Stolen Dreams (38 page)

 

The entire central court seemed to be on fire, it
glowed so
brightly. The floor, walls, and enormous pillars were all covered with
gleaming orichalcum. The ceiling and wall borders depicted elaborate
scenes carved in ivory, and alcoves around the chamber housed statues
of gold.

 

But the masterpiece of metalwork was on a raised
platform
at the far end of the chamber. An immense statue of a bare-chested,
bearded Poseidon stood in a chariot. In one hand he held his trident
and the other controlled the reins to six prancing winged horses. At
the base of the platform were a multitude of sea nymphs borne by
dolphins. The entire display appeared to be molded from the purest gold.

 

In
front of the raised platform was a block of white marble the size of a
large bed.

 

The
sacrificial altar, Gabriel told her. And that rectangular opening in
the center of the court is undoubtedly the fire pit Ester referred to.

 

Shara
shivered with repulsion and turned her attention
to the people. The men were all garbed in long, richly colored robes
trimmed with gold, and a golden braid encircled their heads as well.
The woman who had shown them the peepholes had also explained that the
nine princes wore deep blue, the lesser noblemen wore other colors that
depicted their ranks, and King Jupiter alone wore red. Based on that
information, she was able to locate him. Holy stars! He's the image of
Hades.

 

But from Jarad's account, he's even more demented than
his arsonist ancestor was.

 

Four
soldiers dressed in white girdles and carrying spears stood around the
king, looking as if they were prepared to fend off an attack due at any
moment.

 

The women in the gathering wore lightweight gowns of
shimmering pastel materials in a variety of styles. Their trimming and
head braids were of silver.

 

The nobles were all scattered
haphazardly throughout the court, standing, sitting on benches and
steps, or sprawled on the floor, making service extremely difficult.
Yet every noble soon received a chalice of cider and was slowly sipping
the drugged beverage.

 

The entire meal took several hours to
serve,
with each course lasting longer than the previous one as more cider was
consumed. The long day and manual labor in the poppy field began to
extract their toll on Shara. She was tired and sunburned and had yet to
come up with a way to obtain hair samples from the crowd below. Even if
she were assigned to serving them tomorrow, as Leah had said she would
be, any slave who touched a noble without permission had his or her
throat cut the next instant. At least Gabriel had been able to give Beauty an eyeful for
posterity.

 

When
the last of the serving pieces were cleared, King Jupiter called for
the entertainment to begin. Shara and Gabriel were watching a troupe of
musicians and scantily clad girls enter the court when they were tapped
on their shoulders by the older slave woman. She motioned for them to
return to the cookery Thinking their tasks were over for the night,
Shara began to relax on the way down the stairs. But what awaited them
brought the tension back in a rush.

 

The soldier who had been
at the
entrance door was speaking to a green-robed nobleman. "They are the
ones I told you of," he declared the moment he caught sight of them.

 

The
nobleman walked up to Gabriel and ordered, "Stand erect. Head up. Hood
back." As Gabriel obeyed, the much shorter man circled him, measured
the circumference of his upper arm, then pounded on his back with his
fist. "He doesn't seem diseased to me. But he is exceptionally large
and strong. He should have been assigned to the monument, not women's
work. Take him away and see that he is more properly used." He waved a
hand at the soldier, who in turn used his spear to prod Gabriel toward
the exit.

 

Gabriel! Shara thought to him in a panic.

 

It's
all
right. I wanted to get a look at the monument anyway. Keep the channel
open, and don't do anything to call attention to yourself. I'll he back
as soon as I'm able. Use your powers if you have to. Their gazes locked
for a heartbeat, then Gabriel was given a shove out of the room.

 

"Now
you," the nobleman said to Shara. "Remove your
hood and look at me." He walked slowly around her, but did not touch.
"The soldier said you are a witch with very strong powers."

 

She
breathed an inward sigh of relief that Ester's lie to Leah about the
soldier ordering them to work there had not been uncovered. Meeting his
gaze, she allowed him to see her pupils change shades.

 

"You
may speak. Do you know the magic, as he said?"

 

From
everything she had learned so far, she knew these people both respected
and feared witchcraft. Her intuition told her to use that to her
benefit. "Yes. I know some."

 

The nobleman squinted at her as
if trying to discern whether he should believe her. "Come with me.

 

Shara
followed him into a torch-lit corridor that led in a different
direction than Gabriel had been taken, then watched the nobleman glance
nervously around before telling her what was on his mind.

 

"Do
you
have a spell for ... to improve a man's, uh . .. not that I have a
problem, but some of the nobles have had difficulties . . ." He lowered
his voice a bit more. "Their tools do not work as they once did."

 

As
Shara realized he was speaking of maintaining an erection, she had to
stop herself from saying her thoughts aloud. Considering the amount of
narcotics consumed during dinner, it was no surprise to her that the
men's sexual performance might be suffering. "I believe there is a
spell that might help. I will need to think on it a moment." She paced
up and down the corridor looking very thoughtful, while she racked her
brain to come up with an impromptu plan that could bring her closer to
her goal.

 

Shara. It's too great a risk. Don't do it.

 

She
ignored Gabriel's warning, confident that he was incapable of
physically stopping her. If you don't like what I'm about to do, don't
pay attention.

 

"I remember now," she told the nobleman. "But
it will
only work if the man who has the problem is a descendant of one of
those who came to Atlantis with Poseidon. If that is so, I would need a
hair from that man, and the name of the ancestor."

 

"You will
try
this spell on me first, before I speak of it to anyone else. My sacred
ancestor's name was Penelope." He plucked a hair from his head and
handed it to her.

 

Holding his hair against her forehead, she
made up
what she imagined would look and sound like a spell. Closing her eyes,
she spun around until she was dizzy; then, swaying in place, she called
out the first nonsensical incantation that came to mind.

 

"Mumbo,
jumbo, gumbo. Rim, tim, kim. The power of the stallion's tool should go
to him." She then stared at his loins, sent him a suggestion that he
was highly aroused, then used her kinetic ability to make his "tool"
rise beneath his robe.

 

The nobleman's eyes widened in shock,
and he
lifted his garment to see for himself the magic she had wrought. But
his expression swiftly turned to lust as he grabbed Shara and twisted
her away from him. "Bend forward, witch. We will see just how well your
spell works."

 

Shara's fears stabbed Gabriel just as he was
being
prodded onto a wide chariot drawn by four large black horses. The next
instant he understood the cause. Heedless of any danger to himself, he
whirled away from the soldier and took off at a run back
toward the temple.

 

He felt the blow on the back of his head a
moment before darkness descended.

 

 

A
searing pain shot through the back of Shara's head, then went away, but
she had no time to worry over it. The nobleman was now fully aroused
and forcing Shara into an accommodating position as he bunched up the
back of her robe.

 

"My lord, wait!" she exclaimed. Afraid that
he
might discover the tempometer belt and certain that physically
resisting him could get her throat slit, she hurriedly said, "Please,
you have not heard it all. This is only a temporary reaction to the
spell. In order for it to be lasting, you must heed my instructions."
She sent him a suggestion that his desire was ebbing, and he released
her. She stood up and shook her robe straight. "If you do as I say, you
will be the most potent male in all of Atlantis."

 

He narrowed
his eyes at her. "Go on."

 

"Beginning
now and for seven more suns, you must not drink any cider and you must
not engage in any sexual activities whatsoever." If nothing else,
perhaps she could give a few slaves a week's reprieve from this
nobleman's attentions.

 

"And when the seventh sun sets, will I
be able to perform as I did in my younger days?"

 

Shara smiled.
"It will be better than your favorite memory." As he fantasized over
the possibilities, she sent him another suggestion that would cause him to
forget her and the spell upon awakening the seventh morning.

 

Satisfied
that the sacrifice was worth the end result, he nodded and said, "There
are others who require your assistance. Remain here."

 

Shara
could
not believe how nicely fate had smiled on her. With a little luck, the
ones she was looking for would come to her without any risk on her
part. As soon as the nobleman disappeared around a corner, she lifted
her robe and opened the pouch tied to her belt. It was too dangerous to
allow anyone to see something as sophisticated as her microputer, so
she got out some static paper and a pencil and reluctantly put off
testing any samples she might obtain until she was certain of privacy.

 

Minutes
later, another nobleman in a green robe came down the corridor. This
time she was careful to only give his male anatomy a little twitch
instead of a full erection and she issued all the warnings before she
began her "spell." One after another men came to her, wearing every
color robe save two— dark blue and red. Either Jupiter and his princes
did not need help, or the lesser nobles decided to keep her spell a
secret among themselves.

 

When a very long time passed without
any
more visitors, Shara returned to the cookery. The excitement of having
been handed a way to get her samples had given her a much-needed charge
of energy, but it was rapidly fading again. To her relief, Leah was
still on duty, so she didn't need to come up with any explanations.

 

"You
may have a plate of food, then take your rest."

 

Shara wasn't
that hungry, but she had no idea when
she might get the offer of nourishment again, so she ate. When she
finished, Leah assigned another slave to show her to their quarters
below the cookery.

 

"My name is Shara," she told the young
girl. "I'm new to the temple."

 

"I
am Odette. The work here is hard, but we eat well and we are rarely
beaten . . . unlike those assigned to the monument or the quarries."

 

Shara
cringed at the thought that Gabriel might have to surfer abuse where he
was being taken. Gabriel? When she received no answer, she first
assumed he had blocked her out rather than find out what she had been
up to; then she realized his mind was at rest. She consoled herself
with the logic that if he had been beaten, he wouldn't be peacefully
sleeping.

 

It was cooler on the lower level, but much darker,
with
only an occasional torchlight on the stone walls, and the stale, musty
odor was suffocating.

 

Shara asked, "Do you know Rebekah—the
girl who is to be sacrificed at the final ceremony?"

 

Odette
frowned. "I know who you speak of. I tried to talk to her after they
locked her in, but she only cries all the time."

 

"Is she down
here somewhere?"

 

The girl nodded.

 

"I
was with her parents all day," Shara continued. "Perhaps if I told her
how they are and give her their love, she would feel a little better."

 

Odette
thought that was a good idea, but she had to return to the cookery, so
she could not dally. Before returning, she showed Shara the bathing
room. "All temple slaves must rinse their bodies before reporting to
work, lest they offend the nobility with a foul
odor." She pulled down a lever on the wall and water flowed from an
open pipe in the ceiling. As she pushed it back up, the shower stopped.
The stone floor slanted sufficiently for the water to drain into a hole
in the center. "You may relieve yourself in that hole as well."

 

The
girl then took Shara to the sleeping area, where hundreds of women were
laying on woven grass mats on the hard floor. After directing Shara to
a vacant mat, she turned to go.

 

"Wait," Shara whispered.
"Where's Rebekah being held?"

 

Odette pointed to a wooden door
in the corner.

 

"Thank you," Shara mouthed, and touched the
girl's cheek. Looking confused by the gentle contact, she hurried away.

 

As
much as Shara wanted to speak to Rebekah, she needed to use the bathing
area first. She was grateful for the sanitary measures, even if they
were only for the benefit of the nobility's aristocratic noses. The
warmth of the water coming out of the pipe was a welcome surprise to
her tired muscles. She recalled Gabriel's comment about being sore
tomorrow after crawling on his knees in the field, and she mentally
reached out to him again. It was unusual for him to sleep so soundly
that he didn't sense her thinking about him and instantly awaken. As
she went back to the sleeping area, she kept part of her mind focused
on Gabriel.