Chapter Five #3
“A place even further away than the land of the olifant,” Desdra said.
“This is an ivory statue from a land called Cathay. Lord Chester was particularly fond of the land and its culture, so much so that he did a good deal of trading with men from that land in Damascus. Their treasures are miraculous and great. Would you like to see more?”
Jareth nodded, and she motioned to him to follow. He caught Aidric’s attention, who caught the others’, and the six of them followed Desdra through a corridor and toward the rear of the establishment. There, she paused at a closed door long enough to find a key on her chatelaine ring to open it.
“Why is this chamber locked?” Jareth asked.
Desdra turned the tumblers in the old lock and opened the door. “Because Lord Chester’s greatest treasures are in here,” she said. “He only displayed it to his friends or finest patrons.”
With that, she opened the door. Beyond was a magical chamber that contained more marble statues.
It also contained tables with gold bowls or other precious treasures upon them.
Desdra led them to the rear of the chamber, near the arched windows that overlooked the east, where something tall was covered up with a big piece of linen fabric.
Reaching up, Desdra pulled the fabric off and set it aside.
Two six-foot-tall statues of men in strange armor, with strange faces, loomed over them, as they were standing on a platform. A pole at their backs secured them from falling. Jareth studied them, moving forward to scrutinize both without touching them.
All the while, Desdra was watching him.
“These are two ancient warriors that Lord Chester purchased from a man who had come from the ancient land of Cathay,” she said softly.
“From a city called Xi’an. He said that these were the bodies of ancient warriors buried with their king.
Men who fought in ancient times, in ancient ways.
Lord Chester felt they were the most valuable thing he had. ”
Now, all of the Guard of Six was crowding around the two figures. Even Hugh was crowding up because he’d never seen these before. Aidric reached out to touch one, feeling it under his fingers, before thumping on it gently.
“It feels like plaster,” he said to Jareth, to the rest of them. “My lady, did you say this was a body? That it had once been alive?”
Desdra shrugged. “It was a body in the sense that it was made to look like someone who had once lived,” she said. “It is made of baked earth, so it can break, I assure you. That is why Lord Chester has them both tied to a post.”
Jareth was looking at the face of the figure in front of him. “Earthenware, you say?”
“Aye, my lord.”
Jareth reached out to timidly touch the chin of the statue he was looking at. “My God,” he muttered. “I can see hair on his face. Utterly remarkable.”
He caught her looking at him, but she was quick to look away, focusing on the sculpture.
“As the story goes, these two statues were part of a great army for an ancient king,” she said.
“They were found buried in a burial mound and brought to the Levant to help educate the people on other lands and other countries. But the merchant who brought them told Lord Chester that the Muslims viewed these men as idols, as sacrilege, so he could not sell them. Lord Chester bought them and brought them here. As you can see, he treats them carefully.”
Jareth immediately looked to the windows, which were close by. “Then they should be kept away from the windows,” he said. “Moisture and weather can affect them.”
Desdra turned to the windows also. “I know,” she said. “But he preferred to keep them where there was the best light. He always made a great show out of displaying them to a select few.”
It made sense, sort of. Uncle Chester had wanted the two statues illuminated well when he showed them off.
With a nod acknowledging the reason, Jareth continued inspecting the statues because they were unlike anything he had ever seen.
The entire Guard of Six was crowding up around them, so Desdra went to stand by the door, waiting for them to tire of their inspection.
But, as she quickly learned, they were never tired of inspecting something exceptional.
It wasn’t only Jareth, but the rest of them.
They were all curious about Aphrodite’s Feast, and that included every nook and every cranny and every chamber they came across.
The building itself was three stories tall, and there were a total of twenty-seven rooms over those three stories, so there was a good deal to see.
Desdra took them through the chambers, the corridors, the staircases, and finally down to the kitchens, which were in the lower level.
Given that they were so close to the river, it could make for damp conditions, but the kitchens were otherwise quite fine because they were lined with stone, which tended to keep the moisture out.
The cook was a man who had also served Lord Chester’s father.
He had two assistants, and between the three of them, they fed up to fifty people every single day.
Even now, they were busy making cheese tarts, something that Jareth and the others were quite drawn toward.
They had been riding most of the day, as it was, and they had not yet stopped to break their fast. When Jareth mentioned that to Desdra, she asked the cook to feed the men.
Being the snob that he was, however, the cook didn’t seem too apt to do it until Desdra informed him that Jareth was the new Lord of Aphrodite’s Feast. Of course, that had the man presenting everything he could for Jareth and his men to eat.
And all of it was delicious.
Along with the cheese tarts there were different types of bread, some sweet and some savory.
There were copious amounts of butter, stewed fruit, and even honey.
Evidently, the night before, they had roasted half of a pig, and this morning, the cook had made a stew with the leftover pork, beans, carrots, onions, and garlic.
He doled out hot bowls of it as Jareth and the others ate the cheese tarts and the bread, and by the time the stew was presented, the rich smell of pork filled the entire kitchen.
As the eating was going on, Desdra simply sat back and tried to become accustomed to the men who would now be part of her life.
She wasn’t entirely sure if all of these men were sworn to Jareth or if they were simply his companions or friends.
She knew that Hugh was from Bristol Castle, so he wasn’t part of Jareth’s group, but the men he had with him were incredibly intelligent and well spoken, every one of them.
They didn’t seem like men who would be sworn to a simple knight.
Gradually, she began to figure it out.
When the cook brought out some of Uncle Chester’s fine Spanish wine, the men began to drink freely.
And talk. The wine was quite delicious, and very expensive, and they enjoyed it immensely.
It also had the ability to get a man drunk quickly, so the conversation went from something relatively quiet and neutral to something boisterous and, truthfully, hilarious at times.
Desdra began to realize that the men were sworn to none other than King Henry himself, who was also Jareth’s liege, because she knew that the missive she had sent him from Chester had gone to Westminster Palace.
Therefore, she deduced they were all men who served the king directly.
Very powerful men.
And in the middle of it was Jareth.
By the time the wine was nearly finished, she had been watching him for the better part of three hours.
He was quiet for the most part, although he seemed to have a lot to say.
The only time he got loud was when someone else got loud with him or he experienced some kind of jest or insult.
There was a big blond knight at the end of the table in the kitchen that no one seemed to like and it was that man most of all who seemed to bring out Jareth’s loud side.
His name was Orion, like the huntsman from Greek mythology.
At one point, Hugh tried to throw a punch at the same man, but he was stopped by the others, who accused him of being drunk and tried to take his wine away.
That caused him to grab the pitcher and try to run off with it.
When they wouldn’t let him, he climbed under the table with it and wouldn’t give it to anyone, which effectively ended their meal at the table.
He ended up drinking what was left in the pitcher underneath the table and only coming out when it was gone.
That had Jareth slapping him on the side of the head.
Everyone burst into laughter.
At that point, Jareth seemed to realize that they had completely ignored Desdra for quite some time. He was clearly drunk and the alcohol had seemed to loosen his manner quite a bit.
He stood up from the table unsteadily and headed in Desdra’s direction.
“Forgive us, my lady,” he said, his brown eyes glimmering with mirth. “We’ve not eaten since last night and I fear my uncle’s strong wine has gone straight to our heads. I did not mean to ignore you.”
Desdra smiled timidly, standing up from the stool she’d been sitting on. “I am glad you are enjoying yourselves,” she said. “Aphrodite’s Feast is made for enjoyment, so you are welcome to partake.”
The smile faded from Jareth’s lips. “That is something I must speak with you about,” he said. “Will you indulge me?”
“Of course, my lord.”
“I want to see the ledgers.”
She nodded and motioned for him to follow. But everyone wanted to come, and he had to practically fight them off.
“Nay!” he roared. “This belongs to me and I will investigate it privately! This is not a group activity!”