face well in the darkness. I only know that from what I saw, she was lovely. I can say that she was everything that I would have wanted. She was inexperienced, but I didn't care for she let me teach her. She was the best lover that I have ever had."

He looked down, "But I never learned more of her. I wanted so much to meet her again the next night and maybe suggest that we light only one small lamp so that we might see each other. I already wanted to love her as my own." He sighed, "She was perfect."

Timna bade him to raise his arms, and she washed his armpits for him slowly and with a lot of care.

"You were certain?" she asked, "After only one night with her, you were that sure? What happened? Why did you not find her to tell her? Maybe you could have had your dream then."

He shook his head, and his next words almost caused her heart to stop.

"The next day the Sumerians came, and the world turned to hell. I went from feeling hopeful for myself to wishing and praying that the girl only survived everything. What of your dream, Timna?"

Timna faced a brief, but intense internal struggle between her fears and her hopes. Finally she just reminded herself of the reason that she'd come here, aside from getting to know the smith well.

"I went to the temple gardens too, sometimes," she admitted, "I wanted to learn about loving, but found no men who wanted one such as me, so I went alone. A handful of times, I was alone there and it felt so good to pleasure myself there in that special place, far better than aching for it and fearing to make a sound in the home of my family."

"Three times, I found men there who would love me, but the last time was the best."

She smiled at him shyly, "He was wonderful. He mounted me just as the others had, but that was only the start between us. Where they were insistent, he was patient, and he allowed me to set my own pace for us – what felt best for me. I thought that it was over, but I was wrong. That man found his way to the bottom of me with his tongue and after making me cry out again, he went still lower and he showed me a different kind of heaven."

She sighed, "I had never thought that anything could feel so nice and loving, what he did for me, and then he asked me if he might mount me there if he was slow and careful about it. I told him that he had to wait just a little while, for he had raised desires in me that I never knew that I had before then."

"No one has ever allowed Timna to decide anything. No one has ever let Timna choose. But that man did, Adad, and so he made a friend in me that night and had the invaders not come," she looked down a little shyly, "and if Timna could have summoned up her courage, I would have done anything for him, Adad. I would have made him the best friend that he could have ever wanted, and if he was single, since I knew nothing of him, I'd have thrown myself at his feet and begged to be his woman, because until that night, there had been no one who had ever done anything for me such as he did."

Timna cupped her hand and let the water that she brought up run down against his armpit as she finished washing the second one.

"So I asked if he could wait a bit and he agreed. I was so wet that I felt it leak out of me because I was so excited that he might let me love him. I made him raise his arms over his head, and then I did something like this..."

She smiled as she leaned closer and began to lick him there. Adad shivered every time that she breathed, but stood it as she made love to him there with her mouth for a moment before letting her tongue wander lower very slowly. For a time, it seemed that she was stuck for a little while, here and there. She was slow about it so that he might know what was coming when she carefully sank her teeth into his abdominal muscles and growled so quietly in her joy. It was the same over his muscled belly, though she didn't press her teeth there, for there was nothing to bite on but the thin layer of his skin. In that spot, she tasted and dragged her teeth slowly for many minutes, liking how it made him twitch just a little.

She spoke again as she washed his straining erection. He looked down and saw her squatting there in the water, her long reddish hair fanning out around her as it grew wet before it sank.

"He smelled so wonderful to me that night, everywhere that I went on him," she sighed, "I had never done anything like that and I loved it and wanted only more. At length, I found myself in the same place as I am here now," she smiled up at him, "and then I made love to him like this."

He watched her tongue come to him and groaned as she loved him, but she was careful to only drive his need higher. She carefully lifted everything and leaned in closer, pushing her face as far against him as she could.

"And then," he heard her say softly from the bottom of him, "I did this."

He felt her tongue slide as far back as she could get it to go. "You should lean back against the edge a little Adad," she sighed to him. "I need to get farther in here."

He did as she asked and then he felt her bring her face there again. Her tongue found its way to the same spot where only one person had ever thought to love him in this way. After several minutes of listening to his sighs, she wet her finger and began what she'd wanted to do again ever since that one magical night. As he groaned, she went back to suckling on him gently.

Timna did her best to lick and suck as she spoke, "That night was pure magic to me, Adad. He let me do this for him and I was so happy for it. I have never had the chance of it again. I loved him just like this until he gushed and I didn't even stop then as we talked a little. He told me what he would do for me and I couldn't stop my own fingers from reaching for myself in both places. When he was ready again, I let him mount me, and he was true with his words. He was a long time at only getting inside me there, but he was so gentle that even when it hurt a little since we had no oil, I let him go deeper."

She kissed and sucked him for long minutes after that before she spoke again. "Adad, we stayed joined like that for a very long time, and we could whisper to each other about anything and we did not lose the feeling between us. Sometimes we talked and sometimes we were silent. It was the best loving that I have ever had. He touched me everywhere that he could reach and when it became urgent between us, we both cried out our new-found joy. He thanked me for being the best lover that he'd ever lain with and I wanted to cry in my happiness. The next day everything was ruined when the invaders came."

"But I have never forgotten that one man, Adad. I know exactly how that one smells to me under his jaw. I know just how he tastes when I lick his hard belly on the way to pleasure him, just as I know how his manhood makes me happy when it is in my mouth, so I know that taste too. I had a thought many times as I watched the women come and go from where you lay each night as we traveled and I ached to go to you, but I was never sure because I could never get close enough to tell if you were the man."

She began to stroke him with one hand as she sucked, and once he settled into it, she brought her other fingers into the play. Adad lost his mind for a minute and didn't know which way or how to buck, but Timna was strong enough to hold him so that she wouldn't lose him in this moment and with a choked cry, his seed spilled and she was swallowing as quickly as she could.

When he was finished, Timna looked up at him as she carefully sought any of his seed on her with her fingers, bringing them to her mouth often.

"You were that man, Adad. Now I know it from your wonderful smell and how you taste. I know it from the sound of your voice and it makes me so wet just to think about how we talked between us as you fucked me so slowly for all of that time. I still have not had much there to compare it with, but I am certain that if you wish to mount me there today, I will know it even then in three ways."

She stood up and kissed him slowly until they both moaned. Pulling her head back to rest her cheek against his collarbone, she smiled, "I will know it as soon as you begin to bathe me here from your touch. I will know it from the small movements that you make while you are in me back there, for no one else can surely do it the way that you do, and I will know it once I braid my hair and hand the ends back to you."

She lifted her head and smiled at him, "because when it grows wild between us, We both need you to pull my hair. You will tell me when, and we will stop so that I can hand you my braids. Then we will begin again until you spend yourself inside me."

She kissed his nose playfully, "I was in heaven when you did that, Adad. It made me so proud to carry your seed there afterward. I never thought that I was a wild girl at all, but you made me one and then you tamed me that same night, and I have hungered for your touch ever since."

He stared at Timna and then pulled her to him tightly. "It really was you!" he cried.

They smiled at each other wetly for a moment until she said, "Come, Adad, bathe me then. I cannot wait any longer."

An hour later, they lay on the grass and she gasped every time that he moved in any direction but in or out. They talked of anything that came to them and they decided some things for themselves. Once the discussions were closed, it took some doing, but they moved themselves so that Timna could braid her hair quickly and then they just began to pound, each against the other as he pulled her hair and she cried out in her joy. They'd been noticed, but no one disturbed them. At last, they bathed together again and sat naked in the sunshine drying and sharing the food that she'd brought.

"There is a stallion that I know," she smiled, "and I would like to watch him pleasure himself in the warm sunshine one day soon as he looks at the one mare that he fancies for himself, the solid and strong mare who would do anything for him."

She sipped a little wine and gave a nod, "That would be something to see."

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Lugalbanda opened the door to the bedchamber to find the smith and the housekeeper there holding hands and bowing low.

"If we are not slaves as was told to us," the smith said, "then Timna and I would leave now. We have both been here as workers, but have had to do other things every night and it is not fair – unless we really are slaves."

The warrior beckoned them inside and closed the door, asking them to sit and he offered them wine. The priestess began to weep when they refused.

"You are not slaves," he said, "but you are servants. In this, you have done well, and though it was not intended, you both became as slaves here as well and this must be addressed or it makes us no better than the ones that the Martu seek to overcome. We offer our apologies and Nisi-ini-su weeps over the loss of Timna's friendship."

"If you truly want to go, then you have our blessings, but as an old fighter, it is my counsel to you not to leave yet. I can foresee that we will all need to go soon and you would live longer with us than you would alone, so close to the many who hate the Martu here."

The smith bowed a little, "I did not know that you had the gift of far sight, Ba'al."

"I have it," he said, "but only a little. The priestess can see farther than I in this way. But I was not speaking of this. I only know what my gut tells me as a soldier. The quick rise in the fortunes of one like me can only ruffle old feathers here, and old feathers always keep long knives close at hand. It is how they get so old."

"In two days or less, we will go to Jebel Bishri and you could learn from the smiths there the working of a new metal, Adad. They would welcome you, I am told. For myself, I can say that a man such as you who desires peace in a time of war must learn to fight for it, for peace and freedom are costly things and the clouds darken around us all here."

He turned to Timna. "It was never meant, what hurt your heart, Timna, and I am full of sadness and remorse. I do love you and I am very sorry."

"Please," Nisi-ini-su sobbed, "I have been thinking the last few days of what would become of you once we leave here, since we must soon. Please, Timna, come with us to Jebel Bishri. I can offer you help in three ways at the keep. You can learn any three of the Mantu arts and I would sponsor you and speak on your behalf if you would but say the word and which of the arts you desire to learn." She sniffled, "I would do this anyway, but now it is even more important to me."

The priestess was not too proud to ask to be forgiven. She was surprised when Timna kissed her cheek and told her that the friendship was not lost.

"But I have no wish to go to bed with you again," she said, "you meant well, but it is not for me anymore. I still want our friendship if it can be, and if there is a place for us both at Jebel Bishri then I would be happy, I think."

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After the evening meal, a messenger came to the door and Lugalbanda left with the priestess and two of the guard dressed in the clothing of women of the city. When they returned, they barred the door.

The priestess was all for showing those who would kill them what it was that they were dealing with, but the fighter shook his head, "You could level this side of the palace and do nothing but prove those who hate the Martu right when they howl about the ones who use magic. Boxed in here, we could do terrible damage, but to what end?"

"We leave quickly," he said, "It will be taken as fearful flight by them and they will pursue. It will be flight, priestess. I want to get our things, Timna and Adad and Dagon into the caves, and then I would turn back to face them. At the best, they will be city guard riders, I think."

"Why only the guard?" she asked.

"There may be one or two others there to observe it," he said, "but the old generals will not want to send their own for the time that it would take to rouse them from the taverns first, and so they will likely pressure the guard commander."

Twenty minutes later, they were on the road.

"What happened?" Timna asked one of the fighters who rode next to the cart.

"It went badly," she replied, "It was to be a meeting to get news from the king's messenger. Enmerkar plans now to fight the Khamazi. He asks our Ba'al to prepare for this, but the other lords are envious. We did not mark where it came from, either by the king's orders or by one or more of the lords, but an attempt was made to kill our Ba'al. We slew many between us and left. The king is three generals and four commanders short now. We slew any who drew a dagger."

She looked ahead and then back. "We go now to Jebel Bishri by the road of the dead. Try to keep your wheels from finding ruts, Timna. We cannot go slow now."

Timna did her best but it happened anyway. At the speed that they were trying to make in the evening gloom, there was almost no way for her to stay out of at least one of the ruts. They could see the top of the hill where the cave entrance was. Behind them, they could see that they were being pursued.

When an axle began to grind ominously, Lugalbanda ordered them to slow. He told one of the women to take Timna on her horse with orders to get her to the cave, but Adad had already gotten her up onto his horse. Dagon took the reins of the cart horse in his hand to lead her as best he could.

Lugalbanda formed the rest up to block the road and Nisi-ini-su called out and pointed to the entrance. The ghosts sat there on their dead mounts, but pulled back to allow Adad and Timna to gain the entrance of the cave. They were joined a minute later by Dagon and after getting the cart inside the cave, the two men set about their repairs to the cart. Timna drew the dagger that Anat had given her. She felt foolish, but she also felt a little more at ease and prepared now.

The riders from the city were elements of the guard with orders to kill Lugalbanda and the priestess above all and to let none of the rest live if possible. They rode hard, headed by the guard commander himself. He didn't like any of this, but liked being threatened by 'brave' generals even less.

As he noticed that a rider rode toward them to meet them, he signaled the guard to stop. He didn't know it, but they now stood at the widest spot on the road for miles in either direction. It was where Lugalbanda had wanted them to stop. It was the best place for a fight. Everything else was rock and rubble.

It looked to the guard as though only one rider rode toward them and by his size; it must surely be the fighter himself. They prepared themselves for a short fight if the man was as insane as that. But the one rider turned into three before their eyes in the gloom and the three quickly became nine and so on until they faced what looked to be a small host, though most of them seemed to be far behind the first. Most of these other riders weren't even on the road but they managed to keep a solid line among themselves facing the guard.

Lugalbanda's large horse had always been a curious mixture of mirth, kindness, loyalty and restrained murder. The beast knew his strength and reveled in its use, yet wouldn't harm anyone without cause.

Completely devoted to the fighter who'd befriended him, mildly tolerant of those who fed and cared for him, kind and gentle to any that he perceived that the soldier liked even a little, the beast was otherwise never as happy as when he crushed and trampled armed men in a fight. Even other horses weren't immune. Horses that he'd rammed in the shoulders with his broad armored chest seldom got to their feet again.

As the riders drew closer, many of the guard focused on the black armor of the huge steed. It took little imagination to add a soundtrack to the blasts of steamed breath from that muzzle bearing down on them in the cool air of the evening.

The first clash was head-on and resembled the ancient version of a modern day rolling train wreck. The road was instantly blocked as the Martu fighters tore into the guard. Many guards found a new definition of the word 'hopeless' as they found themselves jammed in among others and seeing only the huge dark steed of the fighter plowing toward them. More than one man noted the red wetness on the large hooves as they rose and fell on any who were down.

The priestess and the fighter had gotten farther in together with Anat and were sawing their way in deeper. It wasn't that difficult, since the mounted guard were armed only with bronze daggers while the Martu all had swords.

Those members of the guard with a little more horsepower behind their eyes regretted their easy life in the city in a heartbeat, for these fighters were far from the unarmed and easily-cowed peasants that they were used to whipping and beating down in the street. Most of the guards didn't last long enough to swing their daggers twice and none of the ones lined up behind showed any desire to leave the blocked road to ride forward and be a part of the fight.

It didn't matter after another few seconds. The seventy dead riders ripped through the column from each side and then turned to wheel around for a second pass in the other direction.

The second-last sight of the guard commander came to him as Lugalbanda's war mount reared up in slow mid-stride with a grunt to crash his broad chest down into the side of the commander's horse. The great stallion's blood was up now and any near to him knew it in an instant. His ears were laid flat down, the open mouth showed his large bared teeth, and those eyes were opened wide enough to show plenty of the whites as he raged. It left little doubt. The sounds that came from him were usually snorts, but now and then there was something like a whinny, though it wasn't at all friendly.