Ancient Times #28

byKRoache

753 followers

4 years ago

Tej’s face was a mess. He left the blacksmith’s forge minus a tooth but also thankfully minus his toothache. His pain had finally subsided.

Tej had suffered for more than 2 days before plucking up enough courage to face an extraction. He more than anybody else knew how much of a coward he was.

The village’s dexterous blacksmith/dentist Dagi, was a man of few words but was very direct. He was also very good at his job.

Much pain was involved in the blacksmith’s orthodontic duties, but the end result was ultimate pain relief. Dagi’s joint philosophy of ‘you can’t build a tomb without breaking stone’ and ‘if a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing well’ eventually relieved Tej of his suffering.

From the dull throbbing pain of his on setting toothache, to the discovery that Old Iaret didn’t do teeth, to the excruciating pain of the dentist’s chair, were mere days but they felt like weeks. Tej had certainly been through it.

Zem had persuaded Tej to visit the dentist. Zem didn’t like to see his old friend in pain. The fact that he was a man short on the job did have a slight bearing on Zem’s recommendation.

Returning to work, Tej proudly displayed his scars like those bravely gained in battle. He only required the slightest excuse to graphically describe his ordeal to everybody who showed the slightest sign of sympathy. Needless to say, sympathy soon became a rare commodity.

*****

At roughly the same time Tej was screaming in agony, Ky had finally decided he had to see someone about his own little problem. Not only did pain come into the simple act of passing water, strange spots were forming on the end of his thing.

Ky was naturally too embarrassed to tell anyone of his troubles. He seemed to recall one of his workmates having a similar malady a while ago, and Old Iaret had sorted him out.

The diagnosis had been something along the lines of ‘y’bin puttin’ it about too much. Them gells ain’t as clean as they should be’. The cure was of course a dose of her foul-tasting potion, and a slightly worse smelling poultice to be applied every other day for 25 sunrises. Total abstinence should be adhered to for best results.

Ky left Old Iaret’s surgery after work that evening carrying a pot containing a strange smelling unguent and a potion. Old Iaret had warned him about keeping away from ‘unclean gells’. She thankfully hadn’t asked to see or touch the offending appendage.

Ky simply had to describe the condition, accept the remedy and promise to come and tend to her herb garden on his day off. As Ky walked home, he told himself he'd better keep away from Mrs Mani until it had cleared up.

***

“Is your Aby alright?” The well-built Genubath said.

“You What Gen?” said a puzzled Ky.

“I just bumped into her outside your place on my way home from work. I asked her if she fancied nipping in the barn for a quickie, and she said “no thanks, I have to wash my hair, then help with the evening meal,”’ and left me standing there extremely frustrated.”

“Bloody hell, she mustn’t be well,” said a now concerned Ky.

Genubath was the team leader of the men who cut tombs into the solid rock. They excavated the antechambers and did all the heavy work prior to their decoration. Genubath was a male Abana. He nailed anything that moved, consumed just as many artificial stimulants, and was just as much of a hedonist as Aby.

As Ky walked home, he worryingly pondered on his sisters new-found domesticity and vanity.

“You OK Aby?” inquired a puzzled Ky as Aby brushed past him, wearing a turban around her obviously wet hair and smelling as if she’d slept among Zem’s lotus flowers for a fortnight.

“She’s got her eye on the new kohl man,” said Mai helpfully from the floor in the corner of the room, with her head in a pile of papyrus.

A light came on! Ky suddenly remembered the old man who usually delivered the sticks of black eye make-up to every house in the village, had retired. There was now a new young man who it appeared Aby had taken something of a shine to.

Ky somehow didn’t think her feelings were going to be reciprocated though. The rumor he recalled went something like ‘bent as a soldier’s khopesh’. Still, everybody has to learn that you can’t have everything, all the time. Ky couldn’t bring himself to feel sorry for his elder sister.

Of course, the inevitable tears before bedtime unfolded in the predicted manner. An, on retiring to her slumbers heard her eldest daughter gently sobbing on the porch.

“What’s the matter pet?” asked An whilst gently hugging her eldest.

“Nothing, leave me alone,” came the faint reply from Aby, who wanted to tell her mother everything, and she didn’t want to be left alone.

“Please yourself,” snapped An, and turned to head for bed.

“Wait,” shouted a panicked Aby, “I couldn’t get him to… he’s a… he doesn’t…,” managed Aby through chokes of tears.

An knew what the drama was straight away. Even though An thought it a trivial matter that was not worth losing any sleep over, she gave it the gravity she assumed Aby deemed it worthy of. “Oh Aby, it had to happen sooner or later,” cooed An, “Not everybody has the same predilections, pet.”

Aby wished her mother wouldn’t use big words when it wasn’t necessary. “I’m sure I could have gotten him to see the error of his ways if he’d just give me a chance,” said Aby trying to emphasize the unfairness of it all.

“An Onyx can’t change its spots,” said An matter of factly. “We are what we are. The gods sometimes put obstacles in our path to test our forbearance. You fell in love with an incompatible partner. Unfortunately, nothing can come of it and you must move on,” An sensibly concluded.

After seemingly pondering this advice for some time, Aby suddenly said, “You’re right I suppose, goodnight.” With that she jumped up and headed indoors.

***

The washing now all pegged out on the line, An turned to go inside. In the distance she noticed Aby hobbling from the barn exhibiting a slightly flushed countenance. The normally infatigueable Genubath followed at a more leisurely pace. Both looked as though they had been through the mill a bit. An smiled to herself knowingly. Her little girl was back in the saddle once again.