The Emperor of Everything

“I don’t care,” Ruiz said flatly. “If he lives, I must make you responsible for his conduct — no one else is sufficiently quick.”

“Yes,” Molnekh said. “Flomel has always had nimble fingers. I’m sorry he lost the weapon, Ruiz Aw.”

“Well, here’s his leash, Molnekh. I’ll seal it to his neck, so. Here is the other end, and the seal. If you must leave him, loop the leash around some object too sturdy to be persuaded, and seal it. Do you understand?”

“I’ll be his keeper, Ruiz Aw.” Molnekh suddenly regained his usual look of expectant cheer.

“Good. Now, there is no more food, but we all still have our water bottles, and empty bellies won’t kill us for a day or two. The main thing is: We’re getting farther away from Corean with every minute, which is better than the best food, in my view.”

Only Molnekh looked momentarily doubtful.

Ruiz told the others of his discoveries and surmises, and directed Molnekh and Dolmaero to wait in the padded pit, where they might make Flomel comfortable, if they wished. He stood up and took Nisa’s hand. “Be alert,” he told the men. “Call out if you see anything strange.”

Nisa giggled and Ruiz followed her gaze to the enormous phallus that thrust the length of the barge. “Well,” he amended. “Anything strange and dangerous.”

“It looks dangerous enough to me,” she said. “What sort of folk worship such odd idols?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I imagine we’ll find out, but not, I hope, until we’re well away from Corean.”

Then he led her up to the observation deck, to a bench at the back, where they sat together in companionable silence until the sun had gone down and the night had arrived.

Chapter 6

With the advent of full darkness, the barge lit up with millions of tiny lights. Beads of soft glowing color clustered thickly along every edge, and dusted every surface of the statues. It occurred to Ruiz that the barges would be a wonderful sight, seen from the canal-side. He wondered if anyone watched.

Nisa nestled into his shoulder. “I can hardly bring myself to believe in this,” she murmured. “And you? Are you sure this isn’t all some fever dream? Or perhaps we’ve fallen into one of those goblin tales that nannies tell to frighten bad children.”

“Do you think so?” he asked.

“Perhaps.”

“If this is a goblin tale, what must we do?”

“I was never bad,” she said, and laughed. “Well, once in a great while. Anyway, the hero always knows exactly what to do; he never bothers to ask the princess he rescues what she thinks he should do.”

Ruiz sighed. “I’m not a very satisfactory hero, then.”

“Oh, no,” she said, and touched his face. “You’re a fine hero.” She raised her mouth to his, kissed him gently. Her lips had a soft clinging quality, like ripe fragrant fruit, sticky with sweetness but somehow electric — his mouth tingled where she had kissed him.

It came to Ruiz that they now had more privacy than they had enjoyed in days. He kissed her again, more urgently, and felt her tongue flicker along his lips. He found that he was breathing hard, and his heart thumped.

She pushed him away, slowly, and he released her. Her eyes seemed a bit glazed, her lips were puffy. She looked at him for a long motionless moment, then, still looking into his eyes, she lay back on the bench.

He wondered if it was safe, to so distract himself. He decided he didn’t care, though some ancient scarred part of himself was horrified at this carelessness.

He touched her knee lightly with trembling fingers. Her face relaxed, and she turned her gaze up to the starlight. He pushed up her tunic, slowly, admiring the texture of her skin, the strong beautiful muscles of her thighs. He unfastened the garter that held her little knife and dropped it to the deck.

As his hands moved higher, she sighed and let her thighs fall open. He knelt beside her and kissed her knee, and then trailed kisses up the inside of her thigh, until she gasped and lifted her hips to meet his mouth.

A long time later she knelt on the bench, naked, clutching the railing, damp tendrils of hair tangled across her lovely back, head thrown back, moaning in time to his thrusts. His hands gripped her hip bones, and he looked down at the upside-down heart shape formed by her buttocks and slender waist, marveling at her beauty.

He increased the tempo of his movements and she bucked against him, her voice hoarse and ragged.