ismenin

Hello there! Yes, it's that time of the week again, and here is part 27 of my story. I do hope you enjoy it, my dears. I'm sad it's coming to an end - but there ya go! On to something new never hurts - and I can always come back, can't I? :D

Thanks as always to

ladysunrope for her excellent beta skills. Hugses.

Part 27 - Speaks there a God - or Man?

It was only when Lizhe and Dom stood alone, within the tent where they had slept together what seemed aeons before, that Dom realised how exhausted he felt.

His body was trembling with weariness and, as he held Lizhe's hand, he felt the same tremor emanating from his love. It was, he thought, the outcome of the skull, and the power they had sent through it, and the power it held in itself.

In a few minutes, Inca servants appeared with the bed, chairs and fine blankets and pillows. They crept in, almost bent double, and Lizhe spoke kindly to them, telling them there was no need for such obeisance when they were going about an appointed duty.

The bed was soon made, Dom requesting that the beds be lashed together, and the horse-hair mattresses laid across so there would be no uncomfortable gap.

Food was placed on the table, with a jug of chicha and two of Tobé's fine crystal goblets. Dom saw Lizhe look with distaste at the food, and knew he felt the same. His stomach would rebel against it.

There was a cough from the tent flap. "May I enter, Eminence? Er...Lords?" It was Juan Miguel, with the posset.

Dom beckoned him in - he was almost too tired to speak. The man knelt at Lizhe's feet and offered him a cup. Lizhe drained it and wearily smiled his thanks. Dom did the same. The drink was light, but sustaining. He felt a little strength returning.

"Why are you still here?" Lizhe asked. The sounds of the camp departing was loud in his ears.

"I do not wish to leave, great Lord. I am not the only one." The man stood and looked hopefully at Lizhe.

"I am too weary at this present to think on these things - but you may stay in my Land, if you so wish. I will see the others tomorrow. Now I - we - must sleep. God gives you leave."

The man's grizzled face lit up, and he bowed himself backwards out of the tent.

"Come, my love. I must sleep, and so must thou. I hear Villac's voice outside the tent. He must be ordering men to guard our rest. Come..." Lizhe murmured.

They threw their clothing on the chairs, and Lizhe fell on the bed, the last of his physical strength depleted. Dom climbed in beside him, and lay, wrapped in his lover's arms, warm and safe.

"How I do love thee, companion of my heart," Lizhe whispered, on the edge of sleep.
"And I, thou, my soul," replied Dom, his voice ragged with weariness.

Dom was aware of a slight reek of smoke on the air, and his last conscious thought, before sleep took him, was that the Inquisition had received its own punishment.

The sounds of the departing Spaniards grew less, and at length there was quiet in the camp.
Will put his head silently around the tent flap, and smiled. God and his spouse were safe at last.

*****

It was late into the morning when they woke. Instead of the hustle and bustle of camp life, there were muted sounds to be heard coming from outside. Lizhe was the first to rise, and he pulled on a robe that had been placed over the chair. Whilst they had slept, someone had been in and removed the uneaten food and the clothing.

Lizhe smiled - Villac. He would be the only one to dare touch the sacred garments. The Inca pulled back the tent flap to find two Swiss guards on one side and two Inca warriors on the other. Each nation wished to offer them its own protection.

He saw Will approach and beckoned him in. Dom was sitting naked on the edge of the bed, and Lizhe handed him a robe.

Will carefully scrutinised his two friends, grinning at Dom as his arm became tangled in the sleeve of the garment. Lizhe helped him with it, leaning his head for a moment on his lover's shoulder.

"I can see y' are doing well. Is there anything I can send for - some food for ye, perhaps?"

This offer being accepted, Will pulled one of the several chairs that had been brought in at some time in the night, and sat, still examining them both.

"I am looking at ye, but I'll be damned if I see anything different about either of ye," he offered, pouring Lizhe and Dom a cup of chicha.

"There should be something t' show for such...God's teeth!...such power, but I see naught."

Dom called for hot water and fresh clothing.

"There is clothing here for you, Dom," Lizhe remarked, pointing to a fresh pile on one of the chairs. Dom sent Lizhe a look that Will recognised immediately. Such love!

"But those are Spanish garments, Lord. I am an Inca prince - I wish for a skirt and a pair of vicuna slippers, and a soft shawl for my shoulders."

Lizhe beamed at his life's partner. "So it shall be." He turned to Will. "After we have eaten and dressed, we will meet with the others. Send Khuno to me, if you would, and I will despatch him to you all when we are ready to receive you."

Dom noticed, as always, Lizhe rarely issued orders without remarking, in some way, that he would be grateful for the attention. Only when acting as God-King, did he command. Dom was grateful that Lizhe seemed able to keep apart the two sides of himself- one as God and King, and the other as friend and companion.

A little over an hour later, Khuno went to Will, and there arrived at the tent, those most nearly concerned in the happenings of the day before. Will, David, Amaru, Khuno, Michel, Alex, Sancho all entered and bowed low, then sat on the chairs, smiling happily at the two men seated side by side opposite them.

Last to enter was Tobé, who walked in slowly, and knelt, head bowed before them. "No!" Lizhe cried, as he and Dom rushed to help the man to his feet. "We shall not permit it!"

Dom flung his arms around his father and held him tightly, whispering something in his ear. Don Cristobal, Prince of Aragon, nodded and grinned. "Very well!" he said happily, and sat in the chair Michel was holding for him.

Lizhe cocked his head at Tobé, asking a question the prince knew he must answer.

"If you must know, Lord," Tobe smiled, "he said I must bow to you, but never to him - that it was not fitting for a father to abase himself before his son."

Lizhe grasped Dom's hand. "That, in general, is true, my lord. But in this case I would make an exception. Dom Huascar is a prince four times over, as he never misses an opportunity to inform me..."

Here Dom grinned and buffeted his love gently on the arm, and Amaru's eyes nearly fell from their sockets at the impiety. Lizhe, seeing his cousin's look, began to laugh, and his laughter was ever infectious, therefore it was a few minutes before order was restored.

Villac entered as the laughter died down, and it was seen that he approved of his God's good humour. He knelt at Lizhe's side ready to receive his instructions.

Lizhe thought for a moment. "It is my will that you take armed warriors to Cuzco, to free my people from the bondage of slavery and despair. Sancho, do you know how many soldiers are there - and priests?"

The captain stood. "Yes, Lord, not above two dozen soldiers and four priests."
He held his hands clasped in front of him. "It could be that not all of them may wish to return to Spain, as I - some of us - do not." He sat down, looking hopefully at Lizhe.

"All who wish to stay in peace and who have not harmed my people may stay. All the others will die." Lizhe paused and then asked, "Are there other of the captains who would stay, Sancho?"

Sancho nodded. "Yes, Lord, two of them. Good men, and true. I will speak for them. Your people here will tell you they have not harmed a hair of any Inca."

"Do you trust them to accompany Villac to find the true feelings both of the Inca and the Spanish?"

Sancho did not answer immediately. It was seen he was giving it some considered thought. "I do trust them. I will pledge for their honour with my life, if you so wish it."

Dom remained silent. God was present - he felt the air change about them.

"There is no need. Villac, go to them and ask. If they are willing, take a thousand warriors - that should suffice - and set the leaders to send other armed forces out to scour the Land for any small pockets of soldiers we may have missed. Every stone of the country will be overturned before I am satisfied there are none left. All must be made safe. Send a chasqui to Ixtil, to tell our loved ones that we are safe, and one to Rimac and Yupanque..."

When Lizhe had finished issuing his orders, and Villac had left them, Tobé asked if could have a drink. Lizhe leapt up to pour some chicha, but Amaru was moved to protest. Clearly the man was much disturbed; never, in his right mind, would he have spoken.

"Lord! You are no man's servant! I will do it!"

Lizhe filled the glass and placed his hand gently on Amaru's trembling arm. "Be still, faithful friend. If I remember aright, there is a God who once said that he who is master of all should be the servant of all. Is it not so, Dom Huascar?"

Dom assented, his mouth dry with shock. Tobé took the glass, and sipped it thankfully, observing, as he did so, "truly, you are an Enigma, Aralizhe Pachacuti. I am most sensible of it."

When he had finished his drink he asked, "will you settle my mind, and tell us how you did those things that yesterday astounded and frightened us?"

Lizhe looked puzzled. "Did you fear me, Tobé - Michel? I took care that you should not."

Tobé smiled, wryly. "I experienced fear, indeed, but somewhere at the core of it was the knowledge that you would not harm me." He looked about him. "Did others feel the same?"

All those present did. Michel ran his hand through his hair. "Lord, I would know how you came into possession of the crystal skull...how you lit it...how it worked through you, how you caused the earth to tremble...your back...so many questions..."

It was Tobé's question, however, that Lizhe answered first. "How was it that those men died? You did nothing to them. How did they die?"

Lizhe breathed in, pressing his lips close together before he spoke. It seemed to Dom that he did not know how to put into words what he felt - how to explain.

"It is difficult to know the answer. I think them dead, and they die. Whether it is their own fear that kills them, I do not know or understand. The opposite reaction is also true."

Tobé glanced at Michel, who was listening intently. "The opposite, Lord? What do you mean?"

Lizhe put his hand on Dom's arm. "When men are dead, and I make them live."

"Impossible!" Michel could not contain himself. "There is no living man can do such a thing..." He rose from his chair and strode about the room, agitated and disturbed.

It was Will who broke the silence. "Lizhe can do it - I saw it with my own eyes. Lizhe can do it."

Michel saw the truth in Will's eyes, and sat heavily on his chair. "How is it possible for a man...?"

Dom's firm voice echoed through the tent. "But Lizhe is not only a man, Maitre - he is God. And he can do this thing - I know, because he did it to me."

Tobé gasped. "You were dead, my son?" His face betrayed his consternation, and his hands began to tremble. He did not understand any of it.

Dom rose and knelt before his father, taking the unsteady hands in his own, warm and capable ones. "One day, I shall tell you the story of it, Papa - but not yet. Trust me. Trust Lizhe."

The prince managed a watery smile. "I do trust you both. In my heart of hearts I know you are good men, and powerful. Tell us about the skull."

Lizhe drank some chicha. "I knew I needed it to bring about the downfall of the Inquisitors - to harness the power of the Inti against them. It is not always needed, but there was much evil at work here, and destroying it needed something more powerful than my body, which is after all, that of a man.
The skull is kept in a secret place at the Holy City. Only my beloved wife, and Dom and I know its secret hiding place. I needed it, so I went, in a dream, to fetch it. It is as simple as that."

"Simple!" Michel murmured, shaking his head in disbelief. "If only we could all do such things..."

The air in the tent was heavy with suppressed emotion. Dom was most conscious of it. Lizhe, and now, he realised, himself, were used to such things. Dom mind leaped in surprise - when had he become used to such happenings? The answer came to him on a thought - when he had died.

Lizhe's light voice interrupted his musings. "But of course you can do it, Michel. You are a shaman - surely you have tried...?" He looked around at the men sitting respectfully before him, shaking their heads in disbelief.

"Can you not?" he asked, hesitantly.

Will snorted. "Cock's bones, Lizhe! It is so like ye, my lad, tae think that all men can do it if you can. Well, I tell ye the truth, as I always have - they canna." His face became thoughtful. "Could y' - could you have saved the Coya had y' been there, Lizhe? I dinna like tae ask, but I must know."

Lizhe's face grew pale. "It was the time appointed for her to leave us. I could do nothing. Viracocha wished her to be with him, for some purpose I do not understand. So the answer is no, Will. Even God has sorrows to bear, and her loss is mine."

There was silence for a moment, then Villac returned with the two captains.

They knelt, humble but resolute before the man who, yesterday had performed miracles before their eyes; but they were not afraid.

Lizhe looked at the two men long and hard, then nodded decisively. "It is well. You are good men. Sancho, do you desire to go with them? I will allow it if you do."

Sancho shook his head. "No, Lord. There are other Spanish here who also do not wish to leave this Land. I cannot allow Father Alejandro and David to care for them all alone.

Lizhe addressed the kneeling soldiers. "I trust you to be honourable men, and to bring those guilty of murder and rapine against my people to suffer my justice. Will you do this?"

The two men bowed their heads. "We will do it, Lord. Your word is the Law in this Land, as we have all seen for ourselves."

"Go in peace, then. God gives you leave."

After the men left, it was Tobé who asked the next question. "How did you make the Earth shake, Lizhe? I know it is your title, Earth-Shaker - but how is it done?"

Lizhe laughed. "It is very simple. There are many earthquakes and tremors which afflict my Land. You have not as yet seen any of our larger buildings - the temples, palaces. When you do, you will see that they are built sloping inwards, the stones, of differing sizes placed in irregular formations to lessen the effect of the tremors.
I, as God...to me it is given to feel the tremors through the soles of my feet when no other man can do so. I can predict that the quakes are coming. It is known to me. I counted the days, as I told Dom. They come at regular intervals and I feel it in my whole body three days before it begins to..."

His voice dwindled into silence as he saw the faces before him. Michel spoke.

"Lord, it was not that. When you stamped your foot, the ground shook. You did not only feel it, the Earth obeyed you. Have you not given thought to this?"

Lizhe looked at him in some amusement, then the smile faded. "I had not before thought of it. I had understood that my body divined what the earth would do. It is a new idea to me that the Earth should obey me in this manner...Dom?"

Dom gazed into his lover's eyes, bright with emotion. "Lord of the Earth and Sky - how could it be otherwise, Lizhe...?"

Will interrupted their silent union. "Lord, how did the skull work? How did your back heal?"

Lizhe gestured to Dom, who looked startled for a moment, then realised what Lizhe wished him to do.

"I put my hand on the skull, and my head filled with light. The light travelled into my whole body, and up my arm into the skull, where it met with the light of the blesséd Inti, and blossomed into great power. That is all I can tell you. I do not know how it works, only that Aralizhe Pachacuti can harness the power from his Father the sun - the great Inti - and hold, and command it long enough for its powers to take effect. Is that not so, Lord?"

Lizhe squeezed Dom's hand. "Exactly so, Dom Huascar."

He looked at the faces before him before he spoke. "I can see my explanations have raised more questions than there are answers to give you, my friends, so I will answer one more, and then it is finished. Viracocha told me in a dream that I should need more bodily strength than I possessed to heft the skull. It is very heavy, as Sancho will attest. My Father said he would bestow the strength upon me. It would always be possible for me to hold it in one hand - to show men its power through me. To this end he healed my wounds. I had nothing to do with it; it was the work of God."

He smiled at them. "I would go about the camp, now, and speak to my people. I thank you all for your trust, and for your care of me. You will be rewarded for it, I promise you. God gives you leave."

As the company prepared to leave, Lizhe put his hand out and caught Dom's father by the sleeve. "Tobé, please stay a moment. I have something to tell you."

All those present bowed themselves out. Dom thought that, indeed, what Lizhe had said was true - he had raised more questions than he had answered. But who... he thought, ...could understand the mind and will of God?

Tobé sat once more as Dom and Lizhe drew their chairs nearer to him. Lizhe was silent for a few moments, before he spoke in quiet tones. "I understand you need to return to Spain. I see that you need to take what others will think of as Dom's body to the tomb at Compostela. Whom did you chose?"

Dom's father grinned. "If Will was here, he'd shake his head and call you a "canny chiel", Lizhe. I took Lope del Castro. He is of the same height and build as Dom, and is now resting, dressed in Dom's cardinal's robes, in a lead-lined coffin being carried to my ship. By the time nature has run its course, there will be no-one to deny that it is my son interred there."

He smiled at Dom. "I shall tell Matteo, of course, that it is not. But I shall explain nothing to him, except that his brother lives and it is my express wish that it is not spoken of. He will obey me."

Dom opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He could think of nothing to say.

Lizhe grasped the older man's hand in both of his. "We would wish you to return to live with us, here. Would you care to do so? Would you miss the court and the fine palaces...?"

Tobé interrupted by lifting one of Lizhe's hands to his lips. "I will miss nothing. There is love here in abundance, and in that love will I thrive. I shall return as soon as I can contrive it. My boat will have red sails so the chasqui in the village will know it is I that have come."

Dom's throat closed at the thought of losing a father so lately found. "It will not be long, Papito, before you return to us?"

Tobé rose once more to leave. "I shall see you later, if you will come to my tent for the midday meal. Pedro has some chickens in mind for us..."

The two men laughed. "We will come," Dom said, happily.

As Tobé reached the tent flap, he turned. "One more thing - amongst many - puzzles me, Lizhe. The guns...where did all the guns come from?"

Lizhe cocked his head to one side and lifted his shoulders in an impudent shrug. "There were five hundred in the storehouse, Prince. Will and Villac took them."

"But...but..."stammered Tobé, not understanding. "There were thousands of your men, yesterday, and every other one had a gun. Where...?"

Dom put his arm around Lizhe's waist, and looked fondly at his father. "I expect you should remember the loaves and the fishes, Papa."

Don Cristobal coughed, choked, spluttered, held onto the tent pole and laughed loud and long. "I expect I should, indeed!" he said happily, as he left.

Lizhe cast a questioning glance at his love, and kissed him gently on the lips. "No doubt you will tell me, in your own good time, what you meant by that remark, Dom Huascar."

"No doubt I shall, Lord Aralizhe - but not now. For now, let us go and speak to our People."