024 - Rox Gets Inspected

The guards brought the carts into a square of warehouses with clear sky visible above them, where a clerk appeared and went through the manifest of the cart with the driver, and witnessed it with the companion. The clerk then had Rox put in a small office, and the wagon taken elsewhere. Rox was given lunch, and then taken deeper into the complex, to a house of some kind.

These people were as thick built, and large as all else she had seen, and Rox quickly realized that she was taller than everybody, and absolutely skinny in comparison. And she still felt like she was carrying a bit of extra weight all the time. Finally, all the clues clicked. She had dismissed the vegetation before. But it was as thick and solid as the people. The only thing that she could think of to account for all this was that the gravity here was stronger than she was used to. Thus the inescapable conclusion was that these people were just all built that way by nature. With this, Roxanne realized that she had no accurate way to gauge the age of these people.

If Rox had had time to dwell on this line of thought, she might have been terrified by the enormity of the potential possibilities. Perhaps she would have been able to more quickly get her bearings on her situation. But time was not hers to spend, at this point. Here in the house a woman that Rox would have called stout took Rox aside and into a bathing room. She pointed and jabbered in the local language as she went. She then pointed to Rox, and handled the tunic like she would not dress a beggar in it.

The woman unhooked the leash, and pointed Rox at the bathing pool. Rox removed the tunic and trousers, and stepped into the tepid water. It circulated, but was not overly warm, and only came up to Rox’s thighs. Rox did not care. The woman tossed her a bag of powdered soap, and Rox used it to wash. Finished, she knelt and rinsed herself off, wrung out her hair, and scrubbed it with the soap. After a final rinse, she got back out, and the woman handed her a towel. The tunic and trousers were gone.

Once dry the woman handed Rox a large sheet. It had a slit in the middle for her head, and draped down to just above Rox’s knees, front and back. It was wide enough to wrap around her, but there was no belt. The leash was back on the collar at her neck, and the woman leading Rox out as quickly as that.

The woman then took Rox to a waiting cart. Rox’s leash was handed over to the cart driver. She climbed aboard, and gathered the drape around to cover herself. The cart this morning had two burly draft nearly-horses to pull it. This one had two small mules. They left this square, out into the streets of the city again.

They climbed a terrace, and finally entered a large park-like area, with walls on either side of the large open area. They went across this and through a gate into a courtyard surrounded by carved columns and cut stone structures. Here two guards, again in blue uniforms, approached and inspected the wagon and driver. One took Rox’s leash, and she got down. The second gave her a quick pat down through the drape, and then led her into a small office. Some papers were passed to the clerk at the desk. He looked them over, and then motioned to a chair and spoke. The meaning was obvious. Hurry up, and wait.

Rox had continued to notice other things about her surroundings. There was no visible cement, as such; plenty of carved rock and cut wood. The clerk was using a glass and metal pen and an ink well. The paper looked to be some cousin of parchment. There were no electric lights or mass consumption utilities beyond plumbing apparent anywhere. Everything looked to be hand made, and ranging in design from early dark-age to late Elizabethan. Then there were the smells; plenty of burnt wood, animals and their leavings, various food and non-food odors. This room was a bit musty from barely adequate air circulation. The clothing ran the gamut as well, though mostly utilitarian. From home spun and leather on the farmers she had seen come to market, to mass produced armor on the guards. The drape she wore was a tight weave of bleached cloth. It was almost white.

She was still cataloging this in review when a female guard appeared, more formally dressed but in the same basic blue uniform of all the guards in this complex. She was the tallest woman Rox had seen on this trip, but still most of a head shorter than Rox herself. Also most of the other guards had a pike or spear, as well as a short sword and a knife on their belts. This woman only had her sword on her belt. The clerk handed over what Rox had come to consider as her papers. The guard looked these over, and then took Rox’s leash. Rox stood on cue, and followed this guard woman. Two more guard women fell into step as they went through the door. They took Rox first through a receiving foyer, then into a hall. Rox noticed that the guards were a co-ed force, and that the women had a different cut of uniform, but with identical rank badges and coloring as the men.

The guards marched her down a long hall, and then turned through some doors into a large room. Within the building, the air seemed to circulate a bit. The halls were echoingly wide and tall with several tall stories visible, with a continuous row of windows on either side just below the roof letting in the majority of the light. Right now, they echoed slightly with the sound of a rain squall. Carved and cut columns of grey-white stone were spaced every so far, providing natural breaks in the passage and vaulted arches at their tops. The arched columns formed squares in the ceilings, with chandeliers hanging from every second or third vault. The floor appeared to be a continuous cut that had been smoothed by design and by unknown ages of traffic. Doors to rooms appeared every so far. The usual fittings, trappings and furniture of large places were along the walls, but Rox paid these little notice, save as potential weapons. People in formal dress of assorted varieties filled the halls and rooms with a low murmur. Rox had not ever been to Europe or its Gothic Cathedrals, but what she had learned of them kept coming back to her as an architectural reminder.

They entered a side gallery on the left side of the hall. This room had full length windows between carved columns on the wall opposite the doors they just entered. There was also a large set of doors in the center of the wall to the right as they entered. Furniture was placed throughout the room forming conversation pits and isles for people to move about in, and was full of people apparently waiting. Rox had never paid much attention to the activities in the halls of government, but believed the saying about not seeing politics and sausage being made. Some people sat or stood aloof from everything around them, including each other. Others were clustered in groups chattering or whispering. A few pages were also circulating, the young boys and girls being easy enough to spot. The guards lead Rox over to one side. A page came over, and talked briefly with the head woman. The page finished and the guard nodded as the page formally turned and left.

Rox just held the drape closed, and felt the cold polished stone under her feet, as she watched the crowd move in a kind of brownian motion. Every so often a page would get someone, and take them to the large doors, where a small woman and a huge guard waited. The woman would then take the person or group through the doors, which opened from within.

As well as the people, Rox also looked at the statues and decoration of the room. It was tasteful if a bit overwrought, none of it in a familiar style.

Then the door-page came to them. He spoke to the head woman, and the five of them moved to the little woman and burly guard at the door. Rox decided that she would rather tangle with the guy than the woman if she ever had to fight either one. He looked like he would be the easier one of the two.

They passed through the doors, and into a waiting room. This room was much darker, as there were no windows. Here the guards stopped, and pulled the drape off of Rox. Rox was about to protest but a herald announced them and they marched into the throne room.

The room was smaller than the previous gallery, but was evidently more important. A throne sat behind a desk, and both sat on the front of a raised dais straight across the room. Windows and columns lined the wall to Rox’s left, with a row of seats, evidently for ministers. On the right was a wall with another set of doors in its middle and windows in the top half. Guards flanked the doors. War trophies of arms and banners were hung on the walls.

The King was a man of adult years, but a bit older than average. He looked to be a large man, giving a bit to age, but still capable of much physical activity. To his right, in a chair a step down from the dais, sat a darker-than-average-skinned dark haired woman in a green dress with a large jeweled necklace that hung almost like a breastplate, and other jewelry about her arms and legs. The dress looked more like a drape similar to what Rox had been wearing, that was tied at her waist, exposing her relatively long and shapely legs. Rox briefly thought she was The Queen, but quickly dismissed that, as there was another chair set back out of the way on the dais. A page took Rox’s papers, and put them on The King’s desk.

The absurdity of all this hit Rox for a moment. She had no idea what was to befall her. Her children were in some other unknown place being carried farther away with each moment, and she was powerless to stop it. Further she had no idea if Steven would ever be able to find them, or her. And here she was in some unknown place with gravity heavier than she had grown up with, naked as a newborn, and in a King’s throne room.

The King looked the papers he had been given over, and handed them to the woman in green. They conversed briefly, as the woman looked them over. She then got up and put the papers on the desk as she stepped down and approached Rox, and her three guards. As she approached Roxanne realized that the green dress was cut open down to her belt in front, with some other translucent material underneath, also slit like the top piece. None of the rest in the room reacted as though what was happening was fully unusual. The ministers muttered to themselves. The guards watched everything and nothing. The King put her papers aside, and picked up another and began reading it, ignoring all else going on.

The woman in green came close and touched Rox’s mouth, quickly feeling all her teeth through her cheeks. She judged her hair, poked her thigh and calf, felt her forearm and upper arm, and noticed the state of Rox’s fingers, toes, and nails. As she was examined, Rox was able to get a better look at this woman. Her straight unrestrained hair was a very dark brown, her features angular and starting to show the lines of age. Her eyes were an off-green color. She stood up to Rox’s chin at full height.

The woman did something completely strange to Rox, reaching into a pouch in her sash, and began chanting quietly as she flicked some powder on her. Rox perceived some energy organize, bond to her briefly, and fade, leaving her tingling. This sensation passed so quickly that Rox did not have time to examine it. The woman then poked and prodded her torso, not much different than a physical, but not invasive. Along the way, Rox realized that she was suddenly able to understand the language being spoken, and the room brightened and intensified in color slightly but perceptibly, as her ears and scalp tingled.

The woman suddenly spoke up, getting The King’s attention. “She is strong, and potentially fertile. She has born one man two children.”

The King took mild interest, not putting the paper down. “She is already mated? I will not take another man’s mate. Is there any thing else she can do?”

The woman turned back and using a few other things cast another spell.

Rox perceived energy center on her head and torso, and then dissipate again.

The woman looked pleased by the result, though obviously unsure of something. “She is educated and intelligent, strong of body and spirit. And she has potential for magic.”

The King considered this, then waved his hand to shoo them away. “Take her. She is in your care until her mate comes to buy her back, or she buy’s he own freedom. See to her clothing and lodging and return. I would have you in attendance when I receive the ambassadors.”

The woman bowed, then motioning to the guards walked to the doors to Rox’s right. The guards and Rox followed.