Читать книгу Reforming Hell - Marilyn "Mattie" Brahen - Страница 9

CHAPTER 6

Sharlan

Ashtoreth elected to escort Quatama back to the upper planes, while Bael and Leianna followed Affaeteres to her private chambers in the palace.

In the halls connecting the royal residences, a statuesque, dark-eyed woman came toward them. Her light green, Grecian-style gown accentuated her voluptuous figure and her rich, raven hair swept over her shoulders and down her back. She stopped abruptly; her gaze flickered first to Bael and then to Leianna. Her full lips opened in surprise, her expression almost frightened, puzzling Leianna, who posed no threat to her.

Bael and Affaeteres also paused, Bael’s hand on Leianna’s arm also halting her stride. He swept a hand toward the unknown beauty. “Leianna, Sharlan. Sharlan, Leianna.”

Leianna barely recognized her as the pleasant but shy girl she had know in Eliom, 35,000 years ago. They had never been close, not as close as Leianna and Chloe, now incarnated as Leigh Ann’s sister, Ginnie, had been. But Leianna and Sharlan had shared a simple friendship in the tight-knit community of angelfolk before the rift in the heavens tore them all apart, exiling the rebels and sending swells of the obedient to be reborn on Earth, heeding their Creator’s command to heal humanity’s genetic imbalance.

Sharlan attempted a smile. “Leianna. I had heard Bael found you. Has he brought you to Hell now?”

“I’m just visiting.” Her answer sounded flippant, despite its truth. But Sharlan’s question unnerved her. Would she have to live in Hell if the Alliance succeeded? Could she adjust to and survive in its environment emotionally? The fact that Bael lived in Hell had always been a charged and unsettled issue, since she had never even been allowed down here until tonight.

And Sharlan was now exquisite. Leianna suddenly felt inadequate, short and bumpkinish. Why hadn’t she paid more attention to her astral appearance and choice of gown? She must look like a purple turnip left out overnight in a frost in her purple and lace gown. She recovered her voice—they were all staring at her—and forced a note of warmth into it. “Bael told us during dinner of the terrible ordeal you underwent when you first arrived in Hell.”

“The saurian creature? Yes, Bael rescued me, a terrible ordeal for him as well. Afterwards, he worried over whether the beast’s death at his hands broke the Creator’s command never to injure any angel or animal.”

“I would say death is a fatal injury, yes.” She adjusted her lace collar uneasily. “But the creature would have done the same to you.”

Sharlan shook her head. “You don’t understand. We were no longer under the Creator’s jurisdiction. But Bael had never killed anything before. None of us had, until we were forced to survive here in Hell. He was terribly upset. He felt tainted, as if he would never be clean again. I had to convince him otherwise, and we eventually put the experience behind us.” She smiled a bit too fondly at Bael, then turned her gaze back to Leianna, who had to crane her neck to return her gaze. “Bael, of course, told me of your reunion seven years ago, and I was happy for both of you. I hope things will work out for you.”

Leianna noticed that Bael was altogether too silent, even if his nature was naturally taciturn. “Yes, well, I’m glad you survived the ordeal. The Fall from Grace happened so long ago, sometimes it feels as if I’m remembering someone else’s story, not my own and Bael’s. It’s good seeing you again,” she added, although she wasn’t sure she totally meant it.

A look of amusement crossed Sharlan’s face, and she gave Bael another quick glance. “Likewise. If you’ll excuse me now, I’m sure Affaeteres is looking forward to your company.” Sharlan nodded to Bael’s mother and then to Leianna and Bael, saying, “Good night,” and continuing past them.

Affaeteres said, “My chambers are just around that corner up ahead.”

Leianna and Bael followed her, Bael leaning down to murmur in her ear: “As one can in the upper planes, those in Hell can often read thoughts in someone’s mind, if they’re loud enough.”

“Was I that obvious?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered her bluntly. They entered Affaeteres’s sitting room.

Affaeteres gestured to a loveseat beside a low table with tea set upon it. They sat down as she made herself comfortable in a stuffed velvet armchair. “There is so much to catch up on, children.” She looked at Leianna. “And by the way, darling, Sharlan is Bael’s head concubine and has been for thousands of years. His father, I’m sure, was planning on telling you this at dinner, but you and Quatama changed the subject and spoiled his anticipated fun.”

This time Leianna didn’t find her voice; this revelation rendered her temporarily speechless. She glared at Bael instead.

Affaeteres continued. “Bael’s relationship with Sharlan is only one small part of what you will have to deal with. But really, son, you should have told Leianna seven years ago.”

Leianna had parked herself on one-half of the loveseat, but now she moved deliberately closer to her far end, away from Bael. “What she said,” she agreed angrily. “You should have told me seven years ago.”

Bael remained as still as stone. “Leianna.” His voice held a warning note.

“Yes, Bael?” She waited, clamping her fury, wanting to scream at him.

“We’ll discuss this later.” He glanced at Affaeteres, then lowered his gaze. “I wasn’t expecting Mother to spill the beans.”

“Well, she’s spilled them and they stink! For Mother Aff’s sake, I won’t kill you right now.”

“I’m immortal.”

“I’ll find a way!”

All three sat silently for a good two minutes, then Affaeteres spoke. “I had to tell her, Bael. If you delayed any longer, it would seriously jeopardize your and Ashtoreth’s hope for this alliance with Heaven. And your relationship with Leianna would not survive further deception. I’m sure once you explain to her about Sharlan, she’ll understand.”

“I will?!” Leianna couldn’t help herself. “What’s to understand? He cheated on me!”

“No, he didn’t, dear. Actually, technically, he’s cheating on Sharlan with you.”

“He’s married?! Are you married to Sharlan?”

“No,” he said, “and I’m not cheating on Sharlan or you. I have a relationship with both of you. I just haven’t worked out your sudden reemergence in my life.”

“Sudden?! It’s been seven years!”

“They went very quickly. Look! Do you want me to explain or not?”

At least they were facing each other on the loveseat, Bael’s eyes connecting firmly with hers, rather than his standing, towering over her. At five feet two inches, it mattered very much to her right now that they weren’t standing, that she wasn’t staring up at him, all six feet four inches of him. How often had his tall, muscular frame made her feel protected; how often had he delighted in her smallness, calling her his little one. Now she simply felt small, small as a trinket to be used at his whim. But she’d let him explain. Paybacks could come later. “Go ahead. Tell me why I should understand.”

“All right.” He stood up, pacing a few steps.

“And don’t stand up!”

Bael stared at her, and a look that was halfway between mirth and sadness crossed his face. He sat down, facing her again. “Please forgive me. I never meant to hurt you. Having you back in my life was a treasure, one I wasn’t sure would last if this alliance project failed.”

“Bael, we were reunited.”

“Shh! Let me explain please.” He took her hands in his, holding them lightly, and she allowed this, keeping silent.

“When we were first cast into Hell,” Bael began, “it was a vast wilderness and untamed. These lizard creatures were later found to have some intelligence and a rude language of grunting, hissing and honking sounds. After we destroyed a large number of them, they took to leaving piles of tribute to us, first the rocks they saw us gather as fuel and weapons, and, later, food: strange, multi­cham­bered berries on thorny bramble branches, a sponge-like fruit that yielded sweet water when cut, and, to our dismay, dead lizards and snakes and crustaceans of an unknown species. They began to follow us as we traveled on, and when we caught them sneaking about our shelter, they lay down, seemingly fearful, exposing their scaleless bellies to us. We knew enough of animal behavior to recognize their submission to us.

“After a long while, they conquered their fear, but not their awe and curiosity. They made constant noises, attempting to communicate with the folk, and Nergal began studying their sounds, sorting them out. They took to his interest intensely. He soon discerned the rudiments of their language and began teaching them a rudimentary version of our own tongue. Over time, he succeeded.

“We learned the name they gave themselves, the Guggithim.But among ourselves, we simply called them the saurs, which meant lizard in our own language. Over the millennium, they evolved, adopted our language and now are part of Hell’s population.”

“They don’t sound very safe to have around,” Leianna ventured.

Bael laughed softly. “You know how it’s said that books should not be judged by their covers? The saurs, it turned out, were not attacking us. They were trying to pull Sharlan over to meet their tribe. They hadn’t realized their claws were cutting her. My counter-attack, killing that saur, confused and terrified them. When we continued to kill them when they came too closely, they finally made their signs of submission, to communicate their intentions and to stop our violence.”

Leianna pulled her hands from his. “This is all very fascinating, but doesn’t help me to understand about you and Sharlan.”

“It will,” he said. “The saurs traveled with us and pointed out the real dangers in Hell. Their territory encompassed the sixth and fifth levels of Hell; they had never been above them before. On the sixth, there were vast swamps with large reptiles resembling your crocodiles, except that their tales were stumped and their bites poisonous. And there were wildcats as large and treacherous as your extinct saber-toothed tigers, and other mammals and reptiles that posed a threat, as well as a rather oversized bird that resembled a griffin that seemed to enjoy aerially attacking the angelfolk. To guard and protect our womenfolk from these dangers, and others that developed over the centuries, the folk created a harem struc­ture.”

“New dangers?” Leianna asked.

“The same dangers that drove men on Earth to create harems to sequester their women. The danger of a male not authorized to be with a woman.”

“Bael, harems enslave women.”

“Not necessarily. They were created to protect the females of the household.”

“So your harem has nothing to do with, umm, you know what.” She glanced at Affaeteres, who had listened to this whole exchange placidly, until now. She said, “Sex, Leianna. The harems may have been initially for protection here, but now they are mostly about pleasure and property, with women chosen for the harems by Hell’s upper classes. And, yes, some women, like Sharlan, are in them simply to keep unwanted attentions by unwanted men at bay. These females are fairly free to come and go as they please, as long as they do not favor any male other than their appointed masters. Even today, especially in Hell, there is an advantage to having a societal hands-off sign, even if you have to give up your freedom for it.”

Leianna shook her head at this concept. “Are all the women in Hell in harems?”

“Of course not,” said Affaeteres. “Only those still desirable. I, for example, will never be in one. It’s a matter of status.”

Leianna, confused, protested. “You’re still beautiful.”

“Yes, but there is another reason, besides no longer being attractive, to refuse harem protection. I long ago ceased to let Lucifer or any other male apprise me of my worth or decide my actions for me. I suggest you never allow Bael or Ashtoreth to judge your own values for you, not unless you agree with and support those values.”

Bael, chagrined, added: “You are also the wife of Hell’s em­peror, although he considers his name as sufficient as a title, and you are the mother of his sons, Hell’s royal princes. You are protected beyond any harem structure.”

Leianna leaned toward her. “Are you queen?”

“I, too, eschew titles. I am known as the Lady Affaeteres, and none would harm me for other reasons. I have powers of my own, although Bael and his brothers and Lucifer consider them negligible.”

“I’m sure they’re not,” Leianna said. And to Bael, “Get back to Sharlan.”

He sighed. “We were alone in an unknown world. I was griev­ing for you and needed the comfort of friendship. She was grieving for Eliom and her own loss. We became close. When the harems were set up—initially for protection and called leiths, which translates as “enclosures,” not as “harems”—Sharlan would not enter any man’s leith but mine, not even her father’s. Her parents permitted this. I think they hoped that time would dull your memory and that Sharlan would take your place as my betrothed and eventually as my wife. But Lothan made it very clear that no other woman must exceed Sharlan’s authority in my leith, in my household. This was long before we even heard of the word “harem” or connected it with pleasure. Sex only occurred if both parties were willing. The women of my leith were not “owned” by me. They were rather my charges under my protection and guidance as we conquered Hell.”

Leianna nodded, not really convinced or comfortable with his explanation. “So what happened, in those days, if your charge fell in love—with someone other than you—and wanted to marry and leave your harem.”

Affaeteres interrupted. “A woman could do so, but she and her husband had to choose a new leith for her to live in or return her to the original leith.”

“So they really were just a form of protective housing for wo­men?”

“Yes, for at least a millennia or two. Not that there wasn’t sex then. There was always sex. But marriage was the prevalent form of ownership rights, even if wives were sequestered elsewhere for safety’s sake. The men’s quarters could be arranged for privacy, a wife temporarily sharing her husband’s sleeping cot.”

“It doesn’t sound like a very loving system, Mother Aff.”

“There was no time for love, Leianna. We were busy taming Hell.”

“For two thousand years?”

“For three thousand. That was when we reached the third level of Hell and discovered its fertile land and the forests of Ajan Helvert and Ajan Morvert. They provided us with wood and other supplies, and we slowly returned to a system of private dwellings. In the later centuries, the leiths slowly became what mortals call harems.”

“That still doesn’t rectify Bael’s long liaison with Sharlan, Mother Aff.”

Bael began to speak, but his mother shushed him again. “Some of the women left the harems then. Others stayed by choice. And sometimes, the choice was due to love.”

“But if Bael loved Sharlan, after all those years, why didn’t he marry her?” She turned abruptly to Bael. “And she can’t be the only women in your harem today . . . your mother called her your head concubine . . . that means there are others.”

He sat rigidly, eyes locked with hers. “Yes, there are others. Being a concubine of one of Hell’s princes does convey status.”

“Your mother suggested her status was due to not being a concubine.”

Bael glanced at his mother. “Mother is being sarcastic. Being a wife still conveys a higher status than being a concubine.”

“Uh, huh.” Leianna nodded. “And none can be higher than Sharlan in your household.” Affaeteres let out a small titter of laughter, covering her mouth to subdue it. Leianna ignored it. “So is that why you haven’t asked me to marry you?” Affaeteres was having a hard time holding in her laughter, her cheeks puffing with breath. “Mother Aff, what do you find so funny about this? Even if he does marry me, do you think I’ll put up with his harem?”

Affaeteres opened her mouth, letting out breath and laughter, grinning wildly. “Will you even let him have his harem if he doesn’t marry you, Leianna? You won’t disappoint me, will you? You know there’s something wrong with men having harems beyond the leith’s initial purpose, now long gone. You know this is not Heaven’s way!”

“Not unless they let us women have harems of gorgeous men, all built like stallions and standing at attention for our every need!”

Now Affaeteres did burst out laughing. “Now that will end the harem system, if we women demand equal sexual power.”

“And when we’re done with them, we’ll make them clean the house!” Leianna herself couldn’t resist laughing. Bael sat woodenly, waiting for his mother’s and Leianna’s tittering to subside, then said: “It is very hard to dissolve a system that has been in place for so long, ladies.”

Affaeteres looked at Leianna. Leianna looked at Bael. “Watch me. Just watch me.”

Bael shook his head. “You cannot do it, Leianna.”

“Where is your harem, Bael?”

Affaeteres tapped her hand. “It’s on this floor. Go to your right as you exit my chambers. Go two, full, corridor-lengths past two intersections. At the third intersection, turn right and continue down that corridor, past Bael’s apartments on the left, to its end. You’ll see large brass doors guarded by two house wardens. Tell them Affaeteres bids them give you entrance to Lord Baelzebub’s harem to see the Lady Sharlan. And please, do have a nice talk with her and Bael’s other concubines.” She rose from her chair. “I will see you at another time, I hope. I have missed you, my dear, and worried after you.”

“I’m sorry, Mother Aff.” Leianna also stood.

Bael got up reluctantly, asking her, “You’re not seriously going to confront them, are you?”

Leianna ignored him, reaching out and clasping Affaeteres’s own pro-offered hand. “We didn’t even have any tea or get a chance to talk with you about other things.”

Affaeteres squeezed her hand. “We spoke on what we had to.”

“Mother Aff, I will try to get down here again soon, to see you and spend more time. But, in the meantime, is there anything I can do for you? Try to do for you?”

Affaeteres patted her hand, then let go. “Get me out of Hell.” She said it quietly, unemotionally. “That will be sufficient, and if Lucifer can’t follow, that’s his fault. Now, go! Go!” She ushered them briskly out of her quarters, which Leianna saw were un­guarded. Perhaps servants with protective powers lurked unseen.

Affaeteres smiled broadly at Leianna, a twinkle in her eye as she shut the door, saying: “Now don’t let me down. Have fun in the harem, Leianna!”