Chapter 17: Sharing the Treasure

 

There was a great celebration, and the holy women played instruments and sang and danced for the four of them. When they knew the songs and dances, they joined in. Eventually, everybody wore themselves out and sat down on the ground to feast. Some of the women carried low, wooden tables out to the courtyard and spread the meal out across them. The food was simple, but there was enough to go around.

The two northerners spoke quietly in their own language while they ate. “The night when we were together and you were a lizard,” Rivka asked, “you still spoke as a man. Sang to me, even. When you were a dragon these past three years, couldn’t you speak and identify yourself?”

Isaac shook his head. “I was under too many curses. Sometimes it was hard to remember human language at all. That’s why my first words to you today were in their language.” He cocked his head toward the bevy of Perachis. “It’s all I’ve been hearing lately.”

“I wish you’d told me about your serpent powers,” said Rivka, “so I had a chance of guessing it was you all along.”

“I made a lot of decisions based on what I thought was best. One of them was not telling anyone more than I thought they needed to know -- even you. I’m so sorry about that.” He gazed deeply into her eyes. “Even befriending you was a decision made from arrogance -- I thought, with the celibacy vow, it wouldn’t matter if I was friends with a woman, because -- woman, man, everyone is the same if you’re chaste and not supposed to love any of them. And maybe it would have worked out that way -- if the woman had been anyone but you, Mighty One.” At these last words, his eyebrows reached for her and Rivka had to wipe sweat off her face beneath her cloth mask. She wanted to touch him so badly it made her rib cage ache, but she looked away and ate another mouthful of rice instead.

When everyone was finished with the main meal, some of the holy women produced mangoes and litchis. As they peeled fruit and relaxed in the shade of the palm trees, the women listened to Isaac and Riv’s stories of adventure and combat. They heard the story of the injury to Isaac’s right hand (during which Isaac managed to accidentally start a rumor that Riv’s cloth mask hid an even more grisly and disfiguring scar), and of their joint capture of the famous twin brothers who had robbed so many travelers in the lands just north of them. So raptly did the warriors’ tales hold their attention that nobody noticed when the sky grew silver and the air alive with dead leaves.

And so the rain started up too quickly to avoid, and many of them were drenched as they scurried about clearing away dishes and tables and gathering up the piles of pits and peels to throw away. By the time everyone had bustled everything safely inside the temple, a gloriously heavy shower was pelting the courtyard.

Tamar toddled toward Isaac and Rivka, holding a lit lamp. “My sons, you’ll be more comfortable drying off in our private meditation room. Come.” She led them down the hall, and Rivka shot a shocked look at Isaac, barely able to believe their luck.

“I’m sure she’s trying to keep our male eyes away from her holy women’s clinging wet robes,” Isaac murmured in barely audible northern tongue. Rivka smirked.

Tamar opened a big, heavy door at the end of a hallway and showed them inside a room decorated with simple curtains designed to induce inner peace. “You’ll need this lamp -- there are no windows.” She set the lamp down on the floor and stepped back into the hallway. “Come out when you’ve dried off your clothes, and we’ll be waiting in the main hall. Thank you for all your stories. We enjoyed that so much!”

“And thank you for the food,” said Rivka.

“Don’t be alarmed if you hear heavy footsteps or thumping,” Isaac piped up. “We may spar to pass the time.”

Rivka stifled a laugh.

“Enjoy yourselves, my sons!” Tamar turned and started her slow walk back down the hallway.

Rivka closed the big wooden door and carefully made sure it was latched as sturdily as possible. Then she turned around, and burst into laughter as she beheld not Isaac the man, but a large python, as big around as her thigh in some places, slithering toward her. Its scales were a mottled yellow-and-cream color like rich pasture-fed butter, and its tongue flickered in and out of its mouth as it sniffed for her. Of course, at this point, she knew who he was.

She could also see Isaac’s wet cassock on the other side of the room draped over a stone bench.

The snake glided across the floor and then began to climb up her left leg. As its squeezing muscles wrapped around her, she couldn’t help quivering with pleasure, her back thrown against the door. “Stop showing off,” she commanded. “I know I married a traveling menagerie, but right now I want my husband as a human.”

“At once,” said Isaac’s voice from somewhere, and then the snake dropped in a coil on the floor in front of her. He rose up again in human form and seized her in his arms. She caressed the massive bulk of his back and shoulders, kissing him, lifting her chin as he breathed fire across her throat like the dragon he was. His good hand was underneath her soaked tunic fumbling at the cord between the legs of her trousers, opening them to the air, and then his fingers brushed her skin directly.

Once more, Rivka had her back to a door and was moaning over love and desire for Isaac the wizard, but this time he was on the right side of that door -- pinning her to its surface, holding her, and now joining with her. She stood with her legs wide and her arms around him, clutching at him and pressing him closer. Like a river overflowing its banks, ardor and relief poured from her heart and made her feel as if she were floating. Isaac was in her arms at last.

When the room stopped spinning, a panting, somewhat sweaty man rested his head in the soft place between her neck and her shoulder, his nose buried in her skin. “Who is this brave woman,” he said softly between gasps, “who has pierced my heart?”

Rivka smiled, at peace, and held him.

She was still wearing her sword.

 

***

 

When Rivka and Isaac’s clothing had dried enough to wear comfortably they emerged from their chrysalis, taking the lamp with them. They found the rest of the holy women scattered throughout the temple, mostly reading peacefully, but some cleaning or praying or working at various crafts. Aviva sat against the wall on a cushion made from something coarse and green, with her hands massaging Shulamit’s head, which lay in her lap.

There was something suspicious about the position of Shulamit’s body, and Rivka quickened her pace as she approached them. “Is everything okay?”

“Everyone else bites pita, but with my darling, the pita bites back,” said Aviva.

Rivka lifted an eyebrow. “Shula, what did you--”

“I just wanted to see if the curse antidote had cured me.”

“She just ate a bite or two, so it’s only stomach cramps, thank God,” Aviva explained. “But I couldn’t even get her to a bed.”

“Sorry.” Rivka poked the queen’s shoulder affectionately. “I can carry you somewhere more comfortable.”

“I’ll be all right,” Shulamit said weakly. “I’m used to this.” She drew her knees up closer to her chest. “Aviva didn’t want to let me, but if I didn’t try, I’d never know.”

“Do you need anything?”

“Water might help,” Shulamit mumbled.

Rivka and Isaac ran off in search.

 

***

 

“I’m so happy you’re here to take care of me again,” said Shulamit, burying her face in Aviva’s lap. “Losing you hurt worse than these cramps.”

“I hurt myself too,” Aviva reminded her. “I just couldn’t think of anything but how I owe my mother my life, and...” She hugged the girl in her lap.

“But we could have figured out a way to make everybody happy -- maybe not honestly, but Nathan was a wicked criminal and he deserved to be tricked.” Shulamit winced with pain, and when the wave of squeezing in her gut had subsided, she continued. “What’s more, I want you in my life, by my side, forever, but now I’m scared that the next time you’re in trouble you’ll run away again and I won’t know anything about it. My brain runs and runs around in circles and keeps thinking of all these perfectly logical reasons that you wouldn’t want to be around me, except they’re really probably silly--”

“What do you want?”

“I--”

“I want you to feel safe. I’m sorry about the way I did things before, and I want to make sure I do better.”

“Now I feel ashamed. What you did for your mother was wonderful. I don’t think I have that kind of strength.”

“I need to know what will make you feel safe.”

“Just please -- promise me that you’ll tell me things from now on. If you need money, if someone threatens your family, anything. Owww...” Shulamit breathed heavily for a few seconds. “Whatever it is, we can -- tackle it together.

“I promise.”

“In any case, my father’s money paid for your mother’s operation, so I’m glad at least to know the money went somewhere good.”

Isaac and Rivka returned with the water, and Shulamit drank deeply and rested.

That night before dinner, Keren examined the queen and determined that it was safe for her to eat again, and even that her wrist sprain was healing up quickly. She also declared that Aviva had recovered fully from her ordeal back at the fortress. The two ate heartily and then prepared for bed in the room in which they had slept the night before.

Only, this time there would be no Book of Esther, only their own version of the Song of Songs. Tonight would be a sanctified reunion of hands and bodies and dreams and sighs. This night would be the warmhearted self-satisfaction of knowing that you had brought her pleasure, and the sweet gratefulness of your own pleasure under her touches.

They eventually dozed off, but as appealing as it sounds to fall asleep tangled up with another person without any clothes on, sometimes your arm falls asleep or they breathe on you funny and the situation may be more comfortable in the heart than it is on the limbs. Shulamit woke up again while it was still dark. She felt sticky and stale from falling asleep sweaty. In her effort to extricate the arm that had fallen asleep from beneath Aviva’s body, she inadvertently woke her up. “Mmm,” Aviva mumbled. “Your face smells of flowers.”

She wasn’t talking about the ones that grew on trees.

Shulamit grinned awkwardly. “Yours too. We should probably go out to the creek in the back of the temple and clean up before we present ourselves to anybody.”

“Good idea,” said Aviva, still groggy. The only movement she made was to plant a hand on each of Shulamit’s hips and pull her back on top of her.

“Well, since we haven’t bathed yet...” Shulamit murmured, and slithered down in between Aviva’s legs.

When, as Aviva phrased it, “the soft little kittens had finished meowing,” the girls put their clothing back on and made their way to the back of the temple as best they could without being seen. They dodged two women who were on breakfast duty and a third who was doing the cleaning, holding themselves flat against the wall and moving in shadows, all while trying their hardest not to giggle. Finally they were outside, in a quiet gray world of predawn mist. Birdcalls rang from distant trees, preparing the way for the inevitable sunrise.

Rivka was already in the water, scrubbing away her own trophies. “She’s glowing,” Aviva whispered, giggling. “I bet she can even understand the birds.” Then she raised her voice. “Good morning, Riv! What are the birds singing about today?”

The warrior raised her eyebrows in amusement and waved to them. “They’re saying it’s good you two are up. We can get an early start. We’ll stay in Ir Ilan tonight, but we’ll have to make it to the marketplace in time to get Shulamit her dinner.”

“Where’s Isaac?” asked Shulamit.

Rivka cocked her head upward. “He went back to sleep.”

Shulamit and Aviva looked up and saw the snoozing dragon on the rooftop. “So, we can fly on his back the whole time on the way home?” Shulamit asked as they removed their clothing and entered the water.

Rivka nodded. “His stamina will be much better now that we’ve lifted the curse.”

“But you won’t have a horse anymore.”

Rivka smirked at her. “Guess I’ll only have a dragon!”

“And a husband,” Shulamit pointed out. “We should be home by tomorrow night. Then I can send Nathan away and put you in his place. His crime doesn’t fit his position.”

“Will the rest of the guards resent me if I displace him so suddenly?” Rivka asked.

“There’s something neither of you know,” said Aviva. “Each time King Noach gave him more money to increase the wages of the guards, Nathan told himself it would be permissible, just this once, to keep it for himself -- because of his growing family.”

Shulamit’s eyes were once again saucers. “How did you find out?”

“He sent his older sons with the money in the bag to pay the surgeons directly, when they treated Ima,” said Aviva. “I was thrown together with them a bit during the ordeal. They liked me a little too much, and it was hard to get away from them. Remember what I said about my bosom. Anyway, I encouraged them to flirt with the Lady Wine instead of me, and they told her many secrets that I had the benefit of overhearing. Lady Wine knows everyone’s secrets.”

“When I’m drunk, I just sing louder,” Rivka muttered. “So if I pay them the wages they deserve--”

“Besides, they’ve already heard of your reputation,” Shulamit pointed out. “They hired you to rescue me from the kidnappers.”

“Some of my captures -- as a bounty hunter -- are a bit well-known, to those in the trade,” Rivka acceded.

“How did you get the job at the bawdy house, before you had all your war experience?” Shulamit asked. “I mean, I know Isaac had taught you how to swordfight, and you’d been in the one battle back home, but you weren’t, you know, the mighty Riv yet.”

“I was staying there as a guest -- it was also an inn -- mostly just keeping to myself so I could practice with my sword, except when I was looking for odd jobs to earn money. And one night, one of the customers tried to attack one of the willing women. Seems he was, uh, having some trouble.”

“His leaves had wilted,” Aviva supplied helpfully.

“Exactly. Anyway, he blamed Raizel for his own deficiencies, and things got violent. I heard the commotion and the screaming and grabbed my sword. He ended up tossed out the window into a pile of rotting kitchen scrapings. I threw his luggage out after him, after taking out Raizel’s fee.”

“I wish I could have seen that,” said Shulamit admiringly.

“The rest of the willing women were clustered in the hallway at that point, and they’d all seen what happened. They pretty much demanded that I stay on as their guard. Shayna -- the madam -- her lover had walked out on her and he’d been the guard before me. That’s why they didn’t have anyone to protect them that night. So I agreed to stay on. Of course, a few of them found it necessary to insist that I understand their rule against the guard making free with their services. You’ve known me for only a week or two but you’ve already seen how direct I am -- and this was the middle of the night, only weeks after I thought I’d lost Isaac and left the only home I’d ever known. I simply opened my shirt, and said that I had a pair of my own and wasn’t interested, so they didn’t have to worry.”

Shulamit wilted.

“I’m sorry, Queenling,” Rivka added. “I wasn’t really thinking about women like you two. To be honest I’m not sure I knew it existed at that point.”

Shulamit’s expression softened, and then broke into a smile. “And then, despite all your talk of loving only men, you spent three years loving a soul imprisoned inside a female body.”

“I knew you weren’t going to let that alone.” Rivka splashed her in the face, then quickly got out of the water and started pulling on her clothing. “Better get dressed before the holy women see all this and bust up my cover.”

Shulamit grinned. “Right before I met you, I was thinking that I wanted to fire all my guards and replace them with men who were like Aviva and me. Now, with you and Isaac around, that’s what you’re going to look like.”

“Feh,” Rivka said with a shrug. “I’ve got Isaac back, and I’m about to start my dream job. Plus, I’m good at what I do! So the rest doesn’t matter.”

 

***

 

Rivka walked away a little distance into the trees, giving the girls some privacy. Gazing back at the temple, Rivka could see the black-green of her husband still asleep in dragon form on the roof. She felt overwhelmed by joy, and clasped a paper to her breast.

In the golden light of sunrise, she reread the words to which she’d awoken.

My beloved, my wife, my Mighty One--

You’ve fallen asleep (and no wonder, considering our exertions!) but I can’t sleep just yet -- I’m still getting used to being myself again, and my mind is too active. So I snuck downstairs to find paper and ink and now I’m writing to you, with my clumsy left hand just as I did all those years ago when you were borrowing my books.

The morning you left your uncle’s castle, I carried you away in a mix of sorrow and joy -- I had lost most of my human faculties, but I was also filled with elation that we were together, fighting as we’d dreamed. You wept for me, and told me things about myself without knowing to whom you spoke. I was flattered and it felt good to hear it, but I quickly worked out a plan to reveal myself to you.

As soon as we’d gotten beyond the forest, you told me to land so you could bathe in the river. That was exactly what I’d wanted. But when I reached my claws to the mud, I realized to my mind-numbing horror that I’d forgotten how to write. I was devastated, and panicked. Do you remember how I scraped around, frantically, hoping physical rote memory would take over for my poor, feebled, curse-riddled mind? I think I even rolled in the mud, frustration shutting out all other thought.

Oh, Rivka, Rivka! To have you so close and not be able to tell you!

Then I had another idea, and used my left hand to point to my right hand, hoping you’d recognize the position of my scar. You were kind to me, but I think you said something like, “What’s the matter, girl? Did your paw get hurt in the battle?”

Once my mare form had put the idea into your head, it never occurred to you that I was anything but female. Dragons’ anatomy is confusing for a beginner, I admit!

I was filled with despair, but then, the very next thing you did was peel off all your clothing to bathe, and I was so overcome that I lost control and turned back into a horse.

Do you remember saying kaddish for me that night? As a dragon, I curled around you and held you, breaking that you were in such pain, but reveling in the straightforwardness and strength of your love.

Writing this has calmed me down enough to sleep. I’m leaving this for you to find when you wake up -- please let me sleep a little longer so I have enough stamina to carry you and the girls all day.

I love you, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you -- NOT AS A HORSE.

Your husband,

Isaac