CHAPTER THREE
Karu
The taste of beast remains in my mouth even though I’ve scrubbed my teeth on the chewstick.
Thank the gods that the king’s friend refused my nether hole, but his cum still coats my throat.
I still feel the pricks from his barbs along my tongue.
I can’t believe I managed to bring the revolting creature to climax.
But afterward… Gilgamesh satisfied me five times in both holes before he fell to snoring.
I was able to spend the night in his fine silk coverings, surrounded by wealth and privilege I never dreamed existed.
After briefly leaving to bathe so I might appear fresh to him when he woke, I snuggled back against the giant full of hope.
But his disinterest now in the morning light is… jarring. I can’t become his queen if he doesn’t yearn for me.
Of course, he already has a harem of wives. Such odd customs here, but it’s those customs that will give me my chance to supplant the current queen. Seduction first. I’ll build a friendship second, the kind that keeps partners mated and faithful in my land.
If he doesn’t tire of me. The king is notorious for his fickleness with women.
No. I can do this. I have to do this, fast, before I age and am relegated to servicing the poor who seek Inanna’s reward or to sweeping the floors and bathing cum from the mats.
And once the king is mine… Different poisons are known in this land, courtesy of the Goddess Gula, mistress of charms, spells, and noxious substances, but there’s Hemlock growing wild that isn’t found among her tablets of knowledge.
And if the physicians don’t know what to test for, none will blame me. And I’ll be free, rich, and powerful.
Stretching onto my stomach, I look into the solid gold mirror set up on the table next to Gilgamesh’s reed mat and fluff my brow. Stories will be sung of my rise to power, and I will never be at any man’s mercy again. Even the ridiculous gods of this land will take notice.
I smile. Unfortunate lines form around my eyes.
I need to work fast.
“No. Not those. They blister my feet. Bring the ones with the silver tips.” Gilgamesh directs his servants at the other end of the enormous room.
He’s dressed in another hunting kaunake, his fine legs extending to long toes.
Last night, he inserted five into me, pleasuring me with every part of him.
My core tightens. He’s an excellent lover. I have to give him his due.
I turn over onto my other side, careful to keep his ejaculate within me. If the gods will it, his seed will sprout. All I need to do is keep the beastly friend from rutting me properly so the king won’t wonder whose child I carry.
“Come back to bed, Gilgy.” I pat the sheets beside me, under which the reed mat is woven so fine, not a shred of it prickles through the silk. “I haven’t shown you yet how I can roll my kir along your i?arum and milk your seed. I can make you come without a single thrust.”
Maybe I can. Maybe I can’t. Judging by what I’ve already learned of this particular demigod, he won’t put me to the test.
A soft smile spreads his handsome features. “Ah, Karu. You tempt me, but I’m afraid, pet, that the wild man, Enkidu, requires my attention. I’ll call for you when I return.”
He turns away, and with his back, all my dreams die.
No. This won’t do at all. He’ll forget me once he’s gone. Such is the way of powerful men. Plus… well, if I’m honest, I’m fairly sure he only took me to thwart his drunken friend. I can’t lose this chance.
When Gilgamesh approaches close enough, he bends to place a kiss against my head before stalking off, whistling. I hate whistling. I’d as soon glue his lips together with horse marrow than listen to another screeching second, but when I call him, I make certain my lips smile.
But not too much. Not the wide kind that makes wrinkles.
Rising from the bed in the most graceful fashion I can manage, I sway my hips as I move towards him. When I arrive, I trail my fingers up his naked belly and over the crisscross of leather bindings to which he’s attached assorted weapons.
“Allow me to accompany you, Gilgy? You’ll not regret having a warm welcome in your tent after a cold hunt.”
My fingers trail down again, under his skirt and over his i?arum. It’s not a very large i?arum, considering his enormous height, but it’s big by human standards. Thick, too. Plus, he’s an expert in its wielding.
Sure enough, his flaccid length hardens. Without another word, his mouth crushes down upon mine as he presses into my fingers. I stroke him once before slipping back, away from his kiss and his hard length.
A considering look alights in his eyes. “If I take you with me, Karu, you’ll also need to service my men.”
“So long as I can feel you fill me again, my king, I’ll give my mouth and ass to whomever you wish.” For now. What choice do I have?
“Very well.” Gilgamesh calls for his servants, and in a matter of moments, I’m clad in a long Kaunake, the female version of the men’s dress, with a strip of fabric binding my breasts before trailing over my shoulder.
As the king gathers his men, I race to the cosmetics table and find kohl with which to darken my eyes.
Sandals are brought as I rouge my lips with carmine.
I don’t need to pinken my cheeks. The sun will add color to my pale skin.
Using the king’s gold comb, a veritable fortune at my fingertips, I brush out the tangles before sweeping my hair up and fastening it with leather ties.
I leave a few tendrils hanging. Unfashionable, perhaps, but I want to give him the impression of me being flurried from bed.
I’m fastening my sandals as the beast strolls in. He stops on all four paws, his gaze hooked upon me. Despite my natural revulsion for him, I can’t help but preen at the way he looks at me. If only the king would look at me with similar lust and devotion, my future would be set.
“Karu comes with us,” Gilgamesh says to his friend. He doesn’t wait for the beast’s obeisance. Between them, there exists an unseemly equality that somehow reminds me of home. There, the only obeisance we ever give is to the druids, and only because they’re part gods.
Like the king. Like the beast. I’ve always found myself among those who have a foot in both worlds, yet never quite been one of them. Until now. Until I took Fate in my hand and squeezed.
The beast’s face hardens in response to Gilgamesh’s declaration, but he nods. They begin speaking of male things, like weapons, leagues, and topography. I’m forgotten, and for the moment, content to have it so.
But when they ride out upon the backs of their horses—all but Alad, who stretches his legs in movements faster than the equines can match—I am given into the care of a smelly man who drives a chariot. I endure his careless fucking of my ass as we race behind the demigods and soldiers.
When the brute behind me finishes, his i?arum falls from me with a plop. His seed rushes from my ass to the chariot floor.
“You didn’t take my kir. Why?” I ask, making no move to clean the mess.
“King’s orders.”
“But he allowed you to take my ass?” I demand, hope rising within me once more.
The man shrugs before focusing upon a sharpish turn. “He doesn’t like others to tread the road he intends to take, but if you think a whore will ever be more than a vessel for his lust, think again, pretty girl.”
His knee rises between the thighs I hold akimbo for balance. With brute force, he lifts me into the air upon his leg before laughing and dropping me back to my toes.
Anger, fierce and red, flows through me. But what are my options? I can’t even approach the king unless he beckons me, and he won’t beckon me with this smelly man’s cum squirting from my ass.
My gaze alights upon the monster. He wants me. He can protect me. And, perhaps, I can use him to make the king jealous.
As we slow in a clearing, I turn and grab the charioteer’s balls in my hand. I squeeze the rancid sacks, earning a hiss as he doubles over. He pulls too tight on the reigns, stopping the horses short.
“Tell anyone you’ve stuck your odiferous i?arum up my ass, and I’ll shove your balls so far down your throat that you’ll be evacuating them from your bowels. Understand?” I twist my hand to bring home my point.
He gulps. Nods. A squeak of relief escapes him as I let go. He remains, gulping breath, holding tight to the edges of the chariot as he tries to tamp down upon the pain.
Men. They’re all fucking babies.
After directing the servants to spread one of the reed mats beneath a tree, I ignore the rations of dried meat and thick beer spread before me. The king doesn’t sit with me. In fact, he ignores me completely.
But Alad, the beast, the monster… his gaze returns to me with charming regularity. At least someone appreciates me. If I can pretend to find him anything other than repulsive, he’ll provide me with a pathway to the king.
But first, no question, I have to bathe the charioteer’s cum from my ass.
A rushing stream adjacent to where we camp will have to do.
Swaying my hips, keeping my gaze down and my expression demure, I move downriver so as not to contaminate our drinking water.
After lifting my kaunake out of the way, I park my ass and thighs upon the pebbled bottom.
The icy waters feel fresh against my heated flesh and give me new hope.
But when I rise and turn, I find myself standing face to barrel chest with the shedu.
He inhales a deep breath before wrinkling his nose.
It is a typical nose of Uruk, both wide and slightly hooked, and yet, he’s handsome.
High cheekbones; large eyes, almost almond-shaped but drooping slightly at the corners; bronze skin; and full, almost kissable lips lie between the hairs of a wild beard and mustache.
No, his face isn’t objectionable in the slightest, but his body is an insult. He’s an animal, a monster, and his i?arum, when it extends from a furred sheathe, is long and red like a cat’s. And it has barbs.
A shudder trails over my limbs. I’m afraid of those barbs. I’m disgusted by the red flesh he wants to shove up my kir. Who wouldn’t be?
Stealing my expression so as not to give away my revulsion, I bow low from my waist in a gesture meant to respect his authority.
Despite my creeping, crawling disdain, something about his quiet confidence gives me pause.
He’s not brash like Gilgamesh, not made of broad strokes and braying orders.
No, he’s certain and deadly, and even now, with obvious mistrust clear in his rigid stance, his eyes hold a soft gentleness absent from most men’s.
If he weren’t a monster, I might even fall in love with him. “My lord.”
“What do you do here, Karu?”
“I bathe, my lord.” But I know by the heat in my cheeks that I’m blushing.
Once, before I was stolen by raiders and taken to the temple, I was a wife, a mother, and someone trusted enough to care for the druid priests.
I’ve never been a prude, but discussing my body and its needs is still more uncomfortable than using it for sex.
“For Gilgamesh?” His eyes narrow upon me. He drops them to spear between my thighs, where my kaunake is made transparent by the water in which I’ve soaked.
“Always for the king.” I bow my head.
“The king gave you to me, you know.”
I raise my eyes. “And yet, I awoke in his bed this morning.”
I’m too brazen. I see it in the splash of anger that flushes over his elegant features.
Most men would respond with a fist to my cheek.
This monster merely steps back, putting distance between us.
He raises a leg and gestures back to camp.
“After you, Karu. Who am I to stand in the way of true love?”
But as I go to pass, he stops me, his same leg swooping to cross my waist. He leans down from his incredible height, at least half again as tall as the tallest man.
“But if you have need of me, Karu, if Gil fails to offer you what you think you want, you may call upon me. I’ll protect you.
I’ll free you of the aching need in your soul. ”
Swallowing is impossible. A stone has fallen into my throat.
He nods slowly, a gesture that says he means his words. His expression is so sweet, so kind, I lean towards him despite my disgust. He’s a monster, but I’m unwinding to him anyway.
Until a longing I’ve buried deep wells up like a primal scream, twisting me away from him.
No. I won’t lose my goals. I’m going to get free of this land, even if it’s far more comfortable and richer than my own. And to do that, I need to be queen so I’ll have the power to command an escort back home. Whatever it takes.
When Alad places his leg back upon the ground, allowing me past, I practically run. Camp is breaking when I return. Once more, I enter the chariot, but when the driver would rut my ass again, I turn and knee him in the balls. Not too hard, though. We still need to travel. But it’s a warning.
“And if you touch me again, by the sacred loins of Inanna, I will bite off your i?arum.”
And for the rest of the voyage, he doesn’t bother me except to surreptitiously press his i?arum to the small of my back. I pay him no mind. Instead, I try to dream.
Instead, my head is invaded by the beast. He smelled of incense, not animal. Something holy. The druids, too, used to smell of holiness, like smoke, expensive unguents, and other worlds.
The king smells of cypress. The shedu smells of cedar and myrrh. The king smells of power. The shedu smells of… light.
When we stop for the night meal, I’m so exhausted, my limbs tremble. Still, I smile.
But the weariness I feel lodges deep in my soul.